THE BAD FORMAT: JUST HOW BAD IS IT?
(Yes, that is in fact Sableye Stormfront smoking a cigar while wearing a top hat)
Well guys, it's been a long, long time; however, I'm back, and this time it's for seriouses.
A week and a half ago, I had the pleasure to judge a North Dallas, Texas area Spring Battle Road event, and let me tell you: it was a blast. While actually playing this game is where I derive the majority of my enjoyment with this franchise, judging gives you an awesome opportunity to step back, and be what I call "the spectator that makes a difference": a quiet observer of the game's action when it is legitimate, and an assertive defender of the game's spirit when there is illegitimacy at play.
So let's start dissecting this event some, shall we?
METAGAME
As bit of a preface, let me say that I am a hardcore metagame fiend: I love to find out what people are playing, and especially what wins in certain areas. Battle Roads are normally considered the "casual" events of the tournament season, so it's tough to really gleam a competitive picture of things. Here in Texas, though, Battle Roads have well-above average attendance, with at least 35 people per event. Of the three events that I've been, to most populous attendance for the Masters Division alone has been roughly 28 people…Wow!
This event wasn't quite as large, but it still had a great turnout: 17 in Masters, 7 in Seniors, and 9 in Juniors. And of the 17 Masters, I can tell you just about every single deck that was played. There were the following:
"Dark"
Mime Jr./Absol G LV.X
Yanmega
Garchomp C/Zoroark
Emboar/Forretress
Donphan
Jumpluff/Cincinno
Jumpluff
Serperior
Weavile/Toxitank (unusual SP choice)
2 Gyarados
Luxray GL/ERL
Vespiquen
Emboar/Reshiram
Emboar/Magnezone Prime
So that's 16/17, with only one somewhat uncertain deck.
Analysis of the field
Of the attendees, none used the dreaded "Sabledonk" deck; however, many of them played all of the cards to pull it off, and even more were running at least 4 Sableye SF or 4 Spiritomb AR in their decks.
One thing that may jump out to you is the number and diversity of the Emboar decks being played. This is always going to happen in every metagame for small tournaments: whatever's newest will garner the attention of the most players. For the casual "fun" environment of Battle Roads, this makes even more sense: people want to try something competitive, yet also want to experiment. Interestingly, the only one of these decks to actually do well was the most generic build of all: Emboar/Reshiram.
Why was there not more SP, you may wonder? Well, I've got two hypotheses:
1) The new rules accelerate decks like Gyarados, Donphan, Jumpluff, and Emboar to levels that SP just can't keep up with. Furthermore, Sabledonk and Uxie donk are now more loaded than ever.
2) SP just isn't that much fun to use for a lot of people! Again, people want to be entertained at these events – not bored to tears by Luxchomp mirrors.
So what ended up T4'ing?
Len D. (Gyarados) VS Ricky S. (Emboar/Reshiram)
Michael F. (Jumpluff) VS Demarcus R. (Donphan Prime)
Regrettably, the games in the cut were not too exciting: Len manhandled his type advantage for four games in a row, and the three games between Michael and Demarcus in the top four were just blowouts on one end or the other.
Conclusion
So the Battle Road was enjoyable to judge in, and most likely enjoyable to play in. Furthermore, the deck diversity was most certainly there, and – sans the finals – the games were great. So why is MD-on still bad, you may ask? Simple: because even with Sabledonk’s inferiority and the variety of Battle Roads, the MD-BW format unhealthily discourages players from playing the game to its fullest.
In the olden days of Haymaker, this game was known by its top tier competitors as “Trainermon” due to how much more the Trainers moved the game than the actual Pokémon, which were often ruined by powerhouses such as Energy Removal.
Ironically, we are now faced with a dilemma where almost every viable deck either runs maximum trainer lock potential; or failing that, maximum donk potential. In essence, these two aspects of the metagame ruin the spirit of the TCG by either depriving players of their right to “play” this game at all, or by depriving them the privilege of playing a major component of the game itself (trainers).
So as fun as these Battle Roads have been for me, I am more than eager to see these old cards go, and move on to the new format. Adios, MD-on!
Tune in next time to Part Two, which will deal with my first experience as a player during the 2011 Spring Battle Road season.
