Blog Playing Pokemon The Cheap(er) Way — Tips On Saving Money

One thing you forgot to mention, also happens to be something I wanted to make a youtube video about (Until League Support turned to crap, which it has finally improved on now. Still probably might make it.)

Pokemon Leagues offer promo cards, and sometimes these promos equal the value of 4 copies of their regular rarity. Not only can you get these for free in most situations - but sometimes they ARE playable and useful.

The best example I can give from personal experience (combined with players at the time not paying attention to Japanese promos/expecting them) is Enhanced Hammer.

We got Enhanced Hammer when it was "rotating out" and people complained. But I said it would be reprinted as a promo in Japan so we'll likely get it back again soon.

Well, most other players scoffed at me. So I spent the next couple of weeks building my points up, only getting my hands on Enhanced Hammer to the point where I had taken 95% of the Enhanced Hammers we had.

Fast-forward to when Enhanced Hammer got reprinted: Players sold all their copies when they saw it on it's way out. They had given up every Enhanced Hammer they had, or most of them and were in dire need of Enhanced Hammer. Well they knew exactly where to turn - except; they missed their chance. There were no more copies of it in the League Binder. This is when I rolled in with my pages of Enhanced Hammers and quickly, without much effort (Aside from one player calling me obscenities for it) got trades for any card I wanted. Players were desperate for them and I was the only one at the time who could provide.

No I'm not saying hoard everything - if players are still aiming for something be nice about it.
This situation was more of a "I expected this so I planned for it." moment.

With quality promos like Delphox, Yveltal - and now, Xerneas coming out. You've got some key cards to work on a deck or trade to build up that deck. Some Leagues may still even have older cards kicking around. It has been possible to play entirely free with the POP Series Packs, but clearly now it takes more effort.
 
An interesting take on the article here! Probably would have liked to see a bit more acknowledgment on the positives of the more ambiguous options, like the Prerelease (the style is a nice breather) and Deck Choices (no point playing a deck you don't enjoy just because it's cheap) for the ultimate guide.

What tips would you give to someone wanting to saving money by making an effective budget deck? What potential replacements or structures would you give for those more expensive cards/builds?

Another tip I would probably add is to be generous and give away some free cards (particularly staples)! You may not get anything in return except a few smiles and 'thankyous' initially, but people will notice your generosity. Who knows - perhaps it will inspire others to do the same, and you may end up get some free cards yourself?
 
Great article, in many ways, if not all, I can relate to this article!
(I believe you made a typo under the header Build Your Deck In Advance, where you spelled weather instead of whether. ) lol

I stopped going to pre-releases, mostly because of the price, I remember back when $25 got 8 packs, a promo, sealed pack of sleeves (great trade value at worlds, especially now), and there were a few packs to win for top place finishes. And the after draft was $20 for 6 packs and top 4 received a few packs (out of 32 players) 4-3-1-1 prize structure if I remember correctly. I know pre-releases were even cheaper before I started going, but this was well below retail price, and almost 2-3 weeks before the cards came out (also before Walmart started doing early releases.) I do think the pre-releases are now more suited to newer players which is great, but I preferred they way they were before.

I stopped buying many sealed products, especially the special boxes and tins. I purchased a ton of these as a kid, especially $9.99 3 pack blisters. Lately I have realized I can buy larger quantities and for lower prices all over the internet, but I will get to that one day in my own article :)
These appealed to me as a kid, because the packs were for retail price (besides blisters, which were better), because they contained something else, which I thought of as essentially free. And a few items I would empty my wallet for, such as the Darkrai/Cresselia Legend box and the Dialga/Palkia Legend box which were $15-16 contained 4 booster packs and 2 Lv.X cards each! Another Item I splurged on was a double collector album box which had 5 booster packs and 2 mini binders, but only because they were on sale for $11.99 at my local game store. I wouldn't have bought them otherwise, because it came with bad sets at the time, which is probably why they were on sale.

But more recently, I have essentially stopped opening booster packs. Partly because I am in and out of the game, and partly because I can usually trade some of my cards and get some promo versions of the cards for cheap, somewhat recently the likes of Darkrai EX and Yveltal EX. The only sealed booster packs I buy now are cheap booster boxes at tournaments (about $70) or from Black Friday deals at Target (50% discount). Which is pretty good actually, I picked up tins from target for $10 a piece, I didn't have to pay tax, as I ordered it online, and it came from another state. Occasionally I buy Japanese booster packs, but that is a story for another day.

I think I covered the next part a bit, I just play non-holo versions of cards, unless I don't have a cheaper version, and the same goes for full arts and secret rares, those get to sit in my binder. I like to avoid expensive meta cards, although they can definitely rise, they can fall much harder. Before Golden ultra ball or full art N had the chance to quadruple in price, cards such as Luxray GL Lv.X crashed hard (100 to 0 real quick). And although there was no cheaper version of the card, I do remember when golden pokemon catcher dropped hard, and I know that was hugely due to the new ruling, however that changed the way I viewed the BW full arts and secret rare trainers.

Knowing the meta and trading for newer cards ties into this a bit, avoiding rotating cards, but then again it is easy for me to say, as I haven't been a seriously competitive player for a few years now, so I just dumped cards such as my VS seekers at worlds last weekend. That was after I heard they might be reprinted in the next arena deck (I think that is what it is called, with rayquaza and keldeo), assuming there would be a price drop soon, something notably similar was when it happened with ultra ball, possibly with the red genesect deck. But because I don't plan on playing this season, I traded 7 VS seekers for 6 promo charizard EX full arts and 6 packs of Japanese sleeves (each pack was a full set of 65, 2 wailord, 2 blastoise, and 2 xerneas). I expect what I traded for to hold decent value over time, compared to the vs seekers, I may be wrong, but it felt like a good deal.

As far as deck choice, it is completely true that cheap decks can even be the BDIF at times. Personally, because I haven't been a serious player for some time now, I prefer these cheaper deck options, and if I am just going to a league challenge, I have used unknown in place of shaymins. But seriously, I remember darkrai was reasonably cheap when blastoise keldeo was also big, especially with the addition of Black Kyurem EX. I won't say too much more about decks, as I am certainly no expert. However you definitely should build your deck in advance, I have realized that I am relatively smart, so with minimal practice, I could pull off decent results (and by minimal practice, I mean making my deck 5 minutes before registration closes at regionals, more than once!) I can remember tons of misplays that I have made simply because a lack of practice, and knowing the game. During spring regionals with set up until Next Destinies, I played a catcher and knocked out a non EX pokemon, with only 2 prizes left, when I could have done enough damage to knock out an EX attacker, mainly because I hadn't played with EX cards until that match. Which was the first of the tournament, I went on to win 4 consecutive rounds and lost the last two, in the last round losing to the Jason Martinez, who I N'd down to 1 card, and he drew into a professor juniper which he got multiple cards he needed off of, otherwise I had the game, and if I had gone 5-2, I would have made cut.

Sorry, I got really side tracked there, I guess I got a bit stuck in the past! As far as travel costs and food, I couldn't agree more. This year in San Francisco I only had to drive about 1 hour each way, everyday, but I carpooled with a friend, and we brought homemade lunch, croissants, apples, granola bars, water bottles, and pizza. We did go out to McDonalds once, but that was less than $5 each. That may not seem like much, but when I went to Hawaii in 2010, the Hilton was quite expensive, and I don't remember any close places for food between rounds. And about traveling with others, I felt as though most of the strong players in my area had siblings or even parents into the game, but no matter how hard I tried, my family could never get into pokemon. And for that reason, as a kid (literally until now) I wasn't able to go to tournaments that weren't local, because of the costs. My family could afford it, they just didn't consider it vacation, or worthwhile, for those long weekends down south, from SF bay area to San Diego (8 hour drive with no traffic and no stops...). So the only tournaments far away that I attended were Worlds '10, '11, and '13, and this year which was close. This played a huge role in preventing me from playing much. I don't know how else to put it in perspective, that once a year a regionals is an hour from my house, and then the next closest one is 10 hours away. So I hope all of you guys and gals out there can find people to travel with! I certainly plan on it, hopefully even for Anaheim in a year from now.

Lastly regarding free stuff, at first I thought it would be referring to the random tiny goodies handed out by some staff, including inflatable pokeballs, cool bookmarks, and other goodies from the past. I remember I tried to get one of each thing at first, because I loved pokemon. When I was a little older I did the same thing, but because I thought I could trade or sell the stuff, and now I stopped because some kid will enjoy it more than I will, and I don't need to take up any more space with pokemon in my house. But when it comes to booster packs and you are nearing those last few rounds, you might as well take your chances, unless of course, the opportunity cost is too high. But at that same regionals I talked about earlier, I remember there were 19 juniors, and 9-16 place got 9 booster packs, so after turning up, your odds were pretty good, so if you know your odds are decent, and you have an hour left, it might be worth the wait. Let's say you do get the 9 boosters, you could sell them very reasonably and easily for $20, but you could get closer to $30 if you find the right buyer, which could pay for your food that day, and gas if you don't live far from the event.

I forgot to mention commons and uncommons are still worth something, even at the bulk rate of 6 cents a piece, that seriously adds up. If you open 1 booster box, that cost $90 online shipped, you will get 360 cards if we say 30% are decent, or at least worth more than the 6 cents rate, it leaves you with about 250 cards that might not mean much to you, well 6 cents a piece makes $15. I would say that is a decent amount, especially if you have ever opened a 6 box case, because that means you basically get another box entirely free! Or you can be nice and let kids take a few extras from you. I remember one time at my league, a guy had a giant binder of holo rares and a few Lv.X from the Diamond and Pearl era, and he told me and a few other kids he had free cards for us (don't worry, it was right in front of the league leader, we didn't jump into the big white van). He was just handing out extras to us, and I ended up with 54 cards, 2 were Lv.X and the rest were all holo rares! When I say you can give some kids some extras, you obviously don't need to, and probably shouldn't go that far, but you can always make someones day with a few cards, just think about that before you rip any cards (which I have been guilty of 3 times.) When I was younger, I once drew on a card because my cousin did and I though it was really fun, but my mom told me never to do that again. The next time I had an already beaten up card, and I split it, and lastly I was "testing" the quality of a Japanese common, but even that was many years ago, and I definitely wouldn't destroy cards again, as there is nothing to gain from it, and it upsets me when youtubers do it for attention.

Anyway, I actually think I could write a helpful article on collecting, someday, when I'm not super busy. (Not that I didn't write an article like response right now :)

- Pieter
 
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Buy singles from tcgplayer, the article.

But seriously, buy singles.
 
Your pre-release experience is far different than our local one, which makes me believe its tied to the local game store's choice. Ours is $25 USD for a guaranteed 6 packs, plus a ton of packs given away for T3 in each age group. The pre-release promo also runs between $5-$10, which instantly makes up the cost of the event.
 
This is a good article: I recognise a lot of it from experience playing Yugioh. In regards to trading, I think something people don't do enough is ask for favourable trades. In my experience, you get a lot further if you're open with people and ask them straight up for a favourable trade. They'll either say yes, in which case you saved even more, or no, which gives you a point to start negotiating from. Money also helps - instead of buying cards online, it's often cheaper to buy stuff from people in person since they don't need to pay commission fees, postage and waste time listing the item, so you can get discounts of 30,40 and even 50%.
 
"There are also players who will rip more expensive cards for publicity(?), and this really irritates me because it prevents other players from enjoying those cards. If you’re ever going to rip up a card, just give it to someone else who can enjoy it. I really don’t get the logic behind this so if one of you guys do, please explain it to me in the comments."

I've had the displeasure of knowing people who did this, and each and every time it was a spite or "if I can't use it, nobody can!" type of thing. I've done exactly what you said when I came very close to ripping a Kyurem EX FA (was worth $12 at the time, but irrelevant) and instead gave it to a friend who needed it for his collection. I was very, very, very frustrated at it for it not being the last card I needed for a tournament that was just days away and I wouldn't be able to get in time.
 
This is a cool collection of advice.

Another good thing to do is to make friends in the game. You can help each other by lending cards or decks. If you're just trying out a deck for the first time, this is also better than acquiring all the cards for the deck and then discovering you don't like it.
 
Another benefit of knowing the meta @TokenDuelist! Some players I know will actually give away their league promos for free! We're talkin' good cards like dimension valley and stuff. I guess because they already have a playset of it, they just don't care. These are not only valuable but playable too! Never underestimate free stuff!

Thanks for the feedback @bbninjas! I definitely agree with your points on the pre-release and deck choice. As for budget decks, it would greatly depend on the format and deck. Could you narrow it down? Also the "giving away cards" thing is great! It might not save you much money, but just imagine walking into a tournament where everyone was handing out free cards!

Thanks for such a detailed reply @PieterPie! I absolutely did misspell whether! Originally I hoped that the new pre-release structure (starting with fates collide) would help pre-releases, but honestly it just made them worse. Those 50% off deals are admittedly pretty good. Another benefit of building your deck in advance is that you can practice with the exact 60 cards you'll be using at the tournament, which is something that I like to do. Commons and uncommons are definitely worth something. It's a good idea to save up all the ones you get until you have enough to sell them as bulk. I'm already looking forward to the article on collecting (no pressure :p)!

Nice one @Lanstar! A classic.

Couldn't agree more @PMJ.

Honestly @dbussert this is still not very good in my opinion. Like I expressed in the article, pre-releases are highly luck based, and so a top three placement is not guaranteed. For example, at a phantom forces pre-release I went to, the player who won was playing malamar-EX and 39 darkness energies. They were all but guaranteed victory just because they pulled malamar-EX. The same thing happened with breakthrough and mewtwo-EX. So while it's possible to make your moneys worth at a pre-release (either by pulling well or winning), it's not guaranteed. I would like to see TPCi improve the pre-release structure (and perhaps incorporate a ban list to prevent broken cards from running through the competition), but as of now I see no reason to go to a pre-release. But again, that's just me.

Two very good points @BobbleBlue. ("Money also helps" doesn't it always :p)

I've been in much the same situation @Brave Vesperia. It's one of the reasons you should have your deck completely built well in advance of the tournament.

Great point @Charmander! (It's so genius I should've thought of it myself :p). Making friends in the game also makes it a lot more fun! I recommend testing decks in advance of getting the cards either on tcgone.net or with proxies. It's completely free either way.

Thank you all for your feedback! It's greatly appreciated!
 
Thanks for the feedback @bbninjas! I definitely agree with your points on the pre-release and deck choice. As for budget decks, it would greatly depend on the format and deck. Could you narrow it down? Also the "giving away cards" thing is great! It might not save you much money, but just imagine walking into a tournament where everyone was handing out free cards!

Hmmm... I'm thinking more various EX cards that are prevalent in archetypes. I'm thinking Shaymin-EX and Hoopa-EX, as well as changing archetypes like Zygarde-EX to be more budget (perhaps even by substituting Zygarde-EX for something else?). Other techs like Jolteon-EX or Glaceon-EX also come to mind.

I agree that I would love to walk into a tournament where everyone was handing out free cards! ^.^
 
Hmmm... I'm thinking more various EX cards that are prevalent in archetypes. I'm thinking Shaymin-EX and Hoopa-EX, as well as changing archetypes like Zygarde-EX to be more budget (perhaps even by substituting Zygarde-EX for something else?). Other techs like Jolteon-EX or Glaceon-EX also come to mind.

I agree that I would love to walk into a tournament where everyone was handing out free cards! ^.^

Well we both know there's no real way to substitute Shaymin-EX, but I would add some other forms of non-supporter based draw like Unown, Acro Bike, and maybe even Octillery. Hoopa-EX is a bit more manageable. Repeat Ball works well for decks like Zygarde-EX / Regirock-EX or Volcanion-EX. For decks that can't utilize Repeat Ball there's Level Ball, Dive Ball, Heavy Ball, and I know it sounds bad but even Great Ball can be good in decks that play a lot of Pokemon. Or you could try a supporter like Fan Club or Bridgette. Jolteon-EX and Glaceon-EX can be semi-replaced by Regice. Your only other option is like Hippowdon. Something else you could do is lower your VS Seeker count and increase the counts of your tech supporters. N could be replace by Judge or Ace Trainer or even Delinquent or Red Card. Acro Bike or Unown could also be used in place of Trainers' Mail. There's always Roller Skates.

I gotta say I'm not really the expert on Zygarde-EX decks. Would you be referring to the Regirock-EX variant or the Vileplume variant? In general I'd say the most budget deck for next season would be Greninja BREAK or possibly P Groudon-EX / Wobbuffet. Or pretty much anything that can function without Shaymin-EX. Perhaps some sort of stage 1 deck could work. Xerneas from breakthrough is pretty cheap, so if you could make it work without expensive supporting cards then that could be budget. It seems the format is pretty wide open.

Nice article! Will use the tips!

Thanks! Good to hear!
 
Not a bad article, but I know one fundamental point - which I thought your opening was heading towards - is that a lot of us don't know how to "shop" or "haggle" properly, or manage our money properly as well. Short version is if we were using your opening story as a real example, upon seeing two $10 bills in your wallet, you let the shop keeper know you'd changed your mind because if you don't have the cash you don't buy. No, not even a "good deal"; there is risk in opening a booster pack and there is risk even when it comes to investing in a good deal on credit. You find that factory sealed booster box half of and it is the real thing, but your pulls are awful so don't even walk away breaking even without also investing a lot of time trading (and time has monetary value).

Tying into this, haggle. Okay, not with the cashier whom you know has no say in the prices, but yes with the shop owners, employees who work for commission, etc. Be firm but polite, as the main appeal of TCGs is that the booster packs tend to take up little shelf space and have a high mark up over cost. This means a store won't usually advertise it is willing to negotiate the price, if you're buying in bulk and either
  • product is slow moving
  • product is fast moving but in abundant supply
You can try to cut a deal. Time is money. So is (shelf) space.

Lastly pre-releases (and how good of a deal they are) vary by location. Look around to see if you can find a place where the product is at least slightly discounted and you have a chance at winning a bit extra, but as long as you're not overpaying, remember that Pre-Releases give you a chance at meeting the early demand. Early demand is a funny thing. It can lead people to overpay for stuff because for a certain breed of collector, having the entire set before its officially released is like winning a mid-level championship. The second benefit is if you are good at evaluating a card's strategic worth (or know where to look for articles by those who do) you can try to snag stuff before the prices really climb. If it is something you basically needed, then you've "saved" the money you would have had to eventually fork out for it later. That can be worth the time lost to a tournament where you traveled there and came in last place. XP If it is something you didn't need, turn around and trade it again for a profit.
 
An interesting take on the article here! Probably would have liked to see a bit more acknowledgment on the positives of the more ambiguous options, like the Prerelease (the style is a nice breather) and Deck Choices (no point playing a deck you don't enjoy just because it's cheap) for the ultimate guide.

What tips would you give to someone wanting to saving money by making an effective budget deck? What potential replacements or structures would you give for those more expensive cards/builds?

Another tip I would probably add is to be generous and give away some free cards (particularly staples)! You may not get anything in return except a few smiles and 'thankyous' initially, but people will notice your generosity. Who knows - perhaps it will inspire others to do the same, and you may end up get some free cards yourself?


I really, REALLY like this final point a lot. I got sick of playing my toad deck quite a while back and traded a few staples to a nice dude build something that escapes me at the moment. When I started building my Garchomp deck, the same guy noticed I needed a few staples and some strong energy and just gave them to me because he wasn't using them and had no interest in building a fighting deck. It most definitely pays to be kind to your League-mates!
 
Not a bad article, but I know one fundamental point - which I thought your opening was heading towards - is that a lot of us don't know how to "shop" or "haggle" properly, or manage our money properly as well. Short version is if we were using your opening story as a real example, upon seeing two $10 bills in your wallet, you let the shop keeper know you'd changed your mind because if you don't have the cash you don't buy. No, not even a "good deal"; there is risk in opening a booster pack and there is risk even when it comes to investing in a good deal on credit. You find that factory sealed booster box half of and it is the real thing, but your pulls are awful so don't even walk away breaking even without also investing a lot of time trading (and time has monetary value).

Tying into this, haggle. Okay, not with the cashier whom you know has no say in the prices, but yes with the shop owners, employees who work for commission, etc. Be firm but polite, as the main appeal of TCGs is that the booster packs tend to take up little shelf space and have a high mark up over cost. This means a store won't usually advertise it is willing to negotiate the price, if you're buying in bulk and either
  • product is slow moving
  • product is fast moving but in abundant supply
You can try to cut a deal. Time is money. So is (shelf) space.

Lastly pre-releases (and how good of a deal they are) vary by location. Look around to see if you can find a place where the product is at least slightly discounted and you have a chance at winning a bit extra, but as long as you're not overpaying, remember that Pre-Releases give you a chance at meeting the early demand. Early demand is a funny thing. It can lead people to overpay for stuff because for a certain breed of collector, having the entire set before its officially released is like winning a mid-level championship. The second benefit is if you are good at evaluating a card's strategic worth (or know where to look for articles by those who do) you can try to snag stuff before the prices really climb. If it is something you basically needed, then you've "saved" the money you would have had to eventually fork out for it later. That can be worth the time lost to a tournament where you traveled there and came in last place. XP If it is something you didn't need, turn around and trade it again for a profit.

I could definitely see the confusion. You make some very good points here. "Haggling" would have been a good inclusion in here, but it could probably be an article all on it's own. I think a lot of people forget that this is a "blog". The entries do not need to be super long and strictly about different decks. While those are fine and dandy, as long as an entry has a topic and it clearly presents actual information, that's fine too. I for one would not be opposed to shorter blog entries with a focused topic. Especially if it means more people would write for the blog.

I really, REALLY like this final point a lot. I got sick of playing my toad deck quite a while back and traded a few staples to a nice dude build something that escapes me at the moment. When I started building my Garchomp deck, the same guy noticed I needed a few staples and some strong energy and just gave them to me because he wasn't using them and had no interest in building a fighting deck. It most definitely pays to be kind to your League-mates!

That's awesome! I definitely agree. What goes around comes around.
 
First time I attended a prerelease with my girlfriend was Steam Siege. We both pulled full art sycamores and our friend pulled a volcanion ex. It was pretty sick to be honest. We made our money back obviously but I can see where some people don't make out with it.
 
I want to weigh in on something. A LOT of players and collectors try to save money on the ONE thing they shouldn't: sleeves, binder pages, binders and/ or portfolios.

For these products, it's going to hurt you in the long run. Ultra Pro sleeves are a good example; there's still, unlike in Magic: The Gathering, a large subset of players who think Ultra Pro is a good quality brand. Couldn't be further from the truth. In fact some European analogues of the penny sleeve are better quality than the "best" Ultra Pro sleeves.

If you want your collection to retain its value, protect it properly, with sleeves from KMC and/ or Dragon Shield (double-sleeving cards worth more than $5 is also good practice) and using portfolios like the Dex Protection 9 instead of crummy ones from Ultra Pro or franchise/ licensed ones with Pokémon art on them.

And DON'T buy binders in bulk unless you know they have D-rings. Whenever I see someone whip out their Staples binder with an O-ring filled with Ultra Pro binder pages and wants to trade, I almost don't want to waste my time flipping through the thing as I anticipate the binder-bitten cards on the spine side, and the dusty/ greasy cards on the lip and top sides. Seriously! For every 9 cards stored in this way, only 2 (!) are protected!

Tiers: (generally, exceptions apply especially for deck boxes but deck boxes are the least important anyway)

1. KMC (sleeves)
2. Dragon Shield (sleeves)
3. Dex Protection (deck boxes, portfolio)
4. Legion (deck boxes)
-----Big gap in quality below this point-----
5. Ultimate Guard (slightly better than Ultra Pro but even worse value for money - decent portfolios though, notably the Xenoskin one. Sleeves are trash though)
-----IMO unusable-----
6. Penny sleeves
7. Ultra Pro (almost everything they make is bad, with exception to the Satin deckbox and toploaders but seriously - toploaders can't be screwed up so buy whatever)
 
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