Hello, my name is Josh and I've played magic the gathering for years. I haven't played pokemon since the first set up to team rocket. I recently got back into it after some of my buddies pulled me in.
The few weeks I've been researching decks, reading articles on national events etc, I've come to some realizations/questions that I'd like to be answered if possible! Opinions welcome!
First off, I understand what cards are "legal" in tournament play, as in the sets, but I know in magic there's rotations of sets that will eventually be illegal. When does this happen, and what sets will be going away?
I've noticed the majority of decks are all lvl.x, prime, and general "ultra rare" based. All coming from two sets (which I forget the names of). After looking at Black and White cards coming out, I just don't understand how those "ultra rares" are SO good and even with a new set decks wont be touched for the most part. Why were those sets (with the ultra rares) released when it really makes the metagame unbalanced? As in, clearly those cards are incredible (scizor, mew, machamp, etc) and anything else really just doesn't come close to being able to beat it, especially from newer sets released after those. Magic is sort of that way as well which I relate everything I've found to that. However, there's some decks that don't run (insert flavor of the month decks here) and can do a fairly good job at winning. With pokemon I really don't see a way to beat a mew lost zone deck, unless you run a different prime/lvl.x deck. Is this how it's always been in past set rotations?
My deck I've thought about making for example is a bench harass, heal deck (grass). In my group of friends I haven't lost, it's extremely powerful. Despite my newly arrival to pokemon I felt I understood it enough to put together this deck. It consists of The new serperior (from starter deck), yanmega's (the 0 energy ability one) and ninjasks (the 1 energy one). However, when I think how It would compete vs a prime/lvl.x deck I don't get it. I just assume every round they hit for 150+ on average so even if I have very well synergy in my deck, it wont matter because all my pokemon would be KO in one shot. Making my no retreat cost switching in and out healing worthless. My point is, is the metagame really all mew decks or decks that actives hit for around 100+ by turn 2 (sometimes 1)? It just seems like if I want to be competitive I HAVE to go with these ultras from a few sets back and there's absolutely NO alternative to compete.
I'm also curious why the newest set black and white really doesn't seem like it's worth much, again comparing to these prime/lvl.x cards. Why is this? is this a new base set, and expansions of this set will have new ultras?
That's all for now, I'm sure I'll have more soon Thanks in advance.
The few weeks I've been researching decks, reading articles on national events etc, I've come to some realizations/questions that I'd like to be answered if possible! Opinions welcome!
First off, I understand what cards are "legal" in tournament play, as in the sets, but I know in magic there's rotations of sets that will eventually be illegal. When does this happen, and what sets will be going away?
I've noticed the majority of decks are all lvl.x, prime, and general "ultra rare" based. All coming from two sets (which I forget the names of). After looking at Black and White cards coming out, I just don't understand how those "ultra rares" are SO good and even with a new set decks wont be touched for the most part. Why were those sets (with the ultra rares) released when it really makes the metagame unbalanced? As in, clearly those cards are incredible (scizor, mew, machamp, etc) and anything else really just doesn't come close to being able to beat it, especially from newer sets released after those. Magic is sort of that way as well which I relate everything I've found to that. However, there's some decks that don't run (insert flavor of the month decks here) and can do a fairly good job at winning. With pokemon I really don't see a way to beat a mew lost zone deck, unless you run a different prime/lvl.x deck. Is this how it's always been in past set rotations?
My deck I've thought about making for example is a bench harass, heal deck (grass). In my group of friends I haven't lost, it's extremely powerful. Despite my newly arrival to pokemon I felt I understood it enough to put together this deck. It consists of The new serperior (from starter deck), yanmega's (the 0 energy ability one) and ninjasks (the 1 energy one). However, when I think how It would compete vs a prime/lvl.x deck I don't get it. I just assume every round they hit for 150+ on average so even if I have very well synergy in my deck, it wont matter because all my pokemon would be KO in one shot. Making my no retreat cost switching in and out healing worthless. My point is, is the metagame really all mew decks or decks that actives hit for around 100+ by turn 2 (sometimes 1)? It just seems like if I want to be competitive I HAVE to go with these ultras from a few sets back and there's absolutely NO alternative to compete.
I'm also curious why the newest set black and white really doesn't seem like it's worth much, again comparing to these prime/lvl.x cards. Why is this? is this a new base set, and expansions of this set will have new ultras?
That's all for now, I'm sure I'll have more soon Thanks in advance.