WotC vs PUI's running of the Pokemon TCG

[yoshi1001]

Shouldn't it be obvious that WotC representatives were lying when they said that the elimination of +15 division was an order from TPC?
TPC is still around, and somehow the +15 division is back.


I agree, but I think the Pokemon-ex were a good idea. The "Baby Evolution" Pokemon are much better than Baby Pokemon.


I wouldn't say that, but I wish there were more too.

Actually, one thing I do miss from the Neo/Expedition era was the wide variety of trainers availoible. Granted, many of them were not worth playing, but they certainly made limited tournaments interesting.

even the grammar on the cards... the very foundation of the game as we know it (at least outside of Japan) was all Wizards' doing.

To a degree, I have to disagree with this. Under POP, card wording is much more consistent than it was under WotC. You'll notice the Compendium ex is much smaller than its predicessor. Granted, the early cards were some of the first to go from English to Japanese, but I think the closer relationship between PUI and PCL compared to WotC and PCL/MF has definitely helped make the card interpetations more logical.

I agree, but I think the Pokemon-ex were a good idea. The "Baby Evolution" Pokemon are much better than Baby Pokemon.

Old-style babies were too powerful (I should know :wink, particulary combined with Slowking and the poorly conceived Focus Band.

 

[PokePop]

Oh, I meant to comment on the card template wording.

We have WotC to thank for self referencing attacks using the specific Pokemon's name rather than the generic "this Pokemon" that the Japanese cards use. Giving all the rulings problems on Copy attacks that we have to continually deal with.

We have WotC to thank for search cards saying "Basic Pokemon or evolution card" rather than just saying "Pokemon card". They felt people would get too confused if it just said Pokemon card because they're all Pokemon cards, right?
Sorry, but I think players could have handled it. I haven't had a single player get confused now that the wording has changed to that phrasing with DP.

 

[Prof Clay]

Whether or not WOTC was trying to help the game or if they were trying to secretly kill it, I still think I would of been playing the game all these years had they of retained the license. I quit simply because I disagreed about their license renewal request being denied. I can pretty surely say I'd of been with the game all this time if they had received that renewal. Sure, it probably wouldn't of been in the best interest of the game, with the apparent restrictions, but it would have kept me in the fanbase.

I do not understand the logic of not playing because WotC no longer runs things. I mean you are entitled to your opinion and all, but the game is huge right now. I would venture to say it is:

- more accessible around the country...not just focused around games stores and hobby shops

- the tournament scene is simply more...more real players, more diversity of decks, free premier
tournaments.

- The game itself is more complicated than the early days and in my opinion requires much more skill to
be truly good.

If you claim to be a true fan then you should be happy the game is actually under the control of the folks who make the game and want the game to be successful on its own.

 

[PokePop]

Very true.
Whether the licence was left with WotC was a pure business decision.
Owner of the property farming out everything or taking it all under direct control.
There are reasons to go one way or the other, but for the company, those decisions all fall down to what's best for the health and profitibility of the brand.
In the free market system, decisions like this are made on a daily basis and to hold a company to keep with a strategy decision they made 5 years earlier is not realistic.

I was certainly very nervous when WotC lost the rights.
We all had no idea what direction PUI and Nintendo were going to take the game.
But luckily they did know what they were doing and they didn't kill the game.

Judge PUI and POP on the fruits that their stewardship has borne rather than any misplaced loyalty to a corporation.
One final props to WotC, earned by the efforts of the MTs: WotC allowed us, Team Compendium, to retain the name and artwork for the PokeGym site. While the name existed before it came under their umbrella, they certainly could have made it financially impossible for us to keep it.
Because of the intervention of the MTs, we were allowed to keep it, so thanks very much for that!

 

[Nick15]

I haven't had a good Pokémon debate in aaaaaaages. :3

Robbgobb
If Wizards are so good at the kid TCGs then why hasn't one of them taken the top spot? I know about them but Pokemon is the only one that has offered me any fun and Neopets is the only one I have ever seen played anywhere and that was one location.

That you can blame solely on the fact that Pokémon is Pokémon. Unfortunately though, I don't keep up to date at all on any card games (I barely keep up with Pokémon), so I don't have any other explination.

-------------

PokePop
Nick, I respect your opinions, but differ with you on a few points.

Well hey, I'm not trying to treat my opinions as fact. My opinions are based mostly just on what information I have under my belt, which doesn't say much about whether or not that information is spoiled or not.


However, while the 15+ removal was presented as initiated by Japan, I'm not sure I believe that anymore. I know that certain misbehaviors by older players triggered it, but I believe the trigger was pulled on the US side

From what I'm starting to remember, yeah, I do recall a lot of it having to do with misbehavior with the older players. However, I felt that it was Japan who was pushing for the "axe 15+" deal on Wizards, and I think it was rooted with how Japan saw their game versus how Wizards was presenting it. I felt that it was Wizards who chose to absorb the blame of the decision rather than pass it off on Japan, probably out of fear of even more red tape. I do remember the fall out of the decision, and, in hindsight, it still seems as if Japan was the big brains behind it and Wizards just tried to cover it up.

Wizards may have had some bad ideas, but I doubt Japan was absolutely without blame in any given decision. If they were the only ones behind axing 15+, it's obvious they realized it was a stupid decision since they revered it. (Of course we could get into conspiracy territory and say that they forced it upon Wizards so that when the license was transfered, Nintendo could reverse it and make them look like the saviors!)

In any case, I will easily agree that it was probably either a joint decision or something that Japan started and Wizards finished: Japan probably didn't like how older players were, for lack of a better phrase, destroying the dignity of the game, while Wizards used that "vibe" as a way to push older players into Magic or something. It's not like it matters any more! [shrugs]


Again, props to MT Mike for coming up with this, but it a stop gap for Wizards.

Lots of what Wizards did was stop-gaps. As I've said, I'd like to believe that it was basically because Wizards really couldn't do anything else, a sort of "rat in a corner" kind of situation. Not that I'm calling Wizards' a rat or anything, but I hope you get my drift.

I'll also agree that, in Wizard's limitation, the question was asked "well does anyone ELSE have any bright ideas?", to which the other bright ideas really weren't persued as intensely as they could have been. It's almost as if the staff was demoralized or something.


Neither WotC nor PUI have much to say about what kinds of cards or concepts are created or emphasized in the game. It's all out of PCL in Japan and that's that. Neither credit nor blame to either company for this kind of thing.

I wasn't claiming this to be a Wizards or PUI issue, but more of just an overall issue with the game itself. I've always had gripes with the game in terms of card design, that's one of the things that propelled my interest in faking.


While there is a PR promo for Jungle, I believe that was just given out at test leagues and there was no actual PR event for it. Correct me if I'm wrong on that.

I don't recall hearing anything about a Prerelease for Jungle. I mean there was a Prerelease card for Base Set, but no event for it either.

I'm willing to bet there was a good idea for a lack of Prereleased during Wizards' reign of things. A lot of it, I believe, had to do with the weird release dates Wizards had to deal with. I'll bet it's hard to get a Prerelease tournament going when Nintendo forces you to push the release of your next set to match when Nintendo's next new hot product is (e-Reader and Expedition is the best example).


We have WotC to thank for search cards saying "Basic Pokemon or evolution card" rather than just saying "Pokemon card". They felt people would get too confused if it just said Pokemon card because they're all Pokemon cards, right?

I agree there. Still, we're given the benefit of hindsight for a lot of this.

-------

SD PokéMom
compare that with the unique items for profs to earn under POP: polo shirt, t-shirt, hat, jacket, bag, notebook, card box, deck box, stopwatch, watch, stamped cards...

Wizards was dealing with Pokémon when it was Pokémon, the super hot new fad!!1! I'm more willing to bet that Wizards didn't have to grease the wheels much in that department to keep people on board. It's a bit different now, and the old tactics no longer apply.

Then there's the bit where all POP has to do is do what Wizards did, only better, and they're an instant favorite for us old tymers.

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Squirtle
I may not like all of the decisions the PUI makes, I may even flat out HATE some of them. You cannot dispute that which PUI has done by taking this game from what it was

No, no arguement there. Super props to PUI for being able to reinvigorate the game!

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ninetales1234
Shouldn't it be obvious that WotC representatives were lying when they said that the elimination of +15 division was an order from TPC?

From what I remember, it was the other way around, and that Wizards claimed that it was Wizards' own idea and Japan had nothing to do with it. I though THAT to be a lie and Japan had everything to do with it.

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Pkmnrulz240
I can pretty surely say I'd of been with the game all this time if they had received that renewal.

I think I'd still be out myself, however I think I would be paying more attention to it than I have been.

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yoshi1001
Under POP, card wording is much more consistent than it was under WotC.

I must heartfully disagree. In doing fakes, I recognized a significant level of consistancy between cards from the entire Wizards' run (Base Set to Skyridge). Sure there have been a few minor ruling changes, some extremely small inconsistancies between text, and errors and such.... but overall Wizards did a good job of being as clear, precise and easy to read as possible. (The only really confusing card I ever saw was Neo Discovery Pineco.) Less can be said about, say, Yu-Gi-Oh, or Magic when it first came out, concerning consistant game text.

IF there were any ruling inconsistances, I would put that blame squarely on Japan for inventing really idiotic cards. Fossil Ditto is a nightmare, and then there's Suicune, but that's no fault of Wizards, now is it?

The only reason why POP's card wording is precise is probably they possess Wizards' wording guidebook.


Old-style babies were too powerful

Seriously, they should have done what I would have done was just make Baby's Basics and their Evolutions Stage 1 cards. Yes, I mean a Stage 1 Jynx, Electabuzz, Pikachu, etc. That way you get the choice of either a quick, Basic Electabuzz or a slower, more powerful Stage 1 Electabuzz.

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Prof Clay
I do not understand the logic of not playing because WotC no longer runs things. I mean you are entitled to your opinion and all, but the game is huge right now.

Huge it may be, but it's more of an issue of preference of how it's being run. It's the little things, mostly. I reckon that if Wizards still ran the game, the EX series would have been split up into block sets, we'd have reprint sets, among other little things. Seriously, the reprint sets make a big difference for me and tournament play.


The game itself is more complicated than the early days and in my opinion requires much more skill to
be truly good.

Bloated it more like it. I still have issues with Pokémon-ex's and I'm sure Lv.X don't help much about my opinion. I feel that the design staff were incapable of putting on their thinking caps and just had to invent something COOOOOOL just to keep people buying and playing.

------

Don't get me wrong. POP is doing a good job with the game, if Wizards' isn't running it, I'm glad that it's in other good hands. However, I'm really just bit of a Wizards' apologist than anything else.

OK, that's all I got now.

 

[Mystery Thing]

While there is a PR promo for Jungle, I believe that was just given out at test leagues and there was no actual PR event for it. Correct me if I'm wrong on that.

I don't recall hearing anything about a Prerelease for Jungle. I mean there was a Prerelease card for Base Set, but no event for it either.

There was no Base Set PR card. I mean, there WAS Raichu, but that wasn't a PR card, that was an extremely isolated glitch. You of all people should know that.

There was also no PR for Jungle, even though there was the PR card. Yay Clefable. And yay for having three of them.

 

[yoshi1001]

I must heartfully disagree. In doing fakes, I recognized a significant level of consistancy between cards from the entire Wizards' run (Base Set to Skyridge). Sure there have been a few minor ruling changes, some extremely small inconsistancies between text, and errors and such.... but overall Wizards did a good job of being as clear, precise and easy to read as possible. (The only really confusing card I ever saw was Neo Discovery Pineco.) Less can be said about, say, Yu-Gi-Oh, or Magic when it first came out, concerning consistant game text.

I've noticed several changes to card text styles since POP took over. For example:

Ancient Wind - Once during your turn (before you attack) if Aerodactyl is your Active Pokemon, you may ignore all Poke-Bodies until the end of your turn. This power can't be used if Aerodactyl is affected by a Special Condition. (Poke-POWER)

This is from the Skyridge Aerodactyl. Note the archaic "ignore all bodies/powers/pokemon powers" phrasing. This was an incredible problem because th word "ignore"in this context would mean "deny the existance of" to most people, which was particularly problematic with attacks such as the Neo Genesis Pichu's Zzap. The Dragon Muk EX retains this, but by the time we get to Legend Maker the text has changed to:

Stench - As long as Muk is your Active Pokemon, each player's Pokemon can't use any Poke-Powers. (Poke-BODY)

Which more clearly states the intention that the powers still exist but cannot be used.

What I'm saying is that the card wordings are much more consistent with what the intentions of the card were.

 

[SD PokeMom]

nick: the MTs were telling us it was japan who were behind the 15+ elimination, their (...wotc's) hands were tied, etc. i can remember posting over and over and over how wotc was between a rock and hard place: they knew the 15+ were upset but if TPC said 'jump' they had to say 'how high?'...but when momentum began on wizpog for a letterwriting campaign directly to TPC asking for that to be reversed, suddenly they were posting that it was wotc's choice to eliminate 15+...=/

'mom

 

[dogma]

I haven't had a good Pokémon debate in aaaaaaages. :3

Ditto. I'm gonna put in my two cents worth as well :biggrin:

Under POP, card wording is much more consistent than it was under WotC.

I must heartfully disagree. In doing fakes, I recognized a significant level of consistancy between cards from the entire Wizards' run (Base Set to Skyridge). Sure there have been a few minor ruling changes, some extremely small inconsistancies between text, and errors and such.... but overall Wizards did a good job of being as clear, precise and easy to read as possible. (The only really confusing card I ever saw was Neo Discovery Pineco.) Less can be said about, say, Yu-Gi-Oh, or Magic when it first came out, concerning consistant game text.

IF there were any ruling inconsistances, I would put that blame squarely on Japan for inventing really idiotic cards. Fossil Ditto is a nightmare, and then there's Suicune, but that's no fault of Wizards, now is it?

The only reason why POP's card wording is precise is probably they possess Wizards' wording guidebook.

I would respect your opinion, given your obvious talent in faking cards, but I have to disagree with you Nick. Consistency has not only gone up, but finally some proper guidelines are being put into place about turn structure and copying attacks and stuff. This is the opposite of the WotC approach, which issued errata and rulings for each problem individually

As for cards like Ditto and Suicune: THE GAME IS BETTER BECAUSE THEY EXIST. Sure, there's loads of confusing rulings etc. etc. But when you opened a Ditto in a Fossil booster, you knew exactly why the card was like that. And because the game can accomodate cards like Ditto, it is a deeper and richer game

M:TG has lots of lots cards specifically designed to be 'clever' like this, and Pokémon should definitely have more.

Old-style babies were too powerful

Seriously, they should have done what I would have done was just make Baby's Basics and their Evolutions Stage 1 cards. Yes, I mean a Stage 1 Jynx, Electabuzz, Pikachu, etc. That way you get the choice of either a quick, Basic Electabuzz or a slower, more powerful Stage 1 Electabuzz.

I'm not fussed either way TBH - I don't play. But some of the babies were broken. *Cleffa*


I do not understand the logic of not playing because WotC no longer runs things. I mean you are entitled to your opinion and all, but the game is huge right now.

Huge it may be, but it's more of an issue of preference of how it's being run. It's the little things, mostly. I reckon that if Wizards still ran the game, the EX series would have been split up into block sets, we'd have reprint sets, among other little things. Seriously, the reprint sets make a big difference for me and tournament play.

Splitting sets into blocks a la M:TG is an obvious improvement which really should be done. At the moment, the sets have a random and very weak story line which is supposed to make them hang together. The only decent thing I've seen of late is the introduction of the Delta Pokémon.

The game itself is more complicated than the early days and in my opinion requires much more skill to
be truly good.

Bloated it more like it. I still have issues with Pokémon-ex's and I'm sure Lv.X don't help much about my opinion. I feel that the design staff were incapable of putting on their thinking caps and just had to invent something COOOOOOL just to keep people buying and playing.

No way! Actually, I had the first reaction to the Pokémon-ex as you did. But they really do seem to add strategic depth to the game. Also, there is power-creep in the cards in some respects, but not in others. PCL have really made the formats more diverse (see the Nats 2007 threads to see how many viable decks there are), so they are doing something right.

They different types of cards might by gimmicky, but so far they've all be handled really well, and even bizarre things like Shining Pokémon/Pokémon-star are widely accepted by all.

The encouraging thing about DP2 (I forget the English name ATM) is that the cards are getting more clever in a new direction. Some cards let you do something on your opponents turn, for instance. The more of this type of thing, the better.

Don't get me wrong. POP is doing a good job with the game, if Wizards' isn't running it, I'm glad that it's in other good hands. However, I'm really just bit of a Wizards' apologist than anything else.

They've done some good stuff, and their contributions should not be forgotten. But I do think that the game is in a lot better hands with PUI then with WotC.

As for reprint sets, was PK not considered one?

 

[PokePop]

IF there were any ruling inconsistances, I would put that blame squarely on Japan for inventing really idiotic cards. Fossil Ditto is a nightmare, and then there's Suicune, but that's no fault of Wizards, now is it?

Ditto took time to get a handle on, but it was a fun ride along the way. :lol:

The whole Suicune fiasco, however, falls squarely on the shoulders of WotC. I like the MTs quite a bit, but they were Magic TCG'ers through and through. They had to structure everything in the Pokemon game through the Magic lens in their mind. The effect Suicune had was nothing new. It was Agility under a different name. However, they had this "the must be one and only one Target" mentality that led them to make that Suicune ruling that caused a month or so of chaos in the game.
Every single member of TC and quite a bit of the playing community knew that it was going to be a huge mess from the instant they made the ruling. It took a directive from Japan to get it changed back. But it never should have happened in the first place.

Was Japan blameless in all rulings issues? Not at all. They have a habit of having unpublished "meta-rules" that people are just supposed to know about.
We just went though a major ruling issue with Skill Hack because of just that kind of unstated "understanding".

So, yes, there are issues with information coming from Japan, but Suicune is a bad example of that.

 

[badganondorf]

I have played this game since it came to my country(1 year after U.S: I think) and I'm quite sure that POP is doing soo much better work on this game than WoTC. Selling cards was easier to WoTC because there was a Pokemon "boom" in almost every country. And so all kids who knew pokemon wanted to buy all the pokemon stuff, including the cards. Just because it was pokemon.

But nowadays Nintendo has to work way harder than WoTC years ago to keep this game popular. And they have succeeded in it very well. I agree to the previous post which said that Pokemon was a "warm up game" for MTG. And the elimination of the 15+ age group was just plain stupid. They just tryed to kill the game right there.

POP/PUI/Nintendo has revived this game and I'm more than glad that I can play this game in big groups, in big tournaments and with big Spirit Of The Game. Pokemon has become an ever green product and I hope that Nintendo will develop the trading card section even more(as they will), I'm sure about it. I'm more than happy to see POP in the place of the WoTC.

I love this game as it is.

 

[Poliwag92]

Wizards also had their own game stores across the country where there was leagues and tournaments monthly for Pokemon.

League was also spread across the country. A store employee would do the job of what a LL does now. Sure, they weren't good at it at first but as the weeks went on league at your local Zainy Brainy became a fun weeknight activity. Nowadays you have to go on the site and sign up and be skilled in Pokemon.

I used to have 2 leagues within 5 minutes of me. Now my closet league is 1/2 hour away which makes it hard to fit in during the weekday.

POP/PUI is better than WotC because they have POKEMON in their NAME. Their number one concern is POKEMON! Not Magic, not heroclix, not whatever the heck Wizards makes.

Wizards stepped up and developed the card game outside of Japan. No one else was big at that time cause Wizards was CCG's. They would put themselves out of buisness with PR's, Proffessor swag, etc. They had to worry about their other CCG's too. Now that POP/PUI took over they have a much larger budget to give all these player benefits. And as stated before, Wizards didn't need to break the bank for Pokemon it was a fad to just open a pack. Now PUI needs to spend money in order to hook the new generation into the game.

Since something happened around 2001 that made Pokemon "uncool" you have to impress the newer players that the game is fun and exciting. I.E Worlds, Nationals, Regionals, PR's.

WotC MT's > PUI MT's.

 

[SD PokeMom]

WotC MT's > PUI MT's.

having dealt personally with both, i have to most respectfully disagree. POP takes _excellent_ care of their chosen staff; ask anyone who staffed both at worlds '02 and any worlds or US nationals since then how it compares...

'mom

 

[EternalFire]

League was also spread across the country. A store employee would do the job of what a LL does now. Sure, they weren't good at it at first but as the weeks went on league at your local Zainy Brainy became a fun weeknight activity. Nowadays you have to go on the site and sign up and be skilled in Pokemon.

Easy money/greedy store owners via the fad days also influenced many leagues around me back then. There used to be maybe 8-10 back when I first started in 2000 and couldn't decide which ones to go to. Now there's only 2 left in the entire NYC area which I still find sad to this day. I attend one and LL the other for those who wonder.

I used to have 2 leagues within 5 minutes of me. Now my closet league is 1/2 hour away which makes it hard to fit in during the weekday.

I travel an hour and a half almost every other weekend for league. No more complaining.

If it wasn't for Peter and I starting a league up in Brooklyn, there would still only be one league in the entire NYC area. Even then that league was about die out back in October 06 with the LL leaving and unable to maintain the old playing space. If there was no substitute found before the time came around, there would be no leagues at all and Pokemon TCG would be dead in most of NY. I still can't believe how close it came to that. -_-

--

Everything about the game and the way I see it now is what I always envisioned it to be. Free from the "fad-ers" who only wanted to make money off this game and not play at all or play dirty (cheating by kids was common near me at the time). Competiton improved 150% when the vast amount of premier events came with POP and I only hope they can come up with something for the month of July (aside from Nats since not everyone goes there every year) so that there's something to do all year round.

Wizards had it's chance but screwed it up with me when the 15+ was gone. I know it couldn't have been a directive from PCL. Wizards knew the game was losing it's fad status and tried to take advantage while they were still holding on to many of the people who hadn't quit the fad stage yet. I lost many a friend to Magic who wish they hadn't quit Pokemon when they came back.

I sometimes still wish the old MT's had come along to POP so we could enjoy more of the wacky chats. I do miss those.

PUI/POP supporter here 110%

 

[Pkmnrulz240]

I do not understand the logic of not playing because WotC no longer runs things. I mean you are entitled to your opinion and all, but the game is huge right now. I would venture to say it is:

- more accessible around the country...not just focused around games stores and hobby shops

- the tournament scene is simply more...more real players, more diversity of decks, free premier
tournaments.

- The game itself is more complicated than the early days and in my opinion requires much more skill to
be truly good.

If you claim to be a true fan then you should be happy the game is actually under the control of the folks who make the game and want the game to be successful on its own.

While I can't argue your second and third points (Because I agree with the second, and haven't followed the game close enough to know about individual cards in the more recent sets.), I can't say the first holds true for my area. Years ago, under WOTC, there was an abundance of Pokémon leagues near me. Today, there is but one in 50 miles of my location, a rather urban area. And that one is not one that I would care to attend (Not the greatest part of town.), and only has 8 members anyways. And I'm sure it was no coincidence that all of these league closings happened right around the time of the rejected license renewal deal with WOTC. :nonono:

A short drive from me, there was a league with 1400 registered members, and 700 active members. That shut down right after the license wasn't renewed. :nonono:

I no longer see cards for sale at any shops around me anymore. It's only the blisters at Wal-Mart and other stores like that. Never see individual boosters. PUI killed the game around here. Might have helped it thrive elsewhere, but it killed it in my area.

 

[EternalFire]

I find it funny some think that the WOTC license drop was the main reason for leagues dissapearing. I find the cause to be that stores had never heard of PUI/POP and thought that anything not Wizards or UD related means "There's no $ to be had, so there's no need for this crap anymore."* and they dropped the support for the game.

The nail in the coffin came with Yu-gi-oh and it's fad startup. They kicked many a pokemon league off the schedule because they said "Look, this is gonna make some us some real money!"*

I've dealt with many a store while trying to find new locations for a league last year and they mostly have a $ over everything attitude that stunts growth of our game. If they only took the time to examine the game in close detail (premier events, prereleases, player base ) it wouldn't be as bad as it is now.

*Yes these quotes were from a store which will remain nameless. Funny part is I ended up buying all of their "crap"# for under $100 which completed my collection of cards pre SS.

# Many unsold sealed boxes of cards (10), loads of Holos and RH's (400-500) and rare promos.

 

[Nintenfreak]

I do not understand the logic of not playing because WotC no longer runs things. I mean you are entitled to your opinion and all, but the game is huge right now. I would venture to say it is:

- more accessible around the country...not just focused around games stores and hobby shops

I'll argue that that's not entirely true, either. Under Wizards, the closest league was a city away. Now It's 83 miles away. I'm sure in more densely populated areas, the game must be gold right now.

 

[PokePop]

Three words:
Start... a... League.

 

[bulbasnore]

Meh we've tried but can't find a store that will let us.

Another improvement over Wizards, where you had to be, not just a store, be a PREMIERE store to run a league... regular joes like you and me can run a league at a library, local club or church, classroom or local eatery as well as a store. I encourage you to try again!

The large Pokemon events run by WOTC that I was a part of were a joke from a judging perspective.

You said it Vince. Random, careless, and frequent judging errors with occasional arrogance at many large events. The DCI crews and the temp people hired to help as _judges_ often did not know or care to know the PKMN rulings.

We all have suggestions for the current program of judge certification. PUI is working on something for it (I don't know anything). But really, events are much better judged.

I honestly believe that if Wizards of the Coast was allowed free reign with the game, without interference, then we probably would have had the system we have now. ...

Nick - speaking directly to your comment there, I say you would have a minor feeder line for MtG in 2007 if WotC were still in charge... except for the fact that the people in their company (not Japan) basically wanted PKMN to die.

As to the rest:

- After months of blaming it SQUARELY on Japan, MTM's post on March 20th, 2003 in the thread "The Flood has begun?" reveals the truth -- all Wizards idea to ax 15+. I'm not down on the old MTs -- they did try to look out for they players, but they also were good employees and promulgated the corporate 'misinformation' forcefully and repeatedly.
- Better leagues - nearly every thing PUI did early had some issues. Not everything they try is smooth now. However, they never quit trying to improve the PKMN franchise, including league, and improve everything they have! Better leagues, yah, if you were a Harry Potter fan. I remember the Pokemon leagues overwhelmingly losing their times and spaces in WoTC controlled stores, and the promotion of HP and lack of info on PKMN league at every other venue! Better leagues. Oh, and we don't have to be a premier store to have them now... (ours is in a HS classroom).
- Better cards? I'll leave that debate to others with deeper knowledge or finer sensibilities. There have been some notable gaffs that I'm getting too drowsee to discuss, but no intentional mistranslations **coughslowkingcough**. What I would like to say about ex, LV.X and the digi-mecha-blobs of late, beyond taste, is 'change is hard'! Isn't that it for some? Is it bad change? Bad changes can be discovered by their broad adverse affects... some don't care for these chanages, and without minimizing their opinion, most do not have a problem with them. Couple that with the demonstrable growth and I say, 'good change'.

BTW, thanks for jumping into this topic Nick!

PKMN President: What do you want us to do?
WotC Management: Die. Die.
-- Independence Day, August 2003

 

[Nick15]

'Mom
suddenly they were posting that it was wotc's choice to eliminate 15+

Aw well. This is all in the past now, so no need to reinvent the wheel with this.

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dogma
This is the opposite of the WotC approach, which issued errata and rulings for each problem individually

I chalk that up to just different methods; one cook stirs clockwise while another stirs counterclockwise.


The only decent thing I've seen of late is the introduction of the Delta Pokémon.

Changing types, I presume, helped spread out the type misbalance? I knew something was up ever since Jungle when there were a ton go Grass types and only one Psychic.

Type balance is really rooted in the video game itself. Curse you Nintendo for making another Fire/Fighting starter when we really want to see a, say, Fire/Water Pokémon!


But they really do seem to add strategic depth to the game.

One of the things that buged me about Magic (bear with me) is how they create new abilities and then artificially bloat up the set with cards that counteract those abilities. A Magic set really isn't 360 cards of usefulness, it's maybe 100 original cards and 260 cards they toss into the set just to pad it up.

Fortunately this didn't happen much with Baby Pokémon. But with Pokémon-ex, it was as if there was a creative-staff meeting where it was asked "OK, we need to have 150 cards for this set, but we really only have 75. Anyone have any ideas?" to which the response was "let's create a new kind of Pokémon and then 75 cards that counter them!"

I still strongly believe that the game, at least strategically, could have remained strong without all the extra junk they've added, and keeping the most powerful Pokémon still at 120 HP.


As for reprint sets, was PK not considered one?

Uhm, from what I've seen of it, not really. Reprint set means 100% not-new cards, which are namely from sets that have been rotated out from Modified.

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I'll get to the rest later.