Secondary Attackers

Although not every deck includes one, Secondary Attackers are often critical parts of a functioning deck. A Secondary Attacker often fills in for the roles where the main attacker is either inadequate or even detrimental to the success of the deck’s strategy. The most common roles of secondary attackers are:

  1. A single prize attacker in decks that are focused on multi-prize attackers, like Pokémon V, VMAX, VSTAR, or V-Union.

  2. Being quicker to setup so that they can either act as a revenge attacker or carry the deck during parts of the game where the main attacker cannot.

  3. Attacking for an alternate weakness.

  4. Having a different weakness than the main attacker.

Giratina VSTAR LOR 121

As an example, we’ll look at a deck focused around Giratina VSTAR LOR 121 as the main attacker. Giratina VSTAR is a Multi-Prize Attacker—or an attacker that causes the opponent to draw more than one prize card when it is knocked out. Multi-Prize attackers trade additional attack power, utility, and/or hit points for the extra prizes they give up when knocked out. When playing against decks that contain few or no Multi-Prize Attackers, decks focused around a Multi-Prize Attacker may have a difficult time keeping up in the Prize Trade. As a result, it is not uncommon for these decks to include one or more Single-Prize Attackers—Pokémon that give up only a single prize when knocked out.

A popular Single-Prize Attacker paired with Giratina VSTAR is Cramorant LOR 50. In addition to giving up only a single prize, Cramorant’s powerful Spit Innocently, which can be used without any energy because of its Lost Provisions Ability, acts as a finishing move, knocking out an opponent’s weakened Pokémon.

Cramorant LOR 50

No matter the secondary attacker or attackers you choose for your deck, it’s important that the secondary attackers included have synergy with the main attacker. Simply sharing their type isn’t enough. Two Psychic-type Pokémon may have radically different needs for their setup—their different means of setup may even negatively impact the setup of the other. Jamming a bunch of Pokémon into the same deck because they share a type is a common mistake that many new players make—another is trying to jam several types of Pokémon—and their requisite energy cards—into the same deck. Both approaches to deck building are detrimental to a deck's ability to execute a winning strategy.

 

Lunatone PGO 34

Gengar LOR 66

 

As an example, let us look at Lunatone PGO 34, pictured above. An inexperienced deck builder might try to pair Lunatone together with Gengar LOR 66. Although both are Psychic-type Pokémon, their setup strategies are quite disparate. Lunatone relies on its player getting a lot of energy into play very quickly. Gengar, on the other hand, needs just a single Energy to attack—and would prefer your opponent have a full bench than a boatload of Energy.

By contrast, Gengar has good synergy with a Colorless-type attacker, Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR LOR 147, pictured below. Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR does damage for each of your Pokémon in play—and Gengar’s Netherworld Gate Ability means that it comes into play with three damage counters on it—making a freshly-benched Gengar an instant boost to Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR’s damage. By contrast, Lunatone prefers the company of Mewtwo VSTAR and Solrock. Solrock’s Sun Energy brings a lot of Energy into play by attaching Psychic Energy to Lunatone, and then both Lunatone and Mewtwo VSTAR can make use of that Energy via their Moon Kinesis and Psy Purge attacks, respectively.

 

Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR LOR 147

Mewtwo VSTAR PGO 31

Solrock PGO 39

 

Decks with many Secondary Attackers, especially those decks built around having the right tools for a large variety of opposing decks, are often referred to as Toolbox decks. (Toolbox is often shortened to Box, as in Dark Box.) These decks often focus around some form of Energy Acceleration—a card or cards that bring energy into play faster that would normally be possible—instead of a specific main attacker. As a new deck builder, it may be tempting to turn the first deck you build into a toolbox deck—but building a more traditional style of deck first will help you improve more as a deck builder.