Talk about a huge competitive advantage for those outside Japan.
Would You Prefer The Same Sets as Japan, and Why?
- Thread starter DonphanAtoZ
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Talk about a huge competitive advantage for those outside Japan.
DonphanAtoZ
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Not really, considering the Japanese won two divisions last season.
It doesn't matter if they won all divisions or none, playing all year in a certain format then having to change to a different format for the championship means that they are at a disadvantage.
If you were to play with the same deck all season long, make nationals, and then take that deck to nationals, you would have a competitive advantage over a Japanese player who played all season long with a Lost World/Gengar Prime deck, made nationals, then had to switch decks because Pokemon USA decided to not print a few cards.
On top of that, you also have the Japanese players playing in a completely different metagame than the US players. I understand that different regions can and will have different BDIFs, but to not even have the same card base does not allow for the same metagame to develop in all locations.
baby mario
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Japan has always had a different format. They get sets way ahead of everyone else, as well as promos that don't always get released in other countries.
Their tournaments have a completely different structure as well.
Japan actually had Gengar Prime/Lost World since April 2010. In other words they had been playing Lost World for a while before this year's Worlds and still managed to adapt to a format without it.
Their tournaments have a completely different structure as well.
Japan actually had Gengar Prime/Lost World since April 2010. In other words they had been playing Lost World for a while before this year's Worlds and still managed to adapt to a format without it.
Right, they "managed" to adapt. I'm not saying they are going to lose, I'm saying they are a step behind. The best players in a TCG can be told to play Deck XYZ, get instructions on how to play certain matchups, and then go out and win big tournaments.
I'm an outsider coming in and it just seems like the Pokemon TCG is being marketed in the US as a collectible/kid impulse buy at Wal-Mart instead of an actual game. Maybe that's the same way as Japan, I don't know. I just feel the game would be taken more seriously if everyone was on the same playing field. You wouldn't have this situation playing MTG (note - I'm not saying it's a better game, just noting the differences).
I'm an outsider coming in and it just seems like the Pokemon TCG is being marketed in the US as a collectible/kid impulse buy at Wal-Mart instead of an actual game. Maybe that's the same way as Japan, I don't know. I just feel the game would be taken more seriously if everyone was on the same playing field. You wouldn't have this situation playing MTG (note - I'm not saying it's a better game, just noting the differences).
charcharchar
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Okay, how is Magic released in other countries?
I ask out of pure curiosity.
And I would enjoy a release schedule like the one in Korea. Small sets every month would allow you to choose which sets to but based on what cards you were looking for.
baby mario
Front Page Article Editor<br><a href="http://pokeg
I'm not saying that JPN players aren't at a disadvantage . . . they are.
Worlds is a weird meta though. Nothing like any other tournament. It's hard to explain unless you have been there, but everyone has to try and adapt to playing against decks and lists that are way outside what they would usually expect in their area, or even in their country.
I dunno about being taken seriously. Pokemon players take the game seriously. That's all that matters. No-one outside of the TCG world cares about any of these things anyway. And there's a LOT of profit in collectors and impulse buyers.
Worlds is a weird meta though. Nothing like any other tournament. It's hard to explain unless you have been there, but everyone has to try and adapt to playing against decks and lists that are way outside what they would usually expect in their area, or even in their country.
I dunno about being taken seriously. Pokemon players take the game seriously. That's all that matters. No-one outside of the TCG world cares about any of these things anyway. And there's a LOT of profit in collectors and impulse buyers.
Everything is released at the same time. The newest set just came out and you can buy Japanese, English, or Chinese cards on Ebay for that set (boxes/boosters/singles).
---------- Post added 10/22/2010 at 12:55 PM ----------
I think you hit the nail on the head - much more profit for Pokemon to be a collectible!
Pokemon doesn't release detailed sales data, however the independent data that does exist as well as comments made by Pokemon (and before them, WotC) employees indicate that the bulk of their sales are by younger kids in impulse buys.
While Pokemon Organized Play does a great job in providing the series of events that they do, much beyond what WotC did on a regular basis, their marketing department doesn't see the gaming market as that much of an influence on their sales.
On the contrary, Video Game releases seem to have a more important impact. When D&P was released for the DS, card game sales shot up as well, even before the D&P sets were released.
And Tournament Organizers saw a huge influx of new Junior and returning SR and MR players coming to the game at that time.
Right now, most of those JRs have aged up to Srs, so we're seeing a low amount of JRs at the moment, but I won't be surprised if we see a new surge again this spring and summer as B&W introduce a new generation of Pokemon characters!
Does that mean that the B&W sets will be great, game play wise?
In all probability, it won't matter if they are great or not. We're still going to see a jump in the player base.
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