8 results for: Toolbox
Qualifiers Recap, Notes on ADPZ Moving Forward, and Welder/Aurora Energy Toolbox (WelderBox) for Players Cup II, Phase 2 “Last time I wrote, I mentioned I was on pace for a 116-Tournament Rep finish in the Players Cup II qualifiers; I ended up just short of that, with my 111 Rep placing me 49th in North America. Below is a graphic by my teammate Dustin Zimmerman breaking down my run in more detail. You’ll notice that my average Rep earned per event jumped up considerably after I switched from Eternatus VMAX to ADPZ about a quarter of the way into my keys, and this is consistent with my statement in my previous article that ADPZ was simply the best…
Baby Blowns Reinflated for Phase 2 (AKA Bracket Play) (AKA the Region Qualifiers) of the Players Cup II “Today’s article will analyze Baby Blowns, which, together with the Water Mew3 Box from my previous article, is one of my main choices for Players Cup II bracket play. After Fiery Flint rotated, Baby Blowns wasn’t the same and lost the monstrous strength it had in the first few turns. But, with a new strategy and way of playing the deck, I feel that Blacephalon still has the capability to be one of the best in the format. The great truth is that Baby Blowns had been so strong that it was necessary for decks to tech Tapu Fini UNM…
Players Cup Finals Mini-Recap, Tips for Players Cup II, On Overcoming Pokémon Fatigue, and Finding Fun in Silly (But Competitive!) Decklists “As I alluded to, the first Players Cup ended up going very well for me. I made the Top 256 in Europe cutoff easily in the first round, before bringing Zacian V/Jirachi Prism Star (aka Zacian Combo) to the European Qualifier. I managed to win my first seven matches outright, placing me in the Top 4 in Europe and securing one of the 16 places in the Players Cup Final in August. The finals themselves were far less exciting. TPCi ended up scheduling them when I was traveling in a rather rural part of Britain—the Scottish Highlands. This resulted in…
The Success of Crushing Hammer and Power Plant, PikaRom/Hammers, Eternatus VMAX/Power Plant, Green’s BraixZard, and My Wet Mew3 (Updated) “I have commented in previous articles on the success of Crushing Hammer, but what strikes me is that it is still quite successful weeks later, which proves that it is very difficult to deal with Energy removal. With the possibility of drawing many cards in one turn with Dedenne GX and Crobat V, you can dig to find 2, 3, or even 4 copies of Crushing Hammer on the first turn, and often all you need to do is remove 1 Energy to gain a big advantage and win the match. Power Plant is a card that has begun to…
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…
Highly intelligent but also very lazy, it keeps enemies out of its territory by laying traps everywhere. (Drizzile)
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…
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…
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…
What appears to be an iron helmet is actually hardened hair. This Pokémon lives for the thrill of battle. (Perrserker)