The concept of fun

L

Lou Cypher

The melody of your defeat
Member
I'm writing this because I'm fed up with something. Fed up with people who can't seem to realize that there is more to the Pokémon TCG then winning, calling others scrubs and thinking they're Nr. 1. There's also just simple fun. The fun you get when you win due to insane stunts, when you win or lose with a ridiculous deck - the fun you don't get when you play with a meta deck.

Now don't get me wrong, there is a lot of fun to be had when playing with the top tier decks, it's just a different kind of fun. The fun of winning isn't comparable to the fun of jaw-dropping insane combos that might or might not work, and when they do work, you get an amazing victory. Let me give you an interesting example.

Late 2007, I played a tournament with a deck that used Weavile SW, Lickilicky SW and Charizard Goldstar, from Dragon Frontiers. Why? Because I wanted a deck with Charizard Goldstar, that's why. And you know what? The deck wasn't even horrid. Sure it never stood a chance of actually WINNING the tournament, far from that. But it was fun to watch and the faces of those conceding a 150 blast from Charizard* was fun to look at. A few weeks later I won a tournament using GG. Did I have fun? Sure did, because I did win. But it's different.

Some cards we get in the TCG are meant to have fun with, but will never be hugely competitive. Somehow these cards always involve fan favorites. Most recent case in point; Snorlax LV.X. He is another card that could work every now and then and could take a smaller battle road, but would never be high tier. Still, it's a fun deck to play due to all the small combo's that can work with him. That's how it goes, it's fun, may not win a lot, but when it does, it feels good.

And Charizard G LV.X is shaping up to be much the same. Another fun card that has its uses but due to several factors is not likely to become a dominant force in the game. But still, just imagine winning a few games due to spamming Malevolent Fire, not even minding the coinflip because of your perfect backfield. That is a lovely thought, isn't it?

Now, Battle Roads are the perfect venue for these kinds of decks. The K-Value is low, the prices are small, so what gives if you end up doing bad once? Even if you're shooting for Worlds By Ranking, then Autumn BR's aren't going to do a lot for you - most points are to be had in the February-April period anyway. So what is the use in telling people who post their FUN decks that their deck is junk and they shouldn't play it? Leave them be. If you don't like those decks, there's no reason to comment on it with a comment like that. You could perhaps think of ways to actually improve the deck.

And there's something else too. Remember last year, Regigigas LV.X? People said it was junk. Some people took the card and made it work into a dominant force to be reconed with, whereas before that, it was mainly seen as a fun deck card that could perhaps win something left or right. The feeling for those who first won with it must've been pretty marvelous.

So that's my point, really. You don't HAVE to like those fun decks. You could be a wannabe-pro and just go for the wins. But don't forget its those fun decks that keep the game varied. I'll be the one with the best laugh when I meet you next year, you playing your Luxray/Blaziken, me with my Charizard. As long as we have a good game, I'll be laughing. And you'll be cracking a smile too. Regardless of the outcome.

LC signing off.




P.S. - This is not meant as a ground to flame "metaplayers". This is just to share your opinions on the concept of fun games.
 
I agree strongly! I saw a guy at a league tournament use a Sleep Snorlax dark deck that was supposed to be fun, and he went undefeated!
But yeah, why do some people just care about winning or bragging. At a league tournament I had to play one of the top players in the US, and he was like 'I'll help you since you are new to this deck.'
I said sure. Then he said 'It isn't like you had a chance at winning anyways.'
This kid always looks down on me, and I don't know why? Maybe it was because I tried a PalkiaZam deck that was fun and he told me there was no point!
I just don't get it. Nice article Lou.
 
I agree totally, I used to play a Torterra lv x deck with Leafeon MD (not lv x) just because I could and it won it's fair share of battles. Nice article btw.
 
Well, I don't know. I think you're undermining a competitive deck's ability to generate fun a bit. I mean, there's winning fun, sure, but my favourite games are where it comes down to one prize each, luck of the draw(Yeah, luck, you can't avoid it), and it isn't until the very last turn a winner is decided. Now, fun deck vs. fun deck can cause this, competitive deck vs. competitive deck can cause this, but it is much rarer that fun deck vs competitive deck will cause this. Sure, it can happen, but one deck's trying to pull off something ridiculous and the other's just getting in there are getting the job done, whilst possibly taking down bits of your setup.

In tournaments, competitive decks are more popular. So, if you want to make "down to the last draw" games, competitive decks are the way to go. Sure, if everyone ran fun decks then you'd have even more fun, but that just isn't how it goes.

Fun decks are fine for league, obviously.
 
This article is made of win. I, for one, love Rogue decks that make little sense. And they surprisingly do well. For example:

-4th place at last year's Reg's with Honchkrow/Darkrai...with no techs whatsoever
-3-2 at this year's Fall BR's using Magmortar/Armaldo...using no techs and no Roseanne's Research

Just sayin' that it isn't just Meta that works.
 
I personally use league play and playing with friends as fun play. For tournaments I save my more competitive decks hoping to win and get that kind of fun out of it, but to me the fun of the game just comes from that- the game. I enjoy playing, even if I get a bad start or lose with a deck I think should win. I suppose that's just my nature, but I see what you're getting at lou.

Fun decks can still be competitive and by nature should be fun to play with and against, and the more "metagame" decks have their merits as well just for their abilities to do well.

This topic comes up in smogon sometimes too, and it's the same thing. Either you play to win and use the same 20 Pokemon everyone else uses or you play for fun with Pokemon you like to use.
 
Ah yes, the concept of fun. Still lives on in how I play today...

It all started when I built my totally awesome Sunflora UF deck (lol), with miltank UF and pinsir LM as a healer and starter. Anyways, I would always LOVE to power up just one Sunflora, and I would start to attach the energies in a flower shape (because it was Sunflora duh), and when the flower was complete all the way around I called it the "Flower of Death" because it was like 8 or 9 energies and that would result in death occuring for a lot of pokemon (some stage 2's). When I was playing against other people at league they'd laugh at being killed by sunflora.

The deck actually worked part of the time, because miltank is the BEASTLIEST healer evar, and pinsir didn't actually stink as a starter.
Point is the deck was a blast to play, didn't win a whole lot after the first sunflora got nuked, but w/e. That is the kind of fun that you can't get in stuff like redshark or online playing, being nuked by a sunflora with flowering energies. That fun (the insane real-life stuff that you can pull) is what makes games a blast for me.
Even today, that flowering thing still continues with some of my decks.
And no, I never really did play any metagame decks ever. I just built my own crazy creations that actually sort of worked.

Just an anecdote by me, and nice article again Lou.
 
Pokémaniac said:
Well, I don't know. I think you're undermining a competitive deck's ability to generate fun a bit. I mean, there's winning fun, sure, but my favourite games are where it comes down to one prize each, luck of the draw(Yeah, luck, you can't avoid it), and it isn't until the very last turn a winner is decided. Now, fun deck vs. fun deck can cause this, competitive deck vs. competitive deck can cause this, but it is much rarer that fun deck vs competitive deck will cause this. Sure, it can happen, but one deck's trying to pull off something ridiculous and the other's just getting in there are getting the job done, whilst possibly taking down bits of your setup.

In tournaments, competitive decks are more popular. So, if you want to make "down to the last draw" games, competitive decks are the way to go. Sure, if everyone ran fun decks then you'd have even more fun, but that just isn't how it goes.

Fun decks are fine for league, obviously.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying that there is no fun at all to be had with competitive decks, oh no. Some of my favorite games have been Metagame vs Metagame (Beedrill vs Flygon w Dusknoir one of my faves. Or some of the Kingdra-AMU games I had earlier this year). It's just that the different kind of fun - the one of using a complete out of wack deck which would be looked down upon and still somehow works - seems to be consistently shot down by a certain group of players. Funnily enough, those players aren't top tier players usually, they're often just below that level. Im trying to get that point across - have fun with a fun, slightly competitive deck that can pull off wins. I mean sure, you ain't gonna win anything with a Kricketune PT deck, so that is better off kept away from Tourneys (Unless you have found a secret strategy with it). But a deck that actually stands something of a chance - why not?
 
I LOVE this article. I've played a lot of archetypes this year, but I had a lot more fun last year with Magmortar based decks and Salamence/Flygon the year before. I enjoy the feeling of winning, and heck, we all do. But this season, I'm going to try to have more fun now that that 1st place has stopped eluding me. I hope I'm not the only one.
 
I get no more enjoyment out of playing a rogue deck than I do a top-tier deck. I get the same amount of fun out of playing, no matter the deck (well, mayybe some exceptions).
 
You should have fun, no matter what deck you play.

I haven't ever made a meta deck before, but I still got to pull of some wins at tournies. With an MT Rampy deck (which has few techs and little strategy), I got 4-2 at States. Of course, I was a Junior then.

Even now, I'm not making no meta deck. Rather, I'm making a Glaceon/Empoleon deck. :D
 
I agree completely. However, I'm placing the blame of being torn between playing a fun deck and a "good" deck on Nintendo. They fail at balance in their competitive games. Last season in the TCG, GG was the deck to play. In SSBB, Metaknight is the dominant force. It's things like these that infuriate me to no end. They have fantastic ideas in creating games, but they really need to work more on maintaining these games with a healthy but still varied balance.
 
Fun decks and competitive decks are what make the TCG. Honestly, I like decks that are consistent. This includes Meta and Rouge. In fact, that Gyarados G Swarm deck looks all the more enticing to me now. :]

dmaster out.
 
Sometimes I don'y like it when people rave around peoples decks not being "fast" enough. I think it is way over-dramatized that our meta-game is lightning fast. I play machamp, and rarely win in the first few turns. I actually am the last one to finish in tourneys. I agree that competition has gotten rid of a lot of the fun in TCG, if at worlds and given A; Fun deck, B: Meta deck, I'm going with B, since I do want to win. I like to play unlimited at league, since old decks are fun, and you rarely get to play them. I'm playing mulligan mewtwo tomorrow, for example. I think the enviroment hhas a lot to do with it. When pokemon was young, kids and some parents played. Now, a lot of "shady" adults show up.
 
Guys,i totally agree with juliacoolo,before i started playing on rs,i got the impression from the deck garage that decks nowadays were just awesome fast completely setting up by turn 2 and finishing the game on turn 5/6.But once i started playing on rs,i found that even speedrill isnt really that speedy,so our meta is a little faster than last year's,thats it.So fun is more important in pokemon than winning.
 
It helps that redshark tends to have a horrible way of shuffling the cards, putting every single deck in a disadvantage. That's why fast decks seem slow in rs. Just saying that rs is a bad example for how fast the current meta is.
 
But that's how it's meant to be shuffled,so that everyone has an equal chance of winning.
 
yeah, it's so fair when your opponent topdecks everything and you are stuck drawing 3 Call Energy with Claydol. Yeah, real 'fair' when it happens a lot to only 1 person. I'd be better of drawing Poke Drawer+s with Poke Drawer+.
 
I'm kind of in the middle on this... I get most of my fun from this game by winning, but at the same time, even in large tournaments, I'm almost ALWAYS playing some stupid rogue deck that is a lot more entertaining to play with than the meta. More than that, I like playing decks that counter the meta (which is REALLY REALLY difficult right now... ugh) and seeing how my opponents react to a deck that was made to rip theirs apart. So where does the fun lie? I don't know. All I know is that I like winning.
 
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