Returning Player - the Community, Costs and the Japanese Scene

[Reizouko]

Hi Pokemon TCG people! The last time I played the game was in 2004 or so, I remember Gardevoir from EX Ruby & Sapphire was one of the last decks I played. Fast forward to 2016, for some reason the Pokemon TCG came back to my mind and now I want to get back into the game. I have several questions and would appreciate any kind of help!

1) More than 10 years have passed since I last played. How "alive" is the game? If anyone who played in the early 2000's is here, I would love to hear opinions on how the quality and quantity of the community has changed. Any opinion in general on the current state is appreciated too!

2) Back in 2004 I was a kid and couldn't afford cards, which was also the reason I quit. Now I have a job and can afford stuff. How much should I expect to spend for a competitive deck?

3) I live in Japan, so I guess I will try to get into the pokemon tcg scene here. I remember back in the days it was only allowed to use Japanese cards as long as you had a copy in the countries language (in my case German). Is this still true? Just asking in case I ever go to international tournaments (well ok, maybe I'm looking a little too far ahead...haha), since I probably won't get many non-Japanese cards here.

4) Just out of curiosity, back in the early 2000's everyone was crazy for Japanese cards, is that still true? I don't even know why, but everyone wanted them.

5) Do people really not buy booster packs? I read that buying single cards is cheaper basically everywhere.

I appreciate any kind of help. Thanks in advance!

 

[Athena]

Welcome back to Pokémon! I'm not really much of a player these days, but I am an international Japanese Pokémon card collector, so I thought I would take a stab at answering a few questions that I might be able to help with.

4) Just out of curiosity, back in the early 2000's everyone was crazy for Japanese cards, is that still true? I don't even know why, but everyone wanted them.

I was one of those people who was "crazy" for Japanese Pokémon cards back in the day, and I still enjoy collecting them now. Japanese cards are still somewhat popular among collectors internationally for a few different reasons: they're cheaper, higher quality, have better pull rates, and the cards come out sooner.

5) Do people really not buy booster packs? I read that buying single cards is cheaper basically everywhere.

This really depends on the situation. If you're a competitive player looking to make a high tier metagame competitive deck, then yes, you're going to want to buy singles. Even though packs are cheaper in Japan and the pull rates are generally better, it's still going to be difficult to obtain the cards you need for your deck by pulling them from packs, especially if you want/need a full playset of rather rare cards.

That said, there are certainly still plenty of people who buy packs or boxes, not just kids. A lot of that is simply for fun; it's much more entertaining to open a bunch of packs and see what you find than to just flat out purchase the cards you need from a shop. If you have any interest in collecting or trading, it may be worthwhile, especially in Japan where booster boxes are pretty cheap (I pay ¥2550 per booster box from AmiAmi).

 

[Reizouko]

Thanks for your reply!

I see, I guess it didn't really change much. There are people who mainly play, people who mainly collect and people who do both. I guess Japanese cards are mostly popular among collectors for the reasons you stated (higher pull rate, higher quality, etc), which makes sense.
I'm personally more of a player than a collector, so I guess I will look into buying single cards.

 

[Otaku]

Hi Pokemon TCG people! The last time I played the game was in 2004 or so, I remember Gardevoir from EX Ruby & Sapphire was one of the last decks I played. Fast forward to 2016, for some reason the Pokemon TCG came back to my mind and now I want to get back into the game. I have several questions and would appreciate any kind of help!

1) More than 10 years have passed since I last played. How "alive" is the game? If anyone who played in the early 2000's is here, I would love to hear opinions on how the quality and quantity of the community has changed. Any opinion in general on the current state is appreciated too!

Welcome back! If you on some of the big (or at least biggish) message boards back then, I would have still been Otaku. If you don't remember me... that is probably for the best. ^_^

If ICv2 is to be believed (...I only know the site because it always comes up when I Google for Top Selling TCGs or the like), then for Fall of 2015 then for hobby channel sales, Pokémon sales were #2 for collectible games overall. Seems pretty good to me.

Some communities seem pretty dead but others are thriving. Quality seems to be improving, especially at the top; gone are the days when you'd be labeled a net decker for daring not to reinvent the wheel. Pokémon.com publishes winning deck lists, so you can start from there if you need help for an idea. If you do like working from scratch, still an option as well.

2) Back in 2004 I was a kid and couldn't afford cards, which was also the reason I quit. Now I have a job and can afford stuff. How much should I expect to spend for a competitive deck?

A decent chunk, but its mostly for one particular card you'll want at least two copies of for competitive play, upwards of four: Shaymin-EX from XY: Roaring Skies. Keep in mind that there is a much easier to find Shaymin-EX that is not what you're looking for, should you go shopping. The staple Shaymin-EX is used in almost all decks and when I've checked, $50 is not an uncommon sales price.

3) I live in Japan, so I guess I will try to get into the pokemon tcg scene here. I remember back in the days it was only allowed to use Japanese cards as long as you had a copy in the countries language (in my case German). Is this still true? Just asking in case I ever go to international tournaments (well ok, maybe I'm looking a little too far ahead...haha), since I probably won't get many non-Japanese cards here.

There were just too many issues with allowing cards outside of the local language, so get the language version for where you plan on playing.

4) Just out of curiosity, back in the early 2000's everyone was crazy for Japanese cards, is that still true? I don't even know why, but everyone wanted them.

Besides what @Athena mentioned, many just think certain (or simply other) languages "look kewl". I know I do! XD

5) Do people really not buy booster packs? I read that buying single cards is cheaper basically everywhere.

Lot of "filler" in sets (cards with little hope of being competitive).