Help Returning to the competitive scene after long hiatus

Nilla

Nilla

Probably day drinking
Member
Sup, everybody. I stopped playing after the Platinum sets, so pretty much after the GL/E4/G cards got rotated out. I honestly don't even know where to start in terms of new mechanics, the current metagame, etc. Can anyone provide any info/links for stuff like that? I saw there's the new GX cards and stuff, but I'm not too familiar. I also have no idea what decks/cards are meta, so any help with that is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Also, mods lemme know if this post should be made elsewhere, since the Pokebeach layout seems different from the last time I used it.
 
you can always take a look at the decklist from the top 8 in the last couple tournaments...
it will help give you an idea of the deck builds and what are some of the recent top decks.
 
Welcome back, @Nilla. I began the game with the original Base Set, but have had a few periods of little or no activity (some intentional, some due to external circumstances). One hiatus was around the last time you played, but I think I can explain things adequately.

The Pokémon TCG seems to live and die based on the expression "The more things change, the more they stay the same." If you were around long enough when you originally played, you probably noticed at least a few flat-out reprints, some new cards that reused older concepts, and maybe even the odd card that was an old card with a new name. The game designers seem to try out new ideas, but as often as not, abandon them.

For now, I recommend starting here. That is a link to the official Pokémon.com website, specifically its Play! Pokémon Rules & Resources page. Start with the rule booklet, available here as a .pdf. Then move onto some of the other categories, ask more questions here, etc.
 
Returning to Pokemon TCG usually isnt that hard.
Remember myself when I quit in 2012 and decided to play YuGiOh, then returned in 2014.
 
As far as some YouTube channels, I recommend Derium's Competitive Channel, Tablemon, and OmniPoke.

I would look at deck lists from recent tournaments. LimitlessTCG's site is great for that.
 
Fou-Link said:
Returning to Pokemon TCG usually isnt that hard.
Remember myself when I quit in 2012 and decided to play YuGiOh, then returned in 2014.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but that barely counts as leaving. ;)

When you returned, you mostly had to focus on learning a different cardpool. Yes, there were more significant differences, hence the "mostly". XP Going from the BW-era first turn rules to the XY-era was probably a shock, and then there were Mega Evolutions...

...but those are all new to this guy as well, as they didn't exist in the Platinum-era. The many, many running changes made to cards and rules, and they are all hitting him at once:
  1. Rule revisions: I don't remember all the specifics, but the first turn rules were definitely different during Gen IV. There are other rule changes as well, like the still recent change to the Burned Special Condition, plus stuff that is easily taken for granted, like the rules no longer requiring you put a Supporter by your Active after using it, then discarding it at the end of your turn.
  2. All the stuff released during the TCG Gen IV sets handled Trainers differently. The short version is that, for the Gen IV sets, instead of having three core card classes (Pokémon, Trainers, and Energy) we had five (Pokémon, Stadiums, Supporters, Trainers, and Energy). Keep in mind, both Stadium and Supporter cards were introduced years earlier as a subclass of Trainer (the same way we handle them now). The annoying thing is that it was because either no one thought of just adding the term "Item" to easily designate the non-Supporter, non-Stadium Trainer cards, or someone did but the higher-ups didn't listen. XP
  3. Errata. So much errata. Great Ball. Master Ball. Potion. Rare Candy. Super Rod. Some others as well, but that is what I can remember off the top of my head. The changes to Rare Candy are probably the most significant; it used to allow a Basic to immediately Evolve the turn it hit the field, including on a player's first turn (at least when the first turn rules allowed first turn Item usage). Notice how I didn't specify "Evolve into a Stage 2"; players could use it to skip directly to the Stage 2 form of a Pokémon (same as now), but originally it would also allow a player to immediately Evolve into a Stage 1 form as well.
  4. New and revised mechanics... and I'm not sure which is more confusing for a returning player. @Nilla left when we only had Colorless, Darkness, Fighting, Fire, Grass, Lightning, Metal, Psychic, and Water Types: Fairy didn't exist at all (not even in the video games), while Dragon Types were represented as Colorless Types (alongside Normal and Flying Type Pokémon). Several things have similar names and even mechanics, but are not the same: Pokémon-ex versus Pokémon-EX versus Pokémon-GX. Abilities versus Poké-Bodies/Poké-Powers. "Held" Items versus Ancient Traits. Shining Pokémon versus Shining Pokémon (no, I'm not kidding). Pokémon [Star] versus Ace Specs versus [Prism] cards. Pokémon with "owners". The Lost Zone. Probably more I'm forgetting.
Anyway, this was why I recommended starting with a rule book. Nilla can then start asking about the fundamentals before worrying about advanced stuff, like the metagame.

Oh! Does anyone know if the PTCGO is more likely to help or hurt a returning player?
 
Nilla said:
Sup, everybody. I stopped playing after the Platinum sets, so pretty much after the GL/E4/G cards got rotated out. I honestly don't even know where to start in terms of new mechanics, the current metagame, etc. Can anyone provide any info/links for stuff like that? I saw there's the new GX cards and stuff, but I'm not too familiar. I also have no idea what decks/cards are meta, so any help with that is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Also, mods lemme know if this post should be made elsewhere, since the Pokebeach layout seems different from the last time I used it.
Click to expand...

Its OK man, I got out right after Gen 2 hit. I've been catching up on new cards/rules/strategies for 2 weeks and I think I'm finally caught up. The only frustrating thing is seeing you uys talk about multiple cards in a thread, and having to go look them all up just to see what they do, hahaha
 
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