The TopDeck Invitational is just a few days away with the most important games of the season about to be played out. This week, two approaches in the run up to a major. Daniel is back, breaking down a top team’s methodology before a big event. Rahul will tell you that once you sit down, the work is over and luck holds the tiebreaker. All you control is whether you beat yourself.

Let’s get into it.

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Weeks of testing produce one registered deck and one question first: placement, or the prize? Inside a competitive team's process from full spoiler to round one.

By Daniel Zidenberg

We’ve had two shake-ups in the Riftbound metagame since the last time I wrote: the Aspirant’s Climb & Arena’s Greatest bans, which we accurately predicted, and the introduction of Vendetta with 166 new cards to experiment with. I’m here today to explain what testing looks like from a competitive team going into a new set, and the thought process behind the decks we choose to register.

Any time a new set comes out, the number one priority for the team is to experiment with the new leaders and see how they play. Testing an unrefined list from the new set against refined tier one decks from the prior metagame will typically disappoint, and can cause you to overlook a deck that could become great with some work. In this phase, we’re not necessarily looking for a final draft, but instead for powerful synergies that make a leader worth exploring further. From that early testing and experimentation we typically weed out the most unplayable decks from the new set, then move into testing against the strongest decks of the prior format. This stage of testing also lets us revisit decks from prior sets, trying new tech cards to see how they perform in a changed metagame. Often we end up finding several new tech pieces for decks that were already good, but can be even further improved. Great examples of this from Vendetta are Irelia getting access to the new Akali - Silent, and Kaisa getting access to Temporal Breach. The majority of the time we spend testing is figuring out how the previous top contenders battle against the new ones. After several weeks of this process, we typically have a good understanding of which matchups are miserable, which are favorable, and everything in between. In a rare case, we sometimes find a deck with no bad matchups, but most of the time you’ll have some number of high power decks with one or two problem matchups. This testing process creates the information that’s necessary to make an informed decision on what to play.

Riftbound offers a unique choice that doesn’t exist in any other card game: you can try to maximize your placement, or you can instead prioritize a Best-Of prize card. In any other TCG, the decision is simple: you play the deck you think has the best matchup spread into the room, regardless of whether it’s the most or least popular. In Riftbound, before we even start considering which deck to register, we have to decide whether the priority is to win the event, or to get the best prize. In an ideal scenario, you’d get a shot at both, and you see players like Prismaticism on Annie, Collin Kaiser on Sett, and Villionaire on Volibear piloting unconventional legends to a high level of success. Most of the time though, it’s not so simple: would I rather maximize my placement, or is it more important to obtain a prize card?

To maximize how highly we place, it’s the same game as every other TCG. We make the best guess at what the metagame will look like - lots of randomness in the first few rounds followed by a lot of the top decks on day two, and the goal is to maximize our win rate into both the random leaders as well as the best in the format. This is typically going to be the best performing deck in testing, a broken new legend from the most recent set with a perfect signature spell, chosen champion, and leader ability. Sometimes, it’ll be an old favorite that got some new support, such as Master Yi in the Unleashed metagame. If, on the other hand, the goal is a prize card, instead we’re looking for something with a low play rate compared to how good the deck is. It’s not feasible to just register one of the worst leaders with no real agency over the game, most players aren’t into that kind of gambling. We’re looking for a deck that has enough strength to push near the top tables, while still being unpopular enough that there aren’t too many competitors fighting for the prize card. The best example of this was Jinx during the Spiritforged pre-ban format: a deck that functioned nearly to the same level as miracle Draven, but with only twenty players in the event instead of two hundred.

Once you’ve figured out which deck you’re going to register, there’s only one job left: put in the work. Grind as many games as possible into the best decks in the format, learn your matchups inside and out, and make sure there are no situations you haven’t seen before. Testing can tell you which deck you should bring, but once the tournament starts, none of that matters unless you can perform. It’s not an easy process, but there’s a lot of glory to be gained if you get it right.

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Six rounds of swiss. Japanese point system. You’re not going to want to miss this one. We’ll see you there.

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There are no free wins in a room where everyone earned the seat. A Worlds veteran on why fear, not variance, is what actually beats you.

By Rahul Reddy

When competing in the highest level of competition in any game you have to put an importance on a few things. The first being your own self confidence and making sure you don’t mess up the basics on your end. The second is acknowledging that there are players in the room at equal or better skill levels to you. The third is that someone is going to get luckier to win the event and all you can do is hope that it is you. 

The Pokemon World Championships is extremely unique from the other tournaments in the circuit because every single player has earned their right to be there. Some similar examples are the World Championships in other games like Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh and One Piece. Riftbound will also have their big Continentals (regionals) that are invite-only as well. The main point of that statement is that every person that plays in these events has worked their way there by being the best at something, or winning more than their peers to find themselves at the big show.

However in a room full of winners, someone has to be a loser.

When playing at the highest level of competition that’s where the matchup percentages and the flowchart of how the game should go starts materializing. Everyone is expected to make minimal mistakes and the pressure is completely on. This brings me to the first point I brought up, confidence in yourself. I see a lot of players when they get to the highest level of competition just discard the strategy or plan that brought them that far. If you have ample practice and confidence then it’s completely fine to do so, but oftentimes the fear creeps in and guides you in a direction that hurts more than it helps.

Stick to what you know because you’ll know what to do in any situation with the deck you’re most familiar with. Everyone in this room is gonna be good, there’s no free wins anymore.

Lastly, acknowledging that luck will play a factor, when you’re playing those 50/50 or 45/55 matchups, something has to go right for one player and wrong for another for the scale to tip. As long as you play the best you can you should leave with your head held high and no regrets moving forward in the event. Those close luck based losses can be frustrating but it’s always better than losing to your own mistakes in my opinion. Pressure affects us all in different ways and sometimes making a simple mistake can cost you the whole game at the highest level of competition.

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