Exactly the title: The other half of the Pokemon game franchise.
The Pokemon Video Game Championships (VGC) or in Japan, World Championship Showdown (WCS), have been running since about 2008-09. Before then, there would be an occasional tourney, or ones such as Journey Across America (JAA) back in '06, and another called the Pokémon Emerald Ultimate Frontier Brain Battle. What a mouth full.
Unlike the TCG where you have to fork out possibly several hundreds of dollars getting the right cards to make a deck which could possibly be beat by someone who payed half that, or in some cases, a few hundred more, the VGC involves having the Pokemon game of choice, and of course the game system needed to get the best d*mn team together that you can.
Let's talk strategies. Unlike the TCG, I actually know alot more about this.
PEUFBB: I have no clue, I didn't even know there was such a thing till last year. It was back in '05 to commemorate the release of Emerald.
JAA: Mewtwo, Groudon, Lugia, Kyogre, etc...
VGC '09: Rain Dance was huge. It was the strategy of the World Champion, and many other winners at Regionals. Trick Room was a big contender, but while it could beat Rain, it also loses out to it. Goodstuffs, which is the use of generally good Pokemon, was also big back in the day.
VGC '10: Read above. The use of (some) legendaries such as how it was done in JAA made weather big. Rain Dance was still good, thanks to TopOgre (Technician Hitmontop and Kyogre). Sunny Day also shined, and Trick Room was just as big as before. Goodstuffs also did well. However, it was a combination of the two that had won Worlds '10 for Ray Rizzo.
...
...
...
VGC '11. In the current state, it consists of Trick Room, Sandstorm, Tailwind, and the rare Sunny Day and even rarer Rain Dance. Goodstuffs still exists, and works quite well. With the Mental Herb buff, Trick Room is almost always able to be set up, and with the vast number of abusers this time around, is actually the most common of teams floating about.
Common mons:
Sazandora/Hydreigon
Burungeru/Jellicent
Morobareru/Amoonguss
Gigalith
Reuniclus
Urugamosu/Volcarona
Erefuun/Whimsicott
Among others.
That's not all though.
Stay tuned for Part Deux!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Cards, Cards EVERYWHERE
Upon a boring night, when there isn't too much else to do, I pull out some cards. But it's no ordinary deck that most are familiar with, that with aces, kings, queens, jacks, and the numbers one through ten. No, it is -gulp- Pokemon cards.
The Pokemon TCG is the card game version of the Pokemon video games, however, with several differences. It follows the same, "Defeat your opponents Pokemon" but with cards in lieu of the pixellized creatures that people such as myself are familiarized with. The game is played with 60 cards, one deck per person. You lay down six cards, dubbed "Prize cards" which are obtained whenever you "Knock Out" the other persons card. It doesn't seem too complicated now, but it gets more confusing. In addition to the Pokemon, there are "Trainer" and "Supporter" along with the occasional "Stadium" which are added to the mix. Trainers can be played multiple times in your turn, while Supporters can be played once a turn, and only one Stadium can be played at a given time. These cards may either help look for cards, deal damage, et cetera...
Confusing yet? To be honest, I got a little lost at first. But I figured it out at one point.
In addition, some Pokemon may have PokePowers or PokeBodies which can do various things during the game. Some can be very useful, such as Rain Dance (Feraligatr HGSS) which can allow placement of Water Energies on a card more than the usual once per turn. Energy cards are the staple of a deck. Without them, you generally cannot attack or with some, retreat.
So let's recap:
There are:
Pokemon
Trainers
Supporters
Stadiums
Energies
PokePowers
PokeBodies
Okay, this is getting to be a bit much. But it gets even worse.
Some are nearly unusable.
In the TCG, there is massive overcentralization in the types of decks used. Upon writing, "LostGar", featuring the Lost World stadium, is one of the biggest decks in the current format next to the long running "LuxChomp". There are of course some rogue builds floating about, but they have to be able to handle the mass majority AND the possibility of your opponent running a deck that rolls all over you.
tl;dr TCG is crazy.
The Pokemon TCG is the card game version of the Pokemon video games, however, with several differences. It follows the same, "Defeat your opponents Pokemon" but with cards in lieu of the pixellized creatures that people such as myself are familiarized with. The game is played with 60 cards, one deck per person. You lay down six cards, dubbed "Prize cards" which are obtained whenever you "Knock Out" the other persons card. It doesn't seem too complicated now, but it gets more confusing. In addition to the Pokemon, there are "Trainer" and "Supporter" along with the occasional "Stadium" which are added to the mix. Trainers can be played multiple times in your turn, while Supporters can be played once a turn, and only one Stadium can be played at a given time. These cards may either help look for cards, deal damage, et cetera...
Confusing yet? To be honest, I got a little lost at first. But I figured it out at one point.
In addition, some Pokemon may have PokePowers or PokeBodies which can do various things during the game. Some can be very useful, such as Rain Dance (Feraligatr HGSS) which can allow placement of Water Energies on a card more than the usual once per turn. Energy cards are the staple of a deck. Without them, you generally cannot attack or with some, retreat.
So let's recap:
There are:
Pokemon
Trainers
Supporters
Stadiums
Energies
PokePowers
PokeBodies
Okay, this is getting to be a bit much. But it gets even worse.
Some are nearly unusable.
In the TCG, there is massive overcentralization in the types of decks used. Upon writing, "LostGar", featuring the Lost World stadium, is one of the biggest decks in the current format next to the long running "LuxChomp". There are of course some rogue builds floating about, but they have to be able to handle the mass majority AND the possibility of your opponent running a deck that rolls all over you.
tl;dr TCG is crazy.
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