Insight on Pokémon States/Provincials Meta

Have you heard lately, “Pokémon states are right around the corner, and its coming up fast!”? What should you run? That’s my question exactly, “What should I run for states?” I’m sure that’s all of your questions, so I’m going to give you a little hint on what to run, what the Meta is going to look like, some top tier decklists, and a little insight on my own Luxchomp list. So watch out Trolls, N00bs, and Poké-Veterans, because here comes Pokémon States and its beating down on us like a hot Arizona sun.

I believe Pokémon States this year is going to be one of the most interesting ones of the whole year. There’s going to be people playing Lostgar going 5-0 and dropping for ratings and rankings. I think that’s cool, BUT if you want to win the safest deck to go with is easily Luxchomp or Dialgachomp.

What I’m here to do is to tell you how to play the top tier decks such as Luxchomp and Dialgahomp. For there is no way to play them perfectly, don’t go running into a tournament expecting to win with Luxchomp. Fact: It’s not going to happen unless you know how to play it correctly, trust me. I’m just going to teach you how to do so. So without further ado the deck of the hour, Luxchomp.

Pokémon – 22 2-2 Garchomp C SV 2-2 Luxray GL RR 1 Azelf LA 3-1 Uxie LA 1 Unown Q MD 1 Lucario GL RR 2 Crobat G PL 1 Bronzong G PL 1 Ambipom G RR 1 Dragonite FB SV 1 Weavile G PL

Trainers – 26 4 Cyrus Conspiracy 4 Pokémon Collector 1 Bebe’s Search 1 Aaron’s Collection 4 Poké Turn 3 Power Spray 3 Energy Gain 3 SP Radar 1 Junk Arm

Energy – 12 4 Double Colorless 4 Call 2 L 1 P 1 D

pokebeach.comThe list looks like the basic Luxchomp except the Weavile G; I will soon get on to this. Right now I will explain the reason why Luxchomp has taken so many victories of many Tournaments.

The reason why? Well the insane power of Luxray GL LV.X and Garchomp C LV.X. People may say that they have no synergy at all. Well this is true; they do one simple thing though, pick off your opponents weakest Pokémon.

They also have the SP Engine to abuse also. So think twice about lying down your Uxie LA to set up, because the Luxchomp players will just Power Spray it and snipe it eventually. But there are ways around Luxchomp and its usual and easily over played strategy in the Pokémon TCG.

Luxchomp is easily one of the most played decks in the TCG right now because of this. This is the reason you will most likely play at least two at your States.

A Luxchomp deck can be teched out to beat any deck. The reason for the Weavile G, to crush Lostgar and Vilegar, it won’t always help but in certain situations it does. Luxchomp’s strategy is simple, set up a steady base of Luxray GL and Garchomp C and setting up a legitimate control of the board while taking easy prizes. Eventually you will win if you can take a prize every turn; though Luxchomp’s late game isn’t so great its early game is probably the best in the game. Now that you know the basic strategy of Luxchomp I’m going to share with you a list of techs and possible matchups ranging from tier one to tier three.

Techs

Smeargle UD– This card is one of the most underrated cards in the format. Its Poké-Power Portrait allows you to copy a Supporter in your opponent’s hand. It’s amazing in mirror match, if you have room I highly suggest running this card.

Roserade GL– Wow, yet another Pokémon that is underrated in our format, what a surprise! You can lock there active Pokémon in their position while poisoning it. This card is good if there is lots of Vilegar in your area.

Dialga G– This card is good to counter Lostgar and Vilegar, you can Deafen lock the whole games against Lostgar of just drop the LV.X and turn of all of your opponents Poké-Bodies such as Vileplume and Spiritomb’s nasty trainer locking bodies.

Blaziken FB– This card is good for going against Dialgchomp, Scizor, and Steelix. I think this card is amazing if you have a lot of Dialgchomp in your meta. Other than this it doesn’t really help against mirror. It can put a little disruption in your Luxchomp though.

Honchkrow SV– This card can be used to counter Lostgar and it sometimes helps in mirror match since most of the cards in your deck are basic.

Donphan Prime– This card is absolutely amazing in mirror. It kills your opponents Luxray’s but it also replaces Promocroak if you don’t have one.

Dribflim FB– A good late game sniper, it can kill pixies and easily anything with 60 hp or less.

Dribflim UD– This card is what I believe to be the best Mewtwo and Machamp counter. This card is also helpful to take out tanks.

Toxitank– This can be teched in with a stadium such as Pokémon Contest Hall, to poison your opponent with Skuntank G’s Poison Structure and kill them with Toxicroak G’s PL Deep Poison. I highly suggest this with high Machamp in your area. But don’t run it if there is a lot of other SP in your area.

Absol G LV.X- This card can help in the Vilegar and Lostgar matchup you can discard your trainers or Pokémon, and hit them for weakness. This card is OK in my opinion but if you see a lot of Vilegar and Lostgar in your area I suggest this card highly.

That’s it for some of the techs. As you can see I didn’t list all of the techs but there is still a hefty amount. Now on to the matchups good and bad this deck is one of those decks that don’t have one auto-Loss. People may say it does, that’s your opinion. Well now that where don with techs where going to be talking about matchups.

Matchups

Machamp- Many people believe that Machamp is Luxchomp’s worst nightmare because of the contious stream of hard hitting Machamps. Machamp SF is known to be the SP killer; with its attack Take Out it can KO any basic Pokémon for one energy. But there are many things you can do to make this matchup in your favor. You can use a 3-1 Uxie LA line as I do to KO a Machamp with Zen Blade or you can run Dribflim UD. You can even run Toxitank, but I highly suggest not to because of the mirror match. Anyway I say this matchup is in Machamp’s favor by just a little.

40-60

Maphan- I know this will probably not be seen at your states but I’m putting it in here to warn you. Maphan is near auto-loss for Luxchomp. The two tanks paired together are very hard to take down. The key to winning this matchup is to snipe and Bright Look around your opponent’s heavy hitter’s. You will most likely not win this because of the raw power of Machamp and Donphan Prime. But the key again is to be sneaky.

30-70

Kingchamp- This matchup is easier than the others, because of Kingdra’s weakness to lightning. But you must watch out for Machamp if he gets out just KO it with Uxie LV.X. The best tech for this matchup is Blaziken FB it makes Kingdra’s Dragon Stream a measly twenty damage. This is one of the easier Machamp matchups.

60-40

Kingphan- I think this matchup can be hard and easy at the same time you can kill their Kingdras and snipe around the Donphan’s. But they can hit hard for little energy. All you need to do is kill their Kingdra’s and pick off their bench when you can. This matchup can turn out in either player’s way.

50-50

Kingdra- This matchup is easily winnable. You simply Bright Look their Horsea’s, Seadra’s, and Kingdra’s and pick them off. Another way to win is snipe and drop a Blaziken on your bench and keep it there the whole game. It’s an easy matchup unless they donk you of course.

70-30

Donphan- This matchup is pretty hard saying they only run eleven Pokémon in their deck half the time. You should just use Garchomp C be sneaky. Otherwise it is very hard to win this matchup most of the card’s in the deck have one 120 HP and usually that’s all your opponent will have on the field when you snipe of their Uxie’s. Like I said this matchup isn’t your luckiest or best.

40-60

Healix- This matchup can be hard or easy. If you run Blaziken or Dribflim you can KO it or Take Away their tank. Once a tank deck’s tank is gone it can’s tank anymore leaving it tankless. I say this is a pretty hard matchup if you don’t run the right Pokémon in your deck, BUT if you do your good to go.

50-50

Scizor Variants- This deck can be harder to play against, #1 you can’t attack it head on sometimes if you accidently attach a DCE or Call Energy. But if you run Blaziken you can easily take them down, same with Dribflim UD. If you don’t run either of these cards it’s very hard.

50-50

Regigigas- This matchup is hard if you don’t run Promocroak or Donphan Prime. I haven’t tested this as much as I would like to but it can be won but lost to. If they get out Gigas then all you have to do is Power Spray their Sacrifice to kill it eventually. I believe this matchup can be won but I’m giving it an even matchup.

50-50

Vilegar- This matchup involves a lot of luck and skill. If they start Spiritomb keep the cards low in your hand and Bright Look around it as soon as you can. Weavile G works wonders in this matchup, you can KO a Gengar in one shot but watch out for Fainting Spell his nasty Poké-Power that cannot be Power Sprayed. Two other techs that help out are Dialga G and Blaziken FB, also Absol G LV.X. (See techs section.) Whatever you go with beware of the trainer locking duo.

50-50

Gyarados- This matchup in my opinion is completely equal. Whoever gets set up first usually wins. I’m a big player of both Luxchomp and Gyarados; the difference between the two is that Luxchomp loses steam after the 7^th or 8^th turn. My reason for this is Luxchomp takes easy prizes, so does Gyarados. Luxchomp hits hard and fast, so does Gyarados. Luxchomp can stand up to Lostgar, and Gyarados well can’t. The decks are both good but Luxchomp has more teching Options and better matchups over the most hyped deck in Pokémon, maybe the best?

50-50

Sablelock- This is an odd matchup, because of the luck of both decks. Overall the winner of this battle is the one who gets a better hand out of Judge. It also depends on what the Sablelock player is playing. Because there are many versions of the deck you could win or have a hard time. But it depends entirely on luck.

?-? (Depends on Lady Luck)

Dialgachomp- This matchup is one of the most nerve racking matchups. You can kill their Dialga G with Blaziken FB or Take Away with Dribflim UD. But either way their healing engine is pretty godly. So I say don’t head on attack unless you happen to get active with a Garchomp C go ballistic then. But if Dialga G is there just snipe his Garchomps. I say this is a pretty fun matchup if it happens. Go crazy and remember Luxray GL has a metal resistance.

60-40 50-50 (Depending on techs.)

Mewperior- This deck is included only because you’re probably going to see at least one at states. The easiest was to beat Mewperior is to simply get ahead on prizes the whole games. If you happen to be playing anything with Expert Belt DON’T attach it then you’ll get behind on prizes and lose. Mewperior’s strategy is simple take a prize a turn after Seeing Off Rhyperior LV.X. That’s your opportunity now is the chance to get ahead of prizes cards and cruise to victory.

50-50

Mirror (Luxchomp) – This is a harder matchup than most believe it is. You have to be geared for the mirror match and be prepared for the Garchomp war. You have to Dragon Rush their Garchomp C’s before they do it to you. Or you can use Dragonite FB or Ambipom G for the surprise kill. I highly suggest that for mirror you run both Dragonite FB and Ambipom G.

50-50 (Whoever wins the Garchomp war wins the game.)

Dialgachomp

Now that we’re all done with blabbing on about Luxchomp I’m going to tell you a little bit about Pokémon States and Provincials. The first thing you need is a solid deck, such as the deck posted above. (Don’t be afraid to net deck!) I don’t net deck myself but I encourage it for newer players if they don’t know what to run. Another abomination that will be played at States for sure is Lostgar. Some easy counters for this are anything that’s dark and has an attack that does 60 or more.

What I’ve also been noticing is the drop in play of Gyarados because of Lostgar. I think this is quite smart for the old Gyarados player because if the Lostgar player gets Gengar Prime out T1 and Hurl’s a Magikarp you pretty much lose. So I highly suggest Luxchomp or Dialgachomp, I will give you a skeleton here but most of the tech’s for Luxchomp are the same. I’m not going to go quite as in depth on Dialgachomp as Luxchomp.

Pokémon – 18 2-2 or 3-1 Dialga G LV.X PL 2-2 Garchomp C SV 2-1 Uxie LA 1 Azelf 1 Unown Q 1 Bronzong G 1 Crobat G PL 1 Promocroak G 1 Ambipom G RR 1 Smeargle UD

Trainers – 25 4 Cyrus Conspiracy 3 Pokémon Collector 2 Bebe’s Search 1 Aaron’s Collection 4 Poké Turn 3 E-Gain 3 Power Spray 3 SP-Radar 2 Expert Belt

Energy – 14 4 Special M 4 DCE 2 Metal 1 P 3 Warp

Techs: T/S/S

Pokémon Communication- This card is OK if it’s in your hand in certain situations. It does nearly the same thing as Bebe’s Search does EXCEPT you put a Pokémon on top of your deck. I say it’s an ok tech but limit it down to one to two.

Snowpoint Temple- This card is used with Toxitank in Dialgachomp; it gives all of your basic Pokémon 20 extra HP. If you have a heavy SP meta don’t run this because it benefits your opponent more.

Energy Exchanger- You can use this card to get a Double Colorless Energy or a Special M Energy. You can also grab basic energies.

V.S. Seeker- You can grab that fourth Pokémon Collector maybe that fifth Cyrus’s Conspiracy. Or that Aarons Collection that you already used or that third Bebe’s Search.

Junk Arm- You can grab that Energy Gain, Power Spray, or even that miscellaneous Premier Ball.

Now that we’ve come to an end to my excessively long article I hope you have a little insight on what to play for States/Provincials. Also you can contact me by E-mail at elimoses19@yahoo.com, or at Ironman785 on the Pokébeach. If you need ANY help or have ANY questions just give me a holler,

Thanks Blooper.