Prerelease Kits To Be Sold in Stores: 'Build & Battle' Kits!

KazamEsper

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Don't know how to feel about this. It will be a nice starter kit for new players, however it takes away a lot of the exclusivity of going to a prerelease and getting an exclusive promo plus new packs early. This will hurt prerelease attendance, however we do still get the cards earlier at prereleases which is a big part of the appeal
I agree. i do go for getting cards early and the trade/sell value of some of the cards will be great. Before the set releases. Besides, my local stores at pre-release time give out 3 participation packs and prizing depending on how well you do (and how many attend). Basically, players would be getting 7-12 packs (includes the 4 from the kit) of the new set early. And don't forget, that packs recieved from a pre-release have a better pull ratio than the packs after the official release date IMO.
 

KazamEsper

Aspiring Trainer
Member
One more thing. These won't be pre-release kits. They would be more along the lines of a Deck Building Kit "with an official promo card inside". When these boxes get shelved on May 4th. I don't think we should be labeling them as Pre-release kits. They will probably have the same contents as a pre-release one, but "Deck Construction kit" is what they will probably be called.
 

signofzeta

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I feel that this product and what it is aimed for is useless without basic energy included in it. Instead of making a product that is useless without basic energy, and a product that is only basic energy, why didn't they combine the two, and release a MTG Deckbuilder's toolkit equivalent for the Pokemon TCG?
 

OVERGRO

Pokemon is lyfe.
Member
You know, I was looking forward to this and holding mini-tournaments with my own friends and family, but now that I think about it, my local game store will probably capitalize on the demand and grossly overprice this product, so I won't end up buying it anyways...
 

PokeMedic

Don't talk to me or my Pokemon ever again
Articles Staff
Member
You know, I was looking forward to this and holding mini-tournaments with my own friends and family, but now that I think about it, my local game store will probably capitalize on the demand and grossly overprice this product, so I won't end up buying it anyways...

Organizers can run limited format tournaments much more easily if these are going to be available. Some venues have a market for those kinds of events, they've just been very difficult to pull off outside of a prerelease event because of the guidelines.
 

TheCandyFurret

Try not to pet me, I’m too adorable
Member
Ok im sorry but I feel this is an awful idea:

1: It will hit PreRelease Event Attendance, which for smaller leagues will be devastating (people wont feel obliged to attend an event because they will get something special in the form of the promo)

2: It will devalue the promo cards. Their worth will drop dramatically as they will become more massed produced

3: It discredits loyalty of dedicated players and collectors who seek something special when a set is released

I'm really interested in what you guys think about this decision by TPCI?

Im even tempted to make a video on youtube on this and its not usually my area to critique stuff like this in my videos

Pat
I agree. Even though this means that I can get one, it still felt special when I watched someone get one. But now it's not really special. Still, I'm probably gonna get this because I'm desperate for Ultra Necrozma GX
 

BENDsli

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I feel that this product and what it is aimed for is useless without basic energy included in it. Instead of making a product that is useless without basic energy, and a product that is only basic energy, why didn't they combine the two, and release a MTG Deckbuilder's toolkit equivalent for the Pokemon TCG?

I 100% agree on this, it would be an awesome starting point for new players for sure
 

OVERGRO

Pokemon is lyfe.
Member
Organizers can run limited format tournaments much more easily if these are going to be available. Some venues have a market for those kinds of events, they've just been very difficult to pull off outside of a prerelease event because of the guidelines.

Yeah totally. I don't like spending hundreds of dollars on competitive decks but still enjoy competitive irl Pokemon. Pre-releases were perfect for this but they're expensive, and no offense, but the main reason I stopped going was 1) lack of time and 2) I don't really like the people in my local Pokemon TCG community (VGC is better but not by much).

This is my chance to have fun with my friends and family once in a while, on my own time, with people I actually like, in places that are more comfortable and better-smelling. As long as it's reasonably priced ($20-22 CAD) I'm looking forward to playing with these!
 

Futuristicice828

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I'm all for this. I get a nice promo and 4 FBL packs for the same price as one of those Jumbo-GX boxes with the increasingly weird assortments of packs. I'll take this over those any day, and since I haven't been to a prerelease in over 2 years this is good news for me.

It's possible, but who's to say they won't fix the rates in comparison to the actual pre-release boxes? I think that even though they'll be the same product essentially, this new line of product will lack the crazy pull rates pre-release boxes have.
Hmm... I could see Pokemon doing that!
 

Number51x

Blasting off at the speed of light!
Member
Hmm. Not sure if this is why, but the place I go for pre-release had HALF the normal number of players this time. It's not like there aren't good cards in this set so I have to imagine that these kits being offered at GS are a big part of the reason.
 

PokeMedic

Don't talk to me or my Pokemon ever again
Articles Staff
Member
Hmm. Not sure if this is why, but the place I go for pre-release had HALF the normal number of players this time.

Numbers have been way low this go around in this state. Cant' say if it's the cards or the sheer amount of pre-release events that are actually happening.
 

PatchampYoutuber

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Numbers have been way low this go around in this state. Cant' say if it's the cards or the sheer amount of pre-release events that are actually happening.
Definitely less here in the UK too, our events are normally sold out in my town. Out of 4 Prerelease events only the first was sold out and the other 3 barely had 50% attendance
 
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