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Can’t have a deck be above 50% Win Rate
Even with a deck that is relevant in the meta today (Gardevoir) , you simply can barely scrape by with a 50% win rate. Certain decks currently like Raging Bolt / Teal Mask Ogerpon and Dragapult Ex can’t be beer consistently. They’ll hit every draw and get the trainers needed while you’re deck is bricked.
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The best deck by itself will not make you win more, it's important to master a deck so you know the goal in each matchup, the best sequencing and reduce the missplays.
You will also need to know the current most played decks so you may need to adjust or change completely.
Basically you need a lot of repetition to master a deck and understand the current meta, then you can have a much better win rate even with a deck that it's not top tier. For instance the deck I play the most now it's not even in most "top 10" lists.
Playing a top deck even has a small disadvantage that is your opponent knows what to expect. The advantage in the other hand is that it's well tested and proven to have good results.
But players will try to tech up and adapt to the most played decks, so the decks you see in top of tournaments may not be as good in TCG Live ladder/casual play.
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And... you need rng on your side. Doesnt matter how good you play an set your deck an learn an practice, if rng isnt on your side it doesnt matter. Live is still heavy with charizard players. I think 2 out of 3 matches are charizard when i play. An it can be tough to beat even in the hands of a beginner. Very tough to consistently win , i agree. Especially with some of the terrible hands that get dealt.
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i have played about 200+ matches with it and have made adjustments to combat some decks. The issue currently is how I’ll get matches where the deck will brick and you can’t even play or the other person just gets every card needed to shut down a match. I’m currently on a run of losing 6 straight and it isn’t from the lack of misplay it’s been down to poor draws and luck.
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may I suggest a Dragapult list that I find consistent?
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200 plus matches with the same deck it's a lot, should be enough to make up for the bad luck draws and bricks.
If you know the meta and how to play the deck and you don't missplay, it's wired that your win rate it's below 50% (even with bricks... with that many games played your opponents will have bricks too) unless TCG Live really dislikes you 😅
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oh
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It’s very frustrating because I won’t misplay often enough to go on a ten match losing streak to then only be able to win one because my opponent gets the better draw. I think my longest win streak is maybe 5-6 matches at best. Takes the fun out of it when you see your initial draw and know you most likely wont win after round 2-3.
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I am not sure about the win rates specific to Pokémon TCG, but one thing that opened my eyes about TCGs in general is the fact that they do have a great deal of variance by design, and even the best players don't go that much beyond a 50%+ win rate, especially in competitive circles.
No one is a 100% win-rate anime protagonist. Losing is just as much a part of your journey to success as winning, if that makes sense.
The trick is to be analytical about your failures. Why did you lose? What cards did you play? Did you play them too early or too late? What draws might have saved you? Do you need to add something to your deck to improve consistency or provide outs to certain situations? Or do you need to remove suboptimal cards that aren't working as well as you hoped.
Pen and paper notes and/or spreadsheets about your plays in games can really help with this self-review process. Record or watch replays of your games if you can. See where things go wrong.
If your criteria for success and happiness is winning every game, you will fail and make yourself miserable. You start to convince yourself that you lose all the time and do not learn or benefit from your victories either.
Accept that even a successful performance will result in losses some of the time, try to enjoy playing over sweating your win rates, and think critically about your performance, win or lose. Sometimes you make no mistakes and just get unlucky.
Nature of the game.
I know it's hard to not find yourself frustrated or in a bad place sometimes. It's human nature. Our brains evolved to respond negatively to failure, so that we could avoid it and give ourselves the best chance of survival by seeking behaviour that results in success instead. So you get salty. It happens to the best of us.
Be realistic with your expectations and remember that you do this for fun. Take joy in gradual improvement rather than expecting perpetual success and don't take the losses too hard. You will probably have a better time.
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