There’s Always Next Time — Expectations, Failure, and Succeeding in the New Structure
Hello fans and subscribers! My name is Ryan Grant and this is my first article for PokeBeach. I would like to start by giving a huge thanks to PokeBeach for this amazing opportunity. I am thrilled to be writing and bringing you content for this fantastic site!
This is my fifth season playing competitive Pokemon and my best accomplishments since I started playing are: Top 4 Wisconsin States in the 2012-2013 season, Top 4 Wisconsin States, and Top 32 Madison Regionals in the 2013-2014 season, Top 8 Minnesota States, First Place Iowa States, Top 8 Fort Wayne Regionals, Top 64 Nationals in the 2014-2015 season, Tenth Place at the Origins Win a Trip to Worlds, Top 8 at Minnesota States, First Place at Wisconsin States, Top 32 Houston Regionals, and Top 32 at Nationals in the 2015-2016 season, I qualified for and played in the 2015 and 2016 World Championships, and this year so far I have made Top 32 at Phoenix Regionals and Top 16 at Philadelphia Regionals.
Although I’m used to just competing, writing brings a new aspect to Pokemon that I’m stoked about. Helping people gain information, see new perspectives, and improve is what I’m all about. Whether that be through deck analyses, tournament reports, meta analyses, or useful tips, I will do my best to bring you content that is informative and helpful.
The Point
The theme and title of this article is “there’s always next time”, which is a friendly reminder that there’s always another chance to do something better, no matter what it is. If you didn’t make cut at a tournament, there’s always next time. If you made a misplay that caused you to lose a game, there’s always next time. If you don’t qualify for Worlds, there’s always next time. I know it can be a bummer when you don’t do well at an event or meet your expectations, but all you can do is learn from your experience and grow. Learning from your failures is a key to success in anything and the Pokemon Trading Card Game is not an exception. First, I’ll talk about the new tournament structure, how it’s been going this year, how it compares to previous years, and if it could be done better next time.
The New Structure
The new and current tournament structure is quite different from the ones I’ve experienced since I started playing. This year, Organized Play decided to eliminate Cities, States, and Nationals. Cities and Nationals have now been replaced with League Cups and International Championships. League Cups and League Challenges share the same best finish limit, the same goes for Regionals with Special Events, and International Championships with the 2016 World Championships. Points from the last World Championships count at the beginning of the season. Lastly but not least, cash prizes for players 18 and older have been added to all Regionals. Some of you may like all the changes and some of you may dislike all of them, but I think there’s an almost even balance of pros and cons.
Pros
The absolute best change they made would have to be adding cash prizes to Regionals. Cash prizes are awarded to players all the way up to Top 64 depending on attendance. The amount of money awarded for Top 16 and higher increases with a larger attendance. For anyone younger than 18 years old, you can choose to get either a scholarship or Visa Gift Card. So, overall, I’d say cash prizes are the MVP of this new structure.
Another thing I love about this season is the ability to go to multiple International Championships. In previous years you could only go to National Championships in countries you had citizenship in. Now, you can essentially go to multiple “Nationals” and have four finishes from Internationals and 2016 Worlds.
Speaking of best finish limits, you now have eight for Regionals and Special Events. Before you only had four and it was shared with States, having eight and cash prizes makes traveling to Regionals more worth it than ever! If you make day two or better at a Regionals, you realistically can either profit or at least get your trip paid for between cash prizes and Pokemon product.
The last thing I really like is how spread out Regionals are this year. It is much easier to attend multiple Regionals when there aren’t a bunch on the same weekends.
Now there are plenty of lovable traits about this season, but I’d say there’s just as many detestable ones, maybe a little more.
Cons
Now more than ever, getting an invite to Worlds really seems dependent on your ability to travel to Regionals. Eliminating States is something I highly disagree with. I may be biased because I usually do very well at States, but getting rid of them took away a lot of Championship Points for everyone. That combined with a reinstated 500 Championship Point requirement means qualifying for Worlds is much more difficult than the previous two seasons. Now I gladly welcome the challenge, but not everyone has the time or money to travel. States were a great opportunity to get a solid amount of Championship Points, and usually you could go to at least two or three without traveling too far.
The only downside to Pokemon adding cash prizes has been the disorganized Regionals that weren’t properly ran. There have been tournaments that have started two or more hours than they were supposed to because the organizers were not properly prepared for the increased number of players. Also, due to old registration systems, Phoenix was delayed because many people had to waste their time and money printing out registration forms and we had no lunch break. Even last weekend, Athens started late and they got no lunch break as well.
The next thing I dislike is changing City Championships to League Cups and combining the finish limits with League Challenges. I always loved when Cities time would come around and there would be plenty of them to play in. Now only certain Leagues get them and as far as I know it’s only Leagues hosted in a store, and they’re limited to one League Cup per quarter. Now there’s less tournaments to go to, and you share your Cup finishes with your League Challenges. I understand wanting to make League Challenges less competitive, and more of introductory tournaments for beginners. I totally get that and agree, but if they wanted that to happen, they could have made League Cups start sooner, made them more abundant, and they could even take away Championship Points from League Challenges. I don’t necessarily agree with that, but it’s an option. Also, if they really wanted to make sure they were less competitive, having no League Cups right away and having many League Challenges in the beginning of the season did not help. I know I went to many League Challenges and they were all full of many competitive players. The lack of Cups in the beginning of the season made the Challenges feel like an intense battle for Championship Points.
That wraps it up for the pros and cons, now I just want to talk a bit on how I think they could improve for next time. Now I’m not claiming to have the end all answers to a perfect season, nor do I think any structure could fit perfectly to everyone’s wants and needs, but I do think I have some ideas that could help for the majority. I think bringing back States, or having more Special Events in place of them would be highly beneficial for everyone. States were a nice buffer between Cities and Regionals, and I know many people will miss them. I think they should increase the number of Leagues that can have League Cups, allow Leagues without a store to have Cups, and increase how many they’re allowed to have per quarter. They should also separate League Cup and Challenge finishes, and potentially take away Championship Points from Challenges. The last thing they need to do is make sure information about the upcoming season, card legalities, and anything else important is released as soon as possible. I know this is obvious and many people complain about it, but it’s something we are in dire need of.
Succeeding and Getting an Invite in the New Structure
As I said earlier, qualifying for Worlds this year will most likely require a decent amount of traveling. The only exception to this is people who earned one from their performance at the 2016 World Championships and anyone who does extraordinarily well at an International Championship. Those are the only ways to get an invite from one tournament. You could also win two League Cups and two Regionals and qualify, but that’s far from an easy task. If you do not have the time and money to travel, that shouldn’t shy you away from tournaments altogether. Other than getting to see all your friends and the fun of the game, you can still win cash prizes at Regionals this year which makes it worth it to still compete. In previous years, my main reason for competing was earning an invite while also hoping to do well enough for travel stipends. Now I’m even more motivated to compete with the chance to win money. So, as you can see, you can still succeed in this new structure without earning an invite.
[premium]
Making Every Tournament Count
If you’re still incredibly determined to try for your invite, even though you won’t have as much time or money as you would like to travel, not all hope is lost. There are ways to make the best of the limited tournaments you attend or funds you have to travel. First and most importantly, make every tournament count! What I mean by this is make sure that you are incredibly prepared for each tournament you attend in every way possible. You need to test as much as you possibly can, find a deck that you truly enjoy playing and are comfortable with, and make sure you have a good idea of the expected meta at each tournament you attend. Now predicting a meta can always be tricky, but utilize all information you can from tournament results, tournament reports, and your own testing. The other ways you can best prepare for your tournaments are being well rested, eating enough, and being in a positive mindset. Feeling happy and healthy for a tournament can play a bigger role than you might expect in your success. These are all equally important, even if you can travel a lot, but I’m stressing this for those who can’t. I know too many times have I botched a tournament because I didn’t sleep or eat enough. Day two of Phoenix Regionals this year I lost my second round because my opponent and I both had gotten poor sleep and were too tired to realize that his attack was ten damage short of a Knock Out. He was taking his last Prize and he had decked himself out with a [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”XY” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card] in the process of doing so. We didn’t realize this until after we picked up our cards to set up for game two (which there wasn’t enough time to finish) and we called over a judge, and he told us that since we picked up the cards and assumed the result, my opponent won the game. All I had to do was say the word “Pass” since my opponent had drawn his whole deck and I would have won and potentially done better in my next rounds. Never underestimate the power of getting enough sleep.
Ballin’ on a Budget
There are a few things you can do when you are low on funds and those are carpool to tournaments, book hotels and flights in advance when prices are lower, and set up a budget for yourself for the season. Splitting the cost of traveling by carpooling and staying with multiple friends in a hotel saves loads of money. I’ve gone to Regionals and spent less than $100 total on the trip. Booking hotels and flights months before should almost always save you money. There can be odd circumstances where prices can fluctuate, but you’re more than likely to save a lot when booking in advanced. One thing you need to make sure when it comes to booking a flight is making sure you will be going to the event. As far as I’ve seen, flights usually only have 24 Hour Free Cancellation. So, you can only cancel your flight from within 24 hours from when you booked it. Hotels on the other hand, usually have free cancellation within a day or two from when you’re supposed to check in to the hotel. Setting up a budget for a tournament can be easy. All you need to do is determine the cost of your essentials (food, clothes, rent, hygiene, bills, etc.), then see how much money you have left and feel comfortable using on traveling. Also, don’t forget, if you make Top 32 of a Regionals or better, you’ll win some cash if attendance is high enough. Now you shouldn’t bank on winning money as part of your budget, but it’s cool to know that you might profit from your trips.
More Money, More Time, More Tournaments
Having enough money and time for more tournaments can be monumental in getting your invite. Everything I said above can still be applied to someone who can go to every event they want to. It always helps to save money and be prepared, but going to more tournaments gives you even more chances to get Championship Points and win money. I personally have the time, but not the money I need for every tournament I wish to attend. I think I would go to just about every Regional and International Championship if I could. Now that sounds insane, but I love traveling, competing, and hanging out with my friends, the Championship Points and money are the icing on the cake. To qualify for Worlds this year, realistically you’re probably going to travel to at least seven Regionals, ten or so League Cups, and at least one or more Internationals. Without States, you need to do well at a few Regionals to have a shot at the 500 CP threshold.
Expectations and How to Deal with Failure
Everything I’m about to say may seem like common sense, but I feel a lot of people lose sight of it sometimes and I’m no exception. Many people have expectations of how they need to do at a tournament, and sometimes even feel entitled, like they deserve to win a tournament or do well just because they have in the past or because they’re an accomplished player. I also think many players struggle with failure. They will sometimes blame it on everything, except themselves. Very often I hear players say “It was all bad luck” or “My opponent got so lucky!” I’m not saying bad luck doesn’t happen, but sometimes it takes more than just bad luck to have a bad tournament run. Now let’s explore some of the expectations people might have going into a tournament, how to properly deal with failure, and how to improve for the future. I’ll also go over some expectations I’ve had and correct and incorrect ways I’ve dealt with failure.
Expectations
First, I’ll start with some of the expectations I’ve had over the years and why they were bad, but first I need to explain that it’s not wrong to think you’re going to do well at a tournament. Having a winning mindset is a great form of motivation and having that positive mentality will help you succeed. The problem is when you expect yourself to do well just because you’ve either done well in the past, are a good player, have never lost to a person or any reason like that. Assuming there’s no possibility for failure can cause a loss to be harsher than it would if you realized that you’re not guaranteed to win. My first year playing competitively I got Top 4 at Wisconsin States. The following year I got Top 4 again, and I assumed the same would happen the next year or I would do better. I expected to do well because I had in the past, but that year I ended up flopping and not making cut. I was very disappointed and upset, and instead of trying to learn from my experience, I blamed it on bad luck. The following year I did win Wisconsin States, but in no way, did I expect myself to win or thought that I deserved to do well. I was playing to the best of my abilities and enjoyed myself in the process.
Another expectation I’ve had is that I will beat someone, just because I have never lost to them in a tournament. I’ve been proved wrong by that a few times recently and it was a good wake up call. Never assume that just because you’ve never lost to someone that you can’t. Pokemon has a good amount of luck in it, and anything can happen. Even at the beginning of this season, I had some big expectations that I did not live up to. I assumed since I made day two at the first two Regionals I went to in a row, that I had to and was going to do well at every single one I attended. That was not true, I dropped at Fort Wayne Regionals and went 5-2-2 at San Jose. Doing poorly at Fort Wayne was another wakeup call. I assumed I would do well, and was sad when I didn’t, especially when my Rainbow Road list that I had worked on for quite some time was doing better in the hands of another player who went on to make Top 4. I blamed my bad run on bad luck, and to be fair, there was some, but looking back I know I made some misplays like using [card name=”Lysandre” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card] for an easy Knock Out instead of N or [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card]. Now onto some ways I’ve dealt with failure, and how to properly deal with failure.
Dealing with Failure
There are many right and wrong ways to deal with failure. I’ve exercised many poor ways to deal with it, but I’m always growing and learning better ways to do so. I’ve blamed losing on bad luck, my opponents getting lucky, and even silly superstitions like a bad hair day, wearing a hat, or using the wrong colored sleeves. Now having bad luck or your opponent drawing better than you can happen. You can play a game very well with no misplays and still lose. No matter the case of how you lose, you should still look at the game and think “Could I have done something better?” You may look back and find that you don’t think that there’s anything you could have done to win that game or improve your odds, and that’s okay. It doesn’t hurt to do it though, because you may notice something you missed when playing. You might have used [card name=”Shaymin-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card]’s Ability Set Up to draw a few extra cards before playing [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card] because you needed to hit an important card like an Energy to make sure you could attack for turn, but you ended up losing strictly because at the end of the game, they were able to [card name=”Lysandre” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card] that Shaymin to KO it for their last two Prizes. Now I’m not saying that’s bad to do, but if you get the Energy off the first few cards you drew, you could have gotten the Energy by just playing Sycamore. Playing the Shaymin to improve your odds of hitting the Energy isn’t bad, but now you have a low HP Pokemon-EX on the board that will give up an easy two Prizes. So, it may have been worth the gamble to not bench it and hope to hit the Energy off the Sycamore so you don’t have the liability that is Shaymin on the field. It’s not really a misplay to use the Shaymin, but it was something that essentially backfired. Now after a game like that, someone could be upset and either learn from their failure and think smarter before they bench Shaymin, or deal with it the wrong way and almost never bench a Shaymin because they’re constantly scared that they’ll lose the game if they do. You must try your best to remain calm when you lose and take away any information you can to improve for next time.
It helps to talk to your friends about what happened in your game, they can shed light on what you might have done wrong and help you feel better about it. They probably have a similar story and will assure you it happens to everyone and it’ll be okay. One thing you should never do is be a poor sport. I know I’m guilty of not saying good luck or being obviously upset when I’ve lost a game, but that’s never the correct way to deal with a loss and it’s something I’ve heavily improved on since starting. You also shouldn’t be upset at a loss just because you lost to someone who is a less skilled player or was playing a less optimal list or unconventional deck. I know it can be frustrating to see someone either misplay their way to a victory or play an unorthodox deck to win a tournament when you had a list you felt you perfected and played very well and did poorly, but you need to remember, you were that person at one point. You shouldn’t be mad that they did well and you didn’t, you should be glad and remember how fun it is to be new to the game and not quite know what you’re doing but have a blast anyways. I know I’ve done this at my second tournament ever. It was a City Championship and I decided to play a [card name=”Ho-Oh-EX” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card] Toolbox deck, which was a solid deck at the time, but my list was far from conventional. It played gimmicks like [card name=”Registeel-EX” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] which was meant to be a counter to [card name=”Rayquaza-EX” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”85″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Eelektrik” set=”Noble Victories” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] decks. Surprisingly I made Top 8 and couldn’t believe it even though I was a newbie with a bad list. In the end, this game is meant to be played for fun, you shouldn’t lose sight of that.
Now let’s look at some different ways to best learn and improve from your failures and make sure they don’t happen again.
Improving
[cardimg name=”Ghetsis” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”101″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
There are many ways to improve and learn from your failures in Pokemon. Something useful you can do is write down your matchups after each game and write yourself a small summary of what happened so you can better remember the games in detail and learn from any mistakes you made. You could also take notes during the match, you just need to make sure to use a clear page every match and to not use code words. Not only will this help you in game, but it can help you afterwards to reflect on your game.
Another thing you can do is talk to your friends about your games. Ask them what they would have done in a certain situation. Let’s say you chose to play [card name=”Ghetsis” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”101″ c=”name”][/card] over [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card] attempting to slow your opponent down, and maybe your friend would have played it the opposite way. It helps to see what goes through other’s heads in these situations.
The best advice for improving is an obvious one: practice, practice, and practice some more. When I first wanted to start playing Pokemon competitively, I went to my friend Chris Dreksler’s house at least four times a week. He had been playing the game for some years and mostly judged events. He started a League in my town and between that and going to his house all the time, I got an immense amount of testing. I quickly went from losing most my games against Chris to winning at least half of the games we played. He really helped me get my feet off the ground. I would also test online and in person with many friends as often as possible.
Other than testing all the time, watching Kyle Sucevich (better known as Pooka) live stream all the time was a huge help. Kyle was incredible at talking about the different options you could make in situations, and why one was better than the other. Other times he admitted that he was unsure if it was the right play, but he was going to see if it worked out. That can be the case sometimes, there may be two plays that can work out, it all depends what happens after.
Although The Top Cut does not exist anymore, there are other sources to look at for content. PokeBeach is one of the best sources to look for all sorts of content and has an amazing writing staff. They’re also my favorite go to place when it comes to card leaks. Deck building is an important skill that’s key to success in Pokemon. Learning how to make sure you have the most optimal list, and making sure every card is worth the spot in your 60 can really improve your results. Finding lists online is good to see what cards people use, but testing it for yourself and seeing why they’re used is very important. Also, figuring out which cards you like in the list and if you would prefer to change them is another reason to not just take a list that topped and play it without your own testing.
Something else that’s important and I’m sometimes bad at is being prepared for a tournament. Being prepared for a tournament highly improves your chances of doing well. Making sure you’ve tested enough, being confident in your deck choice, eating enough, and getting a good night sleep before the tournament can all help make your tournament experience infinitely better.
The most important thing to remember about improving is knowing you always have something to improve on. Whether that be through deck building, in game decisions, calculating your odds, or being prepared for a tournament, there’s always room to grow.
Conclusion
I know this article isn’t your typical tournament report, deck analysis, or set review, but all of this has been on my mind lately and I’m glad to be able to share it with you. I really hope you were able to take away something from this article, whether it was new insight on the current tournament structure, a new way to deal with failure, or how to improve your playing and habits before a tournament. If you already are a master at all of that, I hope this was a friendly and uplifting reminder to stay positive, learn from your mistakes, always improve, and don’t give up if you don’t meet your expectations because there’s always another chance to exceed them. Again, I would like to give an enormous thank you to PokeBeach for this incredible opportunity. It has been a pleasure writing this and can’t wait to write for you again. I look forward to improving my articles, growing, and helping anyone improve in any way possible. If there’s anything specific you guys would like me to talk about, let me know, because these articles are for you, the subscribers.
See you next time!
-Ryan Grant
[/premium]