3,043 results for: <2020/04/01
T8 @ Dallas w/ TrevNoir, Japanese Resources, Anticipated UPR–SSH Archetypes, and Snorlax VMAX for Expanded “My initial testing showed a struggle with Turbo Dark, as it was so easy for them to power up and take OHKOs due to Weakness. I discarded the deck, making a video to showcase it here: One week before the event though, my friend Alex Garcia encouraged us to give it another go as on paper it seemed strong, and we added 2 Weakness Policy to help deal with Turbo Dark. As we played the matchup more, we started to realize how favorable the match actually was, so we decided to high-roll with the deck and hope for the best.…
T4 @ Dallas w/ ZoroGarb, Other Good Expanded Decks, Idea Dump (Sword & Shield Edition), and an Early UPR–SSH Tier List “Leading up to Dallas, my group and I had tested several decks, all of which felt relatively mediocre in comparison to Turbo Dark, which left us with the question “Why aren’t we just playing Dark?” To tell it short, only one of us ended up on Turbo Dark. I can’t speak for the others, but the reason I didn’t end up playing it—despite it being a sheer powerhouse of a deck—was because I didn’t feel as if I had enough options to outplay my opponent when I was playing the deck. The deck felt too reliant on if you could…
Dallas Recap w/ Shock Lock, Sword & Shield Top 5 (for Standard), and Electrocharger PikaRom for OCIC “Heading to Dallas, I had been joking around with a few friends about playing Shock Lock for the event. As the week progressed, my friends kept getting more and more hyped about the idea. We decided on somewhat of a pact that if all six of us played it we would, but if even one person backed out we would get to play whatever we wanted. I had mentally prepared myself to play Vespiquen for the umpteenth time in my life because this Shock Lock expedition required me to gather 24 copies of Tropical Beach…in English. I began my quest…
Not Just A Horror Film (A Deep Dive into Pidgeotto Control for UPR–CEC/Standard) “Now I will laboriously walk through our cards and their counts—much of this will touch on matchups, but in the big scheme of things every matchup is the same, so discussing matchups is boring—at some point you will have 1 to 4 Prizes left and you will play (worst-case scenario) Reset Stamp, Lt. Surge’s Strategy, Jessie & James, Jessie & James to reduce your opponent’s hand to 0 cards, Chip-Chip Ice Axe to control their top-deck, and then Cold Crush-GX to strip the Active attacker of Energy. Generally speaking, it doesn’t matter who they are or what they do, your…
My T8 Regirock/Sableye from Dallas, Ideas for Adapting It to BLW–SSH (for Collinsville), and a Sword & Shield Set Review “Michael Catron sent me a list that he had just thought of on Thursday morning, and after talking about it some, I was very intrigued by it and decided that I would put all the time I had before Dallas into testing the deck and optimizing the list. I only made a few changes to the list he sent me because I was unable to even begin testing the deck until Friday at around noon, but the changes I did make likely made the difference between a very good finish and an alright one. In my testing, we were consistently…
It juggles a pebble with its feet, turning it into a burning soccer ball. Its shots strike opponents hard and leave them scorched. (Cinderace)
Dallas Recap w/ Ultra Necrozma, Takeaways for BLW–SSH Expanded, Sword & Shield Top 5 Cards, and an Aside on Goal Setting “Going into Dallas, I was fairly set on playing Ultra Necrozma. I felt good about the deck, its matchups, and how it could efficiently deal with the decks I expected to see. In the week leading up to Dallas, I continued experimenting with my list, ultimately adding in some quirks that I ended up playing in my final list below: When I told people this weekend I was playing Ultra Necrozma, they would often respond with “Garbodor or Octillery?” I often found myself responding by saying “Both?” to a plethora of confused faces. So first, the Wobbuffet and Garbodor BKP…
My Top 5 Plays for São Paulo Regionals, the Last Major Event of UPR–CEC “Malamar/Giratina/GXs GardEon PikaRom RoxieChomp Mewtwo Box Interestingly, four of the five decks that I like most for São Paulo are focused on TAG TEAMs. (And even Malamar/Giratina plays TAG TEAMs!) These decks just need a few cards in their opening hands to start developing their strategy, which makes them consistent and avoid silly losses due to bad starting hands or early pressure from the opponent. Also, I believe these decks are versatile and can adapt to many different game situations. My favorite Malamar/Giratina variant at the moment is a version similar to the one used by Team DDG at San…
Closing the Book on RoxieChomp in Standard, and GardEon for Dallas “I’ll be brief here, because I know UPR–CEC Standard is waning and unimportant. I had a string of League Cups and Bochum Regionals where I played RoxieChomp, so I’d like to post my list here one final time for anyone going to tournaments before Sword and Shield sets come out. Not that anyone cares now, but I think TinaChomp will still be an incredibly strong deck with the rule changes and the new cards. Time will tell what new additions should be made, and which version (Roxie or non-Roxie) will prevail. Take this list to League Cups! It has good…
Octo Doll and Classic Shock Lock (i.e., Decks That Require Tropical Beach) for Dallas “Credit where credit is due, this first list originates from a deck sent to me by Rudy Wade. I removed the Energy denial and stall cards in favor of a Durant-style sit-and-mill deck. This list heavily invests in the synergy between Rescue Scarf and your Lillie’s Poke Dolls/Robo Substitutes (henceforth just “Dolls”), giving you a near-endless supply of 0-Prize walls. Simply sit behind your Dolls and cast a milling Supporter every turn, occasionally using Junk Hunt to recover high-value cards like Pal Pad and Eco Arm that will continue the pressure and soft-lock. Normally, relying on reactive Pokemon Tools like…
Marathon Watching, Expanded in Five Points, Lucario-GX, and Obligatory Bees “Going into Dallas Regionals, we’re playing the only major Expanded event of the BLW–CEC block, and what makes it even more peculiar is that this will be the first major since the recent ban list has taken effect. For the first time since City Championships were removed from the tournament circuit in favor of League Cups, we saw Marathons this holiday season. Places like Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and more hosted consecutive days of League Cups, mostly keeping to a single format. As fellow writer Alex Schemanske talked about in his article, we saw rapidly evolving metagames…
It evolved after experiencing numerous fights. While crossing its arms, it lets out a shout that would make any opponent flinch. (Obstagoon)
Jose’s Mew Box and ADP Dark for Dallas “This deck has plenty of attacking options, which is why it’s considered one of the strongest plays going into Dallas. Depending on what you are up against your strategy changes. Every Pokemon in the deck has merit and it’s ultimately up to you to find your win condition and pinpoint your strategy as soon as you know what you are facing up against. I like that Jon Eng’s list includes this package because, with it, you can take multiple Prizes in a single turn against low-HP Pokemon, namely Zorua and Trubbish, when combined with Distortion Door. There are a few…
What I Learned from the Iowa Marathon, a Pre-Dallas Tier List, and Turbo Dark (My Top Play for Dallas) “At the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, we saw “marathons” of League Cups occur across the country. Some of these were Standard-only, some were Expanded-only, and some were a mix of both formats. I chose to attend the one in Iowa because it was within driving distance and fully Expanded. I did alright, netting 125 “fake” (Stipend) CP and a whopping 10 Invite CP. During that week, I witnessed something that I haven’t seen since the end of the City Championship era with their own marathon weeks: A local meta that shifted and developed based on the…
Turbo ReshiRom, ReshiRom/Naganadel, and Ultra Consistency Ultra Necrozma for Dallas “The idea for utilizing Reshiram & Zekrom-GX originally came from a late night of Expanded testing, where I ran into a Rayquaza-EX/Eelektrik deck, straight out of a little less than a decade ago. When I started building the deck myself, to remind myself of the old days, I remembered that there was a significantly stronger version of Rayquaza-EX, and built the Naganadel list farther below. While I’ll cover that deck in a moment, I wanted to have a little more pure aggression for my list, to truly scrap with the Turbo Greninja & Zoroark-GX decks. So, after looking through different…
The Latest on ZoroGarb, ADP Dark, and UltraGarb for Dallas “With that in mind, I have found myself putting in the most work with ZoroGarb, mostly because it feels familiar and very powerful. It combines a wide variety of things that are important in Expanded, such are Item abuse, Ability abuse, and overextension on the Bench usage, whilst having the amazing Trade Ability. Here is the latest draft of the list that I’ve been practicing with the most: The list is of course heavily based on Ian Robb’s winning list from Portland. However, it does feature new inclusions that are both great new cards but also personal preference choices. The…
Introducing “Budget” Shock Lock, an Approachable Shock Lock with No Tropical Beach “In my previous Expanded article, I predicted a particular new card to spell serious trouble for Shock Lock—Great Catcher. Since you were basically stuck with Tapu Lele-GX on the Bench until the very end of the game (where Pickup on Pal Pad for 2 AZs allowed you to go positive on resources), Great Catcher would permanently threaten to push Stoutland to the Bench. Then, Guzma can be played, which breaks the Paralysis lock for that turn and targets down your Pikachu, meaning they can attack yet again on the next turn. While it’s unclear at the moment how common Great…
When it contracts its body, over 220 pounds of sand sprays from its nose. If it ever runs out of sand, it becomes disheartened. (Sandaconda)
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