Jimmy Pendarvis
Author Archive
A Look at the Madison Regional Winning Buzzwole List “First off, I want to thank Chris Leandro for giving me the decklist on Friday morning. He put a lot of time into the deck and felt it was the best list for handling Malamar, and he was absolutely right. I knew Buzzwole was strong but I really underestimated how good baby Buzzwole is, which led to me playing a singleton copy in the lists I was testing. The three baby Buzzwole list that we all played at Madison Regionals is certainly the way to go, and I was very impressed by it in testing on Friday. Leading up to…
Jimmy’s Look at Drampa and Lucario for Expanded and the Best Decks in Standard “This is a deck that I have loved in Expanded for quite a while now, and it is pretty much all my friends and I have been using in the format. We have had a decent amount of success with the deck, so I certainly felt like it was worth a try when Forbidden Light game out. I am still a huge fan of the deck, as it still feels like I can beat almost anything with the deck. While my games are very close most of the time, I like to leave the games in my hand by playing…
Jimmy’s SLC and São Paulo Recaps and Forbidden Light Favorites “R1 Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI WW R2 Ho-Oh-GX/Kiawe WW R3 Zoroark-GX/Glaceon-GX WW R4 Espeon-GX/Garbodor WW R5 Buzzwole-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI WW R6 Zoroark-GX/Lucario-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI WLW R7 Buzzwole-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI ID R8 Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI ID R9 Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI WW R10 Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI WW R11 Zoroark-GX/Garbodor WLL R12 Tapu Bulu-GX/Vikavolt SUM WLL R13 Magnezone UPR/Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX LWL R14 Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX WW 9-3-2, 15th place Headed into this event, I knew that I wanted to play something consistent. I also prefer playing decks that have a chance against everything, as opposed to just a couple good matchups. This left me deciding between Golisopod-GX/Zoroark-GX and Buzzwole-GX/Lycanroc-GX. Both decks fit…
Jimmy’s Analysis of Top Decks for Brazil Standard and Salt Lake City Expanded “This is one of the most straightforward decks in standard at the moment, as it is just a highly aggressive deck that aims to take easy knockouts as soon as possible. Buzzwole is a fast, efficient attacker that can take KOs while placing damage on the bench to setup more KOs for the future, so it is no surprise that it is considered one of the best attackers available currently. Despite the extremely popular Mew-EX and sometimes Mewtwo techs, this deck is still in a great spot right now. The deck is certainly a bit different than it was earlier…
Jimmy’s Takes on Greninja, Vikavolt/Bulu, and Lucario for Standard “Tapu Fini-GX This has made its way out of some Greninja lists recently, such as the one Joe Ruettiger piloted to a Top 4 finish at Charlotte. However, Joe clearly missed having Fini around, as he decided to include it in his Portland list. I definitely think that was the right call, as this card can make all the difference against Buzzwole-GX decks. It certainly won’t get used every game, but you’ll certainly notice a lack of Fini over the course of a tournament. 3 Choice Band This is something we saw in successful Greninja lists earlier in the year,…
Thought to be the oldest form of _________, it moves in zigzags and wreaks havoc upon its surroundings. (Galarian Zigzagoon)
Metagame-Influenced Lists for Zoroark/Golisopod and Sylveon, plus Zoroark/Lucario for Expanded “I have always been a fan of the consistency Golisopod-GX/Zoroark-GX brings to the table, and I have liked its matchups as of late. Having a chance to win a majority of your games is a very nice feeling, as you almost never brick and its autolosses are not very popular. My list might seem a little strange, so let me talk about why I chose these sixty cards. Going into the weekend, I wanted to be favored in mirror match and Buzzwole/Lycanroc because I thought they were the best two decks and expected them to be the most popular. With…
Looking Back on Drampa/Garb from Costa Mesa and 3 Zoroark Variants for Charlotte “As I said in my last article, Drampa-GX was my favorite deck throughout testing between Dallas and Costa Mesa, so I was not surprised or worried when I sleeved it up Saturday morning. I expected a lot of Zoroark, some Night March, and some anti-Zoroark decks. Despite multiple Zoroark decks being very strong in the expanded format, the matches usually playout very similarly, with the overall goal being to slowly chip away at them and run them out of resources. Parallel City and Sudowoodo are extremely painful for the opponent, as not only do they limit their damage output, but…
Jimmy’s Takes on Drampa/Garbodor and Zoroark/Eggs for Costa Mesa Expanded “As I mentioned before, this is the exact list that I used to top eight Dallas Regionals with. That being said, I went over the list a bunch in my last article, so I want to focus on why I have kept the list the same post Ultra Prism. Let’s take a look at a few cards I thought about adding, a few cards I am still considering adding, and a couple of “cuts” in the deck. Cynthia is a great card, and certainly a good addition to most decks in the standard format, but I don’t think it has…
Looking at the Top 8 Drampa/Garb from Dallas and More Garb for Standard “Tauros-GX Tauros was the MVP of my weekend for sure. I actually donked two players in day two with Horn Attack, which was quite unexpected, but just another reason why I love this bull. Horn Attack in the early game against decks like Zoroark and Gardevoir applies a decent amount of pressure, and can draw you a couple prize cards. In addition to this, Tauros is a terrible Pokemon to just deal damage to because of Mad Bull-GX. Allowing the Tauros to take three or four prizes will almost always result in a horrific loss, which often made my opponents…
Pairing Zoroark-GX with Golisopod in Expanded “I am still a huge fan of this deck! I am still confident that it will be a strong pick for Dallas despite the increasing popularity of Pokemon Ranger. Obviously Pokemon Ranger is a very nice inclusion for opponents to have against this deck, but it is not the end of the world by any means. It is not the easiest card for an opponent to find while Item locked, and you can help to deny its value by using cards like Ghetsis and N. I have seen people playing a lower Enhanced Hammer count in the deck, and I…
Its unique style of coiling allows it to blast sand out of its sand sac more efficiently. (Sandaconda)
Discussing Zoroark/Seismitoad and Trevenant BREAK for Dallas Expanded “I haven’t seen much hype surrounding this deck online, but it was a dominant force at League Cups this past weekend here in Florida. On Saturday, Justin Kulas beat me round one and went on to win the entire tournament. I considered playing the deck the following day, but decided to stick to Zoroark-GX/Muk because I was comfortable with the deck and expected Golisopod-GX and Pokemon Ranger to be popular. The next day, despite having Ranger in my deck, I lost to one of the two Zoroark-GX/Seismitoad-EX decks I played against. In addition to this, three of the top eight…
Jimmy’s Memphis Recap and Ultimate Guide to Greninja “I have actually been a fan of the Frogs since the beginning, as it immediately stood out as a very strong archetype. I have only pulled the trigger on the deck at one other large tournament, where I placed top sixteen with my ultra consistent list at Georgia last year. Since then, I had never really found an event where I thought it was my best option, despite always liking the deck. That is, until, Memphis rolled around! I was a huge fan of the deck in testing after London; it felt smooth and had a slew of good matchups.…
Examining Decidueye/Zoroark and Zoroark/Lycanroc for Memphis “3 Zorua I tried this inclusion out in my recent testing, and I was very pleased with it right off the bat. My biggest issue with only having two was the loss of one early on in the game, whether that be prizing one or having one knocked out. This made it difficult to keep solid attackers going throughout the match, and usually resulted in me burning through my Max Potions fairly early on because I was trying to protect my only Zoroark-GX. 3 Decidueye-GX I removed the 4th Decidueye-GX for a third Zorua, and I have been liking the…
Reflections on Playing Sableye in San Jose, ‘Marching to the Top, and Top Picks for Memphis “I didn’t get home from London until Tuesday, and I left for San Jose on Thursday, which left me with no time to test for the event at home. I played a few games with Sableye once I arrived at my hotel, and they were all going pretty well. No matchup felt like a poor one when I was playing against the popular decks, but I did feel the burn of Ghetsis quite a few times. This made me consider playing the Night March deck that all of my friends played, but I decided to stick with my boy Sableye…
Reviewing the 3 Ways to Play Gardevoir in BKT–CIN and Hopping Across the Pond with Greninja BREAK “As you probably noticed, this decklist is very similar to the “optimal” one. The only difference between the two builds is the support Pokemon included. While this list chooses to go a simpler route, using Vulpix and Oranguru to setup, the other build uses the greedier option of Sylveon-GX and Octillery. When I say greedy, I mean that the Sylveon-GX and Octillery have a much higher risk associated with them, but also have a higher payout. The positive side to having Vulpix: it is very easy to use, as it just needs to make its way to the active, and…
What appears to be an iron helmet is actually hardened hair. This Pokémon lives for the thrill of battle. (Perrserker)
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