Yeah, I'm totally with Gabe here. Adult Pokémon tournament players are frighteningly over-specialized human beings, although the same could be said to apply to most collectible card games.
Edited by Fighteer on Aug 17th 2022 at 11:41:23 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"There is a point at which a hobby stops being a hobby and becomes a personality.
And if you want to play competitively, you kinda have to cross that line and keep on running. I play Rocket League and the fact is, I will never be good enough to compete with the people who eat, sleep, and breathe Rocket League 18 hours out of every single day of their lives. Those people are going to international tournaments, and I wish them luck.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 17th 2022 at 8:16:30 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Each person who's played D&D remembers one edition as the "best" because it's the one they're most familiar with.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"I have a secret. It's ancient, forbidden lore known only to a few. In fact, some may consider it heretical. Do you want to hear it?
You can still play older editions even after Wizards starts selling newer products.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Who let all these corporate police in here? HEY, WHERE ARE YOU TAKING—
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.You know, I think that's about the best outcome for the Metaverse that I could have hoped for.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"I see Gabe went back to the Pokémon tournament. He's learning what a Real Master can do.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"That first one was not exactly why we left Magic, but it was close.
This one. Today's comic. This one is exactly why we left Magic.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.It's kind of a long-running joke that Gabe will try out some hobby game, become completely obsessed with it, and then get his ass handed to him by professional players, kids, or both.
Edited by Fighteer on Aug 24th 2022 at 9:40:37 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"![]()
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The meta-game becoming so homogenized and difficult to break that duels can be decided by asking what type of deck you're using and the outcome is set from what answer you give?
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There is an actual Pokemnon episode about that, you know. Ash meets a trainer who does exactly that: he looks at the stats of an opponent's team, does the math in his head, and declares who won, right then and there, without actually doing the match.
Of course the episode has Ash showing that trainer firsthand that a real Pokemon battle is about more than raw statistics.
Hope shines brightest in the darkest timesOf course the episode has Ash showing that trainer firsthand that a real Pokemon battle is about more than raw statistics.
Obviously the show would have that message, just as Top Gun: Maverick tells us that an F-14 can beat a pair of SU-57s. Both of them are stinking lies, but it's nice to give the kiddies hope.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"In an animated show where the writers decide the outcome of battles, sure. In real-life tournaments, where the rules constrain games to a finite solution set, not so much.
Not to take too wide a digression, but the Vietnam War was a political conflict more than it was a military conflict. If you look at casualty rates alone, we won so decisively that the Vietnamese are still recovering to this day. The "loss" was because we were fighting an impossible proxy war with our hands tied behind our backs. It's not even remotely comparable to a Pokémon match.
Edited by Fighteer on Aug 25th 2022 at 10:47:01 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"The deciding factor in Pokemon is the power of eugenics. Ash just got lucky and rolled a Pikachu with mad IVs. And then XP-grinded that thing way beyond its appropriate level.
"My Pikachu is special because it's naturally really powerful." Yeah, IV RNG works like that. And also you use it for like 80% of your battles so it's really no surprise that it's at Level 100 with a full set of EVs while the rest of your party is somewhere around the mid-thirties.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 25th 2022 at 7:59:40 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

10/10 Would absolutely watch Gabe's suggestion. That sounds amazing.
Not for any, uh... particular bias....
Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 15th 2022 at 5:59:52 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.