I'm really not sure what to call this thread so if something better is out there, please feel free to change it.
Getting into it, I'm the type of player who likes to 'respect' their deck. I have never likes supporters like Professor Juniper because it feels like I'm discarding very useful cards. The decks I played are very technical and have a LOT of moving parts, to the point to where I don't play many staple cards. In the BW-On format, I didn't play Virbank City Gym or Hypnotoxic Laser because I didn't have the space to play it. I even played a single version of Juniper and Pokemon Catcher so I could play more cards that maintained my strategy.
I realize that there are many players who are fans of different play styles but lately the game only appeals to just one, or rather a few and they are lock decks and hyper offense. I'm a fan of the slower setup decks but the game doesn't support that anymore. Slow decks now are lock decks, often with Toad EX or Pokemon with lock abilities (normally Item related). I feel the need to also mention the ruleset for the game. I always though best of 3 with 40 minute games wasn't good because it favors fast aggressive play styles, which is something I don't like.
Ideally, the discard pile is supposed to be just that - a place where you send spent resources. Yugioh messed this up by making the Graveyard (discard pile) and the RfG by turning them into a second or even third deck that you can play from. While I feel effects like this are healthy for card games, they are becoming ever increasing a thing and it ruins that balance. It removes that risk of needing to use your resources wisely. When a Player uses a Juniper, they should feel the lost of discarding their entire hand rather than them setting up for something, which adds to the problem.
Utility is something else thats out of wack in this game. With Battle Compressor, its best users are both Night March and Flareon/Bees. Battle Compressor breaks these deck IMO because there is no counter play to deal with these outside of hoping the opponent draws poorly. This is bad design because Battle Compressor lets these deck get their goal as early as turn one, which supports bad deck design. Not only that, it also has way too much utility with other decks as well, from dumping energy to supporters for VS Seeker plays. I feel the card (Battle Compressor) should be banned for the same reasons as Lysandre's Trump Card... Kind of. My reason for that is because of how it affects the Night March and Bees matchup. Like I said before, you don't have any real options of dealing with the deck.
With Trump Card, I played 2 copies of it but I was never aggressive with it so when it was banned, I lost a tool that let me reuse cards in my technical deck. I never drew my entire deck in a turn just to play it and get everything back. It was used as tool to aid my deck's defensive playstyle but I support the reason it was banned for. It has too much utility and breaks some decks, but lets face it. A card that says shuffle your discard pile back into your deck probably shouldn't exist. I feel Battle Compressor is one of those cards.
Take Max Potion for example, which is a card I love. Its a powerful card, that not every card can use but is a staple of decks that have low energy attack decks or decks that can move energy around but with my playstyle, I can't play cards like Juniper because if I'm forced to discard 2 or 3 Max Potions, then I lose. For a player like me, I have far less options because of what my style of play is. I'm a competitive player but competitive play doesn't support my style or styles like it.
Now this is where the player comes in. I think cards like Toad EX and decks like Night March are a problem with the game. I feel they remove autonomy from the player. Removing autonomy makes the player mad. "Well, my opponent went second and Quaking Punched me and now I can't play my game." Quaking Punch removed the opponents way to defend themselves by preventing them from playing something like 60% of their deck while, at the same time protecting themselves from counter. I know some players will say "well, you have cards like Jirachi and Xerosic to make a play". Well my response to that is that's what I mean by removing autonomy from the player.
Before I go further, I define autonomy as 'the ability of free choice by the player'. Now I do know there are cases in a game where you have to make the play that will keep you in the game. Forcing a player to use Xerosic to discard your DCE in the hopes of you not having another one prevents them from playing a supporter of their choice. You locked them from most of their resources so its clear they need something else. The turn they discard your DCE, they are still locked from the game but are forced to make a play they hope will allow them to play. At the end of the day, that player didn't have free choice.
Night March is much the same way. Your only option against the deck is to hope they draw bad OR play a deck that trades prizes well with Night March AND can still win against other meta decks. These decks don't exist. For a player like me (and other players as well), we have 2 options. We can either a) Hope they draw poorly and maybe take a early lead to where the prize trade is doable or B) Sign the match slip if they get their setup turn one. This deck remove autonomy because the player facing the deck has no real option in dealing with the deck. having your 180 HP EX knocked out in one hit, on your opponents first turn, perhaps second, what can you do as the defending player? You can't attack, you're down a energy and 2 prize cards taken. You have no options of defense here because next turn, you're losing another 180 HP Pokemon and 2 prize cards. You are pretty much playing a match where you are giving your opponent a win.
This is why Battle Compressor should be removed from the game. I much rather hit a card that breaks a deck or 2 rather than let the card stick around. This is like the Stealth Rock problem with Smogon's format. Rather then ban Stealth Rock because of its effects on 4 types, they want it around to check a few Pokemon. In this case, Battle Compressor is equal to Stealth Rock.
The problem with the player is they will always take the route of less work. They will play whatever gives them the best option to win. Many players can see the issue but still will do what's needed to win while others will do the same BUT will defend the notion that nothing is wrong.
From a competitive standpoint, all forms of play styles should be supported and the design of cards should reflect that. There should be less lock decks and decks that offer little to no counter play. I think that's all I have to say about that and I'll answer more things as they come up. Thanks for reading!
Getting into it, I'm the type of player who likes to 'respect' their deck. I have never likes supporters like Professor Juniper because it feels like I'm discarding very useful cards. The decks I played are very technical and have a LOT of moving parts, to the point to where I don't play many staple cards. In the BW-On format, I didn't play Virbank City Gym or Hypnotoxic Laser because I didn't have the space to play it. I even played a single version of Juniper and Pokemon Catcher so I could play more cards that maintained my strategy.
I realize that there are many players who are fans of different play styles but lately the game only appeals to just one, or rather a few and they are lock decks and hyper offense. I'm a fan of the slower setup decks but the game doesn't support that anymore. Slow decks now are lock decks, often with Toad EX or Pokemon with lock abilities (normally Item related). I feel the need to also mention the ruleset for the game. I always though best of 3 with 40 minute games wasn't good because it favors fast aggressive play styles, which is something I don't like.
Ideally, the discard pile is supposed to be just that - a place where you send spent resources. Yugioh messed this up by making the Graveyard (discard pile) and the RfG by turning them into a second or even third deck that you can play from. While I feel effects like this are healthy for card games, they are becoming ever increasing a thing and it ruins that balance. It removes that risk of needing to use your resources wisely. When a Player uses a Juniper, they should feel the lost of discarding their entire hand rather than them setting up for something, which adds to the problem.
Utility is something else thats out of wack in this game. With Battle Compressor, its best users are both Night March and Flareon/Bees. Battle Compressor breaks these deck IMO because there is no counter play to deal with these outside of hoping the opponent draws poorly. This is bad design because Battle Compressor lets these deck get their goal as early as turn one, which supports bad deck design. Not only that, it also has way too much utility with other decks as well, from dumping energy to supporters for VS Seeker plays. I feel the card (Battle Compressor) should be banned for the same reasons as Lysandre's Trump Card... Kind of. My reason for that is because of how it affects the Night March and Bees matchup. Like I said before, you don't have any real options of dealing with the deck.
With Trump Card, I played 2 copies of it but I was never aggressive with it so when it was banned, I lost a tool that let me reuse cards in my technical deck. I never drew my entire deck in a turn just to play it and get everything back. It was used as tool to aid my deck's defensive playstyle but I support the reason it was banned for. It has too much utility and breaks some decks, but lets face it. A card that says shuffle your discard pile back into your deck probably shouldn't exist. I feel Battle Compressor is one of those cards.
Take Max Potion for example, which is a card I love. Its a powerful card, that not every card can use but is a staple of decks that have low energy attack decks or decks that can move energy around but with my playstyle, I can't play cards like Juniper because if I'm forced to discard 2 or 3 Max Potions, then I lose. For a player like me, I have far less options because of what my style of play is. I'm a competitive player but competitive play doesn't support my style or styles like it.
Now this is where the player comes in. I think cards like Toad EX and decks like Night March are a problem with the game. I feel they remove autonomy from the player. Removing autonomy makes the player mad. "Well, my opponent went second and Quaking Punched me and now I can't play my game." Quaking Punch removed the opponents way to defend themselves by preventing them from playing something like 60% of their deck while, at the same time protecting themselves from counter. I know some players will say "well, you have cards like Jirachi and Xerosic to make a play". Well my response to that is that's what I mean by removing autonomy from the player.
Before I go further, I define autonomy as 'the ability of free choice by the player'. Now I do know there are cases in a game where you have to make the play that will keep you in the game. Forcing a player to use Xerosic to discard your DCE in the hopes of you not having another one prevents them from playing a supporter of their choice. You locked them from most of their resources so its clear they need something else. The turn they discard your DCE, they are still locked from the game but are forced to make a play they hope will allow them to play. At the end of the day, that player didn't have free choice.
Night March is much the same way. Your only option against the deck is to hope they draw bad OR play a deck that trades prizes well with Night March AND can still win against other meta decks. These decks don't exist. For a player like me (and other players as well), we have 2 options. We can either a) Hope they draw poorly and maybe take a early lead to where the prize trade is doable or B) Sign the match slip if they get their setup turn one. This deck remove autonomy because the player facing the deck has no real option in dealing with the deck. having your 180 HP EX knocked out in one hit, on your opponents first turn, perhaps second, what can you do as the defending player? You can't attack, you're down a energy and 2 prize cards taken. You have no options of defense here because next turn, you're losing another 180 HP Pokemon and 2 prize cards. You are pretty much playing a match where you are giving your opponent a win.
This is why Battle Compressor should be removed from the game. I much rather hit a card that breaks a deck or 2 rather than let the card stick around. This is like the Stealth Rock problem with Smogon's format. Rather then ban Stealth Rock because of its effects on 4 types, they want it around to check a few Pokemon. In this case, Battle Compressor is equal to Stealth Rock.
The problem with the player is they will always take the route of less work. They will play whatever gives them the best option to win. Many players can see the issue but still will do what's needed to win while others will do the same BUT will defend the notion that nothing is wrong.
From a competitive standpoint, all forms of play styles should be supported and the design of cards should reflect that. There should be less lock decks and decks that offer little to no counter play. I think that's all I have to say about that and I'll answer more things as they come up. Thanks for reading!
), Ball Trick). These are all very positive things and if it weren't for Toad and Nightmarch we might be able to call this a great metagame as far as any TCG would be concerned. I guess you could say yes, I hate Toad and NM and agree with the consensus that they are unskillful archtypes (Toad because clicking Punch is brainless and sends the defender into topdeck mode if they don't have a supporter and NM because it doesn't revolve around anything new. Yes you have to manage resources, that's what this entire game is about!) but there's lots of other cards that reward at least good deck construction and counterplay in both Standard and Expanded that even an experienced TCG player can take a bite out of.