New Year Round-up: 10 Lessons from 2017 (Part 1)

[cardimg name=”Delibird” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”39″ align=”right” c=”custom”]Here’s a late present from Delibird![/cardimg]

The ends and beginnings of years make for great times to do round-up lists and reviews of the events that transpired, and today will be no different. In this two-part series, I will be going over what I consider to be my ten most important lessons about competitive Pokemon TCG play, strategy, and deck-building in the year 2017. Make no mistake: this is not a normal top ten list at all! We aren’t summarizing the year getting too social, or even ranking the ten items featured (that might be for another list at another time, in a setting more appropriate than paid premium content). Instead, we’re considering what the sets, names, Pokemon, and stars of 2017 have to teach us, and what we need to do in order to achieve those New Year resolutions for 2018.

We’ll be addressing the following five topics in today’s article:

• A certain person’s victories
• The rapid changes of the metagame
• Cheating and unsportsmanlike conduct
• BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG tournaments
• The rise of professional teams

Trust me: There are some valuable lessons from each of these unique developments. So sit tight as we review an important year for Pokemon cards in a manner that lets us grow as competitors.

Lesson One: Consistency is Key

[cardimg name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The event: Tord Reklev wins two International Championships in a row.

The lesson: Deck consistency and deck building are incredibly deep, thoughtful processes you should master in order to succeed.

The idea of International Championships is now barely more than a year old, yet thanks to them we have seen one of the greatest accomplishments in the game’s history. Tord Reklev, a long-time Norwegian player, was able to earn major wins at both the North American International Championship as well as the European International Championship.

That’s two wins in a row! In interviews during the event, Tord attributed his success to “hard work.” That’s certainly true of most major tournament winners in the game’s history, but let’s dissect this a little bit: What has Tord done that no other player has done? What is the missing element when talking about the idea of winning two of the most prestigious events in the game’s history?

Having been exposed to his [card name=”Drampa-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] at the NAIC in two separate rounds, and having spoken to him a bit about the more interesting inclusions in his winning [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”17″ c=”name”][/card] list at the EUIC, I have determined that Tord views consistency on a much deeper level than most other deck builders do.

This highlights a deck-building skill I’ve long written about and praised in other places – a skill I call the zeroth stage of deck building. Basically, this is not a stage so much as a mindset in which you accept that you are always flexible in your deck ideas, and willing to reevaluate or change the most basic of approaches in how you design your decks.

For example, many players considered this the “first stage” of building a list once Standard rolled around: Pick your lines; throw in 2-3 [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card], maximum counts of [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card], and one [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card]. An example of “zeroth stage deck-building” would be when I went against common knowledge at the time and advocated running two Brigette in certain lists. Others started running two Brigette independent of my own thought process, and from there we saw the modern [card name=”Gardevoir-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] evolve thanks to groups like X-Files and players like Seena Ghaziaskar.

Yet just in time for the EUIC, Tord came along and again shook up the way players viewed basic deck building ideas by running three Brigette. At the NAIC, he became famous not only for his win, but for running a complete four-copy play set of Tapu Lele GX. While even to this day it’s debatable how optimal running a fourth Tapu Lele may be, there is simply no denying the end result of that decision: a victory at the world’s biggest tournament. Tord again came and surprised last month with three Brigette, another decision doubted by many because of the idea of diminishing returns.

In case you don’t know what those are, “diminishing returns” are basically when you get less benefit for adding something. In Pokemon cards, everything related to probabilities is important, so why run a third copy of a card like Brigette if it isn’t adding much? After all, doesn’t that just increase the number of ways to get Brigette turn one from nine (three Tapu Lele, four Ultra Ball, two Brigette) to ten?

Not so fast. As Tord himself explained to me, multiple things happen when you run an extra Brigette. You not only increase your outs to using it turn one, but also put less pressure on your other consistency cards. If you have played even a few games of the Standard format in a tournament setting, you know that turns where you simply play a Brigette from your hand to fill your Bench are much more resource-friendly than turns where you use an Ultra Ball to grab it. By running an extra Brigette, you’ve just opened up many more opportunities to not discard crucial resources. Thus, it was at worst an understandable decision, and at best an incredible foresight and innovation of deck building.

But why is a detail as boring as one, two, or three Brigette such an important lesson? Why does something that sounds so silly to a non-competitive player actually define one of Tord’s greatest champion-level skills? Because it shows that the best players, both as individuals and as a group, are on a never-ending quest to figure out and improve their approach to building decks. Be like this, and you’ll be ahead of hundreds of other players you otherwise would have been equal to in skill.

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Lesson Two: Change is Natural

[cardimg name=”Decidueye-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM37″ align=”right” c=”custom”]In ca-Hoots with John Kettler![/cardimg]

The event: (Almost) every new set produces a new format-breaking BDIF.

The lesson: Be prepared for radical changes.

Jeez, that lesson sounds like a fortune cookie. However, it’s certainly the truth this season. Between Sun and Moon giving us [card name=”Decidueye-GX” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card], Guardians Rising giving us Garbodor, Burning Shadows giving us Gardevoir-GX, and Shining Legends giving us Zoroark-GX, we saw four sets in a row break the format… and five if Crimson Invasion were a little more exciting! This year, The Pokemon Company signaled to us competitive players that they want us on high alert each time a new set comes out, because all four of those cards I named were at some point or other widely accepted to be the best deck in format.

If you started playing this year, you might be surprised to hear this, but most people saw little potential in the Sun and Moon base set when it first came out. Go back and read public articles from around that time, and you’ll see some of the wildest things disparaging the playability of critical cards like [card name=”Espeon-GX” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Professor Kukui” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Lapras-GX” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”35″ c=”name”][/card], and even Decidueye-GX! This point isn’t to criticize those authors — Arceus almighty knows how many times I have made ridiculously bad predictions, and even for veteran players it’s tough to predict with certainty how a format will unfold. Nevertheless, something changed in 2017, and I think the creators of our game decid(ueyed)ed to print more influential sets.

As a player going through your own personal experiences with the game, who might have a better grasp on some in-game concepts than other in-game concepts, I can’t blame you if you chose to bank on the same deck all season. That’s why I used Decidueye-GX / [card name=”Vileplume” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card] for much of the 2016-2017 format. However, if we for a moment dispassionately assume that Decidueye-GX, Garbodor, Gardevoir-GX, and Zoroark-GX were the best decks in format for each of their respective blocks, then the player who changed decks with each set release would have on average achieved the best results. The verdict, then, is that deck adaptability is a trait The Pokemon Company is rewarding heavily, even if there are some outliers of people using the same deck all season and still succeeding.

What does this mean for Ultra Prism? Well, tune in to other authors’ articles to figure that out next month, but I have a suspicion we’ll get the next stupid, broken, best deck yet again! Take this past year as precedent to place a lot of faith in whatever comes out of Ultra Prism, and to not be afraid to use something new.

Lesson Three: Focus on the Topic at Hand

The event: Cheating and unsportsmanlike conduct are shaking the community to its core.

The lesson: Don’t live in paranoia, but play as focused and as confidently as you can.

Unsportsmanlike conduct, cheating, and all unfair forms of play have been big issues for a while, but with increased amounts of streaming and resources, the ability to discover dishonest play in all of its forms is easier than ever. You also have more money tournaments than ever before, meaning more incentive to cheat. As a result, our player base is experiencing a growing pain in its identification, recognition of, and deterrence of cheating.

If you are a player who is engaged with the community on multiple levels, you are probably already aware of who is alleged to be a cheater, and what has been alleged. If you’re not that engaged in the community outside of PokeBeach, well, that’s okay, because this advice I’m about to tell you applies to you, too:

As a competitive player in the heat of a game, you will have many different priorities than as a member of the community, and which one you are at a given moment determines how you should let the firestorm of cheating allegations and witch hunts impact your approach. In other words, while you may have different priorities and beliefs as a person viewing Facebook Pokemon groups or the message boards here at PokeBeach, those same priorities and beliefs don’t always hold up — and aren’t necessarily helpful — when actually playing.

Example One

Shigeru Doe has seen tons of cheating allegations against big names. Shigeru Doe now assumes all successful players must cheat, resulting in him passionately posting about it all day, every day online. Shigeru is now paralyzed with fear when he actually plays the physical card game.

This is a bit extreme, but there are actually people out there who casually throw out dangerous, irresponsible generalizations like these. However, despite what it may seem, I am not judging Shigeru for his generalization; rather, I’m judging Shigeru because he lets this generalization ruin his ability to play the game. When you are a competitive player who chooses to participate in competitive play, you can’t let neurotic, anxious thoughts like these ruin you, or else you’ll seriously hinder your results for no good reason at all.

The solution is actually pretty straightforward: be confident and stay focused. Cheaters prey on distracted people. In he-said/she-said situations, being able to calmly recollect the facts as they actually happened will improve your chances that you prevail against an inconsistent, lying little Sneasel. While a bit of extra care should be taken against opponents who you know have cheated or have strong suspicions to have cheated, try not to let that tilt over into anxiety. Consider the following for a model approach to cautious playing…

Example Two

[cardimg name=”Karen” set=”XY Black Star Promos” no=”XY177″ align=”right” c=”custom”]Be more like Karen.[/cardimg]

Karen has seen tons of cheating allegations against big names, but knows not everyone is a cheater and does not let the existence of some cheaters impact her ability to play well. Karen is paired against Pryce, a player previously banned for cheating but is now reformed and permitted to play. Karen uses this knowledge to be cautious and careful with her opponent, but she does not let this knowledge psyche her out or trouble her. She goes on to win the match.

Be less like Shigeru, and more like Karen. It’s inevitable that people will do bad things even in a fun, friendly game like ours, but you can’t let that fear scare you off from doing your best.

Lesson Four: Don’t Risk it for the Biscuit

The event: Record-shattering attendance.

The lesson: Conservative choices will be rewarded – make them more often!

When tournaments see 800, 900, and even over 1,000 players in the Masters division, you need a LOT to differentiate yourself from the competition these days. Whether that’s playing better than the rest, inspired deck choices, or ingenious metagaming, the most successful players must be on the front end of changes rather than in the middle or the back.

What if I told you that it’s just as important to make conservative decisions as it is to make bold, clever ones? Is it possible to combine the two approaches into one glorious package?

Yes, it is! Returning to our Tord example from above, you can actually use a relatively new deck while still being conservative in your decisions. That’s because [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] inherently requires little to assure a consistent, stable board for much of the game: you just [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”161″ c=”name”][/card] the [card name=”Zorua” set=”Shining Legends” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] into play, evolve the next turn, and then keep saying “Trade” over and over again. Even in comparison to other draw cards like [card name=”Octillery” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card], Zoroark-GX is a constantly live card for the entire game.

Now let’s consider it from a different perspective. Using a very recent, very mediocre showing of my own as an example, I recently went a ho-hum record of 3-2-4 at the Memphis Regional Championship using [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card]. My list was good, consistent, and a mere five cards off of my friend and colleague Andrew Mahone, who did much better than me; yet my showing was much, much worse. Why was that?

The thoughtless answer is that I was guilty of a little bit of worse playing and a lot of bad luck on [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card]. Both of those things are true, but I also placed myself in the situation to lose on luck, and maybe even to lose on a deck I was a little worse with.

• I had not actually used Buzzwole-GX / Lycanroc-GX in a tournament before. I had, however, used multiple other decks, including [card name=”Volcanion-EX” set=”Steam Siege” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”17″ c=”name”][/card], and especially [card name=”Decidueye-GX” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card]. While my misplays were minimal and mostly irrelevant, I can bet good money that I would have played any of the other named decks far better – perhaps flawlessly.
• Choosing to use a Max Elixir-based deck in the first place. This is honestly an even bigger philosophical question beyond the scope of this article, but there are many similarly good deck choices that do not require even relying on the sweet, sweet luck of Max Elixir. Look across the board at other decks that did well during Memphis Regionals, and on average you’ll see equally if not better results out of Zoroark-GX / Lycanroc-GX – a deck that requires zero Max Elixirs to function! In short, I may have opted to run a deck that was greedy in its approach for no real substantive purpose; I likely would have had better hands and easier Knock Outs with Zoroark-GX / Lycanroc-GX. Easy peasy, right?

Now let’s look at Igor Costa, who used Decidueye-GX / Zoroark-GX to great success this Regional. It might not have won him the tournament, but he stayed consistent by sticking with a deck he knows, has historically been good with, and requires zero surprises or tricks to be consistent and reliable. Igor’s decision to run this deck runs parallel to my decision not to run it and all indicators suggest that I would have had a better day not using Buzzwole-GX / Lycanroc-GX deck, even if other players validated my deck choice with their stellar finishes.

Lesson Five: Prepare for the Future

[cardimg name=”Passimian” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM12″ align=”right” c=”custom”]Teams aren’t just for sportsball anymore![/cardimg]

The event: Pro teams and sponsorships are now a bigger deal than ever before!

The lesson: Big changes are on the way, but embrace rather than fear them.

We’ll end part one on another big development out of Memphis Regionals, which is the rise of professional teams as a relevant driving force in the competitive game. Getting on a team is not much of a skill, nor is it relevant to our discussion today. What is relevant is the state of mind you will be in when playing against a player adorned with the colors of one of the many Poke-institutions in the modern world.

If you see your opponent decked out in the colors of any team; including a professional team; don’t panic — just chill. The key to avoiding “fame tilt” against any particular team or opponent boils down to getting past the emotion of the personality, and into the state of the board. From a purely social perspective I like knowing who my opponent is, but from a strategic and tactical perspective there’s almost never a reason to differentiate Igor Costa from Rosie O’Donnell. Sometimes it helps when you’re trying to predict your opponent’s next move, and you’re stuck with no better option than to divine their train of thought, but at least 90%+ of the time I respect and fear all players the same. Over the years, I’ve beaten and surpassed people I had no business beating and have likewise lost to players you’d be shocked could take me down. Doesn’t matter who it is, so much as what’s happening in the game itself.

There is another interesting angle to the team question. At the Memphis Regional Championship, the tournament organizer provided stages to the four VIP teams in attendance at the event. To the team members this amounts to no more than a minor perk — they don’t have to move! But to some of the players walking up to the staged playing areas, it was strange and even a little intimidating. You are effectively “entering” their domain, sitting across the table from a person likely flanked by good acquaintances and friends.

The VIP team stage thing may not be too common in the future, but it is a rather advanced mutation of fame tilt worth planning for in case you encounter it. I would recommend following the main principle I have behind addressing fame tilt, but with the additional recommendation that you calm down and remember it’s probably all in your head. Judges are watching these tables like every other match, and are perhaps watching even more closely than they are watching the main tables, so you shouldn’t have a reason to feel uniquely intimidated. Additionally, you’re not up against the entire team, but are simply dueling with a single trainer in a single match.

Don’t Go Anywhere!

Tune in two days from now for part two, in which we will be discussing even more valuable lessons from 2017!

~John

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