Where to start?

pkolaboy

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    • Seen Mar 30, 2012
    I used to play the card game when I was younger when it first popped off. Recently I found myself playing the TCG for gameboy on an emulator and I beat the game within one day basically with one deck lol. Well I figured I wanted to get back into it and play against some other people. I don't know, just when I used to collect the cards and play it was super fun, I would even play against myself (don't judge me lol). Just one question, I want to know where to start.

    I just bought 300+ cards off ebay from a seller who was selling his son's cards. I am trying to stay away from the lot sellers also. Are every single card that is/was made in the TCG usable in game play? I know there are hundreds of cards new and old and not sure whats usable and what not. Sorry for all the n00b questions!

    -Mark
     
    Here's a list I've compiled of play legal sets:

    https://www.pokecommunity.com/posts/6700718

    Most of your older cards are not play legal at this time. This is for both business reasons by Nintendo as well as balance reasons for competitive play to make it easier for new players to get into Pokemon's competitive TCG events and be, well, competitive.

    As for where to start, I suggest finding a league in your area and checking it out. Your local players are who you'd be playing against most often.

    Unless you just buy booster packs from Noble Victories and Emerging Powers, which come with booster pack codes for the official TCG Online game at www.pokemontcg.com . Then you can learn there instead and play on that (the booster pack codes allow you to pick a booster from any tournament legal set).

    I personally prefer the actual cards, however, so I'd check out your local league, if there is one. There's a league finder on the official Pokemon website somewhere (I think it's called the "Event Finder" at the moment).
     
    Wow that site has a lot of problems lol, understandable because it is in the beta stage, anywho. I am stationed in Hawaii and I think there is a league here but I don't nessasarily want to compete now, rather wait until I get comfortable with building decks and what not. I guess I can teach my wife how to play lol... Do a lot of people still play via skype/im? Thanks a lot!
     
    lol at akwardness... I am reading the unofficial trading card league thread now. So do people battle with their decks as random? Or do they discuss the decks to choose? What time zone are you from btw? It's 1030 here in HI...
     
    College or Highschool? srry lol, can you point me to where I can buy some some good bulk new cards? I am almost convinced to go and just buy packs or maybe some of the starter decks and learn all the new strategies. I understand now about the advantage with new cards because they are very percise...
     
    College. Getting my degree depends on this final.

    Big box retailers like Target and Wal-Mart will have a good supply of packs usually. But if you want in bulk for a "booster box", your best bet is an online retailer. Can't recommend any from personal experience because I've never bought any myself, but I guess Troll and Toad would be a solid place to buy a booster box from.

    But if you want to reteach yourself, pick up the Black & White Trainer Kit, since it has the most current rule instructions for learning to play of all the trainer kits. My personal favorite trainer kit is the HGSS one, however because the Pokemon in it are two decent cards in the Gyarados and Raichu, as well as the fact that it has several very good trainers in Pokemon Collector and Pokemon Communication.
     
    I appreciate the advice! I will be on tomorrow to read up some more (currently watching vs battles on youtube lol). Good luck on your final, you will pass!

    -Mark
     
    Adding on to what has been said, the Prime Challenge boxes are a good way to get started. They come with a theme deck, 3 packs of the same set, an evolution line of a Pokemon in the deck, and a Pokemon Prime version of a Pokemon in the deck, all for around $20. The one downside to this is that the rulebooks in the decks are outdated, but otherwise they're a great way to get reintroduced to the game. I like to think of them as a way to practice deckbuilding, as you'd be taking cards out of the deck to try to fit in some of the extra cards you will receive in the package.

    As for online retailers to buy boxes from, I've had no problems with both Dave & Adam's Card World (dacardworld.com) and Troll & Toad (trollandtoad.com).

    Hope this helped some.
     
    Raikou Trainer said:
    Adding on to what has been said, the Prime Challenge boxes are a good way to get started. They come with a theme deck, 3 packs of the same set, an evolution line of a Pokemon in the deck, and a Pokemon Prime version of a Pokemon in the deck, all for around $20. The one downside to this is that the rulebooks in the decks are outdated, but otherwise they're a great way to get reintroduced to the game. I like to think of them as a way to practice deckbuilding, as you'd be taking cards out of the deck to try to fit in some of the extra cards you will receive in the package.

    As for online retailers to buy boxes from, I've had no problems with both Dave & Adam's Card World (dacardworld.com) and Troll & Toad (trollandtoad.com).

    Hope this helped some.
    Click to expand...


    Thanks for the reply!

    I actually went out and bought the Black and White trainer kit. This includes two 30 card premade decks, the hit counters/burn/poison, and a booster pack. What does the symbol mean on the bottom right of these cards(the decks, not booster pack)? It is a symbol of a pokemon, not circle, diamond, ect. Anyways, my wife is actually getting the hang of it and enjoys it (wipes forehead off and a sigh of relief lol). I can't wait to start collecting again and battleling. Thanks for the links, I can start looking around and buying!
     
    pkolaboy said:
    Thanks for the reply!

    I actually went out and bought the Black and White trainer kit. This includes two 30 card premade decks, the hit counters/burn/poison, and a booster pack. What does the symbol mean on the bottom right of these cards(the decks, not booster pack)? It is a symbol of a pokemon, not circle, diamond, ect. Anyways, my wife is actually getting the hang of it and enjoys it (wipes forehead off and a sigh of relief lol). I can't wait to start collecting again and battleling. Thanks for the links, I can start looking around and buying!
    Click to expand...

    That symbol means that its from the Trainer Kit. And that symbol is there so you can rebuild the Trainer Kit decks if you dismantle them or mix them together. If you look closely, there's two symbols in that set. They might be different Pokemon, they might be different colors, but there are two different symbols, one for each deck. That is the "set symbol". That's where it is on pretty much every card printed since 2002's Expedition set.
     
    ok, so I just ordered a crap load of cards, lets hope I can make a decent deck with them lol. oh yea, and hope to get some more from Christmas! :)
     
    Does anybody know of any good videos for strategizing when making decks? I am looking on Youtube but can not really find any decent vids...
     
    I think it is a shame how they started to change all the rules. I stopped playing when i havent had enough time anymore as I was in year 11-to 13 where I had school in the afternoons.

    It coinsided with the first deck being banned too, and the shop were I used to play closed down as well so i never go in again. I sporadically bough a couple of new cards but never got back into it(for money and for lack of play/trade reasons).

    I still have all my original cards though many from gen 1 many 2, only a few from later generations.
    My fav were besides the base 1 , the neo decks especially the unowns, I have all unowns that were realesed.

    Also love some of my promo cards that I got from playing in the league.
     
    morrison said:
    I think it is a shame how they started to change all the rules. I stopped playing when i havent had enough time anymore as I was in year 11-to 13 where I had school in the afternoons.

    It coinsided with the first deck being banned too, and the shop were I used to play closed down as well so i never go in again. I sporadically bough a couple of new cards but never got back into it(for money and for lack of play/trade reasons).

    I still have all my original cards though many from gen 1 many 2, only a few from later generations.
    My fav were besides the base 1 , the neo decks especially the unowns, I have all unowns that were realesed.

    Also love some of my promo cards that I got from playing in the league.
    Click to expand...

    Believe it or not, they didn't really change a whole lot of rules. They've mostly just added rules, or changed up some rules to try to make some cards less overpowered or less useless. And made it so that they can actually support the tournaments they host every year by having people need to buy new cards every year or two to stay competitive (those venues they have the tournaments at are not cheap by any means).

    That Sneasel card and that Slowking card they banned early on were both very overpowered cards.
     
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