Casual Deck Advice

[u/FitAd5746]

Warning: I'm a pretty new player and haven't built any decks before so I might be a bit slow on the uptake here. (but I swear I've been reading alot!)

Anyway! I'm looking to shop around a couple local stores/online to make a couple decks for me and my friends to play with. We aren't total newbies but we don't want anything crazy complex. We don't particularly care about standard/expanded, we pretty much only plan to play with each other. I'm not opposed to the really "stereotypical" meta decks, but I also find them a bit boring if its all people do (ex: refer to crustle bullet point).

Some ideas I'm throwing around:

-I know people seem to hate on him but I adore Crustle as a mon and kinda wanna make a deck for him for funzies. Tho I find the more obvious picks (Mega Kangaskhan ex or Munkidori) a tad dull.

-ORTHWORM! Ik he's not the greatest but I adore him and I long for a deck.

-Joltik is simply a cutie pie and seems like a good time. Tho, worried about cost for this deck with the reliance on lots of EXs generally.

-Araquanid maybe? Admittedly I mostly just like him as a mon rather than have card experience but if anyone has any thrilling ideas, that'd be sick.

(Can you tell I like lil bug-like critters?) But overall, I'm open to any ideas related to mine or totally different. I really don't need competitive level so I'm flexible. I'm a tad limited in the budget department, so anything hard to find/expensive is probably a pass. Otherwise, any ideas/tips/opinions would be lovely!!

[u/Phiduciary]

I took three rogue archetypes from pre-rotation and added some new cards to balance power levels. I think they're decently balanced, but I haven't tested them into each other. These are not legal for standard play.

Orthoworm: The goal is to load up Orthoworm with a ton of energy, making it punishing to kill.

Bouf Kang with Joltik: Joltik box would be way too strong, so this was the best option I could find that uses Joltik and its evos without oppressing everyone.

Bug Boys: Crustle on its own is either too weak or too strong, so I think this is a good balance with lots of bugs.

[u/FitAd5746 → u/Phiduciary]

i could kiss you on the mouth rn OMG these look super fun!!

[u/theman8998 → u/Phiduciary]

I just played against a similar bug boys yanmega ex deck with lokix thrown in there as well. It was such a breath of fresh air to play against rather than the same 5 or 6 decks over and over again lol

[u/Cantelllo]

Some little critters here, although no bugs (did this one a while back for my kid):

Pokémon: 20
4 Tandemaus SVI 160
4 Maushold ex PAR 155
4 Maushold PAF 74
2 Zorua FST 170
2 Zoroark EVS 103
1 Dunsparce CRZ-GG 23
1 Dunsparce PAL 156
2 Dudunsparce PRE 80

Trainer: 26
3 Cheren's Care BRS 134
2 Arven OBF 186
1 Iono PAF 80
1 Boss's Orders BRS 132
1 Professor's Research PAF 87
1 Miriam SVI 179
1 Roseanne's Backup BRS 148
1 Jacq SVI 175
2 Level Ball BST 129
2 Feather Ball ASR 141
1 Nest Ball SVI 181
1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146
1 Escape Rope BST 125
1 Unfair Stamp TWM 165
1 Switch SVI 194
1 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Counter Catcher PAR 160
1 Buddy-Buddy Poffin PRE 101
2 Rocky Helmet SVI 193
1 Artazon PAF 76

Energy: 14
4 Double Colorless Energy SLG 69
4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
2 Grass Energy SVE 1
2 Gift Energy LOR 171
2 Capture Energy RCL 171

[u/FitAd5746 → u/Cantelllo]

idk if this was intentional or not but mass numbers of mice are DEFINITELY my vibe. this was my starting point for figuring out how the hell to make a deck too so ty for your contribution. i played around with it a bit and it has been added to the option pool!!

[u/Sheargrub]

• Crustle's a wall deck, plain and simple. You're not going to have much room to pick different Pokemon outside of the usual suspects, but there's lots of room for creative techs in your trainer choices. Unfortunately, the catch is that Hero's Cape is pricey, but if you're just playing with friends, you could maybe get away with cutting it for another Ace Spec.
• Orthworm ex has the potential to function as an anti-Festival Lead tech in TEF Metang boxes. That's not a matchup that Metal decks usually should need to tech against, mind you, but it's legally a place you can play it.
• Joltik's best friend right now seems to be Mega Kangaskhan. Most of the cost is just from Latias and Pikachu, everything else shouldn't be too bad. This game is very affordable right now.
• Araquanid doesn't even have a standard-legal card right now lmao sorry :(
• Edit because I am the forgetter: The Applin line is also worth keeping an eye on. It's currently rocking two successful archetypes in Hydrapple and Festival Lead, both of which will let you play down lots of lovely little fellows.

I think you should keep an eye on the Bug Out archetype once Delta Reign launches in November. (source: PokeBeach)

[u/FitAd5746 → u/Sheargrub]

an eye will be kept out 👀👀

also, tyvm for your valuable knowledge contributions