Queendom (TCG)
| Queendom | ||||
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Queendom was a popular competitive deck in the Pokémon Trading Card Game during the 2004/2005 season. The deck was widely accepted as one of, if not the, best decks in the game, and even won a World Championship title in the 15+ age division, the highest possible honor for a player and their deck. Although the deck is now banned from Pokémon Organized Play, due to the Rotation of the deck's key cards, it still remains a staple deck in the history of competitive Pokémon TCG playing.
History
The deck is presumed to have been created some time in 2004, chiefly developed by Pablo Meza, Jeremy M., and Adam C., three of the top players in the world at the time. Especially notable is Jeremy M., who won Worlds with Queendom that year and finished with a spectacular Premier Rating or 2001.00, fifth in the world at the time. Meza also placed third in Worlds that year, also with Queendom.
After coming up with the idea for the deck, Meza, Jeremy, and Adam playtested the deck intensely for months against almost every possible archetype of the time, so as to assure that Queendom had no unforeseen weaknesses. This clearly paid off, as the deck took two of the top three spots at the World Championships that season.
Strategy
Like many of the best decks in the game's history, the strategy of Queendom is fairly straightforward. Pidgey is the ideal start so that the player can get a Pidgeot out as soon as possible. Pidgeot's Quick Search Pokémon Power reads that "Once during your turn (before your attack), you may choose any 1 card from your deck and put it into your hand." As can be assumed, this was chiefly used for setting up in the early game, and for getting any other cards needed in the late game. Quick Search in this deck was mainly meant to be used to set up at least one Nidoqueen as quickly as possible.
Nidoqueen is the deck's main attacker and cornerstone. In fact, the deck's name is clearly derived from Nidoqueen. Nidoqueen has two powerful attacks, Toxic and Power Lariat. Toxic Poisons the Defending Pokémon for only one 
energy. However, Toxic was especially good because instead of placing one damage counter on the Defending Pokémon between turns, like typical poison, it placed two damage counters. This was extremely good for the time. Power Lariat did more damage based on the number of Evolved Pokémon the Queendom player had in play. For an energy cost of only 
, it could do up to 90 damage. Again, this was spectacular for the time. Since Pidgeot's Quick Search helps the Queendom player evolve their Pokémon quickly, Power Lariat was an especially effective combo with Pidgeot.
In essence, the basic strategy of the deck is to use Quick Search and other effects to get out a Nidoqueen and other evolutions attacking as quickly as possible.
Cards
Key Cards
- Nidoqueen is, as mentioned above, the main attacking Pokémon in the deck.
- Pidgeot can use its Quick Search Pokémon Power to set up a Nidoqueen and supporting Pokémon, such as additional Nidoqueen or Pidgeot.
- Milotic uses its Healing Shower Pokémon Power to heal damage off both players' Pokémon. This was extremely helpful in certain matchups of the day, including RockLock.
Other Pokémon
- Pidgey is chiefly there to evolve into Pidgeot at some point. If necessary, Pidgey can also stall in the early game with its Corner attack, which prevents the Defending Pokémon from retreating.
- Pidgeotto also functions solely to evolve into Pidgeot.
- Nidoran♀ is, again, there to evolve into Nidoqueen. Its Call For Friends attack also makes it a viable starter Pokémon, since Basic Pokémon are a significant part of the deck's success.
- Nidorina actually has a purpose other than evolving. Its Fast Evolution attack allows the player to search their deck for up to two evolution cards and add them to their hand. This is especially useful in Queendom because a centerpiece of the deck is, in fact, the concept of "fast evolution" so as to power up Nidoqueen's Power Lariat atttack.
- Feebas is there for the sole purpose of evolving into Milotic.
Other Trainers/Supporters
- Celio's Network was a staple card in almost every deck at the time, due to its fantastic ability to search any Pokémon (except Pokémon-ex) from a player's deck. It speeds up Queendom and makes it easier to get out Nidoqueen and Pidgeot.
- Desert Ruins is mostly used as a counter for Battle Frontier, another popular Stadium card that shuts off Quick Search. Additionally, Desert Ruins can prove a vital asset against decks centered around Pokémon-ex.
- Rare Candy lets the player evolve Basic Pokémon into Stage-2 Pokémon directly, skipping the middle stage. Since this allows Pidgey to evolve directly into Pidgeot and Nidoran♀ to evolve directly into Nidoqueen, this speeds up the deck tremendously.
- Copycat is simply a good hand-refresher.
- Great Ball can grab any Basic Pokémon from the player's deck, which can help get additional evolutions out.
- Steven's Advice is just a simple drawing Supporter.
- Rocket's Admin. can disrupt the opponent's hand in the late game or give the Queendom player a new hand of 6 cards at the beginning of the game. It's a diverse card.
- Mr. Briney's Compassion is used in the late game to pick up the Milotic and be able to reuse its effect.
Energy Cards
- Grass Energy is used to power Nidoqueen's Toxic attack.
- Double Rainbow Energy speeds up the deck by decreasing the number of energy cards needed by Nidoqueen to attack, since it's basically two energy for the price of one.
- Heal Energy simply is useful for healing 10 damage off a Pokémon. Since 10 damage can make the difference between another turn to live or a knockout, this is a helpful card.
- Fighting Energy simply provides the energy needed for Nidoqueen's Lariat attack.
Typical Decklist
The deck list appearing below is not official; it is meant to represent an average build of the archetype, not specifically constructed for any regional metagame. Being that this is merely an archetype, a player may wish to change any part of this deck when building his or her own version.
| Quantity | Card Name | Type | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3x | Pidgey | |
|
| 2x | Pidgeotto | |
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| 3x | Pidgeot | |
 H
|
| 4x | Nidoran♀ | |
|
| 3x | Nidorina | |
|
| 4x | Nidoqueen | |
H
|
| 1x | Feebas |  |
|
| 1x | Milotic | |
H
|
| 4x | Celio's Network | T |
|
| 4x | Desert Ruins | T |
|
| 4x | Rare Candy | T |
|
| 4x | Copycat | T |
|
| 3x | Great Ball | T |
|
| 2x | Steven's Advice | T |
|
| 2x | Rocket's Admin. | T |
|
| 1x | Mr. Briney's Compassion | T |
|
| 6x | Grass Energy | E |
|
| 4x | Double Rainbow Energy | E | 
|
| 3x | Heal Energy | E |
|
| 2x | Fighting Energy | E |
|
Restriction
Since literally all the cards in the deck have been rotated out since the height of the deck's popularity, the deck is unplayable in sanctioned tournaments. Various "new-age" versions of the deck have been tried, centered around other Nidoqueen cards, but none have been quite so successful as the deck that won the 2005 World Championships.
See also
Internal
External
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This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. |
