Nicholena Moon
Author Archive
An Interview with Matt Price, Dragon Age, and Some BREAKthrough “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend a Regionals during Week 1, but my play would have been Yveltal were I to go. For Week 2 I attended Lancaster, PA, where I played Toad/Bats. That run didn’t go so well, with me losing to an Yveltal due to dead draws, a Hydreigon deck (the one that attaches Energy from the discard …), and a speed RayEels deck. I still had a ton of fun that weekend though — thanks to everyone who hung out! After Evolution-based decks had picked back up in play for Week 2, I saw the perfect opportunity…
Down the Rabbit Hole and I Might Narch One More Time “As I mentioned in my previous article, this was my first time playing in Worlds. My team (Henry Ross-Clunis, Dylan Dreyer, and Jimmy Pendarvis) and I playtested quite a bit before the event. We were working on a Bunnelby deck. I know, what? Well, I lost to a version of the deck played by Harrison Leven and Mike Canaves at Nationals, and was very curious about it afterward, so I built my own version. Credit definitely goes to them for the crazy original idea; I was very impressed by it. I don’t think that they put a version online, but…
Q&A’s with Our Female Qualifiers, My Top 3 for Day 1, and a Bonus Ban List “My first article for Underground in the Fall featured women who performed well at Autumn Regionals in the US. In that same vein, I’d like to take a moment to spotlight all of the girls who earned invites to Worlds this year. I’ll apologize in advance for the inevitable incompleteness of this list. It was slightly difficult for me to ascertain the sex of players solely based upon their name, which was the only information I had to go on other than asking around the community, which I also attempted to do. So, if I forgot someone or made a similar error I ask…
Some Week 3 Decks, A Heartfelt Eulogy, and Might Narch “This weekend unleashed tons of new decks onto the scene. Shaymin-EX was pretty much exactly as popular as everyone expected it to be. To my observation, Rayquaza-EX decks were not as heavily represented as perhaps was anticipated. Toad/Shaymin was a very popular play, as were Groudon-EX-based decks. Another popular deck that cropped up during Day 1 was designed to counter these decks: Raichu/Leafeon. It seemed as though everyone was a bit confused on what to play, and Primal Groudon-EX presented itself as a stable, reliable option. It ended up doing very well, at least in Georgia. Here is my list…
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Regionals Weeks 2 and 3 “We all know the meaning of this saying. After all, only perfect practice makes perfect. It stands to reason that just because a deck has a certain number of good performances overall doesn’t mean it is inherently the best. It could just mean that it’s the most represented. I would argue that the ratio of successful placings to overall number played is an important detail that is often missing from these kinds of lists. It also occurred to me that success breeds success. So, I messaged all the players who made Top 8 at the three respective Regionals in North…
Five of them are troopers, and one is the brass. The brass’s orders are absolute. (Falinks)
Top 8 PA States Report, V/G is Life, and Water-Type Hype “I played Exeggutor Week 1 in Delaware to a disappointing drop finish. I felt as though the deck was extremely fragile and basically relied on your opponent not drawing much Energy, as well as flipping at least 50% on Hammers. It just wasn’t for me. I wanted a deck that would have pretty close to even matchups across the field. I absolutely hate playing decks that take an autoloss or near autoloss. I feel as though this format, more so than others I have experienced (although that isn’t too many), is extremely matchup based in general, but I will go…
Top 8 VA Regionals Report and Scouting for States “Prior to the event, I had actually done quite a bit of testing. The weeks before, I had narrowed my Day 1 choice down to three decks: Landorus/Bats, Virizion/Genesect/Bats, and Night March. Here are the three lists I was considering: I had been experimenting with this deck for a little while because I have always really liked Landorus-EX as a card since its days as a partner for Tornadus and Mewtwo-EX. I think the version with the Super Scoop Ups is vastly superior to any version without them. This was a very good play for the weekend due to the…
High-Risk, High-Reward Plays for Regionals & Interview with the ECC Winner “1. Congrats again on your win! First, would you mind saying a bit about your Pokémon career and yourself in general? Thank you! My name is Niklas Lehnert-Rappel, I have been playing the Pokémon TCG for about 3 years now. I got my invite for Worlds last year just by playing 9 tournaments over the course of the season. I got my invite this year by placing 2nd and twice 4th at Regionals. Besides winning the ECC this year I won 2 Regionals and many Cities, but the ECC is my first big win at a major tournament. Besides playing…
New Year’s Resolutions, Pokémon TCG Edition “The number one enemy at tournaments, at least for me, is definitely the dreaded tilt. You know the feeling — your opponent top-decks a Juniper off of an N to 1, you flip 8/8 tails on Crushing Hammers and Super Scoop Ups, you get down-paired twice in a row, killing your resistance and hopes of making cut. Whatever the issue is, we’ve all had those matches that just didn’t go our way. Whether it’s making misplays, rude opponents, or unlucky hands that causes you to go on tilt, no matter what, this attitude can easily ruin your day. The next…
Surviving Cities, the “Careers,” and Underdogs “Surviving the Games The “Careers” Donphan Yveltal Virizion/Genesect The Underdogs Metal Seismitoad/Garbodor Pyroar Yveltal/Manectric Night March Conclusion I know this may not be everyone’s style, but for me, having a core group of friends and testing partners has really made this round of Cities much more bearable. Even on the days I don’t do well, it’s definitely nice to have friends around to either commiserate with or live vicariously through. Having a team mindset can really turn a less than stellar tournament run into a positive experience. I scrubbed out the first two Cities I attended this season, but I…
It forms coal inside its body. Coal dropped by this Pokémon once helped fuel the lives of people in the Galar region. (Carkol)
Feedback on Fall Regionals “As you can see from the graph, the majority of players that participated in the survey attended Fort Wayne Regionals, with Philadelphia coming in second, and Houston in third. Additionally, the Masters division overwhelmingly dominated the responses. First, let’s take a look at what everyone thought about the tournament structure. Jason asked players to rate the amount of time they thought was needed for each portion of the tournament. Most players thought that the time they spent in line waiting to register was reasonable, but bordering on being too long. However, when it came to the time spent waiting for…
A Triple Tournament Report and Interviews with the Women of Fall Regionals “Things girls like about fall: pumpkin spice lattes, boots, leggings, and oh yeah—Pokemon TCG Regionals. Obviously I’m just kidding around. There is nothing less basic than playing Pokemon competitively and I actually hate pumpkin. I talked to three like-minded women who did well at Regionals about themselves and their views on the Pokemon community. Age: 25 Plays in: Seattle, WA Played for: I began playing competitively towards the tail end of 2012, after moving back home from college, but I first started getting to know people in the community in January of 2011. Accomplishments: Top 8 at Phoenix Regionals was…
The powerful muscles in its tail generate its electricity. Compared to its lower body, its upper half is entirely too small. (Dracozolt)
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