All right fellow Neopians, over the last week alone I've heard a lot of people
saying how hard the new pirate game, Deckball,
is and how they can't seem to score even just one goal against that accursed
monkey. Well, this is the article for you, because I am going to tell you my
own homegrown strategy in playing this elusively difficult game. With luck,
you too will be able to score goals, collect Dubloons, score Neopoints, and
end the aggravation!
My specialty is Survival Mode, so that is what I will speak about, though I
believe that this strategy would also work well with the Points version. I can
say that I have placed myself within the top 20 and top 30 on three separate
occasions, as well as beating the Better Than You competition within a half
hour. So here goes:
1) Know your angles.
Don't just randomly hit the ball. Start learning how to predict the ball bath
depending on where you hit the ball. Aim is critical in my strategy. This will
also help predict where the ball will arrive for defence when the Mirgle hits
it.
2) Bank the ball.
If you know your angles, the next step is to know just where to bounce it off
the wall so that it gets into the goal. The Mirgle doesn't seem to understand
where the ball is going very well if you do this. You have a better chance of
scoring this way.
3) Play defensively.
Stay on your half of the board. In fact, stay right in front of your goal as
often as possible. The Mirgle is way faster than you, and he will beat you in
a race back to your side of the board and will score on you.
4) Leave the Anchors and Crackers alone.
Okay, leaving the anchors alone is obvious, but why avoid the crackers? While
they make your pet fast, this also has a tendency of decreasing control of your
Pawkeet, sending you around the board like an out of control pinball.
5) Let the Mirgle play around.
Don't rush out to meet him, stay by your goal, and when you can, hit it towards
his side... in his haste, he will often hit it into his own goal. Use his speed
against him.
6) Corner the ball.
The Mirgle will often bounce the ball off the wall above and below your goal.
Slide down the side and hit it toward the corner. This will make him hit it
so fast that the ball will actually "phase" through him and start going the
other way. Don't fight down there though, or it might phase through you instead!
Just hit it down into the corner when he gets up toward your goal.
7) Patience is a virtue.
Sometimes it will take a while to score a goal, sometimes it will happen within
five seconds. Don't get frustrated and leave the goal, stay with it. There is
an element of luck with this game too, you will lose games and win games. I
had to play five games before I got a score of 15 on Survival. Keep with it!
Practice makes perfect!
Hopefully this will help those of you that saw Deckball as the impossible game.
I hope to see many of you up there on that High Score table with me!! Good luck,
and good Deckballing! | 
