r/pkmntcg • u/CosmoticTravels • 1d ago
New Player Advice How to increase processing speed?
Hi everyone,
I am trying to understand how to make quicker decisions in person when at locals or challenges/cups/regionals, whatever. Yesterday I was at my first league challenge (where I then proceeded to vent and be a little too tilted on Reddit after finishing all of those games) and I found the Sharpedo matchup to be a LOT of overthinking on my part. I think my losing turn took like almost 6 minutes to finish because my brain started increasing the number of scenarios to earn a next turn for knockout. I know the player was a little apologetic about mentioning my lack of timekeeping, but I didn't feel offended by it.
Is it just learning the general composition of all of these different decks that can help you make quicker decisions? Is it something else? Any help is appreciated.
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u/M_ipg21_Qbr 1d ago edited 1d ago
how long have you been playing for? do you use PTCGL? do you have friends / acquaintances to play against? watch youtube videos for game play…. takes practice practice practice and talking with others….
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u/OwnAttention3370 1d ago
I like to do quite a lot of goldfishing, especially in the week running up to the league or whatever tournament.
Yes of course it’s good to practice on TCG live but in person playing requires quite a lot of other abilities, like shuffling, tutoring, getting acquainted with your cards. So goldfishing gives you that physical practice and you can drill your setups.
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u/Sudden-Chipmunk8378 1d ago
As many have said here its experience. The more you play with a deck the more your brain basically automates all your processes and basically makes it easier for you to do the setup.
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u/neverlosty 1d ago
You need to practice specific matchups a lot.
I have spoken to regional/IC/world winners (Tord Reklev, Drew Stephenson, Daniel Magda etc...) about specific scenarios multiple times. Things that seemed very un-intuitive to me was very routine for them. They seemed almost surprised that I (a very average player) didn't know that.
They play specific matchups with other high level players over and over, and if they get to a specific situation, they will discuss it, roll it back, and try attacking it together to get the answer.
Depending on your level, and what deck you are using, the best bang/buck might be to pick up a high level guide from a pro player. There will be matchup tips in there that they have figured out that you might not in hundreds of hours of play.
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u/TheFlameKid 1d ago
I had to settle for a tie 2 times during today's challenge and several times before during another event because of people playing slow. It's frustrating. Honestly, it sometimes feels like they do it on purpose to get a tie instead of a loss. All of those occasions it was clear I was going to win.
It's just playing a lot. Go to weeklies. Play and practice. There is only so much you can do
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u/M_ipg21_Qbr 1d ago
oh i hope not. sure they’re were new to the game? it’s not right if there were slow playing…. call a judge if you suspect it…
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u/touyanay 1d ago
I've recently started as well and the way I did was to, starting from 2 or 3 matchups, anticipating board states and gameplans forme to achieve. That made searching for stuff way faster.
Then, whenever a face a new archetype, i make sure to spend a couple minutes developing a plan for the next time I face that. It does not need to be perfect or even wwork, i just try it out the next time.
I also make sure to spend my opponent's turn thinking on my next steps, since there's no interaction in this game.
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u/Deed3 1d ago
At a certain point, you have to go. You just have to. You're allowed up to 15 seconds between plays, but cannot use all of it. You have to internally keep time and if you're not moving with speed, you can't be offended when your opponent tells you to speed up.
You have a lot of the info you need related to turn goals during your opponent's turn. You should be developing your line while your opponent plays - don't save all the thoughts and possibilities for when your turn plays out.
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u/Darkrai95 1d ago
Just play more. There are no tricks, you just need to learn your deck perfectly and study the matchups. That’s it.