I do not participate in any of the Facebook or Reddit groups out there for the game, and while I am sure there is a lot of poor ideas and poor attitudes echoed within these postings, I think it is foolish to think that the community of the game is any better or any worse than it was in the past. Despite the increased turnouts and prizing, I have noticed a troubling tendency wherein the members of the community consistently talk about how the community has gone toxic or is beyond saving while doing very little in attempts to say it. Historically, I have always been a detractor of such a sentiment and do think that the game is moving closer and closer to the best its ever been. I’m sure we’ve all heard many times how “the game just quite isn’t as good as it used to be” from players hailing from the glory days. I do not think (despite many others voicing different opinions) that one is superior to the other. I acknowledge that a large part of this sentiment is likely mired by nostalgia’s rose-tint, but it is something I’ve been thinking about recently. Maybe it’s the prize money, the larger community or just everything else in between, but talking about Pokémon TCG now compared to Pokémon TCG in 2009 when I first started seems fundamentally impossible.

I can remember my very first tournament very vividly and there is simply some allure or feel to these times that feels drastically different than competing now. I’ve been spending a good amount of time recently reminiscing over times past spent competing at a high level.

A zoroark among us not detecting font