Reading these six pages gave me a headache, and easily reminded me why I stopped playing pro. The vast misunderstanding of wording that paints so clear a picture it's almost worthy of hanging in a museum (ie. "Abilities" counting towards Umbreon UD, Vileplume's supposed "godliness" due to 'Trainer' terms) is staggering. The irony is alot of their re-wording was to be as clear as possible ("Heals 20 damage" vs. "Remove 2 damage counters"), and yet it seems that still isn't enough. $10 says even after PCL comes forward, slaps everyone Three Stooges style, and says "No, Vileplume can only lock Items and Umbreon can still be attacked by Pokemon with 'Abilities'" that people will still say "...I'm not so sure, because-".
Secondly, as far as the new rules go, I do see the flaw in them existing with the new rotation. Part of what made me go back to "just for fun" was the vast amount of unoriginality that the TCG has degraded into professionally (if there are four division winners and three are using the same deck, that's pathetic). It's called "Gotta Catch 'Em All", not "Let's Just Use the Same Six Pokemon". Because I can tell you right now if I was a Pokemon Trainer and every trainer/gym leader/Elite 4 member I fought had a team comprised of Sableye, Luxray, Garchomp, Gyarados, Dialga, and Spiritomb, I'd call them all filth, hand my starter back over to the Professor, and go home and read a book. Seeing SPs and everything pre-HGSS rotated out would be wonderful, and easily speak volumes towards moving in the right direction (best league games were after the last rotation when LuxDrill net deckers were forced to 'think', whomp whomp). The very concept of 'donk' decks, which the new rulings have turned into the ultimate 'must have' (provided the rotation doesn't hit on the 25th, which would be equally beautiful), almost makes me sick. Since when did Pokemon TCG turn into the game 'Perfection'? Maybe Judges should have egg timers, reward players based on how many fewer turns they win.
Old codger rants aside, as I know there are many who actually find enjoyment in such things, the new set looks exactly how a brand new region set would (someone made the parallel to D&P, I fail to see why it wouldn't look like that). We have to keep in mind that, even with the games out over here for a month and sites like PB to fill us in on every Pokemon in the Unova Pokedex, they're still going to try and stagger it out because they have to. Officially (I know, bear with me), Kelodion, Melotta, and Genesect don't exist; Kyurem is not a big star with his own game (rather, he resembles Timmy's turkey Gobbles from South Park); and few have rarely attempted to capture Thunderus/Tornadus, let alone buy both B&W and catch both to get Landerus (who is pretty epic btw). So stuffing all 156 into the first of what, for all we know, could be another Diamond/Pearl block (would make alot of sense with an HGSS rotation) is just silly. This is an introductory set, nothing more.
That said, my last point of observation is the newer post about "cut Pokemon cards". Several of those cards actually did make it into the set (Basculin caught my eye) and are even in precons. So this list seems kinda 'hokey' to me.
Alright, I'm done with my quarterly PB forum post. You scamps run along now.
Secondly, as far as the new rules go, I do see the flaw in them existing with the new rotation. Part of what made me go back to "just for fun" was the vast amount of unoriginality that the TCG has degraded into professionally (if there are four division winners and three are using the same deck, that's pathetic). It's called "Gotta Catch 'Em All", not "Let's Just Use the Same Six Pokemon". Because I can tell you right now if I was a Pokemon Trainer and every trainer/gym leader/Elite 4 member I fought had a team comprised of Sableye, Luxray, Garchomp, Gyarados, Dialga, and Spiritomb, I'd call them all filth, hand my starter back over to the Professor, and go home and read a book. Seeing SPs and everything pre-HGSS rotated out would be wonderful, and easily speak volumes towards moving in the right direction (best league games were after the last rotation when LuxDrill net deckers were forced to 'think', whomp whomp). The very concept of 'donk' decks, which the new rulings have turned into the ultimate 'must have' (provided the rotation doesn't hit on the 25th, which would be equally beautiful), almost makes me sick. Since when did Pokemon TCG turn into the game 'Perfection'? Maybe Judges should have egg timers, reward players based on how many fewer turns they win.
Old codger rants aside, as I know there are many who actually find enjoyment in such things, the new set looks exactly how a brand new region set would (someone made the parallel to D&P, I fail to see why it wouldn't look like that). We have to keep in mind that, even with the games out over here for a month and sites like PB to fill us in on every Pokemon in the Unova Pokedex, they're still going to try and stagger it out because they have to. Officially (I know, bear with me), Kelodion, Melotta, and Genesect don't exist; Kyurem is not a big star with his own game (rather, he resembles Timmy's turkey Gobbles from South Park); and few have rarely attempted to capture Thunderus/Tornadus, let alone buy both B&W and catch both to get Landerus (who is pretty epic btw). So stuffing all 156 into the first of what, for all we know, could be another Diamond/Pearl block (would make alot of sense with an HGSS rotation) is just silly. This is an introductory set, nothing more.
That said, my last point of observation is the newer post about "cut Pokemon cards". Several of those cards actually did make it into the set (Basculin caught my eye) and are even in precons. So this list seems kinda 'hokey' to me.
Alright, I'm done with my quarterly PB forum post. You scamps run along now.
