My current Issue and Improving the Local scene.

Hey everyone,

So I don't know if anyone has noticed but recently theres been a major dip in my activity here on the Vmundi Forums, the VMPT and even the IRC chat. The reasoning for this is that I've lost all motivation to play this game anymore. I believe this roots from a few areas and I want to fix this, I really do love this game, but there are reasons for my loss in desire.



1. I've currently built all the decks I have any interest in owning/using. When I first got into Vanguard I was driven, buying booster packs/boxes multiple times a month as much as I possibly could, striving to pull the next card that I needed for my deck. Fast track when has now been 7 months since I first got into Vanguard and I've lost all drive to make anything which I find to be one of the more entertaining processes of playing TCGs.

2. I've been hosting locals weekly tournaments for a few months now, I believe since November, we consistently get about 8 players which to me is fine, when I first began playing I was probably the one player in my city. The issue I currently have is that none of them have made any sort of improvement. Its free wins left, right and center. I've lost 2 games in the last few months and I hate it. I like the challenge and I want to actually have to try and pay attention. I've tried coaching them, giving them advice, guiding them through situations where they're unsure and everything I could. I've redirected all of them to the blogspot(one person went and its completely changed his game, but he lives outside the region).

3. Financials are becoming a bit of an issue, for the last few months I've been sick with the Flu and Pneumonia and its caused me to miss a lot of work and barely get by. The reason this is an issue is because I could always travel to one of the other regions and attend there larger more competitive tournaments(Like where Featherine plays) but yeah, barely making rent :P.



So guys, what should I do? The reason I'm writing this is because I'm at a loss, I'm having something I love taken away from me and I feel like I have no control. I'm tempted to just give everything away and start from scratch(might keep my Sarah Tamers deck so I can try to win the Challenge Cup, at least on the Canadian side) but other then that I dont know.



If you have an issue with what I wrote and think I'm being a whiny bitch then please just move along.

Matters man if your into competitive. The game is incredibly new and still has plenty of room to flesh out on. Plus wit the cup tournaments coming up it shows bushiroad is going to bring us more larger scale tournaments. If not the game is incredibly stable on prices and just liquid everything and if you want to start again find a cheap deck and climb the ladder again.

This game isnt as new as people keep saying it is. The show is in season 3, we have 12 sets released and 6 trial decks. I'm here to be competitive, but its hard to keep the drive alive when you dominate locals with ease. I need a challenge to stay interested.



I might restart and make like... Narukami or something...

Well in card game terms its pretty new especially in English. Consider the big three to this game and how well its actually holding popularity. If you are willing to in a year see what the big tournaments are going around and if Cardfight is actually doing more than yugioh than I would consider staying.

You've kind of completely missed what Im getting at. I'm aware there are major tournaments coming up, hence why I mentioned I'd keep my Sarah Tamers deck for the Challenge Cup. But I have no Drive now. I don't care how old the game is or anything like that. Im talking about the today, there here and now and all that fun jazz.

If you have RL stuff, RL stuff comes first.

No need to sell your panties to get by.

hmm... Not sure how I feel about that last comment.

Have you considered regionals? Also, there are programs and online sites that allow you to play online and find more challenging players. That's what I do.

Regionals? I got 5th at the Canadian Regionals last time but its going to be awhile before they come around. The online places are kind of bad though, most people use Japanese Crossride and Break Ride decks and the shuffling system is poor so its promotes stacking/clumping.

I haven't done much with CFV meself these last few months. Just getting cards together for the decks I like (DP, Spikes).

But I never had a big group around here to play with, let alone a shop to carry product. Seriously Hastings, Wal-Mart, Target none carry them. But they'll certainly stock Kaijudo, lol.

Really if you're finding trouble, just put the game aside for a while. I've gone on hiatus from many games in my lifetime and would come back whatever time later and might see the game differently. I still bounce around numerous PnP systems to this day.

I'm on hiatus right now. Won't get a Crossride til June, so I'm just saving money to buy whole decks. Or a 3DS. Whichever comes first.

Klaus wrote:

I haven't done much with CFV meself these last few months. Just getting cards together for the decks I like (DP, Spikes).

But I never had a big group around here to play with, let alone a shop to carry product. Seriously Hastings, Wal-Mart, Target none carry them. But they'll certainly stock Kaijudo, lol.

Really if you're finding trouble, just put the game aside for a while. I've gone on hiatus from many games in my lifetime and would come back whatever time later and might see the game differently. I still bounce around numerous PnP systems to this day.

The issue is that if I go on hiatus, the scene WILL die. I'm the only thing keeping it alive. I have no drive to collect any cards(okay maybe I want an Akane and 4 Iseults) but other then that, theres nothing I'm looking to collect. But regardless I think I might go on a leave for a bit, I'll still host the weekly tournaments but thats it.



Also I dont exactly have a shop that carries, he orders a booster box every few months and thats it. Sometimes trial decks but they sit in the basement.

I'm on a main set buying hiatus still May myself. I only play Grappler and Police, so I am just gonna second market the little mini boosts and wait till Armada releases before I drop real money again. Part of the reason I love playing this game is if you don't have dragons or paladins you don't go broke!

Despite Royal Paladins always and forever being my main clan, I feel what pushes me trying new variations/builds of my main deck. I always get excited if I have something new to try out.

Then there's also making new decks, when I started the game I was infatuated by a good number of clans but never had a chance to make them. It's only been recently that I've obtained the power to create, so I'm doing everything I can. I get rather giddy and excited with a new clan to play, so I get my drives off that as well.

I think you should focus on your own problems first, since real life is the most important.

I'm not too worried about my real life issues, Money is getting better, just Christmas + having Pneumonia and the Flu kind of butt fucked my wallet. I don't want any variants of my current decks or anything, just a small urge to finish my RP deck(so Nulls and an Akane).

I think I power built too fast, I went from having 1-2 decks to have 9 in a month.

Also, I loved Vanguard because it brought me joy, so not having that is kind of.. sucking

IRC has been dead because I have been away and people don't talk unless I'm there. Forums haven't been dead. They get almost the same number of active threads per day as Pojo's CFV.

As for the game, the prices are shooting up due to the popularity taking off and more shithead TCG sellers therefore getting into the game. The ones from Yugioh and such. At the same time, retail carriers are noticing its sales and jacking up prices.

The game IS new. One active year in English is all it's had. You can't expect people to be good in a year unless they worked as hard as us. Not a lot of people actually got into the game on launch. For those that are still bad and did get in on launch, I'd say that's their fault. But we kind of have to sit on it. What I do when I can't find a match in a game I know well, is I teach it. If they won't learn from you, then I could see a problem.

I can't tell you what to do about it because I don't even have a stable locals to go to. Even if I found out they still ran Vanguard (doubtful), I probably couldn't get a ride there. I think part of the problem is you and your expectations.

Maybe naive question, but when you say that the other people in your scene haven't made improvements: are we talking like making bad decisions midmatch, not improving their decks, both, something else?

That your shop doesn't really stock boosters is kind of a downer, and I wouldn't entirely fault the other players for not improving their decks. But bad playstyle and disinterest are harder to combat.

Okay so the decks have made slight improvements, mostly because I've given away cards to them to improve there builds. But its a lot of midmatch mistakes that are killing them, and its always the same ones. Like I could understand making a mistake a few times, have me tell them why its a mistake and then make a different mistake, but its like beating a dead horse.

The shop not carrying is a negative, but he's also willing to order cards for people if they'd like at the discounted rate he pays plus a little extra (Lets say he pays 20 for an SDD and even though the shop would charge 30$ he'll charge 22 - Random example with random numbers pulled out of my ass. Like I paid 30$ for a playset of Pellinore's)


Like theres someone with full Tsuku, like its a beautiful build, I could not think of another way to improve it all, but he makes a ton of mistakes and refuses to take any advice I give to him. I think at this point its ignorance and spite.





Also Alice, I know that my skill level is far above the rest of the group, and Im okay with that, but again I've been striving to see improvement in the group for months and it seems like nothing is happening. I could be content with never losing a game, if there was a challenge. But there isnt, I can use trial decks and go undefeated. I dont care about prices or anything, the fact that the games becoming more popular is phenomenal to me and I'm so happy about that. Its just.. I dunno like I said, Its hard to keep my drive when theres nothing to drive to.



I think a big issue might be that I attended a series of major, difficult tournaments with higher skilled players, to nothing at all. Like, the Canadian Regionals, The LA Regionals and a few major tournaments in Canada and then shop locals where Tsuku user wont ride Amaterasu if he doesnt have Full moon and sit on Grade 2 until I still my Magician Swords up his ass or whatever deck Im using.

WingZero wrote:

...Tsuku user wont ride Amaterasu if he doesnt have Full moon and sit on Grade 2 until I still my Magician Swords up his ass or whatever deck Im using.

My brain. Why. Amaterasu is not second banana. Hell it's just a vanilla 10k on RG. May as well be using Apollon or vanilla G2 if he never intends to ride it. I'm mad because I wish I had a Tsuku deck and not barely-not-trial OTT. It just seems ass-backwards to invest that much in a good deck and then... not take advice for how to improve. At all.

If you're both ok with it (and haven't already tried), I'd swap decks for a match or three and demonstrate why CEO helps speed through the stack and gets that sweet divination in one swoop. But if we're talking this level of misplay across multiple clans/decks/players... you have my condolences.

Real pros sit on Grade 2 Tsuku when they see 2 crits with Ichibyoshi. It means you get to your stack faster and get a surprise win.

...Or you know you could not deal with only gaining +2 every turn as opposed to the +3 you'd get with Amaterasu

Epideme wrote:

Real pros sit on Grade 2 Tsuku when they see 2 crits with Ichibyoshi. It means you get to your stack faster and get a surprise win.

Having trouble telling if this is sarcasm. Sitting on G2 Tsuku when you have CEO in hand is absolutely stupid. Twin Drive, soulcharge + Divination, and 10k defender vs a 9k "does nothing after ride" G2.

(Sorry double post)

I see now you could keep doing the check top 5 on subsequent turns, but I still stand by the listed example of -choosing- not to ride CEO.

Agreed, thats like sitting on G2 Galahad with another G3 like Lohengrin or SSD in hand.

WingZero wrote:

...Or you know you could not deal with only gaining +2 every turn as opposed to the +3 you'd get with Amaterasu

Actually it's a legit strategy. If you have a Full Moon you can even do it anyway, then use her skill to get +2 and make up for the time lost. That lets you stack 10 more which loops 14 total versus Amaterasu's 8. Can make a difference definitely. But I only recommend it if you got extremely good early stacks. Otherwise CEO is going to give you better checks throughout the game.