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[George Claw M.D.]

I collected and played the TCG in tournaments back when it first started. Have all the 1st ed sets from Base through Gym Heroes, and all the rare promos and error cards up til then, too. I still have all my sets and sealed 1st ed boxes, but I've given a lot of my dupes away to young nieces, nephews, and cousins who got into it much later. Apparently it's still popular with the kids.

I never did like it as much as MTG. I remember when it came out, there were guys getting out of MTG to play Pokemon, so they were willing to trade me great MTG cards for my Pokemon cards. Got great trade value on a lot of cards that way.

Early sets were pretty broken. Most games were won by knocking out the opposing Pokemon when the opponents bench was empty. I rarely got all 6 prizes and in fact ran out of cards more often than that due to powerful cards like Prof Oak, Bill, Comp Search, and Item Finder that let you mill and search through your deck like crazy. As a solitaire game, I used to see if I could deal myself an opening hand and deck myself in a single turn.

Good times. I was sad when they closed the local WotC store. Pretty much killed physical MTG and Pokemon collecting and trading for me. A pretty good card shop opened locally later and has a pretty healthy TCG scene going, but I got out long before they came along and have no desire or time to get back into it. My backpack has been retired.

Is birthday Pikachu still hot shit?

Nah. It was printed as a promo star card and handed out like candy at events.

 

[Cloud Strife]

I'm checking it out right now, actually. Seems pretty neat, although I'm still wishing for a 3DS version I could play on my commute. Hopefully the free-to-play model here isn't too bad.

You and me both, a 3DS version would be fantastic.

 

[Cassius]

The online TCG is great. Is there a list of people we can add to play with?

 

[Cloud Strife]

The online TCG is great. Is there a list of people we can add to play with?

This is a good idea actually, when I get the chance I can add a list to the OP if people are interested.

 

[twothunder]

You and me both, a 3DS version would be fantastic.

Indeed.

This thread makes me remember how much fun I had with Pokemon TCG for the Gameboy color despite never playing the actual card game itself.
Inspired by pokemon red ,but with pokemon cards. Beating clubs .getting medals and beating the 4 grand masters and your douchebag rival
Would love to have sequel for the 3DS.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Indeed.

This thread makes me remember how much fun I had with Pokemon TCG for the Gameboy color despite never playing the actual card game itself.
Inspired by pokemon red ,but with pokemon cards. Beating clubs .getting medals and beating the 4 grand masters and your douchebag rival
Would love to have sequel for the 3DS.

The PC version has a similar "storymode" but not nearly as great as the Gameboy one imo. I haven't played much of it because my deck is "illegal" in the sense that it has cards that have been banned out of rotation :/

 

[metalmonstar]

It would be cool to have a 3DS game. The online is fun but you can't collect that many cards through in game play. It is more for deck testing for those who already play it seems. It was fun facing the different AI teams. Staring down EX Kyurem and Mewtwo was not as fun.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Staring down EX Kyurem and Mewtwo was not as fun.

The new Yveltal EX card is just nuts.

20 damage PLUS 20 per energy for both Active Pokemon, like a Mewtwo EX on roids.

 

[Kazerei]

Well, I did it. I just bought a Pokemon XY trainer box. This is all your fault OP.

It seemed like the best way to jump in, since it comes with 8 booster packs, 45 energy cards, 65 card sleeves, a player's guide, dice, markers, and a nice box to hold everything. I just opened up the boosters and got a regular Yveltal card and DAT YVELTAL EX card so I am hyped as fuck. I will probably buy more boosters ... it's addictive D:

I have a few other good Darkness type Pokemon, so I will probably make that half of my deck. What other type should I pair with it?

 

[Toxi]

From what I've played of the Pokemon TCG... It's weird as hell. Card draw and filtering is amazing, so decks often play 1-ofs and 2-ofs of certain cards. Weakness and resistance means games are very swingy depending on the deck. Running out of cards is surprisingly an actual worry (unlike MtG) thanks to how long games are and how much card draw there is.

Overall, I don't really like how it currently is. Just like the beginning sets, big basic Pokemon (in this case Pokemon Ex) dominate the game and evolution is just done for Pokemon Powers. I do like how they've generally reduced the coin flippiness of the game; there aren't powerhouses like Sneasel, Slowking, and baby Pokemon that operate entirely on flips.

OK, so I'm running through this situation in my head

It's turn 1. You play Scyther (Jungle), a Grass Energy, and a combination of trainer cards to get a a Double Colorless Energy and Lass into your hand. You then play the Lass so both players discard all trainer cards. You Swords Dance and pass the turn.

So what the fuck does your opponent do. They have no trainers and you have this grossly incandescent 70HP beast with a 60 power attack ready to go on turn 2, while they have nothing except pokes (likely weak) and energy cards. Most importantly, no Energy Removal to blow up your Grass Energy.

Like, is there a better turn 1 play? This was the dominant strat for my playgroup back in the day.

Lol Scyther's nothing. Pokemon had some power creep.

I remember hearing about a deck called Sableye Donk that operates off killing an opponent's active Pokemon on the first turn with a 60 base damage attack while using trainer cards to both empty their bench and place damage counters using Crobat-G's "comes into play" ability.

 

[deltatheta]

I've been playing this recently because my (nearly 8-year-old) nephew got some cards and I wanted to teach him how to play by the actual rules.

He was really interested in learning but there are so many mechanics in this game, it's difficult to keep them in your head. I think MtG might even be simpler because besides the ultra-complex turn progression, most of the other rules are just printed on the cards. It's weird how a game that's targeted at children is so complicated.

The TCG game for Windows is pretty janky even though it's been out for quite a while. For example, there's no indication of whether your opponent has chosen to go first or second if he wins the coin flip. And it's really easy to miss when you win a booster pack, when you'd think there'd be a big animation because it's the best reward in the game.

Nintendo really should make a 3DS or Wii U version of this. The GBC version was so awesome. You'd think they would be doing everything they could to increase the popularity of the cards. The profit margin on these things has got to be utterly massive.

 

[Camjo-Z]

I've been playing the PC version of TCG for a while, but I really wish Nintendo would do an 3DS version with an RPG mode like the GBC one.

Now for story time!

Best match of Pokemon cards I ever played: my friend in high school asked me if I had a deck and told me to bring it in the next day so we could battle. Turns out he had the OG cards, and was shocked to see the ridiculous amount of power creep that had occurred as I curbstomped him with a 110 HP Tangrowth that regained 10 HP between every turn.

Worst match of Pokemon cards I ever played: I spent the whole game getting my Torterra into prime shape so he could steamroll my brother's team. I finally get him ready to switch with my active Pokemon with only one prize card left, when my brother suddenly reveals a Smeargle who immediately steals Torterra's 60 damage attack and kills my leading Poke in one hit. Truly shameful.

 

[commanderpepper]

I had Pokemon cards as a kid but never knew how to play the game. Thanks for the write up OP.

 

[Spiritreaver]

Does the PC version still require you to buy physical cards to get digital cards? That was the only reason why I stopped playing. Didn't see the point.

 

[Josh5890]

If they made a new Pokemon TCG for the 3DS, it would be Day 1 for me. I loved the GBC game and I collected cards back in the day.

Unfortunately I don't have any friends that play the actual card game so I've been out of the loop for several years.

 

[Brofield]

I remember knowing how to play it properly. Hell, I could still probably construct a decent deck if it's limited to only the first two gens.

My friend and I, being the cool kids that we were, would rack up the phone bill by playing the card game with each other over the phone, being completely honest with what we had and what we played. We only ever disbelieved who got the coin toss. But still, it was fun.

Honestly though I wish there were a website to play with the old cards and make decks out of those. That I would sign up for in a heartbeat.

 

[Tan]

Does the PC version still require you to buy physical cards to get digital cards? That was the only reason why I stopped playing. Didn't see the point.

You can get points by playing flash games, playing ai and other stuff (http://www.reddit.com/r/ptcgo/wiki/faq#wiki_earning_tokens). Packs of 5 cards cost 95 tokens, packs of 10 cost like 195. There are also decks you can buy for 500.

It still takes a fair amount of time to reach 95.

 

[JCX]

So many debates over whether or not you could use a double colorless for a specific energy requirement or vice-versa. Good to find an answer.

Spoiler

Still think it should count either way though :/

 

[Griss]

I'll never throw out my old set. Too many good memories.

I never played with anyone but my brother since I came to it late (15 years old) and my friends would have slaughtered me if they'd found out. Sad, I know.

If there was a 3DS version I'd probably lose 100s of hours to it.

And is there any database of all released cards, preferably with images? The card art for the original red/blue sets was amazing. I felt like it went badly downhill once they started using renders rather than hand-drawn art.

 

[Spiritreaver]

You can get points by playing flash games, playing ai and other stuff (http://www.reddit.com/r/ptcgo/wiki/faq#wiki_earning_tokens). Packs of 5 cards cost 95 tokens, packs of 10 cost like 195. There are also decks you can buy for 500.

It still takes a fair amount of time to reach 95.

Ah, didn't know about the token system. I'll give the game another download.

 

[Boogiepop]

I collected as a kid (almost never played, eventually got a complete base set).

Then along with a friend I actually started playing the game proper around the time the Platinum sets started coming out. The last thing I did was make a sweet Arceus deck. It wasn't fully competitive, but it was so awesome seeing a deck that could freely manipulate types and just act as a crazy swiss army knife (I believe weakness was still like -10/-20 and not the crazy x2).

I got back in through just the online game a few months ago. It's actually pretty fair in divvying out packs (and in theory you can get more for cheaper than physical cards if you do want to sink money in), though I do wish they offered more full packs instead of the half packs in the in-game store. But geez the game is not in a good place. EXs are ruining it. I mean, you're expected to run multiples of stuff that's the highest rarity just to compete. Definitely preferred Lv. X because it was more balanced and tied into the evolution mechanic, which EXs have almost killed off. Plus as mentioned Hypnotoxic Laser is terrible. Ugh. Really hope they buckle down and fight back against the power creep and the EX takeover sometime. Also, I can't see anyone playing Megas until they get some serious support. As is I'm just slowly building my supplies in the hopes of one day actually being able to make a competitive deck. I tried about two months ago and got trashed. I even have a Genesect EX, I just apparently need like 3 more of them and some Virizion EX before I even think about competing with the people who sink huge cash into the game.

But yeah, the TCG Online has come a long way, and I still have fun doing my daily Theme Deck match to earn coins (Xerneas deck is neat, even if it's got some crappy basics clogging it up). Also, they REALLY need to do something with the tournament tickets that have now replaced some of my coins.

Edit: Also, the new set literally just came out. Just skimmed the OP but didn't see it mentioned. But yeah, I'd love to have a GAF community to play some TCG online with!

EditEdit: Wait, you can get tokens through minigames too? Huh.

Editx3: The packs are decently generous. They start off a little more generous, but the cycle quickly becomes a five day one. 3 of the days you get 15 tokens for logging in, 1 you get a "tournament ticket," and on the fifth a full pack. You also get 11 (+a few more if you beat someone with an "advantage") for playing your first game each day. Which means each 5 day cycle should net you 1 pack and a half pack. You also get packs for beating AI trainers enough (though there's a limit to how many times this can be done) and for playing enough AI games with certain theme decks, including all the purchasable ones. You're obviously still better off if you buy packs (or pack codes, which are cheaper), but I've built up a meaty collection without putting in any money.

 

[RichardAM]

I collected when I was younger, but for whatever reason my friends went back to it last year and we started playing it properly.

I havent got any XY cards yet though- just an awesome deck full of Ampharos.

 

[nicoga3000]

My friend and I got back into this about two years ago...We've since stopped. But I really loved the game. The simplicity made it fun to pick up and play, but the depth was enough to keep you tinkering with your deck.

The issues I had were that a) there was nobody else to play with and b) I hate the cost of TCG's like Pokemon. I wish they would make a new one for 3DS.

 

[PsionBolt]

I just re-beat the GBC Pokemon TCG 2 the other day. Fantastic game. (The colorless altar is dumb and annoying though.) I definitely echo the sentiments of everyone calling for a 3DS Pokemon TCG sequel. I was really surprised they never made one for DS, after they made that how-to-play thing. That was a good chunk of the programming and character design for a full game already done, but nothing more ever came of it.

I tried the online game for a while, but it's just so sluggish, not really free, and ugly that I gave up on it quickly. Might give it another shot someday.

 

[Ezalc]

Really fun game to play, learned how to play it last year in a similar situation you said OP. Friends got really into it, was about to use 60 bucks to buy a deck with a bunch of cool cards until I said fuck it and bought a game instead.

It's a really fun game it's just a shame that TCGs are so expensive that you need to keep updating it so often. I was going to make a poison/sleep deck using Crobat, Dark Gengar, and some other pokemon.

 

[vareon]

Is this Greninja available on a deck? Looks like a fun card to play and I love Greninja, but I don't want to buy singles or wade through booster packs.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Well, I did it. I just bought a Pokemon XY trainer box. This is all your fault OP.

I have a few other good Darkness type Pokemon, so I will probably make that half of my deck. What other type should I pair with it?

Awesome! Sorry but I have this effect on my friends, they all hate me for buying cards Once people realize it's a fun game to play on the side then it becomes pretty addictive. I'll post my deck (a darkness deck) and add it to the OP so you can see what kind of strats are available. Honestly having a Yveltal in your deck covers the fighting weakness since it is weak only to Lightning and resists Fighting. Yveltal EX is a powerhouse.

Still, I'm jealous! I've always wanted to buy a box

I had Pokemon cards as a kid but never knew how to play the game. Thanks for the write up OP.

No problem, glad you enjoyed!

Does the PC version still require you to buy physical cards to get digital cards? That was the only reason why I stopped playing. Didn't see the point.

No it doesn't. Technically, you start out with very basic cards and the game gives you free half-booster packs once per week. However, every free pack you get means the cards are not yours and you can't trade them (kinda sucks). In order to get the deck you wan't right away, you'd be best off buying the cards.

Is this Greninja available on a deck? Looks like a fun card to play and I love Greninja, but I don't want to buy singles or wade through booster packs.

This one isn't unfortunately :/ You can get it in the XY expansion as seen here.
There is an arguably crappier Greninja in Froakie Theme Deck.

 

[TreIII]

Indeed.

This thread makes me remember how much fun I had with Pokemon TCG for the Gameboy color despite never playing the actual card game itself.
Inspired by pokemon red ,but with pokemon cards. Beating clubs .getting medals and beating the 4 grand masters and your douchebag rival
Would love to have sequel for the 3DS.

It's still sinful we didn't even get the original sequel.

But to me, what made the GBC games unique was that it wasn't just a Direct video game "port" of the TCG: there were also the "GB Exclusive" cards, which could only have worked in the games themselves.

Anyway, though...you'd think with how Konami still bothers to make YGO games for PSP and 3DS, that it wouldn't be terrible to make a 3DS version of the Poké TCG.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I used to play this with my dad back in the day

 

[GulAtiCa]

I miss the Pokemon TCG. Played it for several years at different stores when I was a kid. I had a VERY nice Psychic deck that won me a lot of battles.
I even loved the TCG GBC game too. Wish that was on VC..

How is the online game? I'd love to start playing again.

 

[Skeleton]

are the flash fire cards out yet?? I need to get me some of those!!

 

[GulAtiCa]

How does the Online version work as far as what cards you have? Do you win new cards/booster packs by winning/etc? I assume they don't just give you every possible card, that would be boring.

 

[Cloud Strife]

are the flash fire cards out yet?? I need to get me some of those!!

Yep! They're out online which probably means you can get them at retail as well.

How does the Online version work as far as what cards you have? Do you win new cards/booster packs by winning/etc? I assume they don't just give you every possible card, that would be boring.

You get free boosters (10 cards) once per week. You also earn tokens from winning. You get 11 for every first game you play a day and 15 on bonus days (usually every day as well). From there, you get 1 free token per match, even if you lose. You need 95 tokens to buy booster packs from the store, but there are only five cards in those. Ultimately, you can get a booster back every few days.

Anyway, here it is (added to OP):

My Deck

Here's what my deck looks like to show you what kind of strategies you can use.

Pokemon
My Deck is a Darkness type deck meaning all evil little Pokemon. My main attackers are the following:

Oh Zorua, you beast. Normally, you can't evolve on the first turn you play a Pokemon down, but with Zorua's "Ascension Attack", I can evolve my Zorua in the Active Slot as soon as I put it down and end the turn. And Zoroark? Holy shit this thing is powerful. If I have my bench maxed out, Zoroark will do 120HP (6x20) at minimum without boosts. If it takes any damage, it will likewise be able to counter-attack. Hit my Zoroark with 90HP? Game over. Aside from Mega-Evolutions, Zoroark will OHKO ANY Pokemon in the game at 180HP without boosts. The second Zoroark here is great for setting up in certain scenarios, namely Mewtwo EX or other EX's with huge attacks. I can use it to search for any card OR use it's "Foul Play" to copy ANY attack of the Active Pokemon, and I don't even need the specific energies of the original attack! The new Charizard X/Y cards take 5 energies to power up and do 300HP of damage. With Zoroark, I can put two energies on and copy this attack and OHKO those Mega's without a sweat. It's incredible.

Mainly for support. It's ability means I can swap out at any time my Pokes have low HP or are affected by a special condition. Offers great maneuverability.

Not used too often but helpful in a pinch. For one energy, Weavile will do a cool 90HP of damage to any noob with a Pokemon Tool attached (they are very common).

If I don't get Zorua on my first turn, hopefully I get this sucka. His ability helps because I don't use any Ace Spec cards anyway (they're bullshit) and his attack can help me out if I get a shitty hand.

I also have a Yveltal EX in there (feel bad) and a Sableye (has an attack called Junk Hunt that lets me pickup trainer cards from the discard pile) that I rarely use anymore.

Trainer Cards

Here are some examples of the Trainers I use. Dark Claw will boost Zoroark's damage by 20. If I put a Giant's Cape on Zoroark, he'll be at 120HP. Keldeo EX has an attack that has 50HP base damage plus 20 per water energy attached, people love to spam it. So let's say I have a Giant Cape on Zoroark and Keldeo has 3 Water's attached. Keldeo will do 50+20+20+20=110HP leaving me alive at 10HP. Know what that means? I can then do 11X20 damage. You do the math.

Next, Dark Patch allows me to attach two energies per turn. If I use Engineer's Adjustments (Discard one energy to draw 4 cards) on the same turn, I'll get to draw 4 cards, put an energy in the discard pile, THEN use Dark Patch. Great way to power up and get some draw power. Level Ball let's me search for every Pokemon in my deck except for Darkrai, Yveltal, and Zoroark. Very handy. Professor Oak's Research (shuffle your hand into your deck and draw 6) allows me to negate a potentially shitty hand.

So that's an example . I also use the stadium card Shadow Circle as seen above to prevent Fighting types from wrecking my shit.

 

[GulAtiCa]

Thanks for the info! I've been interested for years to start playing again. Just didn't really want to buy actual packs anymore and don't think any store around me even holds weekly get together like in the old days.

I will def start playing soon.

 

[NeoCross]

Holy shit nostalgia bomb. Last I played this was about 8-10 years ago I think, was rocking a sneasel/clefable fire+darkness deck. Frequently went to gym/matches too. I think I still have my badge book lying around somewhere.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Thanks for the info! I've been interested for years to start playing again. Just didn't really want to buy actual packs anymore and don't think any store around me even holds weekly get together like in the old days.

I will def start playing soon.

Great Let me know your impressions and perhaps we can get a Friend List going on here.

 

[Skeleton]

Yep! They're out online which probably means you can get them at retail as well.

Thanks, been looking about getting back into pokemon TGC for ages, was just waiting for the new boosters to come out. Now to find a local shop that sells them.

 

[Tatersalad]

Glad to see all the love for the GBC TCG. I'd love an updated version for the 3DS.

 

[Boogiepop]

No it doesn't. Technically, you start out with very basic cards and the game gives you free half-booster packs once per week. However, every free pack you get means the cards are not yours and you can't trade them (kinda sucks). In order to get the deck you wan't right away, you'd be best off buying the cards.

It's actually a full pack every five days (plus enough coins for a half-pack in that time frame if you're playing once a day). Also, haven't looked at trading much, but that explains why pretty much all my cards are locked (there were the free giveaways leading up to X/Y that gave me some actual code packs so some things aren't). That's actually super lame of them to do, because otherwise you're not THAT crippled by not buying. But not being able to trade is going to be deadly in trying to eventually create a decent deck. Damn you EXs!

 

[Cloud Strife]

It's actually a full pack every five days (plus enough coins for a half-pack in that time frame if you're playing once a day). Also, haven't looked at trading much, but that explains why pretty much all my cards are locked (there were the free giveaways leading up to X/Y that gave me some actual code packs so some things aren't). That's actually super lame of them to do, because otherwise you're not THAT crippled by not buying. But not being able to trade is going to be deadly in trying to eventually create a decent deck. Damn you EXs!

My bad, that's what I meant but I always confuse the two And yeah I totally agree. They want their cashola and in order to fully customize your deck, you gotta spend that cashola. Sometimes you may luck out when buying a booster pack irl and can get some decent cards from redeeming your code, or you can trade those unlocked cards, but either way, you need to know what you want beforehand requiring a lot of research.

It'd be neat to see maybe a version where you pay a base fee and have access to all the cards, they'd make a lot less money though.

 

[Spiritreaver]

If anyone wants to play some games sometime online my name is Spiritreaver05. I'm just using the starter though, lol.

 

[lordfroakie]

Anyone have some flashfire codes? :x

 

[Lone_Prodigy]

GBC game was easy because your rival had 3 types (for the legendary birds).

 

[The Boat]

Nostalgia BOMB! I used to be the little champion of this shit back in my hometown!

 

[GulAtiCa]

Started playing the online game over the weekend, fairly fun.

I do miss the GBC TCG. I loved the auto save during turns while in battle. Though that left the game up to heavy cheating, which I took advantage of. lol. The game's "AI" always did the same move the next turn no matter what. So you could take advantage of this little "prophecy" and do something different. heh

 

[Cloud Strife]

Started playing the online game over the weekend, fairly fun.

I do miss the GBC TCG. I loved the auto save during turns while in battle. Though that left the game up to heavy cheating, which I took advantage of. lol. The game's "AI" always did the same move the next turn no matter what. So you could take advantage of this little "prophecy" and do something different. heh

Yeah I remember that, good times :3

Just played a couple games and finally went up against a Mega Venasaur. Used it's own attack against it (Paralysis/Poison) and the dude quit because it took him so long to set up. Filthy victories feel so good huehuehue

 

[emb]

However, it's probably safe to say that none of us knew how the game actually worked.

I've had a surprising amount of my friends tell me that, and now I see it mentioned here too. I always thought that most of the people who bought the cards knew how to play. I got really excited to learn when I first bought some of them. I was never good at it, but always had fun with the game.

 

[Earthpainting]

Glad to see all the love for the GBC TCG. I'd love an updated version for the 3DS.

Same. The touch screen and having two screens seem so fitting for this type of game. The only thing that would make me uneasy a little is the fact that we are living in a microtransaction world. IAP could really sour this type of game so fast.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

Same. The touch screen and having two screens seem so fitting for this type of game. The only thing that would make me uneasy a little is the fact that we are living in a microtransaction world. IAP could really sour this type of game so fast.

The problem I see with a videogame version is the relentless pace of expansion packs means it will be outdated in no time.

I guess you could go down a similar route to Steel diver sub wars though as in a port of the current PC version. But you still lack the enjoyment that comes from the quick progress of the GBC game (wasn't this a booster pack per trainer?).

 

[Spiritreaver]

So I'm really loving the PC game. I even bought some pack codes off ebay so I can get into trading.

I really am surprised how polished the client is. Between MGO, Hex, and DotP this game actually feels the most complete.

I've also been streaming the game a bit, so feel free to come watch/play.

http://www.twitch.tv/spiritreaver