Around 2018, I obtained my first Pokemon cards. That was the beginning of a journey, a hobby, that I still enjoy today. My first three Pokemon cards were Pikachu, Ralts, and a trainer, Slowbro Spirit Link. While I wasn’t really collecting or battling then, I still liked to take those cards out and look at them. My next step was a card I got that had over 100 HP: Zygarde. It was also a foil. I thought it was powerful back then, as I didn’t know nearly as much about Pokemon as I do now. I watched some Pokemon cartoons, but Pokemon wasn’t very big in that stage of my life.

On Christmas 2021, I took my next big step: a real power card. As a Christmas present, it wasn’t exactly small. It was my first V ( Pokemon V are basically powered up Pokemon). It’s name is Wailord V, and it remains in my collection to this day. It’s important to note that this V was an unrealistic first V, as the only V in existence with 280 HP. It has more HP than an average Pokemon V. That was the Christmas my parents decided to see if I would like Pokemon. That same Christmas I got a collector’s binder, and a bundle of 60 Pokemon cards. The individual cards and the 60 card pack were purchased on the “black market”, as they are not official products. Normally you have to get big collections to obtain V’s, or you can find them in booster packs sometimes.

After that, I started to truly be interested in Pokemon cards. In 2022, I built my deck from scratch. It only had 2 V’s; all of the Vs in my collection. I always lost battles against my parents: I just wasn’t good enough. They had VMAX’s, I didn’t. However, in 2023, the tables turned. My deck grew to a behemoth containing over 10 V’s, exactly 4 VMAX’s, and precisely 2 VSTAR’s. Since those improvements, I have won nearly every match within my family. I even went to a tournament, and won 1 out of 3 matches that I fought.

In January 2024, the passion was uncertain. I was browsing the Pokemon website when I saw the terrible news: the 2024 Standard Format was just announced, and over half of my deck’s core cards were banned. If you’re looking into Pokemon, you should know that every year the oldest regulation mark in the format is banned. The regulation mark is found at the bottom left of the card. Anyway, all of my VMAX’s were banned, and most of my V’s too. For a good week or two I thought I was done for ( unless I bought more rather expensive Pokemon cards ), until I realized that I wasn’t done for; my deck would have a legacy until 2025 – when the last cards of my signature deck will likely be banned. I am currently working on legalizing my deck. I still have some legal cards left, and they are good enough to build a deck around.

While rotation, the banning of old cards, is not nominal, I certainly will continue playing Pokemon. I truly enjoy it. In fact, lately I have been interested in more divisions of Pokemon. I got my first Pokemon video game on Christmas 2023, and I have been watching Pokemon episodes regularly for over a year. Pokemon is a very fun, exciting, and complicated franchise. In fact, I would say it’s been my first real hobby. It is very enjoyable and I will believe I will continue enjoying it for years to come.

Best wishes, Astro