Ah hahahahahahahaha!  Oh! This is an article about Nick Vital.  Yes, Nick
Vital and his rant oh yes i rant ideas.  Yeah well, let's just say that Nick
IS vital.  It's about friggin' time someone spoke up!  The game is being
bombarded by little dudes who don't know what they're doing. 
    OK, here's an example:  I'm 15 years old and quite an experienced player.
So every week, at the local comic store, I go to play cards with people. 
Since I'm so old and experienced, the owner of the shop will ask me to teach
kids how to play.  I have no problem with this, especially if it's a kid who
wants to learn.  So I sit down with the kids, help them make a deck, and then
play them with one of my weak decks. 
    What p*sses me off is when, I see a 5 year old kid walk into the store,
with his mother walking behind him, holding his binder of pokemon cards. 
Just by looking at him, you can tell he's one of those kids who his parents
buys him 10 boosters a week.  So a minute later, the owner of the shop walks
up to me and says "Chris, would you mind teaching this young man how to
play?"  "Sure" I would say. 
    So the kids follows me with six Burger King pokeballs clanging on his
waist as he walks.  So we sit down, and I look at his binder and he has
pretty much doubles of every card of every set.  So I ask him what are some
of his favorite pokemon, so I can try to put them into his deck that I'm
going to make for him.  The typical answers are Charizard, Pikachu,
Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Blastoise, the 3 Legendary Birds, Mewtwo, Dragonair(yes,
Dragonair), and Mew. 
    So I make them the typical deck including, y'know, Gyrados, Persian,
Mewtwo, Kadabra, and Starmie(which isn't a bad combo at all.)  Then we sit
down to play, and while I'm teaching, he's got his head flailing around, he's
playing with his damage counters, doing anything but paying attention.  I
start to feel like whipping out my Energy Trans Deck and smack the living
daylights out of him, but I keep cool and finish the game, even though i know
he didn't learn anything.(Basically, because he couldn't read the attacks
yet.)
    My point, Pojo and Nick Vital is this: The Pokemon TCG is getting taken
over by Charizard-screaming, little tykes.  When a kid is too young or
incompetent(yes, I have had to teach retarded kids before.) When a kid is too
young or incompetent to read or at least understand certain things, they are
too young to learn the TCG.  Let them continue their rabid search for the
"Flying Fire Lizard" and keep them away from the play tables.  (I also hate
it when they trade according to attacks, like when a kid wouldn't give me a
non holo Dragonite for a holo Ditto cause he thought Ditto was bad since he
couldn't deal damage) I have talked to parents and told them about the
immence strategy that is involved in experienced players. example: Stallers,
Rain Dance etc., and the adults were shocked.  These little kids and adults
who encourage them to play have to realize that this game is very deep.  When
Rocket & Gym come out, I can guarantee you, this game will be almost just as
intense as Magic:The Gathering.
    Hey Pojo! Look, writing this article was fun.  I think you should make a
classification in your next article batch entitled "Blowing Steam."  I'm sure
you would get many articles that can be classified in this subject.
    Ok, lets get the flamin' mail.  I've got a pail of water in my inbox just
waitin' for ya!
CrazedSign@yahoo.com

                                                    by Taurosaur