How to Get Over a Fatal Misplay?

Frost Mage

Frost Mage

Pegasususus
Member
So this past weekend I went down to SoCal with my friends to attend the Lancaster, CA Regional Championships. I did better than I ever have at an event that size, and ended up placing 13th and winning a whole booster box. But the thing is, in my last game that decided if I was going to go onto Top 8, I announced my attack after I had been Chrono Winded, which could have so easily been avoided by using my Keldeo EX with a Float Stone attached. I still get a little upset at myself when I think about if I had just not made that misplay, I could have won that game and ultimately got into Day 2 in the Top 8. Have any of you ever made a big misplay like this that you had a hard time getting over?
 
Michigan state tournamnet last year. I was playing against a Blastoise deck and using my Yveltal garbador deck. He was down to a Jirachi EX on the bench and a black kyurem EX in the active spotI had An yveltal EX in my active spot and an Yvelta EX on the bench both already had two energy attached so I could not KO the black kyurem. I attached an energy to my active and played an escape rope and brought out my other Yveltal EX which I was then going to Y cyclone to win the game instead i only evil balled for 60, he then put a float stone on Jirachi EX and brought out the fully powerd up Black kyurem EX and Black ballistad for the win. I attached to the wrong yvelta EX by accident.

The guy was kind of a dick because earlier in the game I had garbador in play and allowed him to pick up his jirachi EX that would have been ineffective, He wouldnt let me change my energy attachment.
 
I've made more misplays than I can count, but I never really have a hard time getting over them. I may kick myself for a day or so but I just make sure I learned my lesson and move on.
 
I announced Outrage instead of Blue Flare at Regionals this fall. Effectively kicked me out of top cut. Haven't been anywhere near as passionate about the game, that mistake basically ruined me, doesn't go away anytime soon.

[I was going to post a bunch of fire symbols here but apparently they got rid of them]
 
Whenever I make a misplay, I make a note of what deck I'm playing, what deck my opponent is playing, what I did, and think about that whenever I play the same matchup again. For example, at a small practice regional tourney, I played Plasma against an Yveltal deck. I literally had the win (discard my hand to get the 4th deoxys for the KO), but mistakenly played down a thundurus, giving my opponent the win by me only dealing 160 damage to a full HP Yveltal. This mistake now comes into my mind whenever I play a deck that revolves around benched pokemon (Eg. Empoleon, Raichu, etc.).
I also want to point out that through the course of the day, I make sure that a loss or a big misplay doesn't affect my performance later on. I do this by setting little goals after each round. Lets say I'm going into a 9 round regionals, and I lose the 1st round, I'll say 'well I can at least go 8-1 if I win out', and then later on after the 4th round I'll say 'I can still maintain a positive record at 5-4 if I win out', etc. Each time I win, lose, or tie, I try to make the outcome as productive as possible, from going to top cut, to top 32, to prizes, then to a positive record. In general it keeps morale up and can even improve your games when its 4pm and you still haven't eaten.
Lastly, mistakes happen to everyone. I recently at a cities forgot prize cards AND used 2 supporters in one game (which I just conceded at that point because I felt as if I didn't deserve to win the match-up after 2 major misplays), yet I still am a very good player. I've talked to many Worlds players, and even in this simplified format mistakes can slip by anyone, and if you watch enough streams I guarantee you that 1/3 rounds need to have some kind of judge ruling on something. So don't fret it, just think about your next matches and hope to win out!
 
I was having terrible luck at my local cities this year, in fact - I only won 2 of my matches. The only match I did start good however, even though my opponent hadn't been able to attack, i evolved my eevee into Leafeon since I had absolutely no benched Pokemon and needed some kind of stalling tactic. He was running a fire deck with Reshiram and Chandelure.

I should never have evolved that at all, in fact - I drew a Glaceon next turn which would have been a much better play. This cost me the match.


A good rule to always have when shuffling/deckbuilding/battling in general is to always have consistency in your deck, if you don't have that - you need full playsets of something to compensate for that. Pile shuffling is always good.

I know it doesn't have much to do with misplaying, but I feel it really helps you focus more if your deck isn't giving you cluttered awful hands, and you will at least have a better chance at bouncing back after a misplay.
 
TokenDuelist said:
I was having terrible luck at my local cities this year, in fact - I only won 2 of my matches. The only match I did start good however, even though my opponent hadn't been able to attack, i evolved my eevee into Leafeon since I had absolutely no benched Pokemon and needed some kind of stalling tactic. He was running a fire deck with Reshiram and Chandelure.

I should never have evolved that at all, in fact - I drew a Glaceon next turn which would have been a much better play. This cost me the match.


A good rule to always have when shuffling/deckbuilding/battling in general is to always have consistency in your deck, if you don't have that - you need full playsets of something to compensate for that. Pile shuffling is always good.

I know it doesn't have much to do with misplaying, but I feel it really helps you focus more if your deck isn't giving you cluttered awful hands, and you will at least have a better chance at bouncing back after a misplay.
Click to expand...
You're... Basically saying that instead of creating a more consistent deck, you should order your deck in non-random piles without shuffling to give yourself an advantage?
 
Frost Mage said:
TokenDuelist said:
I was having terrible luck at my local cities this year, in fact - I only won 2 of my matches. The only match I did start good however, even though my opponent hadn't been able to attack, i evolved my eevee into Leafeon since I had absolutely no benched Pokemon and needed some kind of stalling tactic. He was running a fire deck with Reshiram and Chandelure.

I should never have evolved that at all, in fact - I drew a Glaceon next turn which would have been a much better play. This cost me the match.


A good rule to always have when shuffling/deckbuilding/battling in general is to always have consistency in your deck, if you don't have that - you need full playsets of something to compensate for that. Pile shuffling is always good.

I know it doesn't have much to do with misplaying, but I feel it really helps you focus more if your deck isn't giving you cluttered awful hands, and you will at least have a better chance at bouncing back after a misplay.
Click to expand...
You're... Basically saying that instead of creating a more consistent deck, you should order your deck in non-random piles without shuffling to give yourself an advantage?
Click to expand...

That's not what I said at all. I don't even know how you got that out of that? I dunno man we probably have two different definitions of pile shuffling.
 
In general, you just keep playing really and not let that mistake linger in your mind. Tough to do in a stressful environment but it's best to just take a few deep breaths and concentrate on the match. Drinking some water helps as well, not the caffeinated drinks as they tend to amplify the distress.

E.g. During Cities, I misplayed by using Startling Megaphone instead of attacking with Manetric EX. That way, I would have KO'ed Lugia EX with the Muscle Band and forced him to react. For that, I decided to end my losses and just scoop after figuring the play. Did I give up that match? Yes, but I came back stronger and reminded myself to be a little more cautious. That match ended with a tie but it was a tense tie between us.
 
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