Links to previous parts of this article arc…
*Ten in '10: 2010's Most Significant Events (Part 1/6)
*Ten in '10: 2010's Most Significant Events (Part 2/6)
*Ten in '10: 2010's Most Significant Events (Part 3/6)
*Ten in '10: 2010's Most Significant Events (Part 4/6)
*Ten in '10: 2010's Most Significant Events (Part 5/6)
That little bit of house-keeping aside…Let's finish this thing up!
#1: Play! Pokemon: Rebranding With a Bumpy Start
(Play! Pokemon: similar enough to evoke familiar ideas…But dissimilar enough to avoid copyright infringement claims.)
For the first time since its inception, Pokemon Organized Play decided to completely revamp its image: the generic OP logos were out, and the NEW image was in! However, what does this entail? We don't know exactly what…But so far, it hasn't been thrilling.
This post is less about the mere rebranding; rather, it's about precisely what I alluded to how mediocre 2010 was in general…So hence, the word "rebranding" will be deined loosely. But what about that disappointment for 2010? Well, let me offer a callback to my three summarizing words mentioned in Part 1…They were:
Evolutioin; lack; and stagnation.
The previously-listed events of 2010 before this one generally signify "evolution," but many of you reading this article likely feel that organized play's support is beginning to suffer from "lack and stagnation," and with good cause. As a long-time competitor and volunteer of organized play, I'm least enthused about this game's competitive side than I have ever been. While my general involvement increases (as this blog is testament to), I find premier events far less entertaining or desirable than good old-fashioned league, which doesn't even need official support to exist!
So what's at the root of this?
For starters, communication between Play! Pokemon and its player base has been inexcusably bad. First, the year was greeted with a still massively-buggy website (which is still slow); second, we dealt with extremely late notice on where the 2010 National Championships would be; and third, the ratings and rankings were down for _over four months_. Occasional website issues are certainy understandable, but not receiving Nationals information until States caused numerous problems for the players, and as for the ratings/rankings…Four months…Really?
If all of this poor communication wasn't enough, then consider our American releases in 2010:
*Heart Gold/Soul Silver
*Unleashed
*Undaunted
*Triumphant
Although those last three sets had a few notable cards, they've otherwise been absurdly mediocre releases. And Heart Gold/Soul Silver, while certainly a good set, was good for all of the wrong reasons…Namely, Double Colorless Energy. Considering how good SP was already at that point, why on Earth did Pokemon Card Laboratories re-release this monstrosity of the old era? I can't really answer that, but its negative side effect was an unhealthy United States metagame, and an overall horrible year for sets anywhere outside of Japan (not Play! Pokemon's fault, but it is certainly a bump in the road).
Unexciting sets, and no communication…What's in store for 2011?
So far, not much: our most recently released set, which held great promise to include several exciting new reprints from years and seasons gone by, instead turned out to be one of the worst sets in the history of the Pokemon Trading Card Game's history; and while we know a thing or two about ratings, we still don't even have an official invite structure announcement!
While I cannot claim to know what the general word on the street is, I have heard several complaints about where things are headed. Erik Nance, last season's runner-up at the 2010 U.S. National Championship, claimed that this has been "the worst season of Pokemon since I started playing [five years ago]." Chad Harris, an equally known player, as well as former State and Regional Champion of California, predicted that "…we will look back on 2010 [as] being perhaps the worst year in [P!P's] history."
Given a mediocre 2010, and a poor start to 2011, what could breathe more life into this system – this game – of ours?
Black and White.
Yes, with the new video games, things could turn around with a reinvigorated league system, new incentive for the powers at be to invest more in Play! Pokemon, and a good set containing no stupid re-releases (we don't know how good the Gust of Wind quasi-reprint will be in our metagame). These have great implications vis-a-vis the metagame and communication, so here's to hoping.
But right now, it's just: evolution; lack; stagnation. Hopefully we hear more of the first word, and less of the other two.
Pessimism? No, just realism with a dash of optimism. Either way, happy playing!