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Ness'

Understanding Current Metagame

Playing Cards to Counter others

      A lot of people play the same deck, in every tournament. They lose to the same people, they win against the same people.

      Well, if you're hoping to do better, focus on metagame. Metagame is very important, and it wins games.  

      If you're losing to the same person (who plays the same deck every tournament, pretty much), or the same deck constantly, then maybe you should construct your deck to beat that deck.

      Here's an example. I'll use common examples, too.
You play at a store where you normally place, but never win. You're playing your Zapdos/Wigglytuff deck but you can never seem to beat your friends Dark Vileplume deck. He gets that Dark Vileplume out turn 2 and it's down hill from there.  Well, try to understand how and why certain cards counter others.

      You add some Cleffas and a Magby in your deck. Now, you can draw cards without using trainers, and the Magby can give you a turn to play your trainers, which probably have accumulated by now. That one turn of trainers can be a significant part of winning or losing the game.

      So you people that play in Zapdos dominated environments, play Clefable, or Chansey, or both!  And for you Zapdos players scared of Clefable, or Chansey, or both, play Sprout Tower.  You can metagame the metagamers.  

      For example, we talked about Magby to counter Dark Plume. Dark Plume can try to defend against it's enemy by playing more baby Pokémon, which can stop that trainer allowing Sputter. If your opponent hesitates and waits until you bring out a non-baby, Dark Plume can just build things til it doesn't even matter if he sputters, or prepare to use it's trainers to counter that Sputter.  The Dark Plume deck can also play Lass to make that Sputter useless.

      Wigglytuff dominates tournaments. How do you counter Wigglytuff?  Any hay variant with excessive removal, and if it's that big of a threat, try Sprout Tower.

      Take this quiz and see if you understand metagame.

      Fast Hitmonchan/Magmar hay variants dominate your store and give you trouble. What should you play to counter this deck?
A) Rain Dance, with Articunos, and 3 Cleffa.
B) A Faster Hitmonchan/Magmar
C) A fast Wigglytuff deck with No Removal Gym
D) SneaselTrap with some Energy Removal


Best choice- A: Rain Dance
Magmar goes down easily to Blastoise and Articuno, and Hitmonchan doesn't stand a chance against Articuno either. Ouch.


      Rocket's Zapdos / Electabuzz decks with Sprout Tower are popular at your store. They give you trouble. Counter it, but with what?
A: Rain Dance with Wooper as back-up
B: Clefable with Magmar/Chan, and a various default gym
C: A Rocket's Zapdos deck with a couple Gligars
D: Rocket's Zapdos / Electabuzz without Sprout Tower


Best choice- B: Fable/Chan/Mag
C seems to have an advantage. D seems to have an advantage. And they do. But B has the biggest advantage over it.


      Sneasel Traps (maxed out on RSA, card drawing, Trap) dominate your store and always beat you. How do you counter this deck?
A: Dark Vileplume with 10 basic, 3 Rocket's Hitmonchans
B: Sneasel Trap with 14 basic and 2 Cleffa
C: A Zapdos/Ditto deck with 12 basic, and 3 Cleffa
D: Mewtwo Mulligan

Best choice- C: Zapdos/Ditto/Cleffa
C is the best here. Another SneaselTrap cannot make a good recovery, and whoever goes first will establish a game winning advantage immediately. Mewtwo Mulligan isn't even a real deck, and though Dark Vileplume will work nice, especially with Chan and Cleffa, Oddishes are weak, and Chan is a coin flip, AND it runs in trouble when going 2nd, AND it can't get Plume out before they go crazy with hand disruption first turn.


      Mewtwo Mulligan dominates your store. What one trainer can you play to shut the deck down?
A: Gust of Wind
B: Lass
C: Nightly Garbage Run
D: Super Energy Removal

Best choice- D: Super (or possible Lass)
Lass can work if you save your trainers, Lass them, and deck them, but I would just go with the Super. One Super and knock out the stupid Mewtwo the turn it doesn't Barrier.

      Metagame can become complicated, and when playing in an environment that you are not sure what you're going up against, you may want to play the 1 Magby just incase.  Metagame is an important part of winning games, though.

      Metagame was the high amount of Clefable played at the ECSTS to counter Rocket's Zapdos. And some people countered Clefable, too. Always look deep into metagame...

      Thanks for reading. And here's another example: If Slowking dominates your store, play Dark Plume or a couple Magby to shut it down.

-Ness
aim: onettness