---
type: analysis
title: "Pokemon TCG - Deck Strategy Boundary"
description: "Deck selection and local self-play strategy under the immutable submission deck.csv contract."
tags: [pokemon-tcg, deck, submission, local-arena, self-play, rules]
timestamp: "2026-07-29T20:18:00-03:00"
---

# Pokemon TCG - Deck Strategy Boundary

## Competition Contract

The submitted artifact contains `main.py` and `deck.csv` at archive root.
`deck.csv` is the deck the Kaggle harness gives the agent for that submission.
Once a submission archive is built and submitted, that deck composition is an
immutable part of that submission artifact.

Runtime deck switching inside a submitted match is not part of the current
legal contract. The agent reads `deck.csv`; it does not receive an alternate
deck-selection channel or hidden state that would allow choosing a deck after
seeing private opponent information.

## Local Outer Loop

Deck optimization belongs outside the submitted match:

```text
candidate decks
  -> local arena / self-play / matchup evidence
  -> select one deck
  -> write agent/deck.csv locally
  -> build submission.tar.gz
```

The current dashboard supports this local outer loop. The deck builder can save
exact compositions, export CSV, compare a builder deck to `agent/deck.csv`, and
write `agent/deck.csv` with a `.bak` backup. The arena tab ranks local decks and
can replace `agent/deck.csv` with the locally best-ranked deck.

That is a local preparation mechanism, not a hidden runtime input.

## Future suggested_deck.csv

`suggested_deck.csv` is a plausible future artifact for separating "what the
local optimizer recommends" from "what the current submission actually ships."
It is not implemented in the inspected code. Until it exists, `agent/deck.csv`
is both the local default deck and the submission deck source.

If `suggested_deck.csv` is added later, it should remain an outer-loop artifact:
the build process or dashboard may use it to update `agent/deck.csv` before a
submission is packaged, but the submitted policy still must not receive illegal
post-matchmaking deck choice or hidden opponent information.

## Evidence Requirements

A candidate deck record should include:

- exact composition fingerprint;
- source and authoring path;
- local tournament or self-play evidence;
- opponent set and date;
- model/checkpoint identity used during evaluation;
- whether it was only suggested, locally active, or actually submitted.

This prevents deck evidence from being conflated with model evidence.

## Related Pages

- [[pokemon_tcg_local_platform_status]]
- [[pokemon_tcg_submissions_and_elo]]
- [[pokemon_tcg_ladder_and_research]]
- [[pokemon_tcg_dashboard_and_tournament]]