Predicting your opponent?

[CCGer]

Hello guys. I am not an expert Pokemon TCG player but I am interested in being a better player. I just wanted to know how do you guys think during competitive play. The topic for this thread is predicting your opponent during gameplay.

Firstly, it is important for me to clearify what I meant by "gameplay". In TCGs, players usually have two phases of the game. The first being deck building, and second is to sit down and play cards until someone loses. In this thread, my use of the word "gameplay" refers to the part where you play cards until someone else loses. Therefore, when I say "predicting your opponent during gameplay", this does not include deck-building. I know that when you build your deck, you might need to understand the meta, and predict what cards your opponents will run and how to counter them. But, now I am talking about gameplay, so predicting your opponent when you built or tweak your deck doesn't count.

Now, do you actually need to predict what your opponent will do when you play this game at a competitive level? Do you actually need to care much about what your opponent is trying to do? When I play this game (note that I am not a good player) I find that most of the time, I am more worried about what should I do instead of what the opponent is trying to do. When my pokemons are low on energy, I find ways to get energy. If I have too little pokemon, I have to try and bring in more basic pokemon. I feel that sometimes, it usually come down to luck. If my opponent is in some kind of predicarmant, then I stand a chance.If he starts building his combo and I still can't solve my own problems (lack of energy, can't find basic pokemon, can't evolve), it is obvious that i will lose.

I find that, for the most part, I just can't react to my opponent's play. Lets say he brings a Zekrom ex into play. I can't stop him. Perhaps I know that my opponent has a catcher in his hand. I can't do much, especially if I still can't set up my combo. So in these cases, even if I know what my opponent have in his hand, I just can't stop him. It makes it seems that, the most important thing in this game is yourself, not your opponent. If you can set up your field flawlessly, assuming that the decks matchup is equal, you win. Deck building is just to ensure that you can set up your combo and that your opponent cannot.

Perhaps one exercise is to see how important is predicting your opponent in this game is to see the difference in your play if you know what your opponent has in his hand. How huge is the advantage of being able to see your opponent's hand in this game? As far as I remember, there is the supporter card that lets you see your opponent's hand and decide if you want him to reshuffle his hand or to reshuffle yours. From my own experience, I find that, whether or not I know what is in my opponent's hand, I tend to do similar moves.

So basically, in this game, how important is knowing your opponent? Is knowing what your opponent have in his hand a huge advantage? Can you bluff your opponent in gameplay even though he knows your deck inside out? Please give me examples when you reply so that I have a rough idea of what is going on.

Thanks.

Perhaps I have missed some of the mo

 

[Mudkip711]

It's a really huge advantage when you get to see your opponent's hand. That way you know what they can do on their turn. Anyways, when you play you should not be playing in that turn only, if that makes sense. You should be thinking of that turn most importantly, but also keeping in mind the next couple of turns. It's good to keep a back-up plan in case something unexpected happens.

 

[iisnumber12]

Prediction is definitely a factor. You don't always have to worry about what your opponent will do next, but it can be helpful to know. For example, If I am using an EX with fighting weakness, I should prepare for Terrakion because that is a card my opponent will likely play down if they have it in their deck. What you want to try to do is limit your opponent's options. If you foresee them making a move that will hurt your board, prepare for it.

 

[tanker]

When i'm playing I will usually play to disrupt my opponent while trying to do what my deck is designed to do.

 

[Rikko145]

These are equal parts. It's like soup: What's more important, the beef and potatoes or the broth? You have to worry about yourself, but with every move you have to weigh in your mind what your opponent might be able to do about it.

You have to take into account the odds of things. If your opponent has only 1 card in his hand and I'm play Eels, should I bench 2 Tynamos and search for an attacker, or 3 Tynamos and delay my energy attachment from my hand for a turn? Since he only has 1 card, you'd probably be safe getting 2 Tynamos.

I don't care what deck you're playing, what your strategy is, or how you play, one way to double your odds of winning is to capitalize on your opponent's disadvantages. He's having energy drought? Capitalize. Catcher EX's and don't be afraid to 2 or 3 HKO them. Even if you hurt yourself a little, don't play that N. He doesn't have many pokemon on the field? Capitalize. If you're playing something like Registeel or Darkrai, set up a double KO. If not, take really fast prizes. Your opponent only has 4 cards in his deck? (Waaaaaaait for iiiiiiiit.....) Capitalize! Even if you could maybe win on prizes, don't take the chance. Throw up an EX with high HP, Catcher up something with a fat retreat cost, play all your healing cards, and wait them out.

Now, on the flip side, there are easy ways to lose games as well. If you let your opponent capitalize on your weaknesses, you're probably going to lose. Don't be afraid of Juniper. A lot of people will hesitate a turn, like if they're having energy drought and they have the Juniper, but they also have several cards they don't want to discard. You can either play it now and take your chances later in the game, or you can surrender now because you are wasting turns not attacking. Now, I'm not saying be a fool with your Junipers. If you have a hand that will get you through this turn in good shape, then hold off. But if you have a glaring weakness that your opponent can take advantage of, you'll be better off just dropping the Juniper. Will it pay off perfectly every time? No. Absolutely not. But will it drastically decrease your odds of losing the way you were going to? Definitely. Without question.

Pokemon is a lot like corporate America; the man with the most capital, the one that takes advantage of his situation and finds a way to make that work for him, wins.

Whatever you do based on your odds, wether it's capitalizing on your opponent having one card and it turns out to be a Juniper or suffering from extreme energy drought and wiffing the energy of an N or a Juniper or whatever, don't take it to heart. Just remember that you made the absolute best decision you could with the information you had. The game is far from over, and for us real players, there's always the next move, the next turn, the next play, the next game, the next match, the next round, the next tournament, and the next season.

 

[CCGer]

You have to take into account the odds of things. If your opponent has only 1 card in his hand and I'm play Eels, should I bench 2 Tynamos and search for an attacker, or 3 Tynamos and delay my energy attachment from my hand for a turn? Since he only has 1 card, you'd probably be safe getting 2 Tynamos.

Can you explain about this a bit? I have not played since a month and have forgotten things.

By the way, is it possible to trick or surprise your opponent during gameplay? Meaning that, my opponent thinks I am doing this, but actually, I am planning to do that.

Thanks.

 

[JimboJumbo]

Yeah, its called bluffing.

Reading your opponent can be extremely useful when you decide what to play or what not to play.

Example A: Whether or not you should play an N or a Juniper.

You have both in your hand and you've gone second. On your opponent's turn, they didn't particularly do much but the most notable thing is they didn't play a supporter. Seeing as how the bulk of usable supporters in the format draw cards, this likely means that they don't have a supporter in their hand. You should play down your hand and play the Juniper over the N based on what you read from your opponent.

In order to predict your opponent, you have to be able to know what deck they are playing and how it basically operates. Even then, it's not really predicting, more so; anticipating. Because pokemon is a very just game, you can't really interrupt an action of theirs, so the skill you're looking for is how to plan ahead and how to adjust to what's happened so far, based on what the opponent has and has not done.

 

[dmaster]

Perhaps one exercise is to see how important is predicting your opponent in this game is to see the difference in your play if you know what your opponent has in his hand. How huge is the advantage of being able to see your opponent's hand in this game? As far as I remember, there is the supporter card that lets you see your opponent's hand and decide if you want him to reshuffle his hand or to reshuffle yours. From my own experience, I find that, whether or not I know what is in my opponent's hand, I tend to do similar moves.

I just wanted to comment on this specific part. There was a Supporter card that came out in the Platinum set named Looker's Investigation that did just that. It was actually a really good Supporter for disruption and such but as time has passed, so has the card as it's rotated out and not able to played in modified Tournaments anymore.

I can't really comment on the other things too much as it seems like most everyone else has covered everything. I'll just reinforce some points. Yes, the game is luck based, but you can take the luck out of the game so to speak (this includes cutting down on flippy cards, etc.). You can also "play the odds" (example: I have a Catcher left in my deck of 14 cards and I have a Juniper in my hand. Should I play it?). This was easier to do when Junk Arm was in the format but that's another part of skill over luck. It's always good to be predicting what your opponent can/will do and looking ahead to future turns is a mandatory skill to have to be good in the game period. Knowing what your opponent's deck can do is very handy as you can usually prepare your deck for that and find out a strategy that can counter what they do.

dmaster out.

 

[CCGer]

Example A: Whether or not you should play an N or a Juniper.

You have both in your hand and you've gone second. On your opponent's turn, they didn't particularly do much but the most notable thing is they didn't play a supporter. Seeing as how the bulk of usable supporters in the format draw cards, this likely means that they don't have a supporter in their hand. You should play down your hand and play the Juniper over the N based on what you read from your opponent.

This sounds more like deduction. Bluffing usually involves tricking your opponent into thinking that you have something but actually you don't or the other way round. Based on the example above that I quoted, if your opponent actually not play supporters by purpose to make you think that he doesn't have a supporter, that might be called bluffing.

 

[iisnumber12]

Yeah, its called bluffing.

Reading your opponent can be extremely useful when you decide what to play or what not to play.

Example A: Whether or not you should play an N or a Juniper.

You have both in your hand and you've gone second. On your opponent's turn, they didn't particularly do much but the most notable thing is they didn't play a supporter. Seeing as how the bulk of usable supporters in the format draw cards, this likely means that they don't have a supporter in their hand. You should play down your hand and play the Juniper over the N based on what you read from your opponent.

In order to predict your opponent, you have to be able to know what deck they are playing and how it basically operates. Even then, it's not really predicting, more so; anticipating. Because pokemon is a very just game, you can't really interrupt an action of theirs, so the skill you're looking for is how to plan ahead and how to adjust to what's happened so far, based on what the opponent has and has not done.

Yes, another thing you can do is make expressions to change your opponent's decision. If they put down a Mewtwo EX and you smile and mutter "yes", they may not attach energy to it even if it would help them.

 

[Rikko145]

Can you explain about this a bit? I have not played since a month and have forgotten things.

By the way, is it possible to trick or surprise your opponent during gameplay? Meaning that, my opponent thinks I am doing this, but actually, I am planning to do that.

Thanks.

You're gambling that your opponent doesn't have a Catcher or a way to possibly get one in his hand of 1 card.

Bluffing is not really possible. You can keep your opponent in the dark, but that's about it. If you're playing with 1 Shaymin EX tech, you could be careful not to let your opponent see any of your Prism (or Blend) energies or your Shaymin until you're ready to bust him out late game. You can't play solely on that tactic, though, or the end of the game will come much sooner for you than you would have hoped.

Surprising your opponent, on the other hand, is key in many matches. If they see 2 Piplups on the field T1, they probably won't be expecting the T2 120, and leave themselves vulnerable for an attack. As you can see in every example put out, you're always gambling. You're gambling that the situation you've set up is going to be better for you than your opponent.

 

[o0Flint0o]

Well, when you have the knowledge of the opponent's hand, and/or what they might do will help you pretty well. If you know their hand, you can put their important resources out of the picture. If you know something heavy is coming down (An attack ready by the next turn), then you can switch things on your side around to take less an impact, and/or retaliate.

 

[raymond25962]

Yes, another thing you can do is make expressions to change your opponent's decision. If they put down a Mewtwo EX and you smile and mutter "yes", they may not attach energy to it even if it would help them.

I wouldn't recommend doing this too much though, as after a while they will catch on and after that it just turns into an annoying game of I know that you know that I know.

 

[iisnumber12]

I mean, don't make it obvious like "This hand sucks," but if you don't do much on your turn, act like you have nothing, even if you do.

 

[Mora]

In chess, one of the most crucial themes is continuing with your development WHILE defending against your opponent's threats and ideas. For example, last night, I played against Durrant/Sableye; my opponent used Junk Hunt to get out one Enhanced and Crushing Hammer. I needed a new hand desperately because I barely had a setup (I know you typically don't "setup" against Durrant, but I needed a few cards to keep the game going.) Knowing N would net four cards at this point, N or Juniper? The Juniper had the better chance of getting what I needed (Tool Scraper and Catcher, mainly). But I was playing around with Regigigas, and for those of you who don't know, he has both a hefty retreat and attack cost, and those hammers would have taken down my attachments to zero. So I went with N. Got a new hand, and got rid of those annoying hammers. A pretty basic examle, but you get the idea.

 

[CCGer]

I wouldn't recommend doing this too much though, as after a while they will catch on and after that it just turns into an annoying game of I know that you know that I know.

Actually, that is where the fun begins. I am looking for these "I know that you know that I know...." kind of thing. I am not sure whether these elements are common in the Pokemon TCG. This is where predicting your opponent becomes important, since you need to know what your opponent know and plan for it. Without this element, hidden information becomes quite useless, and knowing what your opponent will do becomes meaningless.

So, let me rephrase my question, do this game contains elements where there is this "I know that you know what I'll do and so I can plan for it and surprise you later.

 

[Daddy]

My strongest strategy I use- thinking anywhere between 2-5 turns ahead of the game

 

[trunks592002]

I dont try and predict what my opponent will do, I just react to what they do. cause if your wrong in your predicting you leave yourself open to making a bad move.

 

[Daddy]

I dont try and predict what my opponent will do, I just react to what they do. cause if your wrong in your predicting you leave yourself open to making a bad move.

But you should always have another plan.

 

[trunks592002]

Eh... Not really, you will drive yourself crazy if you worry to much about what could, would, and should counter you. Besides im a very skilled player that is able to win with terrible decks simply because I understand the game to its fullest. Like the guy in the park who beats everybody at chess, no matter what moves his opponent makes.