Gaming Pokémon Strumfest

Havak

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@Heardy Unfortunately, a Gengar GX doesn't exist (the tag team one with Mimikyu is the only one). There's only one Gengar EX card which was in the 'Phantom Forces' set, so if your nephew is at all savvy, you'd need to try and find a booster pack from this set to insert the card in (if you're dead set on it being just an ultra rare Gengar card). The issue is that the set is pushing on for six years old which is a long time in Pokémon cards, it'll have been discontinued years ago so your only chance is likely inflated booster/single card prices from re-sellers. I'm sure he'd love the Gengar/Mimikyu as well though, so might be worth buying some Team Up booster packs and going down that route. It would be easier I reckon.

Oh and just so you're a bit more in the loop, the next expansion will be coming soon and replaces EX/GX with 'V'. It's possible there could be a Gengar V in the near future, but I'm not clued up on what will be in the next set yet. There is a mechanic called 'Gigantamax' in the new games which only certain Pokémon can do and Gengar is one of them, so it's very possible he gets a very cool card by some point next year.
 
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Di Maria's angel

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@Heardy Unfortunately, a Gengar GX doesn't exist (the tag team one with Mimikyu is the only one). There's only one Gengar EX card which was in the 'Phantom Forces' set, so if your nephew is at all savvy, you'd need to try and find a booster pack from this set to insert the card in (if you're dead set on it being just an ultra rare Gengar card). The issue is that the set is pushing on for six years old which is a long time in Pokémon cards, it'll have been discontinued years ago so your only chance is likely inflated booster/single card prices from re-sellers. I'm sure he'd love the Gengar/Mimikyu as well though, so might be worth buying some Team Up booster packs and going down that route. It would be easier I reckon.

Oh and just so you're a bit more in the loop, the next expansion will be coming soon and replaces EX/GX with 'V'. It's possible there could be a Gengar V in the near future, but I'm not clued up on what will be in the next set yet. There is a mechanic called 'Gigantamax' in the new games which only certain Pokémon can do and Gengar is one of them, so it's very possible he gets a very cool card by some point next year.
Its actually a little odd that such a popular Pokemon has barely any GXs/EXs. Also the ones available look crap.
 

Heardy

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Thanks @Havak , was hoping one of the Pokemon big hitters would chime in with some info.
Seen some singles on eBay. I don’t mind paying a tenner for one. He’s only 6, but he’ll be dead chuffed with either an EX or GX, I think the packs his mom and dad have GX cards in sometimes so that’s what he knows!
 

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I've caved in and got it (damn Black Friday deals and seeing a video of someone using the Gigantamax Meowth at the end of the game to farm lots of cash easy swayed me). Gonna miss not having my ditto. Now just to find a deal for NSO.
 

Maagge

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I've caved in and got it (damn Black Friday deals and seeing a video of someone using the Gigantamax Meowth at the end of the game to farm lots of cash easy swayed me). Gonna miss not having my ditto. Now just to find a deal for NSO.
I thought you hadn't bought a Switch yet?
 

Havak

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Its actually a little odd that such a popular Pokemon has barely any GXs/EXs. Also the ones available look crap.
I usually feel like this, but then there are a lot of Legendary Pokémon and other popular Pokémon that fill up many possible slots for these kinds of cards. I'm going to assume a lot of the final stage evolution cards are limited to a couple of ultra rare+ prints per generation. I bet it's like this for many of the cards if we actually look into it haha.

Thanks @Havak , was hoping one of the Pokemon big hitters would chime in with some info.
Seen some singles on eBay. I don’t mind paying a tenner for one. He’s only 6, but he’ll be dead chuffed with either an EX or GX, I think the packs his mom and dad have GX cards in sometimes so that’s what he knows!
Yeah, my main point is basically that if your nephew knows what the set symbols are and which cards are in the set (some of the bigger products give you an image list of all the cards in the set) then he'll know you've bamboozled him if that card can't be in those booster packs. Still, no harm done I suppose :)

I've caved in and got it (damn Black Friday deals and seeing a video of someone using the Gigantamax Meowth at the end of the game to farm lots of cash easy swayed me). Gonna miss not having my ditto. Now just to find a deal for NSO.
I've been getting by using Ditto from Raids for now. There is a Den where you can basically just reset your game until you get Ditto and it will have a minimum of four perfect IVs. Pokémon Home will be out next year though and we'll be able to send our Ditto from Pokémon Bank. There is also a longer process in these games, but it could probably be done in a few sessions, but bascially:

- Knock out the same Pokémon in the wild 500 times (there are modifiers for lesser numbers too)

This gives you a 6x higher shiny rate (basically Masuda Method) and a minimum of 4 perfect IVs for that particular species (forever, a chain doesn't matter, just the overall total) in the wild. Obviously, it's a huge effort if you want to do it for multiple Pokémon, but maybe gives incentive to use different Pokémon for EV training each time. Doing it for Ditto could make sense and then just doing Raids for the other Pokémon. Rarer Raids (purple beams) and 5* Raids are almost guaranteed 4 perfect IVs too, so this speeds things up a lot.
 

Damien

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I thought you hadn't bought a Switch yet?
I hadn't. Found an offer for the Switch Lite and Sword today.

I've been getting by using Ditto from Raids for now. There is a Den where you can basically just reset your game until you get Ditto and it will have a minimum of four perfect IVs. Pokémon Home will be out next year though and we'll be able to send our Ditto from Pokémon Bank. There is also a longer process in these games, but it could probably be done in a few sessions, but bascially:

- Knock out the same Pokémon in the wild 500 times (there are modifiers for lesser numbers too)

This gives you a 6x higher shiny rate (basically Masuda Method) and a minimum of 4 perfect IVs for that particular species (forever, a chain doesn't matter, just the overall total) in the wild. Obviously, it's a huge effort if you want to do it for multiple Pokémon, but maybe gives incentive to use different Pokémon for EV training each time. Doing it for Ditto could make sense and then just doing Raids for the other Pokémon. Rarer Raids (purple beams) and 5* Raids are almost guaranteed 4 perfect IVs too, so this speeds things up a lot.
Thanks. Yeah I'll just use the Den for now.
 

Massive Spanner

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Pokemon Shield only £36 on Amazon right now.. feck.. I have so many games to play.. but.. should I? Haven't even fecking played Astral Chain yet.
 

Massive Spanner

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I can only see prices of £44+. Given how long ago it was released, £36 is a great price. Up to you if you feel you can wait or not. I'm so weak willed.
I think it's worth it because Nintendo games never really go down in price. Zelda and Mario are still £40 or more.

EDIT: Feck it's 44 again, must've been a glitch, never mind :lol:
 

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syrian_scholes

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For sure.

https://www.very.co.uk/nintendo-switch-nintendo-switch-lite-grey-console-with-pokemon-sword-minecraft/1600432041.prd?_requestid=1229361&Ntt=switch lite

That is what I opted for. Never dabbled in Minecraft but that is a bundle that was too hard to resist. Saw the console and Sword for £229 (down from £239) like a week ago. Another 20 off and an extra game included isn't bad.
You playing the game now? Send me your friend code.

I finally reached rank 10(Ultra Ball) on ranked mode, I was stuck on 8 for 2 days straight, very happy with this since this is the first time I play online battles or even breed Pokemon for comp play at all.
 
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Damien

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You playing the game now? Send me your friend code.

I finally reached rank 10 on ranked mode, I was stuck on 10 for 2 days straight, very happy with this since this is the first time I play online battles or even breed Pokemon for comp play at all.
Being delivered today at some point. Will do. Congrats on reaching rank 10.
 

Ødegaard

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Good god the ai is so poor at picking pokemon.
Going up against a gyarados? Sure let's use 2 fire pokemon and a wobbufet.
I win, but it's like the ai is trying to lose.
 

Havak

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Finally hatched my first shiny in these games at 236 hours in, a Deino. Then, less than an hour later when I started breeding Rotom, I hatched a shiny one of those too :lol:
 

Damien

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A new Wild Area Event has begun. Until January 3rd at 23:59 UTC, Magikarp is now in increased Max Raid Battles in the Wild Area. This adds Magikarp with a higher chance of being Shiny. Magikarp raids, in addition to having a high shiny chance, offer many Nuggets as rewards
Great idea. I hope they do some more of these events in the future.
 

Havak

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Pokémon Direct announced for Thursday 9th January, 14:30 UK time.

Probably going to discuss Pokémon Home, what it includes and when it's coming etc. I expect Pokémon Home is more than just additional storage and can be connected to Bank, Go, and Let's Go as well we Sword/Shield. It'll probably be a replacement to the Global Link Service too, so include News, Events, Online Rankings and the like. Maybe they'll speak of patches as there are a few bugs and performance issues. There could be improvements to the garbage Y-Comm System and maybe they'll say they will patch the game to include more Pokémon eventually. Although initially it'll just be the 35 datamined ones and I believe someone has found out there are additional in-game boxes (up to 30) available when this happens.

Other than that, maybe a teaser for Detective Pikachu 2 or something.
 

syrian_scholes

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I'll be honest, the expansion pass looks better than the base games, anyway moving away from their model of launching enhanced versions for same price the expansion pass instead is a welcomed change imo.
 

Damien

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I'll be honest, the expansion pass looks better than the base games, anyway moving away from their model of launching enhanced versions for same price the expansion pass instead is a welcomed change imo.
Definitely. Much prefer this over the 'expanded' games, though I wouldn't be surprised if they still release another game in a couple of years. I hope when the 200+ pokemon are added, that there'll be more boxes in storage too but expect there'll be no change there.

Surprised there was no real discussion of Pokemon Home and features given it is coming out next month.
 

syrian_scholes

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Definitely. Much prefer this over the 'expanded' games, though I wouldn't be surprised if they still release another game in a couple of years. I hope when the 200+ pokemon are added, that there'll be more boxes in storage too but expect there'll be no change there.

Surprised there was no real discussion of Pokemon Home and features given it is coming out next month.
I'm low key expecting they'll make Pokemon Home free, which would fix the storage issue, but that's a stretch. :(
 

syrian_scholes

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I would hope so. Nintendo Online costs money and I'm basically only using it for Pokemon.
Pokemon is such a cash machine that they can get away with home not being free, but yeah the 20$ a year for NSO should cover it
 

Damien

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I'm low key expecting they'll make Pokemon Home free, which would fix the storage issue, but that's a stretch. :(
Nah, at minimum they'll price it same as Pokemon Bank, but I can see them making the excuse that with it probably having the GTS in that it is more 'feature rich' so needs a higher subscription.
 

Havak

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Also love the look of the expansion pass. Much prefer it to them releasing another version. Probably requires a smaller team, meaning the next games (probably Oct/Nov 2021) can have the main team on them working a longer development period.

Pokémon Home is already confirmed to be a paid service for those who didn't know, but no idea on price yet. £5-10 per year is what I'd expect, with a free trial for the first week or two you use it.

It is in the game data that there are at least an additional five boxes (could be even more added) in the games for storage, so I assume they will be activated as part of the free update that allows regular Sw/Sh to obtain the additional Pokémon.
 

Damien

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Also love the look of the expansion pass. Much prefer it to them releasing another version. Probably requires a smaller team, meaning the next games (probably Oct/Nov 2021) can have the main team on them working a longer development period.

Pokémon Home is already confirmed to be a paid service for those who didn't know, but no idea on price yet. £5-10 per year is what I'd expect, with a free trial for the first week or two you use it.

It is in the game data that there are at least an additional five boxes (could be even more added) in the games for storage, so I assume they will be activated as part of the free update that allows regular Sw/Sh to obtain the additional Pokémon.
£15 confirmed.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-01-28-pokemon-homes-premium-plan-will-cost-gbp15-a-year

There's a free tier but you can't do a great deal.
 

Damien

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The Mewtwo raid is really challenging (mostly to find a bunch of other people who don't bring in stupid pokemon). I really liked how I was able to get a gmax Prankster Grimmsnarl I had from 60 to 100 in a couple of minutes with candy and optimise the moveset. In previous games it would have took much longer to get a pokemon in that condition. I've been in four Mewtwo raids, lost 3, won 1. Time consuming but great rewards.