Hardest Area To Play
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Umbreon777
New Member
The midwest DOES have many top-quality players, but this season... they havent been showing up anywhere. None of the E4 went to states except Fulop (makes since why I won Michigan) and now that the regionals were split up into "Midwest" and "Great Lakes" (which are, the exact same thing) many of the good players have split.
billbilski
New Member
After all the Florida vs Great Lakes banter in the past, that is a very reasonable statement. As a state Florida IS very solid. As an area it is hard to argue against the Great Lakes. I remember a city a few years back where I made the top 4. No big deal - it's just a city right? Well the other 3 players went 1,2,5 at Worlds that year (Ness,Alex B, and Jimmy B.). ..... BTW, since Jay H has adopted the Chicago area, I'm going to start including him as a GL'er.... Welcome aboard Jay!!! I label the GL as Cleveland to Columbus to Indy to Chicago to Detroit. Let the debate rage on........
PokePockets
New Member
My thoughts exactly =D
feralitar00
New Member
for all u people who dont care about this thread dont post on it and thanks to all of you who have posted on here this really gets me in the mood to play so people from other states that are not around me BTW im from TN but travel to play in NC SC and states close
Did you take a look at the weather that was going on during michigan states? 20 some odd inches of snow in ohio. There was almost no way that people were going to make that trip out there.
THE FT. LAUD. LOUD MOUTH
New Member
<-- KEEPS OPiNION TO SELF
dragonspy900
New Member
Well I know Florida is pretty hard to play in but I might not have enough experience to really support that due to me only competing 1 year in 11-14 :|
Psyco Pedestrian
New Member
It really depend on the Age Group. You could look at the rankings, although, that really doesn't prove much.
TuxedoBlack
New Member
Imo, the toughest area by far in the U.S. is the Midwest. This area would include Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The level of play, in all three divisions, is tremendous. There are several former World and National winners here, in addition players who have won multiple City, State and Regional tournaments.
I've been fortunate to be able to travel to other parts of the country and play in tournaments. The level of competition here in the Midwest is like no other place.
I've been fortunate to be able to travel to other parts of the country and play in tournaments. The level of competition here in the Midwest is like no other place.
BigChuck01
Member
I've also noticed that differnt regions have different playstyles:
Midwest: Major Archtypes, not much fancy
Florida: Archtypes with lots of tech
California: Fast decks (anyone remember how popular Zapdos was in Cali?)
Midwest: Major Archtypes, not much fancy
Florida: Archtypes with lots of tech
California: Fast decks (anyone remember how popular Zapdos was in Cali?)
NoPoke
Active Member
Hardest area to play? Where ever you don't win. That is you singular and you plural. It doesn't mater if there is just one uber player who wins absolutely everything or if there are a bunch of really good players who share the spoils. If you can't make the cut then that area is hard.
Just from how tournaments are run any area with a lot of players is automatically hard for the majority. No matter how good or bad the play in an area in any given tournament one player will win and another will always come dead last.
Just from how tournaments are run any area with a lot of players is automatically hard for the majority. No matter how good or bad the play in an area in any given tournament one player will win and another will always come dead last.
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DarthPika
New Member
You forgot me and my bros. :tongue:
Ya, Luke is still playing. Everyone always overlooks MD and NoVA for some reason.... :frown: Trust me, our area in anything BUT easy. We also tend to get a lot of players from PA and DE, so that makes it even harder.
Back to back posts merged. The following information has been added:
I've noticed that to...
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meganium45
Active Member
Masters...look at where the concentration of power lies...
When you had an all Illinois Finals at Worlds a few years ago, even I was
Both players still playing, one more often than the other.
For Juniors...
I will take the little Mississippi Valley over anywhere, even with my 2 sons moving up...
2 Different National Champions. Worlds T4. Multiple Regionals Champions.
Sent 3 Juniors to Hawaii last year...we had to take a LOT of points from a LOT of other areas to do that.
#1 Overall Rated Junior for the...hmmm...2nd straight year!
Seniors...with some power Juniors moving up...
Where are #5,6,7 all from? (and ended up 123 at the MS Valley Regional??)
Home of Multiple States Winners..Mutliple States T2, and this with a PILE of players with Worlds experience playing against each other, for,what, the 5th straight year???
If you are a Senior or a Junior...you really want to test your mettle, come to the TN or MO events, and see how you stack up!
Vince
When you had an all Illinois Finals at Worlds a few years ago, even I was
Both players still playing, one more often than the other.
For Juniors...
I will take the little Mississippi Valley over anywhere, even with my 2 sons moving up...
2 Different National Champions. Worlds T4. Multiple Regionals Champions.
Sent 3 Juniors to Hawaii last year...we had to take a LOT of points from a LOT of other areas to do that.
#1 Overall Rated Junior for the...hmmm...2nd straight year!
Seniors...with some power Juniors moving up...
Where are #5,6,7 all from? (and ended up 123 at the MS Valley Regional??)
Home of Multiple States Winners..Mutliple States T2, and this with a PILE of players with Worlds experience playing against each other, for,what, the 5th straight year???
If you are a Senior or a Junior...you really want to test your mettle, come to the TN or MO events, and see how you stack up!
Vince
TheDarkTwins
Active Member
I think until someone actually plays in each of the areas, that it is hard to judge which area is better or not. Any area is "weak" to a new player who is decent coming in know what the metagame is and being able to tech against it. I just feel that each area has it's own strength and weakness. I feel that one area's players might be good in their area, and go to another area and dominate the competition, but go to a different area and get dominated. I feel that no area is sooooo much superior than any other. I have some other thoughts, but I like how some areas who most players have never played in are always at the bottom or not on lists
Just my thoughts on that,
Drew
Just my thoughts on that,
Drew
ryanvergel
New Member
Chad and Chuck are right on the money.
The problem with "The Midwest" is that it includes ~7 states. That's a LARGE talent pool. Florida has ONE state. California has ONE state. Northwest has 2-3 states. Carolinas=2 states. Texas/OK.
I think if we were to split up the Midwest into little 2-3 state collectives it would be a little different.
Florida sent more individuals to Worlds in the US than any other state did. We have a decent shot at turning out a large number of invitees this year, too. Though probably not as strongly as we did last year. Florida is a tough place to play because it's one small middle-sized state doing a LOT of work- pulling huge numbers and skilled players from our sized state (just like OH, WA, etc. have done). The toughest places to play are those that have large numbers and those that have a large number of above average players. Having a few good players makes it challenging, but you almost always have abouta 2 25% window to win just because of matchups. But when you enter regions where there are many, many good and above average players but no *stellar* players the competition is fierce when you have to beat skill and good decks time and time again instead of just once or twice.
The problem with "The Midwest" is that it includes ~7 states. That's a LARGE talent pool. Florida has ONE state. California has ONE state. Northwest has 2-3 states. Carolinas=2 states. Texas/OK.
I think if we were to split up the Midwest into little 2-3 state collectives it would be a little different.
Florida sent more individuals to Worlds in the US than any other state did. We have a decent shot at turning out a large number of invitees this year, too. Though probably not as strongly as we did last year. Florida is a tough place to play because it's one small middle-sized state doing a LOT of work- pulling huge numbers and skilled players from our sized state (just like OH, WA, etc. have done). The toughest places to play are those that have large numbers and those that have a large number of above average players. Having a few good players makes it challenging, but you almost always have abouta 2 25% window to win just because of matchups. But when you enter regions where there are many, many good and above average players but no *stellar* players the competition is fierce when you have to beat skill and good decks time and time again instead of just once or twice.
Cyrus
Iron Chef - Master Emeritus
I think this issue is extremely complicated. Three things come to mind whenever I hear it brought up:
#1: the boldness of claiming that your area is the best (and by default, claiming that others are inferior)
#2: the band-wagoning that happens afterwards.
#3: how radically-different areas are often lumped together, such as in the instances of Florida and the Carolinas, or the actual Midwest and Ohio.
#2 interests me because many relatively inexperienced players either rationalize their failure at an event with "I play in the best area," or inflate the worth of their accomplishments (e.g., "I won a state in such-and-such...that's MUCH better than winning in such-and-such!"). When you have outstanding players like Alex Brosseau and Steve Silvestro asserting their regions, you have a whole slew of people following behind.
There's no question in my mind that the Midwest is the most difficult area in the country to play. When you have the tactics of Jason/Alex, the wackiness of Jimmy's decks, and a slew of other interesting opponents (Alvis and Jay come to mind), you've got a really well-rounded area of the country. HOWEVER, people tend to lump in the Great Lakes carelessly, even though they're entirely different metagames. Keep in mind that Chris Fulop, Drew Holton, et al simply do not compete with genuine Midwesterners unless they travel very far. That all goes back to #3.
Oh, and just for fun, here's how I rank the areas:
~~~Top Tier, in order~~~
Midwest, Florida, Great Lakes
~~~Middle Tier, out of order~~~
Northwest, Texas, and another state (I'm leaning heavily to California, Eastern, or Mid-Atlantic...it's a pain to choose, but it'd be a lot easier if SoCal had the strength it did two or three seasons ago)
~~~Lower Tier (wow, I sound so jerky saying that)~~~
Everyone else
#1: the boldness of claiming that your area is the best (and by default, claiming that others are inferior)
#2: the band-wagoning that happens afterwards.
#3: how radically-different areas are often lumped together, such as in the instances of Florida and the Carolinas, or the actual Midwest and Ohio.
#2 interests me because many relatively inexperienced players either rationalize their failure at an event with "I play in the best area," or inflate the worth of their accomplishments (e.g., "I won a state in such-and-such...that's MUCH better than winning in such-and-such!"). When you have outstanding players like Alex Brosseau and Steve Silvestro asserting their regions, you have a whole slew of people following behind.
There's no question in my mind that the Midwest is the most difficult area in the country to play. When you have the tactics of Jason/Alex, the wackiness of Jimmy's decks, and a slew of other interesting opponents (Alvis and Jay come to mind), you've got a really well-rounded area of the country. HOWEVER, people tend to lump in the Great Lakes carelessly, even though they're entirely different metagames. Keep in mind that Chris Fulop, Drew Holton, et al simply do not compete with genuine Midwesterners unless they travel very far. That all goes back to #3.
Oh, and just for fun, here's how I rank the areas:
~~~Top Tier, in order~~~
Midwest, Florida, Great Lakes
~~~Middle Tier, out of order~~~
Northwest, Texas, and another state (I'm leaning heavily to California, Eastern, or Mid-Atlantic...it's a pain to choose, but it'd be a lot easier if SoCal had the strength it did two or three seasons ago)
~~~Lower Tier (wow, I sound so jerky saying that)~~~
Everyone else
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