PokemonAlolan Sandslash & Alolan Ninetales Sun & Moon Trainer Kit

Perfect gift for our great nephew!! He is excited to learn how to play the card game.

By popular demand from the kids and tweens I work with, I started hosting a Pokemon TCG get-together. Despite how popular Pokemon remains, some of the most enthusiastic attendees had never actually played the game before. It can be a little difficult to reign the kids in, and make them go through a practice game using the 2 separate half-decks, and follow the instructions step-by-step, it's well worth the effort.These starter decks cover most of the basic mechanics, to get new players familiar with the game. Even some adults have been surprised to learn that they found the game enjoyable too, and using what they learned, now can talk about it with their kids. The fact that the cards are numbered is *invaluable* when they inevitably get mixed up or dropped. Even better, once they feel comfortable with the rules, you can combine the 2 half-decks into a full deck and play along with more practiced players who have built their own.

It’s my understanding that starter decks like these are basically one deck split in two with the intent of fusing them as one once you’re ready. I didn’t look up the cards before hand and didn’t realize this was a 4-color set. It’s a pretty tough set to start with, I’ve gotten a few other started sets and this one was my least favorite. The types are Fairy, Water, Steel and Grass. Aside from a few cards after dismantling, this doesn’t offer much to experienced players, and can be a bit confusing for beginners. (The addition of “No Cost” attacks is interesting but not commonplace in Pokémon)

This pack has a lot of great cards for beginners, and it’s worth the price. It certainly teaches you how to play the game if you’re new, and it comes with a lot of helpful cards to start your own deck. However, the notion that you can combine these two 30 card decks into one 60 card deck to play against others with is absurd. There’s too many Pokémon for a battle-worthy deck and they’re of four different elemental kinds. There’s 24 Pokémon and 26 element cards, leaving only 10 trainer cards. I tried combining it and playing against one of my basic decks, and it lost in less than ten moves. I repeated the experiment, and it lost again and again.Don’t get me wrong, I’m not unhappy with my purchase. I have enough extra Pokémon cards that I plan on splitting up this deck and building upon it with my other cards (removing some Pokémon and element cards and adding on trainer cards and such). My overall point being, while this is a good deck for beginners to learn how to *play* the game (when it’s split 30 & 30), it’s not a battle worthy deck in an actual 60 VS 60 game.

Another purchaser posted a wonderful review of this deck. It has four different types. It's a weak deck against other types, so I agree with what they've already posted. However I'm not a competitive player so to me it matters not.I'm pleased with my purchase because I've begun collecting again, and seeing as I did not have any ninetales or vulpix at all, I wanted to add them to my collection. The package was new. The cards are beautiful. They look great in my binder. No complaints!Seller: 888TCG

This is the perfect deck for beginners. My son started collecting Pokémon and as a child, I used to collect. WE wanted to learn how to play the actual card game but didn’t even know the first place to start. I bought this to help us learn all the rules. This kit comes with the perfect instructions and even hints and reminders on the playmat provided. Once “Training” is complete, the 2 30 card decks merge to become a full 60 card deck and I’d have to say, a pretty decent deck, good cards.The plus, I absolutely love Ninetails and even more Alolan blue.

My 7 year old daughter is getting into Pokemon and we are rewarding her reading attempts with more Pokemon cards. (I did the same with my son and MtG cards.) But I wasn't as familiar with the rules with Pokemon so I decided to get us a training pack so I could learn the basic rules. It was great fun for us to play each other, and now she does have a deck to play against her friends.

Excellent way to learn to play the game. I have played a few games with my grandkids. First we played according to the way it is described in the rules, step by step and then we shuffled the decks and played again. This was more challenging, like the real game but it was shorter because it was only a 30 card deck. I have enjoyed learning to play Pokémon and will probably purchase more cards so we have 2 decks of 60 each.