ryanvergel
New Member
People need to remember that the entire point of going to worlds is to play against a variety of players from different nations. I just think we could benefit from better opportunity to actually do this.
This game needs better player appreciation
- Thread starter waynegg
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People need to remember that the entire point of going to worlds is to play against a variety of players from different nations. I just think we could benefit from better opportunity to actually do this.
Box of Fail
New Member
The Americans would benefit at the others' expense, when half your opponents are American, that's not really a 'wide variety', is it?
NoPoke
Active Member
very roughly you can compare tournament difficulty by attendance, at least within the two tiers that pokemon have set up. It is valid to compare a USA regional with a similarly sized national event. Note that even if the average level of skill is different between the two events that does not mean that it is relatively easier or harder to win one over the other.
There is no pokemon gene that is possesed by americans only. Rather the well developed environment that some regions of the USA have requires players to improve in order to stay competative. Knowledge leaks out at tournaments so the average standard can be expected to be higher in the USA. But cut players off from that environment and they would once more be similar to everywhere else.
Yes the road to worlds is hard for any individual USA player. I'll happily concede that many very good USA players wont get an invite. But it is not so obvious that if you take one of those players and transport then to Germany or France or the UK or Finland or the Netherlands or Norway or Mexico or Canada that they would dominate the local players. There are environmental factors that matter too.
From what I can see the USA players receive the best support from POP, the consequence of which is a very large and growing playerbase. That large playerbase and good support all but guarantees that qualifying for a player in the USA is harder than anywhere else that has POP supported OP.
There is no pokemon gene that is possesed by americans only. Rather the well developed environment that some regions of the USA have requires players to improve in order to stay competative. Knowledge leaks out at tournaments so the average standard can be expected to be higher in the USA. But cut players off from that environment and they would once more be similar to everywhere else.
Yes the road to worlds is hard for any individual USA player. I'll happily concede that many very good USA players wont get an invite. But it is not so obvious that if you take one of those players and transport then to Germany or France or the UK or Finland or the Netherlands or Norway or Mexico or Canada that they would dominate the local players. There are environmental factors that matter too.
From what I can see the USA players receive the best support from POP, the consequence of which is a very large and growing playerbase. That large playerbase and good support all but guarantees that qualifying for a player in the USA is harder than anywhere else that has POP supported OP.
yoyofsho16
New Member
Why don't they ever have Worlds in DC? I'm so tired of Cali and Florida.
waynegg
CotD Editor<br>Forum Moderator
worlds has always been a tropical theme, like a summer get away. D.C. isn't very tropical...
To all of those who feel that Worlds invites should be based on player population, assuming you get what you wish for, you had better pray that Pokemon TCG never really catches on in India or China. If it did you might suddenly see your own argument turned against you as the number of players from those countries would dwarf the U.S. player population.
And you would probably be having to fly to Beijing, Shanghai or New Delhi for the tournament.
And you would probably be having to fly to Beijing, Shanghai or New Delhi for the tournament.
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ryanvergel
New Member
Extremely well said. This is a very fitting surmising of the situation for the US.
Ardoptres
New Member
Ew, idk, last time i talked to other Europeans about the good countries in Europe, they thought Denmark was one of the best countries in Europe at the TCG... Didn't you say Andrea was the best European player? I'm pretty sure he was the one that said that.
And a fin won Worlds last year in MA, and never dominated in Finland. Might not make it HARD there, but not literally easy either.
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Scipio
New Member
Oi, I'd like you to respond to this:
While it is true that for USA players it is harder to get the INVITE (not denying that, at all), it is a lot harder for European players to get to WORLDS AS IT IS. I missed the invite this year by one match, but if I won it, would I have gone? Highly debatable, given the HUGE costs associated with it. While most Americans will be able to easily make it.
Then there's grinders. While paying for the trip to WORLDS is pretty steep for an average joe like me, paying that much to go to grinders...I'll have to pass.
Kinda balances out.
Ardoptres
New Member
Sorry to ruin your fun, but most of our players are just as good or better than yours. Just because many of your player have been to worlds (yet another example of how easy it is for you) doesn't really mean anything considering the small size of the player population.
Steve, I play the game for fun too.I hate having to be so cut throat. I would LOVE it if we could have it like Europe does in respect to difficulty of getting an invite.
Oh cut out the whining. You talk like the US has nothing but good players, and in Europe everything is easy peacy. If you play an improved theme deck you should win.
You even bashed me for winning my Nats, saying how easy it was. It wasn't that hard due to my play and what was played, I admit, and no, it wasn't as hard as your nats, but playing 9 matches, facing a Worlds competitor, T16 worlds, T16 worlds, and then in the top cut facing T16 worlds again, then T2 worlds, isn't THAT easy either.
Don't disrespect the Europeans because you can't get your invite, you won't get anywhere with it.
DarthPika
New Member
Your argument holds no ground considering that you've won your nats 2 years in a row. Props to you for doing it, and yes, you're a good player BUT that has NOT been done in the US. I don't think it's even possible to win the US nats 2 years running. The odds are so against it.
I'm not saying that you guys are bad, but rather the US is SO hard that Europe looks easy in comparison. Europe has many good players, but it's MUCH easier for those good players to get an invite due to your player base being small. We have so many players that many miss an invite JUST because we have such a huge player base.
Ardoptres
New Member
Sadly I didn't win last season. I came in 2nd, and that was in Seniors...
The US is harder than Europe, but that doesn't mean Europe is bad. It's two completely different things.
I would LOVE to have a bigger playerbase here. It would be so much easier to top cut! It gets annoying when you face a Worlds caliber player every 2nd round in swiss...
Heck, if our LD/TPCi actually did something to grow the game here, I think it would. But nothing has been done since the NEO sets...
The US is harder than Europe, but that doesn't mean Europe is bad. It's two completely different things.
I would LOVE to have a bigger playerbase here. It would be so much easier to top cut! It gets annoying when you face a Worlds caliber player every 2nd round in swiss...
Heck, if our LD/TPCi actually did something to grow the game here, I think it would. But nothing has been done since the NEO sets...
zombieminun
New Member
I wouldn't mind dropping a fiver for what I deserve :wink:
Ariadosman
New Member
Yeah! And what are the odds of someone winning Worlds twice in a 3-year perio- oh
Things are changing, albeit slowly. Even if a smaller percentage of China's and India's population is middle class, their overall populations are so much larger that they could easily out number the U.S. Pokemon player population.
You have touched on an interesting point though. Is Pokemon OP only for the middle class?
I guess it depends on what level of organized play you are talking about. As the tournaments are free to enter, then a BR in your own city involves very little cost. Players may not be bringing a National or World level deck, but they can still participate in OP.
Professor Elm
Active Member
I agree it's very expensive, although not quite as expensive now that Konami has taken over.
But, in my experiences, the majority of YGO players are middle class or lower. People find ways and trade to get there cards, and those with expensive decks either devote all their time and money to the game or sadly steal and cheat their way to get the cards.
YGO has a bad reputation for that. Every event I've been to there is always somebody who gets a lot of valuable cards stolen. I guess we don't want Pokemon to get like that, so the prices better stay pretty low.
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