General When Your Kid Makes You Proud

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PokeDad924

Aspiring Trainer
Member
So, after talking in an unrelated thread, I membered a moment from a few weeks ago when my son really impressed me with his game strategy. I'd meant to share it at the time, but the thought got away from me.

Anyway, we were testing out some cheap, fun deck ideas we put together via proxy. He played the match with little advice from me, and when I would ask him his rationale behind some moves, he usually had some solid reasoning. One point in particular, he just burned an ultra ball. I asked him why, and he said " I'm going to use a N to get more cards. I have all the pokemon I want right now and I don't want to get the ultra ball or those other two cards again. I need something else." Basically, he figured out he had a better chance to get what he needed by getting rid of those cards. Rather complicated thought for an 8 year old.

Anyway, he went on and beat me, fair and square, with little help. I was impressed. Sorry, it may seek like I'm gushing, but it amazes me to see someone that age pick up on complex ideas, such as what he used. They really do know morr than we give them credit for.

Does anyone else have some fun stories of being surprised by a kid, be it a sibling, child, cousin, etc?
 
I have a friend who got absolutely destroyed by a 9 year old who got to worlds in the Junior category.
 
Most adults - let alone kids - would never realise that burning through useless cards increases the possibility of drawing the right cards in future, especially with your son's experience. Your son is already picking up critical thinking skills, which is pretty impressive! Are you expanding his board/card game horizons? It sounds like he'd do very well at games like chess.

Since I'm still pretty young myself, I'm not so much 'made proud' by kids, although I do notice when they're particularly ahead in their years. I've met a few 12-years that are too sharp for their own good, such as when they notice a teacher being a bit ridiculous and decide to stand up to them, which of course is how they find themselves with punishment. Unfortunately, their natural impulsiveness then appears to overshadow their other abilities, which is a little sad really. That said, I do suppose that I feel a bit of pride whenever I see a youth who thinks differently to their peers in a substantial way.

For the record, I also moved this thread from the TCG forums to the Beachfront area since this thread isn't limited to TCG-related discussion.
 
Thanks for the move. I wasn't quite sure where to place this.

I've not done too much, other than the typical board games. At the ones requiring even modicum of strategy, he does surprisingly well. I have yet to beat him at Monopoly, though that has been only three games. He's figured out how to use bidding to his advantage when I'm low on cash as well as jow to drain my money on unwanted properties. His effectiveness with that is almost scary.

He has a chess club in school amd expressed interest in it, but we simply do not have time right now. We've played it some at home, but I know little about the game's strategy and have, so can teach him little in return.
 
I find that rather interesting, actually, that your son has figured out how to manipulate bidding! It requires some sort of intelligent understanding of your opponent and the ability to stay ahead of them, and make the deal appear favourable (when it is in fact not).
 
bbninjas said:
I find that rather interesting, actually, that your son has figured out how to manipulate bidding! It requires some sort of intelligent understanding of your opponent and the ability to stay ahead of them, and make the deal appear favourable (when it is in fact not).
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Yeah, I'm almost 25, and I still don't get the bidding system. Props to your kid, @PokeDad924!!

I don't have a child, but there's a kid who used to frequent my League who considered me to be his biggest rival. He'd play super casually around others, but when we played, he went hardcore. Like, it was extremely impressive, because not only did he focus hardcore, but he was also pretty damn good, too.
 
I taught and trained a kid to play who went all the way to Nationals and then to Worlds a few years later. An uncanny feeling when I reflect on it.
 
This thread is awesome. I'm too young to have any children, but actually have had something like this happen to me. I was at a summer camp once and had brought some cards. I taught some people how to play, and was having fun playing with them. One of the days, a couple counselors came over to see what we were doing and hang out with us. One of the counselors was this guy who, looking back, was really awesome. He beat me when I literally had just taught him how to play. Granted, I was only like 12 at the time, and have not had the fortune to really meet any people who have really taught me about higher strategy, so at the time I was still kinda bad, but I did have basic understandings of most things. I gave the counselor the worlds 2014 Team Plasma deck, and he played it really well. He had basically never played Pokemon before. He said he played Yu-Gi-Oh, though, and I completely believe him.

It's kind of similar to what you said, even though it was with someone who was like 3-4 years older than me.

Also, this is just a side note, but you're being an awesome dad. I always love seeing parents at leagues with their children. Your son seems like he's going to be a very good player. He's lucky to have you teaching him. None of my family plays Pokemon (besides my younger brother who plays, but very rarely), so I didn't get into Pokemon until I was like 7 or so, didn't know the real rules for a couple years, and then didn't actually stop being a noob until I was like 11.
 
My daughter is 6, and we started both started playing last September after we lost power for a week following Hurrincane Irma (we live in Florida). She picked it up extremely quickly, even correcting me on rules from time to time. The first time I took her to league, there were no juniors to play against, so she ended up playing against masters. She won her first two games against Glacion GX with a straight HO-Oh/Turtonator build that she did herself. Then she went on to beat another master playing a Metagross deck 3-0. One turn, she played Professior Kakui, getting the extra 20 she needed to knock out Glacion and win the game. Instead of just attacking, she finished playing out her hand just to practice. Finally, she attacked, and her opponent started to play her turn. My daughter pointed out that her math was right and that was game. No one realized what she had did until she pointed it out. Needless to say, I was proud of how she played, and the thought that she puts into every turn. She always baits me into a play, and then surprises me with the perfect counter. She is playing in her first League Cup this weekend with a Volcanion deck that she picked up extremely quick. I will keep you updated on how she does.
 
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