22 results for: TEU–DAA
Atlas League, the Online TEU–DAA Metagame Progression, Players Cup II: Qualifying Hindsight, and Mewtwo & Mew-GX Toolbox (in Expanded) “One of the interesting things about seeing the metagame develop over the past few months is how differently the metagame progression formula has shifted on the basis of all play being online. Quite often in the past, if a certain list of an archetype did well at an event or outright won, that would for a while be considered the “correct” way to play said archetype, and a lot of the subsequent finishes for that archetype would build that archetype similarly, if not exactly the same. However, as various different online Leagues have emerged to fill the gap left by…
A Crash Course on the Slow and Sturdy Deck of the Format, Lucario & Melmetal-GX/Zacian V “Before I start, I would like to give some explanation of why you should actually read this article from me, a player you may have never heard of before. If you are hesitant about trusting me on my knowledge with this deck, I hope the following will alleviate any of that. So far, this season, in the HegsterTCG tournament series (a tournament series that has a consistent attendance of around 150 players which I will mention a few times in this article), I have achieved two first place finishes, a second place finish, a top eight, top sixteen, and two…
“Optimal ADPZ” and Galarian Cursola V for Players Cup II, How to Test Properly (the Spreadsheet Testing Method), and Notes on Building Rogues “Perhaps to the chagrin of those who’ve seen my rants against it on social media, the deck I’ve been using for most (although not all) of my qualifying events is none other than Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX/Zacian V. This is simply because I believe there’s no good reason to not play the deck: Altered Creation-GX is a truly game-breaking effect, and ADPZ has the potential to win just about any game it’s in. It can instantly capitalize on opponents’ misplays and can completely seal up a game if your opponent has even a single turn of poor draws…
A Look at Green’s PikaRom and Ability PikaRom “We’re in the beginning of the Players Cup II qualification period, and from what the first week has shown, Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX with Zacian V is the most popular deck. ADPZ’s pure speed and aggression is something that can overcome pretty much anything, but that doesn’t mean that the deck wins every matchup every time. Green’s Exploration partnered with Pikachu & Zekrom-GX is one of the decks that often has a very good matchup against ADPZ, and that’s for one main reason: its lack of support Pokémon. Not playing Pokémon like Dedenne-GX and Crobat V, Pokémon that would…
Two Decks That Omit Crobat V and Dedenne-GX (Green’s/PikaRom and Decidueye/Obstagoon) for the Players Cup II Qualifier Period “This deck offers a slower and more elaborate strategy for winning games. As the name indicates, the deck is based on Green’s Exploration, which allows you to search for 2 Trainer cards from your deck and put them into your hand—if you have no Pokémon with Abilities in play. When using Green’s Exploration, you practically start playing with your deck in your hand, as you will have access to almost everything, but only 2 cards at a time. The great advantage of this type of strategy is not having to use Dedenne GX or Crobat V, which, despite offering a…
It can race around like a unicycle, even on rough, rocky terrain. Burning coal sustains it. (Rolycoly)
A Look at One of the TEU–DAA Format’s Emerging Rogue Decks, TinaChamp/Magneton “This is the main star of the deck. Linear Attack, for 1 Energy, is still powerful in this format as an early attack, Calamitous Slash still remains a massive threat to many decks, and GG End-GX is still as powerful as ever. The ability to remove any threat from the field is still incredibly powerful, and is huge versus many decks currently. It is great to finally see this card shine again as a main attacker. In the past, TinaChomp had Naganadel & Guzzlord-GX as its partner in crime. Now Marshadow and Machamp GX takes that spot over. With…
Two Frontrunners (Eternatus VMAX and ADPZ) and Two Counter Picks (Torkoal V and Welder Toolbox) for Players Cup II “This Eternatus VMAX list is quite standard, Pokemon-wise, with maximum counts on the key Pokemon—the Eternatus line, Crobat V, and Galarian Zigzagoon—with three extra tech Pokemon in the Hoopa duo and Sableye V. Sableye V is a pretty powerful yet underwhelming attacker if it takes two turns to power up. However, the use of Energy Switch in this list can allow for a turn where you bench the Sableye V, Switch into it, and then Energy Switch to do massive damage to an opponent with Crazy Claws. This “surprise” Sableye V play has come in handy and surprised a ton…
Thoughts on Players Cup II, Theories on the Play! Pokémon Team Challenge (the What??), and the Archenemy of My Dear Centiskorch, Inteleon VMAX/Frosmoth “The announcement of this event was something that I fully expected, and was happy to hear about. There are a lot of similarities between this event and the first Players Cup, but there are also some notable differences. My favorite change is that there’s no longer an invitational where one of the favored players gets to skip the hardest part of the Cup. There is also the new method of qualification. Rather than rely on Event Tickets, we now have Tournament Keys, which are exclusively for the Players Cup. The Tournament Rep system has also been redone into a much…
The Remarkable ADaPting Metagame and Welder/Mew3 Box for Players Cup II “Can hit for 300 damage on turn two. It is versatile because it has so many attack options. 1HKOs VMAXs with the help of Horror P Energy and Volcarona GX. Good consistency. It is no longer the best deck in the format (BDIF). And that’s OK, because it’s less on people’s minds. Mewtwo & Mew-GX is easy to 1HKO. If it gets popular, there are strong counters to it in the format, like Mimikyu CEC 97 and Power Plant. It still depends a lot on Welder. Many of its matchups are 50/50. This is used against decks with ADP. Clear…
How I’m Approaching the Players Cup II and My Two Current Favs, ADPZ and Eternatus VMAX “To start, I’ll do a brief summary of how the qualifier period of the Cup is structured: Unlike the original Players Cup, Pokemon has now added Tournament Keys to the game. These keys are given to every account to ensure that everyone has the same amount of opportunities to qualify. You are only given 50 Keys, so use them wisely. My plan is to space out the tournaments I play in over the entire month. My main goal with this is to use very few Tournament Keys early, when you know everyone will be hungry to play, including the better…
It spins its tail fins to propel itself, surging forward at speeds of over 100 knots before ramming prey and spearing into them. (Barraskewda)
A Comprehensive Rodent-and-Bird-Filled Guide to Post-Rotation, Post-Bellelba & Brycen-Man Control “I’ve already covered a lot of my reasoning behind specific card choices, but I want to make sure every choice is clear. If it’s our win con why is there only 1??? Very good question! Essentially, this list is tight, especially because we need a good level of consistency to make up for its inherent clunkiness. The Bunny is a win con but it’s not the only win con. If you were to prize the Bunny, or choose not to use it, you would default to an aggressive Energy-denial playstyle, where, instead of pivoting between Bunny and Exca, you can…
Thoughts on the Format as a Whole (Spoiler: It’s Fast) and Centiskorch VMAX/Scoop Up Net “Oh where to start? ADP? Sure, why not. Unless you’ve been living under a proverbial rock in regards to the Pokémon community these last few weeks, you’ve surely heard the calls for a ban of ADP. And you’ve also heard the people defending the card. I’ve mostly been on the side of the former, as I believe that ADP is bad for the game as a whole. There’s a lot that can be said about ADP right now. I personally believe ADP is more of a symptom of the actual problem rather than the whole problem. The game has sped…
Should ADP Be Banned? and Water Mewtwo & Mew-GX w/ Frosmoth (aka Wet Mew3) “I started playing competitive Pokémon TCG in 2012, and since then I have been able to play in some formats where we had extremely strong attacks that ended up impacting the game a lot. These decks weren’t always the best, but they somehow made the game quite different than it would have been otherwise. The examples that stick out most in my mind are (1) the Item lock decks made possible by Seismitoad EX’s Quaking Punch in 2014–2016 and (2) the Night March deck in 2016–2017. At the time of Seismitoad EX, the format was very limited because there were…
Recapping the Players Cup Finals and the Future of TEU–DAA “This past weekend we saw the final 16 players duke it out over the past few days. Here’s a link to the full results from those players; I’ll be covering some notable archetypes and ultimately discuss why I think things panned out how they did. Finals VOD Links Preshow: Day 1: Day 2: Lucario & Melmetal-GX/Zacian V dominated the tournament, finishing 1st and 2nd with the same exact list. Kudos to Jack Millar and Matthew Burris for this great accomplishment. I know that when I’ve built decks in the past, it’s been rewarding to succeed and equally rewarding to watch…
Thoughts on the Now Completed POG 2020 and Five Decklists to Kickstart TEU–DAA “I loved this deck so much before rotation. Sure, I completely butchered my original list in order to play Pokemon Catcher in POG, but the deck was really solid when built correctly. Aside from Escape Board, this deck didn’t really lose anything to rotation. In order to combat the loss of Escape Board, I decided to cut Jirachi and add more consistency cards. This list is frighteningly close to what I should have played in the UPR–DAA POG format. Obviously Jirachi is gone, but that might not be the end of the world. This deck is going to want to…
The one with the best drumming techniques becomes the boss of the troop. It has a gentle disposition and values harmony among its group. (Rillaboom)