What's the optimal play?

[Showsni]

Okay, in this thread I'm going to describe a game state. Your goal is to discuss what you think the best play in each situation is, and why. There might be a single best move to make tactically, like a chess puzzle, or there might be no single best move - in which case you have to work out what you think is the best thing to do.

 

Here's our first situation. It's late in the game, and you've been playing a Blastoise/Keldeo mirror match. Having just loaded up a single Keldeo EX enough to take out an enemy Mewtwo, you have two prizes left to take whilst your opponent has three. Your opponent replaces his dead Mewtwo with Emolga, draws some cards with Cheren, and passes the turn. Here's the game state after you draw for your turn:

 

 

Opponent Bench (7 cards in hand, 3 prizes left):

Blastoise****Emolga****Keldeo EX(3 Water Energy)****Keldeo EX(1 Water Energy)****Wartortle

 

In play:

Emolga(1 Water Energy)

 

Keldeo EX(7 Water Energy)

 

Your bench:

Blastoise****Keldeo EX(100 damage)

 

Your hand:

Professor Juniper, Wartortle, Water Energy

 

Your discard pile has a bunch of water energy, other stuff, and only three of the four Pokémon Catchers you run. Your deck has exactly seven cards left in it; your opponent's deck has 17 or so.

 

Here's the question: since you haven't examined your deck carefully enough, you're not sure what your last prize is - it could easily be your last Pokémon Catcher. Should you play your Juniper now, drawing every card in your deck, so that if you get the Catcher you can bring out his Keldeo-EX and win this turn; or should you instead not play the Juniper, in case the Catcher isn't in your deck, in which case you'd lose for sure by deck out? If you don't play the Juniper, what action do you take instead?

[WolfpackSmiley]

Well if you're a good/decent player you count everything in your deck at the start of the game and write it down/attempt to memorize the important parts. (Of course in a serious matter, that is, such as at a tournament)

I would leave the Keldeo active and take the KO. If they brought up a Keldeo, they could attack you, but the chances are very low that they would be able to stack enough energies in one turn to KO your Keldeo. Then, in that case, you could just KO them, or anything else they had. (You also could draw the Catcher with a 1/7 chance, if it happens to be in the deck)

[aura_master8]

I would just take the knock out on their Emolga and then on my next turn play the Juniper so I would have a greater chance of winning.

[cadethian]

This is a bit of a tough call. If your opponent can get 3 more energy on their Keldeo, they could put you in a very tough spot by knocking yours out (6 water x20 + 50 = 170). You would have no energy on the field and they could mop you up the next turn. There is only a 1/8 chance of having your catcher prized. It's possible, but it's unlikely. Your opponent has a 7 card hand, and something like a Cilan or an energy retrieval and an energy in hand, or simply having 3 energy in hand will give you a very bad time. A viable option would be to use rush in with your damaged Keldeo to lure out theirs, and then take a revenge knock out for the game with yours. This would require them to not only drop 3 energy, but also have a catcher (How many have they used?) to win the game on their turn. Of course, you could always just play the juniper and have an 87.5% chance of winning right then and there.

 

EDIT: Just realized you have 2 prizes, not one, so your chances of winning are only 7/9, and not 7/8. This changes the chances to 77.78% of winning on Juniper. I like these odds much less. Even so, I still think it's very easy for your opponent to get the 3 energy they need via retrieval or cilan. They might also be able to energy switch off of the emolga. They could also have their own supporter to dig through more deck, so I think your risk is high if you don't win this turn.

 

Verdict: Juniper.

[Showsni]

Thanks for the responses!

 

As it happens, this was an actual situation that happened to me in game; in the event I went for the attack Emolga. He managed to put together enough water energy to KO Keldeo with his; then I topdecked the Catcher next turn. So, Juniper would have been the better play! But it could have gone either way. As it happend, I Catchered his Wartortle, and Junipered into enough energy to build up my other Keldeo and get the win.

 

The real moral is, always know your deck! When you play that first Ultra Ball/Level Ball/Skyla/whatever, you should definitely work out exactly which six cards you have prized.

 

Here's another scenario for you. This one's more like a chess puzzle; you have a guaranteed win this turn. Can you tell me how you get it?

 

You're playing a deck based around Accelgor's Deck and Cover, using Mew EX to attack with and Chandelure and Dusknoir to help spread the damage around just right to maintain a lock. Your opponent is playing an Eelektrik deck. You have four prizes left to take, whilst he has three left. Thanks to an earlier Town Map, you know exactly what your prizes are, and hence (learning your lesson from last time!) you know exactly what's left in your deck.

 

In play:

 

Opponent (3 prizes left to take, lots of cards left in deck, 7 cards in hand, plenty of electric energy in the discard pile)

 

Opponent's Bench:

 

Mewtwo EX (with a DCE and an Eviolite attached), Eelektrik, Tynamo (the Thunder Wave one, equipped with Giant Cloak), Eelektrik, Zekrom EX (three Lightning Energy attached, 70 damage on it)

 

Defending:

 

Zekrom (DCE attached, 30 damage on it)

 

You

 

Active:

 

Boundaries Crossed Ditto (50 damage on it)

 

On your bench:

 

Munna (the Hypnosis/Dream Eater one), Shelmet (Mysterious Evolution/Ram), Mew EX (DCE attached), Chandelure (the Cursed Shadow one), Mew EX (equipped with Giant Cloak and one Prism Energy, 120 damage on it)

 

Your prizes:

 

Tool Scrapper, Double Colourless Energy, Energy Switch, Pluspower

 

Your hand:

 

Skyla, Darkrai, Pokémon Catcher, Energy Search, Heavy Ball, Level Ball, Rare Candy, Switch

 

Your discard pile is unimportant for these purposes, but your deck itself has at least one of each of the following left in it:

 

GRPD Blend Energy

Dark Energy

Psychic Energy

DCE

Munna

Musharna (Foresight)

Shelmet

Accelgor (Deck and Cover)

Mew EX

Duskull (BCR)

Dusclops (BCR)

Dusknoir (BCR)

Litwick

Chandelure

Darkrai

Switch

Max Potion

Pokémon Catcher

Computer Search

Ultra Ball

Professor Juniper

N

Cheren

 

Remember, the goal is to win this turn!

[imobvmafia]

Oh, this looks fun.

 

My answer in white text below to prevent spoilers:

 

1. Play Switch, bring in Chandelure, Cursed Shadow for 40 on the Tynamo

2. Level Ball for Duskull, play it onto Ditto

3. Heavy Ball into Dusclops, Evolve Duskull using Rare Candy

4. Use Duskull to move the 30 damage from Zekrom and 60 from Zekrom EX onto the Eelektrik, take the Tool Scrapper prize (3 left)

5. Use Tool Scrapper to remove Tynamo's Big Cloak and Mewtwo's Eviolite, Tynamo dies, so take the Double Colouless Energy (2 left)

6. Skyla to fetch Switch, play it to bring up your Mew EX with the DCE on it and attach the DCE you just took as a prize

7. Catcher up the Mew2, use X-Ball with Mew for game.

 

These are really fun to do, though I hope we get more of these

[Showsni]

Oh, this looks fun.

 

My answer in white text below to prevent spoilers:

 

1. Play Switch, bring in Chandelure, Cursed Shadow for 40 on the Tynamo

2. Level Ball for Duskull, play it onto Ditto

3. Heavy Ball into Dusclops, Evolve Duskull using Rare Candy

4. Use Duskull to move the 30 damage from Zekrom and 60 from Zekrom EX onto the Eelektrik, take the Tool Scrapper prize (3 left)

5. Use Tool Scrapper to remove Tynamo's Big Cloak and Mewtwo's Eviolite, Tynamo dies, so take the Double Colouless Energy (2 left)

6. Skyla to fetch Switch, play it to bring up your Mew EX with the DCE on it and attach the DCE you just took as a prize

7. Catcher up the Mew2, use X-Ball with Mew for game.

 

These are really fun to do, though I hope we get more of these

 

Close, but not quite! I'll address it in white:

Firstly, Cursed Shadow only does 30 damage.

Secondly, if you put Duskulll onto Ditto, it will Faint immediately - 50 damage on a 50 HP Pokémon,

 

You're on the right lines, though!

[RayLux91]

This is fun, I'll try (my solution is hidden in white)

 

1. Play Skyla and take the Max Potion. Heal the damage from Ditto

2. Use Level Ball to take Duskull and put on Ditto. Use Heavy Ball and take Dusknoir. Evolve Duskull in Dusknor with Rare Candy.

3. Play switch and take the Chandelure active.

4. Put 2 damage counters on Eelektrik and 1 on tynamo. Then, using Dusknoir, move 70 damage from Zekrom EX to Eelektrik. Take the Tool Scrapper prize. Always using Dusknoir, move 30 damage from Zekrom to Tynamo.

5. Use Tool Scrapper on Tynamo and on your damaged Mew EX. Take the energy switch prize.

6. Put Darkrai on the bench. Play Energy Search and attack a Dark Energy to Chandelure.

7. Retreat for free and put Mew ex as active. Catcher Mewtwo EX, play energy switch to move the dark energy from Chandelure to Mew ex. Attack and you win.

[imobvmafia]

Close, but not quite! I'll address it in white:

Firstly, Cursed Shadow only does 30 damage.

Secondly, if you put Duskulll onto Ditto, it will Faint immediately - 50 damage on a 50 HP Pokémon,

 

You're on the right lines, though!

 

...Good point o_O

 

Okay, rethinking time!

 

1. Play Switch, bring in Chandelure, Cursed Shadow for 30 on the Tynamo

2. Skyla for Max Potion, use it on Ditto

2. Level Ball for Duskull, play it onto Ditto

3. Heavy Ball into Dusclops, Evolve Duskull using Rare Candy

4. Use Duskull to move the 30 damage from Zekrom and 60 from Zekrom EX onto the Eelektrik, take the Tool Scrapper prize (3 left)

5. Use Tool Scrapper to remove Tynamo's Big Cloak and Mewtwo's Eviolite, Then move the 10 damage left on Zekrom EX onto Tynamo. Tynamo dies, so take the Pluspower (2 left)

6. Skyla for a second Switch, bring in Mew EX with the DCE

7. Catcher up the Mew2, use X-Ball with Mew for game.

[Tomtoo]

...Good point o_O

 

Okay, rethinking time!

 

2. Skyla for Max Potion, use it on Ditto

6. Skyla for a second Switch, bring in Mew EX with the DCE

 

Just thought i would point out that you used skyla twice

[imobvmafia]

Just thought i would point out that you used skyla twice

 

...this is why I suck.

[Aloeb]

Cool thread!

 

It is a cool idea to do this, it will help a lot of people (like me. ) to think about what to do next. Good Job.

[Showsni]

This is fun, I'll try (my solution is hidden in white)

 

1. Play Skyla and take the Max Potion. Heal the damage from Ditto

2. Use Level Ball to take Duskull and put on Ditto. Use Heavy Ball and take Dusknoir. Evolve Duskull in Dusknor with Rare Candy.

3. Play switch and take the Chandelure active.

4. Put 2 damage counters on Eelektrik and 1 on tynamo. Then, using Dusknoir, move 70 damage from Zekrom EX to Eelektrik. Take the Tool Scrapper prize. Always using Dusknoir, move 30 damage from Zekrom to Tynamo.

5. Use Tool Scrapper on Tynamo and on your damaged Mew EX. Take the energy switch prize.

6. Put Darkrai on the bench. Play Energy Search and attack a Dark Energy to Chandelure.

7. Retreat for free and put Mew ex as active. Catcher Mewtwo EX, play energy switch to move the dark energy from Chandelure to Mew ex. Attack and you win.

 

Yes, that was the intended solution. There might be more ways to do it I haven't thought of; the key play here is probably

*spoiler*

knocking out your own Mew in order to free up bench space for Darkrai. Definitely only a thing you'd consider doing if you can guarantee a win this turn!

*end spoiler*

I'll have to try and think up another puzzle (though people can keep solving this one if they avoid the spoilers!)