card games

Explaining the Pokemon Trading Card Game Play Levels 1, 2, and 3

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The fastest way to get into playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game is by purchasing a pre-made deck or a product containing pre-made decks. Within minutes, you can be playing the game without dealing with any of the hassle that comes with collecting cards or building a deck. Granted, I have grown to love the experience of deck-building, but you can worry about that much later in your Pokemon Trading Card Game journey. If you’re ready to play, pick up a pre-made deck and have some fun!

But which one should you get? As a guide, products with pre-built decks feature a three-point “Play Level” scale. Let’s cover what each level means so that you can make invest in the decks that are right for you!

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The Disastrous Pokemon Trading Card Game Live Beta

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I was cautiously optimistic when The Pokemon Company revealed Pokemon Trading Card Game Live. Meant to be a replacement to the aging Pokemon Trading Card Game Online, this new game promised a few major upgrades over the original, such as mobile play and a crafting system that allowed players to get any card they wanted with in-game credits.

Flash forward to today. The beta has been available for Canadian users for about two months now. Even giving the game the benefit of the doubt with it being in beta status, what I’ve seen of Pokemon Trading Card Game Live has been profoundly disappointing. Based on the overwhelmingly–negative feedback from the community, I’m not alone in my current assessment.

Let’s dive into what’s wrong with Pokemon Trading Card Game Live in its current state and consider what could be done to improve things.

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Pokemon TCG League Battle Deck Spotlight: Single Strike Urshifu VMAX

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The League Battle series of decks from The Pokemon Company are a fantastic way to jump into competitive play. Following in the footsteps of Zacian and Inteleon before them, Single Strike Urshifu and Rapid Strike Urshifu are the latest Pokemon to get their own decks in the League Battle series. Not only are these two decks a great introduction to competing for realsies, both can be upgraded to become top-tier decks!

We’re going to cover both in time, but let’s cover the Single Strike Urshifu VMAX deck first. What makes this deck such a great option?

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What the Pokemon TCG Online Leaderboards REALLY Say About the Game

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Despite months of playing Pokemon TCG Online religiously, I was unaware of its leaderboards until long after. In my defense, they live on the Pokemon website and not within the game, making it very easy to miss

Though I’m annoyed that I can’t check the leaderboards while I’m playing, it does have one particularly neat feature. By scrolling all the way to the back of each leaderboard, you can see how many players are playing within each format.

For the purposes of this post, I went to each leaderboard and scrolled to the very back of the previous full season. I then wrote down what the last place number was to determine how many players were listed in each leaderboard. The results of that research caught me by surprise.

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Making the Vivid Voltage Charizard Deck Work in the Pokemon Trading Card Game During the 2022 Rotation (Deck List Included)

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The Charizard theme deck from Vivid Voltage continues to be one of the most popular decks in the Pokemon Trading Card Game; particularly within Pokemon TCG Online. What makes it so appealing is that in theme battles, Charizard and company make for one of the most ferocious decks. It’s also fairly cheap to buy in-game or IRL. Furthermore, with some adjustments, you can make this deck work in Standard format!

“LeonZard” as this deck concept is known as in the community has lost a few key cards due to the 2022 rotation, such as Welder and Giant Hearth. Even so, here’s my approach to making this deck work for the 2022 Standard season!

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The 2021 Pokemon Trading Card Game Gift Guide

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Christmas shopping for a fan of Pokemon cards can be incredibly intimidating. With so many different cards, collections, and accessories spanning decades and price points, I don’t blame anyone for not knowing where to start.

If you’re struggling to find the right Pokemon card gift, you’ve come to the right place! I’ve got a number of recommendations based on the type of Pokemon card fan you’re shopping for. Going to try and keep most of these suggestions easy enough for you to grab at a regular store. Let’s get shopping!

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Is the Pokemon Trading Card Game Community Sleeping on Duraludon VMAX?

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Duraludon VMAX made its debut as part of Evolving Skies. While it hasn’t disappointed to the extreme like Rayquaza VMAX has, Duraludon VMAX doesn’t get much play or discussion.

Nevertheless, Duraludon has taken Zamazenta’s spot as the shield in my Zacian V metal decks. Here’s why.

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Pokemon TCG Theme Deck Spotlight: Venusaur V Battle Deck

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Introduced in 2021, Venusaur V and Blastoise V ushered in a new era of theme decks. Most notably, these decks come with a bit of extra firepower thanks to the inclusion of V versions each deck’s featured Pokemon.

For the sake of forward compatibility (and the nifty V Battle card), V Battle decks are generally the way to go these days. Let’s take a look at what the Venusaur V deck has to offer!

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My Favourite Cards to Play With in the Pokemon Trading Card Game (At the Moment)

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Over the past few months, I have amassed over 1,000 physical cards and thousands of digital cards. Most of them are completely useless in competitive play. I discovered very quickly that if I wanted to compete in Standard or Expanded formats, I was going to need cards that allowed me to compete with the bar set by the community at large.

Some of these cards I was able to randomly pull in booster packs. Most of these I purchased through promo codes off of Potown Store. Nevertheless, when I’m ready to battle, these are the cards I’m taking with me!

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The Joy of Deck-Building in the Pokemon Trading Card Game

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Building a deck from scratch is the most difficult task that any player of the Pokemon Trading Card Game will face. For the most part, you can skip this step entirely. Newcomers are usually guided through the early stages of their careers with pre-made decks from The Pokemon Company. Once they get familiar with the game, it’s usually best to simply use resources like Limitless TCG and build copies of decks that have performed well in tournaments. If it works for the pros who have done all the legwork, it should work for you too, right?

Nevertheless, the itch to create my own deck grew as I got more comfortable with the game. Most of my earlier efforts to create a deck were trainwrecks. Part of that came from me not having the best cards, but most of my early failures stemmed from not knowing how to truly build a cohesive deck rather than just a collection of cards. My earliest decks were stacked with V and VMAX cards and yet I’d still get destroyed because my decks didn’t have a clear game plan to follow.

After months of fumbling my way through the process, I may have finally turned a corner.

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