Christopher Schemanske
Author Archive
SixPrizes UG Update, North American International Championships Edition “The 2016/2017 Pokemon TCG season is coming to a close. Yes, that’s for real. We’ve seen over 30 Regional Championships, a 10+ Special Events, and 3 International Championships, and the biggest is yet to come. On this upcoming, penultimate weekend of the season, we have a Regional or two around the world, but the North American playerbase will be more or less twiddling its thumbs. Perhaps a few will be chasing those last few League Cup points, but for most, all eyes are on Indianapolis, where the Pokemon scene will descend for the inaugural North American International Championships. This event…
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(re-)Introducing the SixPrizes Podcast, Episode 1 “Hey everyone! Today, we’re re-introducing the SixPrizes Podcast. Many years ago, Adam ran something of this nature, and we’re back now with an edition by Alex and I. We’re going to be doing these on a roughly biweekly basis, talking about current events in the game, picks for upcoming tournaments, and giving general thoughts on the TCG. Alex and I will be on most episodes initially, with other writers (and outside guests) mixing in and out as we move along. Today’s episode covers what went down in Wisconsin, our thoughts on some decks from that event, and thoughts on decks…
Madison Finalist Regional Run with Metagross-GX and Projections for the Land Beyond “Now, how does one conclude that Metagross-GX is the proper selection for any tournament, let alone a Regional that served as my last hope to vault into the Top 16 race? Well, for starters, apparently the key to that answer is to have the right group of friends, as Metagross had only fleetingly crossed my mind prior to 5:00ish Friday night. Sure, John Kettler and I identified it as having potential on a Super Rod Cast episode we did together, but it certainly wasn’t on my radar as a play. In fact, my list of potential plays at that point…
On Choice Band, Mew, Tapu Koko, and Gyarados “The tools in this set for evolving current archetypes are numerous. Tapu Lele and Field Blower are the two most obvious, and I think their potential is well-documented. However, some other cards in the set have the potential to impart significant change in the meta. Principal among them in my mind is Choice Band. It may not seem like extra damage itself is something inherently transformative, but think about the number of attackers that seem to be just a bit off on math. It’s truly a pretty large number. Raichu XY, Gyarados AOR, Lugia-EX AOR, Greninja BKP, and Drampa-GX are…
Recapping the Toronto Emergents “My brother, Alex, dispensed with even the minimal testing that I did and resolved early in the evening to simply play Groudon. My testing yielded nothing to unseat that idea, and once Night March was tabled by the seemingly imminent rise of Giratina, I was left to return to Groudon myself. The list, though, was a matter of intense debate between Alex and I (and, once he got on board, Sean Foisy). Since our experience in Portland, Alex has been insistent on including a Hex Maniac to shore the Darkrai/Giratina matchup. Personally, I believed the energy denial we included was…
This hungry Pokémon swallows Arrokuda whole. Occasionally, it makes a mistake and tries to swallow a Pokémon other than its preferred prey. (Cramorant)
Recapping Roanoke, Perfecting Performance, and Talking Toronto “It was clear that the majority of top players in the community went with Decidueye or Mewtwo this weekend, with a smaller (but certainly not insignificant) chunk electing for Speed Dark, Volcanion, and M Rayquaza. A few, like Grant and Peter Kica (M Gardevoir PRC/Garbodor), took shots with unknown options, but most stayed with standard fare. I fit into that category myself, electing to pilot Decidueye/Vileplume. There was no especially brilliant reason for that choice, and my peers articulated its merits quite well last week, so I’ll refrain from doing so here. My only other viable option was M Rayquaza-EX/Gumshoos-GX, which was Sean…
Salt Lake City Recap, Analysis, and Greninja Reboot “I came into the week prior to the event not too sure what I wanted to play. It seemed as though Yveltal/Garbodor could be well-poised — and it’s relatively consistent, which is more than I can say for most of the format — but I was hesitant due to its myriad of 50/50 matchups and the West Coast’s propensity for playing Speed Dark regardless of its actual viability for a given tournament. That really only left M Mewtwo, M Rayquaza, and Decidueye/Vileplume as choices. I really didn’t want to play any of the 3, but knew I especially was hesitant…
Portland Report, Yveltal Returns, Sableye/Garbodor for Toronto, and Early Thoughts on Salt Lake City “Before we get too far, I want to highlight Portland’s Regional for sheer excellence in execution. The event was fantastic, and in a sea of Regionals-related commentary that is often (rightfully, most of the time) negative, it’s important to be positive where warranted. This weekend certainly warrants such appreciation. Day 1 was finished — and by that, I mean I left the hall after lingering around standings for a good while; not when time was called on Round 9 — well before 9:00. It was truly a job well done. In any event, back to that Expanded conundrum: As I’ve…
The Future of SixPrizes “Of course, while we’ll be staying true to SixPrizes’ roots, we have some exciting ideas in mind for the future. Some of them will be immediately apparent, and others are longer-term projects. We believe there’s a bright future, and plan to make the most of it. One of the biggest changes to SixPrizes will be in the content schedule. For years, we followed a clockwork formula of Tuesday/Thursday for Underground pieces, with other content interspersed as it happened. In more recent times, Monday and Wednesday pieces have become more frequent as we’ve adapted to the challenges of a changing tournament structure.…
Anaheim Recap, the Standard Outlook, on Randomly Randomizing, Expanded Horizons, and a BLW–SM Launchpad “First off, though, I want to highlight Anaheim Regionals as an event itself in light of my article on tournament structure in December. The Good: Anaheim was easily one of the better events of the season. In a season that has been plagued with malperformance and simply mind-boggling occurrences, it was refreshing to see a new idea (the elimination of the check-in process) somewhat succeed. There are real, potentially serious issues with a move like this one, but this weekend didn’t see any of them exposed. Moreover, round time averaged 76 minutes, which, while not being as snappy as one…
After being reborn as a ghost Pokémon, ______ wanders the areas it used to inhabit back when it was alive in prehistoric seas. (Dreepy)
Athens Recap, the Top 8 and What It Means, Divisions Divided, and a Sun & Moon Set Review “Greninja. It’s a deck I’ve played a few times this season, most successfully to a heartbreaking conclusion in Fort Wayne. I didn’t have an article at hand, so it’s not been covered previously, but in San Jose, I also chose the Frogs — and promptly went 0-4. At that point I swore I’d never play the deck again, but, as they say, old habits die hard. I was drawn to it in Georgia because: I lacked a better option. My brother and mother, who usually end up playing something similar to myself and Alex Hill, played Vileplume and M Rayquaza…
On the Tailfeathers of a Format and the Fall of a Monolith (aka Decks for Dallas) “When it sets up, this is an incredible force that can run over almost anything. Unfortunately, on the flip side, when it fails to do so, things get ugly. Simply, not many decks can deal with a stream of cheap attacks coming from 170-HP monsters that can also dish out Ability-enabled snipe damage. Rough Seas is simply icing on the XL-sized cake. Seas has made its way back into my list to force Yveltal to come up with huge EXs to achieve anything effective and minimize their ability to Y Cyclone. Additionally, Faded Town isn’t nearly as necessary as it…
A Detailed Analysis of the Imperfect 2017 Regional Championships Structure and Propositions for Remediation “If only because I’m writing this for a different audience than my normal pieces, I’d like to start with a brief overview of my background in the game: succinctly, over the last six and a half years, I’ve traveled through the better part of 20 states playing this game. Through an abundance of City Championships and a lot of local League Challenges, it’s come to my attention that I had the “distinction” of playing the most Pokemon of any North American Masters last year. Whatever you make of that — if nothing else, I argue I’ve seen the game played in a…
Fort Wayne Recap, Old Frog/New Tricks, London’s Calling, D/G/G, Sweet Honey, and More “This year hasn’t brought many terribly difficult deck decisions. I picked Night March as my favorite for Phoenix well in advance, Vileplume was perfect in Orlando, and Philadelphia presented no reason to depart from Night March. For better or worse, Fort Wayne proved different. After putting up sizable resistance most of the weekend prior to the event, I finally relented late Monday and acknowledged a slightly-modified Vileplume list as the likely play. The reality of Vileplume, in my mind, is that it can beat everything. The flip side is that it can often simply fail to execute a basic strategy,…
Phoenix Regionals Recap, the Impact of Karen on Expanded, and Expanded Updates for Philly “Like I discussed in my last article, I’ve known for a while that I’d be playing Night March at this event. For one thing, my time to test started to evaporate after that piece was published, but more critically, nothing arose that encouraged alteration of that decision. While I disagree fundamentally with the “Night March is all anyone talks about” stance, I’m just as ready to be done with it as everyone else, so I’m going to forgo too much justification for the choice and point back to my last piece to cover that point. I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that I have this…
A clever combatant, this Pokémon battles using water balloons created with moisture secreted from its palms. (Drizzile)
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