Wednesday, September 10, 2014

1st place report from Japan



Me and all the great Japanese friends I was priviledged to meet
Hi everyone!


It’s been a long time since I last wrote anything to my blog, but as most of you know, I visited Tokyo the last week for 10 days and of course attended a tournament there. Last time, I was in Japan, I only visited a small shop tournament. However, this time I was able to attend in an over 80-player tournament, which was a walk from the place where me and my friend were staying! That’s quite rare in Japan since Tokyo is such a huge city.

Anyways, I will write this report only, because so many people requested it. All I can say about my trip overall, is that it was probably my best trip ever and I had sooo much fun there! I recommend Tokyo for everyone and especially if you know someone who knows the places and speaks Japan. My friend had lived in Tokyo for over a year and as she speaks fluent Japanese, it really made my trip.

Anyways, onto the tournament report.

Monday, March 10, 2014

It's good to be back - Palkia EX and the tournament system analysis



Because it's the cooler Palkia EX.

Hello everyone!

So I was supposed to do a report from the ECC a few weeks back. However, due to my busy schedule, I didn’t find any time to write the report. Also, since the new set has now been released, I see no reason to analyze the results of the ECC matches I played. Instead, I decided to do an article on the deck I played in the ECC since it’s even better now in the new format.

Today I will first discuss my ECC experience briefly and since it was my one and only(?) tournament this year, I will also reflect my experience on the best-of-three and 50 minutes Swiss rounds. However, mainly I will be focusing on the deck and how it worked out for me and how it looks like in the new format. There may be some issues with my match-up understanding, because I didn’t playtest a single game with any deck before the ECC, so my game understanding is a bit rusty.


Anyways, let’s get going (old habits die hard, haha).





The ECC experience and my thoughts about the tournament system



I really didn’t have any expectations of my result in the ECC. All I wanted was a positive result, because it would have been embarrassing if I went something like 0-8 in the only tournament of the year, haha. Of course I couldn’t expect a lot, because I hadn’t playtested at all and I got the list directly from my Japanese friend Ukinin-san (of course I had to take away the Muscle Bands, because they were illegal).


In the first day I did well with 6 wins, 2 ties and 1 loss. The only loss was to an Empoleon/Dusknoir deck, which just run through me and I didn’t have a chance against it. The first day was a horrifying experience with 14 hours of playing Pokémon. In the old day, I would have welcomed it, but let’s just say that my stamina isn’t as good as it used be since I hadn’t been playing in 8 months! I was dead-tired after the first day of playing.

In the second day of the tournament, I started the day with 3 ties. I didn’t realize that I should have been able to win at least one of those games, so after I understood, I had no chance of get through to the top8, I just asked my opponents if they needed any CP points. For some reason, they didn’t need, so we played them out either way and I lost both of the remaining matches.


I don’t know if the new system is better than the old one. Due to the first turn rule, it’s very difficult to donk in the new format, so I don’t know if best-of-three is necessary. Sure, best-of-three has more skill involved in it than best-of-one, but the time limit of 50 minutes also brought some very negative sides in my opponents as well.


In the first 4 games, I went 2-0, so I didn’t notice anything out of ordinary. However, in the first match where I lost my first game, I noticed that my opponent started to stall in a very visible manner. As I am not playing competitively anymore, I didn’t really care about the stalling, but if I was still playing competitively, I would have gotten very mad. After the first win, a few of my opponents started to shuffle just a little longer, think just a little bit more, search for their deck for 5 seconds longer etc. Everything they did in the first, game, they did purposefully slower in the second game and when the play tempo changes between games, it’s pretty obvious what’s happening.


As it is a competitive game, I am pretty sure that my opponents weren’t the only players doing that kind of things. For the sake of SoTG, I sure hope Pokémon does quickly something to the 50-minute time limit, because it simply isn’t enough and encourages subtle stalling. Thankfully, I don’t have to anymore sit and watch someone lose a meaningful match just, because their opponent is stalling.


Also, I think the 14 Swiss rounds are just… too much. Especially for a newbie for me who doesn’t have any stamina, haha.  






The list and the newly fixed list


So, my ECC list looked like this, because Muscle Bands weren’t legal in the ECC.



Pokémon:

3x Palkia EX
3x Deoxys EX
4x Snorlax
1x Genesect EX
=11

Trainer:

4x Professor Juniper
4x N
3x Colress
2x Bianca
1x Skyla
2x Shadow Triad
4x Team Plasma Ball
3x Colress Machine
4x Float Stone
1x Switch
1x Max Potion
4x Hypnotoxic Laser
2x Virbank City Gym
2x Tool Scrapper
1x Dowsing Machine
=38

Energy:

4x Double Colorless Energy
4x Plasma Energy
3x Psychic Energy
=11


And the list I would play in the current format.

Pokémon:

3x Palkia EX
3x Deoxys EX
4x Snorlax
1x Genesect EX
=11

Trainer:

4x Professor Juniper
4x N
3x Colress
2x Bianca
1x Skyla
2x Shadow Triad
3x Team Plasma Ball
3x Colress Machine

2x Muscle Band

4x Float Stone
1x Max Potion
4x Hypnotoxic Laser
2x Virbank City Gym
2x Tool Scrapper
1x Dowsing Machine
=38

Energy:

4x Double Colorless Energy
4x Plasma Energy
3x Psychic Energy
=11



Strategy


In most games you want to start, because of one simple reason – your opponent wants usually start. I noticed that for me it didn’t usually matter, whether I went first or second, because if I went first, I got the one turn advantage, but if I went second, I could  very often hit in T1, which was huge. I decided to go first only, because I remembered that the stage2 decks always wants to go first as well as do the Virizion EX variants.


In short, the strategy is quite simple. Attach 3 energy to Palkia EX and start hitting with it, while bringing Snorlax to the active spot. The Snorlax should have a Float Stone attached to it when you bring it to the active spot, or you should at least have an access to Float Stone the next turn. Palkia EX hits from 50 to even 120 damage with Strafe with the help of Deoxys EX, Muscle Band and Poison. You wanto to save the Lasers for the cases, when you really need them.


The great thing about this deck is the few resources it needs. In many games, I had a huge supporter drought, but it didn’t matter, because you only need a Basic Pokémon and 3 energy in order to attack! There were some games I was able to win even with only one Supporter during the whole game.


Snorlax is not only there, because of its ability, but because of it attack as well. It’s a wonderful late game finisher, because you always have time to attach 5 energy to Snorlax as long as you play wisely. TeamPact OHKOs pretty much everything in the current format (especially with Deoxys EX and Muscle Band), so it’s a real game-ender.




Card Explanations


I will analyze the card choices of the new version of the deck, which is superior to the old list.





Palkia EX


Palkia EX only has only one job in the deck – to hit Strafe. You attack with Strafe about 95% of the games. Usually you want to switch out Snorlax, but you should also remember that you don’t HAVE TO switch Pokémon with Strafe. There are certain situations, where you want to take a hit with Palkia EX, because it has such a huge amount of HP. It’s good to remember that most of your opponent’s don’t really remember this and it may mess up with their calculations.

Deoxys EX

Deoxys EX sits on the bench and gives Palkia EX additional hit power. However, you mustn’t underrate Deoxys EXs attack either. It’s still highly effective against the likes of Keldeo EX and Snorlax, because they have high energy costs. This deck runs Psychic Energy, because from time to time you want to use Helix Force in order to OHKO your opponent’s main attackers, but in many games it’s just more safe to use Strafe to the end.

Snorlax

Snorlax is the deck’s heart & soul. Its Ability stops from your opponent from retreating and it has humongous 130 HP (which is a lot for a non-EX Basic Pokémon). You usually want just to use Strafe in order to bring Snorlax to the active spot. With the help of Lasers, your opponent may be in big trouble if they don’t happen to have a Switch or Escape Rope in their hand. There are many other Pokémon that can be ran besides Snorlax (e.g. Sigilyph, Suicune, the random Item lock stage1 Pokémon of the new set), but I still believe Snorlax is THE play in this deck. It worked for me, so it should work for you too.

Genesect EX

Funny fact about Gensect EX. Only one day before the tournament, I learned that you can choose which Pokémon to bring to the active spot with Genesect EX! it was a good thing I read the card, because otherwise I may have dumped it from my deck, haha. Genesect only work in the deck as a Catcher and it helps you to get the easy prizes in the late game. Combined with Shadow Triad, you may have as many as 6 Catchers in your possession during a game!


Professor Juniper – N – Colress

Nothing new here. The deck could probably use 4 Colress and 1 Bianca, but I hate playing 4 Colress, because sometimes in the early game it’s just awful and Supporters should be good along every step of the game. However, especially in the mid – and late game Colress is so good that you don’t really want to play less than 3 of them.

Bianca

If there was a better straight draw, it would easily replace Bianca. Bianca is a bit oddball here since mostly I had more than 6 cards in my hand whenever I had Bianca in my hand. Colress is 90% of the time better, but sometimes you just want the direct draw card. Bianca is the best there is – at the moment – because you don’t want to rely on Team Plasma Grunt even though you have a lots of Plasma cards in your deck.

Skyla

I felt like the original list (which didn’t run any Skyla) needed at least one Skyla and added in it. It served the purpose very well. I would like to fit maybe even 2 or 3 Skylas in to the deck, because you usually just want one certain Trainer card from your deck, but there just isn’t enough space for it. After all, Colress is still better than Skyla.

Shadow Triad

One of the most important cards of the whole deck. Getting Plasma Energy and Hypnotoxic Lasers back are HUGE for this deck. IN some situations, I retreated with Genesect EX only to get Plasma Energy back to my hand with Shadow Triad and use Red Signal again. Shadow Triad is a very versatile card in this deck and as I have said so many times before, versatility is the things that makes all the cards and decks good.

Team Plasma Ball

Nothing interesting here. You can search for every single Pokémon in your deck with Team Plasma Ball and since you don’t want to discard any cards you don’t want to play Ultra Ball instead of Team Plasma Ball.

Colress Machine

The deck doesn’t necessarily need Colress Machine, but Colress Machine makes the deck more agile in surprising situations where e.g. your Palkia EX is OHKOed from bench or when you need a surprise attack with Snorlax or Deoxys EX. With the help of Colress Machine, I also got a lot of T1 Strafe, which put immediately pressure on my opponent.

Muscle Band

I would have loved to use Muscle Band in the ECC. With the help of Muscle Band and Deoxys EX, you pretty much 2HKO everything. Now, I wasn’t able to 2HKO anything, and not even OHKO Pokémon with weakness. Muscle Band makes the deck sooo much better, and even though I haven’t played the deck with Muscle Band, I’m sure it’s very strong with it.

Float Stone

You usually want to attach Float Stones only to Snorlaxes, but of course there are sometimes exceptions. What you should keep in mind is that your opponent often does run Tool Scrappers. That’s’ why you don’t really want to attach more than one Float Stone at a time on your Pokémon. The only exception is of course, if you are forced to discard Float Stones with Juniper. In the early tournament, I played down the Float Stones too carelessly and it almost cost me some games.

Max Potion

Max Potion is quite an obvious addition to the deck. You have meatwalls that don’t have energy attached to them and one main attacker, with all the energy on it. With the help of Max Potion, you can use cards like Genesect EX to meatwall some serious damage and just heal it away. The deck would like to play more Max Potions if – you guessed it-  it had more space!

Hypnotoxic Laser - Virbank City Gym

Since you aren’t a stage2 deck and can’t hit for 200, you need to play these cards. Snorlax makes Laser even better, but usually you don’t really need the Sleep, because the extra damage is the key in this deck. With the combination of Poison, Muscle Band and Deoxys EX, Strafe is able to hit all the key HP amounts in the current format.

Tool Scrapper – Dowsing Machine

Silver Mirror and you are screwed. That’s why 2 Tool Scrappers and a Dowsing Machine is a must in my opinion. You may also think that Garbodor gives the deck trouble, but in my experience, it usually only helps me out. Of course, sometimes you want to get rid off Garbodors Ability as well, so Tool Scrapper does work for that as well. Dowsing Machine is in the deck, because it’s so VERSATILE.

Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy and Plasma Energy are the cards you usually have on Palkia EX. However, you need Basic Energy also, if your opponent decides to start pounding Enhanced Hammers on you (a strategy, which in my experience didn’t work out too well).

The Basic Energy question is interesting in this deck. One could argue that Prism Energy or Blend GRDP is a better choice, because you could use Genesects attack as well, but due to the Hammer threat, I think Basic Energy is the way to go. Also, the original list played Grass Energy, because they wanted to make Genesect EX to attack, but I think Deoxys EX is superior to Genesect EX in most situations – especially in the current format, where there are Pokémon with high energy costs roaming around.


A quick match-up review
I will be taking a look at the match-ups I played in the tournament, I really can’t theorymon this format at all, because I have zero experience from it excluding the ECC.


Genesect EX/Virizion EX variants

The more straight the variant is, the more trouble it causes to the deck. I defeated all the 4 variants I played against, but I am pretty sure I would have lost to a straightforward Genesect EX without any gimmicky techs like Garbodor.


Darkrai EX variants


Garbodor or not, this match-up is highly favorable. I tied 2 Darkrai EX variants, because of my (yes I play very slowly nowadays) and my opponent’s slow play, and won 2 Darkrai EX variants, so I guess the match-up is pretty good. I believe the match-up is even easier when your opponent plays down Garbodor, because it messes up their game as much as it does mine.


Team Plasma Lugia EX deck

This is one match-up, I had huge problems dealing with. I think there is something you can do now, thanks to Muscle Band, but without Muscle Band the match-up was extremely difficult. The reason for this is that I couldn’t 2HKO Lugia EX, where as they OHKO my Snorlaxes for two prizes. The prize exchange isn't in your favor and it undermines the whole strategy of your deck. I believe it’s about 50-50 with the help from Muscle Band.

Empoleon/Dusknoir

Dunnolol. I believe this match-up is extremely bad if they get the Dusknoir up. At least I was completely sweeped away by the deck. The problem is that they can KO Palkia EX whenever they want and it pretty much destroys your whole game plan. You need a whole new game plan against this deck and I wasn’t able to figure it out in one tournament.

Blastoise variants

Even if they get a T2 Blastoise running, you are safe. My opponent played Catchers, hit some heads and still lost the game. The key to victory here is the fact that Kyurem EX is weak to Palkia EX and Keldeo EX can be easily OHKOed by Deoxys  EX. Just get the early lead with aggressive Strife and you are safe after the late game Ns since you need a lot less resources to the prize exchange than they do.





Conclusion


Anddd, that’s about it! I hope you enjoyed the article as much as I enjoyed writing it! I have been writing a lot of Finnish and less English since I stopped writing to my blog, so forgive me for all of my grammar errors and brainfarts. I may play at Nationals, I may translate in the World Championships (or even play there!), but at the moment everything is wide open. I have no plans about Pokémon and I will just go with the flow and how I feel like at the moment. I just watched the Indigo League series from Netflix and got very nostalgic and remembered why I fell in love with Pokémon in the first place (I mean the first episode, wow, just wow).


However, I will still update my blog’s Facebook and Twitter from time to time (like every two months, lol), so if you like to keep up what I am doing in the Pokémon field, be sure to follow me there! It may even be that I will write a second article sometime this year! Of course I don't know if I should write to someplace else than my blog, but feel free to state your opinion about that as well.


Anyways, thanks for reading and feel free to spread the word about the article since no one really doesn’t even know, that The Deck Out site still exists, because the domain changed. Oh and also, feel free to comment on anything!


Thanks for reading!









Tuesday, August 27, 2013

It's time to move on


Hats off to the readers.
Hello everyone!

It’s sad, but true. It’s time to move on. And I never thought that moving on even from a serious relationship would be this difficult, but after all, I believe that every blogger and blog share a very serious relationship. Otherwise the blog wouldn't be very interesting for the readers. All the nice people I was able to meet at Worlds this year made this decision even more heart-breaking, but in the end I do what I gotta do.

TheDeckOut has been online for almost exactly two years now and it has been an unbelievable project for me and a lot of work. I have learned a lot, not only about the English grammar, but also about Pokémon TCG and the community all over the world. I wouldn’t change anything that I have experienced with The Deck Out. I have also had the priviledge to talk and meet with a bunch of great people all over the world.

However, all good things come to an end and now it’s the time for The Deck Out to make room for other Pokémoni TCG fan sites and blogs. If you want to know why, there are several reasons for it.

1) 
Finnish Pokémon TCG scene

I have said many times in my blog that the Finnish Pokémon scene is dying. This is an undeniable fact. It's also the biggest reason why I have struggled to continue with my blog the whole last season and THE biggest reason why it's time to stop writing to The Deck Out. After moving to new city, I haven't had anyone to play Pokémon with, so competitive playing has been almost an impossibility for me. That's probably one of the biggest reasons why I had a mediocre last season as well.

People often ask me, why I don’t start promoting the game and establish a league etc. to grow the game. I have been building the Finnish Pokémon TCG scene from the rock bottom and I have really given my all to this game and the Finnish players. You could say that I have ran out of fuel. There is nothing more I can offer to the Finnish Pokémon TCG scene personally and it’s time for new forces to step in and take responsibility, if they ever want to grow the game in Finland. Unfortunately I believe that there is no “new wave” coming in the Finnish Pokémon TCG and we will be back with 20-people Nationals next year. I sincerely hope I am wrong, but I doubt it since Matti Kettunen who has been organizing all the tournaments the past years (and loaned me all the cards I have needed), has quit the game as well. When you have that few players around and almost no tournament organizers, you don't really get any competitive or fun feeling from playing and my blog's content would be full of theorymon, which wouldn't help anyone. But that will remain to be seen.




2) The spark is gone


To be honest, after experiencing the greatest seasons of Pokémon TCG (in my opinion seasons 2005-2008), I just don’t get the excitement I used to get from this game. Also, when looking at the future cards, it seems that Pokémon has no intention to stop releasing Basic EXs that will dominate the metagame. However, there just might be light in the end of the tunnel if we look at the "new alternative format", which will start after 2014 season. On the other hand, they decided to reprint Pokémon Catcher in Plasma Blast so...maybe it's a good time to take a break from playing after all as they have no intentions of making stage2 Pokémon playable in a while.

On the other hand, it just may be that I have “grown out” from the game. I remember the times when I could easily play 8 hours a day and was still eager to play more and more. Nowadays I don’t usually even want to play more than 5 games in a row, because I quickly get frustrated for various reasons. I don't really know why, but all I know is that the spark that once was there, doesn’t exist anymore.


3) Time, writing and life

Every single time a featured writer writes a single article in my blog, they always say “whoa, that was a lot of work; I can’t comprehend how you can write an article every week!” During the 2-year span I often asked this from myself – how did I have the time and energy to write those articles AND Underground articles on top of that? I have no idea, but I’m proud that I was able to do it. Now, the “real” life takes more and more time from my time, so I just don’t have enough time to write entries that would benefit anyone. I also was very active during this summer and thanks to that the next years I'm more than busy with 2 different schools, working part-time during school and writing for a professional magazine. I'm surprised if I have time to even play Pokémon anymore! I can't give up writing, because I love it, but writing a Pokémon TCG blog is out of question - at least for now.




Epilogue

I’ll be honest. Writing is the thing I enjoy the most in my life (alongside good music) and I can’t live without it. However, too much is too much and that’s why I can’t concentrate on all the things in my life at the same time. I had to stop doing something and unfortunately it’s the blog I need to stop writing when I look at the priorities of my life.

I believe I have been able to help a lot more people than I originally thought I could help with my blog. I receive e-mails daily and I have personally answered over 1000 e-mails from people all over the world (I still have almost all of them saved in my e-mail folder) asking for advice or help during the past two years. Even though I couldn’t always answer all the e-mails I got, I have tried to answer them as many of them as I could. And every single time I was able meet new people in big tournaments and they thanked me for my blog or asked for an autograph, I really felt like I had done something that really mattered. Thank you for acknowledging my work.

With the help of Ukinin-san I have also been able to close the gap between Japan and the rest of the Pokémon TCG world and I’m proud of that and hugely grateful for Ukinin-san for the possibility. I’m sure there are people who will continue my work when it comes to Japan, because all things Japan always gather a lot of attention and for example RestlessBob has already for a while done great coverage of Japanese tournaments at Pokegym.

When I first started my blog, I didn’t believe anyone would be interested in puny Finnish players’ opinions about the game, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The Deck Out has grown more than I could ever have imagined and I owe it all to you and only to you.

I also like to believe that my blog’s popularity encouraged other people to establish their own Pokémon TCG blogs as well, because a lot of Pokémon TCG blogs have been established after The Deck Out was established two years ago. After all, if my horribly written blog could be popular, then any other blog could be popular as well! Before ending this final entry, I would like to give a shout out to every fully competitive Pokémon TCG site I know of and I think is worth checking out. I think all of these sites are worth following and by promoting them you can help to grow the game. Maybe you and your friends could establish your own blog as well! There is still space in the Pokémon TCG
blogsphere for (how do I put it nicely...hmm) "personal" blogs.

Celadon City Gym

The Top Cut

The Charizard Lounge

Flip or Die


Ace Trainer


SixPrizes

ProPokémon

Pokedemia

Pokegym

One Hit KO


60cards.net

TCG with hats

Heytrainer
(Not for children)

On the Bubble (Not for children)



Let me know if missed something, because this entry will be the first thing that people see, when they visit The Deck Out, so the more there are links to quality competitive Pokémon TCG sites, the better.


And just when you thought you could get rid of me completely, I would like to take you back to one very important point of this entry - I love writing! And since Pokémon TCG will have a place in my heart as long as the game exists (and probably even after that as I have played it over 50% of my lifetime!), I probably can’t ever stop writing Pokémon TCG articles. It may be once a year or twice year, or maybe even 5 times a year, but I will keep on writing. However, the fact is that I won’t publish enough material to support The Deck Out, so it’s probably more prudent for me to write to a site that publishes material more often. I don't know, which site I will write in the future, but I'm sure I can arrange something. All suggestions on which site you would like me to write are more than welcome!

I hope you have enjoyed The Deck Out as long as you have been reading it and that it has been a useful or at least entertaining blog for you!

There were a lot of things I really would have still liked to promote with my blog (e.g. the appreciation of Juniors and Seniors in the game). Remember that even though we might live on other continents and have huge age differences, Pokémon TCG is something that binds us all together. In the end, it’s our common language. 

I want to thank all of you whether you have read, commented, argued, loved, hated, defended or followed The Deck Out! It was an experience like no other and it wouldn't have been nothing without you.

Thank you.


Sincerely yours,

Esa Juntunen



    


Wednesday, August 21, 2013

It has been a while: Aftermath of Worlds


BCIF (No, I'm not kidding!)
Hello everyone!


It’s been a while. In fact, it has been two weeks already since my last article! Today I’m here to share my Worlds experience with you. The feelings I got from Worlds were very controversial. On the other hand, I would have loved to play, but in the end I was more than grateful that I eventually had to be a part of the translation team even though my big brother’s car accident led me to it. Why I was happy translate even though I love playing? That’s a very interesting question indeed, which I will try to answer in this entry.

Anyways, I wasn’t’ able to provide any updates from the tournament venue, because the internet access was 150 dollars per day… I’m very disappointed to that, but oh well, I had a blast nonetheless! As I was inside the staff area from Thursday onwards, I will give you today an inside-scoop about some things that I wouldn’t have probably heard as a player. Of course I can’t say all the things, because some of them were confidential, but I will tell everything that wasn’t!

Let’s get going.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

World Championships 2013 - Metagame, Stories and The Accident


Me as a translator? That's what I call the last resort!
Hello everyone!


I knew I was going to Worlds, but for a long time I didn't book the trip. Eventually I decided to book the trip, but then something tragic happened - my big brother got hit by a car. So what does my big brother got to do with anything? Well, he should have been the Finnish translator, but due to the accident he can't go to Worlds at all! On such a short notice it was impossible to find another translator, so I had to make a big decision. I had to step down from the player position and step up the translator's spot. I would have loved to play in the Worlds this year, because this will probably be my last Worlds, but this was the right thing to do since there was no one else for the spot and I can't really go regretting the decision now. It will be a different experience for sure, but I'm sure it will be fun nonetheless!

Anyways, even though I will be watching the Worlds Championships from the sidelines this year (which is really heart-breaking for me as I would have loved to play), it doesn't stop me today looking at what to expect at Worlds. Decks, players, Japanese decks etc.

And remember, even though I will be in the sidelines, I will try to update interesting things from Worlds on Twitter and Facebook in the Worlds after each round, so remember to follow me there, if you want to know up-to-date things about the tournaments.

Let’s get going!







Monday, July 29, 2013

Tropical Beach giveaway 4 winners and Pokedemia!


Pokedemia is the new cool.
Hello everyone!


I was supposed to do a Worlds-entry today, but due to the changed circumstances, I had to move it for Wednesday. Anyways, today I have two important things - the winners of the last Tropical Beach PTCGO codes and a shout out for a great new Pokémon TCG blog.

Let’s start with the correct answer to the last question and who are the winners. The correct answer to the question: Who do I consider as the best player in the game is…. Sami Sekkoum! Not the most surprising choice, but not the most obvious choice either. He is the most consistent player in the Worlds and National Championships history and that’s a reason enough for me. Anyways, the winners of the last PTCGO Tropical Beach codes are:

-
Christina Pendergrast
- Connor McClure

Congratulations to the winners! E-mail me to:
thedeckout@gmail.com to claim your prize.



Then, to the more important thing today! Steffen Eriksen from Denmark has established a new Pokémon TCG blog, which has a very interesting approach on writing and I really love the concept and hope it will become hugely successful. I will let Steffen introduce the blog and idea to you.


Hi everyone!

My name is Steffen Eriksen and I have been a Pokémon player for quite some time. Recently I got the idea to start a new blog with inspiration from The Deck Out. My blog will be named Pokedemia and will, as the name indicates, have a more academic focus on Pokémon TCG. To my knowledge there is yet no site which does that and I think that the Pokémon community can benefit from having a site which takes a more academic approach. The subjects which will be included on the blog will be: Mathematic, Economics, Econometrics, Statistics, Marketing and much more. As a special feature of the blog, I welcome people to write in with articles they wish to publish on the blog. For more information about me and how the blog is going to work visit:
www.pokedemia.com

I hope that you all will enjoy reading my blog and a special thanks to Esa for letting me advertise my new blog here!

Steffen Eriksen



Be sure to check Pokedemia out! I love the more mature approach to Pokémon TCG as the game’s player base has become a lot older and I believe I may very well to write to Pokedemia in the near future as well! I hope that the site will get an explosive start with great articles.




Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Tropical Beach giveaway 4!

It’s giveaway time!

I have planned a few competitions for the Tropical Beaches and they are pretty simple. I give you a question and you answer it on Facebook (I presume almost everyone has a Facebook nowadays). However, if you don't, just e-mail me your answer to: thedeckout@gmail.com.

I hope most of you put your answers to Facebook, where I have asked the question, so that my e-mail box won't be filled with e-mails and that I know who I am giving the codes to.
Remembr to share the contest with your friends as well, so they have a chance to win 4 Tropical Beaches as well!. I will choose the winner(s) among the people who answered correctly to my question.

You can find the Facebook question here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Deck-Out/224210994308067?ref=hl#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=544523722276791&id=224210994308067

Anyways, today's question is! (I warn you, these are difficult ones).


Who do I consider as the best player in the world?



You have TWO days to answer the question and then I'll reveal the winners on Facebook and Twitter!

Good luck!