New Player: My First Prerelease!
After lurking the competitive side of the hobby for a few years, and finally getting back on it with a Shrouded Fable ETB back in 2024 for my birthday, on Monday the 11th, I went to my first prerelease event. Was I nervous? Yes. Will I go to more events? Definitely.
I showed up to the small local store, completely baffled with the idea that I’m going to talk to other adults about Pokemon to an extend where it’s beyond the basics. I picked up my Build & Battle Box and sat quietly in the back of the room, away from the groups of people that were opening their boxes together and discussing strategies, favorite cards and more. I ended up getting the deck I wanted, Goodra. In my 4 packs I was also able to pull a Mega Floette ex and a Prism Tower, both good for this event. The nights before, I had already spend a few hours looking into the decks and what I could possibly do when it comes to my deck building, so I ended up going with the full Goodra evolution line, the Mega Floette ex and only one copy of Espurr and Meowstic. I sleeve up my deck, I get my things in order and wait for the shuffle.
First Match vs Crobat:
I met my first ever locals opponent, we shake hands and we chat a bit about my being a first timer in an offline event. Surprisingly, both him and the people around me reacted in a very enthusiastic way, happy that I took the leap to play. In short, I was able to get a Goodra live in three turns, and started getting my prize cards down to my last one. The turning point was that my opponent played Crobat, confused me, and the dice roll didn’t go my way, so I ended up losing my Goodra on the next turn and then I couldn’t come back due to not drawing any Lillie's Determination and energies, so I had no resources. The one “negative” thing is that my opponent played a couple of his cards and abilities without fully knowing what they do, and when I asked to check the text, he ended up reversing his actions (e.g. Crobat ability, he thought he selected 1 card from his deck and put it in his hand). I didn’t want to say anything negative like “you already made the move” in the spirit of my positivity, which I won’t repeat in an event that is not prerelease. So 0-1 it goes.
Second Match vs Ampharos:
Ampharos was my second deck of choice, so I was excited to see it in action. My opponent was a very experienced player and a Pokemon judge as well, so he was by nature very helpful. Unfortunately, I opened with Mega Floette ex, but without any energies or draw power despite having Prism Tower, 3 Lillie’s & Poke Pads in my deck. After a couple of rounds I was only able to evolve a Goomy into Sliggoo but my enemy was slowly building his bench with Mega Pyroar ex and an Ampharos in the lead, so I sank slowly into defeat. 0-2.
Third Match vs Crobat:
I was feeling good because both matches have been a good learning experience, so I was heading into my third match with the same confidence if not more. I match with another Crobat, lovely guy again, guided me step by step and fixed my mistakes (I played Dawn in the 1st turn of the game). I opened up with Goomy and Mega Floette ex on my bench, I quickly evolve in two turns up to Goodra and start knocking out his active Pokemon. He didn’t have a lot of luck in drawing so he bricked really bad, to the point where I used Switch to move my Mega Floette ex on the active spot, and tanked with the +30 heal attack every turn until he decked out. My first offline win! 1-2.
Third Match vs Delphox:
Really happy to play vs all different decks in the same event. Great opponent, came from another TCG to have a more pleasant experience while playing. He opened up quickly with Vulpix and two Fennekin. I open with one Goomy. He goes first, attaches and on to me. I draw.. nothing. I got stuck with no energy, two Goodra in hand and two AZ supporters that were not useful. The game went back and forth for maybe 10 rounds, where I bricked again and didn’t draw any draw support or energies, and he slowly burned me to the ground. Total tally 1-3.
Overall I was able to confirm what I was seeing in all these videos from other locals and events; the Pokemon community is really friendly, eager to help you and there is cool vibes all around. I enjoyed it so much that I’ve signed up for another prerelease event this upcoming Friday! Then, I have to make an actual deck to play on locals lol. The store gave us 2 packs also for participating so it was cool to open up new cards, felt amazing. Said bye to everyone and walked to my car as I heard them starting to trade with each other, again, really cool!