Ruling Returning player, some new questions

C

CZHunter

Aspiring Trainer
Member
...And by returning player, I mean I stopped collecting Around the Neo Genesis time. But I want to get competitive, and have some questions if you guys wouldn't mind answering them:

When you guys talk about Magmortar decks, do you mean Magmortar MT or Magmortar SW, or both? Curious because he seems to love me. Bought Lavaflow deck to get started with the TCG again, and got SW, got another pack with the MT Mag, and last night got yet another Mag in a SW booster.

What do you mean when you talk about a pokemon as a "tech"?

What's so great about Claydoll? Is his Poke-Power really that good, or is there something I'm missing (I CAN run a deck with 1-1 Claydoll in it, FYI)?

I heard most players just buy the 36-pack of boosters when a new set comes out. My question is, do most also buy multiple packs, or just one and then trade like no one's business? And when you buy them from a store, what's the average price (Like, $110, or cheaper)?

What's the best way to get Dark and Metal energies? I have zero of both. My guess is to buy the Darkrai and Dialga decks for 6 Dark and 8 Energies, respectively. But that's not a whole lot of energies (Or is it?) so is there a better, cheaper, more efficient way to get these energies?

Sorry for all these questions, but I've lurked here for maybe a week and these questions keep popping up in my head.
 
CZHunter said:
...And by returning player, I mean I stopped collecting Around the Neo Genesis time. But I want to get competitive, and have some questions if you guys wouldn't mind answering them:

When you guys talk about Magmortar decks, do you mean Magmortar MT or Magmortar SW, or both? Curious because he seems to love me. Bought Lavaflow deck to get started with the TCG again, and got SW, got another pack with the MT Mag, and last night got yet another Mag in a SW booster. Magmortar SW

What do you mean when you talk about a pokemon as a "tech"? A card used to beat a popular card (like using a water card to beat a fire deck)
What's so great about Claydoll? Is his Poke-Power really that good, or is there something I'm missing (I CAN run a deck with 1-1 Claydoll in it, FYI)? Its his power

I heard most players just buy the 36-pack of boosters when a new set comes out. My question is, do most also buy multiple packs, or just one and then trade like no one's business? And when you buy them from a store, what's the average price (Like, $110, or cheaper)? Boxes are good. Thay are usually 90-120 dollars

What's the best way to get Dark and Metal energies? I have zero of both. My guess is to buy the Darkrai and Dialga decks for 6 Dark and 8 Energies, respectively. But that's not a whole lot of energies (Or is it?) so is there a better, cheaper, more efficient way to get these energies? You can trade, buy or buy the theme deck. I got all mine out of a box
Sorry for all these questions, but I've lurked here for maybe a week and these questions keep popping up in my head.
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Your welcome
 
Sweet, thanks a lot. I feel kind of dumb now...

If anyone would like to elaborate on anything too, feel free. :)
 
Basic Darks and Metals are extremely rare. If you are planning to get them out of boosters, you should indeed buy a whole box (which is a waste). The best reason to buy boxes is the price and the reliability (you'll get a good number of most useful cards).
Magmortar the deck is indeed about Magmortar SW (and 1 Magmortar Lv. X).
A tech can be anything. It can be doing that one thing your deck needs to do a lot (like discarding -> Lunatone GE). It is sometimes used to counter a certain deck (like Gorebyss + Lake Boundary against Magmortar) but can also be used to speed up your own deck (like Delcatty PK, Claydol GE) or to destroy your opponent's setup. (like if he focuses on building a hand, Team Galactic's Wager)
 
That is, of course, if you're able to afford boxes. I don't. I hardly buy any packs at all; it's trickled down to something like three to four packs per month for me. I get my cards mainly from prereleases or from tins. THOSE I can afford. (You should always be careful about what you spend and not do it so recklessly. In all honesty, however, the Pokémon TCG is a rich man's diversion; you can't really be too effective at it unless you spend significant amounts of money.)

Anyway, to answer these questions further:

A "tech" is a Pokémon that isn't used as part of the main strategy. They're mainly put into a deck to help it out a little bit and to provide defense against certain types of decks. For instance, Pachirisu is a very common tech card. There are one or two in many decks out there because it's the best way to deal with the Pokémon Tool card "Cessation Crystal," which could otherwise ruin your game completely. Another tech, even more common, is Claydol. This goes into your next question...

Claydol is in most decks simply because of the Poké-Power "Cosmic Power." Once per turn per Claydol, it allows you to put up to two cards at the bottom of your deck to draw cards until you have six cards in your hand. This lets you set aside cards in your hand you don't need yet (like Night Maintenance at the beginning of the game) and draw other cards from your deck, which is always a plus. Since the cards go to the bottom, you'll always draw different cards than those you set aside...unless it's a duplicate or if the game has gone on forever and you have very few cards left in your deck.

I've never seen booster boxes sell in stores, though I suppose some hobby stores will let you buy them. I've only seen one that does. I've bought some before, but only online. And I detest paying for anything with a credit card. Maybe when I get a better source of income, I'll buy boxes.

Basic Dark and Metal Energies come primarily from preconstructed decks. Special Dark and Metal Energies come from packs and are Rare. If you're intending to build an all-Metal or all-Dark deck, you'll need to buy multiple preconstructed decks or get them from someone who's been accumulating them. Or buy them online from sites like Collectors Cache, which sell individual cards. You can probably get as many basic Dark and Metal Energies as you need form those sites for a lower price than a preconstructed deck, though the shipping and handling is annoying.
 
Okay, thanks a lot for your helpfulness and going in depth guys.

And man, seems I'm almost screwed when it comes to Dark/Metal energies. Oh well, I'm not too interested in using those as the basis of a deck anyway.
 
Ophie said:
That is, of course, if you're able to afford boxes. I don't. I hardly buy any packs at all; it's trickled down to something like three to four packs per month for me. I get my cards mainly from prereleases or from tins. THOSE I can afford. (You should always be careful about what you spend and not do it so recklessly. In all honesty, however, the Pokémon TCG is a rich man's diversion; you can't really be too effective at it unless you spend significant amounts of money.)
Click to expand...

Have you ever played the "Yu gi oh" trading card game, to ecen have a chance at winning you have to spend £600-700 ($1400) on singles and if you want to make it perfect you have to addin a card whats worth £800 ($1600) lol. Considering i played this game competativly and had the deck im speaking of, changing to pokemon has saved me alot of money. However, pokemon has no way of making money like yu gi oh does.

back on topic, you can usually buy NRGs online in boxes of 100s for like pennys., the secret wonders magmortar is the good one and MT has maggy lvx what is alos a key card in the deck.

tech is something what you use 1 or 2 of in your deck what does not get to your winning goal but helps stop other decks, for example a deck utalising the holon engine using castforms over DRE would use a power tree, mainly to get rid of the oppoents stadium and can help, but doesnt further your goal.

claydol fits into most decks, he is broken with the amount of wagers flying around, he is IMO a perfect draw engine and anti decking out engine.
 
Cool thanks everybody.

Two more questions!

What is a plox deck?

What is a rogue deck? A deck that's not a common one like G&G, Mortar, etc. ?
 
Plox focuses around Gardevoir SW's attack "Psychic Lock" which locks the opponent's Poke-Power, but before that they abuse Team Galactic's Wager found in MT which I'm too lazy to post a scan of. Anyway they shuffle their hand in, then lock their Claydols. That's just what I understand I could be completely wrong.
 
On the question of a "rogue" deck you are pretty much correct. It is a deck which is not something that is being played in your metagame, which in turn is the decks that "everyone" is playing when you meet them at league, tournaments or whatever. The metagame varies from location to location, but pretty much everywhere you go today the metagame includes G&G (Gardevoir / Gallade), Plox (Gardy and Gallade again, but focused with trainers and techs on getting your opponent psychic locked as soon as possible) and Magmortar.

Hope that helps.
 
Umm... As far as boxes go I never spen more than 85 on a box but I'm now buying cases.

Dark and Metal are easier to get in the theme decks.

Try to avoid buying individual packs unless they are straight from the box. Tins also seam to have better cards in the packs.
 
I guess I'll contribute a follow-up question: Is "Plox" short for "Poké-Power Lock"?

Also, what disadvantages are there to buying packs in the cardboard packaging?

EDIT: Oh yeah, and I understand about the insane prices of some Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, considering that the limited-quantity ones are actually good to use. Of course, the objective, from the corporate side of things, is to keep you spending money. That's why Pokémon TCG sets get phased out annually and why any TCG/CCG has a rarity system. Say, why ARE Yu-Gi-Oh! cards so expensive? Booster packs always manage to stay at least 50 cents ahead of Pokémon booster packs.
 
I'd also guess Pokemon cards are cheaper because they're aimed at a much younger audience than Yu-Gi-Oh players. They know that if Pokemon cards were more expensive, parents wouldn't buy them for kids, and no money comes in. It's an entirely different story with Yu-Gi-Oh though (I think).

Anyway, another question, because I'm cheap:

Has anyone bought booster boxes online from eBay or another source? They seem to be 25-50% cheaper, and many are Buy It Now items, but I'm not too familiar with eBay. Either way, it seems much better than finding a store that has them and spending more on a box. Any thoughts?
 
Ebay is great for single cards, but for boxes beware. First watch for shipping costs, you get a box for $80, but the shipping costs are $30 you've not saved yourself anything. Second, Ebay does a pretty good job of policing itself, but there is always the risk of getting ripped off. I've done 100's of transactions, but even watching the ratings carefully you have to expect 1 in 30 to 50 to have something go seriously wrong with. If you happen to live in a different country than the seller beware of customs, usually with single cards they'll slip through with no problems, but with a box ... customs people are going to impose all applicalble duties and taxes and that can tack on an additional $20 - 30.

Best bet, find a league, find out where the league leader gets his boxes and go from there.
 
How about something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pokemon-EX-Great-Encounter-Booster-Box-Pearl-Diamond_W0QQitemZ360045803770QQihZ023QQcategoryZ104045QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

$10 shipping. Would this be a reliable deal?
 
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