It's been a while since I've posted a strategy article on the Gym, but you guys have tilted me enough with all the overzealous (Machamp!) comments on every single Level X posted on the main page where I feel like speaking up. So here we go. For all you youngins looking to win your first Battleroad next year, here are 4 words of advice:
BORING CAN BE BETTER
That's right folks. A lot of the best cards in the GAME are boring. Uxie? Only 20 damage? BORING, but it goes in every deck. Claydol? No way, he only does 40 and makes me get rid of cards, that's horrible, but it's also one of the most amazing cards every printed. Most of those awesome shiny Lv. Xs you pull from your Pokemon packs are useless. Sure, If I have a hot date I'll bust out the Charizard x/Heatran x/Mesprit x massive damage deck to impress her enough where she'll give me the good night kiss, but if I'm playing a real game in a real tournament, I'm going to be playing the same old boring solid consistent thing I've played all year.
Let's look at this year for example. I top cutted States, Regionals, and Nationals on my way to 9th in Masters using 1 attack every game: Kingdra's Dragon Pump. That's IT. No tech level x's, no big 700 damage Legendary Pokemon, just one stupid boring 60/20 attack every turn, every game. Why you ask? Because it wins! Sure, it's not pretty, but it puts food on the table for the Mrs. and keeps the kids in school and out of trouble. Where are the cool kids with the massive over 9000! damage combo decks? Probably dead or in jail.
How about last year? Anyone here remember how last years Worlds top cut games went? Let me refresh your memory:
Psylock
Psylock
Psylock
Psylock
Psylock
Psylock
Lame old Gardy using his dumb 60 damage attack, over and over and over.
The best Pokemon are the Pokemon with the most efficient attacks. It seems simple, but a lot of people miss this concept. Kingdra's ability to do 80 damage every turn for 1 Energy has never been seen before, and is almost impossible to keep pace with. Gardy's ability to shut off Pokemon Powers every turn devastates almost every deck out there, stopping them from setting up completely. The massive damage discard attacks really don't do much other than get a few knockouts and then lose to the solid, consistent attacks. Remember, your big level X has to knock out SIX things, not one. Are you really going to be able to use that 5 energy attack SIX times in a game? Probably not.
At this point Little Timmy might be saying to himself, "You're stupid Chuck! My deck has 1 of EVERY level x, and it hasn't lost a single game to my buddy Jimmy this year". Sorry Timmy, but the fact of the matter is Jimmy's a moron and probably smells a little too. If you base your results off of the local neighborhood competition, you're going to be HEARTBROKEN when you finally hop into a real tournament and get your you-know-what handed to you-know-who.
We're going to flash back to a TRUE story about yours truly about 10 years ago. I just started getting into the Pokemon TCG with my brother and my neighbor Tony. My brother had a Venusaur/Beedrill deck, Tony had a Poliwrath/Magneton deck, and I had a Machamp/Ninetales/Starmie deck. Whenever we played, I would always use my clever tactics to get out all my mega damage Pokemon before they did and pound them into submission. After enough victories I decided I was going to play a tournament at my local comic book shop. I double checked to make sure I had at least 10 holo's in my deck (holos are the best, they have to be, that's why they're so hard to get), bought some new sleeves, and bam, I was good to go.
Round 1 I played against some kid by the name of Jason Klaczynski. Jason had very feminine features and a somewhat stupid looking hat on. He also walked really goofy and his eyes were really close together. Noting all these things, I thought I had this game in the bag. So we flip over our Pokemon. I have a Machop and a Staryu, he has a Hitmonchan. He procedes to play all these boring trainers like Oak, Energy Removal and Computer Search and beats me pretty quickly using only jab. My first thought was "whatever he wont live past 20". My 2nd thought was "hmm, those trainer cards are really good, maybe I should play those too".
Eventually I got to talking strategy with Jason. He told me about how his first deck was some Venusaur/Gyarados thing, but he learned pretty quickly that the "fun" cards didn't cut it in real games. 10 years later his eyes are further apart, he walks slightly more normal, and he's 2 time World Champion, all because he went with boring.
In conclusion, I ask that every time a new level x is shown on the main page, please don't just go nuts and say the card is the future of Pokemon and your combo deck is going to be unstopable. Sit back, take a breath, put on some music, take a nap, eat a bagel, do some situps, and then REALLY look at the card. Try to figure out if it's actually good, or just another big bright sparkly Benedict Arnold trying to lead you right where the Redcoats want you. The inverse applys too! If you see some stupid non-foil Pokemon you hate, don't just dismiss it as plain and uninteresting. It could be something really good, like Claydol or Uxie. Boring can be Better!
-BigChuck01
