Queendom (TCG)

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, the highest possible honor for a player and their deck. Although the deck is now banned from Play! Pokémon, due to the 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 Maron, and Adam Capriola, three of the top players in the world at the time. Especially notable is Maron, who won Worlds with Queendom that year and finished with a of 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, Maron, and Capriola 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. is the ideal start so that the player can get a out as soon as possible. 's Quick Search 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 as quickly as possible.
 is the deck's main attacker and cornerstone. In fact, the deck's name is clearly derived from Nidoqueen. has two powerful attacks, Toxic and Power Lariat. Toxic 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 's Quick Search helps the Queendom player evolve their Pokémon quickly, Power Lariat was an especially effective combo with .
In essence, the basic strategy of the deck is to use Quick Search and other effects to get out a and other evolutions attacking as quickly as possible.
==Cards==
===Key Cards===
* is, as mentioned above, the main attacking Pokémon in the deck.
* can use its Quick Search Pokémon Power to set up a and supporting Pokémon, such as additional or .
* uses its Healing Shower to heal damage off both players' Pokémon. This was extremely helpful in certain matchups of the day, including .
===Other Pokémon===
* is chiefly there to evolve into at some point. If necessary, can also stall in the early game with its Corner attack, which prevents the Defending Pokémon from retreating.
* also functions solely to evolve into .
* is, again, there to evolve into . Its Call For Friends attack also makes it a viable starting Pokémon, since Basic Pokémon are a significant part of the deck's success.
* 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 's Power Lariat attack.
* is there for the sole purpose of evolving into .
===Other Trainers/Supporters===
* was a staple card in almost every deck at the time, due to its fantastic ability to search any Pokémon (except ) from a player's deck. It speeds up Queendom and makes it easier to get out and .
* is mostly used as a counter for , another popular that shuts off Quick Search. Additionally, can prove a vital asset against decks centered around .
* lets the player evolve into directly, skipping the middle stage. Since this allows to evolve directly into and to evolve directly into , this speeds up the deck tremendously.
* is simply a good hand-refresher.
* can grab any from the player's deck, which can help get additional evolutions out.
* is just a simple drawing .
* 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.
* is used in the late game to pick up the and be able to reuse its effect.
===Energy Cards===
* is used to power 's Toxic attack.
* speeds up the deck by decreasing the number of energy cards needed by to attack, since it's basically two energy for the price of one.
* 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.
* simply provides the energy needed for 's Lariat attack.
==2005 World Championships Queendom Deck==
Queendom is also the name of the deck used by Jeremy Maron, Fifteen and Over Division Champion in the . It is one of the four , released on October 31st, 2005. Each deck comes packaged with a 2005 World Championships Booklet. Each card features a silver border, Maron's signature, and limited edition 2005 World Championships back. None of the cards are tournament legal.
===Description===
Jeremy Maron built a powerhouse of a deck! Nidoqueen for power, Pidgeot for card drawing, and Milotic for surprises. Nidoqueen's Power Lariat Knock Out your opponent's Pokémon, drawing strength from your Evolved Pokémon on the Bench and warming your Bench up for the battle!
===Deck list===
The deck list below is based on Maron's deck from the World Championships. A player may wish to change any part of this deck when building his or her own version.
==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 cards, but none have been quite so successful as the deck that won the 2005 World Championships.
==See also==
===Internal===
* Deck archetype (TCG)
===External===
* PokéGym thread
Category:Deck archetypes
Category:World Championship Decks
zh:女王国（TCG）