71 results for: tip
VA Top 8 Report, The Exemplary Player, and My Top Three Plays for States “After detailing my top three choices for Winter Regionals back in February, I attended Virginia Regionals where I piloted Seismitoad/Garbodor through the nine rounds of Day 1. The list that I played was card for card the exact same list that I posted in my previous article. For reference, here is the Seismitoad/Garbodor list that I piloted to a 5-0-4 finish Day 1 of Virginia Regionals: I was very confident in this list for Day 1, and I managed not to drop a single match the first day. I finished with 19 points, guaranteeing me a spot in the Top 32…
A Piece on the Spectrum on Teching “Teching Fundamentals The Beartic Dilemma Hard and Soft Teching Teching in Today’s Metagame Conclusion In its history, players of the Pokemon TCG have utilized techs successfully, to the point that one’s claim to fame can often come in the form of one or two cards being added to an otherwise standard deck list. Teching is very much a useful skill to have in this game, and within the past couple of years it’s only seemed to grow in importance. Teching also carries with it vagueness. Does a card have to be a Pokemon in order for it to be a…
The Mental Map to VA Regionals “What Can We Expect? Charting a Course The Next Step Last Thoughts Notes on Primal Clash Conclusion Let’s spell things out a little with the “story” that represents what happened during City Championships. To me, there are three main parts to this story. See if you agree with them: When City Championships started, players quickly asserted Donphan PLS as the best card in the game. As a result, decks based around this card placed very well while everything else struggled to keep up the pace. I should note this was mainly a result of poor deck construction. Most decks early…
How to Have Success at a Series of Cities “The Georgia Marathon during the 2013-2014 season was my first one ever. I had no idea what to expect, which made the entire trip that much more captivating. I did, however, have a decent amount of prior experience with the format. Prior to driving down to Newnan, GA for my first tournament of the 10-event chain, I had attended two City Championships and was lucky enough to place into the finals of both of them. I had experience with a changing metagame, but the timeline was from one weekend to the next — much different from day to day. Unlike…
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A Mini-Guide for Those Playing to the Tune of 300 CP “Post-Cities Assessments Teching in the Current Format “Strategic Dissonance” Revisited Rogue Meanderings Conclusion Normally I encourage a proactive approach to this game, one in which players thoughtfully form a list and playtest preemptively for whatever the occasion. Lately, however, this has turned into a strict case of “do as I say, not as I do.” Like I mentioned before, I’ve recently taken over the role of “stay-at-home dad” with my family, and kids as young as my daughter eat or destroy cards, not play them. Add to that the disinterest I’ve had with the game because of the lacking details…
When it gets down on all fours as if to beg for forgiveness, it’s trying to lure opponents in so that it can stab them with its spear-like hair. (Morgrem)
Tips to Prevent Cheating in the Pokémon TCG “Cheating happens. We’ve all seen it, and it has been a regular topic at the forefront of Twitter and Facebook, especially with the rise of streaming over the past few seasons. Players are now regularly being scrutinized on camera, and even if they’re not playing a feature match, the rise of social media has certainly given way for more discussion and openness about the topic. With that being said, I would like to make it clear that I don’t think a lot of people cheat. I would argue that maybe 2 or 3% of players enter a Pokémon tournament with…
An Examination of Current Netdecking “So after Worlds and Furious Fists came out, I took a nice, long break from playing and figured I would just try to learn everything really quickly before Regionals. I would play a game here or there on PlayTCG and chime in to the occasional Facebook chat, but I was largely disconnected from the game. Fighting stuff seemed underwhelming to me, but cards like Hawlucha FFI were obviously very good. I knew that Virizion-EX/Genesect-EX would still be incredibly good even with its minor losses. However, what surprised me the most was how Yveltal managed to stay a top-tier threat. Jon Bristow…
Hypergeometric Distribution and the Pokémon TCG “Let’s look at a common Virizion/Genesect build with 4 Virizion-EX, 4 Genesect-EX, 1 Jirachi-EX, and 4 Ultra Ball. When using this deck, starting the game with a Virizion-EX is important. There are lots of ways to get there: Draw a Virizion-EX in your first 7 cards and use that as your starting Pokemon. Draw a Virizion-EX on your first turn and have a plan to switch it into the Active position. Draw an Ultra Ball and have a plan to switch it into the Active position. Part of the fun of Pokemon is that it is a complex game. In the…
In-Game Skill, Part 2: Thinking Strategically “”Playstyle is a Myth” Developing a Game Plan Technical Play Scenarios Strategic Play Scenarios Help Wanted! Conclusion One of the first things we as players need to change is our comprehension of what playstyle is as compared to strategy. For a long time, I was confused about playstyle. It kind of made sense when I saw other players win a game with an offbeat approach. One could point at a scenario like that and state that playstyle had a hand in the victory. Still, when I tried to identify my own playstyle, I kept coming up with a category of…
On Playing the Pokémon TCG Optimally “Some Strategies That Aren’t Currently Important Playstyle Adaptability Going Rogue Identifying Weaknesses in the Metagame and Format Metagaming In-Game Skill Endurance Basic Arithmetic and Powers of Observation Conclusion It’s strange to talk about the strategies that exist in the Pokemon TCG – to even admit there are multiple strategies to this game. We often think of strategy as something more simplistic than it is. “Practice,” “plan ahead,” “counter X with Y”… these are the most common bits of advice that float around in the Pokemon TCG. But these are different strategies entirely. So while Jenga requires only finger stability and…
If it sees any movement around it, this Pokémon charges for it straightaway, leading with its sharply pointed jaw. It’s very proud of that jaw. (Arrokuda)
A Lesson in Avoiding Linear Thought “Through Rose-Colored Glasses A Multiple-Trick Elephant Never Forgets Conclusion A few weeks before the tournament, Mike Newman and I had come across Donphan PLS and recognized its potential right away. We excitedly built an initial list and played a few games, soon finding out the concept was certainly worth pursuing. Given that I hadn’t tested really at all and the games I did play were against a limited pool of decks (which was a mistake in the first place), I prematurely assumed the proper way to play a Donphan deck. We had a hunch we were right and went for it.…
In-Game Skill, Part 1: Technical and Strategic Play “Why the Focus on In-Game Skill? Technical Play Strategic Play Conclusion As I was thinking about this article, I made a keen observation regarding in-game skill: it seems to be the holy grail of Pokemon TCG “skill.” Players often comment on the practice of “netdecking” (that is, copying a deck off the internet card for card) by making a bold statement that “it doesn’t matter what deck you have if you’re not good at the game.” It’s a romantic notion, isn’t it? That even the best deck list in the world doesn’t grant one an ounce of reputable skill. As…
Decks of the Expanded Format Berlin Arena Cup and Playing While in College “Decks of the Expanded Format Berlin Arena Cup Plasma Pyroar Virizion My Take on Expanded Playing While in College Plasma’s been a deck for a number of years and now that it’s finally been rotated, the Expanded format allows it to stick around. Two players at the Arena Cup piloted their Plasma lists in the top 8 cut in Berlin this weekend. Here are the lists, referenced from events.amigo-spiele.de: These lists aren’t very different from one another so I’ll tackle Expanded Plasma as a whole in this article rather than discuss each list alone. The first card I’ll talk about—and by far the most…
On Copies of Cards and Virizion Variants for Autumn Regionals “Copies of Cards Virizion/Dragonite/Altaria Virizion/Genesect/Beartic Virizion/Genesect Conclusion Virizion/Genesect is all about numbers and percentages. You want to find that balance between consistency and techs. I’m going to share how I decide upon how many copies of a card to run. Even though Virizion/Genesect is the main focus of this article, this information is extremely useful with deck building in general. This is also very useful information to have regardless if you’re just starting out or if you’re a seasoned vet. I still remember being 16 years old and sitting and talking with my high school algebra teacher trying to find out…
Strategic Standards in Expanded and Standard Formats “On “Smart Mistakes” Again What We Know About Standard “Strategic Dissonance” Did Next Destinies Just Get Released? Responding to Standard What We Know About Expanded Expanded Tricks and Tips Conclusion In Brit Pybas’s latest article, he addressed my notion of “smart mistakes,” highlighting a couple of areas where he felt my logic was misguided. I’m actually glad he spent a portion of his article on this, since it helps open discussion on the idea. If parts of it are misguided, it’s better to have considered it first and see where it doesn’t work than just blindly follow what everyone else is…
Powerful legs and jaws made it the apex predator of its time. Its own overhunting of its prey was what drove it to extinction. (Dracovish)
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