12 results for: Rayquaza
My Life as a Competitive Pokémon TCG Player, from 2010 to Now “I got into playing the game during the era of Pokemon SP. At the time I had been playing Yu-Gi-Oh. However, I wasn’t playing it competitively; I’d more so just go to league and play casually. This is mainly due to the fact that I had no idea about competitive play at the time. Out of the blue, I thought about Pokemon and how the cards looked because I had old-school cards from Base Set and Fossil. I figured I’d take a look at some of the recent cards at the time. This is where I came upon cards like…
A First Look at M Rayquaza-EX for BLW–CEC, Expanded, Dallas “This card was good when it came out. Now that it has more support like Triple Acceleration Energy and Magearna UPR, it has a way to hit 270 on turn 1. I have been grinding games with this for a while and it has actually been standing up to the format rather well. Even the single-Prize decks like Ultra Necrozma are very beatable. There are way too many cards in this format with Abilities that would singlehandedly prevent us from winning the game. Sudowoodo GRI is the biggest one, but things like Xurkitree-GX and Keldeo-GX can also cause us issues.…
The Last Expanded Winner (Rayquaza-GX) Recharged for Richmond “This exact 60 was able to place 9th (Greensboro), 9th (Daytona), and 1st (Hartford) at the last three Expanded Regionals—two by me and one 9th from my buddy Jeffrey Criss. I had a lot of faith in the list and kept playing it, and ultimately it put up great results. Expanded has always been a crazy format, and that’s one of the main reasons I decided to play Rayquaza-GX in Expanded for so long. The deck finds ways to win tough matchups. One important tip—and really no matter the matchup—is to use your Sudowoodo GRI before the opponent uses theirs.…
Recapping Toronto’s & Greensboro’s Top 8s, Exploring Expanded with Celebi & Venusaur-GX, and Rating Rayquaza for Daytona Regionals “The change in Top 8 decks between weekends was astounding as six of the decks that Top 8’d in Toronto vanished in Greensboro. Trevenant BREAK became a non-factor for this weekend as the field had figured out how to prepare for it moving forward. Greensboro saw these decks featured in its Top 8: 2 Archie’s Blastoise 2 Pikachu & Zekrom 2 Zoroark-GX/Garbodor 1 Drampa-GX/Garbodor 1 Shock Lock At the end of 14 rounds of Pokemon, we found ourselves with Shock Lock at the top of the standings. Many people, including myself, were under the impression that there was no answer…
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…
It’s said that this Pokémon was formed when an ancient clay tablet was drawn to a vengeful spirit. (Galarian Yamask)
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…
Top 8 Melbourne Report, Tips for Mental Stability, Standard Metagame Analysis, and Counters to Decidueye “Leading up to Melbourne, my thoughts on the Standard format drastically changed in two weeks. I thought Vespiquen was far and away the best deck for Anaheim, with favorable or even matchups against Yveltal, Mewtwo, Rayquaza, Turbo Dark, and Gardevoir (without Karen). While the same would be true moving forward, I thought the popularity and success of Vespiquen could lead to Karen being teched in some decks. I even heard players contemplating this in their Yveltal and Mewtwo decks during Anaheim. My first thought for what to play in Melbourne was M Gardevoir. Yveltal, Mewtwo, and Turbo Dark were the…
Thunderstruck, Trainers’ Mail Time, and the Ascent of Archie “The Primal Clash format has developed so much since its debut at Florida Regionals, and I think part of it has had to do with Archie’s Ace in the Hole. As Archie’s gained popularity because of Orion Craig’s win at Florida Regionals, people started to realize how good the card was when paired with Empoleon PLF. The draw power is phenomenal, and it allows the player to burn through their deck like crazy since it plays off of the discard pile so much. These “turbo” kinds of decks featuring crazy-high counts of Items grew in popularity which motivated people to want…
VA States Top 8 Report, My Top 3 Picks for Spring Regionals, and Favorites from Roaring Skies “State Championships are always somewhat of a struggle for me. They take place during a busy time of the school year, and with only one week between each event, there is little time to test. This generally makes for situations where deck choices are made mostly on theory … which don’t always work out. Virginia States took place on the fourth weekend of the States cycle this year. Leading into the event, I wasn’t too sure what the best play would be. In Maryland the week prior, I played a Donphan deck to a disappointing 4-2-1 finish. Both of my losses…
Mega Rayquaza, Trevenant/Accelgor, Speed Seismitoad, and the Mobile Realm “M Rayquaza-EX has received quite a bit of hype since it was revealed back in March, and it isn’t too surprising that Japanese players have found themselves in a format structured around perfecting or beating M Rayquaza-EX decks. Most players have seemed to lean towards the M Rayquaza-EX/Raichu XY build, which focuses on pairing two of the cards that gain the most from Sky Field. On top of the obvious synergy between extra Bench space and Raichu’s Circle Circuit, being a Lightning type is very important again other M Rayquaza-EX decks. The biggest issue I see with this combo is…
It spits out thread imbued with a frigid sort of energy and uses it to tie its body to branches, disguising itself as an icicle while it sleeps. (Snom)
Spring Battle Roads Metagame Guide “The Battle Roads format is different than regular tournaments. Like during Fall BRs, top cut has been abandoned in favour of ending the tournament early. This means you need to either go 7-0 or 6-1 with the highest resistance to win. With the entire tournament riding on each game you really can’t afford to have an auto-loss or lose a game to a dead draw. Winning Battle Roads requires a consistent deck that can beat anything the format throws at it. If you’re playing to win, you can’t leave anything to chance or have any liability in your deck. This is the…
Intense hunger drives it to extremes of violence, and the electricity in its cheek sacs has converted into a Dark-type energy. (Morpeko)