Help Random Advice on How to Play The Game

Lord Goomy

Lord Goomy

Got Goomies?
Member
Noobs like myself use the same deck and the same strategy, but need insight on simple tips, like when to throw an Ultra Ball, or when to Lillie, or other timing related or basic strategy needs. How to play your deck correctly, or other ways to play it, maybe.
For the last question, I run Xerneas BREAK.
Any advice is welcome!
Thank you.
 
I'm assuming you need help and advice with the TCG, right? Her are a couple pieces of advice if your getting started:
  • Familiarize yourself with the current meta. This can easily be done by watching recent regionals, nationals, and even internationals to see what's being played.
  • Familiarize yourself with the current sets and cards within. As important as it is to know what decks are dominating, the same thing applies for cards as well. After playing for a while and doing research on new deck ideas etc., you actually find that your probably know most of the important cards in roation.
  • The best way to learn "when to throw an Ultra Ball" or "when to Lillie" comes down to pure practice. Playing a lot of matches with the same deck will teach you the best strategies and times to play your cards.
  • There is definitely no correct way to play a deck, just your preference. There a plenty of decks out there that may run very similar cards, but have been played using many different strategies.
  • If your willing, I would also recommend finding a local place where Pokémon TCG is played. You can learn a lot from people there, who will also help you out with your deck if you ask. Plus, it can be a lot of fun to compete for prizes.
Hope this helps you out, and good luck with your deck!
 
Playing solitaire with yourself can really help yourself playtest and get your order of operations. Expanding on what Trainer Josh said, rewatch regionals, nationals, and worlds. But this time, when you find someone playing an ultra ball or whatnot, ask yourself why they chose this play instead of maybe playing a trainers mail. Soon you will find yourself trying to stay optimal because you have justified each decision you make. And finally, when you lose a match, ask your opponent any way that you thought you could have beaten them. Don't worry about asking this because it shows your opponent that you are invested in beating them and so you'll get an honest opinion most of the time.
Hope this helps:)
 
1) Learn your deck list; you don't have to have it perfectly memorized, but you should have a good idea of the general contents. If you do wish to play at a competitive level, you probably should memorize your list.

2) When you use a search effect like Ultra Ball, you ought to take a few seconds to glance through your entire deck. If you're really talented, this is enough to confirm what is in your Prizes because you've basically got your deck list memorized. Even for an average player, it will give you the heads-up if important cards are Prized. You do not have a lot of time to do this, however.

3) Good manners cost you nothing, but can buy you everything (this applies to more than the TCG ;) ).
 
Going along with what Anthony Orosco said, something I've been doing is playing against myself using a proxy deck and/or if you simply have enough cards to make multiple decks and just proxy the expensives like Lele.

If I feel like I had a bad match up against a deck or lost for reasons I couldn't figure out, I'll print out proxies or just literally hand write on slips of paper and slide them into sleeves and play my deck out against a deck I think I struggle against or a deck I think is popoular in my area. It's not a perfect testing ground because you have full visibility of both hands, but it gives you a really good way to rapidly test how consistently a deck sets up and where the turning points happen.

I've been playing Alolan Ninetales GX vs Gardevoir GX in this fashion for about a week now, and it's been incredibly helpful in understanding some finesse that I wouldn't have been able to notice otherwise that improved my ability to play both decks.

It might feel a bit weird, but I think dueling yourself is one of the best ways to learn.

Aside from this I would suggest to get very good a card counting. Be able to count you and your opponent's discard pile to know what's left in the deck which lets you be able to calculate the realstic odds of certain things occuring. As an arbitrary example, if 3 Ns are in your opponent's discard and their deck looks to be about 30-40 cards thick, then you have a very realstic chance to get off something like Beacon with Alolan Vulpix and having it stick (in the 2018 rotation without VS Seeker, anyway). Outside of that, it also gives you predictable odds of what you'll draw from playing a Sycamore or any other draw power.
 
Last edited:
Otaku said:
2) When you use a search effect like Ultra Ball, you ought to take a few seconds to glance through your entire deck. If you're really talented, this is enough to confirm what is in your Prizes because you've basically got your deck list memorized. Even for an average player, it will give you the heads-up if important cards are Prized. You do not have a lot of time to do this, however.
Click to expand...

I want to say there was a rule about this where the first time you go into your deck, you've got two minutes. I don't know if it is an official rule or anything, but I take advantage of it during every game I play in a serious tournament, and haven't been called for it once. After the first search though is where I think people start to get worried about players playing the clock.

Definitely practice doing this though. If you get good at it, it won't take you two minutes.
 
Mora said:
Definitely practice doing this though. If you get good at it, it won't take you two minutes.
Click to expand...

I went ahead and looked it up. According to the Play! Pokémon TCG Rules and Formats document:

7.2. Mid-game Time Limit
Any mid-game effects, such as deck search effects and shuffling, are to take place in a reasonable amount of time. If a judge feels that a player’s searching or shuffling time is unwarranted, that player will be subject to the Game Tempo section of the Play! Pokémon TCG Penalty Guidelines. A judge may issue a time extension on a match where a player is playing slowly. The extra time allotted must be clearly communicated to both players and recorded immediately by the judge.​
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top