Last weekend the Pokémon World Championships 2023 took place, a competitive event in which we had Mexican representation in disciplines such as Pokémon VGC, Pokémon TCG and Pokémon GO. It would certainly be great to see more Mexicans competing against the best, but how can we achieve this? We spoke to one of the country’s stars about it.
At Pokémon World Championships 2023 we had the opportunity to interview Pablo “Tablemon” Meza, player and content creator of Pokémon TCG. There we asked him about what we could do in Mexico to increase the national representation in the most important Pokémon tournaments year after year.
Meza acknowledged that one of the main problems Mexico is facing is that the price of local tournaments can be very restrictive. From the above he has seen that many players prefer to play only casually with friends.
“In the end, yes, we all want to qualify and look for the points, but right now the stores are setting quite high prices to play the tournaments and I think that this is an important factor in where if a person is going to spend $300 MXN in one day, well You can either play the tournament or go to the movies, right? But if you’re not super competitive, if you’re not 100% focused, maybe you evaluate and say ‘okay, I’d rather play cards with my friends more casually and I’d better spend that money doing other things’. I think that something that the stores could do is lower the cost of tickets to the tournaments and that would indirectly attract more people and give more cost benefit to the tournament from a local player to the most pros”, said Meza.
Later, Tablemon recognized that it is a more complex problem, since the stores that organize the tournaments also have bills to pay: “This topic is an aspirational one, so I think that casual players seeing the tournament, seeing the competition, might feel more inspired to invest more time and compete more. From my perspective it would be something very positive, but there is also an economic perspective that perhaps since I am not the owner of a store I do not contemplate 100%”.
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How to get started in Pokémon TCG without spending too much?
Another problem that the Mexican community has wanting to get into Pokémon TCG is that it can be an expensive game. After all, it is a title that requires investment in cards and expansion packs. Many prefer to avoid that expense if they are not yet sure that they will play in the long term.
What can they do? Meza considers that Pokémon TCG Live, the game for PC and mobile, is a good option. This is because it presents various decks that can be used to familiarize players with the mechanics and the meta. Now if they enjoy it, they can decide if they want to invest in more cards (physical or digital) to play at another level.
“Definitely playing it online is a much more accessible way. At the end of the day, the codes do come in the envelopes and so on, but you can play for free without investing anything. The decks provided by the platform are not the ones that are going to win the World Cup right now, but they are very close and they have a great collection of decks. With that, if you take the free online training resources and combine them with what the platform provides, it is a good way to start without investing in physical cards yet, ”he pointed out.
Also keep in mind that there are currently several resources for players to learn how to play the Pokémon TCG. Among them are Tablemon YouTube videos, in which the pro breaks down different aspects of the game to help you become an expert. If you want to learn, follow him on YouTube and Twitter.
Pablo Meza has a channel full of Pokémon TCG content
And you, how do you think the Pokémon TCG scene can grow in Mexico? Tell us in the comments.
Follow this link for more news related to Pokémon TCG. On the other hand, here you will find all our coverage of the Pokémon World Championship.
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