Hi everyone, just looking to get back into the game after about 5 years. I dont really have a budget, but i know there is a possible rotation coming. What would be the best stuff to buy right now? To get competitive again? Should i just get the newest sets? What about tins, starter decks, and combos? Thanks in advanced.
Welcome back! Well sorry for my late responce but the rotation is clear and will be happening at BREAKthrough. As a result I would first buy the most typical "engine" consisting out of Supporters, Items and a pair of Stadium. Currently I would get the newer sets but for reprints that doesnt really matter. To my knowledge Pokemon still has cool Tins for promo's if you want to get that promo and the bigger starter packages are actually quite good and cool.
Really though I think the first step into getting competitive again is anaylyse all the cards available in standard. I like to use
https://pkmncards.com/sets/ for that a lot. Don't forget to check on the promos aswell

. Feel free to PM for an engine list, its easy to make out though if you check some of the Competitive decklists, the good engines in Pokemon are very often the same across several decks. The only real exception from BUS is Kiawe.
Hellos everyone!
Burning question... Pun-ish me if you will!

I APLOLOGIZE FOR NOTHIIIIIIING!
What are y'alls' thoughts on pre-ordering singles? I know prices are inflated based upon anticipation for specific cards (i.e. Gardevior GX, Golisopod GX, Guzma, etc) but we widely know that these cards will be good in one form or another which means the price will likely go up as time goes on.
Do you all like the idea of pre-ordering and paying the premium or waiting a few weeks for the price to "stabilize" (which may or may not be a gamble)?
Preorder to your liking! I think BUS is a fantastic set but will not contain the same hot-seller like Guardians Rising, simple reason being that it doesn't contain a Tapu Lele GX-like Pokemon. I believe that Gardevoir GX is going to recieve only more better cards so getting it now is probably a wise idea. The Super Rare version also seems to be legit very difficult to find. If you can get good prices on that, go for it. Guzma is not too expensive now, again another staple for a year to come and thus a playset is a wise investment. If you do run Volcanion EX Kiawe is a staple.
For the most part I let the BUS cards stabilize, there are some very cool Super Rares in the set but also way too high for me in cost to actually get. I love my holo cards but I dont love paying half a booster box for them

If I had to hand you the best cards from the BUS set I'd say Alolan Ninetales (regular) is the best regular Pokemon, Gardevoir GX is the best GX, Guzma is the best Supporter, Choice Band (Secret Rare) the best Item, so all in all I dont think the prices will be too obscene for this set. Cheap variants of those are still must gets offcourse.
Cheers,