You're traveling 9 hours for a pre-release?
You more cray than I am.
Anyways, good eye on that. I've been meaning to talk about Pre-releases for awhile, but whoops,
real life!
Plasma Freeze Pre-releasePre-releases are an event where you get get a hold of product before it hits store shelves (and often it's cheaper this way than buying from stores unless you're buying in bulk amounts). The dates for pre-releases are the 27th and 28th of April (this weekend), and the 4th and 5th of May. To find a pre-release near you, use this handy
search feature. Under "premier event series" choose "Plasma Freeze Pre-release" and put in your location. Please note, I'm not sure when or if places outside of North America do their pre-releases. I know of a few countries that do it, and I'm pretty sure the UK has them, but I can't guarantee that your location will have any, but if you live in a country with pre-releases, you'll probably find plenty that are within reasonable distance to you.
Keep in mind, the cards you get at a pre-release are not considered legal for official tournaments until the set is released in stores on May 7th. This is to keep people from monopolizing on the cards before others have a chance to get them. I'm not sure if there are any tournaments happening during the pre-release tournament cycle, but it's something to keep in mind.
Like drafts, you are given 6 packs, and must build a 40 card deck out of only what you pull from those 6 packs and any basic energy you want (they will provide you with energy if you don't have any or enough, but be mindful that it's a loan, not a freebie). You will generally have only half an hour to do this, so while it seems like a lot of time, you should focus and get your deck built quickly so you don't have to throw it together at the end. You will also get a Promo card (in this case, Metagross) which is a reprint of a card within the set. Because of this, the promo card IS useable in your deck (as far as overarching legality is concerned. Some organizers don't let them count since it could skew what your booster pulls were, so be sure to check with them juuuust in case). You also get a cool deckbox featuring artwork from the set. This box is big enough to hold 60 sleeved cards in them (and is the box that Liraxus provided up above).
Pre-releases have 3 swiss rounds, meaning no one is eliminated, and in most cases, a clear winner isn't found. It's among the most basic tournaments, and since everyone is subjected to the random pulls, everyone is on a much more level playing field. Matches will be conducted normally, though with a 40 card deck, you will only be playing for 4 prizes.
Once you complete the 3 rounds, every player will receive two additional boosters (usually after they turn in their energy cards that they borrowed).
So, here's some things to keep in mind:
1. Check the price of the event. Most events cost $20-$30 to attend (in North America at least). Some events will cost you more depending on local prices or percieved demand, but it's usually pretty constant. If you click on the link to the event you want to attend on the search function I linked earlier, it should tell you the price of entering the pre-release. Be sure to have this cheddar in cash (most pre-releases don't deal with plastic, but they might be in a store that has an ATM or can give you cash back, try not to depend on this if you're not certain though), otherwise you may be refused entry.
2. You don't have to bring any cards, but you can bring some of your collection if you're hoping to trade. Nothing gets people more excited to trade than new cards, and if someone pulls a neat card that you just gotta have, having a guaranteed set of cards to trade with them helps. Be careful to not get sucked into bad trades though. Do some price checking, or if all else fails, ask other players or the professors and organizers running the event whether it's a good trade. There's a lot of knowledgeable people around, so don't be shy to ask.
3. If you bring stuff with you (or even if you don't), keep track of it, and put stuff in a backpack or tote of some kind. There's likely going to be tons of people in a location, moving around for matches, and it's easy to get distracted and leave your stuff behind, especially if it's a pile of stuff rather than one bag. You can also lose track of your bag though, so I suggest either hanging it behind your chair, setting it in your lap, or taking a strap from it and looping it around your leg (this way, if you attempt to leave the table, it'll tug on you and you'll remember. Or fall on your face. Either way, your stuff will be safe).
4. The event will probably last about 3 hours, possibly longer if complications happen. Be sure to arrive during registration, because if you're late, they might fill up and have no room for you, or sign ups will close. During this time, rounds won't be conducted strictly on a schedule, so a round could end in 5 minutes, or it could take 45 minutes. Do not depend on a round taking a long time, so be sure to stay close. This might mean bringing food or snacks with you because there may not be a definite lunch time for you to go drive/walk out and eat somewhere. Also, if you're not sure you can stay all of the rounds, be sure to let your organizer know. You are obligated to complete 1 round, but after that, you can withdraw as long as you tell the person running the event. Withdrawing early, depending on the organizer, may mean you don't get your last two packs, especially if they think you're quitting for being a bad sport or are just in the event for cheap cards. Generally though, they understand and you'll get your stuff without any hassle.
5. It's generally good to have a feel for the cards you get. Spread them out by type, cut out the Pokemon that can't be used (pre-evolutions not there, needs a card that isn't in the set/what you pulled, etc.), and narrow your choices down. In a pre-release, you generally want to focus on two-type decks (with colorless mixed in to help), so whichever types you have the most Pokemon in (and the most powerful ones too) should be your focus. 3 Type decks sometimes work, but it can hurt if you need too many types of energy.
6. Be a good sport. This is probably the most "no duh" rule, but I cannot stress this enough. This event is almost exclusively done for fun, and there's going to be a lot of excited kids around. Even if you get crap and some little annoying kid gets 3 EX cards, be polite. No one likes that one dude that's too serious and is an asshole because he pulled nothing but crap rares. Everyone's eventually going to be in that situation. If you see anyone else doing this, you might want to caution the organizers and diffuse the situation. If someone is impacting your fun or the fun of others, the organizer is going to be more than pop flyin' to do something about it, because they don't tolerate this behavior (plus, it could make people think twice about attending again). Be sure to shake your opponent's hand, and try not to play mind games with them. Mistakes are going to happen, but don't take things too seriously. That being said, if problems arise, feel free to call a judge just to make sure that you're fixing it right.
7. Have fun. There's going to be a lot of people of all ages at a prerelease, but it will still be about only 50-100 players max at the location. You might be able to meet a new friend there, and who knows, maybe you'll get the awesome card that everyone is talking about.
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Pre-releases are amongst the easiest events to get into as you don't need cards or really too much experience with the game to play. If you've only played online before this, they're the perfect jumping point to getting to a physical event, and the organizers of pre-releases are generally people you'll see running other tournaments or local leagues, so you might be able to find out where you can go for more consistent gaming.
In any case, I hope some of you will be able to go and try it out. It's a lot of fun, and you'll never know what to expect. Even a crap deck could completely destroy one you'd think is better, either by luck or because a swarm of basics may be more consistent than a deck with a few evolutionary lines.
I will be trying to attend 2 events, and I'll be reporting my results from them. I hope anyone who does go will also report what happened, so maybe brink a notebook to take simple notes to remember things (not during the matches though).
I will also try to provide a basic analysis of this set once the cards are officially leaked on Saturday so we can see what to look out for when you're looking at all of these cards in front of you on the day of release.
And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this thread, I've just been a bit busy. The draft tournament is still going... I think. Hopefully I can hear back with some results soon.
pop flyin' Gaming.
-Professor Kamak
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