Barrier Swap (TCG): Difference between revisions

Barrier Swap
[[File:|180px]] Expansion {{{expansion}}} Release date {{{release}}} Types used Major cards Erika's Dratini, Alakazam, Chansey Coin {{{coin}}}

Barrier Swap is a Pokémon Trading Card Game deck archetype that is centered around the cards Erika's Dratini and Alakazam. It focuses on getting Chansey and Alakazam on the bench, while making Erika's Dratini the active Pokémon.

Cards

• Alakazam's Pokémon Power, "Damage Swap," allows a player to move a damage counter on one of their Pokémon to another.
• Erika's Dratini's Pokémon Power, "Strange Barrier," ensures that it only takes 10 damage for each time it is attacked.
• Chansey is typically never used as an active Pokémon, but rather sits on the player's bench, having all of Erika's Dratini's damage counters Damage Swapped to it.
• Erika's Oddish ideally starts off the game to poison the opponent's Pokémon, so they will slowly take damage throughout the game.
• All the commonly used trainers of that format are in this deck to help it burn through cards faster and root out the Pokémon it needs, such as Bill and Professor Oak.
• Although this is fairly uncommon, one version of the deck uses the Dark Vileplume evolution line to shut down all the opponent's trainers and extra drawing.

Typical Deckist

Quantity	Card Name	Type	Rarity
4x	Abra		File:Rare com.gif
3x	Kadabra		File:Rare uncom.gif
4x	Alakazam		File:Rare rare.gifH
3x	Chansey		File:Rare rare.gifH
4x	Erika's Dratini		File:Rare uncom.gif
2x	Erika's Oddish		File:Rare com.gif
3x	Bill	T	File:Rare com.gif
1x	Erika's Maids	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
2x	Full Heal	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
2x	Gust of Wind	T	File:Rare com.gif
1x	Nightly Garbage Run	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
2x	Pokémon Breeder	T	File:Rare rare.gif
3x	Pokémon Trader	T	File:Rare rare.gif
2x	Professor Oak	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
4x	Scoop Up	T	File:Rare rare.gif
4x	Double Colorless Energy	E	File:Rare uncom.gif
4x	Full Heal Energy	E	File:Rare uncom.gif
13x	Psychic Energy	E	--

Keep in mind that this decklist is not official, and any player may wish to change any part of this deck when building their own. However, the writers of this article feel that it is necassary to provide a basic outline for an average deck build.

Strategy

An ideal starting Active Pokémon is Erika's Dratini, with an Abra and a Chansey on the bench. The player would then want to evolve their Abra into Alakazam as soon as possible, possibly using Pokémon Breeder. Then, a player would probably want to Damage Swap any damage Erika's Dratini takes onto Chansey, letting Erika's Dratini's "Tail Strike" move, do 10 or 30 damage per turn, depending on the result of the coin flip. After Chansey takes considerable damage, it should be returned to the player's hand using Scoop Up, and then placed back onto the bench to take more damage.

Restiction

Barrier Swap was banned from tournament play some time ago, due to the key cards, such as Alakazam and Erika's Dratini, being too old for Pokémon Organized Play use. The sets they were in were removed in a Rotation, so the cards were no longer allowed. While Alakazam and Chansey were later reprinted in the Legendary Collection set, the deck could not function without Erika's Dratini, and was never revived.

If it were Legal Today

If the Barrier Swap deck had never been banned, the main deck build, particularly the Trainer Cards, would greatly differ from the form described here. Cards like Bill would be exchanged for cards like TV Reporter and Pokémon Breeder would be swapped out for Rare Candy. Supporter cards would speed up the deck and make drawing and burning through cards easy and efficient. It could very well be the common standard for a well-built strategic deck of today's Pokémon TCG.

Template:Project Decks notice