Charizard VMAX/Volcarona-GX and ADPZ for the Post-Rotation Format (TEU–DAA) “The deck is somewhat inconsistent and slow compared to other decks of the format like ADPZ or Eternatus VMAX. To tell you the truth, when I started testing Charizard VMAX I didn’t expect much from it, but little by little I started to understand the strength of the deck. It is true that the deck has its problems, but we also need to realize that the format has changed. There is no Pokémon capable of KOing an opponent’s VMAX Pokémon in a single attack without a tremendous effort behind it. Even with a little inconsistency and delay to be able…
SQUARE Eternatus, Centiskorch VMAX, and Slumbering Mill for UPR–DAA “With this tournament in mind, I’ve been testing a few decks from Darkness Ablaze that on paper look like they are incredibly strong. The first is the ever-so-obvious combo that Pokemon presents to us: Eternatus VMAX. I really like Eternatus because of the Turbo approach it can employ, by being able to fully abuse Crobat V’s Night Asset Ability which is just like Shaymin-EX ROS’s Set Up (except limited to once per turn), and Galarian Zigzagoon SSH in order to increase its damage output which is already very high at 270 total. The Eternatus deck I’ve been working on also…
The Debut of Gothita Lock “The main idea behind the deck is to get rid of the opponent’s hand and then infinitely lock them by pivoting between Gothita and Drilbur. You can accomplish this by using Reset Stamp late in the game and following it up with Jessie and James in order to remove the few cards that your opponent got off of Reset Stamp, or you can use Jessie and James opportunistically if your opponent overextends their hand. However, it’s likely that most games will follow the Reset Stamp strategy. From there you use Fortune Eye to arrange your opponent’s top 5 cards in…
Out in T64 of the Players Cup, Thoughts on the Event, and a Darkness Ablaze Set Review “For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you already know that I’m no longer in the event, and it is somewhat ambiguous if I’m even allowed to publish my list yet, but it’s 2 cards off from the list I published a while back. I went into the event knowing that no matter what deck I played my run would be determined by the matchups I would hit. So, me being me, I decided that taking a very mediocre PikaRom matchup was somehow a good idea. For four whole rounds, my rather unintelligent view was valid. LucaMetal/Zacian pretty…
Straight Zacian (My Winningest Deck of UPR–RCL) and Eternatus VMAX (Pre- and Post-Rotation) “The idea of using a cleaner and more consistent Zacian deck came to me after I realized that I was losing a considerable amount of games due to inconsistency or even specific preparation on the part of my opponents. Against ADPZ, opponents can focus on removing Energy, while against Zacian Combo the opponent can use Mr. Mime TEU + Galarian Zigzagoon SSH to prevent the use of Scoop Up Net. By not using ADP-GX or Jirachi Prism Star, my Zacian list got new free slots, so I was able to include cards that I had been really wanting to use…
A clever combatant, this Pokémon battles using water balloons created with moisture secreted from its palms. (Drizzile)
ADPZ onto Week 2 of the Players Cup, Why I Switched Decks, On the Seeding + No Shows, and ¿Hablas Español? “We had taken inspiration from my fellow Mexican player Oliver Rochin Montijo and his Limitless Invitational Top 4 deck. As you can see, though, that list included a bunch of techy cards such as Tool Scrapper, Metal Frying Pan, Chaotic Swell, and Mallow & Lana, none of which really help in any way in terms of getting the GX attack off on turn one. I decided to cut all the fluff and max out on counts of cards that I deemed were crucial when going for the combo, and this is the list I ended up with: Maxing out on…
The Five Archenemies of UPR–RCL (and How to Thwart Them), Universal Techs, and Picking a Deck for the Players Cup “There are a lot of cards in the current format, which means there are inevitably going to be cards that win certain matchups almost all on their own. In an event like the Players Cup, where two losses means you’re out, and one loss means you’re playing a lot more rounds, taking auto-losses to certain cards or decks is not something that you want to do. I still contend that this deck is a trap and never beats competent players, but it consistently does alright whenever the timing is right for it. There are a number of ways that the…
My Top 5 Decks for Week 1 of Players Cup Bracket Play (Including: Spiritomb, Baby Blowns, PikaRom, Dragapult, and Zacian Combo) “Spiritomb/Ultra Beasts is a deck that emerged after the metagame was already established. If the metagame stays the way it is, then we have a great deck, but if opponents make a few changes to prepare for Spiritomb, it loses a lot of potential. In addition, it is a deck with very even matchups, without great advantages or disadvantages. Spiritomb needs other attackers because alone it will not be able to close out a match due to its low HP and limit of 4 copies. As much as you use Ordinary Rod or Lana’s Fishing Rod, you still need more…
Thoughts on Worlds 2021 News, 4th Place Magcargo Mill @ Unofficial Japan Nationals, and 1st Place ADPZ @ Special League Ginza “the news: So far London is where Worlds 2021 will still be held given that it should have been our 2020 Worlds location. This makes sense and I’m not surprised to see Pokemon want to stay in London for Worlds. Personally, I’m not too excited about Worlds being in London only for the fact that I’ve been there for every International Championship thus far. Still, those that never been will appreciate the location more. I’m all for having Worlds in another country since we’ve only ever had it outside of the US one other time (Vancouver, Canada back in 2013).…
A New and Improved Way to Play Cinccino Control “Without further ado, I present to you the new and improved Cinccino Control: Considering that the deck focuses on Energy denial, most of the list should be fairly self-explanatory. However, there are some very unorthodox includes that I feel need to be elaborated upon. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Why is there a Shuckle-GX in a competitive deck, let alone a Control deck? Shuckle-GX is not only one of the most out-there inclusions, but also one of my favorite mechanics the deck has to offer. Spiritomb cannot handle Shuckle. The Spiritomb matchup becomes one of the most…
It emits psychic energy to observe and study what’s around it—and what’s around it can include things over six miles away. (Orbeetle)
Fire Box Box and Zacian V/Lucario & Melmetal-GX, A More Well-Known Pair of Decks, Updated, to Compete with Tier 1 “You may not realize it, but Fire Box is the deck with the best placements in big tournaments this season. Since Worlds 2019, Fire Box placed Top 4 @ Worlds 2019 by Tord Reklev, 1st @ LAIC 2019 by Robin Schulz, 2nd @ OCIC 2020 by Zach Lesage, and 1st @ Limitless Q2 by Masato Shimada. The deck has been strong since the beginning of the season until now because it still has the best gust effect in the game, which is Nine Temptations. Ninetales TEU gusts Pokémon from the opponent’s Bench—without the use of a Supporter—and the deck still…
Players Cup Positivity and a Cluster of Cool Concepts, Including Zacian/Galarian Perrserker, Cryogonal/Absol, Cryogonal/Cradily, Archeops, and Meganium Box “At first glance this deck seems really weird. However, it’s probably the most “meta” deck that I’ll be talking about today. The theory here is that I can 1HKO literally any Pokemon in the game with Zacian V. The deck caps at 340 damage, but in reality you’re probably not ever going to need to hit that. 320 is much more realistic and is conveniently enough to 1HKO Dragapult VMAX. The thing I really like about this deck is that you can play it in so many different ways. I think that it has favorable matchups against every other Zacian…
Evaluating My PikaRom Play, Combo Blacephalon, Techy Dragapult, and General Thoughts from Playing in the Various Online Tournaments “Watch: I want to delve deeper into the second game from the Winners Finals match vs. Tord and provide an analysis as to why I in fact did not get “unlucky” to not draw the Electropower to basically seal the game. Instead, I actually didn’t play optimally the previous turn, and this will hopefully show why it’s so important to look back into what you could’ve done better in every match, rather than blame losses on luck. Here is the crucial turn where 1 Electropower off of this Dedechange hand would’ve allowed me to KO the Dragapult with Energy and…
Analyzing the Results of the Players Cup Kickoff Invitational and Limitless Invitational “While analyzing, it’s important to realize that the Players Cup Invitational actually happened two weeks before it was broadcast. This means that it was played with the mindset of Limitless Q4, which occurred on the same weekend. It’s possible that different decks/lists would have been chosen if the tournament was a few weeks later—namely Spiritomb. I’m only going to cover Spiritomb, Dragapult VMAX, and Zacian V in this article. Blacephalon UNB and PikaRom are the other two decks in the popular five, but nothing drastic changed from those decks since Limitless Q4 or even Q3. Their average placements across both…
Water Mew3 Box and Silvally-GX/Alolan Persian-GX, Two Crazy Decks to Compete with Tier 1 “If I had to list in order the best decks of the format, this would be my list: Dragapult VMAX PikaRom Zacian Combo Baby Blowns Spiritomb Dragapult VMAX is my favorite deck due to the extremely strong attack and high HP of Dragapult VMAX. If you get a Dragapult VMAX with two Energies on turn two, you don’t need anything else to play against most metagame decks. By focusing the deck on being consistent to do this, you already have enormous strength in your hands. The deck doesn’t need Crushing Hammer, Giant Bomb, Spell Tag, or any other techs, it…
Living with a savage, seafaring people has toughened this Pokémon’s body so much that parts of it have turned to iron. (Galarian Meowth)
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