I still play Pokemon TCG

[ChobiChibi]

Does anyone else?

I've got quite the collection of cards, and a nice Mega Gardevoir deck atm Today I pulled a full art Professor Sycamore card, worth £30 over here. It went straight in my deck >>

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

Still enjoying it? I sold my cards on Ebay long ago.

[ChobiChibi]

Yeah, I am. Got a really nice group of people to play with on a weekly basis, and my fiancé plays too, so I find it quite fun.

And there's nothing like opening a massive load of boosters all at once.

[Blademaster]

The newest cards I have is the promotional Entei from the 3rd movie.

[ChobiChibi]

Yesterday I came second in a tournament I am proud of myself! I actually won prizes for once

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

Wow, well done! How big are those tournaments?

[ChobiChibi]

There were 14, which is one of the bigger groups we've had recently. It was best of one though for each person you battled, so I'm happy

Might head to the international thing in London in December, even if I don't get far, it'll be fun

[Master Rudy]

There were 14, which is one of the bigger groups we've had recently. It was best of one though for each person you battled, so I'm happy

Might head to the international thing in London in December, even if I don't get far, it'll be fun

The big tournaments for any CCG can be fun, but your enjoyment level might depend on how serious of a player you are. Without fail, you can expect the cheapest and most broken decks to pretty much dominate the landscape. If you're just looking to have fun, then a big tourney might not be for you since most oddball/crazy decks do tend to get smacked around by the meta decks. On the flipside, you CAN use that to your advantage. If you expect a particular strategy or deck type to be overplayed, then try to come up with the deck that'll break the meta.

That's how I managed to take 6th place in a state tournament for the DBZ TCG earlier this year. Without getting into the massive details, the condensed version is that at the time everyone generally played energy decks. Energy decks require power stages, most go light on energy defense, they generally cover their bases in regards to countering heavy physical decks. I played a character that was generally used for physical beatdowns and made a deck that was a hybrid energy/physical deck with the deck leaning more towards energy. The character in question could shut down energy decks fast if it got off one or two good attacks. By the time people realized I was playing as an energy deck that counters other energy decks it was typically too late. The few that could shift gears then got an extra nasty surprise when I manage to shift attack patterns mid game and come at them from another angle. Made it to the finals and lost to an ally deck that shut down my own plans (strategy didn't work against those types of decks since they either WANT to lose power stages or essentially build a wall with allies)

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is go for it. Find out what the popular decks are. If you can come up with something unexpected that counters them, then go for it. You might surprise yourself with how well you do.

Above all else however, go to have fun. It's nice to win and do well, but as odd as it may sound, don't make that your goal. Too many people take CCG tournaments WAYYYY too seriously.