Hi, my name is Gabriel Rigo. I'm a math teacher, a master's student in statistics, a VGC (the official competitive format of the Pokémon video games) player and coach, and I play cards in my very few spare hours.
From that introduction, you've probably noticed I really like three things: numbers, playing and, above all, teaching. When I read Cacunhado's article on how to eat on a regional day, I shared with Wallysson the outline of a VGC class I had taught the day before: how to prepare well for a tournament.
Since LAIC (the Latin America International Championships) registration just happened, and a lot of people may be taking their preparation seriously for the first time, I thought it was fair to try to translate some of my VGC experience to the inferior game TCG.
So, even though I'm far from being as experienced at cards as the folks who write here, I was invited to share a bit of what I know about tournament preparation. I believe so much that good prep changes everything that I put it to the test at my first VGC regional, the Rio de Janeiro regional in the 2024-2025 season. Since that regional fell during school vacation, I knew I'd have plenty of free time to prepare, and I believed that in games like VGC and TCG, which don't demand mechanical skill, I could make up for my lack of experience with study. It worked better than expected, and I finished top 16 at my first regional.
What are your goals with the game?
Let's start with the most important part: what are your goals with the game? You need to have that very clearly defined before you start preparing.
This may sound a bit harsh of me, but at work I get puzzled by students who put in no effort at all and then get upset about bad test results. It's okay not to want to study, but I believe the joy of success, just like the sting of failure, should be proportional to the effort you put into something. Bringing that to games, if you want to be a player who consistently makes day 2 (advances to the second day of the event), I hope you know you'll have to roll up your sleeves and practice a lot, and that's what I hope this article helps you with. Keep in mind that everyone has their own goals, and for the vast majority it's just to have fun, so if that's your case, it's even more important that your preparation is light and enjoyable.
How do you learn properly?
I constantly say that learning is a skill, and one people underestimate a lot. When you figure out the best way you learn, it's almost like unlocking something stuck inside you. You don't need to envy the classmate who can plant their butt in a chair and study for 8 hours straight and have it work for them, as long as you can find the method that works for you.
I'll risk saying that in the TCG, a lot of the learning process is similar to VGC: take luck out of the equation, and at the end of every game, rethink the decisions that were in your control. You can't become luckier, but you can become wiser. Talk to people you admire who understand the game. We have a wonderful community that loves to help and give tips to others, and that's worth gold. Above all, be humble. One of the best pieces of advice I've ever received was "every person you talk to knows something you don't", so focus on absorbing more than you focus on pushing back. Consume plenty of content from good players.
Controlling your luck: the law of large numbers
Probability is numbers, and numbers work, that's a fact. It's also a fact that we are often playing within a sample space that is too small, and that's why our decisions become biased. A good example is the debate over whether to play in Dragapult decks. Everyone has been run over by a turn 2 Rare Candy into with , but the vast majority of straight Draga lists today choose not to play Rare Candy. Among other factors, that's because however devastating the play can be when it happens, without a way to search for Rare Candy it's inconsistent. At a tournament, you're not playing one game on Live, you're playing many best-of-threes, and that's when the sample space starts to be big enough for you to get punished by having a card that does nothing when your board is already full more often than you'll have the exact combination you need to make good use of Rare Candy.
In statistics, the Law of Large Numbers illustrates this concept really well. Think of it this way: if you flip 10 coins, the result probably won't be 5 heads and 5 tails, the expected 50%, but over 10 million flips, the count gets very close to 5 million heads and 5 million tails. While you're playing, or changing a card in your list, it's really important to ask yourself "did this work because of a lot of specific factors, or can I replicate this scenario consistently?". That will keep you from preparing the wrong way, relying on information that naturally leads you to false conclusions. We play a funny game, where something that works isn't always the right thing to do. Every deck bricks (gets stuck without the cards it needs), and if it's happening consistently, then there's something to investigate. Over many best-of-threes, it would be strange if you never bricked, and the same goes for your opponent.
Study the game
Try to keep up with the meta, and to understand cards and plays you don't understand yet. Theory is extremely important, but don't be the player for whom everything stays in theory. When you come up with an idea, put the cards on the table. Practice without theory is shallow, theory without practice is useless.
Document your progress
Keep a notebook, a doc, a WhatsApp group with just yourself, but write everything down. The best ideas come from a big mix of what worked across several bad ideas. Write the information down in a way that is actually useful to you.
Admin note
I'm building Battle Frontier here on the site for exactly this. You paste the battle log that Pokémon TCG Live shows at the end of a match and it rebuilds the replay on the board, turn by turn, play by play. Your matches are saved in your history, split by matchup, and you can log the tournaments you played, with the deck and where you finished. It's still in closed beta, so some replays may come out wrong (every reported bug helps me fix it), and access is by request. Even so, it's already a good way to review your matches and document your preparation without relying on screenshots and memory.
Choosing your deck
I think there are two kinds of players: meta callers (who pick a deck by betting on what most people will play) and specialists. In the TCG this is probably less prevalent, since it's easier to adapt a few cards in your deck to the meta, but either way, it's important to decide whether you'll pick something you believe is good and dedicate your time to simply piloting that deck masterfully, or whether you'll be more flexible, trust your ability to pilot any deck well, and pick one based on what you're studying about the current meta.
On tournament day
Take care of yourself, and above all of your body. When people ask me whether tournaments are tiring, I usually answer "imagine taking two ENEMs back to back" (ENEM is Brazil's national college entrance exam, a full day of tests). That's 8 to 10 hours with your head at 100% the whole time, and your body pays the toll. Eat well, drink plenty of water, prioritize a good night's sleep, and I'd even recommend taking good care of your appearance, you'll feel better and more confident.
Taking care of your mindset throughout the tournament is also extremely important, whether to shake off a bitter loss or to keep your feet on the ground after a run of good results. Surround yourself with good friends who know you well and will understand what you need in a tough moment, just as you should be that person for your friends too.
Competing for real at an official tournament is very, very fun. And I love this whole preparation process, just as I love the tournament environment. If we get too fixated on preparation, we forget that we're just a bunch of adults who take a little game a bit too seriously, and that sitting at a table to compete against other people with the same passion is already a dream come true. But fundamentally, it's a game, and it's a lot of fun. When you choose to prepare for a tournament, accept that anything can happen, that we all have bad days, unlucky streaks, throw guaranteed wins, and everything that comes with the package. The TCG is for everyone, but not everyone, including a lot of people who show up every year, enjoys this very competitive side, of putting hours and effort into a day where everything can go wrong.
If you want to discuss preparation further, I'm happy to chat, just reach out on X. And for those just getting started, I also sell a few ready-to-play Pokémon TCG decks, so if you're interested, hit me up there and we'll work something out.
If you enjoy this process as much as I do, this text was mainly for you. I hope it helps, and let's get training!