What's Up SE Players, My Name is Nick, But I'll just be going by SAVAGE in this game, Im ah Fairly new player to this game but I'm ah Vet when it comes to TCGs. I play Yugioh Professionally & I'm ah decently respected player in the community. I decided I could contribute to this game by writing Articles bringing my Knowledge gained from playing Competitive Yu-Gi-Oh into the Shadow Era Community. Today I will be talking about Something that Seperates the True Pros from everyone else, Something that is rarely done right...Play Testing.
Everybody tests their deck, right? They build it, play it, try different matchups, and change it accordingly . Isn't that play testing ? Well, no: not really. I've discussed structured playtesting methods with other "Pro" players, recommending that matchups should be played one by one, repeatedly, in measured numbers. We've talked about the benefits of playtesting in “sets” and “reps.” In exercise and workout lingo, a “set” consists of repetitions (reps) of a given action: a set of pushups might consist of thirty reps, and over the course of a workout you might do three sets of thirty reps each, mixed with more sets of other actions – chin-ups, crunches, and what have you. In Shadow Era terms, I view each period of testing against a particular matchup as a set, and each Game within that set as a rep. So if I'm doing a three hour testing session, I might decide that my goal is to do a single set against Eladewon Board Control, Ah BorisDeck w/ Uniteds. , and Zaladar
Why? Because consistent testing methods give consistent, meaningful results that are far easier to record and review. The more testing you do, the more accurate your results are going to be and the more observations you'll be able to make. If you play three games against a particular deck, and a freak incident happens in one of them, that seems pretty significant. But if you play ten games in the same matchup, that single incident looks suitably more like an anomaly. The problem is that testing takes time: if you have three hours to test a deck, at 15 minutes a game, you'll probably get through 10-16 games total. I don't know how much time you have, but I get paid to do this stuff and I don't have 3 hours every day for playtesting. Even if I did, finding someone to do that testing with would be tough. That's why it makes sense to break your testing sessions into sets played against different decks. It might not be quite as thorough as just doing an entire day of testing against one deck type, but you'll get a wider spread of information and experience. You also won't get bored as easily, and trust me – boredom and monotony are poisonous to playtesting across the long term. I'd rather diversify my testing to create a more balanced range of information, and ensure that I'm not turned off the idea of playtesting more in the future. Switching things up keeps you sharp, focused, and having fun.
Most Players don't playtest with this kind of structure, or any comparable one; It's unfortunate, because this level of structure really doesn't take any effort. It might look like serious business, but it's actually going to ensure that you have more fun, and avoid getting bogged down playing the same dude, with the same deck, over and over. Whats the most important part of real playtesting? what you're aiming to get out of it in the first place.
That's interesting, because if you talk to players and ask them why they playtest, you're usually going to get a short list of answers. Most people are going to say they get two rewards from playtesting: practice and betterment of their skills; and knowledge of what cards work or don't work in their particular deck. They're chiefly seeking to improve their general gameplay and their individual build. Some may also say that they're trying to get better at particular matchups, but that's actually kind of a rare answer: and why wouldn't it be? After all, most players aren't focusing their playtesting by choosing which matchups they test; they just play whoever's available.
The reality is that playtesting has more specific benefits than most people realize, and if you don't understand them, you can't make the most of them. So today I want to look at the goals you should have in mind when you do structured playtesting, and talk a bit about how you can accomplish them in a time-efficient manner. If you do real, structured testing, and have a complete understanding of what you can achieve by doing it, I guarantee you'll find yourself in a position where you win or make the Finals of most Tournaments almost every time, Because seriously – nobody's doing this.
Familiarize Yourself With The Deck
When you start playtesting a deck you've never really played before, your first goal should be to get familiar with an accessible build. That means that if you're creating a new strategy, make it broad and consistent by relying on redundancy; lots of cards played in threes & Fours, not alot of tech. If you're playing a mainstream deck like Eladewon Board Control, just netdeck. I know, some people think net-decking is an offense to creativity and a crime against the spirit of the game, but honestly? That's some clown shit. If you're totally new to a deck, there's no way you'll competently create a new, innovative, teched-out build that performs consistently, without the knowledge that comes with basic play experience.
You can get creative later. But for now, you have to walk before you can run. There's no point in trying to build a car before you've ever driven one.
That's your first goal for playtesting: just playing with the deck and seeing what it can do. Reading about a strategy or watching someone else run it is really helpful, but in order to really get all the angles yourself, there's no replacement for actual playtesting. Pick a couple matchups for your first session, grab a buddy or a teammate, and do some sets.
Learn Your Deck's Goals And Priorities While you're getting to know the basics of your deck in your first playtesting session, you should also be learning its goals and priorities. Ask yourself repeatedly: what specific moves does this deck do; how often does it do them; and how rewarding are those moves when they're executed? Which cards lead into your biggest plays; which have a visible impact on your chance to win; and which do you wish you could draw more often? From there, start to grow your understanding of the priority and importance of those moves and cards, and the relationships between them. Which plays are more important? Which moves are good, but not so good that you would make sacrifices to pull them off? Which are so good that they're worth chasing and setting up? It's important to note that at this point, you aren't going to add or drop cards from your build. You shouldn't be changing the deck at all. But you can keep notes on which cards and combos seem to work well, and which seem to be underperforming. Just be careful of confirmation bias: you want to keep an open mind, and a single Duel or one-time combo experience shouldn't be regarded as overly-significant.
Learn Relevant Matchups
As you become more familiar with your deck and start mentally (or literally!) charting its priorities, strengths, and weaknesses, you also want to start observing the way it interacts with popular strategies. It's really not enough to have a vague belief that certain matchups are “good” or “bad.” That kind of generalization isn't really valuable, You want to know which specific moves, cards, combos, and play patterns are difficult for your deck to approach in each matchup, and which patterns you can take advantage of.
All those matchups details are alot of information to take in. But they're extremely valuable, because the situations you encounter in testing are situations you'll inevitably come across in Tournaments. Again, this is where testing structure really comes in handy, because it sets the stage for easy, simple note-taking. If your playtesting sessions consists of even just 5 games each against 3 different decks, you're going to emerge with too much of this information to remember it all. It's almost humanly impossible to process and retain all of that knowledge in one go, especially since some of it is going to reoccur more often, and much of it will occupy different levels of importance and priority. Write stuff down, and you'll find that you'll learn your relevant matchups alot faster. Don't worry - you'll leverage all this info straight into results later in the process.
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