The Pokémon Trading Card Game is one of the most popular trading card games in the world. It has a mix of “easy to learn” rules and actions while also having the depth for a full on competitive circuit. After a year of competing in local events, League Challenges, Regionals & International Championships, the best players in the world meet up for the Pokémon World Championship every summer. But before you get there, you have to start somewhere!
This isn’t a “How to Play” article. Instead, I’ll talk about how to get started, what products you should look for and where you can play the game.
Getting started is the most daunting part of the Pokémon TCG journey. Most people collect the cards without playing the game, and that’s actually what I recommend to everyone! I know it sounds obvious but if you don’t like the cards, you probably won’t enjoy playing the game. Transitioning from being just a collector to being a collector AND trainer is honestly pretty simple. You already buy Pokémon cards, now you have a whole new group of cards to be excited about! “Bulk” cards like uncommon Supporters, Item Cards and even regular Pokémon have a whole new value. When you’re collecting, you want the high rarity cards but when you’re playing the game, the low rarity cards function exactly the same! For context - the 2023 World Championship winning deck cost a little over $80 CDN - that’s less than half the price of a regular Booster Box.
If you want to dive head first into playing the Pokémon TCG, I believe the first thing you should get is somebody to play with. This can be a friend, multiple friends, parents, siblings… Just someone who will play with you. This is my favorite game in the entire world but even I admit that it’s not that fun playing on your own. Pokémon knows this too, which is why they released Pokémon TCG Live! While it’s lacking a lot of polish (at the time of writing this) it is by far the most accessible way to play the Trading Card Game. Just by logging in for the first time, the game will give you different pre-built decks to play with for free and you can earn more packs and bonuses just by playing the game. While that’s great, NOTHING compares to playing in person with physical cards. And wouldn’t you know it - we run our local Pokémon League every Saturday at our store in Langford! More details on that can be found on our “Play in Person” page: https://www.elite4games.com/Local-Events
Now, I would be remised if I didn’t talk about the different formats and ways to play the Pokémon Trading Card Game. By far the most common way to play is with Pokémon’s regulated “Standard” format. You know how cards all have a little letter code on the bottom left-hand corner? Those are used to indicate which cards are eligible for play in the standard format. Usually your deck can only contain cards with 2 or 3 specific letter codes. You can learn more about the letter codes and standard format on Pokémon’s official page here: https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/2023-pokemon-tcg-standard-format-rotation-and-pokemon-tool-errata
But that’s not the only way to play the game. At our store, we host Standard, Sealed (using pre-made Battle Decks) and our own custom Draft Box! In other places you may find formats such as personalized Draft Cubes, the Gym Leader Challenge and the good old fashioned “Playground Rules” where you just make things up as you go because you’re having too much fun to read the official rules.
That leads me to my final topic - what are the best things to buy in order to get into the game? Singles. When you’re building a deck, the cheapest and most effective way is to buy the individual cards you want. That takes time though and you have to know what cards you even want… So for quickplay it’s best to look at the pre-built decks! They come with everything you need to play the Pokémon TCG. Battle Stadiums are also a unique way to get 2 people playing the game immediately! They come with 2 pre-built decks and 12 packs of cards so you can pull new & better cards to improve them. There are so many other products available that it can get a little overwhelming. That’s why I highly recommend visiting your local game store and talking to someone in person. And if you’re in Victoria - come stop by! I love sharing my favorite game with new people.
References & Links used in this article:
- Pokémon World Champship: https://worlds.pokemon.com/en-us/tournament/tcg-player-info/
- Pokémon singles: https://www.trollandtoad.com/
- World Championship winning deck: https://limitlesstcg.com/decks/list/8175
- Pokémon TCG Live: https://tcg.pokemon.com/en-us/tcgl/
- Play in Person: https://www.elite4games.com/Local-Events
- Standard format: https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/2023-pokemon-tcg-standard-format-rotation-and-pokemon-tool-errata
- Elite4 Games Draft Tournament: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15lBFIV8kg86CsdTosGuYChM6ptxUBfrKkKOhy8nN3rc/edit?usp=sharing
- Gym Leader Challenge: https://gymleaderchallenge.com/guide
- Structure/Pre-Built Decks: https://www.elite4games.com/Trading-Card-Games/Pokemon-tcg/PKMN-structure-decks
