Dennis Hawk
New Member
Ok, I've seen some decklists with a groundbreakingly looking 3-1 lineups of Legend halves. The logic behind this decision seems to be to Rescue the other half when the Legend goes down, with having a lot of the other half to be added straight from the hand by stocking them there when the Legend is still up and running.
In this post, I am to demostrate why 3-1 lineups are worse than 2-2 lineups in all aspects and should not be used in any circumstance where you actually own a 2-2 line.
1. 3-1 is prized far more often.
Think about it. People are running 2-2 Luxrays, 2-2 Garchomps and all that 2-2 stuff, just because there are things to be put in prizes. Logically, 3-1 lines have made sense due to wanting to start with the basic form of the pokémon, but now basically every Worlds Luxchomp was running 2-2 lineup. Yes, there is Azelf, but the propability for Azelf and the single Legend half being prized is far more than Azelf and 2 Legend halves.
2. You don't even get to start with it.
Suppose there are decks that are running 3-1 lineups just as you would need to start with something. Well, you can't do it here. No matter which half - the 3 or the 1 - you happen to get into your starting hand, you still can't put it down to the active position or even to the bench before the game begins. This negates the advantage of a 3-1 lineup.
3. ...and it is more impropable of drawing into it.
While having 3-1 lineup seems to increase your changes into drawing the other half, it also decreases your changes for drawing into the single copy of another half. We can demostrate this with the scenario with 2 random Legend halves getting drawn into one's hand and their compability to form a complete Legend.
3-1 line: [x1][x2][x3][o1]
2-2 line: [x1][x2][o1][o2]
When counting propabilities, see all possibilities of these cards ending up to your hand (6). These will form the following combinations.
3-1 line: 1. [x1][x2] 2. [x1][x3] 3. [x1][o1] 4. [x2][x3] 5. [x2][o1] 6. [x3][o1] = 3/6 valid combinations.
2-2 line: 1. [x1][x2] 2. [x1][o1] 3. [x1][o2] 4. [x2][o1] 5. [x2][o2] 6. [o1][o2] = 4/6 valid combinations.
Thus, when randomly drawing, in 33% of the occurrences more the 2-2 lineup provides a complete legend.
4. The Rescue argument
So the basis of the 3-1 lineup has been being able to rescue the half you only have one of and having your hand packed with the other half you are playing three of. Here's a counter: When you have a complete Legend in the discard pile and any half in your hand, wouldn't the Pokémon Rescue complete it anyway? Or even better - if you had 2 of the remaining Legend halves in your hand when your Legend goes down, you wouldn't even need a Rescue - you could just play the Legend halves down as a whole, not needing to trick yourself into believing that the Rescue gets you the important part of the Legend that you have most cunningly gotten in to the discard pile.
Same goes with all the search arguments. When you have one half in hand - doesn't even matter which half - you will always want to look for the other half. And there are no cards that can only get the lower or upper half of a Legend, they will get you the one that you need to complete it, and thus 3-1 lineup is not valid.
Please do not play 3-1 Legends.
In this post, I am to demostrate why 3-1 lineups are worse than 2-2 lineups in all aspects and should not be used in any circumstance where you actually own a 2-2 line.
1. 3-1 is prized far more often.
Think about it. People are running 2-2 Luxrays, 2-2 Garchomps and all that 2-2 stuff, just because there are things to be put in prizes. Logically, 3-1 lines have made sense due to wanting to start with the basic form of the pokémon, but now basically every Worlds Luxchomp was running 2-2 lineup. Yes, there is Azelf, but the propability for Azelf and the single Legend half being prized is far more than Azelf and 2 Legend halves.
2. You don't even get to start with it.
Suppose there are decks that are running 3-1 lineups just as you would need to start with something. Well, you can't do it here. No matter which half - the 3 or the 1 - you happen to get into your starting hand, you still can't put it down to the active position or even to the bench before the game begins. This negates the advantage of a 3-1 lineup.
3. ...and it is more impropable of drawing into it.
While having 3-1 lineup seems to increase your changes into drawing the other half, it also decreases your changes for drawing into the single copy of another half. We can demostrate this with the scenario with 2 random Legend halves getting drawn into one's hand and their compability to form a complete Legend.
3-1 line: [x1][x2][x3][o1]
2-2 line: [x1][x2][o1][o2]
When counting propabilities, see all possibilities of these cards ending up to your hand (6). These will form the following combinations.
3-1 line: 1. [x1][x2] 2. [x1][x3] 3. [x1][o1] 4. [x2][x3] 5. [x2][o1] 6. [x3][o1] = 3/6 valid combinations.
2-2 line: 1. [x1][x2] 2. [x1][o1] 3. [x1][o2] 4. [x2][o1] 5. [x2][o2] 6. [o1][o2] = 4/6 valid combinations.
Thus, when randomly drawing, in 33% of the occurrences more the 2-2 lineup provides a complete legend.
4. The Rescue argument
So the basis of the 3-1 lineup has been being able to rescue the half you only have one of and having your hand packed with the other half you are playing three of. Here's a counter: When you have a complete Legend in the discard pile and any half in your hand, wouldn't the Pokémon Rescue complete it anyway? Or even better - if you had 2 of the remaining Legend halves in your hand when your Legend goes down, you wouldn't even need a Rescue - you could just play the Legend halves down as a whole, not needing to trick yourself into believing that the Rescue gets you the important part of the Legend that you have most cunningly gotten in to the discard pile.
Same goes with all the search arguments. When you have one half in hand - doesn't even matter which half - you will always want to look for the other half. And there are no cards that can only get the lower or upper half of a Legend, they will get you the one that you need to complete it, and thus 3-1 lineup is not valid.
Please do not play 3-1 Legends.