By Kenny Wisdom
Hello readers,
For those who aren’t aware, my name is Kenny Wisdom, and I’m a competitive Pokemon TCG player from Washington State, U.S. This is my first Pokezine article, but I’ve written several dozen articles for SixPrizes.com, and I’m a regular part of various Pokemon communities, both on and offline. If you’d like to read any of my other work, please search Kenny Wisdom on SixPrizes.com, or contact kwisdumb on the Pokegym or Heytrainer.
Today I’ll be talking to you about the Pokemon TCG Online. For those not in the know, the Pokemon TCG online game just came out, meaning that as of right now, for free, you can play the TCG vs. computer AI, using pre-constructed decks from the Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver era. For now you can only play against the computer, but in the future it’s been revealed that you’ll be able to play against other players with all the cards in the game. Even more, there will be prizes and tournaments for the game as well, so this is going to become a very key component to the TCG, particularly if you plan on playing competitively.
Because I don’t want this article to become entirely too long winded, let me break it down into 3 points…
– Firstly, if you’re not playing this game, you’re going to be worse than everyone. Think about it. How many times have you thought to yourself that such and such deck would be better, or you’d like to play this tech, if only you had the time to test it? Now that excuse is going to be almost totally irrelevant. While in the past you’ve had to play within the confines of your gaming shop or when it matched with your friends schedules, with the PTCG online you’ll be able to grind out games anytime, day or night. Instead of only being able to play 5 games this weekend because everyone is busy, you can play 5 games in a single sitting with PTCGO, if you’re into that sort of thing.
– There is money to be made. I dunno how many of you are interested in the buying, selling, or trading market, but it’s one of my favorite things about Pokemon (outside of my community of friends that play, and the actual playing of the game, of course). The truth is, most people aren’t going to want to buy into this at first. People are going to be opposed to spending money on “fake” cards, and generally just not a lot of players are going to jump onto it at first. Eventually, they’ll realize the errors of their ways and need to play in tournaments and test online, therefore will need to get cards. And who will have the cards they need? You, if you follow my advice.
– Lastly, it’ll just be awesome to play! I’m betting that everyone who’s reading this is a Pokemon fan, and therefore wants to be able to play more Pokemon. I’ve talked a lot about how you can benefit from this game, whether monetarily or just by gaining experience playing the TCG and winning prizes, but the truth is it’s just going to be an awesome time playing a game you love, and getting to play that game more often than ever and against more people than ever. At the bottom of it all, that’s what we should be most excited about. 🙂
Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week. If you’d like to read more from me or have any suggestions about what I should write, please feel free to send an e-mail to kenny@sixprizes.com, I’ll do my best to read and respond to every e-mail.
Until next time,
– kw