@@milos7311 UNLESS you were lucky enough to draw a hand trap, making it impossible to run a deck without running the same 15 handtraps as everyone else
@mathiascs7271 While that's more or less true, power creep, the way I see it, is something that cannot realistically be avoided, for better or worse. Power creep is going to exist in any tcg people play, and a big part of the reason for why that's the case is because it encourages people to buy the new cards -- not just to keep up with whatever the current meta is at the time, but also to potentially upgrade an existing deck the person may be already playing, or simply to give more decks a better shot at being able to compete with the already established meta decks of the time. Even then, it's exciting to see new cards be revealed and speculate on how good they will become, which in turn drives people to buy cards from the newest sets, as even if a certain card/deck they are trying to build doesn't prove to necessarily be meta relevant, some players may still find it to be fun to build a new deck and test it against other players
Sets rotate out slowly, staying in standard for 3 years. If Year A has Pokémon with 100 Hp doing 80 damage, and then in Year B They start printing 120 HP that deals 100 damage to beat Year A, and then Year C has 130 Hp and deals 120 damage to beat Year B. So now Year A cards are rotating out , but if you go back to making 100 hp pokemon, they just lose to last years pokemon, so you can't just reset the numbers without making the new cards irrelevant.
Power creep aside, the meta is in an incredibly good place right now, with at least a dozen decks capable of winning tournaments, and the best decks all having a good level of complexity that makes them very fun to play.
thats in no way a good place, the "variety" of decks consists in the same 2 strategies but with slightly different main pokemon. Its like saying yugioh has a good meta because theres 20 meta decks lol
@@uwaa5768 I would say that that is disengeneous to the actual meta of ptcg rn. Top decks in the format are Regidrago (draw + self-mill), Tera Zard (catch-up), Klawf (Single prizer poison beat stick), Miraidon (rush down), Gardevoir (slow ohko bench blaster), Ancient Box (pure self-mill), Lost Zoning (investing in high draw power with decision making on what is ok to lose). There are so many decks rn that work that if you think another stage 2 deck is just another "Tera Zard," then you don't really care to read what the decks actually do.
There is already a term for the “special cards” you talk about in the video, being Rulebox cards. Named for the rulebox on each card specifying their unique mechanics, either relating to prize cards or the amount of that card you may have in your deck.
I think about what would happen if Pokemon were to do some sort of reset when it comes to hp, scaling the numbers back to how they were back around 2010 or even 2005. How would people respond to that?
@@chessplayer6632kinda but not really, Pocket not only have smaller number but most importantly much simpler effects. Cards from 2005 to 2010 had smaller numbers but more complex and in my opinion more interesting effects than the cards from today
Wouldn't be the first time: the E-Reader block was one where the game scaled back on the HP/Damage of Pokemon, and also nerfed the power of Trainer cards by debuting Supporter cards. If the game ever reaches a critical point that could be a possibility, but it's wait & see for now as at least they are making sure that no FTK options are around.
I have played both MtG and Pokemon (Admittedly way more Magic) and the biggest problem I have with the Pokemon TCG is the lack of communication between the game developers and the player. For all of WotC issues, I can read articles on bannings, things they've learned from past sets, employee interviews, and so much more. The designers are on social media and interacting with the content creators and you really feel like the people making the game care a ton about it. I know Pokemon is developed in another country, but it's always felt to me cards were just randomly spit out from this void with no rhyme or reason, and the players were just left to go "Why is the format like this?" It could 100% be a me thing, but I'm curious what others think who have played both.
If you've played Pokémon for long enough you can absolutely follow the designer's train of thought, but on that, you can also tell when a card was not thought about enough (Fezandipiti ex for example). I think the funniest case of following the designers' train of thought was during Sword & Shield when their design philosophy for about a year straight was to just print a new deck that hits the deck they made 3 months ago for weakness (Dragapult weak to Eterantus, which is weak to Urshifu, which is weak to Shadow Rider, which is weak to Umbreon, which hates Leafeon in the same set, but Leafeon loses to Mew VMAX, which came out in the next set. More communication would be nice, but then again, the players are often very inconsistent with what they want since the player base of a dedicated game like MTG is going to be different than a collector/game game like Pokémon.
@@WhimsicottTCG Saying "If you play the game long enough you can try to read the minds of the nameless, faceless developers if you want deeper insight" is wild xD Also, blaming the lack of communication on the PLAYERS being inconsistent is a crazy take.
I haven’t played much longer than right before the Battle VIP/Path rotation, but Pokémon for me is just the right speed. Not too slow, not too fast at times like my main TCG, Yugioh. I TOTALLY get the opinion of powercreep making the game more unfun since games last less turns, but I think the quality of each turn is still very high Edit: There are definitely clear exceptions where they pushed things a bit too far, but I obviously didn’t get to experience any of those beyond Mew VMax/Genesect which I did admittedly hate. Decks like ADP, prime Lugia VStar, and even Regidrago now to an extent seem like a bit much for their times, so from your WAY more experienced perspective I get it
Yeah, I've found that its difficult to completely convey how things were pre-2011 and pre-2019 to people who are newer to the game, but I hope I've at least conveyed some of my ideas
@ You definitely succeeded in explaining it with your Best Sets videos and going into how your ideal format looked with this one. I didn’t really get the viewpoint at all when someone at my local was trying to convey it to me, but you got me o7
I prefer a long game with many attacks and keeping track of deck resources while hoping for epic draws! This has pushed me to playing historical formats and ignoring newer cards. Although my interest as of late has been cube drafting where cards that were never played competitively can be given a chance to shine! I wish there was a tier system for the TCG similar to Smogon for the videogames. Maybe even with newer cards I'd enjoy lower tiers of play. Overall excellent video
There's no reason there can't be a tiering system, but I also think its worth acknowledging that since Pokémon TCG decks generally focus around 1-2 types/strategies, a lot of decks could be "NU tier" but play at an "OU level" when hitting specific matchups they do well against.
@@WhimsicottTCGThat's more or less the way things work with Smogon, too, as very often Pokemon that are in lower tiers get played on teams on higher tiers for one reason or another. The main issue we face with such a tiering system is that outside of Smogon specifically, most of the time, when something is put on a tier list, it's not to create a metagame where lower power leveled stuff can be used without fear of being outclassed by stuff that's just flat-out better, but rather to judge how good something in particular is in relation to the other options we have -- but I'm assuming I don't need to tell you this. My point is that because most tier lists don't operate on the same way as Smogon's tier system does, people would have a more difficult time adjusting to it, and it would arguably only serve to complicate things more for setting up tournaments, since now they would need to have multiple different tournaments running, possibly in this same location, for people playing in different tiers. That aside, it would also arguably make the game more expensive on the whole, since now it would increase the prices of cards -- and I don't mean just the ones that people already want to build decks with right now -- but because this would lead to certain cards getting banned from being played in lower tiers, people would start to look to the rest of the existing card pool for options to replace those cards: yes, this would cause new strategies to be implemented, but it would also likely increase the price of cards that most would generally consider to be bulk. That said, it could also lead to greater experimentation as well, and maybe cards that had been previously overlooked would start to be actually played more, and this, in turn, could lead to even the top tier decks being changed to become more optimized, or even have a deck that was previously thought of as bad raising to greater prominence as a result. Point being: there's a lot of good and bad that could come of such a change, but the biggest problem would be simply that players would need to adjust the way they think to be able to better incorporate such a shift into the way the game is currently being played
I belive that back in Black and White the original Reshiram and Zekrom and the Starters were intended to be EX Pokémon, but then the design philoshophy changed to a more simple game with big number basic Pokémon and we got the aberration that was Mewtwo EX with 180 hp, which is insane if you think about it.
I don't believe that they were designed to be EX Pokémon for a couple of reasons: 1. Black & White is supposed to be a complete reset of the game, hence where there was no mechanics in the first few sets 2. The later EX Pokémon were all Legendary/Mythical and all Basics, which was probably a design philosophy set out as the by the time Black & White cards were being designed
Even though I don't play anymore, I've found your videos to be very fun to watch and always learn something about this game i didn't know. Keep up the amazing work.
Or: how Triple Prizers ruined the HP/Damage Curve of the game in the last 5 years. Imagine if the HP çurve was kept roughly the same as the pre-Tag Team GX years, with the only Triple Prizers ever released being V-UNIONs...we would have a lot less damage curve issues than we do now. And while the current ex years are trying to remedy it a bit, the aftermath has led to the standard of Stage 2 Ruleboxes being 300+ now...and we might even hit around the 400 range once Z-A brings Mega Evolutions back. Sigh.
The Drampa and Zacian comparison doesn't work well because there were Tag Teams in between that were so broken, all numbers had to change drastically just to keep up. It just isn't a fair comparison. I don't want to be devil's advocate and I agree with what you are saying but some things aren't comparable
Tag Teams being there is what makes those examples so jarring. The 2 cards are exactly comparable, in form and function, yet the power creep brought on by the Tag Teams changed the dynamics of the cards completely.
“There were Tag Teams in between that were so broken, all numbers had to change drastically just to keep up” Congratulations, you just described power creep
@@aubeary190 But it wasn't the normal kind of power creep. It clearly was a mistake they want to forget as seen with how they handled VMax slowly trying to get rid of 3 prizers and making them inconsistent gimmicks. BW and XY would have been a fairer example only going up slowly but still being very present (and super unnecessary)
I started playing the tcg around HGSS-BW era, and holy Arceus, the instant absurd powercreep overnight with EX reintroduction in Next Destinies was really jarrying. Sure, Big basics legendaries were often the main attackers, but usually needing support of evolutions to work. But then Mewtwo could easily work as your only attacker and a few tech attackers here and there. Then a couple of sets later we got Landorus EX that made evolution decks even worse with the 30 snipe for a single energy. That was a hella awkward time to get into honestly.
To each their own. I much prefer the older metagames where longer games produce drawn out wars of attrition, which rewards skilled players and allows individual player expression to come out
Really loving this channel tbh Wondering if you'd ever cover more topics around the Expanded format? It's the format me and my buddies play and I'd love to see more content about it overall
@@WhimsicottTCG YOU FOOL! [Four Tyrogue dressed up like Palpatine's royal guards whip out swords and advance.] I SHALL EFFICIENTLY ELIMINATE YOUR BABY!
Do you think having 2 levels of standard would make power creep a choice. Something like single prize standard and rule box standard league. SP would have only single prize Pokemon and RB would be regular standard.
The problem with single prize only formats (like GLC) is that so many of the single prize Pokémon are meant to exist in multi-prize metagames, so they output damage that easily one hit KOs the other single prizers, or sets up tons of spread damage (Sableye Lost Mine).
I feel like power creep is alos impacted by the strength of trainer cards in the game which boost consistency, a card like Skyla which was a staple in B&W would probably rarely be used in the current standard with Arven geting FSS which then gets you a trainer and any card you want, or even comparing it to Irida which has a similar affect. Also it has been interseting to see some reverse powercreep such as Shaymin Ex into current day Squakabilly, or even Tapu Lele Gx and Lumineon V having the same ability but tapu Lele having a very strong attack too
Trainer Powercreep has not been consistent throughout the game. The strongest ever Trainer cards were in the Base set era and in the XY era. Otherwise, it's been very up and down. It's not that BW was a downgrade in powercreep necessarily either. Professor Juniper, N, Dark Patch, Colress, and Hypnotoxic Laser are some of the strongest cards ever printed, but BW just printed very very few Trainer cards overall.
PTCG in general is a very high variance game. The power creep exaggerates the issues already present, but it's not strictly the cause. I would really like a minor rules revision or updated tournament policy, because the Prize system is responsible for a lot of lopsided games on its own due to one player being bricked. Never mind the fascination TPCI have with printing game-breaking effects on literal coin flips, a la Togekiss, Crushing Hammer, Pokemon Catcher. The really brazen luck aspect of the game really hurts the reputation of PTCG, honestly.
@@vala32 I'd also like to see less focus put on coin flips and prizing. It's a shame we've never seen a reprint of Azelf from Legends Awakened which vastly reduced the number of games you lose to prizing
Would be hilarious if they print a 1000 hp snorlax, with the ability: cannot be switched with your bench (affecting both or just the player playing it)
sorry but coming from other tcgs I think the current metagame of Pokemon is in a solid spot. Is fast yet diverse and that, for me is a good balance. I like seeing the streams and the games are really back and forth, decision making is very important and I think is not as fast as other tcgs (yes I coming from a YGO background). Also meta decks are cheap (in comparison to other tcgs) and having a rotation makes it feel always fresh. I dont know, maybe I'm biased since the other tcgs I play are not in a good spot, but I don't think the game is in a bad situation
Unfortunately its kind of hard to bring it down right now, other than to print cards like Budew that just actively stop the opponent from playing cards at all to force the game to slow down. Any time you don't hit them with the item lock though, it'll be another 350 with a side of Pokémon Catcher on your benched fella
What I don't agree with is your mention of having fewer turns simplifying the game. In the current metagame, due to each turn taken being usually longer, it is way easier to make mistakes as many cards and abilities require proper sequencing. In addition, longer turns can turn off new players, as they can cause boredom or overwhelm them.
In theory, more actions per turn SHOULD equal the increased number of turns with less options of older formats, however, in practice what it means is that your opponent has less chances to counter your strategy, meaning less back and forth. A lot of games can end up feeling very samey, with players solitairing their own board to pull off the same strategy each game, rather than maintaining a board state that the opponent is going to repeatedly take pokes at over 10-30 turns. Sequencing is often brought up, but fails to account for the fact that its a learning curve for any new deck in any format, and good players can figure out how to sequence a deck to a 90% optimization within a few games. Games being as fast as they are will also lead to players being less punished for inoptimal sequencing, when in a longer game, that player may lose because they made an error that comes to bite them several turns later.
@WhimsicottTCG Thanks for the reply, I appreciate how you took the time to counter my argument. I see your reasoning, and you are right with these points. However, I still consider it more beginner-friendly if multiple shorter turns are played, as it still encourages a bit more back-and-forth plays, even if it just boils down to hitting each other for less damage, rather than properly interacting. I'm also not a huge fan of the fast metagame, they do feel pretty samey. I hope it could slow down a bit in the future without the need to completely reboot the game.
ironic the game became trash after covid but the game sold the most at that time because of the logan paul video. this proves literally 90% of the people buying cards don't play the game it's all for colleting like shiny hunters in video games or for business and selling like logan1
As someone who came from Yugioh, you have no idea how lovely and balanced Pokemon is in comparison
It is actually nice to get to play on your turn and not watching you opponent activate 17 effects before you could even draw your card
@@milos7311 UNLESS you were lucky enough to draw a hand trap, making it impossible to run a deck without running the same 15 handtraps as everyone else
well honestly it just feels like tpc took it as a challenge to catch up
Having rotation AND power creep is so weird. Everyone plays standard anyway, power creep in stats is so unnecessary
While this is true to an extent, I don't think rotation happens fast enough so that we don't "need" power creep
that’s not how it works
@mathiascs7271 While that's more or less true, power creep, the way I see it, is something that cannot realistically be avoided, for better or worse. Power creep is going to exist in any tcg people play, and a big part of the reason for why that's the case is because it encourages people to buy the new cards -- not just to keep up with whatever the current meta is at the time, but also to potentially upgrade an existing deck the person may be already playing, or simply to give more decks a better shot at being able to compete with the already established meta decks of the time. Even then, it's exciting to see new cards be revealed and speculate on how good they will become, which in turn drives people to buy cards from the newest sets, as even if a certain card/deck they are trying to build doesn't prove to necessarily be meta relevant, some players may still find it to be fun to build a new deck and test it against other players
I love Expanded but it's so terribly supported nowadays that power creep doesn't make sense
Sets rotate out slowly, staying in standard for 3 years.
If Year A has Pokémon with 100 Hp doing 80 damage, and then in Year B They start printing 120 HP that deals 100 damage to beat Year A, and then Year C has 130 Hp and deals 120 damage to beat Year B.
So now Year A cards are rotating out , but if you go back to making 100 hp pokemon, they just lose to last years pokemon, so you can't just reset the numbers without making the new cards irrelevant.
" How powercreep destroys the Pokemon TCG "
Yugioh: First time?
Power creep aside, the meta is in an incredibly good place right now, with at least a dozen decks capable of winning tournaments, and the best decks all having a good level of complexity that makes them very fun to play.
After rotation mimikyu ogerpon is so insane
Rip to stage 2s in January. Gotta love them saying free item lock on turn 2 of the game
As long as its dusknoir and Big basics though, also your pretty much expected to lose after turn 3 if you dont setup by then
thats in no way a good place, the "variety" of decks consists in the same 2 strategies but with slightly different main pokemon. Its like saying yugioh has a good meta because theres 20 meta decks lol
@@uwaa5768 I would say that that is disengeneous to the actual meta of ptcg rn. Top decks in the format are Regidrago (draw + self-mill), Tera Zard (catch-up), Klawf (Single prizer poison beat stick), Miraidon (rush down), Gardevoir (slow ohko bench blaster), Ancient Box (pure self-mill), Lost Zoning (investing in high draw power with decision making on what is ok to lose). There are so many decks rn that work that if you think another stage 2 deck is just another "Tera Zard," then you don't really care to read what the decks actually do.
There is already a term for the “special cards” you talk about in the video, being Rulebox cards. Named for the rulebox on each card specifying their unique mechanics, either relating to prize cards or the amount of that card you may have in your deck.
Not all special cards have rule boxes. That is only true for modern cards
I think about what would happen if Pokemon were to do some sort of reset when it comes to hp, scaling the numbers back to how they were back around 2010 or even 2005. How would people respond to that?
I personally would love that, but there’s no going back with power creep. You’d have to have a massive global rotation for all card regulations
I don't think we'll get a reset, akin to what has happened to Vanguard TCG. Pokémon solves number problems by making numbers higher.
I mean, isn’t that what the new Pokemon TCG Pocket is? And people are responding pretty well to that
@@chessplayer6632kinda but not really, Pocket not only have smaller number but most importantly much simpler effects. Cards from 2005 to 2010 had smaller numbers but more complex and in my opinion more interesting effects than the cards from today
Wouldn't be the first time: the E-Reader block was one where the game scaled back on the HP/Damage of Pokemon, and also nerfed the power of Trainer cards by debuting Supporter cards.
If the game ever reaches a critical point that could be a possibility, but it's wait & see for now as at least they are making sure that no FTK options are around.
I have played both MtG and Pokemon (Admittedly way more Magic) and the biggest problem I have with the Pokemon TCG is the lack of communication between the game developers and the player. For all of WotC issues, I can read articles on bannings, things they've learned from past sets, employee interviews, and so much more. The designers are on social media and interacting with the content creators and you really feel like the people making the game care a ton about it. I know Pokemon is developed in another country, but it's always felt to me cards were just randomly spit out from this void with no rhyme or reason, and the players were just left to go "Why is the format like this?" It could 100% be a me thing, but I'm curious what others think who have played both.
If you've played Pokémon for long enough you can absolutely follow the designer's train of thought, but on that, you can also tell when a card was not thought about enough (Fezandipiti ex for example).
I think the funniest case of following the designers' train of thought was during Sword & Shield when their design philosophy for about a year straight was to just print a new deck that hits the deck they made 3 months ago for weakness (Dragapult weak to Eterantus, which is weak to Urshifu, which is weak to Shadow Rider, which is weak to Umbreon, which hates Leafeon in the same set, but Leafeon loses to Mew VMAX, which came out in the next set.
More communication would be nice, but then again, the players are often very inconsistent with what they want since the player base of a dedicated game like MTG is going to be different than a collector/game game like Pokémon.
@@WhimsicottTCG Saying "If you play the game long enough you can try to read the minds of the nameless, faceless developers if you want deeper insight" is wild xD Also, blaming the lack of communication on the PLAYERS being inconsistent is a crazy take.
I haven’t played much longer than right before the Battle VIP/Path rotation, but Pokémon for me is just the right speed. Not too slow, not too fast at times like my main TCG, Yugioh.
I TOTALLY get the opinion of powercreep making the game more unfun since games last less turns, but I think the quality of each turn is still very high
Edit: There are definitely clear exceptions where they pushed things a bit too far, but I obviously didn’t get to experience any of those beyond Mew VMax/Genesect which I did admittedly hate. Decks like ADP, prime Lugia VStar, and even Regidrago now to an extent seem like a bit much for their times, so from your WAY more experienced perspective I get it
Yeah, I've found that its difficult to completely convey how things were pre-2011 and pre-2019 to people who are newer to the game, but I hope I've at least conveyed some of my ideas
@ You definitely succeeded in explaining it with your Best Sets videos and going into how your ideal format looked with this one. I didn’t really get the viewpoint at all when someone at my local was trying to convey it to me, but you got me o7
1:40 "a couple of years later"
2004 to 2017 💀
just a small spec of time
@@WhimsicottTCG Whimsicast is a Lord of the Rings elf confirmed.
I prefer a long game with many attacks and keeping track of deck resources while hoping for epic draws!
This has pushed me to playing historical formats and ignoring newer cards.
Although my interest as of late has been cube drafting where cards that were never played competitively can be given a chance to shine!
I wish there was a tier system for the TCG similar to Smogon for the videogames. Maybe even with newer cards I'd enjoy lower tiers of play.
Overall excellent video
There's no reason there can't be a tiering system, but I also think its worth acknowledging that since Pokémon TCG decks generally focus around 1-2 types/strategies, a lot of decks could be "NU tier" but play at an "OU level" when hitting specific matchups they do well against.
@@WhimsicottTCGThat's more or less the way things work with Smogon, too, as very often Pokemon that are in lower tiers get played on teams on higher tiers for one reason or another. The main issue we face with such a tiering system is that outside of Smogon specifically, most of the time, when something is put on a tier list, it's not to create a metagame where lower power leveled stuff can be used without fear of being outclassed by stuff that's just flat-out better, but rather to judge how good something in particular is in relation to the other options we have -- but I'm assuming I don't need to tell you this. My point is that because most tier lists don't operate on the same way as Smogon's tier system does, people would have a more difficult time adjusting to it, and it would arguably only serve to complicate things more for setting up tournaments, since now they would need to have multiple different tournaments running, possibly in this same location, for people playing in different tiers. That aside, it would also arguably make the game more expensive on the whole, since now it would increase the prices of cards -- and I don't mean just the ones that people already want to build decks with right now -- but because this would lead to certain cards getting banned from being played in lower tiers, people would start to look to the rest of the existing card pool for options to replace those cards: yes, this would cause new strategies to be implemented, but it would also likely increase the price of cards that most would generally consider to be bulk. That said, it could also lead to greater experimentation as well, and maybe cards that had been previously overlooked would start to be actually played more, and this, in turn, could lead to even the top tier decks being changed to become more optimized, or even have a deck that was previously thought of as bad raising to greater prominence as a result. Point being: there's a lot of good and bad that could come of such a change, but the biggest problem would be simply that players would need to adjust the way they think to be able to better incorporate such a shift into the way the game is currently being played
I belive that back in Black and White the original Reshiram and Zekrom and the Starters were intended to be EX Pokémon, but then the design philoshophy changed to a more simple game with big number basic Pokémon and we got the aberration that was Mewtwo EX with 180 hp, which is insane if you think about it.
I don't believe that they were designed to be EX Pokémon for a couple of reasons:
1. Black & White is supposed to be a complete reset of the game, hence where there was no mechanics in the first few sets
2. The later EX Pokémon were all Legendary/Mythical and all Basics, which was probably a design philosophy set out as the by the time Black & White cards were being designed
Even though I don't play anymore, I've found your videos to be very fun to watch and always learn something about this game i didn't know. Keep up the amazing work.
Thanks for the support!
Or: how Triple Prizers ruined the HP/Damage Curve of the game in the last 5 years.
Imagine if the HP çurve was kept roughly the same as the pre-Tag Team GX years, with the only Triple Prizers ever released being V-UNIONs...we would have a lot less damage curve issues than we do now.
And while the current ex years are trying to remedy it a bit, the aftermath has led to the standard of Stage 2 Ruleboxes being 300+ now...and we might even hit around the 400 range once Z-A brings Mega Evolutions back. Sigh.
You should make a Lv X Tier list! Would love to see that!
I don't do tierlist videos anymore, but maybe I can post it to my Twitter
@@WhimsicottTCG Okay sounds good
"Special cards" are called Rule Box Pokémon, for future videos dude. Great video!
The Drampa and Zacian comparison doesn't work well because there were Tag Teams in between that were so broken, all numbers had to change drastically just to keep up. It just isn't a fair comparison. I don't want to be devil's advocate and I agree with what you are saying but some things aren't comparable
Tag Teams being there is what makes those examples so jarring. The 2 cards are exactly comparable, in form and function, yet the power creep brought on by the Tag Teams changed the dynamics of the cards completely.
“There were Tag Teams in between that were so broken, all numbers had to change drastically just to keep up”
Congratulations, you just described power creep
@@aubeary190 But it wasn't the normal kind of power creep. It clearly was a mistake they want to forget as seen with how they handled VMax slowly trying to get rid of 3 prizers and making them inconsistent gimmicks. BW and XY would have been a fairer example only going up slowly but still being very present (and super unnecessary)
I started playing the tcg around HGSS-BW era, and holy Arceus, the instant absurd powercreep overnight with EX reintroduction in Next Destinies was really jarrying.
Sure, Big basics legendaries were often the main attackers, but usually needing support of evolutions to work.
But then Mewtwo could easily work as your only attacker and a few tech attackers here and there. Then a couple of sets later we got Landorus EX that made evolution decks even worse with the 30 snipe for a single energy.
That was a hella awkward time to get into honestly.
I am personally a big fan of this faster current metagame. Most decks feel strong and have a bunch of trading
To each their own. I much prefer the older metagames where longer games produce drawn out wars of attrition, which rewards skilled players and allows individual player expression to come out
there's no real trading to be had with regidrago lol, that card is wild
I prefer Expanded not being mostly just the current format but with more powerful items and supporters
@@Masochistickoala ah yes Regidrago Vstar copy the attack on any dragon pokemon you have in your discard pile I know cause I'd played him.
Arguably VMax was a power down from Tag Team and VStar was a power down from basic GX, since they required an evolution for a similar mechanic
Really loving this channel tbh
Wondering if you'd ever cover more topics around the Expanded format? It's the format me and my buddies play and I'd love to see more content about it overall
I used to do a lot of Expanded rogue deck content back in the day, but the format is pretty much non-existent nowadays, so I don't play it
Neo Genesis Cleffa: "I'm a special card, right?"
Retro players: "You're about to have your own special crater in the wall."
No I love cleffa. We are going to EEEK you out of existence
@@WhimsicottTCG YOU FOOL! [Four Tyrogue dressed up like Palpatine's royal guards whip out swords and advance.] I SHALL EFFICIENTLY ELIMINATE YOUR BABY!
Do you think having 2 levels of standard would make power creep a choice. Something like single prize standard and rule box standard league. SP would have only single prize Pokemon and RB would be regular standard.
The problem with single prize only formats (like GLC) is that so many of the single prize Pokémon are meant to exist in multi-prize metagames, so they output damage that easily one hit KOs the other single prizers, or sets up tons of spread damage (Sableye Lost Mine).
babe wake up whimsicast uploaded
I feel like power creep is alos impacted by the strength of trainer cards in the game which boost consistency, a card like Skyla which was a staple in B&W would probably rarely be used in the current standard with Arven geting FSS which then gets you a trainer and any card you want, or even comparing it to Irida which has a similar affect. Also it has been interseting to see some reverse powercreep such as Shaymin Ex into current day Squakabilly, or even Tapu Lele Gx and Lumineon V having the same ability but tapu Lele having a very strong attack too
Trainer Powercreep has not been consistent throughout the game. The strongest ever Trainer cards were in the Base set era and in the XY era. Otherwise, it's been very up and down. It's not that BW was a downgrade in powercreep necessarily either. Professor Juniper, N, Dark Patch, Colress, and Hypnotoxic Laser are some of the strongest cards ever printed, but BW just printed very very few Trainer cards overall.
PTCG in general is a very high variance game. The power creep exaggerates the issues already present, but it's not strictly the cause.
I would really like a minor rules revision or updated tournament policy, because the Prize system is responsible for a lot of lopsided games on its own due to one player being bricked. Never mind the fascination TPCI have with printing game-breaking effects on literal coin flips, a la Togekiss, Crushing Hammer, Pokemon Catcher.
The really brazen luck aspect of the game really hurts the reputation of PTCG, honestly.
@@vala32 I'd also like to see less focus put on coin flips and prizing. It's a shame we've never seen a reprint of Azelf from Legends Awakened which vastly reduced the number of games you lose to prizing
Would be hilarious if they print a 1000 hp snorlax, with the ability: cannot be switched with your bench (affecting both or just the player playing it)
Coming into pokemon from Yu-Gi-Oh, which has so much power creep it's pretty much rocket tag, this much isn't so bad
sorry but coming from other tcgs I think the current metagame of Pokemon is in a solid spot. Is fast yet diverse and that, for me is a good balance. I like seeing the streams and the games are really back and forth, decision making is very important and I think is not as fast as other tcgs (yes I coming from a YGO background). Also meta decks are cheap (in comparison to other tcgs) and having a rotation makes it feel always fresh. I dont know, maybe I'm biased since the other tcgs I play are not in a good spot, but I don't think the game is in a bad situation
for TCG players maybe vut for collectors it will cost less unless they are fan favorite pokemon 😅
Retro formats are the best way to play pokemon for me. Especially pre BW era (except the Neo stuff). Modern gameplay doesnt appeal to me anymore
They really need to bring it back down raging bolt doing 350 turn one going 2nd is wild
Unfortunately its kind of hard to bring it down right now, other than to print cards like Budew that just actively stop the opponent from playing cards at all to force the game to slow down. Any time you don't hit them with the item lock though, it'll be another 350 with a side of Pokémon Catcher on your benched fella
Power Creep is nature of any tcg sadly
tcg pocket made me go and download live
We will catch yugioh attack stat soon 😅
What I don't agree with is your mention of having fewer turns simplifying the game.
In the current metagame, due to each turn taken being usually longer, it is way easier to make mistakes as many cards and abilities require proper sequencing. In addition, longer turns can turn off new players, as they can cause boredom or overwhelm them.
In theory, more actions per turn SHOULD equal the increased number of turns with less options of older formats, however, in practice what it means is that your opponent has less chances to counter your strategy, meaning less back and forth. A lot of games can end up feeling very samey, with players solitairing their own board to pull off the same strategy each game, rather than maintaining a board state that the opponent is going to repeatedly take pokes at over 10-30 turns.
Sequencing is often brought up, but fails to account for the fact that its a learning curve for any new deck in any format, and good players can figure out how to sequence a deck to a 90% optimization within a few games. Games being as fast as they are will also lead to players being less punished for inoptimal sequencing, when in a longer game, that player may lose because they made an error that comes to bite them several turns later.
@WhimsicottTCG Thanks for the reply, I appreciate how you took the time to counter my argument.
I see your reasoning, and you are right with these points.
However, I still consider it more beginner-friendly if multiple shorter turns are played, as it still encourages a bit more back-and-forth plays, even if it just boils down to hitting each other for less damage, rather than properly interacting.
I'm also not a huge fan of the fast metagame, they do feel pretty samey. I hope it could slow down a bit in the future without the need to completely reboot the game.
Showing base set Charizard as a special card is incredibly bad faith
There was no special cards in Base Set. It's just a base line to work off of
A power creep vid eh? Like watching this, hate charziard ex
Charizard ex isn’t even that good compared to the competition. Definitly meta, but it stands side by side so many other good decks
@clickbaitcrill3394 but it's jsut super annoying like yes I crush them all the time with my BLASRIOSE EX DECK but still soooooooooo annoying
ironic the game became trash after covid but the game sold the most at that time because of the logan paul video. this proves literally 90% of the people buying cards don't play the game it's all for colleting like shiny hunters in video games or for business and selling like logan1
First😊
So why do people want slow games?
Go play old formats and solved