Why I'm Leaving, Part 1
Posted 01/24/2012 at 08:10 AM by djjoe227
I have a 5 part Blog going on here, so if you miss anything I'm about to see, look out for these 5 Parts:
Part 1- Lack of a Diverse Cardpool
Part 2- Margins of Card Prices
Part 3- Luck
Part 4- The True Spirit of the Game
Part 5- ME TOO
So, without further ado, here is...
Part 1- Lack of a Diverse Cardpool
Now before I get started, this isn't about diverse decks. It's about the cardpool. If you start to think "Well we have Eel, megazone, durant, tyram, zpst..." and so forth, that's not where this is going.
Let's just cut right down to pure examples and get everyone on my perspective.
FIRE- Typhlosion Prime, Reshiram, Emboar
GRASS- Vileplume, Liligant, Yanmega Prime, Virizion
PSYCHIC- Mew, Reuniclus, Muk, Crobat Prime
WATER- Blastoise, Feraligatr, Kyurem, Kingdra Prime
FIGHTING- Donphan Prime, Machamp Prime, Conkeldurr, Terrakion
ELECTRIC- Magnezone Prime, Zekrom, Elektrik, Electrode, Thundurus
DARK- Hydreigon, Mandibuzz, Tyranitar Prime, Zoroark
STEEL- Durant, Cobalion
COLORLESS- Druddigon, Cleffa, Cinccino, Tornadus
The point of the above, and you might want to re-read the examples, is that when you sit down to make a type-based deck, BOOM- those cards come to mind. Pre-Next Destinies, of course. Regardless, those cards.
In my mindset, that's all there is. Everything else is just not "as good". You have some secret techs...maybe like Mantine or Manaphy, or Jirachi here and there..but in all, the above is what you basically turn to first and go from there.
I bring this up because when I build decks I like having options. I like having variety. But when I go to a tournament, a league, a gathering- whatever it may be; the diversity is so limited that if you find one card in their deck you can more than likely guess the rest.
Additionally, When you build certain decks, the options are severly limited. Let's say you wanted to build Magnezone- theres only one Magnemite, one Magneton, and one Magnezone. Your options are limited. If you want to play Elektrik, there are only 2 Tynamos- you're left with a free retreater with 30 hp, or a not-so-free retreater with 40hp. Which you go with is determined by two minor factors, and regardless it's not which has the better attack. They both essentially serve the same purpose- to get you to Elektrik. The same can be said about many Pokemon.
Next, the examples themselves are based on a changing powercreep. Comparing something like Thundurus to Zekrom is a near no-brainer, you run the Zekrom. I mean, if the synergy of cards goes to Thundurus (I see a few in Eel here and there) then go for it; but you'll run Zekrom too. 120 damage just can't be ignored, especially with Outrage getting built up too. You can also compare something like Reshiram to to a lesser card like Heatmor, where the damage output and HP just override anything Heatmor has to offer. It's what makes you look through a set like Black & White and seriously contemplate why you would ever run something like Simisage, Simisear, Simipour, or Stoutland over anything else.
It's the idea that, as a player and a collector, there is no middle ground- I have all of these cards, from countless boosters, but the number of cards I can legitimately sit down and use are so few and far between it's mind-boggling!
Part 1- Lack of a Diverse Cardpool
Part 2- Margins of Card Prices
Part 3- Luck
Part 4- The True Spirit of the Game
Part 5- ME TOO
So, without further ado, here is...
Part 1- Lack of a Diverse Cardpool
Now before I get started, this isn't about diverse decks. It's about the cardpool. If you start to think "Well we have Eel, megazone, durant, tyram, zpst..." and so forth, that's not where this is going.
Let's just cut right down to pure examples and get everyone on my perspective.
FIRE- Typhlosion Prime, Reshiram, Emboar
GRASS- Vileplume, Liligant, Yanmega Prime, Virizion
PSYCHIC- Mew, Reuniclus, Muk, Crobat Prime
WATER- Blastoise, Feraligatr, Kyurem, Kingdra Prime
FIGHTING- Donphan Prime, Machamp Prime, Conkeldurr, Terrakion
ELECTRIC- Magnezone Prime, Zekrom, Elektrik, Electrode, Thundurus
DARK- Hydreigon, Mandibuzz, Tyranitar Prime, Zoroark
STEEL- Durant, Cobalion
COLORLESS- Druddigon, Cleffa, Cinccino, Tornadus
The point of the above, and you might want to re-read the examples, is that when you sit down to make a type-based deck, BOOM- those cards come to mind. Pre-Next Destinies, of course. Regardless, those cards.
In my mindset, that's all there is. Everything else is just not "as good". You have some secret techs...maybe like Mantine or Manaphy, or Jirachi here and there..but in all, the above is what you basically turn to first and go from there.
I bring this up because when I build decks I like having options. I like having variety. But when I go to a tournament, a league, a gathering- whatever it may be; the diversity is so limited that if you find one card in their deck you can more than likely guess the rest.
Additionally, When you build certain decks, the options are severly limited. Let's say you wanted to build Magnezone- theres only one Magnemite, one Magneton, and one Magnezone. Your options are limited. If you want to play Elektrik, there are only 2 Tynamos- you're left with a free retreater with 30 hp, or a not-so-free retreater with 40hp. Which you go with is determined by two minor factors, and regardless it's not which has the better attack. They both essentially serve the same purpose- to get you to Elektrik. The same can be said about many Pokemon.
Next, the examples themselves are based on a changing powercreep. Comparing something like Thundurus to Zekrom is a near no-brainer, you run the Zekrom. I mean, if the synergy of cards goes to Thundurus (I see a few in Eel here and there) then go for it; but you'll run Zekrom too. 120 damage just can't be ignored, especially with Outrage getting built up too. You can also compare something like Reshiram to to a lesser card like Heatmor, where the damage output and HP just override anything Heatmor has to offer. It's what makes you look through a set like Black & White and seriously contemplate why you would ever run something like Simisage, Simisear, Simipour, or Stoutland over anything else.
It's the idea that, as a player and a collector, there is no middle ground- I have all of these cards, from countless boosters, but the number of cards I can legitimately sit down and use are so few and far between it's mind-boggling!
Total Comments 8
Comments
-
I would like to hear the other parts about this because I'm sure we both feel the same way about this.Posted 01/24/2012 at 03:35 PM by vaporeon 
-
You have some pretty valid points as to why HGSS-On is unstable right now, but I think the real culprits are Pokemon Catcher and Vileplume UD. The format itself has already warped around those two cards it's ridiculous. One of my friends noticed this when he left the game not too long ago and with the Overpowered Basics there is alot of Donks but with the new Pokemon EX's I think that will be out of the question.
You either run Vileplume which locks 75% of your Opponent's deck of Trainer - Items depending on what build they have or you run Catcher which makes it very difficult for decks that rely on bench sitters to function the way they did in the last 2 formats. It's bad for the format but it's not bad enough to where I'd want to quit the game cause of it. Personally I believe Vileplume is hurting the format more than Catcher is and the only reason why Catcher is bad in the current format is because of Junk Arm.
You can win under Trainer - Item Lock it's just that you need to run a more heavy Supporter line to do it and with what we have in our current cardpool there's some options but not a whole lot though. I do agree that Catcher helps you make more skillful plays to help you win but you won't always win games with Catcher especially If you're playing a deck that has a Type Disadvantage against a deck that's favored to beat yours. It's happened to me when playing EelZone against DonChamp even though it doesn't see as much play anymore.Posted 01/25/2012 at 04:05 AM by Poke Trainer J
-
Vileplume yes, Pokemon Catcher no.
Vileplume is currently one of two options for Trainer Lock. Both of those options (Vileplume and Gothitelle) are stage 2 Pokemon. But that's all there is. Fortunately, if you run Vileplume, you can run Bellossom, and there are 2 options for Gothetille as well.
Pokemon Catcher is just a hype- you can run Pokemon Circulator and Pokemon Reversal for a full 3 sets before it, and nobody did. Pokemon Catcher can be bad/annoying because of Junk Arm, but it is not bad/annoying because of Junk Arm. The effect has been there for a while, now it's more direct, but if it was that impacting the game would've been changed a while back had the problem laid in the other two.Posted 01/25/2012 at 11:59 AM by djjoe227
-
Joe, one of the reasons why Pokemon does not have a diverse card pool is because the sets are way too small. I would love to see a set with over 200 cards!
Posted 01/25/2012 at 10:28 PM by deckmaster
-
I would too! It's a shame, when you think about it like this- over 600+ Pokemon, yet only roughly 1/3rd are represented in the cards. We get some lines of pokemon in one-ofs (Magnezone) while others we're still seeing in every set (I think Pansear/Simisear are getting ANOTHER version!)
Posted 01/26/2012 at 05:35 AM by djjoe227
-
Honestly, I feel like you are kicking a dead horse and whining about your individual plight as opposed to real problems of the game. Yes, there is a limited card pool, but the reason for that is due to the deep rotation, which you complained about last blog. A rotation that an overwhelming majority of people supported as they felt it was best for the game. You complaining about it because it hurt you personally is just selfish...and understandable. But, then you come back and have the same complaint in this blog (the limited card pool is because of the rotation). Common sense says that gets fixed with time. I doubt there will be a rotation next year and we will have a very diverse format. yes, the number of decks are limited, but that has always been the case in Pokemon, its not like its a new problem that gives you a ligitimate reason to whine. But, there are more viable decks now than ever.
Posted 01/30/2012 at 09:44 AM by chrataxe 
-
Of course it's a selfish thought- it's not only my Blog (and rant, mind you), but my own decision to cease playing the game in a hopeful setting.
Posted 01/30/2012 at 10:05 AM by djjoe227
-
I'd like the gap between the good cards and the rest to be less than the chasm it currently is. I'd like the strengths of the cards to be shared out so that when you choose a different card some features get better but some get worse. I know that we have a little of that now but I'd like to see more of it. I'd like more cards to be viable and not binder fodder: they don't have to be great just playable would be a start.
Posted 02/09/2012 at 11:57 AM by NoPoke
