Now that I’m done with finals I’ve been enjoying the nice month I have off before my summer class starts. I’ve gotten the chance to play quite a bit and really test a lot of different decks and tech ideas I’ve been working on. In Josh’s last article he gave you what he felt were the top 3 decks of the format (Emboar/Magnezone, Machamp/Donphan, and Turn 1 Zekrom).
In my article I’m going to give you my personal list for all 3 of these decks as well as everything I’ve learned from my hours of playtesting. Hopefully you’ll be able to take what I’ve learned and apply it directly to your deck and your own testing and put yourself well ahead of the competition heading into the United States National Championship coming up in only a few short weeks.
Playtesting
Here are some important things I always keep in mind when I’m playtesting (and so should you!):
Test against the "Garys" you know.
Playtesting Group: The better the players you playtest with, the better you will become. Playtesting against weaker players and weaker lists may lead to inaccurate testing results. You will also become much better much faster if your playing and learning from players well above your skill level.
Testing a Matchup: I like to test a match up a minimum of 10 times before I start to feel good about the results. I feel 10 games starts to decrease the odds of bad hands and fluke games skewing results.
Testing the Meta: A majority of your playtesting time should be spent playing against what you feel are going to be the most popular decks at the tournament. I feel it’s a good idea to at least have a general idea how to play against less popular decks, but don’t waste too much time on them.
Time: If your playing a deck (like Lostgar) that has trouble with timed games, you need to do at least some (if not most) of your testing timed. It’s important to make it as much like a real tournament as possible, so test both 30 +3 for swiss rounds, and test 60 +3 to simulate top cut matches.
Don’t get to accustom to certain lists: In a tournament you will never know your opponent’s exact list. If you get used to testing against a particular list especially one you know card for card you might play differently in testing. A way to avoid this is to have your playtest group switch certain card counts or techs on you, especially ones they feel your taking advantage of.
For example if you’re testing against Emboar/Magnezone and you find your playtesting partner playing Rayquaza/Dexoys Legend too early in the game, you could try teching in a Bouffalant (BW #91) to punish them for it.
Take advantage of last-minute tournaments: All the playtesting in the world cannot replace real tournament experience. Most years at both Nationals and World they hold last-minute tournaments to help players prepare for the big main event.
Unless you plan on playing an ultra secret deck that nobody has ever seen before you’ll get more out of this last-minute practice than you will from attempting to hide your deck. These are also good tournaments to watch because they will give you an idea what is going to be popular on the big day.
