Considering getting back into the game...

[Zitro]

Well hello. I played the TCG back went it first released (back when 1st Ed cards where common). I was a naive preteen kid who was so much into the video game that I got into anything related. I kept playing the games through the years (played at least one game of each gen at some point) but fell off the TCG in favor of Yugioh and MTG. I got back for like half a year during the end of the R/S era and start of the D/P era. I only played at tournaments like two times (and was a casual player so I was weeded out fast). I played basically at home, with my brother and the fondest memories of the TCG are from there. I still keep a box with some cards, including my brother's Feraligatr / Blaziken deck and my Dialga/Metagross Steel deck from back on the R/S and D/P/P era.

My brother is starting to get heavily interested in getting back into the game but...I did some research and the current state of the game isn't what I'd call normal. The EX cards seem to range from mediocre to wickedly powerful. When you can have Basic Pokémon with 40-50% extra HP over the average Stage 2 AND have those same Pokémon dishing damage in triple digits with little effort, it makes the game feel very different and it worries me.

How is the game now versus say 6-8 years ago?
Is the game still enjoyable without EX use (or at least little use of them)?

We where thinking of starting with getting four sets of the Red Genenesect Collection as it has a solid Trainer base. That sounds good?


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[Athena]

Moved to New Player Help.

 

[Kecleon-X]

Well hello. I played the TCG back went it first released (back when 1st Ed cards where common). I was a naive preteen kid who was so much into the video game that I got into anything related. I kept playing the games through the years (played at least one game of each gen at some point) but fell off the TCG in favor of Yugioh and MTG. I got back for like half a year during the end of the R/S era and start of the D/P era. I only played at tournaments like two times (and was a casual player so I was weeded out fast). I played basically at home, with my brother and the fondest memories of the TCG are from there. I still keep a box with some cards, including my brother's Feraligatr / Blaziken deck and my Dialga/Metagross Steel deck from back on the R/S and D/P/P era.

My brother is starting to get heavily interested in getting back into the game but...I did some research and the current state of the game isn't what I'd call normal. The EX cards seem to range from mediocre to wickedly powerful. When you can have Basic Pokémon with 40-50% extra HP over the average Stage 2 AND have those same Pokémon dishing damage in triple digits with little effort, it makes the game feel very different and it worries me.

How is the game now versus say 6-8 years ago?
Is the game still enjoyable without EX use (or at least little use of them)?

We where thinking of starting with getting four sets of the Red Genenesect Collection as it has a solid Trainer base. That sounds good?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 4

Glad you're thinking about coming back to the game!

Firstly, if you want to get into the game, I think that you should get the Red Genesect if you want to. Also, you can usually buy a couple of theme decks and pick up a few trainers that are helpful, although you won't find a few exceptional Pokemon in them. If you need damage counters, usually the ones in the theme decks are unwieldy to use, so some D6s or D20s are the best, in my opinion.

But there is one thing that I cannot stress enough: Proxy, Proxy, Proxy! When you proxy cards, you print them out and cut out paper copies of them. You then put them on top of a card and then in a sleeve. Congratulations! You can now play with that card, and not have to buy it until you want to play it in a tournament!

Yes, the game has changed very radically. For instance, back in the previous format, (for instance, DP-on) we had things like Uxie and the Turn 1 Rare Candy rules, making the presence of things like Machamp and Gardivoir/Gallade as some prime Meta Decks. Naturally, with the lack of said rules and Pokemon, the meta has changed dramatically. EXs have arisen in the place of Level Xs, and they are high HP basics. Plasma is another huge deck right now, filled with Energy Acceleration in Colress Machine and damage amplification in Deoxys. Kyruem blasts the tar out of opponents with his already powerful attacks, but then there are Silver Bangles to add 30 damage to attacks against EXs, so the base 120 become base 150, then plus three Deoxys, you're OHKOing EXs. It's powerful.

But this does not mean the game is not fun anymore. Heck, if I thought the game to be not fun, I would have quit a long time ago. Although, I have not played a Meta Deck in my entire life. Literally. This makes the game more fun for me, I think, and to me there is nothing like the feeling of winning against someone's meta Plasma List with a random deck like Gigalith.

But that is just me.

To each his own, and if playing Meta is your thing, fantastic. I recommend playtesting some things. Build a few lists on Bebessearch and put it in PlayTCG and have some experimental fun with your brother, and see how you like it. The only limit is your imagination (and 60 cards)!

 

[Zitro]

Well I just ordered four sets of the Genesect box and a Plasma Blast Trainer Box (I was sold on the purple sleeves) online. Would be awesome to pull some EXs...


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[Zitro]

I preordered a Legendary Treasures box too.

A pair of questions:
What are the sets allowed in the current format and is there going to be a new cycle soon?
What are the regular rules for a draft game? I may want to try this with all these many boosters.

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[fezwhy]

The sets I believe go back to Next destinies. There won't be a new cycle until next fall. You have the plasma stuff from the Genesect boxe and plasma trainer box so you should be fine.

I highly suggest you check out this video it will explain how to play.
http://youtu.be/WMJnJVW5dNU
My 8 year old son watched the video and picked everything up fairly quickly.

There is also a sticky here here on the forums on how to build a deck which is a pretty good read also.

 

[scREAM]

Drafting in pokemon is quite hard, unlike magic you really can't do the standard draft that passes each pack around. (well you can it just wont make a good 40 card deck). The deck limit in draft is 40. You generally are given 7 packs each and make the best possible deck out of it. My favourite plasma freeze draft deck was my quad hoot-hoot 36 energy deck.