Why Expanded Format Needs to Be Fully Supported in TCGL(BW+XY)

In my personal opinion, I feel that expanded adds a lot more variety to the game because whilst standard is good for the mainline competitive scene, I find myself limited to a certain pool of cards over a certain time period and there is a clear meta within the format, so there is like only a few decks that are competitively viable and as time goes on it gets boring and it gets to the point where new sets get boring because people just pick out the cards that will make particular decks OP, further encouraging a meta.

The great thing about expanded format is that it is a larger card pool. More cards to play around and experiment with, more decks to build and there are so many counter archetypes that there aren't really meta decks in the format that are clearly better over others. There is no perfect expanded deck in the format mainly because of the amount of cards that are available to use.

Shifting to in person play I think that TPC or Play Pokémon don't necessarily encourage or support a wide enough demographic in terms of people's socio-economic background. This is because, in person play only currently supports standard format(with the occasional GLC or even expanded side event), and standard as we all know makes cards from the past 2-3 years legal for play. This means that people are encouraged to keep buying cards from newer sets to keep their decks legal. How often does a new Pokémon TCG set come out? I would say every 3-4 months. I know many people along with myself that don't have the funds to keep investing in the latest Pokémon products to keep their decks legal for tournament play. Therefore, eventually the decks/cards people buy go rotate out of standard format and are not legal. Not everyone can throw their newly rotated cards away and buy the latest ones, it would just be a waste of time and capital.

Now shift that perspective to cards that are before Sun and Moon(BW+XY), a thriving era of the TCG where many people invested in packs and other TCG products so they could make there decks online or in person. Fast forward to 2024, there is no BW+XY card support on TCGL and there hasn't been an official expanded event(outside of Asia) since 2020. All those people that bought BW+XY products wanting to play either online or in person finding that they simply can't.

So, what's the solution? In my opinion, it would be to support BW+XY cards on TCGL first and foremost to allow online tournaments via third party websites like Limitless TCG to take place so players could have the opportunity to win prizes for high place finishes(e.g. x number of pack codes or x amount of prize winnings). For me it keeps older cards relevant and will attract new and older players in to the format that may not have the funds to invest in newer sets through buying TCGL codes, but also allow older players to feel like there older cards are still playable and relevant.

Whilst it has been fun playing in a Sun and Moon on Expanded Format on TCGL for sometime, it is also getting quite boring in my opinion because in a sense you are still limited to cards from the past half a decade or so, running into the same decks over and over again. It's no secret that if you are an avid deck builder expanded is the format for you and I want the entire TCG community to take part regardless of there backgrounds.

I get that TCG Live has been a buggy mess for sometime now and the development team are doing all they can with the lack of resources but personally, I'm getting bored and tired of just playing 1 ranked format(Standard) and a half baked casual format(Expanded Sun And Moon on) and I think its time that this game got a new leash of life in the form of full expanded format support and a potential ranked ladder like its predecessor TCGO. Other Competitor TCG Clients like Marvel Snap and MTG have multi-format support and I think it wold be great if TCGL could match that.

With the shut down of PTCGO and everyone migrating to TCGL it felt like the entire player base got scammed in the sense that most of the card collection people spent years making and investing in are simply not playable among many other factors about the game. But in all honesty PTCGO released in 2011 outperforms TCGL released in 2023 and if I had the option to migrate back to TCGO if TCGL were to stay as it were now I would but I can't. Imagine being promised many so many things that would make Pokémon TCG more accessible and easy to play and not recieving that and having parts of a game you had being taken away. Thats what migrating to TCGL felt like. For me, Expanded format support would be a great start to making this game great again and competing with other TCG clients.

Now I know there has been talk about expanded format returning(all be it some time ago now) but it does say on the TCGL website(https://tcg.pokemon.com/en-gb/tcgl/) that expanded format support is in development. But since then, the lack of communication on expanded format support on TCGL has left players with more questions then answers to say the least. After all, BW+XY cards are viewable in your collection just not playable yet. I can imagine many of you reading this post just want an answer on this matter, don't worry I'm in the same boat as you, but we've asked for nearly 3 years we just want updates on what progress is being made with expanded format support in TCGL.

Thank You for reading this post and I welcome any feedback :)