By SWU CUBE: Pokemon TCG Pocket IRL?! The 1v1 Draft Cube.
It’s an interesting format of 81 card cube (+ a Poke Ball and Professor’s Research outside the cube for each player to increase consistency) for two players. It follows mutant evolution rules but allows evolutions across type boundaries (so you can evolve Pikachu (lightning, basic) into Ivysaur (grass, stage 1)). In the video he recommends requiring deciding your evolution lines before the games.
The cube also has a larger, 162 card version, but I haven’t built that since 81 cards + energies fit nicely into a smaller deck box.
I’m planning to play this in Solomon Draft Style. The author has said he drafts in 3x3 Grid Draft style. There are many 2 player draft formats to try out.
There are some special rules compared to regular Pokemon TCG:
- Players get one energy each turn from the Energy Zone to attach to one of their Pokemon in play
- I consider every energy for this cube to be of any type but only one type at a time. The author uses a random pull from a set of two energy types. My choice stems mostly from the desire to have less cards/tokens with me and streamlining the play process but I need to test if that becomes too easy to power up Pokemon.
- The game has random effects and I’ve figured the best way to emulate that is to play them as Random Receiver card: Reveal cards from the top of your deck until you reveal a Supporter card. Put it into your hand. Shuffle the other cards back into your deck.
- The author does the same but without revealing the cards and instead trusting the people they play with. I think in this casual format there’s little difference.
Card List
| Card ID | Card name | Quantity (default 1) |
|---|---|---|
| A1 005 | Caterpie | |
| A1a 01 | Exeggcute | |
| A1 025 | Scyther | |
| A1 024 | Tangela | |
| A1a 03 | Celebi ex | |
| A1 030 | Lilligant | |
| A1 032 | Gogoat | |
| A1a 02 | Exeggutor | |
| A1a 06 | Serperior | |
| A1 004 | Venusaur ex | |
| A1a 10 | Ponyta | |
| A1 037 | Vulpix | |
| A1 048 | Heatmor | |
| A1 044 | Magmar | |
| A1 047 | Moltres ex | |
| A1 043 | Rapidash | |
| A1 038 | Ninetales | |
| A1 040 | Arcanine | |
| A1a 11 | Rapidash | |
| A1 036 | Charizard ex | |
| A1 057 | Psyduck | |
| A1 090 | Pyukumuku | |
| A1 091 | Bruxish | |
| A1 068 | Krabby | |
| A1 084 | Articuno ex | |
| A1 075 | Starmie | |
| A1 093 | Frosmoth | |
| A1a 19 | Vaporeon | |
| A1 089 | Greninja | |
| A1 056 | Blastoise ex | |
| A1 094 | Pikachu | |
| A1a 30 | Dedenne | |
| A1 101 | Electabuzz | |
| A1a 27 | Electabuzz | |
| A1 096 | Pikachu ex | |
| A1 104 | Zapdos ex | |
| A1 100 | Electrode | |
| A1 102 | Jolteon | |
| A1a 26 | Raichu | |
| A1 109 | Eelektross | |
| A1 151 | Cubone | |
| A1 154 | Hitmonlee | |
| A1 155 | Hitmonchan | |
| A1 150 | Onix | |
| A1a 42 | Primeape | |
| A1 138 | Sandslash | |
| A1 163 | Grapploct | |
| A1 153 | Marowak ex | |
| A1a 46 | Aerodactyl ex | |
| A1 149 | Golem | |
| A1 196 | Meowth | |
| A1 209 | Porygon | |
| A1a 62 | Chatot | |
| A1 203 | Kangaskhan | |
| A1a 60 | Tauros | |
| A1 219 | Erika | |
| A1 220 | Misty | |
| A1 221 | Blaine | |
| A1 226 | Lt. Surge | |
| A1 224 | Brock | |
| A1 223 | Giovanni | 2 |
| A1a 67 | Blue | 2 |
| A1a 68 | Leaf | 2 |
| A1 225 | Sabrina | 3 |
| P-A 001 | Potion | 3 |
| P-A 002 | X speed | 3 |
| P-A 003 | Hand scope | |
| P-A 004 | Pokedex | |
| P-A 006 | Red card | 2 |
| A1a 65 | Pokémon flute | 2 |
These cards are not included in the draft but 1 of each is given to both players.
| Card ID | Card name | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| P-A 007 | Professor’s Research | 2 |
| P-A 005 | Poké Ball | 2 |