26 results for: SUM–UNB
The Quiet Days and Second Wind of My Pokémon Career, Including the Most Unbalanced Decks I’ve Played, from 2013–2014 to Now “Ah, where were we? After 2013 Worlds, BLW, EPO, NVI, and DRV were rotated. Since the early Black & White sets started off slow, and because power creep really ramped up started at NXD, very few important cards were lost to this rotation. In addition, several of the powerful cards had already been reprinted: Terrakion got a secret rare in BCR; EPO Item powerhouses Pokemon Catcher and Max Potion got theirs in DEX and PLF; and the staple supporters Professor Juniper and N were spared too. The main exceptions were Eelektrik NVI and Crushing Hammer EPO. Virizion-EX/Genesect-EX PLB was the…
Unfortunate Off-Meta—Gardevoir-GX/Swampert—for NAIC (Oops…), and Rearview-Mirror Thoughts on the 2018–2019 Competitive Season “I was one of the lucky players who got to spend almost two weeks in the city of Columbus this June. Because of this, my friends and I had quite a bit of time to test and figure out our play for NAIC. We knew that we were going to try to avoid playing a meta deck, but I still had some reservations about this idea, as shown in my last article. Before I go into the week, let me describe our testing process: First, we would build whatever deck we were on at the time on PTCGO and try…
UPR-on ReshiZard, Predicted Trends for UPR-on, the Transition Period (Goodbye, Cards…), and a Succinct NAIC Recap “In terms of the actual tournament, Stéphane Ivanoff pulled off what seems like an impossible feat, by winning back-to-back in 2018 and 2019. He also did it with two different Zoroark-GX decks, the latest one including a wide array of options such as Dewgong UNB, Persian-GX, and Naganadel-GX. Triple Acceleration Energy was the real star of the show, however, as it is what allowed all of these cards to work so well and have so much synergy between them. I myself didn’t have such a stellar experience, as I was eliminated from Day 2 early on with a 3-3 record.…
An NAIC Recap, What Made 1st–3rd Unique, My Own Tournament Report, and Reflections on Losing Your Head “At the Origins Special Event I chose to try and refine an idea that seemed particularly good at the time, Zoroark-GX paired with Silvally-GX and Persian-GX. I had done minimal testing with the deck besides the Thursday night before the event and I tweaked a few card counts to my liking, such as 2 Judge in the list. The event concluded with my final record being 4-2-1 after losing two sets to unfortunate prizing, but I still netted a Top 32 finish. I decided that the Silvally-GX build of Zoroark-GX might not be the best one over the course of…
A Complete Guide to PikaRom for NAIC, Including Matchups + Lists, and a Different Take on ZapBeasts “As you can see, there isn’t much different from my Madison list. This is also what Jesper played to a T4 finish. Basically, there’s nothing special. I’ll briefly discuss the changes from my Madison list and any extra cards that can be swapped in. I cut Absol TEU and Marshadow UNB because they didn’t improve the deck’s integral strategy. Absol was meant to improve our ZapBeasts matchup (and it came in handy) but didn’t carry its weight enough to warrant a spot. Erika’s Hospitality is a much stronger inclusion and increases our consistency. I’m a huge fan of Erika’s Hospitality…
Its unique style of coiling allows it to blast sand out of its sand sac more efficiently. (Sandaconda)
The Evolution of Wall Stall (from Hoopa/Gigas to Counter Attackers + Metal for NAIC), Blacephalon-GX, and Beyond—To the Lurking Tier 2 “Throughout the last month or so dating, back to the release of Unbroken Bonds, I’ve fallen in love with this archetype. I’ve taken it to a Regional, League Cups, and even League Challenges. I have been having a fun time playing the deck. Controlling your opponent’s resources and ultimately decking them out has always appealed to me, and I’m glad I picked up the deck when I did. All this testing has led me to an assortment of different variations of Wall Stall, and today I’ll be sharing them all with you, going over their pros and cons, talking a…
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…
Four Revelations for NAIC, Two Main Contenders, PikaRom v6.16, and ZapBeasts Reloaded “Blacephalon UNB is a terrible idea and should not be played by anyone who doesn’t want to rely on pure luck to make it through an event. Zoroark and Silvally seem like a great combination, but in reality the deck falls short of expectations. ReshiZard is seeing way too much hate to be a strong play for NAIC. Weezing has the potential to be a threat because of how good of a meta call it can be. What does this mean for us going forward? It means that inconsistent decks are seemingly falling out of the meta and old decks—such as…
Matchup Guides for Malamar & Friends and Ability ReshiZard for Origins + NAIC, and Some Words on the Final Stretch of the Season “This list is one that Grant Manley recently posted and had success with at League Cups, so all credit goes to him. I’ve never played Malamar to a major event before, so it would be weird having Origins or NAIC as the first time I’ve played it in a grand setting. However, after careful consideration and testing, I think that Malamar might actually be worth it this time. This matchup is one of your easier ones, but if the Green’s ReshiZard player draws well and plays the matchup correctly then you could see some issues. The way they should be…
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…
When it gets wet, its skin changes color, and this Pokémon becomes invisible as if it were camouflaged. (Sobble)
On ReshiZard’s Dominance, the (Mostly) Failed Attempts to Counter ReshiZard, and a Potential Savior, Malamar, in Two Flavors (Standard and Techy) “So far in the Unbroken Bonds era, we have seem ReshiZard dominate even more so than PikaRom did in the previous quarter. Despite the fact that Azul fell short vs. Ian Robb’s Blacephalon-GX deck in the final at Madison, I’m a firm believer that that matchup is as 50/50 as it gets, since 6 Energy in play isn’t exactly easily accomplished twice in back-to-back turns. Having said that, Blacephalon-GX decks will gain some traction and confidence after the Madison Regionals result, and I would not be surprised if they had a solid presence at the events taking place this weekend.…
The Post-Madison Tier List and Optimal Decklists for Almost Every Archetype “ReshiZard/Abilities PikaRom Blacephalon-GX Zoroark-GX/Persian-GX Green’s ReshiZard Blacephalon UNB Naganadel/Quagsire Weezing Malamar ZapBeasts Granbull You’ll notice that I separated the Ability ReshiZard and Green’s ReshiZard. They have different enough matchups to where I consider them different decks. We saw Ability-based ReshiZard dominate at Madison, while Green’s ReshiZard had significantly less high placements. I expect the trend of Ability ReshiZard seeing more finishes than Green’s ReshiZard to continue through the coming weekends. Going forward, I believe that Blacephalon-GX will see a resurgence in play because of how well it can handle the ReshiZard matchup and not immediately lose to the rest of…
Updated ZapBeasts, Baby Blowns, and Lost March for Origins and NAIC “Since shortly after the release of Team Up, ZapBeasts has been my number one deck of choice for the Standard format. I used a similar list to the one below to finish in the Top 32 at the EUIC and 2nd at the Panama City Special Event. I think the deck is still incredibly strong and has gained some fantastic new tools from Unbroken Bonds. Spiritomb may just be my favorite new inclusion to ZapBeasts. One of the biggest issue Zapdos decks have is trading knockouts against other non-GX decks that have 120 HP or more. This is because once…
A Full Look at Hoopa Wall Stall (Tournament Report, Deck Updates, and In-Depth Matchup Guide) for Madison “As per my last article, my top two decks for Santa Clara were Midrange Zoroark and Vileplume Stall. I ended up going with Stall; however, I decided to make a few key changes prior to the event in order to stay ahead of the anticipated metagame. Here is the list I played at Santa Clara: Through testing I found that this package was ineffective at setting up multiple Vileplume throughout a single game. This led me to explore different options. I knew that counters to Vileplume, such as Stealthy Hood and Stage 1 attackers, would be present and therefore I could…
An In-Depth Guide on ReshiZard’s Matchups (from PikaRom to QuagNag to Stall), and the 2nd Place Santa Clara List Updated for Madison “R1: ZoroControl…WW (1-0-0) R2: ZapBeasts…WLW (2-0-0) R3: Turbo PikaRom…WW (3-0-0) R4: NagaQuag…WW (4-0-0) R5: Turbo PikaRom…WW (5-0-0) R6: ZapBeastsRoc…LW ID (5-0-1) R7: ZapBuzz…LL (5-1-1) R8: PlumeStall…WW (6-1-1) R9: RegiStall…WW (7-1-1) R10: ZapBeasts…WW (8-1-1) R11: ZapBuzz…LWW (9-1-1) R12: PlumeStall…WW (10-1-1) R13: PikaRom…ID (10-1-2) R14: Green’s ReshiZard…ID (10-1-3) T8: PikaRom…WW (11-1-3) T4: ZapBeasts…WW (12-1-3) T2: Green’s ReshiZard…LWL (12-2-3) I lost two Best-of-3 matches and seven individual games throughout the entire event, after testing zero games with the final list. I believe that this is a testament to how inherently strong the deck is. When looking through my matchups, you’ll notice a few things that don’t make sense. For instance, in Round 4…
Cunning and cautious, this Pokémon survives by stealing food from others. It erases its tracks with swipes of its tail as it makes off with its plunder. (Nickit)
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