Psych Up! — 14 Ways to Up Your Game

[cardimg name=”Helioptile” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”43″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Good day lads! We’re just around the corner from one of the biggest tournaments in the 2017-2018 season: the European International Championships! This is an exciting time for many, as there are tons of players that are surely mustering up information to get a passport, obtain their visa’s, and of course choose which deck they’re going to play. I remember last year it was my first time travelling by myself via air, and it was one [card name=”Helioptile” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”43″ c=”name”][/card] of a trip. Whether it was the English culture, the delicious food, or just the kind locals, there’s something there for just about everybody. But besides sight-seeing and going to snap a selfie with Big Ben, there are more important things at stake than a simple vacation: $10,000 to be exact, as well as priceless CP.

Since the metagame is going to be underdeveloped, rather than discuss the new cards that are emerging from the upcoming expansions like many of the other writers on PokeBeach, I’d like to go over how to correctly play the game to its fullest. I’m talking specifically about psychology today — what it is, how it can affect your game, as well as all the nooks and crannies you’d like to know about to up your game.

Psychology

There are a crazy amount of things we can discuss in psychology — whether we’re discussing famous psychologists, such as Sigmund Freud, or Carl Jung, their teachings can parallel to how we play Pokemon.

Pavlovian Theory

Let’s talk about one of my favorite psychologists, Ivan Pavlov. Ivan used to experiment on animals in order to study what’s known as “conditioning” — the act of training the mind to have reactions to specific stimuli. What Ivan would do is ring a bell every time his specimen would eat, so eventually the specimen would associate the bell (stimulus) with the eating of food (response). He would do this to the point where without even bringing food, the specimen would come forward whenever the bell rang. This became known as Pavlovian theory.

So how does this apply to Pokemon? In an effort to train myself for the 2017 World Championships, I took this theory to the next step — I decided to test this theory on myself. I frequently found myself misplaying on very small level errors of sequencing, such as attaching an Energy before playing an [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card]. The reason why this is a misplay is because you’d want to play the Ultra Ball first in order to learn what’s in your deck; by having knowledge of the deck, you have more information to deem whether attaching Energy is the correct play or not. We’ll go into sequencing a little later on in the article, but for now that’s all you need to know! Essentially, whenever I misplayed on a micro or macro level, pending on the severity, I would snap an elastic band onto my wrist. This conditioning associated “misplays” with “pain,” and created a negative memory of the stimulus (the elastic). By using this extreme process, I was able to correct many of these misplays, and get steps closer to becoming a “perfect player.”

Body Language

Psychology in Pokemon refers to how you can use certain body movements and phrases to position an idea within your opponent’s mind. This can be demonstrated in many ways, and while it isn’t essential to win, most top players will use it from time to time. The key to psychology is to make your actions as genuine as possible, while also being able to maintain a stable train of thought. I believe that [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card] is the most misplayed card in the entire game, and being able to have a keen eye on your opponent will tell if you can capitalize on their dead draws. There have been several times during a tournament where I have had my opponent accidentally flash their hand to me, and I quickly notice there are no relevant draw cards in their hand whatsoever. As opposed to playing the N, even in some situations when it’s risky, I’ll often opt to play Professor Sycamore (or use [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] to search out a [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”Steam Siege” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card]).

Likewise, it’s just as easy for your opponent to abuse the same psychological merit against you. Player A may potentially “fake” a dead hand in order to hold onto certain cards. Or perhaps they may fake holding a “perfect” hand, while in reality their hand is trash, in order to convince Player B to play an N, refreshing Player A’s hand in the process. The same principle can be applied to the use of cards like [card name=”Red Card” set=”Generations” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] – you can usually gauge your opponent’s hand just by reading simple body language. Most opponents you face will be too focused on their own strategies to worry about psychology, and will fall to simple body reads.

[cardimg name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”124″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

[card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card] is another example of a card that heavily influences how we play the game. We play in a Standard metagame that is embodied by Special Energy, mainly [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”103″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Splash Energy” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Rainbow Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] to say the least. Enhanced Hammer reinforces fear in the hearts of those players, but what if we could withhold the surprise for a little bit? Allow me to explain — in a best-of-three format, you’re going to be playing two to three games most of the time and, depending on the matchup, your first game might be an easy one. When you’re facing an extremely steep lead, you may want to consider concealing your Enhanced Hammer instead of playing it to have a bigger surprise factor in the second game. By doing this, you drastically increase your chances of catching your opponent off guard, and can aid in pulling off an otherwise unforeseeable victory.

The Outliers

In every card game, there’s always ways to gain leverage versus your opponent, whether they’re a lazy opponent or a nimble one. Below, we’ll dwell into several things your opponent might do throughout the course of the game that will stack up in your favour!

Playing Professor Sycamore

Your opponent will sometimes eagerly extend their hand to show you what they’re discarding with Professor Sycamore; take advantage of this! These players will tend to be “sloppier” and will reveal info that is otherwise unnecessary to show you. Likewise, never show your opponent what you’re discarding with your own Professor Sycamore; even if it’s all of your [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card] and Double Colorless, they may never check your discard and will play normally as if these were never discarded.

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Flipping a Coin

Did you know that flipping a coin on the side that is favourable for you actually increases the odds of landing on it by 1%? This is an actual fact that’s been evaluated by experts, so keep this in mind when your opponent whips out a coin and asks “heads or tails.” Always call out the face of the coin that is closest to the ceiling.

Bleeding

Revealing cards by accident (e.g. bleeding) is a very common occurrence in Pokemon, especially with newer players, however even veterans may slip up once in a while. Bleeding cards reveals crucial information into what’s inside your opponent’s hand, and should be taken into account when planning moves. Please note that I’m not encouraging consistently peeping at your opponent’s hand; but if they’re not cautious, a wandering eye never hurt anybody.

For example, there’s been several times at Fort Wayne where my opponent and I were one-to-one in Prize cards. In my final few turns, I often found that while my opponent fiddled with their lone card, they’d accidentally flash a part of the card’s image. Through that information, I was able to identify their card, and then decide whether or not to N them yet again.

Bleeding can also take place during the shuffling stages, as well as deck search stages. This is a crucial external factor that you should capitalize upon given the opportunity.

Scope out the Competition

Whether it’s a series against your opponent, or a best-of-one, always check your opponent’s discard pile before the match concludes. I’m talking specifically right before they scoop up their cards! Allow me to elaborate:

Erik Nance was playing at the World Championships one year, where he was paired against a Japanese opponent whom he was beating badly. Regardless of losing, the Japanese player hung in there, and continued to scope out Erik’s interesting [card name=”Steelix” set=”Unleashed” no=”87″ c=”name”][/card] deck. Erik was unaware of what was going on, but when he did catch on, it was far too late: his opponent was memorizing Erik’s techs and card counts. The more flashy cards that Erik was using to close out the game, the more intel his opponent was gaining. If they were to meet in the top cut, the opponent would know exactly what to expect from Erik’s deck with zero surprises!

[cardimg name=”Steelix” set=”Unleashed” no=”87″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

I had a similar scenario occur at Ontario Regionals in 2015, where I was playing against my good friend Alex Hill. Alex was playing [card name=”Darkrai-EX” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Yveltal-EX” set=”XY Black Star Promos” no=”XY08″ c=”name”][/card] and I was playing [card name=”M Rayquaza-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card], which is normally a positive matchup for me. I setup fairly fast, and upon a blazing fast entry, Alex got very discouraged and ended up playing out the game for giggles. During his playtime, I was able to take note of his [card name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card] tech, as well as his skeleton deck list for the most part.

In foresight, don’t show your opponent your techs! They may not know about them, and if you play them later on in the tournament, you can catch them off guard. Give them as little information as possible, and play stealthily.

Playing Identical Art Cards

I can not stress this enough – always run identical cards art, including unity within their derivative set they came from. If you don’t, observant opponents will be able to read how many copies of a card you play based on their specific card arts. For example, if you played one [card name=”Lysandre” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”78″ c=”from”][/card], one Lysandre from Flashfire, and one Full Art Lysandre, I’d quickly figure out that you play three Lysandre, and then make proper adjustments. I had this scenario occur at Fort Wayne Regionals, where I was able to tell that my opponent was playing four copies of [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”EX Sandstorm” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card] due to alternate arts.

Mulligans

Mulligans happen so many times a tournament, so it’s not hard to see why players sometimes don’t pay attention during that phase of the game. When your opponent flashes you their mulligan, take the time to spread their cards apart. Take note of what matchup you’re playing against, what counts of cards you see, as well as any noticeable tech cards.

(Note: if your opponent consistently mulligans several times, they may play a lower count of basics than expected. Try to identify a basic skeleton of their list as they play).

Law School and Appeals

Sometimes in Pokemon, a judge must be called to assess a game state. Pending on the outcome of the judge call, it can have an affect on the outcome of the game. In order to make sure we win the game, we must appeal a judge call to the best of our ability. While studying how to win a small claim, the same principles can be applied to Pokemon just the same as it could be applied to the judge. When an irregular game state occurs, it’s almost autonomous for a player to raise their hand and exclaim “judge.” During the time it takes for the judge to walk over to your table, prepare your case by doing the following:

• Gather as much evidence as possible to support your case.
• Regardless of how “wrong” your opponent thinks you are, state your opinion — you have a right to your own thoughts.
• It isn’t about who is right or wrong, it’s about resolving the error appropriately.
• Don’t whine if a ruling doesn’t go your way; keep your composure.
• When a ruling seems wrong, contact the head judge of your age division; sometimes new rulings are implemented that floor judges are unaware of.

The following above will help you in the ability to ploy many scenarios in your favour; it’s important to fight for what you believe is right, and to demonstrate proper sportsmanship. The amount of PokeDads in particular that lose their claim because they can’t control their temper is unparalleled to any other segment of players. Whether the ruling plays out in your favour or in your opponent’s, respect the judge’s final decision and proceed to play on.

Distractions

For the longest time in this game, I’ve been to many venues where there were obvious seating advantages, I’ve faced various amounts of opponents who use bizarre strategies, and I’ve endured countless attempts of baffling conversation midgame. All of these equivalate to loss of tempo, and will wear you down during a game – this will dampen your thought process. Below are some of the things opponents will do that intentionally or unintentionally distort your mindset, and what you can do to combat them.

Gaming vs. Opposite Sex

[cardimg name=”Wicke” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”147″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This is moreso an appeal to the Seniors and Masters division players – I deem this topic as unique because most article writers would be scared to touch a topic as sensitive as this. Whether you’re male or female, I’ve seen some very good looking Pokemon players (especially when I play non-locally) who can’t help but stick out in the crowd, either due to their clothing or natural looks. Upon being paired against said person, it can be rather difficult to focus on the game at hand. My best advice? Remember that they are just another player at this tournament trying to beat you down; they’re most likely just wearing these clothes just to feel confident in themselves. Show off your confidence in the game by expressing your sportsmanship!

Mirrors

Once upon a time, I played in a hotel ballroom where the walls were entirely covered with mirrors. It was so bad that announcements had to be made pre-tournament, and tarps went up near population-dense tables. There were several opponents that were caught cheating that day, and were disqualified underneath acts of malicious attempt. Notice your opponent’s eye movements: are they looking at you? Or are they looking behind you? If you’re able to catch your opponent cheating, swiftly call a judge, and handle the situation promptly. Even if you’re suspicious, analyze your opponent’s eye patterns.

Chatty Opponents

Although this may come off as genuine, I’ve seen all sorts of players try to weasel their way into a win — namely by conversing with their opponent with the sheer intent of confusion. This typically happens when you and your opponent establish a “chuminess” at the beginning of the game. It’s fine to float a conversation if you’re able to focus on the task at hand, but otherwise I’d avoid the situation entirely. Try to tell your opponent that you need to focus. Usually they’ll understand, especially if they’re talking during your turn or when time is relevant. Don’t be too blunt about it, because it may hurt their feelings in return; just make sure you get your point across. If there’s any tension, feel free to call a judge.

Go Big or Go Home!

With the majority of the article being external factors, I figured most players are wondering about the internal factors. Generally, these increase your chances of winning, and give you a competitive advantage in tournaments. I use all of the skills listed here, and have conditioned my own mind to eat, breath, and sleep these tips.

Microdecisions

Microdecisions are the biggest internal factor within a game we’ll talk about today. Microdecisions are essentially the smaller things in the game that separate a good player from a great player, and a great player from a legend. One of the most common microdecisions includes “N proofing” your deck – the classic N to one card is a swift way to end a game, unless otherwise prepared for. The easiest ways to N proof your deck include the following:

[cardimg name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”135″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

• [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Shining Legends” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card]ing away useless cards.
• Discarding useless resources with Professor Sycamore.
• Playing down instant cards, regardless of how valuable they are at that given time (ex. attaching a [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] on a Pokemon that otherwise wouldn’t need it).
• Not recycling useless resources into the deck (ex. playing a [card name=”Super Rod” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”149″ c=”name”][/card] late game can be unnecessary).

These are all beautiful ways we can chip away at our deck throughout the course of a game. I promise you, not only will this help you draw better off of N’s, but it will also better your draws throughout the day. Thinning the deck is a fantastic tool to master! By taking X amount of cards out of the deck, it can significantly improve your odds of drawing Y — where Y is the card you need to draw at Z point in time.

The Clock

Playing the clock is a tool that players talk about, but use far less often. It essentially means that we manipulate our pace of play, as well as our opponent’s, in order to produce a favourable outcome. For example, if you were to win the first game in a best-of-three, you’d most likely play at an average speed throughout the course of the second game in order to prolong the game. But what are some ways we can essentially time our opponent out legally? The 2017 rulebook states “a non-repetitive action at the judges discretion should take place approximately every 15 seconds.” During either player’s turn we can:

• Search our opponent’s discard.
• Ask relevant questions to the game state (ex. “how many cards are in your hand?”).
• Search our deck more thorughly.
• Shuffle our opponent’s deck after they shuffle (shuffling as opposed to cutting takes a significantly larger portion of time).
• Pace our plays out at a slower tempo (ex. breaching closer to the further end of the 15-second rule).

One thing we must remember is that just because the rulebook says “15 seconds,” that isn’t supposed to be consistently 15 seconds. In the same clause, it also states “players must maintain a brisk pace;” we can’t slow play our opponents to death. However, there are tons of ways to milk the clock legally, and I encourage everybody to take advantage of them if they’re in a strong winning position.

By no means am I an advocate of stalling! However, in order to succeed in this game we all must swallow the pill that time is a large factor of why we win/tie/lose games. Treat your opponent the same way you would like to be treated — when you’re playing, ask yourself “if I were playing against myself right now, would I tell myself to speed up?” If the answer is yes, you’re not playing fast enough.

Just like how we can milk the clock, sometimes we’ll face naturally slow opponents, or intelligent opponents with malicious intents. We can speed up our pace of play as well by doing the following:

• Practice your deck to familiarize actions and learn routine combinations.
• Practice shuffling while doing day-to-day activities (ex. shuffle a deck of cards while watching television) — this will improve overall shuffling speed.*
• Instead of shuffling after every search card, play multiple search cards back-to-back to shorten shuffling time.
• Minimize conversations when applicable.
• Analyze what your opponent will attack with, and have those damage counters ready (this will shave mere seconds, but everything counts).

*Pro Tip: use a deck of energy cards and cheap sleeves in order to mitigate damage.

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[cardimg name=”Wingull” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”18″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

I always try to make myself the best player I can possibly be, and sometimes thinking outside of the box is one of the best ways to do so. Once you feel like your skills have in the internal game, try the external side of the game; it’s a whole new challenge to conquer, and is one of my favourite subjects of the game to analyze. This list of crazy tactics took me my whole Pokemon career to figure out, so I hope at least somebody can benefit from it. Many of these are also drawn from real life experiences, as you can tell by the in-depth stories that are alongside the bullet points.

I hope everybody has a great time in beautiful London, England! I won’t be able to attend this year and defend my finalist title, mainly due to having a conflicting marketing competition on the same date. I was forced to ultimately decide between my career and my professional hobby, and in this case my career unfortunately took precedent over a free trip to Europe. Luckily for me, I have plans to return to Europe in the summer, all the while visiting new countries such as Turkey, the Netherlands, Italy, and Greece. Who knows, maybe I’ll even be able to hit up a Regionals there while I’m away! Anything is possible across the pond.

As always, if there are any questions for me regarding this article, feel free to reach out to me on my Facebook, or by private messaging me.

Remember guys, get lucky and run hot. Tally-ho!

– Jacob Lesage

#PlayPokemon

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