I do want to mention that this last TCG season with 500 required points for worlds really made a lot of people quit the game. Nationals lost about 150 people then usual. Nationals had an upwards trend until this point. Also, the excessive EX pokemon with amazing attacks has shyed away many juniors and seniors to the competitive scene. I remember back in 2012 when about 30 juniors would come to cities tournaments (with half being good players), but now its dropped to only 7-10 players in my area. And deck costs have gotten higher to a point where many people who do want to join can't play too competitively. Theme decks, which are given to beginners, are very unhelpful to learn the game. This gives new players, who might want to be competitive, a false sense of what a popular/good deck is like. If they keep getting beaten, they will not stick with the pokemon tcg for awhile.
But to play Devil's Advocate, the CP points this required year dropped to 300, now obtainable by many masters, might bring in more players. In addition, more strategy has been added to today's decks. Less decks nowadays are "big-basic" like in which all you need to know is how to attach an energy and to attack for whatever amount of damage. Cards like head ringer, mega gengar EX, spirit links, and robo substitute are new and relevant cards that are very strategic and require skill to play with. Lastly, with added prize support, pokemon has made more of a reason why to play this season (went from 5,000 to 25,000 dollars for first in Worlds).