Jose Marrero
Author Archive
Bio: Top 16 North American Player from Orlando Florida. I have been playing the TCG since 2010. Some notable accomplishments include:
2013/2014/2015/2016/2017/2018/2019/2020 Worlds Competitor (8 consecutive)
2× Worlds Top 64
1× Worlds Top 32 (2019)
Top 4 Oceania Internationals 2019
1st Guatemala SPE 2019
1st Hartford Regionals 2019
9th Daytona Regionals 2019
9th Santa Clara Regionals 2019
9th Origins SPE 2019
Top 32 Collinsville Regionals 2019
Top 32 Philly Regionals 2018
Top 32 Memphis Regionals 2018
Top 64 London Internationals 2016/2017
2× Top 64 Brazil Internationals 2018
Top 128 NAIC 2018/2019
Top 16 US Nationals 2013
Top 64 US Nationals 2010
2nd Florida Regionals 2014
2nd Florida States 2014/2016
Top 8 Texas Regionals 2014/2018
Top 8 Toronto Regionals 2018
1st Georgia States 2016
2nd Georgia Regionals 2013
Top 4 Georgia States 2011
Top 4 Alabama States 2016
2014 Professor Cup Champion
5× 9th Regional/SPE Bubbles
32× City/Cup Wins
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).…
Highlighting Three of the Top Performing Decks from Limitless Q4, Including Zacian V/Combo, ADP/Spiritomb, and Spiritomb/Ultra Beasts “via: This combo is why the deck has combo in its name and is a force to be reckoned with, even against Fire-based decks like Blacephalon. To do the combo correctly, you have to: Use Oranguru SSH to place Jirachi Prism Star on top of your deck. Then use Mr. Mime DET to replace one of your Prize cards with the top card of your deck (i.e., Jirachi Prism Star). You will know exactly where Jirachi Prism Star is because you can put it wherever you like into your Prize cards. Once you take a Prize, you simply remember to…
Inteleon VMAX/Energy Denial (w/ Clefable RCL or Cinccino SSH) and Toxtricity VMAX/Koga’s Trap “At first glance, I didn’t think this card was all that great until I recognized all the combos and options you can add to make its first attack, Hydro Snipe, quite powerful. Not only does it do a solid 60 damage for just 1 Water Energy, but it also lets you put an Energy from your opponent’s Active Pokemon back into their hand. Its second attack, Max Bullet, takes 3 Energy; this attack is used to clean up the board when you have drained the opponent of Energy. Eventually, doing 160 to the Active and 60 to a Bench-sitter will…
My Life as a Competitive Pokémon TCG Player, from 2010 to Now “I got into playing the game during the era of Pokemon SP. At the time I had been playing Yu-Gi-Oh. However, I wasn’t playing it competitively; I’d more so just go to league and play casually. This is mainly due to the fact that I had no idea about competitive play at the time. Out of the blue, I thought about Pokemon and how the cards looked because I had old-school cards from Base Set and Fossil. I figured I’d take a look at some of the recent cards at the time. This is where I came upon cards like…
ADPZ @ Guatemala, Takuya’s Dragapult VMAX, and My Rebel Clash Top 5 “aka Tord’s List -1 Oranguru UPR, +1 Absol TEU This is the list Benjamin Branch and I played to 1st and 4th in Guatemala. We knew the event would be no more than five rounds, so we wanted to play something very consistent and safe. Ben and I started with Tord’s list he used to win Malmö Regionals. I personally did not like the Oranguru UPR, so I dropped it for Absol. I believe Absol has more merit since it’s great against anything that plays Jirachi and the ADPZ mirror as well. Tord is a phenomenal deck builder, so it was a…
By drumming, it taps into the power of its special tree stump. The roots of the stump follow its direction in battle. (Rillaboom)
OCIC w/ ADPZ and Some Analyses on Nico/Tord’s 1st/7th Mewtwo/Welder and Zach’s 2nd Fire Box “-4 Pokemon Catcher +4 Custom Catcher -1 Galarian Zigzagoon SSH +1 Absol TEU -1 Marshadow UNB +1 Shrine of Punishment (2nd) -1 Aurora Energy +1 Tag Call (3rd) -1 Marnie +1 Escape Board (2nd) Most of the ADP/Zacian V lists that did well at OCIC played 4 Custom Catcher instead of Pokemon Catcher, so that has to be the way to go. At first, I thought 4 Pokemon Catcher was correct, but there were times where I would flip multiple tails in a row to lose games. However, had I had 2 Custom Catcher to guarantee a Benched Pokemon, then…
Blacephalon/Naganadel Updated and Matched Up for UPR–SSH/Standard “-1 Poipole LOT +1 Poipole FLI -1 Heatran-GX +1 Blacephalon-GX -1 Blacephalon CEC -1 Marshadow UNB +1 Mew UNB -3 Cherish Ball +3 Quick Ball -1 Great Catcher +2 Pokemon Catcher I decided to keep all Poipole the same (with the Spit Poison attack) since the 10 damage ticks can actually make a difference at times. I also ended up finally dropping Heatran-GX for a 4th copy of Blacephalon-GX for a couple of reasons: First, our best starter is Blacephalon-GX. When we start with it, we can Burst-GX as soon as possible. Second, GardEon will likely not exist anymore…
Jose’s Mew Box and ADP Dark for Dallas “This deck has plenty of attacking options, which is why it’s considered one of the strongest plays going into Dallas. Depending on what you are up against your strategy changes. Every Pokemon in the deck has merit and it’s ultimately up to you to find your win condition and pinpoint your strategy as soon as you know what you are facing up against. I like that Jon Eng’s list includes this package because, with it, you can take multiple Prizes in a single turn against low-HP Pokemon, namely Zorua and Trubbish, when combined with Distortion Door. There are a few…
ReshiRom-GX/Ho-Oh-EX, aka the New and Improved Expanded Rayquaza, for Dallas “We now have more of a use for Double Dragon Energy (DDE), which makes this deck do wonders. With the release of Cosmic Eclipse, DDE gives new decks a chance to thrive in the Expanded format. ReshiRom-GX/Ho-Oh-EX has more speed and power than any other Turbo deck in my opinion. The deck can get a turn 1 270–280 easier than you may think thanks to Ho-Oh-EX and other Energy acceleration options. I believe that is the reason why this deck is the most powerful of all the Turbo decks. Fabled Flarebolts can easily be fueled by just 1 Double Dragon Energy,…
Recapping My Runs w/ Blacephalon/Naganadel at LAIC + Daytona Beach and Looking at the Top 16 Ability Zard from Daytona Beach “The List: Blacephalon/Naganadel I started 0-3-0 then got a Round 4 bye, which I thought was hilarious. I started to bounce back and found myself at a record of 5-3-0. One more win and I would make Top 128, net 100 Points, and keep my OCIC stipend. I knew how important my last round was. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to win my last round, which was against Green’s/Zard. My opponent played very well and we took it to Game 3, but I couldn’t pull it out. It was a heartbreaking loss because I knew what was at stake for me.…
It has an electrical organ on its chest. While generating electricity, it fills its surroundings with what sounds like the strumming of a bass guitar. (Toxtricity)
Blacephalon/Naganadel Pumped Up for LAIC “This card does wonders. Not only for its Ultra Conversion Ability that lets you draw cards, but also for its attack, Venom Shot. If the opponent does not play Mew UNB or benches it a turn too late, then Venom Shot is MVP when it comes to victory. So many decks play Dedenne-GX. That is 2 free Prize cards with Venom Shot. If they play a TAG TEAM attacker, then that’s 3 prize cards as well you can eventually take. Not to mention, Burst-GX gives you 1 free prize card, making for a total of 6 prize cards. This is…
The Last Expanded Winner (Rayquaza-GX) Recharged for Richmond “This exact 60 was able to place 9th (Greensboro), 9th (Daytona), and 1st (Hartford) at the last three Expanded Regionals—two by me and one 9th from my buddy Jeffrey Criss. I had a lot of faith in the list and kept playing it, and ultimately it put up great results. Expanded has always been a crazy format, and that’s one of the main reasons I decided to play Rayquaza-GX in Expanded for so long. The deck finds ways to win tough matchups. One important tip—and really no matter the matchup—is to use your Sudowoodo GRI before the opponent uses theirs.…
Mew Box/Ninetales for Knoxville “This inclusion was mainly for Malamar. Eevee-GX can do 100 damage, which is enough to start taking cheap KOs early on. Once Eevee-GX gets attacked by Giratina LOT, that is where Ascension DNA comes in handy. You are able to fully heal Eevee-GX and take another KO with Flareon-GX. Theoretically, you can take 3 Prize cards (or more) with this strategy. This is good because you will be giving up just 2 in return. Also, as Peter Kica mentioned, Flareon-GX’s Power Burner-GX is similar to Victini {*}’s Infinity and is great copied by Mewtwo & Mew-GX. I always look to…
Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel and Jirachi/Mew Box for Atlantic City “This card allows you to take Prize cards without removing your Fire Energy from play, which makes Charging Up more efficient. Its Ability is nice in conjunction with both Beast Ring and Charging Up to take a 1HKO with Hot Burn-GX. Something to note is that Hot Burn-GX can take down a Jirachi TEU for a single Energy. This way, instead of using Burst-GX for a discarded Prize card, you can keep the Prize card rather than have to discard it. This is fine even if Heatran-GX gets taken down because then you will be on a Beast Ring turn.…
JoseZard (1-Prizer Edition) and Mew Box (Post-Hidden Fates) for Atlantic City + Köln “I finally caved and decided to try Victini {*} myself, and I have to say it’s a powerful card that every AbilityZard list should be playing moving forward. I didn’t play it in my Worlds list, but that’s because I was running only 12 Fire Energy. However, I’ve now included the best of both worlds. The list still plays 2 Fire Crystal and a hefty amount of Fire Energy. I think the 17/2 split is ideal at the moment. Blacephalon UNB is another reason I kept 2 Fire Crystal because its attack can potentially take down any threat at a…
__________ takes this form when enraged. It won’t stop spewing flames until its rage has settled, even if its body starts to melt. (Galarian Darmanitan)
18 articles written
8× Worlds qualifier
Playing since 2010
@Jose_MarreroTCG
2.3K
3
1,515
+4(100%)
4
