Alex Schemanske
Author Archive
Dissecting the Unknown Meta (Decks One-by-One), On Picking a Deck, and 6P’s Final Words Before Worlds 2019 “The meta at Worlds is always a bit weird, but we’ve usually had a general feel for what the format will bring us. However, this year, we have a much different format than in years past. Instead of adding a single set to the card pool, we have rotated the first half of the Sun and Moon block and added a new set with 200+ cards. So what does that mean for the meta as a whole? Well, I think there is a much higher chance of some off-the-radar deck winning Worlds, similar to Mega Audino a couple years ago.…
Pinch-Hitter PikaRom and Aerodactyl/Welder for Worlds/DC Open (+ What Is Still My Top Pick) “Consistency is king in a new format. Malamar is supposed to be the “most consistent deck” because it kept Mysterious Treasure when every other deck lost their consistency. However, PikaRom didn’t lose as much as everything else, and, in my opinion, is just as consistent as (if not more so than) Malamar. While ReshiZard remains my top pick, PikaRom is a close second. I don’t want to play PikaRom for Worlds, but there is no denying how strong the deck can be. In my list, you’ll notice some things that aren’t standard in PikaRom right now, but I believe they…
ReshiZard (My Top Meta Pick) and Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX (An Off-the-Wall Pick) for Worlds/DC Open “While I may despise the Green’s version of ReshiZard in the current Standard format, it is unfortunately the only available option when it comes to post-rotation. From what I have seen, ReshiZard lists have become pretty standardized, and that is both a good and a bad thing. It is good because you can usually know what to expect from your opponent when playing against the deck, but it is bad in that if you’re playing ReshiZard yourself, your opponent knows most of your deck. Sometimes, you absolutely need to be able to find that Volcanion on your first turn, and…
Dragonite/Salazzle and Dark Box (Sharpedo) for UPR-on/Worlds/DC Open “This is a deck that I believe has potential to break open the meta. The ability to deal 270 damage relatively easily is something that should not be overlooked. What the deck seemed to lack was a good way to draw cards, and I believe that I solved that with the inclusion of Salazzle UNB. This deck needs to find a Welder or a Professor Elm’s Lecture every turn, and Dragonite TEU helps to do that. Unfortunately it cannot attack, but Fast Call is more than enough to warrant the spot it takes. Salandit DRM is the optimal choice here…
A Unified Minds Set Breakdown and Which Cards Will Impact the Meta “This is a card that I do not see falling into the background in either Standard or Expanded. Being able to break evolution rules has always been very strong, and now we have an attacker that does it for no Energy cost. In Standard, I’m quite certain that some form of Grass Box could become real, and I could also see Nidoqueen TEU/Meganium LOT/Swampert CES playing this card. In Expanded, the options available to us are absolutely crazy. For instance, we can now easily achieve turn 1 Item lock with Vileplume AOR. The potential of this card is incredibly strong,…
When it gets wet, its skin changes color, and this Pokémon becomes invisible as if it were camouflaged. (Sobble)
Unfortunate Off-Meta—Gardevoir-GX/Swampert—for NAIC (Oops…), and Rearview-Mirror Thoughts on the 2018–2019 Competitive Season “I was one of the lucky players who got to spend almost two weeks in the city of Columbus this June. Because of this, my friends and I had quite a bit of time to test and figure out our play for NAIC. We knew that we were going to try to avoid playing a meta deck, but I still had some reservations about this idea, as shown in my last article. Before I go into the week, let me describe our testing process: First, we would build whatever deck we were on at the time on PTCGO and try…
Four Revelations for NAIC, Two Main Contenders, PikaRom v6.16, and ZapBeasts Reloaded “Blacephalon UNB is a terrible idea and should not be played by anyone who doesn’t want to rely on pure luck to make it through an event. Zoroark and Silvally seem like a great combination, but in reality the deck falls short of expectations. ReshiZard is seeing way too much hate to be a strong play for NAIC. Weezing has the potential to be a threat because of how good of a meta call it can be. What does this mean for us going forward? It means that inconsistent decks are seemingly falling out of the meta and old decks—such as…
The Post-Madison Tier List and Optimal Decklists for Almost Every Archetype “ReshiZard/Abilities PikaRom Blacephalon-GX Zoroark-GX/Persian-GX Green’s ReshiZard Blacephalon UNB Naganadel/Quagsire Weezing Malamar ZapBeasts Granbull You’ll notice that I separated the Ability ReshiZard and Green’s ReshiZard. They have different enough matchups to where I consider them different decks. We saw Ability-based ReshiZard dominate at Madison, while Green’s ReshiZard had significantly less high placements. I expect the trend of Ability ReshiZard seeing more finishes than Green’s ReshiZard to continue through the coming weekends. Going forward, I believe that Blacephalon-GX will see a resurgence in play because of how well it can handle the ReshiZard matchup and not immediately lose to the rest of…
An In-Depth Guide on ReshiZard’s Matchups (from PikaRom to QuagNag to Stall), and the 2nd Place Santa Clara List Updated for Madison “R1: ZoroControl…WW (1-0-0) R2: ZapBeasts…WLW (2-0-0) R3: Turbo PikaRom…WW (3-0-0) R4: NagaQuag…WW (4-0-0) R5: Turbo PikaRom…WW (5-0-0) R6: ZapBeastsRoc…LW ID (5-0-1) R7: ZapBuzz…LL (5-1-1) R8: PlumeStall…WW (6-1-1) R9: RegiStall…WW (7-1-1) R10: ZapBeasts…WW (8-1-1) R11: ZapBuzz…LWW (9-1-1) R12: PlumeStall…WW (10-1-1) R13: PikaRom…ID (10-1-2) R14: Green’s ReshiZard…ID (10-1-3) T8: PikaRom…WW (11-1-3) T4: ZapBeasts…WW (12-1-3) T2: Green’s ReshiZard…LWL (12-2-3) I lost two Best-of-3 matches and seven individual games throughout the entire event, after testing zero games with the final list. I believe that this is a testament to how inherently strong the deck is. When looking through my matchups, you’ll notice a few things that don’t make sense. For instance, in Round 4…
The “Win-or-Lose” and “Get-Some-Points” Plays for Santa Clara Regionals “I haven’t been able to put as many games as I would have liked into the new format because of my little jaunt to Panama City, but from what I’ve been testing, this seems to be the best play for those of us who want to go all the way. Blacephalon-GX is in a very interesting place right now. It is one of the few decks that can stand up to Pikabox, Zapdos, and now Reshizard. Unbroken Bonds has brought us a whole bunch of different Fire support and Blacephalon-GX can utilize some of it. Even though Welder does allow…
It’s said that this Pokémon was formed when an ancient clay tablet was drawn to a vengeful spirit. (Galarian Yamask)
Meta Shifts to Hartford, How to Counter Shock Lock, Plus Zoroark/Vespiquen and Buzzwole/Garbodor/Jirachi for this Weekend “But before anything else, I want to talk about how the Daytona meta is likely going to impact what we see in Hartford. Over half of Top 8 was made up of Control decks Zoroark/Garbodor and Archie’s Blastoise fell off the map in Day 2 Seismitoad is back and still a major threat Shock Lock made two consecutive Top 8 placements by the same player Pikarom is easily the strongest deck in the game But what does this all mean? Hot Take #1: We should see more people playing Shock Lock. How does the game deal with this though? There…
Last Word, Beast Box, and Ultra Necrozma/Malamar for EUIC (SUM–TEU) “Alex Krekeler and I have seen some success playing Beast Box because of how well it handles a select few decks. I believe this list to be as close to optimal as Beast Box is ever going to get. 4 Stakataka-GX Stakataka-GX is the reason this deck is so strong. With four on the Bench, all damage done to any of your Pokemon is reduced by 40 damage, which means Thunderous Assault hits for 40 base damage. Assembly-GX is also a very strong attack that is completely underrated. Doing 50+50 for each Prize card that you’ve taken does enough…
ZoroGarb 2.0 and PikaTickets for Daytona “I personally believe that Justin Kulas and I came incredibly close to achieving the perfect list for Greensboro. Here is said list: Going forward, I’d say that this list is a perfectly acceptable choice to play in Daytona this weekend. It’s one of the most consistent lists that still includes tech cards for nearly every matchup; however, I believe there are cards that are better in the list now that we’ve seen Drampa/Garbodor win an event and Pikarom make a comeback. There are a few key changes that I believe allow the deck to handle almost any matchup we’re going…
The Green Machine (Celebi & Venusaur-GX), Blacephalon, and My Yellow Plays (Zapdos/Jolteon, Zapdos/Ultra Beasts, Lightning Box) for Denver “I really like this deck as a rogue play for Denver. It boasts quite a few good matchups that I want to beat, and that automatically put it on my radar. The deck struggles a little bit in the early game if you’re unable to find an Energy on the first turn. Usually, this isn’t a problem because we play 14 outs to Energy cards. 1 Wobbuffet LOT One of the matchups that this deck generally struggles with is Pikarom. This is because they can usually get a turn two Full Blitz if they dig for it. Wobbuffet plays a…
Tiers 1 thru 3, Melmetal/Magnezone, Passimian/Zapdos, Spread, Zororoc Deconstructed, Walls, Lightning Box, and Traditional Zororoc “Before I do anything else, I need to define what the meta currently looks like based on recent League Cup results. Zapdos Variants Pikarom/Jirachi/Zapdos Zoroark/Lycanroc Walls Blacephalon Buzzwole Decks Spread Malamar Lost March Zygarde Lycanroc Everything Else Going forward, I will always be most worried about Pikarom, Zapdos, and Zororoc. These are the decks that everyone seems to be defaulting to right now simply because of how blatantly strong they are compared to everything else. Zoroark has consistency, and Zapdos and Pikarom have the ability to hit high numbers quite easily with Electropower. I haven’t seen many people talking about…
When scared, this Pokémon cries. Its tears pack the chemical punch of 100 onions, and attackers won’t be able to resist weeping. (Sobble)
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