9 results for: BLW–LOT
Primal Groudon in Dallas, Bans in Expanded, and Swampert in Standard (Pre-Team Up) “I’m trying to think of another deck that has had such longevity in the field of viability, and I’m drawing a blank. There have been no Regionals since the initial rise of Primal Groudon that I feel the deck has been utterly unplayable. Dallas was no exception to this. We saw a few vastly different takes on the deck this past weekend, all of them viable in their own right. My build was built more as an attacking–mill-style deck, whereas the others we saw focused more on healing their Groudon rather than alternate attackers. Hours of testing with my friend,…
My Dallas Experience w/ Zoro/Garb, Final Notes on Expanded, and Team Up and Standard “To nobody’s surprise, Zoroark-GX decks made up a majority of the meta in Dallas. Zoroark-GX/Garbodor was the most popular deck, but Archie’s Blastoise was only behind by two people. Aside from the 88 and 86 playing these respective decks, there was a slew of other Zoroark-GX decks, a surge of Vespiquen, Rayquaza-GX, and other meta decks somewhat seen in the field. Fighting decks, Trevenant, and Drampa-GX/Garbodor were all relatively unpopular, only having about 20 players each. I was surprised to see that there weren’t more Fighting decks because of Zoroark’s last win. My theory is that most people were more…
Magikarp & Wailord-GX Stall/Mill for Dallas Regionals “4 Magikarp & Wailord-GX The card that makes the entire deck function also does the least—Magikarp & Wailord-GX, much like Wailord-EX before it, has one job: sit back and don’t get Knocked Out. The only relevant difference is, of course, the massively increased HP. I find myself wondering how good of an idea it was to release a new series of cards based around the idea of Basic Pokemon with gargantuan amounts of HP, but we’ll have to shelve that discussion until the proper release of Team Up. 1 Girafarig LOT Moving on from the big GX, we’ve got a handful…
ZoroGarb and Sylveon/Magnezone (in Fine Detail) for Dallas Regionals “I don’t think I can actually come up with a deck that has been so versatile in quite a bit of time. ZoroGarb quite literally has no matchup that it cannot win, and to my knowledge has a 50/50 or better against almost every deck in the format. I am certain that if I choose to play ZoroGarb, I can almost certainly walk away from Dallas with some amount of CP. However, my goal at this point is to secure a rather high finish—not just earn some CP—so I find myself wary of playing such a high-profile deck. There are…
Zooming in on Zoroark, Cradily Craft Chronicles, and Developing Dependable Decks for Dallas “The raw power and flexibility of Zoroark-GX in the Expanded format has dominated the conversation about the format since the card was released, leading many players to renounce the format all together until something is done. I have been an avid defender of the Expanded format for quite some time now, but I’m here today humbly admitting that I think it’s about time that Zoroark-GX finds some kind of check in Expanded. With all of the available tools in the Expanded format there will always be a way for Zoroark to be incredibly powerful, and unless we decide to ban…
The stalks of leeks are thicker and longer in the Galar region. __________ that adapted to these stalks took on a unique form. (Galarian Farfetch’d)
One-Fish/Two-Fish, the Renegade Rancher, and Texas Ranger for Dallas Regionals “So will this new card cause a wave (pun intended) of influence and make Archie’s Blastoise immediately better and a more powerful archetype? I believe the answer is no. The card is good—don’t get me wrong—but it’s still not super easy to get out and the Archie’s issue was never “lack of access” to a powerful attacker. Wishiwashi-GX, Articuno ROS 17, Volcanion {*}, Kingdra-GX, and Keldeo-EX are already an impressive arsenal for the deck. Magikarp & Wailord-GX hits some nice numbers with the 5-Energy cost, namely 180 to OHKO most Basic EXs and GXs, and a Choice Band allows it…
Looking at Trevenant BREAK, Lucario-GX, and Primal Groudon for Dallas Expanded, Plus News “Trevenant is in a bit of an odd choice. Item Lock is a reasonable approach to much of what Expanded has to offer in terms of threats, and Archie’s Blastoise—an ugly specter of a matchup—has checked back out of the carousel of Expanded viability. The bad news is that there’s nothing revolutionary to offer for the Zoroark matchups: your reliance on Item Lock to offset their advantages and Faba/Enhanced Hammer to neutralize the attacking threat is as pronounced as ever. I’m of the persuasion that you have the ability to deal with control as a concept, but, admittedly, it’s as…
Profiles on Zoroark/Seismitoad and Zoroark/Golisopod for Dallas Expanded “Honestly, I don’t think this card would be in the deck if it were not for the release of Faba. Faba made it so that this deck would have to include basic energies to continue being playable, and that made it very easy to include this majestic beast. Artciuno, while useless in some matchups, made some of the deck’s closer matchups substantially better. Primal Groudon was a deck that gave us a ton of trouble in Portland, and Articuno provides a strong answer to that issue. Additionally, Buzzwole was a close matchup in the past, and Articuno helps to make…
Recapping a Collection of Tournaments with Zoroark-GX/Garbodor in Expanded “Why is this deck good? Well, it combines two amazing cards. I’ve already covered why Zoroark-GX is a strong card in Expanded; I need not dive further into it. Garbotoxin is a strong Ability in Expanded when combined with N, but also in the general nature of the successful decks. The more aggressive decks like Rayquaza-GX, Archie’s Blastoise, Buzzwole, and Blacephalon are vulnerable to either Trashalanche or Garbotoxin, making Garbodor a sweet sidekick in these matchups. Importantly, Trashlanche functions as a strong single prize attacker. This way, there’s a great way to punish the opponent for returning to even prizes…
With a lithe body and sharp claws, it goes around stealing food and eggs. Boltund is its natural enemy. (Thievul)