Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Consistency over Creativity

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Maybe a bit off topic, but with the next rotation I expect we will go dp1 on.
Not a real big problem, but it's disgusting we get PK boosters (and some SW) during CC's.
Nice to get cards you can use only for a few months, and second card you even don't want to use.

The cardpool is a problem and International even more as elsewere.
I heard rumor of some countries have to play their Nationals with HP-SW ONLY> that's terrible.
 
I don't think you can just look at Nationals and Worlds as the only two events in a year to draw points off of. In one event almost anything is possible. As far as this year is concerned, I've seen plenty of old decks show up at tournaments. Infernape being one example. I believe you have to roll with the punches though and embrace the new material. You had a whole year with that old stuff.
 
Prime said:
I don't believe Milotic won worlds. I believe it might have won nationals in 2004 by Jacy S. (go SC!) I believe the 2004 world champion was yamato with a team magma deck.

2004 Nats: Walrein/Milotic
2004 Worlds: Team Magma
2005 Nats: Medicham ex/Eeveelutions (I believe)
2005 Worlds: Nidoqueen
2006 Nats: RaiEggs
2006 Worlds: Mewtric
2007 Nats: Absolution
2007 Worlds: Absolution w/ Rayquaza ex d

If anything is shown here, is that in every year, the deck that has won Nationals has not got on to Worlds to win until this past year. Does this help my theory that decks are ceasing to counter each other and just are overpowering each other? Maybe.
Click to expand...

The infamous Gardy deck won Nationals of '04, not Walrein.
 
Seena's Medicham didn't run Eevelutions considering UF wasn't even out until the 2006 season. Pretty sure Fulop ran Ray in his deck at Nats, too.
 
I knew I was off on some details. My bad folks.

edit: I think it's funny how some people try to deny that the format isn't being dominated by less than a handful of decks only to turn around and play the same deck multiple times and do well, try another deck, do horrible, and go back to the big deck and start doing well again. Sure, you might be able to get into the top cut with a rogue-ish idea, or a past archetype, but can you actually win tournaments with it consistently?
 
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Sorry for doing a little bit of hijacking here, but I haven't been keeping up with what's what as far as Great Encounters goes... Do we have a list of what's being cut, or is this all just speculation? If it is, in fact, just guesswork, is there at least some basis for it?
 
I don't think we have a concrete list, but using the cards we have seen so far, people can put together a list using the names and numbers on the cards and logic to assume what cards will be in the set. It looks like the fossils, the eeveelutions, and a few more cards won't be in GE.
 
Just thought I might bump this since the first week of states is over. Looks like GG and Magmortar are still dominating, like I thought they would.

What are people's opinions now that they have played at States?
 
My brother and I only played 4 round each before we left (in Florida there were 7 rounds for masters division) and I only played one G&G deck and my brother didn't play any. Then again we didn't do so well so we didn't really get a chance to play the top opponents at States.

The one thing that surprised me was the amount of creativity in the decks. The two players that I lost to had decks that I hadn't really seen before. The one that I thought was really good used Blissey, Weavile to make blissey dark, and then Darkrai lv.X to change Blissey's energies to Darkness energies.

I don't know who made top cuts or who won overall but i was still impressed by the amount of different decks played. G&G is still one of the most powerful decks but it seems like people are at least trying to be more creative with their decks. One of the funniest thing I saw was a game next to me where a guy used a Wailord Stall deck and beat a G&G deck. The G&G player didn't even draw 1 prize the entire game.

I still agree with everyone that says that in this format it is hard to be creative and successful but I was pleasantly surprised to see people at least attempted to be creative rather then just make a G&G or Magmortor deck.
 
LOL, Orlando FL Masters top 4 was:

1st - Banette
2nd - GG
3rd - GG
4th - GG

Yeah, it sounds like there was a lot of creativity at the tournament.

Just joking! I am sure there is creativity all over the nation, but how much of it is winning?
 
Yeah thats the problem right now. Creativity is pretty much discouraged because if you try something other then G&G or Magmortor you're not going to win, but I was just happy that a lot of players decided to play other decks then G&G and Magmortor. It at least made for a more interesting tournament. I went in expecting to play either G&G or Magmortor pretty much every round so it was a nice surprise. Another question is how long will G&G dominate the format?
 
I just got done talking with a good friend over PM about what your saying. He went to a state this weekend and him and two others from the state (some of the best players in the state) decided to play rogue and try to counter the format. But what ended up happening was none of them did well and the tournament was won by Magmortar.

GG/Magmortar will continue to dominate until the format changes in such a way that these decks are unplayable, such as a format change and the rotation of DRE/etc OR when another overpowered card comes out that is more broken than them and everyone switches over to it. GG/Magmortar will change consistently with the addition of each new set but will be basically the same deck the entire format. GG/Magmortar are ridiculous combos that make it close to impossible to do well against them with any other deck. I said close to impossible because it is possible but in most cases, it won't happen.

I said it after Cities was over. A new set isn't going to change a thing. I'll say it again right now, Majestic Dawn won't change a thing. You can quote me on that.
 
Thank you Prime.

This thread alone is what I needed to decide, whether or not, to come back to the game. I appreciate your analysis.
 
Remember that you have the final choice in whether you come back or not, not what is happening in the game. You can still have fun and play creative decks, but if you want to win, you will have to play the big decks. And if you don't want to do that, then maybe not coming back is the right thing.
 
Yeah I'm glad that I play the game mostly for fun or else I would be really upset with the current format. What I have learned though is that if you are playing for fun you actually have less of a chance running into decks like G&G and Magmortor and here's why:

If you are like me I a pretty original deck (Roserade, Meganium and Butterfree together) and it works quite well. At the two tournaments I've been to I've won 50% of my games, and I have been competitive in all but one of those games. 50% winning percentage isn't bad at all but it won't put in the top cuts, but I kinda like it that way. In both tournaments I've been in I haven't played G&G and Magmortor very much. The reason is that the people with those decks are usually winning so they're at the upper end of the table while I sit right about in the middle. This means I get to play with all the other players who have creative decks that are quite good but not good enough to overcome G&G and Magmortor. It definitely makes for a more interesting tournament.

Now don't get me wrong I like to win games as opposed to losing them but I realize that pokemon is a hobby and if I don't make top cuts at a tournament it's not going to have a major impact on my life. I feel bad for the competitive players out there that love the game but are discouraged to play anymore because they don't want to play G&G or Magmortor. Hopefully newer sets (don't think MD is going to change anything though) and a new format for next year will once again breath some new life into the creativity of deck building. Thats just my .02.
 
ZeZeta - VOTED POST OF THE DAY.

I did the same thing this weekend. I could have played a Garny Gallade deck, but WHAT FUN IS THAT. Typhlosion Magmotar, I have built my own, and it was competive also, but the deck WASN'T FUN. Call me a pure deck builder, I had to run my own deck that was red face paint and I knew I wanted to have fun with it.

To all those players that played Garney Gallade, and lost, I hope you enjoyed your self, Because I played my own build and had a great time.
 
Prime said:
What are people's opinions now that they have played at States?
Click to expand...

A friend of mine played Mismagius/Grumpig in order to metagame Gardevoir, primarily, and to have a decent match versus Magmortar. It worked, and he made the top cut with a 5-1 record.

The winner of our State Championship on Saturday played a 1-0-1 Salamence ex into his Magmortar list to resist Magmortar and Gallade, and his strategy must have worked, because he took the tournament, even with 3 GGs and 2 other Mortars in the top cut.

I played a fantastic Magmortar mirror at States. My list was only three or four cards different from my opponent's, but it was a great experience to see how those differences affected the outcome of the match.

Little things like these can make the game fun to play, even when the metagame is stagnant. Attendance is really healthy from the numbers I'm seeing, so obviously this problem isn't severe enough to make people stay home. All this doom and gloom about Great Encounters not changing the metagame... What's the big deal? It might be tough to break through the sea of Gardy and Mortar, but I'd prefer to look forward to Majestic Dawn as a potential solution, or even look to the sets we already have, than to wallow in self-pity. Those of us who have been playing for longer than just a couple years know what a really stale format looks like. This isn't the end of the world.

It's also important to remember that a sure way to keep the format uninteresting and bland is to tell yourself that you won't win unless you play uninteresting and bland decks. True or not, it doesn't help a thing to be a negative nancy about it in lieu of suggesting alternatives.

JMO.
 
I played Magmorter/Typhlosion this weekend and had some of the most strategic and heart thumping matches in top cut against G&G. Regardless of what matchups you have that's what makes games fun. When I did great with rogue it held a little more value since it was MY deck, but other than that, fun is all about the match not the deck. The most fun I ever had with a deck was ZRE - and that was an archetype! I've played eight different decks this season and to be honest, most of the really good games included G&G and Magmorter. This is still not as bad as when I played 4 out of 6 games against Rock Lock in a states a few years back..... even then I still had fun.... Don't get me wrong the thing I like best is deck building, and I actually get to play all of my rogues alot more than the archetypes at league and home etc......As a matter of fact I don't even touch G&G or Magmorter outside of a tourney... so long story short I'm still having fun.
 
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