PTCGO beginner tips 5/8

PTCGG Pastebin/FAQ

Q: I'M NEW, HOW TO POKEMON CARD???

1. Download the PTCGO client from http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-tcg/play-online/download/

2. Go to the 'Redeem codes' page under the shop and enter the codes 'flashfire' 'furiousfists' and 'phantomforces', these will give you copies of the Rallying Cry theme deck, which gives you a bunch of shit cards but also some useful trainers, some of which are no longer in print as well as a playset of double colorless energy (DCE). If you would like a complimentary fedora for your avatar, enter 'dragonsexalted'.

3. Go to the Trainer Challenge page and complete those battles (YES, ALL OF THEM) with each of your starter theme decks. Beating the trainer challenge will unlock cards for your three starting theme decks, allowing you to use them online as well as granting you tokens.

4. Once you have earned 500 tokens from competing in the trainer challenge, purchase ONE theme deck from the shop. Most people recommend the Incineroar deck. The Decidueye and Lunala decks are also pretty good if you need different types of decks for dailies.

5. Complete the trainer challenge battles again with this themedeck. Upon beating each trainer with the fourth different theme deck, you will be awarded one pack. There are a total of 45 packs to be gained this way.

6. Once you have completed the trainer challenge, begin playing versus matches to clear out your bonus wheel as much as you can each day. You also earn versus ladder rewards which often include very good cards.

Q: OKAY, THEN WHAT?
After this, progression becomes more open ended. Your goal is to accumulate TRADABLE value. All packs and cards purchased with tokens or awarded by the trainer challenge/bonus wheel are no-trade.

You can acquire TRADABLE value by
1. Reaching trainer level 16 and completing daily challenges that award packs (packs awarded before lv16 are no-trade)
2. Entering ticketed tournaments, even if you lose, you get at least one tradable item
3. Purchasing PTCG paper products and redeeming code cards, or purchasing second hand code cards from these products.
4. ✡ Playing the market ✡

On the third option, you will usually find the best prices for code cards on ebay. Beware of mixed code card lots that do not list exactly which packs you are getting, people will generally try to inflate pack count with low value packs. Pack value, as of May 2017 is approximately as follows

Guardians Rising                             3 (inflated, will likely stabilize below HST, PLF and ROS after it rotates)
HGSS Triumphant, Plasma Freeze               2
Roaring Skies                                1.5
Sun and Moon, most HS/BW sets                1
Generations, most standard sets              0.75
Most XY era expanded sets                    0.5
Evolutions                                   0.25

Every trading site varies a little bit in what they're willing to give for each pack but the difference in value is about the same. The market is always in motion particularly around the release of new sets. High demand cards like Shaymin-EX tend to get extremely expensive in the run up to a new set dropping and plummet in value when the set releases as traders dump value onto the market to acquire new cards.

A word of warning: OPENING TRADABLE PACKS IS GAMBLING, since packs are the primary currency of this game and chances are pretty high you will get less than one pack's value by opening a pack. Sometimes you will hit it big, most of the time you're just burning money.

When it comes to playing the market, http://www.ou7c4st.com/card-values.html is a pretty decent guide of what cards cost, though prices are inflated as trading companies seek profits. Expect to get slightly less for your cards, and to be able to trade for cards for less than these prices in most cases.

Q: OKAY BUT WHAT DO I DO WITH THESE FUCKING TOKENS?
1. Enter token tournaments to convert your tokens to tickets, then convert tickets to tradable value through ticketed tournaments
2. Purchase Roaring Skies or Guardians packs in the store and hope for the god pulls of Shaymin-EX and Tapu Lele-GX
3. Purchase bundles in the shop if they have promos that are worth buying (ask in the thread if you're not sure)
4. Purchase a theme deck if it has cards you need for building a standard list, saves you tradable value
5. Buy cosmetic shit if it tickles your fancy
6. Save tokens to mass purchase packs when a new set drops

Q: WHY DOES THIS GAME PLAY SO SLOW
Theme plays very slow compared to standard and expanded, trust me, it gets better.

Q: WHAT THE FUCK ARE STANDARD AND EXPANDED?
Standard format is the format with the most online players. It includes every set newer than Primal Clash. Standard format will rotate out old sets in September of 2017. It is speculated that Breakthrough will be the oldest set permitted in 2018 standard, we might also see Generations-on, but nobody really knows where TPCI will place the cutoff.

Expanded format includes all sets newer than Black and White base set. Expanded should generally be avoided as a new player due to the cost of acquiring playsets of key cards for the format. At some point, older black and white sets may be rotated out of expanded, but TPCI has stated they aren't doing it yet.

Legacy is the third PTCGO format which includes only cards from the HGSS era and BW era, no XY/SM cards allowed. It incorporates special game mechanics that no longer exist in PTCG's other formats such as the lost zone. This format is the hardest to get into since none of the cards that can be used in it are in print or available in the store except as promo bundles. Legacy has no support in paper, paper events are standard or expanded only and anyone who wants to play old shit in paper at a LGS usually just plays unlimited.

Q: OKAY I GOT ALL OF THAT AND HAVE SOME PACKS TO TRADE, WHAT NOW?
Build a decklist, post it in the general, get criticism. The best option for new players from a budget perspective is Quad Lapras-GX which only uses 4 Lapras-GX, a relatively inexpensive card.

For best results, post your decklist as an image. The image FAQ is a bit outdated but generally holds true. Most decks will want
x2 Shaymin-EX
x1 Tapu Lele-GX
x4 Ultra Ball
x4 VS seeker
x4 Sycamore
x2 N
x2 Lysandre

Shaymin and Tapu Lele are the main barrier to entry when it comes to deckbuilding in standard, all of these other cards except VS Seekers are pretty easy to find.

By the way, when you see people describe cards with a 3 letter abbreviation (ie, BKT, AOR, EVO), they are describing a particular version of a pokemon card from a set. A full list of set abbreviations can be found here: https://pkmncards.com/sets/

Q: JUST SPOONFEED ME, WHICH DECKS ARE GOOD? WHAT'S STANDARD META RIGHT NOW (May 2017)

tier 1
Garbodor, Yveltal/Garbodor, Darkrai/Dragons, Decidueye/Vileplume, Volcanion

tier 2/3
Xerneas (Rainbow Force), Mega Rayquaza (Emerald Break), Lurantis/Vileplume, Trevenant/Vileplume, Drampa's Secret Base, Sylveon, Koko Box, Tauros/Tina/Hammers, Quad Lapras-GX, Solgaleo/Lurantis

Recently high tier, but took major damage in Guardians (mostly due to bad Garbodor matchup), may be ded
Darkrai Turbo, Mega Gardevoir (Despair Ray), Mega Mewtwo

Uncommon these days but you should still be aware of them
Gyarados AT, Vespiquen, Vileplume Toolbox, Greninja BREAK, Mega Gardevoir (Brilliant Arrow), Xerneas BREAK/Dragons,
Carbink BREAK/Zygarde, Houndoom Mill, Umbreon Disruption, Raikou/Electrode, Mega Scizor

There haven't been any events in international standard with Sylveon or Garbodor so this listing is speculative. Based on Japanese events, Sylveon, Garbodor, Drampa and Lele will be the most impactful cards in Guardians. Other cards like Tapu Koko-GX will likely gain strength when Burning Shadows is released.

Q: WHAT ABOUT EXPANDED?

It's hard to say exactly how expanded pans out, but generally expanded looks a lot like standard these days but with stronger trainers. Some older archetypes like Archie's Blastoise and toads/bats are present but most of the top tier standard decks like decidueye, volcanion, darkrai and rayquaza also make up the top tier of expanded.

Q: LEGACY?
Just build VirGen and call it a day fam. See http://thecharizardlounge.com/2016/04/26/an-introduction-to-pokemons-legacy-format/ for tips at building legacy decks and the quirks of the format. Nothing ever changes in Legacy.

Q: OKAY I'VE BEAT PTCGO AND I'M READY TO PLAY ON PAPER, WHAT PRODUCTS SHOULD I BUY?

Mostly single cards on ebay or your favored local/online card shop if you're not big on the thrill of cracking boosters. ETBs and Battle Arena decks can be okay purchases as well but nothing really beats singles in terms of value.