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New player here, are matches aligned by skill?

Just got into Pokemon recently with my daughter and now the bug has bitten me. Collecting cards great but now I'm finding my way on Pokemon TGC Live to lean more about casual/competitive play. I've only played around 10 matches and sometimes I am close to winning, other times my opponents clearly have some dialed in decks closer to the meta (from what I'm reading). My question is Pokemon TSG Live still in its infancy where player skill/level/deck assets aren't really considered when finding a match/opponent? I'm fine with getting whipped it helps me learn what types of strategies people are using, I was just curious if it pits players against whatever rando players are queued without considering factors.

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Answers

  • Denious
    Denious Member Posts: 1
    First Comment

    Yes, matches can be aligned by skills but you also have to ensure that you are playing with your whole heart without talking stress.

    I hope this message will be helpful to you.

    Thank you

  • uncomonfossil
    uncomonfossil Member Posts: 183 ✭✭✭
    100 Comments 25 Likes 25 Agrees 5 Answers

    As I understand the situation, in Ranked mode you are matched against players with a similar rank. There is a fair amount of variety of the type of players & decks that you can see at any rank though (or at least the lower rankings). Some are strong players that like to mess around with less strong decks while some are less experienced players playing top meta decks.

    In Casual mode, I do not know how the match making works. (I have never seen anything from Pokemon discussing how this works.) Opponents can be very random in Casual.

  • Ampersundae
    Ampersundae Member Posts: 75 ✭✭
    25 Agrees 10 Comments First Anniversary 5 Likes

    Personally, I think the ranked mode re-sets to often. The next re-set is coming up in a week and three days, so after that happens you could be matched with a player who is playing the best meta deck. I would give it more time between rank re-sets so players can find their niche.

  • Ampersundae
    Ampersundae Member Posts: 75 ✭✭
    25 Agrees 10 Comments First Anniversary 5 Likes

    Personally, I think the ranked mode re-sets to often. The next re-set is coming up in a week and three days, so after that happens you could be matched with a player who is playing the best meta deck. I would give it more time between rank re-sets so players can find their niche.

  • TechHog
    TechHog Member Posts: 2,777 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    It only resets you down one league, and a monthly ladder is pretty standard.

  • 10types
    10types Member Posts: 238 ✭✭✭
    100 Comments 25 Likes 5 Answers 25 Agrees


  • 10types
    10types Member Posts: 238 ✭✭✭
    100 Comments 25 Likes 5 Answers 25 Agrees

    While there is rank-based match making, pretty much everyone I know is within 200 points of each other, so it's not that useful. You will still find players of all skill levels at pretty much any rank from what I've seen

  • Baulder
    Baulder Member Posts: 32
    10 Comments 5 Agrees Name Dropper Photogenic

    I would certainly like to know how this game choose opponent for players in casual play.

    I'm new, have only cards from starter deck and five obsidian flames booster packs from battle pass and no matter what color type of deck I choose to play, I always end up against impossible to defeat semi-pro opponent who have their deck build for advanced strategies and card draw/deck search loop to build up super powerful bench within two or three turns.

    I play only casual mode so far and from 11 matches played I won only once on the very first play after completing the tutorial, and since then is long loosing streak interrupted only once when opposing player took way too long to respond during the initial placement of active and benched cards, which I don't count as won match.

    Are all of my deck fundamentally wrong? They are basically same as starter deck of that color type, but also include Pokémon cards of color type to counter weakness of the main theme of that deck.

    Only once I had somewhat entertaining match as I managed to stall for time with Seadra and Dewgong's Swim Freely against electric type deck for long enough to draw VStar evolution card for Origin Forme Palkia V which I had in the initial seven cards and managed to knock out one of the opposite players cards. The luck I had on coin flips however, I lacked in drawing fighting type Pokémon card or trainer cards to search for one in my deck, thus the inevitable happened and I lost the match.

    I always test the deck against AI and they seems viable even if I'm not in advantage. However, once I queue for casual match with that deck, it's just horrible struggle to play anything against the opposing player, and the match is not really fun to play.

  • TechHog
    TechHog Member Posts: 2,777 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @Baulder Yeah, it's your deck changes and the fact that you're still learning. Decks are based on strategies, not types. Throwing in random Pokémon to counter weaknesses just makes your deck worse. I recommend going to the pkmntcg reddit and reading the guide there, as well as copying decks from tournaments WITHOUT CHANGING ANY CARDS from limitlesstcg(dot)com.

  • TechHog
    TechHog Member Posts: 2,777 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @Baulder Also, the AI is garbage. It's impossible to lose to it