Is the Pokemon TCG Dead?

Well pokesoc do run a league challenge because I went to both the greninja and Delphox league challenges I even got my first mega from the uni M Charizard EX (dragon) just keep checking because I might be going back if I don't get a society set up in Barnsley College because it's closer and easier to get to for me
 
I live in the U.K. too but I've found more people than I expected playing, living in the West Midlands area. There are multiple leagues to choose from and even though the shop I go to every so often that specialises in TCG stopped doing the events because not enough people showed, quite a few collectors visit there.
 
Brave Vesperia said:
I think the Pokémon TCG is far off from dying. In fact, the fanbase seems to be growing now more than in a while
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Again, the TCG is dying in Europe and there is no denying that.
 
I do want to mention that this last TCG season with 500 required points for worlds really made a lot of people quit the game. Nationals lost about 150 people then usual. Nationals had an upwards trend until this point. Also, the excessive EX pokemon with amazing attacks has shyed away many juniors and seniors to the competitive scene. I remember back in 2012 when about 30 juniors would come to cities tournaments (with half being good players), but now its dropped to only 7-10 players in my area. And deck costs have gotten higher to a point where many people who do want to join can't play too competitively. Theme decks, which are given to beginners, are very unhelpful to learn the game. This gives new players, who might want to be competitive, a false sense of what a popular/good deck is like. If they keep getting beaten, they will not stick with the pokemon tcg for awhile.

But to play Devil's Advocate, the CP points this required year dropped to 300, now obtainable by many masters, might bring in more players. In addition, more strategy has been added to today's decks. Less decks nowadays are "big-basic" like in which all you need to know is how to attach an energy and to attack for whatever amount of damage. Cards like head ringer, mega gengar EX, spirit links, and robo substitute are new and relevant cards that are very strategic and require skill to play with. Lastly, with added prize support, pokemon has made more of a reason why to play this season (went from 5,000 to 25,000 dollars for first in Worlds).
 
I am from Europe, more precisely Portugal, and on my town (Oporto) we have two leagues, one with around 10 people and another with around 16 people, Lisbon (the capital) has a couple of big leagues and, I'm counting only with people that come regularly
 
I can say that there are a little less amount of players in the New England area. But yeah, the changes Pokemon company made me come back and the fact that....Worlds is only 30 minutes away from me....
 
Europe has always gotten the short end of the stick with pokemon tcg.

The USA gets Worlds, and has a bigger fan base.

Japan gets everything early, and gets more supplies like cool sleeves and crap.

Europe doesn't get special that I know of :C

If Worlds was in Europe I think more Europeans would play more. If you know you can't get to Worlds that may kill your urge to play.
 
Mr.Muffin said:
If Worlds was in Europe I think more Europeans would play more. If you know you can't get to Worlds that may kill your urge to play.
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The special thing Europe gets is a treatment like the playing fanbase doesn't even exist.

Except for like EEC.
 
They need better league promos. Maybe an EX when you complete the score card or they could bring POP packs back.
 
Been trying to sell some Gaia Volcano and Tidal Storm stuff on ebay. Most of the buyers are international. Everyone in the USA is waiting for Primal Clash instead...
 
Or of course wait for them to be released in English.

That's been kind of a problem forever. For the time we have to wait on certain cards to be released (such as hopefully the fighting Pangoro or Absol EX/M. Absol EX) there was a time when we wouldn't even get all of that stuff. The Vending Machine cards and the VS cards are prime examples of that. The former saw only a few English released and VS never did despite he SP mechanic that would come along much later.

I think unfortunantley that's just an effect of the fact that Pokemon originated in Japan. It's easier and perhaps more worthwhile, from Nintendo's point of view of course, to do more local releases there and not to as much internationally. Yeah that hurts some peoples decisions to play or even collect the game but clearly not that much or they might change their minds.

It's unfair to the US areas and even seems to be even worse for other areas like the UK, but despite this I don't think Pokemon tcg is going to be dying out anytime soon.
 
Ade4265 said:
Maybe the ancient traits pokemon will attract new players. Some of them are commons.
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Honestly, the ancient traits may do the opposite. They're another new, rarer, and probably more expensive mechanic that's going to change the metagame. I, for one, am not to excited about the mechanic.
 
bbninjas said:
Ade4265 said:
Maybe the ancient traits pokemon will attract new players. Some of them are commons.
Click to expand...

Honestly, the ancient traits may do the opposite. They're another new, rarer, and probably more expensive mechanic that's going to change the metagame. I, for one, am not to excited about the mechanic.
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It isn't going to be more expensive. If a card is bad it will have a low price, and if a card is good it will have a higher price. If a card is common their is more which means a lower price, and if a card is Ultra Rare it will have a higher price.

Donphan is a 9 dollar card on ebay currently because it is good even though it is uncommon demand is high. Full Art Magnezone EX goes for around 8 dollars because it is bad. A new ability won't make cards more expensive. It will make cards like Primal Kyogre not medicore, and certain cards better.

It is another pretty thing to look at. People like that.
 
If the Europe was slightly more taken into account by PUSA, and the cards were slightly cheaper, it would see more play.

As far as I know, local distributors in Europe have to take care of the Organized Play to get a 1% discount, so depending on the country you can have a local distributor which do the strict minimum, or a local distributor which do a lot to promote the Organized Play. I really feel like some distributors such as Amigo Spiele do a lot more for the game than some other distributors that are not even talking about it on their main website....
 
If you have slow leagues try to start your own league then invite your friend and have your friends invite their friends. The trick is to grow a fan and friend base. It can be hard at first but once it gains more ground it will gain more popularity. The other thing is to share it as much as you can around you so you get more players and spread the word so you can get a good league going. It can be hard and takes a lot of time but it can be done. Sad to hear it is slow though.:(
 
Here in Belgium and the Netherlands I think the TCG is healthy. Our regionals get around 80 people (around 65 masters) and the cities last week during the holidays even got 50 masters.

From every place in the country you're only half an hour ride away from a league so I think that's okay.

The only problem in Europe is that Worlds is always in the US, although the European championship had more contenders than worlds last year. It would be a lot better if Worlds would change its location every year, meaning it could also be organized in Asia or Europe.
 
The standard price for Booster packs in a retail store is £3.50 but you can get them for about £2.50 online.
 
While the game is not as popular as YGO or MTG, I doubt it's dying.

Perhaps some places don't have as much players as others, though.
 
I removed some posts from the Thread because of spam/off-topic. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
 
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