3,043 results for: <2020/04/01
Mew/Cramorant V @ Collinsville, Matchups, Moving it Forward, and Expanded Takeaways for Charlotte “Going into this weekend, I was fairly set on a list a few cards off from the Zacian V list that I had posted last week. The only real changes I had made were swapping a Blissey LOT line out for the Copperajah SSH and Galarian Rapidash SSH line I was working on in my article, while trying out a few different slots, like a 2nd Dhelmise GRI and a Professor Kukui, as well as a 12th Energy and a 4th Max Elixir. Each time I laid out my list, it felt like it made sense to me. Then, my…
T16 @ OCIC w/ PikaRom, Why I Played It, Match Recaps, Matchups In-Depth, and Updates for the New Meta “Going into the event I knew I wanted to play a tried and true concept. I feel as if this is almost always correct at ICs like this when a new set drops. If you recall, I played a very vanilla, aggressive, and consistent Mewtwo deck to LAIC back in November, in hopes to beat out people trying new concepts that the slower TAG TEAM Supporters brought us. It went decently well as I did make it to Day 2. It was also reassuring to see some other people have more success than I saw, using the same ideology. I…
OCIC w/ ADPZ and Some Analyses on Nico/Tord’s 1st/7th Mewtwo/Welder and Zach’s 2nd Fire Box “-4 Pokemon Catcher +4 Custom Catcher -1 Galarian Zigzagoon SSH +1 Absol TEU -1 Marshadow UNB +1 Shrine of Punishment (2nd) -1 Aurora Energy +1 Tag Call (3rd) -1 Marnie +1 Escape Board (2nd) Most of the ADP/Zacian V lists that did well at OCIC played 4 Custom Catcher instead of Pokemon Catcher, so that has to be the way to go. At first, I thought 4 Pokemon Catcher was correct, but there were times where I would flip multiple tails in a row to lose games. However, had I had 2 Custom Catcher to guarantee a Benched Pokemon, then…
My OCIC Zacian/ADP, 5-4/What Went Wrong, and Galarian Obstagoon’s Matchup Spread “The first thing that went wrong was the mentality I had approaching the event. My motivation wasn’t to win the entire event, which is okay, but that clouded my judgement when selecting decks. The Top 16 race for this year has become quite crowded in the bottom half and I found myself in a position to be knocked out of Top 16 if I didn’t earn Points. I began convincing myself that Championship Points were all I needed; I just needed to walk away with 100 CP if I could, and nothing else mattered. This put me in a negative…
Chaotic Zacian V and Treasures & Traps (Collinsville Edition, ft. RoxieChomp, Turbo Dark, Ultra Necrozma, and More) “I know that fellow author Jonathan Croxton wrote about this very same deck yesterday, but I still think itβs important to cover my iteration of the list because it feels different enough and uses a few different strategies in certain matchups. While Jonathan went for a more aggressive approach, using cards like Sky Field and no Tapu Lele-GX, Iβve been finding success with a more methodical version of the deck. Hereβs what I have sleeved up right now: Iβve seen a ton of players on the Expanded PTCG Online ladder try to put an Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX into…
It sneaks into people’s homes, stealing things and feasting on the negative energy of the frustrated occupants. (Impidimp)
The Post-OCIC Meta, Two for Collinsville (Straight Zacian V, Zacian V/Bronzong), and Understanding Expanded as an RPS Format “The main story of OCIC was the utter dominance of ADP/Zacian V. Nearly half of Day 2 competitors played it, and it took up seven of the Top 16 slots. The rest of the decks were essentially tried-and-true favorites updated with Quick Ball and Professorβs Research: Mew3, Malamar, PikaRom, Ability ReshiZard, and Baby Blacephalon. One deck that surprised me by living up to its hype was Zacian V Mill. Including the player that got DQβd for an incorrect decklist, three of the four that made Day 2 got Top 16, and two made Top 8. I think if the tournament…
Building a Competitive Deck in Three Steps w/ Case Studies on Zacian V/ADP, PikaRom, and Lapras VMAX for OCIC “Whichever deck you choose or create, you need to make sure that that deck can work consistently. In this step, the idea is to create the most consistent list possible so that the main ideas of the deck can work without any problem. Another important point here is that we should not consider the metagame when building the listβthat is, this isnβt the step to include tech cards like Phione CEC or Tapu Fini UNM. We will do that later, in Step 3. In fact, there is no exact order as to which is Step 1 and Step 2. It…
The Winners and Losers of Sword & Shield (Standard Format), Morpeko V, RowEgg/Rillaboom, and Reflections on Choosing a Deck “With every set comes changes to the metagame, with some cards and decks getting more powerful, while others fall off or vanish. With SSH bringing many new cards, including new Pokemon V and a rule change, this is more true than ever. This one might be fairly obviousβPikaRom’s greatest limitation since the rotation of Nest Ball has been finding Tapu Koko Prism Star in a timely manner. So far, PikaRom players have had to use Pokemon Communication, which is not ideal, since they typically had fewer than 15 Pokemon to use with it. Quick Ball not only seamlessly searches Tapu…
My Final ADP/Zacian V List for OCIC, Expanded in a Nutshell, and Shock Lock w/ SSH “If OCIC was tomorrow, I’d play this. It’s widely accepted that ADP/Zacian V is the best deck, and there has been little evidence to debunk this. The deck works, and being able to OHKO almost everything and take an additional Prize when doing so is powerfulβwho knew? -1 Phione CEC +1 Oranguru UPR -1 Tapu Fini UNM +1 Jirachi TEU -1 Metal Energy +1 Water Energy These changes are pretty self-explanatory. Phione and Tapu Fini, though good cards, are very situational and perhaps not worth running. My main reason for including Phione was as a counter to Galarian Obstagoon SSH…
Preliminary Expanded Decklists Γ4 and Mew3/Fire Box + Green’s Blowns for Standard “The biggest things to happen in Expanded with the release of SSH are easily the emergence of Zacian as an archetype and the turn 1 no Supporter rule. Both of these things have had a decent impact on the format, and made some of the old archetypes much better and some much worse. In my initial breakdown of SSH I mentioned some of the cards that got better, so check that out for that info. I believe that I may have initially overvalued EggLet in this format though. I initially thought the card, and the deck, would be incredibly good,…
When it’s drumming out rapid beats in battle, it gets so caught up in the rhythm that it won’t even notice that it’s already knocked out its opponent. (Thwackey)
Wobbuffet/Sableye V for Collinsville and in the Concept Cave with Torkoal V, Stonjourner VMAX, and Zacian V “The following deck is the list Iβve put the most time into for Collinsville Regionals, which is just a little over two weeks away! For those of you that donβt know, Collinsville Regionals in 2018 was my first Day 2 finish, where I played Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX, so the tournament holds a special place in my heart. Enough nostalgia, though; hereβs the list: Thereβs a ton to unpack here, and Iβll get into the specific counts in a moment, but the essential concept is to slow your opponents down by going second and starting Wobbuffet PHF. From there, youβll quickly find that…
Zacian/ADP and Mew3/Malamar, My Early BDIFs of Sword & Shield Standard “Now that Iβve had a more genuine chance to give a wide array of decks a try, Iβm 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…
Blacephalon/Naganadel Updated and Matched Up for UPRβSSH/Standard “-1 Poipole LOT +1 Poipole FLI -1 Heatran-GX +1 Blacephalon-GX -1 Blacephalon CEC -1 Marshadow UNB +1 Mew UNB -3 Cherish Ball +3 Quick Ball -1 Great Catcher +2 Pokemon Catcher I decided to keep all Poipole the same (with the Spit Poison attack) since the 10 damage ticks can actually make a difference at times. I also ended up finally dropping Heatran-GX for a 4th copy of Blacephalon-GX for a couple of reasons: First, our best starter is Blacephalon-GX. When we start with it, we can Burst-GX as soon as possible. Second, GardEon will likely not exist anymore…
A Close Look at Cinccino Mill, Early in the UPRβSSH/Standard Format “This deck recently saw a lot of success in Japan’s smaller events, but I always take those results with more than one grain of salt. Their structure is different than ours and they have different styles of decks that they like to play, but I think Cinccino Mill blurs the line here quite a bit. I had actually been testing the deck before seeing these results, but some of their lists certainly gave me ideas to make mine better. The strategy with this deck is pretty simple. You need to deck your opponent out before they win.Β Make DoΒ is the newΒ Trade…
Sword & Shield Set Rundown, ADP/Zacian V the BDIF, and Concept Lists for Hammertime and Fire Box “I’m going to run down the set list and give some brief thoughts on the strongest cards. This section is not meant to be all-inclusive, but rather an inspiration for your own deck-building adventures. I think Rillaboom is severely underrated amongst most players. On top of having the traditional Rare Candy method of getting put into play, Rillaboom can also take advantage of Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX. While it doesn’t have a plethora of strong attackers, Rillaboom can make use of Venusaur & Snivy-GX, Dhelmise V, Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX, Celebi & Venusaur-GX, and Pheromosa & Buzzwole-GX. Each of these…
It attacks with rapid beats of its stick. As it strikes with amazing speed, it gets more and more pumped. (Grookey)