Help Should I Keep Playing...

[Aurorasuicune]

HI there, how is everyone. Alright, so I'm just going vent something here and share this with people. So feel free to read this if you're curious about the title.

Okay, so first off. Don't get me wrong, I love Pokémon tcg. I only began playing the game early last year, but originally I started collecting Pokémon cards since 2005. I like playing Pokemon tcg because of how many different types cards and decks you could make and use. Most decks archetypes interest me as well playing with my favorite Pokemon. My brother actually got me into the card game. Then the more I played, the more I understood what the game was all about. I was understanding what good decks would look like. Once I collected enough cards, I started building a Zoroark/Lycanroc GX deck. I was on a certain budget, so I could only so much for the deck. I considered Tapu Lele GX, but it was so expensive. I told myself if I could do good with my first deck, then I'll consider Lele. After I post this, if you guys would like to see my decklist, feel free to ask. Unfortunately, since I live in New Haven, CT, it was kind of difficult for me to find any Pokémon tcg events around my area. The only events I could find were pretty far. The first event I went to was actually the Ultra Prism prerelease, which was pretty neat. I was my first time playing against other people as well. I was kind of nervous to the point where I made a few mistakes, like forgetting to put out prize cards. After the prelease, I decided I want to come back to the card shop for a tournament, which is located in Newington, CT. But anyhow, here's where my interest for the game interest for the game took a sour turn.

Okay, here it goes. One Sunday Morning, I suddenly decided to try going up to the Newington card shop by myself, without getting a ride. The event started around 11 am, so I left my home at around 8 am. Then, I would literally take 3 long bus rides in order to get to Newington. I had to navigate with Google maps in order to get there without getting lost. But you wanna know what made it worse, it SNOWED the other night! So I had to walk through alot of deep snow as a result. I managed to finally get to the card shop, only to discover it wasn't a league tournament. There was just free play and trading going on all day, and that was it. I was kind of miffed at the fact that I took 3 buses and paid $5 for this. However, that wasn't the worst of it. So usually...When I'm meeting new people and attempting to make friends I pretty much fail at that subject. It's easier when I'm with my brother or cousin, but when I'm by myself, it takes much more effort from me. I usually keep to myself when I'm in public, so yeah... Also, I didn't have anything trade, which isn't relevant, but I didn't have anything worth trading that much. The rarest card I've pulled thus far is a Rainbow Rare Raichu GX.

So anyway, I was literally just sitting by myself while there was only a few people in the shop, in groups too, which made it harder for me to meet people. However, one guy came up to me and offered a match and I said yes. My goal was to see if I could perform well with my current Zoroark/Lycanroc deck. Now at first, I did feel confident, but then that changed.Now let me say this first to get it out of the way. I lost brutally... The deck I was up against was a Greninja Break deck. My downfall was that I wasn't drawing energy, even though I used N twice. I was unlucky. I almost did the upper hand though, but then I was hit with an enhanced hammer and couldn't get anything afterwards. Then, Greninja Break's ability happened and I lost. Now of course, when i'm either anxious or worried about my next move, I do make mistakes sometimes. However, one unnecessary moment was when I uses Zoroark's trade ability. The guy abruptly pointed out that I should have used Oranguru's Instruct ability first. I had already realized that at first, so saying it did not make things better. Then after I lost, one random guy unnecessary said that I should have had a Bridgette, which I already knew at that point! I wasn't lucky enough to pull one yet, so of course I couldn't use it!

Now then let's reflect. I'm back sitting by myself and i'm pretty much disappointed that I lost. Although, this is not the first time I lost and I'm usually pretty cool about it, this one hurt because it was as if I didn't know how to play. This got me into thinking that I've built a horrible deck. In short, I wasn't feeling very good. Nothing was going on and there wasn't a tournament, so I left after playing one match, which was not my ideal goal. Now here's things gets even worse. I would accidentally get on the wrong bus to Hartford. I was literally stranded in the CT capital for two hours, until I was forced to take a train to New Haven, which I had to pay $31 for! I was not happy! I had to calm myself down by listening to some Pokémon Mystery Dungeon music, which felt quite soothing, so it definitely helped. Then I finally got home in the next 3 hours. I left the shop at 1pm and got home around 8 pm. I've made a horrible decision! I was unhappy, hungry, tired, and in doubt!

Now... I'm not thinking of giving up playing Pokemon Tcg at this very moment, but I'm near considering it. This was a very bad experience that left me completely in doubt on whether I should continue doing this. It left me thinking what if I invest and commit to this, but end up not doing performing well with any cool deck that I build. Now I'm not trying to be the very best, like no one ever was But I at least want to be good at the game, and just have fun playing with different decks. I just want have fun playing Pokemon tcg. However, It becomes not fun if people question my game play or deck decisions, like they're better than me. Like seriously, this is my first deck, so it's not going to be the perfect deck, especially if I was on a low budget. So if you're gonna say I should've put this or that in my deck as if you think you know better than me, you're gonna end up pissing me off, so don't try me! I understand that I was playing a Greninja Break deck, so it's not like I wasn't playing bad, I was just unlucky.

sigh but yeah, this is me venting about whether I should keep going with Pokémon tcg. To be honest, this game is really fun, even more now with the recent Ultra Prism joining the standard format, so I really don't want to stop playing now. I'm worried that my interest have been pierced such a low experience.

So please let me know, what are your thoughts? Go wild with questions or thoughts, but please be nice... If you guys want see my Zoroark/Lycanroc GX decklist, please let me know and I'll post it here ^^

 

[Sheimeix]

Hey, I know exactly what you mean. Previously I was a YGO player, and while I didn't have nearly as rough of a time finding a card shop with YGO weeklies, it was still pretty much what you described. When I got to the YGO weekly event, everyone sanctioned off into their crew with maybe 3 peoples -actually- playing. When I would play, I would make misplays left and right. When I would play online with some of my pals with some... Unofficial game clients, we would have a blast and think really critically about our plays. While my YGO collection was worth a lot, I felt that no matter what trades I did, I would always be behind because of my misplays. Eventually I gave up on YGO because there was no official game similar to PTCGO, and Konami started getting really picky on unofficial game clients, understandably so.

Then I moved on to PTCG, having been out of the game since Stormfront (before Platinum!). Back when Stormfront was new, I lived a solid 2 hour drive from the closest POP league... Not that it mattered, I wasn't old enough to drive at the time. I could only get maybe one or two trips to the league per year. I ended up stopping for that reason.

Fast forward to now. I've dropped YGO, and got back into PTCG around the time CRI dropped in North America. Now the closest LCS I have is a hefty 45 minutes away, which I understand isn't nearly as far as it could be, but given my fuel efficiency in my current ride is disastrously bad... Anyways, so my first (and so far, only) trip to the LCS for PTCG was for Pokemon, specifically the ULP prerelease. I had a blast, but a few of my games I may have forgot to do my prizes, I may have forgot to draw for turn, I may have accidentally tried using two Supporters in one turn, etc... But that was something that happened to most people there.

I've yet to check out their regular POP League (my work schedule has me working during league). If this was YGO, I would be SOL and not able to really play with anyone in an official way, but the answer to my predicament might fall in line with yours. PTCGO is a really solid alternative to the physical game. You don't get the personal interactions with others while playing, but for some people that get anxious and misplay when playing IRL, that could totally be a positive. Also, you don't have to worry about a long series of bus stops, snow hiking, and a $31 train ticket ;D

That being said, playing in person can be way more enjoyable, sure- but getting key cards (Lele, Brigette, etc) is a bit more difficult IRL if you don't have a super shiny binder. If you're good at trading up your cards and packs, you might be able to work your way up to a Lele from almost nothing pretty easy on PTCGO if you get familiar with the online economy.

As for IRL, it might be a decent idea to get used to some post-rotation cards you'll be using. I'm trying to phase out some staples that will be cycled out when the rotation hits with other staples we'll have at that point, like using a couple Pokemon Fan Clubs instead of a Brigette. It probably wouldn't be as good necessarily, but it's better than nothing, and you'll be more used to it when the rotation hits




tl;dr If IRL PTCG isn't your jap, PTCGO might be a much better fit for you!

 

[Shfinx]

Okay, first things first: I'm SO sorry for what happened to you. I feel bad that you had to go through that.

Now, there's a few things you can do. First, there's the one extreme, where you just all out quit. I, personally, being highly biased, would not recommend this. It is an option, though, so it should be mentioned. The next extreme is to just act like it never happened and keep playing. i don't know if that's even possible, since that sounds like it really wasn't fun at all. You'll never really forget it, but you could decide to overlook it and just keep on going. Then, of course, there's the in between. You keep playing, but just play every once and a while. This is the more realistic one. Frankly, it's what most people are already doing, including you possibly.

I'm probably going to talk way more than you want to read, so I'll split it up into different topics.

TOPIC ONE: LEAGUES

One thing you can do, if you haven't already, is find a league to try out. I don't know your exact address, obviously, but when I put New Haven into the event locator on the Pokemon web site it showed that there's a league every in Milford, CT. I don't know where exactly in New Haven you live, but that might be closer. It's a league, so it's free. It runs every Sunday from 1-3 PM. here's the link to the event information page on the Pokemon web site: https://www.pokemon.com/us/play-pokemon/pokemon-events/leagues/6193233/. I'd recommend league's much more than tournament, personally. Even more so if you prioritize fun over getting better. In general, you meet more beginners at leagues, but there are still some people who know how to play, and could help you if want. At my league, there's me and a few other boys, a guy who more wants to play troll decks than win, a few younger players, and then some young adults (probably around your age, going off of your profile's age of 20). I started going to the league consistently a couple months ago, and it starts off a little similar to what you described, with people in groups. However, I recommend just going to an open chair, sitting down, and putting your decks, playmats, and any other stuff you brought up on the table in a way that clearly says, "I'm up for a game." Someone will probably play you, and even if not, you can watch other matches. Fairly quickly you should get a group of people who you can be comfortable around. If you're lucky, there will be a Pokemon Professor at the league (leagues are supposed to have them, but I think I've been to a league that didn't have one). I only really have experience with the professor at my league, but that one professor I know is very good at making sure the new people have someone to play with. If there's a professor like that, you should be able to find a game fairly easily.

I find leagues to be a fun place where you can go and just mess around with whatever deck you want. As a bonus, it's really awesome when you get to see new players getting into the game. It's like seeing the new generation (which is weird for me, since I'm only 16). Plus, it's free, and you can get league promos if you really want (I usually don't bother).

TOPIC TWO: TOURNAMENTS

If you really want to try to play in tournaments and try to push yourself to be as good as you can and stay on top of the meta-game, you could try tournaments. These do have entree fees, though, and usually only have prizes for higher placings. No disrespect to you as a player, but it would be foolish to assume you could always get prizes out of it. It's just too hard. Unfortunately, the closest tournaments in your area seemed to be in Danbury, which it says is farther away. Again, I don't know your exact address, so it could be closer, but if not then that's a drawback.

At tournaments, there is significantly less messing around. You won't see as many off-meta decks, people trying out techs, or stuff like that. People are there primarily to win, secondarily to have fun. This is the inverse of leagues. It's probably the better place to go if you want to be serious and try your hardest to improve. You'll probably become better than if you stayed at leagues, but won't have as much fun doing it.

While I'm not in one, there are groups of friends who playtest together. I went to one at my card shop once, thinking it was an Expanded open play event. Turned out they were playtesting for the next big tournament (I think it was one of the regionals, but I forget which. it was one of the ones under the reign of Gardy, that's all I know). The people there were nice, and joked around together, but were obviously there for more than just social time. I don't know how you could find one of these, but you might like one. One warning, though: it's probably a bit more clique-ish than leagues, since it's usually a group of people who have been playtesting together for a long time. The people at the one I went to were not rude, and tried to include me, but very obviously preferred it when it was just them. This could have been because there was an age gap, though. I'm basically the bare minimum age for the masters division, and it was masters only. being older, you might not have that problem.

TOPIC THREE: OUTLOOK

I get that the people giving you advice seemed annoying. I wasn't there. Depending on how they said it, it could have been very aggravating. However, I can tell you there is no way to stop them from giving you advice. Some of the people at my league do the same thing. I can tell you that they generally don't mean anything rude by it. There's one boy I know who will point out what he considers a misplay when he sees one. Usually, I have an explanation that either comes down to us having different styles or him not knowing my list, and some other card in my deck made the decision make sense. He doesn't mean anything by it. We're just there to help each other get better, while making loads of stupid jokes of course. If people start giving you advice you don't want, I recommend explaining why you did what you did, if you don't think it's a misplay. If it was a misplay, like the Oranguru thing you mentioned, don't get too upset over it. They pointed it out so that, if you didn't know, you can play better in the future. As for people saying you should play cards you don't have, just say you don't own the cards. That usually solves everything.

Of course, while the Pokemon community is by-and-large a group of really nice people, there will be the people who are legitimately pointing out your mistakes to make you feel like they're better than you. I've experienced this only once, but it really ground my gears. If that's what you experienced, then i understand your doubts about continuing playing. The only thing I can say is that not everyone is like that. Oh, and if you really want to, you could point a mistake of their own, or find some minute rule they're breaking. They almost for sure will make a mistake, as most people do, so you can simply point that out. or, explain your reasoning to them, and watch them try and come up with a counter to your obviously-correct reasoning. I would guess it's usually younger people doing this, since older people are usually more respectful (not to say they won't point out mistakes, they'll probably just be a lot nicer about it and have good intentions).

CONCLUSION:

In the end, it's all up to you. I can't tell you whether or not to keep playing. Personally, I don't see myself quitting anytime soon, but we're different people. Try and do what's best for you, and remember that it's all just a game. It doesn't really have a big impact on the rest of your life, beyond taking up time that could be used for other things. I'm obviously a highly biased adviser, but I would say keep playing. If the serious people aren't fun for you, try out a league. if leagues are boring, or you want to try and push yourself, play tournaments. I'd give it a shot. If you don't want to, that's fine, though.

I hope I helped shed some light on things. I know I rambled a lot, and apologize for any boredom you experienced. Again, I feel so bad that that happened to you, and hope it doesn't dampen your view of the Pokemon community too much. in general, the Pokemon community is pretty chill. Good luck in all future endeavors, whether they involve Pokemon or not, and have a nice day!

P.S: I'd be happy to take a look at your deck list, by the way. No promises on good advice, though, because I'm an Expanded player, and I assume you play Standard.