One Hit KO

Hey guys.  I just got done reading Jak Armstead’s latest article over at ProPokemon.  I think it covers a lot of good points about how the new cards will impact the tournament scene.  He presents new possibilities as well as the impact on current popular decks, and each time he presents a decklist.  I just did a quick count, and it looks like there’s at least 10 decklists in there.

First, he discusses Mewtwo EX which can’t be ignored.  Everyone is discussing it, but he’s got some very good points.  Here’s an excerpt in which he’s discussing a new deck that could be built around Mewtwo EX.

Mewtwo decks are going to form an important part of the metagame for State Championships, and learning how to play against them, and how to play with them, is going to be a major test for players. The two Prize mechanic will lead to the kind of intense strategic encounters not seen since the days of Gardevoir/Gallade decks back in 2008. Then, as now, the taking of Prizes will need to be carefully planned. Taking the initial KO with a Mewtwo-EX will generally be something to avoid, as all it will take is for the opponent to drop their own Mewtwo, a Double Colourless Energy, and a PlusPower and then you will find yourself down on Prizes. Learning to master the ‘Mewtwo Wars’ is essential for anyone with aspirations to win in the upcoming format.

Click here to see the full article at ProPokemon.

Later, after that discussion, his 6133 word article gets into how the new cards effect current established archetype decks.  Here’s one example where he’s discussing the current reigning City’s Champion, Magnezone/Eelektrik.
Continue reading "Teaser: “Next Destinies: How it Will Impact the Game”"

Well, I’ve discussed much of this already, but I thought I should give a bit of a wrap-up to finalize this season’s OneHitKO.com Challenge.  Yeah, I said “this season’s” implying that there may be others on the horizon.  That’s a bit of an open-ended question at the moment, but we can discuss that later.  Let’s first get to the positives and negatives of this challenge.

Negatives

When I first dreamed up this crazy plan, I had several goals.  My overarching number one goal was to build community around this project.  Have we succeeded in that?  Well, I think it’s been mostly a unmet goal.  Looking at webserver statistics, it seems that the site is getting slightly more views now. I can’t be sure if that has anything to do with the challenge, just the fact that there have been more articles lately, or just the fact that City Championships were in full swing. Since I can’t undoubtedly attribute it to the challenge, I won’t.

What I originally hoped for (and expected) was that many people would come together and each donate maybe 4-8 cards.  I would have a bunch of random “junk” to sift through and build from.  Making a deck out of this card pool would be my challenge while donating would be yours.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen really at all.  I had only 3 real donators, and, of them, I already had a friendship with 2.  That means that only 1 person decided to go out on a limb and risk sending me cards in order to be part of something greater.

My losses outweighed my wins.  I had a goal to go better than 50/50 win/loss in any given tournament.  I missed one tournament and had to drop one round early from another (both events I see as negatives in their own right).  I did go exactly 50/50 in 2 of 3 tourneys, but I never achieved greater than that.  This makes me feel as if I misused the generous donations and failed on my end of the bargain (even though it was always a goal and never a promise).
Continue reading "OneHitKO.com Challenge: Wrap-Up with Budget Engine"

Special Delivery

Early this week, TAndrewT contacted me and asked me for my address. He had a package to send me. Well, things didn’t go well for TAndrewT and the postal service, and we thought that the package might not arrive before this week’s finaly City Championship tournament. Instead of sending the cards to me via snail mail (does anyone use that term, anymore?), TAndrewT sent me a list of cards on Friday. He swore that he’d hand-deliver them to me the next day, and since he was judging, I figured I could bank on him being there.

Click on the pic to the left if you want to see what he donated. I think he really wanted to see how the deck and I would do if things were taken to the next level. For the final Cities here, I think he wanted the challenge deck to be a real contender. Thanks to you donators, here’s the list I was able to run today.

Continue reading "OneHitKO.com Challenge: Grand Finale"

This one came to me a bit out of left field.  This guy named Rafal sent me an email, because he was excited about my OneHitKO.com Challenge.  The problem is that, because my final City Championship is in 2 days from now, I couldn’t really justify having him send me cards.  They probably wouldn’t even arrive in time.  I started discussing things with him about building decks on a budget and under other constraints, and it came up that him and his friends were finding themselves in a similar position.

Rafal himself was in a good position, because he had been able to trade and borrow into cards good enough to build a workable 6 Corners style deck.  He said that, other than a Cobalion and a second Kyurem, he’s got it pretty set already.

However, he has 2 friends that are finding it difficult to build a competitive deck.  He was able to send me one of the lists, so we’ll talk about that one here.  The other, by chance, is a Raichu Prime / Eelektrik deck, which I have personal experience with.  Maybe we’ll get to that deck at a later date.  For now, let’s talk about Chandelure/Leafeon/Samurott.

We should get straight to the decklist, and then we can discuss how this deck can be improved.  I’d like lots of comments on this article, so maybe we can help get this guy sorted out.  Remember that he’s on a budget, so stuff like “add 4 Catcher” might be useless.  I’ll try to get some info on what his restrictions are, but for now, just try to keep “cheap” in mind.

Continue reading "Deck Workshop: Chandelure/Leafeon/Samurott"

I got some cards from Coolestman22 since the last tourney, so the list was a bit better than the previous run.

The additions were:

• 1 Zekrom: Excellent damage output without the energy discard that all my other attackers have
• 1 Thundurus: Second turn 80 damage and puts 1 energy in the discard
• 1 Pokemon Communication: Gets my evolutions
• 1 Great Ball: Maybe the best addition (gets Junk Armed a lot)
• 1 Pokemon Circulator: I gets me out of certain situations, but is also annoying when you know Catcher is in format.
• 1 Professor Juniper: Great draw supporter for this deck

Continue reading "OneHitKO.com Challenge: Decklist & Other Discussion"

I have to admit that I’ve been disappointed with the number of participants in the OneHitKO.com Challenge. When I first proposed it, people said that it might get low participation, but I didn’t expect it to be this low. I figured locals would chip in. I figured that some people would fine the idea oddly intriguing. I figured that, for the cost of a stamp, thinning your card pool of stuff you didn’t intend to play could be turned into entertainment. I guess I figured wrong.

Now, I’m not all sad or anything. In other ways, I’m very pleased with how things have turned out. I’m playing a deck that I otherwise never would have used in tourneys, and I’m having fun with it.

I’m happy with the cards that have been donated. There’s another area in which things have exceeded expectations. When I expected to be running a deck full of the best picks from random junk, I’m running a deck with 3 Primes, several popular trainers/supporters, some great dragons, and one of the most impactful Pokemon of the moment.

My goal was to build a community around this project, and in that I feel like I’ve failed. I’ve been thinking of ways I can continue with a similar experiment/project, though. Again, it’s not all bad, but it’s not what I aimed for. I have ideas for future targets, though.

My in-game goal was to go better than 50/50 in any tourney. Let’s get to the report.

Continue reading "OneHitKO.com Challenge: Tourney #2 Report"

Rapid City Road Trip

I have a bit of catching up to do here. I was out of town (and fairly busy) between Christmas and New Years. I’m back now, so I should update you on the happenings since the last installment.

We were in Rapid City, SD for vacation, because we have family there. We go there almost every year for Christmas. This time, there were 2 league times that occurred during our stay. I penciled in both, but I didn’t know if we’d have other family stuff going on.

If you have been reading here for quite a while, you may recall from my Alakazam/Chancey Report that Rapid City has some interesting formats that they attempt. The Pokemon scene there is quite different from other places I’ve played. It pretty much exists in its own little bubble. Adam, the league leader and one other guy named Ben seem to be the ones that really drive the scene.

Now, from what I’ve seen/heard, most leagues allow an unlimited card pool, but even then, most players play modified-legal cards. Yeah, if you want to play old cards, people won’t mind, but most will prefer to play against tourney decks. In Rapid City, it seems that they don’t care much about the modified format. Yeah, people like new cards, but they don’t want to dump their old stuff. Case in point, this time, there was a guy who’s “want” list contained a bunch of SP trainers. I had no problem trading them away, because I had no use for ‘em.

Continue reading "OneHitKO.com Challenge: Road Trip & Surprise"

While yesterday’s tournament went better than expected, I am still left feeling that we’re lacking something. Actually, I must say that I was fairly pleased with how well the deck worked, but in some ways that just leaves me feeling like it could actually be a contender (probably not top tier) if given the chance. There are some glaring holes that need to be filled to make this a real threat.

Let’s go over the main weaknesses and discuss some ways they could be strengthened. Then I’ll list some specific cards I think would bring the deck to the next level. First, here’s the list I played.
Continue reading "OneHitKO.com Challenge: Addressing Weaknesses"

It’s the moment, I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for. The OneHitKO.com deck has finally made it’s public debut. This Sunday, we had a tourney at Outpost 2000 and Beyond. Masters had 5 rounds of Swiss, and here’s the story of how Eelektrik and Riachu got along.

Before the tourney got going, I needed to take care of 1 major issue. I still needed 4 Pokeball. I was able to get the donation I needed, so it was all systems go.

Round 1: vs Paige with Reshiram/Vulpix
I think I only ever saw Reshiram and Vulpix in this match, as she never got a supporter. She started out by burning my Pikachu with Vulpix’s Singe attack, which was annoying. Once I got Raichu, evolving healed the burn, and I started rolling. Unfortunately for her, I was able to easily KO Vulpix and she brought up a 2-energy Reshiram. I had to attack it, but I knew she’d get the return KO. I popped the Rocky Helmet down and attacked for 120. This meant that she could retreat and lose all her energy, pass (and then I would probably just KO Reshiram), or attack (which would KO her Reshiram). During this turn, I think she Communicationed for another Reshiram (just to keep herself in the game). She attacked giving us both a KO and promoting her Reshiram. I brought up Pikachu, and did a Tail Slap for 10 (even though I had Raichu in my hand). This meant that she couldn’t easily return KO with Outrage, and I could do 120 next turn. That’s what happened leaving her with a lone fire Victini, and I started the day…
1-0

Continue reading "OneHitKO.com Challenge: Tourney #1 Report"

This will be just a quick post letting you guys know that I got a new donation in the mail today. Today Coolestman22′s envelope arrived. Here’s the contents.

3x Dual Ball
2x Professor Juniper
2x Professor Oak’s New Theory
2x Junk Arm
1x Max Potion
1x Thundurus

This is very exciting to me, because it gives the deck a “real deck” sort of feel. Junk Arm can really aid in getting those early energy discarded while obviously providing trainer options via reuse.

PONT and Juniper are probably the best draw supporters I could have asked for. Juniper may be a bit tricky in specific situations (like when I have a Eelektrik or Raichu in hand), but it nets the most cards while also potentially discarding energy. PONT is probably the best refresh supporter available, and now I have 4.

Continue reading "OneHitKO.com Challenge: Coolest Delivery"