Okay, so I know you guys haven’t heard from me for a while, but I am still alive and here. I was just on Facebook and happened to see one of J-Wittz posts that happened to catch my eye. I couldn’t help but click the link because there where a ton of likes and comments. I clicked the link and I read something that looked a little like this:
“Pokémon Organized Play has developed a Modified format to encourage a diverse and vital competitive environment.
With the release of the Pokémon Trading Card Game: Black & White expansion later this month, players will see some changes to the TCG rules. With so many different cards interacting with the new rules, Pokémon Organized Play will be taking extra care to ensure the competitive environment remains as fun and fair as it has always been for our players.
To provide a fun, positive tournament experience for all Play! Pokémon members, we may rotate some older sets out of the Modified format earlier in the year than the typical September 1st rotation date.
The next Modified format will include expansions from HeartGold & SoulSilver to the present. Under normal circumstances, this rotation would take effect September 1st, 2011. However, should we deem it necessary to maintain a healthy competitive environment, the rotation would take effect on July 1st instead. The final decision will be announced in early June.
Please note that some Premier events in Europe may not incorporate rules and cards from the Pokémon TCG: Black & White expansion. Contact your local event organizers to confirm which expansions will be allowed.
Thank you for your understanding throughout this process! Pokémon Organized Play strives to keep players as up-to-date as possible to help you be best prepared to perform at your peak at every Pokémon TCG event.”
For those of you who don’t feel like reading that and are just skimming this article it basically says that when they rotate sets only cards from HeartGold SoulSilver to present will be legal. It also says that there is a possibility of a mid-season rotation. As far as I know Pokémon has never done something like this before. The real kicker is that the mid-season rotation would take effect on July 1st.
My Opinion
As far as I am concerned about this news I don’t like it one bit… I think that it could end of causing more problems in the long run than helping things. If you think about it the rotation will not take effect till July 1st and they don’t plan to announce the rotation till the beginning of June.
Nationals is in July so we are only getting about a months notice which makes testing very difficult because you don’t know if you should test HGSS on or the current format.
I am thinking that the company wants to see how Battle Roads go before they make a decision. I believe that if they see Sabledonk tearing up the top tables then we will most likely get a mid-season rotation to prevent Sabledonk from doing the same at Nationals.
It could be good it could be bad but a little more notice would be appreciated. Of course a mid-season rotation doesn’t have to be the way around it either. They could do what other card games do and just for once ban a broken out-of-control card.
I am not against that idea because we keep our format, and still have a semi-healthy format. I am aware that when Wizards of the Coat had the game they banned Sneasel and Slowking. I am however against the games that use banning broken cards as a marketing strategy and wouldn’t want one card like Sableye start a chain of that like in Yu-Gi-Oh.
There is another way to potentially even up the game. One of my local professors actually made this statement “When Yu-Gi-Oh make a broken card the ban it, however when Pokémon makes a broken card they make a dumb rule” this is sad but true… it could help though. I mean they already made a new dumb rule for Rare Candy and PlusPower. What’s one more?
On a side note you can tell that they are trying to slow down the game. If you recall our old rounds were 45 minutes long and now they are 30 minutes. Back then we also had more speed decks and DONK decks that didn’t need 45 minutes half the time and now they slow the format down and give us less time? Doesn’t make senses to me…
In Closing
I sure don’t agree with a lot of the things this company has done lately and I feel that the game may be slipping and going downhill. I know a couple of people who have been frustrated with the game, and then this news comes along. I am also one of the players who is becoming frustrated with the game.
I definitely feel that this game should make more of an attempt to listen to their players and study their game mechanics a little better. You can tell that they are trying at least to some of the things they messed up.
Well these are pretty much my though on this announcement and the current format. I am curious to see what everyone else has to say about all this especially the potential rotation before Nationals. We will almost have to build an entirely new meta the day before Nationals. What decks could be potentially played??? All I know is that things are definitely about to get interesting…
“When Yu-Gi-Oh make a broken card the ban it, however when Pokémon makes a broken card they make a dumb rule”. this is totally not true, the only reason this happens is because we always play in a different format than japan where the game and cards are developed. Sableye and other such cards were no where near broken when they were released, the problem comes when you introduce them into a format not designed to handle them. This is a great decision by TPCI, it’s the best solution for a bad situation
Actually this is amazing news!
How many new players can you introduce to a game right before a rotation? its hard to say to a player “these are the best cards of the format, but its not worth investing in because you cant use them in a month”. It’s also horrible to sit a new player down and Sabledonk them telling them “don’t worry this set cycles out soon”.
Personally I wish rotation happened every year at the end of July, this would make it so easy to introduce players over summer holidays without having to tell them if you drop $XXX on LUXCHOMP you will win a few events then wont be able to play them anymore.
Now that i think about it why do most games hit up a September rotation over a late July one? Must have something to do with OP programs being notoriously weak during the summer holidays for most games (I am still new to this one, so forgive me if this is not true with Pokémon
I do not agree one bit with your opinion. I am glad to see SP decks won’t bother the metagame again, and they were another reason they are considering this option, it’s not just Sableye (although that alone is a pretty good reason). I honestly want the mid-season rotation soon.
I think P!P is thinking about players. For most TCG players, Battle Roads will be the last tournament they go to. The hardcore TCG players who are willing to travel to Indiana are outnumbered by the thousands who live in the United States and just participate in Pre-Releases and Battle Roads. Super dedicated players will complain at first, which is reasonable, but they’ll eventually figure out a cheap way to deal with the HGSS-on format because they love the game so much. Also, “Please note that some Premier events in Europe may not incorporate rules and cards from the Pokémon TCG: Black & White expansion. Contact your local event organizers to confirm which expansions will be allowed.” This should for sure show P!P is thinking about everyone.
I like the mid season rotation idea better. I would really hate to see Luxchomp take another Worlds title, and the sooner we get rid of SP, the better.
This is the best situation I could have hoped for. P!P is 100% correct in the way they’re handling this. Sure there are other ways to do it (banning sableye wouldn’t help btw) but this is the best and most efficient way of doing things. I nearly guarantee that the rotation will happen, so test for HGSS-on.
I agree. Actually, I had thought/hoped that the rotation would be announced with the rule changes. This gives fair warning as a bit of a CYA move. Now people won’t have an excuse to be mad when their Uxies and Luxrays are worthless.
You want to know when pokemon started going downhill? After base set 2 was released. Pokemon won’t ever be the same as it was 10 years ago. I said it once and Ill say it again: Pokemon has been a sub par game since Nintendo owned the rights to the TGC. It has become less and less a game of skill, but rather a game of OHKOS and donks. I don’t mean to be a downer, but those who haven’t been playing the game very long cannot even begin to understand how much fun pokemon actually was back in the day.
then why are you wasting your time on a pokemon website? geeze, you sound like a senior citizen: “ehh i tell ya, sonny, they don’t make ’em like they used to!”
Im simply commenting on the article. If I were to sound like a senior citizen, than this article must be written from someone who is rolling over in their grave. If you want to make personal attacks and insult my opinions, than I shall simply end this conversation by saying I fucked your mom. Have a nice day. P.S. Loosen your shirt and take out your earings unless you enjoy anal rape.
wow, congrats on proving you’re a tool.
i love the rotation, maybe I’m weird, but I like having a 7 day old meta for Nats, exciting.
A tool? Because I express truth and honesty? Ya, that really makes sense. Maybe you should think twice before posting such ludicrous. You must be the pitcher :/
” I shall simply end this conversation by saying I fucked your mom. Have a nice day. P.S. Loosen your shirt and take out your earings unless you enjoy anal rape. ”
yup, statements like these must come from the the most upstanding of people. and not tools.
it’s cool act tough cause you’re on the internet. I would hate to offend the perfect provider of truth and honesty.
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sarcasm wins again :) Don’t worry you could not offend me
Someone needs to chill out.. This is a site for sharing ideas on the Pokemon TCG. Not a hostile area. I see your point in you were defending yourself against the other comment, but such language is unnecessary..
It would have been better if they just implemented black and white rules next format. I think mid-season is causing more problems than anything. They need to stick with one solution because the more changes the make the more messy the issues become.
To those who hate SP, I agree that their time should be up but they should have been able to finish out the season. Rotating out 7 sets is crazy in the middle of a season. We only rotated out 4 sets in between seasons last year.
Pokemon really messed up here changing their decisions so frequently all before BR’s and Nationals which affect some players ability to go to worlds.
rotating 7 sets make no sense, there goes half your legal cards… I don’t understand why they couldn’t just postpone the new rules until after worlds. or just don’t allow trainers on turn one or ban sableye. Those are better solutions.
i dont agree with pokemon’s decisions but i think i can shed a little light on why they did this. i am 80%ish sure they will have this rotation due to this one things. WORLDS! this big even takes players across the globe. would it be fair if americans play md-on and japan plays hgss-on? or if they got trainers first turn and we got candy 1st turn? we need to match japan. what they do to japan, they have to do to us. while i think the big issue here was timing. they brought about the giant rotation in japan during thier normal rotation(i think) and changed the rules then. we however continued in playing md-on and they have to implement these changes before worlds. i do however hate this giant rotation and a mid season rotation. ive worked forever on my luxchomp starting around christmas and just when i start perfecting my build i learn i can only run it at battle roads!! oh well not like it wont get donked all my matches. i due think that a giant rotation was a big mistake. but its going to happen i bet. i would stake my money on it.
i think pokemon have just ruined it more it would be best if they banned sableye or if they had mid season rotation it should be rr on i think even if the rotation is not mid season it should be rr on because well i have started making a rr on deck for next format
This site isn’t a blog, sir. I come to Six Prizes to get information (hell, I’m paying for it) and this post wasn’t informational in the least. I don’t care about what your local professor is saying, and I don’t care that you’re frustrated. Their possible solution may suck, but don’t post on the front page complaining about it.
Try to keep your posts relevant, please.
I believe if you don’t care, then why did you choose to read this article hmmm? It’s not like this was an underground post anyways, this is a free one and as far as I know, it doesn’t hurt anything by being posted it’s just what somebody thinks. The fact this was posted on the Front Page also showed it was confirmed between Bitty and th Editors.
I’m also excited about this possibility. Yes, it may disrupt your pre-planning and your extensive testing cycle, but I hope it will make play for us “Non-Meta” folks more interesting. Perhaps it will mean more of a chance for some new deck ideas to come into play instead of a top cut which only contains 2-3 different decks that differ only in their Techs. I guess we’ll just have to see.
while this may not be the best thing, I think it wont be too detrimental. I live in Australia and tournaments are too rare and cards are so expensive here so I probably dont have the biggest say here. But if the MSR does happen then it isnt like you are the only one confused about testing, everyone would. And while may not be the smartest move, we could see some awesome new deck winning nationals and blowing the game away. And this may make things more fair on a financial level due to there being no dead set powerful cards, it will mean a lot of people with lower budgets might be able to afford the new groundbreaking deck. Not to mension encourages new innovation now that SP is gone. I am personally liking the idea of Emboar/Tangrowth/shuckle deck. And there will be so many awesome ideas. While yes there are a lot of bad things about it. But not everything is bad. Every situation has a good side and a bad side to it!
The game has clearly been going downhill ever since the release of HGSS. Changing weaknesses back to X 2 was a prominent step backwards. The artwork on the cards has suffered and dwindled immensely when you compare the ultra rare cards in B&W to some of even our least appealing Lv. X art. Now they want to get rid of the feature that makes Rare Candy, as well as the game in general, exciting? Oh, and now they want to rotate RR – AoA? Has TPC not taken into consideration how much painstaking effort each competitive player has put into testing since the last rotation? Have they been trying too hard to make changes that seem terrible now but would leave us with a greater game in months to come? Is TPC trying to make the game friendlier for newcomers? Is TPC just trying to get rid of donks as a whole? Or, is TPC trying to make the game suck so they can make tons of money once it’s actually fun again and people are excited about the release of a half-way decent card? Regardless of why the game is in its current state, I am fairly angry with the way things have been going, and I’m even considering quitting Pokemon all together if we’re left with merely a shell of the format we once enjoyed. The format CLEARLY should be RR-on, if you ask me. Spiritomb is going to be so necessary when the only viable decks consist of stage-two’s with no BTS, and Rare Candy sucks. Bebe’s Search is going to be equally necessary. Flygon deserves another shot at viability. Everyone’s cherished Luxray GL Lv. X’s shouldn’t become worthless over night. SP won’t be worthless but instead will be just as good as decent evolution decks once Cyrus, Gain, Spray, etc are gone. In addition, a HGSS-on format would be just as bad as our current one in the sense that playing Donphan would be necessary regardless of your meta. It will be the only quick and powerful deck in the format until we get something of equal relevance, which I doubt is going to happen based on the way things are going. Basically, don’t get me started on the idea of a HGSS-on format. I think Sabledonk is going to be crazy, but like most donk decks, people are going to be excited about it until they play it and realize that their deck is trash if it doesn’t win within the first three turns.
Everyone will have the same card pool, the same draw problems, same search problems etc…new sets are coming in every quarter…the format will grow.
And from a league leader and PTO…this will actually make the game more accessible to new players who have not had the access to many of the cards you have mentioned.
My family has been with the game competitively since 2003…the format always shifts and we all manage to survive the change. With the new rules released, a new format is really needed that is in line with the new rules
I genuinely appreciate your attempt to console me, but everything you stated kind of goes without saying, and I took the aforementioned information into consideration prior to typing that. Frankly, I love how quick and complex decks are right now, and even more so when Claydol GE was in the format, so all of these steps backwards do nothing for me other than force me to lose interest in a game I’ve invested years into.
Are you just vested in the game because of certain cards that make decks work or is it the overall game itself and the people you get to know traveling. I know players who quit for the reasons that you cite, but they generally come back…not because of decks.
People leave and sometimes they come back and sometimes they don’t. If this is really a reason to quit for you then good luck with your endeavors
I’m in this game because the speed of our format combined with the complexity of your average deck, in addition to our relatively large card pool, makes for fun and exciting games. I feel as though Pokenon TCG will lose a significant level of these attributes with its intended changes. And to be honest, I don’t see myself quitting right away, but unless things start to really pick up, I definitely see my interest in the game dissipating. Perhaps this is why they didn’t release Pokemon Catcher or Max Potion… which furthers my theory that TPC wants to make the game suck so that they can cash in on the next format-revitalizing cards.
Thank you for wishing me luck, Mitchell.
I loved SP decks because of their reliability and consistency, but you gotta admit that it really crowded out a lot of other good cards this season. Last season there was still a semblance of a balanced format with Gardevoir/Gallade but playing this season was becoming a chore. The game will still be fast, it will still be exciting. The difference is that things will die a bit slower, and it will be based around fewer cards in the beginning.
A new format is always exciting, except for the last format change. I think we as players have gotten so used to playing with the same cards for so long that some of us have a hard time letting them go. I remember the most exciting times were when the format would change with the release of pretty much every set, which it hasn’t much seemed to for more than a year!
Well, believe it or not, I have owned everything SP, including multiple Luxrays, and have never enjoyed playing it. The whole SP thing is just too much of a blatant go-to for anyone who wants to win more than create new and fun ideas. With that being said, a large portion of my reason for being upset with the new format is that every deck is going to run an identical engine (other than things that can abuse Ninetails), and it’s going to be a “he who gets better draws or has a type advantage wins” format. If it were RR-on, we’d have Spritomb preventing ridiculous first turns, Jirachi helping decks that wouldn’t otherwise stand half of a chance due to their complexity and low speed, Staraptor FB as the new Claydol… and those are just the ones I can think of off of the top of my head.
I wholeheartedly agree that SP needs to die immediately and that people need to go back to the drawing board, but my whole point is that there is going to hardly be any drawing board to go back to in contrast to what we have now or would have in an RR-on format.
When will TPCi wake up and start listening to its players? I mean come on shouldn’t we the players have a say in what we play?! (Wow that sounds like a good slogan!) Serousily like said in the artical “‘When Yu-Gi-Oh make a broken card the ban it, however when Pokémon makes a broken card they make a dumb rule'” this is too utterly true. If this trend continues I may quit playing.
They are listening to the players..otherwise there would be no discussion of an early rotation. Who do you think let them know there is a possible problem. The fix may not be what everyone wants…but it is a possible fix and a good one in my opinion
totally agree
Now I do not know most of you making posts but I have noticed a trend just from reading comments here and on the Gym as well as discussion at Regionals, it seems that the Top Level Players–we all know who they are– are all very much in favor of the rotation. They are looking forward to testing new ideas and creating possible secret decks for Nats…they thrive on being more prepared than the masses…they are the players I know over the last 7 years, no matter what the format is, will rise to the top.
A smaller block of cards for Nationals will always favor those who undestand the game better than those who live off the work of others…
At my house we are looking forward to testing new decks…of course Taylor never plays “standard decks” anyway.
screw the mid season rotation
I’m personally really excited at an onlooker to see what the US can do with a HGSS on metagame, it will truly show the best from the best and separate out the mediocre net deckers and filter them out of the top tables.
I’m also excited about the fact that the UK may possibly be playing nats with the same format as States, ie. no BW shenanigans. I certainly wouldn’t mind going to HGSS on but it looks unlikely as of now that that will happen to us in Europe.
well wouldnt you like more time in a hgss-on and BW shenanigans preparation then playing nats then having to run all new decks?
I think the mid rotation in itself is not the problem, but rather the sets they decided to rotate.
HGSS-on is way too much, 7 sets are gone in a single month, and we are left with only HGSS, uleased, undaunted, triumphant, and B&W, just 5 sets, heck, even the all important bebe´s search is gone, what am i supposed to play instead of that? elms training method? please!
People who are talking about diversity, and celebrating becouse SP is left out of the picture, definitly need to re check what cards are left in there: Kingdra, magnezone and donphan will be the top new decks, while the rest will just be second tier, like it always has been. 1 or 2 decks reing supreme, the rest try to catch from behind.
Kingdra,I am not scared of you! I mean If ninetails becomes common (which why not) then kingdra will fail epicly
What about Call of Legends
“Nationals is in July so we are only getting about a months notice which makes testing very difficult because you don’t know if you should test HGSS on or the current format.”
It seems to me that anybody serious about Nationals, or any event after today, would be testing now. Your notice just arrived.
I think the best solution would be RR-on for this half of the season, then HS-on after Worlds, but I suppose a rotation is better than none.
A mid-season rotation might be the best solution. We tested the new format with about 20 people last night and there were a ridiculous amount of donks. Basically every deck is now a donk deck. If you don’t start with at least three basics theres a good chance you won’t make it past turn one.
“The format CLEARLY should be RR-on, if you ask me. Spiritomb is going to be so necessary when the only viable decks consist of stage-two’s with no BTS, and Rare Candy sucks. Bebe’s Search is going to be equally necessary. Flygon deserves another shot at viability. Everyone’s cherished Luxray GL Lv. X’s shouldn’t become worthless over night. SP won’t be worthless but instead will be just as good as decent evolution decks once Cyrus, Gain, Spray, etc are gone.”
^This. HS-on is ridiculous.
actually rare candy doesnt suck so much in a hgss-on format. mainly due to cards like luxray gl and garchomp c cant kill it so easy and take advantage of it.
I think this is great!!! SP has been around for too long and in my opinion stopped the progression of the game. THIS IS THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA IN STAGE 2 POKEMON! lol
YEAH, Is not like they nerfed rare candy or anything…o wait. THIS THE ERA OF STAGE 1 pokemon
The nerf to Rare Candy made Stage 1 ans 2 decks roughly the same speed. Play basic, next turn play final evolution (stage 1 or rare candy + stage 2). Given that most stage 2’s are stronger than stage 1, it could easily be the dawn of a stage 2 era.
A couple stage 1 decks could be strong though.
However, all evolution decks are going to struggle with Reshiram/Zekrom if they ever print Pokemon Catcher.
I find it funny how people go fro complaint to complaint. “Ahhh! I hate the new rules! They need a new rotation so it won’t just be donks!”. And then we get a rotation and people STILL accuse TPCi of not listening?! Anyways, I think this is great and being fairly new it will help me get into the game easier.
Ya, everyone wanted a rotation, and now that there may be one everyone is bad.
It could be they wanted RR-on though.
ya we did want rr-on for most people. i thought banning sableye would be better though. and for all sp haters out there i have something to say.
Luxchomp is dying. not because rotation but as a luxchomp player i notice things. things like after every set luxchomp and sp decks lose ground. with UD came vileplume. with TU came gyarados, with CL came well nothing. luxchomp is losing ground in the war against stage pokemon. yes sp is still the most tournemant winning decks but i bet if you look at statistics that they lost more tournemants as sets were released. i mean what did luxchomp gain from UD? nothing. TU? okay MAYBE junk arm. CL? nothing. BW? again zip.
well wizards banned slowking i thought because in japan it had to be active while in USA it could be on bench. and i have been testing a hgss-on build that attacks consistently turn 3 so speed wasnt too slowed down for me.