Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Durant and the Spirit of the Game

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Sandslash7 said:
Durant goes down to anything doing decent damage (1/2 decent if fire), leading to "easy" 6-prize strings.
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Exactly! Which is where the skill in playing it comes from!
If it were an auto-pilot Durant deck, as soon as the opponent got out one big attacker that could do 70+ damage per turn, the Durant player has lost.
The fun of the deck is pulling out a win when the opponent has gotten that beast out and is ready to pull that string of prizes.
 
People whine about everything they can all of the time. Much better than Sableye donk. If people really hate Durant, it is because they can't figure out how to play against it. I'll give y'all a hint. It's really just another thing you just have to deal with if you want to play Pokémon.
 
Durant isn't against the spirit of the game, it's the 10 year old kids boasting for half an hour about how they beat you with a metal bug.
 
hakemo said:
As a player of Durant, it has come to my attention that many who play against Durant believe that using Durant does not adhere to the "Spirit of the Game"
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Not to be confused with "Definition".

See, most people that play this game assume the Spirit of the game is knock out each other's Pokemon. That is the definition of the game. It's what you'd tell an unfamiliar individual what the point of pokemon was.

hakemo said:
- that is, it is "cheap"
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Affordable.
hakemo said:
, "stupid",
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Non-conforming.

hakemo said:
"BS"
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Unbelievable.

hakemo said:
, etc. As a result, not just me, but many people who play Durant decks are met with nothing but hatred as they exit a match, occasionally being told some rather foul things, including that we are breaking the "Spirit of the Game" or something of the like.
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On the lighter side of things, it only makes sense in that Pokemon are not supposed to attack people, just pokemon. Your goals and the opponent's goals are different, so they get sour when someone else achieves a different goal.

hakemo said:
As a Durant player, and one who has met with some rather rude and sore losers, I suppose I am biased, so I would like to pose the following questions to the PokeGym:

1.) Is playing Durant a move that breaks the "Spirit of the Game"?

2.) What about saying that Durant breaks the "Spirit of the Game"? Is that not a greater offender?

Please discuss. And remember to avoid posting any form of blatant hatred one way or the other.
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1) As said, it breaks the definition. Not the Spirit.

2) Again, as said, it breaks definition. It's unusual, it's not common, but it is viable. It deserves less hatred than "My opponent knocked my ONLY pokemon out."...
 
djjoe227 said:
See, most people that play this game assume the Spirit of the game is knock out each other's Pokemon. That is the definition of the game. It's what you'd tell an unfamiliar individual what the point of pokemon was.
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Huh? I don't know anyone who thinks that SotG is that. Spirit of the Game is nothing to do with knocking out Pokemon. It's the code of behaviour that TPCI expects players to follow. Knocking out Pokemon isn't the 'definition' of Pokemon either: KOing 6 Pokemon and taking 6 Prizes is just ONE of the ways to win the game. It's probably the most common way, and it gives people a basic idea of what happens during a match . . . but it's hardly the 'definition' of Pokemon.

djjoe227 said:
1) As said, it breaks the definition. Not the Spirit.

2) Again, as said, it breaks definition. It's unusual, it's not common, but it is viable. It deserves less hatred than "My opponent knocked my ONLY pokemon out."...
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Ok, I am really confused by this point.

I went and checked the rules and the definition of SotG here

I could not find any way in which playing Durant breaks any definition of the rules, or how it contradicts Pokemon's definition of SotG.

Please can you explain?
 
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baby mario said:
Ok, I am really confused by this post.

I went and checked the rules and the definition of SotG here

I could not find any way in which playing Durant breaks any definition of the rules, or how it contradicts Pokemon's definition of SotG.

Please can you explain?
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Surely.

I meant definition of Pokemon, not Definition of Spirit of the Game.

In Pokemon, two trainers have their pokemon battle each other.

Durant, however, attacks the player and could care less about what it's up against when it's goal is to mill.

It's more or less "expected" when I speak of knocking out Pokemon.
 
djjoe227 said:
Surely.

I meant definition of Pokemon, not Definition of Spirit of the Game.

In Pokemon, two trainers have their pokemon battle each other.

Durant, however, attacks the player and could care less about what it's up against when it's goal is to mill.
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I still don't get it. decking out has ALWAYS been a win condition and ALWAYS been part of the game.

As Pokepop showed earlier, mill cards have existed since the second set ever released (Motres from Fossil). It just happens that Durant is the most effective/viable one.

There's NO definition in the rules that says Pokemon is only about KO's. The only definitions that are being broken are made up ones that exist only in people's heads and not in any official document whatsoever.
 
baby mario said:
I still don't get it. decking out has ALWAYS been a win condition and ALWAYS been part of the game.

As Pokepop showed earlier, mill cards have existed since the second set ever released (Motres from Fossil). It just happens that Durant is the most effective/viable one.

There's NO definition in the rules that says Pokemon is only about KO's. The only definitions that are being broken are made up ones that exist only in people's heads and not in any official document whatsoever.
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Durrant decking is a way nire SOTG way to win then ZPST donkin a plyer by winning the flip and going first with three energy and a colecor/Dual ball start. How is loosing a game before you ever got to start and draw a single card SOTG?
 
baby mario said:
I still don't get it. decking out has ALWAYS been a win condition and ALWAYS been part of the game.

As Pokepop showed earlier, mill cards have existed since the second set ever released (Motres from Fossil). It just happens that Durant is the most effective/viable one.

There's NO definition in the rules that says Pokemon is only about KO's. The only definitions that are being broken are made up ones that exist only in people's heads and not in any official document whatsoever.
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He means the "scrub" definition of the first person to KO 6 Pokemon wins the game, with that being the only win condition.
 
baby mario said:
I still don't get it. decking out has ALWAYS been a win condition and ALWAYS been part of the game.

As Pokepop showed earlier, mill cards have existed since the second set ever released (Motres from Fossil). It just happens that Durant is the most effective/viable one.

There's NO definition in the rules that says Pokemon is only about KO's. The only definitions that are being broken are made up ones that exist only in people's heads and not in any official document whatsoever.
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I'm not disagreeing with you; I know all of that.

I'm saying, and I guess Sandslash7 put it correctly- the "Scrub" definition is to knockout 6 Pokemon.
 
I believe this thread is pointless... SoTG huh? If you are complaining that someone beat you with a metal bug milling your deck and not taking a prize, you are the one not following the spirit of the game, shake your opponents hand and say good game, now go on with the rest of the tourney and learn from it, crying about how it is not fair or how it does not meet your expectations of what a Pokemon battle is all about will not make you a better player or a better person. They built a deck that beat your deck, if you do not like losing to it, tech against it.

If you win using Durant and you rub it in and belittle your opponent for losing to a Durant deck, I do not want you around where I play.

There are Juniors that play this game and they look up to the Masters who are winning and can play at a higher level, by bragging about winning with a certain deck or whining because you lost to a certain deck does not teach them the SoTG.

There is nothing in the rules that say decking out your opponent is illegal and in no way does it take away from the SoTG, the only thing that is lacking with the SoTG aspect are people who are trying to make this a big deal, it is a win condition and a deck you will have to deal with, stop complaining and learn how to beat it!
 
Man I enjoy fueling this flame,

But I mean if most people argue that the deck is luck based and takes no skill than I feel like they should realize that Pokemon TCG has incorporated luck into its play. I mean really, 6 prizes are 6 random cards out of every good players deck that can't be utilized. It would truly suck to have 3 durants prized and rotom and play but that just happens. Also anything that requires a coin flip is luck based as well...

Also Rhyperio was a very good mill deck, comboed with Drifbilm/Mr. Briney/VS seeker/Holon Circle/ Blissey/ and Scoop Up.... >.>
 
Breaking the spirit of the game would be playing a deck that doesn't even allow for a game to happen. Like Sable or Uxie Donk.

With Durant, there's a full game played. Just like any other deck, you have to approach the match differently. I don't play Durant, but I played against it twice at cities. It didn't feel unfair, it wasn't over powered, it wasn't underpowered, it's a decent deck that is GREAT for this meta. It requires players have more knowledge about the game (How to approach the Durant matchup) and it adds depth to the game.

If ANYONE complains about Durant being unfair...they are just bad players who can't handle losing. Until this meta becomes broken (like last format), no one should complain about a deck being "unfair".
 
vaporeon said:
Yeah, but this scrub win the same way most of us win.
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most =/= all

There are [DEL]three[/DEL] FOUR :)wink:) win conditions, Durant is built specifically to satisfy one just like ZPST is built specifically to satisfy another.

Like it or not, if you're active on the tournament block then you're going to run into Durant sooner or later. It's a legitimate deck and you're just going to have to prepare and tech for it like you do any other matchup in our entire meta.

Even though I don't play the deck myself (It's just not my play style) I'll still have to respect it enough to consider it when building any deck I plan on taking to a tournament.

"What's my Eel/Zone matchup?"

"What do I do against Traner lock?"

"What's my game plan against Durant?"

If you're unprepared then you're unprepared. It's really that simple. Nobody to blame but yourself if you didn't see Durant coming.
 
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Four win conditions! But yeah, Lost World isn't quite like the others.

I bother mentioning it because this thread is exactly like all the hatred anticipating Gengar Prime and the (delayed) release of Lost World stadium. But then we finally got Call of Legends, and meh.

Except Durant is more effective.

I find it amusing, especially since certain decks today "abuse" Twins by gleefully waiting for the other opponent to take the first prize. Aghast! That's against the SOTG if you're not trying to take prizes!! </sarcasm>

Anyway, I agree with CMsvW that Durant is a great addition to the Meta. If gives those decks especially something to think about, and it equally tries to disrupt the fast decks like ZPST. Equal opportunity annoyer.
 
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