My thoughts on the state of Pokémon (The Trading Card Game)

Playing Pokémon is one of the things I really like to do in my spare time. Anyone who reads the things I post here should know by now this about me. I have shared lists of decks that I enjoy once or twice. (May have some more lists, because who doesn’t love a good list for a fun deck.)

I’m not like earth shatteringly good at the game, but I do have some decent experience in building decks, ripping packs, and playing casually and competitively in some game shops (and a Dunkin Donuts.)

With that experience, unfortunately, has come a lot of different thoughts and emotions towards a game that I really do enjoy most of the time. Like any widely played TCG like this, there are a plethora of downsides. And no, it’s not just because I lost the tournament I played in yesterday. I am not that bad of a sport.

This particular TCG (like any others) has a meta where decks evolve with the cards that come into/leave the format. There is not much wrong with this aspect. The decks that are on top of the format should grow and change with every set that comes out.

Limitless TCG is a really cool database that collects and posts the rankings from each major tournament (and City League tournaments) that happens. And this is also not a bad thing. People can use this database to look at decklists that worked for people and possibly use it to make their own decks for play. This is how I have built a few of my really fun decks (though I don’t always completely adhere to the lists.) You can also make your own tournament worthy deck based on a winning deck list of a card you have that you want to use.

And most of these top decks that are succeeding in the format right now are so fucking cool. I played a deck yesterday (Ceruledge ex) where the main strategy was to set up two attackers with enough energy for the first attack, then stack your discard pile with as much energy as you can. I had never seen this deck before and it was so wild. I lost in like five rounds of turns, but I felt strangely good about it because it was new to me. The deck is currently 22nd overall among the tournament deck rankings having been played eighteen times at big tournaments in the past four months. I have a feeling that it will be seeing a lot more play coming into the new format next month.

With such easy accessibility to the decklists though, some people are able to just replicate any winning deck as long as they can regurgitate the strategy. And sometimes, they can be really toxic while playing.I

At the tournament I attended yesterday, there were a bunch of players with these huge meta decks. Five of the decks there made up the top ten. (Like Raging Bolt, Charizard, Dragapult, Regidrago, and Terapagos.) I didn’t mind playing some of these decks as I am used to being a bit less than successful at this game.

One of my friends I play with hit a breaking point in the game last night. He was a bit irritated at the current format. The same decks win or top at almost every single tournament, and the card company seems to solely like making cards that target your opponent’s ability to actually play the game. (The specific card he focused on is a low health card that essentially keeps you from playing any item cards, which in any pokemon deck usually accounts for at least a third of your deck. And I felt bad for him because I understand how he is feeling. It does seem kind of odd that we’re in a format in pokemon where it is a game strategy to make sure you’re the only one that can effectively play the deck. I felt this way back when Snorlax was a huge part of the meta. (It still is, but there are ways around it.)

Another point he made is that in a format where everyone is playing the same thing, and they’re all dominant decks, there isn’t much room for creative, fun, or gimmicky decks. And while I don’t agree one hundred percent, he does have a point. Most of the decks I see in these game shop tournaments are decks that are meant to be played in the meta. Meant to top tournaments. And the players in and of themselves have every right to do this kind of thing. It just feels like every person is playing one of ten decks. And as someone who plays more experimental decks that are less competitive and more fun, it feels weird.

I love playing against new decks or decks I haven’t faced before. I was able to face a Jynx ex deck yesterday, where it relies on putting its opponent to sleep to get the knockout. And once again, I thought it was such a cool idea.

Obviously, I can’t be too mad. It’s a game, and the main point of a game like that is to win. And it’s definitely not that I don’t enjoy the game. I do. It just really sucks to see people that I enjoy playing pokemon with get tired and upset by it.

I am looking to start playing a little MTG soon, so I am looking forward to possibly having another game I can play with friends.

What are your thoughts about the current Pokemon meta? Do you play pokemon? Magic? Yu-Gi-Oh? What deck do you play?