Discussion Leagues

PokeMedic

PokeMedic

Don't talk to me or my Pokemon ever again
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I'm curious about the state of Pokemon Leagues, if there is a state of any kind to discuss. Just about everyone I keep in touch with around the country has said that they're disappointed with the venues they go to. Their complaints share a commonality: there aren't enough people to play. The three most common observations they've shared with me are:
  • Not enough people are playing enough games
  • 'Competitive players' don't want to play anyone outside their circle
  • There's no or very little structure to encourage play
Tell us about your league. Does it suffer in any way? Does it thrive in some? I've always tried to run league as if it was an event by tracking scores, staggering scores based on wins and losses, offering supplemental prize support (Professor's Letter is up for grabs next month), making announcements, and doing write-ups about meta and training other players for that inevitable premier event they'll attend one day. Having that kind of structure has really gotten everyone who attends far more involved in the game than they were before.
 
I've got the opposite problem to point 1; too many players! Venue get's really crowded and it's not a small shop at all.
 
I usually go to the two leagues in my area, and both suffer greatly:
For Fridays:
  • It's both VG and TCG, so it draws in a bunch of kids (who aren't really that big into the competitive scene for TCG/VG), and it often times gets very loud. The kids usually congregate in the back and play on their Nintendo Switches and blast Vine compilations, usually not even being involved in Pokemon.
  • It's a small room, and it often gets crowded.
  • VERY small amount of competitive TCG/VG players; there are about 5, maybe 6, players who are actually competitive in the TCG/VG, about half are seniors, other half are masters, so there's definitely the issue of not having enough people to play, and it gets boring to play the kids who go and don't have any idea as to what they're doing, so that's my reason why I stay in the competitive circle.
  • The league leader has canceled this league off and on for the past few months, so it's usually shaky if league is even going to be held until last minute.
And for Saturdays:
  • The league leader RARELY goes at all, the only times he really shows up is to judge events. I understand that he may be very busy, but it does nothing to encourage gameplay from the little amount of people who actually show up.
  • It's a larger room, but about 3-6 people TOTAL show up each week.
  • The venue hosts our local league cups and prereleases as well, which are always vastly underpopulated. On a regular basis, about 10 masters, 5 seniors and 1 junior actually show up to cups. The last time we had a packed cup was a week before the 2018 Fort Wayne Regional Championships, and the venue is in Fort Wayne.
 
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Number51x said:
I've got the opposite problem to point 1; too many players!
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How does that league operate in terms of organization and prize distribution?

TSA123 said:
I usually go to the two leagues in my area, and both suffer greatly
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That sounds terrible. The leadership is very hands-off then it would be safe to say? Why do the people who show up still show up; that is to ask if they could try to make some changes to improve things would they be able to?
 
I'd still like to hear from others about their leagues, so I'm bumping this.
 
Our league has around 8 regular competitive players, and a few kids who sometimes come. The shop who hosts it hand out promos and stuff, but there are no other real incentives; but, to be fair, none of the employees really are big pokemon players.
 
My first league was HORRIBLE. At first I met a bunch of Pokemon players who were really great and chill people, then all of a sudden it just fell apart. I went back there some time ago and there was only one person I could play against, and he looked pissed off the entire time. Everyone there apart from 1 or 2 people just seemed really unfriendly and only cared about either Yu Gi Oh or MTG. I also ever only got one league promo the entire time. Nice incentive you have there. Never going back.

The place I go now is much better, but still not perfect. Its not really a league, although they have tournaments every 2 weeks. My first gripe is it's expanded. I HATE expanded. Secondly, most of the players I play against are juniors with terrible decks, meaning your games are pretty one sided. The masters are very nice and cool people though, and its always fun to play against them. And I actually can get the league promos this time. Yay!
 
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These sound like pretty poor conditions
sylvarina said:
My first gripe is it's expanded. I HATE expanded.
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What's your perspective on it? People I've spoken to see the resources necessary to make a viable expanded deck out of their reach in one way or another.
 
I can imagine staying competitive in a format where Dowsing Machine, Computer Search, Shaymin EX, AND Tapu Lele GX are all in play could prove financially daunting. Never mind all the other cards.
 
Number51x said:
I can imagine staying competitive in a format where Dowsing Machine, Computer Search, Shaymin EX, AND Tapu Lele GX are all in play could prove financially daunting. Never mind all the other cards.
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Seeing the total price of my cart on [a TCG merchant website] made me realize I should probably pay some bills instead, so I can understand that.
 
All three of my nearby leagues literally shut down and none of my friends play this game. Really sad that the game is like this, like it’s almost impossible for me to get a game in anymore
 
PokeMedic said:
These sound like pretty poor conditions


What's your perspective on it? People I've spoken to see the resources necessary to make a viable expanded deck out of their reach in one way or another.
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I just really, really don't like it.
Firstly, I'm in Europe which very rarely has expanded tournaments, and having an expanded league makes it not good for testing because I like playing Standard. Also, I don't like the amount of cards that can be utilised that are just unfair; Ghetsis, Toad, Laser, Eggs, etc... it's just an unfun and definitely doesn't feel competitive at all. Seeing player's opinions, the only people who say they like expanded are the ones using all these annoying cards. For the most part its an unpopular format, and for good reason. When I play there, I literally use my standard decks but with Vs seekers, Colress, etc.
 
I live in a fairly big city and there's lots of local leagues with competitive players and are great for testing.
 
I used to have a League (hosted by my local game shop) that I attended regularly, but had to quit after they lost their licensed status and players started to dwindle.
 
To those who have had problems at their leagues: what would you do to improve the situations there? Assume you could instead of saying that you can't.
 
PokeMedic said:
To those who have had problems at their leagues: what would you do to improve the situations there? Assume you could instead of saying that you can't.
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Going to bump this after a few months. How about it? Anyone?
 
I have 2 leagues, one of them is pretty nice and just gives out playsets of whatever league promo you need.

but the other one...

Its not the leader's fault.

but there are SO MANY PEOPLE who cant play

its the only reason why i play with my friend and nobody else

everybody else has modified theme decks and stuff like that

theres this one kid who has a box of cards and counts out 60 of them to make a deck

its sad

but they give out pretty nice prizes i guess
 
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