Pokemon TCGO 100% Free Tutorial

[Eternal Edge]

Hello and Welcome!

This guide will be a quick run through of how to get started in Pokemon Trading Card Game Online completely free! You will of course have to already have to have an account in order to play the game, however this guide will show you how to advance in the game without having to spent a cent!

In order to get the client head on over to http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-tcg/play-online/download/ and download it for whatever platform you're on. It is also available for the iPad so feel free to check that out! Your account is tied between all platforms! If you already have an account feel free to use that, butt his guide will be assuming you do not.

After creating an account make sure to register your account with the verification e-mail you are sent! This will net you a free 25 Trainer Tokens once the verification goes through! .

Now on to the actual game! I suggest that anyone new, or who hasn't played the game in a long time, go through the tutorial when prompted upon logging on. This tutorial will teach you the basic mechanics of the game and also reward you with Trainer Tokens and a pack at the end!

Upon completing the tutorial I had 312 trainer tokens. There are multiple way to earn more from logging in daily, Daily Challenges, Trainer Challenge, winning battles and Versus Rewards.

You should now have 2 decks already if you go to your Deck Manager. Navigate there via the button. As of the day of posting the decks are Mental Might and XY Basic Yellow. The XY Basic Yellow is the deck you were using during the tutorial. The client will ask you to check out the "Create a New Deck"option, but don't worry about that for now, you will not have enough cards to create much of a deck yet.

Next lets check out the Shop. Click on the shopping cart and then navigate to the Cards sub-menu. This is where you will be able to buy more packs and even theme decks. Theme decks will be best way for you to earn cards you will need for decks. You will want to aim for the DARK HAMMER theme deck first, it's the one with a Pangoro on the front. It is the best of the current theme decks in the shop.

From here you may choose your own path, but I suggest that you grind your way through the Trainer Challenge first. Each trainer has their own deck type that unfortunately won't show up until you battle them once. Each time you beat each trainer you will gain more Trainer Tokens (1, 3, or 10 Trainer Tokens). Each trainers type is listed here: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Game_Store

Versus mode will allow you to play against other people, theme decks will only fight theme decks, Standard Decks will only fight standard, etc. I would suggest waiting to take part in this until you're unlocked DARK HAMMER.

Tournaments will not gain you any Trainer Tokens, however once you have a standard deck this will be a good place to earn Tournament Tickets in Theme Tournaments and then take those Tokens to a Standard Tournament and earn Booster Packs if you do well enough.

You can also redeem codes acquired from the real life Trading Card Game in the client to get cards in the game as well. Along with that there are a few codes that Pokemon TCG has added to help you out a little. Redeeming each PhantomForces, FuriousFists and FlashFire will net you the Rallying Cry deck which will give you even more cards to help you build your own deck. DragonsExalted will net you a Fedora m'lady.

And with that I think I've covered all of your options in the early game. Unfortunately you will not be able to trade any packs or cards that you get via in-game currency but it will allow you to build a collection of your own and slowly build your way into the top tier!

If you have any questions about the game or anything I've mentioned here feel free to reply! I currently have 2 accounts. My main account is EternalEdge where I use all my TCG codes and have better cards and RebornEdge where I'm doing a completely free run. Feel free to add both of my accounts if you wish to battle!

[Tomas Elliot]

Too bad I have no free time and a shaky internet connection, this topic actually made me curious about trying the game...

[Godot]

I still think the Pokemon TCG threads should be in fan club. It is a game entirely about Pokemon for Pokemon fans. Also edge, when I get internet (tomorrow) I might try this out. I do like playing TCG, I just don't like spending money on it.

[Shamitako]

You know, it's been a while since I played TCGO... Let's see if I can remember my account info

[Nanami's-Egg]

I was playing the TCGO a lot a few months back but stopped playing it for other things, including Reborn. I agree the Dark Hammer theme deck is the best one.

Now I want to try a completely free run on a new account too...

[AuthorReborn]

I had an account on this, but I can't remember the account details off the top of my head...

time to sift through my emails for the account name and password I guess.

[Eternal Edge]

So I was doing some research on free decks and I came across a video which detailed a free deck that will do well in a competitive field. I went to check it out and I was surprised how well it did, not only in his video, but when I tried it out myself. The deck list includes the following:

2 Bouffalant DRX 110

2 Miltank FLF 11

4 Snivy BCR 11

3 Servine BCR 12

2 Seperior BCR 13

4 Ralts PLS 59

3 Kirilia LTR 124

2 Gallade PLS 61

4 N

2 Rescue Scarf

2 Caitlyn

2 Escape Rope

1 Evosoda

2 Professor Juniper

2 Colress

3 Cheren

2 Enerhy Switch

2 Rocky Helmet

4 Double Colorless Energy

6 Grass Energy

6 Psychic Energy

The basic idea behind the deck seems to be all of your pokes powering each others moves up in one way or another. The Gallade depend son your side of the field having lots of energy. This energy can be on ANY of your Pokemon and can add up to decently large chunk of damage.

The Serperior share 140 HP with the Gallade and has 2 decently priced moves. The first will either do 0, 50 or 100 depending on your luck with coin flips while the second move does 70 and will heal you for 30.

The main reason Serperior is in the deck, I believe, is to serve as a second support for Miltank, whose first attack costs only 1 colorless energy and does a whopping 80 damage if you have a stage 2 pokemon on your bench. A small price to pay for that amount of damage. It's second attack also isn't half bad, dealing 70 damage for 3 energy.

Finally, we have the Bouffalant, which not only serves as a great wall due to its Bouffer ability, but also does a massive 120 damage to EX Pokemon (60 to non EX) for 3 colorless as well.

All of these Pokemons moves are easily set up in 2 turns due to the Double Colorless Energy you will run in this deck, and as such you get a large amount of damage before your opponent is really able to set anything up.

That being said, this deck is fantastic if you're just starting out and is 100% free, using just cards from the structure decks you get just for playing the game, and the Rallying Cry deck code provided at the beginning of this guide.

Credit to the Video/Channel I found this deck on:

[Shamitako]

Interesting. I was working on coming up with a Miltank/Gallade based deck myself (seeing as Rallying Cry is actually P good) I was just struggling with figuring out the trainers to run alongside it

[Eternal Edge]

Versus Rewards Ladder has updated! This months card rewards are...underwhelming!

Barboach > Whiscash:

This line eh at best. The Whiscash has a decent second attack, and pretty good HP for a Stage 1 Evolution. His first attack is arguably better than the second one.

Amnesia [C] allows you to do 20 damage but also control what moves your opponent can use. However, this is easily remedied if your opponent switches the Active Pokemon.

Rising Lunge [W][C][C] does 60 damage, with a chance to do 90 on a coin flip. The 60 damage alone will KO most Basic Pokemon, but I'd suggest running DCE is you plan on running this line.

Poliwag > Poliwhirl > Politoed:

I'm much happier with this line to be honest. Especially with the King's Song Ability. I suggest running DCEs if you plan on running this line in your deck.

Spiral Current [C][C][C] is the main draw of Poliwag. It does 20 damage, but confuses and makes it impossible for your opponent to retreat their Pokemon next turn. Granted items like Switch and Keldeo EX's Rush In Ability can still be used to retreat by your opponent but it's a much better form of lockdown than Whiscash gave you. Rain Splash [W] is a nice cheap first turn move.

Poliwhirl gets a slightly more powerful Rain Splash [W] at 20 damage instead of 10. The main draw of this card though is its Finishing Blow [C][C][C] attack. 50 damage for 3 Colorless isn't TOO terrible, however the effect of the attack is the main draw here. If the opponent has any damage counters already on it Finishing Blow will DOUBLE its damage to do a whopping 100 for only 3 Colorless Energy.

Finally we have our King's Song Politoed. This Ability allows for you to ignore all [C] Energy requirements for each Poliwag, Poliwhirl and Poliwrath's attacks. This ability makes the second attacks of the entire line super good. The only downside I see with this is that Politoed's ability doe snot effect his own attack Hyper Voice [W][C][C], which does 70 damage, but that is a small price to pay for the ability.

As a bonus, let me take a look at the Poliwrath that would be effected by this Ability as well. Poliwrath has 140 HP, has a weakness to Grass, [C][C][C] retreat cost, and two attacks. His attacks have a pretty good cost without the King's Song, but with its effect Steamroll [C][C][C] does 60 damage and 30 damage to one of your opponents benched Pokemon, great for getting picks on things that may have been retreated to prevent a knockout. His second attack is Submission [W][W][C][C] which does a whopping 130 damage but also has 30 points of recoil. Since this card does not come as part of the set you'll have to grind through some packs of Furious Fists to get it.

Blastoise EX:

Blastoise EX is rather disappointing for an EX in my opinion. Rapid Spin [C][C] does only 30 damage and forces you to switch your Pokemon and then your opponent must switch as well. This effect would be more acceptable if you switched after your opponent, however because you must switch first, it allows your opponent to counter your Pokemon if they are able to. It makes for a nice retreat if you're forced to use start the game with Blastoise as your Active Pokemon but outside of that this attack is disappointing.

His second attack is Splash Bomb [W][W][W] which does 120 damage, but has a chance of 30 points is recoil if you flip tails. You should expect a lot more out of an EX. His attacks don't allow him to KO even Stage 2 Pokemon let alone another EX. That combined with the fact that none of the Kanto starters currently have Spirit Links makes Blastoise EX just pale in comparison to other EX cards.

Speaking of Mega Pokemon though, lets take a look at the Mega he gets! M Blastoise EX has 220 health, and while Hydro Bombard [W][W][W] has the same cost and damage as Splash Bomb, it instead does 30 damage to 2 of your opponents Benched Pokemon allowing Bench snipes. Unfortunately this Pokemon does not have a Spirit Link, but it is an acceptable at best trade-off.

Froakie > Frogadier > Greninja:

I don't have much to say about Froakie or Frogadier here really. Froakie's Bounce [W] does 10 damage and has a chance to force you to retreat, and Frogadier's Lick [W][C] does 30 damage and has a chance to Paralyze your opponents Active Pokemon.

Greninja is much more interesting in the fact that his ability Water Shuriken allows you to discard [W] once per turn in order to put 3 damage counters on any of your opponents Pokemon. This allows you to either snipe something on the bench, or increase your total damage to the Active Pokemon. Mist Slash [W] is a super good attack dealing a whopping 50 damage for only 1 Energy. The downside (and upside) is that it isn't effected by Weaakness, Resistance or any other effects on the opponent's Active Pokemon.

Archie's Ace in the Hole:

What a terrible card. The main effect of the card is pretty great, allowing you to take a water Pokemon from your grace and put it on your bench, then allowing you to draw 5 cards, but then we see the condition for when this card can be played. You can only play this card when it is the last card in your hand. This effect is way too situational to be effective in any sort of play. You really need to play around this card for it to be effective.

The rest of the rewards are the same as before. 425 Trainer Tokens, a Tournament Chest, a total of 9 packs of Roaring Skies, and a total of 8 Tournament Tickets. Speaking of those packs, I would suggest waiting until August 12th to reach the pack rewards as the packs might switch to Ancient Origins. Usually rewards are based on the most recently released packs, and that is the day Ancient Origins is coming out.

[BIGJRA]

Thanks for the guide Edge!

I used that Gallade/Serperior/Miltank deck, and I couldn't find any Bouffalants so I replaced them with Druddigons. I actually recommend doing that if you have them, because combining Rocky Helmet and Druddigon means instant 40 damage to anything that attacks you, which can absolutely destroy most weak opponents.

[Plok]

Thanks for the guide Edge!

I used that Gallade/Serperior/Miltank deck, and I couldn't find any Bouffalants so I replaced them with Druddigons. I actually recommend doing that if you have them, because combining Rocky Helmet and Druddigon means instant 40 damage to anything that attacks you, which can absolutely destroy most weak opponents.

Bouffalants should be in grass theme deck and imo they are better because pretty much everyone runs EX pokemon nowadays

I got my account from my friend and atm I'm running Yveltal/Raichu, Donphan, Night march (lysandre trump card ban ftw) and Zoroark with sky field but idk what I will run after rotation

[Eternal Edge]

Druddigon is a good substitute if you don't have the Bouffalant (but you honestly should have gotten them fromt he GRass starter deck, I belivee you get it by completing the tutorial?) because of that 120 damage to Pokemon EXs.