I play Pokemon puzzle league and am currently around a “very hard” skill level. I.e. my win rate hits 50% around Sabrina on very hard. I have beaten mewtwo several times, but average around 40 continues over the full run.

My current strategy as of now is as follows:

- I try to open with as large a chain as possible. I generally look for long alternating horizontal/vertical chains. I prolong these by skill chaining, but try to have the first few clears planned out. I often get 4 or 5

- Midmatch I am generally keeping up with garbage. My offense consists of chaining off garbage. I mix in some combos and x2 chains when they are obvious.

I think my biggest weakness right now is that I rely on alternating chains, which causes me to plateau around x3 to x5 unless I get lucky. From Tracy onwards, the opponent can usually shrug these off.

I have been working on horizontal to horizontal chains in super easy mode, and with these I can often get x10 plus by chaining nearly the entire board from the bottom upwards. The only issue is that this requires a lot more thinking and maneuvering mid chain than the alternating chains, to the point that I can hardly execute them in regular easy mode. I’m also constantly interrupted by primature clears or unanticipated combos that disrupt the chain construction.

I want to work towards a point where I can see and even prepare these longer chains in advance and only have to make smaller mid chain corrections.

Are there any guides on what patterns to look for when preparing for these at the beginning or how to practice them?