EP3 Team Discussion

[Deadbeard]

I believe that a solid deck pretty much negates anything that a bad shuffle brings to the table, a well rounded deck will be prepped for instances where that might happen, that's where some of the skill is further separated from the luck, also at the beginning of the matches you are given the opportunity to reshuffle your hand if you don't have anything you like initially and try again, chances are if your next shuffle you still don't find anything that suits you, your deck might need a little readjusting to prevent this from happening. During the actual bout it's all about your ability to manage your cards and get rid of unnecessary cards for the situation and hold onto things you think you may need soon enough. I can honestly say that in all my time playing EP3, bad deck shuffles were rarely, if ever, a real issue.

My team partner is a female, I still to this very day can't help but smile when I think of what we went through together there, and some of the obstacles we overcame, some of the best experiences I have ever had. I'd like the honor of explaining exactly how we came to cross paths. I, like many other people, was at that stage where I really needed a dedicated team partner, someone who understood the game just as I did, someone who I could go out onto the field with total confidence in and not have a second thought or a single doubt in them or their abilities. Up until that point I had teamed up with countless other players, but more often than not, the battles were as much of a hassle as they were fun, because more of the fights were dedicated to covering bad mistakes made by partner, rather than actually fighting opponents, and all of the actual planning/strategies were pretty much done by myself. And it was things like this that many others tend to overlook and/or ignore much to often.

It was though sometimes my style of gameplay was worlds away from what everyone else was doing, yet so similar at the same time, the biggest difference is the amount of attention to detail I put into every single aspect of the battle, which resulted in drastic differences when all was said and done. Even others using identical decks as mine did not perform nearly as good as I did with the exact same thing, which further strengthened my resolve to find a person who had the same passion for the game as I did. It was to the point where I realized that even the smallest thing like the order in which your (being both you and your partner) attacks are executed during the act phase could make some of the biggest impacts in the battle.

So I began to sit back and watch, watch and observe other players overall technique and battle ability to see if anything would catch my eye and one night, exactly that happened, and thus, my EP3 life changed forever. I had happened to find a team match going on in some near abandoned lobby and decided to watch it. As I observed, I began to notice that one player in particular had a furious passion towards wanting to learn the game and get better, and reminded me of my own self when I had first began the game, but at the time could best be described as reckless and unskilled. I knew that with proper guidance and training though, this person could become very powerful one day, maybe even to the point where she was my equal or even surpassed me in ability. So I waited until the opportunity came for me to enter the room and I did so, (I was clvl 999 and everyone else was around 20 or so, everyone was shocked by me entering so you could imagine the initial reactions.) I introduced myself and explained my purpose for entering the room, I then offered Nadia the opportunity to be taken under my wing and trained from there on out.

We ended up meeting the next day to begin everything and over the course several months I went over everything from basic C.A.R.D. knowledge to advanced battle strategies and deck building. Everything that I had learned and every skill that I possessed I ended up passing on to her, and I sat back and watched as a person as unpolished as she was when I first met her, evolved into one of the most fierce players I have ever laid eyes upon, and someone I am grateful to this very day I had the opportunity to meet, and someone I am proud to call my dedicated partner. From that point forward I was rarely, if ever, seen with anyone else besides me on the battlefield.

[Deadbeard]

Before I can answer any questions in regards to my favorite team deck, I need you to explain in your own words, what exactly a "team deck" is to you, because a word as simple as that was distorted beyond imagination in my time there, and I will explain explain exactly what I mean once you answer the initial question.

[RAGNAGELPPOD]

Well I dunno if it ever got coined this way but someone told me that there were two basic kinds of team decks, and they called them Japanese style and American style.

"Japanese style" team decks were made to support each other , like One teammate would have a deck of hidooms and the partner would have a decks of Migiums, so they function exceptionally great as a team but go downhill when they can't sync up.

And then theres "American Style", which was basically two (for the most part unrelated) solo decks working together but with a few of the selfish defense cards exchanged for team defense cards ( like replacing All the "guard" cards with " wall" cards). This style of deck didn't have the symbiotic flare of the japanese style, but on the upside both partneers dont share a common weakness, since they're decks are to dissimilar.

So, an expample of a Japanes estyle experience deck would be both players summoning sinow blues and then using mine brightness, while an American verion would have one player summoning Sinow blue while the partner summoned Saint rappy, and the team would play Giant garden , or perhaps Forest rain and Mine brightness.

Dropping the Regional tags though, those are two team decks types that come to mind when I'm asked the question.

[VR-Raiden]

Before I can answer any questions in regards to my favorite team deck, I need you to explain in your own words, what exactly a "team deck" is to you, because a word as simple as that was distorted beyond imagination in my time there, and I will explain explain exactly what I mean once you answer the initial question.

I remember Nadia, I don't think I got the chance to play her much though.

as for what I meant by team deck, I'll clarify. It's like what Rag's saying pretty much. Except I wouldn't categorize it by regions, cause both JP and US used both types. but using those terms, "Japanese" would be 2 decks coordinated with each other intentionally, while "American" would be non-coordinated but have team play cards.

When I said "Team deck" I meant, a deck you coordinated with a partner on every card and strategy involved in the decks.

the other kind of team deck (the ones more commonly used in the last days of EP3 due to the very few number of players) would just be a standard deck with team defense cards such as protection/defender. They don't necessarily work well together but you know at the very least you can support each other with defense cards. Just ones you could go in a random 2v2 game with people you didn't know and use.

I was curious on what your favorite coordinated team deck was.

and I agree and disagree with the shuffle issue, It's true that it's less likely the better made you're deck is, but I still think the best deck in the world (if hypothetically, one existed) can get a horrible shuffle and cause you serious trouble. And there isn't always something you can do about it. If you get a bad first hand, switch it, and it's still really bad, it doesn't necessarily mean you have a poorly made deck. It might just mean that you have horrible luck at that time.

[Deadbeard]

Well I dunno if it ever got coined this way but someone told me that there were two basic kinds of team decks, and they called them Japanese style and American style.

"Japanese style" team decks were made to support each other , like One teammate would have a deck of hidooms and the partner would have a decks of Migiums, so they function exceptionally great as a team but go downhill when they can't sync up.

And then theres "American Style", which was basically two (for the most part unrelated) solo decks working together but with a few of the selfish defense cards exchanged for team defense cards ( like replacing All the "guard" cards with " wall" cards). This style of deck didn't have the symbiotic flare of the japanese style, but on the upside both partneers dont share a common weakness, since they're decks are to dissimilar.

So, an expample of a Japanes estyle experience deck would be both players summoning sinow blues and then using mine brightness, while an American verion would have one player summoning Sinow blue while the partner summoned Saint rappy, and the team would play Giant garden , or perhaps Forest rain and Mine brightness.

Dropping the Regional tags though, those are two team decks types that come to mind when I'm asked the question.

Japanese and American style decks? Hmm...I wonder why anyone would seperate deck types into such ridiculous categories. I will go on the record and say right now that there is no such thing as a japanese or american style deck, and anyone willing to challenge me on this, please feel free. The only thing that I ever saw were cards with different uses, it is the individuals choice on how to use them in the end. Any player can make any deck, japan players can make terrible decks just as fast as an american player can do so, and the same can be said about great decks. I have defeated more japan teams than I can remember, did I forget to mention they can lose just as easily as any american player can?

Your summary is accurate enough though, you either have a deck that thrives and supports one another, or you don't, it's just that simple. Like I said before though, the choice is yours in the end which cards you throw into your deck. If you want a deck that is powerful when you and your partner are both alive, but virtually useless when you are alone, please be my guest. I personally like when people use these against me, because my team is almost guaranteed to be the one left standing in the end.

[Deadbeard]

I remember Nadia, I don't think I got the chance to play her much though.

as for what I meant by team deck, I'll clarify. It's like what Rag's saying pretty much. Except I wouldn't categorize it by regions, cause both JP and US used both types. but using those terms, "Japanese" would be 2 decks coordinated with each other intentionally, while "American" would be non-coordinated but have team play cards.

When I said "Team deck" I meant, a deck you coordinated with a partner on every card and strategy involved in the decks.

the other kind of team deck (the ones more commonly used in the last days of EP3 due to the very few number of players) would just be a standard deck with team defense cards such as protection/defender. They don't necessarily work well together but you know at the very least you can support each other with defense cards. Just ones you could go in a random 2v2 game with people you didn't know and use.

I was curious on what your favorite coordinated team deck was.

and I agree and disagree with the shuffle issue, It's true that it's less likely the better made you're deck is, but I still think the best deck in the world (if hypothetically, one existed) can get a horrible shuffle and cause you serious trouble. And there isn't always something you can do about it. If you get a bad first hand, switch it, and it's still really bad, it doesn't necessarily mean you have a poorly made deck. It might just mean that you have horrible luck at that time.

You have to really look, and look hard at what I wrote about the shuffle issue, and you would be hard pressed to disagree at all. I said that a well prepped deck would be prepared for instances when a "bad shuffle" would take place..I'll let your mind wander at exactly what I mean there. But remember, your deck can have up to 30 cards, and YOU are in control of which 30 you put in there..no one else, think about that. I have played in more matches than probably any other person to have played this game and I will say it again, I rarely ever had a problem with a bad shuffle, and during matches I am in complete control over which cards are in my hand from that point on.

My favorite coordinated team deck? I don't believe such a thing exists. Me and Nadia discussed thoroughly which cards were in one anothers decks, but we never really used coordinated type decks. Instead of coordinating decks, we both agreed it would more beneficial to focus more on coordinating our every move and action in battle. We would just use well rounded decks that could counter ANY situation thrown at us, and wreck havoc on our opponents through great teamwork and precision.

[VR-Raiden]

so you always used the same two decks with each other? I had decks like that where we coordinated every card in each others decks but they weren't the same type. I just found it interesting to use different strategies from time to time. But I guess that's one reason i had more losses, lol

and you can't tell me you've never gotten a bad shuffle. =P

btw anyone else want to join in the discussion here? >_>

[RAGNAGELPPOD]

Losses aren't all that bad. Remember, Dias said something like " We can't learn anything from winning, so lose and learn from your mistakes".

If I had to choose a favorite coordinated team deck though, it would be either an Inflation theme or a Fly attack theme. And as for bad shuffles, I carried a lot of assists and defense cards in my deck since I usually only had about six or seven creatures in it ( which was a low number according to some of ya'll online), and I didn't have many action cards since I used Standard attacks mostly. I'd like to say that I didn't get bad shuffles but I think a true bad shuffle is measured by the dice as well. After all, Getting a five card hand of Indi belra, Dark belra, Resist, Companion, Patience sounds a lot nicer when you roll a 7/4 than it does when you roll a 4/2.

[Deadbeard]

so you always used the same two decks with each other? I had decks like that where we coordinated every card in each others decks but they weren't the same type. I just found it interesting to use different strategies from time to time. But I guess that's one reason i had more losses, lol

and you can't tell me you've never gotten a bad shuffle. =P

btw anyone else want to join in the discussion here? >_>

No, we used many different decks, but I do not believe we had any coordinated types at all, and there were several reasons for this. I clearly remember one match we were using this deck type I wanted to experiment with, we were both using Lura (one of my favorite characters) and our basic creatures were Morphos and some random 3 costers, and we completely dominated someone with it, and after the match they were crying about us using a "team deck" and that was the only reason we won.

We were at a loss for words on more than one point at the stupidity of that comment, and those players also. First off, since when was a team classified as 2 people using the same cards? we had no assist buffs or anything and yet, that somehow was a team deck just because they lost so horribly. Secondly, since when was using team decks not a good thing to do for team matches? Even if we had decided to use a coordinated team deck, that's our choice, there's no restrictions on how many of a certain type of card you can put in your deck, which leads me to believe Sega wanted people to get a little creative and experiment. As I said before, I have no problem with anyone using coordinated decks against me, more power to them.

Yes, I have gotten bad shuffles, but it never really changed the overall outcome of the match by much. And we are a dying breed of people who actually understood and appreciated what this game had to offer, great pvp that actually required tons of skill, strategy, and thinking to win a match. And anyone who really believes this game was all about luck and not skill needs to sit back, and stop judging books by their covers.

[Deadbeard]

Losses aren't all that bad. Remember, Dias said something like " We can't learn anything from winning, so lose and learn from your mistakes".

If I had to choose a favorite coordinated team deck though, it would be either an Inflation theme or a Fly attack theme. And as for bad shuffles, I carried a lot of assists and defense cards in my deck since I usually only had about six or seven creatures in it ( which was a low number according to some of ya'll online), and I didn't have many action cards since I used Standard attacks mostly. I'd like to say that I didn't get bad shuffles but I think a true bad shuffle is measured by the dice as well. After all, Getting a five card hand of Indi belra, Dark belra, Resist, Companion, Patience sounds a lot nicer when you roll a 7/4 than it does when you roll a 4/2.

I agree so much with that statement it's not even funny, especially when you're dealing with a game like this, but at the same time, it all depends on exactly how the person reacts to losses. Also you need to be open minded about that statement, I myself can attest that a person who actually wants to be good in something, will not be afraid to take losses every now and again, but that person knows that whenever he/she loses it's important to evaluate everything and learn from the mistakes so that they can be reduced in the future, when I first came here do you think I was good? No, not at all, and I took heavy losses all the time, but you know what? I kept my head up, kept coming back, and never gave up, and in time, I learned to make even losses a positive thing by making sure I did not make the same errors over and over again.

On another note, I’d like to ask, out of all the players/teams you have encountered on EP3, which ones ended up giving you the most trouble whenever you ended up fighting against them?