Kenny Wisdom
Author Archive
Why You’re Wrong About Expanded Regionals “My response to this issue is twofold: A. You’re right. Expanded wasn’t that fun last year. Why? Because it was almost exactly the same as Standard. BLW-on and BCR-on only differed by six main expansions. Besides the inclusion of Skyarrow Bridge, Dark Patch, Level Ball, and Archeops NVI, the format was nearly identical to Standard, and multiple Day Two/Top 8 competitors in last year’s Regionals opted to play their same Standard deck from Day One. This is clearly a sign that the format was not in a great place. However, that has all changed! Expanded now includes 11 main expansions that won’t be legal…
A Guide to Cube Drafting in the Pokémon TCG “Cubedrafting.com provides the following definition: Simply, the Cube is a draft format where you get to play designer and developer. You get to choose your metagame. You choose all of the cards in it. You designate powerful strategies, archetypes, and you decide which foils to those strategies you would like to include. What this means, practically, is that a Cube is a set you make out of existing cards and then draft amongst your friends. As the quote above says, the best part about designing a Cube is that you get to choose exactly what goes in it. No longer will you have…
The Good and Bad of TPCi’s US Nationals 2015 Twitch Coverage “There is no doubting that TPCi has hired commentators that know what they’re doing. There have been slight slip-ups in the past, but I truly believe that the cast of commentators TPCi is employing are some of the best possible choices (though the ensemble could always be improved … hint hint). They all seem comfortable in front of the camera, are knowledgeable about the game, and overall deliver a good product. Particularly, I think the chemistry between Kyle “Pooka” Sucevich and Josh “JWittz” Wittenkeller is the best part of the production. They have been working together on coverage for a…
6 Questions Surrounding US and Canadian Nationals “The Lysandre’s Trump Card ban announcement has come and gone, and everyone has had time to react and discuss the change. What we haven’t seen, however, are major North American tournaments being played under the new format! While a few non-NA National Championships have occurred, it’s likely that the results from the upcoming North American National Championships will have a huge effect on the metagame for this summer’s World Championship. Do I think the ban will prove effective? Yes and no. While I certainly think that these sorts of decks (M Rayquaza-EX in particular) have taken a hit from the…
Interview with Top 16 Ranked Brit Pybas “Hey everyone! This week I decided I’d do an interview with one of the Top 16 ranked players in North America going into US Nationals. I chose Brit Pybas as he is both a very close friend of mine and one of the most consistent players on the planet. I tried to pose a good mix of serious and lighthearted questions, so I hope you enjoy! Kenny: Thanks for agreeing to the interview! Can you tell the people a little about yourself? Brit: No problem. My name is Brit. I’ve been playing competitively for about six years now (since Spring 2010). I…
When it contracts its body, over 220 pounds of sand sprays from its nose. If it ever runs out of sand, it becomes disheartened. (Sandaconda)
On Making the Pokémon TCG More Watchable “There is far too much shuffling in Pokémon, which means that there is a lot of downtime in the average game, which makes it harder to commentate the games, which makes it harder to retain viewership. This is one of the inherent issues with live trading card game streams, but I do think there are ways to alleviate the problem. Namely, I think the game should be designed with fewer cards that require player shuffling. Searching the deck for Pokémon is such a deep part of the game that I don’t think that can necessarily be changed. What I would…
On the Banning of Lysandre’s Trump Card “If it isn’t clear by now, I’m 100% in favor of Lysandre’s Trump Card being banned from sanctioned play. I think that the card causes way too many issues, stunts skill and deck building, and only serves to take away from what I think is a pretty fun format. To best breakdown why this decision was made, let us refer to TPCi’s post on the official Pokémon site, wherein four main reasons are given for the ban, and break them down one by one. Point 1: Eliminates one of your opponent’s victory conditions (running out of cards in your deck)…
An Overview of Shedinja/Mew-EX “In this section I’ll briefly go over the four matchups that I’ve personally played against the most. I haven’t done too much organized testing with the deck, but I have played quite a few games with it versus metagame decks, so I think I have a pretty good idea of how these matchups go. Let me know in the comments if there are any other matchups you’d like to see discussed! Please note that, as this deck is mostly for fun, these matchups are not going to all be favorable for the deck. If they were, the deck would just be…
A Quick Look at Togekiss/Malamar “Because we’re playing a Stage 2 line and there are certain cards you absolutely must include, there isn’t a whole lot of room for adjustments here. However, I’ll go over some of the specific card choices, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of this particular build below. 4 Togepi ROS This Togepi has the absolute worst attack of all of the ones available in Standard. However, it is the only Togepi without a Fighting Weakness, which is why we’re playing it. You’re already not great versus Landorus-EX decks, and not even being able to survive a Hammerhead would turn…
An Interview with 2015 Oregon Regional Champion Jacob Van Wagner “With Spring Regionals just around the corner, I thought I would take the time to do a quick interview with my good friend and back-to-back Oregon Regional Champion, Jacob Van Wagner. We talk about everything from his favorite Pokémon to what he’s likely to play for Regionals. Enjoy! Kenny: First of all, thanks for doing this interview. Why don’t you tell the people a little bit about yourself and how you got started in the game? Jacob: Hi Kenny! I’m more than happy to interview. My origin story is a pretty short one. I’ve been playing since late 2009, competitively since 2010.…
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Its hairs work like muscle fibers. When its hairs unfurl, they latch on to opponents, ensnaring them as tentacles would. (Grimmsnarl)
Examining Under-the-Radar Cards in Roaring Skies with Sam Chen and Tyler Ninomura “KENNY: This card is mostly interesting because it serves as a Safeguard Pokémon with free retreat. I don’t think this card could ever see play in current Standard, but Beautifly could definitely be fun in a deck running Sigilyph LTR and Suicune PLB in the early game which then transitions to Beautifly in the later stages. Beautifly’s attack is entirely reasonable, especially when aided by Muscle Bands or Silver Bangles, though the nature of Safeguard will encourage you to leave your opponent’s Pokémon-EX Active more often than not. SAM: I think we’ve always wanted a Safeguarder with free retreat, but unfortunately,…
My Top 8 Pokémon Cards of All Time “Today we’re going to take a second to discuss our favorite cards of all time. This started in the Magic community, with various pros and community members writing articles and Facebook posts detailing their favorite cards and the reasons for them. I’m going to share mine below, along with a few stories, and I hope you’ll do the same. The Pokémon community needs more celebrations of the game, and I think this could be a great way to spark discussion and remind each other why we love Pokémon. Use the hashtag #Top8Pokemon so that all of our posts will be easily…
Brainstorming Rule Changes for the Pokémon TCG “Instead of taking Prize cards when knocking out an opponent’s Pokémon, your opponent would take that many Prizes instead. The idea is that the player taking the Prizes is already winning the game and therefore shouldn’t also be rewarded with more cards. Duel Masters/Kaijudo implements a similar mechanic and, while I’m going to mostly refrain from comparing Pokémon to other games (partially because I feel that Pokémon is the hardest to compare because of its unique mechanics and partially because I feel that Pokémon is the most well-designed game), I do think it’s been proven to be successful and makes…
The Trouble with Toad and an Interview with the 2015 Oregon State Champion “I recently conducted this brief interview with Richard Reynolds, a player out of Spokane, WA, who took down Oregon States this past weekend. If you’d like to view any of his matches, there are a handful on YouTube. Here is the complete Virizion-EX/Genesect-EX deck list he played at the event. I think if I were to play Virizion I might take a more streamlined approach, cutting things like Tropius and Dedenne for a fourth VS Seeker and Energy Switch, but I generally like Richard’s list for his expected metagame, and it’s difficult to argue with his results. Enjoy the interview! Kenny: Tell…
Building a Better PTCGO “Codes As far as I’m aware, no other card game does this with their official online program. Magic Online’s booster packs are the same price as physical ones, and there is nothing connecting the two whatsoever. Hearthstone doesn’t have a physical game, and building a competitively collection in a reasonable amount of time is likely going to involve some amount of money. Pokémon circumvents all of this by essentially gifting you a free online pack with the purchase of a real pack, and the same can be said for most of their sealed product (tins, blisters, etc.). Although this is…
A body made up of nothing but muscle makes the grappling moves this Pokémon performs with its tentacles tremendously powerful. (Grapploct)
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