Rookie TCG Player

[123wert50]

Hey, I play the Video Games, and some times watch the show, but I've never really got into the TCG. I wanna start playing it now, but I don't know which packs to start off with. Any suggestions?

 

[Rocket_Executive]

The base Platinum set is very good to get right now, followed by Stormfront. The newest set, which should be coming out fairly soon in November, is anticipated as being one of the better sets from the Legends era, it's called Triumphant. The last two sets, Undaunted and Unleashed, don't really have enough good stuff in them to make buying packs worth it, and you can get singles of the few good cards in those sets. So I'd start off with Platinum and Stormfront.

 

[123wert50]

OK. Thanks. Any helpful guides to building decks? I'm horrible at this. Lol.

 

[donavannj]

Um... I don't know of any actual guides (though I'm sure certain other forums have some), but I do have some general guidelines:

It's a terrible idea to have any more than 25 Pokemon in you deck.

It's a good idea to have at least 20 supporters/stadiums/trainers in your deck.

It's a good idea to avoid coin-flip based attacks.

It's a good idea to have cards that fetch multiple Pokemon and Energy from your deck.

It's a bad idea to have less than 6 energy in your deck.

It's a good idea to have cards that speed up your Pokemon's evolution.

It's a good idea to have cards that help you draw from your deck.

It's a good idea to have at least one Pokemon that can hit for 100 damage a turn consistently.

And that's all I've got off the top of my head.

 

[123wert50]

Um... I don't know of any actual guides (though I'm sure certain other forums have some), but I do have some general guidelines:

It's a terrible idea to have any more than 25 Pokemon in you deck.

It's a good idea to have at least 20 supporters/stadiums/trainers in your deck.

It's a good idea to avoid coin-flip based attacks.

It's a good idea to have cards that fetch multiple Pokemon and Energy from your deck.

It's a bad idea to have less than 6 energy in your deck.

It's a good idea to have cards that speed up your Pokemon's evolution.

It's a good idea to have cards that help you draw from your deck.

It's a good idea to have at least one Pokemon that can hit for 100 damage a turn consistently.

And that's all I've got off the top of my head.

Thanks. Should I start with a Starter Deck though? Sorry, I'm kinda a rookie at this.

 

[donavannj]

Thanks. Should I start with a Starter Deck though? Sorry, I'm kinda a rookie at this.

The only Pokemon TCG starter decks out there are the "Trainer Kit" decks, which I think are presently Gyarados and Raichu for the HGSS Trainer Kit. You could start out with them, though, just to get familiar with the game, but the only major reasons to get one of the theme decks (which are far easier to find then Trainer Kits) are the energy they can provide you with, since it's the only way to get that much energy at a time and you know for certain that all those energy are authentic, and the supporters/trainers/stadiums that they have in them, since a few theme decks have amazing Supporter cards and trainers in them, though only quantities of 1 or 2.

 

[Rocket_Executive]

The trainer kits only contain 30 card decks, though combined the trainers/supporters/stadiums make an excellent start to a real deck. Like Donavannj mentioned, theme decks, which have full 60 card decks, are usually only good for a couple of trainers or supporters but guarantee you the energy cards you need. Singles are always the best way to get exactly what you want, but if you're unsure of which cards you want right now then go with some booster packs.

Donavannj, do you have trouble in your area with authenticity of energy cards? I ask because you mentioned it in your post.

 

[donavannj]

Donavannj, do you have trouble in your area with authenticity of energy cards? I ask because you mentioned it in your post.

Nah. It's just that it's really easy to pass off the Energy from the World Championship decks as actual energy cards with pictures online, if your buyer has an untrained eye. Of course, I'm just basing this off of what the cards from the WC decks I have look like.

 

[FurretFTW!!1!]

dona's last "Good Idea" should be:
It's a good idea for your deck to be able to hit for 60 damage consistantly and early on.

...and it's all thanks to baby mario's Weedle deck.

~L_X_F

 

[123wert50]

Wow. Me and my friend got to a card shop 1 hour before a tourney he let me borrow a deck and taught me a lot. And I got to teh finalz. (Untill I lost. D:)

 

[Bleak]

Wow. Me and my friend got to a card shop 1 hour before a tourney he let me borrow a deck and taught me a lot. And I got to teh finalz. (Untill I lost. D:)

Congrats! Keep it up and keep playing. I recently started playing again after a 10 year break, and have had a blast with it. Keep us filled in on how you do!

 

[123wert50]

Kk. I'll try too. Sometimes, I won't be able to got to tourneys.

 

[Itstoppedatumbreon]

lots of energy's IMO is good. lots of power in attacks and maybe some side affects is even better!!!

 

[opticalmask]

I'm a new TCG player too (just learned), but I had some old rulebooks that come with a theme deck. There is a small section that gives you some tips on building a deck of your own!

They also come with damage counters, a neato Pokemon coin (sometimes needed in the game), and a playmat that will teach you where to lay out your cards, and has instructions right on it that tells you about special conditions and what you do when it's your turn.

What I'm trying to say is, definitely buy a theme deck! There's lots of valuable newbie info in there (for people like us)!

 

[Giga Torterra]

maybe you can get a nidoking or mamoswine theme deck from the new hs triumphant
here are the types:
mamoswine: nidoking:
water & grass fighting & phsycic

when I saw something about the new tcg cards I thourght I might share my favourite!

go to serebii.net/card/triumphant
then find number 27 and click on the artwork to check it out!

 

[Kishoru Zera]

maybe you can get a nidoking or mamoswine theme deck from the new hs triumphant
here are the types:
mamoswine: nidoking:
water & grass fighting & phsycic

when I saw something about the new tcg cards I thourght I might share my favourite!

go to serebii.net/card/triumphant
then find number 27 and click on the artwork to check it out!

Correct!! He or She have 4 types..

 

[whirl]

OK. Thanks. Any helpful guides to building decks? I'm horrible at this. Lol.

The best idea would probably be to find a league in your area with more experienced players. If you're brand new then I would suggest using a starter deck to learn, but then quickly moving to something better once you've got all the basics down. Sixprizes.com has a lot of articles that include skeleton lists of the best decks right now, so that would probably be a good place to check out.

 

[dajman1996]

Rookie huh? Well don't worry you'll pick up the game soon enough if you really get into it and have some practice with friends. So basically is best to get a Trainer Kit or Starter Deck and play with it for a while so you can learn the rules and all that rookie stuff, next grab some boosters from different series to get your game up, i recommend series that have your type of cards like when you get your starter deck you'll don't get all the evo's of them so it's fun to go booster hunting to look for your cards or just to get a surprise. I also recommend not to get too many types or too many of the same Pokemon cause it'll get boring and try to restirct to 2-3 types or create multiple decks my main deck's focused more on attack and support so it's fire and Water put together my trump card is probaly Charizaid Lv.X G but my others have been Heathran Level X and Ho-Oh Legend which I can barely use. I'll talk about other stradigies about the TCG if you want to know

BtW: Any1 in Melbourne Australia hoping to start a League or host tourny's cause I'm bored playing with my friends.