Benching Pokemon

This article deals with choices you make regarding your bench Pokemons. It doesn't deal with Pokemon selection when building your deck, but rather Pokemon selection when you have multiple cards in your hand. Just because you have a Pokemon in your hand doesn't mean you should play it.

There are a few times when you must absolutely play a Pokemon to the bench. If at any time that your active Pokemon is in any danger of being KOed next round, you should play a Pokemon to the bench. The last thing you want to do when leading is to lose by running out of active Pokemons. The best card to have on the bench is a Free Retreat Pokemon, one that can easily move in and out of the active position.

Pokemons that aren't intended for use and have high retreat costs should never be played to the bench, unless you have no choice as the above paragraph explains. Pokemons with weak basic states should not be played early if you don't have the evolution card. For example, Magikarp should not be played to the bench unless you have Gyrados in your hand, OR you have no other Pokemon to power up (add energy to). If you have plenty of Energy Cards in your hand, then play Magikarp to power up. Just hope a Gyrados or Poketrader/CPU Search shows up.

One of the reasons to not drop down your Pokemon is defense. Your opponent can't hit what that can't see. Bench disruption Pokemon will have less of a choice to hit. You won't have High Retreat Pokemon that are glowing Gust of Wind bait. Never drop a big Pokemon like Kangashkhan if you don't intend to power him up or use him within the next turn.

Another reason not to drop down every Pokemon you have in your hand is to use the extra ones for PokeTrader or Computer Search or any other card replacement Trainers. Filling your bench doesn't make him/her fear, but rather allows them more versatility in their attack.

The biggest reason to not drop every Pokemon is the Element of Surprise. Never let them see what hits them. One of the implementations of this reason is seen in the Chansey article written a few days ago. A single Jigglypuff on the bench could possibly deal 60 damage the very next turn. This is what makes your opponent afraid. A Hitmonchan in your hand can instantly deal 40 damage to a Fighting weak Pokemon the very next round. The key is to make them feel safe and to lure them out to the active position.

The principle of luring and attacking is rather difficult. For example, if they have a Hitmonchan on their bench and they see you have no Fighting resisting Pokemon on your bench, they might make Hitmonchan the active and attack. The very next round you drop your Scyther (or other Fighting Resisting Pokemon) and make him your active. Now the opponent must pay the two retreat cost or use a Trainer to get him out, or get slaughtered by Scyther.

Those are some of the reasons not to play a Pokemon, but there are many times when you want to. Cards like Squirtle, Abra, Bulbasaur, Grimer, etc. should almost always be played to the bench. Why? Because you want them to evolve to their final evolutions as fast as possible so you can take advantage of their Pokemon powers.

So next time you play a game, don't rush to play your card to the bench. Only do it if you need to. If you have a Pokemon with Free Retreat, you should almost always play it to the bench if you don't already have one down there.