Looking to get back into the TCG

[Zachilles]

First of all, hello. I'm looking to get back into the trading card game. I believe the last time I played was in 2001, and obviously there has been a lot of changes since then. I have browsed the forums and watched some videos so I know some of the game mechanics have changed. I know you can use trainers as often as you like, but supporters only once per turn. The one change I do not understand is the Lost Zone. Are there any other game mechanics that have changed?

Another thing I know is how different sets are rotated in and out. My question about this is how often does the average set stay in rotation for? Obviously the cards are mainly useful only while they can be used in competition, and I would prefer to get some cards that would be useful for more than just a little while.

Because my cards are mainly from the Base, Jungle, and Rocket sets, I don't have any cards legal in the current format. I have read some other threads debating the merits of purchasing boxes, theme decks (or theme deck boxes), tins, or individual cards, however I am still up in the air. And I do not know my metagame because the league I am looking to join starts up again soon, so any deck suggestions are good.

In regards to buying the cards, I understand Troll&Toad is the site most often recommended. Are there other places though, because I added up the total to make a Durant deck from T&T, and it was ~$30 off estimates I've heard people come up with. Also, how would I go about selling cards I no longer need? I would prefer not to deal with eBay and Paypal.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[TheChosenOne]

I'm going to make this as straight-forward as possible, as I was in the same position as you were about three years ago, and my transition back in was helped by this community.


1. The Lost Zone: a very limited number of cards utilize the lost zone, and basically what it is is an area above your prize cards, that functions as a discard, but there is no way to retrieve a card once it has been Lost Zoned. Cards only go into the lost zone unless specified, other than that, you discard them, or shuffle them back into your deck, depending on what the card reads.


2. Other changed game mechanics: Supporters can be played on your first turn, but that is all I can think of, I'm sure others will pop up in the comments.


3. Most sets will last 2-3 Years, your safest bet for what set to buy, is anything Black and White and onwards, which in cludes Black and White, Emerging Powers, Noble Victories, and the up coming Next Destinies. Other than that for a beginner, I would suggest just buying staple cards (Pokemon Collector, Professor Oak's New Theory, Sage's Training, Rare Candy) and any other highly played card from the Heart Gold- Soul Silver Sets, and trading for the cards you need from those sets.


4. If you're looking to collect and play,and have the money, buy a box of Noble Victories, The codes themselves that come guaranteed in each pack are worth enough to start getting some of the staples from the HGSS sets, not to mention you will probably get a play set of durants from it, as well as a bunch of useful cards that will be around for the foreseeable future.


5. Troll and Toad Does have a buying service as well, so see what they are looking for, or set up a trade thread here on the beach and I'm sure you could get some useful cards from here as well. As far as aquiring cards for a durant deck, most people will point you towards the Escavalier Theme Deck from Noble victories, as it comes with the following notable cards: 3 Durant, 2 Elektrik( not needed for a durant deck, but a good card none the less), 1 Druddigon (same as Elektrik), 1 N, 2 Pokemon communication, 2 Super Rod, 6 Basic Metal Energy.

 

[Kingdra_fan]

First of all, hi welcome to the beach and back to pokemon TCG

As far as selling your old cards on here goes, you have to become a verified seller before you are allowed to do this. There are Sticky threads in the Trade forum about how you can do this. If you have some oldschool cards that you don't want you might want to consider trading them here on the beach, you can find out how to start a trade thread in the Trade forum as well

The lost world meachnic works like this, there is a Stadium called "Lost World" if this stadium is in play and you have 6 of your opponents pokemon in the lost zone you may declare yourself the winner of the game. To get pokemon in the lost zone you can use Gengar Prime, his attack hurl into darkness allows you to look at your opponents hand, and for each Psychic energy attached to gengar you may place a pokemon in the lost zone. Mime Jr also has an attack Sleepy Lost. It allows you to put the top card of your opponents deck into the lost zone (regardless of what it is)


Rotation normally comes around once a year, and it's normaly 4 sets rotated. There are a few decks around that are good "starter" decks, most theme decks aren't terribly good competitivly but some have Staple cards in them.

Decks to look into Building first off are

Typhlosion / Reshiram. Reshiram is your main attacker and does 120damage for 3 energy, discarding two of thoes energys. Typhlosion has a pokemon Power that lets you attach 1 energy to one of your pokemon from the discard pile, at the cost of placing 1 damage counter on that pokemon. So basiclly you do 120 each turn once you are setup (the Typhlosions keep up with the energy discarded)

Cincinno / Kingdra is another fun deck to start on. Cincinno is quite cheap! And for x2 colorless energy (DCE is still in format as well) it does 20damage times the number of benched pokemon, so 100 damage with a full bench. Kingdra Prime has a pokepower that lets you place 1 damage counter on one of your opponents pokemon. So he helps up the damage of Cincinno's do the wave attack.

Durant as you said is another deck that's quite cheap, and can be effective!

If you read through some of the boards here there are a few other threads for people who are just getting in the game, and they give info on gread decks to start with e.t.c

 

[Zachilles]

1. The Lost Zone: a very limited number of cards utilize the lost zone, and basically what it is is an area above your prize cards, that functions as a discard, but there is no way to retrieve a card once it has been Lost Zoned. Cards only go into the lost zone unless specified, other than that, you discard them, or shuffle them back into your deck, depending on what the card reads.

Okay, so everything goes into the discard pile unless it specifically states to put it into the Lost Zone. Thanks.

3. Most sets will last 2-3 Years, your safest bet for what set to buy, is anything Black and White and onwards, which in cludes Black and White, Emerging Powers, Noble Victories, and the up coming Next Destinies. Other than that for a beginner, I would suggest just buying staple cards (Pokemon Collector, Professor Oak's New Theory, Sage's Training, Rare Candy) and any other highly played card from the Heart Gold- Soul Silver Sets, and trading for the cards you need from those sets.

4. If you're looking to collect and play,and have the money, buy a box of Noble Victories, The codes themselves that come guaranteed in each pack are worth enough to start getting some of the staples from the HGSS sets, not to mention you will probably get a play set of durants from it, as well as a bunch of useful cards that will be around for the foreseeable future.

So I should buy individual cards of the important trainers and then buy a box?

5. Troll and Toad Does have a buying service as well, so see what they are looking for, or set up a trade thread here on the beach and I'm sure you could get some useful cards from here as well. As far as aquiring cards for a durant deck, most people will point you towards the Escavalier Theme Deck from Noble victories, as it comes with the following notable cards: 3 Durant, 2 Elektrik( not needed for a durant deck, but a good card none the less), 1 Druddigon (same as Elektrik), 1 N, 2 Pokemon communication, 2 Super Rod, 6 Basic Metal Energy.

The Durant deck was just an example, but I might look into it if a lot of cards are in that theme deck. Thanks.

First of all, hi welcome to the beach and back to pokemon TCG

As far as selling your old cards on here goes, you have to become a verified seller before you are allowed to do this. There are Sticky threads in the Trade forum about how you can do this. If you have some oldschool cards that you don't want you might want to consider trading them here on the beach, you can find out how to start a trade thread in the Trade forum as well

The lost world meachnic works like this, there is a Stadium called "Lost World" if this stadium is in play and you have 6 of your opponents pokemon in the lost zone you may declare yourself the winner of the game. To get pokemon in the lost zone you can use Gengar Prime, his attack hurl into darkness allows you to look at your opponents hand, and for each Psychic energy attached to gengar you may place a pokemon in the lost zone. Mime Jr also has an attack Sleepy Lost. It allows you to put the top card of your opponents deck into the lost zone (regardless of what it is)


Rotation normally comes around once a year, and it's normaly 4 sets rotated. There are a few decks around that are good "starter" decks, most theme decks aren't terribly good competitivly but some have Staple cards in them.

Decks to look into Building first off are

Typhlosion / Reshiram. Reshiram is your main attacker and does 120damage for 3 energy, discarding two of thoes energys. Typhlosion has a pokemon Power that lets you attach 1 energy to one of your pokemon from the discard pile, at the cost of placing 1 damage counter on that pokemon. So basiclly you do 120 each turn once you are setup (the Typhlosions keep up with the energy discarded)

Cincinno / Kingdra is another fun deck to start on. Cincinno is quite cheap! And for x2 colorless energy (DCE is still in format as well) it does 20damage times the number of benched pokemon, so 100 damage with a full bench. Kingdra Prime has a pokepower that lets you place 1 damage counter on one of your opponents pokemon. So he helps up the damage of Cincinno's do the wave attack.

Durant as you said is another deck that's quite cheap, and can be effective!

If you read through some of the boards here there are a few other threads for people who are just getting in the game, and they give info on gread decks to start with e.t.c

So you would recommend Reshiphlosion and Cincinno? I understand the basics of Reshiphlosion, I've seen the discussion and some videos of it in play. And Cincinno appears to be simple enough. Any recommendations about how to get the decks? Boxes or individual cards?

And thanks for the replies.