Christopher Schemanske
Author Archive
The Mouthful of a Format, Recaping the Weekend in Vancouver, and on Preparation “Heading into this weekend, I played an underwhelming amount of Pokemon. My games were exclusively played with Tapu Bulu/Vikavolt. On paper, it seemed good against Volcanion and Gardevoir, which seemed like the solution to this format. Of course, nothing is ever that simple with Stage 2s, and as I tested the deck, I was simply underwhelmed. Even so, despite being much maligned, I can’t say it was completely off the table for my personal consideration until Wednesday, and I know my brother considered it right until the end. I intended to spend my layover in Chicago considering different decks, and…
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Looking back at Hartford, Discussing the Matter of the Clock, and Daytona Primer “I’ve had to find a lot of Fire imagery recently for use on 6P, which is probably telling in regards to the state of the format in my and others’ minds. As Alex and I observed on the last podcast episode, neither of us were really all that much fans of the archetype last season, but we’ve definitely been far more appreciative of it this year. We’ve played it heavily so far this season, with a particular emphasis on Volcanion and Salazzle respectively. Fellow writer Xander Pero has also played a lot of it this year, to decent success at…
Podcast Ep. 6: Headed to Hartford “It’s been a few weeks, but I’m glad to be back to share a new episode of the podcast. Alex and I took an hour last night to talk about the best decks in the current format, and where our heads are at for Hartford. While it’s been a long wait, we hope it’s somewhat worth it. Our next episode will probably be within the next two weeks, but we’ll see how this Regionals schedule plays into that. Otherwise, stay tuned for our final two articles of Hartford prep (dropping later today and then tomorrow), and best of luck this…
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A Look at Ho-Oh-GX and its Matchups, An Aside on Volcanion, and Discussing Gardevoir “If you aren’t aware, my family has had a decent run our last two cups with Salazzle/Ho-oh (or, as I’ve denoted it—to much controversy!—on Heyfonte, ??). We went into Ohio, now two weekends ago, and scored a combined 15-2 Swiss record (with Swiss losses to Gardevoir and Metagross). Cut didn’t go as well, as my brother knocked out my mother in Top 8, I failed to advance past Gardevoir in my own quarterfinal, and Alex then succumbed to Gardevoir himself in semifinals. The list we played, which we’ll get to in a few, probably wasn’t especially prepared for the Gardevoir matchup.…
Examining Espeon in Expanded, Fort Wayne Recap, and Looking Beyond “As the high of Worlds wore off and the reality set in that Fort Wayne was, uh, imminent, I have to say that I tested more for this event than any other in recent memory. Perhaps, in hindsight, that’s not the best plan in the universe (I played 0 games with Metagross before Madison, and 0 between Portland and my run in Toronto with Groudon…), but it’s important nonetheless to have a grasp on the format’s inner workings. I was excited to get back to somewhat stable ground after meandering through the end of 2016/17’s Standard format, so it’s ironic…
When angered, it launches tea from its body at the offender’s mouth. The tea causes strong chills if swallowed. (Polteageist)
Looking at New Realities for Old Favorites in the Expanded Format, Raikou/Eels for Fort Wayne, and Final Thoughts on Anaheim “I, for one, will not miss the influence that Archeops had on this format. While I do find the bans somewhat generous toward Trevenant XY (not that I believe it should’ve been banned, though I might’ve appreciated that—just that Archeops’ removal probably puts it in an even better position), that outcome is preferable to something that required copious teching to make an entire class of decks playable. I’m sure the Yveltal/Maxie’s players of the world are not as pleased as I am, though. Here’s a tally of the decks that made Top 32 at the 3 BLW-SUM Regionals last season.…
Podcast Ep. 5, Examining Decks and Concepts for Anaheim “Today, along with Michael’s first look at our Expanded format, we have our audible look at Standard for Anaheim. We have quite the format on our hands, and it’s going to be quite the week as we head into the event. On the podcast, we have Alex, Xander, and I talking about the decks on all of our minds as we head into the weekend. Focused around the ARG Invitational’s Top 16, we have a look at most of the decks one might expect to run into at any of the three tournaments of action in Anaheim this weekend. This…
Some 6P News, Dissecting Drampa/Garbodor, Guessing at Greninja (ugh), and Guiding Gardevoir for Anaheim “Drampa is in a unique position as we head into Worlds. While it’s the reigning force out of the last few PRC-GRI events, it doesn’t seem to have captured the massive attention that a run of its sort seems to usually garner. There are a few possible reasons for this (my personal favorite is what I’m calling “Garbodor fatigue”—people are just really sick of talking about the Trash), but either way, it’s something to note for Worlds: I think a decent number of players that would be inclined to play Drampa are more likely to try to counter it than…
Podcast Ep. 4, 2018 Structure Preview and Discussion “Another season, another set of changes. Though this year’s iteration of the Championship Series is a few tweaks away from the last, unlike some years’ wholesale alterations, it’s a new environment nonetheless. Like all changes, there are some on both sides of the divide, and today, Alex/I give our own thoughts on the situation. Episode 5 is slated for sometime soon, but, it will definitely feature another of our writers in addition to the current tandem.
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Musings on the Community Invitation Structure Debate and Beginning Burning Shadows Discussion “It’s a well-documented reality that this year’s point structure left some players behind, while others were the recipient of seemingly-constant support from TPCi in their international traveling exploits. The vast majority of all out-of-rating-zone travelers at International Championships this year were the beneficiary of a Top 4 trip or Top 16 travel stipend. A few players made these trips unassisted, but most had some semblance of financial assistance in doing so. This year, the first stipends were awarded based on 2o15/16’s final CP standings. This set the top players from that season off to a booming start for 2016/17, giving…
They diligently serve people and Pokémon so they can gather feelings of gratitude. The females are particularly good at babysitting. (Indeedee)
Examining the 2017 World Championships US+CA Delegation, and Exploring the Path to Anaheim “Overall, our Top 16 Players are notable in their proficiency on the Global stage. In a way, the World Championships’ share of that is a tad misleading — Sam Hough and Ross Cawthon are beneficiaries of 500 CP boosts from Top 4s in previous years, but other than that, they didn’t have much effect. What clearly set Top 16 apart was their attendance — and performance — at International Championships. As can be seen at right, only 1 player in Top 16 — Chris Siakala — attended only the North American International Championship. Everyone else was seen playing in at least one other…
Weekend Review and Aftermath of the Inaugural North American International Championship “Personally, Indy was not a particularly remarkable event. Going in, I didn’t have all that spectacular an idea of what to play, but knew I’d default to Espeon/Garbodor if a better option didn’t present itself. We started off our testing with M Gardevoir-EX STS, and saw mild success on Wednesday night. We led off Thursday morning’s Gardevoir regimen with something of a classic speed-Darkrai-EX BKP list, which thoroughly trounced Gardevoir. Then, it faltered against Greninja and Volcanion. In the process, we got the sense that the deck wasn’t truly consistent enough to be a real contender. So, we moved on.…
On Regional Results, North American Internationals, “In case our article output wasn’t enough for you, Episode 2 of the Podcast is now live. Alex and I discuss Espeon/Garbodor, Zoroark, and a host of other topics related to picking the right deck for Indy. Slightly different format from our last one, and we’re interested to see where things lead from here. We’ll be back with another episode after Indy. Links for iTunes or your other podcast media listening option of choice can be found in the Tweet we put out below, and the episode itself is embedded into the post below that. Happy listening!
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2017 6P North American International Championships Fantasy Competition “It’s become something of a tradition in the Pokemon community to do fantasy drafts heading into the event formerly known as US Nationals. For the past few years, we at 6P have partaken in the craze. Obviously, we’re too big to do a traditional “snake” draft in an efficient manner (though, a few writers might do one before all is said and done), but, as an alternative, we’ve usually done a salary cap league. In essence, you get a certain budget allotment, choose a certain number of players, and get points for each player’s performance. This has taken a few…
Manufacturing the Perfect Metagross-GX List, Considering Metal’s Place in the Meta, and Overall NAIC Thoughts “First and foremost, Metagross is competitive because it’s a wall that very few decks in the format can capably one-shot. Most that can achieve the feat rely on Weakness to do so, and in many cases, that type advantage is artificially induced via Flareon AOR. Once the deck achieves its setup, there’s not much many decks in the format can do to bring it down. In many ways, the biggest appeal of the deck is its linearity: unlike Garbodor GRI and Zoroark BKT, two mainstays in the current Standard format, you’re not really relying on your opponent to do something…
When it heats up, its body temperature reaches about 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. It lashes its body like a whip and launches itself at enemies. (Centiskorch)
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