New Year, New You — How to Succeed in the 2024-25 Season

Hey PokeBeach readers, I hope you’re doing well and are excited to read another one of my articles. We have just entered one of the most exciting times of the year for many players, as July 1st marks the start of the new Pokemon season. Everyone’s Championship Points get reset to zero, and we all start competing on even footing! With a new season, I’m sure many of you have goals you’d like to achieve, such as winning a League Cup, making Day 2 at Regionals, or earning an invitation to the World Championships. Whatever your goals are, I’m sure becoming a better player is at the core. That’s why today I wanted to focus this article on how to plan your season and best set yourself up for success. I’ll cover how to effectively practice, pick your decks, prepare for tournaments, and learn from your performances!

Practice

Let’s start off with one of the most important things for improvement: practice! Like anything in life, if you want to get better at Pokemon, you need to put in the time to refine your skills and improve before it translates to real-life tournaments. I think this is obvious to everyone, but I see a lot of people not practicing efficiently or in a way that will actually help them improve as a player. One thing that is critical to improving is learning how to practice with others and how to practice by yourself.

Testing Partners

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One of the best things you can do if you’re trying to improve is to find someone else or a group of players who have similar goals to you or are committed to improving as well. Having people to work with who are on the same page as you makes improving much easier. Not only do you have someone to practice with, but also someone to bounce ideas off of and to push you to get better. When I think about the season I had my largest improvement as a player, it was when I got a dedicated testing partner who I worked with for the entire season. We would message each other our deck ideas, metagaming thoughts, deck lists, and matchup thoughts, and practice games together for five to 10 hours a week. By doing this, I always had someone to challenge my ideas and introduce new ones to me as well. You can learn a lot on your own, but by working with others, you expand the number of ideas you are exposed to and have another pair of eyes on your play to identify mistakes you’re making. When playing with others, I suggest playing games open-handed and discussing every play with your playing partner(s). This way, you can work through turns/problems together and challenge everyone’s assumptions. You might play a deck or matchup a similar way every time, but somebody else can identify weaknesses in your approach.

If you’re a newer player or don’t have a network yet, there are a few places I suggest you look to meet potential testing partners. The best spot would be at your local leagues or smaller tournaments such as League Challenges and League Cups. Normally, these tournaments will have players who live in close proximity to you, but it is also a welcoming environment with competitive players in my experience. If you don’t have a lot of locals near you, I suggest looking online for people to work with. I suggest using a site like X or even PokeBeach to find people who like to play similar decks as you!

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Solo Practice

There will be times when your testing partners or friends aren’t available for you to work with, so how can you get high-quality practice by yourself? With the internet era of Pokemon, there are more ways than ever to improve your gameplay. There is more content than ever for you to consume, not only on websites like PokeBeach but also on sites such as YouTube. Pokemon also streams a majority of our Regional Championships and Internationals. Learning from others is one of the best ways to get better.

One thing I always suggest is to watch tournament games from high-level players, preferably one playing the deck you are currently focusing on, but any deck is fine. Try to shadow that player by pausing their turn before each action to try and formulate what you would do in their shoes. If they do something different than what you would do, then try to figure out why. It’s possible that you might be correct in your assumptions, but see if what they played makes more sense. This is a great way of seeing how top-level players think and comparing your habits and approach to the game to theirs.

Building on this idea of watching games, one thing I love to do is watch my own games back. The easiest way to do this is to screen record your online games, and if you can, talk over your turns explaining exactly what you are thinking in the moment. Afterwards, you can pause and be more critical of your play and look for areas of improvement. If you play in person, you can just use your phone or a camera if you have one.

Another great way to practice by yourself is to participate in online tournaments. Playing games on Pokemon TCG Live can be alright, but normally your opponents are of lower quality and less focused. The skill level of online tournaments is normally indicative of similar level players you would see at something like Regionals, and if you manage to go deeper in the tournament, you will get the chance to play against some truly skilled players. These tournaments also test your endurance and ability to beat multiple types of decks, and the metagame normally aligns with what you will see in person. They are a great way to test your skills and your deck before taking it to a real tournament!

Practicing With Intention

It is important that whenever you practice, you do it with intention and have clear goals in mind for what you want to get out of it. Too many times, I see people just play games for the sake of playing games, and they don’t learn anything at all. Go into each practice session with clear goals in mind. Is it to just get better at playing your deck? Is it to understand a matchup better? Is it to see if a certain card or two is worth it, or maybe it is a combination of multiple things? Whatever your goals are for a testing session, make sure you have some! At the end of your session, you should walk away having learned something.

Another thing I see people do is play games casually and not be as focused as they would in a real tournament. When I used to play basketball competitively, I remember my coaches would always drill into me that you should practice like you’re playing in a real game, otherwise your practice builds bad habits that won’t transfer. So when you play your practice games, make sure you take them seriously and do things such as Prize checking and proper turn planning. One thing I like to do is time my games and get a rough idea of how long a game takes against each matchup. That way, when I get to a real tournament, I have an understanding of when I need to scoop or not.

When you’re playing games, try to take notes on the things you learn as well. Write down what your approach should be in each matchup, if you should go first or second, and any key things to play around.

Picking Your Deck(s)

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Picking your deck is probably the most important thing in Pokemon. Sometimes people like to have multiple decks to pick from for tournaments as well. My advice for most players is to just focus on one deck (preferably a tier 1 deck) to start off with before branching out to more. I will always maintain that it is better to be a master of one deck than a jack of all trades in Pokemon. A strong pilot of a tier 2 deck will always have an advantage over someone who is a weak pilot of a tier 1 deck. Knowing the ins and outs of your deck and how to approach every matchup will give you a strong leg up.

Once you get proficient with your deck, then I recommend playing some games with other archetypes. You don’t need to become as strong with those archetypes as you do with your main deck, but learning how other decks work can help you play against them. By understanding a deck’s strengths and weaknesses, you can formulate better plans when playing against it in a tournament.

Another thing I would recommend is to stick with your deck for a large enough sample size of tournaments before switching it up. I see a lot of players get discouraged after a poor string of performances at League Cups or Challenges and then want to switch decks to compensate. Whenever I do poorly with a deck, I always try my best to be objective about why I have been having poor results. Was it because of my play, the metagame, my list needing refinement, or just some poor variance? Do your best to identify what is in your control about your performance before jumping straight to blaming your deck. Normally in Pokemon, there is always room for improvement, and the answer is as simple as you need to play better and/or you just need to refine your deck. In small sample sizes, you are more prone to streaks of negative variance, but if after five tournaments you still aren’t seeing success, then maybe it is time to make a change. When you hop around from deck to deck, it is difficult to see success as you won’t have the chance to master a wide array of decks. That’s why I always do my best to stick to a couple of decks at one time.

Here are my tournament results from the past two seasons. Do you spot a trend? I have only played three different decks, and I’ve stuck with them. I achieved a very high level of mastery with each of them and was rewarded for sticking with them. I focused my time on mastering these decks so that when I sat across from my opponents, I was confident that I was a stronger pilot of my deck than they were with theirs. There might have been tournaments where other decks were slightly better plays in the meta, but I wouldn’t have been as proficient at playing them. By sticking with my strongest decks, I was able to consistently perform at a high level and produce results!

Preparing For Tournaments

I’ve discussed how to practice and pick your deck, but now let’s talk about how you can get ready for playing in actual tournaments!

League Cups & Challenges

Let’s start with our local tournaments first. I find local tournaments are great for practice as you are playing in a competitive environment and they are plentiful. I normally use League Cups as some of my primary testing for Regionals and Internationals. These tournaments will have players of varying skill levels and a diverse metagame. You can see how your deck and your skills stack up, and if you make top cut, you get the chance to practice best of three. I think you should take League Cups seriously and use them as a chance to refine your deck and skills for more premier events!

These tournaments are very different from playing a major event. For one, they are played as best of one tournaments, so you don’t need to be as concerned with time. Best of one as a format is more prone to variance, as a bad start is much more punishing when you don’t get the chance to recover. They also are more casual and can be a bit more difficult to lock in for.

When I play these smaller tournaments, I normally focus on playing super consistent deck lists. When it is more punishing to brick a game, I want to execute my strategy as consistently as possible. In a best of three environment, I can afford to gamble a bit of consistency to have more options in my deck, but in best of one, it is better to have the chance to play as much Pokémon as possible!

It can also be harder to focus when the tournament feels less high stakes. Normally, a League Cup will be at a card store compared to a convention center where Regionals and Internationals are held. You most likely will know most of your opponents if it is a local tournament, leading you to treat your games more casually. While it is fine to be friendly with your opponents, it is important that you still practice good habits and take your games seriously.

Regionals & Internationals

Preparing for large tournaments can be much different than preparing for your locals. These tournaments will have thousands of players and normally require you to travel to a new city to compete. My biggest piece of advice is that your games at these tournaments should be treated the same as any other game you play, even if the stakes feel much higher. Even though you are playing nine rounds at these tournaments, you are still just playing games of Pokemon. I always say that every game of Pokemon is independent of each other and you should just focus on taking it one game at a time. No matter if I’m 0-2 or 6-0, if I’m 1-0 up in a round or 0-1 down, I treat every game the same. Whatever has happened in a tournament up to this point is irrelevant. I need to focus on playing my best Pokemon possible in the moment. By just focusing on the game at hand, I find it makes it easier for me to focus and play my best.

The one thing that changes a lot when playing major tournaments is that we shift to playing best of three with a 50-minute time limit. Playing with a time constraint is the hardest thing for a lot of players to adjust to. When practicing for a major event, I think it is super important to learn how to play with a clock. When you practice leading up to a tournament, make sure you are timing your games. As I mentioned earlier, having a general idea of how long it takes you to play games is important. Learning how to manage the clock is a super important element of succeeding at these events!

My last tip for these tournaments is to make sure you are well-rested! A lot of players tell me they stay up super late testing the night before the tournament and making last-minute changes to their decks. Normally, this will just lead to poor results. You should have your deck selected well before the tournament and be well-practiced. The night before the tournament should just be for some tune-up games. I normally do my best to go to bed at a reasonable hour and be well-rested to play my best Pokemon on tournament day!

Learning From Your Performances

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The last thing I want to focus on is how to learn from your plays! One of the worst habits a player can build is to blame their losses on things out of their control. Try to think about how many times you or someone you know has said they lost a game because they drew poorly or their opponent got “lucky.” While it is possible to lose games no matter what you do, there are normally ways you could’ve played differently to improve your chances of winning. By becoming as reflective as possible, you will become a better player. One thing I like to do is jot down notes after every game or round I play. I try to write down difficult situations I was in and what I did. I also write down any mistakes that I think I made. By doing this, I keep track of areas I could work on and identify trends in my play. Even in games where I drew poorly or my opponent drew well, I look for spots where I could’ve increased my chances of winning, even if it ultimately wouldn’t have led to winning the game. Even in games where I won, I try to reflect on what could have gone better. Maybe I left myself susceptible to a line of play, or I ended up winning because my opponent didn’t punish one of my mistakes.

Being reflective and critical of yourself is important to growing as a player. Even the very best players make mistakes, and if you refuse to recognize that you can improve, then you are holding yourself back!

Concluding Thoughts

Hopefully, I gave you some tips on how you can improve as a player heading into this new season! Let me know in the comments what your goals are for this season, and if you have any questions on how to achieve them, I am more than happy to answer them. My focus is going to be shifting towards the World Championships, so hopefully, I will be able to share my thoughts on the metagame with Shrouded Fable next time I write for you. Until then, best of luck in all of your games, and hopefully, I’m back writing for you soon!

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