What’s up, readers! It has been a long two months since I last wrote for you all. I have been swarmed with college applications and other school-related things. But I’m back and more pumped than ever to be playing in big tournaments and providing you all with more content again.
We’re only four days away from our third Regional Championship of the year, Philadelphia, and it is going to be a big one. Phoenix had 459 Masters and Orlando had 616 Masters, so I can’t even imagine how massive this Northeast Regional is going to be. It is also our first big tournament with Karen in the Expanded format, making Night March and Vespiquen decks much weaker. On top of that, I am excited to see how well all of the old archetypes compete with the new ones.
Toward the end of the month (Nov. 26–27), we’ll have our second Standard format Regional Championship in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The newest set, Evolutions, will be legal for that tournament and it is going to have a substantial impact on the Standard metagame.
I suspect we will see a lot of new decks make appearances in the coming months with all of these new additions to the game. I want to help you all solidify your deck choices for Philadelphia and spark some new ideas for Fort Wayne. On that note, let’s get into my top five choices for Philadelphia Regionals.
Contents
The Philadelphia Big Five
Instead of providing you all with rogue decks or new archetypes, I simply want to show you the five decks I am liking the most. I will be discussing the decks themselves briefly and then explaining some of the cards choices in them that you might not normally see, along with other options. Hopefully this will give you insight on what will commonly be seen this coming weekend.
5. Trevenant
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Pokémon – 16
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Trainers – 36 2 N 2 Wally 1 Lysandre 1 Xerosic 1 AZ
2 Red Card
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Energy – 8 5 P 3 Mystery |
Coming off of a disappointing Worlds finish with the ghost tree, I lost almost all of my faith in Trevenant. After some list adjustments, and William Herrmann’s second-place finish in Phoenix, I have come to a conclusion that this deck might not be a bad choice after all. For Worlds, I took a more passive approach with by including Crushing Hammers and no Wobbuffet. My strategy was to run my opponents out of resources while stopping their ways of recycling said resources back, resulting in a very commanding late game. It is hard to tell, but currently I think that taking an aggressive route with the deck is best. With the revival of Jirachi-EX, Trevenant gains a little more turn 1 consistency and on-demand access to key Supporters. Other than struggling with Dark variants and the occasional Greninja, this deck is always going to be a very consistent, viable option for large tournaments, making it number five on my list.
One side note I’d like to mention is that there has been a lot of talk whether Karen is actually enough to stop Night March/Vespiquen decks. (Dustin Zimmerman provides a great insight on this.) Personally, I see this whole Karen situation playing out very similarly to that of Pokémon Ranger. There was a lot of a buzz about Pokémon Ranger being the end of Seismitoad but frankly it did not scare off or hinder much of Waterbox’s success at Worlds. That being said, I think Night March will become more balanced with the rest of the format — though it will not see a substantial decrease in its play, which is another reason why Trevenant is on my top five list.
Key Cards
2 Wobbuffet
After testing Trevenant for a while, going back and forth between two different builds, this card always seems to affect the entirety of the list. What I mean by that is when you play Wobbuffet, you have to dedicate multiple cards — such as 3–4 Mystery Energy, 1–2 Float Stone, and the 4 Bursting Balloon — for it to work best. If you don’t play Wobbuffet, you have more than two open spots because there are those other cards that are suddenly no longer necessary. Many decks that utilize Wobbuffet often use it as a wall or solely to open the game. In Trevenant, it is used more to finish off big Pokémon later in the game. If you’re going to include Wobbuffet in your list, make sure that you sustain the Item lock for as long as possible and only use Wobbuffet if you absolutely need to.
2 Red Card
The entire theme of Trevenant is disruption, so why not put two Red Card in here? Four cards plus the draw at the beginning of the turn may seem like it won’t disrupt much, but the effect becomes very powerful under Item lock. In my testing, one of the hardest positions to come back from is a turn 1 Trevenant + Red Card. On top of that, I play a Delinquent, which in some cases can put your opponent’s hand size down to one in combination with Red Card.
This card is very important in the Greninja matchup. With Delinquent in the deck, you will win the Stadium war almost every time. With their Rough Seas out of play, you can continue to spread damage on their board without having it be completely healed. This card does not win you the matchup but I believe the matchup does become favorable depending on how fast you win the Stadium war and what key cards are prized for both players. Delinquent is not only for the Greninja matchup — I’ve had numerous games where I needed to get a Stadium out of play or I even put my opponent to a zero-card hand.
Other Options
4 Crushing Hammer, 2 Head Ringer
I had all six of these cards in my list for Worlds this past year. They work really well with the deck and the whole “I’m not going to let you do anything” strategy. The reason I took them out of this list is because of the inclusion of Wobbuffet — I believe the Wobbuffet variant has a better Yveltal matchup. If you do choose to include these in your list, your goal should be to slowly run your opponent out of resources instead of immediately going after the turn 1 Trevenant and attacking as fast you can. I could easily see myself going back to the list with these 6 cards because they give you more control over the game.
In my opinion, this is one of the best techs in the game. It can be splashed into almost every deck and be very crucial in a lot of matchups. There are too many scenarios to talk about when this card has been pivotal in games. It works really well with this deck and I would definitely recommend it if you can find the space.
The main reason I thought about including this card is for the Accelgor matchup. Damage is limited in this deck, so making sure that you Silent Fear every turn possible is very important. Accelgor can can stop the stream of damage and prevent you from doing anything for the rest of the game. If you expect to play against a lot of Accelgor-based decks, I would consider Pokémon Center Lady.
4. Raikou/Eels
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Pokémon – 17
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Trainers – 33 2 N 1 Colress 1 Lysandre 1 AZ 1 Xerosic
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Energy – 10 10 L |
This deck is one of the reasons I love Expanded. Eelektrik-based decks have been around for about four years now and I’ve been a fan of them since their early days. Eric Rodriguez and Azul Garcia Griego played this deck to a top 8 finish at last season’s Virginia Regionals. Recently, Michael Slutsky piloted an interesting Raikou/Eels deck with Gallade to a top 8 finish in Phoenix. As you can see, this deck often finds its way deep into Expanded tournaments. While the deck struggles against Ability-stoppers, it shines in that it has some of the best Energy acceleration in the game and can dish out massive amounts of damage with a bulky non-EX main attacker. Overall this deck has a lot of great matchups and the flexibility to be teched for some of its more difficult matchups.
Key Cards
4 Raikou
I normally like to keep this section for tech cards and cards that you don’t normally see but I have so much praise for this card that I can’t keep it out. The biggest positive attribute about this card is that it is a non-EX. To add on, it can swing for good chunks of damage and it has a total of 160 HP with a Fighting Fury Belt. Its Ability lets Raikou soak up even more damage.
1 Mewtwo-EX
Mewtwo-EX was not included in either of the top 8 lists from Virginia Regionals last season but it was in Michael Slutsky’s Phoenix list. I think Mewtwo-EX is very strong right now for various reasons such as the increase in Wobbuffet play, Primal Groudon, and Rainbow Road.
1 Eelektross
If you want to catch your opponent off guard, here is a card for you. Eelektross is a great sweeper in this deck. With a lot of Energy on the board, Eelektross can dish out a ton of damage, Knocking Out high-HP Pokémon that Raikou might not. While the high damage output is the reason people are attracted to this card, for me it will always be the look on my unsuspecting opponent’s face.
Other Options
1 Maxie’s Hidden Ball Trick, 1 Gallade
The inclusion of these two cards in Michael Slutsky’s list were by far the coolest part about his deck. Gallade has multiple uses but for Philadelphia I can see it being mostly used for Mega Manectric. Gallade can also 1-shot Darkrai-EX and Shaymin-EX, and is great for clearing a Garbodor off your opponent’s field. The only issue with Gallade is the process of getting it in play. Maxie’s isn’t easy to pull off, but with a couple of changes to the list to compensate for that, I would definitely consider adding these two cards to the deck.
Want a card that can do crazy amounts of damage? Play this. I’ve never been a big fan of this card due to its low HP and the fact that it is an EX, but it is probably one of the best options this deck has for a late-game sweeper. If you do include this card in your list, I would consider adding a Parallel City or another way of getting Pokémon off the Bench in case you start with this little guy.
1–2 Jolteon-EX
Jolteon-EX is great card to deal with Night March and any other Basic-oriented decks. From the lists I have seen on the internet and at tournaments, barely anyone is playing Pokémon Ranger. That being said, I think Jolteon-EX is a great option if you’re worried about Night March, Rainbow Road, Turbo Darkrai, etc.
3. Greninja
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Pokémon – 18 |
Trainers – 33 4 N 1 Lysandre
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Energy – 9 7 W 2 Splash |
Once again, a Greninja deck makes its way into one of my articles. Trust me, I tried my best not include it but it is too strong of a deck right now not to consider. A list very similar to this one, piloted by Drew Kennett, won Phoenix Regionals. On top of that, the Greninja decks that made Day Two there earned a total 400 points which is double what the second biggest deck at the tournament (Night March) earned.
If you are considering Greninja for Philadelphia, the Talonflame variant is the way to go. Item lock is very prevalent in the Expanded format and Talonflame allows you to combat it. Greninja has good matchups across the board and is a very consistent deck for a large two-day tournament. The reason I have it has my third pick and not my first is simply because it won the last Expanded Regional and it is on everyone’s radar. I don’t think any player should go into the tournament not expecting to play against 1–2 Greninja decks.
Key Cards
One problem that I have seen with Greninja over the past few months is keeping a constant stream of Greninjas. A fully-evolved Greninja BREAK is 4 cards, and since Super Rod can only shuffle back 3 Pokémon, the deck needs more “recovery” cards. Sacred Ash is great but it cannot be played under Item lock, and Splash Energy puts the Pokémon directly into your hand instead of back into the deck where you’d need to dig for them again.
This card probably stands out the most to you. It is in here to discard the Talonflames that are not used to free your deck of useless cards later in the game. Another function of this card could be to discard a Supporter or two that you need for the current/upcoming turn to get with VS Seeker.
4 Talonflame
Ever since I first saw Alex Hill playing this card in his Greninja list at Worlds I have been hooked on it. Its synergy with the deck is incredible. Item lock is very popular in Expanded and Talonflame is a great way to combat it. You can search out whatever specific cards you need for the following turn while putting some damage on the Defending Pokémon. The only reason I would take this card out would be when playing in the Standard format. See Mike Fouchet’s discussion of the Standard version of the deck for more on that.
Other Options
1–2 Jirachi XY67
While I think that this card is 10 times better in Standard, do not count it out in Expanded. Jirachi is great in this deck as it buys you time to build your board against the fast decks that run on Special Energy. Also, if your opponent does not have a way to get around the Jirachi, then they miss a turn of damage which is game-changing against a deck like Greninja.
I really want to find space to put this card back into the deck. Teammates is a very powerful card in non-EX decks that take time to set up or need certain cards to function properly. In this case, it’s taking time to set up. Greninja is very good at coming back from behind and Teammates is a card that makes comebacks much more possible. You can search out the crucial Energy, a Greninja, a Greninja BREAK, and anything else you might need to put yourself back into the game. The reason I do not have it in the deck right now is due to space but I could see myself taking out something for it.
3–4 Faded Town
If you are worried about Mega Pokémon being popular this weekend, I would put this into your deck. There isn’t much else to say about Faded Town other than it makes taking down big Megas much easier.
2. Manectric/Garbodor
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Pokémon – 16
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Trainers – 34 2 N 1 Lysandre 1 Karen 1 AZ
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Energy – 10 8 L 2 P
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Mega Manectric is back and it is better than ever. This was a deck that we saw grow over a couple of days at the US National Championships two years ago. It had a lot of success at Nationals 2015 but lost a lot of its momentum during Night March’s reign of terror and the release of Gallade. Currently I think this deck has a lot of things going for it. First of all, Karen makes the Night March matchup much better than it was before. Secondly, a lot of the top-tier decks rely on Abilities which are shut off by Garbodor and Wobbuffet. I think the deck only has two weaknesses right now: Groudon, and then the few decks that have Gallade splashed in.
Key Cards
3 Wobbuffet, 2 P Energy
These cards are by far my favorite in the deck. As I stated earlier in the article, Wobbuffet’s main purposes are usually to be a wall, to open the game, or even solely to attack with. The beauty of it in this deck is that it utilizes all of those functions equally. The high count of Wobbuffet is so that you have the possibility of starting it, which will slow your down opponent considering they won’t be able to use Jirachi-EX and Shaymin-EX. Wobbuffet can be used to set up a Garbodor with an Archeops on the field. Probably the best quality of Wobbuffet in the deck is the damage it can do following a Turbo Bolt. Assuming no healing, the damage adds up to 230 which is enough to take down almost every Pokémon in the game.
1 Karen
Mega Manectric decks definitely benefit the most from Karen. Night March has always been a terrible matchup for this deck due to its speed and ability to 1-shot a Mega Manectric with enough Night Marchers in the discard. I think Karen turns the matchup into a favorable one for Mega Manectric by simply resetting their turn of burning resources.
I always love having at least one copy of Parallel City in my decks. I have seen and experienced too many games lost because of a Jirachi-EX or Shaymin-EX sitting on the Bench waiting to be brought up to the Active Spot and KO’d. With Parallel City in the deck, you can discard the Pokémon you don’t need on the field. It is also strong against Sky Field decks like Rainbow Road and Mega Rayquaza. If you want to get more fancy with it, you can use the other side of the Parallel City to reduce damage done to your Manectrics from Seismitoad-EX or any other Fire/Grass/Water Pokémon.
Other Options
1–2 Fighting Fury Belt/Muscle Band
After doing some math in my head on the damage that Wobbuffet can do, I came up 10–20 short on a few important calculations, the first one being in the Groudon matchup. It is not a good matchup at all but I was thinking that it could be winnable if you attack into the Groudon with Turbo Bolt and then follow up with a Psychic Assault, but that puts you 10 damage short of the KO. One of these two cards would definitely help in that scenario and might even give you a chance to win that matchup.
1 Ghetsis
Ghetsis is a very strong card on the first turn of the game, especially against Vileplume decks. This card also pairs very well with Wobbuffet and it would give your opponent a very rough first turn if you opened with those two cards. Mega Manectric is a deck that doesn’t need a certain Supporter every turn, so you will see a lot of lists playing 1-of inclusions. If you’re considering dropping a card from the list, I highly recommend giving Ghetsis a try.
1 Hoopa-EX
Hoopa-EX is another great option that I have seen in many lists recently. It has amazing synergy with the deck since you can play it while Wobbuffet is in the Active Spot and it is one of the best set-up cards in the game currently. The deck also plays an AZ and a Parallel City if you are worried about the Hoopa being stuck on the Bench.
1. Toad/Bats
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Pokémon – 17 |
Trainers – 36 2 N 2 Lysandre 1 Colress 1 Ghetsis 1 AZ
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Energy – 7 3 W |
And the number one spot goes too … (drum roll, please) … Toad/Bats. I know what you’re thinking — I wish the top selection was something a little more exciting too. I have never been too much a fan of Seismitoad-EX but I am really liking the deck right now. The list I have been using is very similar to Michael Pramawat’s list that he used to top 4 at last season’s Virginia Regional Championship alongside many more successes. While there are a slew of reasons why I like this deck, the main one is that this deck has a way of beating anything. Sitting down against a bad matchup is not the end of the world for this deck. The power of Quaking Punch and Hypnotoxic Laser combined can turn any matchup into this deck’s favor. Another point that I want to stress to you all is that I feel most comfortable with this deck. I have played more games with Toad/Bats than any other deck mentioned here. Your experience with a deck should always be one of the top factors in your deck decision.
Key Cards
When I initially put this card into the list, it was as a joke because Computer Search has always been the superior ACE SPEC. After a few games with it, I realized that it is by far the best ACE SPEC option for the deck. The biggest matchup it helps in is the Greninja matchup. If both sides are constantly using Rough Seas, Greninja will come out on top most of the time because it has the higher damage output. With Rock Guard they are forced to either ignore Toad or take the 60 damage that cannot be Rough Seas’d away (because their turn will have already ended). Toad/Bats does not have the ability to do massive amounts of damage in one attack. Instead, damage is spread out in little parts, meaning every single damage counter counts. Rock Guard is a great way to increase the deck’s damage output and put your opponent in a bind.
Originally I had 3 Virbank City Gym in the list to increase damage, but I soon realized there was a better Stadium option out there. After seeing Pramawat play in multiple tournaments with 3 Silent Lab, I decided to try it out. I have never played a card that puts my opponent in a “I really wish you didn’t play that card” position more than Silent Lab. Your goal for the first turn of game should almost always include a Silent Lab in that Stadium spot. In a format where nearly every single deck plays a Shaymin-EX, why not play a card that makes Shaymin irrelevant?
While this is the loose spot of the deck that I would consider switching out, there is a really good reason for keeping this little guy in the deck: Yveltal. It all comes down to personal preference but going into any Expanded tournament, you should always expect to play against at least one Yveltal deck. The Fright Night Yveltal can cause this deck a lot of problems. Dedenne solves that issue by 1-shotting Fright Night and doing a substantial amount of damage to Yveltal-EX.
Other Options
Tired of relying on coin flips to pick up your Pokémon? Play this. I would really like to test this card, but ever since I put that Rock Guard into the list, I have been hooked.
Super Rod is definitely something I want to put into the deck. Currently my list has no recovery options which means I have to be very careful about expending resources and discarding cards. Super Rod would give the deck a little more haphazard freedom while providing a backup option if you are forced to discard important Pokémon or W Energy at the beginning of the game.
In the most recent League Challenge that I won, I had this card in Dedenne’s spot. Considering the deck runs off of Double Colorless Energy, there should be a way to get those Energy back. The last thing you want to worry about when playing this deck is actually being able to attack later in the game. With a Special Charge you can play a little more aggressively and not be penalized by it in the later stages of the game.
Early Thoughts on Evolutions for Standard
Instead of doing a set review on Evolutions, or giving you all more decklists, I want to talk about what impact the newest set will have on the Standard format and what you can expect the meta to look like during the weeks leading up to Fort Wayne.
At a glance, I don’t think that this set is as game-changing as some sets have been in the past. After looking through each card, it does not seem like there will be any new top-tier archetypes but there are a few cards that we will definitely see splashed into a few decks.
I really love this card’s Ability. When I first saw this card I immediately thought: Greninja. In Greninja you’re always looking for Energy in your hand to fuel Giant Water Shuriken. With Starmie, you can discard a card that you know you will not need later in the game and grab two W Energies back to power a Greninja. I could also see this card being played in Volcanion.
Pokémon sure does love printing Mewtwo. With Mega Mewtwo being very popular in the Standard format, a non-EX that can hit it for a lot of damage for one Double Colorless is amazing. Even though the Mega Mewtwo has to have 4 Energy on it for this Mewtwo to one-hit it, you can still take a large chunk of HP away from the Mega.
I think that this card is going to be teched into a multitude of decks. Even though it doesn’t deal with Garbodor, it can still be used to get rid of Fighting Fury Belts, Bursting Balloons, or any other Tools that you want to get rid of. Definitely expect to see 1–2 copies of this card in decks.
This is probably my favorite card from the set. Almost every single top-tier deck in the format plays at least 4 Special Energy. Raticate can take advantage of that by not only discarding the Energy but doing a massive amount of damage depending on how many there are in the opponent’s discard. I am curious to see if decks will play higher counts of this card or just splash it like Rattata. The only downside that I can foresee if this card gets popular is that Special Charge would get played more.
This is the card that everyone is talking about. While it might not equate to when Shaymin-EX was released, it is still very strong. Rainbow Road, Mega Rayquaza, and Mega Gardevoir are just a couple of the decks that really benefit from Dragonite. I think this card is going to cause an increase in play of Sky Field decks. One other thing to add is that it fits really well into the Gyarados deck that recently saw a lot of hype and success, so don’t count that deck out.
I’m going to put it plain and simple: there isn’t going too much change in the Standard metagame. Garbodor will still run the format since we didn’t get any decent Tool-removal cards. I think the biggest change we will see is an increase of play in Sky Field decks due to the release of Dragonite-EX. People are going to become much more cautious about their Special Energy due to Raticate. One thing that we might see is the resurgence of Lightning-based decks like Raichu to take advantage of Mega Rayquaza and Dragonite-EX.
If you are attending Fort Wayne this month, my advice to you is to start your testing now. When a new set comes out, there are a lot of new ideas that everyone is scrambling to figure out. If you start understanding what impact these cards will have on decks and the meta early, it will give you a great advantage over those who sit back and wait.
Conclusion
We’ve got a pretty big month ahead of us considering there are two more Regional Championships on the way. Like I have always said, for big tournaments it is better to play something you are comfortable with than to try and dissect the meta for the perfect counter.
I hope you all enjoyed the article and grabbed a lot of information from it! I will attending both Philadelphia and Fort Wayne Regionals this month, so if you see me there make sure to say hi.
See ya next month!
-Henry
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