Battling in Pokemon TCG Pocket is kind of the real endgame – taking your hard-earned deck online and testing it out against other players. But for the majority of decks, the real tone-setter for this matches happens before a single card gets played. Going first, it turns out, isn’t particularly great right now.

You see, by going first, you get an extra card. This is nice and all, but what you gain in card-advantage, you lose in turn one energy. Now, there are decks that can make up the difference with an energy deficit! Most prominently, the Arcanite EX can use Misty to stack a bunch of water energy in a single turn (if they win the coin toss), but for the other decks it can be a real pain.

One energy doesn’t sound like a lot, but it can get the ball rolling. Loads of lower-top top decks, like Marowak EX + Dugtrio, need two energy max on all of their cards, and are focused on early damage to snatch wins. But, when most of the brillaint decks now are energy-reliant (Charizard EX, Mewtwo EX, Venusaur EX) being behind in energy generation can really hurt.

This is only really a problem during these opening weeks of Pokemon TCG Pocket’s life. When more cards are added to the game, you’ll see more options to generate energy across the different elemental type decks. So for now, if you’re looking for wins, you’ve either gotta suck it up or start praying for Arcanite EX and Misty pulls. It’ll get better, in time.

How do you feel about going first in Pokemon TCG Pocket? Let us know below, do you mind?