This is something that has been bugging me on several boards for a few months now, and it's just silly.
I am getting sick and tired of all the focus and obsession on the concept of total card presence, or TCP, to simplify things. For the 4 people out there not aware of what TCP means, it's simple. It's the number of cards you have in your hand and on the field as compared to the number of cards your opponent has in hand and on the field. If you have 2 in hand, a monster, and a set s/t, and your opponent had 3 in hand, a set monster, and two set s/t's, your opponent is said to have "+2" on you, as you have 4 TCP, and they have 6 TCP. This term and play concept had been bandied about as of late as if it's some kind of holy scripture on how to play and construct decks, and many decks, cards, and strategies are being overlooked simply because they don't provide TCP benefits. This disgusts me. I feel there is more to the game than these numbers, and more than luck as well, and thus we have this thread.
To get things going, we'll discuss why TCP is important. It's something simple, as it's been a part of the game from the get go. When you have access to more cards than your opponent, you have more options. More options means more things you can do, and more ways you can respond to what your opponent does. This usually equates to a higher rate of success. Originally, this concept came under the title of "card advantage", but card advantage is a slightly more restrictive concept than TCP. Card advantage essentially takes into account hand sizes and getting access to cards, but not nevessarily in terms of plusses and minuses purely. In the older formats, we had Delinquent Duo, Confiscation, and The Forceful Sentry. The first two are simple. Duo knocks two cards out of your opponent's hand. Devastating, to say the least. The was just good for advantage, and would be a +1 TCP, as you traded one card for two of your opponents. COnfiscation was an even tradeoff, one for one, but let you have the choice in what was being lost, as well as giving you a glimpse into what your opponent could do for the next few turns(the potency of which will be discussed later). The Forceful Sentry was a slightly more misleading card, and in my opinion, the best of the three. It appears a one for one, as you trade a card in hand for one of the opponents, but in fact, it is actually a two for one card, as I will explain further on. We also had cards such as Pot of Greed, and the newly unbanned Graceful Charity. While Charity ends up an even tradeoff in TCP terms, it's still a +3 card advantage card, as you're still seeing three more cards than you would have without it. Here we see a small sample of the difference between TCP and old-school "card advantage". It's no secret that playing these cards can provide huge swings in the user's favor during a duel, and it's been proven time and again. So, be it card advantage, or TCP, we can all agree that getting to more cards than your opponent helps win games. Now, there's plenty of other cards with card advantage/TCP boosting effect, but I just used the simplest ones here to demonstrate the point.
Alright, now that we've just walked down Obvious Road, we take a turn off into a lesser-known alley of thought: Tempo.
Tempo is a difficult term to nail down, but my best description of tempo would be simply, the pace at which a duel is played. Tempo is affected by many things. The individual player, the type of deck being played, the cards available in hand, the cards you think your opponent has decked, what cards each player has already used, and of course, the condition of the field all play roles in what the tempo of the duel is. The problem here is the fact that aside from the top of the top, few duelists even think about tempo in the course of a match, not knowing that in all likelyhood, it is playing a much larger role in the duel than TCP or even luck. Players are so caught up these days in all the plusses and minuses and counting TCP that it's simply a mathematics game. Decks are being "cookie" and netdecked because players don't understand why those cards/decks are good, only that they are. The strategy has been lost, and focus on TCP at the expense of tempo is the root. What does tempo do for you? Just because it's not a tangible, or countable thing like TCP does not mean it's not there. So, what does tempo do for you? Consider; you're playing a Beastdown deck. A very aggressive battle-oriented deck. Your opponent is playing Pacman. Why do you lose? Is it because you drew less cards, or couldn't destroy enough of theirs? In part, yes. But in reality, it is because of tempo. Your opponent's Pacman deck is playing in such a way and using cards that force you to play outside of your intended pace. You intend to rush the board and deal as much damage as possible as fast as possible. You thrive on a faster tempo. Your opponent is slowing the tempo down, forcing you to play your game at their pace, not yours. In that way, they are controlling the tempo, and thus, the game. The only thing that will pull you out is a timely topdeck. Luck. And that is one more thing taken into account less and less lately in favor of TCP.
Luck. We all know what luck is, and we all have absolutely no control over it. Or do we? What few consider is that teh cards we play affect our luck. If I play 3 Sak Armor, I have better luck drawing one than playing one. Simple. If I play Sak Armor over Widespread Ruin, I have better luck at destroying the monster I want to destroy(when multiple monsters are coming at you, of course). Quantity and quality of cards in our decks can affect our luck, as can how many cards we have/have seen. And thus we come back to TCP.
See how we've come full circle? Tempo beats TCP, Luck beats Tempo, and TCP beats Luck. It's like rock/paper/scissors. It's a circle of factors, and if each factor is not taken into account equally when building and playing your deck.
The focus on TCP is rather disappointing. I see it all to often. This lack of insight into the three, not one, facet of success is what separates SJC champions, regionals winners, national champs, and world champs from that guy who wins all the tournaments at the local shop who scrubs at the SJC.
If we all don't wake up and open our eyes, we're never gonna improve our games enough to be successful on a major level.
I am getting sick and tired of all the focus and obsession on the concept of total card presence, or TCP, to simplify things. For the 4 people out there not aware of what TCP means, it's simple. It's the number of cards you have in your hand and on the field as compared to the number of cards your opponent has in hand and on the field. If you have 2 in hand, a monster, and a set s/t, and your opponent had 3 in hand, a set monster, and two set s/t's, your opponent is said to have "+2" on you, as you have 4 TCP, and they have 6 TCP. This term and play concept had been bandied about as of late as if it's some kind of holy scripture on how to play and construct decks, and many decks, cards, and strategies are being overlooked simply because they don't provide TCP benefits. This disgusts me. I feel there is more to the game than these numbers, and more than luck as well, and thus we have this thread.
To get things going, we'll discuss why TCP is important. It's something simple, as it's been a part of the game from the get go. When you have access to more cards than your opponent, you have more options. More options means more things you can do, and more ways you can respond to what your opponent does. This usually equates to a higher rate of success. Originally, this concept came under the title of "card advantage", but card advantage is a slightly more restrictive concept than TCP. Card advantage essentially takes into account hand sizes and getting access to cards, but not nevessarily in terms of plusses and minuses purely. In the older formats, we had Delinquent Duo, Confiscation, and The Forceful Sentry. The first two are simple. Duo knocks two cards out of your opponent's hand. Devastating, to say the least. The was just good for advantage, and would be a +1 TCP, as you traded one card for two of your opponents. COnfiscation was an even tradeoff, one for one, but let you have the choice in what was being lost, as well as giving you a glimpse into what your opponent could do for the next few turns(the potency of which will be discussed later). The Forceful Sentry was a slightly more misleading card, and in my opinion, the best of the three. It appears a one for one, as you trade a card in hand for one of the opponents, but in fact, it is actually a two for one card, as I will explain further on. We also had cards such as Pot of Greed, and the newly unbanned Graceful Charity. While Charity ends up an even tradeoff in TCP terms, it's still a +3 card advantage card, as you're still seeing three more cards than you would have without it. Here we see a small sample of the difference between TCP and old-school "card advantage". It's no secret that playing these cards can provide huge swings in the user's favor during a duel, and it's been proven time and again. So, be it card advantage, or TCP, we can all agree that getting to more cards than your opponent helps win games. Now, there's plenty of other cards with card advantage/TCP boosting effect, but I just used the simplest ones here to demonstrate the point.
Alright, now that we've just walked down Obvious Road, we take a turn off into a lesser-known alley of thought: Tempo.
Tempo is a difficult term to nail down, but my best description of tempo would be simply, the pace at which a duel is played. Tempo is affected by many things. The individual player, the type of deck being played, the cards available in hand, the cards you think your opponent has decked, what cards each player has already used, and of course, the condition of the field all play roles in what the tempo of the duel is. The problem here is the fact that aside from the top of the top, few duelists even think about tempo in the course of a match, not knowing that in all likelyhood, it is playing a much larger role in the duel than TCP or even luck. Players are so caught up these days in all the plusses and minuses and counting TCP that it's simply a mathematics game. Decks are being "cookie" and netdecked because players don't understand why those cards/decks are good, only that they are. The strategy has been lost, and focus on TCP at the expense of tempo is the root. What does tempo do for you? Just because it's not a tangible, or countable thing like TCP does not mean it's not there. So, what does tempo do for you? Consider; you're playing a Beastdown deck. A very aggressive battle-oriented deck. Your opponent is playing Pacman. Why do you lose? Is it because you drew less cards, or couldn't destroy enough of theirs? In part, yes. But in reality, it is because of tempo. Your opponent's Pacman deck is playing in such a way and using cards that force you to play outside of your intended pace. You intend to rush the board and deal as much damage as possible as fast as possible. You thrive on a faster tempo. Your opponent is slowing the tempo down, forcing you to play your game at their pace, not yours. In that way, they are controlling the tempo, and thus, the game. The only thing that will pull you out is a timely topdeck. Luck. And that is one more thing taken into account less and less lately in favor of TCP.
Luck. We all know what luck is, and we all have absolutely no control over it. Or do we? What few consider is that teh cards we play affect our luck. If I play 3 Sak Armor, I have better luck drawing one than playing one. Simple. If I play Sak Armor over Widespread Ruin, I have better luck at destroying the monster I want to destroy(when multiple monsters are coming at you, of course). Quantity and quality of cards in our decks can affect our luck, as can how many cards we have/have seen. And thus we come back to TCP.
See how we've come full circle? Tempo beats TCP, Luck beats Tempo, and TCP beats Luck. It's like rock/paper/scissors. It's a circle of factors, and if each factor is not taken into account equally when building and playing your deck.
The focus on TCP is rather disappointing. I see it all to often. This lack of insight into the three, not one, facet of success is what separates SJC champions, regionals winners, national champs, and world champs from that guy who wins all the tournaments at the local shop who scrubs at the SJC.
If we all don't wake up and open our eyes, we're never gonna improve our games enough to be successful on a major level.
