Trading

Card trading is a central part of Pokémon TCG. For one thing, it's the only way to get some of the cards that are no longer in circulation. For another, it's a faster way to get specific cards you need for a deck you're building. If you don't trade, you have to rely on chance when you purchase a deck or booster pack. There's nothing more frustrating than plunking down a few bucks for a booster pack, tearing it open, and finding three Mareeps, three Spoinks, and a bunch of other cards you don't need. Besides, there's a real aura of cool surrounding a well-stocked portfolio of cards. When you casually remark, "See if there's anything you're interested in" as you hand over a binder filled to capacity with sheetfuls of rare, powerful, or beautiful cards, you are mos' def the dude of the moment.

To trade you have to let go of a card that's got to have some value to it. That's hard. I have no use for a Gardevoir EX and yet, I can't bring myself to put it up for trade. I could probably get the very cards I need, and yet, I can't bring myself to put it up for trade.

There are some very interesting lessons about life in this game, and two of the ones I've encountered are the same: you gotta give to get. I had to let go of the need to have all my favorite families in my deck at once; my deck was clearly more powerful with duplicates of just two family lines. And, I'm going to have to put some of my favorite cards on the trading block in order to get the cards I need. Or as Sting might say, "If you love someone, let them go" (Yes, he says "them" instead of him/her, and to think he was an English teacher before he started rocking and rolling.)