Pikkdogs

Pikkdogs’ Toledo Battle Road Report: Running the Richards Gauntlet

Pikkdogs October 9, 2011 2 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs and his extra dimensionary sidekick Pedro here with a Battle Roads report. I decided to run Donphan and Dragons again at this

Frank and Amanda talking it up before the tournament

tournament because I had done well with it in my last tournament. I won’t post a list because it is basically the same one that I shared last time. The only change was that I replaced a Lost Remover with another Max Potion. After today I don’t think I would change anything about this deck. So enough about the deck, let’s set up the tournament.

Hey, we usually do a little schtick before we get to the article. Why are you getting into the article so fast.

Well, I can’t think of anything to talk about.

We can talk about Frank’s weird snake scarf in the picture to the right.

I think we already said that we think he is compensating for something, let’s just to the article.

This past Saturday there were two options for Michigan players. We could either get up early and go to a BR in Hartland, Mi (located kind of between Ann Arbor and Flint), or we could head south to the border town of Toledo, Ohio. Despite my pact to stay out of Ohio as much as possible (yes the University of Michigan and Ohio State rivalry has driven me crazy), I decided to go to the Toledo event since it allowed me to sleep in a little more. I was hoping that most of the better Michigan players would have stayed in state, but alas they all thought like me and decided to come to Toledo. I can’t describe everyone who was there, but there were some great players like 2^nd place state finisher Matt K., perennial Ohio top cutter Jack I., Team Warp Point power houses Ryan G. and Collan B., and the contingent from Team Bertolli which includes the Richards brothers (and father) and Mike, A.K.A. Bertolli. The tournament today would be 6 Swiss rounds with a top cut of 4, since there were 34 players the 3^rd and 4^th place kicker points did “kick” in.

I was nice (and foolish) enough to bring with me fellow Onehitko.com writer Mark M. and my favorite Ukrainian, Bohdan P.

Bohdan is Ukranian? Did you ever tell him that “the Ukraine is weak” while you were playing a game?

Well no, but I think all Ukranian’s would have to smash the playing surface whenever they hear that phrase when a game is going on.

That’s what I think too.

So I got up extra early and went North to Detroit to pick up the guys. We get held up a little downtown and run into some traffic along the way, but we still entered Toledo on time. I had not been to this location before, so I used my G.P.S. to get us there. I had entered “Sylvan Road” into the GPS, but was puzzled when the road turned out to be more like an alley. I double checked my printed directions and

found out that I was supposed to be at “Slyvania Avenue.” Ooooops. It only took us an extra 10 minutes to find the right place, and we were able to get registered in plenty time.

So you got lost again? How dumb do you have to be to get lost with a GPS?

You would be suprised, I can get lost very easily.

The venue for this tournament was not the best. It was a small game room at a card shop that was very hot and smelly. But, it wasn’t too bad and it was nice to just be in a decent spot. I slipped away from the tournament for a while to get me and Mark a pizza, then came back to the shop and ate some pizza and talked to the many of my buddies that were there. It took a little too long, but the pairings were posted before the peasants got too rambunctious.

Round 1- I forgot his name but he was from Mansfield, Ohio. LostGar.

005 — I find it funny that this place had the private parts of Vehicles in a box.

I usually get a tough first round game, but I wasn’t too afraid of Lostgar. I haven’t played against it for a while but I know that my deck is faster and can OHKO or 2HKO anything he has.

I start with Phanpy (the only time I had this good of a start all day) and he starts with a Gastly and a benched Slowpoke. He starts first and puts 1 damage counter on Phanpy. On my turn I attach a fighting energy and then use Pokemon Catcher to bring up the Slowpoke (hoping to stall my opponent out), I then “Flail” for 10. He cannot retreat the Slowpoke, so he has to pass after he used a Pokemon Collector. I then was able to use Pokemon Communication to get a Donphan Prime, and I used a Pokemon Catcher to knock out a Mew Prime.

I decided to target Mew Prime because I know that using Mew is a quick and easy way to put Pokemon in the Lost Zone. I also knew that if he didn’t “See Off” a Gengar Prime next turn, he would be unlikely to use Mew to any great effectiveness. Being a former Mew Prime player myself, I know that if you do not “See Off” on turn 1 or 2 you will be unlikely to use Mew effectively.

But, because I knocked out Mew, he was able to use Twins. With Twins he was able to setup his first Gengar Prime with a Rare Candy and a Gengar Prime. He then used Spiritomb’s “Spooky Whirlwind” to put a Pokemon in my hand, and was able to put it in the Lost Zone. On my turn I “Earthquake” the Gengar Prime for 60. On his turn he uses Seeker to Lost Zone a Zekrom and t

Dan R. getting pumped for the tournament

hat puts the number of Pokemon in my Lost Zone to 2. On my next turn I use a Plus Power to knock out the Gengar Prime with “Earthquake.” After he lost the Gengar he is not really able to do anything much. He ends up “Seeing Off” a Gengar Prime, but I am able to knock out the Mew’s before

ey could really do anything.

1-0 So I start the day on the right foot for the first time in the tournament season. I usually have to play from behind the eight ball. Maybe I am too used to playing from behind that it is hard for me to lead throughout the day.

Round 2- Dan R. with Zekrom

Today I experienced something really weird, I played 3 straight games against members of the same family. This round was the first of the 3 rounds. It seems like I got stuck running the Richards gauntlet. I used to be a big wrestling fan when I was younger. And whenever one face (or good guy) was feuding against a stable of heels (a group of bad guys) he would usually have to fight a gauntlet match. This meant that the one good guy would have to wrestle all members of the bad guy group either at one time or in quick succession. Well this is what I felt like in Toledo.

The Richards are a really nice family, but more importantly they are very talented. Dave is fresh of his Nationals victory (in Seniors) and has gotten a lot of good testing done. Dan has always been a good player, but I think recently he has been bitten by a radioactive spider. He has gone on a tear lately beating everyone he has matched up against, except yours truly (in fact at one point I think he was 20-2 with both losses being to me). And their father is a good knowledgeable player who always runs some cool rogue decks. Anyway, let’s get to my 2^nd round match.

I start with Zekrom and Reshiram ending Dan’s hope of a donk. I am able to get a DCE and “Outrage” a Tornadus for 40. Dan starts his turn and begins to load up a Tornadus. On my turn I am able to get a Phanpy in play and then I attack the Tornadus again. He starts his turn and tries to knocks out the Phanpy, but is unable to. So on my turn I am able to get a Donphan Prime, and finally knock out that Tornadus.

So at this point I have a slight lead and have a Donphan going. I had 3 dragons in play and had 3 Phanpys in my deck. I know that this is 6 prizes and would lose me the game if he knocks them all out, because he usually tries to avoid attacking the Donphans. I decide to bring out the Phanpys and hope that I can get at least 1 Phanpy evolved to a Donphan instead of trying to face Dan with only 1 Donphan.

On his next turn he does use a Tornadus to knock out a Phanpy, and I am unable to evolve the next Phanpy on my turn. But lucky on his turn he again whiffs on getting the Pokemon Catcher, and the Phanpy survives long enough to evolve to Donphan Prime.

While this game was going on, I was able to get a knock out on Pachirisu and a Zekrom, while he took down one of my Zekroms. He then proceeds to knock out all my dragons with Tornadus, and is able to tie the score up with 1 prize a piece. On the previous turn I had used Pokemon Catcher to bring up a Shaymin, and I “Earth Quaked” it for 40. All I needed to do is use a catcher to bring the Shaymin back up, because he retreated it next turn. Dan attacks and asks if I have the catcher, I say “no”, but then I have to say “yes” as I revealed a Pokemon Catcher from my top deck for the win.

Joe and Rob playing a game and acting weird.

2-0. I have done what no player in the region had yet done in the entire Battle Road Season, beat Dan, and I did this twice. Dan is a great player and has an awesome deck that has stopped everyone like a Justin Verlander curve ball, but he has yet to beat the Pikkdogs this season. But, I cannot celebrate for too much longer because this is just round 1 of my gauntlet, I have another Richards waiting in the wings, and this one has won Nationals.

Round 3 Dave R. with Zekrom

The Richards Gauntlet moves forward with Dave, and he is running a similar deck to what Dan runs. Although the decks are the same, I can tell that Dave has a different play style. Dave was basically only using his Tornadi, while Dan used Zekrom as well. I don’t know whats better, Zekrom gives them a lot more choices, but its also an easy knockout.

I start again with Zekrom and Reshiram, and he starts with Tornadus. Dave does not get the donk, but he gets Tornadus going early. I am able to Dual Ball for two Phanpy’s. On Dave’s next turn only 1 Phanpy survives, which is evolved on my turn. I have a decent time using Zekrom and Donphan very effectively.

The problems start when I try to use Pokemon Collector for the other 2 Phanpy’s. I found out that they are both prized, meaning I will have no more Donphan’s in the game. Dave see’s his and goes for the dagger. He starts targeting Donphan Prime, but I am able to use Max Potion on my turn to keep Donphan alive. I get a knock out on my turn, but I do not get a Phanpy from the prizes. I then scoop next turn after I am unable to get another Max Potion.

2-1. So this one is kind of frustrating. I think I would have been fine if I did not have those 2 Phanpy’s prized. Sure Dave would have been a tough out, but I think I could have squeaked it out. But alas, it was not meant to be.

Round 4. Eric (I think that’s his name) R. with Stage 1 Rush.

Fort Wayne Players — The Fort Wayne players show they are the best at making weird faces

I always have a nice time talking to Papa Richards, and am actually glad to be playing another Richards. I was comforted by the fact that the gauntlet would soon be over since there were no more Richards left to play. He usually plays a cool rogue deck, but today he has a more traditional Stage 1 Rush deck. Well the only thing that is rogue about this deck is the inclusion of Terakkion instead of Donphan, I guess he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t change the deck a little bit.

I start the game with Zekrom, get a Phanpy and then pass. He has a very poor start. He starts with Hoothoot and uses “Hypnosis” to put my Zekrom to sleep. It seems that his opening hand was kind of scattered, and he didn’t have a great start at all.

Unfortunately for him, my Zekrom woke up and had 2 Rainbows Energies on it, so I was able to “Outrage” for the knock out. He then promotes a Yanma, but decides to get a Terrakion and bring it active to try to stall.

I then attach a fighting to my Zekrom and am able to “Bolt Strike” 2 Terrakions for the knock out. He is able to get a revenge kill, but by this time my lead is to big for me to lose.

3-1. Well I survived the Richards gauntlet. But it did put me in a corner, I need to win out to have a chance with two rounds left.

Round 5 Ryan G. with Stage 1 Rush (C.M.T. version-Cincinno, Mew, and Tornadus)

Ryan is a good buddy and a very nice guy. I only played him once and that was in state’s last year when he donked me. So I was looking forward to a nice long game.

Matt and Sarah — Matt K playing Sarah in the first round of Top Cut

I start with Zekrom and attach a DCE so I can “Outrage” for 40 on his Tornadus. Unfortunately, it was now that I found out that Ryan plays Lost Remover. He used it on his first turn to take away the DCE. On my turn I am able to get a Donphan Prime without the help of a supporter, but am not able to get the energy, so I pass a couple times while he sets up. My supporter drought ends 3-4 turns later, but the only energy I get is a Rainbow Energy. It works for one turn before Ryan uses Lost Remover to take it away. He then uses Mew to poison Donphan Prime with Crobat Prime’s attack. I then use a Switch to bring the Donphan back to the bench, but by this time Ryan is up about three prizes. I pass and he tries to use a Pokemon Catcher to bring up the Donphan, but I refuse. Now I know I can’t refuse so I use this time to scoop and congratulate my buddy on a win.

3-2- I learn that there are two 5-0 players, so I know that my day is now over, no top cut for me. Though I don’t feel bad about losing to Ryan, I just had some bad luck and he had some what he needed. I really needed a supporter early in the game, and he was deadly with the Lost Remover. I am happy that he had a chance at getting to the top cut.

Round 6. James H. with Zekrom.

James is my buddy from Fort Wayne I have tested with him for over a year now. So it’s nice to play a game with a friend, especially when we both know our day is over.

James does play Zekrom, but he does not play the fast version like the Richards boys do. He plays a version that emphasizes defense and uses a lot of Defenders. While I can’t say one strategy is better than the other, I only fear Zekrom decks that can win early (and all decks when I prize my Phanpys).

I again start with Zekrom, but this time I can’t get a Donphan quickly. Instead I am able to get my Tropical Beach and use it two times to get setup. James had to use his resources early to prevent me from attacking early, and then did not have the Defenders when he needed it. I was able to use Donphan to get a couple knock outs on Zekrom. James was able to get a couple prizes to keep it close. But eventually I am able to pull away and am able to clinch a winning record for the day.

Bohdan and Dan — Dan playing Bohdan in the first round of Top Cut

4-2. Yeah I feel like I didn’t get as much luck as I needed, but it was overall a good day. I got to see a lot of friends, and ended up winning 4 games.

After the tournament me and Mark had to wait around for Bohdan, who went 6-0. Unfortunately he met up with Dan R. the first round. Dan and Bohdan played a long first game, but Dan was able to win it. Bohdan controlled the flow of the second game, and evened It up to 1 game a piece. Dan started first in the third and deciding game. He started with Shaymin, but was able to throw a lot of Dual Balls around and somehow get all the energy, Plus Powers, and Pokemon he needed for a the knock out on Bohdan’s lone Phanpy.

When you say “he was able to throw a lot of Dual Balls around”, is that code?

No.

Anyway, Bohdan took his packs and he stopped at Wendy’s for some lunch. After lots of bacon I made my way back to the motor city and dropped off the black guy and the Ukrainian. Overall, I say it was a successful day. Dan ended up losing in the finals to Matt K. While I am happy to have had fun, hopefully soon I will be able to win it all once or twice. And I have a chance to next weekend with two Battle Roads in my home state of Michigan.

You wanna bet that you will win next weekend?

That’s what I thought.

So look for those reports next weekend.

Thanks again to all the judges and those who made all the tournaments possible.

Pikks Three

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Pokegear 3.0, Potion, and Ultra Ball

Pikkdogs October 5, 2011 11 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs here with a Pikk Three article for you. I am also joined by my extra-dimensionary sidekick, Pedro.

Say, Pedro, a lot of people were talking smack about you on the last article.

Yeah, one guy even shot me.

He shot you, then why aren’t you dead?

Well, weapons of this dimension can’t hurt me, the only thing from this dimension that can bring me to my knees is a Barry White song.

Well you aren’t alone there. I know a lot of you out there have been telling me to ditch my sidekick. One reason I won’t is that if something happens to Pedro the people from Pedro’s dimension will start a war and kill us all, and another reason is he’s my fucking sidekick! I don’t care what you guys think. When I get tired of him I’ll kill him. In the meantime I look forward to your emails, your sane spell checked emails. Some people may not like these weird, creepy, and psychoctic articles-

But, if you changed that how would people know it was you?

I know I’m crazy, I can’t just start writing articles that are sane, legible, informative, helpful, and make sense. You gotta go over to six prizes and pay for that kinda stuff.

People have come to know this website as a bunch of crap with a fat guy who can’t write as the main contributor. Why should we change that now?

I don’t know Pedro, let’s just go on with the article and do a Pikk Three. Now for those of you that don’t know, a Pikk Three article is like a big card of the day section. We will feature three cards, one that is a popular card, one that I feel is under-rated, and one that is from a new or yet un-released set. As you see today’s article is very item focused.

So that means you didn’t have enough time to write a big article and talk about real cards so you give us a little article about items.

Well that wasn’t how I planned it, but it did work out. So without further wait, let’s look at the cards today.

Card # 1 The Staple- Pokegear 3.0

Description– Pokegear is an item card that lets you look at the top 7 cards of your deck, choose any supporter there, and put it into your hand.

It was released in the HGSS set and was thought of as a crap card until this Battle Road season. Nobody seemed to play this card for over a year, but in this fall battle road season, the card has gotten a lot of play.

Analysis– Well this is a surprise to see this card in the staple spot. Like I wrote in the description section, nobody cared about this car for so long. But right now 4 copies of it are being played by a lot of really good players. It is being used to search for some of the many great supporters in the current format. For example, instead of playing 4 Twins, 4 Collector, 4 Point, and 4 of another draw supporter; people are playing 3 of each of those and 4 Pokegear. The hope is that even if you play less supporters, you will still be able to get the right supporter that you want when you want it.

The question is does it actually work? The answer is yes….. and no. Most of the time it will give you a great supporter, but there are times when you could reveal no supporters from your top 7 cards. And when you really want that one supporter, the card may not be there.

Even though it is not perfect, the idea is solid. Pokegear will give you a good shot at getting a supporter, even more so than if you just ran more supporters. This is because Pokegear is Junk Arm-able. So if you don’t have a Pokegear or a supporter, you can still use a supporter by Junk Arm-ing for a Pokegear, and then using it.

Final Rating– 7.75/10-I’m not sold on Pokegear, I don’t run it, but it is very popular. It also is not a bad choice to run it. You can run 4 or just 1 or 2.

Card #2 The Underdog- Potion

Description– A simple item card that lets you remove 3 damage counters from any of your Pokemon.

Analysis– This card has been around since the likes of John Jacob Aster used to trek across the continent trapping animals for their furs.

Really, first Barry White, Now a John Jacob Aster comment. Will anyone over 60 know what you are talking about?

No, but that’s pretty normal. Anyway, this card was first released in the base set, and besides for a few rogue decks that didn’t do anything, Potion has NEVER seen play. But, I think this is changing now.

The format right now is based on one hit knock outs, or strategic two hit knock outs. If you can get a couple OHKOs during your game, you should be good. If you can get some 2HKOs you are right on track. But if something gets in your way of a 2HKO, then you could be in trouble. Enter Potion.

The first time I saw the brillance of this card in the current format was from a guy from Team Bertoli called Mike. When I first saw Potion in his deck I thought he was a noob, but then he proceeded to use it to do crazy amounts of harm to my plan. Think about it, you have an active Tornadus, your opponent has a Donphan Prime. You “Hurricane” it for 60, knowing that you got a KO in the bag next turn. But, your opponent plays a Potion and gets himself down to 3 damage counters. Now any hope of getting the 2HKO is out the door.

Potion is all about the little things. It doesn’t heal all the damage, but it doesn’t have to. Just being able to keep your Pokemon alive for one turn is amazing. Sure Max Potion is great on Donphan, but Potion can work on any Pokemon.

No, Potion did not go from being crap to being awesome, but I could see it as a decent tech.

Final Rating– 6.5/10-Potion is finally useable I think, in the right deck.

Card#3-The Young Gun- Ultra Ball

Description– Ultra Ball was released in the Reshiram and Zekrom EX Battle Strength decks in Japan. Who knows when it will reach America, it could come next month, or it could come in a year.

The card is another item, it lets you search your deck for another Pokemon and put it into your hand. The catch is that you have to discard 2 cards from your hand.

Analysis-Ladies and Gentlemen, we now have a better Professor Elms Training Method that is in an item form! This card is better because it is an extra Pokemon Communication that does not require you to have a Pokemon in your hand, but it does require the discard, which is not cool.

Not cool man

Hand size right now is a problem, people already want to play out there hand on most turns, and this will even put more stress on your shrinking hand. So using this card could be problematic if you either have to use this or Junk Arm, using both of the would be better. If your deck doesn’t have a great draw enigne, it could be hard to use this card.

But, this format does still does miss cards like Bebe’s Search, Bebe’s was an awesome card and Communication is great, to have more of that power would be great. I think when all is said and done, I could see this card getting play. I don’t see 4 in each deck, but a couple in a deck that is high on evolution cards. Pokemon searching is not fairlydead in the format, especially for non basics, so this card will help a lot. It will also help you find those hard to get Legend Pieces. This card could make RDL good again.

Final Rating-8/10– It is a good card, it will see a lot of play, it could even bring back legend decks. It will be a good card, and perhaps a staple, but it won’t be anything extraordinary.

So, that’s all we got today. How do you wanna end this article Pedro?

Well we can talk about Barry White or John Jacob Astor. You can pick.

Okay, lets go Barry White. Cause if I pick Astor, you’ll probably just talk about beaver pelts.

So you do know me Pikkdogs, okay Barry White it is. What’s your favorite Barry White song?

I like “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love Baby.”

Solid choice, did you know he provided the voice over for the Arby’s commercials.

I didn’t know that Pedro, hey do you wanna go and get some Arby’s?

Sounds good, Roast Beef time, we’re out!

–

Card Discussion

The Draw and Hand Refresh Supporters In the Current Format

Pikkdogs October 2, 2011 10 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKoers out there, this is Pikkdogs and his sidekick Pedro here with an article about the drawing and hand refresh supporters we have available to us in the current format. A big thanks to www.onehitko.com reader “Quarter Turn” for the idea for the article.

You mean someone actually asked you for advice on cards?

Yep.

Don’t they know you’re a crappy player?

I guess nobody has told him yet. Hey Pedro, I was wondering something. Why do you always speak in Italics?

Well that’s how all people from my dimension speak.

Huh. What dimension is that?

Well I can’t tell you that, the people have to go about and buy my auto-biography.

You wrote an auto-biography?

Oh hell yeah. It’s called “Stick it in my inter-dimensionary port hole”.

I suppose it’s available on Amazon.com?

Well yes, but not in this dimension? You have to go to my own dimension’s Amazon.

Your dimension has an Amazon?

Of course, how else do you think South American countries get their water.

Oh so you live in Earth just a different dimension. Hmmmmm interesting!!. Anyway let’s just go to the article. Today we are talking about the drawing and Hand Refresh Supporters. We will start by talking about the history of using these cards. Then we will examine the most used cards and examine what their ups and downs are.

History

Well I haven’t been involved in the game for more than 2-3 years, so I don’t know what originally happened with draw/ hand refresh (DHR) supporters. So I will just pick up in the Diamond and Pearl era. After the release of Great Encounters, anybody who used a DHR supporter was thought of as a noob. Hand Refreshing was done solely with Claydol Ge (and a couple sets later Uxie La would join him). You got all you needed in the drawing department with your Poke-Powers, and your Supporter slot was filled with search cards like Bebe’s Search or Roseanne’s Research.

A couple decks did use Draw Supporters, Gyarados used Felicities’ Drawings and Scizor/Cherrim used Buck’s Training. But, these cards were mostly used for their other effects rather than the draw power. Felecities’ was used to discard Magikarps, and Buck’s Training was used for the extra Plus Power. And some disruption decks did use Team Galactic’s Wager, but that was just because people liked to play Rock-Paper-Scizors.

And people think that the current format is a “Rock-Paper-Scizors” format, they should have played when that card was used.

As we moved into the SP era, things again changed. SP decks dominated the format, and this deck rarely used Claydol. Instead, it used Uxie La for a little draw support. They didn’t really need to draw a lot of cards because they had a lot of trainers and supporters that could search.

That changed at Worlds 2010 when the winner used Professor Oak’s New Theory. A lot of SP players decided to copy the winner, and PONT became a staple card in SP decks and others.

DHR supporters were first used exclusively as Claydol and Uxie started to rotate out. We could no longer rely on Poke-Powers for Draw Power (there were still Pokemon like Magnezone Prime and Ninetales, but Magnezone is too slow as a Stage 2 and Ninetales is not as reliable throughout the game like Claydol was), so we had to use supporters. As mentioned, PONT was the first DHR supporter to gain wide spread acceptance. But as the HGSS sets were released, more DHR cards were being used. Judge was used because of its disruption power, Cheer Leaders Cheer was used a little, as was Copy Cat and Sage’s Training.

The world of DHR supporters was thrown on its side when Professor Juniper came out. The ability to draw 7 cards at once gave you a draw power that we haven’t seen since Uxie, and cemented DHS supporters as very important in the current format. So let’s look at what these cards bring to the current format.

Current Drawing and Hand Refresh Supporters

The cards are ranked according to how well I like them in the current format, but I’m sure Pedro will tell you that I don’t know too much.

It’s more like you don’t know enough.

However you wanna put it, let’s look at the current supporters we have.

Professor Juniper

Effect– Discard your hand and draw 7 cards.

Positives– No other card in the format will let you consistently draw this many cards at once. There is no reason not to like drawing 7 cards at once. It is very good for this format that relies on quick knock outs, because you can easily play out your hand on the first or second turn, and then draw a new 7 card hand. It also is nice because after you discard your hand, there is no chance that you will then draw them with Juniper, like you could with the shuffle and draw supporters.

Negatives– It does make you discard your entire hand. If you run a deck that has evolutions, there will is a significant chance that you will not want to use Juniper every time you get it, because you will not want to discard everything in your hand. Yes shuffling these cards in your deck does force you to lose those cards, but at least then there is a chance to get them back. Using Juniper could put you into a situation where you will either lose if you don’t use a draw supporter or you lose if you discard your valueable hand.

Best Used in Decks Like– Juniper is best used in decks that require a fast start and don’t run a lot of evolutions. This makes Juniper good in decks like Donphan and Dragons, Zekrom, Reshiram variants, and Mew Lock.

Professor Oak’s New Theory

Effect– Shuffle your hand into your deck and draw 6 cards.

Positives– A fresh hand of 6 cards is great to have. 6 cards is basically a full hand, and should give you the resources that you are looking for. It also does not make you discard your hand like Juniper forces you to.

Negatives– Once you shuffle your hand into your deck you are vulnerable to drawing those same cards that you tried to get out of your hand. It also only lets you draw 6 cards. Although 6 cards is great, Juniper does give you 7.

Best Used in Decks Like– PONT is basically great in any deck. But, I would rely on it more heavily in decks that don’t utilize Juniper too well. This would be decks like Ross Deck, Gothitelle, Stage 1 Rush, decks with Kindgra Prime, and Prime Time (and other Magnezone Prime decks).

Judge

Effect– You and your opponent shuffle your hands into your decks and draw 4 cards.

Positives– There is nothing more disruptive than a first turn Judge. A first turn Judge will set the pace, and should give you a good advantage (as long as they don’t get a lucky draw on the Judge). It is also very disruptive later in the game. If your opponent is trying to setup an evolution line and they just lied a basic down, you can use Judge to make it harder for them to evolve next turn. But the thing that Judge is used for the most is to equal hand size in decks that run Yanmega. It can be hard to equal hand size so you can use the “Insight” Poke-Body, but Judge makes this very easy.

Negatives– It only gives you 4 cards, no other cards will consistently give you a more pitiful number. I know that Judge is used more for disruption and Yanmega-ing than hand refreshing, but still it is considered a hand refresher. Another negative for Judge is that you never know if Judge will be disruptive or not. Your opponent may have a 10 card hand, but he/she might not have the card he/she wants for next turn. So if you Judge that big hand away, you might be giving him/her a better hand.

Momma always said Judge is like a box of chocolate you never know what you’re gonna get.

Well said Forrest, I mean Pedro.

Best Used in Decks Like– Judge is best used in decks that use Yanmega like: Stage 1 Rush, Primetime and Mew Lock. It is also a very crucial card in disruption decks like Slowking/Ambipom and Sharpedo (which will be big once we get that good Victini card).

Sage’s Training

Effect– Look at the top 5 cards of your deck and put two of them in your hand, discard the rest.

Positives– This card lets you look at the top 5 cards and choose which two cards you want while keeping your current hand. No other card gives you access to your deck 5 cards deep while keeping your current hand. This card is great because it lets you keep what you got in your hand, then pick 2 more. The upsides of this card are off the charts.

Negatives– Unfortunately, the negatives of this card are also off the charts. It seems like every time I play this card there are at least 3 cards that I don’t want to discard. Infact, if you get a really “good” top 5 in your deck, you could cost yourself the game. I have encountered situations where I have almost shot myself in the foot during the game by using a Sage’s.

Best Used in Decks Like– Sage’s is best used in decks that don’t have a lot of big evolution lines and require 1 or 2 cards in certain situations. This means that good decks to play this card in are Stage 1 Rush, Donphan and Dragons, and Zekrom.

Cheren

Effect– Draw 3 cards

Positives– This card lets you draw the top three cards of your deck and keep your current hand. No other supporter lets you consistently draw this man cards while not giving your opponent an advantage and keeping your current hand. A lot of decks like to keep their current hand and just add a couple cards, like Stage 1 Rush. It also works well with Junk Arm, if you need to use Junk Arm and you don’t have enough cards, Cheren will give those cards to you. It also is nice with Junk Arm because if you are looking for a trainer like Pokemon Catcher, Cheren gives you a good shot at either drawing the Catcher or a Junk Arm which you can use to get a Poekmon Catcher.

Negatives– Three cards isn’t always enough to get the cards you need. In a lot of decks it is better to jettison your entire hand for the 4 extra cards. It just doesn’t stack up to cards like Proffesor Juniper in most decks.

Best Used in Decks Like– Stage 1 Rush, Gothitelle, Prime Time, Reshiram variants, and Ross Deck. (Note: I would never rely on this card in my deck for consistent draw Power, a bigger card like Juniper or Pont is needed more than Cheren.)

Copy Cat

Effect– Shuffle your hand into your deck and draw as many cards as your opponent has in his/her hand.

Positives– This card can give you a hand of about 20 cards in some situations. There is almost no limit to the number of cards you can grab with Copy Cat. It also works great with Yanmega Prime. And unlike Judge, Copy Cat does not set a cap at four, you could use this card to equal hand size and still get a lot of cards out of it.

Negatives– This card is just not consistent and reliable. This format does not give you any insurance that your opponent’s hand size will be good. Your opponent’s hand size could be big or it could be small, you don’t know if you can count on the hand size to be big. There were times that I have used Copy Cat to give me 1 card, or 3 cards. It was not a pleasant experience.

Best Used in Decks Like– Anything that uses Yanmega Prime, like Stage 1 Rush, Mew Lock, or Prime Time.

Other Draw and Hand Refresh Supporters

There are some other decent DHR supporters out there, here is a little bit about the best of the worst.

1. Bianca– It lets you draw until you have 6 cards in your hand. I would rather use PONT or Juniper unless you can consistently play out your entire hand fairly early. So if you run a lot of trainers, Bianca is not a terrible choice. But I would wait until there are more trainers in the format to use this card.

2. Team Rocket’s Trickery-It lets you draw 2 cards and your opponent discards one card from his/her hand. Yes the disruption is nice, but unless the year is 1998, only drawing 2 cards is not a good thing.

3. Engineer’s Adjustment’s– It lets you discard an energy and draw 4 cards. It is good for decks that run a lot of energy and decks that have ways to get energy back from the discard pile. That means it fits excellently into Reshiphloison and Steelix. It is a good card, but unless you run the kind of deck that you want energy in the discard pile, it’s not really that great of a card.

So I guess that’s all I got for you today. Do you have anything to add Pedro?

Ummmmmm!! stay in school?

Okay we officially ran out of material. Let’s just end the article. How do we usually end the articles here?

Well we usually share our favorite bones.

Is that code?

Well yes we do do that too, but I actually do want to talk about our favorite bones.

Okay? What’s your favorite bone?

I think you know. The Coccyx.

Oh yeah, that’s a funny sounding bone. Speaking of funny bone, my favorite bone is the Humurus.

Ahhh, the original funny bone. I thought you were going to with Clavicle, but the Humurus is a classic choice.

Good Bye Everybody!

Opinion

Ratings Discussion and Battle Roads Impressions at the Mid-Point

Pikkdogs September 30, 2011 1 Comment

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with his sidekick Pedro, and we are here to talk about the new ratings system and how Battle Roads are going.

The New Ratings System

We’re talking about the ratings change now? Didn’t that occur like two weeks ago?

Well, yes, but I just understood it now.

Don’t lie to us, you don’t understand it.

Well, no, but nobody really does, so I will just pretend I do like everybody else does. And I’ll say the term “kicker points” a lot, that will make me look smart.

I see. “Kicker Points.” Oh, yeah those are how I won my fantasy football game last week.

You play fantasy football?

Oh Hell Yeah! Though my team is suffering this year. I always take Peyton Manning first because I like his tushy.

Pedro are you gay?

How can I be gay? I’m not human. I’ma freaking extra-dimensionary being.

Ok, good enough for me, lets get back to ratings points.

Play Points

As you probably found out a couple weeks ago, Pokemon is changing how ratings work, and how people get invited to certain events like Worlds and Nationals. Instead of using ELO, we are instead going to use Championship Points and Play Points.

I kind of liked the ELO. I like the cellos and the violins.

I don’t think we’re talking about the same ELO, and i think someone on www.sixprizes.com did that same joke last week.

Anyway, ELO is not used as much anymore and Championship Points (CP) are in. CPs reward you for winning or making top cut in premiere rated tournaments. Anytime you win a tournament or do well in it you will receive points. For winning a Battle Road you will get 2 points, for a City Championship it’s 6 points, and it is 10 points for a State or a Regional win. The second place finisher will always get points as well. 1 for a Battle Road, 5 for a City, and 8 for a State or a Regional. 3rd and 4th place finishers will also get points at cities, and 5-8 finishers will get points at states or regionals.

So just because you got 3rd and a victory cup at a Battle Roads, does not mean that you get a championship point. But, you could. That’s where Kicker Points come, or “kick”, in. If there are more than 31 people at your BR and you get 3rd you will get a championship point. This is nice because it rewards people who are in tough playing areas, while it doesn’t reward people who live in less competitve areas.

That’s about it for CPs, except for the fact hat CPs are given at Worlds. This is really weird because traditionally the season is over after Worlds, so why would you need a ratings system. The only thing the ELO really did was give us Worlds players, so why are we using a ratings system after it has out lived its usefulness? I’m not sure, but it sounds like either points will carry over next season, or we are going to have some kind of award for the most points. I hate either option. I don’t want winners from one season be given a pass in the next, and why should we have two champions for one year? Things are looking weird with this, but I bet Pokemon will keep their lips sealed until about a day before they are about to use these worlds points for something.

Play Points

There are now something called Play Points. Pokemon has not discussed exactly what will happen with these yet. It seems that if you go to a BR or a league season you will get a point. You probably will get more points for going to a bigger event like Regionals. Your player rewards will be determined from these, which is basically just what they do now, they just are giving more weight to bigger tournaments.

This is entirely speculation, but Play Points might also help you qualify for your national tournament. What Pokemon is trying to do here by making nationals by invitation only seems to be to try to stop one man, Tom Dolezal. Tom does not play in games most of the season, but always goes to nationals and always gets a high enough rating to go to worlds. I know it might seem unfair to point out Tom when other people do it too, but he does it the best. I guess Pokemon does not like people who sit out the entire season, and then pick the game up in the last 2 months of the year and win all the prizes. It has not yet been confirmed, but it seems like Pokemon might be requiring us to have so many Play Points to enter Nationals. While I do not like the idea of having to qualify for Nats, only rewarding us hardworking players seems like a good thing to me. The only problem is that for the area around Nationals, a lot of local people start the game at Nationals. I have a lot of friends who started the game at nats, now that will not be able to happen. So on the whole, I do support the Tom Dolezal rule but it is not the best rule.

Opinion

I think the new rating system does some good things, while also promoting some not so good things.

One good thing that comes out of this rule change is that there are less incentives to drop. Now a player cannot hurt himself by playing in a tournament. The worst thing that can happen by going to a tournament is that you don’t get any CPs. Before, the better players were dropping out of the bigger tournaments because they were afraid that they would lose and lose the rating points that they already earned. Now, this will not be the case.

But, this does not mean that the new system discourages dropping as a whole. I think that on the whole this system encourages dropping. If you know within the first couple rounds that you will not be making top cut and getting a CP, it only makes sense to drop. There is no longer an incentive to play a tournament out, once you know you will not top cut, you might as well drop.

Which brings us to another critique of the new ratings system, the fact that this system does not reward consistent play. This system does not reward people who consistently do just above average, it rewards the people that Top Cut. Sine CPs will probably only effect Worlds participants, this shouldn’t be a big problem, but I think there is a lot to be said for a consistent player.

Well that’s my overview and thoughts about the new ratings system. Although it is not perfect, I think it is a step in the right direction.

Fall Battle Roads at the Midway Point

Here is the second part of the two part article. Battle Roads have reached their mid point, and it is time to see how things have been going. Lets start by looking at what has been winning. According to Pokegym.net, here are the top preforming decks with their corresponding number of wins:

Reshiram (either Typholosion or Emboar)-10
Stage 1 Rush (varius variants)-10
Zekrom–9
PrimeTime–5
Magneboar–2
Gothitelle–2

That is just the number of BR’s that were reported to Pokegym, I am sure there are many other BR’s that did not report. Anyway, this should be a good list of what has gone on in the past couple weeks.

The interesting thing about this list (and the way I compiled it) is that it gives us three distinct decks that are doing very well. You could call Zekrom, Reshiram, and the Stage 1 Variants as our Top Tier. Next you have Prime as a solid Tier 2 (if not Tier 1) and then a bunch of decks coming later. Those decks include the likes of Gothitelle, Ross Deck, and Donphan and Dragons. You could think of these being solid Tier 2 or 3. This is just based on what has happened so far, the next couple weeks could change things, but for right now it seems we have some pretty neat categories.

If you read other sites, you will notice that their lists have a lot more decks in it than mine. This is because I have consolidated a lot of decks with other similar decks. I think there are basically only about 6 or so decks out there. Why other people list there being 15 is that people play a lot of different variants in this format. This means that one list is very different from another. This can make it difficult to play test if people are running decks that are different from what other people are running.

What is key in this format is the word “variation.” No stage 1 deck is the same, no Donphan and Dragons deck is the same. There is a lot of room for techs in this format and people are sure showing that.

Another thing we learned in this format is that so far Gothitelle is a good deck, but has not found good player support. The best players right now are playing Stage 1 Rush or Zekrom, but they are not playing Gothitelle. Once Gothtitelle gets more support from the best players (like Trainerlock deck last year) I think the deck will take off. Especially look it to take off during Fall Regionals.

Another thing I learned is that a lot of the nationals decks are still around. Yes, basically the same Reshiphlosion and Primetime decks are still pretty good. I suppose a good Stage 1 deck could still make it today, but the deck can be changed a lot. Of course, the biggest change is 4 Pokemon Catchers, and the importance of getting early knock outs.

So………….well……….I’m pretty much done here, I think I rambled on for enough words, Pedro how do we usually end articles here?

Well we usually leave by having a musical guest.

A musical guest? We can’t afford a musical guest. I’m just a poor fat guy who lives in a one bedroom shack somewhere. What do you expect us to have some cool and popular singer like Tony Basil?

No, but it does give us an excuse to show a picture of her in a cheerleaders outfit.

Card Discussion Deck Discussion

The Changing Face of Stage 1 Decks + a Deck List.

Pikkdogs September 28, 2011 7 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs and his extra dimensionary sidekick Pedro here with kind of strategy/deck article for you. Pedro, would you be kind enough to introduce the article?

Why I would be happy to. Stage 1 decks can be traced to U.S. Nationals 2011. Kyle “Pooka” Suceveich, among others, did very well with a deck that featured Donphan Prime, Zoroark, and Yanmega Prime. While Pikkdogs did not do so well with Donphan/Samurott.

What does that have to do with the article?

Nothing, I just thought I would mention it while we were on the topic. As I was saying, the deck was refered to as Stage 1 Rush, because every important Pokemon was a stage 1 Pokemon. It also emphasized the fact that this deck was both hard hitting and fast since it didn’t have to use Rare Candy, or just rely on puny basic Pokemon. The deck itself was very fast and could counter almost any deck. It is almost like a tool box in that it has so many options on what it wants to run.

Fast forward to the end of the summer when Emerging Powers came out. With the new set came new changes to the stage 1 rush deck. Cincinno BW became more popular because it could attack for 100 damage for only one energy. Another Pokemon that recieved play was Tornadus, because it could be a decent attacker and a great Donphan counter. The other Pokemon that saw play in this deck was Mew Prime, it could “See Off” a Jumpluff and then be a great Gothitelle counter.

Thank You Pedro. But these changes left the deck with many variants. And not all the decks relied on stage 1’s any more! Mew and Tornadus are both basics. With all these changes how are we supposed to know what to run? Well to settle this we will look at each of the Pokemon and how they impact the game. Then at the end of the article I will give you the list that I am working with right now, and give you some pointers for running stage 1.

Since you do it so well?

Well, not exactly, but I don’t see anyone else writing this article, so they gotta settle for me.

I see that “settling” is very popular around here.

You’re telling me. Anyway, lets look at those Pokemon.

The Pokemon

Donphan Prime

Basics– It is a 120 HP Stage 1 Fighting Pokemon. It’s “Exoskeleton” Pokebody reduces all damage done to him by 20. The attack that is used the most is “Earthquake”. This attack does 60 damage for 1 fighting energy, and does 10 damage to each of your own benched Pokemon.

What it’s good against– Donphan Prime has always been a great Pokemon since the rotation occured in early July. That is because a lot of good Pokemon are weak to fighting, like Zoroark, Magnezone Prime, Zekrom, and Cincinno. If you are playing any deck that relies on a lightning attack, Donphan Prime is a great option. It can single handidly give you a victory against any Magnezone or Zekrom deck.

It is not only a good attacker, but it is fast and hard to knock out. Any deck with Donphan Prime should be able to get a prize on turn 2. It is also very hard to get a knockout on Donphan Prime. The Poke-Body makes it so your opponent would have to do 140 damage at once to knock it out. And if they do not make the 140 damage mark, you can just use Max Potion to heal all the damage counters and start again.

What it’s not so good against– One knock on Donphan is that limits your starter choices. What I mean by that is if you want to include Cleffa in your deck either as a starter or hand refresher, you will probably knock it out with “Earthquake” on your 4th turn.

Another bad thing about Donphan Prime is that it can be stuck active. If you don’t really want to attack with Donphan but have it out, your opponent can use Pokemon Catcher to make it active and you will have a hard time paying the 4 retreat cost.

Donphan Prime also isn’t great against Pokemon like Reshiram and Gohtitelle. Since Donphan Prime basically maxes out at 60 damage, you will need a Plus Power to even get a 2HKO with Donphan. Gothitelle is a whole nother problem, because Donphan will never be able to get the 130 damage that you need for a knock out without trainers. So if your opponent sets up a Gothitelle all your Donphans are basically dead cards.

Donphan can also be easily countered with Tornadus and Yanmega Prime, if you don’t also run either Zekrom or Ruins of Alph. Ruins of Alph will negate the resistance that these two Pokemon have, and Zekrom will be able to OHKO both Pokemon for only a DCE if you have 4 damage counter on it.

Usefulness– On the whole I would think that Donphan Prime should be in most Stage 1 Rush Decks. Unless your metagame is full of Gothitelle and Donphan counters, I think Donphan will be a great play.

Zoroark BW

Basics– Zoroark is a 100 HP Stage 1 Dark Pokemon. The attack that most stage 1 rush decks use is the “Foul Play” attack. This attack lets you copy any attack of the defending Pokmeon, and use that attack as Zoroark’s own. What is great about this is that it sometimes lets you avoid some bad effects of the attack. Like if you were to copy Reshiram’s “Blue Flare” attack, you would not need to discard the customary 2 fire energies, unless Zoroark has them attached.

What it’s good against– Zoroark is a versatile Pokemon that can be used for many things in many different situations, but it is most frequently used as a Reshiram or Zekrom counter. Usually this deck has a hard time of doing enough damage to knock out these dragons, but Zoroark can copy either “Blue Flare” or “Bolt Strike” and get a OHKO on them for just a Plus Power and a DCE.

One cool thing that can be done with Zoroark is that if you don’t plan on using him too often, you can put him in the Lost Zone with Mew Prime’s attack, and then have Mew use Zoroark’s attack. This will cut down on the number of cards you need to dedicate to Zoroark, and will give you more room for other techs. But this should only be done if you don’t plan on seeing Zekrom or Reshiram too often.

What it’s not so good against– Zoroark is not so good against a lot of things. It has weakness to Donphan, so it won’t even be put on the bench in a Donphan matchup. It also is not good against Mew Prime, unless it has the neccessary energy attached it will not be able to copy attacks of any Pokemon in the Lost Zone.

Another weakness of Zoroark is that it takes up a lot of space. If you want to use Zoroark you need to run a 3-3 line and 4 DCE, that is 10 slots taken up in your deck (unless you already run DCE for something else like Cincinno).

Usefulness– This will be a metagame choice. If you expect to see a lot of Zekroms or Reshirams, then you need to commit to Zororark. But if you are able to play without Zoroark, your deck may be better off. It is still a great Pokemon that is very useful.

Yanmega Prime

Basics– This is the so called best card in the game. It is a 110 HP stage 1 Grass Pokemon. It’s “Insight” Poke-Body allows you to not have to pay for the cost of an attack, as long as you have the same hand size as your opponent. It’s first attack, called “Linear Attack”, lets you snipe for 40. While its second second attack, “Sonic Boom”, does 70 damage. The basics aren’t over whelming, but when combined with cards like Judge, Yanmega becomes a very fast and disruptive card.

What it’s good against– Yanmega is known as a good all around attacker. It doesn’t really have a speciality but it is basically good at almost everything.

A jack of all trades and a master of none?

Exactly Pedro. It is good at sniping Pokemon like Oddish and Sunkern, but it is also good against fully evolved Pokemon like Donphan Prime. I would say most Stage 1 decks should use Yanmega Prime.

What it’s not so good against– The Zekrom matchup is a problem as is the Magnezone matchup. If it gets hit for weakness it can go down really easy.

It can also struggle against decks that run something like Ninetales, because it would be difficult to match your opponent’s hand size without relying on supporters.

Another strike against Yanmega is that it is very expensive. Playing Yanmega might be cost prohibitive to some people, so they may not play it because they cannot get their hands on one.

Are you using the phrase “cost prohibitive” correctly?

I don’t know

Usefulness– Yanmega is very useful in every Stage 1 Deck. It is nice to have a 3-3 line in every deck, it is a card that has the versatility to win almost every matchup and is a great partner to Donphan Prime.

Cincinno BW

Basics– Cincinno is a stage 1 Pokemon with 90 HP. It’s attack “Do the Wave” does 20 damage for every Pokemon you have on your bench for just one DCE. This means that you should be able to do 100 damage for just 1 or 2 energies. And doing triple digit damage very quickly is what Stage 1 decks are all about.

What it’s good against– Like Yanmega Prime it also is a jack of all trades. It doesn’t really have one use,but it is good against a lot of different things. It should be able to knock out anything if it first got a “Linear Attack” from a Yanmega Prime.

It is especially good if your opponet is trying to get damage counters on Zekrom so that they can knock out Yanmega Prime. You can just pull up the Zekrom that has 3 damage counters on it with Pokemon Catcher, and then knock it out with “Do the Wave”.

It is also a good Yanmega Prime counter. All it needs to do to knock out Yanmega Prime is one Plus Power. Although it doesn’t really have a speciality, it just a good, fast, and consistent attacker.

What it’s not so good against– The main weakness here is Donphan Prime, which can OHKO it for just 1 energy. If you see your opponent playing Donphan, don’t put a Mincinno down because it will just get knocked out.

Cincinno is also not that great against Reshiboar. Since Emboar doesn’t place any damage counters, it will be hard to get to the magic number of 130. If your opponent is playing Typholosion instead, it mgiht get a little easier but not with Emboar. In fact, Cincinno does struggle a little against the big tanks.

Usefulness– All in all Cincinno is very useful. It is a very versatile card that can do a lot of things. It can knock out most Pokemon with the help of Plus Powers, and is very fast and easy to get out. It would be a good addition to most stage 1 decks.

Tornadus EP

Basics– Torandus is a 110 HP basic Pokemon.

Hey wait, this is supposed to be an article about Stage 1 Rush. How come you are putting basic Pokemon here.

Well, while I won’t speak to how certain variations change a deck, I think you are taking the Stage 1 thing too literally. “Hot Pockets” aren’t actually warm pouches off fabric are they? No they are a bunch of crap rolled into some stale bread. What I am trying to say is that the name “Stage 1 Rush” does not define the deck, but it describes it. And there are still some Stage 1’s in those decks.

Kind of like how there is still like 1 music video a day on MTV, so they can still call themselves Music Television?

Exactly…..kind of. Anyway, who cares let’s talk about the attacks of Tornadus. The one that makes a difference is the second one, called “Hurricane”. This attack does 80 damage for CCC. The effect of this attack moves a basic energy from Tornadus, if there is one.

What it’s good against– Although Tornadus can be used to attack other things, Tornadus is included to almost exclusivley counter Donphan. Since Donphan Prime runs over Cincinno, Zoroark, and Mew Prime; you need something to counter it. Tornadus has a fighting resistance, so Donphan Prime can only hit it for 40 damage. That means Torandus can do 60 damage to Donphan, and 2HKO it without being knocked out itself.

Although Tornadus is not a perfect counter to Donphan, it’s a lot better than not having a counter at all.

What it’s not so good against– If you don’t expect to see a lot of Donphan at your tournament, than don’t ever run Tornadus. Sure Tornadus isn’t bad against other things, but it is basically just a Donphan counter. If Donphan is not big in your area than there are other good things to run.

Usefulness– Yes it is not the best card overall, but if you expect to see Donphan Prime, Tornadus is your only shot.

Mew Prime

Basics– Mew Prime is a basic Psychic Pokemon with 60 HP. It’s “Lost Link” Poke-body lets you use any attack of any Pokemon in either Lost Zone. Its one attack, “See Off””, lets you search your deck for a Pokemon and put it into the Lost Zone. In the context of this article, Mew will be used only as a way to use Jumpluff’s “Mass Attack” or Cincinno’s “Do the Wave.”

What it’s good against– Although you can use Mew against other things like Mew Lock, by far the most popular use would be to counter Gothitelle. No Pokemon that is used in Stage 1 Rush stands a chance against Gothitelle. No other Pokemon can hit it for weakness, or hit it for 130 damage. So the idea is to attack with Mew Prime, who can hit Gothitelle for weakness. You either see off an attacker, like Cincinno, or you “See Off” a special tech like Jumpluff. That way you will be able to knock out a Gothitelle.

What it’s not so good against– Well, the only reason that you would play Mew is so that you will have a chance against Gothitelle. So if you don’t plan to see Gothitelle, you do not need to add Mew. However, if you don’t play Mew, you will be almost auto-loss to Gothitelle.

One bad thing about Mew is that it will take at least 3 (probably more like 5) or so spots in your deck. So if you do play Mew your consistency will suffer, and it could all be for not if you don’t play any Gothitelle.

Usefulness– Well it is not a very versatile choice for this deck, but it is a great counter. If you think you will play Gothitelle, you almost have to run Mew. However, if you don’t think you will see Gothitelle, your deck will be better for it.

So what’s the play?

That is the question. Stage 1 Rush has proved to be nothing more than a fancy tool box. This deck is good because it is a direct counter to a lot of decks out there. There are a lot of options to choose from, so how does one choose from all these great options? Well, your metagame will be the biggest determining factor. If you expect to see Donphan and Gothitelle you will build your deck one way, but if you expect to see Magnezone and Reshiram you will build your deck another way.

The important thing to do is to scout out your metagame. Of course there will be all kinds of different decks at a tournament, it is important to know what is most popular and what the best players in your area are playing. If you have a decent idea about what people are playing, you will be better equipped to change your deck to counter the other decks.

The important cards to keep in your mind are Yanmega Prime, Donphan Prime, and Cincinno. They are just overall good cards and would be great in any deck you play. No they do not need to be in every Stage 1 Rush Deck, but should always be kept in mind.

Pikkdog’s Current List

I am only providing this list as something to test with. Again, this list is not very good and is not tournament worthy, I just want to give you guys an example of what I am talking about. I did throw this together about a week ago to test against, and didn’t really fix it that much. So it still needs work, but this is an example of what a basic deck might look like. This particular deck is teched out for a Donphan and Gothitelle heavy format.

Pokemon-18

3-Mincinno EP- the best Mincinno, but if you have to use BW it’s okay.
3-Cincinno BW
3-Yanma
3-Yanmega Prime
2-Mew Prime
1-Zoroark BW-in this build it is only used to be “See’ed Off”
2-Tornadus
1-Cleffa Cl

Trainers-30

1-Revive
4-Pokemon Catcher
4-Junk Arm
4-Pokemon Communication
4-Pokemon Collector
1-Professor Elm’s Training Method
2-Copy Cat
4-Judge
4-Professor Juniper
2-Plus Power

Energy-12

4-Psychic Energy
4-Rescue Energy
4-Double Colorless Energy

The Big Ending

Well, the title for this section sure sets up some unrealistic expectaitons. There will be an ending, but it probably won’t be big. So, what will our ending be tonight Pedro?

Well, tonight we will end by looking at a picture of Launchpad McQuack from Duck Tales.

Why would we do that? That is really random and has nothing to do with Pokemon.

You mean it won’t help anybody become a better player.

Yeah.

Well then it will fit in with the rest of this article then.

Well I can’t argue with that. Show the picture.

Tourney Report

Battle Roads Report and Deck Analysis: Donphan and Dragons

Pikkdogs September 25, 2011 9 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with a battle roads report and a deck analysis of the Donphan and Dragons deck. I also have my inter dimensional sidekick Pedro with me. Pedro, would you be kind enough to tell all the kids out there how I chose the Donphan and Dragons deck for this battle roads.

Sure, well if you read Pikkdog’s article about a week ago, first we apologize, and second you would know that all of the Michigan and Indiana players got together and kicked his a-

Hey, you can’t say that word here.

I was going to say Acidophilus.

They, kicked my Acidophilus?

Yeah, it’s a bacteria, Ed can’t yell at us for saying the name of a bacteria.

I suppose he can’t, go on.

As I was saying, at your last two Battle Roads you got your Acidophilus kicked around, so you decided to change decks. And I think you chose Donphan and Dragons because it is a very simple deck, and it takes a real imbecile to screw it up. All ya gotta do is set up 1 thing, nothing should go wrong.

The Deck

Okay, I get it Pedro. Maybe I’m not a fan of complicated decks. I did get tired of losing with my Mew deck, so I decided to use Donphan and Dragons instead. As you said it is a simple deck. All you gotta do is set up an active Donphan Prime. For one energy, “Earthquake” does 60 damage and puts 1 damage counter on each of your benched Pokemon. So you put up a bunch of Zekrom’s and Reshiram’s on the bench and absorb all of those damage counters. When needed you can bring up one of the dragons and use “Outrage”. This attack does 20 damage plus 10 for every damage counter on Reshiram or Zekrom, so that means Donphan’s attack will power Reshiram and Zekrom’s attacks. The emphasis will be on Zekrom because both Yanmega Prime (the most popular Pokemon in the format) and Tornadus (the most popular Donphan counter this week) are both weak to lightning.

The matchups for this deck are pretty good. Donphan is very good against Pokemon like Cincinno, Zekrom, and Magnezone. When you play against a bad matchup like Yanmega Prime or Torandus, you can just use Zekrom. The only thing that this deck doesn’t like is Beartic, and nobody plays Beartic. Gothitelle is not a very good matchup, unless you decide to run Mew Primes and a Jumpluff. Reshiboar and Reshiphlosion are decent matchups, if you get a good start you should be able to win, but the matchup is just about even.

As you can probably tell because Donphan and the dragons only take about 25 spots in your deck including the energies, there is a lot of room for techs. A lot of your 35 other spots will be dedicated to cards that improve consistency, there is room for techs against certain decks. My friend Bohdan, who inspired me to write this article, techs in 2 Mew Primes and a Jumpluff to go against Gothitelle. I like the card Lost Remover because it is a very disruptive card that can be used again with Junk Arm. Max Potion is also a great tech to use in a Donphan deck, an easy way to heal a Donphan Prime is a no brainer.

A no brainer that reminds me of someone.

Are you gonna make fun of me again Pedro.

No, I would never do that. I wasn’t thinking of you, …………………………. I was thinking of ………………………… Tom Bosley.

The guy from Happy Days, why are you making fun of him?

Not a fan man, not a fan.

Well I love Tom Bosley, and we must finish the article. Lets go on to the list that I used for the tournament.

The List

Well I was not able to spend half as much time testing this deck as I would have liked to, so I must say that my list is not very good. However, this list can be a good starting point if you guys wanna start testing with this deck. It is a very good deck now, and once Kyurem comes into the format the deck will be much better.

Pokemon-12

4 Phanpy HGSS (I kind of like the CL one better, but you need every single HP you can get with Pokemon Catcher out there)
4- Donphan Prime (I would stick to a 4-4 line and not go down to 3-3)
3-Zekrom Bw
1-Reshiram Bw

Trainers-37

3-Pokemon Collector
2-Dual Ball
4- Professor Juniper
3-Professor Oak’s New Theory
3-Sage’s Training
1-Cheren
1-Max Potion-awesome card, I wish I would have ran 1 more.
1-Lost Remover
1-Tropical Beach (1/2 playing this card because it does work in this deck, and 1/2 playing it because I spent so much money on it that I need to use it a couple times to justify the purchase) It actually does work in this deck
4-Pokemon Catcher
4-Junk Arm
4-Pokemon Communication
2-Switch
2-Plus Power

Energy-11

Double Colorless Energy-4-May sound kind of weird, but it lets you attack with the dragons, and it lets you “Outrage” faster.
Rainbow Energy-4- used to put more Damage counters on the dragons.
Fighting Energy-5.

The Tournament

So that is what I played going into the tournament, let’s see how it went.

I bet I can guess that you got enough championship points to fit into a donut hole.

Why are you always so cynical of my performances?

Well if you would ever win something, I might give you an “addaboy.”

It’s sad that I need to seek approval from my own sidekick. Anyway, today’s tournament was in Tecumseh, Mi.

Is that town named after the Native American chief who fought against the American’s in the war of 1812?

Either that or the company that sells small engines and air compressors.

Anyway, the tournament was held in Tecumseh. It is always held at the Masonic Temple there, which is a fairly nice place for a tournament. I like going to Tecumseh because it is only an hour away, so I don’t have to get up too early. Anyway, I woke up a little earlier than I wanted to, and ate a little bit of left over pancakes for breakfast before leaving. As I was driving down there I decided that I was just playing for fun today. My testing from the previous night didn’t go too well, I couldn’t even beat my own crappy Reshipholsion deck. So I decided that my goal today was just to get some feedback on my deck and talk to a lot of my friends.

I got to the venue a little later than I wanted, but it all worked out fine. I said “hi” to all my Team Warp Point buddies and met some new friends from Ann Arbor. It was great seeing everyone again, I love talking to all my buddies. Anyway, I filled out a decklist and talked to friends while waiting for the first round tournaments.

Round 1- Mike (from team Bertoli) Donphan Prime, Zoroark, and Tornadus.

The day pretty much started like I thought it would. I got a decent start with a Donphan Prime and Zekroms, but my opponent just used Pokemon Catcher to bring up the Zekroms and knock them out with Donphan. Without Zekrom I was unable to counter Tornadus, so the game only lasted about 15 minutes, he had control of the game pretty much the whole time.

0-1. Not very surprising, I only expected a couple wins today, and I didn’t get one here. The matchup was pretty much auto-loss, but I was distracted by the fact that I was not very hopeful about my record on the day. I thought my day was over, but I soon found out that the only person that circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills is Pikkdogs.

Round 2- Leavanny/Belossom

This game was against a beginner who had kind of a hodgepodge grass deck. He started first with Sewaddle and Metapod, I started Phanpy. I got a turn 2 Donphan Prime and knocked out 3 straight basics for the win.

1-1– After this game I helped the guy improve his deck. I hope he continues with the game and keeps improving.

Round 3- Reshiboar

I start this game really poorly. I don’t think I got a turn 2 Donphan, and he was able to get “Blue Flaring” fairly quickly. But I was able to withstand a couple “Blue Flares”, and I twice used Pokemon Catcher to bring up the Emboar. By this time I was down 2-3 prizes and was feeling pretty defeated. I did have his Emboar stuck for a couple turns and thought I might be able to deck him out. He was using 2 “Roast Reveal”s per turn, and usually used a Cheren. So that meant he was drawing 10 cards a turn! But once he noticed I was waiting for him to deckout so he used a PONT and started passing. So I ended up knocking out the Emboar with Donphan Prime and knocked out every Tepig that he tried to lay down on the field. I also knocked out a Cleffa to bring me pretty much even in prizes. At this point he started to rely on a Bad Boar that he setup early in the game, and he was able to get a couple knock outs with it. However he was not able to get enough fire energies to use Bad Boar again.

2-1-I was somehow able to pull off another victory. I should have never won this game, I just somehow was able to throw a Hail Mary pass, and it was answered. I was really lucky here

Round 4- Cincinno/Zoroark (maybe Tornadus)

This round was against another Team Warp Point friend. I started with a Zekrom and he started with something like Hoot Hoot. He started first and used a Pokemon Collector. Since I started with Zekrom he thought I was playing ZPS, so he got 2 Zorua’s and another Hoot Hoot. The problem was that I was not playing Zekrom and he took 3 Pokemon that are not good against Donphan Prime. I took advantage of his misplay and used Pokemon Catcher to knock out some Cincinno’s and the Zorua’s. He could never really recover from the misplay and I ended up winning fairly easily.

3-1-Feeling pretty good here. I did a lot better so far than I ever thought I would. I thought I would win a couple games here and there, but I thought that my list just wasn’t tight enough. But, so far I was doing pretty well, I knew that the rest of the day would be much harder so I was not very optimistic.

Round 5- Jack Iller with Stage 1 Rush

Today was the first time I actually got to talk with Jack, he seems like a really nice guy. He is also a really good player, he is always one of the top cut players in Tecumseh. As we were shuffling I looked at some of my buddies who were also playing at the same table with 3-1 records and told them that we each control our own destiny, we just needed to win out. Now I am not sure exactly what happened early in this matchup, but I know it was not good. I don’t think I could get a Donphan out fast and started attacking with Zekrom. I actually used Tropical Beach early in the game because I couldn’t attack that much. I think he was able to get a couple knock outs with Yanmega and then was able to use Cincinno to finish up a Zekrom. I finally got a Donphan out and started to take care of some Cincinnos. All of a sudden the Donphans were knocking out everything in sight, and got me back in the game. I was able to use a Zekrom to knock out the Yanmega’s when I needed it. Somehow I was able to come back and win this game. It was really thrilling to come back from so many prizes to a great player.

4-1– So on a day that I thought I was just going to get some good testing done for the next tournament, I end up making it to the last round with a chance to make top cut. All I need is one more win, and I get a championship point and prove Pedro wrong.

Round 6-Tracey with Reshiphlosion.

I’ve seen this show before, I have a good day and Tracey comes along and gives me my final loss. If you guys don’t know Tracey is probably the most accomplished female who ever played the game. And in my opinion she probably still is the best player in the state. She was a long time SP user and has always done very well. I think I might have beaten her 1 time before in a best of three game, but she ended up winning the 2 other games. So I never really have beaten her before, she is just that good. So on to our game here.

She starts with a Cyndaquil and “Beat”s my Phanpy. I end up getting a Donphan Prime the next turn but she gets a Reshiram on her next turn and is able to “Blue Flare” for the knockout. I then get another Donphan Prime and Catcher up the Typhlosion twice, and eventually knock it out. It was here that Max Potion came in very handy. I was able to use it twice to keep Donphan alive. After the Typhlosion goes down Tracey ends up getting 1 more. There was one time where I loaded up Zekrom with Rainbow Energies and tried to use “Bolt Strike”, but Zekrom was catchered and knocked out before I could attack. I used Catcher again to knock out the Typhlosion, and her hands were tied.

Ohhh kinky.

Stop it Pedro! that’s my friend, don’t say things like that. Well I won’t be expecting a Christmas card from her, but lets get back to the report.

She was able to “Outrage” a couple of times, but she was not able to take the last two prizes. I was able to win on turn 3.

5-1– Forget the Buffalo Bills, nobody circles the wagons like Pikkdogs. I finally beat my friend Tracey and am able to make Top Cut.

How the heck did you top cut, and how did you beat all those good players?

I think its the power of negative thinking. As long as I think I’m going to lose I can somehow come back and win.

Top Four-Dan with ZPS

Dan is a great guy that I have played in a couple of great matches in the past. Most notably we played a great game at Indiana states last year. I played Uxie donk and he played Machamp. We ended up going back and forth a lot of times and he was somehow able to pull it off. He ends up coming into this matchup undefeated.

I start with a Phanpy and he starts first with a Zekrom. He ends up finding a Pachirisu and 2 Plus Powers, the problem was he had accidentally Junk Armed one of his electric energies and did not have the energy to Pachirsu donk me. The trouble was that next turn I still had only 1 Pokemon active. All Dan needed to do was use a Super Scoop Up to get the energies from Zekrom and then use them on Pachirisu, but he ended up flipping tails. He then Junk Armed and flipped tails again. After this string of really bad luck I end up setting up Donphans and use them to knock out the Zekroms. If he tried to use Tornadus, I would just “Outrage” with Zekrom and knock them out. I end up winning a close 1st game.

In the second game Dan again whiffs on a Donk, and I am pretty much able to control the field. I then go on to wait for the winner of the other game. That game featured my buddy Matt Kish versus Mike, the guy who beat me in the 1st round. Unfortunately for the me and Matt Mike ends up winning fairly easily. Matt was playing Magnezone and those guys don’t do well against Donphan.

6-1-Very happy with what I got out of today. I did not expect to do this well, and I ended up making it to the finals. I knew that if I were to win I would need to do something weird like donk a Phanpy two times.

Top 2- versus Mike with Donphan/Zoroark/Tornadus

Game one was actually a lot closer than I thought it would be. I use Donphan Prime and Max Potion to knock out some Tornaduses (Tornadi?), and am able to get a wash on the Donphan war. We end up spending about 35 minutes on this game and I scoop when we are tied on prizes at 3-3. I scooped because my deck was just about empty, so I would have decked out before anybody could have won. In game 2 I play through a couple turns and find out that I could not get the easy win. So I end up throwing my hand on the table and congratulating him on the extra championship point.

6-2– Overall very happy with what happened on this day. I haven’t gotten into a championship game since Cities last year, so it is a rare treat to be invited to play for so long. Both Mike and Dan are really great guys, so it was a treat to play with them, as it was top play all my opponents. A really big thanks to my buddy Bohdan for convincing me to play this deck. He also gave me a lot of tips during the week, so thanks for everything Bohdan, this ones for you!

I had a tough time going home. I had a headache after the tournament, and that made the drive very uncomfortable. I eventually got home and opened my 4 prize packs, and ended up pulling squadoosh. Man I can’t seem to pull anything from EP packs. In fact I didn’t just get squadoosh, I got full art squadoosh.

Today I did learn a couple things. I did learn that this deck is pretty good, and a good play for anyone who likes simple decks. I also learned that my Tropical Beach, Max Potion, and Lost Remover techs were pretty good. Lost Remover wasn’t as good as the others, but they were all still good. You probably need 2 Max Potions in every deck like this, it is that good. And while not everyone has a Tropical Beach, if you have it and you don’t expect to find Gothitelle, I would play it. One last thing that I learned is that everyone who said that the winner of the coin flip is the winner of the game is a complete liar. I only started once all day, and that was the 2nd game of the championship game (so there was not even a coin flip). Though I did go behind in just about every game (except the Leavanny game) there is still enough time to come back.

But anyway I had a decent day, wouldn’t you say Pedro? Don’t you have something to say to me?

Well I guess I could say “Addaboy”!

Yay! Thanks Pedro. Well I’m done here, how do you think we should end this article.

I think we should say thanks to all the Judges.

I agree, thanks Judges!

Pikks Three

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Battle Road Edition: Mew Prime, Lost Remover, and Tornadus

Pikkdogs September 22, 2011 4 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with his sidekick Pedro, and we are bringing you a Pikk Three article.

Hey Pedro, I couldn’t help but notice that you were absent in my last article.

Yes I was.

The word on the street was that Ed had suspended you for one article, is that true?

Absolutely not. I was actually traveling in a different dimension that day.

Really, what dimension were you in?

Well, one pretty much similar to this one, except that you were a good Pokemon player.

Okay, let’s just go on to the article. If you haven’t seen a Pikk Three article before-

count yourself lucky-

As I was saying, if you haven’t seena Pikk Three article, it is basially a big card of the day article. It reviews three cards; one card that is popular, one that I feel is under-played. and one that is from a new or un-released set.

Card #1 The Staple-Mew Prime

ï»¿Description– Mew is a 60 HP Psychic Pokemon with a weakness to Psychic and a free retreat cost. His Poke Body “Lost Link” lets you use the attacks from any Pokemon in the Lost Zone (either yours or your opponent’s). He only has one attack, “See Off”, which for one psychic energy lets you put one Pokemon from your deck to your Lost Zone.

Mew has seen some play since its release in Triumphant. It was first used to assist Gengar Prime in putting Pokemon in the Lost Zone. However, that deck wasn’t all that good. Its meager HP prevented it from seeing serious play until this season. It is now good in a deck that uses Mew and Vileplume to lock your opponent. It is also the best Gothitelle counter. You just need to “See Off” something like Cincinno or Jumpluff, and you will be able to OHKO Gothitelle very easily.

Analysis– Well, the 60 HP is never good. Donphan Prime and Yanmega Prime can easily knock it out. But, you do have 6 prizes to work with. If you can lock down an opponent or knock out a very important Pokemon, you will gladly sacrifice one Pokemon. Another problem with Mew Prime is that if you do not “See Off” early in the game, it can be hard to setup.

The good part about Mew is that he is very versatile. You can use Mew Prime to trap, mill, Lost Zone, or attack. The Mew lock deck that is out right now is really good, it may not be the BDIF, but it is awfully good. Attacking with Mew might take a while, but when you get a good setup you can attack with any Pokemon in the format from a basic Pokemon.

In this Battle Road season you will have to watch out for Mew. The lock deck will easily beat almost any deck in the format with a little luck. And even if you don’t play against that deck, you will see Mew in other decks, so you will need to know how Mew is used.

One good way to counter Mew is to play Mew yourself. If your opponent tries to “See Off” anything, you will be able to use the attack first on your opponent. You can use Muk’s “Sludge Drag” attack to bring up your opponent’s Vileplume, or you can use Jumpluff’s attack to knock out any active Mew.

Final Rating– 8/10– It is not a perfect card and has a lot of drawbacks, but it is a very useful card in this format. It also is a very fun card.

Card #2- The Underdog-Lost Remover

ï»¿Description– Lost Remover is a very simple item card. It lets you put one special energy card attached to your opponent’s Pokemon, and put it in their Lost Zone. The card has never really seen that much play. Last year it did see a little play in a Dialgachomp deck, but it was more of a rogue choice.

Rogue Choice, isn’t that the name of a Bruce Springsteen Album?

I don’t think so.

Analysis– I think that Lost Remover is a good card in this format. Right now almost every deck is playing some kind of Special Energy, mostly either DCE or Rainbow Energy. Cincinno is the card that has possibly the fastest growing play rate of any card in the format, and Cincinno almost exclusively uses Double Colorless Energy to attack. There are a lot of other attackers that use DCE like Zoroark, Beartic, and Zekrom/Reshiram. It can be very disruptive to take away a DCE because it is very hard to get a DCE when you need it.

The major problem with Lost Remover is that it is hard to fit into a decklist. A lot of Pokemon that use DCE are easy to knock out, so it doesn’t seem right to waste a card on taking out a card that will just get knocked out this turn anyway. And since it is very hard to get DCE back from the discard pile, putting the card in the discard pile is almost as good as putting it in the Lost Zone.

I do think that this card is as useful as ever and that it could have a great impact on Battle Roads if it gets some play. One good play is to Lost Remove an active Poekmon’s Special Energy, and then catcher up something on the bench that they were going to use next turn. This would leave them without an option to attack.

Final Rating– 7.75/10– This card is really under-played right now and I think it could make a good impact on Battle Roads if it gets some play.

Card #3 The Young Gun-Tornadus

ï»¿Description– Tornadus is a basic Pokemon with 110 HP, a 1 retreat cost, a weakness to lightning, and a resistance to fighting, He has two attacks. The first one, “Energy Wheel”, just lets you move one energy from a benched Pokmeon to Tornadus. The second attack, “Hurricane”, does 80 damage for CCC, and you move 1 basic energy from Tornadus to a benched Pokemon.

Tornadus is fairly new and has not seen a lot of play so far. It has mostly seen play in a deck with Zekrom, to be a Donphan counter. It is also used in the upstart Mew/Cincinno deck, also as a Donpha counter.

Analysis– I think Tornadus is fairly cool card. One way of getting around the
energy moving effect of “Hurricane” is to only attach special energy cards. If you only have a DCE and a Rescue Energy, there will be no basic energy to move to the bench.

People mostly talk about it as a Donphan Prime counter. The rationale is that Donphan Prime can only hit it for 40, while Tornadus can hit it back for 60.

The problem with that is that a lot of people are playing Zekrom with their Donphan. So in order to OHKO a Tornadus, all the Donphan player will have to do is to use “Earth Quake” 4 times (or attach Rainbow Energies), and they wll be able to “Outrage” for the needed 120 damage for a knock out.

Another problem is that if you want to try to knock out Donphan Prime with Tornadus, you will basically need to have only Toranduses in play. If you have anything else, the Donphan Player will use Pokemon Catcher to bring it active, and by pass the whole Tornadus thing.

Final Rating–7/10-In some situations Tornadus does work, but I feel that most times Tornadus will not work the way we think it will. Yes it is still a good card that deserves some play, but I think it has receieved a little too much hype.

So, Pedro…………That’s all I got for today. Why don’t you tell the good people how there voice can be heard.

Sure thing. If you would like to correct all the errors Pikkdogs made, just leave your thoughts about these cards in the comment box.

So Pedro, how do we normally end things here.

Well, we normally dance to Bruce Springsteen’s song, “Rogue Choice.”

No we never dance here, and that’s not even a song.

Well, can we show a picture of him dancing?

Sure

Tourney Report

Pikkdogs Battle Roads Report- The Super Indiana Weekend

Pikkdogs September 19, 2011 12 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs here with a 2 pack of Battle Roads Reports.

As you probably all know this past weekend was the first weekend of fall Battle Roads, hence the first weekend of the new tournament season. Unfortunately there were no tournaments in my home state of Michigan, so I had to travel to Indiana to hit them up. There were 2, one in South Bend and one in Angola. Fortunately. the Michigan player base is full of a lot of cool and nice people who were willing to do the traveling with me. So Saturday morning I got up early and traveled to South Bend, In with friends Joe, Rob, and Frank. We also met our buddies Bohdan and Mark at the tournament, and we all stayed the night on Saturday so we would be at a good spot to hit the BR on the next day.

So our crew was able to make it to South Bend with no trouble, we were able to use back roads to sneak around the game day traffic (our tournament organizer likes to schedule our tournaments right next to large college football games). I had never been to South Bend before so I was pleasantly surprised by the town. I thought it would have been a bigger place, but it was fairly small. We played the tournament at a card shop there, and that place was fairly cool as well.

I had decided to play my Mewlock deck this weekend. I will not post the list because it is basically the same list that I posted in a previous article. The only change was the inclusion of Basculin, and I also added a Spinorak from HGSS to the list for Sunday’s tournament. Read More

Deck Workshop

Deck Workshop: Bear Hug: Beartic, Ursaring, and Vileplume

Pikkdogs September 16, 2011 11 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs and his sidekick Pedro here with a deck analysis for you.

Before we get to the article, Pedro, I have some news for you.

Some news. Hmmmm…… is it good news, like…….are you quitting writing?

No I’m not quitting, but it is good news. The man, Ed, and I call him the man not because he is especially masculine but because he is the authority figure of which he can rebel against, has told us that we can start using more adult humor.

So we are no longer bound by the rules of the PG rating?

Exactly.

So we can say naughty things……… like dry hump?

Well yes i suppose so.

Dry hump, dry hump.

Well, Pedro. Just because we can say dry hump, does not mean we should just say it. It should make sense, you know so it’s comedy.

Comedy, when did we start that?

Well Pedro-

Urethra.

Hey you interrupted me with another dirty word that doesn’t even make sense. In fact Urethra isn’t even a dirty word, its a part of the human anatomy.

Like coccyx?

Coccyx is not a dirty word, it’s another word for your tail bone. Though it is fun to say. Well this conversation is going no where, lets just go on to the article.

Uranus

Again, not a dirty word, just a planet, try again. Wait, don’t try again, just let me talk about the article.

The deck we will be talking about today features Beartic. While I have not used this deck very much, I thought I should talk about it because everybody is talking about Beartic, but nobody is talking about a list.

So you thought you would screw people up by talking about your stupid version of the deck?

Well I guess you could say it that way. As I was trying to say, I will talk about the deck and then hopefully people will talk about their own Beartic decks in the comment box at the end of the article. Hopefully at the end we can get to a Beartic list that is kind of playable. But, before we get there, lets talk about Beartic and how my Bear Hug deck works.

The Bears

There are two bears in this deck, one of these is Beartic from Emerging Powers. Let’s talk a little about the basic stats of Beartic. It is a 130 HP stage 1 Water (Ice) Pokemon. It has a 3 retreat cost and a weakness to metal. It has two attacks. The first attack, “Sheer Cold” is the one that everyone is talking about. It lets you do 50 damage for WCC, and prevents the defending Pokemon from attacking next turn. It’s second attack, “Icy Wind” costs WWCC and does 80 damage.

As you can tell, the second attack is nice, but nothing to exciting. The first attack is what all the fuss is about. The ability to hit for 50 damage and prevent the defending Pokemon from attacking next turn is great. The problem is that it is not impossible to switch your active Pokemon with a benched one. You can just retreat, or you can use a card like Switch.

If you use Vileplume, you will be able to stop the use of Switch, meaning the only way they can escape from a “Sheer Cold” lock would be to get knocked out or to retreat. Now there are some good free retreaters like the prime versions of Mew and Yanmega. But, there are also Pokemon like Donphan Prime that have high retreat cost. So Beartic will stop a lot of the Pokemon in the format but it will not stop all, so what can we do if we run into Yanmega?

I don’t care, but I have a feeling you are going to tell us. Also, can I add just one more thing…. Dry Hump.

Just ignore him, he got a little excited when he learned that he can say dirty words.

I was going to say that a good pair for Beartic would be another Bear Pokemon, Ursraing Prime. It can hit for 120 damage, and Teddiursa can provide an Item Lock until Vileplume gets setup. Although there is an Item Lock in this evolution line, the main reason to use this Pokemon is because Ursaring Prime can do some damage.

Ursaring has very meager stats, compared to that of Beartic. He only has 110 HP, and has a fighting weakness. What is good about Ursaring, however, is that he has the “Berserk” Poke-Body. It lets him do 60 more damage on each of his attacks if he has a damage counter on him. His first attack, “Hammer Arm”, does a base damage of 30 damage for CCC, and lets you mill one card from your opponent’s deck. It’s second attack, “Megaton Lariat,” does 60 damage for CCCC.

I also mentioned that Teddiursa wasn’t a terrible Pokemon. He does only have 50 HP, but in this format that is not really that donkable. The good thing about Teddiursa is that it has the “Fake Tears” attack. This attack lets you flip a coin, and if heads you can prevent your opponent from using items next turn and prevent 30 damage from any damage done to Teddirua next turn.

These Pokemon work together by each using Double Colorless Energy. They also work well in regards to weaknesses. Ursaring is weak to Donphan Prime, but Donphan Prime is weak to Beartic. So even though these Pokemon may seem a little clunky, they do have some basic things in common. If we ever do get this deck in working order, I am not sure that we will want to keep Ursaring, but it seems like a good idea to start with him.

How to Set it Up.

This deck is a little bit clunky right now, and does not have a typical setup, but the number 1 thing you should think about when setting up this deck is to lock trainers. Make sure to have an active Teddiursa (and hope you flip heads) and at least 2 Oddishes on the bench with a way to get a Vileplume in a turn or two. Next you can think about a main attacker. You will probably want to start with Beartic. This means getting a water energy and a DCE on Beartic. The hardest thing is consistently finding a DCE. You might want to play Twins in your deck to setup faster after you lose a Teddiursa.

The List.

As mentioned before this list is very early in testing.

Pokemon-20

3-Beartic #30 EP
3-Cubchoo #28 EP
4-Teddiursa Cl
3-Ursaring Prime
1-Cleffa
3-Oddish
1-Gloom
2-Vileplume

Trainers-26

4-Juniper
4-Pokemon Collector
3-Elms
4-Twins
3-PONT
1- Flower Shop Lady
3-Pokemon Communication
4-Rare Candy

Energy-14

4-DCE
4-Rainbow Energy- For getting damage counters on Ursraing
6-Water

You know what Pikkdogs-

Do you have another comment about boobies or Uranaus?

Well now that you mentioned it, coccyx. But, I was going to say that this deck is kinda sucky, it looks a little too slow.

I am afraid of that too. How would you fix it?

How would I know, I’m a freaking extra dimensional being, how would I know how to fix a deck? Why don’t you ask the people who read the site to give feedback on the deck, to see if we can get a decent Beartic list?

The Future of the Deck

As you can see, my list is not all that tested, or all that good. Hopefully you guys can leave comments on this article, to try to improve the list. There has been talk about Bearitc, but nothing in the way of a workable list. Maybe we can change that.

Is Ursaring the right play here? Or should something more orthodox to be used instead? Is there just not enough DCE to spare? Or can the two bears co-exsist? So please leave your thoughts in the comment box so we can try to fix this list up and get a good Beartic list out there.

So Pedro, how do we normally end articles….. So Long and Thanks for all the fish!

Haha I remembered how we normally end articles here and I said it before you could think of something silly like the Teletubbies thing you did last time.

Ahhhhh stick it in your Coccyx.

Revisions to the Deck

As people have commented, I can change the decklist around. It does seem clear that Reuniclus could be better than Ursaring in this deck. It does leave the deck with less trainer deck and less heavy hitters. But, it does make the deck more consistent. Here are some changes.

Subtractions

-4 Teddirursa

-3 Ursaring Prime

-4 Rainbow Energy

Additions

+3 Solosis

+1 Duosion

+2 Reuniclus

+1 Chansey

+1 Blissey

+3 Water Energy

Card Discussion

Techs That You Will See at Fall Battle Roads 2011

Pikkdogs September 14, 2011 5 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs and his sidekick Pedro here with a strategy article of sorts.

Before we get into the article I would like to thank my buddy Mark for writing the last article on the website, the one about Lilligant. I hope this begins a long friendship with Mark and ONEHITKO.com. Oh, before we get off the subject, I got a story for you, Pedro, you’ll like this one.

I doubt it, but go ahead.

Well when Mark and I were talking about the article, he hinted that we might not want to publish the article. As if we had some kind of quality control or something.

Yeah that is funny. You gotta have quality before you have quality control.

Haha, Like we have an Editor or something. We just drive around down-town Detroit and ask the homeless to write articles for us in exchange for the promise of chicken. But there’s never any chicken. We publish whatever they give us, and hope it makes sense.

Of course we do. And nope, there’s never any chicken. But, if you wanna check out Mark’s article, click here. And thanks again Mark, we’re happy to have you around.

When talking about decks this year, the big word to use is variant. With few exceptions (Reshiphlosion, mainly), most decks have a lot of room to be used to cater to your own play-style and your local metagame. No two Stage 1 Rush, Gothitelle, or Mew deck is the same because there is a lot of room to work with. Adding different cards makes the deck your own, and can give you an advantage in a Battle Road. Picking the right tech is every important. While it is impossible to talk about every tech that is out there right now, Pedro and I will do our best to talk about the most important techs out there.

Actually you will do that, and probably fail. While I will stand back and make fun of you.

Isn’t that what I said? Anyway, let’s go and talk about techs.

Starting Pokemon (Cleffa, Pichu, Manaphy, etc …)

The first techs we will look at are Pokemon that are usually looked upon as starters. A lot of decks run Cleffa as a starter, but if you have another starter or usually don’t need a starter, you could think of Cleffa as a tech in your deck for a better start or for hand refreshing to improve consistency.

Used For– I kind of already wrote about what it’s used for.

Yeah, good job ya jerk.

Thanks, Pedro. Anyway, you could use a starter like Cleffa as a tech to improve consistency or for a “just in case” card. If your deck is behaving normally and you draw into a Juniper, you might think that everything is fine. But if you get a really weird draw on your Juniper, you might need a starter like Cleffa to come in mid-game to help you recover from that weird draw you just got. Cleffa, Pichu, and Manaphy are good early game and mid game to improve consistency. If your deck does not already use a starter like this, you might want to consider teching in one just in case.

Used In– Decks like Mew that already have a different starter, or your deck that usually doesn’t use a starter.

Why it may be a good choice– It could be a good choice to run 1 of a starter just so you do not get screwed on the off chance that you get a weird draw. Also, it is always good to have at least 1 Pokemon with free retreat. It is also not a big investment, taking only 1 card slot in your 60 card deck is not a bad trade off for consistency.

Why there may be better choices– I usually play Battle Roads in a “balls to the walls” manner. I like to play risky decks and then go to a lot of tournaments and hope I get really lucky at one and win it all. Having more consistency is really important in a 9 round tournament like Nationals, but it may not be that important for a 4-5 round tournament like Battle Roads.

Tropical Beach

After Worlds everyone was talking about the promo card that was given away. Tropical Beach is a stadium card that lets you draw until you have 7 cards in your hand, and then your turn is over. The down side is your opponent can use it too.

Used For– Again, we have another consistency or setup card. Tropical Beach is a card that is mostly used to help you improve consistency. Since there is not a lot of draw power in the format, draw power, even if it is from a stadium, is valued. There are times when you run out of options mid game, and would gladly sacrifice an attacker for some draw power.

Used In– Could fit in all decks, but has mostly been talked about in Ross Dot Deck and Gothitelle.

Why it may be a good choice– A Bianca like card that nets you one extra card and is always in play is always nice. It improves consistency a lot.

Why there may be better choices– Tropical Beach is very expensive. If you are lucky you can get one for 50 bucks, but that still is out of the price range for a lot of players. Another strike against this card is that your opponent can also use it. Meaning that you could play a card that will help your opponent more than it will help you, which is never good. The final downside about Tropical Beach is that it is not searchable. This means that if you really want to use Tropical Beach and it is not in play, then you are out of luck. You will have to draw into it to use it.

Basculin Emerging Powers #24

Wait do you hear something Pedro

Ahhh I get it. Are you talking about the sound of my heart beat running away, beating like a drum and its coming your way, can’t your hear that boom badoom boom badoom, bass, he is that super Bass(culin)

Quick thinking Pedro.

Used For– Basculin is a Donphan destroyer. He has the “Flail” attack which lets you do 10 times the number of damage counters on Basculin. If you have a Vileplume on the bench it will be very hard for your opponent to get Donphan out of the active spot, and if you have Basculin active that has taken an “Earthquake” last turn, you will be able to OHKO Donphan. There is no way for the Donphan player to get out of this situation, if they would attack Basculin they know they would get knocked out last turn. But if they do not attack the game would end, and if they have not taken more prize cards than you, they will lose.

Used In– Mewlock

Why it may be a good choice– Very good Donphan counter in a deck with Vileplume.

Why there may be better choices– There are a lot of other ways to deal with Donphan Prime that do not involve Basculin. Like just using the Yanmega to snipe around Donphan, and then use Ambipom or Smoochum to move the energy off of Donphan. And if the Donphan player is winning, that super bass will be of no help because the opponent will just pass until either the game is over or your break your Basculin lock.

Mew Prime

Used For– Mew Prime is a very versatile tech. It can help in a lot of different matchups. It can be used to counter Gothitelle, or to counter other Mew decks. If you “See Off” your main attacker to the Lost Zone, you can then Mew next turn to attack Gothitelle for weakness. You could also use Mew to use the Mew player’s Muk, and then use “Sludge Drag” to bring up their Vileplume so you can knock it out next turn.

Used In– Almost any deck.

Why it may be a good choice– If you have a lot of item locking decks in your metagame, I think you should give Mew and Rainbow energies a very good look.

Why there may be better choices– If item lock is not prevalent in your area, Mew is probably not needed. You also don’t need it if you already have an answer to the trainer lock decks.

Solrock and Lunatone

Used For– Solrock and Lunatone are tech cards that are used to counter Gothitelle and Ross Dot Deck decks. Both Gothitelle and Ross Dot Deck decks like to pile up damage counters and then heal them with cards like Blissey Prime and Max Potion. Solrock has a Poke-Body that does not allow healing, so Solrock can be used to cunter these decks. If these decks are allowed to pile up damage and then heal, you will never be able to pile up enough damage. If Solrock and Luntone are in play, the damage counters will pile up fast.

Used In– A meta game that is heavy with item lock.

Why it may be a good choice– It only takes up 2 deck spaces and really gives you an advantage against Gothitelle.

Why there may be better choices– A lot of decks take up most of their bench spaces already, so using 2 more spaces is not feasable in some decks.

Ditto Triumphant

Used For– As mentioned earlier, bench spaces are at a premium in this format. A lot of decks use bench sitters like Vileplume and Reuniclus, and can clog up their bench really fast. If you play Ditto down your opponent will have to discard one of their Pokemon, if they have 5 on the bench. They will also not be able to play another one down until Ditto is taken out of play. This can be a very disruptive card, especially when people tend to put a lot of extra basics on the bench to make up for the Pokemon Catcher threat.

Used In– Can be used in any deck.

Why it may be a good choice– It is a very versatile tech that can be very disruptive against a lot of decks.

Why there may be better choices– You never know when Ditto will be needed, so it is hard to recommend using it. Also, the meager 40 HP is sniping bait for Yanmega Prime.

Tornadus

Used For– It is a Donphan Counter. It has an attack that can utilize DCE, and can knock out Donphan Prime in two hits. It also can only get 3HKOed by Donphan and his “Earthquake” attack. It is a card that has revolutionized the Zekrom deck and can be used in any deck with a bad Donphan matchup.

Used In– Zekrom and basically any other deck that uses DCE.

Why it may be a good choice– It is a great Donphan counter that is easy to fit in to a lot of decks. Not a lot of cards can be you quite as good of a shot against Donphan Prime, but Tornadus can pull it off fairly easily.

Why there may be better choices– You may have another anti-Donphan tech in mind, but overall Tornadus is the best.

Smoochum/Aipom.

I can track the use of Aipom back to Worlds 2011. Jason K. used it in a Mew lock deck to move the energy off the active onto the bench. A very handsome guy named Joshua Pikka-

Ahh, I don’t think he’s that handsome. I think he’s a fat guy who sits all day writing articles on a poor quality Pokemon website that nobody reads.

well I prefer handsome. Anyway, I can only track the use of Smoochum to my use in a mew lock deck in early September of 2011. I used it as a substiute for Aipom. Aipom is not a bad play, but Smoochum does what he does for free and retreats for free, although it is a lot tougher to donk Aipom.

Used For– Stalling, moving energy off of the active to a benched player. A lot of the Stage 1 Rush decks out there only play about 6 fighting energies. Imagine that you have 1 of those fighting energies prizes, 1 in the discard pile, 1 on the active, and 3 left in a 40 card deck. If the energy in play was moved onto the active, it could be pretty hard to get that energy back onto a Pokemon such as Donphan.

Used In– Mewlock, but anything with Vileplume.

Why it may be a good choice– If you cannot match each player’s hand size for Yanmega Prime, Donphan Prime will be a difficult change for a Mew deck. But, if you can move the energy off of Donphan, that player may not be able to attack next turn. This card could change the shape of a lot of different matchups.

Where there may be better choices– It is kind of hard to know if your opponent has another energy in his/her hand. To change the odds you can tech in Mr. Mime Cl, but that would take another valueable bench space. You might think that it could be better to just run that super bass, Basculin.

boom badoom, boom, boom, badoom.

Indeed. Well, Pedro we are finally done with this article.

You mean you are done speculating about cards that probably w on’t be played at all.

Yeah, that’s pretty much it.

Okay, then can I end the article?

I guess so, how are you going to end the article tonight.

How we always do it, just like the Teletubbies do. Bye bye Tinky Winky, bye bye Dipsy, bye bye Lala, bye bye Po. The sun is setting in sky, Teletubbies say good bye.

Wow, that was great Pedro, even though I don’t think that is how we usually end the articles, you had everything except that creepy baby in the sun.

I know, that baby was pretty creepy. You know I like these articles, we don’t pretend to know anything, we just sit here and talk about the Teletubbies.

Exactly, cause I know I don’t know anything. And you aren’t even human, you of course are a extra dimensional being without a body, so you can’t even play Pokemon.

True, but it is time to end the article, Teletubbie Bye Bye.

Pikkdogs

Pikkdogs’ Toledo Battle Road Report: Running the Richards Gauntlet

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Pokegear 3.0, Potion, and Ultra Ball

The Draw and Hand Refresh Supporters In the Current Format

Ratings Discussion and Battle Roads Impressions at the Mid-Point

The Changing Face of Stage 1 Decks + a Deck List.

Battle Roads Report and Deck Analysis: Donphan and Dragons

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Battle Road Edition: Mew Prime, Lost Remover, and Tornadus

Pikkdogs Battle Roads Report- The Super Indiana Weekend

Deck Workshop: Bear Hug: Beartic, Ursaring, and Vileplume

Techs That You Will See at Fall Battle Roads 2011

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