Quit Your Whining

A response to all of the "State of Pokemon" Articles

By Matt Alvis

    "Why do you play Pokemon"

    "I like it, its fun and a real strategic game, kind of like Chess, plus,

there are a lot of people to play with!"

    "Eh, I don't see what the big deal is, their just little monsters that

run around and play hop-scotch all day."

    "Yea, that's what you think!"

    Which one do you think is me? The one defending Pokemon, or the one

bashing it? To tell you the truth, I have been both. We all started this game

at some point, I mean, we weren't born with a Charmander in our hands (well,

MOST of us, *eyes my little brother*). When I was in 6th Grade Pokemon was

popular, and we all thought it was just another fad that had started, just

like Crazy Bones, or those beaded lizards thingies, and for the most part (in

OUR school at least), it was. Most of us had moved on, just like we normally

do. But a select few of us stayed, to see what would become of this game

called Pokemon. For most of us, it was our first TCG, I mean, we were a

little young and didn't play Magic: The Gathering or anything, so it was

interesting. Most of us though were just in it for the collecting, only a

couple of us really wanted to play the game, I mean heck, some didn't even

know how to play! This is my story and response to all of those out there you

are losing faith, getting tired with the game, or are just plain idiots who

don't know what in the world they are talking about. This is my story…

    When I first heard of Pokemon, I thought I was dumb, stupid, and for the

lack of better words, "poopy". So there were the kids that had their dumb,

"poopy" cards and I didn't really care. But then that magical, wonderful word

came to my greedy little ears, money. I heard someone had sold a card for

$30! I was like, whoa! One card for $30, I could make a fortune! Of course I

didn't realize that getting these cards are hard, but hey, I was greedy and

full of evvvvil thoughts in my head, hahahahahaha! So, I asked my friend, hey

can I see your cards, and I thought, hey, these are kinda cool, I guess,

maybe he'll give me one. So I see the one card I recognize (Charmander), and

ask if I could have it, and to my surprise, he said, "Yea sure, I got tons of

em!" I was excited cause I had my first card! Then when I got home I asked my

Dad if he would take my to my local comic book shop (**Plug** Amazing Fantasy

Books and Comics **Plug**), and he said sure. Now this was the time the new

Jungle Expansion had come out, and shops would actually sell out of cards

(ahhhh back to the old days), so when we got their, all they had were Jungle

Booster Packs, no decks, Base Set packs, just Jungle. So I bought a pack. I

open it up, and I got a non-holo Pigeot. Yay! I had 12 cards! (including my

beloved Charmander :D) My brother seemed interested, and so did my other

friend. A couple days later, my friend buys a Starter Kit from Warner Bros.

and we took a peek inside. We read the rules (makes no sense, we are idiots),

and start playing around. We don't know how to play, we do everything wrong,

we think trainers are pointless and burn them all! (just kidding) So we don't

know how to play, but we will learn. **Skips Forward**

    I learned the how to play Pokemon the most idiotic way there is, go to a

Pokemon Tournament! My local shop (A&F), had tournaments for Pokemon every

month or so, so I decided to head on down and check it out, for $5 bucks I

was in, and ready to go! Now don't get me wrong, I "got the jist of it" on

how to play, but I am little rusty, and I suck, lol. I lose the tournament

(expected), but learn to play, and I catch on quickly on what is good.

**Skips Forward**

    "I think I'll make a Haymaker, yea, that's it!"

    "Cool, I was just thinking of making one myself!"

    The hunt is on, find the Electabuzzes, the Hitmonchans, and Scythers, and

fast! My friend and I go on a rampage at our Pokemon League to find the good

cards, and we do it! We have a Haymaker! We go to a tournament, we lose,

miserably, but the experience is what I needed. I get better and better as

time and sets go on, and I am doing pretty well. I am introduced to Pojo.com

and start sending in deck reports. (eh, sometimes I lie and say I win some of

them, bleh! :P) I get better and better, I started winning a couple

tournaments and WHAM! No more tournaments. They stopped holding them do to

lack of players (most of them older and more interested in Magic). League is

wrapping up, I got all my badges and am set for Victory Road, I get some new

Promotional cards, andddddddddd… we're done. No more Pokemon League. There

was skeptic going around that they weren't going to hold Pokemon League any

more, but luckily, at the second to last session, they announce they are

keeping League up! We all rejoice. After League is over I make phone calls

seeing if other Pokemon Leagues are running in my area. Naturally, I call

Wizards of the Coast, the brand-new store in our mall, and of course, I set

myself up. Now, let me get something straight, I don't li- no, I "dislike"

Wizards of the Coast. Not Wizards in general, just our store, well, not so

much the store, but the people who work there. They are not very kind to us

and are a little bias to Magic players. They don't respect us, and treat us

like we don't even exist. Sure, they run the league and give us our stuff,

but the guys who work there (some of them), just plain ol' don't like us.

Jason "Ness" Klaczynski plays here sometimes, and we are all grateful to be

blessed by his presence, but Wizards of the Coast could give a rats a--. But,

I will stop whining, after all, that's what this is about. So I join there

and I join Toys R Us. Alright, I am part of 3 different Leagues, how many

people can do that!

**Article Begins**

**Rant Mode ON**

    So any way, I play with some pretty good competitors, and have a good

grasp on the Pokemon environment. Now what I don't understand is, why is

everyone mad? All I ever here is, "The state of Pokemon sucks, I hate it." "I

always lose to Slowking, it's unfair." "I wanna make my own rules so this

game is fair." "I always lose if I don't go first, it's so cheap." WHAT IS

THIS?! You put your money into this game, you are serious enough about it,

you play it a lot, and then you complain about how you hate it? Don't tell me

you don't hate the game and you hate the "environment", cause the

"environment" is the game! This is what it is all about! If you don't like

it, don't complain and whine about just cause you think people are

"un-original", we can't help it if we don't want to play Charizards, or

Meganiums, we wanna win! And winning is fun, and if we lose, losing is fine!

Losing is perfectly fine, I mean, I would get bored if I always won. The deck

Slowking is original, it had to start somewhere. And so are the Trapper, and

Haymaker, and all of the other "unfair" Archetypes. I'm sorry, but don't

complain on how you hate Archetypes because you always lose to them.

Archetypes are popular decks, popular decks are decks that win, so playing

them isn't cheap, people just want to win. Sure you can have the choice of

playing your own deck, and there isn't a problem, that is just fine, and

sometimes, more fun to do, but when you lose to Slowking or Zapdos, don't

complain about it, because those cards are just simply better! Slowking is

popular because it is good, not because people want to be cheap. The same

with Trapper and Haymaker, they are popular because they win. Simply win.

Don't moan and groan over why you hate the game, if you want to talk, talk

about why you love this game, and why you are still playing it! Here, I'll

start!:

1. This game is strategic

2. This game is fun

3. This game has cool cards

4. This game is popular

5. This game gets you chicks (not really but whatever)

Ya see! This is how it should be! Not people writing to Pojo.com and

complaining how they hate the current environment and Igglybuff is there god

and things should stay the way they are. Change is good. If things don't

change, everyone will quit. I guarantee it. I know I would, I know people

that have, and I know that will.

Hey, if ya don't like the game, then quit. I know people are gonna not like

me for this, and people are gonna respond in cruel, sadistic ways, but I

think I have made my point. If you are gonna bash the game, then don't play,

go to the other side, but instead of being a bunch of whining babies, crying

on how they cant win or the game is unfair, try thinking of why you play this

game, and why you will be playing this game in the morning, and the next

morning. Try it sometime, you may be surprised what you find the answer is

for you.

Email Me At: O0oVengYo0O@aol.com

I'll except anything, agreements, disagreements, hate mail, comments,

whatever. Expect me to respond to what you email me.

-Matt Alvis

PS> I wasn't sure were to send this little article, so I sent it to the TCG

Tips, put it where ya like Pojo, just as long as it gets read, thanks a

billio-, no, a trillion!