Help The "What Should I Buy?" Thread

Box or Pre-release?

So, I'm trying to decide, should I go to 2 pre-releases or wait a little longer so I can get a box? Pre-releases are lots of fun, but less cost effective, but the opposite is true for boxes. What do you think I should do?
 
RE: Box or Pre-release?

The game is all about fun, so do what you enjoy most.

That said, if you find opening packs more fun than playing the TCG with others, you'll get more than twice the excitement out of a box than you will from two pre-releases.

To me, the excitement of a pre-release is great, so I'll do every time. But to, say, a serious collector, it might be more worthwhile to open a box.
 
RE: Box or Pre-release?

I'd go to at least one PR to get the promo and deck box. Plus 2 free packs. Well depending where you live.

Here in Massachusetts its 3.99 to 4.19 for packs and my PR charges 25$ so it's like getting 2 free.

But they may boost it to 30$ like some areas...
 
Most gorgeous/artisitic sets to buy?

I am a beginner collector and have some cards from every set at this point, but I'm looking which to focus on. I can't decide which set would look best, so in your opinion, what are the best sets in regards to artwork, type of holo, lvl.X/ex/EX cards, and just overall how good looking the set looks. I currently am looking at Plasma Freeze for the newer cards, but I like Unseen Forces, any of the Neo Sets, Team Rocket sets so far.
 
RE: Most gorgeous/artisitic sets to buy?

HS-Undaunted
http://pokebeach.com/2010/08/all-hs-undaunted-scans-japanese-rulings
Hands down. You can't get much closer to perfection.

Also, of course, Call of Legends for all the [shiny] legends:
https://pokebeach.com/2011/02/high-quality-call-of-legends-scans
 
RE: Most gorgeous/artisitic sets to buy?

I really like the VS set. I don't know if you're restricting yourself to the English sets, but I think it's really nice.
 
RE: Most gorgeous/artisitic sets to buy?

While it isn't exactly my favorite, I think the Southern Islands (mini) set is probably the most well done, artistically.
They aren't the most awesome, coolest looking cards ever, but they look very nice, especially how they all fit together.

As far as booster sets go, I've only ever really had/seen Base, Fossil, Jungle, Base 2, Gym Challenge, Gym Heroes, all the Neo sets, Fire Red/Leaf Green.
So I haven't exactly dealt with a whole lot of the sets. I'm just getting back into collecting. I'd say I'm most excited to get my EX Battle Boost, Plasma Gale Boxes and Dark Rush boxes, from what I've seen those cards look awesome!
 
For newer cards, I love the artistic motif of the Psycho Drive / Hail Blizzard set (Next Destinies in English); for older sets, EX Team Rocket Returns, Neo sets, and Undaunted are all really nice, too.
 
I'm really uncertain of what kind of box I should buy, so I thought I'd list the ones I want and see what other people say :p Saved up money for a long time, and I really want to crack open some packs ^^

1. EX Firered & LeafGreen booster box (Around 600$)
2. Aquapolis booster box (Also around 600$)
3. One box each of the four first legend sets, HGSS, Unleashed, Undaunted, Triumphant (around 400$)
4. 5X Wild Blaze boxes, mainly for Charizard and getting back into collecting Japanese cards (around 160$ BTW)

The problem I have with buying the newer sets are the price of the individual cards. For example, with the Legend booster boxes the cards go for nothing, and I don't think the cards from the new XY series go for anything either. I love the cards in the Legend series, but I will probably get the feeling that the money I paid for the boxes aren't "worth it". The main reason I want to buy a box of FR/LG and Aquapolis is because they are my favorite sets. You also have that little chance of getting that insane Charizard EX and the Lugia Crystal card :p

Does anyone have any opinions? :)
 
RE: Most gorgeous/artisitic sets to buy?

airsoft246 said:
I am a beginner collector and have some cards from every set at this point, but I'm looking which to focus on. I can't decide which set would look best, so in your opinion, what are the best sets in regards to artwork, type of holo, lvl.X/ex/EX cards, and just overall how good looking the set looks. I currently am looking at Plasma Freeze for the newer cards, but I like Unseen Forces, any of the Neo Sets, Team Rocket sets so far.
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Plasma Freeze is probably the greatest BW set in terms of about everything. Lots of playable cards with great artwork. While the cards aren't super valuable, Deoxys EX FA is worth like 20$ and Thundurus EX FA goes for 25-30$. Not bad at all.

Flashfire is another great set, and the EXs from that set are easy to get but worth a lot of money (SR M EXs, Charizards, etc.)

Call of Legends is also a good set, with tons of SRs for you to collect.

Finally, Next Destinies is a good set but the textures on the EX FAs kinda suck. Thankfully they improved this a ton.

Jungletoad said:
I'm really uncertain of what kind of box I should buy, so I thought I'd list the ones I want and see what other people say :p Saved up money for a long time, and I really want to crack open some packs ^^

1. EX Firered & LeafGreen booster box (Around 600$)
2. Aquapolis booster box (Also around 600$)
3. One box each of the four first legend sets, HGSS, Unleashed, Undaunted, Triumphant (around 400$)
4. 5X Wild Blaze boxes, mainly for Charizard and getting back into collecting Japanese cards (around 160$ BTW)

The problem I have with buying the newer sets are the price of the individual cards. For example, with the Legend booster boxes the cards go for nothing, and I don't think the cards from the new XY series go for anything either. I love the cards in the Legend series, but I will probably get the feeling that the money I paid for the boxes aren't "worth it". The main reason I want to buy a box of FR/LG and Aquapolis is because they are my favorite sets. You also have that little chance of getting that insane Charizard EX and the Lugia Crystal card :p

Does anyone have any opinions? :)
Click to expand...

Flashfire does have valuable cards whose price will only increase. The Charizards and even Mega Kangaskhan EX SR are all worth over 50$ (besides the regular Charizard EXs, they are worth 15-20$)
 
What booster box to buy????

I am pretty close to completing my XY/Flashfire set.

So no need to buy a booster box of those cards.

I want Dark explorers but man $200 for a box is steep!!!

SO the question is what booster box should I go for?
Dragons exalted, Plasma Blast, Plasma Freeze? another one maybe Legendary treasures?


So many options ...

any good suggestions? also where would you buy it from?
 
RE: What booster box to buy????

I recently bought a Boundaries Crossed booster box from Pokeorder because they marked it down to 92.99 from 139.99. With 20 dollars for shipping and tax I payed 113.

They also marked down Dragons Exalted from 159.99 to 109.99, but with shipping and tax I didn't think it was a good deal for me.
I also notice Next Destinies is marked down from 149.99 to 99.99, which isn't too bad I guess.

To be honest I wouldn't pay more then 115 dollars for a booster box including shipping and tax. Maybe 120 for an older box that contained ex's like ND or DE.Dark Explorers is insane though though.
 
I'm new to Pokemon TCG and I'm interested in starting to collect the cards and play with my kids (yes, I'm old). My question is what cards should I be collecting to build a deck? XY or Flashfire? I'd like to play in the local league we have and I also have been playing Pokemon X on 3ds. I'm not familiar with a lot of the Pokemon and the evolutions in the 3DS game, so I thought collecting the XY cards would help me get a better feel for the Pokemon in the game. My daughter seems to like a lot of the cards in the training deck I bought. On the flip side, should I be getting all Flashfire cards since they're the "latest and greatest"? I know I used to get upset playing Magic: The Gathering because cards became unusable in tournament play after what seemed like too short of time. I wasn't sure if that was going to be the case with XY. I also like the fact that you can get the XY fat packs for a reasonable price.

So - where should I begin? What makes the most sense for a beginner that wants to have cards that can be used in the foreseeable future as well as be able to build a fun semi-competitive deck without blowing a ton of cash?
 
YooperDude said:
I'm new to Pokemon TCG and I'm interested in starting to collect the cards and play with my kids (yes, I'm old). My question is what cards should I be collecting to build a deck? XY or Flashfire? I'd like to play in the local league we have and I also have been playing Pokemon X on 3ds. I'm not familiar with a lot of the Pokemon and the evolutions in the 3DS game, so I thought collecting the XY cards would help me get a better feel for the Pokemon in the game. My daughter seems to like a lot of the cards in the training deck I bought. On the flip side, should I be getting all Flashfire cards since they're the "latest and greatest"? I know I used to get upset playing Magic: The Gathering because cards became unusable in tournament play after what seemed like too short of time. I wasn't sure if that was going to be the case with XY. I also like the fact that you can get the XY fat packs for a reasonable price.

So - where should I begin? What makes the most sense for a beginner that wants to have cards that can be used in the foreseeable future as well as be able to build a fun semi-competitive deck without blowing a ton of cash?
Click to expand...

I myself have not been playing for very long (a little over a year), so take what I have to say with a grain of salt.

If you're choosing between XY and Flashfire, it's a difficult decision to make, and honestly one I would not make. Both sets have their share of competitive cards, but I would not say that you could devise any meaningful strategy from either set alone. If you're getting into the game and looking to play competitively, I would always start with the staple cards: common supporters and items such as N (an older card from the BW series), Professor Sycamore (in XY), ultra ball (In Flashfire), muscle band (in XY) etc. You'll find that these cards alone (at least in multiples of 3-4) can speed up decks and make games a lot more fun. Note that though many of the cards I listed are from the two most recent sets, they are far from a complete list.

Since you're concerned about cards being competitively usable, I'll say that there's not much reason for alarm. Almost all leagues allow unlimited play (all sets allowed, whether or not they're currently in format) for friendly play. With regards to competitive play, sets almost always stay in format for at least 2 years after release before they're rotate, and strong or staple cards often get reprinted in later sets to stay in format longer (such as rare candy, a card that's been in format for over 10 years!). I should mention that sets get rotated in groups of 3-5 at a time, and since they almost always start at least one season with the first set of an era (such as Black and White or XY), XY and Flashfire will almost definitely be rotated at the same time.

With regards to cheaper competitive decks, you're in good luck. The current format has tons of variety, meaning that you can see great success even without spending money buying rare and powerful cards. Obviously the strongest archetypes are the most popular ones (and thus tend to be the most expensive) but only a few stretch to the hundred's of dollars mark. The Pokemon Company (the runners of the game) also like to throw us competitive players generous bones by reprinting the strongest cards in promo tins which can be purchased for far less than their original prints (especially if you purchase the promo cards alone second hand).

For perspective, the cheapest 'competitive' decks (many of which are still strong) start at around ~$70USD (ESTIMATE) to build from scratch. That number drops a good bit once you have the staple cards. The bigger archetypes often float around ~$120 - 150 USD, and the very most expensive decks reach in excess of $350USD (and I should point out that we are at a rare point in the current format where there is a single card -- tropical beach -- which is not only a strong card often played in multiples, but is also very expensive at >$120USD a piece!).

If you're not interested in reading all that text, I'll summarize: don't collect cards from just one set to be competitive. Try and get the staple cards and build decks with those. If you're looking for neat deck ideas, or want to get feedback on your own, check out the deck garage sub-forum.



And most of all, have fun!
 
My suggestion would be to look up the big decks in the current metagame, see what cards they're using, and tweak it to your liking with the help of the Deck Garage here. :) Your best best would be to buy single cards (or playsets) on eBay, where you only buy the cards you need for your deck.
 
Thanks for the great responses guys. I also have a bit of OCD when it comes to collecting - I like collecting things. I don't know why - I just do. I'd like to get the complete XY set if I could. I have a few cards and I just like the artwork and my daughter likes a lot of the cards as well. Is it extremely difficult/expensive to complete an entire set? I'm half tempted to go and buy one of the XY fat packs and use the boosters with the trainer deck I got just to get started and get a feel for the game. I didn't want to buy a "theme deck" because I was worried about getting multiples of some "garbage" cards that I wouldn't use in the future. Plus, opening boosters is addictive and satisfying. :)
 
Theme decks are not that competitve at all but at the same time some theme decks give you some of the trainers or energy you will need to build a competitve deck.

As far as cards that will be legal for a while, you could get cards from the plasma storm. plasma freeze, plasma blast, legendary tresures, and xy sets. All of the sets that i have named will most likly be in the format for at least a year.
 
So, I started playing the Pokémon TCG late 2008 and played until after the release of BW Dragons Exalted. I took a small break to focus on my study. Now that that's done, I've been looking into playing the TCG again, but I think I'm lacking a lot of good stuff. I've got pretty much all the staples until Dragons Exalted and of course the necessary equipment (playmat, deckboxes, sleeves, dices, damage counters, binders, etc).

What are the things I need to buy to get back into the game fast? I've got all basic Energy Cards (except for the Fairy energy cards). As for my budget, preferably as cheap as possible. I won't play tournaments in the current season (isn't possible either I think, with only nats and worlds left) but I probably will next season, so it would be cool if you could keep a possible rotation in mind. Thanks in advance!
 
Pharetra have you thought that much about what type of deck you would like to play.

Some of the staples in the current meta would include cards like proffesor juniper/ or proffesor sycamore, N, Colress, Skyla, and searching cards like ultra balls. If you start with around 3-4 of the cards mentioned you will be able to use them in multiple decks.

Cards from plasma storm. plasma freeze, plasma blast, legendary tresures, and the xy sets, should be legal for at least the next year so i would focuss on getting cards from those sets instead of cards from older sets.
 
Pharetra said:
So, I started playing the Pokémon TCG late 2008 and played until after the release of BW Dragons Exalted. I took a small break to focus on my study. Now that that's done, I've been looking into playing the TCG again, but I think I'm lacking a lot of good stuff. I've got pretty much all the staples until Dragons Exalted and of course the necessary equipment (playmat, deckboxes, sleeves, dices, damage counters, binders, etc).

What are the things I need to buy to get back into the game fast? I've got all basic Energy Cards (except for the Fairy energy cards). As for my budget, preferably as cheap as possible. I won't play tournaments in the current season (isn't possible either I think, with only nats and worlds left) but I probably will next season, so it would be cool if you could keep a possible rotation in mind. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Since Dragons Exalted, some of the new staples are Skyla (3-4 copies per deck, if any), Computer Search (1) (both of which are possibly rotating), Colress (2-4), Muscle Band (3-4), Professor's Letter (1-2), Float Stone (1-3), Escape Rope (1), Startling Megaphone (1-2), Dowsing Machine (1), Lysandre (1-2), Keldeo EX (1-2) and Jirachi EX (1). For a deck, one of the cheapest, pretty competitive options is Pyroar/Flareon/Raichu (20-25 dollars for the Pokemon line). One of the cheapest, very competitive options is Yveltal EX/Darkrai EX (40-50 dollars for the Pokemon line). If you want to see what all the popular decks are right now, you can check out the NXD-On Metagame Deck Discussion sub-forum (in TCG Competitive Play). There's a thread for almost every archetype in the format, with skeleton lists and discussion on almost all of those.
 
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