Michael Slutsky
Author Archive
An In-Depth Look at Greninja in the Standard Format and the Case for Playing It at Fort Wayne “For the past year, I made it no secret to anyone that would listen that I actively detested both Standard and Expanded format, almost exclusively because of Battle Compressor. I think the card was one of the worst things to ever happen to the game, and in general made for a horrible playing experience. In Standard, at least, we’re finally free! As a result, we’re seeing a few things we haven’t in a while, like decks that run multiple copies of more Supporters than just Juniper/Sycamore, or decks that aren’t weak to Psychic or Lightning. Standard format, for the most…
Top 8 Phoenix Regionals 2016 Tournament Report with Raikou/Eels “Last season, I was very disinterested in the game, and it’s no surprise that this was in large part due to the existence of a single card: Battle Compressor. I learned this past weekend that I’ve apparently developed somewhat of a reputation for my intense hatred of that card, and I won’t get into it here; most of that is online if you were really curious. As a result, I never really cared about taking the game seriously until Nationals, when it was revealed cash prizes were available. I began testing Greninja heavily, made it to Day 2, and went…
A Discussion on the Flawed Structure of League Challenges “I’ll come right out with it: I think League Challenges should not be part of the competitive invite structure. I know that they are designed to be entry level tournaments for people to get a feel for the tournament atmosphere, which begs the question as to why they are then part of the invite structure at all. Not only that, they can also be worth up to a staggering one-third of an invite! If you live in an area where there are few to no League Challenges, then you are inherently at a disadvantage to someone who lives in an area…
A Top 4 Regionals Report “Immediately when Plasma Storm came out I began testing Klinklang, in both the straight Metal version and this version with multiple types. Way back then, this teched version was promising, but that’s because the meta hadn’t been completely defined yet, and I was finding myself testing against more BLW-BCR oriented lists rather than BLW-PLS ones, which was obviously counterintuitive. I switched over to testing straight Metal Klinklang, and wasn’t as satisfied. The versatility was far lower, and the fact that the entire deck was gray bummed me out. I eventually gave up on Klinklang entirely, and went on to testing…
Jumping nimbly about, this small-bodied Pokémon takes advantage of even the slightest opportunity to disorient larger opponents. (Rookidee)