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Is there more to the metagame than archetype'd decks?

17
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Jan 9, 2014
I've been seeing a lot of the same decks being used, and I was wondering, do people who get to Nationals even try out decks that aren't super generic? It's just boring seeing the same old Black Kyurem/Blastoise decks online when I play, with a bunch of Blastoise and Black Kyurems and no other Pokemon or creative use of Trainer cards, and it seems like no one is that into using decks they've created themselves that don't consist of 3-5 of each stage of a Pokemon, or a deck that works off of a certain EX. I don't know much about how the competitive TCG works, but right now it seems a little bland if one were to start playing the TCG competitively.

I really love collecting cards, but I'm hearing so much negativity about how you only have a chance at winning with around 4 decks, and it's really depressing.
 
9,535
Posts
12
Years
  • Age 29
  • Seen May 11, 2023
I've only just started playing online myself but I can see exactly what you're talking about - the same decks come up time after time and there's just nothing you can do against them if you're using a more fun/casual deck. I had the same problem when playing Yugioh (which is actually the reason I started playing the Pokémon TGC recently) so perhaps it's just unavoidable with card games like these, but it's a really annoying factor of them. The decks that reign the meta aren't even interesting to play against so it's certainly putting me off.
 
431
Posts
10
Years
  • Seen Apr 26, 2015
I dont really play online, but i play at league. It tends to be more fun and weird decks at league than anything else. I just saw a TDK deck for the first time last sunday. before that i was the only one to have a Blastoise Keldeo deck, which i retired, but then another play a similar deck last sunday as well.

I've played a few dragon call decks, a plasma steel deck, and my roommate runs a trubbish deck. other than that there aren't any really commonly played decks there. I currently run Dragonite/Garbodor, the pokemon prof ran a Ninetails/Amoungus/Mewtwo Deck, and another good player runs a weird Lugia/Ninetails/Eevee Deck that works for some reason. There are some other weird decks that dont really work from some of the not so great players. But its a nice change of pace from what i see in tournaments. That and it allows me to play around with a bunch of bad decks and still do okay.

At one point i was actually playing Crobat/Lunatone and was actually doing pretty well.
 

Starlight Sprite

Resident Moon Fairy
213
Posts
10
Years
I play both online and league, and I have to agree. The problem is that the standardized deck archetypes are the most likely to win... against other standardized deck archetypes, and there's no way of ruling them out. A fun/ casual deck is very likely to get clobbered by the opponent who cracks out three Deoxys EX and gets their Lugia EX to four energies by turn two. My Big Plasma Basics deck actually has taken a few losses to Plasma Flareon and some other weird decks though, but that's when I wasn't drawing the Supporters I needed. Even the Novice level won't get you away from these because you'll always find players who feel like clobbering a few newbies for laughs (and shame on them). This same issue will also occur at Cities.

Thankfully the league I'm in is a little more welcoming. Our leader runs a standard modified tourney as well as an unlimited "No EX" tournament every week, so we have a taste of both worlds. I'm honestly not a huge fan of EX's, but I see them as a necessity for victory in the speedy decks that I enjoy playing. Sadly this kind of stuff has been going on ever since the Haymaker and Rain Dance decks of the early days, but back then it was at least somewhat easier to counter the archetypes.
 
431
Posts
10
Years
  • Seen Apr 26, 2015
your going to want an answer to silver mirror for that deck.
 
22,952
Posts
19
Years
I play both online and league, and I have to agree. The problem is that the standardized deck archetypes are the most likely to win... against other standardized deck archetypes, and there's no way of ruling them out. A fun/ casual deck is very likely to get clobbered by the opponent who cracks out three Deoxys EX and gets their Lugia EX to four energies by turn two. My Big Plasma Basics deck actually has taken a few losses to Plasma Flareon and some other weird decks though, but that's when I wasn't drawing the Supporters I needed. Even the Novice level won't get you away from these because you'll always find players who feel like clobbering a few newbies for laughs (and shame on them). This same issue will also occur at Cities.

Thankfully the league I'm in is a little more welcoming. Our leader runs a standard modified tourney as well as an unlimited "No EX" tournament every week, so we have a taste of both worlds. I'm honestly not a huge fan of EX's, but I see them as a necessity for victory in the speedy decks that I enjoy playing. Sadly this kind of stuff has been going on ever since the Haymaker and Rain Dance decks of the early days, but back then it was at least somewhat easier to counter the archetypes.

Archetypes are a natural thing in any TCG. Pokemon happens to have an evolution mechanic that cyclically gets the short end of the stick whenever speedy and powerful Basic Pokemon cards are released. Evolution decks dominated briefly in the era between when Pokemon-SP were rotated out and when EX Pokemon were introduced, and they dominated in the time before SP Pokemon were introduced after the last of the ex Pokemon were rotated out of the format. Evolutionary 'mons actually dominated for a fair while despite all of the big ex Basics during that era because evolved Pokemon actually got the ex treatment as well.

As it stands, tournament play will be affected by each new set release, but it'll depend on which game-breaking cards come out in a given set.
 
33
Posts
10
Years
The whole concept of being "big in meta" kind of revolves around there being archetypes - that's kind of what meta is about. I mostly just play physical, and since I don't want to put in the money to have a bunch of EX's, I usually go for gimmick decks that only work once in a while, but piss everyone off, like my Heatmor deck - 4 heatmors, 4 ethers, 4 level balls, AND A TRUCKLOAD OF FIRE ENERGY. Thinking of adding Gold Breaker Bouffs to that as well, just to even out my bench somewhat.

However, the way I currently see it, there are a few different metas - for example, Darkrai EX decks are big, and now that the meta is no longer all about taking down Mewtwo EX, you can sometimes get by with a deck centered around him. I have a friend who runs a pretty decent Ho-Oh EX deck with every energy it. And then I'm working on a Trubbish/Sigilyph Tool Bonanza deck.

If you experiment and look around, you can probably find a deck with decent meta that's also fun for you and fits your play style.
 
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