3,040 results for: <2020/04/01
ReshiRom-GX/Ho-Oh-EX, aka the New and Improved Expanded Rayquaza, for Dallas “We now have more of a use for Double Dragon Energy (DDE), which makes this deck do wonders. With the release of Cosmic Eclipse, DDE gives new decks a chance to thrive in the Expanded format. ReshiRom-GX/Ho-Oh-EX has more speed and power than any other Turbo deck in my opinion. The deck can get a turn 1 270–280 easier than you may think thanks to Ho-Oh-EX and other Energy acceleration options. I believe that is the reason why this deck is the most powerful of all the Turbo decks. Fabled Flarebolts can easily be fueled by just 1 Double Dragon Energy,…
Exploring Expanded Garbodor Variants: Zoroark-GX, Ultra Necrozma, and Rogue Giratina-EX/Welder “Zoroark-GX/Garbodor has been a staple of the Expanded format for as long as I can remember. Lists have remained incredibly similar over time due to the unchanging core of the deck: Brigette and Colress. These two Supporters define the engine and contribute to the deck’s low variability between games. Garbotoxin always counters an entire format, Riotous Beating is a good attack, and Trade glues the components together. As you’ll see, the list is quite similar to all those before it. To start my testing, I took Ian Robb’s list from Portland and made a few changes to account for the…
UPR–CEC Standard Meta Review, the Rise of Malamar, and Expanded Mewtwo Box “The first event of UPR–CEC Standard was the LAIC. There we saw some new ideas flourish, but the big trend I noticed among top players was that most of them stuck to what they knew was good, confident that they’d get at least a decent finish. This was shown by Robin Schulz winning with Ability Zard. Another example is both myself and our own Rahul Reddy playing similar Mewtwo decks comparable to the old version that had proven to be good. This event highlighted: what Mewtwo could do with the new tools, how Ability Zard was still strong despite falling…
Steven’s PikaRom in San Diego, Treasures & Traps (Post-Bans Edition), and Two Concepts for Dallas “I was feeling fairly confused heading into San Diego Regionals, following Daytona the week before. My top pick had been an Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX list not too dissimilar from the one Diego would take to a Top 4 finish later on, followed by a Malamar list which featured Ultra Necrozma-GX and Gengar & Mimikyu-GX, inspired by that of Daniel Altivilla. However, I wasn’t really feeling satisfied with either pick; I knew both were good, but ever since I had been working with Lost March, I wanted to find something else that felt like it had surprise factor. Speaking…
A First Look at M Rayquaza-EX for BLW–CEC, Expanded, Dallas “This card was good when it came out. Now that it has more support like Triple Acceleration Energy and Magearna UPR, it has a way to hit 270 on turn 1. I have been grinding games with this for a while and it has actually been standing up to the format rather well. Even the single-Prize decks like Ultra Necrozma are very beatable. There are way too many cards in this format with Abilities that would singlehandedly prevent us from winning the game. Sudowoodo GRI is the biggest one, but things like Xurkitree-GX and Keldeo-GX can also cause us issues.…
Its tentacles tear off easily, but it isn’t alarmed when that happens—it knows they’ll grow back. It’s about as smart as a three-year-old. (Clobbopus)
The Story of TinaChomp, the Brazilian Meta Call That Won San Diego Regionals (and How to Update it Moving Forward) “My first thought was to make the Mew Box list faster and more aggressive, further increasing the chances of making my turn 1 plays even stronger. In my last article I wrote about the importance of Mew Box being explosive in the first few turns in the current metagame and the Mew Box list that I would probably use in San Diego if I played Mew Box. Deep down I knew that Mew Box, despite being an incredible deck, was not the right call for San Diego, as Malamar/Giratina was a popular deck in Daytona Beach and I was not…
Daytona Beach and San Diego Regionals Recaps with a Detailed Breakdown of Garchomp & Giratina-GX/Mismagius “As many of you know by now, myself and Xander Pero piloted his ADPero creation revolutionized by the addition of Rosa to the deck. What many don’t know is that until after the tournament I was unaware that Rosa could grab any Trainer card (and not just Items). Would this have made a difference in any of my games? I hope it didn’t, but there’s no way to tell. You guys have seen this list broken down by the creator and innovator himself, but allow me to explain what drew me into this choice over playing Mewtwo once again. Reading…
Top 8 w/ ADPero at San Diego, a Primer on TinaChomp, the Wild Weekend, and Expanded/Dallas Musings “I myself managed to place 7th in San Diego with ADP (or, as I like to call it giving credit to the list creator, ADPero). It was a fantastic weekend for me as I started the tournament off very strongly at 4-0, and then, as expected, I faced even tougher competition and games became much closer to the point where I finished 5-0-4 going into Day 2. I was certainly in the driving position in many games, but Reset Stamps or a few Energy whiffs allowed my opponents to tie those series. I wasn’t super excited to go into Day…
Mew Box/Jirachi for San Diego and Mew Box w/o Jirachi at LAIC + Daytona Beach “One of the things I like most about my list is the fact that it doesn’t use Weakness Guard Energy, Guzma & Hala, or Stealthy Hood, yet it still has a game plan against Malamar decks. Taking these cards out of the deck was a difficult decision, as I tested the deck a lot with them. But a few hours before LAIC, I realized that there would not be much Malamar in the room and I didn’t necessarily need those cards to beat Malamar. If I was lucky enough to not to open with Mewtwo & Mew GX, I’d be…
Recapping My Runs w/ Blacephalon/Naganadel at LAIC + Daytona Beach and Looking at the Top 16 Ability Zard from Daytona Beach “The List: Blacephalon/Naganadel I started 0-3-0 then got a Round 4 bye, which I thought was hilarious. I started to bounce back and found myself at a record of 5-3-0. One more win and I would make Top 128, net 100 Points, and keep my OCIC stipend. I knew how important my last round was. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to win my last round, which was against Green’s/Zard. My opponent played very well and we took it to Game 3, but I couldn’t pull it out. It was a heartbreaking loss because I knew what was at stake for me.…
It was inside a meteorite that fell 20,000 years ago. There seems to be a connection between this Pokémon and the Dynamax phenomenon. (Eternatus)
Beedrill/Pidgeotto for San Diego and Daytona Beach Analysis “I think we can all agree that GardEon was the surprise deck this weekend. I expected high counts of Doll Stall and Mewtwo, which definitely happened. Xander breathed new life into ADP, something that many of us wrote off as a less than stellar deck. ADP was a great meta call, and the players with the best list were rewarded for it. However, GardEon managed to sneak through all of the Blacephalon UNB and Pidgey to secure another Regional win. I do not think that GardEon is a very good deck. It was alright for this event because of all…
Recapping My 2nd Place Rosa ADP List from Daytona Beach “My parents and I decided to head to Florida early for Thanksgiving. We spent some time in the Cape Coral area staying with the Retzloffs and there just so happened to be a League Challenge on Wednesday night. Lacking a better idea, I took the ADP list from my last article and included some of the untested ideas I wanted to mess with. It’s not worth including the full list here, so here are the important inclusions: Absol TEU, Phione CEC Custom Catchers Choice Helmet, Counter Gain Cynthia instead of Lillie Everything else was just the bread-and-butter ADP list that…
On the Daytona Beach Meta, Double-Victory Weekend w/ Malamar @ Cups, Catron’s Psychic Malamar, and Misc. Thoughts for San Diego “I’d be interested to dig deeper into the decklists and see what percentage of the Mew3 decks ended up playing Wobbuffet LOT in order to try and fully counter Ability ReshiZard, as it was the third most popular deck overall. Of the three most popular decks, only Mew3 managed to make Top 8. This tournament was basically the upside-down LAIC, as we saw ADP and GardEon heavily decline in popularity, yet boast a much better conversion rate for Day 2 and also face off in the finals. Florges Doll Stall ended up being the more successful Mill deck yet again,…
The Enigmatic QuagVally (Quagsire/Silvally) and Actual Big Brain Blowns (Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel) for San Diego “Warning: This deck is excessively difficult to play. With most decks, you can pick it up and have a good feeling for the strategy within 10 games. This is not the case with QuagVally. With this deck, you need to commit yourself to playing many practice games, wherein you carefully analyze every action you take. The first I heard of a Quagsire/Silvally deck was my good friend Michael Catron pitching the idea to me at Richmond Regionals. You use Red & Blue to get Energy into play instead of Naganadel LOT, then Wash Out the Energies to your attackers. As…
LAIC by the Numbers, Pidgey Power, and My Top 2 Plays for Daytona Beach “Thanks to RK9 Labs, we have access to the entire Day 1 field across all age divisions for LAIC. We’ll focus on Masters for our purposes, but there are a few interesting numbers in the other two divisions as well—notably 5 Reshiram & Charizard-GX/Flareon-GX decks in Seniors, and 2 Naganadel/Rayquaza-GX decks in Juniors. Masters saw a Day 1 meta dominated by Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX (ADP) decks, as well as Mewtwo & Mew-GX decks. Based on numbers provided by Limitless, we know some number of players brought a Green’s Exploration-based ADP list, as opposed to the midrange list with…
When it gets down on all fours as if to beg for forgiveness, it’s trying to lure opponents in so that it can stab them with its spear-like hair. (Morgrem)
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