Xander Pero
Author Archive
The Final Examination: Zoroark-GX/Banette-GX and Zoroark-GX/Magcargo before Memphis “This is the new base list of the deck. Lycanroc-GX has made itself a staple after weekends of tournament results by Rahul, Chip, Fabien, and myself. Fabien’s list posted on Heyfonte runs another Ultra Ball or Friend Ball in place of the 3rd Cynthia. Personally, I don’t like cutting down to fewer Supporters. Cynthia is the best option against BuzzShrine when not playing Acerola. It’s a great card and cutting it lowers Supporter consistency drastically. Lycanroc-GX has become a staple in the list because it’s incredibly strong in the mirror match. It has the best chance of winning the Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX…
The Guide to Zoroark-GX/Banette-GX/Garbodor GRI for Memphis “The deck takes on the standard Zoroark-GX archetype shell that’s seen in its other variants: Lycanroc-GX, Golisopod-GX, etc. Combining the Banette-GX and Garbodor line, we have a 3-3 line of Psychic attackers. This is usually enough to deal with any Psychic-weak threats, especially with the Rescue Stretcher. Banette-GX is the more important attacker in today’s metagame, which is why it’s a thicker line than Garbodor. It shores up the matchup that gives normal Zoroark-GX decks a hard time: Buzzwole/Shrine/X. Banette-GX is great because of its Fighting Resistance, Shady Move Ability, and easy access to OHKO damage with Shadow Chant. 2…
Examining the Viability of Buzzwole FLI/Weavile UPR/Shrine of Punishments for the Philly Standard “Here’s what I’ve come up with. A lot of the list is traditional, but there are a couple of differences from other lists. First, I’m unsure of Magcargo’s place in this deck. It seems amazing when paired with Acro Bike and Oranguru SUM, but those 4 spots can be allocated elsewhere. The 3-3 Weavile line, Energy Loto, and Marshadow are all conveniences available because of the extra space. These changes smooth the deck over, but in a different manner. 4 Buzzwole, 3-3 Weavile Simply put, these are the main attackers. I run 4 Buzzwole because it’s the best starter by…
An In-Depth Guide to Straight Zoroark-GX for Worlds “Straight Zoroark-GX is the most recent deck I’ve been experimenting with at local events. Compared to Zoroark-GX/Magcargo, it runs a higher count of specific cards so that it doesn’t need to expend Puzzle of Time or go into Oranguru UPR as frequently. As an example, most Zoroark-GX/Magcargo lists run 1 Max Potion, while Straight would run 2-3. This makes it much easier for Straight to keep up in healing and have Puzzle of Time for important turns later. The other added benefit of no Magcargo is the lack of a free prize in Zoroark-GX mirror. When both players play optimally…
A Detailed Look at Banette-GX/Garbodor for the Worlds Format “Banette-GX/Garbodor functions very similarly to Espeon-GX/Garbodor. One huge benefit is that Banette-GX only requires a single Energy to attack at all times. The deck doesn’t rely on drawing Double Colorless Energy in a timely fashion for Divide-GX or Psychic anymore. Shadow Chant hits for solid damage for a single Energy, which smoothes over the problems Espeon-GX had before of hitting for inconsequential damage with Psybeam. Overall, Banette-GX is a bigger threat on its own. The second major difference between Espeon-GX/Garbodor and Banette-GX/Garbodor is that the latter can run Rainbow Energy effectively. Energy Evolution required a Basic Psychic Energy, meaning…
As it grows inside its shell, it uses its psychic abilities to monitor the outside world and prepare for evolution. (Dottler)
Stars of the Celestial Storm Thoughts and Ideas for Worlds “Scyther I think a good baby Pokemon is required for a Stage 1 swarm deck to be viable. Scyther certainly provides for this with its first attack, Twin Play. It searches for up to 2 Scyther and puts them onto the Bench, a useful attack when going Second. If anything, this somewhat fixes the 1st/2nd unfairness by providing a solid option as a first attack. I doubt that Scizor-GX decks will run Brigette because of this, and instead will opt for a more draw-heavy Supporter line. Ariados Ariados reminds me of Ninetales DRX but in a worse way. Obviously, it…
A Season Wrap-up and Report from North America Internationals with Zoroark-GX/Decidueye-GX “International events matter—IC’s and foreign events. I have yet to confirm this with Christopher’s data, but I’m fairly certain that every member of T16 went to 3 Internationals or more. I personally went to 3, but only received points at one: Brazil! I’d say that the only reason I stayed in Top 16 this time was because of my good finishes at Regionals. I had an insane run from Portland to Madison which set myself up to chill for the final few tournaments of the year. A balance between consistency and deep finishes is required to make T16. At the…
Looking at Ultra Necrozma-GX/Malamar for NAIC “12 open spots The above list is close to the bare minimum on the type of cards that can be played. That’s not to say some open slots are immediately filled for consistency reasons, like the 4th Malamar, 3rd Metal Energy, and 2nd recovery card. However, there are many different ways to take the deck, and different techs are required. As an overview, a Parallel City version works, a hyper consistent version works, and a single-Prize Pokemon version works. Beast Ring works, and Professor’s Letter works too. The path you take is dependent on the matchups you’re trying to hedge,…
A Reflection on League Cups and Look at Buzzwole/Garbodor “I decided to play Buzzwole/Lycanroc because it performed well for me in Madison and I wanted a deck I knew how to use. I didn’t think anyone would play the mono-Psychic Malamar deck with Mewtwo SM77 either. What resulted from this safe choice was a quick 0-2 drop, then a trip to Chipotle and a local bubble tea place. It was pretty demoralizing, seeing how I could go from a very good weekend to a bad one with the same deck. The few card changes weren’t the reason why the deck failed, it was just bad luck or bad matchups,…
A 1st Place Roanoke Report and Update on Standard Zoroark and Buzzwole for Madison “Due to the recent release date of the set, there haven’t been many tournaments of its format. The two Mexico SPEs are the best representation of what it’s like now. In Mexico City, Malamar/Necrozma-GX took both 1st and 2nd handily. There was a Zoroark-GX/Garbodor that lost to one in Top 4 as well. In Cancun, Zoroark-GX variants took 1st and 2nd, one Lycanroc-GX and one Golisopod-GX. This was probably because those players meta-gamed against Malamar, the dominant deck on the previous weekend. This was an extremely closed sample and I expect the meta to be different elsewhere. The tournament will…
It will bravely challenge any opponent, no matter how powerful. This Pokémon benefits from every battle—even a defeat increases its strength a bit. (Rookidee)
Previews of Beast Box and Gourgeist in Forbidden Light Standard and Expansions on Expanded “Beast Box was the first deck I wanted to try out when the new set dropped on PTCGO. I’ve always been a fan of Toolbox decks because there’s seemingly an answer for everything. An example of this is the Zoroark-GX/Counter deck I and a few others played to mild success at Dallas Regionals this year. I certainly think this is more of a step in the Toolbox direction than that with Six Corners being a more accurate representation of the deck. Key cards further promote the Ultra Beast strategy: Ultra Space, Beast Energy, and Ultra Recon Squad (which made its…
A Dissection of the Rule Changes, Standard, and Forbidden Light “It seems as if the rules are continuously progressing towards harsher punishment. It’s undetermined whether this will be good or bad for deterring cheating and the future of the community. There are definitely two ways to look at it, both of which I’ll cover, and then conclude with my own thoughts on the matter. To start, I recommend revisiting one of my former articles in which I talk about the initial leap in terms of penalties this year. In my opinion, the most important change is in how the penalty is given. Instead of the player taking 1-3 Prize cards,…
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An Examination of the League Cup Meta and Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX “I did little preparation for this tournament other than reviewing what decks I have built and their lists. The several I considered were Espeon-GX/Garbodor, Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX, Greninja, and Gourgeist. I didn’t make any changes to Espeon-GX/Garbodor and Greninja, but tinkered a bit with the remaining two. I’ve standardized my list for Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX because I don’t think there’s a better way to run it. The final spots became occupied by meta-specific cards like 2nd Parallel City, Enhanced Hammer, and 3rd Field Blower. I truly think the extra copies of the cards would win me more games, especially in Best of 1, than…
Xander’s 1st Place Portland Regionals Espeon/Garbodor Tournament Report “My journey began Friday morning at O’Hare, per usual. The best flight I found was an early morning one, meaning that I’d miss the entire day of school. This was a nice change because it’s exhausting to leave immediately after school, like I did for Charlotte or when driving to a Regional. Jon Eng was actually connecting in Chicago, so we managed to land on the same flight. We talked and played a couple games before we boarded; Espeon/Garbodor 2-0’d Greninja fairly easily. The only change him and Joe made between Charlotte and Portland was cutting the 3rd Field Blower…
A Tale of Clovers on St. Patrick’s Day and Updated Lists for Portland “Looking back on the list I played, I wouldn’t change a card (if I were to keep the Missing Clovers). I debated Oranguru UPR vs. 3rd Cynthia and Enhanced Hammer vs. 3rd Wimpod as I sat across from my Round 1 opponent. Ultimately, I feel like I made the best decision in including what I chose. I didn’t pull off the infinite loop with Oranguru often, but I believe it in conjunction with Enhanced Hammer is incredibly strong. The 3 Field Blower was worthwhile in that I had it whenever I wanted to remove Parallel City, excess Tools, or as…
Powerful legs and jaws made it the apex predator of its time. Its own overhunting of its prey was what drove it to extinction. (Dracovish)
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