Level Up – Tips for Improving Your Game This Season
Hello PokeBeach readers. I am so glad to be back here writing for you today! This weekend I had a blast at the World Championships. Look out for my upcoming article all about that! I’ll be talking about my performance at Worlds as well as some of my top deck choices for next season. But first let’s go into what every player wants to do, become a better player. Have you ever thought about how to do that? Have you ever been curious about what the greatest players in the game do to become legends? Have you ever wondered what the necessary steps are to take the next step in your development? Then this article is tailor-made for you. I’ll walk you through the ins and outs of playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game at the highest level and give you insight as to what separates the good from the great. We’ll talk a little bit about playtesting partners, determining Prizes, using Prize knowledge to your advantage, the current card pool, and much more. So, read on, won’t you?
Teams and Playtesting Partners
This is a pretty sad time for me as I’m in the midst of leaving the group of people that got me started in the game. I’ll be moving to Cleveland for graduate school this year and will be forced to leave some of my closest friends in the game. I met my current team while playing at the Michigan State University league. Myself and fellow Team Poliswag members have traveled all over the U.S. together, had some crazy adventures, and have spent late nights playtesting, theorymoning, and hanging out. I’m going to miss these fellas and all that we’ve done together.
[cardimg name=”Teammates” set=”Primal Clash” no=”160″ align=”left” height=”250″ c=”custom”]It’s important to have some of these![/cardimg]
One of the best ways to get better at the game is to surround yourself with people who are just as passionate as you and who push you to succeed. As a musician, I am always in an environment where there are diverse talent levels. Some players are better than you, some worse, and some equal, yet all are working toward a similar goal. From my experience in music, I’ve learned it is tantamount to your individual growth to surround yourself with people better than you. I was constantly trying to get into the higher ensembles and play with other graduate students. Similarly, surrounding yourself with better Pokemon players not only makes you step your game up to compete with them, but gives you an ideal to work toward. Try to find players with different ideas and ways of looking at the game. Their insights can be extremely valuable.
So, you may be thinking, how can I get involved with people better than me? One of the easiest ways to form a team is geography. If you live close enough to another player, it would be a natural step to meet up in person to share ideas and test decks. This is exactly how I got started with my team at Michigan State University. I went to my first tournament, a Battle Road, and played against someone who attended Michigan State. We got to talking about the league he ran there and invited me to join. Simply put, this interaction got me involved in the club and the competitive scene.
Let’s say you’re a new player and either have no idea how to connect to nearby players, or have no players in the immediate area. Start by going to local tournaments. Ask your opponents where they’re from. If they live close by, fantastic! You’ve found a potential testing partner. Many players are on the look out for testing partners. Additionally, a lot of colleges and universities have a list of active clubs on their websites. If you currently go to college or live near a college town, this can be an easy way to find out if there’s a Pokemon scene near you. If you’re not a college or university student, attending local league can be a great way to build a regular testing group.
Let’s say there are no players in the immediate area. This is a problem that I originally faced. Growing up, my city on the east side of Michigan didn’t have a competitive Pokemon scene, and it still doesn’t. One of the first things I did was join forums and connect with players on social media. I’ve met some great players by simply posting on forums like PokeBeach’s. I am always talking to players that I have met through forums. It’s one of the best ways to metagame for larger tournaments like Regionals and Nationals. They let me know what people are playing in their area, as well as any secret decks from their region, while I give them insight on what’s played where I’m at.
Facebook is another great resource for finding players in your area. Doing a simple search of “Pokemon in [insert current city]” should yield useful results.
To be completely fair, finding a regular group of testing partners can be one of the most difficult or one of the easiest tasks. While I was lucky enough to find people who played Pokemon and also attended the same university as I did, I also cultivated more friends from all around the country using the methods outlined above. I feel that it is good to have a mix of players both from your area and from outside your area. We often we focus our attention to the shifts that occur in our own, isolated metagame while failing to consider what people around the country or world are thinking. Go out on a limb and join the forums or introduce yourself to someone online. You never know how much better it will make you!
Determining Prizes
Determining what your Prizes can make an immediate impact on the way you play the game. It is a skill that the best players in the game employ. Maybe two of your four [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”XY” no=”130″ c=”name”] are Prized. With this information, I would be a little more cautious with Energy drops to ensure I have enough energy for the rest of the game.
Have you ever thought about determining what your Prizes are after your first deck search? Truly figuring out what’s Prized (and remembering those Prizes) can change the way you play. If you’ve never tried figuring out your Prizes, it can seem daunting at first, but I guarantee you that it gets easier with practice. Here are a couple different strategies that I’ve used to get better at determining Prizes.
Strategy #1 – Solitaire
With this strategy, choose a deck list that you can recite in your sleep. Use a list that you could write upside down, underwater, and with your non-dominant hand. It is helpful to know the list inside and out, just as though you would take that list into a tournament. Set up a game just as though you would to start a tournament. Draw a hand with a Basic Pokemon and place it in the Active position. I find it is best to practice with a proper, tournament-like set up instead of just taking the top six cards from your deck and searching through the rest because it better simulates an in game scenario. If you practice like this, you will be more prepared to determine your Prizes in an actual match.
Before searching your deck, figure out the order you will remember Prizes by. Depending on the deck, I generally search out Pokemon, then important non-draw Supporters (like [card name=”Lysandre” set=”Flashfire” no=”90″ c=”name”] or [card name=”Pokémon Center Lady” set=”Flashfire” no=”105″ c=”name”]) and other tech Items, then Energy, then draw Supporters, then remaining Trainers. I make a mental “tic” in my head until I have counted the total number of that card that I play. For instance, if I play three [card name=”Bronzor” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”60″ c=”name”], two [card name=”Bronzong” set=”XY Black Star Promos” no=”XY21″ c=”name”], and a [card name=”Keldeo-EX” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”142″ c=”name”] I will make a tic as I see each. If I see one of each, I’ll count 1-1-1. If at the end of my search I am at the count of 2-2-1, I’ll know I have one Bronzor Prized.
Strategy #2 – Deck of Fours
Create a sample deck list. I’ve provided a sample just for our purposes. It is actually more difficult to determine what’s Prized when your entire deck is four-ofs because you can’t dismiss counting a card that’s played in lesser amounts if you see it early.
[decklist]
[pokemon amt=”20″]
4x [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”deck2″]
4x [card name=”Mewtwo-EX” set=”Next Destinies” no=”98″ c=”deck2″]
4x [card name=”Eelektross” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”33″ c=”deck2″]
4x [card name=”Eelektrik” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”32″ c=”deck2″]
4x [card name=”Tynamo” set=”Primal Clash” no=”62″ c=”deck2″]
[/pokemon]
[trainers amt=”32″]
4x [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”116″ c=”deck2″]
4x [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”101″ c=”deck2″]
4x [card name=”Trainers’ Mail” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”92″ c=”deck2″]
4x [card name=”Pokémon Catcher” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”95″ c=”deck2″]
4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”deck2″]
4x [card name=”Revive” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”88″ c=”deck2″]
4x[card name=”Great Ball” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”93″ c=”deck2″]
4x [card name=”Frozen City” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”100″ c=”deck2″]
[/trainers]
[energy amt=”8″]
4x [card name=”Water Energy” set=”Call of Legends” no=”90″ c=”deck2″]
4x [card name=”Water Energy” set=”Base Set” no=”102″ c=”deck2″]
[/energy]
[/decklist]
I highly recommend that you don’t take the above list to a tournament, and if you do please don’t say you got it from me! While it lacks competitiveness, the list does give us an approximate breakdown of Pokemon to Trainers to Supporters in a standard deck list.
Draw a sample hand and place a Basic Pokemon in the Active position. Then, search through your deck counting the cards in any order that makes the most sense. Take your time early on, but as you do this more, practice timing yourself for an added challenge. However, what makes this strategy different from the one above is that it is actually harder. Remembering what’s Prized in a deck comprised entirely of four-ofs means having to employ greater concentration throughout the entire deck search instead of checking a tech card off the mental list as soon as you see it. If you’ve conquered strategy #1 and want to challenge yourself, this is the way to do it.
When practicing how to determine Prizes, come up with a system or strategy that best suits you. When first starting, it can be helpful to write down what you think is Prized and then compare after you’ve searched. Take as long as you need to in order to get it right, but try not to rearrange your deck. If you rearrange your deck in an actual tournament, you may be accused of “declumping” which could be the subject of an entirely different article.
Winning and losing games comes down to resource management. Many people think that Prizes are not a resource to be actively used and instead prefer to think of Prizes after they draw them. This is a thoughtless, and frankly lazy habit of playing that I myself occasionally find myself falling into. Knowing what is Prized can be essential to conserving resources and knowing what you can expect to draw as the game goes on. Knowing what’s Prized does take practice. Don’t give up if it feels difficult at first – it is!
How to Utilize Prize Knowledge
Now it’s time to put that Prize information to better use. Who cares if you know what your Prizes are if you aren’t sure quite how to utilize that information? It is so strong to know what you have Prized as well as the probability of drawing specific Prizes because it can allow you to make better in game decisions. In this section, I will discuss a couple of in game decisions that one must reconsider after understanding the Prize math behind them. I will also give you a chart to help you understand probability and incorporate that knowledge into your game.
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Example #1
Let’s discuss a common scenario and work out the math to go with it. You are playing [card name=”Landorus-EX” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”144″ c=”name”] / [card name=”Crobat” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”33″ c=”name”]. Your hand consists of [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”name”], [card name=”Strong Energy” set=”Furious Fists” no=”104″ c=”name”], [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”101″ c=”name”], and [card name=”Fighting Energy” set=”Base Set” no=”97″ c=”name”]. Your Prizes are [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”110″ c=”name”], [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”110″ c=”name”], [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”116″ c=”name”], [card name=”Colress” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”118″ c=”name”], [card name=”Fighting Stadium” set=”Furious Fists” no=”90″ c=”name”], and [card name=”Lucario-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”54″ c=”name”].
In this scenario, you need to grab a [card name=”Golbat” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”32″ c=”name”] with your Ultra Ball to KO your opponent’s Active Pokemon-EX. If you didn’t know what your Prizes were, you would naturally discard the Strong Energy and Fighting Energy in order to search out the Golbat and still have the draw Supporter N in your hand for next turn. However, knowing that you will KO a Pokemon-EX this turn to take two Prizes with Prizes that include four outs to draw supporters might make me reconsider what I discard with Ultra Ball. The chances that you draw an out to a Supporter from your first prize are 4 / 6. The chances you draw a Supporter on your next Prize, assuming you didn’t draw one off your first prize is now 4 / 5. We can then turn to our good friend Dependent Conditional Probability to determine the combined probability of drawing a Supporter off of the first or the second Prize card.
In the picture to the right, the shaded rectangles represent Prizes that can lead to a Supporter: two VS Seeker, Professor Juniper, and Colress. The unshaded rectangles represent our two non Supporter Prizes: Fighting Stadium and Lucario-EX. I’ve chosen not to simplify fractions in order to make the process a bit easier to understand.
We start by determining the chances of drawing a shaded card versus drawing a non-shaded card from the first Prize taken – drawing Supporter from your Prizes versus not drawing a Supporter. The two brackets that branch out from our total six prizes represent these chances, 4 /6 chance to draw an out to a Supporter, 2 / 6 chance not to.
Next, we do the same process again, but now using only five Prizes. Since we are assuming the we will KO a Pokemon-EX and take two Prizes it is necessary to work out the math with this additional step. So, if we’ve taken a Supporter from our first Prize card, the chances that we will take a Supporter from our second Prize is 3 / 5. The chances we will draw a non-Supporter after first drawing a Supporter is 2 / 5.
Once we determine our chances from drawing a Supporter out from our second Prize, we can calculate the total chances of drawing a Supporter when taking two Prizes. Multiply the fractions calculated from taking the first Prize by the fraction calculated from taking the second Prize.
- 4 / 6 times 3 / 5
- 4 / 6 times 2 / 5
- 2 / 6 times 4 / 5
- 2 / 6 times 1 / 5
The (rounded) results when multiplying these fractions from top to bottom are .4, .267, .267 and .067.
Finally, add up the results that would end in taking a Supporter off of the Prizes. Add .4 + .267 + .267. Then, multiply that number by 100 to give you a percentage. You’ll find that there is almost a 94% chance of drawing into a Supporter out for the next turn. Looking back at our original hand while knowing this information, which two would you discard with Ultra Ball; Strong Energy, N, or Fighting Energy? Knowing this math might make me rethink my decision to ditch other resources that may prove more valuable in the future. Of course, game state is also a major factor when deciding what to discard, but knowing your chances of drawing specific Prizes may change your decision.
Example #2
Here’s another example of a late game scenario. You have four Prizes left and need to decide what to KO this turn. One of your prizes is a [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”]. Your immediate options include Knocking Out your opponents Active [card name=”Raichu” set=”XY” no=”43″ c=”name”] or targeting one of two [card name=”Shaymin-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”77″ c=”name”] on their Bench. You have the VS Seeker in hand with a [card name=”Lysandre” set=”Flashfire” no=”90″ c=”name”] in the discard, but are deciding whether you want to use Lysandre now or use the VS Seeker to fetch a different Supporter like [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”92″ c=”name”] or [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”116″ c=”name”]. You have two fully set up attackers that can KO both Raichu and Shaymin-EX. By using the VS Seeker on a Supporter that isn’t Lysandre, you can KO the Active Raichu, but must also KO at least two more of your opponents Pokemon. By using VS Seeker for Lysandre now, you compromise yourself by not knowing if you’ll be able to use Lysandre later in the game.
The quickest way to win would be to play Lysandre now and draw the one VS Seeker off your Prizes. If we calculate the Conditional Probability of drawing a Lysandre after taking two Prizes now from a Shaymin-EX we find that the chances of drawing a Lysandre out from the prizes is 50%. Again, game state might dictate that you must take another course of action such as KOing the active Raichu, but knowing what your chances are of simply ending the game the next turn might make you rethink your decision. This is why knowing your prizes can give you such a huge advantage.
Below is a table that gives the chances of drawing an “Important Prize” based on the number of Prizes remaining, assuming the player is able to take two prizes during that turn. The Important Prize is determined by the player during the game. For instance, an Important Prize could be a combination of VS Seeker and Energy. It could also be a specific Pokemon. You cannot have more Important Prizes than Prizes remaining, hence the double dashes in those areas of the chart.
Again, this chart assumes you will take two Prizes at a time. For instance, say you need a Double Colorless Energy and there are three Prized. You have already taken one Prize and have five Prizes remaining. There are three Important Prizes (Double Colorless Energy in this example). Your chances of drawing into one Double Colorless energy, assuming you take two Prizes during your next turn, is 90%.
| Important Prizes | ||||||
| Prizes Remaining | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 1 | 100% | |||||
| 2 | 100% | 100% | ||||
| 3 | 66.7% | 100% | 100% | |||
| 4 | 50% | 83% | 100% | 100% | ||
| 5 | 40% | 70% | 90% | 100% | 100% | |
| 6 | 33.3% | 60% | 80% | 94% | 100% | 100% |
Understanding the Card Pool
With Expanded becoming a more popular format, if you’re a serious player, you can expect to play in around five to ten Expanded tournaments next year. Tournament Organizers in my area have already begun to host League Challenges that employ the Expanded format and we’ve already heard about the entire Spring Regionals being Expanded. It is yet to be seen if all future Regionals will be Expanded or Standard, but with current announcements, I wouldn’t be shocked to see all Regionals played with an Expanded format. It has always been important to know what each card does. The best in the game are usually never caught off guard by any Pokemon card, even if that card rarely sees play.
I would not say that I have a photographic memory, but I can easily tell you what any number of non Tier 1 cards do. Once a month I take the time to sit down and review the scans in the format of the upcoming tournaments and take a look at cards that I think are interesting. This might mean that they have an interesting Ability, or attack, or even that they might the best Basic to play in a Stage 2 line. As I scan, I notice the little quirks that cards have and develop a greater knowledge of the cards available to me.
Additionally, this is how great rogues start! I can remember back during Fall Regionals of 2013 where I played an [card name=”Empoleon” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”29″ c=”name”] deck. The weeks leading up to the tournament, I was testing this deck with four [card name=”Super Scoop Up” set=”Neo Genesis” no=”98″ c=”name”]. The deck just faltered against a number of heavy hitters and ran out of attackers and other resources quickly. I was about to give up on the deck until I was scanning cards and found the gem that I felt could solve the deck’s problems: [card name=”Recycle” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”96″ c=”name”]. I had no knowledge of players using this card in their lists, but with Empoleon’s Diving Draw Ability, a successful coin flip on Recycle could net me any resource in my discard. Discovering this little used card after flipping through card scans late one night would lead me to an 8-1 record in Swiss, and ultimately a top 32 finish.
[cardimg name=”Recycle” set=”Fossil” no=”61″ align=”left” height=”250″ c=”custom”]Best card in format[/cardimg]
How well do you know what cards do? Take [card name=”Stoutland” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”122″ c=”set”], for instance. Before reading the scan, do you know off the top of your head what it’s Ability is? Perhaps that is too easy, but how about it’s HP? Attack? Retreat Cost? Though this isn’t a card you could (or should) see often, it is currently legal in our format and not knowing what it does could lead to disastrous results.
How many legal [card name=”Deoxys” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”33″ c=”name”] will there be in next year’s standard format, XY-on? Do you know what it does? In addition to Deoxys first Attack that can draw two cards on the first turn, Overdrive smash can be a powerful attack that puts major pressure on your opponent. With the slower set ups that are sure to happen with the loss of a number of powerful cards from newly rotated sets, Deoxys could very well be a Pokemon to be prepared for.
Building Lists
One of the most important skills in Pokemon is list building. While that skill has been somewhat deemphasized with the advent of more Pokemon forums and free or paid content that includes ready-made deck lists, deck building still separates the good from the great. Before Worlds I was working on a Night March list. Many of the standard Night March lists I’ve seen include three [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Primal Clash” no=”122″ c=”name”] and three [card name=”Trainers’ Mail” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”92″ c=”name”], but has anyone questioned why?
I consider Trainer’s Mail to be the quintessential card for as speedy and item dependent a deck as Night March. Consider the resources that are completely disregarded when playing an Acro Bike. I cannot count the number of times I played a standard list of Night March with three Acro Bike and found myself digging desperately for the [card name=”Battle Compressor” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”92″ c=”name”] I needed, only to discard [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Base Set” no=”96″ c=”name”] or other necessary resources in the process.
Now, others may disagree with my analysis of the perils of playing a heavier count of Acro Bike, but that doesn’t mean they’re wrong. The simple fact that both players have thought hard about their card choices shows a maturity of skill from both sides. In my current list, I play two Acro Bike, but I only use them later in the game and often find myself discarding them with an [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”name”] if they are in my hand early. In this way, I prevent myself from becoming too greedy and overextending for resources I didn’t need. Though this is a very specific example, I find simply copying a list without questioning card counts can lead to suboptimal results.
If you feel like you could improve your deck building, my advice to you is to build a ton of lists! Write lists on the back of napkins in a restaurant or scribble lists out on your notes during class. Type a list up on your phone when you’re using the restroom or hash out a list right before bed each night. Just like writing an article, the best way to improve is to write as much as you can. Most of the best deck builders don’t achieve that insight over night – they’ve made hundreds or thousands of lists. As soon as you have a list you feel good about, post it in the Subscriber’s Secret Hideout for some advice from myself and the rest of the PokeBeach writers! As deck building is so important to playing the game, this is one skill that you should definitely strive to improve all the time.
Attitude
Here is one of the biggest hurdles for new players entering the game; their attitude! Attitude can single-handedly affect a player’s performance as well as the performance of players associated with them. I will outline a few of the types of players that I’ve encountered in competitive play and why their attitude is so detrimental to their growth in the game. Do not take it personally if you feel that you align with a particular example I outline. Just know that these attitudes are ones that can be harmful from my perspective.
The Penny Pincher
The Penny Pincher is the player we all know who doesn’t spend money on the basic cards and ends up playing lists that are subpar. One of my great friends used to be this way, choosing in a previous format to play lesser counts of [card name=”Pokémon Catcher” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”95″ c=”name”] in all his decks instead of spend the money to buy correct amounts. I know I am guilty of not having exactly all the right amount of every single card when I go to a tournament, but I make sure to have the staples so I don’t have to constantly play with suboptimal counts of essential cards.
The Rogue Lord
The Rogue Lord never plays anything but rogue decks. The Rogue Lord clings to his rogue creations even though they hardly stand up to the trials of the metagame. Being a Rogue Lord means valuing goofy creations over winning. For instance, there is a player at my League who has been running [card name=”Shedinja” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”11″ c=”name”] / [card name=”Mew-EX” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”120″ c=”name”] / [card name=”Frozen City” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”100″ c=”name”] for the last month despite going 1 – 4 just about every night.
For some, this is what Pokemon is all about – they would rather have fun with a wacky combo than compete at a high level. However, if you want to be truly competitive, you have to let the rogue nonsense go and play meta decks. Now, I’m not saying that you should play meta all the time. In fact, some of my proudest successes in the game came from playing rogue. The dangerous attitude is when a player actively shuns the tried-and-true decks of the format to play ones that are gimmicky.
The Sore Loser
The Sore Loser is someone not many players want to be associated with. You may overhear them at tournaments scoff at their opponents handshake while saying things like, “you got lucky,” and “of course you drew what you needed off an N to one,” as well as “I can’t believe I lost to a player like you.” This attitude is abhorrent and will not get you far in the game. This attitude hinders your growth because it automatically dismisses the skill that the opponent had to execute to win the game. The opponent got lucky? Maybe they knew exactly what they would draw when they took their Prizes. The opponent drew exactly what they needed? Maybe they conserved resources earlier in the game to make sure they could get what they needed later in the game. The opponent is a terrible player? Maybe they’ve been improving their game enough to beat you.
Having this attitude is so disrespectful and harmful to being an elite player because it dismisses an opponents preparation or in-game play. It is more than appropriate to let a loss motivate you to be better next time, but never forget that the Sore Loser’s opponent had every right to win.
The One Who is Never Wrong
As Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, “Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.” Be a player who is open to criticism. Remember, not all criticism is a personal attack on your character. Whether it’s someone commenting on your list, or suggesting a different way of playing a turn, welcome criticism with open arms. Again it is so important as you develop as a player to not only learn how to take criticism, but openly embrace having discussions about your decks and in-game decisions. As soon as I learned how to work with the critiques I was getting from others, I was able to turn those critiques into positive changes in my game.
Does an attitude you display fall into any of these categories? If so, work to adjust your attitude habits so that you can become a higher level player. This isn’t to say that I don’t ever get salty over a loss, or that I’ve never borrowed a card from someone at a tournament, but consistently exhibiting these habits can restrict one from rising to the elite levels.
Recap: What Can You Do?
We’ve discussed a lot of different ideas in one article. Many of these topics could form an article unto themselves. I hope to have provided a nugget of information that will make you think about the way you play the game differently, whether you’re a novice or a seasoned veteran. Here is a recap of what I’ve discussed and what you can do to step up your game:
- Expand your play testing group
- Learn how to determine Prizes
- Utilize knowledge of Prizes to alter in-game strategy
- Understand the card pool and review card scans
- Build, build, and build lists
- Identify attitude habits and work to correct them
I don’t claim to be a perfect player. We are all on a journey to make ourselves better little by little. Perfection is something we can come dangerously close to but can never quite achieve. Think of who you believe to be the best player in the game right now. Do you think he or she has ever made a misplay? Of course they have! Do you think he or she has ever had a suboptimal attitude towards the game? Definitely. Acknowledging your faults and working to eliminate them is part of the challenge of playing.
I enjoyed articulating some of my thoughts on how to get better, and I certainly hope you take something from this article and employ that in your own playing. Thanks again for reading and subscribing! As always, I’ll be poaching the Subscriber’s Hideout to give opinions and advice on your lists. Enjoy the rest of summer!
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