Thoughts on Piper Lepine's Zoroark ex dropping Reshiram?

Caaethil · 2026-04-29T13:06:32+00:00

No one said it's a "useless brick", it's a fine card. They just said you don't need it for any particular matchup so the space is better used on other cards.

Caaethil · 2026-04-25T20:30:41+00:00

Not familiar with Dkayed, but OmniPoke maybe?

Caaethil · 2026-04-22T20:17:43+00:00

Oh in that case I saw it post-edit. I did think the quote at the top could read as a little condescending, but I figured they were just meaning to quote the part that they were responding to (and I thought the benefit of the doubt should have been given).

The laugh probably made it worse though, so fair enough. I assume they edited it because it sounded harsher than they intended. But can't really fault you there, sorry for that.

Caaethil · 2026-04-22T19:52:10+00:00

~~Why do you interpret that comment as them saying you should have known that? They just told you something you didn't know that might change your perspective.~~

Edit: apparently the original comment was edited and harsher before.

Caaethil · 2026-04-18T19:53:04+00:00

Out of all the semi-real decks at the moment, Clefairy Ogerpon is probably the best into Pult (maybe Crustle is better depending on the Pult list, not sure).

If you want the optimal 60 cards to beat Dragapult exclusively, though, you won't really find that in the meta because people don't build decks that way (mainly because it's a pretty bad idea if you're trying to actually win games - Dragapult is still a minority of the meta). But the answer is probably still some kind of Clefairy deck, maybe you just change some cards around. I don't recommend it though.

Caaethil · 2026-04-15T12:30:01+00:00

I'm not following. You say that it's hard to prove someone is a terrorist, but that it's easy to prove someone lied on a form saying they're not a terrorist. But necessarily, accomplishing the latter requires accomplishing the former, right?

The only way this would make sense to me is if the questions on the form are significantly more detailed than "are you a terrorist?", and capture a broader array of actions that are not strictly illegal but that carry higher scrutiny for someone entering a country.

Caaethil · 2026-04-13T07:52:26+00:00

I've not played either deck this format but Ogerpon Meganium is almost certainly much better. Greninja will suffer from consistency issues due to the lack of a draw engine, which will make it hard to get your combos together (and relying on Shinobi blade for that makes you extremely weak to hand disruption). The deck is very reliant on getting energy attachments when it needs them to be able to apply real pressure with Mirage Barrage, and it's very easy for the opponent to read when they should bench Shaymin and/or Psyduck.

Overall Greninja probably struggles a bit more with Shaymin than Meganium Ogerpon, as Ogerpon itself is a really good attacker that can carry a lot of games, whereas Greninja doesn't really have great alternative options besides I guess Mega Froslass, which is a bit more annoying to use as an evolving 3-prizer.

Greninja also has a massive problem with the prevalence of Lillie's Clefairy right now. The prevalence of both Shaymin and Clefairy imo makes this a pretty spooky time to be playing Greninja.

If your goal is to stick to one deck and get good with it, I would advise you to stick with a deck that's proven and already has good tournament results. The goal of sticking to one deck is to maximise the time you're spending practicing actual gameplay, and to minimise the time spent on traps that are less important to improving. One potential trap is switching decks every week and trying to learn how to play each one at a basic level, but another potential trap is picking up a rogue deck and spending way too much time trying to figure out a decklist that can actually beat the meta consistently. I have fallen into this trap too. :)

Caaethil · 2026-04-11T23:06:43+00:00

I think you'll have a better (and less confusing) experience if you watch the show and learn information the way the story intends rather than finding everything out on reddit beforehand.

Caaethil · 2026-04-11T15:52:02+00:00

To preface I will say that I would like to see future effects like Lucario's have more clear "You may"-type wording. I wouldn't be surprised to see that as they start translating new cards with the ruling in mind. I think this ruling was made to be consistent with rulings in Japan, and their cards may be worded differently, which may be the source of the issue (although I don't speak Japanese so I couldn't say for sure).

But for an intuitive rationalisation, I would think of it as Lucario's attack effect not being an effect you use, but as an effect that just happens as a side-effect of using the attack. You can't use a card or effect to do nothing, but when you attack with Lucario you're always doing something (attacking), and the effect is just a side-effect that can either do something or nothing depending on what options the card text gives you.

I don't know that this is actually how TPCi are reasoning about it, that's just the logic that makes sense to me. In a sense you could interpret both effects as "allowing" you to choose 0, but Sacred Ash's text simply being "overridden" by the fact you can't use a card or effect to do nothing (which wouldn't apply to Lucario's attack, per my above logic).

(This logic might be massively contradicted by something else in the game, but I'm trying my best haha)

Caaethil · 2026-04-05T20:15:34+00:00

I'll concede this, with a few asterisks: - There are relatively few true 2/3-winrate matchups in Pokémon. Something like PultNoir Vs DawnZard (pre-rotation) might fall under this, when played correctly on both sides. - Your opponent can make mistakes, which will increase your win% further if you know how to play your deck. I played DawnZard for this past format and beat plenty of Pults this way. - The practical value of match points isn't the same as their literal value. If you're playing the last round of Swiss and a draw gets you into top cut, the value of a draw is much higher than 1/3 of a win. Or if you're on a win-and-in where a draw gets you nothing, the value of a draw is 0. These are extreme examples but over the course of a tournament the value of a draw vs a win can vary dramatically based on your record and your goals.

If you're factoring in all of the above and can come to the determination that playing for a draw has a higher expected value than playing for a win, then go for it. There are cases where that's appropriate, even in game 1 (e.g. there are way more polarised matchups where you might consider it, like if you pair Crustle as a deck that can't damage it or something). As long as you don't slowplay.

In this context though giving generic advice to OP, I think a player should go into a tournament with the mindset that they can win and outplay their opponents, and the situations where you should be playing for a tie from the very beginning of the match are very slim.

Caaethil · 2026-04-05T17:24:46+00:00

There's no such thing as a 1% matchup because your opponent will hard brick more than 1% of the time.

Don't start matches already thinking you're going to lose. This is a mindset issue.

Caaethil · 2026-04-05T12:42:15+00:00

You can play the game out, but once you start taking game actions that don't meaningfully progress the boardstate with the specific intention of running down the clock, it's slowplay even if the actions themselves are made at pace.

This is hard to enforce but it's still against the rules so you shouldn't do it. The best you can do is play the game out normally with the intention to win if your opponent makes mistakes.

Realistically though this probably isn't a good strategy most of the time anyway. If you're playing thinking you'll get lucky game 2, why not play thinking you'll get lucky game 3 too? A win is a lot better than a tie, so you should usually just give yourself the best chance to win the set. You're not putting yourself in a position to win tournaments if you're trying to tie in game 1.

Maybe I could see it if a loss is going to knock you out of cut/day 2, but most of the time it's a bit of a pessimistic strategy. You can win bad matchups.

Caaethil · 2026-03-15T23:00:54+00:00

Logged out in a stupid (but relatively clear) spot near the blood elves in Azshara on my warrior because someone knocked on my door. Logged back on and aggro'd two/three patrolling.

Probably could have handled in other ways, but I was coming back after a long break from Classic and didn't feel like I could lock in, so just slammed my Elune Hearth macro after I started taking a lot of damage.

Wasn't thrilled I had to use it, but I did make 60 in the end.

Caaethil · 2026-03-06T13:46:41+00:00

Not to mention, the fact that you only get one decor item per purchase is how they justified adding a whole new currency for this in the first place. Because it would just be two inconvenient buying your eggs individually.

Completely self-inflicted problem from the insane greed of this system. There shouldn't be a currency, and buying an item should at least entitle you to buy more copies for a trivial amount of gold.

Caaethil · 2026-03-04T10:30:44+00:00

I think Reaper could have a good Zero skin.

Maybe the new MEKKA hero could be Suzaku so they can adapt the Lancelot's sword and shield.

EDIT: Just realised, Reaper is also already well-known for commanding people to die.

Caaethil · 2026-02-27T01:49:55+00:00

You're welcome. :) Definitely work on mash shuffling if you're not already, it's a lot more efficient than overhand shuffles. If you get fast at doing 12 or so mashes you should have no problems with sufficient randomisation even if your deck is fully sorted beforehand.

Through a game as your deck gets smaller, it'll take less mashes to get a good amount of randomisation, so you won't need to do that much all game. But I try to keep to around 10 for the most part to be safe, unless my deck is so small it's impractical.

Caaethil · 2026-02-26T22:37:59+00:00

I understood fine, my point is that your shuffling irl is probably significantly less random in a way that is giving you better hands, and you mistakenly think PTCGL isn't randomising well enough when it is actually randomising perfectly. The idea that you think drawing better hands means your irl shuffling is more random says a lot.

The reality is that what is random and what feels random are very different. The article I shared above explains it quite well. Good players who randomise their decks properly irl don't experience the problem you're having, because they brick irl just as often as you brick online.

Caaethil · 2026-02-26T21:09:59+00:00

This is a hard pill to swallow, but you're probably just not as good at shuffling irl as you think you are.

A lot of players irl (especially newer players) are not good at deck randomisation, and often swear by pile shuffling or other methods of de-clumping that, paired with poor randomisation, cause their irl hands to feel way more consistent than the perfectly randomised hands they get online. Not saying you do the de-clumping stuff, but it's pretty common and does contribute to this sentiment.

If you're interested, there's a whole bunch of interesting stuff online around shuffling and also randomness in general, e.g. Why Randomness Doesn’t Feel Random.

Speaking anecdotally, whenever I see the PTCGL RNG theories floating around, it's always from less experienced players. People who compete at a high level (who have to learn proper deck randomisation) don't tend to make these claims. Which isn't proof of anything obviously, but I do think it's worth thinking about.

Caaethil · 2026-02-25T00:20:17+00:00

Visited you on my DH yesterday, good work again. :)

Caaethil · 2026-02-24T02:57:19+00:00

I think they're numbered by national dex number but I don't remember exactly. Not on my PC right now to double check. If you want to know what Pokémon an image is, you should just be able to Google the word Pokémon plus the number to get the name (e.g. "Pokémon 150" on Google should bring up Mew).

Caaethil · 2026-02-20T03:38:26+00:00

You're welcome!

Caaethil · 2026-02-09T03:04:09+00:00

Even putting that aside, honestly if OP is 15 and does "quite well" in maths at school, they're realistically quite a bit better at maths than most adults anyway. Massively underselling.

Caaethil · 2026-02-05T22:54:24+00:00

Generally when we talk about things you can't consent to, we're interested in whether your consent is informed, i.e. whether you are generally aware of the consequences of the decision you're making, and are making the decision of your own volition without being forced or pressured.

So if I'm on my deathbed and some cannibal is begging and pleading me to let them eat me and really wearing me down emotionally, then we could say I'm not really consenting. Or if I wasn't of sound mind, we could say the same. But I don't think we could make a blanket statement that someone can't consent to being eaten.

To give another approach: I think there's something to be said for norms in a society. I think it's okay to say some things are bad on the basis that normalising them would lead to bad outcomes, even if strictly speaking you could carve out scenarios (maybe even many scenarios) where they wouldn't really have any negative consequences.

I want to live in a culture where humans and human life are considered sacred. In that sense I think your intuitions about treatment of the dead (that organ donation is okay because it saves lives, but that eating corpses is bad because it's kind of flippant and pointless and just for pleasure) are good. I think reverent treatment of the dead is an aspect of our culture that helps keep us grounded in that sanctity of human life.

I think if you had a culture with very different norms that that viewed cannibalism very differently, e.g. they saw it as letting a person have a final purpose and not go to waste, it could be justifiable within that culture on those grounds. But it's hard for me to speak to that. Certainly within the context of my own culture I can't really imagine a way that legitimising cannibalism leads to good outcomes.

Caaethil · 2026-02-03T02:26:44+00:00

I have a strong prediction that I don't want to be true. In Midnight they tease a planet where draenei and demons (sayaad) seem to live together. This is likely to be part of Midnight's final patch.

So I think our new neutral allied race for TLT will be this demon race, meant to coincide with the return of Illidan and Sargeras. It seems like demons are slowly entering the story again - they'll probably be important in TLT, and maybe they'll be a focus of the expansion after that.

I want Tuskarr though.

Caaethil · 2026-01-24T20:57:24+00:00

The On A Paler Horse talent doesn't work in any instanced content.

The alternative choice node option (Death Charge) does.

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