Jak Stewart-Armstead
Author Archive
How the Pokémon TCG Became More Popular by Becoming Worse “This is the story of how the Pokémon TCG changed from being a game ruled by powerful groups of elite players to what it is today – a far more open and accessible experience. But that process of change has had consequences, not all of which may have been intended: we may have ended up with the game we deserve, but have we really ended up with the game we wanted? I want to start this story by taking you back to my very first World Championships in 2008. I was 12 years old and we made a last-minute decision…
How Ties Turn Honest Players into Rule Breakers “When it was announced that ties were coming back into Pokémon after a lengthy hiatus, I thought it could be a good idea. After all, a draw is a legitimate result in many sporting and other contests (chess, football, cricket). It gives some reward to both sides who have fought to a position where neither is able to gain a clear victory within the time allowed. In some ways this is preferable to a forced result which is often obtained through highly artificial means such as the random chance of sudden death, or a Prize count which naturally favours fast…
Restoring the Reputation of Rogue “First of all, I want to say what I don’t think constitutes a rogue deck. Slightly altering an established deck in order to improve a matchup is called ‘teching,’ not ‘rogue deck creation.’ Rarely played or outdated archetypes are not rogue. Decks consisting of Pokémon that no one plays because they are just bad aren’t rogue. So-called ‘fun’ decks with near-impossible combos aren’t rogue: in fact, most of the time they aren’t even fun because getting them to function at all is just frustrating. Decks that people use just because they are different aren’t rogue either: these are ‘hipster’ decks,…
Highly intelligent but also very lazy, it keeps enemies out of its territory by laying traps everywhere. (Drizzile)
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