Funny how the others still take you seriously, isn't it? I mean obvious troll is obvious, and you're doing a bang-up job of it! :thumb: Of course you realize that selling cards is a part of promoting the game; if you don't own any cards, how can you play? Well, besides massive proxying or the online game. Still obvious thing is obvious and you know that yourself.
Of course "promoting the game" comes in a variety of forms, and doesn't have to directly lead to playing the game; that is promoting the game of Pokémon doesn't require giving out free starter decks and then forcing people to play it. Promoting the game can be as simple as raising awareness of it. Again, obvious thing is obvious.
Almost impossible to build a deck without Energy cards, and people know this. Of course, it is also almost impossible to build a deck without Trainers, and it is impossible to build a deck without Pokémon, or at least a card that counts as a Pokémon in your opening hand (lost track of the various errata to Mysterious Fossil).
Another excellent bit of trolling; as if one company's game being more popular than another company's game meant the second company wasn't doing anything at all to promote it. Of course there are numerous reasons for why certain games are more popular than others, and it varies from region to region. Even if every company does their utmost to promote their own game, only one game can be number one. Don't forget how fans conduct themselves also influences a game's success.
It is also obvious that if people don't play the game, then they aren't promoting the game. You can have people buying tons of pokemon cards and not play the game, because they know for a fact that there are other games out there where they don't have to go through extra steps in order to play it.
MTG's way of promoting the game does not segregate and leave out people because of personal preference to playing the game, or their geographical location. I don't understand why PTCG couldn't do the same. Oh wait, MTG and PTCG are so different that PTCG can't use MTG's tactic to promote the game, which totally works, since MTG is gaining new players every day. I guess I can't use the tactic of buying online, because I'm too different from all of you.
Does pokemon TCG allow you to play where you want? No. Sorry, must play in such and such a location where league is located.
Does Pokemon TCG allow you to play when you want? No. Sorry, you must play at the time when the league organizer says to do it, which is usually once a week at the same time and day. Even if you play the game at a time when a league isn't on, the league organizer won't give you energy.
Does Pokemon TCG allow you to play how you want? No. Sorry, the only way to play is to play theme deck vs theme deck, or go through additional steps and make additional purchases in order to draft or do sealed booster.
There, fixed your sentence for you.
The game could be promoted to death but if a kid who only cares about getting a Charizard is upset as his energies - and that kid represents the target demographic of the Pokemon brand - then there will not be basic energies. As a business, it makes no sense to waste money promoting something which doesn't cater to your main target market. Why invest millions of $$ to make a couple of people happy who likely will never bring in as much as was invested?
Then you have to admit that the game design is seriously flawed, and PTCG should be designed exactly like Cardfight Vanguard. CF Vanguard has no spells, no traps, no resource cards. Every card they have is a creature with abilities, so no kid would cry if they get resource cards.
As proven by the city I live in, basketball, as a game in demographics of sports fans takes a back seat to football and baseball. Therefore, the NBA isn't doing anything to promote the game, to get people to watch basketball instead of football or baseball. If they were actively promoting the GAME, and by game, I mean, people actually watching the game, and not just verbally supporting the team, they would promote it in places where the game isn't as popular, like Alaska or Wyoming.
See how unintelligent this argument sounds?
What you are saying is that it would be a waste of money to even make one basketball court, or even sell basketballs, thus leaving the few who do enjoy the game in areas where basketball takes a back seat not be able to play. Even if the collector is the main demographic, IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT 100% of the products should be catered to them. I already said to release a box set that contains that EX card, a few boosters, as well as a pack of basic energies ONCE A YEAR, or even BIANNUALLY, which is not that frequent. They also should do a limited print run, because it really IS a waste of money to over-estimate the amount of people buying the product. I know for a FACT that this is meant for a smaller demographic. So what they could do is make LESS of this product. It doesn't mean that they should make none.
Just because 95% of people in a certain city don't play basketball does NOT MEAN that absolutely no basketball courts should be made. Even a simple half court with one net, which is all basketball player really need. Playing Pokemon TCG without basic energy is like playing basketball without a net. It just can't be done. You can show off your handles, but you sure aren't playing basketball without a net.
