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Sponsored. The team at Upper Deck has provided insight on creating and building a deck that will aid your chance in a successful round in the Neopets Battledome Trading Card Game. Here are a handful of the most important aspects to focus on when building a deck in the Neopets Battledome TCG.
CHOOSING AN ARCHETYPE
Traditionally, in most trading card games, there is a general array of varying types of decks that players can choose to play. Since the purpose of this article is to introduce this game specifically, this will just outline some archetypes that can be found in Defenders of Neopia.
An “archetype” simply defines what general game plan your deck is aiming to achieve. This implies that most of the cards you choose to include will actively progress that game plan (we will cover this in more detail in later sections).
Here are some archetype examples you can find in the base set of Neopets Battledome TCG that might help you in focusing your deck strategy with a brief description of what it aims to achieve:
- Fyora’s Battle Faeries – A combo deck that aims to chain multiple Battle Faerie equipment abilities to deal lots of damage and play lots of cards!
- Aethia’s Nova Blade – A tempo deck that utilizes consistency in equipment and extra damage and healing to sustain through longer rounds.
- Marina’s Powerful Potions – A control deck that takes advantage of Marina’s powerful ability to constantly succeed on potions, granting a wide array of options for varying decks.
- Jhudora’s Aggressive Ghosts – An aggro deck that capitalizes on Jhudora and Ghost Neopets to maintain aggressive battles turn after turn.
Now that they have covered a few of the archetypes, let’s start putting together the deck!
SELECTING YOUR NEOPETS
There are four different colors that each base Neopet can be found in: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green. Each color has a correlating stat that is boosted: Attack, Defense, Agility, and Hit Points (respectively).
So, when choosing your five base Neopets, it’s a great idea to choose colors that are conducive to the archetype you have decided on. For example, if you are playing an aggressive deck that wants to roll a lot of dice when attacking, you might want to look towards Red and Yellow Neopets, letting your Attack and Agility shine during Battle. If you are playing a slower archetype like potions, you might opt for Blue and Green Neopets to pad your Defence and Hit Points to ensure you have more time in the round.
Another important aspect to consider when choosing your Neopets is whether or not they have painted versions matching the paint brushes you are playing. While we will cover this in a later section, it’s important to keep in mind so that you can maximize your possibilities when deciding to paint your Neopet.
CODESTONE COUNT
Now that you have chosen your archetype and your Neopets, it’s time to get your deck of 50 cards ready! First, you’ll decide on how many and what kind of Codestones you want to include. Most Neopets Battledome TCG decks run around 13 to 17 Codestones and the types you choose will likely be based on the type of strategy you’re aiming for.
For the number of Codestones, consider the type of deck you are playing and the average level requirement of your cards. For example, an aggressive deck might have a lot of cards with lower-level requirements, so a count of 13 or 14 Codestones would suffice. A higher count of Codestones could be found in a slower, more controlling deck that utilizes higher costed cards and persisting through longer rounds.
Once you’ve decided on a Codestone count, you can choose which stats you want to prioritize with them. There are two big camps to consider here: do you play Codestones to advance your deck’s game plan as a point of redundancy or do you play Codestones to balance out your Neopets stats? For example, if your aggressive deck is playing a lot of cards with Attack and Agility boosting, you can ensure the strategy is carried out by running Attack and Agility Codestones. Alternatively, you could balance out your Neopet’s stats with Defence Codestones. The choice is yours!
CHOOSING CARDS BASED ON ARCHETYPE
A crucial part of deckbuilding is choosing cards. We have covered the archetype, your Neopets, and the Codestones. This step of the process is intensive, but this is a simplified version to consider.
After you have chosen your Codestones, you will have about 35 slots left in your deck for cards. That isn’t a huge number, so make sure your card selection is tight and ultimately advances your game plan as much as possible! As stated prior, Defenders of Neopia has a handful of archetypes built in and every card has a home in one of them; it’s just a matter of finding which cards you like most.
When choosing cards for your deck, the first step is to include the “must-haves,” those cards that are very synergistic (like Battle Faerie equipment for Queen Fyora or Ghost equipment for Ghost decks). Once you have found a healthy amount of these, also fill out your deck with card draw, selection, consistency, searching and other cards that give you the most options of finding your must-haves as often as possible. The more you play your deck, the better you will understand what it needs. Deckbuilding is always a process that extends well past the initial time invested, so don’t worry if it’s not perfect the first time – or the following 10 times! Enjoy the experience and you will be rewarded for it.
And there it is! You have built a deck for Neopets Battledome TCG. There is plenty more to come and the game will only grow more interesting and exciting as more cards are released so stay tuned to Upper Decks upcoming releases.
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