Carl’s Cache – Now that the Red Dust has Settled…

Hey guys! Welcome to Carl’s Cache. Today I will be doing a review of the North American Nationals, an update on a previous article, an Emerging Powers preview, and a Red Collection set review. This article turned out to be a bit longer, so I hope you still enjoy it. I know I enjoyed writing it.

By now most of you have probably seen Mew Jadester’s complete Nationals bracket for USA, Canada, and Mexico Nats; it’s only missing 3 decks from the top 32 at Mexico’s Nationals. It also makes it easy to do a breakdown of the HGSS-on format, and that’s exactly what I’m going to start this article with.

There was a top 16 cut at Canada, a top 32 cut at Mexico (with only 29 decks that we know about), and a top 128 cut at USA Nationals. This adds up to 173 decks that we have information on, with that we can do a pretty intense breakdown of them and make a legitimate “tier” list.

The Results

(Deck name – Number of decks in top cut – Percentage of decks)

Tier One

pokebeach.comMegaJudge (aka Magnezone/Yanmega) – 35 – 20.2%

MagneBoar – 17 – 9.8%

Kingdra/Yanmega- 17 – 9.8%

DonMega Variants (aka Stage One Rush) – 15 – 8.7%

ReshiPlosion – 15 – 8.7 %

Reshiboar – 14 – 8.0%

Tier Two

ZPS variants – 11 – 6.3%

Donphan variants (excluding DonMega and DonChamp) – 11 – 6.3%

Yanmega/Vileplume – 8 – 4.6%

Mew Box variants – 6 – 3.5%

LostGar variants – 6 – 3.5%

DonChamp- 5 – 2.9%

Tier Three

Cinccino variants (not associated with other decks mentioned) – 4 – 2.3%

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Kingdra/Mandibuzz/Zoroark – 2 – 1.2%

Yanmega/Zoroark – 2 – 1.2%

Rogue (all had 1 in top cut)

Ambipom/Weavile

BlastGatr

Serperior

Tyranitar/Serperior

Magnezone/Vileplume

That’s all based on the information given by Jason Windham (or Mew Jadester, as he’s known), and you can really get a distinct tier list. Yanmega and Emboar dominate tier one, the only exception being ReshiPlosion, or TyRam, and that is truly a battle of yin vs. tang between Emboar and Yanmega. Emboar relies on its big hitters, relatively slower, while Yanmega relies on quick disruption and pure speed.

Zekrom and Donphan made some noise also, Zekrom was a solid tier two, and some would say a weak tier one. The funny thing about Donphan was that its less-hyped variants did well, while DonChamp did awful. Mew Prime also came into the metagame, as well as LostGar doing surprisingly well.

There were also a fair amount of rogue decks that performed well; Ambipom/Weavile and T-Tar/Serperior both made top 8 at their respective Nationals, perhaps a foreshadowing of Worlds.

Then, there was a rising of two decks in particular that people didn’t think would do well: the Reshiram variants; they both were solid tier one decks despite being overshadowed by MagneBoar.

The last thing I’d like to mention despite all the negativism about MagneBoar, is that it was still a tier one deck.

But, I also broke down Nationals in a broader sense, trying to pick out which individual cards performed well, and here’s what I came up with:

(Card – Number of decks – Percentage)

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Yanmega Decks – 82 – 47.4%

Magnezone Decks – 54 – 31.2%

Reshiram Decks – 40 – 23.1%

Donphan Decks – 31 – 17.9%

Emboar Decks – 31 – 17.9%

Kingdra Decks – 29 – 16.8%

Zekrom Decks – 21 – 12.1%

Vileplume Decks – 16 – 9.2%

Zoroark Decks – 13 – 7.5%

Mew Decks – 10 – 5.8%

Cinccino Decks – 8 – 4.6%

Gengar Decks – 6 – 3.5%

Weavile Decks – 4 – 2.3%

Serperior Decks – 3 – 1.7%

Blastiose Decks – 1 – .6%

Again, Yanmega sits on top, by a fairly large margin as well. This is very similar to what Garchomp C’s reign would have looked like, and they share very similar characteristics. Yanmega has free retreat, 110 Hit Points, and a cheap snipe attack, and comes with a great drawing, disruptive engine.

Magnezone Prime was second, not much of a surprise, a great attacker, and the best Pokémon draw engine. The biggest surprise, for me at least, was Reshiram’s performance. It was third, not including any MagneBoar decks it was teched in to, and wasn’t really that hyped either.

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The reason for his success was most likely because he is a near perfect Yanmega Prime counter. Yanmega, at best, can get a 2HKO, which is usually okay with Yanmega. The problem for it is that Reshiram will always take prizes before Yanmega can get one KO. With ReshiPlosion and ReshiBoar running 4 Reshiram, Yanmega needs to get either a great start, or cause early game disruption to save itself.

The deck can also use Pokémon Reversal and try to be gimmicky with Tyrogue, but most Yanmega variants will have a huge problem with a deck based around Reshiram. This is why I believe MegaJudge is the best play; you get the heavy hitting prowess of Magnezone, along with the speed, sniping, and disruption of Yanmega.

Next came Emboar and Donphan. Both cards we expected to be up there, so not much of a surprise. Kingdra Prime was next, and is a surprise. Kingdra/Yanmega’s popularity rose a lot because of Reed’s performance and these results show that. Kingdra may have found its niche in the metagame again, after losing it sometime during this year’s BR’s.

Vileplume decks also fared well, taking advantage of the high Trainer count most decks were running at Nationals. Then we’ve got Zoroark, which is in my opinion the best tech card. Also, Weavile while only being in 4 decks, made itself know as a great disruptor.

A lot of people heard about its success at Canada, and instead of just playing Ambipom with it, splashed it into their decks. I could see that happening at Worlds, and maybe surprising a player or two.

Now, I’m going to give you something other than a bunch of numbers, I think it’s time for some individual deck analysis, with some skeleton lists for each of the decks I cover.

Note: For most of the skeletons I have listed 2 Cleffa and 1 Tyrogue as standards, but you can definitely take those out for Manaphy if you don’t like baby Pokémon in your list if you’d like.

I’ll start with my favorite:

MagneBoar Skeleton

Pokémon – 172 Tepig BLW Promo 1 Pignite BLW #17 2 Emboar BLW #20 3 Magnemite TM 1 Magneton TM 3 Magnezone Prime 1-1 Rayquaza & Deoxys LEGEND 1 Tyrogue HS/CL 2 Cleffa HS/CL

Trainers – 214 Pokémon Collector 4 Pokémon Communication 4 Junk Arm 2 Energy Retrieval 1 Flower Shop Lady 4 Rare Candy 1 Switch 1 Pokémon Reversal

Energy – 1510 R 5 L

pokebeach.comThat leaves you with 7 open spots. I recommend adding in 4 draw cards, and some sort of Yanmega counter. I prefer to add in Sage’s Training, 1-0-1 “Bad” Emboar, and Reshiram.

You can also swap out the Cleffas for a different drawer if you hate baby Pokémon. You can also change some of the trainers to their supporter equivalents, if you are worried about Vileplume.

MagneBoar was the most hyped deck coming into Nationals, mainly because it can KO anything with Magnezone, and attach as many energy as it wants with Emboar. The deck, contrary to a lot of speculation, is very consistent, just not as fast as Yanmega.

The deck relies on its consistency, and that it will see its entire deck by the end of the game, meaning that it will draw all 60 cards. Typically, you have to be very calculating when playing MagneBoar, managing your energy resources was a problem I had when I first started playing the deck, but you get used to it.

It also relies on the fact that, in most games, it won’t really interact with the opponent. All it has to do is get setup and make good decisions to win; it doesn’t need to Judge its opponent or really even care about what deck they’re playing. It doesn’t play disruptive cards, besides the one Pokémon Reversal, and will just play against itself.

That’s part of the reason I like it; for it to lose, it has to either have a bad start, or get Judged, or even Reversaled. Another reason I like this deck, is that once it starts to get setup, it puts the opponent on a clock, meaning once it takes a prize with Magnezone Prime, it has more energy waiting to get the next KO, then the next KO, and then of course, RDL to get the last two, and if that clock isn’t interfered with MagneBoar will come out on top.

Unfortunately, interfering with that clock is what Yanmega is best at, and is why Yanmega has risen to power in our current format. MagneBoar is truly the yin to Yanmega’s yang.

MagneBoar has good matchups across the board, yes the Yanmega variants are usually unfavorable, but that’s another great thing about the deck, it can literally draw its way out of any situation. If it’s Judged, all it needs to do is get a Sage’s Training and it will continue to run like clockwork.

I consider this to be the third best deck right now, behind DonMega and MegaJudge, but still slightly ahead of Reshiram decks and Kingdra/Yanmega.

This leads me right to the next deck…

Kingdra/Yanmega

Pokémon – 173 Yanma TM 3 Yanmega Prime 2 Horsea UL 1 Seadra UL 2 Kingdra Prime 2 Jirachi UL/CL 2 Cleffa HS/CL 1 Tyrogue HS/CL

Trainers – 244 Pokémon Collector 3 Judge 3 Copycat 4 Pokémon Communication 3 Pokémon Reversal 1 Switch 2 Rare Candy 4 Junk Arm

Energy – 64 P 2 Rescue

pokebeach.comThat list leaves you with 13 empty slots to fill, and you can do a lot with those slots, some add in Magnezone Prime, you can also add in more energy, a thicker Kingdra or Yanmega line, or more consistency cards.

Some lists also add in Spinarak and Vileplume to mess with their opponent too. Zoroark is also a good play; it helps against Zekrom and Reshiram, which tend to be soft spots for the deck.

The basic premise of this deck is to snipe with Yanmega, then Spray Splash with Kingdra and finally, devolve everything with Jirachi and win. The deck, like most Yanmega variants, relies on its speed and disruption to win their games; they can set their opponent off balance and then begin KOing basics with a Yanmega/Kingdra combination.

The deck tends to be a little weak against other Yanmega decks, simply because it doesn’t have as many options or as good a draw power as the other decks. In particular, it will have a problem against a stage one deck because that deck, even when Judged, will probably just draw into a stage one and start attacking.

Jirachi is the great balancer to that flaw, but if you flip badly on Stardust Song or have to manually charge it up, it might not work.

Lastly, this deck’s worst matchups tend to be against Reshiram focused decks, as it really has no counter to them. Their best answer is hope for an early Judge, and that they can’t get setup.

They can also try to Time Hollow KO the lower forms of Typhlosion or Emboar, or even try a Pokémon Reversal stall tactic against them, but Reshiram is a major problem for this variant. I think this deck can do well at Worlds, but I would be surprised if it won Worlds.

ReshiBoar

Pokémon – 183 Tepig BLW Promo 1 Pignite BLW #17 2 Emboar BLW #20 1 Emboar BLW #19 3 Reshiram BLW 2 Vulpix UL 2 Ninetales HS/CL 2 Cleffa HS/CL 1 Tyrogue HS/CL

Trainers – 194 Pokémon Collector 4 Pokémon Communication 4 Junk Arm 3 Rare Candy 2 Energy Retrieval 1 Fisherman 1 Switch

Energy – 1212 R

pokebeach.comThis skeleton leaves you with 11 open slots. I recommend adding in some sort of Supporter draw power, PlusPowers, Rayquaza & Deoxys LEGEND, and maybe more energy or recovery cards. You could also add in the Seeker and Shuckle combo in the deck as well. Another option, as always, is to add more consistency cards.

This is the first of the two Reshiram focused decks that I will cover. This variant uses Emboar’s Inferno Fandango with Reshiram’s Blue Flare, setting up for a consistent 120 damage a turn. The deck is usually the faster of the two variants, but is also more likely to die out before ReshiPlosion does. ReshiPlosion, on the other hand is more susceptible to Zoroark techs than this variant.

The big problem with both variants though is Magnezone, if the lists don’t run PlusPower (which they should); they really don’t have much of a chance against those decks. These decks also have problems if someone decides to run Samurott in their deck, as again even with PlusPowers you don’t have a good way to get a 1HKO.

Both decks have relatively similar matchups across the board; ReshiPlosion has a better chance to get out of a Pokémon Reversal than ReshiBoar, and can cause energy disruption. However, ReshiBoar fares better against Zoroark and in general is faster, but dies out quicker.

I feel that both of these decks will have a good worlds showing, they both have good matchups against Yanmega.

Now onto this deck’s counterpart:

ReshiPlosion

Pokémon – 173 Reshiram BLW 3 Cyndaquil HS 2 Quilava HS 2 Typhlosion Prime 2 Vulpix UL 2 Ninetales HS/CL 2 Cleffa HS/CL 1 Tyrogue HS/CL

Trainers – 164 Pokémon Collector 4 Pokémon Communication 2 Rare Candy 1 Pokémon Reversal 3 Junk Arm 2 Professor Oak’s New Theory

Energy – 1212 R

pokebeach.comThis skeleton leaves you with a whopping 15 cards. That leaves you a lot of room to miss with the list; you can add in more Pokémon Reversal, more draw cards, Rayquaza & Deoxys LEGEND, and more consistency cards.

Part of the reason this skeleton has more room is because the deck can be changed around a lot. I also put in 3 Cyndaquil and only 2 Typhlosion in the skeleton because when testing this deck, I found that I really run a lot better if I can get the Typhlosion out quickly, but with Yanmega and Kingdras floating around I might not be able to guarantee a Typhlosion if I can only get 1 Cyndaquil.

I went over this deck when I covered ReshiBoar. I personally prefer this variant, just because it gives me more to work with in terms of possible disruption, but the bad part about this deck is that it does need the PlusPowers more than ReshiBoar because it doesn’t have a back up attacker built into one of its lines (aka Bad Boar’s “Flare Blitz” attack).

On the other hand, this deck doesn’t need the Energy Retrievals as much though.

I think choosing between the 2 Reshiram variants simply come down to preference, they are both good, and both have their pros and cons. I expect both variants to have a good showing at Worlds.

Next up, is the other dragon and his variants:

Zekrom/Pachirisu/Shaymin (aka ZPS)

Pokémon – 84 Zekrom BLW 2 Pachirisu CL 2 Shaymin UL

Trainers – 274 Dual Ball 4 Junk Arm 2 PlusPower 2 Pokémon Reversal 4 Professor Juniper 3 Super Scoop Up 4 Sage’s Training 2 Energy Search 2 Switch

Energy – 1414 L

pokebeach.comThat skeleton gives you 9 slots to work with. You can add Pokémon Collector, more consistency cards, and Seeker. This list is designed to just get a quick turn one Zekrom, and well it really doesn’t have much of a late game. You can improve that by adding Energy Retrieval and Revive to your list.

Straight ZPS’s matchups are pretty simple:

• It can beat most Yanmega decks relatively easily.
• It has major issues with Magnezone decks and usually Reshiram decks.
• It also beats Mew decks easily, most of the time and if it’s not setup has no prayer against most Vileplume decks.
• Lastly, if it sees Donphan it cries.

Instead of posting a skeleton for the Zekrom/Yanmega variants, I’ll just link you to my article on Pokégym.net.

My general opinion of Zekrom is that it really doesn’t have a shot to win, especially with the Donphan techs running around. It can beat Yanmega, but if it’s a Yanmega deck with techs it has lots of issues. I was really high on the deck when I first realized its potential, but now I only considered it because I randomly lost confidence in MagneBoar. I do think it’s a good deck to get cards for because of Pokémon Catcher and Eviolite, which I’ll get to later.

On the topic of Yanmega with techs, let’s move on to this deck:

DonMega (aka Stage One Rush)

Pokémon – 152 Yanma TM 2 Yanmega Prime 2 Phanpy HS 2 Donphan Prime 2 Zorua BLW 2 Zoroark BLW 2 Cleffa HS/CL 1 Tyrogue HS/CL

Trainers – 224 Pokémon Collector 4 Pokémon Communication 3 Junk Arm 2 Pokémon Reversal 3 Judge 3 Copycat 2 Switch 1 PlusPower

Energy – 82 Double Colorless 2 Rescue 4 F

pokebeach.comThis skeleton gives you 15 more cards to work with, which is a lot. Your engine is pretty much set once you put Yanmega into the deck, Judge and Copycat are the standard with that card. The Junk Arms and Trainers let you match lower hand sizes and, if you choose, Noctowl from HGSS can help you match bigger hand sizes, and prove to be an okay attacker.

I also only put in 2-2 lines of your 3 main attackers because a lot of what will be your main attacker depends on your preference and your own testing. Cinccino is also added to some decks like this, but a bulk of your remaining decklist will be making one of those lines bigger, adding in some more consistency cards, and maybe Noctowl.

This is the deck that saw the most rises in play at USA Nationals; its basic premise is that it can deal with any situation. Yanmega gives you the free prizes, and of course the disruption engine, and an attacker that doesn’t need energy. Donphan can take down Magnezone Prime, and give you the near auto-win against Zekrom decks.

He also provides you with a tank Pokémon, which will typically take a hit. Zoroark lets you 1HKO anything that can get past the first two guys, usually an RDL, “Bad” Boar, Magnezone Prime and Reshiram. I also put a PlusPower in the skeleton so that he cans 1HKO dragons, without them needing damage on them prior to his attack.

The Rescue Energies are there so you can bring back your Yanmega Primes when they are KO’d. I really like this deck for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it can handle most situations, and with all the attackers being stage ones, you’re almost guaranteed to have an attacker of some sort out turn two.

Secondly, it gives you a lot of room to outplay people. Lastly, the list gives you a lot of room for creativity, which is something I liked about LuxChomp. I consider this to be the second best deck in format right now.

Next deck up is a bit more rogue, but is definitely cool.

Mew/Muk/Vileplume/Jumpluff/Yanmega

Pokémon – 194 Mew Prime 2 Muk UD 2 Jumpluff HS 2 Oddish UD 2 Gloom UD 2 Vileplume UD 2 Cleffa HS/CL 1 Tyrogue HS/CL 2 Yanma TM 2 Yanmega Prime

Trainers – 164 Pokémon Collector 3 Pokémon Communication 3 Rare Candy 3 Judge 3 Copycat

Energy – 94 P 3 Rescue 2 Rainbow

pokebeach.comThis skeleton gives you a lot of room to work with (16 cards) and it can change a lot about the deck. The basic premise of the deck is to see off a Muk turn one, then get a Yanmega Prime out, with a Vileplume, and just snipe for the win.

You can add Crobat Prime to this deck, and to get easy KOs on Yanmega Prime, you could also add in Cinccino and Zoroark. This deck is similar to Stage One Rush, in the sense that you have a lot of room to work with to make the deck your own.

Depending on the techs you choose, that will influence your matchups a fair amount. This deck typically does very well against Emboar based decks, because of the four Retreat Cost. The deck also gives you a fair amount of room to outplay people, and it’s also very quick; just get a T1 Mew Prime with a Psychic energy and you are set up with an attacker ready for next turn.

It also doesn’t necessarily need baby Pokémon if you are afraid of being donked, because Mew Prime is the ideal starter. The deck’s worse match up is definitely Zekrom variants. This is another deck that I like, but that I just didn’t feel completely comfortable with, it wouldn’t surprise me to see it at the top tables at Worlds.

Next up is another Vileplume variant…

Yanmega/Vileplume

Pokémon – 163 Yanma TM 3 Yanmega Prime 2 Oddish UD 2 Gloom UD 2 Vileplume UD 2 Cleffa HS/CL 1 Tyrogue HS/CL 1 Spinarak HS

Trainers – 194 Pokémon Collector 3 Pokémon Communication 3 Pokémon Reversal 3 Rare Candy 3 Judge 3 Copycat

Energy – 84 Rescue 4 G

pokebeach.comThis is another skeleton that gives you a lot of room to work with (17 cards). This deck focuses on locking down your opponent, and then sniping with Yanmega to win. You can include back up attackers in this build, and a thicker Vileplume line.

My favorite part about this deck is that it can win in a very gimmicky way; I’m talking about winning with Spinarak. You can lock a Cleffa active, then go into Vileplume, and wait until the last turn to get the KO with Yanmega. I find that funny, very funny actually.

This deck tends to be very quick, and relies on its speed and consistency to win most of its matchups. The Vileplume is there as a protector for Yanmega, without a standard back up attacker it needs to stop the opponent from setting up. Vileplume is the perfect answer, seeing as most decks run a lot of trainers.

I do however, feel it is a bit sub par against other Yanmega variants because Yanmega can just get the KO on Vileplume and set up again. I do feel this deck gives you a fair amount of room for techs, and room to outplay other people. I don’t see this deck doing as good as some other decks at Worlds, but I think it can have a solid showing.

Okay, I’m getting tired of seeing Yanmega; I think I’m going to show off some Donphan decks.

DonChamp

Pokémon – 183 Phanpy HS 3 Donphan Prime 3 Machop TM 2 Machoke TM 3 Machamp Prime 2 Cleffa HS/CL 1 Tyrogue HS/CL391 1 Bouffalant BLW

Trainers – 213 Professor Oak’s New Theory 3 Copycat 4 Pokémon Collector 4 Pokémon Communication 2 Rare Candy 2 PlusPower 1 Switch 2 Pokémon Reversal

Energy – 86 F 2 Double Colorless

pokebeach.comThis deck, again, gives you a fair amount of space to work with, 13 cards. However, most it will be spent on thickening your T/S/S lines and energy. Adding recovery is also a good idea. The deck really doesn’t have much space for techs; maybe a Reuniclus or Reshiram/Zekrom.

The deck is pretty basic: setup a turn two Donphan Prime, and then don’t lose your precious energies by Fighting Tagging with Machamp Prime. Unfortunately, its simplicity and lack of options is the deck’s downfall. It’s very easy to see what the DonChamp player will do next and then prepare for it.

That’s the root cause of why it underperformed, and I give huge props to Adam getting t64 with this deck. :)

The deck’s only true good matchups are usually Zekrom decks and Cinccino decks, and maybe LostGar.

I don’t see this deck doing well at Worlds, especially with all the Yanmega in that field.

Now, onto to the last Donphan deck.

Donphan/Dragons

Pokémon – 164 Phanpy HS 4 Donphan Prime 2 Zekrom BLW 2 Reshiram BLW 2 Cleffa HS/CL 1 Tyrogue HS/CL 1 Bouffalant BLW #91

Trainers – 244 Pokémon Collector 4 Pokémon Communication 4 Professor Oak’s New Theory 2 Sage’s Training 1 Revive 3 PlusPower 3 Pokémon Reversal 3 Junk Arm

Energy – 128 F 4 Double Colorless

pokebeach.comThat skeleton leaves you with 8 open spots, which is not as much as most of the other lists do.

This is a definitely one of my favorite decks. I mean who doesn’t want to use Reshiram and Zekrom in the same deck and have it work? The goal for this deck is to get a turn two Donphan using Earthquake, using that to charge up the Dragons’ outrage attack. I also like how the Dragons both cover Donphan’s main weaknesses:

1. Kingdra Prime – This card is usually a major problem for Donphan, but with Reshiram on board, Dragon Steam only hits Donphan for 20 damage.

2. Yanmega Prime – This card is the main anti-Donphan card in the format, right now, and Zekrom covers that weakness by getting easy 1HKOs on it.

One of my personal favorite techs to add to this is a Reuniclus; it basically lets you setup Outrage quicker. Most lists that I saw didn’t use it, but I think it’s worth noting.

This deck, in general, has all around good matchups, but can be outplayed relatively easily because the deck, like most Donphan decks, is very easy to predict. I could see this deck going somewhat far at Worlds, but would be surprised if it won the whole thing.

Now, like all great magicians, I saved my best trick for last…

MegaJudge

Pokémon – 183 Magnemite TM 2 Magneton TM 3 Magnezone Prime 3 Yanma TM 3 Yanmega Prime 2 Cleffa HS/CL 1 Tyrogue HS/CL 1 Pachirisu CL

Trainers – 224 Pokémon Collector 4 Pokémon Communication 3 Judge 2 Copycat 3 Junk Arm 2 Pokémon Reversal 1 Switch 3 Rare Candy

Energy – 85 L 2 Rescue 1 Rainbow

pokebeach.comThis skeleton leaves you with 12 open slots. A fair amount of those will be use to max out the lines in your T/S/S section, and some will be used to thicken your Magnezone Prime or Yanmega Prime lines.

A decent number of variants, including the one that won USA Nationals, also put in Kingdra Prime, to get easier KOs on basics. You could even fit in a Jirachi tech, and give yourself the KYJ (Kingdra/Yanmega/Jirachi) engine in your deck as a surprise.

I wasn’t all that surprised when this deck won Nationals because it is able to utilize the best parts about Magnezone Prime, being a consistent draw engine and a big hitter, while at the same time using Yanmega Prime’s potential to its fullest, being disruptive and quick.

By using Magnezone the deck is able to Judge more often, without having to worry about a dead-draw. For that reason, the deck is amazingly consistent and quick. The deck is also able to run Pachirisu, the energy acceleration of the deck, so that the deck can go from 0 energy presence to two, which if Shaymin is used it is enough to Lost Burn for 100 damage.

This deck has a huge advantage over other Yanmega Prime variants because of Magnezone Prime and its ridiculous consistency. The deck also, in my opinion, has no really horrible matchups; most are at about 50/50 or better.

The only bad part about this deck is that against MagneBoar, if it isn’t able to hit a Pokémon Reversal or Judge the player into nothing MagneBoar can win a fair amount of the time. The deck also doesn’t naturally run Jirachi in most builds, meaning that against other Magnezone decks, it’s usually worse because they will focus on Magnezone as an attacker, have more energy, and will get easier prizes. That, in my opinion, is the only true flaw of this deck.

I definitely think that this deck will be at the top table of Worlds and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it win it all, I also would consider this to one of the safer plays for Worlds.

Well, that’s all the skeletons I have for you, I covered all the tier one/tier two decks except LostGar, so I guess it’s time for my guess at Worlds (even though I’m not going :p).

Worlds Predictions

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Well, I see this format to be very similar to my first year of competitive play (2009).

The winning deck RayBees came out of nowhere; no one really expected it. We all knew about Beedrill being good, but wrote it off because it didn’t have that amazing match up against LuxApe, the deck that won USA Nationals.

The deck won because it was a great metagame call. Its best match up was against Flygon decks; the primary deck at Worlds. Flygon was great, especially FlyChamp, because it stomped on SP decks. Beedrill now was able to avoid, in general, its worst matchups because Flygon variants were taking care of them.

This format is very similar, as of right now, with Yanmega variants are dominating the field, but it seems relatively likely that people will build decks just to beat Yanmega, in particular Reshiram and Zekrom decks. So the play for World would therefore be a deck that stomps on Reshiram and Zekrom variants.

And, I’ll finish that part of my article with that puzzle for you guys.

Puzzle Time

Now, as we all know at Nationals card prices were INSANE, Yanmega went up to 100 dollars, for a brief time, and Magnezone hit 50 as well as RDL going up to 75. If you’ve read my past works, you’ll know I did an article on the 30 hottest cards.

Well I’m going to do a quick update on that article; it won’t be as in depth, just a one sentence snippet for each card, but I think its necessary.

Honorable mention – Tyrogue. “Tyrogue is like Casey Anthony. It can kill babies, and has a 50/50 chance of getting away with it.” – Chris Fulop.

30. Rare Candy. This card’s price doesn’t fluctuate much anymore, so it stays right here.

29. Pokémon Communication. This guy falls into the same category as Rare Candy, Ditto what I just said.

28. Cinccino. Gets onto the list because of its use in a couple of decks that did well and is becoming regarded as a good tech card, and my sister (who’s been watching me type this) thinks it’s the cutest card ever, and I might agree. :)

27. Judge. He moves up. Really, this card is just a beneficiary of Yanmega’s success; more Yanmega decks means more people need this card.

26. Vileplume. Not hyped, and Yanmega hurt his overall performance, but was a force to be reckoned with, and stops several decks the moment he hits the field.

25. Professor Juniper. Surprisingly, despite being from the latest set, this card’s value is also pretty much set in stone, used in a fair amount of decks because Zekrom saw more play.

24. Sage’s Training. My favorite Supporter, and is really on even terms with Juniper, definitely good enough to be on this list.

23. Entei & Raikou LEGEND. Not really any success, but is seen as a card that still has potential, what a difference a year makes.

22. Seeker. Not that universal 1-of Supporter that Mr. Briney was, so he slips a bit.

21. Typhlosion Prime. ReshiPlosion was really good at Nationals, so he gets on the list.

20. Machamp Prime. When not as hyped Donphan variants do better, he’s got to fall down the list.

19. Smeargle. Cleffa was used a lot more, but there were people saying that he might be better to avoid those flips; we’ll see the jury is still out on this guy.

18. Mew Prime. Despite a good performance doesn’t move up, but if he backs it up at Worlds I could see him getting out of that 10-15 dollar range.

17. Junk Arm. Most decks used this card, so he goes up a little bit.

16. Zoroark. He proved to be that universal tech we thought it could be, but being in a promo already doesn’t help him.

15. Shaymin. This guy went up because of Zekrom’s performance, and was also used in some MegaJudge variants, also because of Catcher confirmed to be coming out as well.

14. Double Colorless Energy. R.I.P. Your league season is nearly here, it was fun being at the top while it lasted.

13. Zekrom. Despite an excellent performance, which was seen as more or less a fluke, he falls because of his promo and those FA’s seem to be worth less every second.

12. Reshiram. When your decks do well, you go up, and when they’re not seen as fluke performances either.

11. Cleffa. Used in almost every deck, he gets to move on up.

10. Kingdra Prime. All of sudden he became sought after, his price hasn’t gone up insanely but the hype has, and most people traded him away cheap when the Reshiram and Zekrom hype started.

9. Tyranitar Prime. Finally he had that superb performance that many had envisioned when UL came out a year ago.

8. Pokémon Collector. As DCE goes down, Collector not confirmed as a league promo, but is suspected to be one, he gets to move up.

7. Gengar Prime. Failed, again, why were we ever paying 40 bucks a pop on these guys?

6. Pachirisu. When you’re used in the two decks that won Canadian, Mexico, and USA Nats, you’re going to move up.

5. Emboar. Magneboar was hyped, but Reshiboar also did good, minimizing his slip.

4. Donphan Prime. He was used in a variety of decks, and most of them did very good, he’s also projected to be better when Catcher hits the USA.

3. RDL. It’s not that his decks did bad, they just weren’t as good as number one card on this list.

2. Magnezone Prime. Only in a world where bugs are hyped, could a Magnet win Nationals and slip to No.2.

1. Yanmega Prime. T&T ran out at one point, they hit 100 dollars, and they were in the T4 in all USA Nats decks, ’nuff said.

But, what if you aren’t going to Worlds or the LCQ? Well, the second half of this article is just for you!

Emerging Analysis

Translations on PokéBeach

The next set to be released in the USA is Emerging Powers, and there are already several speculative set lists out. The set is thought to just be, more or less, filler set, giving us the leftovers from BW1 and the other Promo cards released in Japan. The set list that I’ll be using for my analysis will be none other than Reed’s set list.

For simplicity, I will just discuss the cards by type.

Grass

BulbapediaThe first type is Grass, and there isn’t really anything significant released. We do get a better Pansage; it allows us to draw a card for one energy. The second card of note is Leavanny, a stage two version of Darkness Grace.

It’s cool because it lets you evolve your benched Pokémon from your deck, but it really is bad. I don’t see the point in having a stage two evolve my Pokémon; it would be easier to just evolve them manually and run a thicker line of them.

Lastly, we do get Virizon, which is an okay card. 100 for 3 isn’t awful, but 2 have to be Grass, and you can’t use it next turn. Its first attack is Giga Drain, again 30 for 2 and healing is standard, so it’s not a horrible card, but it definitely won’t be affecting the metagame.

So, once again there really wasn’t much for Grass in the set, not that it needs it with Yanmega Prime running circles around everything right now.

Fire

Fire is next, and well there’s really nothing to talk about here. We get a Tepig and the monkey brothers. Darmanitan is an okay card, but nothing special.

Water

Water is the next type, and has two excellent cards (okay, one excellent card). We get the standard new Oshawott and the new Panpour line. We also get BASCULIN. This one is actually good, it can do 70 for one energy, and when paired with FlipTini, a consistent 80 for a Water and a Double Colorless energy. Not too shabby on a basic Pokémon. :) But the true star of the type is Beartic.

pokebeach.comBeartic comes in with a beefy 130 Hit Points, right above Zekrom and Reshiram’s KO range, and a weakness to steel, which is virtually non-existent. He’s hyped for his first attack, Sheer Cold. It only does 50 damage, but it prevents the defending Pokémon from attacking.

When partnered with Vileplume, the only way out of that vicious lock is to retreat, because of the lack of a reprint for Warp Energy. There’s no reason for me to believe he won’t be a good deck, and my friends who have tested the format say he is probably a tier one deck.

Let’s be honest… there is nothing like starting a hype train for October.

Lightning

The next type is Lightning, which again doesn’t come with many cards. Emolga is cute, so that’s cool. It has a chance for a paralysis for one energy, and up to 50 for 2, and free retreat, so it’s an okay card. But, more than likely a card I’ll just give to my sister.

It also comes with a worse Galvantula, but it does get a full art (FA) out of it, Thundurus. But to be honest, it’s just another version of the SR Pikachu, but with 50 more Hit Points. It’s not really playable in my opinion, but I’m sure little kids will want it.

Psychic

Now we are going to be moving on to the Psychic type, which has some cool tricks. Sigiglyph is a cool stalling card, which can do a 50 snipe, that alone makes it worth looking at. It also might be getting an English exclusive Scolipede, which again could be something really cool.

But, the card stealing the hype is Gothitelle. When active it locks your opponents’ Trainers, which in a format with Pokémon Catcher abuse, as well as the ever growing popularity of Junk Arm, is huge. Its attack isn’t great (30 + 20 more for each Psychic energy), but it doesn’t have to be if it’s stopping your opponent from setting up.

It is my favorite card in the set, and I want to make it work, but I really don’t know how good it will be.

Fighting

BulbapediaThe next type is Fighting. Fighting Pokémon is usually very basic, and these are no exception. Excadrill does 80 for 3, plus a discard of your opponent’s energy, which is a cool effect to have. We get another version of Throh and Sawk, both of which are virtually unplayable, again. We are also getting the generic flip a coin Fighting Pokémon.

Lastly, we get Terrakion, which is probably the best of the 3 Battle Strength Legendaries, it has a revenge attack, and being a Fighting type, it hits Magnezone Prime for weakness. It also comes with the generic sacred sword attack, which is okay.

But, the card getting the most “hype” is the currently English exclusive Krookodile, we don’t know what it does but it has an ability, so many people, including myself, are hoping he is good. I always wanted a chance to play the Krookodile from B/W, so I might get that chance now.

Darkness

The next type is Darkness, and we get jipped. We get a bunch of different Zorua, none of which are particularly great and a new Zoroark, which if LostGar is big in your area isn’t all that bad, 80 for a dark and a Double Colorless energy is a really generic attack, but could be good.

Metal

Now, we are moving on to the Metal type, which has some decent cards to offer us. The first is a new Klinklang; this one hits for 30, and gets energy back from the discard, which works well with the B/W Klinklang. The second attack does 80 for a Metal and Double Colorless Energy, but if you flip tails you can’t use Zap Cannon. It’s not a great card but certainly one of the better Metal cards released in recent memory.

The second card is the battle strength Cobalion, which has the generic Sacred Sword attack, and his first attack does 30 and forces your opponent to switch; not too exciting. I think Klinklang can be a decent card, and maybe a fun deck for BR’s, but the Cobalion isn’t great.

Colorless

Last, but not least is the colorless type. We get another Cinccino, which I haven’t been able to find information on, so any help there would be appreciated. We also get (yay!) another Pidove line. The Braviary isn’t horrible; 90 for three can 1HKO a fair amount of the metagame with a PlusPower or two, but its low Hit Points hold it back.

We also get FA, in Tornadus. It comes in with 110 Hit Points and can somewhat accelerate itself; it is splashable because all it require to attack is C energy. It also has resistance to Fighting, so it could be a cheap anti-Donphan tech, and 80 for Double Colorless Energy and any energy isn’t bad on basic.

Trainers

The last part of this set, and arguably the most important is the Trainers.

Bianca. Bianca is basically a Supporter version of Magnezone Prime, letting you draw until you have 6 cards in hand. Not a bad card, but I’d rather just play Professor Oak’s New Theory.

Cheren. Draw 3 cards. I don’t think the card will see a ton of play, but at the very worst it’s a great card for newer players, and it can definitely be used in decks without a stable draw engine. I’ll be honest I think this card has a fair amount of potential for such a lackluster effect.

Crush Hammer. Basically a reprint of Energy Removal 2. I can’t say I’m thrilled to have another card that relies on coin flipping, but this guy will probably see a fair amount of play.

Max Restore. The perfect partner for Klinklang and can be abused in TyRam, it heals all the damage off a Pokémon, then discards the energy. I see this card making TyRam, by far, the preferred Reshiram variant and making Klinklang a tech in Steelix Prime, if it can ever rise to tier status again.

Its most evil partner is gone, Gyarados, so I see this being a really cool tech card for decks.

Recycle. The reprint of Recycle from the Fossil expansion, letting you put a Trainer on the top of your deck from the discard for a flip. It can definitely be used in Magnezone and Ninetales decks, but I don’t see why you wouldn’t just run Junk Arm instead. Regardless, it’s card that probably merits some testing.

Pokémon Center. Okay, I know this card wasn’t in the set list, but this would be the first Stadium card and relatively broken too. It lets each player heal 10 damage off their Pokémon, which can be a great stall tactic, and definitely weakens the power of spread decks.

Pokémon Catcher. I saved the best for last, the ever so hyped reprint of Gust of Win(d). Honestly this card fundamentally changes the game, some are afraid that it will make stage two’s unplayable or give Zekrom too much power, but after talking to people I see it as a way to put players on equal footing, and not make games come down to Reversal flips.

Based on Reed’s set list, the only two cards we wouldn’t have, related to Red Collection would be the Emolga and Druddigon Promos released for participating in Japan’s qualifier events. The Druddigon is good, but not great and the Emolga isn’t really playable, so probably not much of a loss there.

I don’t see this set being amazing, but it is definitely a solid set, and gives us staple T/S/S and two potentially top tier decks, I wouldn’t recommend going all out on this set, but definitely hit up a prerelease or two to get Pokémon Catchers, at the very least.

Now, we enter the last part of my article:

The Red Collection Set Review

(Also includes the Victini starter decks.)

I’ll start with the Victini decks.

Victini Coin Toss Deck

Translations on PokéBeach

I actually like a couple of the cards in here, but none are great.

BulbapediaThe Psychic Victini does 120 on a double heads, which isn’t bad for one Psychic energy, but really isn’t a stable attacker even with the Victini with Victory Star. I like the card, but not having another attack holds him back, and 120 doesn’t even guarantee a KO on Reshiram or Zekrom. So, I love the artwork but not the card.

Cofagrigus is another interesting card; if it’s KO’d you can flip a coin to still be hanging around. I like the effect, but the attack is lackluster, 40 for 2, with a chance for 60 doesn’t cut it in this format, but definitely a cool card, and maybe a tech card.

We also get a better Blitzle, one that comes with the standard agility attack. If a good Zebstrika is ever made, this will probably be the preferred Blitzle.

Victini Formation Deck

Translations on PokéBeach

The star of this deck is the first of two Fire Victinis.

This one like the Psychic one comes with one attack. It does 100 for 2, if your bench has 5 Pokémon on it. Which sounds good, but it really doesn’t have a place in the format. Its attack is worse than Cinccino’s, and isn’t really faster, and if you wanted to use him as a tech in Magneboar, Reshiboar or TyRam, it would be hitting for less than Reshiram.

You wouldn’t have to discard the energies, but I’d rather just use Reshiram and not have to worry about filling up my bench to attack.

Audino is another cool card; it’s a basic form of Cinccino. It has the same amount of HP, but deals half the damage. I like this card because it could randomly donk, and if you’re using an all out Cinccino deck, this guy could be a starter of sorts.

BulbapediaAgain, the problem is the weakness to Fighting. I could see it being used just because it is faster than Cinccino, but I’d rather just use Cinccino.

Emolga also isn’t bad, doing 30 for one Lightning energy. With a Lightning Pokémon on bench it is good enough to KO a baby Pokémon, but it doesn’t evolve or have another attack, so it’s not that great, but it’s cute. :)

However, the real star of this deck is Elgyem. Its first attack is a Call Energy, and with its high HP it’s not easily donked either. It also only has a Retreat Cost of one, so it’s usable, and if you’re frustrated with Smeargle and Baby flips, he could soon be your starter.

Red Collection Main Set

Translations on PokéBeach

Grass Type

Karrablast and Shelmet. Neither one of them are great cards, but if they’re both on the field, one of them can evolve. This is a great way to avoid Archeop’s Ability, and a dead-draw. I like that, especially since I think both of those cards will see play, I don’t know if that engine will be widely used, but it’s definitely a thought and will probably get some testing from me.

Amoongus also seems to be interesting. For one Grass energy it does the standard Toxic attack, and for a Double Colorless it does 30 with a chance of paralysis. Not a great card, especially with Crobat Prime around for the Mew Box decks, but it’s an okay card.

Accelgor is my personal favorite card of the type. It’s only got 90 Hit Points, but it’s the first good card to have free retreat in the B/W era. Its first attack does 20, plus a chance to remove energy; not bad for one energy.

BulbapediaIts second attack though is what makes the card shine: 60 for one Grass energy, it can’t use it next turn, but it will probably be KO’d anyway. I definitely think it can be a great Archeops counter, if it gets popular, and could be a cheap form of Donphan or Yanmega if you can’t afford them.

Virizon is the last Grass type, and gets the FA treatment in this set. It acts as a nice starter, letting you draw two cards for one energy, and the only card that can really donk it is Zekrom.

Its second attack does 40, but if you use it the next turn it does 40 more damage, which is okay for one Grass and one Colorless. I think it’s an underrated card, just because it can be an okay alternative to Cleffa, but it’s not great.

Fire Type

Moving right along, we get another FA, this time in the form of Victini. This Victini already seems to have the moniker, FlipTini. Its ability lets you reflip coins for attacks. All of sudden a lot more “bad” attacks look okay. He’s already being hyped to combo with Sharpedo, due to Justin William’s performance with the deck, and potentially the Psychic Victini.

Unfortunately, the ability isn’t stackable, and he’s not graced with a good attack or solid Hit Points, but he’s a card that will definitely see some play, or at least look really awesome in a binder.

Heatmor is a basic with 90 Hit Points that doesn’t evolve. Its first attack is an automatic burn for a Fire energy, but is second attack is why I think he’s a solid tech. “Incinerate” discards a Pokémon Tool Card from the defending Pokémon.

BulbapediaThis set introduces one in particular that is already causing a stir called Eviolite. Eviolite is a basic Pokémon Defender, that isn’t discarded and is hyped to make Zekrom an amazing deck. Heatmor can be somewhat of a counter to Eviolite and for that reason could be a decent tech card.

The last card is Volcarona; it’s a stage one with 110 Hit Points. Its first attack does 30, and lets you attach energy from the discard to one of your Pokémon. That’s the only reason I like this card; it can provide you with a form of energy acceleration, granted in the form of attack.

Its second attack isn’t bad, 60 and an automatic burn for a Fire and a Double Colorless energy, but not great. I see him being played, not much but it’s at the very worst a good card for newer players.

Water Type

Water, actually gets a lot of good cards in this set. Water is also the first type to have a fossil Pokémon.

A new fossil mechanic was introduced, basically you play a Trainer card that looks through the bottom 7 cards of your deck and if one of them is the matching Pokémon you get to play it, that also means the “stage one” of a fossil is a basic, and the normal “stage two” is now a “stage one”. They are now called Revived Pokémon too.

I’m not sure how much that will affect the playability of Revived Pokémon, but the ones released were actually really good, so people will find a way to make the Revived Pokémon engine work, and it will probably be very fine tuned by Cities and/or States.

But, the first cool card is Seismitoad; it has an attack called Round. For each Pokémon with a Round attack it does 30 damage, so it can hit for up to 120, for a Double Colorless energy. This guy is definitely good, the weakness to Grass hurts him (he’s 1HKO’d by Accelgor with a PlusPower), but I see him being competitive, it hits hard and has a good number of Hit Points, in general.

Carracosta is one of those Revived Pokémon I was talking about earlier, and he comes with an interesting ability. Whenever he’s attacked he gets to flip a coin, if heads it does 50 less damage. That really throws off math, especially with a card like Magnezone Prime who needs to Lost Zone a certain number of energy, unfortunately the attack on this guy is a little sub par.

For 2 Water and a Double Colorless it does 80 and discards an energy, which by no means is bad, but I don’t know how competitive it can be dealing just 80 damage, even if it is getting favorable coin flips. He’ll be played, but you know the guy playing with him definitely likes to go to Vegas.

Another solid card is Vanilluxe, a stage two. He flips two coins and does 40 damage times the number of heads, and if just one is heads he Paralyzes the defending Pokémon, which if used with Vileplume pretty much locks that Pokémon in place, plus if you tech in FlipTini odds are good that at least one of your flips will be heads.

He’s also got 130 Hit Points, which is just out of “easy” 1HKO range of Zekrom and Reshiram, and right now the weakness to Metal is irrelevant.

Then there is Jellicent, a stage one water type with weakness to water. His ability is that whenever he is damaged by an attack it causes the defending Pokémon to be confused, this is a really cool ability, and makes me think that potentially special conditions, other than sleep, might matter in this game again.

They can still retreat, but its ability that either makes your opponent waste resources or take a chance on an attack. His attack is also good, and might make Feraligatr or Floatzel legitimate decks, it does 10 damage plus 20 more for each Water energy, comboed with his ability he seems like a playable card (if Lightning types become less popular).

I think he’s worth testing, but maybe more as a tech than anything else, he probably would’ve been good in this year’s Professor Cup though.

BulbapediaNow we move onto my personal favorite water Pokémon, Cryogonal, a basic Pokémon with 80 Hit Points. He has two good attacks, the first is an automatic sleep attack for Water energy, but the second attack is the reason I love him. It does 30 damage, plus 40 more if the defending Pokémon is Fighting, which is right on Donphan’s 1HKO number of 140, so he can serve as a good anti-Donphan card.

It should also be noted that Donphan has issues 1HKOing Cyrogonal; it either needs to have a Heavy Impact charged up, or Earthquake with two PlusPowers. I definitely seeing him being a one of tech in a fair amount of techs, and he definitely merits some testing.

The last water type is Kyurem. It is made akin to Reshiram and Zekrom. Its first attack is Outrage and then its second attack is Glaciate. For two Water and a Colorless it does 30 spread to all of your opponent’s Pokémon. I’m told by some friends that this guy is good, but I’m not buying it.

It seems to be a basic Pokémon form of Yanmega/Kingdra, but it just seems a bit slow to me. I think he’ll be worth testing out, I’m thinking his best partner would be a Sage’s Training, Professor Juniper, and Floatzel engine, so we’ll see if this legendary is as good as his counterparts.

Lightning Type

Really short, it comes with a SINGLE evolution line, the Eelektross line.

In my opinion, the best of the line is the stage one whose ability lets you attach a Lightning form your discard to one of your Pokémon, and I just see this being a way for Zekrom to maybe have some sort of lategame. It could act as a solid recovery engine for the deck.

The stage two stops your opponent from retreating for a Double Colorless energy, and can do 90 for three. Neither attacks are bad, just not really great. Also, these guys have weakness to Fighting, so I’m not thinking they’ll be a deck of their own, but a tech card for sure, and some testing time.

Psychic Type

Bulbapedia

Psychic, once again, gets some more just really cool cards, I don’t know if any of them will be BDIF or tier one, but they just, as usual have really sweet abilities and attacks that work hand in hand.

The first one is Cofagrigus. He’s got pretty bad base stats, 90 Hit Points, weakness to Dark (which also gets a good card or two in this set), and a Retreat Cost of three. But, his first attack is what makes him truly shine.

Damage Count, for one Psychic and a Colorless you get to move all damage counters from one of your benched Pokémon to the defending Pokémon. At first glance it doesn’t seem like much, but he’s already got the perfect partners, Reuniclus and the dragon of your choice, all of sudden a potential 120 for two, doesn’t sound bad.

I think he can be a cool card, not a metagame one necessarily, but I think he does warrant some testing.

Trubbish is a neat card, he’s a guaranteed Recycle, unfortunately Garbodor is just a worse form of Muk, but Trubbish is a cool, little card. I don’t see him being widely used though.

Beheeyem is a neat card, for one energy it does 20 damage to each of your opponent’s Pokémon that has the same type as the defending Pokémon, but the flaw to this is that most decks are running 3 at least three different types of Pokémon, and 20 damage is almost irrelevant. At least he evolves from the new “form” of Call Energy.

Next there is everyone’s favorite evolution line, Litwick’s. We actually get two good cards out of this line. The first one is Lampent, which is an attack form of Gust of Win(d). So, he can use that effect even under Vileplume/Gothielle Lock, which is really nice.

BulbapediaBut, the stage two form is truly a stud, and because of its ability. It comes in with a pretty nice 130 Hit Points and a weakness to Dark, which isn’t popular, yet. His Ability, when active, lets you put 3 damage counters on your opponents’ Pokémon, which is just really good, and enough to 1HKO any baby Pokémon.

It could definitely be used with Kingdras too, and in my opinion might make a good tech in Kingdra/Yanmega. His attack is also decent, for two psychic and colorless, it does 50 plus a burn and confuse, which at the very least is annoying.

You’d probably play switches with this guy, because of his two Retreat Cost, but it’s a solid card, and could be a great tech card.

Fighting Type

Next up, is the Fighting type, and again there really isn’t much good here.

Gigalith is at least interesting it does a snipe attack, for each fighting energy attached to it; it does 20 damage per energy. Unfortunately, Fighting doesn’t have energy acceleration right now, so maybe in the future he’ll be looked at, but right now, it doesn’t do much for me.

We also get Conkeldurr, which isn’t great, but is a guaranteed Baby Counter, 40 for one fighting, regardless of effects, so that alone makes him an okay card. Swing Around is an okay attack, on average 90 for 3, which is okay. It also has weakness to Psychic, instead of Grass, so that’s a plus.

By being Fighting he also can get a 1HKO on Magnezone without PlusPowers or discards. I definitely think he’s a card that will get some testing, but he’s just an average card, with a good type and is a way to get a free prize in this format.

BulbapediaThen, we get Archeops, which brings back memories for me. I used to play an Aerodactyl/Mew deck for a while, for fun tournaments, and we finally get him back. :)

He’s one of the Revived Pokémon and his ability stops evolutions from the hand, which is key as Karrablast and Shelmet are able to get around that. His attack isn’t great, 60 for 3, and 2 10 damage snipes, but if he’s the only evolution on board he’s got a chance.

He’s being hyped, like it seems like a lot of cards are nowadays, to be in Zekrom, and make that deck broken or something along those lines. I think he’s a cool card, but I just don’t how well, the obvious choice, for me is to put him in Kingdra/Yanmega as a midgame threat, but I don’t know if that would hinder the deck or not.

Stunfisk is just a funny and cool card. He’s a Fighting type that requires Lightning energy (maybe if I played the video games, or at least knew the Pokémon, I’d know why) to attack. This, in my opinion makes him okay in Zekrom decks, simply for the mirror match. That’s the only reason I even mentioned him, his attacks are pretty awful if you ask me, but he could be a response in Zekrom mirror matches.

Most of the rest is the standard, Fighting types with the same moves, but we do get two legendaries and a FA (full art) too.

Terrakoin, is the FA, and isn’t that good, but he does have Vengeance attack, that can hit for 90 on a return KO, so just another version of Promocroak, except with no energy gain.

Landorus accelerates himself and then for 3 fighting does 80 and 10 spread everywhere, which is okay, but nothing really special, moving on to the

Dark Type

BulbapediaThey always seem to get those really solid techs cards, from Absol EX to Honchkrow SV to Weavile G to now, Zoroark you can count on Dark having good cards, but not by themselves and we get two in this set-

Bisharp is really one of my favorite cards in the set, for one Darkness energy he does 20 plus 50 more if the defending Pokémon has damage on it. With Pokémon Catcher, that’s not hard to do, choose a Pokémon and then hit it for 70, maybe 80 with a special dark, is just too good for me, not to like. I think he can serve as a tech in that Stage One Rush deck.

The second one is Hydreigon. He comes with AMAZING artwork, and a cool ability. It makes all energies attached to him, Dark. This makes him somewhat splashable, and with 150 Hit Points, he’s a hard guy to 1HKO. His attack is also good, for 4 energy, it does 60 plus two 40 snipes.

That gives him a great chance to take at least 2 Prizes in one turn, get a KO on two annoying babies and maybe the active if you can Catcher some cheap KO up.

In my opinion, he makes a great tech because he can be used with any energy accelerator, Feraligatr, Pachirisu, Double Colorless and my favorite, Emboar. I see him getting played, or at least being great trade bait because of the fabulous artwork.

The next type is Metal, and is the usual norm; we don’t get much of anything.

Metal Type

The first cool card is Durant, and when setup it mills your opponent 4 cards per turn, which might turn out to be good, but with such low Hit Points, and the somewhat high amount of recovery being used (when you factor in Junk Arm) it’s more of a disruptive early game than an actual deck. I think he’s worth testing, and he might be something I play in the Spring for a fun deck.

BulbapediaThen we get the FA, Cobalion, and I’m not all that impressed. Energy Breath does 20 plus 20 more for each energy attached to the defending Pokémon, which isn’t bad, but I’m assuming switch counts will increase as Catcher comes out, so it’s easy to play around.

The second attack is a worse form of Beartic’s, in that it requires 3 energy to use, but it does more damage. So it could be played, but fire is going to be a popular type, so I’d rather just play Beartic over him. He’s probably the best of the trio on paper, but his somewhat weak type hurts him.

Colorless Type

Good news, we get Haxorus, bad news he can’t use his best attack every turn. Haxorus is a relatively generic card, it does Dual Chop, flip two coins, and each heads is 50, so that’s good for two energy. Then his big attack, Giga Impact does 120, but then he can’t attack.

He doesn’t have a weakness, and is very splashable, but you have to play a high count of switch with him, and 120 doesn’t 1HKO a lot without PlusPowers. But, being a 140 Hit Point tank does have its benefits; I think he’s worth testing, however.

Druddigon is the other guy we get, and like Haxorus he doesn’t have a weakness. He’s get a 100 Hit Points, which for a basic that doesn’t evolve is actually sub par (no power creep here, I swear). His ability is cool, basically whenever he gets attacked; he puts 2 damage counters on the Pokémon that attacked him.

His attack isn’t amazing, 60 for 3 and no retreat is definitely good, especially when you consider that he’s a splashable card. I see his future as a good tech card, but not a deck. I like this card.

T/S/S

We get a lot of solid T/S/S in this set, and I’ll go over them now.

Super Rod. A Night Maintenance reprint, it’s really good, especially since our only recovery at the moment (that’s used) is energy retrieval, Flower Shop Lady (a supporter), and Rescue Energy (which is an energy attachment), so it’s nice to see this card make a come back.

XTransceiver. A flippy Trainer that lets you grab a supporter, I definitely see it being used and abused with Junk Arm, and it’s definitely a great card to use to bail you out of bad starts. I think it will need a fair amount of testing to get it to the “ideal” number for most decks, but at the very worst it’s a one of in, well in my opinion, every deck.

The next two cards are the trainers that let you play “Revived” Pokémon, so I’m not going to talk about them as I already covered them earlier.

Then we get two excellent Pokémon Tool cards:

The first one is Rocky Helmet, which is the trainer version of Druddigon’s ability. I love this card; it definitely gives more defensive oriented decks a chance, and can also throw off your opponent’s math, and help you. I don’t see why you couldn’t play this in every deck, simply as a one of, situational card. It also can help a lot with 1HKO ranges as well for several cards, so I see this card being played a fair amount.

But, the more hyped one is Eviolite. This card is basic Pokémon’s defender that doesn’t go away, and is hyped to make Zekrom the next “big” thing. I love this card, in that deck but also in Reshiram decks. It makes them tougher to take down, since it can only be used on Basics, it won’t be played in a lot of decks, but the fact that it makes Reshiram and Zekrom overpowered could shift the metagame. This is definitely a card you’ll want to pick up at the prereleases you go to.

Before I get to the best card in the set, we do a cute little Meowth, that really is bad, but it brings happiness, so that’s cool and makes it worth getting. :)

Then we get…

N!

N is a reprint of Rocket’s Admin., and it is still amazing. We all know how much people fear Judge; well imagine your opponent getting 4 cards and you get 2, or even just one. Luckily, nowadays there are more ways around it, you can play Magnezone Prime to get a consistent 6 card hand, or stock up on supporters that let you draw additional cards, but either way it makes a blowout game close.

I think it will also hurt the playability of Legends that are usually used to win the game in one turn; it also encourages players to play down as many energies so they can attack. I think it might fundamentally change how the midgame is played in Pokémon, but it also can be played around more than it used too.

And if that doesn’t scare you, how about a FA VERSION of N, I’m 99% sure that will be the prize of the set, and I’ll end my article (which is really like 3 separate articles) by giving you an instilment of the fear that card will show you when played against you…

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