Game: Pokémon

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Lampbane — 2008-07-10T01:05:59+00:00

EX Delta Species theme deck "Steeplechase" and contents (60 cards, rulebook/cardlist, damage counters, coin)

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Lampbane — 2008-07-09T17:33:50+00:00

Backs of Pokémon Organized Play deck boxes (Expansion sets EX Legend Maker and EX Holon Phantoms)

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Lampbane — 2008-07-09T17:33:04+00:00

Pokémon Organized Play deck boxes (Expansion sets EX Legend Maker and EX Holon Phantoms)

Thread: Re: Introduce this game to a newbie: How 2 build a deck, etc.

grixnair — 2008-05-15T22:24:12+00:00

My son and I have just started playing this and I have a couple questions:

1) Can I evolve the pokemon on my bench?

2) Can I attach energy to the pokemon on my bench?

Thanks for any help you can give us.

Ah nevermind, after having a look at the rulebook, I see that the answer to both is yes.

Thread: Re: What do I need to get started?

generalpf — 2008-04-29T16:08:50+00:00

jeff brown wrote:
My good friend Steve Perucca (Stevep on the geek)who is a professor for a lot of local tournaments brought a bunch of cool pokemon stuff over for my daughter she was really excited, it had 2 mini starter decks, and about 10 booster packs with some other cool stuff in it.

The question I have now is how much energy cards of each type do you need to start constructing different decks.
Quick rule of thumb, 24 energy for a 60 card deck. Leaves 36 cards, about 28-30 of which should be Pokemon, the remaining 6-8 are Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums.

The way I decide which energy to put in is by adding up the symbols on the cards and using ratios. e.g. I'll count up all the Dark energy symbols and find 18, and I'll count up all the Electric symbols and find 9. This means 2/3 Dark energy cards, so I'd put in 16 Dark and 8 Electric. This works for 3-color decks too.

Thread: Re: What do I need to get started?

jeff brown — 2008-04-29T15:49:31+00:00

My good friend Steve Perucca (Stevep on the geek)who is a professor for a lot of local tournaments brought a bunch of cool pokemon stuff over for my daughter she was really excited, it had 2 mini starter decks, and about 10 booster packs with some other cool stuff in it.

The question I have now is how much energy cards of each type do you need to start constructing different decks.

Thread: Re: What do I need to get started?

Bankler — 2008-04-28T00:13:36+00:00

My daughter (8yo) started collecting and trading these earlier during the school year. (She got her first cards from friends who gave her spare commons). She got some boosters from grandparents/uncles and I eventually bought her and my son (5yo) one of the diamond and pearl decks. That had the rules and we've played ~4 games. She ripped apart her deck and has rebuilt it (with mediocre results).

There are people here who have Pokemon listed for trade ... I traded an unwanted game for ~300-400 cards (of all rarities) and doled those out over the last two weeks (taking a 'color', splitting it evenly between duplicates, then letting the kids alternate picks). As generalpf noted, energy were somewhat scarce until we got those, although a local store has energy for 10 cents/card.

I think they have enough to build some decks, although the best will probably be similar to the preconstructed decks. I shudder to think how much she got from relatives (probably $50-80), but I've spent $20 + one game trade for two kids, and that's enough to get started. You may have to spend $30 on eBay to balance the trade I did...

Thread: Re: What do I need to get started?

sandys89 — 2008-04-28T00:01:30+00:00

I had a blast playing this with my boys when they were younger and the Pokemon fad was just beginning. Now, my youngest son is just getting into it and really likes it. It is a CCG with all that means with the ability to spend a LOT of money, but it is also a great way to encourage basic reading and math skills.

That being said, a deck is 60 cards and you should be able to buy different prebuilt decks for around $10 a piece I would think. This would be the best place to start. Play a bit with a couple of those and see if you enjoy it and if you really want to get into deck building. When we were going to Pokemon leagues with my older boys, we spent A LOT of money on cards, but I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to just look on eBay for some preconstructed decks or just the cards that you want to add, or even just lots of cards. Do some research online and I am sure that you could find examples of good decks and what you would need to build it. Then just look to buy those cards rather than sinking $4 a pack into multiple boosters looking for just the right one, though that is a good way to get uncommons and commons.

I have to say that we usually never played with the preconstructed decks more than a couple times before we ripped them apart and built new ones, which are much more fun to play with, but, again, we were playing in leagues and it was very satisfying to bring out that one big bad rare card and just wipe the floor with your opponent. For just around home, a couple simple decks would probably be fine.

Thread: Re: What do I need to get started?

generalpf — 2008-04-27T20:41:56+00:00

My son just started playing. Luckily Toys 'R' Us sells preconstructed decks for a very good price, just watch the sales. We picked up a few for $10 each.

From what I'm told, the Energy cards (like Land from Magic: the Gathering) used to be more prevalent in booster packs, but they aren't anymore. Thus you'll either need to buy Energy on eBay or simply buy more preconstructed decks.

We've sunk under $200 into Pokemon by buying cards on sale (like I said, check TRU's flyer often) and have 7 distinct decks and a binder full of cards.

One caveat to the eBay Energy thing: Dark Pokemon are newer than the basic 6 types, and Metal Pokemon are newer still. Many eBay Energy lots will not come with Dark or Metal Energy, only Fire, Grass, Electric, Fighting, Water and Psychic. This is probably okay because the rate of Dark and Metal Pokemon that you'll find in boosters is correspondingly lower as well.

It's a fantastic game and you will enjoy playing it!

Thread: What do I need to get started?

jeff brown — 2008-04-27T20:24:35+00:00

I have a nine year old that I play games with a lot. She has asked to get some Pokemon cards,

Now I know you're all thinking I should tell her not to get involved in a CCG, believe me I know about the pits and traps of a CCG as I wrote the geek list on it: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/16427

However she only wants to play it at home, and therefore I think we can get by without the tons of rares and collecting that goes into a CCG.

It will be a closed environment without the competition with expensive decks and all.

So therefore what do we need to have at least 2 people play with a little variety, and how cheaply will she be able to get it.

Can you have a fun game with only commons?

Do you need to do a lot of deckbuilding? How many commons do you need to get some variety?

How big is a deck of cards?

What does a lot of decent cards go for?

Thanks,
Jeff

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Geosphere — 2008-04-02T14:15:07+00:00

matthewjhoskins wrote:
Pokemon-EX are amzingly powerful.

My son flips out when he gets an EX in a booster. Again, he collects more than he plays, but just having the EX makes it somehow cooler.

Thread: Re: Starter set question (Beldum)

Armydillo978 — 2008-03-27T01:38:17+00:00

Kitescreech wrote:
Kite Jr bought herself a starter set and some boosters yesterday; (I played ages ago but got rid of my stuff:-( )

My question is Belduim; one of his attacks is "Metal Ball"- Put 1 damage counter on the defending Pokemon.

Is this another way of saying its an attack of "10" ? Or is it some arcane ruling like in Magic ?

I could be wrong, but I interpreted it in the same manner. 1 damage counter is equal to 10HPs. That's how we've been playing.

Bill

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kidsplinter — 2008-03-24T21:18:20+00:00

Prerelease and promo cards given to Pokemon trading card league members

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kidsplinter — 2008-03-24T20:50:51+00:00

Activity and promotional cards for the Pokemon trading card league

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Eric Ridley — 2008-02-28T23:55:11+00:00

Mysterious Treasures packs and folder

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Eric Ridley — 2008-02-28T23:53:43+00:00

Pokemon deck backs type 1

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Eric Ridley — 2008-02-28T23:52:46+00:00

Cresselia Level X card

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

matthewjhoskins — 2008-02-26T01:07:45+00:00

Yeah, Ken, the '07 championship decks are a lot of fun to play. The Netherlander's deck is wickedly vicious. Lots of nasty tricks.

Pokemon-EX are amzingly powerful. Hitmochan was the bomb back in the day with 70hp for a basic. Now he wouldn't make the cut.

I love the fact that one of the search cards limits you to getting basic pokemon with 100hp or less - alluding to the fact that there are now basics with more HP than Jesus.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

franklincobb — 2008-02-25T16:10:00+00:00

It's funny, because I picked up some of the CCG and the Gameboy game...TEN YEARS AGO. And now, my oldest son is *really* into Pokemon. I would've thought that pretty funny if you'd told me that ten years ago.

I like to tease my son by making fun of all those not in the original 150. It'll be something like "SHINX!" or whatever and I'll turn to him and say, "Gee, they're just making these things up, now." Or..."You just can't beat the original 150!"

Cards are definitely stronger now than they were before. We bought the championship decks from this year and the stuff that those decks can do is ridiculous. One is a turbo-Empoleon deck that consistently gets out the big guy fully loaded and swinging out 40-70 point attacks by turn 3 or so. Oh, and when your opponent has dealt with the one (who has 120 HP, I think?) then you've already made another one...and another one.

Then there's the Rayquayza (sp?) deck that can do 70 point attacks for two energy, just because you're behind in prizes. Yeah, that's fair. So you just give up a quick prize, then slingshot ahead with a beatdown that is legendary in its viciousness.

It makes stuff like the old Rain Dance and Haymaker decks look positively...quaint. "Oh look, he's doing 20 damage per turn right from the start, how cute."

If you haven't picked up these championship decks, you really should. No need to chase down tons of rares or hope to even make a coherent deck (my son buys packs, and you get stuff you can't use because you don't have the other guys in the chain). Only hitch is you can't use them in a tournament, but boo-hoo.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

hermanroozen — 2008-02-25T15:59:06+00:00

Geosphere wrote:
Weapon wrote:
desertfox2004 wrote:
The shame of it all for me is that my son (age 11) and daughter (age 14) have literally hundreds of these cards, and yet, they never want to play the game. They just like to look at the cards in their 3-ring binders, and they like to watch the cartoon on TV (yes, even the 14 year old!), but they won't play the darn game!

Hey, it happens. I know a lot of kids when I was younger collected them just like baseball cards.

Agreed. In truth, we've played only a handful of times. Its more the 'culture' thing.

But that's OK by me. It makes them happy, and there are worse things to spend $5 on when they go to a toy store.
My children collected the cards for five years before they started playing the game. Now they love it. I like it too.

Thread: Re: Starter set question (Beldum)

franklincobb — 2008-02-16T12:51:03+00:00

As far as I know, such attacks place a counter directly on the Pokemon, regardless of weakness, resistance, or the effects of trainers, stadiums, poke-powers, and so on and so forth.

Thread: Starter set question (Beldum)

Kitescreech — 2008-02-16T12:04:10+00:00

Kite Jr bought herself a starter set and some boosters yesterday; (I played ages ago but got rid of my stuff:-( )

My question is Belduim; one of his attacks is "Metal Ball"- Put 1 damage counter on the defending Pokemon.

Is this another way of saying its an attack of "10" ? Or is it some arcane ruling like in Magic ?

Thread: Re: Introduce this game to a newbie: How 2 build a deck, etc.

latindog — 2007-12-29T18:37:48+00:00

My daughter has developed an interest in this game and we've bought some stuff. This thread has been very helpful to me in terms of orienting myself as to what to buy.

Thread: Pokemon Fan Microbadge is available

Paxe — 2007-12-23T22:57:04+00:00

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/microbadge/3770

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KenRude — 2007-12-23T01:36:51+00:00

Sorting Pokemon Cards

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herman_the_german — 2007-12-07T18:44:00+00:00

BODYGUARD Fossil deck.

Thread: Introduce this game to a newbie: How 2 build a deck, etc

herman_the_german — 2007-11-07T00:56:18+00:00

Starting from ignorance and scratch, I picked up some of the cheapest EBay card lots I could find, I've also found some random thrift packs, and had to pick up an (EBay) starter deck with rules so we could start playing.
Lesson learned: "Random cards do not work."
Last time I saw one of these cheap thrift bags, I had to let it go. A quick check revealed not enough energy, and mostly cards we already had.

Based on the cards obtained randomly I designed some decks, and then went back to EBay for additional energy cards since we were deficient in energy.

We've only paid retail for a single booster, which is of the newer generation. Not all the cards are compatible, again because we do not have the proper energy cards. We do have enough of the basic older energy cards for our decks.

At this point we have about 8 pre-made decks which we pit against each other, occasionally tuning them for better balance.

We also have a few hundred cards which we cannot use to build additional new decks because of not enough energy cards. But also because some of the spares are cards we have weeded out of the working decks.

For now we've invested some money in the game, not a whole bunch, probably way less than most Poke-fans, but some. But we've also come up with decks that allow us some varied play, justifying our investment.

After some play the kids wanted to design their own decks, for which I suggested some points, but basically allowed them freedom. Those decks have also seen the need for tuning. Specifically one was comprised of cute Pokemon. Not the best way to design a deck.

Some pointers:

+ Begin with a couple of starter decks. Then build up with only a small degree of randomness.

+ Get enough energy cards for multiple decks. I typically start a deck with:

30 Pokemon (of which 4 Basic, 3 Evolved and 2 Double Evolved are the same Pokemon.)
20 Energy
10 Trainers

+ Build decks based on one character then put in multiples of the basic and evolved forms of that Pokemon. You may supplement the deck with other Pokemon, but that is the start of a successful deck.

+ Build decks using Pokemon with complementary strenghts and weaknesses.

+ Build decks of compatible energy Pokemon. Some Pokemon may use 2 different types of energy. Use those two energies to build a deck around them.

+ A specific Pokemon may have different abilities in different cards. Some are better than others, look for what you want or need and then use that card in your deck. Not all cards are created equal.

+ Avoid useless cards of the type where one trainer card gets you one energy card. Might as well use another energy card and avoid the middleman card.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Geosphere — 2007-10-19T11:21:27+00:00

Weapon wrote:
desertfox2004 wrote:
The shame of it all for me is that my son (age 11) and daughter (age 14) have literally hundreds of these cards, and yet, they never want to play the game. They just like to look at the cards in their 3-ring binders, and they like to watch the cartoon on TV (yes, even the 14 year old!), but they won't play the darn game!

Hey, it happens. I know a lot of kids when I was younger collected them just like baseball cards.

Agreed. In truth, we've played only a handful of times. Its more the 'culture' thing.

But that's OK by me. It makes them happy, and there are worse things to spend $5 on when they go to a toy store.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Weapon — 2007-10-19T03:00:34+00:00

desertfox2004 wrote:
The shame of it all for me is that my son (age 11) and daughter (age 14) have literally hundreds of these cards, and yet, they never want to play the game. They just like to look at the cards in their 3-ring binders, and they like to watch the cartoon on TV (yes, even the 14 year old!), but they won't play the darn game!

Hey, it happens. I know a lot of kids when I was younger collected them just like baseball cards.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

desertfox2004 — 2007-10-19T02:48:39+00:00

The shame of it all for me is that my son (age 11) and daughter (age 14) have literally hundreds of these cards, and yet, they never want to play the game. They just like to look at the cards in their 3-ring binders, and they like to watch the cartoon on TV (yes, even the 14 year old!), but they won't play the darn game!

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Geosphere — 2007-10-19T02:06:27+00:00

Weapon wrote:
The game currently has just as many tricks, deck concepts, and different strategies as it always has, I really think it was waxing nostalgia that kept me from liking the new version for such a long time, remembering Haymaker decks, and Alakazam Scoop Up decks, but really, its not a totally different beast.

Exactly - you're simply not as addicted to it anymore and the subtleties and deck types were ingrained in you. They're still there, for people still just as addicted.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Weapon — 2007-10-19T01:35:43+00:00

Mateui wrote:
I actually grew up playing the Pokémon TCG. Indeed, it's a pretty smooth and addictive game. I remember my brother and I would spend hours battling each other, then spending even more time coming up with new decks and card combinations.

I haven't played in ages though, but I have seen some of the newer cards and I think the game has just changed too much and has lost some of it's flavour. You no longer see such deck themes as Alakazaam's Damage Swap, Blastoise's Hydro Pump, Haymaker decks, Wiggytuff's Do the Wave decks, etc. In fact I think in organized games most of the original cards have been banned from play, which I think is very sad.

If anyone wants to get into this game I'd strongly recommend them looking for the older cards - anything from the Fossil set and before. (Fossil, Jungle, Base set.) Things went a little downhill for the Rocket set and the Gym Leaders set. Also, there's also the gameboy colour Pokémon TCG game which is pretty good if you can get your hands on it. I wish they would port the game and update it for the Nintendo DS, but so far I haven't heard anything. The NDS would be such a perfect platform for tcgs - the touchscreen support would mesh well with the tackle nature of the genre.

Oh well, I guess in short I want to say that this game rules. It's a shame many miss out on it because they think it's too childish for them. Give it a try, you won't regret it.

Not even close, really. I played only the old version for the longest time, I enjoyed it greatly, and stopped at Team Rocket. At first, I thought it had power creeped too far, but really, it hasn't. Compared to current cards, they are all well balanced. But they did up the power level a bit when Nintendo bought it from WotC, which is understandable, considering that they are trying to differentiate themselves from the older incarnations, this one being under their control.

The game currently has just as many tricks, deck concepts, and different strategies as it always has, I really think it was waxing nostalgia that kept me from liking the new version for such a long time, remembering Haymaker decks, and Alakazam Scoop Up decks, but really, its not a totally different beast. Its an updated version, and with the same amount of time invested to the new version as the old version, you would see that there is just as much strategy and fun combinations to be found. Not downtalking the older version, have my thousands of cards in boxes and play occasionally, but they play better with themselves. If you play the new cards with the new cards, and actually look for strategies, its just like playing the old cards with the old cards.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Mateui — 2007-10-19T00:54:16+00:00

I actually grew up playing the Pokémon TCG. Indeed, it's a pretty smooth and addictive game. I remember my brother and I would spend hours battling each other, then spending even more time coming up with new decks and card combinations.

I haven't played in ages though, but I have seen some of the newer cards and I think the game has just changed too much and has lost some of it's flavour. You no longer see such deck themes as Alakazaam's Damage Swap, Blastoise's Hydro Pump, Haymaker decks, Wiggytuff's Do the Wave decks, etc. In fact I think in organized games most of the original cards have been banned from play, which I think is very sad.

If anyone wants to get into this game I'd strongly recommend them looking for the older cards - anything from the Fossil set and before. (Fossil, Jungle, Base set.) Things went a little downhill for the Rocket set and the Gym Leaders set. Also, there's also the gameboy colour Pokémon TCG game which is pretty good if you can get your hands on it. I wish they would port the game and update it for the Nintendo DS, but so far I haven't heard anything. The NDS would be such a perfect platform for tcgs - the touchscreen support would mesh well with the tackle nature of the genre.

Oh well, I guess in short I want to say that this game rules. It's a shame many miss out on it because they think it's too childish for them. Give it a try, you won't regret it.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Neil Thomson — 2007-10-18T21:12:38+00:00

Geosphere wrote:
In response to the anonymous PM from someone who didn't want to be seen actually liking Pokemon:

Its diglet of something like that. Digglette?

Thanks to my boys (7,5,4) I have a little bit of Gameboy experience with Pokemon.

I think it is Diglet and it evolves into Dugtrio.

I can't remember my tax file number but I know a few Pokemon facts.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Geosphere — 2007-10-18T20:25:22+00:00

In response to the anonymous PM from someone who didn't want to be seen actually liking Pokemon:

Its diglet of something like that. Digglette?

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Geosphere — 2007-10-18T14:56:03+00:00

Neil Thomson wrote:
...just for the title!

My son can name 200 of these things without pause.

I have a little more difficulty.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Neil Thomson — 2007-10-18T09:34:39+00:00

...just for the title!

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

SteveP — 2007-10-17T23:33:54+00:00

As a Pokemon Professor and avid Pokemon player, I rate it as the best Family TCG. Anyone can learn the basics. Within a few weeks, you can compete with the best players in the World.

Also, Pokemon Organized Play is second to none when you consider non-professional, family-oriented, competitive OP. This year, the World Championships where is Hawaii, and Pokemon USA, INC (owned by Nintendo) flew hundreds of families and players from all over the globe to the Big Island. Beat that WOTC!

I give Pokemon TCG a 10 (10+ if I could).

For those who think it's a kids game, I challenge you to come to Colorado and play the Junior US National Champ (10 years old). At a recent premier event, he finished 5-0, beating players twice his age.

But, be warned - it's an addiction. "Gotta have 'em all!"

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Rliyen — 2007-10-17T22:31:56+00:00

Geosphere wrote:

Here's a special support card. My guy gets two attacks this round if I burn an energy. Here's the energy. You're down.

Noooooooo! You've not seen the last of me!

I get to take this "prize card" for beating you. Keep going.

So, I take it that's your version of Team Rocket's, "We're blasting off again!" catchphrase?

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Driver 8 — 2007-10-17T22:24:33+00:00

Nice review. Almost makes me want to play Pokemon again...almost. I picked up a bunch of Pokemon cards after they made their way to the bargain bin at my FLGS. I could never get the hang of flipping the darn coin though. It always fell off the table or never flipped enough. And I also thought the weakness thing was a little too punishing. Hmm, I wonder if there are still any cards in the bargain bin.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Geosphere — 2007-10-17T19:38:42+00:00

Greedo wrote:
It certainly plays smoother than Magic.

That was the funniest part of your post. The absurdity of such a statement makes me giggle like a school girl.

You've obviously never actually played Pokemon.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Mantidman — 2007-10-17T19:26:32+00:00

Nice write-up. I have enjoyed over 60 games of 60 card and 30 card decks with my two boys over the last year. They each have their own decks and have begun to build some challenging combinations. Most of my cards/decks are from 5 to 6 years ago when my nephew started playing. I have noticed that some of the more recent cards/monsters are quite powerful compared to the "old-school" stuff that I have.
I have also noticed that the newer monsters aren't quite up to the same coolness level as the initial 150 or whatever there were originally. I mean the original Charmander-Charmeleon-Charizard had the whole fire-breathin' Dragon thing going for it and even Pikachu was kind of an electrified hamster that could launch thunderbolts. The new stuff is just lame. Take Spoink, for instance. Spoink is a pink pig's head attached to a pink spring?!? WTH!?! How would that ever happen?
With that silliness aside, it is still an enjoyable way to spend time with my 6 and 8 year olds.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Zalasta — 2007-10-17T19:21:40+00:00

Geosphere wrote:
Believe it or not, someone reading over my shoulder had to point that out!

I'm not part of the pokemon culture, sorry....

Well, it only affected the humor you try to convey by a hair.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

rayito2702 — 2007-10-17T19:21:01+00:00

Greedo wrote:
It certainly plays smoother than Magic.

That was the funniest part of your post. The absurdity of such a statement makes me giggle like a school girl.

Truth, absurder than fiction!

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

KaneBlaireau — 2007-10-17T19:18:28+00:00

As much of a Magic geek as I am, I'm more of a plain ol' CCG geek...and Pokemon is, indeed, one of the BEST on the market, IMO(World of Warcraft is winning me over swiftly as well). I really want to pick up some of the new set. Haven't bought any since Fossil and Team Rocket.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Greedo — 2007-10-17T19:14:32+00:00

It certainly plays smoother than Magic.

That was the funniest part of your post. The absurdity of such a statement makes me giggle like a school girl.

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Geosphere — 2007-10-17T19:14:19+00:00

Zalasta wrote:
Granted I haven't seen Pokemon in ages, but shouldn't it be "I choose you"?!?

Hey, no fair, you edited!

Believe it or not, someone reading over my shoulder had to point that out!

I'm not part of the pokemon culture, sorry....

Thread: Re: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Zalasta — 2007-10-17T19:04:52+00:00

Granted I haven't seen Pokemon in ages, but shouldn't it be "I choose you"?!?

Hey, no fair, you edited!

Thread: I choose you, Stupidlookinrareguy!

Geosphere — 2007-10-17T17:38:17+00:00

But I don't wanna watch Cassie do ballet at a birthday party. can't we play Pokemon instead in the waiting room?

YOU challenge ME!? Arrogance! You will rue this day, trainer! Take your best shot! Let's see your Pokemon! Battle On!

uh, ok, Dad, can you just keep it down a little bit?

Your fate is sealed, little one! My team is chosen, tempered so you shall wallow in defeat!

I have a deck, too. Let's go.

I call you Crabfaceddisney reject!

I'm playing this guy.

The power of WATER I infuse. CLAW ATTACK! I know your weakness! Tremble at my fury and extra damaging might!

OK, 2 damage tokens. Can you calm down now? I'm going to add this guy as a benched Pokemon and heal my lead guy.

Your healing means NOTHING! More power! And as back up I place Thingthatlookslikerabbitpoo! And in rare holofoil!!! ATTACK! HAH!

My guys taking too much damage. I'm gonna retreat him and pull out this grass classed guy so you can't keep doing the extra damage on my weakness. I'll attach an energy card to him.

Ohh, you think you can fight back now? You feel lucky punk? Claw! Claw with all we've got!

My guy has an exoskeleton. You're not hitting hard enough to hurt me. Where's the coin. Here. You're paralyzed.

Gah! Vermin! You think such underhanded tactics can knock me out? Healing spray! Adding another monster to my line up here - look out its Cheesycactiguy!

I'm evolving my lead guy. I can now damage your benched Pokemon with this one. I'll attack that guy. Put damage counters on him.

Retreat! Retreat! Arg, I must pay my water energy to retreat! Vile demonspawn! Cheesycactiguy moves to the front. Cower!

Here's a special support card. My guy gets two attacks this round if I burn an energy. Here's the energy. You're down.

Noooooooo! You've not seen the last of me!

I get to take this "prize card" for beating you. Keep going.

And so continued the mighty raging battle. And in the end, it was I who was victor! HAH! Sure, he may live, eat and breath these anime vermin, know their heights, weights and war cries, but I have spent hourse tuning my deck, finding the right elements, carefully making sure I have the right energy types to attack, supporting my vicious cartoon menagerie with cards to bend the rules and work in invulnerable synergy!

I have the cards to allow extra draws from the deck, the fossils that allow me multiple paths of evolution to the heavy hitters that will make it to the table by the second or third kill. The decks are small, and must be lean and mean to reign terror upon the preteen before me.

Strangely enough, the lords of luck play a larger part in this fight than just the order in which you cards come up. The "Prize Cards" are set aside at teh start of the gain and earned back by winning battles. This means if your strategy relies heavily on a specific card, but it is a "prize card", you may be denied its play in the early stages of the game.

There are quite a few cards that let you rummage through your deck and get what you need - these are real powerhouses, and basically function almost like proxies increasing the chance to bring a mighty card to your hand.

The real oddity of luck are the coins. Many powers require a coin flip. This levels the playing field for less skilled players, who, with a proper run of luck, can suddenly get medieval on their collective cartoony butts.

There's many, many variations by this point in time of each individual Pokemon, so one specific creature might exist both as and Electric and a Water Pokemon in various incarnations, which allows kids to get their favorites in their deck even if their deck isn't the right "element" of energy.

Up until now, Pokemon needed an energy card attached to them to do damage, basically paying a cost to get them up and running. In the latest expansion, this has changed, as many of these critters have attacks that don't require power, enabling them very fast attacks. Of course, these attacks are absolutely tiny, but it feels good anyway.

Support cards are sometimes very specific, and you can easily build a deck without any more than a few heals, but sometimes in the right moment they can turn the tides.

Do rares matter? Yeah, sure. Deal. Your kid wants these cards not to play the game anyway. He wants to spend hours organizing books full of them and talking about them, not actually playing.

What it comes down to is a culture game. Its about the Pokemon culture as much as the game itself. The marketing machine metagame is in overdrive on this stuff.

Here's the twist ending that no one expected:

The game is actually one of the best CCGs ever created.

It certainly plays smoother than Magic.

Go ahead. Get mad that I said this is better than Magic. Get that red deck and fireball me with it. I got Lizardfiretailrunt on my side. We'll take you. Bring it on.

Thread: Re: It didn't suck (a magic player's take).

Cosmid — 2007-09-24T22:01:32+00:00

***Which brings me to a question. The Trainer Kit had a Yellow (Lightening?) deck and a Red (Fire?) deck. Does anyone know if I can get more trainer kits with the other four colors so I, err... my son I mean, can have a simple pre-constructed deck of each basic energy type? Are the decks in the Trainer Kits of random color?

I bought some of the pre-made decks just to find out how to put one together. Check out http://www.pokebeach.com/themedecks/ for a deck list.

Thread: Re: It didn't suck (a magic player's take).

Weapon — 2007-09-24T20:55:54+00:00

Mantidman wrote:
I had almost the same conversation with my nephew about five years ago (he was 11 then) when he brought out his Pokemon cards. I picked up a starter, read the rules and we started playing. During that summer I was able to see him start to put together some excellent decks. I started out winning >95% of the games, but by the end of the summer he was winning 50% of the time. We both ended up buying quite a few cards but he ended up with a much bigger collection than me.
He outgrew the game and ended up selling almost all of his cards. I kept mine and brushed the dust off of them earlier this year. My sons (8 and 6) are both interested in playing and have started to collect some cards from both pre-constructed decks and boosters. They both quickly learned how to put together a deck and caught on to some of the strategies. We have racked up over 60 games of Pokemon so far this year.
I will say that some of my "older" decks don't seem to fare too well against the newer cards. Perhaps a bit of Power-creep?
On a personal preference note, some of the newer Pokemon are really silly looking and I refuse to include them in any of my decks.

Mantidman

Yes, power creep happenned, but it was more of a power JUMP. When WOTC stopped making it and Nintendo took over, they pretty much started the Energy-power ratio from scratch, making attacks more powerful. Its not necessarily a bad thing, and I actually like playing with the newer cards a bit more than my older Base set-Team Rocket collection, its just a new company, new system.

Thread: Re: It didn't suck (a magic player's take).

Mantidman — 2007-09-24T19:45:22+00:00

I had almost the same conversation with my nephew about five years ago (he was 11 then) when he brought out his Pokemon cards. I picked up a starter, read the rules and we started playing. During that summer I was able to see him start to put together some excellent decks. I started out winning >95% of the games, but by the end of the summer he was winning 50% of the time. We both ended up buying quite a few cards but he ended up with a much bigger collection than me.
He outgrew the game and ended up selling almost all of his cards. I kept mine and brushed the dust off of them earlier this year. My sons (8 and 6) are both interested in playing and have started to collect some cards from both pre-constructed decks and boosters. They both quickly learned how to put together a deck and caught on to some of the strategies. We have racked up over 60 games of Pokemon so far this year.
I will say that some of my "older" decks don't seem to fare too well against the newer cards. Perhaps a bit of Power-creep?
On a personal preference note, some of the newer Pokemon are really silly looking and I refuse to include them in any of my decks.

Mantidman

Thread: Re: It didn't suck (a magic player's take).

thrasymachus — 2007-09-24T19:42:05+00:00

One possible problem I noticed was that since your energy cards get discarded when the pokemon they are attached to dies, it seems like the game could quickly run out of cards. I know magic is not as fun when both players are in "top deck" mode, but I could see that happening a lot in pokemon with both players drawing until one gets the energy needed to start attacking again. Are card drawing effects more powerful in pokemon?

Heh, and another conversation snippet:

Him: So what is the most powerful magic creature?
Me: I don't know like 13 or something (Yes I know there are many exceptions)
Him: 13???? HAH! That's like weaker than a basic cutseylop! I've got creatures that can do like 200!!!!

Also, after reading around on here, it sounds like most kids don't actually play the game for real, heh, I was just confused at first

Thread: Re: It didn't suck (a magic player's take).

Cleitus the Black — 2007-09-24T19:30:12+00:00

thrasymachus wrote:

Him: What do we need decks for? I have my cards right here in these folders...
Me: (uh oh) Um, I'm pretty sure you need decks, have you ever played before?
Him: Lots of times!

...

Me: (looking through the "deck") Um...this isn't a real deck...this is almost all level 2 pokemon and no energy cards. And you have like ten copies of this one basic pokemon in here. You better let me make the decks.
Him: Ok, but I'll still beat you really bad!

Great review.

I had a VERY similar experience this weekend. My six year old son and his neighborhood friends have been running around with Pokemon binders for a while now, "playing" by comparing one creature's Hit Points to another’s, high number wins.

As a former Magic player myself (and of course not having read the rules) I kept wondering where the resources where? How did creatures (sorry...Pokemon) get into play?

Well, we were at Target this weekend and I saw a Trainer Kit, with two
decks, rules, and a play mat. We brought it home, busted it out, and played a few games.

Lo' and Behold, the pre-constructed decks were chock full of Energy and Trainer cards (Energy cards are basically the 'lands' except they are attached to a particular Pokemon). In the kids' binders, there were few if any Energy or Trainer cards, and they were relegated to 'crappy' section of the binder along with Pokeman of less than 70 HP's.

I agree with the OP that the game wasn't too bad, but since any basic Pokemon can be played regardless of its power (unlike Magic where generally stronger creatures come out later as more lands enter play) the weak creatures are somewhat underpowered. Granted, their attacks generally require smaller amount of energy and therefore are somewhat quicker.

In any case, its cool that we finally know how to play. At my wife's suggestion, I think we're going to host a Pokemon party soon and show all the neighbor kids how to play.

***Which brings me to a question. The Trainer Kit had a Yellow (Lightening?) deck and a Red (Fire?) deck. Does anyone know if I can get more trainer kits with the other four colors so I, err... my son I mean, can have a simple pre-constructed deck of each basic energy type? Are the decks in the Trainer Kits of random color?

Thread: Re: It didn't suck (a magic player's take).

Geosphere — 2007-09-24T19:26:19+00:00

Cosmid wrote:
I'm amazed at how many kids collect Pokemon cards and even more amazed at how few of them actually play the game.

Ditto. My son and his gang go nuts for the collecting. I made myself a deck with a starter and a few boosters, we've played maybe twice by "real" rules, and he's happy as can be just getting boosters for no reason.

Fo some reason, they get all excited about stats - for a game they don't even play...

Thread: Re: It didn't suck (a magic player's take).

Cosmid — 2007-09-24T18:46:18+00:00

I bought a collection of Pokemon cards at a garage sale when my oldest son was four years old. It turned out to be an incredible savings for me since he (now 7) loves to play the game. I'm amazed at how many kids collect Pokemon cards and even more amazed at how few of them actually play the game. I was starting to wonder if the game was really complicated (or really bad).

I quickly found out that the game is pretty easy. The most complicated part is trying to remember what effects sleep, poison, confusion, etc. have (I kept mixing up the effects when I was learning the game). Having a cheat sheet on an index card fixed the problem.

I also found the game to be quite fun. I've played tons of games with my son and we have a great time playing. The mechanics are solid and the cards are fairly balanced.

I'm not sure why the kids collect the cards but don't learn how to play the game. Very strange.

Thread: It didn't suck (a magic player's take).

thrasymachus — 2007-09-24T17:24:51+00:00

I'll start this review with a story.

This weekend I babysat a 7 year old neighbor kid. I knew that he liked to play pokemon and that his mom ran the pokemon club for his school. His mom had told me that the kids would come over and play pokemon once a week and that her son was really into it and was very good at the game.

So, since I like Magic, I figured I would see if he wanted to play. The conversation went like this:

Me: So, do you want to play a game of pokemon?
Him: YOU want to battle ME??? Oooookaaaay, but I'm really good and you will lose.
Me: That's ok, it will still be fun to play. So where are your decks?
Him: What do we need decks for? I have my cards right here in these folders...
Me: (uh oh) Um, I'm pretty sure you need decks, have you ever played before?
Him: Lots of times!
Me: Is this the rulebook? I can make some decks for us.
Him: NOOOOOOOOO! I'll make the decks
Me: Um...ok...
(I read the rules, he makes some "decks")
Him: Ok, here is your deck!
Me: (looking through the "deck") Um...this isn't a real deck...this is almost all level 2 pokemon and no energy cards. And you have like ten copies of this one basic pokemon in here. You better let me make the decks.
Him: Ok, but I'll still beat you really bad!

Anyway, I had read through the basic rules and made two decks. I wasn't too sure what good ratios of cards to use so I just made them kind of like in magic: two colors, 25 energy, 20 pokemons (seemed to be a bit too much in retrospect) and 15 or so trainer cards. They worked fairly well.

There seemed to be a good amount of room for deckbuilding strategy and play strategy.

I just threw random basic, level one, level two (4/3/2 or so of each) pokemons of the same color in the decks, but the abilities seemed varied enough that there could be some cool interactions between the pokemon. He didn't have a lot of trainer cards, and most of them were fairly boring, but there seemed to be a lot of tutor effects. Of course in a game that is all about getting three card combos you kind of have to have those in there. As for the energy, it seemed rough to lose all the energy attached to a pokemon when it dies (er excuse me, is knocked out), but there were a fair amount of trainer cards that let you switch energy off a hurt pokemon, etc (I assume there are lots of cards that let you search for energy too?)

So the deckbuilding was not super complex, but I could see the possibilities of varying up the pokemon you had to make nice interactions.

As far as the gameplay, each player has an "active pokemon" and a number of pokemon on the bench waiting to fight if the active pokemon loses. We pretty much just slugged it out with our active pokemons until one died and then kept on with the next pokemon off the bench, but the decisions as to when to retreat your pokemon (usually by losing some energy cards) were pretty interesting.

Evolving Pokemons was also pretty satisfying as they become much more powerful (enough to justify the card disadvantage if they die). Combat was still pretty straightforward with no instant effects (in fact I didn't see anything in the cards we played that could be done in "response" to something the opponent did).

The game pretty much boiled down to a creature slugfest with the creatures slowly getting more powerful provided you got the right cards. It wasn't incredibly deep but I have to say it was kind of fun. There was decision making and excitement. Of course maybe it was just because my expectations were so low

On the negative side...the coin flipping mechanic was getting kind of old by the end of our three games (you have to flip coins a lot), especially when playing against a 7 year old who insists on flipping the coin himself but who doesn't know how to. "Oops...let me find it...it's under the table over there...is it heads?"

Finally, and this is probably the biggest downside, he had a few cards that were just WAY better than any other cards. Whenever one of those pokemon came out, there wasn't much to do. I'm guessing this game suffers from "rares are best" more than most CCGs (though they all do this to some extent). Still there seemed to be some possible balance issues.

Bottom line, I'd play again with two balanced decks...who knew it didn't totally suck!?

***note, I am by no means an expert on any of this, this was just my self taught first impression of the game from a somewhat limited card pool (I think I ended up reassembling some of his preconstructed decks for the most part)***

Thread: Re: The Birth of a CCG Player (Or How I Love This Game)

bumblescrump — 2007-08-11T08:04:14+00:00

I found an old He-Man tape laying around my Grandmother's house during the holidays and recently watched it remembering how I used to watch that tape day after day. Now I feel like I might have had severe mental problems, and though I'm doing ok, I wonder what I could of accomplished had I spent less time watching that He-Man tape. He carries a sword, yet he throws every bad guy over his shoulder (awkwardly, since the sword is usually in his hand as he grabs the bad guy).

Thread: Re: Introduce this game to a newbie: How 2 build a deck, etc.

Geosphere — 2007-07-25T18:28:49+00:00

German - I stonrgly suggest you go through the online flash tutorials at the official site. They are excellent. Deck tuning is a big big part of the game, so you will get conflicts galore on advice there. Make a deck that works... If it fails, change it.

Rob - OK. The pokebeasts are individuals. So while Charmanders will all have similar flame attacks, some are slightly better than others. You may notice differences in their resistance, or in even their base type, yet still be Charmanders. As for 4 or 5 variations - well, more like 10-15 for creatures around since the original base set.

You are allowed a certain number of dupes (4? I don't recall. You might want to check on that) of any given CARD TITLE (energy exempt from that rule). So you can have 3 Charmanders, and all of them slightly different. Which is better? Depends on deck strategy. Maybe you want guys who use only colorless energy, or have varied weaknesses.

Details on Giovanni's Mewlith will be on that card - it will tell you what it can evolve in to. Some are limited, some are not. While some "owned" Pokies have a very specific card somewhere that affects them, its usually just color text.

Thread: Re: Introduce this game to a newbie: How 2 build a deck, etc

Robrob — 2007-07-25T18:17:02+00:00

I have a basic question about the cards themselves. I've been helping my 9 year-old acquire cards and I've noticed that many of the same basic Pokemon will have different card art, attacks or even hit points. Some Pokemon have about four or five variations. Some have red hit points while some have black(?). Why are there so many types of the same card? Are these all just varieties of the same Pokemon like any other animal - some are bigger, some are faster, etc...? Also with the named Pokemon, some basic Pokemon have names - "Giovanni's Mewlith" etc... Is that just a regular mewlith owned by the cartoon character Giovanni? It can evolve normally and has no other special abilities?