New “ex Battle Decks” for Tapu Koko ex and Iron Leaves ex in October!

[Water Pokémon Master]

A new set of “ex Battle Decks” will release on October 18th featuring Tapu Koko ex and Iron Leaves ex!

As usual each deck will cost $9.99.
The last two sets of ex Battle Decks featured brand new English-exclusive artwork for their starring cards. However, when they were first revealed, their product images used the original artwork as placeholders. Thus, it’s possible we’ll see new...

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[afr1234]

They look as unplayable as always

 

[LOTTEN]

They look as unplayable as always

unplayable? what, like, at a highly competitive level? what a pointless expectation to have of what is and has never been advertised as anything but an entry-level product.

 

[Diego Lima]

unplayable? what, like, at a highly competitive level? what a pointless expectation to have of what is and has never been advertised as anything but an entry-level product.

Yeah, was about to say the same thing, I don't know what's so hard to understand about this line of products. They even came up with a very illustrative system of separating the products in "levels", and people STILL somehow miss the point that they basically drew for them.

 

[beatbox2000]

The issue is that they overproduce these and then force LGS to take them or else they won't get their booster boxes. The demand for these is non-existent. Kids are better off using their bulk for decks than these useless products.

 

[afr1234]

unplayable? what, like, at a highly competitive level? what a pointless expectation to have of what is and has never been advertised as anything but an entry-level product.

Have you ever played casually in leagues IRL?

No one uses decks as bad as this one. Is mostly meta decks with players learning the ropes, but still good decks.

Is not about being "advertised", is about being desirable, they are pretty unappealing and as a LGS they force you to stock on them.

 

[afr1234]

The issue is that they overproduce these and then force LGS to take them or else they won't get their booster boxes. The demand for these is non-existent. Kids are better off using their bulk for decks than these useless products.

This.

They are better off buying a battle league deck. These level 1&2 decks have almost no demand due to how unplayable they are.

The only reason they produce them is because "they sell", but that is because they force them on retailers and they are often sold at a loss (the loss is 100% eaten by retailers).

Regardless, starting level products shouldn't be unplayable, new players need good cards the most. Else, they will be defeated over and over and quit, especiallly in a game like pokemon where everything is so cheap that even casual players have meta decks.

There are multiple ways to improve the precon deck's product line. And the first step is to be upfront and call subpar products subpar, instead of justifying it with "it isn't advertised to be good", that's BS logic.

 

[Nintenfreak]

I actually kind of agree that it would be nice if theme decks were, at least, good in some way. I mean You don't wanna put a thousand ex Pokemon in each deck, that's fine but like, you could do a Night March deck or similar gimmicks with obvious ways to play it.

 

[chapi1979]

I know the decks are ment to be easy (no abilities etc) and on the level of battle academy.
But i wish they would be at least on the level of Lorcana starter decks which are semi competitive.

 

[Chimecho3000]

Surely must be alt arts. Iron Leaves ex already got 1 in a tin though....

Gosh that Tapu Koko deck doesn't have a single Rare in it, so no non-holo exclusives. Iron Leaves deck has Vileplume as an exclusive, which will be more desirable that the average non-holo exclusive since its from 151.

 

[Red80Lightning]

I used to buy these decks for my kids to play with, but recently they've been pretty bad.
I wish they made these theme decks more coherent. Sometimes the pokemon are so random that they actually make it harder for beginners. Tapu Koko ex and Iron Leaves ex have been used as tech cards, not sure how they will carry a full deck.

The Lucario ex battle deck is still our favorite.

Releasing One prize decks as theme decks like Ancient Box, Festival grounds, United Wings, would also be cool...plus people would actually buy them.

 

[LOTTEN]

Have you ever played casually in leagues IRL?

No one uses decks as bad as this one. Is mostly meta decks with players learning the ropes, but still good decks.

Is not about being "advertised", is about being desirable, they are pretty unappealing and as a LGS they force you to stock on them.

theme decks aren't supposed to be competing evenly with constructed format decklists. that that does not happen is not a failing of the product, but the point. there is absolutely a ton of room for improvement in products like these, but the purpose of these products is that they are entry level decks that are meant to compete with each other first and foremost. i'd ask if you've forgotten what it's truly like to be new to a game like this, but chances are that was longer ago for me than it was for you. we've come a long way since the likes of Brushfire, that's for sure.

 

[afr1234]

theme decks aren't supposed to be competing evenly with constructed format decklists. that that does not happen is not a failing of the product, but the point. there is absolutely a ton of room for improvement in products like these, but the purpose of these products is that they are entry level decks that are meant to compete with each other first and foremost. i'd ask if you've forgotten what it's truly like to be new to a game like this, but chances are that was longer ago for me than it was for you. we've come a long way since the likes of Brushfire, that's for sure.

Local leagues aren't super competitive, and yet pretty much everyone has a meta deck in hand, if you play these, you are going to be stomped to death over and over. So this thing can't even do casual play.

Again, pokemon has a really big issue with card prices and accesibility but the other way around. Cards being too accessible kills any space for bad cards or decks to be experimented with.

Local leagues are also pretty much the obly way for some people to play physical pokemon as most stores don't even have "free play time" anymore as they have tournaments for a bunch of games running.

So what you are saying is that is ok they sell useless bulk product people won't even be able to re-use later to unsuspecting customers while penalizing retailers for it as "it isn't designed to be competitive" (which isn't the same as being designed to be super unplayable).

Who says it has or needs to be that way? Strategy isn't even consistent as if you start playing in PTCG live, you get a subpar version of a good deck more often than not as an starting point. Same applies to pre releases.

Also, if that is the point, that's what battle academy is there for. A product designed for toddlers as a board game.

Calling bad products bad and unecessary is the first necessary step to change something that is punishing everyone that dares to buy it. Who says a newcomer is better welcomed into the game with these unplayable piles instead of a lite version of a battle league deck or an structure deck with a theme like YGO?

 

[afr1234]

Example 1 Exclusive Holo SIR (1x for thwackey) and non league cosmo holo versions of skateboard, pal pad and poffin (1x each).

With this, you have a casually competitive deck that you can upgrade by buying a second copy and rounding up your staple line. Strategy is very simple, and deck has a bunch of mechanics set-in (only thing missing is like 2 prizers, but you can add like 1x non holo lumi or billy if you want to show that)

MSRP $15-20

Festival grounds starter deck
17
4x applin
3x grookey
4x dipplin
3x twachkey
1x swirlix
2x goldeen

35 trainers
2 buddy buddy poffin
2 Bug catching net
2 nest ball
2 ultra ball
2 great ball
2 arven
2 boss orders
1 iono
1 Roseanne's Backup
1 Roxanne
1 non holo version of max belt
2 kieran
4 festival grounds
2 super rod
3 switch
2 vitality band
2 skateboards
1 defiance band
1 pal pad

8 Grass Energy

 

[LOTTEN]

Local leagues aren't super competitive, and yet pretty much everyone has a meta deck in hand, if you play these, you are going to be stomped to death over and over. So this thing can't even do casual play.

So what you are saying is that is ok they sell useless bulk product people won't even be able to re-use later to unsuspecting customers while penalizing retailers for it as "it isn't designed to be competitive" (which isn't the same as being designed to be super unplayable).

i don't think that you know what the words "casual" and "unplayable" mean.

 

[afr1234]

i don't think that you know what the words "casual" and "unplayable" mean.

I don't think you do, actually.

Casual gameplay in leagues is plagued by meta decks. Playing these unplayable de ka will net you just defeats.

That is the very definition of unplayable. Unless of course you think casual is kitchen table withyour brother only

 

[LOTTEN]

I don't think you do, actually.

Casual gameplay in leagues is plagued by meta decks. Playing these unplayable de ka will net you just defeats.

That is the very definition of unplayable. Unless of course you think casual is kitchen table withyour brother only

"casual play" "in leagues" "meta decks" therefore "unplayable"

 

[Pixelopel]

Literally created an account to say this.

I play casually. My wife plays casually, and is learning. She loves these decks as they teach her how to play without the pressure of learning with more competitive cards, and the price those cards cost. They are super reasonably cheap, easy to play and easily teach the fundamentals of the gane. Literally brought a set of these decks for her today, and buying a few more over the next few weeks.

They have their place in the market, and are super popular amongst casual and learning players put off by competitive talk, and people screaming "THIS HAS NO COMPETITIVE VALUE". I think some of you guys sit in a competitive bubble as these decks are crazy popular.

 

[Diego Lima]

Literally created an account to say this.

I play casually. My wife plays casually, and is learning. She loves these decks as they teach her how to play without the pressure of learning with more competitive cards, and the price those cards cost. They are super reasonably cheap, easy to play and easily teach the fundamentals of the gane. Literally brought a set of these decks for her today, and buying a few more over the next few weeks.

They have their place in the market, and are super popular amongst casual and learning players put off by competitive talk, and people screaming "THIS HAS NO COMPETITIVE VALUE". I think some of you guys sit in a competitive bubble as these decks are crazy popular.

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[Charmaster:)]

Literally created an account to say this.

I play casually. My wife plays casually, and is learning. She loves these decks as they teach her how to play without the pressure of learning with more competitive cards, and the price those cards cost. They are super reasonably cheap, easy to play and easily teach the fundamentals of the gane. Literally brought a set of these decks for her today, and buying a few more over the next few weeks.

They have their place in the market, and are super popular amongst casual and learning players put off by competitive talk, and people screaming "THIS HAS NO COMPETITIVE VALUE". I think some of you guys sit in a competitive bubble as these decks are crazy popular.

Yep, I grew up just playing against my brother at home with entry level decks back when they were called Theme Decks and had an ordinary Rare with an exclusive holofoil pattern for the special card rather than a rule box card. Also, whatever the quality of a Pokémon player's first deck, if they're just playing with family without doing extra research, they will inevitably end up making the list worse and learning the hard way what makes a deck less consistent, even if they don't learn how to make it more consistent (I removed all the duplicate Pokémon from my decks and replaced them with other random Pokémon, including evolving stage 1's). afr1234 seems to suggest so.

I suppose the best questions to consider are 1) how many casual decks need to be released per year now that Pokémon is also keeping Battle Academies widely available, 2) what makes a cohesive theme deck, and 3) do theme decks breed bad gameplay habits that will hold new players back if they switch to a Difficulty Level 2 or 3 deck? My last question is... are Local Game Stores suffering from Pokémon's ex Battle Deck business model?

In regards to questions 2 and 3, I do wonder why ex battle decks couldn't feature 4(-4)-4 evolution lines and 16 consistency trainers, since then, even if they chose the least complicated evolution lines and consistency trainers, you would be able to set up the Pokémon you do have consistently.

P.S. Having an Iron Leaves ex featured in one of the decks is neat because you can use it's ability to effectively substitute a damaged Pokémon for a large, healthy one, but I hope the rule guide at least alludes to this little strategy, or else many beginners won't pick up on that fact.