Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Giving Up?

Last format was essentially that if you could pronounce the attack "Psychic Lock" all of a sudden you were a grade A player. When everyone and their mother is running the same deck because not a single deck in the format has >50% chance vs it, there is a problem.
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RG and Empoleon were pretty solid vs Gardy.There are success stories vs Gardy btw. At Nats 08 I did not play Gardy and made it to t32 where I was knocked out by Empoleon(not gardy).
And early game donk? Rare Candy, Garde, DRE, Wager, GOOD GAME. Last format was so Donkey it was insane, at least this format's early donk decks have balance put in them.
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While what you just said is inaccurate, you could say the exact same thing this format. Rare Candy, Kingdra, one energy, Dragon Pump, Good Game.(kingdra is just an example, stuff such as regi can do the same)

Last format the combination of cards you describe require you to have at least 2 turns of setup, win a wager, and run into more cards(Dre and wager, which ,for the most part, were unsearchable)At the present format,not only do we require less to actually get that god hand, we now have uxie in the format to get mass draw on the first turn of the game.We don't even get that 1 extra turn to get setup anymore as the opposing side comes out so fast in some situations.Scramble missing from the format is also a big deal as it hinders a comeback from a donk.
 
as coates has said, there were decks that beat gardy more often than not last season. garchomp/weavile had a pretty easy matchup against it, my infernape/gallade deck beat it, etc. you just had to think outside the box.

i don't really play competitively anymore. i went to one cities this year and i might not even go to states. its sooooooo luck based! i wish they'd bring back DX-PK format!
 
ColdCoates90 said:
...At the present format,not only do we require less to actually get that god hand, we now have uxie in the format to get mass draw on the first turn of the game.

We don't even get that 1 extra turn to get setup anymore as the opposing side comes out so fast in some situations.....
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This is all true. Though I might wish it were different decks have to adapt to this type of environment. Of course the adaptions come with their own problems ( usually weakening late game performance). I could argue that in the long run luck shares itself out. Whilst true that does not address the reality that for many players you just have to be lucky at the critical tournament.

It isn't very likey to change but the cause is the rule that you lose when you have no active pokemon. If that rule was changed to just loosing a prize each time the opponent damages the missing active we would have far few problems with donks. Fast decks would still do well but you wouldn't automatically lose against a fast deck if your opponent gets the first trainer turn.
 
READ THIS ...

shadowlion said:
. . . So why is that they are good players they proved it last year so what is the difference this SEASON. FACT they are not very good deck builders, this is a extremely HEALTHY season we have this year there are so many viable decks to play it makes your head hurt (in all games I have played I have never seen a format that has so many viable decks as this seasons Pokemon). Last year with G&G they had someone make a top deck and they rode the coat tails all season, this season that has not happened and it really dont appear that will happen. So if not doing well this season after being spoiled last season, try a little harder on your deckbuilding, join a team, or find a good deckbuilder and have them help you...this pokemon community is a very helpful group of people. Alot of people are good players but stink at deck building and some build awesome decks but cant play great if life depended on it.

If this game and season was nothing but luck then the same people would not keep winning, face it for the most part a large majority of the top cut are the same players every tournament in a specific area. I made many top cuts at cities this season with a different deck every tournament, We all need some luck but if you have no skill then all the luck in the world does not help no matter what you try to do in life....
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NOW .. READ THIS

If the game has become too challenging for you. Quit.

That's like saying "I'm going to stop playing pick-up basketball because too many new players are starting to show up to the court and .. these shoes and T-shirts are too expensive to keep up with."

Ballers .. ball. Simple as that.

If you're supposed to be a "GOOD PLAYER" .. you play.

Putting your deck together has ALWAYS been the same process (i.e. buying a number of packs, trading, buying singles). Nothing has changed. (now go back and re-read the quote above)

I buy for 3, but I can tell you that the purchasing expense hasn't gone up, it just never goes away!
There's an expense everytime a set comes out. Nevertheless, it's what we do; it's our hobby. So, we 'play the role' and buy up what we need.

I'm a musician by definition (classically trained, endorsed Music Ed K-12, and record pop/hip-hop on the side). I can REALLY agree that if you've gotten into laying down homespun tracks, you're facing a dilemna with your money until your setup gets built out (i.e. Audio Interface, Keyboard Workstation, looping/recording software, good condensor mic(s) and ... if you're gonna gig... that's another group of expenses entirely). So, I feel you there.

Nevertheless, a deck REALLY isn't going to set you back. I know a guy who simply MODIFIES HIS KINGDRA deck to handle the metagame and rolls with it (STILL top cuts or wins).

So, you may not be able to build out 4 playable decks, but DO NOT tell me you can't prepare ONE tournement-worthy deck for tourney ... :rolleyes:
 
GG was silly. Trying to beat a good GG player in 30 minutes with any other deck was highly problematic because any non-GG deck relied so heavily on COMING back, which 30 minutes was not suitable for.

Gallade OHKO, OHKO, LOCK LOCK, BRING DOWN BRING DOWN. Game?

GG was retarded. When 50% of the field is one deck, and the deck has two types, lots of HP, two types of OHKO attack, and stopping powers, and having your own setup power.... it was stupid.

Look at the all the successful scrubs. People who had never come close to doing well in any other format were suddenly WINNING because, like SPARTA noted, uttering a few simple words like "Psychic Lock" or "Psychic Cut" would win you the game.

The problem is that last format Ralts+Candy+EVO (either- which there were usually 5-6)+DRE=ridiculous

You can get a cute mahacmp up t1 who can sometimes be good. Kingdra can do cute damage early. Neither oh them get off the huge OHKOs on anyone or the disruption of t2 no powers on a 110hp beast.

I didn't like last format much at all. I ran GG at states, only lost to my teammates and Banette. We knew from Cities on that GG would be the deck to win it all. It was so obviously broken. It won nats, worlds, regionals, states, cities. Everything. It was that good. It made last year really lame.

Luckily this year is better. The luck is more towards quick t1 decks, but those decks don't have the same brutal lasting power as power stopping and OHKOs.
 
For those that complain about the monetary aspect of the game... Of course it is going to be expensive and of course they are going to limit what comes in preconstructed theme decks.

Most of you that complained about the theme decks not having the right cards also complained about the game being to easy for anyone to win just by luck. With that said, you think that having all the right cards in the theme deck would allow for a better metagame.. Cmon get your heads outta the clouds.

The Pokemon Company and Nintendo are extremely well profitable companies and they know what to do in order to keep things rolling. If they were not making the profits they are on this, then POP would not exist and would not be able to support events such as Nationals and Worlds which cost well into the thousands. Sure they could reduce the costs a bit and help out the consumer, but do you see any company truly doing that...NO

In the end you must understand that this is going to take some of your money. That does not mean all of it though; To get a good deck together you can get just buy 1 box of every set that comes out and have the cards you want or cards to trade for/sell. Trust me this is exactly how I function and I am extremely aware of my expenses as I am in college for Finance. Just take a deep breath and if needed, back out of the game for a while and come back when you get things under control but for most, I believe it is safe to say that you can afford to spend $80 every 3 months for a box. Granted, everyone has different lifestyles but if it is something you love playing and love attending events, you will make it work just as music lovers here, make the money for their equip.
 
calisupra, while we might have 80 dollars every 3 months for a box, one box doesn't really do much unless you're a god and pull a whole deck.
 
As I stated in my post, you almost always have cards to trade for the stuff you need. I have had to buy a card on ebay twice since Majestic Dawn came out. Also there are cost efficient decks like scizor/cherrim if money is a huge impairment on your ability to play.
 
i feel your pain man

im a black belt in taekwon-do and am in the england team, so i gotta get up to squad (which is in nottingham right now :eek:)

i also like to get to tourneys as much as i can simply because i enjoy them

i also play guitar and am trying to save up for a new Gibson Explorer (£1,000 give or take) and would like a harmonic pedal (a good £120) as well. which is some serious kit.

being a jobless college bum sucks as well cause if i worked then id have to time to do anything. i gave up being 2 times british kickboxing champ cause i didnt have much free time and i hardly trained for that!

it does suck, but we do what we can and remember: pokemon should usually take the back seat
 
I have faced this same problem. I play musical instruments as well (guitar, bass, piano, drums, and ukelele to name a few), and face difficulties buying accesories for those, but I haven't gotten a job yet, so I expect things to be easier then. I will admit that I pretty much had to ditch my Lego hobby for Pokemon, but I enjoy Pokemon a lot more.
 
SPARTA said:
Last format was essentially that if you could pronounce the attack "Psychic Lock" all of a sudden you were a grade A player. When everyone and their mother is running the same deck because not a single deck in the format has >50% chance vs it, there is a problem.

And early game donk? Rare Candy, Garde, DRE, Wager, GOOD GAME. Last format was so Donkey it was insane, at least this format's early donk decks have balance put in them.
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I can't agree with you. There were more decks than just GG last year. Granted it may have been the best deck but it was beatable. I played 4 different decks at each level. I played GG at Cities, GG and Banette at States and Regionals, Empozong at Nats, and Amphyzong at Worlds. In the events I didn't play GG, I went 18-5 AGAINST it, so you just need to know what will work and counter the deck that you expect to see the most. That was over a total of 8 events, in which I won 3 and top cut them ALL including both Nats and Worlds.

As far as giving up. It is a personal choice. You play because you enjoy doing it and you have time and money to do so. If you don't have the money but you have the time, go and play but play not to win, but to have fun playing the game that you like to play. If you have a solid group of friends you maybe able to borrow cards for the events from them. There are many ways to play competitively without having the cards you need and even if you don't care about being competitive, then just go to have fun and meet up with friends who also play. I think SPARTA's first post summed it up, what matters more to you is what you should do. Pokemon will be here most likely when you become free again whether it is in 1 year or 5. I don't see the game dying anytime soon especially with the apparent demise of the Yugioh TCG OP in NA.

Drew
 
ryanvergel said:
GG was silly. Trying to beat a good GG player in 30 minutes with any other deck was highly problematic because any non-GG deck relied so heavily on COMING back, which 30 minutes was not suitable for.

Gallade OHKO, OHKO, LOCK LOCK, BRING DOWN BRING DOWN. Game?

GG was retarded. When 50% of the field is one deck, and the deck has two types, lots of HP, two types of OHKO attack, and stopping powers, and having your own setup power.... it was stupid.

Look at the all the successful scrubs. People who had never come close to doing well in any other format were suddenly WINNING because, like SPARTA noted, uttering a few simple words like "Psychic Lock" or "Psychic Cut" would win you the game.

The problem is that last format Ralts+Candy+EVO (either- which there were usually 5-6)+DRE=ridiculous

You can get a cute mahacmp up t1 who can sometimes be good. Kingdra can do cute damage early. Neither oh them get off the huge OHKOs on anyone or the disruption of t2 no powers on a 110hp beast.

I didn't like last format much at all. I ran GG at states, only lost to my teammates and Banette. We knew from Cities on that GG would be the deck to win it all. It was so obviously broken. It won nats, worlds, regionals, states, cities. Everything. It was that good. It made last year really lame.

Luckily this year is better. The luck is more towards quick t1 decks, but those decks don't have the same brutal lasting power as power stopping and OHKOs.
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Did you ever see any noobs winning any big tournaments with G&G. Jason won Worlds and he is the single best player in the game, Gino won Nats and even if he is a total wigger he is no noob. And even before empoleon was out did you see anyone win tournaments with other decks other than Plox/G&G, Colin Moll with BeeDrill won regionals, didn't Eric Nance win with arithmetic, oh so many players won with magmortar. The whole thing was that with G&G

1. As you said 30 minutes wasn't enough
2. Not enough people were taking chances and 85% of the competition was playing G&G.

I promise you that if 50% of the competition was playing Plox and the other 50% Magmortar Magmortar would a lot of the time come out on top. However too many people went with the safe choice and played Plox. Empoleon when it had enough time (it did most of the time) beat Plox.

And I dont mean to be hypocritical here but we gotta get back on topic
 
The truth is, any good game should have luck involved. You say how you hate being donked by noobs. Of course it's bad how you lost, but what do you expect? to win every single game you play? it's not gonna happen. And yes, when you get donked you feel like crap, and if it's a little kid they brag. Just ignore it. A loss is a loss. Will complaining to your friends or complaining on the internet somehow change it into a win? no. Take the loss, and learn from it. Before any tourny, try to make your deck donk proof. Yes it is possible. And people say it's too expensive. There are a billion good rogue decks that have nothing more expensive than 2$. Scizor cherrim? that won a lot of cities.
 
the reason you play pokémon, it's not all about winning.
Because you can't win every single game.

Sure doing well at a tournament is always wanted.
People should be happy if they can make top cut on a regular basis, imo.
that's the sign of a good player, repeat top cuts. Experimenting too.


I suggest always hold on to your key cards like Bebe's Claydol, uxie, roseannes, ect.
then it doesn't cost so much.

I am also taken back by how much this game costs.
I realized having people to share it with is much better/ like spitting the cost for a room at US nationals.

A lot of younger people have issues because they are in school and don't work.
The key is, find a job/ IF you can find one.
 
afstandopleren said:
No kidding? Strangely remembers me of an a post in another thread where someone also claimed that chess didn't involve luck...
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There is no randomness, both players start with the same figures, have the same options, etc.

Still I'd find it a bit boring, its not like they'd print new figures or something :lol:
 
The part where luck in chess is involved, is in that your opponent doesn't see through the strategy you are playing while moving the pieces to certain spots. But yeah, like with checkers, every match has practically been played and thus, rather boring.
 
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