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Mahusive

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    11
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    • Seen May 20, 2014
    First of all I wanted to say hello, as I've literally just joined the forums.

    Second of all, a little about my self: I used to be pretty big into TCG when I was younger, mostly pokemon but also yugioh, but somewhere along the way I lost interest (shortly after the pearl and diamond decks came out I believe). I have however recently started playing hearthstone, which has been a lot of fun, but now I'm interested in going back to pokemon, if it's actually a viable option to play it online.

    So I guess now I have a few questions:

    How much has the game changed since I stopped playing?
    How does TCGO work? Is there a simple matchmaking button or do I have to pre-arrange matches before hand?
    How viable is it to play for free? Is it like hearthstone in that respect where it is very possible to play without ever spending money, but if you want to speed up how quickly you build your collection you have the option to buy some packs?
    How large is the TCGO community?

    Thanks in advance for any answers you guys and gals leave.
     
    There's some new stuff like Ace Spec cards, Plasma cards, etc but it's pretty much the same mechanics.

    There's simple matchmaking, I believe.

    You can play for free. It's kind of a grind to start, but it gets easier as you go. If you buy packs in real life they give you redeemable codes inside for PTCGO when give you a free pack and all the cards are tradable.

    It's decently large to my understanding. People are turned off because it doesn't give you all the cards right away for simple testing and stuff, but it's not hard to find a match.
     
    Mahusive said:
    First of all I wanted to say hello, as I've literally just joined the forums.

    Second of all, a little about my self: I used to be pretty big into TCG when I was younger, mostly pokemon but also yugioh, but somewhere along the way I lost interest (shortly after the pearl and diamond decks came out I believe). I have however recently started playing hearthstone, which has been a lot of fun, but now I'm interested in going back to pokemon, if it's actually a viable option to play it online.

    So I guess now I have a few questions:

    How much has the game changed since I stopped playing?
    How does TCGO work? Is there a simple matchmaking button or do I have to pre-arrange matches before hand?
    How viable is it to play for free? Is it like hearthstone in that respect where it is very possible to play without ever spending money, but if you want to speed up how quickly you build your collection you have the option to buy some packs?
    How large is the TCGO community?

    Thanks in advance for any answers you guys and gals leave.
    Click to expand...

    The game has changed a lot the card design and stuff, I have a TCGO Guide:https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/323476
    and you can share your TCGO Username here: https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/323096
     
    Ok, thanks for the help! I've just played a few games and I'm starting to remember all the details. What would you guys recommend that I do first? I've played the first two games against the computer characters, and one game on versus mode using the default fighting type deck. What's next on the agenda?!
     
    Mahusive said:
    Ok, thanks for the help! I've just played a few games and I'm starting to remember all the details. What would you guys recommend that I do first? I've played the first two games against the computer characters, and one game on versus mode using the default fighting type deck. What's next on the agenda?!
    Click to expand...

    If you enter the code plasmastorm you get a metal deck I think its called Rallying Cry!
     
    The first thing I would recommend doing is playing through the Trainer Challenge to unlock all of the three basic decks you get for free through that, so that you have a small collection of cards to work with and some different them decks to tweak as you start collecting booster packs (you can also get lots of tokens and boosters from the trainer challenge as you fill up the stars, and it will help you get to know your decks really well).

    Other than that, just make sure you play regularly.

    Aside from the bonuses you get from logging in daily, you get 11 trainer tokens from your first match of the day against another user (even if you lose), so make sure you always do that, and you get 1 - 3 tokens every time you win a ranked match. Until you get a good, reliable deck put together, I strongly recommend sticking with the "Theme Deck" option. Because most theme decks are fairly evenly matched (especially because most people are using the free decks that you get from the Trainer Challenge or promo codes), you'll be able to work on your skills without worrying about your opponent's cards vastly outmatching yours (believe me, it's no fun losing match after match because of people playing with highly competitive decks stacked with EXs. Wait until you're often winning - or at least holding your own - in theme deck matches, and have some EXs of your own, or cards that can hold their own against EXs (there are a number of cards that have special abilities that let them do more damage to or take less damage from EXs) before moving on to standard or unlimited play). And remember, playing against a person is much different than playing against the AI, and will require some different strategies.

    The other thing is to take advantage of the AI to get to know your deck really well before playing against a person (whether it's a theme deck or one you've built yourself), so play several matches against the AI first (at least for me, it's way easier - and way more fun - to learn about your deck by playing with it than just reading through the cards). You don't want to be wasting time reviewing what your cards do, especially because you're more than likely going to need to review some of your opponent's cards, and you want to be able to come up with long-term strategies that might involve cards not in your hand (e.g., you need to be able to go "okay, my opponent played that, so the best card to counter it with will be this, so I'll use my ultra ball on the next turn to get it, and discard these two cards because they're going to be the least useful based on what I've seen of my opponent's deck so far). The more you play, the better you'll get at that, and it makes the game a lot more fun for both players if neither of you have to spend too long thinking out your next move.

    Also, as for the free play - it's totally possible to play completely for free, but it's much more difficult to build your collection because any cards you buy with tokens can't be traded. However, even after you've finished the Trainer Challenge, it isn't too difficult to get enough tokens to buy booster packs. Gathering enough to get new theme decks takes a bit more patience, but you get a lot more bang for your buck in terms of cards added to your collection, as well as giving you a new theme deck to choose from in VS mode, and you get a free booster when you complete 12 matches in the Trainer Challenge with a store bought deck. And one of the great things is, you never have to worry about energy - you have an unlimited supply of basic energy of all types, so there's no need to spend those hard-earned tokens or precious store-bought tradeables on energy.
     
    Last edited:
    Inkblots said:
    The first thing I would recommend doing is playing through the Trainer Challenge to unlock all of the three basic decks you get for free through that, so that you have a small collection of cards to work with and some different them decks to tweak as you start collecting booster packs (you can also get lots of tokens and boosters from the trainer challenge as you fill up the stars, and it will help you get to know your decks really well).

    Other than that, just make sure you play regularly.

    Aside from the bonuses you get from logging in daily, you get 11 trainer tokens from your first match of the day against another user (even if you lose), so make sure you always do that, and you get 1 - 3 tokens every time you win a ranked match. Until you get a good, reliable deck put together, I strongly recommend sticking with the "Theme Deck" option. Because most theme decks are fairly evenly matched (especially because most people are using the free decks that you get from the Trainer Challenge or promo codes), you'll be able to work on your skills without worrying about your opponent's cards vastly outmatching yours (believe me, it's no fun losing match after match because of people playing with highly competitive decks stacked with EXs. Wait until you're often winning - or at least holding your own - in theme deck matches, and have some EXs of your own, or cards that can hold their own against EXs (there are a number of cards that have special abilities that let them do more damage to or take less damage from EXs) before moving on to standard or unlimited play). And remember, playing against a person is much different than playing against the AI, and will require some different strategies.

    The other thing is to take advantage of the AI to get to know your deck really well before playing against a person (whether it's a theme deck or one you've built yourself), so play several matches against the AI first (at least for me, it's way easier - and way more fun - to learn about your deck by playing with it than just reading through the cards). You don't want to be wasting time reviewing what your cards do, especially because you're more than likely going to need to review some of your opponent's cards, and you want to be able to come up with long-term strategies that might involve cards not in your hand (e.g., you need to be able to go "okay, my opponent played that, so the best card to counter it with will be this, so I'll use my ultra ball on the next turn to get it, and discard these two cards because they're going to be the least useful based on what I've seen of my opponent's deck so far). The more you play, the better you'll get at that, and it makes the game a lot more fun for both players if neither of you have to spend too long thinking out your next move.

    Also, as for the free play - it's totally possible to play completely for free, but it's much more difficult to build your collection because any cards you buy with tokens can't be traded. However, even after you've finished the Trainer Challenge, it isn't too difficult to get enough tokens to buy booster packs. Gathering enough to get new theme decks takes a bit more patience, but you get a lot more bang for your buck in terms of cards added to your collection, as well as giving you a new theme deck to choose from in VS mode, and you get a free booster when you complete 12 matches in the Trainer Challenge with a store bought deck. And one of the great things is, you never have to worry about energy - you have an unlimited supply of basic energy of all types, so there's no need to spend those hard-earned tokens or precious store-bought tradeables on energy.
    Click to expand...

    Nice mini guide! try making a thread with pictures. Okay? you don't have too! lol can you check out my thread? lol just joking!
     
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