59 results for: PikaRom
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…
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,…
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…
T64 Toronto Report, PikaRom’s Revenge, and Contemplating Yveltal BREAK for Greensboro “Toronto went decently well for me, netting me another 50 Championship Points with a 48th place finish. I played an adaption of Pablo’s Buzzwole/Jirachi/Garbodor list that he wrote about in his last article. Based on the most popular decks (Pikarom, Archie, ZoroGarb, and Lucario), I should have had a free walk into Day 2 at least. However, TOM (Tournament Operating Manager) had other plans for me. Instead of the heavy counts of meta decks I hoped to play against, I managed to hit a whopping two total. R1: BuzzGarbShrine WW (1-0-0) R2: Mimigar/Omastar LWT (1-0-1) R3: Zorogarb WLT (1-0-2) R4: Fighting…
A Top 16 Collinsville Tournament Report with PikaRom “Hey what’s up my guys! My name is Evan Gregory, and I play the Pokémon TCG competitively. I have played rather casually for about five years now, hitting a couple of Regionals here and there; however, this year, since worlds is in D.C., I have decided to shoot for my worlds invite. Starting with a poor Q1 with only 2 Challenge wins and a Cup top 16, I turned things around at Roanoke, where I placed top 32 with Blacephalon. After that I cranked out a Cup win, top 4, and top 8. Then taking a break through January, skipping…
Its nictitating membranes let it pick out foes’ weak points so it can precisely blast them with water that shoots from its fingertips at Mach 3. (Inteleon)
PikaRom, A Bunch of Zoroarks (Garbodor, Golisopod, Golisopod/Lucario), Rayquaza/Ho-Oh, and Archie’s Blastoise for Toronto “Team Up is legal for Toronto, but if we look at the impact the set has had in Standard, there are only a handful of cards that have been impactful, and clearly the barrier of entry in Expanded is much higher. A card such as Jirachi TEU, for example, which has been a major player in Standard, may see some play in Expanded, but it won’t see nearly as much as it does in Standard. There is so much draw power already available that even if certain decks do choose to run a Jirachi engine, those same decks will likely…
PikaRom/Lightning Support and Lucario/Buzzwole for Toronto Regionals (BLW–TEU Expanded) “Expanded is a great example of how large the power creep has been in the last six or so years. Pikarom is the epitome of this. In Expanded, it’s not even close to unreasonable to hit a Turn 2 Tag Bolt-GX for 3–4 Prize cards. There aren’t many decks that can come back from that big of a turn. This is the list that I’ve been messing around with recently and I believe it to be very strong. 1 Xurkitree-GX The only reason I decided to include a copy of this is because it can singlehandedly beat any Night…
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…
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…
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)
Shrine Zapdos, Pikachu & Zekrom-GX (Updated!), and Ultra Necrozma-GX/Malamar for SUM–TEU (Pre-Oceania IC Standard) “The best deck (that I wouldn’t play at Melbourne) is Shrine Zapdos. The deck has felt extremely powerful, yet it easy to prepare for by teching Alolan Muk SUM or a copy of Absol TEU into many decks. That has been the biggest issue I’ve encountered, along with tanky Celebi & Venusaur-GX-based decks. A deck such as this one can thrive in an environment that suits it, where it’s not expected and no one is playing Absol or Celebi & Venusaur. However, due to the OIC metagame being undefined, I genuinely think Shrine Zapdos is not a good call as…
Pikachu & Zekrom-GX/Electric.dec, Lost March (SUM–TEU, Pre-Oceania IC), and Some Commentary on the Recent DQs and Suspensions “First of all, I want the record to show that I don’t think TAG TEAM GX cards are particularly good for the game. I expect that most of these cards will either be too powerful—bordering on oppressive—or they won’t be good enough to see competitive play. Either result is not great and I don’t believe the card type is going to lead to fun, engaging gameplay. I would love to be wrong about this, but I haven’t had too much fun playing with the cards yet and I don’t think there’s enough design space to make these cards interesting. They…
A More Focused Look at Top Contenders Post-Team Up (Electric.dec, Psychic/”GasKan” Malamar, and Decidueye-GX) “In my opinion, Electric.dec is the most hyped newcomer in the meta. There have been plenty of lists published, both from USA and Japan, and I can safely say I’m a fan of Pablo’s which he posted last week. Electropower is a worthwhile card in hitting numbers, and other support cards like Raikou SLG and Zapdos TEU are there as sidekicks, not the main show. The part of this deck as a whole that I’m unsure about is its capability to get rolling initially. The first Full Blitz leads into the next, but the path to the first looks somewhat dicey. Using…
Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, Rayquaza/Vikavolt, and Celebi & Venusaur-GX (for Standard) “Having said that, I know current Standard (SUM–LOT) is on its last legs, so I won’t bore you with that. Instead, I’ve also been thinking and theorizing a lot about Team Up. I’ve paid special attention to Japanese results and their Team Up format, and there’s one easy conclusion to arrive to: Pikachu & Zekrom-GX is the next big thing. Lightning-type Pokemon have so much support with Thunder Mountain {*}, Electropower, Volkner, and strong Pokemon like Zeraora-GX, Tapu Koko-GX, and Zapdos TEU. All this synergy, along with some pretty broken attacks, will finally make Pikachu an undisputed force to be…
It barely moves, but it’s still alive. Hiding in its shell without food or water seems to have awakened its psychic powers. (Dottler)