142 results for: #upr-on -#toxtricity
Shifts in Standard, Malamar: the Squid-surgence, Sequencing, and a Checkmate Update “Though I’m at a distance from the competitive scene, it’s still quite easy to keep track of what’s doing well because of social media posts. Almost all tournaments have their Top 8 posted, and most sponsored players post their list after each tournament. It’s been interesting to see the meta shift due to changes in popular opinion. For one, AbilityZard has become AbilityNoZard, with most lists playing 0 Reshiram & Charizard-GX! On another note, Malamar has become one of the popular decks of the format. Most notable players have always spurned Malamar, instead choosing to play more consistent decks. Magically,…
Lists, Pros, and Cons for 10 Top Decks this Weekend (São Paulo, AC, and Cologne) “Ability ReshiZard Mew Box Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel LOT PikaRom GardEon Pidgeotto Control Malamar/Spell Tag QuagNag Green’s ReshiZard Dark Box As crazy as it may sound, TAG TEAMs actually don’t have high enough HP to survive the monster attacks of the current metagame. Before Worlds 2019, it was common to see Super Scoop Up, Mixed Herbs, and Great Potion in decks to heal damage, but nowadays these cards have lost a lot of their relevance. Another insane aspect of the deck is that we have non-GX Pokémon that can easily Knock Out TAG TEAMs on the same turn they are benched. Each one…
On Countering Ability ReshiZard, Another Reset Stamp PikaRom, and GardEon v. ReshiZard “The tier list I posted a few weeks ago still holds as of today, especially the Tier 1 and 1.5 decks, as we have seen those decks keep dominating League Cups and Challenges per Facebook posts detailing results. I do believe, however, that it is worth making one small change and separating the Malamar variants, as shown below: Ability ReshiZard Mew Box Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel LOT Pidgeotto Control PikaRom Green’s ReshiZard GardEon Malamar (Pure Psychic variant) I’m not including any Tier 2 decks this time because, frankly, they’re not good enough. They might seem cool in concept (like Dark Box), but in…
Green’s Dojo ReshiZard and Reset Stamp PikaRom for Atlantic City/Cologne/São Paulo “As the format has settled I’ve noticed that Green’s ReshiZard has fallen by the wayside in favor of more aggressive options for the Best-of-1 League Cup/Challenge format. In the Best-of-1 format, matches are often decided by the initial coin flip and the first couple of turns, so playing the most aggressive, board-controlling deck is correct. But the Best-of-3 format introduces another level of skill and deck building, which is where my favorite deck in this Standard format shines. Green’s ReshiZard placed Top 8 at Sheffield, proving that it has potential, but few have faith in its power after seeing it…
What Sheffield’s Results Mean for AC/Köln/SP and My Current Top Play (Mew Box) + Matchups “At Sheffield we saw GardEon take the win, which, based on the reactions I have seen across the internet, was rather unexpected. I am not overly surprised that the deck won an event because all it takes is one of in the field them avoiding Ability ReshiZard enough times to make it into Top 8. According to David Ferreira, he hit Ability ReshiZard four times during the event and finished with a record of 0-2-2 against it. This means that he beat literally every other deck he played against. That’s pretty scary. Another interesting fact is that Mewtwo Box managed…
It’s usually peaceful, but the vandalism of mines enrages it. Offenders will be incinerated with flames that reach 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. (Coalossal)
JoseZard (1-Prizer Edition) and Mew Box (Post-Hidden Fates) for Atlantic City + Köln “I finally caved and decided to try Victini {*} myself, and I have to say it’s a powerful card that every AbilityZard list should be playing moving forward. I didn’t play it in my Worlds list, but that’s because I was running only 12 Fire Energy. However, I’ve now included the best of both worlds. The list still plays 2 Fire Crystal and a hefty amount of Fire Energy. I think the 17/2 split is ideal at the moment. Blacephalon UNB is another reason I kept 2 Fire Crystal because its attack can potentially take down any threat at a…
Pheromosa & Buzzwole-GX/Mismagius Hand Lock for UPR–HIF/Atlantic City/Köln “For completion’s sake, here is the Day 2 meta breakdown from Sheffield Regionals: Reshiram & Charizard-GX: 18/55 (32.73%) Pikachu & Zekrom-GX: 8/55 (14.55%) Mewtwo & Mew-GX: 8/55 (14.55%) Malamar: 6/55 (10.91%) Blacephalon-GX: 4/55 (7.27%) Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX: 3/55 (5.45%) Oranguru/Pidgeotto: 3/55 (5.45%) Blacephalon UNB: 1/55 (1.82%) Keldeo-GX/Bronzong TEU: 1/55 (1.82%) Quagsire DRM/Naganadel LOT: 1/55 (1.82%) Shedinja Control: 1/55: (1.82%) Dark Box: 1/55 (1.82%) So what does all this mean for the meta? ReshiZard decks still have a hold as the most popular deck—and for good reason too. Having a powerhouse of an attacker and strong support in the forms of…
Sheffield’s Results, On Robin’s T8 Ability ReshiZard, GardEon Guesses, and My Mew Box List for Atlantic City/Köln “Looking forward to Atlantic City (USA) + Köln (DE) and how Sheffield’s results will affect the metagame, I think the Ability ReshiZard lists will look a lot more like Robin Schulz’s take from this weekend with 4 Fire Crystals and a Blacephalon UNB. His list is located below: Having 13 versus the previous 18 Fire Energy weakens your Victini {*} late-game strategy significantly, as you are no longer able to 1HKO any TAG TEAM with it, but this opens up a new attacker that is just as, if not more, lethal. I found that stretching to get 12-14 Energy in…
Zigging Through the GX-Dominated Metagame with QuagNag/Keldeo-GX and Malamar/Spell Tags “As said before, the duo of Quagsire and Naganadel has returned to the metagame to accelerate Keldeo-GX, which is a strong Pokémon in a GX-stuffed metagame. Keldeo-GX’s Pure Heart Ability is so strong that there is a Quad Keldeo deck whose main strategy is to keep Keldeo-GX in the Active position while using Supporters like Steven’s Resolve and Lusamine to get all of the cards you need to prevent your opponent from damaging you and eventually force them to lose by deck-out. Quad Keldeo was used at Worlds 2019 by Dylan Gunn who finished in 26th place, but I believe…
My Top Pick (ReshiZard Minus Scoop Ups) and Crazy Rogue (Cryogonal Control) for Sheffield “This is currently my favorite deck in the format because of how ridiculously strong it is. I don’t believe that it takes any matchup worse than 50/50, and it takes favorable matchups against the biggest decks in the game. If I was in Sheffield this weekend, I would almost certainly be playing this deck. This list is basically the one that Tord used without Super Scoop Ups. I found them to be rather useless and opted to play cards that I have found to be game-changers if found. This is essentially a mirror tech for when you end up going…
The six of them work together as one Pokémon. Teamwork is also their battle strategy, and they constantly change their formation as they fight. (Falinks)
Poipole Lock and Keldeo-GX/Vaporeon-GX Stall from Worlds, Updated “I dropped an article on ReshiBlowns and PikaRom the week of Worlds and I was set on playing one of those decks. However, Tuesday evening (the day before I flew out to Washington, DC) I was presented with an idea from my testing group featuring Vaporeon-GX. With knowledge of some preexisting healing Stall archetypes out there which were less consistent, I immediately knew that this idea had potential. After work, I headed to three local card shops, called several GameStops, and even reached out to some vendors that I thought would be at the World Championships in hopes to get…
JoseZard (Card Choices, Matchups, Worlds Recap) and a Comparison to Tord’s Worlds Top 4 Ability ReshiZard List “At first, my top two deck choices going into Worlds were Green’s ReshiZard and Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel LOT (similar to what Shintaro Ito used to place 2nd, which I talked about in my article right before Worlds). I decided against playing Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel LOT because many players were playing Tapu Fini UNM on Day 1. I figured this trend would carry over to Day 2, so I changed decks last minute. I also disregarded Green’s ReshiZard because I was so intrigued by Ability ReshiZard. I wanted to be less prone to Reset Stamp, which hinders Green’s ReshiZard more so than Ability ReshiZard. It’s…
Mew Box and the New ‘Zard, Malamar for Cups, Tiers, and Worlds Recap w/ PikaRom “PikaRom to me felt like the most reliable deck with a chance to beat anything, and I was pretty settled on 58 cards of my list before Day 1, which were the following: Before seeing Day 1’s results, the 2 remaining spots were occupied by 1 Tapu Fini UNM (as an answer to Blacephalon-GX) and 1 Great Potion (which is key vs. Malamar decks). However, the advantage that my 1500+ CP got me this season was competing directly in Day 2, and thus I was able to witness Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX power through Day 1, with very little Malamar or…
An In-Depth Look at MimiGar (Gengar & Mimikyu-GX/Omastar TEU)—Worlds List, Card Choices, Potential Inclusions, and Matchups “This is the list that I finally settled on playing in Day 2. A couple of my friends played similar lists in Day 1, but unfortunately, neither of them ended up making Day 2. When I was sent the initial list on Wednesday night, I was super intrigued and I set about optimizing it. I’ve actually been questioned over this choice by multiple people. Everyone assumes that your game plan in every matchup is to establish the lock, which then translates to “why not more Omastar/Fossil?” Well, there are really only three matchups where establishing the lock is necessary to…
How I Found the “True Form” of Mew Box, the Catcher-Less Junior Top 4 List, and a Comparison to Henry Brand’s Masters Winning List “When I started training with Mew Box, I took as reference some lists I saw on the internet, just to have a base to work with. Mew Box lists were usually full of draw Supporters like Coach Trainer and Cynthia, aiming to draw cards and maybe find Welder for the next turn. The more I tested the deck, the more I realized that the games in which I could use Welder both (A) as soon as possible and (B) over and over were the games where I won convincingly and the deck showed its true power. Every time I had…
While its burning body is already dangerous on its own, this excessively hostile Pokémon also has large and very sharp fangs. (Centiskorch)
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