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TTA vs. TTX   Table of Contents   TTA vs. TTX: The Clans

TTA vs. TTX: The Players
By: Kaus Debonair

Faces change. Remember TNTC? Names change. Remember Kashew? People change. Remember Serano? Well, maybe not everything changes. ;)

TNTC was considered one of the most dominant players on TTX. Seto is the artist formerly known as Kashew. And Serano, well, he’s still the same. Ian/Taiko/I2K/Synthetic Dreams to the locals.

What made the players different from today and now when the game virtually stays the same? Put aside the major differences in gameplay of having a set starter as well as having elemental. Despite the big changes, it is really much ado about nothing. Having set starter was the single most dominant way to “lame” a player. That concept has evolved as well.

If we were to put the top five players of Triple Triad X against the top ten players of Triple Triad Advance, the teams would look something like this.

Playing for Triple Triad X- Samson, Blackbolt, Lord Lionheart, Rob, and Blade.

Playing for Triple Triad Advance- DocEvil, Karmazin, Seto, Cookie, and Nimloth.

In almost every sport, the comparison between players of different generations is often endlessly compared to one another because there is no way to actually prove who was more dominant in their era. Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus? Roger Federer or Pete Sampras? Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant? Having a discussion regarding the merit, the achievements, and everything that has faced them in their careers is like having a discussion in the main room regarding open versus closed. 99% of the time, there is no answer. But let’s take a look at what these two groups have faced.

Let’s define the word rare. Rare means something that is not very common and hard to find. I would apply that concept to a Juan on this site, which continues to elude me as I try to complete the Suikoden 3 deck. Anybody got one for trade? (What a shameless plug. ;) ) On Triple Triad X, I would venture to guess that 75% of the site had every rare available as well as dupes to go with it. Regularly, there would be a game available that would be no rules, level 10, and a player would use 5 AAs against another player who would use 5 AAs. A tie every single time. Not only that, people would utilize all the rares they had to make some unbeatable hands. Keep reading.

As mentioned, the concept of laming has changed. Samson is the first name listed on there and is listed near the top of the wins leaderboard on the TTX archive, should you ever take a look at that. I’ve known him for years, and he would always give the advice of, “Never take a game that is on the view games screen.” I really never quite understood that until I got owned when I would do that. With set starter, players made extremely dominant hands and would stack their accounts with wins quickly by compounding the power of their hands with what starter they have. Imagine playing in a world of closed combo, knowing you’re going to go second every single time. How fair is that? It happened. If the statistic for hand stats were kept on TTX, those stats would embarrass some of the gaudy stats that are on TTA. Fippes, GreatSephiroth, and Halycarnaso, you’ve got nothing on them. The two most dominant hands that I have seen in the history of online Triple Triad belong to two players who were simply awful at Triple Triad. Here’s just an indication. The first hand had a set start in 8. If you played a card in 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, or 9, you automatically lost. That’s right. Game over. Thanks for playing. Enjoy your 3 points. The second hand was very similar to the first only with fewer rares. With a set starter of Quistis in 5, a player’s chances of winning were miniscule. But step outside of the comfort zone of their own hand and it was game over for them.

For the very newbie, Triple Triad X featured about a third of the cards that are feature on Triple Triad Advance. Going along with the concept of lame, here on TTA, a player can utilize all 1,870 cards to create an extremely powerful hand and win games. Even with deck restrictions, it does not eliminate all the problems. One thing I was very in favor of when it started was the addition of stipulations to severely prevent laming. Some are taken to the extreme, but it is a necessary precaution. If nothing else, it brings the game closer to what it was like during the older days when there simply weren’t as many choices. TTX had laming, but in its own form through easy access to cards, especially low level rares that were accessible through starter packs. Pupu sold for 100 points on TTX. Anybody want to sell me one for that cheap?

But back to the subject at hand. If these two groups of players were to play each other, who would win? That would certainly depend. When comparing the two eras of the game that has virtually remained the same, it very easily becomes the concept of comparing apples and oranges. There is no way to tell without getting all the TTX players back on the site, but it will be interesting to see just how they would adapt to this much changed environment. One of my personal pet peeves in tournaments is having a round with all decks available for use. It is a gateway for a lesser skilled player to simply create a powerful hand and win their way through to the next round. While TTX had similar perils with not-so-rare rare cards, it would be very interesting to see just how they would be able to adapt.

The easy answer would be that the TTA group is much better because the game has changed and it favors them. But keep this in mind. Some of the players that are on the TTA roster were just as regular players on TTX. Look again at the TTX leaderboard. Cookie is pretty high up there and he’s one of the best this site has to offer. So maybe we have to reconsider and think if these TTA players in this new game would dominate just as easily?

You be the judge. It would certainly be a packed house to watch a CvC with TTX and TTA, that’s for sure.