Tropical Beach giveaway time!

Electrifying!

It’s giveaway time!

I have planned a few competitions for the PTCGO 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. Remember 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 should leave your answer HERE: https://www.facebook.com/#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=538489889546841&id=224210994308067

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


Which player I asked for help for my Zapdos EX/Rayquaza EX/Electrode EX deck via Private Message at Pokegym in 2006? (Real name or nickname). 


Hint: He is a former SixPrizes Underground-writer.


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

Good luck!

10 years of competitive Pokémon TCG: The Unbearable Lightness of almost Being a Pokémon Master

Hello everyone!


As Worlds will be soon and it’s difficult to decide whether to discuss Worlds format or the future

Eeveelutions tend to break the format

format, I decided to make a compromise and do another history entry! The last one was a bit controversial and the general tone of the article was negative. This time, the story is pretty much the opposite. Almost a Cinderella-like story. Also, did you know that the new Pokémon TCG season started yesterday! If you don't believe me, just check your Pokémon.com account!

But before we get going, it’s good to remind you that it’s no good reading this, if you haven’t read the previous parts of my history. You can find the previous parts here:

- 2004
- 2005
- 2006
- 2007

Anyways, it’s always good to make a quick recap of where am I now. It’s autumn of 2007. The last two seasons have been highly disappointing for me Pokémon TCG-wise as first I failed at Worlds in 2006 and the 2007 was full of negative feelings and experiences. HOWEVER, even though the years had been failures for me personally as a player, they were remarkable years for me as a deck builder, because my builds had won Worlds Championships two years in a row! Finland was able to produce World Champions two years in a row, which I think no one expected. All the eyes of Finnish players were on me, as almost everyone awaited me to be the 3^rd Finnish World Champion. However, as I had lost a bit of my confidence and interest in Pokémon TCG, because of the failure of my past two seasons, I didn’t expect anything from myself. Especially since I didn’t feel comfortable with the format. How so? Let’s get going to find out!

The U.S. Nationals results and hindsight

Life Dew flew under the radar all this time

Hello everyone!



The U.S. Nationals are finally behind us! And the only thing left is the Worlds Championships - the most important tournament of the season for me and a lot of non-U.S players. However, before I make a Worlds Championships entry later on in this month, it’s time to look back to the results of the U.S. Nationals winning decks, and why these decks ended up winning each age group.

I’ll analyze each age group, but of course I will concentrate mostly on Masters, because that’s the only age group I could find a lot of good information from! We already know the top8 of the Masters division giving us a good picture of what really did well. I’ll also do some a not-so-rough draft of the Masters’ winning deck, which I believe won’t be too many cards off. I hope you enjoy!

Let’s get going.

PTCGO Tropical Beach giveaway!

Virtually free!

Hello everyone!

As you know if you follow me on social media, a few days ago I received Tropical Beach codes for PTCGO as many other Worlds 2011 and 2012 attendees. Soon I realized that as I don’t play PTCGO at all, they are just a bunch of useless codes for me. I could sell them for 20-30$/each, but I would really like to reward my fans instead of making money with them. That’s why I will posting competitions to my blog and to social media where I give 1-2 codes at a time, with which you can use to claim 4 Tropical Beaches in PTCGO. To be amongst the first to know when a new Tropical Beach code competition is available in my blog, follow me on:

Twitter or
Facebook

The competitions are simple. I ask questions about my Pokémon TCG career, me or my blog and I will reward 1-2 people who answered correctly. I will post the question of the day to Facebook, where I hope you answer the question, because that's teh only way I can recognize who answered correctly. If you don't have Facebook, e-mail me the answer to: thedeckout@gmail.com. I hope you will write on Facebook, because otherwise my e-mail will be filled with e-mails before I have time to say Pikachu.

So stay tuned in social media! Also, there may be codes hidden somewhere inside my new blog texts as well! So, read every entry carefully! The competitions will start somewhere next week after the U.S. Nationals, so everyone can attend.

Anyways, this will happen somewhere next week and before that I’ll try to get some more additional Tropical Beaches from other Finnish players as well to share with, so I hope I can give away a LOT of Tropical Beaches for free. I hope that you will take the code only if you sincerely need it for playing and that you don’t take it and sell it just to make money and that you only claim one code (since you get 4 Beaches with one code). It would defeat the whole purpose of me giving these away for free. Thank you.

One more thing! I would like to give one Tropical Beach right here, right now. This Tropical Beach goes to a person, who is probably the most active commenter in my blog and thus I want to recognize the time he spends on reading and commenting on my blog. Alex Hill! E-mail me to: thedeckout@gmail.com to claim your PTCGO Tropical Beach if you need one. If you don’t, just comment on the comments section and I’ll pass it on to someone else.

Thanks for being the best fans a blog can get!

Also,  you should give HUGE props for the following people who gave me their Tropical Beach codes, so I can give you more of them:


- Matius Hurskainen
- Miska Saari

At the moment I already have 14 codes to share with you guys!


Oh and good luck to everyone attending the U.S. Nationals this weekend!

Worlds preperations: Miska Camp 2013

Hello everyone!

As you may know (or not know), the Miska Camp took place last weekend. Miska Camp is an annual

An epic showdown between me and Kumis

meeting of Finnish players, where the players going to Worlds test for Worlds’ decks and strategies. However, over time it has developed to be much more than just preparing Pokémon TCG decks for Worlds Championships. Anyways, just like last year, I will do a picture-entry of this year’s Miska Camp.

I hope you enjoy the pictures! It sure was a blast again this year even though the Worlds preparatios… Well, there were less them than I had expected, but I sure had a lot of fun nonetheless! You can find the pictures from the entry below this. Remember to click the pictures to enlarge them.

The Miska Camp 2013 Experience

A familiar scenery

Mahjong is still strong in these ones

One of my favorie mirror matches of all-time

Stage2 EXs? YEs please!

Finnish summer

Target acquired

Board games, carda games, all the same!

We got quite a nice amount of attendees this year as well!

Mission accomplished.

Time for a nap? Not yet!

And we thought THIS format was bad.

Gigas vs. LostGar

Fully equipped.

Miska has a very own cablecar on their back yard.

Flamed bacon strips. That didn't go well...

Gourmet food á la Esa. Can it get any better?

Yes it can!

DialgaChomp vs. Regigigas

Miska takes on MetaNite with his World Championship deck!

Objection!

After some brotherly quarrel...

...it's time to take a rest!

10 years of competitive TCG: The failed experiment of PUI

Hello everyone!


Today I’m doing my most controversial entry of the 10-years of competitive TCG –series.

One of my favorite cards EVER.

However, I’ll leave all the names and too sensitive information out of this entry to avoid as much controversy as possible. Today, I’ll be discussing my -and only - my point of view about the 2006-2007 season and you’ll see that the season was not only the worst and most controversial out of all the seasons in the history of this game, but also the season when I was probably at the top of my game.

I have had a decent amount of controversy in my blog the previous weeks, so I wanted to just get this out of the way as soon as possible, so I don’t have to concentrate on controversy as The Deck Out is going to start a new chapter in its existence VERY soon (what might that mean??). The 2006-2007 season is also the season I am most disappointed of and it’s good to notice that all the things in this entry are only my own opinions – not absolute facts. I also hope to hear from the players that played this season that how YOU experienced the season and did you encounter the things I encountered during the season.

Anyways, before reading this, you MUST read the previous years in order to know how I ended up here and what has affected my attitude. Click below to read the previous parts.


- 2004
- 2005
- 2006


A quick recap of where we are now. It’s autumn 2006. I am 15-years old and just failed in the World Championships in my first year in Masters by going 3-5 with the same deck as Jason K used to win Worlds. I was hungry for success since over 300 hours of playtesting (and my whole summer had gone in vain). Miska Saari had also just become the first non-US or Japanese World Champion. Pokémon TCG is booming in Finland thanks to our great Local Distributor and OP Admin, the game is growing all the time. The final needed boost was Miska’s World Championships victory, which blew up the attendance in leagues all around Finland. On the other hand, I had almost succeeded in destroying the Hyvinkää league and we only had 7 attendees per week. However, my big brother finally came back from Germany and was ready to save our league. Will he succeed and what makes this season the most controversial ever?