Thinking about playing again

[Breets]

Hey. I haven't played competitively since Dark and Metal were first introduced (Neo set?), and the last time I played casually I used a Dark Crobat deck (Team Rocket Returns set?). After digging up my old cards I was thinking about getting back into it, but I just had a few questions first.

1) I used to play Yugioh, where winning was equivalent to the amount of money that you spent. Is Pokemon similar/the same? If so, what are some inexpensive yet decent deck choices?
2) What is the typical age group for events? I don't want to show up only to find that I'm 5+ years older than the other people there.
3) Are there any cards, whether they be Pokemon, Trainers, or Energies, that most people use in their decks? And relating back to my first question, are they ridiculously overpriced if I were to buy singles of them?
4) How should I go about getting back in? Should I buy single cards to make a deck or start with a starter deck?

 

[donavannj]

1. Not really, no... it's a lot more about how well you assembled the deck AND how well you play it than Yu-Gi-Oh! is. And the singles are much cheaper. Game breakers that fit in every deck tend to cost a fair bit, though... (but that's the same for every card game).

2. Well... I don't know about how things would be your area, but we had 40-some Masters division players at States in March (that means 16 and older).

3. Well, currently, Roseanne's Research (a supporter), Great Expectations Claydol, and Bebe's Search (another supporter) are staples in most decks, particularly evolution decks. All of these cards cost less than $10 apiece, and at one point or another were league promos in the past year or two, so a lot of people who have been playing regularly for the past year probably have excess copies of these they might be willing to trade.

4. I suggest buying a mix of boosters and singles so that the rares you get from the boosters can be swapped with other players for cards they have that you want. (b'-')b

Also, older cards, unless reprinted, cannot be used in official play. (b'-')b

 

[Breets]

Is there a specific set of boosters/singles that you'd suggest starting out with, or even an inexpensive deck type that you'd suggest?

 

[donavannj]

Is there a specific set of boosters/singles that you'd suggest starting out with, or even an inexpensive deck type that you'd suggest?

Well... anything with "Platinum" or "HeartGold SoulSilver" in the set name will probably be legal for tourney play in the 2010-2011 season.

And I don't really have a suggestion for an inexpensive deck type, since most decent decks cost around the same to assemble (though the best of the SP decks tend to cost a small fortune because a lot of them like to run Luxray GL Lv. X). I'd suggest going to a site like PokeGym or PokeBeach and studying decklists and seeing which decks look to be the most fun to run. (b'-')b

 

[Breets]

Ok, cool. I'll check those out.

Thanks for your help! xD

 

[Breets]

Hey, I was looking up some current decks when I came across a Porygon-Z deck, which I'd be interested in making. However, I'd rather not dish out tons of money for Uxie, Claydol, and the like. Are there decent replacements for these cards that don't cost as much?

Thanks again!

 

[donavannj]

Hey, I was looking up some current decks when I came across a Porygon-Z deck, which I'd be interested in making. However, I'd rather not dish out tons of money for Uxie, Claydol, and the like. Are there decent replacements for these cards that don't cost as much?

Thanks again!

No... because these are the only cards in the game like them, and they are necessary for evolution decks. This game is so much more about draw power than it used to be... but, all in all, it still costs far less than Yu-Gi-Oh! for a good deck.

Could you post the decklist? You usually only need 1 or 2 Uxie (1 works out quite well in most decks) and 1 or 2 Claydol (2 works far better than 1, though). Since they have been league promos before (you get these for showing up to an official Pokemon league), you could probably find a hobby shop near you that has an event and work out some trades with the players who have a lot of these.

What follows is a list of cards that I believe would be a lot more expensive if they weren't constantly being made as league promos (parentheses are the prices from the last time I checked):

Roseanne's Research ($2-3)
Bebe's Search ($1.50-2.50)
Claydol Great Expectations ($7)
Baltoy Great Expectations ($3)
Uxie Secret Wonders ($5)
... and a couple other cards that escape my memory at the moment.

 

[Breets]

Pokemon-20
4 Porygon GE
2 Porygon 2 GE
3 Porygon-Z DP-35
1 Porygon-Z LV.X MD
2 Baltoy GE
2 Claydol GE
2 Uxie LA
1 Azelf LA
1 Chatot MD
2 Unown G GE

T/S/S-29
4 Roseanne's Research
4 Bebe's Search
1 Luxury Ball
2 Cynthia's Feelings
2 Marley's Request
4 Rare Candy
2 Broken Time-Space
2 Night Maintenance
4 Technical Machine TS-1
4 Technical Machine TS-2

Energy-11
3 Fighting Energy
2 Psychic Energy
4 Call Energy
2 Cyclone Energy

This is the original deck list that I found. It is from Sept of 09, so it might be a bit outdated. I don't really know what the cards do, so for all I know, it could be a horrible deck, but it sounded like a fun deck to play. Plus, I like Porygon-Z. :P
That's odd; when I checked the card prices, they were a bit higher than what you posted. $10 for Claydol, $20 for Uxie ($5 "used" on eBay), etc. The prices that you posted are not as bad.
EDIT: I didn't read where you said "prices are from last you checked". Whoops. ^^;

 

[donavannj]

Online sellers tend to charge more than offline sellers. I was going off of the prices the primary trader/seller in my area had at States (in March), and his prices are flat for the most part on those cards.

Not a bad list... but it seems a little vulnerable to the current terrors of the game (like Flygon variants, Luxray GL variants, and Garchomp C variants). There's a Gyarados that is a pretty good counter to SP decks, but Battle Roads coming up later this month and into next month are where people tend to just bring their "for-fun" decks.

 

[Breets]

I checked to see if there are any card shops that sell Pokemon in my area, but apparently the closest one is more than an hour away, so I'd be stuck buying cards online anyway. >_<
Do you have any suggestions for this particular deck list? Maybe some useless cards to take out or some counters against popular decks? I dunno, I'm kinda disappointed that there's nothing in my area, so I might have to just play online or something. Oh well.

 

[donavannj]

Redshark is a good, free (but unofficial) way to play online. (b'-')b You can test decks out before you go out and buy the cards. And, actually, an hour's not all that bad of a distance. Especially if you don't live in a very big town.

And you can't forget about Wal-Mart, Target, and the like for booster packs. (b'-')b

 

[Breets]

Would you recommend buying boosters, though? Or just stick to buying the singles?

 

[donavannj]

Would you recommend buying boosters, though? Or just stick to buying the singles?

Well, I recommend a combination, and then going to hobby shops every once in a while to trade with people. If you're going to be using cards for trading, focus on buying HGSS - Unleashed when it comes out, since the bulk of the rares will still be in demand for a good month or two.

 

[Breets]

You're right; I guess I was just used to living 5 minutes away from a shop where I used to live. :)

Anyway, thanks for answering all of my questions! I'll probably practice with Redshark and read up on the more popular cards before I actually start buying them again. Should I just look up popular deck types like the ones you posted (Flygon variants, Luxray GL variants, and Garchomp C variants)?
Like I said, I wouldn't mind playing a Porygon-Z variant. Do you know if it has potential to be somewhat competitive?

 

[donavannj]

I haven't heard any success stories about Porygon-Z of late, but good players just experiment until they stumble upon an amazing combo and then take Organized Play by storm with their "rogue" deck.

Researching those decks I mentioned could help you build a Porygon-Z deck that counters those pretty well, if that's your objective. That'll be tough to do, though. (b'-')b

 

[Breets]

Alright, I might try that then, although upon closer inspection, the closest places with Pokemon events are public libraries, and it doesn't seem like there will be people of our age level.
I might as well stick to the online proxies until I get a better feel of the game again.

Anyway, thanks again for all the help! :D

 

[JWittz]

Check out the link in my signature for my weekly show about the Pokemon trading card game. It's a great resource for players like you looking to get into the competitive game!

 

[MEGATOM]

If your looking for somewhere cheap online to buy boosters from check out my link :)

 

[AaronOnPokemon]

I didnt know anyone still plays the trading card game. I used to do it at school but that when I stopped... Didnt know people play it competitively. :D

 

[donavannj]

I didnt know anyone still plays the trading card game. I used to do it at school but that when I stopped... Didnt know people play it competitively. :D

Yep, they do. The players drive the card market now... the collectors who are still looking also tend to play the game, too.

And the Masters division is usually the largest at tournaments in my area, since all of them can drive themselves, or know ways to get to the tournaments without a car. (b'-')b