I do play the card game with a physical deck I own (thank my little bro who has over 7000 cards) but I don't own a Switch and I don't plan to

I also have some physical cards, but never really got into the game. I really enjoyed it for like a few months way back when it first came out, but quickly lost interest. Then several years later (I believe sometime during the Ruby/Sapphire era), I decided to make a deck because I was going through a phase where I wanted to have a deck at the ready for every TCG I knew how to play, just in case I'd ever need it. I never did need it, though, so it just sat around. Now all my trading cards are in storage, and I haven't done anything with them in probably over 15 years.

Still have some of those R/S/E-era cards?

I have a Nintendo GBA e-Reader that could use some of those dot codes that were printed on the sides of some of the cards. Been trying to complete the Pokémon TCG e-Reader dot code collection for the sake of archiving all the dot-code programs on there.

Send me a Note or DM on FA or Discord if you're interested in selling some of that stuff.

At least, I think it was that era. My memory could be mistaken since I deliberately decided to make an Eeveelution deck containing all of the Eeveelutions, but it didn't include Glaceon and Leafeon. It's been far too long though for me to remember if that exclusion was deliberate, or was because they didn't yet exist.

I played the original a metric shit ton. Was one of my favorite games

I played the original back in the day as well, thanks to emulation, but didn't stick with it for very long. I lost interest in that card game rather quickly way back when it first came out, but recently have been a little bit more interested in it for various reasons, and so have been enjoying the video game a lot more this time around than I did back then. By interested though, I mean that old era of the Pokemon card game, not the new crap. I tried some Online version of the card game at one point a few years ago, and absolutely hated it from the few matches I played. The cards were way too strong, and people I played against were able to get Pokemon out on the first turn that were way too powerful without needing to evolve, or build up, or anything. Completely destroying the fun of that slow buildup as the match progresses that makes trading card games enjoyable to play in the first place.

Y'know, I've been looking forward to playing this game, maybe getting more than 16 people together so that Card Pop can be usable an unlimited number of times and the like. If I don't already have you as a friend on Switch, I guess I'll send you a DM on Discord or a note on FA containing my Friend Code (although IIRC, I might already have you on there).

Looking forward to playing more of the classic TCG format!

I don't remember if I have you on Switch, either. Aside from a few close friends, it's hard to keep track of who's whom on there. Especially between all the random friend requests I occasionally get from people I don't know while playing games with them. Which I always accept even if I'll never use the contacts for anything, for not other reason than it opens up the floor ever so slightly for the potential of random additional people showing up in friend matches of games like Smash Bros, and Mario Kart.

Yeah I do. I play IRL and while I love the new mechanics, I absolutely still adore the GBC Game from back in the day. So when it came to NSO I definitely take my time with it.

For me, I need that build up. One of the most fun aspects of any trading card game is the slow start, and the gradual accumulation of resources as your strategy comes together over the course of several turns, and in that time your cards become stronger with the escalation of the game through that accumulation of resources. A good example is Magic the Gathering, where you start of small, but with every turn you get more mana, and in turn your creatures and spells become stronger, and more numerous. In Pokemon, that is heavily applied through evolution. Starting small, perhaps with even one or two bait Pokemon that are there just to buy you time until your hard hitters can come into play, and charge up the energy they need to go on the offensive. But of course needing to not go too slow, otherwise your opponent might outpace you in reaching that point. But when you can throw out Pokemon with hundreds of hit points and attack power on the first turn that don't even need to evolve, all of that gets thrown out the window.