Help Returning after a loooong break
- Thread starter Arc88
- Start date
Well, the rules changed in a few ways. The game itself plays mostly the same, but the best way to start is going to be going to a league and playing with a theme deck. Get exposed to everything that's going on.
Amazon and Gamestop are great places to shop for cards online if you want to open some packs. There is a reddit called pkmntcgdeals that let's you know when stores are having sales. Gamestop actually has a 20% off sale right now on all Pokemon TCG products. I started with an Elite Trainer Box since it gives 8 packs, 45 energy cards and some damage counters, deck sleeves, etc.
The PTG online is pretty good to get you going with all the new rules and you can get tons of cards without paying any money.
Oh wow, where do I even start? You quit before I was born.
So, going to a local Pokemon league and the Pokemon Trading card game online are great places to start getting back into the game. Something you'll probably notice right away is how flashy and powerful cards are now compared to back then, which can be somewhat intimidating. Another intimidating thing can be how big the competitive community has gotten and how serious some of them are, with all their lingo and such. But that's evidence of a healthy, lively game. A good place to start if you want a decent, simple deck for today's acceptable standards could be Sylveon-GX mill, which is very cheap compared to other decks, and focuses on running your opponent out of resources and draw all their cards while having an option of attacking. Or, Garchomp/Lucario/Cynthia, which is primarily built off of the base of the Ultra Prism "Mach Strike" theme deck, which is a really good idea to buy 2 of this theme deck to get the high card counts you want want to build this deck.
Learning about the metagame is pretty important, and may just be generally really good information to know, so websites like limitlesstcg.com , pokebeach.com , Google.net , and thecharizardlounge.com are all great places to start, since they have lots of informative articles for everyone.
If you're looking to buy singles, tcgplayer.com generally has the lowest prices and the best ratings. I would check these out if you're looking to invest your time getting back into the game. And welcome back to Pokemon
So, going to a local Pokemon league and the Pokemon Trading card game online are great places to start getting back into the game. Something you'll probably notice right away is how flashy and powerful cards are now compared to back then, which can be somewhat intimidating. Another intimidating thing can be how big the competitive community has gotten and how serious some of them are, with all their lingo and such. But that's evidence of a healthy, lively game. A good place to start if you want a decent, simple deck for today's acceptable standards could be Sylveon-GX mill, which is very cheap compared to other decks, and focuses on running your opponent out of resources and draw all their cards while having an option of attacking. Or, Garchomp/Lucario/Cynthia, which is primarily built off of the base of the Ultra Prism "Mach Strike" theme deck, which is a really good idea to buy 2 of this theme deck to get the high card counts you want want to build this deck.
Learning about the metagame is pretty important, and may just be generally really good information to know, so websites like limitlesstcg.com , pokebeach.com , Google.net , and thecharizardlounge.com are all great places to start, since they have lots of informative articles for everyone.
If you're looking to buy singles, tcgplayer.com generally has the lowest prices and the best ratings. I would check these out if you're looking to invest your time getting back into the game. And welcome back to Pokemon
Thanks for all the good advice, I was looking at the Alolan Pikachu/Lycanroc deck to start with.
Is that worth a punt or not?
Also, are the various SM expansions like prism, burning shadows, guardian rising, etc. All valid for competitive play? And can they be mixed into a deck?
Thanks again!!!
Is that worth a punt or not?
Also, are the various SM expansions like prism, burning shadows, guardian rising, etc. All valid for competitive play? And can they be mixed into a deck?
Thanks again!!!
A theme deck, like "Mach Strike", would be better as it contains one 60-card-deck while the Alolan Raichu/Lycanroc Starter Kit contains 2 30-card-decks.
For competitive play, there are two formats:
- EXPANDED:
In Expanded you can use all cards from Black +White to SM: Ultra Prism
- STANDARD:
Standard is more popular. There are more tournaments using the Standard format. In Standart you may use all cards from XY: Breakthrough to SM: Ultra Prism.
In both formats, you may have cards of different expansions in your deck, e.g. you are allowed to use the Breakthrough Zorua and the Shining Legends Zoroark-GX.
I may be presenting you with a useless suggestion, but if you ever plan on buying actual booster packs, spam Guardians Rising. It has the most staples out of all the current Sun and Moon sets. If you're into buying singles, then I would reiterate the points presented by @gumball51321 as well as another pointer: buy staples first. Staples would be the Big Three supporters (Professor Sycamore, N/Cynthia, and Guzma), as well as multiple copies of Ultra Ball and Choice Band. On another note, it unfortunately seems as though you've come back into a game with VS Seeker only legal in Expanded, with the only consistent supporter search in Standard being Tapu Lele-GX, which is expensive as expensive gets in the competitive scene because of how useful it is. Decks I would consider building would be the aforementioned Sylveon-GX mill, budget Alolan Ninetales-GX (skip all the fancy A. Ninetales lists because they get quite expensive), Greninja BREAK (although the deck is going to Expanded next rotation), Passimian, and Garchomp/Lucario/Cynthia. Its a lot to take in and I'm sure I could have delivered it a little more gracefully, but alas, that's that.
P.S things to worry about/capitalize on would be Garbodor, Buzzwole-GX, Zoroark variants, Gardevoir, and the odd Steel decks floating around.
P.S things to worry about/capitalize on would be Garbodor, Buzzwole-GX, Zoroark variants, Gardevoir, and the odd Steel decks floating around.
Thanks guys!!! My head is metled . I've spent some time on the web and there are literally thousands of options.
@ShuffleMcDeck I'm open to any and all help.
I was considering the lulana deck and a few boosters to start with but I'm really quite overwhelmed. Not that I'm wanting to be a champion overnight or anything but it's like being in a sweet shop and not having a clue where to begin.
@ShuffleMcDeck I'm open to any and all help.
I was considering the lulana deck and a few boosters to start with but I'm really quite overwhelmed. Not that I'm wanting to be a champion overnight or anything but it's like being in a sweet shop and not having a clue where to begin.
I would suggest not buying the lunala deck or any boosters just quite yet. If you want to get into the game right now, I would highly recommend buying the Mach strike theme deck as suggested by @FlashRayquaza . Actually, I would recommend buying 2 copies of this deck simply because Garchomp is very playable right now and it comes with Cynthia, which is a staple draw supporter in the current meta. Most theme decks won't come with useful supporters, but Cynthia alone is worth it in my book. Buying singles of Cynthia will cost you $3.50 a piece and you get 2 with each Mach Strike theme deck. The mach strike theme deck is $12.99 on amazon right now so you would be spending about $26 and since you get 4 Cynthia, you would have at least $14 worth of cards already.
If you decided to buy a different theme deck, you would spend the same amount on the deck and then have to buy Cynthia eventually anyways so you would be out an additional $14 on top of the cost of the theme deck.
The Mach Strike deck itself does not function 100% effectively out of the box, which is why you buy 2. You basically take the Gible, Gabit, Garchomp, Riolu and Lucario out of both and combine them to make a better deck. If you need any suggestions on how to combine the cards, feel free to ask.
Unfortunately, these decks won't come with many of the cards you need (any theme deck really). The Mach strike doesn't come with ultra balls which you WILL need in every single deck that you play. The good thing is that these cards are rather inexpensive if you buy them individually. If you go to your local card shop, there may even be people who have them available for trade. I recommend that you have TCGplayer.com ready on your phone in case people want to trade or sell you cards. I've seen quite a few people almost get ripped off because they didn't know the values of the cards.
Don't buy any boosters yet, get the feel for the game with these decks and then focus on buying singles. I guarantee you that you will spend way more money buying booster packs than you would if you just purchase the singles that you need. Staples include cards such as Guzma, N, Professor Sycamore, Ultra ball, Rescue stretcher, Super Rod, Brigette, Tapu Lele GX (very important, but very expensive), Choice bands, float stones, enhanced hammers, etc.
TLDR: Buy 2 Mach Strike Theme decks and combine some of the cards to make it great. Cynthia is a staple draw supporter that costs $3.50 a piece and each Mach Strike deck comes with 2 for a total of 4. Don't buy packs just yet, focus on buying singles to save your money. Staple supporters can be used interchangeably so once you have them, you can experiment with different decks.
Ultra Ball is a very stong card and every deck should include the maximum amount of them, so you should try to get four.
Every deck in the Standard format plays 4 Ultra Balls. The Mach Strike deck comes with 0
The good thing is that you can find different versions of ultra balls from different sets starting at about 20 cents each. The ultra balls from older sets are still legal because they were reprinted in newer sets. As long as the text is the same, you can use older cards as well. I would recommend checking TCGplayer for the roaring skies ultra balls sold by a seller called Yiz Games. He currently has them for .22 cents a piece.You have to spend $2 from one seller in order to get free shipping so check their storefront to see if they have anything else you need. I saw N and Professor sycamore from the same seller as well.
This is correct, 4 is the maximum you can play of any 1 card in a deck with the exception of basic energies. Special energies fall under the same rule and you can only have 4 of a kind. I would recommend maybe even getting 8 ultra balls so you can have 4 for your first deck and then 4 extra in case you want to build another deck. It saves you time since you don't have to switch out cards to play in a different deck.
Last edited by a moderator:
No worries man! I was in the exact same boat you're in last year around this time. I never actually played the game itself, I just collected the cards as a kid starting with Base set, Fossil and Jungle. I didn't really have anyone to help me out and I ended up wasting a lot of money on things I didn't need. Once you get more familiar with the game and the meta, you'll be all set to go! Getting your staples will be your first step and it will cost you quite a bit, especially considering that Tapu Lele GX is about $40 a piece right now. You would need at least 2 to start off with and I would recommend owning 3 or 4. I tend to just buy playsets (4 of every card) just in case I ever need to actually use 4.
After you get these, you basically just buy the Pokemon you need for a specific deck and you already have most of the trainers cards you need!
I too was more of a collector and was hoping to collect at the same time. That way I can get cards I like as much as need to play. Is that realistic or will it turn what was meant to be a £20-30 a month hobby into something more costly? How often do you need to invest in a whole deck overhaul once you have the trainer cards and support cards?
I would refrain from trying to collect and play at the same time since you're just starting off. Not every card that gets printed is playable so you may end up spending money on cards you will most likely never use. The only good thing about these cards is that sometimes they are cheap because nobody is using them in their decks. If you really want to collect, just wait until prices come down for certain cards.
Hmmm... well new sets get released every 3 months so you may have to pick up new cards every quarter. Sometimes it's only a few cards that are playable from a set, but it won't be too bad. Some staple trainer's get released sometimes as well so it usually consists of new Pokemon for a core deck and then staples you can use in your existing decks. Rotations happen every year as well in August so that some of the older sets leave and are no longer playable in the Standard format. Sun and Moon cards just came out so you don't have to worry about them rotating anytime soon.
If some staple cards do rotate out, then you may have to overhaul your deck once a year which isn't too bad.
Hmmm... well new sets get released every 3 months so you may have to pick up new cards every quarter. Sometimes it's only a few cards that are playable from a set, but it won't be too bad. Some staple trainer's get released sometimes as well so it usually consists of new Pokemon for a core deck and then staples you can use in your existing decks. Rotations happen every year as well in August so that some of the older sets leave and are no longer playable in the Standard format. Sun and Moon cards just came out so you don't have to worry about them rotating anytime soon.
If some staple cards do rotate out, then you may have to overhaul your deck once a year which isn't too bad.