Delete Turn 1
The general consensus is that going second is always better. This is probably because a lot of the more casual, non-meta decks benefit from going second, as compared to the faster or more meta-competitive decks like Misty/Articuno and Pikachu. Mewtwo's whole gimic is overcoming the lack of starting energy with Gardevoir.
I think this game will live or die by how this issue is or is not addressed. I've been a proponent for giving the player an energy on turn 1 but not allowing them to draw a card, but I've seen some input on this website and other places that have legitimate concerns with pokemon becoming too powerful if they could attack turn 1 and evolve turn 2. That is a valid point, so this may be a better idea:
The player going first gains an energy and draws a card.
The player going second gains an energy, draws a card, and can evolve their pokemon.
Essentially, take what is currently turn 1 and delete it. This would arguably keep the balance of the game while resolving the biggest issue that players have with going first which is the lack of energy.
I believe that this would only benefit budget decks without really changing the power of the more meta relevant decks. It would balance out the ability to attack turn 1 by allowing an evolution for the second player to avoid an early knockout. Also, this is already how the game plays, it just skips the dead turn for the first player in most cases.
Comments
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Games have always had a first turn advantage issue. The player going first in many games is statistically the most likely to win. Everything from chess to TCGs have wrestled with this problem, and games that try to address it have different ways of handling it.
Many TCGs do not let the first turn player draw, or give the second player extra resources. Usually the first turn player cannot attack, if the game features combat.
In this case, it seems the designers have struck a balance such that going second is actually more desirable. Yes, we should try to make it as fair as possible for both players, but I think letting the first player attach energy would merely revert the advantage back to the first player again.
I don't think any game has found a 100% fair and satisfying solution for this problem. Trying might be a fool's errand.
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You will see players that played longer and many games with multiple decks know that the going 1st or 2nd it's balanced it depends on the deck, the initial hand, strategy, luck, opponent deck, etc.
Basically if you play a deck that benefits from going 1st and you know the strategy to use against your opponent deck, you will mostly "only" lose if unlucky/missplays or your opponent deck is a bad matchup (e.g. weakness, etc.).
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