Local Leagues

[Fraxure]

So I went to the Pokemon Play! website and found that there's [url=https://www.pokemon.com/us/account/play-pokemon-leagues/1408/b9n]a local league[/urlb9n] that takes place every week not too far from me! The store where it's held says they usually get ~15 people on any given week, with a pretty large age distribution. It's held on Saturdays from 2-5, so I'm going to try it out today.

Does anyone else participate in local leagues? What has your experience been? If you want to search for leagues/tournaments near you, the link is [url=https://www.pokemon.com/us/account/events/b9n]here[/urlb9n].

[Shade]

Battleground used to have a league. It fell by the wayside at some point and to recertify it needs recommending by another gamestore. Another gamestore that would be literally allowing a competitor to take its customers. It's a silly system Nintendo has set up.

That being said, I enjoyed dipping back into the TCG. This was during the sets that changed the weaknesses to +10 for basic, +20 for first stage evolved, and +30 for second stage. The basic pokemon now have loads more HP too, which makes for a more interesting start and middle game. Unfortunately the cards have since reverted back to x2 weaknesses for all...
I would [blzi]NOT[/blzi] recommend any tournaments, unless you like cookie-cutter decks one after another after another-etc. I went to one for funsies and did decently well-but [ilzi]everyone[/ilzi] had a Claydol to cycle through their deck (regardless of what colors their deck actually was). Between that and the Expert Belts (? I think this was the name? It adds +20HP and gives another prize if you actually manage to down the equipped pokemon. It may have also given them more dmg output) the tournament wasn't as enjoyable as I'd hoped. There were maybe three distinct decks in a room of over fifty players for our division (they break up the age groups for fairness). When you're just going from same deck to same deck, changing only the person playing it (and even then not the play style), that's not so fun-it did make them predictable I guess, as a one-upside.

[Fraxure]

Actually, I'm not much into the TCG, I'll be strictly participating in the VG battling.

[Quilliam]

There's a leauge at this local con, but I never really challenged them. I was going to this year but life got in the way (it's a bike ride away too, so it wouldn't have even been that hard to go too)

I have one friend who's as competitive as I am, another few who sort of understand EVs and IVs and the rest that I know are all just casuals. Which, I don't mind taking them on but to put a team together I at least want to take them to their maximum potential so I have trouble not EV training outside of story mode.

[Fraxure]

Hmm, well that was disappointing. It was all little kids playing the TCG. The league takes place in an area of the city known for its hipster population, I was hoping there would be some older people, but sadly not. Oh well. :/

[Aurethious]

Not that this is going to happen anytime soon, but if and when I get my hobby store up and running (read: hopefully some time next year when I can acquire financing), this is something I'm looking to include in my events. A Pokemon video game league of some sort of regular tournament. Possibly also a class aimed at teaching new young Pokemon players about the game.

[Fraxure]

Hello Aurethious, I don't believe I've noticed that you're located in Brockton! That's pretty cool. While I was looking for Boston-based Pokemon events, my search did return an existing league in Brockton (league page [url=https://www.pokemon.com/us/account/play-pokemon-leagues/3173/i86]here[/urli86]) - perhaps you could go and check it out for ideas, to see how they run theirs? It takes place at a store called The Wizard's Duel, Sundays from 4-6 - including today!

I was trying to figure out a way to take public transportation out there, and did find the [url=http://www.ridebat.com/i86]BAT[/urli86], but sadly the route that runs from the MBTA down into Brockton isn't in service on Sundays; plus, the BAT station hub is still pretty far from the store. Just not worth it, sadly.

[Aurethious]

[Fraxure]

[Aurethious]