Russell LaParre
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Top 32 Orlando Regionals Report with Darkrai/Giratina/Garbodor, the Updated Standard Tier List, and Future Techs “Here was my “tier list” based upon the number of players I expected to pilot each deck: Most Popular M Mewtwo-EX/Garbodor Volcanion/Volcanion-EX Yveltal/Mew Darkrai-EX/Giratina-EX Average Popularity M Rayquaza-EX Rainbow Road Gyarados Greninja M Scizor-EX/Garbodor Least Popular M Gardevoir-EX Xerneas BREAK/Giratina-EX Serperior Vespiquen Vileplume variants To start, my flight out of Washington, D.C. was delayed an extra hour and a half and I arrived Friday in Florida around 11:30 p.m. Normally, I use the Friday night before a tournament to secure my final deck-list decisions and playtest a few matchups I feel I may not have completely figured out. Since I was…
ARG Oklahoma City Top 8, Mega Mewtwo, Yveltal/Mew, and Volcanion for Orlando “Over the past couple of months, Alter Reality Games, in collaboration with Chris Fulop, has set in motion a series of one-day cash-prize events for the Pokemon TCG. These events haven’t exploded in popularity quite yet but the 6-round tournaments have served as a sneak preview of what players should expect to see at major events. Here is a breakdown of the recent top 8 from Oklahoma City (Sep. 18). The players decided to split the prizes and receive $125 each. Kevin Murphy … M Mewtwo Corey Weidner … Volcanion Gant Conley … Volcanion Neil Williamson … Yveltal/Mew Michael White … Volcanion Andrew…
Tier List for Worlds ’16, the Top and High Tier Examined, Potential Rogue Forces, and the New Standard “Top Tier Night March Trevenant BREAK Vespiquen/Vileplume High Tier Greninja BREAK Waterbox Darkrai/Giratina Mid Tier Toad/Bats Zoroark BREAK Yveltal/Gallade Good Waterbox … 60-40 Even Darkrai/Giratina … 50-50 Greninja BREAK … 50-50 Night March … 50-50 Vespiquen/Vileplume … 50-50 Yveltal/Gallade … 50-50 Zoroark BREAK … 50-50 Bad Toad/Bats … 40-60 Trevenant BREAK … 40-60 Surprise, surprise! The deck that never goes away and keeps getting buffed is at the top of the list. If you don’t feel comfortable with a deck going at least 50-50 against Night March, don’t play it for Worlds. Simple as that. If you’re searching for a…
Thoughts on Night March, Trevenant, Zygarde/Plume, Mega Alakazam, and Gallade/Octillery “I know this is getting really old. I was hoping for Karen to be released so I could see this deck crash and burn, but sadly this did not come to fruition. Just like every PTCG article will state in the upcoming weeks, this is the deck to beat and it will see the most play during the final tournament of the season. Since my previous articles highlighted variants with Maxie’s and Octillery, this Night March write-up be about the version I have a newfound respect for after playing against it during Day 2 of Nationals. Chris Siakala’s Top 8…
The Complete Testing Tier List, Work-in-Progress Concepts, and Steam Siege Salutations “Top Tier Night March Greninja BREAK Trevenant BREAK High Tier Mew Toolbox Water Toolbox Vespiquen/Vileplume Mid Tier Mega Rayquaza/Jolteon-EX Bronzong BREAK Yveltal/Zoroark/Gallade Sitting at number 1 on the tier list, Night March has been a destructive force in the Standard format the entire year and it even got help from Fates Collide. Oddly enough, Mew FCO has not been game-changing for the lists that have been successful the past couple of weeks of foreign Nationals. Many players have opted to still only play 4 copies of Double Colorless (and no basic Energy) then add 1 or 2 Mew FCO to…
When it uses its special stick to strike up a beat, the sound waves produced carry revitalizing energy to the plants and flowers in the area. (Grookey)
Georgia Report, Takeaways from Week 2, Adjustments, and Decklists for Week 3 “Traveling to Georgia Regionals, I knew I wanted to play an Yveltal variant similar to that of the list Brad Curcio and I played at Florida Regionals because Trevenant BREAK is the best deck in the format (in my eyes, anyway) and its skill cap is relatively low, meaning many players can pilot it without needing too much experience. Knowing my area favored Mega Rayquaza, I wanted to include 2 Parallel City instead of 2 Reverse Valley but chose not to after some discussion with Brad Curcio and William Herman regarding how important Reverse Valley is in the Yveltal mirror match.…
A Unique Shuffle, Early-Game Resource Management, Early-Spring Tier List, Decks, and Cards “Underground subscriber @socery requested us writers discuss our personal deck shuffling habits and I’m thrilled to talk about mine as I follow a unique shuffling formula that I picked up from an article written in 2006 by Olav Rokne titled “Strength in Numbers: Stopping Shady Shuffles.” In the article, Olav discusses the shuffling method developed by statistician Ian Vincent which is a combination of pile, riffle, and hindu shuffles. (The hindu shuffle is my own addition.) I take my deck and shuffle it into seven piles from left to right, then take the two piles on the far right and deal them…
The Persistence of Time, Top Three Plays for States, and Two Rogue Counters “One of biggest skill gaps I see between players of mid- and high-tier caliber is their ability to recognize win conditions within a reasonable amount of time. Some of you might be thinking: “What are you talking about Russ? All I have to do is take 6 Prizes.” While this is the main win condition of this game — other than say the Bench-out or deck-out — I believe when preparing for a best-of-three format players need to have a good grasp on the reach of their deck and its ability to make comebacks in difficult situations. I’ll use my tournament run…
Extrapolating Expanded, Tier List for Week 1, the Big Three, and a Pair of Rogues “During Fall Regionals we saw five decks emerge from the rest: Seismitoad/Crobat Yveltal/Darkrai Vespiquen/Flareon Tyrantrum/Giratina/Bronzong Seismitoad/Giratina So … what’s changed since October? To put it frankly, not much is different. Some decks have fallen out of favor due to the release of Jirachi XY67, Gallade BKT, and Assault Vest but a majority of the lists that performed well at Fall Regionals will do the same during Winter Regionals. Reference List: Mark Garcia Seismitoad-EX’s Quaking Punch is a devastating attack that punishes poor draws and deck building in a way that no other Pokémon can match. Combined with the supplementary damage from Crobat PHF/Golbat PHF,…
If this weak Pokémon is by itself, a mere child could defeat it. But if ______ has friends to help it train, it can evolve and become much stronger. (Dreepy)
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