Should You Buy Pokemon Theme Decks?

The Pokémon Company releases several different products for each new trading card expansion, but which gives you the most bang for your buck?

Theme decks have been around for as long as there's been a Pokémon Trading Card Game. These premade decks give people a taste of some of the newest cards as soon as they hit the market. The MSRP for theme decks right now is $12.99. Is this a worthwhile investment of your money? Let's find out.

Great for Beginners
As I already said, each theme deck comes with a ready to play 60 card, competition legal deck. The cards are a mixture of Pokémon, usually of one or two types; some Trainer cards; and energy cards to cover attack costs. You also get a playmat, a deck box, a coin, and some damage counters. Everything you need to play the Pokémon Trading Card Game is included. The playmat is printed with gameplay rules that are extremely helpful to new players. It describes what you can do during your turn and how different attacks and abilities affect the game.

Fortify Your Deck
In general, the cards included in theme decks aren't meant to be great. That being said, they can contain useful Item and Supporter cards that give world championship decks the winning edge. Just take Ultra Prism that was released earlier this month. Full art prints of the Cynthia Supporter card are selling for almost $70 at the moment. It's safe to say that it's the best card of the set, and will see use in nearly every competitive or recreational deck. The Mach Strike theme deck accompanying Ultra Prism contains two regular Cynthias, plus other cards that are designed to work specifically with them. Other staple Trainer cards included in nearly every theme deck include at least two copies of Hau to draw three cards, and Nest Ball to search your deck for a Basic Pokémon of your choice. You won't find too many tricky cards in theme decks, but feel free to add whichever cards you want. That's one of the great things about the Pokémon Trading Card Game -- you get to play your way and come up with your own creative strategies to defeat your opponents. A theme deck can serve as a template to build your own custom deck.

It is What It is
There are no surprises with theme decks. Everything that is included inside is printed right on the outside of the box. I'm not a big fan of online shopping, and my local card store is pretty hit or miss when it comes to single cards. Theme decks allow me to get some of the cards I want without having to take my chances with booster packs. My recommendation is use online resources to learn about all the new cards in a set, and choose which ones you want to play with. Maybe the cards you are looking for will all be included in a theme deck, or maybe you can get most of a desired evolution line there and will only need to purchase one or two additional cards to have a complete team. Whether this is the most cost effective way to build a deck depends entirely on what you are looking for. Just remember that the cost of a theme deck also covers the energy cards and damage counters you need to play the game.

The Verdict
So, should you buy a Pokémon Trading Card Game theme deck? I would answer with a resounding yes. Whatever your skill level or whatever your age, everyone can benefit from purchasing at least one theme deck. They're a great introduction into the world of Pokémon.