1,227 results for: Underground
Baby Blowns Reinflated for Phase 2 (AKA Bracket Play) (AKA the Region Qualifiers) of the Players Cup II “Today’s article will analyze Baby Blowns, which, together with the Water Mew3 Box from my previous article, is one of my main choices for Players Cup II bracket play. After Fiery Flint rotated, Baby Blowns wasn’t the same and lost the monstrous strength it had in the first few turns. But, with a new strategy and way of playing the deck, I feel that Blacephalon still has the capability to be one of the best in the format. The great truth is that Baby Blowns had been so strong that it was necessary for decks to tech Tapu Fini UNM…
My Current Fav (PikaRom) for Phase 2 of the Players Cup II (and a Recap of Phase 1) “In my last piece I mentioned that I would be keeping it simple and probably just forcing what I thought was the best deck at the time for all 50 keys, effectively guaranteeing my qualification as long as I played well. This deck for me was ADP. For some of the tournaments I used the list posted in my last article, but for the others I switched over to a build that used Clay as opposed to Professor’s Research. The Clay build was a bit riskier, but I felt that over the course of multiple events it would overall be…
Players Cup Finals Mini-Recap, Tips for Players Cup II, On Overcoming Pokémon Fatigue, and Finding Fun in Silly (But Competitive!) Decklists “As I alluded to, the first Players Cup ended up going very well for me. I made the Top 256 in Europe cutoff easily in the first round, before bringing Zacian V/Jirachi Prism Star (aka Zacian Combo) to the European Qualifier. I managed to win my first seven matches outright, placing me in the Top 4 in Europe and securing one of the 16 places in the Players Cup Final in August. The finals themselves were far less exciting. TPCi ended up scheduling them when I was traveling in a rather rural part of Britain—the Scottish Highlands. This resulted in…
The Success of Crushing Hammer and Power Plant, PikaRom/Hammers, Eternatus VMAX/Power Plant, Green’s BraixZard, and My Wet Mew3 (Updated) “I have commented in previous articles on the success of Crushing Hammer, but what strikes me is that it is still quite successful weeks later, which proves that it is very difficult to deal with Energy removal. With the possibility of drawing many cards in one turn with Dedenne GX and Crobat V, you can dig to find 2, 3, or even 4 copies of Crushing Hammer on the first turn, and often all you need to do is remove 1 Energy to gain a big advantage and win the match. Power Plant is a card that has begun to…
Atlas League, the Online TEU–DAA Metagame Progression, Players Cup II: Qualifying Hindsight, and Mewtwo & Mew-GX Toolbox (in Expanded) “One of the interesting things about seeing the metagame develop over the past few months is how differently the metagame progression formula has shifted on the basis of all play being online. Quite often in the past, if a certain list of an archetype did well at an event or outright won, that would for a while be considered the “correct” way to play said archetype, and a lot of the subsequent finishes for that archetype would build that archetype similarly, if not exactly the same. However, as various different online Leagues have emerged to fill the gap left by…
Its body is covered in sweet nectar, and the skin on its back is especially yummy. Children used to have it as a snack. (Appletun)
“Optimal ADPZ” and Galarian Cursola V for Players Cup II, How to Test Properly (the Spreadsheet Testing Method), and Notes on Building Rogues “Perhaps to the chagrin of those who’ve seen my rants against it on social media, the deck I’ve been using for most (although not all) of my qualifying events is none other than Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX/Zacian V. This is simply because I believe there’s no good reason to not play the deck: Altered Creation-GX is a truly game-breaking effect, and ADPZ has the potential to win just about any game it’s in. It can instantly capitalize on opponents’ misplays and can completely seal up a game if your opponent has even a single turn of poor draws…
Two Decks That Omit Crobat V and Dedenne-GX (Green’s/PikaRom and Decidueye/Obstagoon) for the Players Cup II Qualifier Period “This deck offers a slower and more elaborate strategy for winning games. As the name indicates, the deck is based on Green’s Exploration, which allows you to search for 2 Trainer cards from your deck and put them into your hand—if you have no Pokémon with Abilities in play. When using Green’s Exploration, you practically start playing with your deck in your hand, as you will have access to almost everything, but only 2 cards at a time. The great advantage of this type of strategy is not having to use Dedenne GX or Crobat V, which, despite offering a…
Two Frontrunners (Eternatus VMAX and ADPZ) and Two Counter Picks (Torkoal V and Welder Toolbox) for Players Cup II “This Eternatus VMAX list is quite standard, Pokemon-wise, with maximum counts on the key Pokemon—the Eternatus line, Crobat V, and Galarian Zigzagoon—with three extra tech Pokemon in the Hoopa duo and Sableye V. Sableye V is a pretty powerful yet underwhelming attacker if it takes two turns to power up. However, the use of Energy Switch in this list can allow for a turn where you bench the Sableye V, Switch into it, and then Energy Switch to do massive damage to an opponent with Crazy Claws. This “surprise” Sableye V play has come in handy and surprised a ton…
Thoughts on Players Cup II, Theories on the Play! Pokémon Team Challenge (the What??), and the Archenemy of My Dear Centiskorch, Inteleon VMAX/Frosmoth “The announcement of this event was something that I fully expected, and was happy to hear about. There are a lot of similarities between this event and the first Players Cup, but there are also some notable differences. My favorite change is that there’s no longer an invitational where one of the favored players gets to skip the hardest part of the Cup. There is also the new method of qualification. Rather than rely on Event Tickets, we now have Tournament Keys, which are exclusively for the Players Cup. The Tournament Rep system has also been redone into a much…
The Remarkable ADaPting Metagame and Welder/Mew3 Box for Players Cup II “Can hit for 300 damage on turn two. It is versatile because it has so many attack options. 1HKOs VMAXs with the help of Horror P Energy and Volcarona GX. Good consistency. It is no longer the best deck in the format (BDIF). And that’s OK, because it’s less on people’s minds. Mewtwo & Mew-GX is easy to 1HKO. If it gets popular, there are strong counters to it in the format, like Mimikyu CEC 97 and Power Plant. It still depends a lot on Welder. Many of its matchups are 50/50. This is used against decks with ADP. Clear…
Without a Dreepy to place on its head and care for, it gets so uneasy it’ll try to substitute any Pokémon it finds for the missing Dreepy. (Drakloak)
How I’m Approaching the Players Cup II and My Two Current Favs, ADPZ and Eternatus VMAX “To start, I’ll do a brief summary of how the qualifier period of the Cup is structured: Unlike the original Players Cup, Pokemon has now added Tournament Keys to the game. These keys are given to every account to ensure that everyone has the same amount of opportunities to qualify. You are only given 50 Keys, so use them wisely. My plan is to space out the tournaments I play in over the entire month. My main goal with this is to use very few Tournament Keys early, when you know everyone will be hungry to play, including the better…
A Comprehensive Rodent-and-Bird-Filled Guide to Post-Rotation, Post-Bellelba & Brycen-Man Control “I’ve already covered a lot of my reasoning behind specific card choices, but I want to make sure every choice is clear. If it’s our win con why is there only 1??? Very good question! Essentially, this list is tight, especially because we need a good level of consistency to make up for its inherent clunkiness. The Bunny is a win con but it’s not the only win con. If you were to prize the Bunny, or choose not to use it, you would default to an aggressive Energy-denial playstyle, where, instead of pivoting between Bunny and Exca, you can…
Thoughts on the Format as a Whole (Spoiler: It’s Fast) and Centiskorch VMAX/Scoop Up Net “Oh where to start? ADP? Sure, why not. Unless you’ve been living under a proverbial rock in regards to the Pokémon community these last few weeks, you’ve surely heard the calls for a ban of ADP. And you’ve also heard the people defending the card. I’ve mostly been on the side of the former, as I believe that ADP is bad for the game as a whole. There’s a lot that can be said about ADP right now. I personally believe ADP is more of a symptom of the actual problem rather than the whole problem. The game has sped…
Should ADP Be Banned? and Water Mewtwo & Mew-GX w/ Frosmoth (aka Wet Mew3) “I started playing competitive Pokémon TCG in 2012, and since then I have been able to play in some formats where we had extremely strong attacks that ended up impacting the game a lot. These decks weren’t always the best, but they somehow made the game quite different than it would have been otherwise. The examples that stick out most in my mind are (1) the Item lock decks made possible by Seismitoad EX’s Quaking Punch in 2014–2016 and (2) the Night March deck in 2016–2017. At the time of Seismitoad EX, the format was very limited because there were…
On the Auspicious Arrival of Our New, Virtual Face of the Pokémon Trading Card Game “To understand the monumental mentality shift that happened for me through quarantine, we first need to look back on my mentality before quarantine and COVID-19. Simply, this season wasn’t incredible for me. Sure, I started off with a Top 32 finish in Atlantic City, but I lacked a follow-up Day Two finish, with my hopes being blown out by back-to-back autolosses and poor deck choices. Everyone has off tournaments, slumps, and seasons, even the best of the best, but that didn’t help me feel any better. I’m sure some complications from my senior year in high school, like applying to…
Jumping nimbly about, this small-bodied Pokémon takes advantage of even the slightest opportunity to disorient larger opponents. (Rookidee)
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