In an effort to bring back more activity to the TCG and help people complete their collections, I have written a guide for the TCG. Some of this information may be common knowledge to those who actively participate in the TCG, but I hope everyone can get at least something out of it. The guide is based on my experiences so there may be information that people might disagree with, heh.

Basic Information
First off, I’m going to assume most people know how to use the card system in general (ex: sending trades and replying to offers). If not, this thread covers most of it. Some other information that isn’t mentioned includes the fact that up to 8 cards at a time can be recycled at a time; in addition, only up to 3 cards can be offered in a single trade (per side), and more than one of the same card is not allowed in the same offer. As annoying as the restriction can be sometimes, it was implemented to prevent a glitch that would cause cards to duplicate.

A complete collection can be seen in the Card Display account, which was purposely created to display all the TCG cards. Don’t ask it for a trade – you will be ignored.

Triggers
As mentioned in the thread above, there are site actions that allow you to get more cards. Here is a list of some of them. 

Logging on AiB – Currently awards 4 cards: one from each series.  The simplest of the ways to get cards, it can be argued that it doesn’t even count as a trigger. Occasionally, there will be more cards awarded by just logging on to the site (sometimes even limited addition ones). This can either be a holiday drop or Enigma trying to fend off complaints about the difficulty of getting cards. It should be noted that the system awards the cards at 3 am EST, so logging on any time after that will count for that day.

Voting on front page polls – Awards  3 cards. Yet another easy way to get cards, but one that is not consistent as other methods because the polls only appear every so often. Don’t miss out when they do come around!

Voting on TCG group polls – Awards vary. Unlike the front page poll, the cards from the TCG group polls awards cards instantly. Furthermore, you can still go to the thread for the poll and get the cards if you missed out when the poll was featured in the group.

Getting mentioned in a news post – Awards 2 cards. This is a bit harder to accomplish for obvious reasons. I would not specifically try getting this trigger since it really is something that just happens. However, one surefire way accomplish this is to win in the “Who’s that User” competition (whenever they come around) as the winners will always be mentioned in the subsequent WTU post.

Wins on the ladder – Awards cards based on the number of wins earned on the previous day. Every two wins on singles ladder awards one card. Additional cards can also be earned after a set amount of wins or having a winning streak.

Participating in a tournament – Awards cards based on participation and if a medal was won or not. When tournament results are uploaded, the cards will be awarded the next day. It works for offline tournaments only.

Blog recommended – Awards cards based on how many recommendations received. Blogs that are recommended usually have good information in them. They can be related to tournaments or have wisdom or tips; basically, entries people would be interested in reading. They may also be something that requires community attention. But one really should be writing for the blog itself, not the cards.

Participation in Stadium – Awards cards if your scores are approved and/or a record is set.

TCG Contests – Sometimes the TCG group hosts contests that will reward cards. Currently it’s the series 5 snapshot contest (go participate! /shameless plug). I’m also planning to run a weekly one in the future so keep an eye out for that.

Even with these all the triggers, you probably don’t have a complete collection. So let’s continue to the next section, shall we?

Trading
Trading is the most effective method of getting specific cards you need (with some exceptions). Where do you find people to trade with?

TCG group – The most obvious place: this group was created to facilitate trades. Leave a shoutout and see other people’s shoutouts. It’s pretty self-explanatory and quite useful.

TCG chat – Activity here has been dead recently, but checking it every so often doesn’t hurt. If there are trading events going on, they would be in here.  Midnite will be planning a get-together soon to help make the TCG more active.

Friends list – These people aren’t ones you added randomly to get a badge are they? Help fill each other’s collections, there are likely cards someone has that the other person doesn’t. The people on your friends list are also less likely to ignore you (I hope).

Whoever is online – Go to the bottom of the forums page to see who is online. Chances are they participate in the card system. However, it is also somewhat likely that people will ignore a complete stranger asking for a trade.

Profile shoutouts  – One of the more effective ways, if a bit stalker-ish. The main idea is looking to see if anyone else has traded with someone that you might be able to trade with as well.

Okay, you found people willing to trade with you. Now what? Make an offer! There should be some things to keep in mind when doing this.

Rarity/Weight –The rarity of the card is indicated by the circle and the weight is indicated by the squares on the bar (the higher the weight the rarer it is). Note that the rarity on the card might not correspond to how easy a card is to get, though it is generally the case. For example, a Munchlax card (common Pokemon) is exceedingly less common than a Wifi Waiting Room (stage common) due to the fact that Pokemon cards can only be acquired through forging a Pokeball or Premier Ball.  This is what I’d like to call “true rarity”. The true rarity can be determined by seeing how the card is acquired, and it should be considered over what the card says by itself; it is probably the most important thing to consider when looking at offers. Short list of cards whose true rarity is usually different than what is (or isn’t) displayed – Pokemon, Vending Machine, Promos, Keepsakes, and forging materials for hard to get cards.

Points – The point value of a card is usually related to its rarity. Commons typically range between 5-100 points, Uncommons from 100-300, Rares 300-600, Ultra-Rares (URs) 600-865, Legendaries 865-1000. Again, there are some exceptions: Red Charizard is an uncommon worth 95 points and Pichu and Poppant are rare cards worth -350 and 50 respectively. Some people are very picky about points, while others are not at all. Be sure to know who you are trading with when making an offer.

Quantity – The number of cards being offered. Not as important as the above two, but still something to consider. In some cases, you may find someone willing to trade an UR for a large number of non-UR cards. You also may have trouble trading a Jirachi for 100 S1 Marths even though the trade is clearly in the favor for the person receiving Jirachi (or is it?).

Dupes – Does the person have more than one of the card you are trying to trade for? Many people dislike trading cards they only have one of. However, non-dupe trading is still completely viable and quite necessary to get the harder to find cards. People are also less likely to accept a trade if it has cards they already have/they don’t need. You may have to over offer to get someone to trade their non-dupe or if you are offering cards they already have, but that goes both ways.               

Category – What category the card is in used to be more important (in the past people focused on completely specific category) but nowadays it does not matter too much. Sometimes you will still find people that only collect a certain category though (most likely characters). Characters are the most popular category so you may want to consider keeping a few of those around.

Series – Wait really? Yes. The main reason to consider this is as a more accurate judgment of card’s true rarity. If a series is just released the new cards are harder to find the cards that have been out for a while. Also, if a series has high demand cards (say, series 1 for Pokeballs and Smashballs), the other cards in that series become more common as people buy more and more packs. This means that even UR’s in that series drop in value. This usually doesn’t have a huge effect, and it does change over time.

It should be said that there is no perfectly equal trade other than trading the exact same cards to each other due to all the above differences. That does not mean people can’t come to an agreement (yay for stating the obvious!); Matching or balancing most of the above criteria usually results in an acceptable trade. The key to getting a trade done is knowing what the other person is looking for.

Stop! Example time!

Starting simple:
Fire Flower vs Food
In this case, almost everything about the cards is the same other than a 15 point value difference. The user with Food is losing 15 points in the trade, but if they are getting a card they need for something they have a dupe of, chances are the trade will happen.
That was so simple it felt like a waste of time typing it…next!

Name Entry vs Sector Z
These are both uncommons, but Sector Z has a much higher weight, and is harder to find than a Name Entry is. However, Name Entry can be used in forging! …which a lot of people don’t do. The 5 point difference is negligible. In general, this trade is in favor for the person trading Name Entry, but the person trading Sector Z is still likely to trade it if they have a dupe of Sector Z and/or they need a Name Entry.

Challenger Approaching vs S4 Galleom
In-depth analysis time! Both of these are URs, with S4 Galleom having 1 square higher weight and 30 more points. The trade seems to be in favor of the person receiving S4 Galleom, but I would argue that it’s pretty equal. Points on an UR shouldn’t matter as much because they shouldn’t be recycled anyway (but again, it depends on who you are talking to). Even though Challenger Approaching has less weight, the likelihood of getting it is lower than getting a S4 Galleom in a pack due to the fact that there are only 3 URs that you can get in a Series 4 special pack. Also, because Series 4 is a newer series, you are going to find people opening more of those packs compared to a Series 2. It’s easier finding someone with a dupe S4 Galleom than a dupe Challenger Approaching. But at this point in time, there are a few people who collects SSE bosses, so S4 Galleom has another pro going for it; on the other hand, there is also someone who wants a Challenger Approaching because it features Ness’ silhouette.  But most people don’t look so in-depth, so in the above case the person trading S4 Galleom could mention the weight and point difference and probably get the other user to add more cards to their offer.

Recycling/Buying Booster Packs
Recycling every dupe and buying packs is not the fastest way to get a complete collection (in fact, it is impossible), albeit it is the method to get most of the cards that takes the least amount of effort. Trading is exceptionally more effective than recycling, but there are some cases where it can be necessary to recycle. These cases are getting Ultra-Rare/Legendary cards and to pay for forging. But this is only if you can’t find someone to trade that has those, since Trading is forever better than Recycling!! Unless you happen to be super lucky, of course.  Just looking at statistics/using math, you can easily spend more than 5000 points trying to get a CD through packs, but you would probably get no offers if you tried trading a CD for 5000 coins. But for something such as newly released UR (where no one actually has it to trade for) it’s time to buy some boosters. It can also be a fast way to get a lot of cards in a new series, when you don’t have to worry so much about getting too many cards you already have (but trading is still better!).

What should you recycle?

Cards people do not want – This is subjective, but mainly commons and uncommons.  It’s usually not worth recycling a rare since you should be able to find someone that needs it, but sometimes people don’t feel like taking the time to do so.

Eh. A better question is what shouldn’t you recycle?

Cards that are used for forging – Something such as an Alloy is more useful as an ingredient than the 50 points it would give you.

Certain character cards – Quite a few people collect certain characters, so you will be able to get at least more points for them than you would by recycling. Keep an eye on the TCG group for these individuals.

URs, Legendaries, Promos - You can find someone that will trade more points for them quite easily.

Which packs should you buy?

The booster that has the UR card or wrapper you can’t find anyone to trade for- Self-explanatory. Look at Card Display to determine which series the card belongs to.

Series 1 Special Booster- For Pokeballs and Smash Balls, the two cards that are currently in the most demand. Assist Trophies are a slight bonus, as they are rumored to be needed for series 5.

Item Booster – For the items listed above. I find these to be worse than the series 1 specials, especially since s1 specials can also award a wrapper now, but if you are beyond lucky you may get multiple URs in a single pack. (Don't count on it, really.)

Series 4 Special Booster – For Smash Balls. There are only 3 UR cards in series 4, so it is more likely that you are going to get a Smash Ball from here than from any other pack.

Series 2 Special Booster – For SSE Bosses. Winged Tabuu is the rarest card you can get through buying packs so the S2 special gets a mention. SSE bosses are also somewhat popular.

The normal series boosters may give you a net point gain if you are lucky, but they don’t give URs so they are fundamentally not worth it (other than getting the wrapper for those boosters, but that goes under the first point).  I would also advise against recycling until you actually need to use the coins, as you never know if someone wants the card you just recycled. It’s better to have the card than to have some coins that are not enough for anything.

Forging
Forging is a great way to get specific cards, and sometimes the only way to get them. Each recipe has a cooldown, meaning the amount of time needed to wait before using the same recipe again. You can find a list of known forges in this thread. But certain forges are not actually worth it the cost. Sandbag’s Revenge for Sandbag, Home Run Bat, Home Run Contest, and 400 points? Ouch.  Here are the better ones:               

Pokeballs – Currently the only way to get UR Pokemon (1/6 chance).  Cooldown: 24 hours.

Smashballs/Chaos Emeralds/Varia Suit Pieces – The only way to get Final Smashes.  Cooldown: 24 hour.

Cheap Gift/Expensive Gift – The only way to get console keepsakes. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Promos- Promos were released to everyone before, but they have not been re-released recently, so they fall under the category of “the only way to get these” for now.  Cooldown: 24 hours.

Jyks – A rare and 300 points for an UR sounds pretty good. (However, this is a reported glitch that will probably be fixed later). They can also be used to make Smashballs, but 3 URs and 300 points for 1 UR (even if it is a Smashball) isn’t as appealing. Cooldown:  1 hour.

Premier Balls – The lesser version of Pokeball. There is no reason to forge these if you can find Pokeballs, but that’s usually the problem. Unfortunately, these only give up to rare Pokemon. Cooldown: 24 hours.

Team Characters – The value of the cards used in forging these is only slightly more (sometimes it’s equal or even less in one case!) than what you get out of them. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Rare SSE enemies – Arguably worth the slight point hike if one is feeling particularly lazy in finding other people to trade with. Cooldown:  1 hour.

Strategies
There a few strategies that people use to try to complete the card collection, some of which are more deplorable than others. In any case, there are some listed below.

Red Paper Clip/Trading up –Start with a Wifi Waiting Room. Trade it to a person who needs it, and get another common; let’s say they had a dupe Red Marth they were willing to trade. Trade Red Marth to another person and get 2 Wifi Waiting Rooms. Ta-da, you have now doubled the amount of what you initially started with! (yes, even if it is just another Wifi Waiting Room) by doing reasonable trades. So just do this with better cards.

Stockpiler Delivery – Stockpilers are the people that collect multiples of the same card. Usually these people will collect multiples of the same character(s), but there exist stockpilers for non-character cards as well. They will usually give a fair (or better) trade for the card they’re stockpiling. Even better, you can usually go back to the same person for even more trades when you get more of the card they want.

Reputation – It’s not really a strategy as much as it is just something that can help (or hurt) you when trading. If you are well known, it will be easier for you to get trades. That would be with a good reputation, of course; if the general opinion of you is negative, it may be a bit harder. People are more likely to respond to you if you are not a nobody, but the user that logs on only every so often may not know famous (or infamous) people on the site, so this may not matter too much.  However, you should still be mindful of what you say and do on the site.

Misleading – It’s what it sounds like. Ex: trading a Mario Bros. card for a Munchlax and saying “They are both commons, but Mario Bros has a higher point value so it’s CLEARLY better and you should really do this trade!!11” This method preys on the other user’s ignorance about true rarity. Misleading other people makes you looks bad so use at your own risk.

A lot of users are turned off of completing the card collection because they feel they need to cheat others to get what they want. This is not the case. You can find people (who know values) willing to do “bad” trades. Here’s an example: Green Wario (95 point common) was recently released.  Several users were willing to use the S1 Wario, Green Alloy, and 500 points to forge the Green Wario. Just looking at values, why would anyone do that? People can be impatient or just want a card enough to over-trade for it. (Yes, this example was forging and not trading. But the idea is still the same: if Green Wario wasn’t able to be forged, you might find someone offering a rare for this common just to complete their character category). In addition, you always can be super-pro and get a lot of wins on the ladder or participate in offline tournaments to get more cards.

Other tips
~Even if the other person doesn’t accept your initial offer, negotiate!
~If you get banned, your rarest card will go poof. Follow the rules (but you shouldn’t need cards as motivation here right?)
~Having trouble sending an offer to someone with 3 or less characters in their name? Just type another character and delete it.
~If your proposed trade is straightforward, just send the offer right away to save time.
~If you want to offer more than 3 cards (let’s just say 4) for one card, send the first 3 cards in one offer and the last card along with a random card the other person has in a second offer. The other person should reply to the first trade with whatever card you wanted and the second trade with the random card you added. That way the trade is done without the other person trading more than they offered.
~On your birthday, you get an extra drop of 9 cards, one of which includes a UR/L. 

Closing
It will take quite a bit of time (and some luck) to complete the collection, but don’t give up! Also remember that the main purpose of the TCG is to have fun, so don’t get too stressed trying to complete it. There’s usually a lot of time between series after all.
I hope this has been a helpful or at least somewhat entertaining read for everyone. Feel free to leave any questions or comments. Happy card collecting!

Special thanks to: Volke Aeno for proof-reading and suggestions; TheEnigmaLiesBroken and nealdt for the card system. Also, thank you to everyone that has traded with me. I would mention everyone but it would probably take up a whole page (and the fact that I'd probably miss a few people).
Picture credit -お粥