Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Expanding the "Elite Trainer" product line: Survey

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ExoByte

Master Trainer
Hi 'gym:

We @ TPCi are looking into the possibility of making more products that would use the name "Elite Trainer". These, like the ETB (Elite Trainer Box), would be aimed at the core player. This will be, like the ETB, accessories with an "older" look and feel.

Things you promise to understand:
Nothing mentioned in here is a promise at any level. None of these products could come out. All of them could come out. They could all cost 5x what the survey is asking, or half of it. THERE ARE NO PROMISES HERE.

THE SURVEY

Thank you for your feedback. Please take this seriously, as it will help us make decisions about products you want. This has gone well with the Elite Trainer Box, but I'm still on a "trial basis" in getting info this way. The more serious you take this the better for you!

Thanks Everyone!
 
dylan: question #8's answers all have to do with foil energy, as in question 7...but the product as described does not include foil energy :(
 
Survey taken.

This wasn't mentioned in the survey, but what I'd be MOST interested in purchasing would be special Pokemon-flavored sleeves. I know we get them in the ETB, but I'd love to be able to purchase slightly higher-quality ones standalone, much like Japan gets.
 
More decks like the Red Genesect Collection? Yes. Yes, I want that. I wish the survey had asked a bit more about it so I could emphasize, instead of just the "would you like this" question.
 
As a precon junkie, I would say this MORE precons released annually beyond theme decks. World Champ decks don't count because they don't have the correct back.

Keep the February and August ETB the way it is, except include 10 of each energy rather than 5. One of each could be holo, but I don't really care about that.

For the November expansion, release a set of vs decks built to be balanced against each other and built without the restriction that it is for new players. They can either be 30 card or 60 card. Japan does it all the time. The decks must have pokemon from a mix of sets, not from only one set, and this product will include 2 boosters from the November expansion. If 30 card, the product would cost $10 to $13, and if 60 card, the product would cost $19 to $22. These decks will tie in to the Pokemon Movie. The cover cards must be EX or any ultra rare equivalent card. This may be released in December if you want. Because this product is really 2 decks packaged into one, there doesn't need to be 2 playmats/rules sheet to be packaged. One is fine. The damage counters, well, perhaps damage dice would be nice, but if they had to be counters, it must have double the amount, considering the 2 decks. Coin? Just one.

For the May expansion, release something similar to the Red Genesect Collection, with these exceptions. Each box MUST include pokemon from multiple standard legal sets, not just one set. These decks must be built without the restriction that it must be for new players. It would be a bonus if people had the choice to buy one of 2, or even both all holo decks. This may be released in June if you want.

For BOTH the May and November expansions only, release 3 boosters and one of each holo energy. These must be released alongside their respective expansions.

One more thing, tell TPC Japan to make 2 or 3 unique designs for each energy, so you can pacakage one energy, as a 11th card in each booster pack.

That's about it.

So to recap the number of precons I wish TPCi released each year, assuming each expansion had 2 theme decks,

8 theme decks.
2 all holo deck, similar to Red Genesect Collection, with the exception that the Pokemon MUST be a mixture from multiple standard legal sets.
2 decks packaged in one box, with the cover card being an EX card. The Pokemon MUST be a mixture from multiple expansions released since the start of the generation. The cover cards MUST tie in to the Pokemon Movie released.

That's a total of 12 preconstructed pokemon TCG decks released every year.

A vs deck product released this November along with the November expansion would contain cards XY + Kalos Starter Set and onwards, because XY is the start of the generation. Because the Movie released this year would most likely be about Xerneas and Yveltal, the 2 decks would respectively contain alternate art Xerneas EX, and alternate art Yveltal EX. Perhaps even a different art from the tin promos, or it could be the same cards as the tin promos, I don't care. To make something like this happen, an EX version of these cards must be released in previous expansions before these vs decks are released.

If something like this were to be released last year, it would be Mewtwo vs Gensect. In November 2012, it would be Keldeo vs Kyurem. In November 2011, it would be Reshiram vs Zekrom.

So let me do some naming here. Elite Trainer Box, Elite Trainer Pack, <Insert Pokemon Name here> collection box, and <Insert movie name here> <Pokemon A> vs <Pokemon B>

The funny thing is that the names I came up with, the "Elite Trainer" products aren't really for elite trainers, because those products are meant for people to start their collection in order to have enough cards, especially energy cards to build decks. The true "Elite Trainer" products would be the ones I suggested. The already existing all holo deck such as the Red Genesect Collection, and the vs decks. Why are they for Elite Trainers? The decks are built in such a way that there are no restrictions to build a deck for someone new. The decks would be built in such a way that you must already at least know how to play the game before you know how to use them.
 
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It's cool to see you guys doing this. Not enough companies look for direct input from the people that buy their products. Very smart, TPCI.
 
A note on the current ETBs: I just purchased $5k (wholesale) worth of ETBs, and was very disappointed to discover that the sleeves are severely puckered around the back edges.
I'd love to see more products, but the quality of these sleeves was significantly less than expected.

On the positive side, the dividers were much cleaner-cut this time.
 
One suggestion I had (noted in the survey), I'd love to see playmats released as part of the Elite Trainer line.
 
For the person talking about sleeves, there are some X/Y themed ones coming soon.
There will be 3 different kinds, featuring the new "starter" Pokemon from the game.
IE Fennekin, Chespin, and Froakie.

There is no need to increase the number of energy in the ETB.
If you purchase the theme decks & booster packs from X/Y you should have plenty.
If you need some, you could ask your local league.

The idea of having multiple theme decks, or pre-built "expert" decks is interesting,
yet then we would have even more players playing the same decks.
Instead of experimenting with various ideas.
 
EricDent said:
For the person talking about sleeves, there are some X/Y themed ones coming soon.
There will be 3 different kinds, featuring the new "starter" Pokemon from the game.
IE Fennekin, Chespin, and Froakie.

There is no need to increase the number of energy in the ETB.
If you purchase the theme decks & booster packs from X/Y you should have plenty.
If you need some, you could ask your local league.

The idea of having multiple theme decks, or pre-built "expert" decks is interesting,
yet then we would have even more players playing the same decks.
Instead of experimenting with various ideas.
Click to expand...

The problem with getting energy via boosters is that you aren't guaranteed one every pack, and you are assuming that the XY set will still be available 2 years from now, when there will be no set that includes energy in their packs. The problem with getting energy via theme decks is that you aren't guaranteed to have a all 9 energy types at once. 90 energy may seem a lot, but you are looking at it as 90 energy, rather than 10 grass, 10 fire, 10 water, 10 lighting, 10 psychic, 10 fighting, 10 darkness, 10 metal, and 10 fairy. The Elite in Elite trainer box is a misnomer, because I view this product as a box set to start people's collections, and to be able to build whatever deck they want without having to buy a second ETB, or try to look for a league that doesn't exist. I guess keeping the way it is, with 5 energy per type per ETB could work, but buying 2 for $80 is too steep.

Looking at Fat packs, for $40 for one, you get 16 of each basic land, and 9 boosters each containing 15 cards. That would be 135 cards. 2 ETB for $80 would net the same amount of cards, that is, 16 boosters each with 9 cards, would make 144 cards, and combining the 2 energy packs would make 10 of each energy, so I guess that could work. But $80. At least releasing 2 ETB designs gives incentive for people to buy 2 of them. I'm only buying one of the two for now. Also buying 2 to get the close to the same number of cards as a MTG fat pack means that for Pokemon TCG, I get 16 rares, while for MTG, just 9 to work with.

About the fact that people will be playing the same decks, the decks must be built in such a way that it is in theme with the movie being released, and must not be a deck that wins tournaments. You only need to look at MTG and Yugioh to know that even with event decks for MTG, which by themselves aren't winning tournaments, and for YGO, buying 3 structure decks can give you the cards to build a decent deck, but you don't see people playing only Blue Eyes, Fire Kings, Atlantean, Chaos Dragons, Dark World, Agent, Dragunity, Machina, and Gemini Warriors decks, just because they happen to be structure decks. The problem with this is the same thing that is happening to Yugioh's Dragons Collide Structure Deck, MTG's Mind Sieze Commander Deck, and MTG's Rally and Rout Event Deck. TPCi must be very careful not to make the deck suck, but at the same time, not include any chase cards that may make the deck's price skyrocket. Remember, that this deck is meant for people who already know how to play the game to use, and it's theme ties into the movie, hence why a November or December release, because the movie happens to be released in December. This also allows the Japanese ordering and the International ordering of the sets to stay the same. Remember EX Deoxys being swapped with EX Team Rocket? Things like that won't ever happen again because it isn't the expansion that ties in with the movie, but the vs decks are tied in with the movie.

Both the all holo deck and the vs decks are meant to be fun to play, not win entire tournaments. I'd say if you took one of these decks to a tournament as is, you'd probably win 15% to 25% of the time.
 
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I like the idea of the snap-in container for damage counter/dice on a deck box, sounds like a good idea considering you normally need a completely separate container at the moment.
 
Something not mentioned in the survey. I'd like to see Elite Trainer Boxes released for every set, and be given that as the pre-release product instead of just booster packs. It would slightly raise the price of pre-releases, but would make me feel that I'm getting a much better value when I get that box plus a promo.

It'd also change the pre-release format to 8-sealed packs versus 6, which should make for better pre-release decks.
 
Here's an idea: Make the next Red Genesect Collection mono-fairy. More fairy energy in circulation = more fairy energy to be passed onto poorer players.
 
Charranitar said:
Something not mentioned in the survey. I'd like to see Elite Trainer Boxes released for every set, and be given that as the pre-release product instead of just booster packs. It would slightly raise the price of pre-releases, but would make me feel that I'm getting a much better value when I get that box plus a promo.

It'd also change the pre-release format to 8-sealed packs versus 6, which should make for better pre-release decks.
Click to expand...

I would like that too so long as it isn't a replacement for the current Elite Trainer Boxes, that is, I don't want it so that the only way to get the Elite Trainer Box is through prereleases. I do agree that given that since boosters have 10 cards, there should be 8 boosters, to make 80 cards to work with to make a 40 card deck, or keep it the way it is, with 6 boosters, and change the prerelease into a 30 card deck format.

I also think that the number of prize cards should change depending on the number of cards you have in your deck. I am unsure if a 40 card prerelease deck format uses 4 prize cards rather than 6, but if it isn't it would be cool if a 40 card deck played with 4 prize cards rather than 6.

Another thing with sealed decks is the number of boosters used. The deck size should be the number of boosters used, multiplied by 10, divided by 2, so a prerelease with 6 boosters would be a 30 card format with 3 prize cards, or a sealed deck using 10 boosters would be a 50 card deck with 5 prize cards.
 
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While it would be nice for pre-releases getting more packs, IMO that would be overdoing it. Once every two sets for the ETBs is fine in my eyes. I liked some of the ideas on the survey and some ideas from this thread. A movie tie-in versus deck would be awesome, including boosters in decks would be awesome, having special energy designs would be nice too. Most of all, great job TPCi for taking the initiative with this survey. Don't just rush designing these new products though. I don't mind waiting longer for awesome stuff, since you can work on refining them, making sure all components (e.g. sleeves) are of the desired quality. Not all the products have to be tied to a set, one reason I loved the Red Genesect Deck. Maybe have cards exclusive to some products, like decks. It's better than hoping to pull something from random boosters.
 
Here's a solid idea;

Why not distribute these via preleases? This not only gives people that goes to these a chance to get theirs money worth. But can open new players/casual players to get into competitive, or even start a new comer on the right track. Seeing these given at releases rather then the 8 packs would be amazing!
 
One per set would be nice, but keep it switching between what is included. Switch between having sleeves, to having a nice deckbox, to maybe a nice playmat. Having an Elite Trainer Box each set would make me buy it, but getting sleeves for each one may be a bit too much so this idea would be nice. (I think someone mentioned this idea in the older survey thread too)
 
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