Help I can't win with anything and it's nothing to do with me. Hear me out and help.

[Seastrome]

I'm just drawing like crap or never having outs to situations in a game. Like having Field Blower for Garbotoxin or a Fury Belt that saves someone from a knock out. It's just frustrating and i'm on the verge of quitting because I can't find the answer. I shuffle well, I play the cards I am given to the best of my ability but when my opponents board state is good and I have no answers to it at all, what can I do? Nothing. And it keeps happening because I just am not drawing well or not having cards when I need them.

I thought Zoropod was an awesome deck and I used to win with it but now I draw dead or just get out manuevered because I miss an Acerola that I need or miss something else that I need.

 

[pine_ddog]

Bad luck. Just keep playing, work on making your deck more consistent if you can't draw into cards that you need. Playing with a different deck might help. I'd suggest Lycanroc-GX/Zoroark-GX. It's a very streamlined deck, so you won't be missing cards to many times, and it gives you a lot of control over the board state. Or try expanded, those decks are incredibly consistent.

 

[Seastrome]

Bad luck. Just keep playing, work on making your deck more consistent if you can't draw into cards that you need. Playing with a different deck might help. I'd suggest Lycanroc-GX/Zoroark-GX. It's a very streamlined deck, so you won't be missing cards to many times, and it gives you a lot of control over the board state. Or try expanded, those decks are incredibly consistent.

Funny because that's the exact deck I went to when I was was frustrated. Lost first time with it due to bad opening hand, and whiffing Field Blower on Fury Belt, but won 2 others after. Won a locals with it a while back. Might use it more if need be. Just sucks that the format is about who gets what at the right time. I always seem to be on the wrong side of it a lot of times.

 

[Tapu Lele]

I can't exactly tell you how to draw better, or deal with luck. I can't tell you that there's one amazing card you should be adding to your deck, or that there's a master strategy to draw better (most of those fall under the category of cheating)

As mentioned earlier, bad luck is existent within the card game. But with times of "bad luck", there are times of "good luck" too. It really evens out when seen from a bigger picture. If you want to control luck, the first step is understanding how luck works to affect you.

I recommend getting more all-around experience. If you find yourself playing the same deck very frequently, shake it up a little. Netdecking championship decks and testing them on PTCGO is a great way to get an idea of what works and what doesn't. Getting a feel for what makes other strategies and draw support work is key to understanding your ability to draw into the resources you need.

Another way to understand luck would be to understand the concepts of Graph Theory and Baye's Theorem, then use them to compute the percentage chance you have to have to draw a certain card given multiple variables. However, most players find that playtesting a lot is much more effective

 

[TheCraftyScot]

Practice practice practice, it all about identifying the best cards to use each turn and saving some cards for later.

Watch ytbers like deriums Competitive, trainer chip or tablemon and see how far ahead they think when playing

 

[An Ly]

Another way to understand luck would be to understand the concepts of Graph Theory and Baye's Theorem, then use them to compute the percentage chance you have to have to draw a certain card given multiple variables. However, most players find that playtesting a lot is much more effective

100% agree. I never used to think much into these little details, but the more competitive tournaments I played, and the more I watched, I began to appreciate these fine details a lot more. Something as simple as using an ultra ball to thin out your deck before using Trade seems like a tiny detail, but in the context of probability and percentages, it makes a difference with improving your odds to draw into what you actually want. Whilst a lot of this game does have to do with luck, there are lots of little things you can be doing to improve your luck. I'm glad I paid attention in Maths class

 

[Otaku]

@Seastrome

Without being able to actually watch your matches, I've got to echo what has been said above... mostly. Losing streaks happen; you can try changing your deck, but if it really is not the deck and really is just bad luck, then that won't matter. So a real question is how much of this is in your head? Are you really losing all the time, or are you just fixating on your losses, losses you just couldn't prevent? I've seen this happen a lot over the years, and am guilty of it myself. I learned about it back when several friends and I were prone to whining we were losing due to coin flips. Short version: it was mostly in our heads, and because we were playing in a setting where our coin flips were being tracked, we couldn't argue it.

If it isn't in your head, which also means it isn't just you fixating on a losing streak, then it may be you're experiencing the Pokémon TCG "for real" for the first time. Sounds harsh, but are you only now facing serious competition regularly? The PTCGO tends to do this, but so can starting out mostly playing among friends or a League that just isn't too competitive, then stepping things up. The PTCGO does this because, as best as it can, it tries to create "even" matches; the more you win, the stronger the opponent's are that it will pit you against. For me, this often means a fantastic winning streak will be followed by a serious losing streak until I get back down to where I belong. XP For the physical TCG, I learned this lesson from being a big fish in a small pond (local Leagues in the early 2000's in central Iowa) who finally had to step into a slightly bigger pond (TPCi finally instituting and improving the Championship Series tournaments).

 

[HouchinsDJ]

It's easy to focus on your losses. I'm guilty of it myself. Luck is a factor in every card game. Sometimes luck is on your side, other times it's nowhere to be found.

I recommend trying a new deck or taking a brief break from the game. Sometimes taking a step back to clear your head helps.

 

[biffthepotato]

I have the most foolproof solution to your bad draws, Stack the deck!!! No I'm kidding, play more draw supporters and more Zoroark and your good, you say you can't hit field blowers? Play 3 to 4 blowers with 4 Puzzles and you'll never miss a field blower again, same with Acerola's, play 4 .

 

[Shfinx]

I know how you feel. I've had times where a deck that was running very consistently suddenly wasn't working, when I didn't change the list and wasn't going up against harder competition. I definitely feel bad for you. However, like others before me, I cannot give you some quick fix to this. I could tell you to cut out all techs whatsoever and run pure consistency (and that is good advice, if you just want to decrease dead drawing). However, I'm the kinda guy who's decks can sometimes be more tech than deck, so I couldn't tell you to cut you're inconsistencies out. Here's my advice: play something fun. That's it. It's not complicated. Just play something fun. It helps make it easier to come back to the game. For instance, I know my M Tyranitar/Bats deck is bad. I know it has a sub-50% win rate. However, I still play it just to see the big numbers once or twice in a couple games.

Another piece of advice would be to learn how to play from behind. I know sometimes it seems impossible to make a comeback, but I can tell you that you DEFINITELY won't make a comeback if you don't try your hardest to. If you just buckle down and say, "okay, time to clean up my act and win this thing," you may find yourself winning more. Sometimes this means stalling out and sacrificing Pokemon, sometimes it means something completely different. If you stay calm and think about optimizing your game, though, it'll go a lot better (but obviously, still expect to lose some games, because by definition you're behind when doing this). I can tell you that possibly the best game I've ever played happened after I attached a Rainbow energy to a Seismitoad EX that literally set me up to get knocked out. I realize that you're describing more luck-based trouble, but still. Just try to play optimally, and if you lose, you lose. It's just a game, it doesn't matter too much.