Luck and other issues: any advice?

Blah

Blah

DBT
Member
Alright, I know many of you have heard me talk about this before.

To put it blunt, my luck sucks. Despite my best efforts to deckbuild well, I still end up not drawing what I need, having my main attackers prized, not going first, and just in general losing because of silly reasons.

Now, in the essence of being productive and not complaining, I want to know if there is ANYTHING I can do to prevent this, at least some of the time. It's very possible that my decklists just simply aren't good, but I don't think that's the case. Could I be shuffling incorrectly? Could my playing skill not be as good as I think and I simply need more practice? Or is it just that PTCG is a troll, and that the two IRL tournaments I've been to are not enough to judge luck/playing skill?

Any help would be awesome. If anyone has any tips via shuffling, skill, decks, or anything else, I would be greatly appreciated. I am in the business of improving, so I want to try and push the fact that I'm cursed with horrid luck out of my mind and find ways to move forward.

Mods, feel free to move this if you feel like it's in the wrong spot.
 
I know the feel, and I have the same problem. Eventually someone pointed out to me I was shuffling funny, and when I stopped, my bad luck streak ended. I'd suggest changing up your shuffling style to see if anything changes.
I hate those moments when you start Shaymin, Ultra Ball, and see that your prizes contain all 3 Darkrai and all 3 Hydreigon.
 
Puff said:
I know the feel, and I have the same problem. Eventually someone pointed out to me I was shuffling funny, and when I stopped, my bad luck streak ended. I'd suggest changing up your shuffling style to see if anything changes.
I hate those moments when you start Shaymin, Ultra Ball, and see that your prizes contain all 3 Darkrai and all 3 Hydreigon.
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Alright, what shuffling style should I use? Like, exactly how should I go about shuffling? I normally do a sideways riffle shuffle right now, and I pile shuffle before each match.
 
I'd say the best way around bad luck is to cheat.
As for shuffling, choose one consistent way and stick with it.
I, for example, always do an eight-pile shuffle then hand shuffle a couple times.
May I also suggest keeping a good luck charm with you
I keep a Porygon toy with an acorn on it next to my playmat.
✌☹✌
 
How do you guys shuffle during a match? Riffle shuffle, like me?

And yah, I'll try the good luck charm but I can't see it doing anything.
 
When you do a pile shuffle, what number of piles do you use? If you use a number that goes into 60 evenly, you're off to a bad start. 7 is what I do. Another way to shuffle is to organize you're cards into trainer / energy / pokemon(Like a decklist). Mash shuffle the energy and the pokemon together, do this 12 times or so. I tend to have a stack of ~20 Pokemon and Energy so it's not that hard to do it. If you're looking for how to know when to stop, when you're shuffling, not in a tournament but before, look through and see if any of the same cards are next to each other. If they are next to each other then do a couple more shuffles. After that do the same with the trainers(this will be more time consuming than the others), and when you are done take half of each pile(Trainers/ Pokemon and Energy) and do a bridge. Then do a bridge with the other half of the two piles. Then, still keeping them in stacks, mash shuffle the half piles together randomizing them. Then do the same to the other, then finally bridge and pile shuffle into 7's. Then do a couple riffles like you were doing earlier and present to cut.
 
What's wrong with pile shuffling with a number that goes evenly into 60? I do that all the time.

I just pile shuffle before all of my matches. I use the standard 6 piles of 10. It splits up your deck very well.mIf you persist in having bad luck, I'd begin to think it's more of a deckbuilding issue than a shuffling issue. Or you could just be really unlucky.
 
Well, I usually Pile shuffle into seven different piles before a game starts. After Piling, I pick up 3 of the piles and sleeve shuffle them, then pick up the remaining piles and sleeve shuffle those separately. Then, I sleeve shuffle all of them a few times then I'm done.
I also keep a little "lucky" keychain with me. (It's a tepig.)
Good luck with not getting bad luck.
 
What I do is I pile shuffle into 6 piles, and pile 2 of those onto the others. Then I riffle shuffle the 4 piles, and then riffle shuffle the remaining 2 piles...
 
I suppose I could give you some general Deck-Building tips, but I'm still quite new to the TCG, so my advice might have a few mistakes.

You gotta have 10-12 Draw Supporters as a staple. Random Reciever counts along with that, too.

Having a full set of 4 of your main attacker/s is important too, for consistency, but if that attacker/ those attackers are EX Pokemon, be careful about laying too many out on the Bench, since they cost an extra prize, and are walled by Sigilyph DRX.

If you're having trouble getting your Pokemon out, add more Level Ball/Heavy Ball/ Ultra Ball. Any Deck involving Evolution Stages should have 4 Level Ball, and 3/4 Ultra Ball. If you need a full bench for your strategy, definetly pack 3 Emolga DRX.

Nearly all champion Decks this format will have 4 Pokemon Catcher, so make an investment for that if you don't have that yet.

Tool Scrapper is also worth considering, since it not only shuts off Garbador, but also removes Eviolite so you can net a faster KO. I generally reccomend 3 in most Decks.

If your type can Energy Accelerate, its usually a good idea to do it. I think even Gardevoir NXD can prove very helpful with Mewtwo EX, for instance.

That's about all I can think of, for now...
 
If we go on shuffling techniques, I use a 6-Pile shuffle, then bridge those together so I get 3 piles, do 2 of those so I end up with 2 piles, then the last 2 together. Then I riffle shuffle for a while until I feel ready. I always check to make sure that I don't have huge pools of cards together before each match though. If I do then I will break those manually before the match. I hate it when I get all 4 Juniper in the same hand with no N.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys.

I'm going to a Battle Roads tomorrow (Sunday), so I'll see how it goes. I'll be sure to do all the shuffling techniques everyone suggested.

Any advice for actual playing? I'm very confident in my strategies and ability to work out problems, but is there something I might be missing?
 
Don't play a Supporter if you don't have too. I always find myself waiting like 2 or 3 turns to play a Supporter unless I'm really hurting for one. First it makes your opponent think you have a bad hand, and second it saves them for later in the game, so a clutch N doesn't kill you.
 
venasour x said:
Don't play a Supporter if you don't have too. I always find myself waiting like 2 or 3 turns to play a Supporter unless I'm really hurting for one. First it makes your opponent think you have a bad hand, and second it saves them for later in the game, so a clutch N doesn't kill you.
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That is absolutely right. Don't use a Supporter if you don't really gain something from using it.

About shuffling techniques, I agree with Zangoose about not using a number of piles that goes into 60 evenly.
When I arrive at the table the first thing I do is doing a 7-pile shuffling. Then I don't mash them together, I just put them on top of each other. Then, if I'm using Ultra Pros I riffle-shuffle like 13 times. If I'm using something like Dragon Shield, I do the hand shuffling 13 times (the one that you mash half of the deck into the other half by the sides. It's just the normal shuffle) (also, 13 is my favorite number). If I feel it isn't well shuffled yet, I do it another 13 times.

Also, another tip. Try to avoid using many RHs. They do stick together and that screwed me over many times (like at Worlds this year). I do not use RHs anymore (or I try to avoid them at all costs).
 
Blah said:
Does it matter if the RH's are in sleeves? Or will they still stick together?
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In sleeves it's the same. Atleast with me. But if it's the new type of RHs, then I am not sure, but if you wanna keep it safe I would say to use non-RHs (if it's an important tournament or something like that).
 
Roronoa Zoro said:
Also, another tip. Try to avoid using many RHs. They do stick together and that screwed me over many times (like at Worlds this year). I do not use RHs anymore (or I try to avoid them at all costs).
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How do RHs stick together? I use them all the time and have zero issues with that. In fact it sort of balances my deck when I use them in certain numbers or certain types of RHs. (for example, ex series Energies with BW series RH stuff) Though I do use at least 15 non-RH cards. My ZekEels has more RHs/Full Arts than any of my other decks and it seems to get the best draws. Maybe it's just the right amount. Or it could be my sleeves. (newer Japanese sleeves, more specifically, the Bisharp ones)

Blah, as for your bad luck, I'm practically in the same boat as you are, but only for tournaments. I beat all the best players at League (who have all won multiple tournaments) except for one, I hardly ever lose on TCGO, and I'm really good at deck building, even if my lists are different than other people's, though that's probably because of my play style. However in all my years of playing, I have not won a single tournament out of all the ones I've been to, nor have I made top cut. But like I said, it's due to my luck -- or rather a lack of it.

I rifle shuffle (where you take half of your deck and slide it into the other half multiple times) and pile shuffle after my deck has been organised.
 
I'll see about the RH thing, I often use as many as I have but I'll definitely be sure to look out for them sticking to each other.

One quick question about shuffling. How the heck do you do the shuffling method that you see top players do? (Example: Top 2 at Worlds this year.) They like take half of their deck and mash it into the other half, but they do it in a really weird and fast way.
 
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