Pokemon goldfish standard how to#

It’s helpful to know what decks have been winning recent Standard tournaments so that you can try to test against these decks specifically. What cards did you find yourself wishing you had in your deck?Īs you begin to gear up for your first tournament-perhaps a League Challenge or League Cup-you’ll want to prepare your deck to be ready to take on the most popular decks in the current meta. Were your attackers able to win you the prize trade? What cards did you not see when you needed them? Always be asking yourself these four questions: Initial playtesting helps you run your deck against a variety of possible matchups, helps you focus your skills on learning to play your deck better, and helps you to see holes wherever they may be.Īlways make notes, mental or otherwise, while playtesting. Initial playtesting is often little more than a casual game with other players. If you aren’t able to attend your local Pokémon League, or if you’d like to play your deck more often, there is also the option of playing online via PTCGO. You can find your closest Pokémon League using the Event Locator on Pokémon.com. One of the best ways to start playing your freshly-crafted deck is to bring it to your local Pokémon League. Now, it’s time to actually put in some proper games with it. So, you’ve got your deck and you’re feeling pretty good about how it’s working. A benefit to PTCGL is that you don’t need to own the cards to test a deck against the computer, so if you just want to test an idea or two, or maybe how a change or two affects your deck’s consistency, PTCGL’s Test Deck feature will prove especially useful for you. Getting the cards you need to construct your deck on PTCGL is a separate process from collecting the cards you need in print, however, and to play against other players on PTCGL, you’ll need to obtain the cards for your deck in the game client. The game’s digital nature also makes it relatively easy to test several variations of a deck in quick succession-you can try out a handful of different draw supporters for your deck, for example, to see which best suits its needs.

Pokemon goldfish standard how to#

Testing against the computer is a great alternative to goldfishing as it puts you up against a very easy opponent, allowing you to focus more on what is and isn’t working in your deck than how to not immediately lose. The Pokémon Trading Card Game Live offers ways to play with your deck in an online environment, both against computer players and against other players. To quote Tord Reklev, “Your deck will never win if it can't function in the first place.”Īn alternative to goldfishing is playing against the computer player in the Test Deck feature on the Pokémon Trading Card Game Live-or PTCGL. If your deck struggles to set itself up, even without an opponent, it needs more work. Often, Bricking is the result of a single deck trying to do too much. If you find your deck Bricking or Dead Drawing-becoming unable to draw into any cards that help you progress toward victory-with any significant degree of frequency, it may be time to head back to the drawing board. While goldfishing does not and cannot help you in many ways, goldfishing can be especially helpful in identifying basic consistency issues. The player then continues playing, setting up Pokémon, and attacking, progressing against their imaginary opponent. When goldfishing, a player begins setting up play as normal, drawing a starting hand, choosing a starting Pokémon, placing prizes, and so on. Goldfishing, or playing without an opponent, is a simple way to begin testing your deck. These very basic types of testing are a great way to identify basic problems with your deck so that they can be fixed before your first games with it. When trying out a new deck idea, it’s often a good idea to put your idea through a few basic tests before trying it out in the real world. Once you’re done looking over your deck, it’s time to start looking at testing it. If something pops out at you from the checklist, run through your deck again to make sure you’ve got what it needs.