SixPrizes SixPrizes

Pokémon TCG Tips & Strategy

Trending

Mark Hanson

Author Archive
  • Joined Oct ’11
  • 33 articles written

Bio: I’m a graduate student in Biology now. You might be able to recognize me, since I wear a Crawdaunt hat to all major tournaments.

Tech You Very Much

Three Less Obvious Inclusions for Winter Regionals 2014
⇢ ·
Hey there SixPrizes! Thanks to the winter holidays I’ve finally had time to play this game again. I’m sad to have missed so much of an awesome format, but I’ll at least get to play in one City Championship tomorrow, and will be trekking to Oregon for Regionals (for both TCG and VGC). Recently the […]

MONSTROSITY TWO POINT OH

Accelgor & Friends Deck Analysis
⇢ ·
Hey there SixPrizes, it’s been a while! I’ve been pretty insanely busy with my Masters project and most of my writing time has gone to TCGwithHats.com. But today I’ve finally got a bit of a day off as I’ve finished marking my students’ term papers and final exams (I’m a lab instructor at the moment). […]

Say Hello to My Little Friends

Regionals, Flareon Feels, Memory Tricks, and More
⇢ ·
Hey there SixPrizes! It’s good to be back. I’ve been pretty busy as of late, and took a few months off from writing. I’ve now started my master’s program and surprisingly am less busy. (Still swamped though!) Mainly because I now have weekends off, whereas before I didn’t. Because of this, I’ve finally had the […]

Set’s Out!

A Look at Plasma Blast
⇢ ·
Hey there SixPrizes, today I’ll be doing a small set preview for Plasma Blast. I’ve actually already written articles on both the NXD-on rotation (what cards will be rotated) and even a deck analysis for Virizion/Genesect. But what is Plasma Blast going to offer beyond VirGen? Pokémon Tropius PLB Tropius is a card coming into […]

Last Minute Considerations for US Nationals

⇢ ·
Dear UG subscribers, It has been an honor to write for the SixPrizes Underground these last few months. I’m writing this introduction after Canadian Nationals on Saturday. Out of respect for my opponents, I’ll refrain from commenting on my matches, but I had what was probably my most frustrating tournament ever after a brief positive […]

On Energy Switch in Darkrai

Card Commentary
⇢ ·
Hey there SixPrizes! This article is just a quick response to Kenny’s article on Thursday. In it, he raised a good point about Energy Switch in Darkrai. Is it essential? Is it a waste of space? Honestly, the card deserves its own mini-article, so I was inspired to write that up here. What does Energy […]

The Freeze Format: Raiden the Hype

Deck Analysis
⇢ ·
Hey there UG! Today, I’m going to get into the nitty gritty of what I’ve found from my playtesting in Plasma Freeze. I’ll be talking lists, matchup-specific play habits, and how Plasma Basics fits into the metagame in general. I’ll also introduce a new way to play an old favourite. This article will be like […]

Steel Yourself

Countering Klinklang
⇢ ·
Hello there UG! Hoo boy, Regionals are only a few days away now. Luckily, I think this article is still in time to provide you with quality testing lists and logic. That said, I couldn’t bring myself to just write yet another article on the Tier 1-2 decks of the format. I think we’ve talked […]

Reflecting on States & Making the Most of Your 60 Cards

⇢ ·
Hey there Underground! I hope everyone’s States went well. Originally I thought I’d be kicking off discussion in this article with a quick recap of States through the weeks, but I don’t think enough Week 3 results will be known in time for me to do much Week 3 discussion. Andy also did a very […]

The Scraps of Tier 4

Deck Analysis
⇢ ·
After two articles titled “The Lurkers of Tier 2” and “The Top of Tier 1,” SixPrizes clearly needed a Tier 3 Tier 4 deck article. But what to write it on? Well, originally I was actually going to write this article for my blog “TCG with Hats.” But the more I thought about it, the […]

Old Decks, New Techs

The Maturing Metagame
⇢ ·
Why hello there UG! States/Provincials/Territories are coming up in just a little over a week, and I felt it prudent to discuss the format as a whole coming up. After all a week’s time to prepare should help iron out any Klinks kinks we all might be working on. More than that, I don’t feel […]

The Calm Before the Storm

Card Commentary & Deck Analysis
⇢ ·
Another Regionals has come and gone. Champions crowned and fun was had by all (hopefully). Congratulations to everyone who had success this Regionals, and a special shout-out to my friends Trevore and Chase for their 1st and 3rd place finishes respectfully. Doin’ Victoria proud (unlike some of us, haha). Writing an article right after a […]

A Breakdown of What Won Cities

Other
⇢ ·
One more stretch in the competitive season is over. It’s time to kick back, relax, and enjoy the… what? Regionals is WHEN!? Yup, Regionals here in North America will pick up where Cities left off on January 19th (this coming Saturday). I’ve got a UG article coming up, but it won’t be released in time […]

The Only Tool I Need is a Hammer!

Deck Analysis
⇢ ·
After Raymond’s article earlier this month I was worried that my topic had become redundant. Thankfully I think there’s still a great deal of unique discussion I have to offer here, and very little overlap between the two articles. If you couldn’t tell, this article is going to be an in-depth analysis on the subtleties […]

Everything You Need to Know for Cities

Deck Analysis
⇢ ·
Hey there SixPrizes! Today I’ve decided to try my hand at an Esa-like deck list article. With Cities starting in just 2 days, and a potential 200 CP up for grabs, I’m going to give you a rundown of the decks to know about and at the end include a couple of my own rogue-ish […]