Hello guys! I was only able to make it to one Battle Road on the first week, mainly due to conflicting schedules with my soccer games but oh well; at least I got some games in. I decided to use Flygon Lock for this tournament, mainly because I had used it a lot before Worlds, but I hadn’t used it at a real tournament before. I knew time would be an issue eventually, so I tried playing as fast as I could, but I can’t play for my opponents and the one round it mattered, the judge didn’t allow for the time extension I asked for so I lost being 4 cards away from decking my opponent.
I used the exact list that I had previously analyzed in the Flygon Lock article, except I used a 1-1 Machamp line instead of the Mewtwo LV.X, only because I do not own one.
The tournament was filled with alot of tried and true decks, and both Garchomp C and Blaziken FB made up a very small portion of the 60+ players field from what I saw. Beedrill I believe was the most predominant deck, along with a lot of Machamp variants including Gengar / Machamp and Machamp / Dusknoir.
The Top 4 of the first Autumn Battle Road in Mexico were the following decks:
- 1st – Gyarados SF / Palkia LV.X
- 2nd – Machamp SF / Rampardos PL
- 3rd – Beedrill RR & GE / Shaymin LV.X (Land Forme)
- 4th – Dusknoir DP & SF / Machamp SF / Mewtwo LV.X LA
I consider the Gyarados SF
Machamp SF paired with Rampardos PL is not a very common sight, but the deck seemed to add a lot of early game pressure against any deck, and Rampardos definitely serves as a nice big hitter to use as back up against Pokémon that have an Unown G attached.
Beedrill was of course to be expected, but from the ones I saw played, all of them were using either Shaymin LV.X Land Forme or Sky Forme. Both have their perks, and I faced two of them during the rounds that were using the Land Form Shaymin, and killing even Weedles was hard as they had 90 HP. I managed to deck one of those Beedrills, but the one that beat me on time, the guy played slow all game, which I guess doesn’t count as stalling, but he knew the type of deck I was playing, and he looked at his discard pile every single turn which was lame but oh well, it’s good this was a Battle Road and not a bigger event.
The final deck in the Top 4, was another very interesting choice, and the smartest one for the day in my opinion. It combined three Pokémon that countered the low energy attacks and basic Pokémon filled metagame very good, but maybe it was trying to accomplish too much at the same time. Dusknoir SF definitely has potential in this format due to the favored low energy attacks. The player managed to slow down alot of decks by using Dusknoir SF’s “Night Spin” to mess with the energy drops of the opponent’s Pokémon, but since it requires 3 total energy to attack makes it hard to use effectively, as you can’t abuse Upper Energy with it either due to the 2 P Energy cost in the attack.
I definitely think I could’ve beat any of those decks in 1 hour timed matches in the Top Cut by decking them, but alas I ended up with a 4-2 record and 9th place.
Finally after the tournament, I played 2 friendly matches against one of my buddies using Palkia Lock with Staraptor FB LV.X and let me tell you the Staraptor FB really made a difference in the games we played. Despite me beating him 2-0, both games were definitely close and Flint’s Willpower caught me off guard in the first game, specially the 2nd one as he pulled off two consecutive Hydro Shots, but in the end decking got to him.
I will post lists of what I remember of each deck from the tournament if people are interested in the general aspects of the lists. I’m not sure what I will be playing for next weekend, but I’m thinking I’m going to give a merry go round to Beedrill or Gengar
If you have any questions on the decks or why I chose Flygon Lock, don’t be afraid to ask. Thanks for reading!
That Gyarados/Palkia deck seems like an awesome idea. I would really like to try that out when I get a chance. Have any idea what his list looked like? Maybe you could do a separate post on it later this week.
The other decks I don’t know about, they don’t seem as good haha.
Cool to hear that Staraptor worked well, I gotta try it out sometime.
Nice report Pabl! ;)
Great report! I’m really interested in what was in the Gyarados SF/Palkia LV X deck. I’m going to try and attend my first league tonight after work. Looking forward to trying out my deck.
How did league go??
Gyarados is turning out to be quite a formidable deck…nice report, the other decks seemed a bit randomish, but it is battle roads, ha
Interesting you saw so many beedrill carrying shaymins… I didn’t think that was all that popular of a tech in that deck.
Congrats on a winning record at least!
That Gyarados/Palkia deck seems like an awesome idea. I would really like to try that out when I get a chance. Have any idea what his list looked like? Maybe you could do a separate post on it later this week.
The other decks I don’t know about, they don’t seem as good haha.
Cool to hear that Staraptor worked well, I gotta try it out sometime.
Nice report Pabl! ;)
Great report! I’m really interested in what was in the Gyarados SF/Palkia LV X deck. I’m going to try and attend my first league tonight after work. Looking forward to trying out my deck.
How did league go??
Gyarados is turning out to be quite a formidable deck…nice report, the other decks seemed a bit randomish, but it is battle roads, ha
Interesting you saw so many beedrill carrying shaymins… I didn’t think that was all that popular of a tech in that deck.
Congrats on a winning record at least!
Nice report. I like to see Dusknoir SF being used, it is a great thing to use in the current format.
Gyrados seems to be one of the strongest choices right now, with Flygon having it’s share of wins too
Nice report. I like to see Dusknoir SF being used, it is a great thing to use in the current format.
Gyrados seems to be one of the strongest choices right now, with Flygon having it’s share of wins too
Gyrados palkia is no bueno! Putting in palkia takes away from the focus on gyrados and getting palkia x set up. OH NOES!!! Not to mention you’d have to run switch or warp nrg??!?!?!?!! Which can be hella dead cards. OH NOES!!!! In the end, no bueno.
Gyrados palkia is no bueno! Putting in palkia takes away from the focus on gyrados and getting palkia x set up. OH NOES!!! Not to mention you’d have to run switch or warp nrg??!?!?!?!! Which can be hella dead cards. OH NOES!!!! In the end, no bueno.
It’s just like running Cyclone Energy, only it can work because Restructure can be used every turn, allowing for KO’s every turn. Plus, running a lot of Switch/Warp Point in Gyrados isn’t a bad thing
It’s just like running Cyclone Energy, only it can work because Restructure can be used every turn, allowing for KO’s every turn. Plus, running a lot of Switch/Warp Point in Gyrados isn’t a bad thing
Fabien and myself have been playing Infernape 4 lvx in our Gyarados list since Worlds. I’ve tested both Palkia and Cyclone energy, and I feel Infernape is far superior. Seriously, try it.
I tried Infernape a few games and I just found it difficult to get out. If you insist that it’s that much better than the other variations, then maybe I’ll tinker with it moreee
PALKIA LV X + GYARADOS + WARP POINT = MY MIND BEING BLOWN TO ANOTHER DIMENSION
You wouldn’t use palkia and then warp point, right? cause that would be kind of stupid, eh? I’d say just play warp energies and a few switches. in all, though, you really don’t care who’s dying, as long as you get a prize.
It’s like Regigigas, you would have to be smart when playing your Warp Points. I’m not saying Restructure and THEN Warp Point, that would just be plain out stupid…
Fabien and myself have been playing Infernape 4 lvx in our Gyarados list since Worlds. I’ve tested both Palkia and Cyclone energy, and I feel Infernape is far superior. Seriously, try it.
Infernape Lv. X seems nice but I don’t know, Palkia Lv. X seemed really good, and he told me he had really easy games most of the way, always dominating.
I think I’d definately run 4 Warp Energy and 4 Switch in the deck though, that pretty much guarantess Palkia abuse every turn you need it IMO.
I tried Infernape a few games and I just found it difficult to get out. If you insist that it’s that much better than the other variations, then maybe I’ll tinker with it moreee
PALKIA LV X + GYARADOS + WARP POINT = MY MIND BEING BLOWN TO ANOTHER DIMENSION
You wouldn’t use palkia and then warp point, right? cause that would be kind of stupid, eh? I’d say just play warp energies and a few switches. in all, though, you really don’t care who’s dying, as long as you get a prize.
It’s like Regigigas, you would have to be smart when playing your Warp Points. I’m not saying Restructure and THEN Warp Point, that would just be plain out stupid…
Infernape Lv. X seems nice but I don’t know, Palkia Lv. X seemed really good, and he told me he had really easy games most of the way, always dominating.
I think I’d definately run 4 Warp Energy and 4 Switch in the deck though, that pretty much guarantess Palkia abuse every turn you need it IMO.
Nice report pablo
Nice report pablo
after the battel does the winner get his or hers cards?
after the battel does the winner get his or hers cards?
fuck pokemon
yeah and a comment like fuck pokemon is accepted, i see…
Well, I think that clears up a couple of issues for me personally. How about anybody else?
This is Awesome! Thank you so much.