New to Pokemon TCG - What expansion to buy to start?

[YooperDude]

Sorry I posted this in a different thread as well and realized this was a more appropriate place...

I'm new to Pokemon TCG and I'm interested in starting to collect the cards and play with my kids (yes, I'm old). My question is what cards should I be collecting to build a deck? XY or Flashfire? I'd like to play in the local league we have and I also have been playing Pokemon X on 3ds. I'm not familiar with a lot of the Pokemon and the evolutions in the 3DS game, so I thought collecting the XY cards would help me get a better feel for the Pokemon in the game. My daughter seems to like a lot of the cards in the training deck I bought. On the flip side, should I be getting all Flashfire cards since they're the "latest and greatest"? I know I used to get upset playing Magic: The Gathering because cards became unusable in tournament play after what seemed like too short of time. I wasn't sure if that was going to be the case with XY. I also like the fact that you can get the XY fat packs for a reasonable price.

So - where should I begin? What makes the most sense for a beginner that wants to have cards that can be used in the foreseeable future as well as be able to build a fun semi-competitive deck without blowing a ton of cash?

Thank you in advance,
YooperDude

 

[crazybobbles]

Xy for sure, sycamore is a staple card and you'll need him. Would recommend getting x2 red genesect collection boxes though for most of the staple cards and build from that

 

[poke-j]

Plasma blast, Legendary treasures, XY

Plasma blast because gensect/virizion, legendary treasures because of the high pull rate, XY cuz of the good trainers

 

[Master_Shaymin]

Ok to build a semi competitive deck for cheap I would recommend buying at least 2 Resilient Life Theme decks, and 4 tins: 2 of Mewtwo EX, 2 of Xerneas EX, and if you can find them 2 of the Red Genesect Collection. On the flip side the tin promos of Xerneas EX and Mewtwo EX shouldn't be overly expensive at card shops. If you end up having to buy all the decks and tins though it should come out to roughly $120-140 if you shop at Wal-Mart and you'll have a quite nice deck without spending a ton of money on packs and singles. I know that sounds like a lot but its really not, compared to the amount you'll spend on packs trying to get everything.

 

[x8BitJesusx]

I'm in the same position. I've just started, I've bought the Flashfire + XY decks but I have no idea what's classed as 'tournament legal'

I mainly play against my girlfriend but I'm looking at going down to my local gaming store to play in a league there

Sorry for hijacking the thread

 

[pugwolf]

The fastest way I've found to see if it is legal is to plug it into the deck builder. It caught three cards that had crept in from Black and White that I got out of a DarkRai tin that are no longer legal. Anything from XY is legal. In general, Next Destinies, Dark Explorer, Dragon Exalted, Dragon Vault, Boundaries Crossed, Plasma Storm, Plasma Freeze, Plasma Blast, Legendary Treasures, Kalos Starter, XY and Flashfire are legal. Anything reprinted in those may also be legal, even if its from an older set. Pokemon.com has a list of what cards require references, or can just be used.

Professor Juniper and Sycamore, you can only use four of one name. You cannot mix those two names (no 2 & 2 etc).

If you've only bought XY and Flashfire, you're good to go.

Good luck!