Hello everyone! Ive been collecting pokemon cards for quite some time now and Ive decided i want to start playing competitive. I read that most places play in either standard or expanded format and that only certain cards from certain themed packs can be used making my collection basically a bunch of trash lol. I am not sure what cards are legal or what cards I need for competitive play. I have a ton of sword and shield cards but not so sure which cards I can put in a deck. I am so confused -_- I havnt even built my first competitive deck yet and not sure where to start. can someone help me out or lead me to good links or sources? Thanks so much for your time guys. any help is appreciated
Best place to go for info on standard format is the tcg section of the pokemon website. That'll give you the sets that are in standard and expanded then youtube is good place for finding decks etc
This is the Play! Pokémon Rules & Resources page of the official Pokémon website. It is your friend, even though a surprising number of players don't use it like they need to. XD I'll explain some of what you'll find there, but you should poke around yourself and read most of the stuff there.
The Pokémon TCG has two major divides... but one is barely used so folks tend to forget about it:
Constructed Formats are those where you build your deck from your own collection and bring it to the event.
Limited Formats are those where you build your deck from cards provided to you at the venue.
The main example of the latter is the "Pre-Release" Event. The main examples of the former are just about everything else.
The Constructed Format has the following main sub-Formats. Since they are the bulk of organized play, most folks talk like them as if there is nothing other than these.
The Standard Format is named as such because it is the default Format for playing the Pokémon TCG when it comes to organized play. This is a "rotating" Format, which for the PTCG means new sets are added shortly after their official release while once per year, the oldest still-legal sets are removed. The idea is to create a Format where every set enjoys a year or two of Standard Format participation before rotating out of Standard Format legality. There is also a Banned List for the Standard Format, however, most (80%?) of the game's life the Standard Format Ban List has been empty. It wasn't even considered to still exist from 2003 until 2015!
The Expanded Format is named because it includes many more sets than the Standard Format, though far from all of them. Technically, it could rotate but since its introduction back in 2014 (or 2015), it has never rotated out any sets. The Expanded Format currently allows cards from the Black & White series through the present. It does have a Banned List, and as you can see, it is getting fairly big. Cards are only banned when they cause serious balance issues in competitive play, though there is much debate among fans as to whether the true culprits are the ones being banned.
The Unlimited Format is where anything goes. You can use any cards released in your region's acceptable local language(s). There is no Banned List. There is also no real official support for it anymore. I haven't played anything resembling competitive Unlimited Format play in over a decade. For the longest time, it wasn't really worth it as whoever went first won... usually on the first turn of the game! I don't know how the current T1 Rules affect this, however.
There are two other Formats (barely) popularized by the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online that I will mention briefly. The PTCGO is a free-to-play game that lives up to the name; it is basically one part extended demo for trying out the physical card game, one part reward program for buying Pokémon TCG product new, and one part "We need an online version of our game!". XP This is 'extra" information, so I'm putting it behind Spoiler Tags:
The Unlimited Format (PTCGO) is the Unlimited Format on the PTCGO. The PTCGO entered open beta during the HS-series of releases, but has nothing from before HeartGold & SoulSilver. The short version is that the Dev Team behind the PTCGO seems to just barely be able to keep the thing running relatively smoothly and updated with the new sets, so nothing older have ever been added. Thus their Unlimited Format only goes back to HeartGold & SoulSilver. It isn't as "broken" as the real Unlimited Format, but it is still pretty bad.
The Theme Format is a Format where you can only use Theme Decks. Not the cards from Theme Decks, but the pre-constructed Theme Decks usually (but not always) sold alongside TCG expansions. Your selection goes back to those released alongside HeartGold & SoulSilver. There are also some PTCGO-exclusive Theme Decks. Some real world Pre-Constructed decks are missing; basically, if it is not a Pre-Constructed Deck that released alongside a set to highlight cards from that set, it probably is not legal in the Theme Format. This is a great Format for getting started on the PTCGO, or for dabbling with the Pokémon TCG.
The Legacy Format consists of all cards released as part of the HS-series, the Call of Legends series, and the BW-series. This appears to mostly exist because the Dev Team didn't want the oldest cards in the PTCGO to go to waste. It was pretty fun when it was new, but as player participation dropped off, it started to take too long to find an opponent, and between no cards being added to or leaving the card pool and not being able to test new configurations of existing cards, it became very stagnant. I think it has been at least a year since I last played a game in it.
Back to what most likely concerns you. As stated, the Standard Format rotates once per year, usually in late August or early September. The current Standard Format allows cards from SM - Ultra Prism and later releases, as well as cards from the SM - Black Star Promos Series numbered SM94 or higher, and cards from the SSH - Black Star Promos series, which are numbered SWSH001 or higher. So you still have around five months or so of the current Standard Format, though due to the coronavirus, a lot of things have been cancelled.
The Banned List is evaluated regularly, with updates to it (or the lack of changes) announced a little before each new set. Emergency changes can be announced whenever, but you'll still have an idea they're coming because bans are based on things causing problems at official tournaments. New deck dominated a recent event? Not a huge deal. New deck dominated a recent event through winning T1? Something's getting banned.
