[IDEA] Baby Deck Format

[Lightwood87]

Hello everyone,

I was just organizing my cards here and i thought why Pokémon TCG doesn't have a "pauper" style format?! A quick glance at Google and found an old thread from this very forum talking about it, but it seems that people did not enjoyed too much the idea. Well, i'll try to put my idea here, which is a bit different but have the same propose: play with cheap/budget deck in a balanced format..

This is a pretty fresh new idea in my mind, so it's just a sketch!

The main rules i thought so far are:

1. Divide the format in 3 (maybe more) tiers:

1. Standard (can only use cards available in the current standard format);
2. Expanded (can use from some old collection till the current standard; e.g. HGSS till Steam Siege);
3. Legacy (can use cards from any collection);​

2. You can only use basic Pokémon and it must have at least 1 evolution stage.

1. Must evaluate the viability of some Pokémon, like Lickytung, Chansey and so on. So the format doesn't be unbalanced;
2. Strategies that already involve basic Pokémon must be evaluated too. Like Night March.​

3. Pokémon EX are banned.

4. Can only freely use common Trainers cards. Uncommons are limited and rares are banned (so the deck can still on the budget and the format balanced).

For now, that's all i could think off. What you guys think? Any more suggestions? I hope people get interested, because i know there's plenty who can't afford those competitive expensive cards, but still want to enjoy the game as everyone else.

PS: I don't know if this is the right forum to create this thread on.
PS²: I called Baby Deck Format because it only uses basic Pokémon. But it can change.

 

[bbninjas]

Moved from the TCG Help & Advice to the TCG News & Discussion, as this forum is the forum for discussing custom formats. ~bbninjas

 

[Otaku]

1. Divide the format in 3 (maybe more) tiers:
1. Standard (can only use cards available in the current standard format);
2. Expanded (can use from some old collection till the current standard; e.g. HGSS till Steam Siege);
3. Legacy (can use cards from any collection);

Not sure what I think about it overall, but I can tell you that you should avoid reusing terms with ingrained meanings for the TCG. So "Baby Format" is an issue because there are both official and unofficial subclasses of Basic Pokémon known as "Babies". For now I'll call it the Petit Cup as it is okay to borrow a video game term not currently used by the TCG.

Don't create new subformats, instead make it clear your rules are just that, alternate rules like 30-Card, 2-on-2, and Team Battle (these are actually found in the Pokémon! Play Floor rules, though they are for side events and not sanctioned tournament play). All three of those format names are already in use by the TCG: Standard is PRC-On, Expanded is BW-On, Legacy is all HS-series, Call of Legends, and BW-series releases, and Unlimited is anything released for official, legal play that isn't banned. So just keep using those, but with some of the rule suggestions you mentioned.

Good luck! I have no idea if this is even remotely balanced.

 

[RedT]

I played some pauper in my time in M:TG and agree that Pokémon needs a similar thing. The fact that 80% of cards they print are strictly unviable just because of EX and beyond makes the game kind of one dimensional.

I disagree with the "must have at least 1 evolution stage". There's no reason to disallow Pokémon cards like for example Celebi XY93 or Zapdos/ Articuno from Generations, as they too are cards pretty unviable in the normal formats.

It's better to have a rares budget, say you can only have up to 4 rares in the whole deck.

 

[Otaku]

I played some pauper in my time in M:TG and agree that Pokémon needs a similar thing. The fact that 80% of cards they print are strictly unviable just because of EX and beyond makes the game kind of one dimensional.

You do realize that plenty of Pokémon-EX aren't competitively viable either, right? I agree that the competitive card pool is a fraction of the actual card pool (say 5% to 30%) but Pokémon-EX are actually reasonably well balanced. It is the game's pacing and certain problematic effects that cause issues, and many of those cards are Commons or Uncommons.

If you just want to discourage the use of valuable cards, do an Iron Man tournament. You know, where once it hits the discard pile, it gets shredded and can no longer be used. Just don't have me watched as it hurts so bad. >_<

 

[Lightwood87]

I played some pauper in my time in M:TG and agree that Pokémon needs a similar thing. The fact that 80% of cards they print are strictly unviable just because of EX and beyond makes the game kind of one dimensional.

I disagree with the "must have at least 1 evolution stage". There's no reason to disallow Pokémon cards like for example Celebi XY93 or Zapdos/ Articuno from Generations, as they too are cards pretty unviable in the normal formats.

It's better to have a rares budget, say you can only have up to 4 rares in the whole deck.

The main thing with the evolution shenanigans is because i want to give some use to dozen of basic cards i have here and they will never see the sun light. But this idea of your could also lead to another type of format, with those "strong" basic no-ex Pokémon, like the ones you mentioned.

But like i said, this idea of mine is just a sketch, everything could change.

 

[fleshrum]

You could go by usage, there is an MTG format that does that as well.

My playgroup gets a kick out of the easy outlawing of all EXs, ymmv.

 

[fawfulmark2]

I played some pauper in my time in M:TG and agree that Pokémon needs a similar thing. The fact that 80% of cards they print are strictly unviable just because of EX and beyond makes the game kind of one dimensional.

I disagree with the "must have at least 1 evolution stage". There's no reason to disallow Pokémon cards like for example Celebi XY93 or Zapdos/ Articuno from Generations, as they too are cards pretty unviable in the normal formats.

It's better to have a rares budget, say you can only have up to 4 rares in the whole deck.

It seems they are aiming for something akin to a Mythic Pokemon ruleset that is used ingame and at VGC, where anything that fits the category is banned regardless of viability. I mean Phione isn't exactly the Doom of Mankind in Doubles play for ORAS but is still illegal due to the rule on basic principle.