Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Thinking, playing, etc. like a champion.

Champions constantly playtest, hours each day. When they can't playtest with each other, they play their own decks against each other. Lot of people want to be champions, but can't or won't put in the work. Once when I was between jobs, I won a regionals, then top 16nd in another one. I playtested a lot in those days. While working, I can't put in the time and I will never have the kind of time on my hands that I had as a teenager to do anything. Different priorities and I'm ok with that.

If you want to be the best, you've got to play the best. First, though, you've got to cultivate your own play level so that you have something to bring to the table. Build archetypes and play them against each other until you understand the strategy of each deck and you don't make misplays. Once you're there, then you should be able to gather enough associates to test against.
 
Hello. I am by no means "competitive". I am ranked 3rd in my state (Indiana), which is one of the hardest states to play in due to the high volume of top players. I am 72nd in the US. I have a pretty good idea of how to play and how competitive play works.

My biggest warning before you try to figure ANYTHING out is to be aware of how much you'll likely spend. We're not just talking cards here. We're talking travel costs. That's the big thing I never see brought up (at least, not often). For my wife and I to attend regionals this year we're going to drop over 600 US dollars. This cities season we spent maybe 1,000 dollars traveling. This does not include costs of my decks and cards. Imagine if I played blastoise or emboar and needed 3-4 beaches.

But, once you've decided you're okay spending that much money I simply suggest to invest. Invest invest invest. I'm not talking money, I'm talking the other currency: Time. You should be able to rattle off every card found in every deck off of the top of your head. Not exact amounts or rare and specific techs (only common ones), but every card. virgen: Go. *** (Or Yeti for those who are not aware it was already a deck): Go. Darkgarb: Go. Flareon: Go. Tooldrop: Go. Hammertime: Go. TDK: Go. Speed TDK: Go. Blastoise: Go. Rayboar: Go.

You have to know with absolute certainty what your opponent will have and then have a good idea of the quantity of those cards. Scout them out online. Playtest what you have found works the best so you can determine that's probably what your opponent has. If you're playing hammers, does your opponent run 3, 4, 5, or 6 lightning energy in their rayboar?

Also, pass the professor exam. I've found that in my process of studying for the exam I learned a lot about the game, rules and how things work in the actual core mechanics of things.
 
^ So, where exactly can one find lists of what all is in, say, VirGen, Plasma, RayBoar, Blastoise, etc., and how does one keep track of all the decks in the format?

- Croatian_Nidoking
 
Croatian_Nidoking said:
^ So, where exactly can one find lists of what all is in, say, VirGen, Plasma, RayBoar, Blastoise, etc., and how does one keep track of all the decks in the format?

- Croatian_Nidoking
Click to expand...

You could playtest like all the good players do and make your own list.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
^ You can't start playtesting if you don't have a baseline decklist to playtest with, so why is woodsy's complaint even relevant?

And I'm a she, so please get it straight.

- Croatian_Nidoking
 
Croatian_Nidoking said:
^ You can't start playtesting if you don't have a baseline decklist to playtest with, so why is woodsy's complaint even relevant?

And I'm a she, so please get it straight.

- Croatian_Nidoking
Click to expand...

This is what I do, I look at a bunch of lists for different decks, to see key cards that I need for the deck. Try that, part of Pokemon is playing as well as building you own deck lists
 
Croatian_Nidoking said:
^ You can't start playtesting if you don't have a baseline decklist to playtest with, so why is woodsy's complaint even relevant?

And I'm a she, so please get it straight.

- Croatian_Nidoking
Click to expand...

Tell you what, ask me about any deck. I'll give you the base minimum skeleton. From there you should have to figure out what to add. Try things you think would be good. There are at least 5 sites off the top of my head that regularly post lists. Once again you're just being lazy.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
Unfortunately, in this game the community is crap. Players won't share decklists. They care more about their own personal performance than the game growing. Find a team who can help you test and work out decklists.

You can find SKELETONS but never "lists".

VirGen has Virizion EX and Genesect EX with G-Booster as your ace spec. You use techs such as mewtwo EX, Bouffalant, and even Tropius. Colress machine, plasma energy (onto Genesect from hand is basically a catcher), skyarrow bridge and/or laserbank.

Plasma has two decks right now that see a lot of play:

*** (Referred to by Yeti by the uninformed) runs Snorlax, Tornadus, Deoxys, and Lugia. Scramble switch is the ace spec. Get energy onto snorlax or lugia quickly with tornadus and DCEs, scramble switch to lugia for multiple prizes in one KO.
TDK runs Tornadus, Deoxys and plasma kyurem. Build up kyurems and quickly one shot with blizzard burn. This deck got nerfed hard in the "first player cannot attack turn 1" rule. It runs keldeo EX generally to continually use the second attack on plasma kyurem.

Rayboar uses rayquaza EX, and emboar primarily. shred "babyray" is really useful too. Beach is basically required for this deck to function at it's full potential.

Blastoise is like rayboar in that it uses keldeo ex and black kyurem ex which it powers up with blastoise instead of emboar. The decklists are very similar, requiring lots of beaches (though some use a beachless version which is ultimately inferior in every matchup other than the mirror).

Both decks get energy back with superior energy retrieval.

As for keeping track, a certain level of memory fortitude is required. I can ultimately name off every card on every skeleton list and make assumed techs based on that players local meta. Things like this are pretty much required, because outside of luck, it's the most important thing in this game.
 
woodsy said:
Tell you what, ask me about any deck. I'll give you the base minimum skeleton. From there you should have to figure out what to add. Try things you think would be good. There are at least 5 sites off the top of my head that regularly post lists. Once again you're just being lazy.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Sorry for double post but I only just now saw this.

This kind of attitude is the cancer of this game. You're toxic. Seriously. Help the guy out or don't reply at all. "You're lazy". Really? I'm a competitive player and -I- probably don't know five sites for decklists and such. Just help the guy or don't reply to his thread.
 
Croatian_Nidoking said:
^ You can't start playtesting if you don't have a baseline decklist to playtest with, so why is woodsy's complaint even relevant?

And I'm a she, so please get it straight.

- Croatian_Nidoking
Click to expand...

I'm on your side, lol. His complaint is relevant because he took your post out of context, assuming you just wanted lists to copy, when in fact you just wanted to know what the heck "VirGen" even means.

I apologize for not going through the entire thread to find out if you are male or female, you're all just avatars to me.


Honestly though, after slightly browsing a few posts, there's just one thing you should do.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=virizion+genesect+pokemon+deck+list

Hot link to success. Seems like you aren't even trying lol.
 
Once again, someone besides me proves how easy it is. And I'm toxic? No. I just want other people to put in the work that I have. I've had pretty good success and it's because I playtest all the time, I don't net deck, and I learn to take advice and learn from my losses. So no, I'm not what's wrong with this community. People who don't take advice and don't want to put any effort in are.

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@Croatian_Nidoking

I have to agree with woodsy on this one.

it is near impossible to be playing a card game for over 10-years and be so unfamiliar with it's cards/decks.

* it is very hard to convince myself this is not a troll post *

responding to paragraphs and other long responses with a single sentence...and even the double post.

your behavior shown in these responses tell me that you like to playing the victim and are not serious about getting better at this game.

so far, it appears that you have identified the holes in your game...but somehow you continue to reject the necessary repair work needed to improve.

at the end of the day, it is you who is playing this game...if someone is telling you what move to make every turn...are you really playing the game ?

* and if you win that way...is it really "your" victory *

I understand this is a place where you can get help, but when you continue to ask the same questions and not put in the effort...your plight become less credible.
 
You're either the most stubborn person in the entire world, or you're a troll.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
Threads like that are very interesting, because it puts the lights on one fondamental question : How do I improve ?

There is only one answer to me, Nidoking : training,training,training,training,training,training,training,training,training,training,training,training,training,training,training,training,training,training,training,and training again . And be regular! one game a day at least, just like brushing your tea, your morning yoga if you do , etc,etc... Funnybear is 200 % right.

A lot of training, that is. But if you have trouble making friends, and want to improve, there is no other way ...I was like you, some years ago.Taking my training seriously mad me discover a new level of play, and how to dedramatize losses thanks to my league fellows/ friends on PTCG. I have an idea how it's like to be "stuck" at one level. And one last thing : to succeed, you must fail, AKA losing games.
PM me if you want, I'd be glad to play against you on PTCG and make each other grow in the game.

some useful readings, it helped me out :
http://www.eventhubs.com/columns/2011/dec/09/step-your-game-chapter-4-down-count/ It about fighting games, but can be applied on cometitive environements. the "step up your game" column is quite interesting, it is usable by any competitor.

See you at training !
 
For those who click his link but that website is stupid and has an adblock thing preventing you from viewing it's page with adblock:

There comes to a point where a player has reached a certain level that they cannot plateau any higher. Now they are desperately doing worse, not as confident as before, and their drive is slowly drifting away. You practiced your combos in the training room, you beat the computer senseless a million times, and you have exposed yourself in a tournament environment. What else is missing? Why am I doing worse? It’s an easy answer that most people don’t realize. Your love of the game is lost. All you want to do now is to win and prove yourself to the community that you’re a top player.

This is a very common situation for lots of players, but having love for the game or for your character will show a lot more signs of improvement than someone whose only interest is to win. If you look at the player DJ Huoshen on how he play and how he reacts to things. You can tell that he loves to play with the team he uses; Felicia/Skrull/Taskmaster. He loves this game and he takes the game as it is. He understands that the game is cheap and his characters have a high chance of losing but he makes it work and still comes out on top. Why? Because he loves to play the game. He doesn’t just care about winning. Winning is nice but staying true to your heart means a lot more and that’s where winning matters the most.

This obviously doesn’t mean that if you pick the character you like, you will win all your matches. There are broken things in every game that will just prevent your success. *Cough* Phoenix *Cough* but as long as you tried your best and your love in the game will be there, you will have a much more clearer outlook on things and what little things to improve on for your next match, tournament, and etc.

If you look at the way Japan plays, they just stick to one character. Something that every country is doing now. The reason why they stick to one character is because usually that’s their favorite character and of course you want to be the best with that character. Japanese players are skilled enough to play every character and they can counter pick if they wanted too, but most of the time they will stick to their guns and grind it out the hard way.

If you follow this concept, it opens up gateways on how to play the character differently and what unique ways to fight your bad match ups.

For Example: Sagat vs. Rufus is generally a bad match up for Rufus because of Sagat’s zoning option with his tiger shots, his standing hard kick as a strong poke and his Kara DP or F+HK which can stop Rufus' air mobility. The way for Rufus to win is to knock Sagat down and mix him up on his wake up. I thought to myself how to prevent Sagat from starting up his defense. Well, if you guys watch my Rufus vs. Sagat matches. I love to sweep Sagat's standing hard kick. This causes a hard knockdown which lets Rufus starts his offense up. I knew that wasn’t enough so I thought to myself, how else can I knock him down. I then use my ex messiah kick properties to go through his tiger shot zoning and catch him before he can recover. This also lets me start my offense with dive kick pressure. I believe my favorite one is using my standing HK (The Ballet Kick) I use this on every character because they love to jump away from Rufus since they are scared of the dive kick pressure and because the move has a upper hit box, it will stop the character from jumping and then it’s a free juggle for me into Ultra #1.

Never give up and do not think you’re bad at the game. Success does not happen overnight. It takes time and patience. Play hard and play because you love to play. Think back on why you started to pick up fighting games and have faith in your character and yourself.
 
SoxDuck said:
Unfortunately, in this game the community is crap. Players won't share decklists. They care more about their own personal performance than the game growing. Find a team who can help you test and work out decklists.
Click to expand...

So, where exactly does one find a team to latch onto?

You can find SKELETONS but never "lists".
(snip list of what metagame decks tend to run)
Click to expand...

I know what metagame decks usually run, it's just that I don't know generally how many (and for the record, Plasma decks tend to run Thundurus, not Tornadus). Also, I have trouble getting my Trainer/Supporter/Stadium lines exactly right. There, I feel like a fussy artist who's never satisfied with her work.

As for keeping track, a certain level of memory fortitude is required. I can ultimately name off every card on every skeleton list and make assumed techs based on that players local meta. Things like this are pretty much required, because outside of luck, it's the most important thing in this game.
Click to expand...

And how exactly does one get this "memory fortitude", as you call it? And how does one learn the local meta? As you mentioned, players generally don't share their decks.

- Croatian_Nidoking
 
Croatian_Nidoking said:
So, where exactly does one find a team to latch onto?



I know what metagame decks usually run, it's just that I don't know generally how many (and for the record, Plasma decks tend to run Thundurus, not Tornadus). Also, I have trouble getting my Trainer/Supporter/Stadium lines exactly right. There, I feel like a fussy artist who's never satisfied with her work.



And how exactly does one get this "memory fortitude", as you call it? And how does one learn the local meta? As you mentioned, players generally don't share their decks.

- Croatian_Nidoking
Click to expand...

Find a team at your local gamestore amongst friends. If you don't have a team formed there, start one.

If you know that much already, you know as much as you are going to learn at this phase of the game. Play online and play IRL and figure out how you want the list. Watch streams and pay attention to what cards people play. That's all you can do. That's it.

Train your fortitude by counting your prizes every game. Play slow like every game is for worlds.
 
@SoxDuck

I agree with your advice, if she is in her 30's and a loner, I foresee her having better luck starting a team (real people) from scratch.

Though a "troll flag" always rises up when her responses conflict with each other.

One example is where she mentions she has totally memorized all of the meta-game decks.

* even what they tend to run *

Then she turns around and asks how to remember things and how can she learn what is in the meta-game decks.

However, ignoring all of that, the question she should be asking is "what are the steps involved in creating a balanced deck"

For someone to proclaim that they have been playing a game for over 10 years...it is safe to assume they know how to play this game.

With that said, the thing she should focus on now is mastering the art of deck building.
 
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