Consistency
You play pokemon with a 60 card deck, your beginning hand is 7 cards and you are only allowed 4 of the exact same card besides basic energy. What are the odds of you getting the cards you need out fast without milling your deck? Trainers such as Professor Sycamore, N, Professor Birch's Observation, Shauna will help you get a new hand. Skyla and Steven look for trainers, and supporters respectively. Ultra Ball, Dive Ball, Level Ball, and Heavy Ball will help search for Pokemon.
Why do the top decks always have multiple copies of trainers or Pokemon? Having multiple copies, ensures that you have a high success rate of getting those cards. With a 60 card deck, your chances of starting with a basic Pokemon depend on how many you have in your deck. Say you have 6 basic Pokemon, your chances are based on Hypergeometric Distribution. This calculats your chances of drawing a particular number of "successes" from a population of cards, without replacement.
Population Size(deck): 60 cards
Successes in Population (how many cards of that particular Pokemon in the deck): 4 Yveltal Ex
Sample Size (your starting hand): 7 cards
Successes in Sample (chance you pull one): exactly 1
Results: 33%
Take a look at this decklist of the winner from Orlando Regionals, Yveltal/Garbador. They run some trainers in multiples of 3 and 4, some are considered techs( running a single copy) or non-essential for setup(Olympia/Lysandre) and come in handy late game.
But what if you don't have hundreds to spends on Pokemon cards? There are 2 options, trade or find another way to make the deck work. I love creative decks that aren't copies of the top cut decks. There are combinations that seem weird but then throw everyone off by their synergy.
Look at the deck of Gallade and Octillery last year. That was one of my favorite deck ideas and what I took to nationals. The deck works because there are no EX pokemon and it's ok to lose one prize trying to set up versus losing 2 prizes when they knock out your Shaymin. The consistency came from rearranging your top 5 cards and then grabbing them with Octillery's ability. Level ball let you grab Remoraid, Ralts or Octillery, Korrina let you grab a rare candy, Gallade and it counted towards Gallade's attack sensitive blade to do an extra 70 damage.
Some decks work because they have great synergy and have ways to counter popular decks, some work because they do a certain job very well and don’t rely or care what your opponent does. Decks like Turbo Darkrai, set up quick and don’t worry about disrupting your opponent, they hit hard and quick. Decks like Yveltal/Garbador disrupt your opponent, and hit hard as well. Each one has it’s own advantage and choose one that suits your style.
Why do the top decks always have multiple copies of trainers or Pokemon? Having multiple copies, ensures that you have a high success rate of getting those cards. With a 60 card deck, your chances of starting with a basic Pokemon depend on how many you have in your deck. Say you have 6 basic Pokemon, your chances are based on Hypergeometric Distribution. This calculats your chances of drawing a particular number of "successes" from a population of cards, without replacement.
Population Size(deck): 60 cards
Successes in Population (how many cards of that particular Pokemon in the deck): 4 Yveltal Ex
Sample Size (your starting hand): 7 cards
Successes in Sample (chance you pull one): exactly 1
Results: 33%
Take a look at this decklist of the winner from Orlando Regionals, Yveltal/Garbador. They run some trainers in multiples of 3 and 4, some are considered techs( running a single copy) or non-essential for setup(Olympia/Lysandre) and come in handy late game.
But what if you don't have hundreds to spends on Pokemon cards? There are 2 options, trade or find another way to make the deck work. I love creative decks that aren't copies of the top cut decks. There are combinations that seem weird but then throw everyone off by their synergy.
Look at the deck of Gallade and Octillery last year. That was one of my favorite deck ideas and what I took to nationals. The deck works because there are no EX pokemon and it's ok to lose one prize trying to set up versus losing 2 prizes when they knock out your Shaymin. The consistency came from rearranging your top 5 cards and then grabbing them with Octillery's ability. Level ball let you grab Remoraid, Ralts or Octillery, Korrina let you grab a rare candy, Gallade and it counted towards Gallade's attack sensitive blade to do an extra 70 damage.
Some decks work because they have great synergy and have ways to counter popular decks, some work because they do a certain job very well and don’t rely or care what your opponent does. Decks like Turbo Darkrai, set up quick and don’t worry about disrupting your opponent, they hit hard and quick. Decks like Yveltal/Garbador disrupt your opponent, and hit hard as well. Each one has it’s own advantage and choose one that suits your style.