Fun Under the Sun

1st Seed Recap, Favorites from Florida, No-Shows, and Expanded Experimentations
surfing pikachu 16-9 3Bulbapedia
Cowabunga!

Hey everybody. I’m glad to be back writing for you again this month! I’d like to use this article to review what we’ve learned from Florida Regionals and help us prepare for State Championships. States start on March 21st, so there’s not a lot of time left to figure out the play. Florida Regionals was played in a very underdeveloped metagame. Many of the new deck concepts and lists were still in their early stages at the event. However, with more testing, some of those concepts could see great results at States!


I and my friend Jordan Parrish flew into Orlando around 9 AM the Friday before the event. Shortly after our arrival, we met with Henry Ross-Clunis, who would stay in our room for the weekend. Although we were extremely tired from having to get up so early, we had the entire day to hang out with friends and solidify our deck choices.

Jordan and I were pretty confident in our decision to play Yveltal/Garbodor when we arrived, but we wanted to take the day to scout out the competition. There was a League Challenge that night at the venue. I, Jordan and Henry decided we would not play in the League Challenge so that we would have more time to relax in the hotel room, but we made sure to see what others were playing in the event.

After taking a thorough look around the room, Yveltal/Garbodor was looking more and more like a solid choice. By the end of the night, the three of us were convinced that Yveltal/Garbodor would be a great call for the event. The only matchup that worried us was any deck that included Mega Manectric. However, with as much Landorus and Groudon as there was predicted to be, we figured Manectric decks would be far and few between.

Personally, I had a pretty successful weekend at Florida Regionals. I went with Yveltal/Garbodor for a few reasons. First of all, Yveltal/Garbodor is nothing new. I had played plenty of games with the deck, so I knew it inside and out. More importantly, however, I found that the deck had strong matchups against Landorus/Crobat and Night March, both of which seemed to be hyped after the first weekend of Winter Regionals. Additionally, with the inclusion of Garbodor, we have a decent answer to beating Aromatisse, Bronzong and Virizion/Genesect. Here’s the list I piloted to first seed on Day 1 of Florida Regionals.

The Deck

Pokémon – 14

3 Yveltal-EX

3 Seismitoad-EX

2 Yveltal XY

2 Trubbish LTR

2 Garbodor LTR

1 Darkrai-EX DEX

1 Jirachi-EX

Trainers – 34

4 Professor Juniper

4 N

2 Colress

2 Lysandre

1 Lysandre’s Trump Card

 

4 Ultra Ball

4 Hypnotoxic Laser

3 VS Seeker

3 Muscle Band

2 Float Stone

2 Escape Rope

1 Computer Search

 

2 Virbank City Gym

Energy – 12

8 D

4 Double Colorless

Card Explanations

3 Seismitoad-EX

As I said above, I predicted going into the weekend that the two most popular decks would be Landorus/Crobat and Night March. Seismitoad is an excellent card in both matchups. Against Landorus/Bats, establishing a Quaking Punch lock with Garbodor’s Garbotoxin active really hinders the opponent’s strategy. Without the extra damage from Golbat and Crobat, the deck becomes pretty lackluster.

Against Night March, you can use Lysandre’s Trump Card once the opponent builds up some Night March Pokémon in the discard. Follow that up with a Quaking Punch and your opponent will be left scrambling to discard their Night Marchers again, because they can no longer play their Battle Compressors or Ultra Balls.

2-2 Garbodor LTR

Garbodor seemed to fall out of favor in Yveltal lists during City Championships and even during the first weekend of Winter Regionals. Most lists opted to go more straightforward to fit cards like Hard Charm or Crushing Hammer. However, I decided that because of the advantage we gain against Landorus/Crobat and Aromatisse/Gardevoir decks, the 2-2 line would be well worth the inclusion.

1 Lysandre’s Trump Card

Nothing too out of the ordinary here, but not all lists opt to include this card. As I said earlier, this card is crucial in the Night March matchup in tandem with Seismitoad. Using Trump Card to throw all of your opponent’s Night March Pokémon back into the deck followed by a Quaking Punch can often completely seal up the matchup. Additionally, Trump Card offers a safety net for situations where you’re forced to discard too many resources such as Supporters or Double Colorless Energy.

2 Escape Rope

These two spots changed a lot in my testing. They started out as 2 Switch, went to 1 Switch/1 Escape Rope, and continued to bounce back and forth until the night before the event when I settled on 2 Escape Rope. The main reason I went with two Ropes is for the Primal Groudon matchup. Occasionally, you can catch your opponent with their only Benched Pokémon being a Primal Groudon. Being able to drag it up with Rope allows you to get a big hit in on it before it’s ready to attack. Additionally, Escape Rope can sometimes catch your opponent off guard, allowing you to take a cheap KO.

Tournament Recap

Here’s what my matchups looked like on Day 1.

R1 vs. Aromatisse/Gardevoir – WW
R2 vs. Yveltal/Darkrai – WW
R3 vs. Landorus/Crobat – WLT
R4 vs. Bronzong/Dialga – LWW
R5 vs. Primal Groudon – WW
R6 vs. Landorus/Crobat – WW
R7 vs. Seismitoad/Garbodor – WW
R8 vs. Night March – WW
R9 vs. Yveltal/Darkrai – WW

I ended the first day of the tournament as the first seed. The second seed was Jordan, piloting the same 60-card list. Once the standings came out and the judges made their announcements to end the day, we met with some friends and went out to get dinner.

It was close to two in the morning by the time we got back to the hotel room, so instead of trying to mastermind some crazy deck for Day 2, we decided to stick with Yveltal/Garbodor. The only changes we made were cutting 1 Seismitoad-EX, 1 Escape Rope and 1 D Energy for 3 Dark Patch. Here’s what my matchups looked like in Day 2.

R10 vs. Yveltal/Garbodor (Jordan Parrish) – LT
R11 vs. Seismitoad/Garbodor – WW
R12 vs. Yveltal/Darkrai – WW
R13 vs. Flareon – ID
R14 vs. Night March – ID
T8 vs. Seismitoad/Manectric/Crobat – LL

My only loss in Day 2 Swiss rounds was to Jordan with the 60-card mirror. Once again, he and I ended up first and second seed respectively. In Top 8, I was unfortunate enough to get paired with David Lopez, who was piloting a Seismitoad/Manectric deck. Game one was close. I had a Lysandre in hand for the win on my next turn, but he shuffled it away with an N to two and that did me in. I don’t remember a whole lot about game two, but it went much worse and wasn’t nearly as close.

At the end of the day David made a great call by adding Manectric to his deck because of Yveltal’s success on Day 1, so props to him for that! Enough about my own experiences, though. Let’s take a look at some decks that Florida has left us with that could be contenders at States.

Favorites from Florida

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Groudon sure knows how to make an entrance.

Primal Groudon/Landorus/Hawlucha

This is one of my favorite decks from the weekend. I got the opportunity to play against Dustin Zimmerman, one of the few players who piloted the deck. Dustin, Kevin Baxter, Josh Marking and Brit Pybas all played the same list to my knowledge, and it appeared as if they put a lot of work into it. I put a good bit of testing into the deck myself before the event, but I couldn’t settle on a list that satisfied me, so I dropped the deck. Here’s a list that is similar to what was played in Florida.

Pokémon – 11

3 Groudon-EX PRC

2 Primal Groudon-EX

3 Hawlucha FFI

2 Landorus FFI

1 Landorus-EX

Trainers – 37

4 Professor Juniper

4 N

4 Korrina

2 Lysandre

1 Lysandre’s Trump Card

 

3 VS Seeker

3 Groudon Spirit Link

3 Focus Sash

2 Switch

2 Tool Retriever

1 Battle Compressor

1 Professor’s Letter

1 Scramble Switch

 

3 Scorched Earth

3 Fighting Stadium

Energy – 12

8 F

4 Strong

The strength of this deck of course comes from Primal Groudon’s Ancient Trait, Omega Barrier. This prevents Primal Groudon from being effected by cards like Lysandre, Crushing and Enhanced Hammer, and Hypnotoxic Laser, just to name a few. The deck uses Landorus and Hawlucha to act as a wall while you set up the 4-Energy wrecking machine that is Primal Groudon.

Some cards that I found interesting in Dustin’s list were Tool Retriever, Focus Sash, and Scramble Switch. Tool Retriever has a few uses. First, and most importantly, it’s a counter to Flare Tools, namely Head Ringer. 4 Energy is already a lot to ask for an attack, so Primal Groudon really doesn’t want to be sporting a Head Ringer too often. Additionally, Tool Retriever is great for preserving Tools. For example, if you have a Juniper and a Groudon Spirit Link in hand without a Groudon in play, you can put the Spirit Link on another Pokémon, and once you draw into the Tool Retriever and your Groudon, you can put the Spirit Link in its rightful place.

Focus Sash was another card that really impressed me. Because Groudon has Grass Weakness, it understandably has a poor Virizion/Genesect matchup. Focus Sash helps with this. In that matchup, you focus on Hawlucha and equip them with Focus Sashes. This ensures your Hawluchas will deal two good hits each before they go down. Additionally, putting a Focus Sash on Primal Groudon gives it a huge advantage in matchups where it can get 1HKO’d, such as against Mega Gardevoir and Yveltal. And remember, your opponent can’t discard the Focus Sash off of Primal Groudon with Xerosic or Startling Megaphone!

Finally, let’s take a look at the ACE SPEC choice: Scramble Switch. This is really smart because once a Primal Groudon takes damage, it’s relatively useless. The ability to bounce to a fresh Primal Groudon and continue attacking is monumental. Additionally, having another switch card in your deck is great.

I think this deck has a lot of potential going into State Championships. Definitely give it some testing. I expect to see it make some good showings come March 21.

Flareon/Empoleon

The surprise of the weekend. Piloted by Orion Craig to the Championship, this deck really took a lot of people off guard. Let’s take a look at a list.

Pokémon – 23

4 Eevee FFI

4 Flareon PLF

3 Leafeon PLF

1 Swirlix PHF

1 Slurpuff PHF

2 Ditto BCR

2 Audino BCR

2 Exeggcute PLF

2 Empoleon DEX

1 Jirachi-EX

1 Mr. Mime PLF

Trainers – 29

4 Professor Juniper

1 N

1 Lysandre

1 Lysandre’s Trump Card

1 Archie’s Ace in the Hole

 

4 VS Seeker

4 Ultra Ball

4 Battle Compressor

4 Acro Bike

2 Silver Bangle

2 Float Stone

1 Computer Search

Energy – 8

4 Double Colorless

2 W

2 G

Flareon was already an impressive deck, popularized by Grafton Roll and his family in Georgia during the marathon. However, with new toys like Empoleon and Acro Bike, it becomes so much more mobile. You might think that pulling off the Archie’s gimmick is difficult, but with 2 Exeggcute, you are able to manipulate your hand so that you have just the Archie’s in your hand. Once you get Empoleon into play, you get a free two-card draw per turn, thanks to Exeggcute’s Propagation. This helps you draw into important resources as well as protect you from N’s to one or two. And above all, Empoleon is a great non-EX attacker.

Acro Bike also helped this deck a lot. Unlike regular Bicycle, Acro Bike can be played no matter what your hand size is. While it isn’t as explosive as Bicycle, Acro Bike can also feed Flareon’s Vengance by discarding Pokémon. This deck is difficult to play, but with a lot of testing and some personal tweaks this could be an excellent choice come States.

Archie’s Night March (of the Penguins)

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The Emperor Pokémon made a splash in Florida.

Night March saw some success on the first weekend of Winter Regionals, which brought some attention to the deck leading into Florida. There were a few different lists floating around. I, Nicholena Moon, Jimmy Pendarvis and Henry Ross-Clunis piloted a list that used Virizion-EX and G Energies to attempt to counter Seismitoad at Virginia Regionals. On the same weekend, a list using Manectric-EX and Hard Charms saw some success. However, just like in the Flareon deck, Archie’s Ace in the Hole and Empoleon work quite well here too. Here’s a sample list.

Pokémon – 19

4 Joltik PHF

4 Pumpkaboo PHF

4 Lampent PHF

3 Mew-EX

2 Empoleon DEX

1 Jirachi-EX

1 Mr. Mime PLF

Trainers – 33

4 Professor Juniper

2 N

1 Lysandre

1 Archie’s Ace in the Hole

 

4 VS Seeker

4 Ultra Ball

4 Battle Compressor

4 Acro Bike

3 Muscle Band

1 Escape Rope

1 Computer Search

 

4 Dimension Valley

Energy – 8

4 Double Colorless

4 W

Night March gains the same advantages that Flareon gets from Empoleon and Acro Bike. I like Empoleon in this deck a little more though because Night March feels like a more fragile deck than Flareon. Empoleon acts as another solid attacker when you can’t find a Double Colorless for Night March. We saw Kyle Sabelhaus pilot this deck to a Top 16 finish in Florida, playing it on both days of the event.

Landorus/Crobat

To no surprise of anyone, this deck continued to be widely played in Florida. The deck is so strong because of the amount of damage it can do all in one turn. Between Landorus’ Hammerhead and Golbat’s and Crobat’s Abilities, not too many Pokémon are safe from a devastating turn from this deck. Additionally, cards like Super Scoop Up and Scoop Up Cyclone serve as major annoyances for the opposing player. Not only do they allow the deck to reuse the bats, they can also pick up damaged Landorus-EXs and wipe the damage off of them. Here’s an updated list for Primal Clash.

Pokémon – 19

3 Landorus-EX

3 Hawlucha FFI

4 Zubat PLS 53

4 Golbat PHF

3 Crobat PHF

1 Lucario-EX

1 Jirachi-EX

Trainers – 32

4 Professor Juniper

4 N

1 Colress

3 Korrina

2 Lysandre

 

3 VS Seeker

3 Super Scoop Up

3 Ultra Ball

3 Muscle Band

1 Repeat Ball

1 Professor’s Letter

1 Scoop Up Cyclone

 

3 Fighting Stadium

Energy – 9

5 F

4 Strong

This deck doesn’t gain much at all from Primal Clash. I opted to run one Repeat Ball in this list, which could certainly be upped to two if you can find the space. Repeat Ball is extremely helpful in establishing a board filled with Zubats early game. Additionally, some players chose to include a Silent Lab in their lists. It can be helpful against decks that choose to run a Mr. Mime, but overall I think it is a situational card and Fighting Stadium is more deserving of the deck space.

Personally, I don’t have too much experience playing this deck. However, I can say with certainty from playing against this deck at Regionals that it is as strong as ever. You should definitely keep this deck in mind when preparing for States in the coming weeks.

“What Happened to You?”

genesect head tiltbakutaro.tumblr.com
“Yeah … YOU!”

There were some decks that had a lot of hype surrounding them going into Florida Regionals that simply did not succeed. This isn’t to say these decks are bad. They just didn’t do as well as most of us expected them to do.

Virizion/Genesect

The most surprising deck that saw no success at FL Regionals is Virizion/Genesect. There were quite a few people who thought this deck would actually be a great play for the event. With V/G’s poor matchups to Landorus/Crobat and Night March, it is clear to see why the deck did not end up succeeding. However, Virizion/Genesect has always had the resiliency to do well no matter how much hate there is for it. That being said, it wouldn’t surprise me to see V/G make a big comeback during States.

Aromatisse/Gardevoir

Gardevoir was looking like one of the most promising cards to come out of Primal Clash. With its natural synergy with Aromatisse and Xerneas, it seemed like a lot of players were going to give this deck a try. There was a decent amount of Aromatisse at the event, but virtually none of them were able to make the Top 32. I think we can attribute this to a few things.

First of all, there was more Garbodor present than anyone really anticipated. Whether it’s with Seismitoad or Yveltal, Garbodor causes some big problems for Aromatisse. Additionally, I believe that the Landorus/Crobat vs. Aromatisse/Gardevoir matchup is closer than a lot of people thought. Landorus/Crobat can take very easy KOs on Spritzees early game, hindering the deck’s setup greatly.

Finally, I believe that the deck was simply underdeveloped. I feel this is true of a lot of the new archetypes coming from Primal Clash. I could definitely see Gardevoir doing well at States once people put some more work into it.

Bronzong

This deck wasn’t talked about as much as Gardevoir was, but I felt it had a decent chance at the event. As it turned out, there were very few players who chose to bring the Bronze Bell Pokémon to Florida. And most of the ones who did paired it with Dialga-EX and Aegislash-EX rather than M Aggron-EX. I think most people found that M Aggron is just too clunky. While it does bring the potential to hit 240 damage relatively easily, it seems that Dialga and Aegislash are simply more efficient attackers. Who knows though — maybe Aggron will get his time to shine at States!

Expanded Experimentations

Once we entered into the Expanded format on Day 2 of Florida Regionals, we saw some interesting decks pop up. Nobody really knew what to expect from this, and thus a lot of players chose to play the same deck they qualified for Day 2 with. However, there were a few players that opted to get fancy.

Trevenant/Accelgor/Ninetales

This deck was piloted by Jason Klaczynski. The concept is the same as it has always been with Trevenant/Accelgor; establish Item lock and use Deck and Cover to lock your opponent. However, Primal Clash brings this deck a few new tools that make it a huge threat. Here’s a list similar to Jason’s.

Pokémon – 20

4 Phantump XY

4 Trevenant XY

4 Shelmet PLB

4 Accelgor DEX

1 Vulpix PRC

1 Ninetales PRC

1 Munna BCR

1 Musharna NXD

Trainers – 36

4 Professor Juniper

4 N

1 Colress

3 Skyla

2 Lysandre

1 Lysandre’s Trump Card

 

4 Level Ball

4 Ultra Ball

4 Float Stone

3 VS Seeker

1 Silver Bangle

1 Heavy Ball

1 Computer Search

 

2 Silent Lab

1 Tropical Beach

Energy – 4

4 Double Colorless

Card Explanations

1-1 Ninetales PRC

Abilities like Red Signal and Verdant Wind can spell doom for Accelgor. Luckily, Ninetales’ Ability allows you to lock a Silent Lab into play. This disallows the opponent to use Red Signal to drag up your Benched Pokémon, and it shuts off Virizion’s Verdant Wind so that your Accelgors can Paralyze their Pokémon. Additionally, in other matchups it can be crucial to lock your opponent out of using their Stadium cards, such as Fairy Garden or Skyarrow Bridge.

1 Munna BCR, 1 Musharna NXD

Both of these cards play a huge role in this deck’s ability to lock the opponent out of the game. Munna’s Long Distance Hypnosis can be a nuisance for the opponent to deal with, particularly under Item lock from Trevenant. Once you get your Silent Lab into play, you can evolve your now useless Munna into Musharna, whose Forewarn Ability can help you dig for Double Colorless Energies to continuously Deck and Cover your opponent turn after turn.

1 Heavy Ball

This is a great 1-of search card for this deck. It can grab you Shelmet, Trevenant and Musharna, making it quite versatile.

Florges/Aromatisse

wonder energy 9-16
“You’re my wonderrrr … Energyyyy.” — Oasis

This deck may not seem too out of the ordinary, but one thing sets this list apart from most other Fairy lists: Wonder Energy. This was a metagame call made by Kevin Baxter and Josh Marking on Day 2 in Florida. Once word got out about Accelgor decks being considered for Day 2, Kevin and Josh decided it was time to tech against them. Wonder Energy does just that, as it stops Accelgor from Paralyzing the Fairy Pokémon the Wonder Energy is attached to. Here’s the list the two played in Florida. All credit goes to them for the list.

Pokémon – 14

4 Florges-EX

3 Spritzee XY

2 Aromatisse XY

1 Kangaskhan-EX

1 M Kangaskhan-EX

1 Xerneas-EX

1 Xerneas XY

1 Klefki FFI

Trainers – 35

4 Professor Juniper

4 N

2 Colress

2 Lysandre

2 AZ

 

4 VS Seeker

4 Max Potion

4 Hard Charm

3 Ultra Ball

1 Level Ball

1 Computer Search

 

4 Fairy Garden

Energy – 11

7 Y

4 Wonder

You can tell there was a great deal of thought put into this list. First of all, as I mentioned already, this deck was built with countering Accelgor in mind. Additionally, the two copies of AZ really help against Seismitoad decks, allowing them to heal a damaged attacker even under Item lock. I really like this deck as a play for the Expanded format.

Huntail/Ho-Oh

While I don’t believe anyone brought this deck to Day 2 in Florida, this is a deck that interests me. Henry Prior already covered this deck pretty well in his article, but I thought I’d make a quick mention of it. Huntail PRC can dish out a lot of damage very quickly when used in tandem with Ho-Oh-EX. Thanks to Battle Compressor, the deck is able to get Ho-Ohs in the discard much easier than before, and with a couple of heads on Rebirth, you can apply quite a bit of pressure early on in the game. The strength of this deck of course lies in the deck’s ability to score 1HKOs on EXs with a powerful non-Pokémon-EX in Huntail.

I’ll be excited to see if this deck makes an appearance next time we use the Expanded format. However, I don’t think that will be until Spring Regionals, unfortunately.

Conclusion

That’s all I’ve got for you today. I hope you enjoyed this article, and I hope I was able to help you prepare for States. I wish you the best of luck in the future, and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I’d be more than happy to help.

Thanks for reading!

Dylan Dreyer


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