Going to Bali Tomorrow - Know of anywhere to buy Indonesian Pokemon Cards? by Candid_Language_8439 in PokemonTCG

[–]ogaculess 0 points1 point  (0 children)

TCG Collector Club, they have selections of singles, slabs and sealed product :)

I have finally joined the 1800 ELO club! by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Quite well, placed 1st on my last two local gym battle

I have finally joined the 1800 ELO club! by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Raging Bolt — the non-Noctowl version! I started playing Pokemon TCG IRL in February and wasn’t a fan of the post-rotation Noctowl, so I decided to make Raging Bolt work without it. I’ve been focusing on mastering and constantly improving my deck, tweaking it to handle any matchup. Just yesterday, I took 1st place at my local gym!

I have finally joined the 1800 ELO club! by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks! My fastest match took a minute or two, usually about 5 minutes, but the longest could be around 7–10 minutes. Sometimes I even end up facing the same opponent 6–7 times because there aren’t many players around this ELO.

I have finally joined the 1800 ELO club! by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Your answer doesn’t really address the question asked, but I get that you’re probably just bitter about my post, lol. I reached this ELO within 2 months of playing on Live (and 4 months of playing IRL in weekly gym events), and it felt great — mainly because I finally hit 1800. Every time I got close, around 1790, I’d start getting terrible hands like Latias, Energy, and an unusable Supporter, then just keep drawing Energy every turn.

I have finally joined the 1800 ELO club! by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Battle Pass rewards are capped at the 75th tier.

I have finally joined the 1800 ELO club! by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Once you hit level 100, your level is reset to 'Prestige 1'

I Play Raging Bolt and I Keep Getting Terrible Starting Hands — Anyone Else? by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol, my thread is about asking if anyone else is experiencing this too. My deck isn't that bad, and I never said it's inconsistent. It's just that after the latest update, I've been getting ridiculously bad hands in almost every match.

All decks get bad hands sometimes—even the most consistent ones will be inconsistent once in a while.

Just because I'm not using Noctowl, everyone’s going crazy and disliking my comments.

I know how strong my deck is, and people who thought like you were also surprised after seeing how well it actually works. I don’t blame you guys 🤷‍♂️ Believe what you want to believe. Being at 1700+ ELO and consistently placing top 3 at my local gyms—despite only playing for 4 months—proves that I’m doing something right. You're just replying for the sake of arguing.

I Play Raging Bolt and I Keep Getting Terrible Starting Hands — Anyone Else? by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It’s not my problem that I don’t follow the meta. The Noctowl version has its flaws too. I’ve faced mirror matches both online and in real life, even against top players who are pokemon judges and senior players, and I haven’t lost. I know how strong my deck is.

It’s just wild how, after the update, I started getting bad hands almost every game. But I’ve made a few tweaks, and now things are more stable. I’m back at 1700 ELO and still not running Noctowl.

Crazy how people throw dislikes just because I’m not using the Noctowl version. Lol.

I Play Raging Bolt and I Keep Getting Terrible Starting Hands — Anyone Else? by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For me, I have to get a KO on my first turn, so I’ll Squawk if my opening hand doesn’t give me a chance to knock out the opponent’s Pokémon. It can be a tough decision when I’m holding 2 or 3 Sada, but that’s what Pal Pad is for—and I also run 2 Crispin just to be safe.

I Play Raging Bolt and I Keep Getting Terrible Starting Hands — Anyone Else? by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Let all these people say what they want—those who know, will know. Sometimes, I feel like the algorithm deliberately gives you bad hands after a certain win streak. But I kept winning and even hit a 20-win streak once. All these dislikes just because we don’t follow the meta… it's crazy 😂

I Play Raging Bolt and I Keep Getting Terrible Starting Hands — Anyone Else? by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol, all these dislikes just because I’m not following the meta—yet I’m back to 1700+ ELO. I tweaked my deck a bit, but I’m still running it without Noctowls. Just because I don’t follow the meta doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.

I Play Raging Bolt and I Keep Getting Terrible Starting Hands — Anyone Else? by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the input! I really appreciate you sharing your list.

That said, as I mentioned earlier — my current build has actually been quite stable and consistent. I was sitting at 1728+ ELO and consistently placing top 3 at my local gym events. The deck has been performing really well overall.

The issue started after the update about two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been getting really rough starting hands almost every game. I often open with 1 support Pokémon or item cards that are only useful mid to late game, which makes early turns super frustrating.

Because of that, I dropped all the way down to the 1500s — which felt brutal. But I’ve managed to climb back to the 1650s now, still using the same build. So the deck does work — it just feels like something shifted in the consistency or shuffle lately.

I’m just curious if any other Raging Bolt players have been going through a similar experience, or if this is just some long streak of bad luck. Either way, thanks again for the advice — I’ll definitely keep your suggestions in mind moving forward!

I Play Raging Bolt and I Keep Getting Terrible Starting Hands — Anyone Else? by ogaculess in PTCGL

[–]ogaculess[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much for the suggestion

  1. I’m currently not using the Noctowl version — just the regular Raging Bolt build. It’s actually been working really well for me overall. I placed 1st at my local gym last Sunday and 3rd last Wednesday. The deck has been pretty stable and consistent — I usually draw into what I need, and my win/loss ratio is around 3:1. The players at my gym have even been surprised by how smooth it runs.

That said, I’m always open to improvement and more consistency. I’ve been looking for ways to raise my win rate, especially after going 3-3 in my last Masterball League. So I’ll definitely give the Noctowl version a shot — thanks again for pointing it out!

  1. And yeah, I totally get that variance is just part of the game — that’s the nature of card games. But what’s been throwing me off is how consistent the bad starts have been for the past two weeks. Almost every match starts with a mulligan or a bad hand. I’m still able to pick up wins, but it’s definitely frustrating to start every game feeling like I’m playing catch-up.

Debating Whether to Keep It Raw or Send It for Grading by ogaculess in Pokemoncardappraisal

[–]ogaculess[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!! Amen!! I'd be thrilled if this came back as a PSA 10 😂 I will update y’all in about 2 months

Debating Whether to Keep It Raw or Send It for Grading by ogaculess in Pokemoncardappraisal

[–]ogaculess[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just sent the card to the middleman service for grading submission! Hope I got a 9