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What dose it take to make it to Ultra League???

Brandonusofa
Brandonusofa Member Posts: 77 ✭✭
10 Comments First Anniversary 5 LOLs First Answer
in Decks & Strategy #1

Hello.

I always stall out in the Great League on the ladder. I'm looking for some advice (general and/or specific) on what it takes to make it to Ultra League. Maybe you have thoughts on decks, strategies, philosophy? ANY advice would be much appreciated. Thank you friends.

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  • DoubleCure
    DoubleCure Member Posts: 1,227 ✭✭✭✭✭
    1000 Comments 500 Likes 500 Agrees 50 Answers
    #2 Answer ✓

    The best strategy in general is to know very well the current meta and to master a couple of top decks, it's better to be really great playing one deck then be good playing with multiple. The thing is that if you focus on one or two you will be very efficient and make less mistakes... leading to better winning chances.

    You can play other decks too obviously, but if your goal is to improve your win rate (to go up on ladder faster in your case) the best it to choose one deck and play it lot more then the others, basically become a master of that deck.

    Specially now when meta changes the majority of people try out the new decks and will make a lot of misplays/bad plays that's when the deck you master really can take advantage. You should never change you main deck when a new set that changes the meta comes... learn the new meta and the decks, but don't use them on the tournaments or ranked... let the others lead the way, then when the meta becomes more stable that's when you can make significant adjustments or if the deck performance becomes poor for the meta time to change to another.

    It's also good to look at Japan top places in events so when the new cards come here you are better prepared.

  • the_lawlrus
    the_lawlrus Member Posts: 12 ✭
    First Answer Name Dropper First Comment
    #3 Answer ✓

    I wouldn't worry about rank on PTCGL. It's not a true ELO (like in chess, for example). Don't get me wrong, there is a skill component - people in Ultra Ball are typically better than those in Poke Ball, just as people in high Ultra Ball tend to be better than those in low Ultra Ball. But provided you're placed relatively near your actual skill, PTCGL ranking appears to be more of a function of how much you play. I say that because, in my experience, wins add 20 points to your rank while losses only deduct 10 points.

    For some math - Great League starts at 600 points while Ultra League starts at 1,320 points. Assuming wins are always +20 and losses are always -10, you would need to go .500 over 144 games to fully clear Great League (winning more than 50% of games would get you out faster, of course). Actually, you only need a .333 record (33% win rate) to break even on points. Frankly, if you're winning no more than a third of the time, you shouldn't be ranking up. In fact, in any other game with a ranked system that I can think of that is ELO/Glicko-based (e.g., chess, Showdown, DotA, LoL, etc.), you would be losing rating, likely significantly, with only a 33% win-rate over that many games, not holding steady.

    As for tips on how to climb, the generic "How to climb in [insert game]" advice applies here, too, although two main thoughts come to mind:

    First, some decks are clearly better than others. Find a couple of those better decks that you like and stick to them. And no, there's nothing wrong with net-decking. That said, there's also nothing wrong with testing/playing fun decks, but expect worse results when doing so (also, that's what Casual is for).

    Second, try to limit yourself to playing Ranked to when you are fresh and immediately stop playing when starting to tilt/getting tired. If you can consistently go 2-1 in Ranked on the day, you'll climb quickly as a 2-1 record is +30 points. You'll fully clear Great League after 24 of those days (+30 points/day * 24 days = +720 points). Needless to say, maintaining that win-rate over twice as many games (4-2 for +60 points in a day) will get you out in half the time. In general, if you're truly better than your current League, this sort of win rate (e.g., 60-70%) should be achievable. But again, you only need to maintain .500 to climb in PTCGL, meaning 3-3 (+30) is just as effective for climbing as 2-1 (+30).

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