The Magic of Pokémon Cards

by Finn, Grade 7

I’ve been a fan of Pokémon for over 5 years now, so I’ve been attached and loving the series for as long as I can remember. I always try to get the new entries in the series, I always try to get some merchandise of the starters or Pokémon I like. But there’s always been one other Pokémon product that’s also been a huge reason for my love for Pokémon (Besides the games.) and those products are the trading cards. So let’s talk about them.

Now, you need to know that I have a lot of Pokémon cards. I have a full drawer full of Pokémon cards, along with 2 tins and a deck box with my “deck”. I used to have more but those cars were unfortunately lost. back in brooklyn, me and my friends would play our own version of the game, where the lowest health attacks first, energy cards only add 10+ damage to an attack, and status conditions will always make you skip your turn, even if you’re burned. And it was fun. We usually brought out our Rayquazas or our Charizards. But one of my friends found a loophole. Since any status condition would force you to skip your turn and the card with the lowest health always goes first, he brought in a 30HP Torchic and destroyed us. If he brought out that card, you might as well walk away from the game now, since the game was pretty much over. We then went on to make a rule that you’ll need a coin flip to determine if you can attack when you have the Burned condition, but then he found another loophole. Since this was only for Burned, it was fair game for any other condition. So, he brought in a 20HP Cottonee that knew a move that made the other Pokémon go to sleep and destroyed everyone once again. And that’s my experience with the game.

But you see, the game isn’t the only thing the cards can be used for. They can also be collected, which is where I find the most enjoyment out of them now. I have my “deck” which has every EX, Mega EX, GX, or whatever kind of card I pulled in there. It’s exciting to open a pack and see if you get that card or that EX you’ve been looking for. And opening the pack also feels good. It just feels natural. It feels comfy. It feels like that I’ve truly found what I’ve loved.

The phrase “Gotta catch ‘em all!” has been engraved in any Pokémon fan’s head. Whether it’s from the anime or the game, that phrase still has meaning to this day. But the cards bring a whole new meaning to the phrase. Although they’ve been around for longer than the anime, they still follow that, but bring a whole new level of enjoyment and engagement along with it. It makes you feel like you’re actually catching them all, one set at a time. So thank you Pokémon cards, I hope you stick around long enough to help other kids truly catch em’ all.