27 results for: ADP
Thoughts on the Format as a Whole (Spoiler: It’s Fast) and Centiskorch VMAX/Scoop Up Net “Oh where to start? ADP? Sure, why not. Unless you’ve been living under a proverbial rock in regards to the Pokémon community these last few weeks, you’ve surely heard the calls for a ban of ADP. And you’ve also heard the people defending the card. I’ve mostly been on the side of the former, as I believe that ADP is bad for the game as a whole. There’s a lot that can be said about ADP right now. I personally believe ADP is more of a symptom of the actual problem rather than the whole problem. The game has sped…
Should ADP Be Banned? and Water Mewtwo & Mew-GX w/ Frosmoth (aka Wet Mew3) “I started playing competitive Pokémon TCG in 2012, and since then I have been able to play in some formats where we had extremely strong attacks that ended up impacting the game a lot. These decks weren’t always the best, but they somehow made the game quite different than it would have been otherwise. The examples that stick out most in my mind are (1) the Item lock decks made possible by Seismitoad EX’s Quaking Punch in 2014–2016 and (2) the Night March deck in 2016–2017. At the time of Seismitoad EX, the format was very limited because there were…
Charizard VMAX/Volcarona-GX and ADPZ for the Post-Rotation Format (TEU–DAA) “The deck is somewhat inconsistent and slow compared to other decks of the format like ADPZ or Eternatus VMAX. To tell you the truth, when I started testing Charizard VMAX I didn’t expect much from it, but little by little I started to understand the strength of the deck. It is true that the deck has its problems, but we also need to realize that the format has changed. There is no Pokémon capable of KOing an opponent’s VMAX Pokémon in a single attack without a tremendous effort behind it. Even with a little inconsistency and delay to be able…
ADPZ onto Week 2 of the Players Cup, Why I Switched Decks, On the Seeding + No Shows, and ¿Hablas Español? “We had taken inspiration from my fellow Mexican player Oliver Rochin Montijo and his Limitless Invitational Top 4 deck. As you can see, though, that list included a bunch of techy cards such as Tool Scrapper, Metal Frying Pan, Chaotic Swell, and Mallow & Lana, none of which really help in any way in terms of getting the GX attack off on turn one. I decided to cut all the fluff and max out on counts of cards that I deemed were crucial when going for the combo, and this is the list I ended up with: Maxing out on…
Thoughts on Worlds 2021 News, 4th Place Magcargo Mill @ Unofficial Japan Nationals, and 1st Place ADPZ @ Special League Ginza “the news: So far London is where Worlds 2021 will still be held given that it should have been our 2020 Worlds location. This makes sense and I’m not surprised to see Pokemon want to stay in London for Worlds. Personally, I’m not too excited about Worlds being in London only for the fact that I’ve been there for every International Championship thus far. Still, those that never been will appreciate the location more. I’m all for having Worlds in another country since we’ve only ever had it outside of the US one other time (Vancouver, Canada back in 2013).…
The faster a ________ can beat out a rhythm with its two sticks, the more respect it wins from its peers. (Thwackey)
Highlighting Three of the Top Performing Decks from Limitless Q4, Including Zacian V/Combo, ADP/Spiritomb, and Spiritomb/Ultra Beasts “via: This combo is why the deck has combo in its name and is a force to be reckoned with, even against Fire-based decks like Blacephalon. To do the combo correctly, you have to: Use Oranguru SSH to place Jirachi Prism Star on top of your deck. Then use Mr. Mime DET to replace one of your Prize cards with the top card of your deck (i.e., Jirachi Prism Star). You will know exactly where Jirachi Prism Star is because you can put it wherever you like into your Prize cards. Once you take a Prize, you simply remember to…
ADPZ @ Guatemala, Takuya’s Dragapult VMAX, and My Rebel Clash Top 5 “aka Tord’s List -1 Oranguru UPR, +1 Absol TEU This is the list Benjamin Branch and I played to 1st and 4th in Guatemala. We knew the event would be no more than five rounds, so we wanted to play something very consistent and safe. Ben and I started with Tord’s list he used to win Malmö Regionals. I personally did not like the Oranguru UPR, so I dropped it for Absol. I believe Absol has more merit since it’s great against anything that plays Jirachi and the ADPZ mirror as well. Tord is a phenomenal deck builder, so it was a…
Dethroning ADP/Z, Turbo ADP/Z, Sleep Mill (Best Mill), and, Yep!, Shock Lock “Traditionally, decks are prevented from becoming too dominant via the Weakness mechanic. As Gabriel pointed out, this doesn’t apply to ADP/Zacian, as there simply aren’t any good Fairy Pokemon to counter ADP, and Zacian V can have its Fire Weakness removed by Metal Frying Pan. (In case you have forgotten, Fairy Pokemon are being phased out of the TCG, so there will never be any more Fairies printed to stand up to ADP-GX.) So, if we want to counter ADP/Zacian, we are stuck dissecting it for exploitable weaknesses. I’ve compiled a short list here of quirks that you can look…
Where We Left Off, Decks I’m Worried About for Toronto, and Tanky/Tooly ADP, My Fav Play for this Weekend “If you recall, my last article was about my experience at OCIC with my very aggressive PikaRom list. I also went into how I think the deck should be built moving forward. While I do think that PikaRom is super solid in a vacuum, I don’t believe that it is the play for Toronto. The meta has a few pillars that it has trouble getting past. Its current ADP matchup is slightly negative, it struggles with Baby Blacephalon, and it still struggles with fringe decks like Obstagoon and Mill. Now this isn’t unheard of for PikaRom. In the past, it’s…
ADPZ, What Makes It So Strong, How to Curb It, Deck Updates, and a New Idea “Why is ADPZ so strong? What does this deck have that others don’t? To try to find a way to beat ADPZ, we first need to understand why the deck is so strong. In my opinion, there is a combination of factors that has led the deck to the title of “Best Deck in the Format” (BDIF). ADPZ is one of the most consistent decks in format. It’s a deck that only uses Basic Pokémon, so you don’t have to worry about evolution. It can use the best consistency Pokémon in format—like Zacian V, Jirachi TEU, Oranguru SSH, and Dedenne…
It’s usually peaceful, but the vandalism of mines enrages it. Offenders will be incinerated with flames that reach 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. (Coalossal)
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…
OCIC w/ ADPZ and Some Analyses on Nico/Tord’s 1st/7th Mewtwo/Welder and Zach’s 2nd Fire Box “-4 Pokemon Catcher +4 Custom Catcher -1 Galarian Zigzagoon SSH +1 Absol TEU -1 Marshadow UNB +1 Shrine of Punishment (2nd) -1 Aurora Energy +1 Tag Call (3rd) -1 Marnie +1 Escape Board (2nd) Most of the ADP/Zacian V lists that did well at OCIC played 4 Custom Catcher instead of Pokemon Catcher, so that has to be the way to go. At first, I thought 4 Pokemon Catcher was correct, but there were times where I would flip multiple tails in a row to lose games. However, had I had 2 Custom Catcher to guarantee a Benched Pokemon, then…
My OCIC Zacian/ADP, 5-4/What Went Wrong, and Galarian Obstagoon’s Matchup Spread “The first thing that went wrong was the mentality I had approaching the event. My motivation wasn’t to win the entire event, which is okay, but that clouded my judgement when selecting decks. The Top 16 race for this year has become quite crowded in the bottom half and I found myself in a position to be knocked out of Top 16 if I didn’t earn Points. I began convincing myself that Championship Points were all I needed; I just needed to walk away with 100 CP if I could, and nothing else mattered. This put me in a negative…
Building a Competitive Deck in Three Steps w/ Case Studies on Zacian V/ADP, PikaRom, and Lapras VMAX for OCIC “Whichever deck you choose or create, you need to make sure that that deck can work consistently. In this step, the idea is to create the most consistent list possible so that the main ideas of the deck can work without any problem. Another important point here is that we should not consider the metagame when building the list—that is, this isn’t the step to include tech cards like Phione CEC or Tapu Fini UNM. We will do that later, in Step 3. In fact, there is no exact order as to which is Step 1 and Step 2. It…
My Final ADP/Zacian V List for OCIC, Expanded in a Nutshell, and Shock Lock w/ SSH “If OCIC was tomorrow, I’d play this. It’s widely accepted that ADP/Zacian V is the best deck, and there has been little evidence to debunk this. The deck works, and being able to OHKO almost everything and take an additional Prize when doing so is powerful—who knew? -1 Phione CEC +1 Oranguru UPR -1 Tapu Fini UNM +1 Jirachi TEU -1 Metal Energy +1 Water Energy These changes are pretty self-explanatory. Phione and Tapu Fini, though good cards, are very situational and perhaps not worth running. My main reason for including Phione was as a counter to Galarian Obstagoon SSH…
Infinite amounts of energy pour from this Pokémon’s enlarged core, warping the surrounding space-time. (Eternamax Eternatus)