r/pkmntcg • u/Sir__Muffin_Moose • 1d ago
TCG Accessories Would this be frowned upon?
Ok so I’m going to Gdansk regionals in October and I have and idea that I really want to try. I am certain I want to play slowking, however I want to bring my deck in a dragon shield box with “Crustle” written on top, using a crustle Playmat, with green sleeves and a crustle sitting cutie. Considering it could be considered bait would most people be annoyed by this or would people find it funny?
Edit: I may for-go writing crustle on the box and just use a green one instead, it feels a bit too far
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u/AceofSpuds69 1d ago
top tier ragebait; never make assumptions about what your opponent is playing until they flip over their basic
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u/Simple_Jackfruit_369 1d ago
Sun Tzu's art of war quoted to misleading your opponents by writing a different name of the deck on your deckbox.
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u/No_Ability_2654 1d ago
Some games have rules against that like Yu-Gi-Oh, but I believe you should be fine in Pokemon. I would recommend checking with a judge first though
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u/doPECookie72 19h ago
In yugioh this was only enforced when the player admitted their intent was to trick their opponent using information outside of the game. In a deck profiles said player said they put the swordsoul token in view of their opponent so they think they are playing swordsoul, but many players have their favorite tokens all the time, and its fine given the judge doesnt find their intention to be to trick their opponent. As for Pokémon im sure a professor could find it to be unsportsmanlike if they discovered their reasoning was to deceive their opponent.
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u/NinjaDog251 1d ago
Writing "Crustle" on the box is probably the only deceiving part and towing the line, but everything else is no different than having Crustle be your favorite pokemon and decking everything out with it.
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u/Sudden-Chipmunk8378 1d ago
Iirc a friend told me someone did the same, and they also wore a zoroark shirt and a judge forced them to swap out of the zoroark shirt but they also had like as you said a full kit.
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u/armchairwizards 1d ago
They considered a t shirt to be misinforming the game state?
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u/Sudden-Chipmunk8378 1d ago
It wasnt the shirt, they had a full kit with zoroark and where playing like lugia iirc
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u/DTSportsNow 21h ago
This has gotta be a fake story or that judge was out of line. I'm a professor and there's literally nothing in the rules about theming your accessories and outfit to suggest one deck and actually playing a different deck.
As long as your submitted decklist and the deck you're playing match that's all that matters.
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u/CapnNausea 1d ago
Idk the full story but something sounds off. In worlds they handed out official shirts for the stream, seems like it surely would have to be something like that for them to intervene.
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u/concretecat 1d ago
It already been done many many times. no one is making is judgment on your deck based on sleeves or playmat.
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u/One-Happy-Gamer 1d ago
Honestly, i wouldn't worry about what other people think and play with what you want with. Just go out there and have fun
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u/dunn000 1d ago
Frowned upon? Probably, I understand some people will be countered to this but it does seem like you’re trying to deceive your opponent instead of just relying on skill/gameplay.
Is there any punishment to this? Not at all. And it works for maybe a game? At most 2 before people are talking about you, so do you care about people’s response? If no then do it. But it’s not the attention id want on myself at my first regional.
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u/MiniBandGeek 1d ago
Could matter game 1 if people assume your deck and start a different mon, but it's not against the rules.
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u/Sir__Muffin_Moose 1d ago edited 1d ago
I mean idk if it would bring that much attention to myself. I’ve been to many regionals before and considering there’s thousands of people I didn’t really think of that as a problem. I was more concerned about having a judge called on me or an angry opponent, and most other people here seem to find it funny so Ig if I make 1 opponent angry and 7 of them laugh then so be it.
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u/ottersintuxedos 1d ago
I agree with you but idk some things do go round at regionals. I caught wind of a Zam player using little spoons as his ability tokens, then I happened to play against him. Weirder things have happened
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u/dunn000 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not something I find funny personally but you do you.. it’s not against the rules though as long as you’re not doing anything IN GAME.
Once you start shuffling if you mislead/mention crustle in your deck, then expect a judge call
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u/starmoonz 1d ago
I carry around vaporeon and have eevee everything….i do not play an eevee deck. I don’t think anyone really expects you to play the deck that you have accessories for.
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u/Eymou 1d ago
people have done stuff like that for decades in tcgs, so your opponent might be wary of it being bait - that being said, only 1 of those things, to be more 'subtle', could throw them off?
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u/Sir__Muffin_Moose 1d ago
Yeah but I’m not trying to throw them off, I’m trying to be funny, which is best done with the full crustle kit
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u/Henshinger555 1d ago edited 16h ago
The only people annoyed by this will be people who were going to be knocked out day 1. Why such theatrics? Just sit down and play.
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u/grndog72 1d ago
Even just making this post is already messing you up. If anyone knows about this post and sees it there, this evidence that your doing it deliberately for an advantage, which can be unsportsmanlike and may get you in trouble. If you never made this post, you might be able to play it off as "I just like crustle". But now people know it's intentional.
I'm no expert when it comes to pokemon tournament rules, but a yugioh player was suspended for this because he stated he was doing it for an advantage. If he never said anything, he probably wouldn't have had any trouble.
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u/dunn000 1d ago
In Pokemon there’s no real “rule” in the handbook until the game officially starts. As long as they don’t lie/mislead opp should be fine.
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u/armchairwizards 1d ago
Exactly. I let my opponent know ahead of time that my service dog is controlling my plays ratatouille-style, and because there's nothing in the rulebook saying "a dog can't play pokemon cards", it's not considered misleading or unsportsdoglike.
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u/grndog72 1d ago
Okay, and this post pretty clearly states the intention is to mislead. When the game starts, the opponent has been mislead, and this post is evidence that it was intentional. OP is welcome to risk it. But it's out there now. If they do this, and someone knows about this post, then they could be found to have misled their opponent. That's what got the yugioh player. It's perfectly fine to use a mat and sleeves that aren't what you're playing. But he said he did it to mislead, and that's what got him in trouble. This post is saying they want to mislead the opponent. They could potentially get in trouble because this post exists, saying they want to mislead people. Without this post it could easily be played off as just liking crustle. But this post says it's to mislead, so now there's a risk.
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u/dimensionthedice1 1d ago
Correct, the yugioh player only got banned because he made a YouTube video where he said he did it intentionally to trick his opponent. Otherwise it is not against the rules to have accessories of a deck you don’t play
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u/FishermanStove 1d ago
I played zam at a regional with Tim Danklin’s Crustle mat lol. Most people love the mat tbh. No one at the regional asked if I was on crustle but often in locals people get nervous lol
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u/OhWowTheyDoItForFree 1d ago
I make sure none of my sleeves or game mat match the type of deck I'm playing.
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u/re-masup 1d ago
i know someone who does it, as long as you are not a d- about it, it's funny and people all react differently
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u/MiniBandGeek 1d ago
So many fgc players rock a tag like "RyuGuy201" and then play a totally different character. You do you lol
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u/i_like_frootloops 1d ago
It's kinda like the pen trick in MTG, it's not outright illegal, but some could consider it scummy. I used to run red sleeves and a red playmat while playing a mono blue deck, I definitely had people keep unopmtimal hands against me due to that.
The psychological effect works.
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u/armchairwizards 1d ago
I use a marnie playmat with my pult deck because im poor, no one has said anything so far
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u/Tigri2020 1d ago
In yugioh this got a champion banned for a year because he admitted he was using tokens to deceive the other player
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u/btwistround 1d ago
As above posters have said, being a fan of a particular pokemon is fine.
Anything to lie/ mislead is a no no and can be judge calls can happen.
If it's your first regionals, just have fun and soak in the atmosphere. Play what you enjoy, drop if needed and downside events
If you're experienced? You should know better as you'd be amazed at how fast word travels in the arena if you are THAT person deliberately tries to mislead. A lot of top players chat to each other and they prefer you play legit and with some class.
Do sketchy stuff and they just hammer you.
Then again judge calls can be hit and miss. Some are hard on stuff like this and will ask you to change or a warning.
Others more lenient. Have seen this vary in one event.
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u/douggie305 1d ago
The only thing that would be 100% against the rules, is if someone asked you "are you playing Crustle?" and you respond with a direct lie. I think writing the name of a different deck on your deck box might be close to crossing the line too but it'd be up to a judge to decide at the time. So I personally wouldn't go that far for the meme.
This is how it's written out in the rules.
" Purposely miscommunicating to confuse an opponent can be considered unsporting behavior and a procedural error, which will result in a penalty (see the Penalty Guidelines, section 5.1 and 5.3)."
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u/Deed3 1d ago
That would only be for in-game information, such as answering with an incorrect number when asked "how many cards in hand?"
During Swiss, you have absolutely zero duty to your opponent to communicate any information at all about your deck choice prior to the start of a match.
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u/douggie305 1d ago
You have no duty to give them the information, but you cannot lie or deceive your opponent. If they ask you are you playing Crustle and you say "No" but you are that's against the rules. You can choose not to tell them or give them a truthful but generic answer, my default when people ask me what I'm playing is "ohh you know pokemon cards, 60 of them to be exact". As you said there is no rule that requires you give them the "private" information but you cannot actively lie in your response. Similarly if someone checks your discard and see 3 boss and they ask if you play 4 you cannot lie, you can say "I've played 3 already" but you cannot tell them you play only 3 knowing you play 4.
This whole conversation is all based around the "unsporting behavior" and "spirit of the game" rules so they're up to interpretation by the judge really.
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u/i_like_frootloops 1d ago
The person asking you what you're playing before the round starts is already trying to be cheeky and steal information. Players have no duty to tell their opponents what they're playing.
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u/armchairwizards 1d ago
Yeah people have said "dragapult, huh..." after I flipped a torchic, and i've straight up told them in front of judges "nah I just play the dreepy. I don't even bother with the drakloak. Takes too long to get out." And everyone has a little laugh because they're acting like Sherlocks with a deduction befitting a Watson.
It's objectively funny, but if you're genuinely relying on this to psych out your opps, you're probably not going to climb to the table numbers where someone has a reason to be upset by it.
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u/i_like_frootloops 1d ago
I agree, I'm not saying it is some magic way of climbing/improving, just that communication prior to a match start doesn't have to include any piece of information about one's deck.
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u/douggie305 1d ago
Yes I understand that, that's not the point I'm trying to make here. Nothing requires you to tell them what you're playing when they ask, you can within the rules of the game and the standards of conduct not respond. You however cannot lie or attempt to deceive your opponent with your response because that IS against those regulations. You can be truthful without giving them the info they're trying to get out of you. But again you cannot willingly try to deceive them.
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u/Independent-Goat1891 1d ago
It’s kind of scummy but whatever, the point is to win and use any advantage you can. But if you have to rely on that, you should probably just get better at the game.
This happened in Yugioh a few years ago and they made a rule that you can’t do stuff like this. Dude would put a swordsoul token on top of his extra deck to bait people into thinking he played swordsouls which was somewhat a meta deck at the time.
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u/CatastrophiaOnline Pokemon Professor (Stage 1) 13h ago
There are no rules about what accessories you have and how you customise them (at least not that come into play here), so nothing you listed would be penalty-worthy unless you flat out told your opponent you were playing Crustle.
This is skirting the line of Major Unsporting Conduct, however:
A competitor attempts to distract or intimidate their opponent into a misplay.
But as long as they are inferring what you are playing, rather than you actively suggesting that it’s what you’re playing you should be okay. This just my opinion though, so it’s not a guarantee.
People do this a lot, and theres some strategy in it for sure, as people will make assumptions even if they don’t mean to about a player based on their gameplay accessories.
If I were you, I wouldn’t write the deck name on the deck box if you want to remove some doubt about this is unsporting conduct, as this seems like the most egregious part.
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u/forgot-my-other-name 12h ago
I had my dragapult hat on at EUOC lat year but not playing Pult, R7 in the slums and my opponent says if I'm playing pult he'd concede because he'd played it enough. We laughed and I was open with him. Good times. Could've been a dick but that's bad juju
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u/Yankas 7h ago
Plushie and Playmat is fine, maybe Crustle is your favorite Pokemon. Writing Crustle on the deck box is really pushing it, in the end whether you'll be allowed to play will depend on the head judge call - unsportsmanlike conduct is a very flexible term.
If I was judging I'd probably not care, but is it a risk you are willing to pay for a very very minute advantage.
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u/Kira_Stardust 3h ago
I go to events with my deck in a mega-absol deck box. I play festival lead (absol is my favourite but for now there is no satisfying way for me to play it)
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u/sphealerino 1d ago
Let me be the further questioner:
If my playmat, deckbox and sleeves are all Spheal. And there is no Spheal deck rn that makes sense to play, and lets say i play uhhhh festival lead - is my Spheal swag also a bait??
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u/Expressyoself123 1d ago
Look, I agree with people saying never judge someones deck until basics are flipped etc, even then until turn 1 is over… BUT you are willfuly trying to deceive your opponent before you begin your match, if you feel like that is a fair way to gain an advantage over someone else, that’s on you. Personally, Id feel winning with the slight advantage of this deception would feel super cheap, and if someone tried to do this to me Id think they were a complete tosser. Dont be surprised when TPCI comes out with a rule update/or you see a room full of people with “fraud-slop”kits.
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u/Skelothan 1d ago
That sounds hilarious. do it