The Player with a Plan — How to Approach Your Turns, with Board State Examples!

Hey PokeBeach readers, I hope your summers have been going well and that you’ve been crushing it at your locals. I’ve been busy testing for the World Championships next month, but I’ve also been trying to make it out to some League Challenges and Cups to get a head start on earning Championship Points for the new season! We are in that weird part of the year where there aren’t any major events besides the World Championships and our format isn’t going to see a large shake up until new sets come out.

My fellow PokeBeach writers and I have covered a majority of our Standard-format decks, so I thought I’d try something new for today’s article. I am going to show some board states and talk through my thought process when approaching them and coming up with a plan. My goal is to teach you how to formulate an effective plan, as well as think through the counters your opponent can do to your plays. I’ve picked multiple decks and types of scenarios, so hopefully you can learn a thing or two!

Before reading this article I recommend checking out this one I wrote on sequencing. It shows how I approach my turns, set goals, and sequence cards. A lot of the same principles will apply today.

How to Come Up with a Plan

Before we jump into the board states, I want to go over how I approach my turns and plan my plays. The two most important things I always ask myself are, one, what does my Prize map look like, and, two, what is my opponent going to do? One thing I’ve noticed a lot of players struggle with is how to think a level deeper and not just play their side of the board. These two questions make it much easier to plan into the future and guide your plays.

[cardimg name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”189″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

When I talk about Prize mapping, what I mean is how we’re going to take our six Prize cards. Who are we going to attack with, which of our opponent’s Pokemon will we be attacking, and what resources will we need to get there? It’s great if you can take a big two-Prize Knock Out, but if you aren’t able to follow it up with more, your position will quickly crumble. By identifying where you can take your six Prize cards, you make it a lot easier to set it up. Maybe you need to bench another attacker and start getting it powered up, or you need to leave a Bench space open for a different attacker or support Pokemon on the following turn, or you need to save a resource such as a [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] for later.

The next concept to me is one of the most powerful things you can ask in Pokemon, and will instantly level up your skill level if you are able to effectively implement it into your games. The concept I’m talking about is asking what your opponent is going to do. Whenever I come up with a play, my first question is always “What will my opponent do in response?” I call this stress-testing my plays, and it helps me immediately figure out if a play has merit or not. It also identifies any parts of your board that are weak. Maybe you are weak to disruption from an [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card] or having your main support Pokemon, like [card name=”Baxcalibur” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card], Knocked Out; or you’re leaving your opponent with a massive hand or a draw support Pokemon like [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] to help them close out a game. If you are able to figure out what your opponent is planning to do, then you can think if you have a response ready!

When thinking about what your opponent can do, you should start by asking what they are capable of pulling off. Think about what resources they have available, which Pokemon are already on the board, and what cards are likely in their list. You should also ask how likely it is they can pull certain plays off. You may be weak to a convoluted five-card combo, but if your opponent only has four cards in hand and no draw Pokemon, then you can probably rule it out.

Another thing when considering our opponent’s moves is what their opportunity cost is. Let’s say you are playing a [card name=”Chien-Pao ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] deck, and you are considering a scenario where your opponent Knocks Out your Chien-Pao ex. That means they aren’t eliminating your Baxcalibur or Bibarel, so you can be sure of having those resources on your next turn. Alternatively if they gust and Knock Out Baxcalibur, then they are only taking a one-Prize Knock Out, and might be weakening their Prize map. It is important that you understand what resources will be left on your board after considering your opponent’s plays.

Building off my first point, you also want to have an idea of your opponent’s Prize map. You should be aware of what they are working toward and if you are closer to taking six Prize cards than they are, and if not, how you can flip the trade back in your favor.

Using these two principles together should help you come up with effective plans and make sure you avoid getting blindsided by your opponent! Let’s dive into some examples. I encourage you to try and solve these, deciding what you would do in the given position, before seeing what I would do. We will always be playing from the position of the player on the bottom and I will let you know any relevant resources and other information at the top of each scenario.

Example 1: Bax in Danger

Our first board is going to focus on the endgame. Our opponent has ten cards in the Lost Zone and access to multiple Energy, [card name=”Super Rod” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”149″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Mirage Gate” set=”Lost Origin” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card]. We have five Water Energy in the discard, and one in deck. Also in the discard are our last two Chien-Pao ex and our [card name=”Prime Catcher ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card]. Assume you have multiple copies of [card name=”Superior Energy Retrieval” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card], Super Rod, and Ball search cards left. Your last [card name=”Frigibax” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] is in the Prize cards and you already used [card name=”Hisuian Heavy Ball” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card]. You do not play [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Cyllene” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card].

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When approaching this board, I think there a couple of things to consider. First, we are in control of the Prize trade since we are even with our opponent at three Prize cards each and we have the opportunity to attack. Our opponent also has a two Prize Pokemon in the active, [card name=”Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”141″ c=”name”][/card]. By taking a Knock Out we can go to down to our final Prize card remaining. Initially it looks like we are in a very strong spot, but there is a glaring weakness on our board. Both our Baxcalibur are heavily damaged and in danger of being Knocked Out, and we don’t have a way to set up another one. We are also at three Prize cards remaining, so our opponent can use [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] to limit our hand size!

Let’s start by thinking about the most obvious play, using our Superior Energy Retrieval and taking a Knock Out on our opponent’s Blood Moon. Hopefully you can spot the weakness of this play right away. Our opponent can just use [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] to eliminate our Baxcalibur and leave us without a way to power up more attackers. One solution could be to leave some extra Energy in play, but how should we distribute them? Our first instinct might be to leave two on Chien-Pao so it is ready to attack next turn, but what might be a problem with that?  We leave ourselves wide open to our Bibarel being gusted up, and with our Prime Catcher in the discard, we will have no way to retreat after our opponent uses Lost Mine on both our Baxcalibur! This could be played around with some foresight, though. What if we attached that Lightning Energy to the Bibarel? This way, even if both Baxcalibur go down, we can still attack. Taking this line a step further, let’s figure out how many Energy we need to leave in play. We identified earlier that our opponent can Knock Out our Baxcalibur with either Sableye or Radiant Greninja. If they attack with Sableye, we would need two Water Energy to win, and if they attack with Greninja, then we would need three Water Energy to use the game-winning Hail Blade. With our original scenario, we have one Water in play, one in deck, and one in hand. If we use Superior Energy Retrieval and Shivery Chill for one we can get to seven. After taking out the Blood Moon we can leave ourselves with two Water in play and a Lightning on the Bibarel.

Would this be enough to guarantee victory? If our opponent attacks with Sableye it is, but not if they attack with Radiant Greninja, since we would need to retreat our Bibarel and then can’t attach another Water Energy to win. So by thinking through our opponent’s best play, we have identified that we need to find a way to end our turn with three Water Energy in play. We have [card name=”Irida” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] in our hand, so we can use it to grab a Super Rod and shuffle a Water Energy back (and maybe a Chien-Pao in case they decide to Knock Out our Chien-Pao with another Blood Moon), so we can Shivery Chill for two Water Energy, getting us up to the necessary eight-in-play we identified. The last Water can be put onto Greninja since it is a safe place for the Energy, and if we put a second on the Bibarel, our opponent will just gust the Greninja anyway.

Our opponent can still Roxanne us to two and take out the Baxcalibur, but in that scenario we would still have Bibarel in play to help us draw cards. We would just need to draw a Superior Energy Retrieval or a way to get one to win. Our opponent’s best play in this scenario is to Roxanne, gust a Baxcalibur, and Knock Out our Bibarel with Sableye, hoping we don’t draw a way to retreat and end the game. In this scenario, our Baxcalibur would survive, so we just need a way to draw Superior Energy Retrieval to retreat. It isn’t guaranteed off of the Roxanne, but we can’t really play around that. However, the plays I’ve discussed above stop our opponent from winning on the spot, and give us a chance to win the game! Your final board will look something like this.

Example 2: Force a Favorable Knock Out

In our second example, we just had one of our Pokemon Knocked Out and our opponent used Iono to set our hand size to three. Assume [card name=”Legacy Energy” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”167″ c=”name”][/card] is in the discard, and that you have at least one Boss’s Orders and [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] in the deck. The [card name=”Gift Energy” set=”Lost Origin” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] in your hand is the last one available to you. You have three [card name=”Jet Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card] and two [card name=”Mist Energy ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”161″ c=”name”][/card] in the deck. Assume the Charizard player has all resources at their disposal.

In this second example, we have to figure out who to promote and attack with. We are lucky and have drawn a Boss’s Orders off of Iono, giving us the option to Knock Out an opponent’s Benched Pokemon. We are down to our last Archeops, so we only have one Primal Turbo available to us. I think the two obvious choices here are to use [card name=”Cinccino ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card]to Knock Out [card name=”Pidgeot ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card] or use [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] to Knock Out the [card name=”Rotom V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card].

Let’s start with using Lugia. In this scenario, we can attach a Gift Energy from our hand and get two Energy onto Cinccino with Archeops. We then would have to decide if we Boss the Rotom or the Bibarel. Let’s think through what our opponent can do in each. If we Knock Out Bibarel and go down to two Prize cards remaining, then it gets awkward if our opponent takes out Cinccino and uses [card name=”Professor Turo’s Scenario” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] to take Rotom out of play. We would have no way to win in this scenario. Similarly, if we go for Rotom, our opponent can still take out the Cinccino and pick up the Bibarel to ensure we can’t win on our following turn. We would be leaving our opponent with a Pidgeot ex in play, so it will not be difficult for our opponent to pull this play off. Even if they just have a gust and no way to pick up one of their Pokemon, they can Knock Out Archeops with [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] and not give us the draw off Gift Energy. Our Cinccino would only have three Energy in this scenario, and we wouldn’t be able to get our last Prize! So by thinking through what our opponent can do, I think it is safe to say that attacking with Lugia isn’t the most appealing option.

Let’s move on to attacking with Cinccino. In this scenario we can Primal Turbo and attach to Cinccino to get it to four Energy. We can then Boss their Pidgeot and get ourselves down to one Prize card. Since we are at one Prize, we can Knock Out anything to win on our following turn. Since we have four Energy on Cinccino it is threatening to Knock Out Charizard ex on the following turn with one more Energy. If our opponent tries to gust and Knock Out Archeops to avoid activating Gift Energy, then we can simply attach and win the game. By attacking with Cinccino, we force our opponent to take it out and activate Gift Energy. Now we just need to draw Lumineon V, [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”196″ c=”name”][/card] , or Boss to finish the game on the following turn with Lugia VSTAR, since we will still have Archeops on the board.

When thinking about cards our opponent could be playing, I’d consider [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card]. If they Enhanced the Gift we could be in trouble, so I would make sure to attach a second one to the Cinccino.

This example is great to show off the opportunity cost of our opponent’s play. If they Knock Out Cinccino we get to keep Archeops, and if they Knock Out Archeops we get to keep Cinccino. Always keep in mind what you get to keep on your board if your opponent goes for a certain line!

Example 3: Make the Comeback!

In this final example your opponent just took out a [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] to take a 6–2 Prize lead. You still have [card name=”Unfair Stamp” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Technical Machine: Devolution” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”177″ c=”name”][/card], both [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card], and the rest of your Pokemon available ([card name=”Drifloon” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”89″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Scream Tail” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card], Gardevoir ex). You have three Psychic Energy in the discard. Assume your opponent has two Fire Energy, [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Crown Zenith” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card], one Rare Candy, and any Item or other support card Charizard normally plays left in their deck. Both Charizard ex evolved from [card name=”Charmander” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”7″ c=”name”][/card] via [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”191″ c=”name”][/card].

Being down 6–2 in the Prize trade makes this seem like a daunting position, but it is still winnable! We have Technical Machine: Devolution and two [card name=”Munkidori” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] at our disposal. I think the obvious play is to devolve our opponent’s board, but that still doesn’t guarantee a win. Our opponent can still attack with Radiant Charizard or set up another [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card]. Our opponent currently has a large hand and a Bibarel, so I think it is safe to assume they have options despite our being about to weaken their board.

One way we can play around our opponent having these options is to use Unfair Stamp or Iono. We need to get the TM: Devolution so I think Arven for the Unfair Stamp and TM makes sense, but our opponent would still have Bibarel in play to help them draw. We can look to Counter Catcher the Bibarel and shut off its Ability with [card name=”Flutter Mane ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card]. This way we are leaving our opponent with a two-card hand, and we are taking out Pidgeot from their board. This hopefully buys us some time. We would need to draw Counter Catcher off of the Unfair Stamp and our Refinements, but we have a strong chance!

I think it is also important to think about how we could lose. A Boss would activate Bibarel for our opponent, and give them the option to target something on our Bench. Since our opponent is at two Prize cards remaining, I don’t think it makes sense to evolve to Gardevoir ex. Refinement is very strong for us currently, and we can always get Gardevoir on the following turn.

After the TM: Devo we will be at three Prize cards, but can we set up for a win on our following turn? Our opponent has a couple weaknesses on their board in the Lumineon V and the damaged Charmander. If we use Munkidori, we can take out that Charmander over two turns if it doesn’t evolve, and look to Knock Out Lumineon with [card name=”Scream Tail” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] or a gust-plus-Gardevoir combo.

By considering what makes our opponent weakest we can find a pathway to severely limiting their options and making it as hard as possible for them to win, and make a six-Prize comeback seem very doable!

Concluding Thoughts

That will bring today’s article to a close. Hopefully you found it insightful and enjoyed the puzzles I presented! I always enjoy writing about these more in-depth strategy topics, so let me know what else you would be interested in seeing. Until next time, best of luck in all of your games, and hopefully you implement some of the theory you learned today!

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