66 results for: opinion
Thoughts on the Boston Open at Worlds 2015 “I’m going to let you in on a secret: I go to Worlds every year, regardless of whether I’m qualified or what side events are being held. I’ll likely always attend Worlds until either I die or the Pokémon TCG does, barring any unforeseeable financial or scheduling issues. I love Worlds, and I use the event as an excuse to take a small vacation and see friends. However, I realize that I am privileged to be able to do this. Not everyone has the time or financial capability to fly to a multiple-day event without some kind of incentive. In the…
Thoughts on Expanded Regionals, Frontrunners for Worlds, and Plays That Have Seen Better Days “Before I give my thoughts on Expanded Regionals, I want to embed one thought into your head: There will likely never be a major tournament in the Standard format of XY–Ancient Origins. Recently, I have heard people talk a lot about the new cards and how they will effect Standard, what Standard will be like, etc. But we won’t actually be playing that format until Cities most likely and by then we may have a whole new set to work with! Even on the Pokemon website itself they mention the rotation and how it will effect Standard but from what…
Why You’re Wrong About Expanded Regionals “My response to this issue is twofold: A. You’re right. Expanded wasn’t that fun last year. Why? Because it was almost exactly the same as Standard. BLW-on and BCR-on only differed by six main expansions. Besides the inclusion of Skyarrow Bridge, Dark Patch, Level Ball, and Archeops NVI, the format was nearly identical to Standard, and multiple Day Two/Top 8 competitors in last year’s Regionals opted to play their same Standard deck from Day One. This is clearly a sign that the format was not in a great place. However, that has all changed! Expanded now includes 11 main expansions that won’t be legal…
BDIF by the Numbers and Tales of Junior Nationals “No point keeping you in suspense. It’s Wailord. Just kidding. No, it actually is Wailord. Just kidding. I could do this all day. Actually, it is a bit more complicated than that. I have complained before that people do a lot of net decking when a deck performs well … all without having any reliable way of determining whether the deck that won the tournament did well because it was a popular play or because it actually was the best deck. If everyone is running Wailord at a tournament, the odds of Wailord winning are very high, regardless of whether it is…
The Good and Bad of TPCi’s US Nationals 2015 Twitch Coverage “There is no doubting that TPCi has hired commentators that know what they’re doing. There have been slight slip-ups in the past, but I truly believe that the cast of commentators TPCi is employing are some of the best possible choices (though the ensemble could always be improved … hint hint). They all seem comfortable in front of the camera, are knowledgeable about the game, and overall deliver a good product. Particularly, I think the chemistry between Kyle “Pooka” Sucevich and Josh “JWittz” Wittenkeller is the best part of the production. They have been working together on coverage for a…
When it’s drumming out rapid beats in battle, it gets so caught up in the rhythm that it won’t even notice that it’s already knocked out its opponent. (Thwackey)
6 Questions Surrounding US and Canadian Nationals “The Lysandre’s Trump Card ban announcement has come and gone, and everyone has had time to react and discuss the change. What we haven’t seen, however, are major North American tournaments being played under the new format! While a few non-NA National Championships have occurred, it’s likely that the results from the upcoming North American National Championships will have a huge effect on the metagame for this summer’s World Championship. Do I think the ban will prove effective? Yes and no. While I certainly think that these sorts of decks (M Rayquaza-EX in particular) have taken a hit from the…
On Making the Pokémon TCG More Watchable “There is far too much shuffling in Pokémon, which means that there is a lot of downtime in the average game, which makes it harder to commentate the games, which makes it harder to retain viewership. This is one of the inherent issues with live trading card game streams, but I do think there are ways to alleviate the problem. Namely, I think the game should be designed with fewer cards that require player shuffling. Searching the deck for Pokémon is such a deep part of the game that I don’t think that can necessarily be changed. What I would…
On the Banning of Lysandre’s Trump Card “If it isn’t clear by now, I’m 100% in favor of Lysandre’s Trump Card being banned from sanctioned play. I think that the card causes way too many issues, stunts skill and deck building, and only serves to take away from what I think is a pretty fun format. To best breakdown why this decision was made, let us refer to TPCi’s post on the official Pokémon site, wherein four main reasons are given for the ban, and break them down one by one. Point 1: Eliminates one of your opponent’s victory conditions (running out of cards in your deck)…
Some Week 3 Decks, A Heartfelt Eulogy, and Might Narch “This weekend unleashed tons of new decks onto the scene. Shaymin-EX was pretty much exactly as popular as everyone expected it to be. To my observation, Rayquaza-EX decks were not as heavily represented as perhaps was anticipated. Toad/Shaymin was a very popular play, as were Groudon-EX-based decks. Another popular deck that cropped up during Day 1 was designed to counter these decks: Raichu/Leafeon. It seemed as though everyone was a bit confused on what to play, and Primal Groudon-EX presented itself as a stable, reliable option. It ended up doing very well, at least in Georgia. Here is my list…
My Top 8 Pokémon Cards of All Time “Today we’re going to take a second to discuss our favorite cards of all time. This started in the Magic community, with various pros and community members writing articles and Facebook posts detailing their favorite cards and the reasons for them. I’m going to share mine below, along with a few stories, and I hope you’ll do the same. The Pokémon community needs more celebrations of the game, and I think this could be a great way to spark discussion and remind each other why we love Pokémon. Use the hashtag #Top8Pokemon so that all of our posts will be easily…
This Pokémon is very popular as a herding dog in the Galar region. As it runs, it generates electricity from the base of its tail. (Yamper)
Brainstorming Rule Changes for the Pokémon TCG “Instead of taking Prize cards when knocking out an opponent’s Pokémon, your opponent would take that many Prizes instead. The idea is that the player taking the Prizes is already winning the game and therefore shouldn’t also be rewarded with more cards. Duel Masters/Kaijudo implements a similar mechanic and, while I’m going to mostly refrain from comparing Pokémon to other games (partially because I feel that Pokémon is the hardest to compare because of its unique mechanics and partially because I feel that Pokémon is the most well-designed game), I do think it’s been proven to be successful and makes…
The Trouble with Toad and an Interview with the 2015 Oregon State Champion “I recently conducted this brief interview with Richard Reynolds, a player out of Spokane, WA, who took down Oregon States this past weekend. If you’d like to view any of his matches, there are a handful on YouTube. Here is the complete Virizion-EX/Genesect-EX deck list he played at the event. I think if I were to play Virizion I might take a more streamlined approach, cutting things like Tropius and Dedenne for a fourth VS Seeker and Energy Switch, but I generally like Richard’s list for his expected metagame, and it’s difficult to argue with his results. Enjoy the interview! Kenny: Tell…
Top 8 St. Louis Regionals Report, Net Decking Revisited, and Dialogue on Cheating “If I can bother you to think all the way back to my last article (December!), I wrote a lengthy bit on my distaste with net decking. Dylan’s quasi-invention of the Donphan archetype led to many copying him at Fall Regionals and it would end up becoming one of the most popular decks throughout all of City Championships. However, after this past weekend, the deck just absolutely died by Winter Regionals. This, I believe, can be attributed to the fact that a lot of the deck’s popularity was largely a result of its status as a “flavor of the month.”…
Building a Better PTCGO “Codes As far as I’m aware, no other card game does this with their official online program. Magic Online’s booster packs are the same price as physical ones, and there is nothing connecting the two whatsoever. Hearthstone doesn’t have a physical game, and building a competitively collection in a reasonable amount of time is likely going to involve some amount of money. Pokémon circumvents all of this by essentially gifting you a free online pack with the purchase of a real pack, and the same can be said for most of their sealed product (tins, blisters, etc.). Although this is…
Why Copying a List Can Be Okay “As a Pokedad, I am frequently explaining to new Pokeparents the concepts of Pokemon. I generally distill success at Pokemon down to a three-step process: Good cards: Given two people playing, best cards win. Skill: Given two equally good decks, most-skilled player wins. Luck: Given two equally good players playing equally good decks, it is still a card game and luck plays a role! Good cards at the highest level, where it can be assumed that every player has access, more or less, to every card, is equivalent to calling the meta. Having said that, I would contend that this…
Its curly fleece is such an effective cushion that this Pokémon could fall off a cliff and stand right back up at the bottom, unharmed. (Wooloo)
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