I Don't Play Fast.

PumpedAaron

PumpedAaron

S Type Armor
Member
I don't play fast, especially when, y'know, I'm in a difficult situation, and I need to spend a little more time using my brain trying to find a solution? Apparently there are a sizable number of people who keep telling me to play faster, but I always end up resisting their request because I need to concentrate on the situation.

I'm trying to see if I can find an elegant, calm solution so that neither of us need to be bothered by this issue anymore....

Does anybody here have good help to give me?
 
If people are telling you to hurry up, that's just plain rude. You don't do that in a TCG. People need their time to think. Don't worry about them, take your time.
 
I could go into my rant about the current time limit in the game right now, but instead, I'll speak specifically about the topic of the thread...

In a perfect world, there would be no time limits, and you could take as much time as you wanted for every turn. Unfortunately, that isn't the case, and given the extremely strict time limit of the game right now, there's a pace of play that needs to be kept. And that pace of play needs to be fast.

I really hate taking this side, but if you aren't playing at a brisk rate, people are going to tell you to play faster, and *sigh* they have every right to do so. It sucks, don't get me wrong. But coming from someone who has missed cut at my last four tournaments due to ties, avoidable ties that could have been solved by both players playing faster, it's understandable that people may get frustrated at slow play.

I don't say any of this to be harsh or accusatory towards anyone, but the time limit has to be understood. There's no solution besides forcing yourself to just play faster.
 
If you look at the tournament rules, they do state that you can be penalized for taking too long. However, you are allowed some time to think ahead. How long does it take you to decide? Have they told you? Time yourself. I think you should just practice thinking things over more swiftly... Perhaps with someone who has patience? Not at an event....
 
Frost Mage said:
If people are telling you to hurry up, that's just plain rude. You don't do that in a TCG. People need their time to think. Don't worry about them, take your time.
Click to expand...

It's 50 minutes
Best 2/3
There is nothing rude about it, if I wanna win, and you're gonna force a tie I'm going to tell you you need to hurry up and decide or else I'm calling a judge and you can get in more trouble than me just scolding you.

You have 40 seconds to decide, if you don't then they have every right to get angry, because if done multiple times, is cheating.
It's cheating even if you didn't intend to cheat.

Not trying to be harsh, but that's how life works sometimes
 
I understand that, but is OP actually playing in tournaments? I understand what you're saying though about cheating.
 
This is kind of a difficult thing to help others with, but I'll try to help the best I can. I apologize if some of this stuff I'm mentioning is stuff you already do, but I'm just trying to let you know, just in case, and to emphasize that these are really important.

Just playing games with a deck or against a deck a lot of times will help you play faster with/against that deck, and somewhat with other decks as well. You'll slowly figure out which move usually and usually don't work, how much of each resource you'll need for a particular match up, you'll run into similar situations (which you will now know what to do in), etc. Also, always think about your turn on your opponent's turn. This is probably my number 1 tip. It's not that hard to predict what your opponent is going to do on their turn (as long as you're not playing against a crazy rogue deck), and if something unexpected pops up, switch your focus to how to respond to that.

Hope this was helpful! Again, I apologize if this is all obvious to you already, but it's hard to give advice on a topic like this.
 
Alright, from all this advice I've gathered so far, after I play enough games in one sitting, that ritual, so to speak, should place my mind into some sort of "flow" state where I will be able to play faster.



A couple cases have been at tournaments, but a couple cases was just Random Battle mode on Pokémon Trading Card Game Online. I'll see what I can do, and what happens.
 
You don't have to play many games in one sitting. Just playing much and playing against different decks makes you a better and faster player... if you are capable of learning: I know some people [some of my friends] who aren't - no offense to them - but some people just don't seem to learn very well. That's... just who they are though.
 
I don't understand why not very many people who play Pokemon TCG especially other TCG/CCG's don't have the patience for Best of 2/3 matches. I remember attending a Vanguard tournament at one of my locals and one of my opponent's got onto me for taking too long since it was also Best of 2 instead of Best of 1 which is the official rules by Bushiroad. He then went off questioning how long the tournament was going to last and when he found out that it was only 3 Rounds since the player attendance was 5-6 including myself at the time he was relieved but it kind of annoyed me to be honest.

Also at one of my League Challenges for Best of 3 in Pokemon TCG, I ended up tying for 3rd or 4th running Empoleon/Dusknoir when I just barely managed to beat VirGen. I have a chance to go play at Regionals this weekend but considering how stagnant the current meta is right now and how crowded it's going to get let alone not owning 1-2 Tropical Beach, I might have to sit this one out again unfortunately. My parents don't trust me going to specific venues that they're unfamiliar with to play certain TCG/CCG's If it's 1-2+ hours away from home since I don't have a driver's license. But yeah perhaps the main reason why players don't like taking their time when playing various TCG/CCG's is probably due to the fast paced nature of both Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon.
 
So I did some investigating, and it turns out that the official Pokémon Organized Play Penalty Guidelines document has an entire section on Game Tempo.

It tells me that I need to keep the pace of the game lively, and that I shouldn't spend an unreasonable amount of time retrieving a Pokémon from my Deck, or attaching an Energy to a Pokémon, for example.

It does also say that my opponent's shouldn't have to "rush" me either, such as when they make exasperated noises or comments about my pace.

Reading that certainly helps me put this problem in perspective.

One of the problems they mentioned was a player checking his own or his opponent's discard pile more than once in a short time period. I am honestly guilty of that. I should practice looking at it just once and getting the info I need to know...

 
Hey PumpedAaron

The best advice I can give you would be to play as much as possible, with different decks and different opponents. The more scenarios and adveristy you find yourself in, the better, because then you will know how to respond when some of these situations reappear during a tournament.

I would also advise you to tackle any questions you may have about certain cards that you are not familiar with, and to brush up on the different types of combos that players are currently running. Basically the more you know about the different types of combos, cards, and strategy the better, and it will not only help you cut back on some of the time spent thinking about your next move but it will ultimately make you a more confident player.

Hope that helps

Good luck!
 
Well, I'm a calm person and most of the time I take my time with things if possible, but that isn't helpful in LCs/Tournaments. But that doesn't mean it's hard for to play fast. As said above, practicing with the deck you are going to use in the tournament helps your further your knowledge of what you need in your deck and what to use it for in certain situations. Another thing that helps is simply getting yourself ready and focused before starting your battles. Of course you also need to be well-rested and have eaten to be able to do so, or your mind will wander a bit more. The last factor (that I can think of) is strengthening your dexterity. If you can find a method of shuffling that is fast for you, practice that, and make sure that when you go to place an energy, switch Pokemon to the bench, etc., that you don't fumble around with the cards to much (this is where play mats help).
 
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