Getting back into things

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Archaic

Archaic

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I haven't played the TCG in a long time, but recently, I've started to develop the desire to play again. Maybe even try to arrange and manage a league and/or tournaments here in Brisbane, where there seems to be quite a few players, but no organisation whatsoever.

So....just what are the decks popular now, and how do they work? What cards are still considered tournament legal? Is it alright for me to use, for instance, my Japanese edition NEO cards, or is everything before EX now barred?

As for the deck I'd like to build....I don't know if this is a good idea, given that I have no idea how the current metagame works, or even what the current cards do, but I've always liked the idea of a deck which actively denies or discourages my opponent from playing energies or evolving their Pokémon. I know about Dark Ampharos, but is there anything else that'd support that kind of deck build?
 
Dark Ampharos can be combined with both Dark Tyranitar (hopefully you are referring to EX Team Rocket Returns and not Neo Destiny :p) and Ancient Technical Machine Rock. You get out Ampharos early so that your opponent takes damage when evolving, and you send out the Sand Damage Tyranitar to hurt their bench. Or, you can send out the Dark Tyranitar that does 20 damage to everyone, and that in combo with ATM Rock, which devolves your opponent's Pokemon, causes them to re-evolve them, and thus take more damage. They will eventually die though, since when you devolve them using ATM Rock, their pre-evos will have much less HP than their evolved forms.

The following sets are the only ones allowed at tournaments, although the only official tourny left for the season is Worlds in San Diego, CA:
EX Ruby and Sapphire
EX Sandstorm
EX Dragon
EX Team Magma vs. Team Aqua
EX Hidden Legends
EX FireRed and LeafGreen
EX Team Rocket Returns
EX Deoxys
EX Emerald

When the next season starts, it is predicted that only EX FireRed and LeafGreen on will be allowed, so if you are going to get back into the game, don't buy any packs/boxes from R/S - HL.

I posted what decks are popular in another thread, so just browse through recent threads. :)

Hope I helped.
 
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I recall you posted the names of what decks are popular, but not actually what those decks contain, or their strategies. I do like the one you've described in this post however.

*Looks as the EX Battle Stadium card set he bought because it was on sale and curses*
Oh well, they might be useful cards for Unlimited format, even if Modified is the tournament format.
 
1. Ludicargo - Ludicolo (DX Holo), Magcargo (DX), Lanturn/Rhydon (HL)
This deck is very simple. Get out Ludicolo by turn 2 or 3, and begin the beatdown on the opponent. You have to fill up your bench as much as possible to get the most power out of the attack. Magcargo is on the Bench for its Smooth Over, which lets you put a card from your deck on top. Then, you use Ludicolo's power to draw it. Lanturn and Rhydon are there for tech.

2. Rock Lock - Dark TTar, Dark Ampharos, Pidgeot
First post in thread.

3. Power Lock - Medicham ex (Emerald)
Pure and simple. Get out Jirachi (DX) as your starter, and use its power to get whatever out. Then, use Swoop! Teleporter to get out Medicham, which you then can evolve into Medicham ex. Medicham turns off all of your opponent's PokePowers, which is lethal to many decks these days which totally rely on powers. If the Defending Pokemon has a Fighting Resistance, Medicham does 70 to them (with the affect of its attack), but when playing Magnetic Storm, it does 100. See both cards to get what I mean.

4. Dark Heart - Dark Dragonite, Dark Electrode, Rocket's Sneasel ex
Get out Dark Electrode to search for Darkness or Dark Metal Energy, use Dragonite to move them around. You can either use Draggy's power to move all the energy to Sneasel, or Draggy itself to do major damage.
 
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What about T2 decks? Any examples there?

Also, given that Rock Lock isn't going to be possible next season with Ancient Hidden Machine (Ice) being rotated out, what might you recommend if I wanted to continue that earlier theme? I'd usually prefer active energy denial if possible, though I don't know how the energy draw from the discard pile will be following the rotation.
 
Rock, not ice. ;)

I would play Medicham for the next format rotation, since it does not lose anything that other cards cannot replace.

A T2 deck is Medicham. It's up and running on turn 2, and majorly can disrupt your opponent.
 
This is my decklist, and will probably be the one I play at Worlds. When you are done looking at it (you may copy it if you wish, since you are trying to learn), could you edit my post and take out the list?

[Decklist deleted]

[That was me as Guest. You can delete that post. :)]
 
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Well, sort of. Wally's Training, Steven's Advice, Rocket's Admin., Medicham, and Jirachi will probably be the most expensive, but are probably very easy to trade for. Everything else is easy to get and/or is cheap. Steven come in the Hidden Legend theme decks, Wally aren't too hard to get in Sandstorm and I think they come in the theme decks (check my site for what comes in the theme decks), Rockets Admin is very easy to get in boosters, but Medicham and Jirachi might be hard to get.
 
Wally's Training is an uncommon, isn't it? Why would that be expensive? (I do have 2 already at least anyway) It and a few others seemed a little pointless too, if they're part of sets that are about to be rotated out.

What kind of deck might I be able to build on a bit of a tighter budget? There's not really anywhere around here selling singles, and I don't have the cash to be buying huge numbers of cards just to get a few specific rares.
 
All of the "uncommons" from Sandstorm seemed to turn out to have the rarity of holographics. Do you know how much a Rare Candy (which is uncommon) went for before it was reprinted in Emerald? (let's just say people were willing to trade 10+ EXs for one and that you couldn't find one for less than $20) Even now, it's still definately a RARE candy.

Hmm, what deck to build on a tight budget...

Hmmmm...

Hmmmmmmmmm.....

Well, I would say maybe Dark Dragonite. If you buy a box of EX TRR, you probably could get most of what you need. Rocket's Admin, Dratini, D. Dragonair, D. Dragonite, etc. Actually...

If you buy the Jesse Theme Deck, you can get Dark Dragonite. So, if you have a sort of Frank and Sons around, you could spend less than $20 to get enough Dragonite and it's pre-evos, plus some okay trainers. However, I would recommend getting a box of EX TRR first, since there are many deck possibilities from that set.
 
Yikes. Oo;;

No idea what a Frank and Sons is, but I'm guessing it's a games store. Like I said, no stores I can buy singles at around here. Hell, none of the comic & card stores I can go to even sell it anymore. I have to scour EB Games and toy stores for the cards, and I'll be lucky finding boosters or decks from anything but the latest few sets as it is.

I don't suppose I have any other options? While I certainly don't object to a deck where I'm quite throughly evil, I'm not sure the style of play that deck encourages is for me.
 
Frank and Sons is a swap meet type thing here. I am absolutely positive that if you were to go to ANY large swap meet thing in your area, you would get boxes for like 50-60 and boosters for 2. You might even find singles.
 
No swap meets whatsoever. There's plenty of fans of the game, but for the most part, they're young to mid teens, and unorganised. Almost all of our comic/card specialist shops are in the central city, so while I might be there frequently, these younger fans pretty much stick to the EB and toy stores in the suburban shopping centres.
 
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No. This is what you need to do.

1. Go out to your local card store. Buy one James theme decks from EX Team Rocket Returns for around $10 (You can even buy two, but don't do so until you see what you get in packs).
2. Buy four-five EX TRR packs. A week after you have gotten the deck, do the same thing. This will make it so that it doesn't seem like you are spending a ton at once.
3. Build a Dark Draggy deck. This is the basic line for a theme deck that would suit you:

Pokemon: 23
3x Dratini (covered by theme deck)
3x Dark Dragonair (2 are covered by theme deck)
3x Dark Dragonite (1 is covered by theme deck, others shouldn't be too hard to get at all)
3x Voltorb (boosters)
3x D. Electrode (Ebay? What are they, like $2-3 each?)
1x R. Sneasel ex / 1x R. Scyther ex / 1x R. Mewtwo ex / 1x R. Suicune ex (If you are lucky - boosters)
4x Dunsparce

Trainers: Rocket PokeBall, Lanette's Net Search, Steven's Advice, TV Reporter, Copycat, Prof. Oak's Research, Prof. Birch, Pow! Hand Extension, Swoop! Teleporter, Pokemon Retriever, Switch, Warp Point, Mr. Briney's Compassion, Rare Candy, Rocket Admin, Rocket's Mission, any Stadium card other than Battle Frontier - any of these cards will work in the deck. Just throw them in, and as you get more cards, fix up your deck.

Energy:
4x Darkness
4x Rainbow
4x Dark Metal
2x R Energy
 
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Kind of pathetic that Target seem to have the biggest selection of cards in town, and that the anime/game/manga/comic stores have none.

No real luck with my boosters from the looks of things sadly. I didn't even get a single Voltorb. I'm hoping maybe I can ebay or trade a few of these cards for things I need, though I don't like my chances there. The only cards of even vague interest were...
Dark Dragonair (31), Dark Dragonair (32), Dark Gyarados, Dark Marowak (Holo), Dark Tyranitar, Dark Metal Energy (Holo), Delibird, Ledian, Piloswine (Holo), Rocket's Poké Ball & Rocket's Tricky Gym.
 
On a side note....I just took the professor test today. Failed, but I think my score of 17 out of 25 (Just 3 short of the amount necessary for qualification) isn't bad for someone who hasn't played the game in several years.

Went and bought some more boosters on a whim today, while I was shopping for something else. Given that only 1 store in the whole shopping complex (A K-Mart) had any TRR boosters, it's probably a good thing I did. ^^;; Though then again, seeing as I'm still missing a lot of the cards I wanted, maybe not. Still, the cards I have now might be decent enough to start putting some trades together.

EDIT: And how helpful, they even email you to tell you which questions you got wrong on the test. I don't suppose someone could tell me if it's considered ethical to ask others what the correct answers would have been?
 
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And since we're sort of on the topic of "getting back into the TCG", what are the current metagames going on, and can someone provide me a link to a good list of descriptions (especially JUST for cards that are "legal" in tourney play)?
 
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