Concern with the Direction of the Game Thus Far (Again...)

Card Slinger J said:
Originality is hard to come by these days with the popularity of the Internet, however that's not to say it's impossible to build a Rogue deck and take everyone by surprise If you have a way of keeping the deck secret and whatnot. Rogue is still possible.
Click to expand...
Excuse me, but what in the world is this supposed to mean? Are you saying of the internet was inaccessible that people would learn to make "more original" decks? No, that's just silly; people will still learn which decks are good and will play meta/known decks with or without the internet.
 
Good deck lists are posted on the internet. On 'gym articles, on Underground, etc. For 15 dollars I could get a months' worth of almost perfected decklists then cancel my subscription. If I had a sub-par understanding of the game, I wouldn't understand what cards are expendable and I would just net-deck that list. Yes, the internet ruins creativity as far as deckbuilding goes. If it weren't for the internet, you would have to either be a good player or know a good player really well to get a good decklist.

I guess that some people say there's no creativity in building a stock list, but I disagree. And as far as I know, the UG also posts good techs and such so that's the other side of deckbuilding ruined as well.

Of course, the top players won't be using UG lists but it increases the chance that a random with a good decklist draws a god hand against you even if you're the better, more well-tested player.

Idk about most people, but going into the LCQ it really felt great to know I had tested hours on end and truly felt I had the best list for my deck I could. I got multiple compliments on how well the deck ran, too. I ended up playing the wrong deck, but that's a completely different side of it. The internet basically ruins this entire aspect of the game for a lot of new/lazy players.
 
I didn't learn about the concept of a 'metagame' until about February this year, when I had been playing for about three years or so. I didn't realize it until recently, but this concept is very, very annoying. Hardly any people build original decks anymore. Why should they when they can just go into a tournament using a really powerful deck that they put no effort into building?
I'm one out of three or so people in my league that build their own decks. Two weeks ago (the previous time I went, ) all three battles, against three different people, were against the same deck ( Reshiram. )
I was afraid to enter Battle Roads last week because multiple people would be playing the same deck, which isn't fun and my deck would have held no chance. In my opinion, a rule that only two or three entries of the same deck ( Meaning the same Pokemon doing the same strategy ) are able to be entered. It may decrease the amount of people participating in the tournament, but you might as well battle the same person multiple times if you're going against the same deck.
 
"Oh, sorry, two other people are already playing a deck with Reshiram in it. Guess you'll have to come back next year."

...

Anyways, where do you draw the line? Is the WC deck MagneBoar, or ReshiBoar? Or its own deck? And at what point are decks different from one another (for example, are ZPS and ZPST different decks? How about Stage 1s with Donphan/Yanmega/Zoroark vs. Stage 1s with Lanturn/Donphan/Cinccino?)?
 
Scizorliscious said:
"Oh, sorry, two other people are already playing a deck with Reshiram in it. Guess you'll have to come back next year."

...

Anyways, where do you draw the line? Is the WC deck MagneBoar, or ReshiBoar? Or its own deck? And at what point are decks different from one another (for example, are ZPS and ZPST different decks? How about Stage 1s with Donphan/Yanmega/Zoroark vs. Stage 1s with Lanturn/Donphan/Cinccino?)?
Click to expand...

Glesipher said:
In my opinion, a rule that only two or three entries of the same deck ( Meaning the same Pokemon doing the same strategy ) are able to be entered.
Click to expand...

Same Pokemon. Same strategy. Meaning basically the exact same decks.
 
Reshiboar and Reshiflosion are 2 completely different decks. Yea they have the same attacker, but they play 2 completely different styles. They have different strengths and weaknesses and do better in certain environments.
 
SMP said:
Reshiboar and Reshiflosion are 2 completely different decks. Yea they have the same attacker, but they play 2 completely different styles. They have different strengths and weaknesses and do better in certain environments.
Click to expand...


Then two of each would be allowed.
 
Look dude, your idea would kill Pokemon. Imagine:

"Yeah, you know that deck you spent $150 on and over 50 hours playtesting? You can't use it because 2 people have already registered playing a deck with 2 of the same Pokemon. Sorry."

...yeah. No more than 15 or so people would be able to play in a tournament and even have fun.Then since 15 makes for such a terrible tournament those people wouldn't show up. And Pokemon would have died.
 
Dark Void said:
Look dude, your idea would kill Pokemon. Imagine:

"Yeah, you know that deck you spent $150 on and over 50 hours playtesting? You can't use it because 2 people have already registered playing a deck with 2 of the same Pokemon. Sorry."

...yeah. No more than 15 or so people would be able to play in a tournament and even have fun.Then since 15 makes for such a terrible tournament those people wouldn't show up. And Pokemon would have died.
Click to expand...

I'm talking about metagame decks.
Would you rather be in a tournament and go against the same deck multiple times?
 
Would I rather go into a tournament and play people running the same deck or sell all my cards for around 5 cents since nobody would play Pokemon competitively? Well, I would imagine that myself and everyone on Pokebeach would far prefer the second option-thats why many of us are on Pokebeach in the first place. Your idea would not increase the amount of people playing original decks, it would just decrease the amount of people playing. If you can't prove that to be false, then your whole point it moot.
 
Dark Void said:
Would I rather go into a tournament and play people running the same deck or sell all my cards for around 5 cents since nobody would play Pokemon competitively? Well, I would imagine that myself and everyone on Pokebeach would far prefer the second option-thats why many of us are on Pokebeach in the first place. Your idea would not increase the amount of people playing original decks, it would just decrease the amount of people playing. If you can't prove that to be false, then your whole point it moot.
Click to expand...

It wasn't meant to increase the amount of people playing, but only decrease the amount of the same deck in tournaments.
 
Instead of complaining about things like this, use them to your advantage. Look at the lists on the internet, and memorize them. If you play against a mediocre player who you think took their list off of the internet, then you know their counts. You also know that they are going to go with the basic strategy that everyone talks about on the internet. If you use the internet correctly, you are not only a better player than your opponent, but you know what they can play, and what their every move will be.

Secondly, mirror matches favor the better player. If you go against a mediocre player with the same deck as you, you will only lose by freak losses.

There is an extremely varied format, and people are still coming up with their own decks. There hasn't been this much variation in years, look at the positives and enjoy it.
 
It's still varied; there are lots of ideas that people are testing and succeeding with that haven't been considered before– look at what came 2nd at Worlds, and even 1st. Niether of those decks had really been considered before then. And then we have the BR win lists– I believe there are 15 to 20 decks that have more than 1 BR win (correct me if I'm wrong, but it's a high number nonetheless) this season, which is fantastic. RPS isn't the best way to describe this format; there are too many even matchups.
 
Want to know what would make this season even more fantastic and possibly get more people playing the Pokemon TCG again? Limit Pokemon Catcher to 1 copy per deck like Luxury Ball from Stormfront and that would help decrease the luck of getting that cheap "Gust of Win" out which kills anything that requires setup. If someone can explain to me how Wizards of the Coast 10 years ago got away with Gust of Wind not getting banned or errated while it was tournament legal feel free to let me know.

I'll admit while Catcher does help you make skillful plays in terms of achieving prizes it is still a double-edged sword that makes decks that require setup unplayable while it helps decks that rely on Basics and Stage 1's (sometimes Stage 2's) that do loads of damage more playable. Either way it's still bad for the game and it's "scaring" players away from having fun with their Stage 2 decks and being competitive with them as well. Maybe un-errata Rare Candy and fix the Turn 1 Rules. I agree that returning the Turn 1 Rules back to the way it was in the last 2 formats would help bring skill back into the TCG itself but it's going to take more than that to fix it overall.

My only hope is that it doesn't come to a point where TPCi and P!P pulls a Konami like in Yu-Gi-Oh! and starts with a Banned/Limited list for the Pokemon TCG itself. I would personally just errata or ban cards instead of restricting cards to 1 per deck cause that severely hurts deck consistency. We sort of almost bit a bullet last format with SableDonk which was fixed by Rotation but this time I don't think a Rotation can fix the problems that Catcher has warped the format around itself at currently. Something needs to be done now or things are only going to get worse.

Another card that has the potential to break the game other than Catcher is Eviolite. By slapping it onto a Basic like Reshiram or Zekrom, you're giving your opponent a minimum of 150 HP plus an additionial 20 HP for each extra attack your opponent takes to KO that Pokemon. Now they will be even harder to KO than they were when being used with Defender since it never gets discarded due to being a Pokemon Tool. The Pokemon TCG should be revolved around powerful evolutions and the card synergies between them in order to get the most creativity out of the game. Not mindless donks without hardly evolving at all. This is what is really hurting the TCG.
 
If Catcher is so broken and ruins Pokemon that have to set up, how come Magneboar, a deck with two stage twos that most people thought was bad before catcher is still viable afterwards? Catcher does not need to be limited to one card because it is no where near as good as Luxury Ball. As for how people got past it, there was a card back then that is still out now, believe it or not: switch. Switch+Twins allows you to get around catcher no problem. If they catcher something weak and KO it, you can use Twins to get the upper hand. If they catcher something bulky and don't KO it yet, just switch out of there. Or, you could retreat, or simply not play down Pokemon that you don't plan on attacking with. I've never seen Catcher even be a turning point in any of my matches. It is 100% a positive addition to the metagame, removing reversal flips and lessening the impact of baby flips.
 
Card Slinger J said:
Varied? Rock-Paper-Scissors is the best way to describe this format...
Click to expand...

RPS is better than Luxchomp across the board jus saying.

TyW is right. There hasn't been this much deck variety since Holon Phantoms-Mysterious Treasures.(SW came out and it became G&G format)

Twins became such a good card because of Catcher. Twins makes you think twice about pulling the fast KO and allow them to setup right away and beat you there and then. The only thing hindering this format is the no restriction on the first turn. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
Riskbreakers said:
RPS is better than Luxchomp across the board jus saying.

TyW is right. There hasn't been this much deck variety since Holon Phantoms-Mysterious Treasures.(SW came out and it became G&G format)

Twins became such a good card because of Catcher. Twins makes you think twice about pulling the fast KO and allow them to setup right away and beat you there and then. The only thing hindering this format is the no restriction on the first turn. Nothing more, nothing less.
Click to expand...

I personally don't think this format is bad at all. We have a bunch of decks that can work and counters. At least it's better than last season's. Luxchomp, DialgaChomp, Gyrados, Sablelock.... How I hated the format. This time around we can build more decks that are successful. I actually like this format except for the first turn rules.....
 
Dark Void said:
If Catcher is so broken and ruins Pokemon that have to set up, how come Magneboar, a deck with two stage twos that most people thought was bad before catcher is still viable afterwards? Catcher does not need to be limited to one card because it is no where near as good as Luxury Ball. As for how people got past it, there was a card back then that is still out now, believe it or not: switch. Switch+Twins allows you to get around catcher no problem. If they catcher something weak and KO it, you can use Twins to get the upper hand. If they catcher something bulky and don't KO it yet, just switch out of there. Or, you could retreat, or simply not play down Pokemon that you don't plan on attacking with. I've never seen Catcher even be a turning point in any of my matches. It is 100% a positive addition to the metagame, removing reversal flips and lessening the impact of baby flips.
Click to expand...

Hmm, you bring up an interesting point. However I'm still concerned about Eviolite though, it's going to be a pain for Zoroark to counter Reshiram and Zekrom using Foul Play without 2-3 PlusPowers since both Dragons will still have at least 10-20 HP left from Eviolite and that puts them in OHKO mode with Outrage not giving you a chance to counteract against it.

Imagine Eviolite with the upcoming ex Pokemon we're getting, yeah it just makes for harder KO's to achieve. If only Windstorm got reprinted then maybe we could have a chance especially against Rocky Helmet another Pokemon Tool card that is amazingly good with Cinccino If you're a Pokemon short of doing 100 damage with Do the Wave with a Full bench.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top