Pokemon TCG

[LaParka]

Anyone play or know anything about the TCG game? My girls are really excited by pokemon because of Go and they've asked about the card game. I've bought a trainer box for about £8 to see if they like it. Should I then look at the themed decks? They're too young to be getting into deck constructions etc 

 

Thanks 

[Mikes]

Oddly enough my six year old just asked if he could get some Pokemon cards (knows nothing about Go, just older kids at school have them).  Also just bought him a starter set.  I need to go get him a sleeve book now too, because daddy has OCD issues.

[LaParka]

Haha yeah, I've bought some sleeves as well. Got to keep them nice. Seems there's an online version of it where you can play with the cards you buy in real life. Pretty nifty. Think I'm more excited than them to play it 

[Mikes]

lol, me too.  I've bought a few booster packs and we've been giving him one at a time for rewards for being good, but I reckon when the wife's not watching I'll just break them all out so we can have a proper game.

 

And hey, that's promoting a dependency, and we'd be his supply

[LaParka]

Fed up waiting for the trainer set to arrive so we went and bought two theme decks. Had a couple of recognisable pokemon (snorlax and meowth) so they were happy with that. 

 

They've both played hearthstone and enjoyed that at the start. They're not too keen now the decks are more convoluted and of course the game is doing all the bookkeeping. First game with the theme decks had a few headscratching moments, but the playmat is really helpful. 

 

Tonight when we played it, they beat me pretty easily once they knocked out my active pokemon and realised I had no bench pokemon  second game, they also beat me after they used the trainer cards well. Once you get to an evolved stage and do high level attacks, it's really hard to come back from it without some tricks. 

 

The theme decks are OK, but they're definitely a bit janky. Any half decent deck would murder them, but they don't care. Think I'm going to pick a couple more up and a couple of boosters. Everyone likes opening boosters?! 

 

There's an awful lot of products compared to magic. Themed, dual themed, boosters, triple boosters, trainer kits, etc etc. 

 

I've looked at the online game too and registered an account. For each product you buy you can register it online too. Unlike magic where you kind of have to decide if you're a physical or an online player (or both if you're a moneybags!). That's pretty cool and gets your more for your money.  

 

Apparently it's an odd time to get into the game as some of the sets are rotating out. But then I'm not going to be playing it other than with my kids so I don't know why I get so obsessed with that. I've already started to go down the rabbit hole. Watched a couple of games from a tournament last night, much to the wife's disgust! 

[LaParka]

aaaand i've just spent £70. 

 

Got a battle deck, which is meant to be quite good. Not as good as the mewtwo battle deck but thats out of stock. Four more theme decks and eight different sets of coloured sleeves. Means the girls can play when i'm not around and quickly sort the deck for another go. 

[Mikes]

lol, I might be in our position soon.  I've been on paternity leave while this started, but on friday I go back to work, and there's a store just down the road which sells all thing Pokemon.... this could get messy.

[LaParka]

It's really inefficient for getting cards but I really want to go and buy some booster packs to open! 

 

Got home from work tonight and the girls were playing the game again. The youngest struggles a bit but we've settled in a me vs them structure. 

 

They really like flipping coins too, and will choose sub par pokemon as the active pokemon if it means they can flip a coin

[Mikes]

I was watching som youtube vids on how to play and the guy gave a really good suggestion of buying booster boxes - the boxes the booster sets come in.  Looks like you can save around $40 on the price of buying them individually, although the up front cost is pretty cheap (you get 36 packs), but you can dole them out over time.  I reckon I'll do that.

 

We tried our first also last night.  I think I have a handle, and my 7 year old was getting it too, but the five year old insists on joining in, and doesn't see what throwing the cards at each other doesn't help the game.

[LaParka]

Ooh be interested in a link to the youtube vids if you don't mind.

 

Buying a box might be a good idea and then pull out a couple of packs a week to open. Could help with teaching deck building and how to tweak an existing deck. 

 

I was off with the girls today and the order from chaos cards turned up. Spent about an hour opening and sleeving all the decks, then half an hour choosing which deck to play! It's definitely more appealing to the 8 year old than the 6 year old. The themed decks are good because they don't have too many condition causing attacks but the dual decks are full of them. I've put them to one side for now. It's interesting to teach them that cards which do things like buff other cards or fish through your discard for cards are good. 

 

Nothing beats hearing the excitement when they find a pokemon they like though. Even if the card is crap, they've got a cubone card

[Rev]

1 hour ago, Mikes said:

I was watching som youtube vids on how to play and the guy gave a really good suggestion of buying booster boxes - the boxes the booster sets come in.  Looks like you can save around $40 on the price of buying them individually, although the up front cost is pretty cheap (you get 36 packs), but you can dole them out over time.  I reckon I'll do that.

 

We tried our first also last night.  I think I have a handle, and my 7 year old was getting it too, but the five year old insists on joining in, and doesn't see what throwing the cards at each other doesn't help the game.

 

Buying booster boxes of any collectable thing is basically the equivalent of drinking Special Brew at 11am outside a newsagent.

 

It's also the best thing ever. I've had a few over time, Heroclix, but a few trading cards and things. Either being careful and dragging them out forever, or just battering through them is both equally satisfying.

[Mikes]

3 hours ago, LaParka said:

Ooh be interested in a link to the youtube vids if you don't mind.

 

Not a problem, here'tis:

 

 

Although that's just the first video in the series.  The one on building your collection might be the second one.  Eitherway it's useful to watch.

 

I found the rules which came with the decks pretty poorly written though, and had to get googling to clear some things up, like retreating a Pokemon doesn't end your turn, that attacking doesn't mean you discard the energy cards it costs to attack, and retreating Pokemon not losing any cards attached to them.  But other than that we're away with the games.

[LaParka]

Thanks

 

Definitely know what you mean about the rules. Took me a while to get round how and when you can evolve and glaringly I thought you took your opponents prize cards. It made no sense as the cards would be useless! It's a real tempo play to ko one of their pokemons and then get a card as a reward. 

 

I've found as a tactic it's worth powering up a benched pokemon before making it the active one. Too many times I've made one active which couldn't do anything and then to be knocked out. 

 

Have you tried the online client yet? That's another good way to learn the rules

[strawdonkey]

Pokemon TCG is a superb way to get in to TCGs from a rules perspective - being unable to interact on your opponent's turn really narrows down what you can do and generally promotes a proactive strategy. My wife always liked it as she would routinely trounce me at it - I put it down to my starter having an inherent weakness to hers, but she's having none of it

 

Also you should almost always be preparing a benched Pokemon so that one KO doesn't turn into two while you're recovering.

[ravnaz]

Can someone recommend how me and my 6yr old daughter start with this please? 

 

Trainer kits only seen useful for a very limited time so looking for some recommendations for theme decks that have instructions.  

 

Ta

[buizel]

Pokemon TCG is the most basic TCG ever, and sports some of the most gorgeous artwork ever - especially if you're already a Pokemon fan.

 

The trainer kits are good for absolute beginners - helps them learn the rules. Once they've mastered that maybe see what Theme Decks they'd like the look of - that should introduce them to the more 'complex' game mechanics (like EX cards, Abilities etc).  Theme Decks are the same as a trainer kit but afaik Trainer Kits have 30 cards per deck and 3 prize cards. Theme Decks have 60 cards per deck and 6 prize cards - which is standard rules. Theres new machanics like Legends, Mega and Burst which I have no idea about, but can't be that hard to understand - i think the rules are on the cards themselves.

 

After that maybe invest in a booster box or similar. Get 'em hooked.

 

Remmeber theres the online TCG for Android, PC and iOS - though alot of players have decks which consits of just super rare EX cards that deal insane damage - they probably spend loads of cash on them.

 

Posting some sweet cards:

[LaParka]

I'd say two theme decks or a battle box is the way to go. Out of all the decks we've bought, the battle box has the strongest cards. Each of those sets come with a play mat with the rules printed on too 

[ravnaz]

I've ended up going for the Pikachu Training Kit - it was only 5quid, so as a means for me and my kid to learn, I figured this is the best route.  If we get on with it, next step would be a theme deck.

 

 

 

Another reason for this route is that a lot of things are out of stock atm.  Presume this is down to the Pokemon Go madness going around.

[LaParka]

Don't forget with that kit, because it's a half deck, you only play with 3 prize cards. Makes the game a bit quicker, if you find your kids attention wavering. 

 

Also, might be worth installing the game on the pc. Another good way to learn the rules. 

[buizel]

6 minutes ago, LaParka said:

Don't forget with that kit, because it's a half deck, you only play with 3 prize cards. Makes the game a bit quicker, if you find your kids attention wavering. 

 

Also, might be worth installing the game on the pc. Another good way to learn the rules. 

 

Yeah, proper games are 60 cards per deck each, 6 prize cards each. Trainer kits half that.

 

You can always combine both decks in the Trainer Kit for a full proper deck. So when you get a theme deck you'll have 2 full decks.

[ravnaz]

Plan is, assuming it goes well, just to move to 2xtheme decks. There seem to be 2 Base set themes (can't remember the names) . 

 

One question re.  The trainer kit. Once you've followed the instructions play by play, can you then play a normal game with 30cards each? 

[LaParka]

Yeah, just shuffle up and away you go! 

[buizel]

15 hours ago, ravnaz said:

Plan is, assuming it goes well, just to move to 2xtheme decks. There seem to be 2 Base set themes (can't remember the names) . 

 

One question re.  The trainer kit. Once you've followed the instructions play by play, can you then play a normal game with 30cards each? 

 

a "normal game" is 60 cards per deck, 6 prize cards each.

 

the trainer kit has 2 30 card decks, made to be played with only 3 prize cards as a sort of "introduction" to the TCG's rules.

 

i mean, you could effectively build a 30 card deck and play with 3 prize cards, but thats not really how its played.

 

usually a deck consits of:

trainer cards (these have actions like "draw 2 cards" etc)

energy cards (usually of 2 types - i.e Fire & Water, Grass & Electric. these are used to enable pokemon to use their moves)

pokemon cards (and evolutions, you need the basic form of the pokemon to use the evolution in most cases)

 

so you could have a 30 card deck and play like that if you want, but it wont last very long. thats why a 60 card deck is reccomended.

 

AFAIK the trainer kit has 2 decks, each deck sports 1 energy type. so combining them for a full 60 card deck would give you the 2-type deck which is common.

 

hope that makes sense im not sure i understood your question

[ravnaz]

I think you've answered it. Also it arrived today and confirmed. Basically I was wondering if once you've learned the step by step instructions can you play without the step by step in a random order until we get more cards. Yes is the answer :-) 

 

 

[strawdonkey]

Been playing a bit of the online TCG. Username is strawdonkey if anyone wants a match - only have starter decks at the moment though!

[Dig Dug]

Don't play the game but I've beaten TCG on gameboy and play a lot of yugioh so Pokemon TGC is easy for me to understand. I did a local games shop a favour over the year and have built pokemon decks for them using the stuff they get in stock, in all I've probably built about 65 decks for them, both gen 1 decks and current format decks, it's paid off as well for me (I get £1 credit for every deck I make), the store (a school teacher purchased 8 decks to start a after school club) and the players ( a guy used one of my decks against a mass produced world championship deck and he did fairly decently).

If I wasn't moving abroad in a month I would have considered getting back into the game, the barrier for entry is low, it's easy to understand, it's realtively cheap to build okay decks, there's no hard feelings over losing and the  newer mechanics don't make the game confusing for people who only know the original cards (unlike yugioh where people can't/won't get their heads around synchro, pendulum and xyz cards).

 

I also think some of the ex/mega/break etc cards are sexy.

[strawdonkey]

I've been meaning to properly learn to play Pokémon TCG for ages - for some reason TCGs just really scratch a particular itch for me.

 

In this instance though? I can't stop playing. I'm £20 deep on pack codes from someone who plays the cardboard version at my local store, and that's got me a bananas amount of stuff. Have been tearing up Expanded-format tournaments with a 75% win rate, bu faring significantly worse in Standard. I kinda expected it to be a shit game for shitty babies but it's an exercise in deckbuilding and risk management that is way more compelling than I ever expected it should be.

 

In addition, the more competitive metagame hasn't been quite as thoroughly solved as you see in other games. It's easy to find top-performing decks in MTG or Hearthstone, but there are far more brews showing up in this and throwing stuff together that looks exciting is a lot of fun.

 

Also, the online version has dedicated matchmaking for people using starter decks! A genius idea, and you can easily pick up several starter decks without having to invest a penny.

 

Username is "strawdonkey" if anyone wants a game.

[scottcr]

I played a game with my son and he brought out a Zygarde and he got 3 energy on it. Fucker does 120 damage and has 120 hp. He absolutely battered me.

 

I'm assuming you can happily just mix cards from different releases quite happily (like magic).  This thing just felt a bit unfairly overpowered and I had no way to reduce the energy on it.

[scottcr]

Think I was just Pokemownd.

 

it was quite cute to be honest... He knew he was battering me and doing wee dances. 

 

Playing board games and card games with your kids is the best thing 

[strawdonkey]

On 9/9/2016 at 20:36, scottcr said:

I played a game with my son and he brought out a Zygarde and he got 3 energy on it. Fucker does 120 damage and has 120 hp. He absolutely battered me.

 

I'm assuming you can happily just mix cards from different releases quite happily (like magic).  This thing just felt a bit unfairly overpowered and I had no way to reduce the energy on it.

 

In a "proper" constructed deck, getting to three energy is a huge pain in the arse - but in starter decks those things can be unstoppable once fully powered up.

 

When building your own deck you can basically mash cards from any expansions together. What sets you use only becomes relevant if you go to a local store to play or enter a tournament.