15 results for: Lycanroc
Pre-NAIC Tournament Results, What They Mean, PikaRom vs. ReshiZard, and Words on a Bunch of High-Placing Lists “Headed into NAIC, it is important to track what decks have been doing well. In this case, the results of the two events I think are most important to be familiar with are Santiago Regionals and Origins SPE. In Santiago, the Top 8 deck breakdown for Masters was as follows: 1. PikaRom 2. PikaRom 3. PikaRom 4. Shedinja 5. ReshiZard 6. Malamar 7. Zoroark-GX/Persian-GX/Slowking 8. ReshiZard As for Origins, it was attended by over 100 Masters and won by Daniel Altavilla who defeated Will Jenkins in a ZapBeasts mirror match. These standings paint a clear picture: PikaRom and ZapBeasts are…
A Journey with QuagNag through São Paulo, and Why Zoroark-GX is Now My Main Until the End of the Season “QuagNag on paper looked like a wonderful deck for the metagame a month ago. It is a deck focused on non-GX Pokémon that hits for the Weakness of the main metagame decks, has a good matchup (in theory) versus Control decks like Lucario & Melmetal-GX/Vileplume, and can play against anything. It is worth remembering that the São Paulo Regional was the first tournament with Unbroken Bonds, so the metagame was still a mystery. Based on the results of Japan and my studies, I decided that QuagNag seemed to be a safe choice. And it really was—there was no match in…
Santa Clara Regionals Wrap-Up, Featuring: A Zoroark-Less Top 8, an Analysis of Kian’s 1st-Place ReshiZard, and Other Important Takeaways “To start things off, let’s take a look at the Top 8 after the Swiss rounds (along with final placement in parentheses): Alex Schemanske—Reshizard (2nd) Michael Catron—Zapdos/Fighting (3rd) Kian Amini—Reshizard (1st) Jimmy Pendarvis—Shedinja Control (5th) Mike Morton—Zapdos/Ultra Beasts (4th) Preston Ellis—Lucario & Melmetal-GX/Vileplume (6th) Azul Garcia Griego—Shedinja Control (7th) Marcus Dodson—Pikarom (8th) There’s a ton to break down here, so let’s get right to it. First, I would like to focus on what wasn’t present in the Top 8… Zero Zoroark-GX decks in the Top 8 is quite the rare occurrence. We don’t have a full metagame breakdown (yet), but…
How to Approach a “Solved” Format and Kenny’s Play for Denver (Zoroark/Lycanroc/Lucario) “This puts players in a situation that I always find interesting: Do you continue to do what you’ve done for most of the format, just jamming what you feel is the best deck and hoping for the best? Do you try to find a rogue deck that has good match ups versus your expected metagame? Do you try out some spicy new tech in an established archetype that you hope will give you an edge? Does the answer to any of these questions change if you’re also attending the European International Championship later this month? My days of worrying about…
A Look at the Established Contenders (Lightning Toolbox, Zapdos/Ultra Beasts, Blacephalon, Zororoc, and Ultra Necrozma/Malamar) for Denver Regionals “This deck can play an aggressive Zapdos plan, but also gets to transition into Pikachu & Zekrom-GX. This deck can’t go for the Turn 1 Full Blitz reliably, but it gives up that line for a lot of additional versatility. Let’s look at all of the different attackers this deck supports! Zapdos Pikachu & Zekrom-GX Zeraora-GX Tapu Koko-GX Jolteon-GX Tapu Koko {*} (Hey, it can attack!) The lines are all thin, but it doesn’t really matter too much as you have so many options. One thing that is important to stress with this deck is that no, you won’t always…
It has an electrical organ on its chest. While generating electricity, it fills its surroundings with what sounds like the strumming of a bass guitar. (Toxtricity)
A Complete Run-Down of All Six Major Lightning-Type Decks in Standard for Denver (Pure Zapdos, Turbo PikaRom, Lycanroc/Zapdos, Zapdos/Ultra Beasts, Jolteon/Zapdos, and PikaRom/Zapdos) “If there’s one thing that can be said about the metagame it’s that Team Up had a tremendous impact, arguably bringing two or three decks to the top tier immediately. It also meant the metagame has been a lot more focused and defined than before, as it all revolves around one type: Lightning. Since the set’s release, we’ve seen Lightning dominate in different forms, all of which seem to be extremely viable and potent in their own way: Pure Zapdos Zapdos/Ultra Beasts Jolteon-GX/Zapdos Lycanroc-GX/Zapdos Turbo Pikachu & Zekrom-GX Pikachu & Zekrom-GX/Zapdos If you’ve been following my journey on social media,…
Profiling Zapdos/Lycanroc-GX in Standard and Recapping Archie’s Blastoise in Expanded “Coming into the tournament, I knew that Zoroark-GX/Garbodor would be a relatively safe play. I liked the list I had posted because it was consistent against everything, and should I dodge Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, the deck would work well. I liked having the extra Rescue Stretchers, Garbotoxin, etc. for my other matchups rather than the specific anti-Lightning cards that didn’t even make the Pikarom matchup favorable. Both versions of Zoroark-GX/Garbodor were my fallback, and it was good to see that some people had success with it. Alex Schemanske finished in Top 8 and Arlo Neel in Top 4. Justin Bokhari,…
Tiers 1 thru 3, Melmetal/Magnezone, Passimian/Zapdos, Spread, Zororoc Deconstructed, Walls, Lightning Box, and Traditional Zororoc “Before I do anything else, I need to define what the meta currently looks like based on recent League Cup results. Zapdos Variants Pikarom/Jirachi/Zapdos Zoroark/Lycanroc Walls Blacephalon Buzzwole Decks Spread Malamar Lost March Zygarde Lycanroc Everything Else Going forward, I will always be most worried about Pikarom, Zapdos, and Zororoc. These are the decks that everyone seems to be defaulting to right now simply because of how blatantly strong they are compared to everything else. Zoroark has consistency, and Zapdos and Pikarom have the ability to hit high numbers quite easily with Electropower. I haven’t seen many people talking about…
The Collinsville Meta, the Future of Standard, Variance Got Me, and What’s “the Play” Now? “We saw a Blacephalon/Naganadel deck take the win this past weekend. Zapdos/Jirachi and Zoroark/Lycanroc made up a major portion of the meta, Stall is back (and causing me a major headache), and the top players brought a variety of decks to the event. What influenced these plays though? Blacephalon was, in retrospect, the obvious choice for the weekend, having a borderline free matchup against Zoroark, 50/50s against Pikarom and Zapdos, and a chance against the Stall decks. The Zapdos and Zoroark players were influenced by the results from OCIC. Zoroark was still a very strong play for the weekend, and…
Synthesizing Collinsville’s Results at the Dusk of SUM–TEU Standard (and an Electrical Stab at Expanded) “1st Zach Lesage won the tournament with his tried-and-true Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel deck that he has played at almost every tournament since its release. This came as a surprise to most players, including myself, as there was little reason to believe that the deck could compete with Zapdos. For an incredibly linear deck like Blowns, the two-shot nature of Zapdos/Jirachi should be overpowering due to its extra consistency and capability to attack immediately. However, Zach’s list contained a 1-1 Alolan Muk line, which is something I’ll touch on in a bit. 2nd Surrounding the success of Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel was Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX/Lucario-GX. Basically, this deck…
Though it’s able to capture prey by freezing its surroundings, it has trouble eating the prey afterward because its mouth is on top of its head. (Arctovish)
The Oceania Meta, Post-Oceania Zoroark, Ultra Necrozma / Malamar (Updated), and What We Have Left “Based on what I heard, the Day 1 metagame was very similar to what we saw Day 2: a lot of Lightning decks—mixed between Pikachu & Zekrom-GX and Zapdos based—along with a heavy presence of Ultra Necrozma-GX/Malamar decks and Zoroark-GX as well. Decks like Blacephalon-GX and Psychic Malamar also showed up in lower numbers, but ultimately didn’t do as well as the others previously mentioned. The Top 8 was comprised of 3 Zapdos, 3 Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, and 2 Zoroark-GX decks. Malamar had three Top 16 showings, including a 9th place bubble. One of the three Zapdos decks included Buzzwole…
Oceania IC Results Discussion, Breakout Cards, and the Four Major Decks Heading into Collinsville “Let’s look at the results from the Masters Division of the event! Here are the Day 2 final standings (via Limitless, PokéStats, RK9 Labs): 1. Byron Isaiah Williams — Zapdos Jirachi 2. Stéphane Ivanoff — Zoroark Lycanroc Lucario 3. Kaiwen Cabbabe — Pikachu & Zekrom 4. Jose Marrero — Pikachu & Zekrom 5. Bert Wolters — Zapdos Jirachi 6. Lucas Henrique de Araujo Pereira — Pikachu & Zekrom 7. Henry Brand — Zoroark Lycanroc 8. Daniel Altavilla — Zapdos Jirachi 9. Christian Hasbani — Malamar Ultra Necrozma 10. Robin Schulz — Zapdos Jirachi 11. Azul Garcia Griego — Zapdos Jirachi 12. Rahul…
Jimmy’s SLC and São Paulo Recaps and Forbidden Light Favorites “R1 Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI WW R2 Ho-Oh-GX/Kiawe WW R3 Zoroark-GX/Glaceon-GX WW R4 Espeon-GX/Garbodor WW R5 Buzzwole-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI WW R6 Zoroark-GX/Lucario-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI WLW R7 Buzzwole-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI ID R8 Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI ID R9 Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI WW R10 Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX GRI WW R11 Zoroark-GX/Garbodor WLL R12 Tapu Bulu-GX/Vikavolt SUM WLL R13 Magnezone UPR/Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX LWL R14 Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX WW 9-3-2, 15th place Headed into this event, I knew that I wanted to play something consistent. I also prefer playing decks that have a chance against everything, as opposed to just a couple good matchups. This left me deciding between Golisopod-GX/Zoroark-GX and Buzzwole-GX/Lycanroc-GX. Both decks fit…
Expanded SLC Recap, Fighting for Toronto, and First Looks at Buzzwole and Malamar/Necrozma for FLI Standard “This weekend showed that Zoroark has become predictable to an extent, and decks are adapting more successfully. We saw a huge surge of Fighting type decks, an important Drampa-GX/Garbodor presence, along with a Korrina based Gardevoir-GX deck, and even Sableye/Garbodor have a strong showing (with the latter taking the big win in the end). With only a single Zoroark deck in the Top 8, maybe the format will prove to be more varied than it felt to me personally this weekend. I’m not sure I can say I’d be happy with a more varied format that includes decks like Sableye/Garbodor…
Alex Discusses Post-LAIC Standard with Buzzwole and Ultra Necrozma “As we’ve seen from this weekend, you can play Buzzwole in any number of different ways. There are 2-3 tech slots that you can use for some number of the following cards: Fighting Energy Energy Switch (Multi Switch) Super Rod 2nd Mew-EX counter (Oricorio, Mew FCO, Mewtwo, Sudowoodo) Enhanced Hammer Zygarde-EX That seems to be the exhaustive list, and allows you to take the deck in a handful of different directions. Extra Fighting Energy and/or Super Rod help you be more consistent with Max Elixir. The 2nd Mew-EX “counter” and Enhanced Hammer give you a bit of an edge against…
When it uses its special stick to strike up a beat, the sound waves produced carry revitalizing energy to the plants and flowers in the area. (Grookey)
