Pokemon
Masters
Elite
Force
In today's lesson we will discuss Weakness and Resistance and their effect on Pok�mon trading card game (TCG) battles. As most of the veterans of this game know, not all Pok�mon are created equal, and like the game Rock-Paper-Scissors, some Pok�mon will always beat some other Pok�mon. This inequality in power is shown through each Pok�mon's Weakness or Resistance to other Pok�mon. Like Rock-Paper-Scissors, the Pok�mon TCG follows a pattern of who can beat whom. Fire Pok�mon are good against Grass Pok�mon. Grass Pok�mon are good against Fighting Pok�mon. Fighting Pok�mon are good against Lightning Pok�mon. Lightning Pok�mon are good against Water Pok�mon. Water Pok�mon are good against Fire Pok�mon. The only rogues in this original closed loop are the Psychic Pok�mon, who are Weak only against themselves, and Colorless Pok�mon, who are the wild cards in the game. Of course, there have been recent additions, and in the Pok�mon TCG, the Darkness and Metal Pok�mon have been given their own sets of Weaknesses and Resistances. Metal Pok�mon have Weakness against Fire Pok�mon, but they have Resistance to Grass Pok�mon. Darkness Pok�mon have no Weakness and have Resistance to Psychic Pok�mon. The table below shows the most common Weaknesses and Resistances for all Pok�mon. There are some odd exceptions, like the Swinub/Piloswine and Wooper/Quagsire Evolutions, which are Water Pok�mon that have Resistance to Lightning. But, for the most part, all Pok�mon in the game follow the guidelines in this table. The Weakness/Resistance Table Pok�mon Type Weakness Resistance Darkness Psychic Fighting Grass and Psychic Lightning Fire Water Fighting Lightning Fighting Metal Fire Grass Psychic Psychic Water Lightning (Grass) Colorless Fighting and Lightning Fighting and Psychic I have given you this table to study so you may learn how to build more powerful decks. Weakness and Resistance make it nearly impossible to build a mono-Energy deck (a deck that uses only 1 Energy type). No matter how powerful your deck may be, if you play against a deck with Pok�mon that have Resistance to all of your attacks or, worse, all of your Pok�mon have Weakness against, you might as well pick up your cards and go play someone else unless you have some way to deal with your deck's nemesis. To put it another way, you may have the world's best Grass deck, but even a mediocre Fire deck can tear you apart because all of your Pok�mon will take double damage due to their Weakness to Fire. But you can't just worry about your own Weaknesses. A deck that that uses a lot of Pok�mon that have natural Resistance to most of your Pok�mon will also be tough, if not impossible, to beat. So, Fighting decks, which have trouble against Grass decks because many Fighting Pok�mon have Weakness against Grass Pok�mon, should also have trouble against Fire decks because so many Fire Pok�mon have Resistance to Fighting Pok�mon. Sure, your Hitmonchan can do 30 damage with just 2 Fighting Energy attached, but a Fire Pok�mon takes no damage from that attack, leaving you with no offense. By studying the table, you should begin to see some other patterns that can help you plan for and even use Weakness and Resistance to your advantage. Water decks, especially those that use Blastoise's Hydro Pump attack, have been very powerful in the past. But, an all-Water Pok�mon deck can still have trouble against a Lightning deck. Lightning decks can be fast and deadly because of the power of Pikachu, Raichu, and Electabuzz. But, taking a look at the table, you see that not only do Fighting Pok�mon have Resistance to Lightning Pok�mon, but Lightning Pok�mon also have Weakness to Fighting Pok�mon. So, the addition of a few Hitmonchans to an otherwise all-Water Pok�mon deck (along with a few Fighting Energy cards) can completely turn the tables on those pesky Lightning decks. Plus, Hitmonchan is a powerful Pok�mon you can use against many decks for some early offense while you get Blastoise ready to pump out the beatings. Play to Your Weakness To win more battles, you need to look at your Weaknesses (and possible Resistance problems) and then build a defense into your deck that can cover that Weakness or, even better, use your opponents' Weaknesses against them. To help you figure out how this works, I'll go through each Energy type and give you some hints about what to use. Darkness Pok�mon: There aren't really enough Darkness Pok�mon to make a good all-Darkness deck. Besides, you can have only 4 copies of Darkness Energy in your deck. That's a real shame, because Darkness Pok�mon have no Weakness, and I don't know of any Pok�mon that have Resistance to them. However, this makes Darkness Pok�mon a good addition to just about any deck that needs to shore up a Weakness. They are particularly good in any Psychic deck, which have problems against other Psychic decks because most Psychic Pok�mon have Weakness to themselves. With Resistance to Psychic Pok�mon, Darkness Pok�mon can even stand up to Mewtwo. Fighting Pok�mon: A Fighting deck's worst match-up is against a Grass deck. Not only do many Fighting Pok�mon have Weakness to Grass Pok�mon, but most Grass Pok�mon have Resistance to Fighting Pok�mon. To turn the tables on a Grass deck, add some Fire Pok�mon to your deck. However, stay away from Evolution Pok�mon when you make these kinds of additions. You want a powerful Basic Pok�mon like Magmar, which can come out fighting quickly. And don't forget the power of Rainbow Energy, which can power up your Magmar just as easily as it can your Hitmonchan. Fire Pok�mon: You won't have any Resistance problems with an all-Fire deck because there aren't any Pok�mon that have Resistance to Fire Pok�mon. Plus, both Grass and Metal Pok�mon have Weakness to Fire, so Fire decks can be very powerful. However, you will have some trouble with Water decks, and, as I have said, these can be very powerful (especially when all that damage gets doubled by your Pok�mon's Weakness to Water). As with Fighting above, you can turn the tables on your deck's main Weakness by using the right Pok�mon. Pikachu and Electabuzz can really spoil a Water Pok�mon's day because most Water Pok�mon have Weakness to Lightning. Just watch out for Piloswine (and the Feraligatr families). Grass Pok�mon: Grass decks have problems with both Fire and Metal Pok�mon. Most Grass Pok�mon have Weakness against Fire Pok�mon (although some are Weak against Psychic Pok�mon). In addition, the new Metal Pok�mon have Resistance to Grass Pok�mon, making them tough to Knock Out with an all-Grass deck. You can add Water Pok�mon to fend off the Fire Pok�mon and Fire Pok�mon to fend off the Metal Pok�mon if you like, or you can simply add some Darkness Pok�mon, which won't get hurt as badly by the Fire Pok�mon and can get past the Metal Pok�mon's Resistance to Grass. Plus, Darkness Pok�mon have Resistance to Psychic Pok�mon, which can help if your Grass Pok�mon have that Weakness instead. Lightning Pok�mon: Along with Fire, Lightning has the best match-ups in the game. Both Water and many Colorless Pok�mon have Weakness to Lightning Pok�mon, giving you more punch for your deck. But, Lightning decks have a huge Weakness against Fighting Pok�mon. I say huge because Fighting Pok�mon can be very powerful even without Weakness against them. To avoid early Knock Outs against Fighting, the best thing you can do is pack some Grass Pok�mon into your deck. Many Grass Pok�mon have Resistance to Fighting Pok�mon, plus most Fighting Pok�mon have Weakness to Grass Pok�mon. This double whammy should shut down that Hitmonchan deck. Just watch out for Fire decks. Your Lightning Pok�mon needs to stand up to Charizard because your Grass Pok�mon can't even handle Charmander. Metal Pok�mon: As with Darkness Pok�mon, you can't make an all-Metal deck because there aren't enough Metal Pok�mon and you can't put enough Energy into the deck to power them up. Metal Pok�mon are a good complement to a Grass deck, though, and with 4 Metal Energy and 4 Rainbow Energy, you could afford to run as many as 12 Metal Pok�mon (about half of your total Pok�mon) in a Grass/Metal deck. Psychic Pok�mon: Psychic Pok�mon are the most interesting type in the game. Their only Weakness is against other Psychic Pok�mon. And, while some Psychic Pok�mon have a Resistance (Natu has Resistance to Fighting Pok�mon), most of them have no Resistance at all. That should make them a very powerful addition to any deck. On the up side, until recently, no other Pok�mon had Resistance to Psychic Pok�mon, so you could always get your damage through. The new Darkness Pok�mon have Resistance to Psychic Pok�mon, though so you do have to plan for them these days. You best bet used to be to use Gastly, Haunter, Gengar, which had no Weakness and still did double damage to all other Psychic Pok�mon. But to handle Darkness Pok�mon, you may be better off going with Colorless Pok�mon, which no Pok�mon have Resistance against. Some even have Resistance to Psychic Pok�mon, which gives you the advantage there as well. Water Pok�mon: Obviously, a Water deck's biggest problem is a Lightning deck. Those little Lightning Pok�mon can get off pretty good attacks, which get doubled against most of your Water Pok�mon. Plus, many Lightning Pok�mon can Paralyze, so you may never even get an attack off before your best Pok�mon get Knocked Out. To counter both the speed of the Lightning Pok�mon as well as your own Pok�mon's Weakness, use Fighting Pok�mon. They both have Resistance to Lightning Pok�mon and their very powerful attacks are doubled against Lightning Pok�mon, giving you the early Knock Out advantage. Beware, though: More Pok�mon have Resistance to Fighting Pok�mon than any other type. You'll need to use your Water attacks against Fire, Grass, and many Colorless Pok�mon. Colorless Pok�mon: Colorless Pok�mon are interesting because they are so diverse. They either have Weakness against Fighting or Lightning Pok�mon for the most part, but they also have their Resistances divided between Psychic and Fighting. In fact, the Colorless Pok�mon that have Weakness against Lightning also have Resistance to Fighting. This makes them a good addition to a Lightning deck (which has problems with Fighting Decks). These split Weaknesses and Resistances also mean you can make an all-Colorless deck by just picking and choosing your Pok�mon based on their Weaknesses and Resistances. You can then add some non-Colorless Pok�mon to round out your deck, depending on what Energy types you want to add (perhaps Darkness Pok�mon, which have no Weakness and no Pok�mon that have Resistance against them). Time Your Swaps Once you have made your deck using the Weakness and Resistance table as your guide, you need to be ready during a battle to make the right choices to maximize your deck's effectiveness and minimize the damage done to your Pok�mon. If you leave the wrong Pok�mon Active for even a single turn, its Weakness can get it Knocked Out. To help you switch Pok�mon quickly in battle, you need to either choose Pok�mon with low Retreat Costs or use Trainer cards like Switch. We'll talk more about Pok�mon swapping next time as we continue to learn more about this great game together.
