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…
Its mighty legs are capable of running at speeds exceeding 40 mph, but this Pokémon can’t breathe unless it’s underwater. (Dracovish)
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…
Eating a sweet apple caused its evolution. A nectarous scent wafts from its body, luring in the bug Pokémon it preys on. (Appletun)
A Look at One of the TEU–DAA Format’s Emerging Rogue Decks, TinaChamp/Magneton “This is the main star of the deck. Linear Attack, for 1 Energy, is still powerful in this format as an early attack, Calamitous Slash still remains a massive threat to many decks, and GG End-GX is still as powerful as ever. The ability to remove any threat from the field is still incredibly powerful, and is huge versus many decks currently. It is great to finally see this card shine again as a main attacker. In the past, TinaChomp had Naganadel & Guzzlord-GX as its partner in crime. Now Marshadow and Machamp GX takes that spot over. With…
Two Frontrunners (Eternatus VMAX and ADPZ) and Two Counter Picks (Torkoal V and Welder Toolbox) for Players Cup II “This Eternatus VMAX list is quite standard, Pokemon-wise, with maximum counts on the key Pokemon—the Eternatus line, Crobat V, and Galarian Zigzagoon—with three extra tech Pokemon in the Hoopa duo and Sableye V. Sableye V is a pretty powerful yet underwhelming attacker if it takes two turns to power up. However, the use of Energy Switch in this list can allow for a turn where you bench the Sableye V, Switch into it, and then Energy Switch to do massive damage to an opponent with Crazy Claws. This “surprise” Sableye V play has come in handy and surprised a ton…
Thoughts on Players Cup II, Theories on the Play! Pokémon Team Challenge (the What??), and the Archenemy of My Dear Centiskorch, Inteleon VMAX/Frosmoth “The announcement of this event was something that I fully expected, and was happy to hear about. There are a lot of similarities between this event and the first Players Cup, but there are also some notable differences. My favorite change is that there’s no longer an invitational where one of the favored players gets to skip the hardest part of the Cup. There is also the new method of qualification. Rather than rely on Event Tickets, we now have Tournament Keys, which are exclusively for the Players Cup. The Tournament Rep system has also been redone into a much…
The Remarkable ADaPting Metagame and Welder/Mew3 Box for Players Cup II “Can hit for 300 damage on turn two. It is versatile because it has so many attack options. 1HKOs VMAXs with the help of Horror P Energy and Volcarona GX. Good consistency. It is no longer the best deck in the format (BDIF). And that’s OK, because it’s less on people’s minds. Mewtwo & Mew-GX is easy to 1HKO. If it gets popular, there are strong counters to it in the format, like Mimikyu CEC 97 and Power Plant. It still depends a lot on Welder. Many of its matchups are 50/50. This is used against decks with ADP. Clear…
How I’m Approaching the Players Cup II and My Two Current Favs, ADPZ and Eternatus VMAX “To start, I’ll do a brief summary of how the qualifier period of the Cup is structured: Unlike the original Players Cup, Pokemon has now added Tournament Keys to the game. These keys are given to every account to ensure that everyone has the same amount of opportunities to qualify. You are only given 50 Keys, so use them wisely. My plan is to space out the tournaments I play in over the entire month. My main goal with this is to use very few Tournament Keys early, when you know everyone will be hungry to play, including the better…
Sudden climate change wiped out this ancient kind of _______. This Pokémon absorbs others’ life-force through its branches. (Galarian Corsola)
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