Ask a simple question, get a simple answer - TCG edition

I have been researching and looking everywhere for any place in Illinois that does pokemon tournaments, has a pokemon league, or any pokemon group where I could actually put these cards to use.

I now know why this is such a dead game.

I can't even find any local shops that sells pokemon cards.. of course besides the main superstores.. but I'm talking about buying/selling cards, etc..

Oswego, IL
Naperville, IL

Anything around there.. nadda.

Driving me insane.. I feel like I should stop bothering with these cards or buying the packs.
 
that's what im thinking actually. but with school and work.. dont think i can handle that kind of responsibility. maybe when the semester is over.
 
Okay, these questions are probably fairly obvious, but spare me, I'm still pretty new to the TCG:
1) How difficult is it to find a prerelease tourney? And how do you find one?
2) How rare is it to pull an EX from a booster? I though they were supposed to be fairly rare, but I've pulled two in about 6 boosters, so I wasn't sure if i'm lucky or it's not that extreme.
3) Kinda more general to all card games, but which sleeves do you use for your deck, Ultra Pro, or another brand? And if you have a Pokemon design on the back, where did you find them?

Thanks!
 
1) http://www.pokemon.com/us/play-pokemon/ , click "Find an Event near you"
2) A box contains 36 boosters, and on average these should have about 3 EXes total. So basically you got lucky!
3) I use Ultra Pro because they're cheap, but they get damaged fairly quickly. Dragonshield is more sturdy but they're bad quality (like, miscut) and they're more expensive. idk where you'd go for this kind of product in the US, but you should be able to buy some at tournaments/league?
 
Some hardcore tourneys actually get on your case if you don't use "regulation"(ie, expensive due to name-branding) official pokemon tcg sleeves, and if the judges are feeling like real pricks they can DQ you, but I feel like those are rare extreme cases and don't tend to apply to relatively small tourneys like prereleases.
Other than your local card shop, I don't really know where you buy the sleeves though.
 
Some hardcore tourneys actually get on your case if you don't use "regulation"(ie, expensive due to name-branding) official pokemon tcg sleeves, and if the judges are feeling like real pricks they can DQ you, but I feel like those are rare extreme cases and don't tend to apply to relatively small tourneys like prereleases.
Other than your local card shop, I don't really know where you buy the sleeves though.
The official rules on sleeves is that they must be either official Pokemon-branded sleeves (which you can buy in some card shops or online --- most of them come from Japan although there have been a few sets made in the US recently) or a solid, single color. So if you've got sleeves with your favorite Magic character or whatever, then yes, a judge should make you resleeve, but if you're told you can't use solid color sleeves, you should appeal to a head judge and/or open a Pokemon support ticket afterward.

At shop tournaments and league, generally no one cares, although if the shop tournament is sanctioned _technically_ you're supposed to use approved sleeves.
 
I used to be into the TCG back in the Gen 3 format i guess youd call it, but if i wanted to start back up again and get competitive about it, is it too late in the season? I.E. should i wait till after worlds and the format rotates?
 

zero2exe

Veteran Breeder - Expert Translator
is a Contributor Alumnus
It's a good time to start again since the most popular decks include either the latest set of cards or are composed by cards that have been reprinted several times, thus extending their lifetime through the next rotation.
 
I wouldn't wait till September. Get going.

Tbh. A lot of the used decks right now will be rotated out I feel. So stick with Klinks, Keldeos, Plasma decks, Sig decks, or Garbodor types.

Eels, darkrai, and big basics(?) might see their way out. Which are the most effective ones.
 
Do it. Darkrai might be safe. Hydre will be around for a while.

Just depends really. Darkrai and Sableye are on the fence of being rotated or not.
 

zero2exe

Veteran Breeder - Expert Translator
is a Contributor Alumnus
Blastoise/Keldeo is one of the strongest decks atm while also being rather cheap (the main attackers come either in preconstructed decks or as tin promos). Rayeels is strong too and it shouldn't be hard to build either. Darkrai/Sableye is another good option but it could fall when Virizion Ex gets released, still it's a good deck atm.

Big Basics is probably the most consistent one right now but also the most expensive since it focuses on a lot of EXs that aren't too easy to come by.

Just as a note for whatever deck you may want to build, if you wanna go competitive you'll need certain staple expensive cards like the pokemon catcher item card which are worth around $20 each.
 
Do it. Darkrai might be safe. Hydre will be around for a while.

Just depends really. Darkrai and Sableye are on the fence of being rotated or not.
Blastoise/Keldeo is one of the strongest decks atm while also being rather cheap (the main attackers come either in preconstructed decks or as tin promos). Rayeels is strong too and it shouldn't be hard to build either. Darkrai/Sableye is another good option but it could fall when Virizion Ex gets released, still it's a good deck atm.

Big Basics is probably the most consistent one right now but also the most expensive since it focuses on a lot of EXs that aren't too easy to come by.

Just as a note for whatever deck you may want to build, if you wanna go competitive you'll need certain staple expensive cards like the pokemon catcher item card which are worth around $20 each.
yeah ive been comparing single card prices on troll and toad and cool stuff inc, i have to make an ebay account, since thats probably my best bet for cheap rares, im astonished that on both sites, the cheapest catcher is $16 lol and the golden one is like $50!

anywho, what im considering is Darkrai/Hydreigon with a split 4-1-3 line with 2 dark deino and 2 dragon ones and 1 dark hydreigon with 2 dragon ones, because the dark Hydreigon seems like a really underrated card, seeing how much damage it does to the opponent's deck. and my thinking is if they're running fighting types ill focus on my dragon types, if theyre running dragons, ill focus on my dark types.

any thoughts?
 

zero2exe

Veteran Breeder - Expert Translator
is a Contributor Alumnus
You shouldn't run less than 3 dragon type hydreigon. Playing stage 2 cards vs basics is inconsistent enough already. Id' choose a 4-0-4(or 3) line with all of them dragon types and rely on rare candy + skyla engine. Since there are no dragon types that can donk you on the first turn except dragon vault rayquaza (which only the Rayeels decks run and usually 1 copy only) while landorus Ex can deal those magic 30 damage on the first turn and is quite common these days (usually 3 per deck) so dark deinos would be free prizes there. If you really want to dark patch you're better off relying on sableyes and Darkrais anyway.
Also dark hydreigon is just bad, sure the overall damage output may seem nice on paper but you're supposed to have darkrai deal the big hits and save hydreigon to destroy opposing dragons (mainly rayquaza and rayquaza ex, but you should rather be focusing on killing all the eelektriks as fast as possible) and motors (like blastoise or klinklang) with Dragonblast if the situation comes to that.
 
So if Hypnotoxic laser is used to poison the opponent's pokemon and then crobat attacks with Ultra-toxic fang, do they take 10 damage for poison, or 4 for crobat's attack?
 

Alaka

formerly Alakapimp
is a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
No, you would not add it up. It would be 4 and 6 with virbank. You can't stack multiple poisons even if one is crobat and one is laser, the same way you can't stack multiple lasers.
 
Good to know.


So I give up on my Blastoise Keldeo Black Kyurem EX deck. I just get shat on by everyone. Even mirror matches. The cards and trainers etc is all in there. I had people in league fix it up and tweak it. But it's just...never doing shit for me. And it's one of the most frustrating things in the world. My opponents get to spend a handful of time playing cards etc. and I do bare minimum stuff each time. Just tired of being at a disadvantage. It blows my mind how even with this deck that is apparently top quality..can't do much for me.

Maybe it's just not my type of deck..but man..I need to figure out something. Just sucks having 1 deck only. Guess ill be doing some mass trading. Working on a new deck. Or a future deck. Tired of wasting time in local tournaments and money.
 

zero2exe

Veteran Breeder - Expert Translator
is a Contributor Alumnus
Good to know.


So I give up on my Blastoise Keldeo Black Kyurem EX deck. I just get shat on by everyone. Even mirror matches. The cards and trainers etc is all in there. I had people in league fix it up and tweak it. But it's just...never doing shit for me. And it's one of the most frustrating things in the world. My opponents get to spend a handful of time playing cards etc. and I do bare minimum stuff each time. Just tired of being at a disadvantage. It blows my mind how even with this deck that is apparently top quality..can't do much for me.

Maybe it's just not my type of deck..but man..I need to figure out something. Just sucks having 1 deck only. Guess ill be doing some mass trading. Working on a new deck. Or a future deck. Tired of wasting time in local tournaments and money.
What's your current list?
 
Quick Question about Crushing Hammers; do they work on special energies (particularly DCE)?
Yes, Crushing Hammer will work on special energy cards. The card's text reads "discard an Energy attached" and does not specify that it can only be a basic energy.

As for Blastoise/Keldeo, the deck truly only works well when you have two Tropical Beach cards in it. While it can certainly function without those, your consistency is much less and you will have many more turns where you experience the "not really doing anything" syndrome. Honestly, if you don't have access to the TB's, I would probably just play another deck. Darkrai is fairly cheap to build and would function just as well, although completely differently.
 

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