SixPrizes Goes on Pause; 2020; the State of the Game, the Community, and Content Creation; Thanks; and Where to Find Me “I’ve talked about this with my girlfriend recently: I’m irked by people blaming anything that’s unfortunate on the current year. By doing this we’re being myopic and willfully ignorant. “2020 strikes again!” The year’s become a neobiblical hot take or an amorphous scapegoat (i.e., coping mechanism) that society has adopted in mass. Yes, many Bad Things have have happened since the most recent new year, maybe more than usual. But by broadly labeling issues as “2020,” we’re losing sight of the actual problems and possible solutions. We’re being lazy. Here’s what’s happened the past year-plus to bring us to this…
What I Played for the Qualifier Period (ADPZ + LMZ) and Finely-Tuned Centiskorch VMAX for Phase 2 of the Players Cup II “Going into the best-of-one format for the qualifier period, I knew the consistency was key. There was little error room to be throwing Keys away by playing inconsistent decks, so I took things more seriously than I initially thought I would need to. After testing most decks in the format, I felt that ADPZ and LMZ had the overall best matchup spreads. I enjoyed both decks and felt like I controlled my own destiny in most games I played with them. I finished with 110 Rep, which, at the time of writing this article, put me at 60th in North…
My Players Cup II Experience (So Far), Moving Forward to Phase 2, and Two Favs: Excadrill Control + Excadrill Beatdown “The meta has been constantly shifting with the amount of online events happening nowadays. We can gather results from an average of one online event per day to figure out what deck would be the best choice for the PCII, so in a sense we are being spoiled by the influx of events lately. On the other hand, the amount of events with so little on the line means that players are more likely to make slight edits to their lists or switch up variants for their archetype of choice completely, with the rare case of a player deciding to…
Qualifiers Recap, Notes on ADPZ Moving Forward, and Welder/Aurora Energy Toolbox (WelderBox) for Players Cup II, Phase 2 “Last time I wrote, I mentioned I was on pace for a 116-Tournament Rep finish in the Players Cup II qualifiers; I ended up just short of that, with my 111 Rep placing me 49th in North America. Below is a graphic by my teammate Dustin Zimmerman breaking down my run in more detail. You’ll notice that my average Rep earned per event jumped up considerably after I switched from Eternatus VMAX to ADPZ about a quarter of the way into my keys, and this is consistent with my statement in my previous article that ADPZ was simply the best…
Baby Blowns Reinflated for Phase 2 (AKA Bracket Play) (AKA the Region Qualifiers) of the Players Cup II “Today’s article will analyze Baby Blowns, which, together with the Water Mew3 Box from my previous article, is one of my main choices for Players Cup II bracket play. After Fiery Flint rotated, Baby Blowns wasn’t the same and lost the monstrous strength it had in the first few turns. But, with a new strategy and way of playing the deck, I feel that Blacephalon still has the capability to be one of the best in the format. The great truth is that Baby Blowns had been so strong that it was necessary for decks to tech Tapu Fini UNM…
The cotton on the head of this Pokémon can be spun into a glossy, gorgeous yarn—a Galar regional specialty. (Eldeoss)
My Current Fav (PikaRom) for Phase 2 of the Players Cup II (and a Recap of Phase 1) “In my last piece I mentioned that I would be keeping it simple and probably just forcing what I thought was the best deck at the time for all 50 keys, effectively guaranteeing my qualification as long as I played well. This deck for me was ADP. For some of the tournaments I used the list posted in my last article, but for the others I switched over to a build that used Clay as opposed to Professor’s Research. The Clay build was a bit riskier, but I felt that over the course of multiple events it would overall be…
A Guide to Learning and Understanding the Control Archetype in the Pokémon TCG “One of the primary reasons I decided to write on this topic, and a major motivation I have for advocating for trying control in general, is that Control and other AWC decks get an undeserved bad rep within the community. People with minimal exposure to the archetype immediately label it problem rather than putting in the effort to understand it. More than anything else, I want to change this. By providing an easily-accessible, basic understanding of the archetype, I hope to shed light on the benefits of AWCs and shift the community’s opinion away from this constant distaste towards the…
Players Cup Finals Mini-Recap, Tips for Players Cup II, On Overcoming Pokémon Fatigue, and Finding Fun in Silly (But Competitive!) Decklists “As I alluded to, the first Players Cup ended up going very well for me. I made the Top 256 in Europe cutoff easily in the first round, before bringing Zacian V/Jirachi Prism Star (aka Zacian Combo) to the European Qualifier. I managed to win my first seven matches outright, placing me in the Top 4 in Europe and securing one of the 16 places in the Players Cup Final in August. The finals themselves were far less exciting. TPCi ended up scheduling them when I was traveling in a rather rural part of Britain—the Scottish Highlands. This resulted in…
The Success of Crushing Hammer and Power Plant, PikaRom/Hammers, Eternatus VMAX/Power Plant, Green’s BraixZard, and My Wet Mew3 (Updated) “I have commented in previous articles on the success of Crushing Hammer, but what strikes me is that it is still quite successful weeks later, which proves that it is very difficult to deal with Energy removal. With the possibility of drawing many cards in one turn with Dedenne GX and Crobat V, you can dig to find 2, 3, or even 4 copies of Crushing Hammer on the first turn, and often all you need to do is remove 1 Energy to gain a big advantage and win the match. Power Plant is a card that has begun to…
Atlas League, the Online TEU–DAA Metagame Progression, Players Cup II: Qualifying Hindsight, and Mewtwo & Mew-GX Toolbox (in Expanded) “One of the interesting things about seeing the metagame develop over the past few months is how differently the metagame progression formula has shifted on the basis of all play being online. Quite often in the past, if a certain list of an archetype did well at an event or outright won, that would for a while be considered the “correct” way to play said archetype, and a lot of the subsequent finishes for that archetype would build that archetype similarly, if not exactly the same. However, as various different online Leagues have emerged to fill the gap left by…
If it sees any movement around it, this Pokémon charges for it straightaway, leading with its sharply pointed jaw. It’s very proud of that jaw. (Arrokuda)
Three Tips for Online Events and a Look at Blacephalon for the Players Cup II “If you make the Top 256 (or 128) in your region for the Players Cup II, you will qualify to play in a double-elimination tournament that plays until four players are left in your region. This means that as soon as you lose two rounds, you are eliminated from the tournament. With such little margin for error, your deck choice becomes incredibly important if you plan to make it to the Players Cup Finals. It is important to note that the Regional Qualifiers will be played in a best-of-three format. So, if you do not have the best luck one…
A Crash Course on the Slow and Sturdy Deck of the Format, Lucario & Melmetal-GX/Zacian V “Before I start, I would like to give some explanation of why you should actually read this article from me, a player you may have never heard of before. If you are hesitant about trusting me on my knowledge with this deck, I hope the following will alleviate any of that. So far, this season, in the HegsterTCG tournament series (a tournament series that has a consistent attendance of around 150 players which I will mention a few times in this article), I have achieved two first place finishes, a second place finish, a top eight, top sixteen, and two…
“Optimal ADPZ” and Galarian Cursola V for Players Cup II, How to Test Properly (the Spreadsheet Testing Method), and Notes on Building Rogues “Perhaps to the chagrin of those who’ve seen my rants against it on social media, the deck I’ve been using for most (although not all) of my qualifying events is none other than Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX/Zacian V. This is simply because I believe there’s no good reason to not play the deck: Altered Creation-GX is a truly game-breaking effect, and ADPZ has the potential to win just about any game it’s in. It can instantly capitalize on opponents’ misplays and can completely seal up a game if your opponent has even a single turn of poor draws…
A Look at Green’s PikaRom and Ability PikaRom “We’re in the beginning of the Players Cup II qualification period, and from what the first week has shown, Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX with Zacian V is the most popular deck. ADPZ’s pure speed and aggression is something that can overcome pretty much anything, but that doesn’t mean that the deck wins every matchup every time. Green’s Exploration partnered with Pikachu & Zekrom-GX is one of the decks that often has a very good matchup against ADPZ, and that’s for one main reason: its lack of support Pokémon. Not playing Pokémon like Dedenne-GX and Crobat V, Pokémon that would…
Two Decks That Omit Crobat V and Dedenne-GX (Green’s/PikaRom and Decidueye/Obstagoon) for the Players Cup II Qualifier Period “This deck offers a slower and more elaborate strategy for winning games. As the name indicates, the deck is based on Green’s Exploration, which allows you to search for 2 Trainer cards from your deck and put them into your hand—if you have no Pokémon with Abilities in play. When using Green’s Exploration, you practically start playing with your deck in your hand, as you will have access to almost everything, but only 2 cards at a time. The great advantage of this type of strategy is not having to use Dedenne GX or Crobat V, which, despite offering a…
This Pokémon has slumbered for many years. Some say it’s Zamazenta’s elder sister—others say the two Pokémon are rivals. (Zacian)
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