Really, who's to blame. (Hint: Not TPCI)

[JandPDS]

PL on is what everyone expected?
I don't know what you guys in Germany think is going on but that was not the expectation here by any means. I expected MD-on. I don't know what ridiculous meta game you guys have there in Germany, but it is pretty balanced here in America. Maybe that's because we have overall better players, but it certainly seems balanced between SP and evolution decks.

I don't know what demension in time space you are in but here in our Earth where Barak Obama is president of the US our format is not balanced at all SP's have been dominating all age groups for the past two years in America. SP decks winning 3 out of every 4 events is not balance.

---------- Post added 04/02/2011 at 01:51 AM ----------

I'm waiting for my post to go ignored again...

but here goes my semi-rant. I believe this format is a lot like the GG format, there are a lot of good combos out there but the combination of what is already highly played keeps a lot of those not so obvious combos at bay. I have an Abomasnow/Gallade SP deck that would fair good against a good part of the format, even LuxChomp since I play my own Power Sprays to keep them from healing. But guess what? It does poorly against any Spritomb/trainer-lock deck AKA VileGar. The same can be said about any Dark deck that beats VileGar consistently, it will have a bad match-up vs. Luxchomp.

That was the same problem with the GG format, there were a lot of things that beat or at least kept up with GG. But the down fall was that they lost to Magmortar.

So that's pretty much what is happening in this format. There are 2 dominant decks in Luxchomp and VileGar that even if you have a good match-up against one you will lose to the other. While it's not as obvious because there are a few other options, but just like in the GG/Mortar format you know that if your deck can't beat Luxchomp/Vilegar don't play it. Gyarados or Dialga/Chomp or what ever 3rd and/or 4th place deck you would like to fill in the blanks with, aren't played as often as the first two where you can have a chance not to face them in Top Cut.

I agree with all of your Post except for Vilegar??? Where has this deck been successfull? It has allways been overrated and Lost world turned out to be nothing but hot air and hype.

 

[hychu-chan]

I have grown to hate this format. I don't really care who is at fault. I'm just tired of seeing the same decks for 3 seasons in a row.

i agree with you dude that's why i stopped playing the card game and got hooked on the video game

 

[chriscobi634]

I don't know what demension in time space you are in but here in our Earth where Barak Obama is president of the US our format is not balanced at all SP's have been dominating all age groups for the past two years in America. SP decks winning 3 out of every 4 events is not balance.

---------- Post added 04/02/2011 at 01:51 AM ----------



I agree with all of your Post except for Vilegar??? Where has this deck been successfull? It has allways been overrated and Lost world turned out to be nothing but hot air and hype.

I personally thought Vilegar was overrated as well. But more importantly than Vilegar is just the Vile/Tomb. I've already stated this in a couple other threads but I believe they are bad for the game. From Jungle this game has been ran by trainers/supporters, and a few engine cards like Pidgeot and Claydol.

So why print out a card that shuts them off from the bench? On top of that, why keep making so many counters to a strategy like spread. Why make P-Turn in the first place? It kills so many strategies like status condition, retreat locks, spread in itself. Pokemon isn't rocket science, but the people who make the cards make it seem like it is when they print out cards that cancel so much of what is good for a game.

The format finally looks kind of promising after Worlds, that is if LostGar doesn't take over. But I came across another conclusion today, now correct me if I'm wrong about my facts but really I came up with this conclusion trying to stay optimistic about possible good format that is just around the corner:

WotC initially ran Pokemon right? They were in control up until the EX series, who is not to say that they had already planned out one of the best format we had in the 06-07 season, with LBS, Rock-Lock, Mewtric, etc. Do we really know how far in advance these cards are planned out for. Some things they try to base off the video game, so let's take a look at that. Some rumors indicate that when the 151 initial Pokemon were released there were already over 500 Pokemon planned out. Who's not to say that the 06-07 season cards were already created when Pokemon took over? So the card game had been round for what? 6 or so years? So since the 06-07 season it's been 4 years. My theory is that they are finally going to get it right in the next format. Sure 4 years isn't the same as 6, but they at least had the history/experience to help them out. We can only hope.

 

[bullados]

Cobian: WOTC NEVER CREATED THE CARDS!!! Outside of Dark Raichu, every single card ever placed into the Pokemon TCG was created by Pokemon Card Labs in Japan. To say that WOTC had any hand in the LBS format is not only wrong, it's ignorant of how the game has actually been distributed.

 

[ARMondak]

It 100% is POP's fault. This entire format debacle for this season wouldn't be an issue if they just followed the Japanese rotations to PL-on and kept the sets the same, allowing for a potentially healthy format for next season. Instead it looks like we'll have PL or RR-on next format and still have the SP issue.

 

[SHPanda]

On the bright side, it's impossible for a game to go to time.

 

[chriscobi634]

Cobian: WOTC NEVER CREATED THE CARDS!!! Outside of Dark Raichu, every single card ever placed into the Pokemon TCG was created by Pokemon Card Labs in Japan. To say that WOTC had any hand in the LBS format is not only wrong, it's ignorant of how the game has actually been distributed.

Like I said, I'm just trying to stay optimistic and really looking for any hope that the next format will get better. I have a lot of plans for this year and I still try to make it out to Nats, but what for? If this game just keeps pissing me off, what's the point of playing?

Doesn't matter how they are distributed. I honestly don't understand why they simply don't TRY to fix formats. They have screwed up many cards in translations before, and they have no problem manning up to those mistakes. I know they don't mistranslate current cards that are hurting our format, but they surely can fix them so that we have a healthier format. A healthier format means happier players, happier players means attendance number keep raising possibly even more than they currently are as players who are quitting wouldn't be quitting.

I will say they market their product well by targeting little kids, but who's to say that if those little kids actually enjoy playing this game a lot more due to a better format, more would stick around. Remember Pokemon has to compete with "regular" sports as far as keeping kids interested in something. A lot of parents bring their kids in for the fun, then start playing the games themselves. Some become good teachers and help their kids become better so that they can win some scholarships, in turn paying less for school. DON'T get me wrong here, I'm not saying that's the only reason parents teach their kids how to play Pokemon but sure is a nice chuck of money saved in their bank accounts. I notice a lot of kids start becoming less and less interested as they start HS, because it isn't the "cool thing to do". Some kids don't care about being cool, but I believe a lot more would be motivated to not care if they actually had fun playing this game with healthier formats.

And honestly is it really too much to ask for? A healthier format, apparently it is.:nonono: