Andrew Zavala
Author Archive
A Re-Emphasis, Patchwork Game, and the Ins & Outs of Plume Box, Vesp/eon, and Rainbow Road for Phoenix “Way back in my first article for SixPrizes Underground, I actually wrote about the difference between metagaming and teching. It seems like these concepts are even more important today, and so I want to re-emphasize these ideas as well as expand on them. When preparing for a tournament, it is absolutely vital that you take into consideration the potential matchups that exist within your area. This is of course easier said than done, especially when playing in a tournament as big as Regionals. And with the new tournament structure, Regionals are sure to be bigger than ever! Phoenix Regionals is…
Four Ways to Tech Night March and Favorite Pokémon from Ancient Origins “Nationals was already nearly a month ago, but I’d still like to touch on it briefly. I went into the tournament with none other than … Night March! I know — I’m crazy, right? The Crobat hype skyrocketed after Canadian Nationals, and so I was actually pretty nervous about playing it. However, I was convinced that Night March was the best deck in the format with the right list and had the potential to beat almost everything, barring things like Baby Yveltal/Crobat. I had worked incredibly hard on the list, getting it close to perfect, and I was overall most…
Thunderstruck, Trainers’ Mail Time, and the Ascent of Archie “The Primal Clash format has developed so much since its debut at Florida Regionals, and I think part of it has had to do with Archie’s Ace in the Hole. As Archie’s gained popularity because of Orion Craig’s win at Florida Regionals, people started to realize how good the card was when paired with Empoleon PLF. The draw power is phenomenal, and it allows the player to burn through their deck like crazy since it plays off of the discard pile so much. These “turbo” kinds of decks featuring crazy-high counts of Items grew in popularity which motivated people to want…
The Ins and Outs of Flareon in the Current Metagame and an Interview with Orion Craig “Ever since Florida Regionals, just from looking around the Virbank Facebook group as well as things I’ve seen and heard from other players, people seem to be pretty widely divided on Flareon. There are those that see it as a true contender in the metagame (creating two subgroups: those that will play it and those that will counter it), and then there are others that see it as a gimmick that won’t be able to replicate its success in Florida. I picked up Flareon and began testing it as soon as I heard it had won in Florida because I…
Season of Darkness, Spring of Hope, What Could Have Been and What Could Be “The First City: The Season of Darkness The Second City: The Spring of Hope A Tribute to What Could Have Been and What Could Be A Glimpse into the Future Conclusion I was only able to make it to four City Championships this year and did well at exactly two of them (second place and top 4), so those are the ones that I will be talking about most today. Just for the sake of being thorough, I’ll briefly talk about my other experiences. For the first City that I did badly at, I played a mediocre Fairies list and…
Icy scales fall from its wings like snow as it flies over fields and mountains. The temperature of its wings is less than −290 degrees Fahrenheit. (Frosmoth)
The Tricks and Treats of Phantom Forces “A Quick Note on Consistency Gimmick Decks… Right? It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! Garbage Patrol A Certain Contender Chain Metal Conclusion A lot of people have been debating on this lately, so I just wanted to touch on the subject of consistency a bit. Now, as I’ve been looking around the Pokemon Facebook groups, I’ve noticed people posting lists asking for help because their decks aren’t “consistent” enough. This is followed by people saying, “Well, just add more Supporters!” First off, I want to reiterate that consistency does not directly translate into how many Supporter cards you play, although this…
The Rogue Side of Furious Fists and My Top Plays for Autumn Regionals “The Rogue Side of Furious Fists Eeveelutions Donphan/Trevenant My Top Plays for Autumn Regionals Yveltal/Garbodor Virizion/Genesect/Lasers Virizion/Mewtwo Conclusion Ah yes, we first come to the Eeveelutions deck that everyone knows and loves. Maybe you’re not familiar with this particular version, but Eevee’s Evolutions have been seeing play since as far as I can remember with their most memorable time in the spotlight being Jimmy Ballard’s incredible run at Worlds with an Eeveelution-based deck. This deck may be different, but the name remains the same. The concept is also similar in that this deck wants to use the many varying types…
Landorus-EX vs. Seismitoad-EX and Incorporating Furious Fists into Established Decks “Nationals Report (and What I Should Have Played) Landorus vs. Seismitoad Revamping Established Decks Pyroar Virizion/Genesect Big Basics/Garbodor Conclusion I came to US Nationals with 309 Championship Points and needed a pretty good run at either the main event or one of the Championship Point Challenges to earn an invite for Worlds, but to my dismay, neither of the tournaments panned out for me. The days (and even weeks) leading up to Nationals were a very confusing time for me since I honestly had no clue what to play. I had been testing Virizion/Genesect extensively, as I thought it was one of the most consistent…
Taming the Hype Behind Pyroar “Why the Hype? Pyroar/Archeops Pyroar and Friends Pyroar/Ninetales Conclusion Ahh, Pyroar. Such an interesting card that has rustled so many jimmies despite not even being officially released yet. Some people praise it, some despise it. I’ve even heard about some people potentially thinking about quitting the game because this one card will completely change the meta, eliminating all other viable decks besides Pyroar and Garbodor. Now, I don’t think that it will be this game-changing, but I do believe it will have quite the impact on the metagame depending on what people’s perception of it are at the time of…
The Sweet Scents and Foul Odors of Big Basics “Setting the Stage A New Scent of Big Basics Deck List Card Choices Turn 1 Geomancy Why I “Dropped” the Deck CLoGZ How the Concept Was Born Skeleton List The Metagame and Card Choices Theorymon for the Win Arizona States Recap Conclusion I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to play for States when the XY set was first introduced, but I knew that I wanted Aromatisse to be a part of it. Aromatisse allows for so much versatility, which is something that I love. There are a two popular ways to play the fragrance Pokemon, both of which involve…
It eats berries nonstop—a habit that has made it more resilient than it looks. It’ll show up on farms, searching for yet more berries. (Skwovet)
The Return of Ho-Oh “1. Energy Switch is back! I shouldn’t have to explain why this is so key in Ho-Oh’s Rebirth; Energy Switch is the engine behind the deck with Ho-Oh bringing back three different Energy types from the discard pile and allowing them to be switched to any attacker that you need in any specific situation. It is a fantastic card, and Ho-Oh really appreciates it. 2. Virizion EX is becoming more popular with it not being in just one archetype, but two. We all know that Virizion EX is a fantastic card: it stops Hypnotoxic Laser along with any Status Conditions…
Its unique style of coiling allows it to blast sand out of its sand sac more efficiently. (Sandaconda)
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