You know what.......quit if you want to. I guarantee you that tourneys will still be put on by PTOs, families will still play and MAYBE we will get a bit better SoTG back?!? This GAME isn't about just what "I" can get out of it, but what can "WE ALL" get out of it. That means giving back to the game also. PUI/POP has given ALOT to the playing and judging base in the last few years. Yes, they had to rebuild a broken image left by WOTC, but look where the game is today? Looks like they knew what they were doing! This game is growing and I predict will continue to grow.
This isn't about getting free trips, Lawman. It's not about the "me me me." You're right, 15-19 year-olds DON'T buy as many cards as the parents do for their kids. And they also don't have parents shoveling them cash to drive around the country. But they STILL have cards and they STILL show up to practically every tournament within an 8-hour radius of their homes. Why is that? Because we LOVE this game. We want to play this game! We want to go to the biggest event in the World and stake our claim as the best player in the game we love! We are the people who have been playing since the game came out, and what we want to do more than anything is PLAY! Worlds is the biggest event of the year and when even the best players hear that a whole season's worth of effort isn't going to result in playing at worlds for the majority of the players, it is very disheartening. Is it really difficult to see that when high school and college kids, with barely any money still find ways to pay for the travel expenses to relatively small tournaments all over the country, are told that they probably aren't going to be invited to the biggest tournament of the year to play the game they love they get very upset about it!
Where did that broken image by WotC come from? From eliminating the game's most faithful players: the 15+. Look around at who is playing today that were playing back in the STS days. I recognize almost NO 10- players from WotC days that are still playing. Looking at the top players in the 15+ now, and a huge percentage of them were playing years ago. We are the age group that sticks with the game, and we don't play for the prizes. We don't play for the free trips. We play because we love Pokemon and it should be no surprise that people get upset when they're told that they probably won't be able to play.
How do I feel about this? Well I liked the idea of having a ratings-based invites, but not necessarily at the expense of having Gym Challenges. There was something really cool about showing up to a tournament knowing that you had a chance TODAY to win a trip to worlds. Also it is nice being able to try a new or relatively untested deck at a tournament. With ratings-based invites, I have to take every tournament seriously.
However, ratings based invites also reward consistent play and are generally more revealing of who is winning the most games of Pokemon. The downsides to a ratings-based system is that a) it rewards players who are in soft areas and b) doesn't necessarily reward players who actually play decks that WIN tournaments. There is a very subtle strategy in deck choice in that there are some decks that are good, but can't win tournaments, and some decks that are good and can win tournaments. A deck that is good and usually can't win tournaments are ones with no good or bad matchups. If you play a deck with good matchups, you can get paired in those matchups and set yourself up for victory. That isn't to say you can't outplay someone, but it does give you a better chance of winning the tournament rather than just doing well, in my opinion. A ratings system gives more of a boost to decks that are very consistent with no good or bad matchups than other types of decks.
Generally I favor a ratings-based system, but with so
few invites I really question POP's decisions. It seems that by only allowing
eight players in all of North America that you're really going to favor the 8 players that dominate their area the best; meaning that if you're from a highly-competitive area you are going to have a tough time.
