Intelligent Gameplay Discussion Thread

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Celebi23

Aspiring Trainer
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So, in order to get some strategic talking going on around here, I figured I'd make this thread.

Basically, ask some strategy/gameplay related questions (NOT deckbuilding) that you think will start an intelligent discussion. I think the best way to describe what I mean is through example:

You're playing ZPST against an unknown deck and they put down one basic. Your two basics in-hand are a baby Pokemon (say Magby) and a Pachirisu. You can probably get the donk, but not if you lay the Pachi down right away. You only run 2 and you're also not sure if the other one is prized. What would you do? How about if they put down a second basic, or what about if if you couldn't get the donk off with your opening hand?

Feel free to discuss this one or make your own.
 
I like the idea of this thread, just going to say that right now.

In the situation listed above, I would probably bench the Pachirisu. If you have a good enough hand to donk with a ZPS, you have a very good chance of winning, even if you don't get the donk off. If you are only playing two Pachirishu, it is very unlikely that one would be in your hand, and one would be prized, that would mean that the top 13 of your deck would have to contain both of your Pachi's before set up. I don't know though.
 
Thanks.

That's might be how I would go too, but I'd actually consider opening the Pachirisu and leaving the baby in my hand. Either way, Pachi is going to have an unplayable power. Even if it means wasting a Switch/energy/SSU, I don't have an easy prize on the field from the start of the game. If they go first and get up a prize AND strand Pachi active, I'm in a pretty bad position. Having a Pachi active from the start is a little less threatening imo, and there's hardly a risk if I'm probably going to miss the donk either way.

My list doesn't run any SSU/Seeker, so if the other one was prized I would be in a pretty bad position.
 
I like this thread. Anyway, here'd mine.
You're playing a google/Truth deck with 2-2 Beartic as the main attacker and 1-1 Donphanprime as a tech. You have a phanpy and cubchoo in your hand. You also have another pokemon and communication in your hand. You know the opponent is playing ZPST. Would you play donphan and risk the tornadus stall for the ability to hit zekrom for weakness or play beartic to lock them more?
 
Donphan game, they will out-speed you if you go for a Beartic game and take a lot of early game prizes. It is also worth mentioning that the Truth should be playing Zekrom, which can easily take down Tornadus, and that they can retreat a Tornadus after a Sheer Cold into a Zekrom, and OHKO your Beartic.
 
The issue with using Zekrom to take down anything while playing The Truth is that once it has damage counters on it it's open to a revenge kill by anything (like their Zekrom). Often, you can't afford to give them any prizes after setup.

In your scenario, it depends on whether or not you can get your Vileplume/Reuniclus setup right away. If you can't, it might be better to go with Beartic to try and stall a couple turns and if worst comes to worst, you can use Donphan to buy a couple extra turns. Once you're setup, it really won't matter which way you went - it's basically auto-win. If you can setup quickly, it doesn't really matter which one you go with, but I'd probably conserve Donphan for after setup because it takes less damage and hits Zekrom a lot harder. The last thing you want is to double Sheer Cold and then have them retreat and drop a random Rainbow Energy or something. Besides, if your Beartic line is 2-2, the first one is more easily expendable.
 
A good strategy to also think of when starts is something like in this scenario.

Opening with a hand with a Cheren, cyndaquil and reshiram and a collector and a fire energy. A cleffa is also present in your deck. Would you start the cyndaquil so that you could easily retreat out to a collector'd cleffa or would you take the risk with starting reshiram and play Cheren in hopes of getting something playable.
 
Celebi23 said:
So, in order to get some strategic talking going on around here, I figured I'd make this thread.

Basically, ask some strategy/gameplay related questions (NOT deckbuilding) that you think will start an intelligent discussion. I think the best way to describe what I mean is through example:

You're playing ZPST against an unknown deck and they put down one basic. Your two basics in-hand are a baby Pokemon (say Magby) and a Pachirisu. You can probably get the donk, but not if you lay the Pachi down right away. You only run 2 and you're also not sure if the other one is prized. What would you do? How about if they put down a second basic, or what about if if you couldn't get the donk off with your opening hand?

Feel free to discuss this one or make your own.
Click to expand...

It depends on your hand. Dual Ball/Collector and energy needed? Bench it. Good draw? Bench it.

However, try to find out your opponents deck before playing. :p.
 
Riskbreakers said:
A good strategy to also think of when starts is something like in this scenario.

Opening with a hand with a Cheren, cyndaquil and reshiram and a collector and a fire energy. A cleffa is also present in your deck. Would you start the cyndaquil so that you could easily retreat out to a collector'd cleffa or would you take the risk with starting reshiram and play Cheren in hopes of getting something playable.
Click to expand...

Obviously go Cleffa. Hitting something good off of top 3 is very unlikely, especially with 46 cards left in your deck (after T1 draw). And with a Collector you can take 1 Cleffa, another Cyndaquil, and something else. Clear out your deck a bit then shuffle in for something better.


And for Celebi, it really does depend on your hand. I would probably put it down, because it doesn't matter what happens if you get donked. And for the record, I always play 3 Pachi.
 
^He was questioning whether to start with Reshiram or Cyndaquil. He wasn't asking if you would go Collector or Cheren. Collector T1 is obvious. However, it's a hard question to answer without knowing the rest of his hand.
 
Well, go Cyndaquil no matter what. Its always good to get an Energy in the discard fast.
And to me when he said "Reshiram and see if you get something playable off of Cheren", it sounded like he was going to play a Cheren if he started with Reshiram.
 
No. If you play Reshiphlosion/Boar and lead with a Reshiram and a Cyndaquil and/or Vulpix but no starters (If you run any) always put the Reshiram in the active spot and bench the Cyndaquil/Vulpix. Why is the world would you want to give the opponent a free Cyndaquil to KO without even wasting their catcher? Reshiram also has more health so the only way you could be donked is it the opponent gets Zekrom charged up t1 with a PlusPower, which rarely happens.
 
As my scenario suggests, a collector is in the hand. You would normally start the cyndaquil, play the collector and get cleffa. Attach, retreat and get out of your bad hand.
 
Ah, I suppose that makes sense. If the cleffa is prized you could be in trouble then, but I suppose there is a better chance of it not being prized than there is of it being prized.
 
Someone should post an interesting situation regarding Pokemon Catcher. Pulling the wrong Pokemon sometimes can lead to a screw-up.
 
Riskbreakers said:
Someone should post an interesting situation regarding Pokemon Catcher. Pulling the wrong Pokemon sometimes can lead to a screw-up.
Click to expand...

Well, let's say you got a hand of 5 (or so) containing a catcher, PONT, enough energy and all the other requirements to get a crucial KO, but you lack a single plus power. You know you have 2 left in your 37 cards left deck. (in ''simple math'' your hand and deck, after the PONT, would be 41 cards). For people who would like to know the details of my situation in mind:

ZPST vs Gothitelle (You play ZPST)

ZPST player:
Prizes left: 5

Field:
Active: Pachirisu CoL, 1 L energy
Bench: Tornadus (1 L energy), Shaymin UL, Zekrom (DCE)

Hand:
PONT, Catcher, 2 L Energy, Switch

Gothitelle player:
Prizes left: 6

field:
Active: Reuniclus (for whatever reason, for discussion's sake)
Bench: Gothita (1 P), Solosis

Hand: 7 cards (unknown to the ZPST player obviously, but in my playtesting case it was: Rare Candy, 2 Pokémon Communication, Gothorita, Twins, Collector, 1 P energy)

In the above situation I tried to catcher up the Gothita, attach another L energy to Pachirisu, and PONT for one of the (2) plus powers left in my deck to get the KO on that lone Gothita. In my case it backfired, as I played the Catcher, dragged up front the lone Gothita, attached one L energy to my Pachirisu, and used my PONT to fetch me a fresh 6, but I ended up not having a single plus power... Though while thinking about it, I would try it again if given the chance.

Now my question for you is: Would you take the ''risk'' and go for the KO by trying to nab the plus power you need with PONT, or would you rather go for a safe play?
 
Honestly, that was the best play available for you. Killing that Gothita would have set him one turn behind because of his bench. Adding the fact that Rreuniclus would have been active again anyway. It was a good play but bad luck.
 
I would have Catchered the Gothita and just PONTed. Because (I'm assuming that there are like 3 DCE left in the deck), you could have pulled a Shaymin, SSU, DCE, another Lighting, or a PlusPower/Junk Arm. Any one of those (some in combo of 2) would have gotten the kill. Without attaching a Lighting energy it keeps your options open. If all else failed you could have attempted to Catcher the Reuniclus again.

For the record, loving this thread :)
 
Okay, let's get a little life in this thread again. This one's not very specific, but:

You're a Yanmega/Magnezone player playing against Magnezone/Emboar. If they have a both a Tepig and an Emboar out, which one do you Catcher? You can KO the Tepig with Sonicboom, or the Emboar with Lost Burn. You have a one-prize lead (4 to their 5), and they have 2 Magnezone in play, as well as around 6 energy. One Magnezone is active, but nothing has damage on it.
 
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