Gameplay Mechanics Regarding Energy and EX Cards
Hi There!
In light of the recent dominating deck in the meta in Darkrai Ex and Giratina Ex, I think something to help slow down the oppressive nature of that deck, as well as a notable self charging Magneton that was recently in favour as well, would be to require energy of that type to be actually IN their deck/energy pool.
Simply allowing the cards to generate energy "from your energy zone" without having that coloured energy ACTUALLY IN your energy zone seems a bit more in line with the text on the card, as well as the Opportunity Cost to running cards of different energy types.
If there were turns that Darkrai couldn't do passive 20 damage by way of only having access to Psychic energy, I feel like many of the one sided matches I've had against that deck would have actually been close or gone my way, which wouldn't actually change the balance of the cards themselves (maybe another discussion for that.)
I won't harp on Misty, as I feel like others have already highlited the problematic nature of the card in terms of Energy fairness.
I also agree with the other commenters of similar feedback regarding Ranked Mode or even the creation of a new ladder with specific limits on EX cards allowed in decks. Personally, I don't mind having 2 Ex Card of any variety allowed in a deck, allowing for some interesting combinations, but given their high health totals combines with poketools that make it extremely hard to compete against with a vast majority of non-ex cards unless you draw extremely well and your opponent does not.
I get TCG Pocket is a card game at the end of the day, and not one with a lot of skill expression, but the oppressive nature of some mechanics such as the above could help non-premium players (like myself) and players who want to use off-meta and interesting pokemon that could be more fun than the 2-3 dominating decks any given expansion (also like myself) stand to have a lot more fun :)