Is the current format the worst ever?

[baby mario]

As far as I'm concerned, this format definitely isn't one of the better ones I've played in.

But it's still fun and playable, and there has been worse that this. The HGSS-BLW format was pretty bad with all those Reversal flips, and the Sabledonk format would have been a nightmare if it wasn't put out of its misery after one set of BRs.

Players often look back on formats with a lot of nostalgia. There was a ton of complaining about the GG format and the years of SP dominating. I guess you don't know what you had until its gone.

 

[Phazon Elite]

I will actually say even the older formats with the older ex's were amazing, but right now, N, Catcher and EX's are all ruining it big time for me.

Speedrill was an amazing deck. I loved using it at Nationals and was very close to switching back to it for Worlds in '09 but decided against it. Funnily enough Silvestro went on to win Worlds with it.

My biggest hope is TPCI will incorporate all the older cards into PTCGO, at least from RS and onwards, and I'll be able to play those decks against other people once again.

I used to be a really big defender of the game and that every format is different and you can find positives in all of them. My stance on that has now changed.

It's worth noting that those older ex formats had rocket admin, so N itself may not be an issue. Admin wasn't really a problem there because you had better draw/search Pokemon for recovery and had pow hand extension instead of catcher/gust, making it more difficult to outright kill your stability Pokemon. You had to strategically shut down powers, with better and more concise power blockers than the garbage door. This made true lock decks viable and difficult to play.

I get that the format may very well be balanced right now, but if most of the meta cards all have the same lowest-common-denominator strategy, what's the point?

Still gotta say that the GG formats are my all time favorites, so of course that's what I want the game to return to. Maybe other people are more amused by beating each other over the head with mad shiny cards. Good for them!

 

[vaporeon]

@ Baby Mario

Even in the GG and SP formats, I had no issue making a deck I could play on a competitive level. People complaining were the ones who could not think of something to play or did not want to test something else.

@ Phazon Elite

While N and Rocket's Admin were the same cards, both were pretty different in their formats. When N is used now, the player that got N'ed is normally looking down some huge basic EX (most likely Mewtwo EX, Darkrai EX or Keldeo) and MUST draw something to get out of it (most likely a Juniper or Bianca). N is bad in this format because of the imbalance in cards we have (catcher, big basics, etc). Cards like N are very bad for a simplified format.

Look at Rocket's Admin. While it was used to disrupt, it was never as bad because you have the chance to recover from it. Rocket's Admin was used to just reduce the amount of resources in the hand. The format also had Pidgeot in it so you were also able to recover your lost card. That format was not simplified and was one of the greatest formats the game seen. It had counters for cards, very good stadiums and every stage of Pokemon was useable.

Like I said before, I did not see a problem with the GG or SP formats because there were always options to make decks. We don't have those options like that now.

 

[psychup2034]

@ Baby Mario

Even in the GG and SP formats, I had no issue making a deck I could play on a competitive level. People complaining were the ones who could not think of something to play or did not want to test something else.

vaporeon, in the current format, I have no issue making a deck I could play on a competitive level. People complaining about the format are the ones who cannot think of something to play and did not want to test something else.

 

[vaporeon]

vaporeon, in the current format, I have no issue making a deck I could play on a competitive level. People complaining about the format are the ones who cannot think of something to play and did not want to test something else.

Me, I like playing with my favorite Pokemon. This by no means my ability to play something in this format. Anyone can make a deck of big basic Pokemon and mashing them together. Its not a matter of playing not thinking of something to play. Every deck is the same. Choose big basic Pokemon and go from there or play some energy manipulation or acceleration deck. That does not count as 'making a deck'.

 

[Diaz]

Me, I like playing with my favorite Pokemon. This by no means my ability to play something in this format. Anyone can make a deck of big basic Pokemon and mashing them together. Its not a matter of playing not thinking of something to play. Every deck is the same. Choose big basic Pokemon and go from there or play some energy manipulation or acceleration deck. That does not count as 'making a deck'.

What if I told you that Psychup won a (very competitive) city championship with Empoleon Accelgor yesterday?

 

[vaporeon]

What if I told you that Psychup won a (very competitive) city championship with Empoleon Accelgor yesterday?

I would say congrats to him..

 

[cabd]

Empoleon Accelgor

Hmm, let's see your test, vaporeon.

Every deck is the same.

Naturally the winning deck above is part of this every deck list then?

big basic Pokemon

Nope, evolutions, moving on...

energy manipulation

Well, no, everything just attacks for a single attachment, but we'll keep going.

acceleration deck

Ummm. Nope, no energy accel here at all!

Looks like your blanket statement was wrong, then. Or would you like to tell psychup he didn't win cities with a real deck?

 

[Phazon Elite]

@vaporeon: your response to me was basically a more elaborate rewording of what I said. As such I do agree with you on a few points, as that means I am agreeing with myself. I would caution you to be careful about over generalization, as that tends to weaken any argument where the facts are not obviously black and white.

In any case, while empoleon accelgor has been known for a while, congrats to psych for winning with a fairly uncommon deck. You did what I lacked the motivation to do.

I'm not trying to diminish anyone's viewpoint. I'm just explaining my reasons for not being satisfied with the overall format, hence my hasty exit from the game. For me, a more simplistic format is fundamentally not exciting. Takes my competitive edge out. My goal when I got back into the game was to make off the wall decks that still worked very well for me, like I used to. From my impression of the state of the game, that goal did not seem plausible.

 

[vaporeon]

Hmm, let's see your test, vaporeon.

Naturally the winning deck above is part of this every deck list then?

Nope, evolutions, moving on...

Well, no, everything just attacks for a single attachment, but we'll keep going.

Ummm. Nope, no energy accel here at all!

Looks like your blanket statement was wrong, then. Or would you like to tell psychup he didn't win cities with a real deck?

I was making my points on big basic. Also I don't judge decks as 'real' or not.

 

[Mekkah]

Except for the whole "That does not count as 'making a deck'. " nonsense that you are spewing, of course.

I've noticed that the people who hate on a format are generally also the ones that do poorly in it. Usually because they just find it hard to deal with the cards they get available to them. Too bad for you, but don't belittle other people for it, especially not if you get caught making misplays.

 

[ShadowGuard]

Empoleon is a really good card because it can compensate the lack of reliable draw power in the format, while it takes few energy to attack, leaving more slots for the deck build. I've also won a Regionals with Empoleon/Accelgor and a friend of mine top cutted at two others (however European regionals are a lot smaller than the US ones), so I can confirm it's very good.

I've also won a (small) CC with Flygon, which is a completely different approach than any other deck, and I know from another player who did well with that deck at some of our Regionals.

There actually is room for other decks, but they're more difficult to play and not as strong as the "big basic" stuff so many players choose that way.

Skyla and Computer Search made the format a lot better. Keldeo and Landorus are still a pain when it comes on playing creative decks, cause they screw up many strategies.

At all I think the current format is better than the last three ones (HS to NEX, HS to DEX and BLW to DRX), but it still can't be compared to pre-BLW formats.

 

[Phazon Elite]

Eh maybe I just had a poor personal experience then.

 

[hinkbert]

As a returning player (played back during the original EX format and stopped shortly after the DP sets came out) I believe the most frustrating aspect of this format is going second, or conversely that the lack of restrictions placed on the player going first on their first turn.

Other aspects of this format (catcher, Big Basic EXes) can create negative play experiences for sure, but none are as bad as going second and then struggling against a well setup opponent. How many of us have had good opening hands to only have it "N'ed" away before you even get to do anything with it?

I'd like know what others think, especially those that were playing when the rule change happened to the BW rules.

Personally I pine for the days when the first player's first turn didn't allow a supporter to be played, but maybe I'm too myopically focused on just that one aspect.

 

[ShadowGuard]

I'd like know what others think, especially those that were playing when the rule change happened to the BW rules.

You are completely right, I don't know anyone who liked this change, according to rumors even most Japanese players aren't happy with the new rule.

 

[psychup2034]

What if I told you that Psychup won a (very competitive) city championship with Empoleon Accelgor yesterday?

I actually have 140 CPs from Cities using Empoleon/Accelgor (1st, 1st, 2nd). That's part of the reason why I think this whole "big basics taking over the format" thing is misrepresentative of how the format actually is.

I actually played Empoleon/Acclegor to counter the big basic decks in the format. Last year, there were so many decks in the Cities format that were playable: Magnezone/Eelektrik, Chandelure/Vileplume, ZPST, Eelektrik variants, Durant, 6 Corners, Electrode variants, etc. When there are so many good decks in the format, it's very difficult to counter the metagame. You're forced to play one of the Tier 1 decks, because there's so many of them and you're not going to be able to counter everything with a lower tier deck.

However, this year's Cities format is concentrated enough such that you can design creative counter decks (and we have the card pool to do it as well!).

 

[bullados]

A ity yesterday was won by quad siggy in 2 age groups. Probably won't happen again, but it as fun to watch

 

[FSULugia]

I agree with whoever said that the game has come down to just energy acceleration and ex's. Yes this format has a decent amount of diversity, but the game play gets stale very quickly. I started playing Pokemon again a few weeks ago and now have no interest again. Theres strategy to a little extent but still not enough to where its really that interesting of challenging. If you have a developed brain, the format isnt hard to figure out, only to younger kids could it be any bit of a challenge. Having a bad experience with this format sounds very common. To say that its someones fault for why the format is bad is just being ignorant.

The games are somewhat long but almost every deck is based around the same things. I really dont like Mewtwo EX either, this card needs to go similar to how Sneasel did. It doesnt promote anything good, it destroys most basics with little to no effort, its a staple, it has more HP than most EX's, you dont need to run anything specific to use it, etc etc. The format would be better if you couldnt KO your opponent for having a Pokemon with less than 50-60 hp on the first turn.

I dont like how most decks have less than 10 Pokemon either. I feel like more monsters should be seeing play. But then again thats probably due to Mewtwo EX. I dont think the game is THAT bad, but its getting stagnant by the look of things.

 

[psychup2034]

If you have a developed brain, the format isnt hard to figure out, only to younger kids could it be any bit of a challenge.

Ugh, it took me three weeks to figure out the format and to make a refined list of most competitive decks. I wish my brain was more developed. I could save a lot of time testing. Honestly, if you think it's that easy to figure this format out (and be successful in the format), then you should really try playing competitively and going for the Worlds invite. This format is honestly not that easy to metagame against, and even big basic decks need skill to build, as the skeletons of decks nowadays have only 48-52 cards.

 

[Otaku]

I've noticed that the people who hate on a format are generally also the ones that do poorly in it.

I've also noticed people who defend a format tend to be those who are doing well in it. Losing tends to sour an experience, winning tends to sweeten it. This is why I tend to give more credence (all other things being equal) to someone praising a format even if they aren't doing particularly well in it, or when a player who is doing well decides to critique it.