Xander Pero
Author Archive
Psychic Malamar, On Using Spell Tag, and the Pitfalls of Naganadel-GX Control “Looking at the list, there isn’t much spice outside of a couple of tech cards. As I said earlier, that’s the beauty of the deck. The list’s goal is to max out consistency while devoting a few slots to powerful tech cards. Jirachi is a great starter and pivot point for this deck. The deck runs 2 copies to mitigate prizing one of them, and for the increased probability of starting with one. I think running 1 Dedenne-GX is worthwhile as insurance for a bad starting hand. The deck already has 4 Pokemon Communication and plenty of Pokemon, so adding…
Checkmating in UPR-on with Naganadel-GX Control, Worlds/DC Open Meta Overview, and a Peek at Meganium/Nidoqueen “As I said before, this deck is a modernized checkmate. Also like Zoroark-GX of the past, the deck does not solely rely on Stinger-GX to win the game. Because it’s forced to play an array of Ultra Beasts, Rainbow Energies are strong in allowing multicolored attackers. Buzzwole FLI, Nihilego LOT, Kartana UNB, and Xurkitree UNM are all strong, adaptable attackers. Worst case, they’re fuel for Ultra Conversion. One thing that this deck has going for it is its strong engine. With 4 Mysterious Treasure, 4 Ultra Space, 4 Pokemon Communication, and 2 Dedenne-GX, this deck will rarely open with…
A Complete Guide to PikaRom for NAIC, Including Matchups + Lists, and a Different Take on ZapBeasts “As you can see, there isn’t much different from my Madison list. This is also what Jesper played to a T4 finish. Basically, there’s nothing special. I’ll briefly discuss the changes from my Madison list and any extra cards that can be swapped in. I cut Absol TEU and Marshadow UNB because they didn’t improve the deck’s integral strategy. Absol was meant to improve our ZapBeasts matchup (and it came in handy) but didn’t carry its weight enough to warrant a spot. Erika’s Hospitality is a much stronger inclusion and increases our consistency. I’m a huge fan of Erika’s Hospitality…
EUIC Tournament Recap, Innovations, Our PikaRom List, and Vespiquen Honed for Hartford “EUIC was unique in that a new set wasn’t legal for the weekend of the tournament. This was the case for the first two Internationals of the season in São Paulo and Melbourne, where Lost Thunder and Team Up effectively debuted. I’m not sure which I prefer, but I was glad for the change of pace. A major tournament in a developed format (such as SUM–TEU) isn’t bad to have, as most decklists are established, so discussions center more around optimization rather than new ideas. Though, there were a fair amount of innovative decks and lists in the tournament that…
Profiling Zapdos/Lycanroc-GX in Standard and Recapping Archie’s Blastoise in Expanded “Coming into the tournament, I knew that Zoroark-GX/Garbodor would be a relatively safe play. I liked the list I had posted because it was consistent against everything, and should I dodge Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, the deck would work well. I liked having the extra Rescue Stretchers, Garbotoxin, etc. for my other matchups rather than the specific anti-Lightning cards that didn’t even make the Pikarom matchup favorable. Both versions of Zoroark-GX/Garbodor were my fallback, and it was good to see that some people had success with it. Alex Schemanske finished in Top 8 and Arlo Neel in Top 4. Justin Bokhari,…
It’s skilled at both offense and defense, and it gets pumped up when cheered on. But if it starts showboating, it could put itself in a tough spot. (Cinderace)
On Trevenant’s Torontonian Reign, the Future for Trees, the Case for Counterbox, and My Play (ZoroGarb) for Greensboro “As we know, the Toronto Top 8 was made up of these decks: 4 Trevenant BREAK 1 Night March 1 Archie’s Blastoise 1 Counterbox 1 Zoroark-GX/Garbodor It’s not hard to see that Trevenant BREAK dominated the event, despite its lack of a 1st or 2nd place trophy at the end of the weekend. At the end of Day 1, there were two Trevenant BREAK decks at the top of standings; both included a Pyroar FLF line! This was an unexpected tech that swung over the Pikarom matchup. Once the Pyroar was set up, it was already game over. Going first,…
Synthesizing Collinsville’s Results at the Dusk of SUM–TEU Standard (and an Electrical Stab at Expanded) “1st Zach Lesage won the tournament with his tried-and-true Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel deck that he has played at almost every tournament since its release. This came as a surprise to most players, including myself, as there was little reason to believe that the deck could compete with Zapdos. For an incredibly linear deck like Blowns, the two-shot nature of Zapdos/Jirachi should be overpowering due to its extra consistency and capability to attack immediately. However, Zach’s list contained a 1-1 Alolan Muk line, which is something I’ll touch on in a bit. 2nd Surrounding the success of Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel was Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX/Lucario-GX. Basically, this deck…
A More Focused Look at Top Contenders Post-Team Up (Electric.dec, Psychic/”GasKan” Malamar, and Decidueye-GX) “In my opinion, Electric.dec is the most hyped newcomer in the meta. There have been plenty of lists published, both from USA and Japan, and I can safely say I’m a fan of Pablo’s which he posted last week. Electropower is a worthwhile card in hitting numbers, and other support cards like Raikou SLG and Zapdos TEU are there as sidekicks, not the main show. The part of this deck as a whole that I’m unsure about is its capability to get rolling initially. The first Full Blitz leads into the next, but the path to the first looks somewhat dicey. Using…
My Dallas Experience w/ Zoro/Garb, Final Notes on Expanded, and Team Up and Standard “To nobody’s surprise, Zoroark-GX decks made up a majority of the meta in Dallas. Zoroark-GX/Garbodor was the most popular deck, but Archie’s Blastoise was only behind by two people. Aside from the 88 and 86 playing these respective decks, there was a slew of other Zoroark-GX decks, a surge of Vespiquen, Rayquaza-GX, and other meta decks somewhat seen in the field. Fighting decks, Trevenant, and Drampa-GX/Garbodor were all relatively unpopular, only having about 20 players each. I was surprised to see that there weren’t more Fighting decks because of Zoroark’s last win. My theory is that most people were more…
Recapping a Collection of Tournaments with Zoroark-GX/Garbodor in Expanded “Why is this deck good? Well, it combines two amazing cards. I’ve already covered why Zoroark-GX is a strong card in Expanded; I need not dive further into it. Garbotoxin is a strong Ability in Expanded when combined with N, but also in the general nature of the successful decks. The more aggressive decks like Rayquaza-GX, Archie’s Blastoise, Buzzwole, and Blacephalon are vulnerable to either Trashalanche or Garbotoxin, making Garbodor a sweet sidekick in these matchups. Importantly, Trashlanche functions as a strong single prize attacker. This way, there’s a great way to punish the opponent for returning to even prizes…
It drifted in on the flow of ocean waters from a frigid place. It keeps its head iced constantly to make sure it stays nice and cold. (Eiscue)
Discussing the Dominance of Zoroark-GX in the Entirety of the TCG “The first question in any design room is “Do we want this card to be strong?” If the answer is no, you (the reader) can very quickly see a common example of this. Simply look up any set in Pokemon TCG history, display some portion of the set on the screen, close your eyes, and point to a random point on the screen. Congratulations! Approximately 75% of the time you’ll choose a card that will never be competitive. Perhaps 15% of the time you’ll point at a playable. Some 5% will be strong, and the last 5% will be very…
Profiling the Shift to Expanded with Lost Thunder in Gardevoir-GX and Archie’s Blastoise “Seismitoad-EX/Zoroark-GX looks to be a main contender in Lost Thunder Expanded. It gains as many tools as those used against it: Faba and Girafarig. I think Faba will make its way into the list for any mirror matches or permanent removal, but I’m unsure about Girafarig. Moving on, Primal Groudon may make a resurgence because of Seismitoad-EX/Zoroark-GX. Joe Sanchez had success in Portland, and I’d be unsurprised for more success in the next West Coast city. The main barrier to Primal Groudon is Tropical Beach, as most players won’t have access to the full set that the deck requires. ArchieStoise,…
A Synopsis of Xander’s Roanoke Contending Challengers Post-Latin America’s International Championship “This list is relatively different from what I posted before, only because a lot of the changes I made ended up to be unnecessary or the wrong techs. Sparse excesses like 3rd Lele, Fairy Ninetales-GX, and Weakness Policy ended up being unnecessary in this meta. The thick Banette-GX and Weavile line made their way into this deck as counters to the One-Prizers and Ability-heavy Stage 2 decks that debuted, like Granbull and Decidueye-GX/Alolan Ninetales-GX. In a way, this is a more refined Philly list with the added Weavile and Garbodor swapped for Lycanroc-GX. The single gust from Lycanroc-GX provides plenty…
An Exploration of Lost Thunder’s Impact on the Best Decks of 2018 Standard “I mark the secondary tag as Stage 1 because this deck revolves around the utility of Ditto {*}. It effectively allows us to play multiple Stage 1 Pokemon without losing consistency or taking up space. For example, I really would’ve loved to play this in my Zoroark-GX/Banette-GX list. (This is where this is going.) I’d have been able to run it in place of the 2nd Shuppet, most likely, so I could force double Shuppet or double Trubbish in some situations. Now with Lycanroc-GX in the deck, I could force a double Rockruff while also leaving Ditto {*} for something…
A Look at Revitalizing Old Concepts in the Post-Bans Expanded “Buzzwole-GX/Lycanroc-GX/Octillery is the deck that I won Roanoke with back in May. The format then was defined by the Zoroark-GX overlord, Trevenant’s continued presence as a soft-counter to Night March and Zoroark-GX, and the fall of Drampa-GX/Garbodor. Buzzwole-GX/Lyacnroc-GX nestled its way into the top by surprisingly handling itself against Trevenant while dodging Night March entirely. Most of the Night March lost out on Day 1 or struggled at the bottom tables of Day 2. Buzzroc is an inherently strong deck, but is bad against Expanded decks. It’s relatively strong against everything for the same reasons as it is in Standard.…
Searching for an opponent to test its skills against, it emerges onto land. Once the battle is over, it returns to the sea. (Grapploct)
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