Pablo Meza
Author Archive
Bio: My name is Pablo Meza, also known as Tablemon, and I’m a Pokémon TCG player from Mexico who currently holds the title of 2016 Mexican National Champion. Aside from that, I’ve had my fair share of success at an international level, where some of my biggest accomplishments include a 3rd place at Worlds 2005 with the infamous Queendom deck, and 7th place at the most recent Worlds 2017 with Gardevoir-GX. I’ve been playing this game competitively since Pokémon took over back in 2003, albeit at varying degrees of competitiveness due to life/school/work but as of today, I am amongst those who play this game as a professional.
Dragapult VMAX/Hammers, ADPZ/Hammers, Inteleon VMAX/…Hammers, and the Rebel Clash Economy “Here are a few things that I think could have a direct impact on Qualifier #3’s metagame: Card Accessibility: For live play, you can just order what you need from a site such as TCGplayer and be ready for the event. Online codes have a factor of chance; even though there are stores that sell PTCGO cards directly, this is against the terms of use (§13: Trading Virtual Content) of the game. Trading your packs directly for singles is the best way to acquire singles online, but you rely on the online supply being there by “chance.” No one really knows…
What I Like About the Limitless Online Series, Mew3/Malamar (My Q1 Deck), and Malamar VMAX to Counter Dragapult, the Likely New BDIF “I think what I love the most about the Limitless Online Series is their format, with Best-of-1, 25-minute rounds, akin to what Japan runs for their own big tournaments. Best-of-1 adds variance, but in order to compensate for that, the original plan was to play 20 total rounds, and I expect that to stand. I love it because it makes strategies such as Cinccino Mill or Pidgeotto Control less viable. These, in my personal opinion, take away fun from the game as they essentially are solitaire decks where your opponent doesn’t get to do much during their turn, removing all…
Seaking (and Destroy…) and My Top Three VMAXs from Rebel Clash (Dragapult, Toxtricity & Inteleon) w/ Launchpad Lists “This leads me to the deck I mentioned before, Seaking SSH! I’ve been having a ton of fun messing with opponents and trying to exhaust all their resources before they can take 6 Prizes. The main resource you try to get rid of, of course, is Energy as Ripping Horn removes 3 Energy over the course of two turns (on average). When you consider that Zacian V decks can only have 4 Metal Saucer, or PikaRom decks only have 1 Tapu Koko {*} and 1 Thunder Mountain {*}, the loss of 3 Energy can be huge. And when you combine…
On TrevNoir in Dallas, Other Expanded Contenders, ADsPinner, and the Post-Malmö Standard Tier List “Granted, I expected the deck to be played more than in Dallas of course, which is why I had a specific tech for mirror in my list: Wobbuffet PHF. The deck ended up being the overall winner, but unfortunately not in my own hands. I did make Day 2, barely, after a 4-0 start, but I performed very poorly in Day 2 due to a combination of poor luck and poor play on my part due to me feeling terrible with the flu and a nonstop cough. 67th place meant reaching Day 2 meant nothing, as I could’ve just played…
Zacian/ADP and Mew3/Malamar, My Early BDIFs of Sword & Shield Standard “Now that I’ve had a more genuine chance to give a wide array of decks a try, I’m completely convinced that Zacian V is by far the best deck in the format. It can be paired up with Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX to become a huge offensive threat, or with Melmetal & Lucario-GX in order to become a tankier deck and try to win the battle of resources. Both variants have impressed me so far, and I especially love having the Energy denial aspect in the deck, whilst also having an easier time OHKOing things. Testing has led me…
It stashes berries in its tail—so many berries that they fall out constantly. But this Pokémon is a bit slow-witted, so it doesn’t notice the loss. (Greedent)
T8 @ Dallas w/ TrevNoir, Japanese Resources, Anticipated UPR–SSH Archetypes, and Snorlax VMAX for Expanded “My initial testing showed a struggle with Turbo Dark, as it was so easy for them to power up and take OHKOs due to Weakness. I discarded the deck, making a video to showcase it here: One week before the event though, my friend Alex Garcia encouraged us to give it another go as on paper it seemed strong, and we added 2 Weakness Policy to help deal with Turbo Dark. As we played the matchup more, we started to realize how favorable the match actually was, so we decided to high-roll with the deck and hope for the best.…
The Latest on ZoroGarb, ADP Dark, and UltraGarb for Dallas “With that in mind, I have found myself putting in the most work with ZoroGarb, mostly because it feels familiar and very powerful. It combines a wide variety of things that are important in Expanded, such are Item abuse, Ability abuse, and overextension on the Bench usage, whilst having the amazing Trade Ability. Here is the latest draft of the list that I’ve been practicing with the most: The list is of course heavily based on Ian Robb’s winning list from Portland. However, it does feature new inclusions that are both great new cards but also personal preference choices. The…
Top 8 w/ ADPero at San Diego, a Primer on TinaChomp, the Wild Weekend, and Expanded/Dallas Musings “I myself managed to place 7th in San Diego with ADP (or, as I like to call it giving credit to the list creator, ADPero). It was a fantastic weekend for me as I started the tournament off very strongly at 4-0, and then, as expected, I faced even tougher competition and games became much closer to the point where I finished 5-0-4 going into Day 2. I was certainly in the driving position in many games, but Reset Stamps or a few Energy whiffs allowed my opponents to tie those series. I wasn’t super excited to go into Day…
On the Daytona Beach Meta, Double-Victory Weekend w/ Malamar @ Cups, Catron’s Psychic Malamar, and Misc. Thoughts for San Diego “I’d be interested to dig deeper into the decklists and see what percentage of the Mew3 decks ended up playing Wobbuffet LOT in order to try and fully counter Ability ReshiZard, as it was the third most popular deck overall. Of the three most popular decks, only Mew3 managed to make Top 8. This tournament was basically the upside-down LAIC, as we saw ADP and GardEon heavily decline in popularity, yet boast a much better conversion rate for Day 2 and also face off in the finals. Florges Doll Stall ended up being the more successful Mill deck yet again,…
Amulet Mew Box for Daytona Beach “These three arguments make a lot of sense in my mind, and thus this is the list that I’ve been practicing with and enjoying since LAIC: Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff-GX and Greninja-GX fit right into the list as necessary metagame adaptations with the new presence of Keldeo-GX as a force to be reckoned with. I enjoy having access to 4 Dedenne-GX, and I’ve found myself utilizing all 4 more than you’d think. Every other attacker is standard as of now, but Latios-GX and Charizard & Braixen-GX have merit to being in the deck, but space is incredibly tight. Other inclusions…
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)
Recapping LAIC 2020 w/ Exploratory Looks into Robin’s ReshiZard, DDG’s GuzzNag, and Green’s ADP “My tournament run with Mewtwo & Mew-GX felt like a roller coaster of emotions. I was extremely excited to play in my first big tournament of the season, only to lose Round 1 in a disappointing fashion as my Great Catcher decided to live in the bottom 2 cards of my deck. I managed to recover to a 4-1 record, where once again whiffed a card in the bottom 2, which made me tie (instead of win) against Malamar, putting me at a 4-1-1 record rather than 5-1 (and in a prime position to make Day 2). After that, my…
Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX (ADP) and GardEon for LAIC “On the other hand, ADP impressed me quite a bit after giving it a try and focusing on getting attacks off on turn 1 with N’s Resolve. My initial thoughts for it were that it was going to be too slow overall. Using up a GX attack and not dealing any damage? That felt awful to me. However, N’s Resolve helps you attack with Ultimate Ray so quickly that often it’s fine if you don’t end up using Altered Creation-GX+ at all. The second part of the deck, walling with Keldeo-GX and Chaotic Swell, has also proven to be more…
Tenets of Expanded, Turbo Dark Two Ways for Richmond, and Ability Zard + Mew Box Updated for LAIC “First off, let’s start with Expanded, which will be the format for the next two upcoming major events, Richmond and Portland. After testing Expanded the past last month, both on streams/videos and with the people I coach, I can confidently say this about the format: it’s all over the place. Any given deck that seems great one second ends up falling short against yet another potentially really good deck. There are many decks that can be effectively teched against with a single card, such as Oricorio GRI 56 or Sudowoodo GRI; however, how common will these be? That’s another big…
Comparing Winning Mew Boxes, Which One To Play, and Other Options for Knoxville “First off, we saw two very different takes of Mew Box win Atlantic City and Cologne. It wasn’t a surprise for anyone to see Mew Box win, as the deck is indeed extremely powerful. However, the lists are so different and contrasting in their approaches that it is actually quite fascinating to see them both win. It is no secret that the original Mew Box deck that won the Worlds Championships this past August had a few clear and exploitable weaknesses, for example, things such as 2 Fairy Charm {P} in GardEon decks, 2 Keldeo-GX on the field with nothing…
On Countering Ability ReshiZard, Another Reset Stamp PikaRom, and GardEon v. ReshiZard “The tier list I posted a few weeks ago still holds as of today, especially the Tier 1 and 1.5 decks, as we have seen those decks keep dominating League Cups and Challenges per Facebook posts detailing results. I do believe, however, that it is worth making one small change and separating the Malamar variants, as shown below: Ability ReshiZard Mew Box Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel LOT Pidgeotto Control PikaRom Green’s ReshiZard GardEon Malamar (Pure Psychic variant) I’m not including any Tier 2 decks this time because, frankly, they’re not good enough. They might seem cool in concept (like Dark Box), but in…
It’s highly skilled at tap-dancing. It waves its cane of ice in time with its graceful movements. (Mr. Rime)
100 articles written
12× Worlds qualifier
Playing since 2003
@tablemon
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