2,978 results for: -#upr-on -#toxtricity
An Introduction to Flygon/Torterra (aka Flyterra), the Missing Link of the 2010 DP–UL Format “Some Modified formats were better than others, and some of those formats have been more fondly remembered than the rest. What makes one format better than another is a topic for a different day, but I believe there is no denying that it is the case that some formats are just better and more fun to play. The allure of what made those formats so great has led to a growing movement within the Pokemon community to “go back in time” to play and revisit these formats. One of the most revered Modified formats of all time was DP–UL, which…
The Quiet Days and Second Wind of My Pokémon Career, Including the Most Unbalanced Decks I’ve Played, from 2013–2014 to Now “Ah, where were we? After 2013 Worlds, BLW, EPO, NVI, and DRV were rotated. Since the early Black & White sets started off slow, and because power creep really ramped up started at NXD, very few important cards were lost to this rotation. In addition, several of the powerful cards had already been reprinted: Terrakion got a secret rare in BCR; EPO Item powerhouses Pokemon Catcher and Max Potion got theirs in DEX and PLF; and the staple supporters Professor Juniper and N were spared too. The main exceptions were Eelektrik NVI and Crushing Hammer EPO. Virizion-EX/Genesect-EX PLB was the…
An In-Depth Look at the 2010 DP–UL Format, Part 2 “At the end of 2009, Pokemon announced that Worlds would be returning to Kona, Hawaii in 2010. Invites to the World Championships were given to the Top 4 of Worlds 2009, Top X of Nationals 2010 (the US was Top 4; most other countries got fewer invites—paid/unpaid—depending on size), and then the Top 40 in the Elo rating system. The last way to qualify was through the Last Chance Qualifier affectionately called “the grinders” by players. I went in depth on how the Elo system worked and my feelings about the system in my 2011 article. I’ll go ahead and…
The Rise and Glory Days of My Pokémon Career, Including Every Deck I Played During HS-on/2012 and BLW-on/2013 Modified Formats “Emerging Powers was the set released after Worlds 2011, a year famous for its mid-season rotation, Pokemon Reversal flips, and Ross Cawthon’s The Truth deck. Jay Hornung wonderfully documented the pre-EPO HS-on format extensively in his recent article. Let me remind you of some rules at this point in the game: Player who wins the coin flip must go first. Player who goes first has no restrictions. Pokemon Catcher did not require a coin flip. Burn is permanent like Poison, and you flip to see if you take damage. Emerging Powers was a notably bad set in terms of Pokemon—you…
Looking Back on My Time in the Game, from Greenhorn Junior to Successful Senior and, at Long Last, When We Left Off, Top-Ranked Master “Now I don’t know how I want to break this up yet, but a good place to start would probably be my introduction to Pokémon as a concept entirely. This is going to be a flashback all the way to 3rd grade for me. I was a kid who had his small set group of friends, and frankly, without them, I don’t know if I would’ve fallen in love with Pokémon the way I did. It’s weird to look back and think about the butterfly effect in terms of where you started and ended up, but I’m certain that these…
If this Pokémon senses a strong emotion, it will run away as fast as it can. It prefers areas without people. (Hatenna)
A Retrospective on My First Worlds, the Fateful Beaches, What I Top 8’d With (Terrakion/Eels), That Awful/Great 2012 Format, and My Most Important Lesson, a Loss “The 2012 Worlds format, HS–DEX, is notoriously terrible, but I built the format and tried to find a bit of light in this proverbial abyss. 2012 was the first step into the “Big Basics” format that has been around for most of the time since. This was coincidentally my second year in the game at this point. We were still under the Elo rating system, and I had just come off of my second straight year of missing top cut at Nationals. The details are really blurry at this point, but if I’m remembering correctly, I was 1 DCE away…
My First Foray into Commentary, the Four Common Criticisms of Casters, and What I’ve Learned Behind the Mic So Far “For brevity’s sake, I’ve boiled down the complaints about commentary to four which I’ll be looking at more carefully. I’ve selected these four points to talk about because, well, I struggled with many of these in my first bout of commentary. By shrinking the overall complaints about commentary to just four categories, I hope to reach a broader audience of players who have felt frustration similar to me when watching live-streamed tournaments. After detailing the issue, I’ll go into the mind of the caster by reflecting on my own experience, in order to fully explain why some of these common…
My Life as a Competitive Pokémon TCG Player, from 2010 to Now “I got into playing the game during the era of Pokemon SP. At the time I had been playing Yu-Gi-Oh. However, I wasn’t playing it competitively; I’d more so just go to league and play casually. This is mainly due to the fact that I had no idea about competitive play at the time. Out of the blue, I thought about Pokemon and how the cards looked because I had old-school cards from Base Set and Fossil. I figured I’d take a look at some of the recent cards at the time. This is where I came upon cards like…
A Deep Look into HS–BLW, the Wild-Ride Anything-Goes 2011 Nationals and Worlds Format “If you asked top players what their favorite format to play at the time was, you would get mixed answer. The format was considered highly luck-based, filled with donks and some consistency issues. The randomness and uncertainty of the format caused me to sit out US Nationals that year to make sure I secured my Worlds invite. However, it’s also a very unexplored format which leaves a lot of room for creativity and rogue decks to shine. Many of the reasons I hated playing the Worlds 2011 format at the time are the same reasons I enjoy playing the format…
Philosophies for Becoming a Better Player During the Offseason (or This Unexpected Break in Organized Play) “The first step is to label where you want to improve. Quantifiable goals are best, but it’s difficult to quantify without rattling off hoped tournament placings. If possible, narrow down the area of your game that you want to improve. Do you want to learn one deck really well? Learn more decks? Sequencing? Playing faster? There are a million questions to ask. From there, you should formulate a plan of improvement. What strategy will you employ to actually achieve your goal? Watch VODs? Play many games on PTCGO? Hire a coach? Once again, the possibilities go on. There’s reason to…
Its restlessness has it constantly running around. If it sees another Pokémon, it will purposely run into them in order to start a fight. (Galarian Zigzagoon)
Nine Unlimited Decks That Win on Turn 1 in All Ways Possible (Including Bench Out, Deck Out, the Unown Trio, Lost World, and, Yes, Walk-Off Homer) “With the millions of possibilities, I decided to put down some guidelines for myself. I can use any card ever printed in English that was legal for tournament play at some point, plus Rebel Clash. I am permitted to assume my opponent doesn’t put any restrictions on me (i.e., no Spiritomb AR, Wobbuffet PHF, or Sudowoodo GRI/Ditto TM). I must play with current Sword & Shield rules (i.e., no Supporter turn 1). I can’t rely on coin flip cards for consistency (e.g., Bill’s Teleporter), and consistency cards that shuffle the deck should be limited (see: Trainers’ Mail). I must maximize…
A Three-Step Plan for Preparing for the Return of the Pokémon TCG “My idea is to facilitate enjoyable, productive, and consistent training. To have fun training, set aside some time to play Pokémon TCG in the way that most amuses you. After all, I believe you started playing Pokémon TCG because you somehow found the game fun. To have productive training, try to practice the things that you didn’t have the time or opportunity to investigate. Maybe those Control decks that have always frustrated you can be… interesting and fun? And to do consistent training, it is important to establish a routine. Start playing slowly and then increase the pace. I’ll talk…
Top 8 @ Collinsville w/ Sceptile/Vileplume, Vileplume Variants Moving Forward, and Looking Toward Charlotte “After making Top 8 at Dallas Regionals with the list that my friend Aaron Friedman made, I took a bit of a break from the game until Collinsville. With my invite secured and a big Regional done, I enjoyed my time relaxing and grinding through schoolwork. I played some games of the format before Collinsville, but not a ton. As such, I spent a lot of time Friday night scrambling to figure out what to play. I was between three options: Doll Stall, Trevenant & Dusknoir-GX/Milotic FLF, and, of course, Sceptrow. I didn’t feel as prepared for the event as…
The State of Expanded, Shock Lock in Collinsville, and What Almost Was (ADP/Alolan Raticate) “Needless to say, Expanded is not in a good place right now. I’ll try not to spend too much time complaining (my opinions won’t change what Pokemon will do about it), but there are some things I’d like to bring up. First, I don’t know why Trevenant & Dusknoir-GX was ever printed. This card is inherently degenerate—you will never put TrevNoir in your deck as an attacker intending to play a fair, back-and-forth game. (This applies to Standard, as well, though it isn’t oppressive in that format.) If Pokemon bans Milotic FLF, TrevNoir will inevitably rear its ugly head again…
Apparently the Dreepy inside _________’s horns eagerly look forward to being launched out at Mach speeds. (Dragapult)
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