355 results for: card evaluation
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…
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…
Discussing the Dominance of Zoroark-GX in the Entirety of the TCG “The first question in any design room is “Do we want this card to be strong?” If the answer is no, you (the reader) can very quickly see a common example of this. Simply look up any set in Pokemon TCG history, display some portion of the set on the screen, close your eyes, and point to a random point on the screen. Congratulations! Approximately 75% of the time you’ll choose a card that will never be competitive. Perhaps 15% of the time you’ll point at a playable. Some 5% will be strong, and the last 5% will be very…
Initial Thoughts on Celestial Storm and How to Properly Evaluate New Cards “Without a doubt the most hyped card from Celestial Storm, Rayquaza-GX has been at the front of everyone’s mind in these weeks leading up to the World Championship. It’s easy to buy into the hype, as Rayquaza boasts a very threatening attack when combined with energy acceleration, and definitely has the potential to go off in the early turns and completely take over games. To be honest with you, I haven’t been too impressed with Rayquaza thus far. I’ve been playing around with a few lists, and this is what I’ve mostly settled on right now. Although Rayquaza-GX is a…
A Look at the Stars in the Upcoming Celestial Storm “Sceptile Unfortunately, as clever as this seems on paper for dealing with the Buzzwole swarm, I don’t think a soft-lock Stage 2 prevention mechanism is going to be something with all that much potential in the end. Maybe back in the Forest of Giant Plants days we’d have had something to work with here, but since Grass is mortal, there’s probably not as much as we’d need. Shiftry-GX Normally, I probably wouldn’t even mention this, but considering Grass is the competitive equivalent of a desert wasteland in this set, I’ll toss it a mention. Confusion is never a bad thing…
It’s skilled at both offense and defense, and it gets pumped up when cheered on. But if it starts showboating, it could put itself in a tough spot. (Cinderace)
A Lesson on “Tilt” From Madison, State of the Meta, and Puzzling the State of Puzzle of Time “In general, this whole tournament was just a huge list of tiny woes for me. I lost 8/9 coin flips which made things exceedingly difficult for me. The Zoroark-GX mirror can be a little more complex than just a matter of who goes first, but by the end of the day, it became hard for me to see it in any other light. I won every game where I went first and was able to Guzma or Bloodthirsty Eyes up the main threat on my second turn, leaving them without ample time to respond—while the same thing happened to me…
A Dissection of the Rule Changes, Standard, and Forbidden Light “It seems as if the rules are continuously progressing towards harsher punishment. It’s undetermined whether this will be good or bad for deterring cheating and the future of the community. There are definitely two ways to look at it, both of which I’ll cover, and then conclude with my own thoughts on the matter. To start, I recommend revisiting one of my former articles in which I talk about the initial leap in terms of penalties this year. In my opinion, the most important change is in how the penalty is given. Instead of the player taking 1-3 Prize cards,…
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Pablo’s First Look at Top Contenders from Forbidden Light “Beast Ring – Search your deck for up 2 Basic Energy, reveal them, and attach them to 1 of your Ultra Beast Pokemon. Then, shuffle your deck. There’s a very clear focus on Ultra Beasts at the moment, as the Prize mechanics and this card will definitely be making an immediate impact upon release. It is an immediate inclusion into Buzzwole-GX based decks, but I think it’ll have other uses too. Buzzwole-GX has a really good first attack for one Fighting energy, but Knuckle Impact is the real game changer in my opinion, as usually, with Strong Energy, Choice Band…
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Brit on Consistency, a Trio of Glaceon Lists, and Solgaleo/Zoroark for Charlotte “Though my testing was incredibly limited for Costa Mesa, as I knew early on that I would not be in attendance, I am happy to see that I was somewhat on the right track thinking Glaceon-GX had a real opportunity to shine in the format. The list I provided in my last article did one thing only—and that was evolve very quickly. Ultimately, I think that it would prove to be not enough to stand on its own in Expanded, but was not too far away from the list that many of our writers would favor in Costa Mesa. I…
Examining Zoroark-GX’s Inherent Strengths and their Impacts on the Expanded Format “I think that the big question heading into Dallas is whether Zoroark-GX will truly be as impactful as everyone is predicting. Is there room in the format for older decks to still scrape by or have we been reduced to Zoroark or counter Zoroark? The Standard format remains somewhat of a mystery to me but I think the answer to this question for this weekend is a resounding “YES!”. Unfortunate as that may be, I think that Zoroark-GX really is that impactful. What it has done to the game in such a short amount of time is incredible and I…
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Little can stand up to its psycho cut. Unleashed from this Pokémon’s horn, the move will punch a hole right through a thick metal sheet. (Galarian Rapidash)
Examining the Tech Options in Hartford Standard, Spanning the Spectrum of Fire, and Sylveon Surprises “As noted in my previous article, our current format revolves around the three best decks. In my opinion, all other decks are automatically Tier 2. They aren’t bad or clunky decks, but lack the brokenness of Gardevoir or Golisopod. As you can see, a lot of the decks I listed are also Stage 2 decks, with Drampa/Garbodor being the exception. I’d also consider Greninja in a class of its own, but that’s for another day. There are certain Pokemon or Trainer cards with a specific purpose. Examples of this include Oranguru and Octillery: both add draw support at a measly…
Musings on the Community Invitation Structure Debate and Beginning Burning Shadows Discussion “It’s a well-documented reality that this year’s point structure left some players behind, while others were the recipient of seemingly-constant support from TPCi in their international traveling exploits. The vast majority of all out-of-rating-zone travelers at International Championships this year were the beneficiary of a Top 4 trip or Top 16 travel stipend. A few players made these trips unassisted, but most had some semblance of financial assistance in doing so. This year, the first stipends were awarded based on 2o15/16’s final CP standings. This set the top players from that season off to a booming start for 2016/17, giving…
Further Exploration of Guardians Rising “Victini This is another spiritual reprint, this time of “Fliptini” from Noble Victories. It has a bit more HP and a slightly stronger attack this time around, but you’re really here to flip coins. Fliptini saw virtually no competitive play whatsoever the last time, and I don’t really expect it to see much this time either. This is wholly dependent on the flip effects in the format, of course, but none jump out at me immediately compatible. Chandelure This is another in a long line of damage manipulation abilities. This time, Chandelure moves one counter from any one Pokemon to another,…
Guardians Rising Preview Pt. 1 “In my last article, I gushed over Guardians Rising. This set is really going to change the game, and I think it’ll be strictly for the better. Last time, I had the pleasure of covering Tapu Lele-GX and Field Blower, the two best cards in the set. I won’t be covering them again here because you can check out my previous article, but here’s a summary of my thoughts in case you missed it: These are the single two best cards Pokemon has created since Shaymin-EX, unquestionably. Last time it was easy to talk shop, because I only had two cards to worry about. This time, I’ve got what seems like…
Guardians Rising Preview and Cosmic Dream Team “#1: Tapu Lele-GX If you’ve been living under a rock up to this point and don’t know what this card does, here’s the translation (per Bulbapedia): …Wow. I mean, uh, wow. This card is…actually insane! Its ability is the same as Jirachi-EX’s, which has largely been an Expanded staple since Lysandre was printed! It. Is. Incredible. For starters, the release of this card sends a clear indication that Shaymin’s time with us is finally (and thankfully) coming to an end. Tapu Lele-GX provides a much more stable consistency boost to a deck, without the blistering speed. This means that the…
When it heats up, its body temperature reaches about 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. It lashes its body like a whip and launches itself at enemies. (Centiskorch)
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