Travis Nunlist
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Bio: I attended my first Pokémon Tournament at the start of the 2010-11 season, with my very first pre-release being the Undaunted set in the HeartGold SoulSilver series. Since then my most notable achievements include:
x4 T4 Regional – Kansas 14-15, Seattle 15-16 Phoenix 16-17, Salt Lake City 17-18
x2 T8 Regional – Anaheim 16-17, Portland 16-17
x4 Worlds Invites (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
On the Sets This Year, Countering ReshiZard, Kyurem/Quagsire, and Omastar/TAG TEAMs for Madison Regionals “The tyrant emerging from Unbroken Bonds is Reshiram & Charizard-GX, and the results of the first weekend of events show this deck is the real deal. We saw different versions take down both Santa Clara and São Paulo, with SixPrizes’s own Alex Schemanske and Pablo Meza nabbing 2nd and 1st respectively at these events. Interestingly enough, all three Reshizard decks that found themselves in the finals had significant differences in their builds. Kian Amini’s was the most unique with 4 copies of Volcanion UNB, Green’s Exploration, and Custom Catcher. My great pal Kenny Wisdom did a detailed breakdown of Kian’s…
Alolan Exeggutor, Yveltal BREAK, and Lucario-GX/Omastar on Display for Daytona “The above list was piloted to a 28th place finish at the Toronto Regional Championships by my good pal Franklin Percic. When I first read that Alolan Exeggutor months back, I immediately thought it had potential in Expanded, and was beyond hyped to see Frank find success with the deck. The goal of the deck is to get three of your Exeggcute PLF into the discard pile with one Alolan Exeggutor in play and a Double Dragon Energy attached. Pulling the Exeggcutes into your hand with their Propagation Abilities allows you to then discard all three for a whopping 180…
Zoroark/Garbodor, Sceptile/Decidueye, and White Kyurem/Articuno for Denver “I first got inspiration for looking at the Zoroark/Garbodor/Alolan Muk combo when Pablo wrote about Alex Cole’s T32 list from Collinsville which I liked. The combo of the new Alolan Muk with Trashalanche is obvious and seems insane to me for a lot of different reasons. I was also inspired after watching Alex Garcia crush Day 1 with a more Dark-focused version of Zoroark utilizing Weavile, Nanu, and Black Market {*} alongside Zoroark-GX, which lead to the monstrosity you see above. The idea here is to utilize Zoroark-GX for early game pressure through Riotous Beating while setting up your smaller…
Tyranitar/Hoopa, Fossil Frenzy, and Alolan Exeggutor for Collinsville “2 Tyranitar TEU: 170 HP, single Prize, and can do 230 damage with one attack! What’s not to love about the new Tyranitar? Spinning Tail does 30 damage to all of your opponent’s Pokemon, which can allow you to clear your opponent’s board of any low-HP Pokemon hanging around. The real attraction here is Bite Off, which does 130 base damage but adds a whopping 100 damage if your opponent’s Active Pokemon is a GX or EX, which KOs most Pokemon. Tyranitar-GX plays well into the spread strategy, hits for solid damage while having 250 HP, and Lost Out is…
Zooming in on Zoroark, Cradily Craft Chronicles, and Developing Dependable Decks for Dallas “The raw power and flexibility of Zoroark-GX in the Expanded format has dominated the conversation about the format since the card was released, leading many players to renounce the format all together until something is done. I have been an avid defender of the Expanded format for quite some time now, but I’m here today humbly admitting that I think it’s about time that Zoroark-GX finds some kind of check in Expanded. With all of the available tools in the Expanded format there will always be a way for Zoroark to be incredibly powerful, and unless we decide to ban…
Its amusing movements make it very popular. It releases its psychic power from the pattern on its belly. (Mr. Rime)
Last Looks at Lost Thunder ft. Zeraora Garbodor, Cradily Crew, & Ditto Discoveries “Editor’s Note: PTCGO versions of these lists are coming shortly, but we wanted to get the article to you ASAP and are resolving a few issues. When I first began thinking of deck ideas I had the following decks in mind as the likely most popular candidates in Anaheim: Archie’s Blastoise Trevenant Zoroark Variants Buzzwole Blacephalon Everything beyond these 5 I imagined would have no more than a handful of representations in the room and wouldn’t be particularly well positioned without being wildly innovative. Assuming this is true then whatever deck we settle on for Anaheim should have favorable matchups…
Looking at Gardevoir-GX/Alolan Ninetales-GX, Magcargo-GX, and Sceptile-GX for the Lost Thunder Standard Format “Y’all didn’t actually think we’d look over Gardevoir for all the shiny new stuff did you? Gardevoir-GX gained an incredible amount of tools from this new set, and I believe it has the best chance to take a Tier 1 position in Standard that its had since the ‘Brokenvoir’ days. The non-GX Gardevoir is not nearly as good as Gallade was, but it is a good card in its own right. Regaining a single prize attacking option is huge even if its not as good as its predecessor. The Alolan Vulpix/Ninetales combo is exactly what this deck has been craving…
A Look into the Good, the Bad, and the Spooky for Halloween in Portland “Adapting Zoroark to the new Expanded format has been a bit interesting. As the deck clearly hit the hardest by the bans, it feels like a shell of the deck it used to be, but do not underestimate the raw power of Zoroark-GX and Sky Field. It is still consistent as ever while hitting like a truck, but now they can’t pull of a cheesy Red Card + Hex Maniac or Ghetsis plays that can completely shut one player out of the game. The deck is still incredibly powerful and likely Tier 1, but definitely not at the previous power…
Reviewing Rare Candy in Standard and Expanded with Gardevoir and Magnezone “Since I last decided to test Expanded there have been some major format adjustments. In an unprecedented move, Pokemon has moved to ban four cards from the Expanded format for the 2018-2019 season. I’m a bit of a mixed opinion on these bans as I was one of the few who believed the Expanded format was fine before the bans, but I must admit I do think the bans will open up the viability of many other strategies which otherwise may not have had a shot and it significantly cuts down on the amount of degenerate things that can be…
Testing Notes, Meta Review, and Top Picks for Worlds “Double digit games with over a dozen new ideas has left me feeling like I’ve spent countless hours taking the long way to confirm what seemed to be the biggest initial fear with this set: all of the viable cards in this set simply do not have the firepower to keep up with the current meta. Unfortunately, by current meta I mean Zoroark-GX and Buzzwole-GX decks. While I know both cards have a plethora of viable partners, I’ll be reviewing these concepts from a more top level perspective rather than individual match ups among variants. Rayquaza-GX is fine, but I…
When scared, this Pokémon cries. Its tears pack the chemical punch of 100 onions, and attackers won’t be able to resist weeping. (Sobble)
A Brief NAIC Report and Lists Ft. Scizor, Yveltal, Rayquaza, and Xerneas “In writing this article I originally only planned to write about a couple of ideas, but thanks to a schedule shuffling I had a little too much time to contemplate and ended up with this wild stream of consciousness. Some of these concepts are much worse than others, but I think exploring some of the more gimmicky concepts out of the gate is good for your own creativity and is always going to be much more fun. It’s good practice to keep an open mind with a new set to try to find something that can fit into the meta,…
A Pair of Ways to Go with Golisopod and a Beast Box Bombshell “The above list is the exact 60 I am currently playing in the Team Win & In Trial Tournament, which is the biggest PTCGO tournament ever ran as a 128 person event and will certainly only get more popular as a tournament series. Golisopod/Garbodor has been a frequent competitor since its debut at Worlds 2017, and I believe the deck may be in a great spot to resurface. The most appealing part of this deck is that it has both weaknesses of the Buzzwole deck covered, which is not seen very often in any other existing decks. Golisopod’s First Impression…
Anticipating Expanded’s Evolution & Searching for Standard’s Spice “In no particular order, here are the cards I see as having the highest chance of showing up in the Expanded format: Yveltal-GX – It seems like not too long ago, Yveltal-EX was the BDIF. Israel Sosa was able to take the deck to a T8 finish much earlier in the season, but the deck just isn’t as strong as it used to be. Yveltal-GX gives the deck a new Yveltal to play with that has a 1 Energy GX attack capable of taking a free knockout, and Fighting resistance is even more useful considering the major boost that Buzzwole…
Travis’s Top 4 Salt Lake City Regionals Report with Decklist Error Gardevoir “Round 1 vs Trevenant W 1-0 As soon as my Round 1 opponent opened Phantump, I was immediately glad that I had put the Giratina Promo into my deck. Game 1 started off a bit scary as my opening wasn’t the best, but luckily I was able to topdeck a Brigette just in time to get the ball rolling. I also had an important turn where I played Guzma to get some use out of my items and elected to go for a paralyze flip on a Jirachi-EX, getting heads and sticking it for the turn as my opponent did…
Defending the Finer Format & Expanding Gardevoir’s Grasp “I’ve fallen back onto grinding Expanded since then, as my next event is going to be the Salt Lake City Regional Championship. I’ve heard a lot of recent negativity regarding the Expanded format due to the dominance of Zoroark-GX/Skyfield, and feel the need to address these comments about my preferred format. Zoroark-GX is just perfect for Expanded. It has all the tools it needs to be a very dominant force. Unlike in Standard, Zoroark-GX can do everything by itself so it no longer requires a partner. Gaining Skyfield, Exeggcute, VS Seeker, and Hex Maniac in Expanded give the deck unmatched…
When it trusts a Trainer, it will treat them to berries it’s decorated with cream. (Alcremie)
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