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PokePop’s House of Cards We’ve been seeing a lot of Pokémon Card Game players returning to the game in recent months. The game is on a very healthy upswing. Sales are up. Although Nintendo doesn’t release exact sales figures, distributor order forms indicate that most sets are sold out. Between tremendous support by Pokémon USA’s Organized Play division and a very balanced Metagame, people are eagerly turning back to give the Pokémon TCG another look. Many of these players have extensive collections and experience from the early days of the game, but are at a bit of a loss about the current environment and cards. Hopefully this series of guides can help you get your bearings and be on your way to making your mark on Pokémon. Part 1: Formats and Allowed CardsIf you’re coming back to Pokémon from the days of Haymaker and Wigglytuff decks, then you’re probably not familiar with the current Tournament Formats. Formats describe what sets and cards are legal to use in a given tournament. They also outline how decks need to be constructed. Like most other TCGs, Pokémon rotates older sets out of the formats used for Premiere Events. They do this for three main reasons:
There are two different kinds of Premiere Tournaments that Pokémon Organized Play (POP) holds, Prereleases and all others. Prereleases are held the week or two before the release of a new set. It’s a great opportunity to pick up some of the new cards at a discount and before the general public. You pay $20 and get 6 packs to build a 40 card deck from. This is called the Sealed Format. You can only use the cards in the packs that you got. Basic Energy cards are supplied by the Tournament Organizer, so you don’t have to worry about those. Aside from only using a 40 card deck, you can ignore the “4 cards per name” rule! For example, the Prereleases that are going on now (late October 2005) for the Delta Species deck have a lot of different cards named Ditto. Normally, you could only have 4 total of them in your deck. But, if you wanted, you could put 5, 10, or even 15 Ditto in your deck! Another thing to keep in mind with Sealed Format, is that you are not going to get a lot of Trainer cards. Since that is the case, you need to be sure to have enough energy cards. A good guideline for a Sealed deck is to have 18-20 Energy cards, most (if not all) of the Trainers that you got, and the rest Pokémon. Don’t worry about having a lot of Basics. Every else will, too. If you happen to get a solid evolution line, you should do very well! Otherwise, look for strong Basics that can stand on their own and Pokémon that can dish our Special Conditions such as Poison and Confusion. The other tournaments that POP holds are Cities, States, Nationals, Gyms, Regionals, and Worlds. That makes two series that are run fairly concurrently! It works out to Premiere events occurring nearby just about every month. And, if you’re willing to travel, you can go to major tournaments every few weeks. City Championships are being scheduled right now and will be starting soon. Check out the POP site (http://op.pokemon-tcg.com/content/ ) for schedules and locations near you. All of these events except Worlds are open to all comers and they are all free. Yes, I said FREE! As you go up the scale, events will become larger and tougher, culminating in Nationals (at Origins, in Ohio) and Worlds (2006 will be in Anaheim, CA). This year, these events sported 400+ competitors each! Prizes include packs of cards, trips and expenses to top events, and even scholarships. Check out the POP site for details. These Premiere events are run in the Modified Format. Modified currently allows cards from EX: Hidden Legends (a trapezoid surrounded by 6 dots), EX: Trainers Kit (a Latias or Latios symbol), EX: Fire Red & LeafGreen (a Pokeball insignia), EX: Team Rocket Returns (A Shield with an R), EX: Deoxys (A Star with an arrow point on the upper right point), EX: Emerald (An Emerald cut Gem), Ex: Unseen Forces (A Black Wing overlapping a White Wing), and within a week Ex: Delta Species (A Tower shaped like a Trophy Cup). Also allowed are older cards that have been reprinted in these allowed sets. For a complete list of what old cards you can use from your collection, look here: http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23958. Tournament decks have to have 60 cards. No more. No less. They should generally have about 16-18 Energy cards, 15-20 Pokémon cards (Basics and Evolutions), and 20 to 30 Trainers. Remember though; 60 cards, on the nose. If you have one more or one less, you may lose a game as a penalty! For deck ideas, check out the Modified Deck forum at Pojo’s Boards: http://www.pojo.biz/board/forumdisplay.php?f=29 OK, so now you know what cards you can use and how to construct your deck. You know where to go, after finding an event using POP’s site. You register for the Tourney and sit down to play. What do you do now? What’s different than the last time you played 5 years ago? Stay tuned for Part 2: Rule Changes and New Mechanics! |
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