Help The "What Should I Buy?" Thread

dragonxx21 · Aug 7, 2013

Japanese VS English Booster Box

Hi there! I've recently been wanting to get into the Pokemon TCG. I collected a bit when I was younger, and had people buy me theme decks and stuff like that, but I never got really serious when it came to collecting. So after finally deciding to try getting into the TCG seriously, I made the decision to buy a box. I am looking to start playing competitively once my collection gets a little bit bigger. I'm having a hard time deciding whether I want to get Japanese or English boxes though. On the one hand, JP boxes are incredibly cheaper, and the cards are arguably nicer, quality wise, but are not legal in tournaments, whereas English cards are. Because of this, I am really conflicted, and need some help deciding. Feel free to ask me any questions, if that'll help you give me advice.

raymond25962 · Aug 7, 2013

RE: Japanese VS English Booster Box

dragonxx21 said:
Hi there! I've recently been wanting to get into the Pokemon TCG. I collected a bit when I was younger, and had people buy me theme decks and stuff like that, but I never got really serious when it came to collecting. So after finally deciding to try getting into the TCG seriously, I made the decision to buy a box. I am looking to start playing competitively once my collection gets a little bit bigger. I'm having a hard time deciding whether I want to get Japanese or English boxes though. On the one hand, JP boxes are incredibly cheaper, and the cards are arguably nicer, quality wise, but are not legal in tournaments, whereas English cards are. Because of this, I am really conflicted, and need some help deciding. Feel free to ask me any questions, if that'll help you give me advice.

If you want to play competitively, buy a English Plasma Blast box. You should get most of the staples, and if you're lucky, you might get Genesect EX or Virizion EX which you can trade/sell for a hefty sum.

dragonxx21 · Aug 8, 2013

RE: Japanese VS English Booster Box

raymond25962 said:
If you want to play competitively, buy a English Plasma Blast box. You should get most of the staples, and if you're lucky, you might get Genesect EX or Virizion EX which you can trade/sell for a hefty sum.

Is it hard to trade Japanese cards, or are they valued less than the english version?

ChiefLittleFish · Aug 8, 2013

If you live in the U.S. or really anywhere other than japan, the native-language cards generally are worth more because you can only use native-language cards in competitive play. However, there are also people who would rather collect foreign cards than their own due to better quality, better pull rates, etc. and as such, they ususally only collect those ones.

dragonxx21 · Aug 8, 2013

Bob The Magical Penguin said:
If you live in the U.S. or really anywhere other than japan, the native-language cards generally are worth more because you can only use native-language cards in competitive play. However, there are also people who would rather collect foreign cards than their own due to better quality, better pull rates, etc. and as such, they ususally only collect those ones.

Yeah, those are the reasons I'm really tempted to get Japanese boxes over an English one. I personally think their quality is better AND they are cheaper to purchase. But if only native-language is allowed in competitive play, I think English boxes are probably my best bet, but why is it so hard to find a store that sells boxes at a reasonable price (below $95) AND has cheap shipping to Canada. It's pretty ridiculous that stores are charging $30 shipping when I can get 3 Japanese boxes for like $25 shipping. @_@

ChiefLittleFish · Aug 8, 2013

I'm pretty sure that only your native-language is allowed, but I may be wrong, all I do for that is the Prereleases.

Athena · Aug 8, 2013

Yeah, Japanese boxes are only good for collecting outside of Japan, sadly, even though they are much cheaper and nicer.

If you want to play competitively, you're going to have to get English cards. In that case, I do agree with the above that Plasma Blast is probably your best bet if you want to buy a booster box to start helping you play. To help with costs, you can also buy singles to help flesh out your chosen deck once you start playing.

As far as the relative cost values between English and Japanese cards, English prices tend to vary more wildly based on the cards value competitively. Cards may raise or lower drastically based on new sets or decks or when the modified format changes. Japanese cards tend to me more stable (outside of Japan, that is) because their value isn't based on their use in the game, but more on the rarity/quality of the card. Some Japanese cards are much more expensive than their English counterparts; for example, BW Shinies since their competitive value is rather low (anyone who wants to use one of the Shinies in their deck could use a non-Shiny version for much cheaper). On the other hand, some regular EX cards are more expensive than their Japanese counterparts because of how useful they are in decks.

dragonxx21 · Aug 8, 2013

If I already had a deck in mind that I wished to build, would it be more cost effective to just buy the singles, or are cards from PB easy enough to trade that it is still easy to get value out of the cards you pull. I'm mostly looking to get a box to get more of a collection, and then trade what I don't need for what I do need.

Your Master · Aug 8, 2013

How to grow the contents of your binder?

I am starting back up in the TCG, and it took me a long time to get a good binder before I quit. I am wondering what the most cost efficient way to grow my binder is.

Luispipe8 · Aug 8, 2013