Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Is the TCG going downhill?

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This format is worse than Plo... I mean, than HP-on? That's news to me...
 
Yoshi- said:
Beliebe my I tried and I'm still trying (still have iPlox build and testing it, at least it kicks Gengars back :lol: )
But if you build a deck you truly like and see it beaten by the ridiculus cheapness of todays format it just makes you even sadder :/
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Exactly. What really grinds my gears with the SP Pokemon is that I had done a bunch of work to make my deck perfect and then the SP Pokemon showed up and all of my hard work was meaningless. It wasn't that a new deck that was superior to mine in its synergy, consistency, or ingenuity showed up in the metagame. All it was were some blatantly over-powered Trainers that made some blatantly over-powered Basic Pokemon so good it wouldn't have mattered how good my deck was. It doesn't take much effort to make a deck out of the SP Pokemon that can rip through my deck because the cards available for use with SP Pokemon are so cheap. Anyone can say I could have used BTS or some other new card made for normal Pokemon but I have tried them all and they just don't make my deck any better than I had already made it. If there had been some stupidly over-powered Trainers for normal Pokemon that came along with the ones for SP Pokemon to keep the playing field more level, this would have been different, but the cards we got just weren't comparable.
 
You know the game is dying when you can't even successfully play the cards that are interesting and take strategy (Regigas lv.X, Raichu Lv.X, Hippodown Lv.X).

POWER SPRAY? ARE YOU SERIOUS?

I said this in another thread, this game went from 70% skill and 30% luck to 70% luck and 30% skill. I've watched this game deteriorate for the past 8-9 years and it's sad.
 
The game was downhill during the Neo sets, is what I think. Nobody even liked Pokemon anymore during that time. If you went to, let's say Target, you'd see all the cards still there from like two months ago. The game has gotten a lot better, and I love to play it.
 
Chromecatz said:
Yea, that really is a shame.
(Raichu is a pokebody btw)
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I just meant in general Power Spray is ridiculous. And it's not about not being able to play your favorite pokemon, you have never been able to do that. For example, Dewgong has never been good, but they've been printing that since Base set. It's about not being able to play the GOOD cards. Infernape 4 SUCKS. That card would be absolutely terrible if they didn't put all their effort into making these SP cards ridiculously good, and making the other cards unplayable. Yeah let's release Energy Gain, and Sp Radar, and turn this crappy card into a beast that can't be beat. It takes absolutely no strategy. It's a GIVEN that you HAVE to play Energy Gain with Infernape to make it good. And since we know that's going to be so good, let's release BTS to make the Stage 2 cards still playable. Oh wait, BTS is the most broken card ever released and does nothing for the format, only makes it more luckbased. This is the worst format in the history of the game. Nearly every single competitive deck list will be within 4 cards difference. I'm going to laugh when the top 4 for all divisions is Luxape everywhere, and they have no options on what decks to make and sell.

Even last season, with PLOX and Empoleon/Bronzong, we had diversity. You actually had options, and it took skill to beat each other (well, more skill than now). Different lists of PLOX had equal chances at winning, whereas now, you need to have identical lists. Bad format for a game that is slowly deteriorating in skill. Some cards need to come out that completely make all of these cards we currently have unplayable so the game can start fresh imo.

EDIT:

And as chad said on the last page, in this format, there is no way out of a bad situation or bad draw. If your opponent takes the first prize and has a somewhat decent start, you're going to lose. Probably only DPL can get itself out of a tight situation, and MAYBE win. Not to mention the lack of draw as he also said. Everyone is playing with 55 Card decks, considering you NEED 2-2 Claydol and 1 Uxie to even be competitive (with the exception of SP of course, because they are just oh so great). Might as well throw Claydol in the starter decks. Make Mom's Kindness a trainer. Bring back Computer Search. Simple things like that can fix this game, but it won't happen
 
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I think the game is in GREAT shape right now. As others have said, attendance at tournaments just keeps growing and growing. Even if the actual in game playing mechanics were all perfect, if attendance was bad then you wouldn't have a game to play. Just the sheer number of new people coming to the game shows it is in a great position right now.
 
I'd say creativity and deck originality is at a high right now.

Sure, a lot of those decks are "G" decks, but those cards are still cards in the format, and Stage 2's still haven't been left out to dry yet. Last format was stifling, and I really think this one is very good. Sure we had Pl0x and Magmortar/Empozong (depending on what part of the year it was) But that was pretty much it. There really wasn't any diversity in the format. Sure, there might have been a bit more skill or strategy last format, but thats because the game was different, we set up for 1-3 turns then began the game. Whereas this format is completely different. Energy Gain and BTS have turned the format upside-down, and this is a very different game now.


Sure, everyone plays 55 card decks, but SO? Doesn't everyone play 4 Bebe (aside from SP) Doesn't every Stage 2 deck run Rare Candy? Isn't 4 Roseanne's pretty much a staple in most decks?
How does playing a set-up engine hurt the format. Look at Pidgeot. Everyone back 3 years ago played the same deck. 2-1-2 Pidgeot with at least 2 Rare Candy. OH NOES! WE'RE ALL USING THE SAME ~7 CARDS! Seriously, there's no problem here that we haven't experienced before.
I don't see where you get "Lack of draw" Felicity, POV, Uxie, Claydol, TGW, Rowan, Cynthia, (Especially Cynthia if you go down early) are all cards that can get you out of a scrape. Yet the amount of people just relying on Uxie and Claydol does seem a bit large. A tech Cynthia or Wager can surely turn the game around for someone in a bad draw, just like Rocket's Admin/Copycat back in the day.
 
Sandslash7 said:
Sure, everyone plays 55 card decks, but SO? Doesn't everyone play 4 Bebe (aside from SP) Doesn't every Stage 2 deck run Rare Candy? Isn't 4 Roseanne's pretty much a staple in most decks?
How does playing a set-up engine hurt the format. Look at Pidgeot. Everyone back 3 years ago played the same deck. 2-1-2 Pidgeot with at least 2 Rare Candy. OH NOES! WE'RE ALL USING THE SAME ~7 CARDS! Seriously, there's no problem here that we haven't experienced before.
I don't see where you get "Lack of draw" Felicity, POV, Uxie, Claydol, TGW, Rowan, Cynthia, (Especially Cynthia if you go down early) are all cards that can get you out of a scrape. Yet the amount of people just relying on Uxie and Claydol does seem a bit large. A tech Cynthia or Wager can surely turn the game around for someone in a bad draw, just like Rocket's Admin/Copycat back in the day.
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Pidgeot was played by most decks years ago, however all decks were different. You had decks like LBS, Rock Lock, Dark Dragonnight and others. Ludicargo used to have its own engine with Magcargo and Ludicolo, which was the equlivant of Quick Search. It was harder to setup, but Ludicargo wasn't countered by Battle Frontier, which totally shuts Pidgeot Down.

There were other decks like Bannette, Lillaby,Flariados which didn't use Pidgeot and were successful.
Thta was one of the best formats IMO. You could use anything you want and get good results. You could have unique decklists and try different things and get good results.

And Why was that?

Even though Pidgeot was Kinda Good, you could counter him using Battle Frontier. ANother method was to use ATM(R) and if he was evolved by rare candy you could slow down your opponent by a turn or 2, unless he had another rare candy.

Right now Power Spray is one of those few cards which can counter Claydol, which IMO is ridiculus. You get to play cards during your opponent's turn...Please, keep Pokemon what it is. I think Pokemon was one of those few TCGs, where you could FULLY play your turn. Now in a Tournament you barley get to play 1 turn, cause you are either donked or spammed with power spray.

So Nintendo or POP or whoever designs the cards should go back in their office and think of a few cards which aren't too powerful and are counterable by other cards, which again are countered by others and so on.
 
Sandslash7 said:
I'd say creativity and deck originality is at a high right now.

Sure, a lot of those decks are "G" decks, but those cards are still cards in the format, and Stage 2's still haven't been left out to dry yet. Last format was stifling, and I really think this one is very good. Sure we had Pl0x and Magmortar/Empozong (depending on what part of the year it was) But that was pretty much it. There really wasn't any diversity in the format. Sure, there might have been a bit more skill or strategy last format, but thats because the game was different, we set up for 1-3 turns then began the game. Whereas this format is completely different. Energy Gain and BTS have turned the format upside-down, and this is a very different game now.


Sure, everyone plays 55 card decks, but SO? Doesn't everyone play 4 Bebe (aside from SP) Doesn't every Stage 2 deck run Rare Candy? Isn't 4 Roseanne's pretty much a staple in most decks?
How does playing a set-up engine hurt the format. Look at Pidgeot. Everyone back 3 years ago played the same deck. 2-1-2 Pidgeot with at least 2 Rare Candy. OH NOES! WE'RE ALL USING THE SAME ~7 CARDS! Seriously, there's no problem here that we haven't experienced before.
I don't see where you get "Lack of draw" Felicity, POV, Uxie, Claydol, TGW, Rowan, Cynthia, (Especially Cynthia if you go down early) are all cards that can get you out of a scrape. Yet the amount of people just relying on Uxie and Claydol does seem a bit large. A tech Cynthia or Wager can surely turn the game around for someone in a bad draw, just like Rocket's Admin/Copycat back in the day.
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Yeah it's a very different game, and that's the problem. First, Claydol cannot be replaced. Roseanne and Bebe's can. I've seen engines run just as well as a normal 4 Bebes/4 Roseanne's deck with Dusk Balls and Pokeballs. Secondly, what can counter Claydol? PowerSpray. The card that shouldn't exist. At least in the format with Pidgeot, you had more options than JUST Claydol. You could run Magcargo. Pidgeot got shut down by Battle Frontier, which was also counterable. Power Spray is not. Last, how is Cynthia's and Wager even comparable to Copycat and Admin? If Admin was in this format, the game would be SO much different. It was a guaranteed CHANCE for a comeback. Wager is once again, complete luck. And Cynthia's isn't even comparable either. Have you noticed most decks don't even run more than 2, IF that? It's because it's SO situational. Pokemon don't have to be getting knocked out for someone to be losing terribly. We need draw for when we get a horrid start. Copycat, Admin, ORACLE MAYBE, jeeez
 
Yeah, last year was leaps and bounds better than this season, despite the lack of viable decks. You could actually come back and win a game last season. Rarely done this season.

Obviously the game as a whole isn't going down when the attendance is through the roof. I don't think that increase has anything to do with the format and certainly has nothing to do with the prizes. Pokemon is free to play, aside from getting the cards. There aren't a lot of free things to do and the economy is in bad shape. It's free entertainment. I think that has to have at least a little to do with the skyrocketing attendance this season.
 
Spray isn't the problem. If you play correctly, you can run through Spray in a turn or 2. If you're *really* looking for ways to shut down Claydol and have it be pretty much uncounterable, use Mespirit.
 
Glaceon LV.X > Mesprit > Power Spray. With Floatzel GL LV.X, Glaceon should have a shot again, even without the strangely feeble HP amount for this format.
 
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