Thoughts of Cards, Again

I consider any problem related to Pokémon as my problem. This includes my own problems as well as that of others. For now, though, there is one problem that's kind of nagging, and that would concern the TCG. Since I've initiated things with the TCGO client and gotten my first physical starter deck, I've enjoyed many things about it, but then current conditions took effect and a lot of things happened, and that led to a few personal sub-problems with the TCG that make up a larger whole. The solutions don't seem to be easy either, which is why I've chosen to take this post to discuss my thoughts on them.

Some time ago, I had attempted to start playing again with the TCGO client, but I found out that the client wouldn't connect, let alone update. Yet the client had worked earlier with nothing changed on my PC itself, my preferred platform to play. One thing, though, had changed, and that would be the connection settings I use to connect my PC to the Internet, and that is mostly outside of my PC. Still, it's the most likely culprit of why the TCGO client is not connecting as it should, and I may need to bear with it if I don't find another solution.

Meanwhile, the solution for holding physical TCG battles in current times is Remote Battles that are facilitated by a smartphone and video transmission. It's a neat solution to be sure as it takes advantage of many people's current and available means of communication, provided that they have the device. However, seeing that I only have a local-language full deck and fragments of an English deck, this would be most workable with a local player, and that presents a few constraints of its own.

The primary constraint is that on the whole, the local cards still present a bit of a personal comprehension problem, which makes me a slower player than otherwise. This may or may not be desirable when it comes time to play with others. The secondary constraint is that I have not been keeping up with the pace of current cards, though obviously the cards themselves have, which is good for the cards and others but not so much for me. This is likely to be the hardest problem to solve, but a friend tells me not to worry about this too much.

Playing the TCG has had its own challenges and problems in current times, but at least some of them can or have been able to be resolved. Personally though, I seem to need to resolve a few more additional problems before I could jump back into TCG affairs. That is much of a problem as whatever problems that other TCG players may face, which to me is something I'm interested to know and solve just as much as knowing and solving mine.

One year ago: The Age of Post-EX Raids?

Two years ago: Capital Convergence

Three years ago: Getting Lucky with It

Four years ago: I Want to Splurge