23 results for: ADP
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).…
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…
As it grows inside its shell, it uses its psychic abilities to monitor the outside world and prepare for evolution. (Dottler)
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…
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…
The faster a ________ can beat out a rhythm with its two sticks, the more respect it wins from its peers. (Thwackey)
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…
Zacian/ADP and Mew3/Malamar, My Early BDIFs of Sword & Shield Standard “Now that I’ve had a more genuine chance to give a wide array of decks a try, I’m completely convinced that Zacian V is by far the best deck in the format. It can be paired up with Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX to become a huge offensive threat, or with Melmetal & Lucario-GX in order to become a tankier deck and try to win the battle of resources. Both variants have impressed me so far, and I especially love having the Energy denial aspect in the deck, whilst also having an easier time OHKOing things. Testing has led me…
Sword & Shield Set Rundown, ADP/Zacian V the BDIF, and Concept Lists for Hammertime and Fire Box “I’m going to run down the set list and give some brief thoughts on the strongest cards. This section is not meant to be all-inclusive, but rather an inspiration for your own deck-building adventures. I think Rillaboom is severely underrated amongst most players. On top of having the traditional Rare Candy method of getting put into play, Rillaboom can also take advantage of Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX. While it doesn’t have a plethora of strong attackers, Rillaboom can make use of Venusaur & Snivy-GX, Dhelmise V, Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX, Celebi & Venusaur-GX, and Pheromosa & Buzzwole-GX. Each of these…
Jose’s Mew Box and ADP Dark for Dallas “This deck has plenty of attacking options, which is why it’s considered one of the strongest plays going into Dallas. Depending on what you are up against your strategy changes. Every Pokemon in the deck has merit and it’s ultimately up to you to find your win condition and pinpoint your strategy as soon as you know what you are facing up against. I like that Jon Eng’s list includes this package because, with it, you can take multiple Prizes in a single turn against low-HP Pokemon, namely Zorua and Trubbish, when combined with Distortion Door. There are a few…
The Latest on ZoroGarb, ADP Dark, and UltraGarb for Dallas “With that in mind, I have found myself putting in the most work with ZoroGarb, mostly because it feels familiar and very powerful. It combines a wide variety of things that are important in Expanded, such are Item abuse, Ability abuse, and overextension on the Bench usage, whilst having the amazing Trade Ability. Here is the latest draft of the list that I’ve been practicing with the most: The list is of course heavily based on Ian Robb’s winning list from Portland. However, it does feature new inclusions that are both great new cards but also personal preference choices. The…
It has many hidden capabilities, such as fingertips that can shoot water and a membrane on its back that it can use to glide through the air. (Inteleon)
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