8. Play cards from each Trainer Card group. The 4 groups are: 1) Power/Healing/Protection, including Digger*, Scoop Up, Full Heal*, Defender*, and Pluspower; 2) Card Drawing Power, including Bill*, Erika*, Computer Search*, Professor Elm*, and even cards like Sabrina's Psychic Control*; 3) Distruption/Surprise, (designed to slow down your opponent), including SER, RSA, Goop, and Lass; 4) Board Control, including Stadium Cards and cards like GOW and Switch. These 4 types of Trainers should have representatives in every deck.

7. Know all popular deck types in your area and ensure that you are as resistant to them as possible. This means that you should use Igglybuffs* (probably 2) in most decks to counter Slowking* (although Magby* is sometimes better), as well as a Scyther (Jungle)* to counter Gligar*, and a Goop or two to counter Mr. Mime* and Aerodactyl*. Of course, those are only truly good if the Pokémon they metagame*** are in your area. These cards are often called TeCH.

6. Try to counter your weaknesses. Obviously, if you play Meganium (Wild Growth)*, you already know you have a huge disadvantage against Typhlosion (Fire Recharge)* and Steelix*. However, if you play Woopers and SERs, you should pull through, or at least put up a fight. Simalarily, if you run Tyranitar**, your deck is very weak to Unown D* (if it's your opponent's), Goop (stopping your own Unown D), and especially Super Energy Removal. How you can stop this is play Igglybuff (stops opponent's Unown D), Transperant Walls* (Goop just lasts a turn, and so does this trainer. Coincidence? I think... so), and Ecogym* or No Removal Gym* (Recycles energy or stops the removal cold).

5. Use a balanced deck. Have at either 2 or 3 types, not including colorless Pokémon or Pokémon like Wooper or Ponyta* that are just included for a colorless attack. In a "Big Evolution" deck (containing a Stage 2 evolution line), you should have about 12-15 basic Pokémon, including 4 of the basic of your stage 2 evolution. You also should have 3 Pokémon Breeders* and Stage 1 Pokémon combined. Have 2 of your Stage 2 Pokémon. In a "Mixed" deck (containing 1 or 2 Stage 1 Pokémon line), you should have 3-4 of each basic that you need to get your Stage 2's, and 2-3 of the Stage 1's. 7-8 high HP basic Pokémon (BBP's for short) should also be included. In a "Haymaker" style deck (Zero evolution), you should have 12-15 basic Pokémon, all of which with at least 50 HP (besides Babies), and most with 70+.

4. Play the best trainers. Pluspower belongs in every standard deck, even if you just have 1. Oak belongs in almost every standard deck, as do RSA, GOW, and Switch. Yes, Switch. It is a great escape card, and will save you against Ariados* or Murkrow* decks. Also, Cleffa and Igglybuff (even if they're not trainers, they act like them) should both be staples in your deck(s).

3. Play a Stadium Card in multiples (2 or 3). If you do not use ER/SER, you will want to counteract them by A) playing No Removal Gym in an energy discarding deck, or B) Ecogym in any other deck. If you play ER/SER you will want to counteract these gyms. The City gyms (Pewter City Gym*, Cerulean City Gym*, etc.) work well if you play Pokémon from these trainers, but are generally useless otherwise (even though you can use it just to stop other gyms, they still could help the opponent). Team Rocket's Training Gym* is good in a deck designed specifically to remove energy or in a Piloswine* deck, but isn't good in many other decks. Chaos Gym* is useful in a Trapper (designed to eliminate the opponent's hand and stop them from using trainers) when combined with another Gym, but is generally reduced to TeCH status in other decks (TeCH is a card you put in to help you in certain specific situations... Pichu* is a prime example of TeCH). Sprout Tower* works wonders in no-Colorless decks, and just through its existance requires decks that rely heavily on Colorless Pokémon (hint: Wigglytuff*) to have some sort of default gym. Narrow Gym* limits the number of Pokémon a player can have on his or her bench to 4, decreasing Wigglytuff and Sneasel*'s power somewhat, and as it has no real other use, it can be useful as a default Gym. Rocket's Minefield Gym is a gym that hurts babies BAD, and is a useful default gym if there's nothing else that you think will work with your deck. Healing Fields**** has you flip a coin once each turn (if you want to) to remove 20 damage from your active Pokémon, making it semi-useful as a default gym in Gatr decks, and a freaky default gym for others.

1. Make a strong deck that you can have fun with! Use it and play with it and fine-tune it. Think of the trainers you wish you had had, and note the cards that when you got them you wished it had been near-anything else. Have a lot of fun, and if you pay attention to other players that use the same deck over and over again (and it always mauls you), make a deck to beat it, and fine-tune it after every match with that person. Sweet victory goes to the persistant!