Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Through the Eyes of the Casual Player

1999:
Pokemon was "cool" and pretty much all the other kids were into it too. I wanted to get into it, but
my mom wouldn't let me since she thought it was just a fad. Eventually some kid gave me a 1st
edition jungle Pikachu and my mom decided to let me start collecting the cards. So I got a bunch of
cards and started playing at my local Toys R Us league. I also got the Pokemon Red game for my
GBC.

2000-2001:
More sets started to come out and I was ecstatic about the 100 new pokemon coming in Gold and
Silver. Lugia became my favorite pokemon when I saw a friend's japanese Lugia card. Pokemon the
Movie 2000 probably had something to do with it too. Lugia remains my favorite pokemon to this
day(I have a level 138 runescape character named lugia0013). I had tried to play in a tournament
at my local movie theater, but I ended up crying because I got eliminated early. Upon getting my
copy of Pokemon Silver, I played for hours on end to get to Lugia like, the next day. When Neo
Genesis came out, I had saved up to buy 7 packs. Among the cards I pulled, was a 1st Edition
Lugia. I couldn't believe it, I'd pulled my dream card. My dad also bought me a whole box of
Gym Challenge somewhere in here which really boosted my collection. As more Neo sets came out,
my collection grew and grew.

2002:
By this point, my local Toys R Us had stopped running league so I played at a game keeper store
about 20 miles away. I was also able to run a fairly competitive Haymaker/Wigglytuff deck.
Expedition comes out and I get the E-Reader along with some of the new cards.

2003:
Aquapolis comes out and I used my saved up money to buy 2 BOXES of it. This really helped
me to be able to make half decent decks for Aquapolis and Skyridge Super Battlezones at my nearest
Wizards of the Coast store. Ruby and Sapphire also came out, and I was happy with the 135 new
Pokemon. Later on in the year, Sandstorm and Dragon come out, and I really start to like the prereleases.

2004:
My best year of pokemon by far, I try my hand at some tournaments and win the 11-14 Rockville,
MD CC with an Aggron EX/Wailord/Furret deck. As Magma/Aqua came out, I started to amass the
cards I needed to build a Blaziken Deck, truely the dominant deck of the time. With my Blaziken
deck I did well in many tournaments including winning the 11-14 MD State Championship, and
also winning the 11-14 Rockville, MD Gym Challenge. My pokemon won me a trip to DisneyWorld
to play at Worlds 04 :eek:. I also play in Nationals 04, which was an epic fail in terms of being run.
All the State Champion double byes and later people dropping really clogged the system. I went 6-0,
and was eliminated in T16, which caused me to cry, mostly due to the incredibly long day. At Worlds
04, I went 5-2 I think, and was then eliminated in T32 by some Gorebyss/Water/Ditto deck
specifically designed to beat Blaziken. The sad part, is I had beaten that same guy in swiss.
The year ended by me turning 15 and therefore moving up to the serious age group, and preparing
for a new tournament season.

2005-2007:
I remained a fairly decent player in the MD/VA/PA/DE area usually winning at least 1 CC a year,
however, the competition of the 15+ was just too much for my limited budget netdecking to do
really well. I did have a few good events though like 2nd at DE States after making T8 cut on a
3-3 swiss record, and T8 and T16 at two different Mid Atlantic regionals. Nationals 07 was
the last serious tournament I ever played in, went 5-3 with Infercatty, not enough for T32.
End of 2007 saw me getting a job at my local bowling alley which required me to work every
Saturday. Since I go to church on Sundays, I had to give up playing Pokemon.

2008-2009:
Nothing new until October 2008 when I moved from Maryland to Utah. I thought I could get back
into the game, I even had my dad send a bunch of my Pokemon supplies from MD to UT, and PMed
Superwooper, a friend from VA for advice about building competitive decks again. Unfortunately
the job I got in UT also required Saturday work, plus I ended up crashing my car into a road sign
in Salt Lake putting it in the shop for a month. Was fired from that job, but at that point, I figured it
was too late in the season for me to bother trying. I probably won't try to get stuff ready for 09-10
either considering my plans to serve as an LDS Missionary for 2 years. The Pokemon TCG will
always hold a special place in my heart though, and I might just try to make a comeback in like
2012 or so as a return missionary ;/.
 
Last edited:
This is my story (yeah, short...) of how I became a player.

A few years ago, I went to choir classes. I was the only one not showing each other these strange cards with monsters on them. I remember one of my classmates showing me his cards (which weren't in a binder, just a huge pile of them) and when I saw Chikorita, I got instantly hooked.:lol:

After my choir classes, I decided to go to my local toy store to buy a pack of these cards. The most recent set by then was EX: Sandstorm, so I decided to get one of those. I remember getting a reverse holographic Shiftry (with Light Touch).

Later I decided to get one of the Pokémon - Play It! theme decks (with CD-R and all.) I popped the disc into my old Windows 97 and chose the tutorial mode. I thought that the game's concept was amazingly fun.
I bought more and more, and suddenly I got a good collection. I bought a few theme decks and started building on the Swampert theme deck from EX: Ruby and Sapphire.

Right about then, I took a one-year break from Pokémon and started playing Yu-Gi-Oh! instead.

When Pokémon Diamond and Pearl came out, I thought to myself "Hey, this seems fun!" and bought the Empoleon Starter Deck. When I did a little more research, I found the Pokémon Leauge (which, luckily, was only 200 meters away from where I live) where I started playing.

My first Premier Event was a Battle Road Autumn (which, of course, I miserably failed, placing 9 out of 13). After that, I found the Prereleases. I went to the Stormfront one, and placed first in Theme Deck.
I also went to the Platinum one, tried Booster, and got one win, one loss, and one bye.

That's the story 'till now.

Hana-, signing out~
 
My Story

Hey, I'm Stoc15, and this is my story.

Awkward Beginnings
I started out back in late April 09, a month and a half before 09-10 modified format was released this month, and I wasn't that good. I made tons of friends, but I needed a tutorial to brush up due to the horrible help that the flash demo gives. I have a huge collection, but this was a whole new start for me. By the way, I play at Batter Up, in Tewksberry, Massachusetts. Anyway, this kind dude named Gary who is the husband of our only female professor who runs the place gave a little theme deck they devised just to battle him, due to the fact I already had a deck. It was updated to Platinum, but it was horrible. But that's just my opinion on the deck I made. Anyway, he said I did good for someone who needed to brush up, and sent me to play my first two matches.

The Big Move-Up
I had improved a ton by RR prelease, which I went to and did an ok job. I lost all but one match, which I won due to forfeit. The deck focused on :water: and :grass: Pokemon, and I actually owned in this one match with a sick Glaceon RR combo. The combo will be dictated in the decklist for my current deck, Rising Floods, which is ok when you get the combos running up to speed. Anyway, I had improved so much that I had my first win at the next league, in which I discovered that although Flygon Lv X is probably the best Pokemon in RR, the sick Kecleon RR + Lake Boundrary combo is probably one of the best in the game at its best.

To Where I am Now
I am currently working on my second deck, Poisonous Envy, which will be a Poison/Psychic (not much)/Grass deck which a pro said was incredibly good at the moment. It has some good combos, and can counter Unknown G, which rocks. Two tournaments are going on in the summer, and there good practice for Supreme Victors, which on Christmas, will be my holy day. Gonna get the six tins, with six Level Xs. Sweet. The tournaments are free, and I hope to see many people on the Pokegym come on down for a sick battle. Poisonous Envy will probably do very well, and I hope to do good in possibly the Fall Battle Roads. Well, thatt's my story so far, and I hope you liked it. Well, see you at the tournaments (hopefully).

-Stoc15, out.
 
It was a hot summer day when I thought "Hey, It'd be cool to learn how to play Pokemon TCG." So that very day i researched how to play Pokemon TCG.

I built two pretty lame decks for me and my dad. I taught him how to play and I won. I was so happy. I wanted to grow stronger and so my mom said "I think so and so knows how to play Pokemon TCG." So I called him and guess what, he knew how to play.

He gave me a Regigas lvl X card which I will always remember . We played a couple matches. HE TOTALLY SLAUGHTERED ME. So I said " Have you played in any tournaments?" And he said "Yeah, I got 5th in state." So then we have become friendly rivals. We have been battling fiercely and he is leading the series like 6-2 or something like that. I have not been to any leagues so I am going to one this Saturday. I am trying to create the best dark deck ever.

My story is not complete or as long as most others, It is only one week old. :) But my story will grow and become a winning one. :D

Peace out Homedog
 
Last edited:
A long time ago in a city far far away..........

Poke Wars!! Episode 1 The Love of Pokemon

This story starts off in my room, watching my first episode of Pokemon ever. I was hooked right away. After that I saw a comercial for the Pokemon Trading Card Game and the starter decks. I had to get them right away. So, that same week I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a starter deck. Soon as I got home I ripped of the plastic and opened the box. I wanted to learn right away how to play the game so I read the rulebook. I looked at the cards and was amazed at how cool the artwork was.

There were a couple of problems starting off. I couldn't find anyone to play the game with me!! I am the oldest out of 6 kids in the house, and I was 19 at the time. I started to think that it wouldn't be cool if a grown up played Pokemon. My brothers and sisters thought they were cooler by not playing and could not understand why I played. I thought I was alone.

The next week I went down to the main library to look for Pokemon Leagues on the computer. As I searched I found the only one that was in my area, but there was one problem... IT WAS IN A DIFFERENT CITY!! The next week I tried to find a way to get to the store so I could actually play some people. My parents didn't know about my obsession with the game yet, so they couldn't take me. So, I took the city bus as far as it would take me out of the city, then I started walking. From the directions I got from the computer I was headed in the right direction, so I kept walking.... Past the mall.... different shops..... restraunts.... FINALLY!! I found it!! after about an hour of walking my serch was over. I finally get there and see that it is at the back of the shopping center, so it really was hard to find. I walked inside kind of tired from the walk, and asked the guy behind the glass card counter about Pokemon League. He told me that they play on sundays from 12-4pm. After that I took a look around, as this was my first time in a card shop! I saw all kinds of card games, video game systems,strategy games etc.. Of course there was one problem.... I HAD TO WALK ALL THE WAY BACK!! So I got back home safe and prepared my self to play next week at the store.

Episode 2 Playing at Underground Games

Well, it didn't take me as long to get to the store like it did the last time, but it was still a long walk. My egerness to play overshadowed my tiredness from walking as I aproached the store. I walk in realizing that I was 30 minutes late. I asked the guy behind the counter where are they holding the League and he tells me to go strait back to the tables "you can't miss them". So I finally get back there and I meet the Gym Leader. She seemed like a nice lady with glasses and the face of a mom. Of course I had sooo many questions to ask her. After getting my questions answered I played my first game. I was still a little shaky on the rules of the game from teaching myself at home, but I caught on quick. They told me about the Point system and how to earn prizes by points. Also if I played the leader I would get more points. Even though I was new to the game I wanted to challenge the Gym Leader. I lost horribly and wanted to get better.

Over the next couple of weeks I brought more cards and each week I got better. I even beat the Leader a couple of times!! Then it became time for the tournaments. I found out that our store was big on pokemon and that they held big tournaments. I played in my first City Championship ever. At first I thought that all the people playing had to be from Charlotte to play in the tournament. I was wrong. Most of the people were from out of town. They came from Ralieah, Greensbro, even some from South Carolina!! So I was getting that tournament feeling like I had home feild advantage and I wasn't going to let someone from out of town win my city's championship.

I lost badly. Those players were in a different league altogether!! They played with cards and combos I never seen before!! I was furious!! After the tourney I talked to the head judge in charge. (This was the first time I met Jeff) I asked him about how the tournament worked, and how could someone from another city win this city's trophy. He said that the tournament is open to anyone, so anyone could win. After that I was fixed on winning the next big event. I trained for weeks and weeks, getting more cards and tweeking decks. After that I NEVER lost another game at League.

When the next big tourney came around, I thought I was ready.... I was wrong again!! I don't know what I was doing wrong!! Mabee I wasn't playing good players, mabee I wasn't using the right cards. I couldn't figure it out. I found out that our Gym Leader didn't like Jeff, the PTO at the time. I don't know what the arguing was about at the time, but it was tearing the store apart. One sunday after leauge our Leader pulls me to the side and says. "Next week, I am moving to New York. I want you to take over the League. You are the strongest player, and over 18" I could not believe it!! I knew nothting about running Pokemon Leauge. She said that I would be ok, and that the store owner Jason would help me. She then told me that I had to take some test online to become official, but in the meantime, just do what you can and be nice to the kids that come to play here. So with that, I've become a Gym Leader.

Episode 3 The Rise of Yu-gi-oh

Over the next few weeks I held League on sundays. Watching the kids, giving them points and awarding badges. Little did I know that there was another game on the rise in the store. The kids called it Yu-gi-oh. They had big tournaments every sunday, starting at 2pm, which caused problems for Pokemon Leauge since there was so many people. Some sundays we couldn't play because there wasn't enough room, and they needed the tables for the big tourneys. Yu-gi-oh players started asking me if I had any cards. I told them no. I play Pokemon. They said that Pokemon was dead. It was dieing out, I just didn't want to believe them. Then there was the fact that I couldn't pass that blasted test. I still haven't past that test till this day!!

Over the next couple of weeks, I decided that I was going play Yu-gi-oh and see what all the hype was about. I was still playing Pokemon and still in charge of League, so I thought I could play 2 games. I was wrong. Since they were getting so many people, Jason moved the time of their tournaments to 12. Right when we had leauge. I was loosing players to Yu-gi-oh and some players stopped comming all together. So I stopped playing Pokemon for a while. Over the years I was playing Yu-gi-oh I at least brought my Pokemon cards with me, hopeing that someone would play with me, hopeing to spark some intrest back into the game.

I quickly became a good Yu-gi-oh player, winning tournaments every other sunday earning me the the name The People's Champion. I loved it. There was so much competition that I soaked it up like a sponge. The tough players made me tougher. This is what was lacking with pokemon. I never had any compitition. Every once in a while Jeff would bring Pokemon Tournaments to the store because of the big space capacity the store could fill. I was happy that I could play again, but mad because I had no clue what people were playing at the time.

Episode 4 Pokemon: a small glimmer of hope

I decided that the next time that Jeff came to town I would ask him what I could do to get Pokemon going at the store again. So I did. He helped me out alot. He got me some League supplies and told me what I needed to do to keep the League going. He also took me under his wing as a floor judge for a while. Whenever he would come to Charlotte, I would help him with the Tournaments. I was learning more and more about the rulelings and what was being played. I also got plenty of perks for helping him.

I started to find out about other Pokemonn tournaments around NC, and SC, and participated in some of them, hopeing to gain some form of glory, like the glory I gained from Yu-gi-oh. I had no sucess. I traveled from city to city comming close to topping, but no cigar. One weekend while I was at a Gym Challange tournament the store was robbed and had to close it's doors. When I came back I was shocked!! I was planning on doing Leauge that Sunday and telling them about my tournament experience. I didn't know what to do!! I didn't have anyone's number, and I didn't know how to contact Jeff to tell him what happend. I remember that there was supposed to be a City Championship comming up in a couple of weeks and I was furious that this happend.

I had to stop playing games altogether, as there was no place to play for months. Then In January I found out from the Internet that Underground Games was getting a new store. I was happy once again. I had missed the grand opening the week before and when I got there the manager in charge said that during the opening some people asked about me doing Pokemon again. I said I would love to do it again. They were glad to have me back. Throughout the beginning weeks I started to work on getting the League back up. I also got in touch with Jeff and tried to get tournaments and support at the new store. I could tell he was furious about what had happend with the store and with me not contacting him until now. He had chose another store to support, as he could only support a certain number of stores. The only thing I could do was try to get Leauge going by myself. I had no clue about how to get Prereleases at the store and everything I tried fell apart quickly.I started to play some Yu-gi-oh again, hopeing that would ease the pain while I struggled with Pokemon.

Episode 5: The Present day

I don't know how it happend, but somehow back in December of last year the store was able to get a City Championship tournament. I could not belive it!! The owner asked me was I going to play, I told him that he dosen't even have to ask me that question. So I had 2 weeks to prepare for it. I looked at all of my old cards and searched the internet for answers on what was leagal to play in tournaments. The tournament also sparked my intrest to get the League going again. So I applied to become a Leader once again and... Sucsess!! I was now a Leauge Leader again and was preparing for the big tournament. I told the store owner that I was going to make a big anouncement at the tourney about the Pokemon League, hopeing to get some people to come and play again.

So It's the day of the tourney and I get to the store and there is a big line outside of the store!! I am thinking oh my freakin god!! what the duce is going on!! I quickly find out that the store hasn't opened up yet. The owner was taking his sweet time to get there. I felt horrible. All these players standing outside. Jeff had set up a table outside and started to to do deck checks. He asked me who was opening up the store and where were they. I told him I wish I knew where they were. Some of my Yu-gi-oh friends started to show up and was shocked at the sight of all the Pokemon Players. I actually got 2 of them to play in the tournament by letting them use some of my cards. Finally, the Owner shows up and opens the door. I felt really bad so I asked Jeff if he needed any help. He was furious again. He said he had his own staff and that he didn't need my help. I was hurt and I was mad, but I didn't let it show on my face.

I entered the store and met up with some of my poke friends that I used to play with back in the day. I traded and played a game while Jeff's staff setup the tournament. Before the tournament starts I talk to Jeff about making my anouncement and he said it was ok. So after his anouncenents I made my speech about the Charlotte Pokemon League. I felt like it was a sucess. I ended up going 3-2 on the day playing with my Empoleon/Amphy deck which I got some good comments about.

During the raffle one of my Yu-gi-oh friends that I got to play, won the grand prize the Best Buy gift card and I was happy for him. During the end of the tournament some players talked to me about what day and time Pokemon Leauge was on and my face just lit up. Somehow Jeff ended up loosing one of his markers from his board. He was furious again. I wanted to laugh so hard, but I couldn't because he told me to look for it. At the end of the day it was a good tourney. I met some new friends, got some new League members, good comments about my deck, some traiding and getting my Yu-gi-oh friends to appretiate the game of pokemon.

After that things were going good. I had some League members and I was traveling to tournaments again untill recently right after I came back from the Rising Rivals Prerelease. I went to the store to do Leauge and....... IT WAS CLOSED AGAIN!! I was sooo furious. I had actually brought my friend Zack to play in Leauge that Saturday. He was Laughing histerically! I was like, WHAT THE FREAKIN DUCE MAN!! This can't be happining again!! I had found out that day that the Owner didn't pay the rent, so they shut the store down. Everything that I worked for was gone. I didn't know what to do about League.

So when I got home I went on Poke Gym and found out that some of my friends sent me PM's about the store closing. They were consoling me and telling me about other places to set up League. I was wondering how they found out about it before me, and why was I so clueless up untill that point. During the next week I started looking into places where I could hold league. One of my good friends Vanderbelt Grad recomended Games HQ. They had a leauge already, but they weren't into the tournaments yet. Every other place I checked didn't sell Pokemon Cards. I knew right away that it would be much harder to start at a place from scratch then to go to an existing Leauge.

So now the Leauge is at Games HQ. I have been there for almost a month now and I am fitting in nicely. They are friendly people who haven't been tarnished by the competitive side of pokemon. I have been useing my experience to teach them about the rules and tournaments that go on in the pokemon community. Some of them want to compete competitively and want some of the cool stuff like the Prerelease sleeves and the badges that I have.

I am currently working with them to get Prereleases there, and helping the players at leauge every Saturday. What's going happen next at Games HQ? Will Amphy#1 be sucessfull in getting a prerelease at the store? Will the players of Games HQ finally be able to compete in tournaments? Stay tuned to find out!!

Same Amphy#1 Time.... Same Amphy#1 Channel!!!

I did leave some stuff out, but this took soooo long to write. This is my story up untill now.

Sam.
 
Last edited:
Mah turn!

So when I was 5, I went over to a friend's house since my mom had to pick up something for my homeschooling. I ended up playing Pokemon (have no clue how) with the kid there. Later, I started to watch the show and Pokemon became just another hobby of mine.

However, I later got some Pokemon games. I became obsessed with these; while still playing the TCG. I had started in 2003, just before Dragon came out. I went to a Holon Phantoms prerelease in 2007 I believe. After this, I played Pokemon VGs competitively for a bit before switching over to Smash Bros. 64 as my main VG. However, I somehow through an unusual series of events got back into the TCG again. I started going on Pokegym just after Worlds last year, and discovered all the decks and stuff here. I saw a card that looked fun, Honchkrow SV, and decided that next year, for Fall BRs, I would build my first competitive deck; a Honchkrow SV deck. I played with many proxy lists; and one that stood out was Beedrill G. I tested for up to 8 or so hours a week on the deck; going through many variations, techs, and other things. I got my deck finally finished in April after starting it in November (after David owned me w/ Beedrill G at the Arceus PR). I went to a Spring BR and went 3-1; donking all 3 times. And then, well, I went to a League for a bit. It was unofficial, and only the LL and me were any good at the game. After a month of "This is a Pokemon, these are energies...here is a free card box...here's how to play..." tutoring from the LL and I, the kids were divided into 2 age divisions and played in a tournament. It was, of course, Unlimited, and the prize for winning was a booster pack. My friend won in the younger group with Blastgatr, and I won in the older group w/ Beedrill G (almost lost the mirror match lol). It was really great seeing everyone advancing so much (and we had a crowd of about 30+ kids at the location on the first time) and playing in an actual tournament. The LL and I became friends, and, from that, I started to go to more stuff for Pokemon. I've been to a couple of BRs and Cities this season; haven't done too well, but it didn't really matter to me. Today, I am a satisfied Beedrill G player; and probably the best player of it in the US !(OK, I doubt it, but maybe after testing for a year I could be).

Interesting stuff, here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top