71 results for: tip
Players Cup Finals Mini-Recap, Tips for Players Cup II, On Overcoming Pokémon Fatigue, and Finding Fun in Silly (But Competitive!) Decklists “As I alluded to, the first Players Cup ended up going very well for me. I made the Top 256 in Europe cutoff easily in the first round, before bringing Zacian V/Jirachi Prism Star (aka Zacian Combo) to the European Qualifier. I managed to win my first seven matches outright, placing me in the Top 4 in Europe and securing one of the 16 places in the Players Cup Final in August. The finals themselves were far less exciting. TPCi ended up scheduling them when I was traveling in a rather rural part of Britain—the Scottish Highlands. This resulted in…
Three Tips for Online Events and a Look at Blacephalon for the Players Cup II “If you make the Top 256 (or 128) in your region for the Players Cup II, you will qualify to play in a double-elimination tournament that plays until four players are left in your region. This means that as soon as you lose two rounds, you are eliminated from the tournament. With such little margin for error, your deck choice becomes incredibly important if you plan to make it to the Players Cup Finals. It is important to note that the Regional Qualifiers will be played in a best-of-three format. So, if you do not have the best luck one…
The Five Archenemies of UPR–RCL (and How to Thwart Them), Universal Techs, and Picking a Deck for the Players Cup “There are a lot of cards in the current format, which means there are inevitably going to be cards that win certain matchups almost all on their own. In an event like the Players Cup, where two losses means you’re out, and one loss means you’re playing a lot more rounds, taking auto-losses to certain cards or decks is not something that you want to do. I still contend that this deck is a trap and never beats competent players, but it consistently does alright whenever the timing is right for it. There are a number of ways that the…
Philosophies for Becoming a Better Player During the Offseason (or This Unexpected Break in Organized Play) “The first step is to label where you want to improve. Quantifiable goals are best, but it’s difficult to quantify without rattling off hoped tournament placings. If possible, narrow down the area of your game that you want to improve. Do you want to learn one deck really well? Learn more decks? Sequencing? Playing faster? There are a million questions to ask. From there, you should formulate a plan of improvement. What strategy will you employ to actually achieve your goal? Watch VODs? Play many games on PTCGO? Hire a coach? Once again, the possibilities go on. There’s reason to…
A Three-Step Plan for Preparing for the Return of the Pokémon TCG “My idea is to facilitate enjoyable, productive, and consistent training. To have fun training, set aside some time to play Pokémon TCG in the way that most amuses you. After all, I believe you started playing Pokémon TCG because you somehow found the game fun. To have productive training, try to practice the things that you didn’t have the time or opportunity to investigate. Maybe those Control decks that have always frustrated you can be… interesting and fun? And to do consistent training, it is important to establish a routine. Start playing slowly and then increase the pace. I’ll talk…
It drifted in on the flow of ocean waters from a frigid place. It keeps its head iced constantly to make sure it stays nice and cold. (Eiscue)
Dallas Recap w/ Ultra Necrozma, Takeaways for BLW–SSH Expanded, Sword & Shield Top 5 Cards, and an Aside on Goal Setting “Going into Dallas, I was fairly set on playing Ultra Necrozma. I felt good about the deck, its matchups, and how it could efficiently deal with the decks I expected to see. In the week leading up to Dallas, I continued experimenting with my list, ultimately adding in some quirks that I ended up playing in my final list below: When I told people this weekend I was playing Ultra Necrozma, they would often respond with “Garbodor or Octillery?” I often found myself responding by saying “Both?” to a plethora of confused faces. So first, the Wobbuffet and Garbodor BKP…
On Doing Homework, the Archetypes Masters, and Three Reasons Why Comfort is Key in Expanded “In the Standard format and at most levels of competition, I would encourage talented players to not worry too much about their inexperience with a deck, and to rely on their skill at the game to carry them. The reason for this way of thinking is largely that in most formats there is a best deck, or a small handful of “decks to beat” that are clearly better than anything else. When this is the case, I believe it’s correct for most players to pick the deck with the best matchup spread, even if that comes at the cost of…
How to Approach a “Solved” Format and Kenny’s Play for Denver (Zoroark/Lycanroc/Lucario) “This puts players in a situation that I always find interesting: Do you continue to do what you’ve done for most of the format, just jamming what you feel is the best deck and hoping for the best? Do you try to find a rogue deck that has good match ups versus your expected metagame? Do you try out some spicy new tech in an established archetype that you hope will give you an edge? Does the answer to any of these questions change if you’re also attending the European International Championship later this month? My days of worrying about…
Kenny’s Thoughts on Qualifying for Worlds 2019 and a Retrospective on the 2018 Season Structure “I know from the feedback I’ve received over the years that a number of you are basically checked out on this season. Maybe you’re a less experienced player who is just getting a taste for the scene, or maybe you came up a little short on your invite. Either way, your sights are set on next year. It’s my hope that this section will provide some helpful advice on how best to achieve your goal of qualifying for the World Championship. Two disclaimers: Who knows what decisions TPCi is going to make regarding the invite structure for next year. All…
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It stands in grasslands, watching the sun’s descent from zenith to horizon. This Pokémon has a talent for delivering dynamic kicks. (Stonjourner)
Kenny’s Look at All Aspects of Casting Competitive Pokémon TCG “The number one question I get asked is how to break into commentating. Assuming that your goals are to some day commentate official events for TPCi (which, again, I do not represent in any way), I think you would be well served to look at how each of the current North American casters have broken in: grassroots commentary. Not to say that breaking into grassroots commentary is easy. I’m actually pretty lucky (in almost all aspects of life, really, but that’s an article for another day) in that I was noticed (along with Jeremy) for our YouTube channel (RIP), and…
Christopher on Portland, Psychology of Gameplay, and Standard as a Field “Getting into actual content, we’re recently off Portland Regionals—by the magic of me forgetting to edit Xander’s report in a timely manner, you can read his report as of yesterday, which conveniently parlays into me talking about the event more. Unfortunately, I can’t claim that I brilliantly set up this progression of events, but I’ll take happy accidents where I can get them. As you might’ve heard, I played Lucario-GX in Portland—with a list featuring oddities like Pokemon Catcher and heavy Regirock-EX. For your convenience in considering the deck’s viability, my matchups were as follows: Portland 466 Masters Lucario/Regirock R1…
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A Poképarent’s Guide to Getting Started in Competitive Pokémon + 2× NAIC Top 8 Juniors Report “Because I am a dad of Pokemon people, people ask me how to get their kids into competitive Pokemon all the time. I have seen lots of opinions on this, mine is “win or go home.” And here is what I mean: Winning is a three step process in Pokemon. Equipment. Have the right cards. Pokemon prints lots of bad cards and a few good cards. If you don’t have the good cards, you simply lose. Jason Klaszynski, playing a theme deck, loses basically every game he plays against someone with a top tier deck. If you don’t have the…
A Primer Guide on All Aspects of Tournament Preparation and a Dive into Greninja’s Resurgence “In an ideal world, it’s incredibly important to put in the effort to play games with your deck before the tournament. At high stakes tournaments like Internationals or Regionals, players are good at the top tables. Making mistakes at 4-0, 6-1, etc., is detrimental and can cost you your tournament run. I made some mistakes in Mexico City last weekend during Day 1, which may have potentially caused me to miss Day 2. Even though I did very well, I could have done better before cut, maybe putting me at 31-33 points instead of 30 going into Top 8. The…
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Recapping Roanoke, Perfecting Performance, and Talking Toronto “It was clear that the majority of top players in the community went with Decidueye or Mewtwo this weekend, with a smaller (but certainly not insignificant) chunk electing for Speed Dark, Volcanion, and M Rayquaza. A few, like Grant and Peter Kica (M Gardevoir PRC/Garbodor), took shots with unknown options, but most stayed with standard fare. I fit into that category myself, electing to pilot Decidueye/Vileplume. There was no especially brilliant reason for that choice, and my peers articulated its merits quite well last week, so I’ll refrain from doing so here. My only other viable option was M Rayquaza-EX/Gumshoos-GX, which was Sean…
It absorbs the life-force of those who drink it. It waits patiently, but opportunities are fleeting—it tastes so bad that it gets spat out immediately. (Sinistea)
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