128 results for: 0000/00/01
2014 North American PTCG Power Rankings (Pre-Autumn Regionals Edition) “Of course, how could I make a ranking list without including the player who rightfully holds the title for “Best in the World?” Andrew may have been a lesser-known player heading into Washington, DC, but now he will be the player that is on everyone’s mind. His Virizion/Genesect list was a perfect model of consistency and surely his results will be closely monitored for many years to come. Will he be a one-hit wonder or quickly solidify himself as a legend? At this point, I’m not sure if any player has ever made as strong of a conversion from the…
Landorus-EX vs. Seismitoad-EX and Incorporating Furious Fists into Established Decks “Nationals ReportΒ (and What I Should Have Played) Landorus vs. Seismitoad Revamping EstablishedΒ Decks Pyroar Virizion/Genesect Big Basics/Garbodor Conclusion I came to US NationalsΒ with 309 Championship Points and needed a pretty good run at either the main event or one of the Championship Point Challenges to earn an invite forΒ Worlds, but to my dismay, neither of the tournaments panned out for me. The days (and even weeks) leading up to Nationals were a very confusing time for me since I honestly had no clue what to play. I had been testing Virizion/Genesect extensively, as I thoughtΒ it was one of the most consistent…
My Play for US Nationals 2014, Proper Prep, and a Summer Mailbag “Before we get into the list and the discussion, let me point out that this is only my opinion, and I don’t necessarily think everyone should just jam with the deck I’m suggesting (we’ll go deeper into that a bit later). I obviously think the deck is very good, but the format is wide open and I will admit that there are a whole lot of choices, many of which I can’t label as outright incorrect. I’m sure the majority of readers understand how this deck works; it’s been in the format for a while and has had tens of…
7 Inquiries About Flashfire and a Look Back at InfernCatty “Initial Thoughts on the Set Blast from the Past: Infernape DP/Delcatty PK (aka “InfernCatty”) Question 1: Is Charizard-EX Good? Question 2: What About M-Charizard-EX? Question 3: How Should I Play Pyroar? Question 4: Is TorchSmith Reliable? Question 5: What’s Up with Milotic? Question 6: Are Blastoise and Emboar Dead Because of Druddigon? Question 7: How Should I Play This Set’s Supporters (And Pal Pad)? Conclusion When we received spoilers of the Japanese version of Flashfire, a few things ran through my head, the first of which had to do with the “theme” of the set β that of the Fire…
2nd Place 2014 Oklahoma States Report “Going into States, I was sitting at 480 CP, so I was pretty comfortable. I only had to hit a Top 16 at one of the upcoming State Championships I was going to be attending, which I felt was fairly easy to do. Before I start talking about my performances, I’ll take a look at what was going through my mind before I ended up choosing my deck for the first week. I was pretty set on a Plasma-based deck after my article a couple months ago, and it was the only thing I had really tested extensively. On my…
Its curly fleece is such an effective cushion that this PokΓ©mon could fall off a cliff and stand right back up at the bottom, unharmed. (Wooloo)
1st Place Seniors 2014 Alabama States Report “About three weeks before States began, I decided that a Virizion/Genesect variant would be the ideal deck for me. I realized early on though that a straight, streamlined version of the deck would not be optimal for multiple reasons: With Rayquaza/Emboar/Delphox decks around, having a deck that is all weak to Fire will almost always result in me losing. I refused to play a deck that had any severely bad matchups. Yveltal-EX caused me trouble in testing with a straight Virizion/Genesect deck. This is mainly due to them being able to 1-shot a Genesect-EX sometimes. In addition, the ability of…
The New Set’s Impact on Not-So-New Decks “Darkrai and Garbodor have been a cute couple ever since the very beginning of this season when it won the Klaczynski Open, and remained a threat at our Winter Regionals when it won in Virginia. Everyone knows by now why this deck is good β Ability denial with Garbodor, the reuse of powerful Items with Junk Hunt, and the eventual overrun with Darkrai. However, many people were deterred from playing Darkrai/Garbodor in the past due to its naturally slow pace of play within the 50-minute round limit. The most important question to answer about this deck going into the new…
Random Retorts and a Tournament Report! “Thoughts on 50 Minute Best-of-Three 10 Reasons Iβm Glad to See Pokemon Catcher Go Erik Nanceβs Philadelphia Regionals Tournament Report The Preparation The Tournament (including 14 Rounds) I had a few expectations for the new tournament structure going into this season β mainly, thereβs a huge focus on winning Game 1.Β With the time limits the way they are (and number of Prize cards taken not factoring into uncompleted games), losing the first game means you have to play lightning fast to finish Game 2. Even then, you might make critical misplays because of the time constraint and then lose the…
The Top 10 Cards That Will Shape Cities “We’ll start with the honorable mentions. These are cards that I think will be impactful, but have already been more integrated into the game. Tool Scrapper Tool Scrapper had been around since the beginning of last season and has really sat on the back burners for a while. At the end of last season the card saw a bit of play at Nationals and Worlds, but didn’t really see much play until the Klaczynski Open and now at Regionals. The card can be devastating and game changing when played at the right time, getting rid of Dark Claws, Float Stones,…
This PokΓ©mon will look into your eyes and read the contents of your heart. If it finds evil there, it promptly hides away. (Galarian Ponyta)
Offbeat Ideas for the Fall Season “As more and more players begin testing the major decks, others have begun looking at alternatives to counter the upcoming meta in a bid to stay ahead of the curve. We will take a brief look at some of these decks and their pros and cons. “What is it?” Tool Drop is named after Trubbish PLS 65’s attack, Tool Drop. The core of the deck’s strategy revolves around the new Sigilyph PLB and its Ability, Toolbox, which allows itself to have up to four Pokemon Tool cards attached to it, hence allowing Trubbish’s damage output to reach levels over 9000.…
Five of them are troopers, and one is the brass. The brass’s orders are absolute. (Falinks)