What do great military leaders such as Patten and Rommel, Schwartzkoph, or Napoleon have in common with the leaders in the Pokèmon TCG world? Tactics and Strategy. But, what are they, and what makes each unique?

Strategy is defined by Webster's dictionary as this: 

STRATEGY "1. the science and art of military command employed with the object of meeting the enemy under conditions advantageous to one's own force 2. A careful plan or method especially for achieving an end." 

While Tactics is defined thus:

TACTICS "1. the science and art of disposing and maneuvering forces in combat. 2. the art of skill of using available means to reach an end."

Now, what does their mean to the Pokèmon TCG player?

First, one must design a deck using strategy. I will assume that you've already learned the basics of deckbuilding--ratio, energy, etc... If you have, then it should be your goal to design a deck that will be able to combat an enemy deck, under any conditions--but which will, ideally, draw your opponent into a situation that will be advantageous to you, while being disadvantageous to him. I've found that it is even a good idea to think about strategy before you ever purchase your cards. For example…

Kate is considering building a Pokèmon TCG deck. Many of her friends are playing the game, and She has observed that the Pokèmon Lady is hosting a tournament which she's interested in entering. She goes to the local hobby shop and examines the cards available to buy. Right now, She can choose from any number of preconstructed theme decks, base set I, Jungle, and Fossil. But, Kate knows from reading her Pojo magazine and from visiting the Pojo website that base set II is coming out soon. She figures that just about everyone will be rushing to buy Base set II, because it's new… 

Kate knows that there's a lot of grass and fire Pokèmon in the Base sets. She also knows from watching her friends that people around here play a lot of Haymaker and a lot of Raindance. She figures that with the release of Base set II that Haymaker and Raindance will only get more popular because more Blastoise and Electabuzz will be in circulation.

So, Kate decides that She will build an Anti-Buzz'n Blastoise Deck. There is the first step in Kate's development of a strategy. She's evaluated the tournament scene in her area and come up with an idea that will help her fight more effectively. Kate goes home and pulls out her copy of the Pojo's Pokèmon Encyclopedia and looks up Blastoise and Electabuzz. She sees that Blastoise has a weakness to Electric, and Electabuzz has a weakness to Fighting. She looks up Hitmonchan and notices that Hitmonchan has a weakness to psychic. So what does Kate know now? She knows that the three most important cards in both decks She's trying to beat have weaknesses to Electric, Fighting, and Psychic respectively, and no resistances.

Kate pulls out her handy-dandy deck-building notebook, and starts jotting down her ideas and the rough outline of her deck. Kate thinks, "What cards can I put in my deck that will work best against these cards?" Again She is using strategy. She's devising a way to use her opponents weaknesses against him. Kate decides that for starters She will put 2 Hitmonlee in her deck, and 2 Hitmonchan in her deck. She theorizes that Hitmonlee can damage any electric Pokèmon on the bench, and that Hitmonchan will hurt them if they make it to the active position. 

Now, to combat the Blastoise and Hitmonchan problem, Kate decides that She's going to use the new promo cards She got from the Pokèmon League, Mew. She puts 3 Mew into her deck. She knows that Mew's devolution spray is going to wreak havoc on the Raindance evolution… and, Mew does double damage to Hitmonchan, because Hitmonchan is weak to Psychic. 

Kate sits back and wonders for a moment, what she would do if someone brought out a heavy hitter, like Charizard... She thinks, "I'll add Ditto... Ditto becomes my opponent's active Pokèmon, so if they do bring out a heavy hitter, I can fight them that way--provided I have the energy.

At this point, she counts up the number of Pokèmon she has and notices she only has 10. She realizes that she might be in trouble of Mulliganing, so she adds 3 Scyther since Scyther has a 0 retreat cost and can work using any color energies. She also decides to add Mr. Mime to combat the heavy hitters. She likes Invisible wall and Mime's meditate attack can be deadly to Pokèmon weak to psychic. 
 

Kate's Anti-Buzz'n Blastoise Deck Pokèmon (15) 3 Mew 2 Mr. Mime 2 Hitmonchan 2 Hitmonlee 3 Ditto 3 Scyther

So, what strategy has Kate used so far in designing her deck? She evaluated the metagame in her area and found that most of the people are using Blastoise decks or Haymakers. She realized that if she didn't want to create a Raindance or Haymaker of her own, she would need to prey on the weaknesses of the most prevalent decks out there. She also thought ahead to what would happen if she faced a deck that wasn't a Raindance or Haymaker. She decided to counter those decks by using the opponent's cards against him, and she made sure she wouldn't mulligan by making sure she had enough basic Pokèmon.

Now, Kate had to decide which trainers to add to her deck. She knows that Haymakers are in trouble if they are denied energy--especially early in the game. She also knows that Raindance can't happen if the Squirtle are off the bench and in the discard pile. With that knowledge she decides to add 4 Energy Removal, 3 Super Energy Removal, and 4 Gust of Wind to her deck. She then thinks, "What will happen if I have cards in my hand I can't use, but I don't want to discard them..." 

With that thought, she decides to add 2 Gamblers to her deck. She knows that Gambler is risky, because she might only get to draw 1 card, so she also decides to add 1 Professor Oak. She believes that the being able to shuffle her hand back into her deck, and maybe draw 1 or maybe draw 8 with Gambler, plus the assurance of being able to draw 7 with Professor Oak is assurance enough that she will be able to get to the cards in her deck that she needs without throwing away cards she might need later. Many people believe that it's a bad idea to only have ONE of any card in a deck, but if that deck is designed that way it's different than only putting one in just-because. She looks at how much drawing power she all ready has, and decides not to add any Bills. 

She also realizes that she might want to bring up one of her own benched Pokèmon, depending on the situation. Perhaps she will not have enough energy, or her active might become confused. She opts to add 3 Switches.

 She knows that Raindance often relies on trainer cards to get going right at the start... she wants to avoid that turn 2 Blastoise on the bench, so she adds 2 Lasses to her deck. A lass played in the first couple turns can make the deluge turn into a trickle. 
 

Kate's Anti-Buzz'n Blastoise Deck Trainers (15) 4 Energy Removal 3 Super Energy Removal 4 Gust of Wind 2 Gambler 1 Professor Oak 3 Switch 2 Lass

In putting in the trainers, Kate has decided to use what she knows about Raindance decks, and about Haymaker decks to her advantage. By planning ahead, and using strategy, she is more likely to have the deck work the way she wants it to when it comes time to play it. She doesn't have to rely on "luck" or a good opening hand, because she's thought through different possibilities and how she can use the cards in her deck to her best advantage.

The final step in building this deck is to put in the energy. Kate knows that lots of people in her area play energy denial or energy loss decks. She doesn't want to be caught out in the active position without energy to attack, so she's careful to put in enough. Kate decides she can't go wrong with the quick startup of some DCE. She puts 2 into her deck design. Now, she has both Psychic and Fighting Pokèmon. Mew takes at least 2 Psychic for Devolution beam, and she has 3, so she will need at least 6 Psychic energies in the deck. Hitmonchan takes 2 Fighting and 1 Colorless, and she has 2 of them, so she needs at least 6 fighting to power her Hitmonchan. Hitmonlee takes 3 energy for his High Jump Kick, so she needs at least 6 for Hitmonlee. Now, she's got 3 DCE, 6 Psychic, and 12 Fighting energies. She will also need energy for Ditto and Scyther, although some of their energy costs can be paid by the DCE. Scyther takes 3 DCE for his Slash (1 grass for swords dance) and Ditto takes any energy. She decides to add 4 Psychic and 2 Fighting. 

Kate's Anti-Buzz'n Blastoise Deck Energies 04 Double Colorless 10 Psychic 14 Fighting	She's added the basic energy she will need to power all her Pokèmon. Now, she looks and sees that she's got an awful lot of energy but not much of anything else. She started out with 14 energy, but she decides to take out fighting energies and add 2 Pokèmon Traders. That way she can look through her deck and to pull out a Pokèmon she needs when she needs it.
Kate's Anti-Buzz'n Blastoise Deck  Pokèmon (15) 3 Mew 2 Mr. Mime 2 Hitmonchan 2 Hitmonlee 3 Ditto 3 Scyther Trainers (19) 4 Energy Removal 3 Super Energy Removal 4 Gust of Wind 2 Gambler 1 Professor Oak 3 Switch 2 Lass Energies (26) 02 Double Colorless 10 Psychic 14 Fighting	This is the deck she came up with. She's got lots of good Pokèmon, and some really good trainers. She also has enough energy to power them up and enough to discard when she uses her super energy removals.  She's thought ahead to the different kinds of situations that she might be put in with her deck when she goes to play it in a tournament. She's thought ahead enough to try and use her opponents decks against them. She uses their weaknesses and strengths to her advantage--while making sure that she's got the energy and power to survive in any situation.  Of course, Kate won't know if this deck will work until she takes it out into the world and tests it out--but, she knows right from the start that her deck has a lot of potential. It's structurally sound, and it's got a great strategy backing it up. Even though she doesn't know how it will play out yet, she's got a great start. Since its all still just on paper, and she hasn't put any cash into the cards yet, she knows that she isn't going to get stuck with a bunch of expensive cards that she isn't going to use. Now, with card list in hand and strategy in mind, she can go to the store and buy the packs she will need to build her deck. She can trade with her friends to pick up extra cards she needs.