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- Seen Jul 6, 2008
My kids are collecting Pokemon cards. We are going to start participating in a league so they can actually play the game instead of just collect the cards. They of course are collecting all the ultra rare cards. I've read up on basic game play and deckbuilding, although deckbuilding strategy recommendations seem to vary widely.
For someone just starting out is a good basic deck building strategy to have about 20 pokemon, 20 trainers/support/stadium, and 20 energy. The 20 pokemon should focus on no more than two types trying to match pokemone that have a certain weakness with pokemone that have a resistance to that weakness. Then there's this thing about 'trees' like you have one Stage 2, two Stage 1's, and three basics of a particular pokemon evolution line. Is this a good sound basic strategy for a beginner?
My second question is how best to accumulate the cards you want/need. Aside from trading, I see a lot of Ebay auctions where it is a randow drawing and you are guaranteed to get at least one EX, yada yada. That seems like such a scam to me because you could end up with a bunch of cards you already have! Seems like a better strategy is to find a seller on E-bay with a huge inventory and low prices and shipping for each additional card is either free or $0.25 and just buy a bunch of cards individually from one seller all at once?
I know my kids have plents of cards to build all sorts of different 60 card decks. But they will want to be competetive and I don't want them spending all this money on these ultra rare stage 2 cards and they don't have enough of the Stage 1 and Basic cards to have a good supporting 'tree' - unless I guess if you put a bunch of Rare Candy in your deck, then I suppose having a tree is no longer important? Just have a bunch of basics and a bunch of top-tier Stage 2 cards? I love how different deck strategies have gotten labels like haymaker. This is quite an interesting game and very complex when if comes to deck building strategies it seems.
Lastly from a collecting standpoint. I see a lot of these EX and Lv.X cards going on Ebay frequently for $10-$30 depending on the card. We've been careful to only buy cards that are playable in tournaments (playable in modified format.) As the game evolves, won't some of these expensive cards eventually not be playable also and therefore because almost worthless. It was mentioned to me that these days the cards are produced in such large quantities, even ultra rare cards, that their value is bound to go down, not up, it seems it is more about what is the latest 'fad' of what cards are the 'coolest' amongst all the kids and it seems to me that can change from year to year. Will Charizard EX be hot, in demand card fetching $50-$100 in 2 years? So is buying ultra rare cards on E-bay for $10, $20, $30+ a total foolish thing to do?
For someone just starting out is a good basic deck building strategy to have about 20 pokemon, 20 trainers/support/stadium, and 20 energy. The 20 pokemon should focus on no more than two types trying to match pokemone that have a certain weakness with pokemone that have a resistance to that weakness. Then there's this thing about 'trees' like you have one Stage 2, two Stage 1's, and three basics of a particular pokemon evolution line. Is this a good sound basic strategy for a beginner?
My second question is how best to accumulate the cards you want/need. Aside from trading, I see a lot of Ebay auctions where it is a randow drawing and you are guaranteed to get at least one EX, yada yada. That seems like such a scam to me because you could end up with a bunch of cards you already have! Seems like a better strategy is to find a seller on E-bay with a huge inventory and low prices and shipping for each additional card is either free or $0.25 and just buy a bunch of cards individually from one seller all at once?
I know my kids have plents of cards to build all sorts of different 60 card decks. But they will want to be competetive and I don't want them spending all this money on these ultra rare stage 2 cards and they don't have enough of the Stage 1 and Basic cards to have a good supporting 'tree' - unless I guess if you put a bunch of Rare Candy in your deck, then I suppose having a tree is no longer important? Just have a bunch of basics and a bunch of top-tier Stage 2 cards? I love how different deck strategies have gotten labels like haymaker. This is quite an interesting game and very complex when if comes to deck building strategies it seems.
Lastly from a collecting standpoint. I see a lot of these EX and Lv.X cards going on Ebay frequently for $10-$30 depending on the card. We've been careful to only buy cards that are playable in tournaments (playable in modified format.) As the game evolves, won't some of these expensive cards eventually not be playable also and therefore because almost worthless. It was mentioned to me that these days the cards are produced in such large quantities, even ultra rare cards, that their value is bound to go down, not up, it seems it is more about what is the latest 'fad' of what cards are the 'coolest' amongst all the kids and it seems to me that can change from year to year. Will Charizard EX be hot, in demand card fetching $50-$100 in 2 years? So is buying ultra rare cards on E-bay for $10, $20, $30+ a total foolish thing to do?
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