Returning Player from Base Set-era - Getting Started

Smitikus

Aspiring Trainer
Member
So I'm not sure where to start so I'll just go by what the OP wanted.

1. I'm just getting into the game so I would be looking at starter decks or preconstructed products, nothing too competitive while I relearn the rules and how to actually play the game. It should be noted that the last time I played this game was ~1999-2000, Jungle was the new set when I stopped. I can toss ~$100 to get into the game so some basic things like mats, sleeves, and basic cards should be covered.

2. What I'm interested in is building casual 'theme' decks. I am interested in mainly Fighting energy Pokemon, the Machamp tin caught my eye (though I'm not too sure what is going on with EX cards). I would love to be able to make a deck focused on second stage Pokemon like Golem or Rhyperior though I'm not sure what products would have that in it.

3. This is probably the best place to put some general questions:
A) What is the average price of a deck that can compete in 'in shop' events? Events like 10-20 player tourneys that are held at a local game store.
B) Where can I find information about all of the rules changes since I played last? I have been looking on youtube and I can't find a rules pdf on the official Pokemon site so I'm lost.
C) I know there is a card search engine like Gatherer on the official Pokemon site but I'm not sure what sets I should be looking at or buying from.
 
Moved this post from the "What Should I Buy" thread to its own thread as the OP is asking a variety of questions better suited in its own thread. ~bbninjas
 
So I'm not sure where to start so I'll just go by what the OP wanted.

1. I'm just getting into the game so I would be looking at starter decks or preconstructed products, nothing too competitive while I relearn the rules and how to actually play the game. It should be noted that the last time I played this game was ~1999-2000, Jungle was the new set when I stopped. I can toss ~$100 to get into the game so some basic things like mats, sleeves, and basic cards should be covered.

2. What I'm interested in is building casual 'theme' decks. I am interested in mainly Fighting energy Pokemon, the Machamp tin caught my eye (though I'm not too sure what is going on with EX cards). I would love to be able to make a deck focused on second stage Pokemon like Golem or Rhyperior though I'm not sure what products would have that in it.

3. This is probably the best place to put some general questions:
A) What is the average price of a deck that can compete in 'in shop' events? Events like 10-20 player tourneys that are held at a local game store.
B) Where can I find information about all of the rules changes since I played last? I have been looking on youtube and I can't find a rules pdf on the official Pokemon site so I'm lost.
C) I know there is a card search engine like Gatherer on the official Pokemon site but I'm not sure what sets I should be looking at or buying from.

Welcome back to the game, Smitikus! There has been a lot of changes to the TCG since the Wizards era, so you've got quite a bit to catch up on. Here's a link to the official rulebook, which is really quite hidden within the official site. It should be pretty good in filling you in with all the details, including the special cards like the EXs. It should be worth knowing that due to the number of expansions that exist, formats exist where only the most recent expansions may be used as specified. These formats rotate on a yearly basis, meaning that the older sets of the previous rotation are no longer format-legal. At present the format is Black&White-on (for Expanded) and XY-on (for Standard), however this is expected to rotate soon after Worlds. I would recommend buying from expansions of these formats, and if you're concerned about rotation, more recent expansions.

Anyway, there is a nice variety of pre-packaged decks that you may like to begin with. The most common are 60-card theme decks; with the Wave Slasher, Aurora Blast and Resilient Life theme decks being decent options, as well as the Furious Fist expansion theme decks. However, these decks are not really that competitive and you may only barely get away using them in 'in shop' events. A superior option would be to obtain a Battle Arena Kit. These kits consist of two 60-card theme decks that include many staple cards of the format (the Mewtwo-EX vs Darkrai-EX is recommended), and are in general worth more for your money. I would also recommend obtaining an Elite Trainer Box, which gives you dice, counters, a storage box, sleeves, dividers and Energy cards, plus eight booster packs of ten cards, which is great for beginners (or players returning from 1999/2000). Tins are also good options.

As for a Fighting type deck, you may like to look into the recent Fates Collide expansion. It reprints notable Fighting-type support such as Strong Energy and Korrina. There is also a particularly competitive Fighting type Pokemon named Garchomp that you can find in the BREAKPoint expansion. Here's an official article on the deck, which includes deck skeleton (scroll to the bottom) for the highly competitive version of the deck.

As for naming an average price, that's a bit difficult. I'd say around $50, if you're planning on obtaining the most important staples of the TCG (4 Professor Sycamore, 2-4 N, 3-4 Ultra Ball, 4 VS Seeker, 1-2 Lysandre, 3-4 Muscle Band), excluding the extremely expensive Shaymin-EX (which is abnormally expensive for a TCG card). Shaymin-EX used in highly competitive decks, but you won't need it for more casual tournaments. The most efficient way to obtain the cards for your deck is to be singles from various online or even offline stores, or trade/buy from fellow players. Buying boosters is obviously not that reliable if you're looking for a specific card ( :p ). You may like to post a revision of your deck in the Deck Garage to receive feedback before you go about obtaining the cards.

Anyways, I hope this is helpful! This may be a lot to chew, so here's a few more things you may like to check out to make things easier. First off, I'd recommend getting back into the feel of the game. You can find both premium and free articles on the front page, check out decks that win at major tournaments or watch streams of the annual Nationals taking place at present. This will give you an idea of the highly competitive scene, which you may or may not be interested in. Secondly, I'd suggest simply getting into the community. You can check out the TCG forums here on PokeBeach or get chatting with the community of your local shop. Third and finally, you may like to have a look into the official PTCG simulator, Pokemon TCG Online. This simulator is a great asset to relearn the game or have some fun with the selection of free cards that you can use on the simulator. And of course, if you have any questions, feel free to ask! Enjoy!
 
Welcome back, I think. ;)

@bbninjas already provided a link to the rule book. You can find the Pokémon Rulings Compendium here. No, that is not the official Pokémon site. The short version is that originally it was a fan thing but they did such a great job that even back under WotC they were recognized as a source of official rulings by WotC... and Nintendo/TPCi agreed to it as well. If you can't find a ruling or just need to ask, there's a forum for that but this can save you some time. The most recent version of the Compendium is the Compendium BW. Which sounds weird except Black & White is the oldest current legal expansion and the BW sets were the newest at the time the name was adopted.

Some additional notes
  • Shaymin-EX (XY: Roaring Skies 77/108, 106/108) is the one bbninjas mentions. Especially on the PTCGO I've seen people take advantage of new/returning players by offering cards with the same or similar name.
  • Shaymin-EX isn't as abnormal as we would like. The good news is nothing so widely used is that expensive, but some less general cards can still threaten to break the bank, like Tropical Beach. That one fortunately is only Expanded legal and much easier to avoid.
  • The PTCGO is the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online. It is the official online version of the Pokémon TCG. Free to play, but if you are buying real product (like booster packs) you'll get redemption codes that unlock virtual product there. Only way I current play is the PTCGO, and I've managed it without spending any money directly on it. (Good thing because I have none to spare ^^')
  • Another product to be careful of are World Championship Decks. I don't mean what people are using to win those events, I mean the commemorative theme decks that are released each year. They are an excellent learning tool but the cards in them are not legal for tournaments. You can tell what version because they have the winner's signature printed/stamped on them, and possibly a different border.
 
At present the format is Black&White-on (for Expanded) and XY-on (for Standard), however this is expected to rotate soon after Worlds. I would recommend buying from expansions of these formats, and if you're concerned about rotation, more recent expansions.

To update, the rotations just got announced for 2017! They can be found here if you (@Smitikus) haven't seem them yet. Since we now know the rotation, I would recommend buying from an expansions from Primal Clash onward, since they can be used in both Standard and Expanded next year.
 
Super thanks to bbninjas for the rules link and all.

I have been watching a bunch of gameplay (the online game) to get a feel for what is going on and things seem to be different but not so vastly strange that I'm lost.

What I still have questions about is the rotation of sets, specifically what set is rotating when. I understand what a Standard Rotating format is I just don't know what sets are going out and when they are going. Mainly I don't want to buy from a set that is going to be rotating soon.

And like I said in the other post, I can worry about being competitive later, what I'm doing right now is relearning the game.

e: So as I was typing this the sets were confirmed. Does the image in the link have the projected legal sets? I don't know what order the sets came out in so I'm not sure what order they will rotate in.

It looks like http://www.pokebeach.com/news/0716/2017-TCG-Rotation-1.jpg is the 'list' of legal sets, after Sep. 1st.
 
I have been watching a bunch of gameplay (the online game) to get a feel for what is going on and things seem to be different but not so vastly strange that I'm lost.
Well, if you need clarification on anything, feel free to ask!

e: So as I was typing this the sets were confirmed. Does the image in the link have the projected legal sets? I don't know what order the sets came out in so I'm not sure what order they will rotate in.
Yes, it does. Here's the official announcement on the Pokemon.com website.
 
Well, if you need clarification on anything, feel free to ask!
So I'm looking over the official link (thanks for that btw) and I'm not seeing Xy-BREAKthrough, XY-BREAKpoint, XY-Fates Collide, Generations, or XY-Steam Siege listed on it.

Why would the sets not be listed? So far the progression of the sets has been lateral from XY to Ancient Origins.

There is text of "Additional expansions become legal three weeks after they are released in the United States" have the sets not been released in the US?
 
So I'm looking over the official link (thanks for that btw) and I'm not seeing Xy-BREAKthrough, XY-BREAKpoint, XY-Fates Collide, Generations, or XY-Steam Siege listed on it.

Why would the sets not be listed? So far the progression of the sets has been lateral from XY to Ancient Origins.
Whelp, I linked the 2016 rotation update from a year ago. Here's the 2017 update.

There is text of "Additional expansions become legal three weeks after they are released in the United States" have the sets not been released in the US?
Expansions are released in Japan first (albeit not under the same name nor the same setlist), and could theoretically by released in other countries before the United States.
 
Whelp, I linked the 2016 rotation update from a year ago.
Ah. That would explain the discrepancy, sorry.

So I shouldn't be buying stuff from before Primal Clash, awesome. Thanks for the info, now to go and start crafting decks etc.

e: Well I put together a basic Grass deck that complies with the 2017 Standard and posted it in the Garage. Here's hoping the posters there are as nice as the posters here.
 
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To expand upon one of @Otaku 's points, there is another website, tcgone.net, where one can build and test decks online at no charge - there are no prerequisites, such as "codes" to unlock card packs. You just identify the format of the deck you wish to build, select cards from that format's database, and build your deck. You can then battle other players with similar format decks thereafter.

There are also a number of "public" decks there too, You can review these decks and even copy them into your own personal "space" should you wish. Any deck in your personal space can also be modified. I've found this website to be a $0 cost way to build and/or test deck concepts.
 
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