Pikkdogs

Pikkdogs’ Uxie Donk Handbook

Pikkdogs April 13, 2011 4 Comments

Hey everyone in Omar-Nation. If you have read my States report, you would know that I have been playing with Uxie donk lately. This Regionals, one of my friend’s decided to play Uxie as well. So I wrote the following text to the friend as an Uxie Handbook to help him out. After I read it I decided it would make a pretty good article ( well not a good article, but one that is just as bad as most of the other crap that I write her), so I turned it into article form for everyone to read.

If you are unsure of what you wanna play this weekend, then you might wanna read this article to give you an advantage at Regionals. Or, if you want to play during Spring Battle Roads or Nationals, you will want to read this article. Because, the best deck will be Sableye donk, and Uxie donk and Sableye Donk are very similar. The only change will be basically 4 Sableyes instead of 4 Plus Powers, and Special Darks instead of Cyclone Energies. You might want to change a couple other things, but alas, this is not a Sabledonk article, but is an Uxie article.

If you want to be great at Uxie donk, here are things you should know.

First, read and re-read Radu’s articles about the deck. Read them now, and then read them after you have tested this deck a couple times, they are that good. Mostly pay attention to part 1, though the slow play described in part 2 might come in handy. I only used it once, and it didn’t really work, but it could.

http://www.onehitko.com/2011/01/14/donking-for-dummies-part-1-radus-obnoxious-uxie-deck/

http://www.onehitko.com/2011/01/18/donking-for-dummies-part-2-radu%C2%92s-guide-to-cultivating-hatred/

First Thing You Do

1. You get your hand, and then you pick your starting Pokemon. Mostly, you will want to start with Crobat G, if you start with Unown R, make sure you will be able to find Unown q quickly.

2. After you pick your starter, the first thing you do is look at your hand. The first thing you want to find is Uxie. If you don’t have one, then look for Luxury Ball, Dual Ball, or Quick Ball to get him.

3. If you have Poke Turns, try to find Crobat G and use the turns as you get them. You can use the scoop ups to use “Flash Bite” if you must, but if you want to cycle through your deck, you need to scoop up Uxie at least once, maybe twice.

4. After you have an Uxie, what you want to do is play out your remaining hand. Play your Unown r’s and drawing trainers so that you played everything you can with them.

5. Now you are basically setup so just keep going.

Words of Wisdom

Junk Arm-Only use Junk Arm if you absolutely need to, or you have extra cards like seeker, e belt, and cyclone energy, but you can use it with quick balls if you need to. You mostly want to use Junk Arm to get Poke Turns, but if you have a Junk Arm late game it can be prove to be very versatile.

Seeker-Be careful when you use Seeker. For the most part, when you place “Flash Bites”, you will want to put them on the active, so just in case you are forced to use seeker, your opponent can’t pick the damaged guy up. If your opponent has played Mesprit, NEVER USE SEEKER. They will just pick it up and do it again its not good. For the most part you will need to use Seeker to cycle through your deck.

Expert Belt-Never put an Expert Belt on a benched Pokemon that you can’t get rid of, unless you are sure they can’t snipe or get that guy active.

Playing a Long Game-If you get a prize lead, but they somehow setup, keep as many basics on the field as possible and do Radu’s timing technique until the time is called. If you have a prize lead, you don’t need to take all the prizes, just try to survive.

Matchups

You also need to know about different decks.

Trainerlock– you either catch them with a bad start, or you cycle through your deck enough to find a cyclone energy, or you lose.

Other Stage 2’s– Most stage 2’s you should be able to just run over their basics. If they start with a Mesprit lock, don’t ever use seeker. Wait out the lock, if necessary play your deck enough until you have 2-3 basics, preferably Unown R. If they start Spiritomb, try to cyclone it, if not try to wait it out.

SP- The toughest matchup. Not because you lose a lot, you should win about 70 percent of the time, but because its so hard to play against. First you want to analyze what game state it is. If they don’t start with Call Energy and start first, you should be at a game state one. If they either start 2^nd or start with 2 Pokemon and get Call, you are in for a game state two. You don’t need to stall, but you do need to cycle through the entire deck. Put all “Flash Bites” on the active, and you should be able to knock it out. The most important thing, other than cycle through your deck, is to knock out all energy (if no energy, then take out the Energy Gains) on the field. If they pile on the energy then they have more options, and if they play ERL and you don’t take out the energy you will lose. Once you “Flash Bite” a Pokemon to death, and have 4 plus powers and a belt on Uxie, you Psychic Restore and put the Plus Powers on the bottom first, then put the energy and the Expert Belt, and then Uxie. You should be able to “Setup” next turn for the cards, unless you have more than 1 card in your hand.

With SP you need to be wary of Powerspray. For the first couple turns when you use Uxie, always have a way to get another uxie. If your opponent doesn’t Powerspray you the first couple times, you know he doesn’t have a spray and if he pretends he does, he is just bluffing, don’t let him push you around! If it’s a gamestate two, you know he will try to Powerspray you at the end. What you need to do is have ways to re-use uxie, there are 4 ways to do so. 1) have a backup Uxie, 2)Pokemon Rescue Uxie, 3)Seeker, 4, scoop up. Make sure to prepare for at least 2 of these. The easiest way to do is to keep maybe one of these cards in your hand, and make sure you keep these cards in your prizes till the end (that’s where Alph Lithograph comes in handy. SP is tough so keep focused and be ready for anything. The most important part is to get a prize lead before they get 2 Lv.X’s, or can spray you to death. If they sprayed you at the end and you can’t get it back, Under no condition are you to put Uxie on the bottom of your deck unless you are positive you can get him back easy. Just having a lot of basics will make sure they can’t knock out everything and win even though you took more prizes.

Here is my list, its basically just Radu’s list, without 3 Victory Medals.

12Pokemon	46 Trainers	2 Energy
4 Uxie 3 Crobat G 4 Unown R 1 Unown Q	4 Poke Drawer+ 4 Pokedex Handy 1 Victory Medal 4 Super Scoop Up 4 Poketurn 4 Poke Blower+ 4 Plus Power 4 Dual Ball 4 Junk Arm 4 Quick Ball 2 Luxury Ball 2 Pokemon Rescue 2 Expert Belt 2 Seeker 1 Alph Lithograph FOUR	2 Cyclone

That’s all this for my Uxie handbook. If you use my list, you should be able to cycle through your deck 95% of the time. With reading this article and Radu’s articles, you should be able to do very well. If you are able to play a couple of games against a great SP player before a tournament, you should be prepared for almost everything.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Stupid Deck Idea

Pikkdogs’ Stupid Deck Idea: Ampharos Prime.

Pikkdogs April 10, 2011 No Comments

Hello to all members of Omar-Nation, this is Pikkdogs here with a Stupid Deck Idea for the new format. As we all know, stupid deck ideas are decks that either are meant to be played for fun, or decks that show promise but have not yet been tested. This deck falls in the later category.

Ampharos Prime has been out for about a year now, and has yet to see any noticeable play. But with the changes in the format, it may just be time to dust off your Amphy Primes and make a deck out of them.

Ampharos Prime has the “Conductivity” Poke-Body, which lets you put 1 damage counter on every Pokemon that your opponent attaches an energy to from his/her hand. It has one attack “Crunch” that does 40 damage for LCC, and allows you to flip a coin. If you flip heads you do 40 more damage, if you flip tails you can discard an energy from the defending Pokemon.

The reason that Ampharos Prime might make a good deck is because of the increase in the amount of decks that attach a lot of energy. Thanks to Feraligatr Prime’s “Raindance” (that allows you to attach as many water energies to any water Pokemon that you want) and Emboar BW (which allows you to attach as many fire energies as you want to any of your Pokemon) it is now easier to attach a lot of energies. Soon, Pokemon like Kyogre/Groundon Legend, Ho-Oh Legend, Charizard G, Samurott BW, and Blastoise Ud will be very playable.

To counter these Pokemon, you can use Ampharos Prime to put a lot of damage counters on any Pokemon that gets energy. For example, say your opponent is running a Charizard G/Emboar deck. If he attaches a Rescue Energy for the turn, and then attaches 4 Fire Energies thanks to Emboar’s ability, you can then put 5 damage counters on Charizard G. Putting 5 damage counters a turn, isn’t too shabby, and it sets you up to get an OHKo. Now that we know the premise of the deck, lets look at some techs that will help make this deck work.

Techs

Ampharos Pt– The Ampharos from Platinum lets you stop all Poke-Powers from Pokemon that have damage counters on it. It is not a game changing Poke-Body, but its good enough that you should play it if you can.

Spiritomb Ar– Spiritomb is your starter here, and helps you get a fast Ampharos. He also stops trainers when he is active, thanks to his “Keystone Seal” Poke-Body, this makes him essential for stopping Sabledonks.

Sunnyshore City Gym– If you are gonna play a deck where a lightning Pokemon attacks, you should at least consider running this card. It takes away weakness from all lightning Pokemon, and prevents resistance from being applied to their attacks. This card turns a Donphan deck from an auto-loss to an even matchup.

Cincinno– This card is your secondary attacker. Ampharos Prime is kind of a lack luster attacker, so Cincinno will be very helpful. You already play DCE, and if you have room for it there is no reason not to play this good card. For just one Double Colorless Energy, you can do 100 damage if you have a full bench.

The List

I have not tested this deck out, partially because this deck will only good in the future. But, this is a list that I drew up. If you do end up testing this out, just use this as a guide to building your deck. You will have other ideas and other techs to try out.

Pokemon-23

4 Mareep Pt
3 Flaffy Pt
3 Ampharos Prime
1 Ampharos Pt
4 Spiritomb Ar
3 Mincinno
3 Cincinno
2-Uxie La

Trainers-25

4- Pokemon Collector
4-Bebe’s Search
2- Pokemon Communication
2- Rare Candy
2- Warp Point
1- Luxury Ball
1-Pokemon Rescue
2- Sunny Shore City Gym
2- Broken Time Space
2- Expert Belt
3- Hand Refresh Card of your Choice (like PONT, Juniper, or Copycat).

Energy-12

Lightning-8
Double Colorless Energy-4

So that’s it, just a little list to point you in the right direction. As mentioned before, this deck isn’t very good right now. But, possibly if Feraligatr and Emboar become popular this deck will be a great counter to them. I also considered adding Luxray Gl or Garchomp C to this deck. Luxray Gl can take advantage of the lightning energy, and Garchomp C can do the same withe DCE. But, I think Cincinno is better for basic testing.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Pikks Three

Pikkdog’s Pikks Three: Gyarados Sf, Defender, and Cinccino

Pikkdogs April 7, 2011 2 Comments

A big hello to all members of Omar-Nation. This is Pikkdogs here with another Pikk Three article. Two Pikk Three articles in one week? There must not be much going on in the Pokemon world. Actually, there are a couple things going on, lets look at a couple of news stories.

The first news story is that the Black and White Theme decks are now out! You can get a little taste of the new set by picking up a Black and White theme deck. There are three decks released, each featuring the last evolution form of the three Black and White starters. Unfortunately, the featured cards in these decks are not the ones in the Black and White Japanese sets. For example, if you pick up the Emboar theme deck does not come with the Emboar that lets you attack Fire energies, it comes with a different one. But, the good part of the deck is that you can play with the deck you purchase on www.pokemontcgonline.com. You don’t even need to type in a code. The website has a cool feature where you just need to hold a card that comes with the theme deck up to your webcam, and the website will scan a barcode and unlock the deck online for you.

The second news story is probably one you have already heard. Based on an insert from the Theme decks, the U.S. will receive the rule changes that Japan got. However, no mention was made of a rotation. This could be horrible for the game, if every game was decided by a Sableye start and a lot of trainers. But, we do not have an actual rulebook so we do not yet know if there is no rotation.

The last bit of news has to do with regionals. It is only about a week away! So make sure to get your testing done fairly soon, regionals is just around the corner.

Okay, so lets move onto the Pikk Three article. As always,, we will review three cards. One card that is commonly played, one card that I feel is under played, and one card from a new or yet un released set.

Card #1- The Staple- Gyarados Sf

Description– Its a wonder why I haven’t yet reviewed this card. Gyarados is a Stage 1 water Pokemon with 130 HP, a 3 retreat cost, a resistance to fighting, and a +30 weakness to lightning. Its stats are solid for a stage 1 Pokemon, but the weakness can be a bit pesky. It’s main attack is “Tail Revenge”, which does 30 damage times the number of Magikarp in the discard pile. It does have two other attacks, but to my knowledge no one has ever used them in competitive play.

Analysis– The use of Gyarados goes back to the Worlds tournament two years ago. A couple of French players merged it with Regice for a quick consistent deck. For the next year Gyarados was a very popular deck. After rotation this past year, the loss of Claydol and Felicity’s Drawings curtailed its play. That was until Junk Arm, Seeker, and Rescue Energy came out in the Triumphant set and brought more consistency to the deck. So now we know a little bit of history, lets look at the card.

130 HP is really nice for a stage 1 Pokemon. The fighting resistance comes in handy, but the weakness can be compounded by the Poke-Body of Lucario Gl, making Luxray Gl a real threat. The retreat cost of this Pokemon is also annoying, but this deck usually runs Warp Energy for this reason.

The Gyarados deck is quite the nice deck. It is fast and very consistent. Of course, the strategy with this deck is to discard 3 Magikarps within 1-2 turns, and then hit for a lot of damage while placing damage counters with Crobat G’s “Flash Bite” Poke-Power. Gyarados’s high HP makes it hard to OHKO, and it can deal a lot of damage without any energy. If ran with a high trainer line, this deck can out speed SP decks, and have a real advantage against them. Or, if you are leery of trainerlock, you can run it with Sableye Sf and Volkner’s Philosophy to get a good matchup against trainerlock decks.

Final Rating– 9/10-Gyarados is a great card and a great deck. You either have to run it, or know how to play against it.

Card #2- The Underdog- Defender

Description– Defender is a trainer card released in the Undaunted set. When attached to a Pokemon, this card reduces each attack done to that Pokemon by 20 damage. Defender is discarded after you opponent’s next turn.

Analysis– Defender is a card that never got a second look by most players. But, I cannot help but wonder why. In a format that is so reliant on one hit knock outs, why would people not want to play cards that prevent a Pokemon from being knocked out?

It is also a very versatile card, being useful in a deck that has both low HP and high HP attackers. But, it is most useful when it is used to stop a OHKO.

An interesting aspect of Defender is that it can be played on a bench Pokemon. If you are playing Luxchomp, and have an important Pokemon that has 90 HP on the bench, without Defender most players will be able to use one “Flash Bite”, and then finish the job with Garchomp C’s “Dragon Rush.” But, with Defender that player would now need to find 3 “Flash Bites”. A feat that is not impossible, but highly unlikely.

Final Rating– 7/10– This card can make a big impact on any deck, but it can be played around. There are many ways to change the opponent’s active Pokemon, so that Defender would not be taken into effect. But, regardless I think Defender is not getting as much play as it should.

Card #3- The Young Gun- Cinccino Black and White

Description– Cinccino is a stage 1 Normal Pokemon, with 90 HP, a 1 retreat cost, a fighting weakness, and a name that’s hard to pronounce. It has one relevant attack, “Do the Wave”, which has got to be one of the worst names for an attack. For two colorless energies you can do 20 damage for each Pokemon you have on your bench.

Analysis– 90 HP is not very impressive. It is a lot easier to OHKO Cinccino then it is to pronounce it’s name. But, it does have some good damage output. If you have 5 benched Pokemon you can do 100 damage for just one Double Colorless Energy. That makes this card fast and powerful.

Add a lot of Pokemon Collectors and Dual Balls to your deck, and you will be doing a lot of damage really fast. Make sure to add Broken Time Space to your deck, because of the new Rare Candy rules. I think with some help, a Cinccino deck can do really well. Most people compare this card to Jumpluff, because of the similar HP and attack. The only difference is that this card is a stage 1, but needs a DCE instead of a basic energy card (which could slow up the deck a little).

Final Rating-8/5/10– It is hard to guess how good the Black and White cards will be, but this card seems like its pretty good. It can even hit Garchomp C for weakness. All signs point to this card being pretty good, so make sure to test it out when the card comes out.

So thats all for this edition of Pikk Three. Make sure to comment on this article and give us your ratings for these cards. We love to hear from you.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

–

Pikks Three

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Crush Hammer, Musharna, and Reuniclus

Pikkdogs April 3, 2011 9 Comments

Hey all members of Omar-Nation. Welcome to a special edition of Pikkdogs Pikks three. Usually I provide you a review of three cards; one that is commonly used, one that I feel is under-rated, and one that is from a new or yet un-released yet. But this edition of Pikk Three is special. This edition mixes up the former two categories. This a review of three cards from the Black and White cards that are good, but not many people are talking about them. So now that you know whats coming at you, lets start the party!

Card Number 1, Crush Hammer

Description- The first card on our list is Crush Hammer, which is basically a re-printed Energy Removal 2. It is a trainer card that allows you to flip a coin, and if heads you can discard an energy attached to one of your opponent’s Pokemon.

Analysis– The ability to discard an energy is not really something that we have in the current format. That means that it is something that you can’t really get with other cards. The ability to discard an energy is fairly useful. If your opponent is trying to tank against you, you can discard a key energy card. You can also use Junk Arm to use it again later in the game. It is also a card that is useful no matter what deck you play against, this makes it fairly flexible.

However, this card is not talked about much for a good reason, it isn’t format changing. It can be useful, but it can also be locked from use. With the expected popularity of Vileplume and the Gothitelle deck, you may not be able to use this card very much. The success of this card is also dependent on the format. Right now discarding energy would not be very popular, because the format emphasizes one hit knock outs. But, if OHKO’s are not very realistic in the next format, this card could be more popular.

Final Rating– 6/10– It is a good card that does thing that not a lot of other cards can do. But, the uncertainty of the format make this card unpredictable.

Card Number 2, Musharna

Description– Musharna is a stage 1 Pokemon Psychic Pokemon with 90 HP and a 2 retreat cost. Its first attack does 20 damage and puts the defending Pokemon to sleep for one Psychic energy. Its second attack, “Dream Eater”, does 90 damage for PC if the defending Pokemon is asleep.

Analysis– 90 damage for 2 energies is pretty good. This card won’t make the best deck ever, but it could be pretty decent. With 90 damage for two energies and the ability to use Pokemon Catcher (Gust of Wind), you have a lot of options. The catch is that you need to get your defending Pokemon asleep. A lot of Pokemon can put other Pokemon to sleep through attacks, but the chance that the Pokemon will still be asleep on your next turn is very low. So, you will need something that can put your defending Pokemon to sleep from a Poke-Power.

If there is no rotation, you can use Vileplume La, which fits will into a trainerlock build. If you attach a grass energy to Vileplume, you can put the defending Pokemon to sleep with his “Energy Reaction” Poke-Power. But, another Stage 2 Pokemon and the necessity to attach an energy to him is a lot. So you can also use Hypno HGSS. For a coin flip you can put the defending Pokemon to sleep with his “Sleep Pendulum” Poke-Power. Hypno is only a stage 1 Pokemon that will only sit on your bench, so its not too much of a hassle to setup. The problem is the coin flip, the good thing is that you can use multiple “Sleep Pendulums” per turn, if you have multiple Hypnos.

So is 2 for 90 with “Sleep Pendulum” good enough? Well it is good, but unless you can get multiple Hypnos out, it will not be very consistent. But, if you can get multiple Hypnos out, then watch out because 90 damage will be able to knock out most of your opponent’s bench. Which makes Musharna a great combo with Pokemon Catcher.

Final Rating– 6/10- Has great potential, but unless you can swarm with Hypnos or find another consistent way to put the defending Pokemon asleep, the deck is a little too inconsistent.

Card Number 3, Reuniclus

Description– Reuniclus is a stage 2 Psychic Pokemon with 90 HP and a 2 retreat cost. It’s attack, “Psywave”, does 30 damage plus 10 for every energy on the defending Pokemon, for three Psychic energies. Its ability “Damage Swap” lets you move one damage counter from one of your Pokemon to another, as many times as you want per turn.

Analysis– The first thing you think about with Reuniclus is, “what’s up with that name?” The second thing you think about is, “30 damage for 3 energies?” But, then the third thing you realize is that “moving damage counters around is awesome.”

So the attack is lackluster at best, but the ability is pretty cool, it is pretty similar to the power of the base set Alakazam. You can move as many damage counters as you want from one Pokemon to another. This means that you can put up one tanking Pokemon and then move all damage counters off of him, and hide the damage counters on another Pokemon. Even if you have to knock out a benched Pokemon, it is better than losing your main attacker and all his energies.

The bad part of this strategy is that it has never worked in the past. In the base set days Alakazam was just too slow. And, today Alakazam 4 Lv. X does not work thanks to a lack of good tanking SP Pokemon and the existence of Garchomp C LV.X. These two similar Pokemon never panned out, and I fear that Reuniclus could share the same fate. With Pokemon Cather released, it seems like Reuniclus’s basic form will be knocked out before you can even evolve it.

Final Rating– 7/10– Even though it is slow, I think that it is a great card. If Spiritomb stays in the format, you might be able to get this Pokemon out and ready to support a tanking Pokemon.

Well thats what I think of some of the better cards in the Black and White set that aren’t being talked about. As you can see from the ratings, I don’t think a lot of these cards will be great, but I do think they have potential. So be sure to take notice of these seldom talked about cards. And, if you would be so kind to share your ratings on these cards we would love you to put them in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Uncategorized

Discussion of Rule Changes and Possible Format Changes

Pikkdogs March 31, 2011 9 Comments

Last October the Pokemon world was shaken up by news from Japan. When Japan got there Black and White sets they also got new rules changes and a mid season rotation. Fast forward to April, and now North America, Europe, and South America are about to get the Black and White set. What will this mean for the format? Will we also get the rules changes and the format change?

If you haven’t guessed already, the topic of this article will be the possible changes to the rules and format changes. Before we begin to talk about the impact of the changes too much, lets review what happened in Japan.

What were the changes in Japan?

Rules change so that Trainer/Goods cards can be played on the first turn of the game.
Supporters are now called “Supports” and are considered Trainer/Goods cards and can be played once per turn, even on the first turn. They are now immediately discarded after use.
Stadium cards are also considered Trainer/Goods cards and can also be played on the first turn.
Rare Candy cannot be played on either player’s first turn, and they cannot be played on the same turn that you first played the basic Pokemon.
Poke-Powers and Poke-Bodies are merged into one category called “Abilities”.
After you knock out a Pokemon, you draw your prize card before your opponent sends out a new active Pokemon.
The format was changed to HGSS-on.

Will we get them?

All signs seem to be pointing to the fact that we will get at least points 1-6. The rules changes are already in effect on the online game simulator (www.pokemontcg.com). It seems unlikely that they would make different rules for online play. I also heard that someone from Portugal’s organized play stated that they would follow the rules changes that the U.S. employs. That seems to suggest that the U.S. will have rule changes.

What about a rotation?

A mid season format rotation is a powerful thing. It would mean that a large percentage of everyone’s cards will become almost worthless. Decks that people have been playing all season could now be deemed illegal. It could turn a lot of people off about the game.

Regardless of the negative aspects of the rotation, I think a rotation is needed. If there is no rotation, I think that most of games would end on the first turn of the game. The problems in the format are trainer cards like Poke Drawer and Pokedex, that allow you to go through your deck fairly quickly. Other problems are Sableye SF and Uxie La. Sableye guarantee’s that you go first, so that your opponent has no chance to brace themselves against a donk. If you start Sableye all you would need to do is use a Pokemon Collector for an Unown (dark) and 2 Uxies, and you would be very close to winning the game. Speaking of Uxie, like the Trainer cards, Uxie will help people go through their decks really quickly. If these cards are ousted from the format longer games can take place, and games would rely less on luck.

So now that we know we need a rotation, what should it be? Japan got rid of all of their Diamond and Pearl and Platinum sets, but Im not sure if thats really neccessary. If we would get a similar rotation that we had the last two years, it would mean that the format would be Rising Rivals on. To see if we need a large rotation, lets look at the problem cards in the format, and find out what sets they are from. Besides cards that i have previously mentioned, I will also include SP cards since I believe they are the cause of our stagnant format. In the list, I will italicize cards that would be rotated if the rotation is RR-on.

Poke Drawer +-SF
Pokedex Handy 910’s-Pt
Super Scoop Up- Unleashed
Expert Belt- Arceus
Cyrus’s Conspiracy-Pt
Energy Gain- Pt
Power Spray- Pt
Sp Radar- RR
Uxie-La
Sableye-Sf
Unown (Dark)-UD
Luxray Gl-RR
Garchomp C-SV
Double Colorless Energy-HGSS

As you can see, most of the problem cards will be taken care of with a format of RR-on. With the loss of Sableye, the important drawing Trainers, and Uxie; it will be a lot less likely for the game to end with a donk. And, even though there will still be SP cards in the format, the SP deck will no longer work without the SP engine. The loss of the SP engine will make sure that the format is not in the same stagnant state that we have had to deal with in the last couple of years. But, I fear that if Japan got the HGSS-on format that we will also receive it.

Impact on The Format

Obviously a mid-season rotation would radically change the format. The only deck that would stay similar to the way it is now is Lostgar Lock. Other decks like Machamp, Gengar Sf, Uxie, Gyarados, Luxchomp, Dialgachomp, and many others will be wiped out. Besides taking out main attackers, it could also take away a lot of staples like Uxie, Spiritomb Ar, and supporters like Palmer’s Contribution.

All decks would have to be changed and adjusted to the new format. The new format would be a lot slower without Uxie, and would be more reliant on Trainers (and Trainerlock). If a rotation comes we will all have to re-work our decks and completely change them. It will make Nationals a lot different than States and Regionals.

Conclusion

A lot of people are understandably opposed to a large format change. But, I think a mid-season format rotation would be great for the format, taking away the SP problem and making sure that the new rule changes will not lead to a format of all donks. I don’t really see the need for the rules changes, but if they are going to make the rule changes they also need to rotate at least 4 sets out of the format.

Opinion

A Review of Pokemon TCG Online

Pikkdogs March 27, 2011 5 Comments

Hey everyone in Omar-Nation. This is Pikkdogs here with a short review of the new Pokemon TCG Online game. This is the online TCG simulator that we’ve been hearing about. It isn’t in its final version yet, its still in Beta testing, but you can still play with some theme decks right now. You can find it at www.pokemontcg.com.

Right now Pokemon TCG Online doesn’t feel like the online version of the game that we’re all waiting for, it kinda feels like just a cheap Flash game. But that could all change, in time it could become more comprehensive.

How it Works

The game is fairly simple to play. They computer automatically deals you a hand of 7 cards, and you pick your starter and bench by clicking on the Pokemon. After you pick heads or tails, you play out your hand as if it were a card game. To attach an energy you click on the energy you want to attach, and then click the Pokemon you want to attach it to. To play a trainer, stadium, or supporter card you just click it and the computer does the effect of the attack for you, unless you need to search your deck. In that case you would be brought to a screen that displays all the cards which you can pick from and the contents of your deck, you would just pick the card that you want with a click of the mouse. You attack by clicking on a menu button located on the right side of the screen, once you choose the attack there is a cheesy animation that pops up and damage counters are automatically placed on the defending Pokemon.

For newer players the game does give helps. Such as if you are about to attack without playing a supporter or an energy, a box will come up and remind you.

The Plot

When you start the game you are transported to a league and are given three decks to choose from. You can pick either of the three HGSS theme decks. I picked the Typhlosion deck because of the damage output of Typhlosion and Flareon. You then go through about 4 games against the other 2 theme decks, and 2 decks from other sets. If you wish to continue, they will transport you to another league where there are about 5 other slightly more difficult decks. If you are able to beat all comers at that league, the players are after revenge at a tournament. When three games and you become champion.

After most games that you win you will be given a new card to add to your deck. During my game play I added Burned Tower, 2 Fisherman, a Magmortar, 2 Raticates, 2 Professor Elm’s Training Method, and a 2-1 Arcanine line.

The Good

I gotta say that while these games were no Luxchomp versus Luxchomp slugfest, it was still a pleasant experience. I got to easily play a fun game. Ease of use is the best feature of Pokemon TCG Online. No more doing the math on attacks, the computer figures out damage for you, yes even from effects from previous attacks. Shuffling is also gone, there is no need for that. These features make is very easy to play the game, and it is a fun experience.

The Bad

After playing the game for a couple hours I only noticed one mistake that the game made. It was against a girl who was using a psychic deck. She had a Drowzee active and used “Sleep Inducer.” This attack was supposed to switch my active and put the new active to sleep. But, since I didn’t have a bench, it put my active to sleep. The correct ruling would be to state that “Sleep Inducer” would have no effect. Its not a big mistake, but it was something.

The AI seems to be reasonably decent. There were a couple of times where the AI could have played better. One of those moments was when I had 1 prize left and my opponent had 2 Magikarps left. It was his turn and I saw that he just Elm’d for a Red Gyarados. The smart play would be to evolve to Red Gyarados as the active and then wall with him while you setup someone who could attack. Instead they gave up and just sent a karp after me and evolved to Gyarados on the bench. Sacrificing the karp might have been a great strategy earlier in the game, but not when the game is down to 1 prize.

The Ugly

While I don’t want to make it seem like I don’t like the game, there are some things going against it. It is a far cry from the program we want. You can’t make your own deck, or play against human players. I do know that some of those features are coming soon, but until then the jury is out.

One thing I can say is that gameplay is a lot better than Redshark and Apprentice. With Redshark you don’t have card art, have to calculate damage yourself, and have to do everything manually through a menu. With the Pokemon TCG Online, the software does just about everything for you. It is some much easier and more fun to play than Redshark and Apprentice, that I think people may stop using those programs.

One interesting part of the game is that it uses the rules changes that were implemented in Japan back when they got their Black and White Set. This includes being able to use trainers and supporters the first turn. It is possible that TPCI added this feature just for this game because there is yet no way to abuse it (like with Sableye and Uxie). But, the greater possibility is that the rule change is included in this game because it will soon be the standard ruling for all Pokemon games. If this is true and we do get the rule change, it is all but a sign that we will also get a mid-season rotation. If we don’t the only deck that will be playable is a Sableye SF/Uxie deck that runs through the entire deck on the first turn. If we do get a rotation Sableye and Uxie will be gone, meaning the game will slow down and be more balanced.

Overall, for what it is the Pokemon TCG Online is pretty cool. Its AI is decent, its easy to use, and it looks pretty cool. It has all the building blocks of a cool program. Now we just need the greatly enhanced features.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

State Championships

Recap of States 2011, and Your First Regionals 2011 Preview

Pikkdogs March 25, 2011 8 Comments

Well State/Province/Territory championships are all over, and its time to see what we have learned from it. This article well recap what happened at states, and try to give you a little view of what will come up next month at Regionals.

Overview

Well, things at States were fairly predictable this year. Luxchomp again won most tournaments, while a couple other popular decks got a couple wins. According to Pokegym.net this is the list of winners of States.

16 Luxchomp (1 w/Honchkrow)
4 Vileplume/Gengar
4 Gyarados
3 DialgaChomp
3 Sablelock (1 w/ Luxray SP)
2 Lostgar w/Vileplume
2 Machamp (1 w/ vileplume)
2 Chenlock
1 Arceus
1 Steelix
1 Scizor Prime
1 Vilegar / Dusknoir
1 Magnezone

From this list, we can see a couple cool rogue decks winning here; like Steelix, Scizor, Mangezone, and Arceus. And, some second tier decks took some states as well, with help from the good players that champion them. We also see 6 Vilegar variants winning and 5 Sablelock variants winning. This somewhat surprising showing by these decks show that they are strong contenders for the title of 2nd best deck.

How Did the Rogues Do?

The rogue decks were out at full force at States. However, we did not see a great showing by any true rogue deck. We also did not see much of any “secret decks” doing well. About 2 months ago I heard a lot about people making “secret deck” for States, but not wanting to share them, at states we didn’t see any of these decks doing anything.

One deck that saw a lot of play was Magnezone. Magnezone saw almost no play until the Europeon Challenge Cup, just before States started. Magnezone got paired up with Regirock La, for energy acceleration. Magnezone did get 1 win at States, but with the amount of play it got, just 1 win isn’t all that impressive. My impression of the deck is that it is just too slow to live in a world with Luxchomp running around. Perhaps after the rotation it will get better, maybe players can use Floatzel Ul instead of Regirock.

I am also pleasantly surprised with the showing of some other decks like Arceus, Steelix, and Scizor. Arceus seems to be a deck that a few weird people can get to work on a lucky day. When it works it can be a great deck, but it seems that Arceus is not reliable. It wasn’t just the one win it had, at Michigan and Indiana states I saw that this deck did fairly well. Steelix is a deck that I think is very good, especially with the drop in play that Blaziken FB has received. I think that it can do very well if some decent players decide to play it. Scizor Prime is one of those crazy cards, it doesn’t seem like it will be that good of a card, but yet people can get it to work. To me it just seems like it can be easily played around, but when its played right on a good day it can have great results. If you can get 3 Metal Energies on a Scizor, it is almost unstoppable against a Luxchomp deck.

Can Anything Stop Luxchomp?

Well the short answer is no, but we have learned some bad news for Luxchomp. Decks like Machamp, Vilegar, and Sablelock have had some good showing against the deck. Before states I thought Machamp was going to get ran out of the format, but Machamp made a big comeback at States. Vilegar and its many variants cemented its place in the format after Cities, after States it has shown that it is kicking butt and taking names. It even won Michigan States, which had some of the better Luxchomp players around. It is now one of the best decks in the format. Sablelock has chosen this States to tell us all that it has not gone away. For some reason Sablelock seems to disappear at small tournaments. But, it did not dissapear at States. The great Sableock players like Jwittz were out with it and did very well. They proved that in the hands of a great player, Sablelock can be almost as good as a Luxchomp deck.

That being said, Luxchomp still dominates the format. Nothing is faster or more versatile than Luxchomp. It can kill almost every deck before the opponent gets going. Even-though Vilegar and Sablelock have shown that they are great decks, Luxchomp still won the most tournaments by far. I don’t see anything but a rotation stopping Luxchomp.

A Look Towards Regionals

I did mention the rotation, if we do get a mid-season rotation it will not be until after Regionals. That means that I expect more of the same for Regionals. We may still see some people get more familar with rogue decks, and give them a try. But, for the most part since Regionals is only like 3 weeks away I don’t expect to see a big change. Expect to see Luxchomp dominating with some tier 2 and 3 decks vying for some tournaments. It could be different, but for the most part I think you can use States as a barometer for what will be at Regionals.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Deck Discussion

Running with Scizors, and Umbreons.

Pikkdogs March 22, 2011 5 Comments

A big hello to all members of Omar-Nation. This is Pikkdogs here with a deck idea for you. It may not be the best deck ever, but it is actually a pretty good deck that deserves some credit.

A couple weeks ago I wrote an article about walls in the Pokemon TCG, well this is a deck that uses two of those Pokemon. The idea of this deck is to hit for a moderate amount, while not letting your opponent attack you.

The Main Attackers

Scizor Prime has the “Red Armor” Poke-Body which does not let any attack damage him from a Pokemon that has any Special Energy cards attached to it. This means that if your opponent is playing Steelix Prime or Garchomp C Lv. X there is a good chance that those cards will need to adapt just to even scratch you. Since Scizor Prime is a Steel type it can benefit from Special Metal Energies, making it somewhat of a tank.

Umbreon Ud has an attack called “Moonlight Fang” which does 30 damage and does not let any Pokemon with Poke-Powers or Poke-Bodies inflict any effects of an attack on to Umbreon. Since Umbreon is a Dark type, this means he can take advantage of Special Darkness Energies, meaning his attacks do +10 damage for every Special Dark attached. So if you put an Expert Belt on him and 2 Special Darks, Umbreon is doing “Moonlight Fang” for 70 damage! That is not a whole lot, but if its also preventing damage its great. It also can hit Gengar and Gengar Prime for weakness. Umbreon also benefits from the fact that it evolves from Eevee. You can use certain Eeveelutions to make sure that he has free retreat, no weakness, and an extra +20 HP.

The Techs

This deck also has a few special techs in it, that give it better matchups.

Espeon Md– As mentioned before, Umbreon’s HP can be increased by 20 with the help of Espeon MD. Espeon can make sure Umbreon can survive 1 good hit, so you have time to Seeker him back up. With Espeon and an expert belt, Umbreon has 130 HP! Thats not bad.

Espeon Prime– This deck is great against decks that use Special Energies or those that use Pokemon with Poke-Power or Poke-Bodies, but what about Machamp SF? To stand up against Machamp SF you can play an Espeon Prime and be able to “Moonlight Fang” for a 2HKO. This is because Espeon Prime’s Poke-Body “Evolutionary Memories,” let Espeon use the attack of any Eeveelution as its own. Its 140 HP (with Espeon MD and Expert Belt) is also very hard to knock out by Machamp. If your opponent tries to switch to Machamp Prime, you can just use Umbreon to wall. If you include a Lucario GL in your build you can possibly score a OHKO with “Quick Blow.” If you don’t like Espeon Prime, instead you can use Uxie Lv. X, but you might need to include Double Colorless Energy.

Spiritomb– This card serves many purposes. First, if you play against Uxie donk you are basically auto-loss. This card will give you a fighting chance against it. Next, it helps you get a turn 2 Umbreon or Scizor even if you start first. It also provides a little trainer lock to confuse and mess up your opponent.

The List

Pokemon- 23

4- Eevee’s (either MD or RR)
3-Umbreon Prime
1-Espeon MD
1-Espeon Prime
4-Spiritomb Ar
3-Scyther SF
3-Scizor Prime
1-Scizor Md
2-Uxie
1-Unown Q

Energies-12

Special Dark-4
Special Metal-4
Basic Metal-2
Basic Dark-2

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums- 25

2- Conductive Quarry-Excellent for getting back Special Metals
2-Energy Exchanger- This deck is a hybrid of two decks, so you need consistency in energy
4- Pokemon Collector
3-Bebe’s Search
2-Pokemon Communication
2-Warp Point
2-Expert Belt
2-Judge
2-Seeker
3-Professor Oaks New Theory
1- Luxury Ball

So there is the list, it is a basic list that can be tweaked for your own tastes. But this is a decent list that should keep you going even in times of trainerlock.

Matchups

The two sayings I use most are, “Where’d my pants go?” and “A deck is only as good as its matchups”, so lets look at the matchups.

Luxchomp– Its always tough to play versatile deck. Luxchomp players seem to be able to adapt to anything. You better get your thinking caps on because this will be a very cerebral battle. To be able to win you need to get 3-4 Special Metal energy cards on Scizor Prime and then you can tank through the field. But a good SP player will be able to get rid of Scizor before it gets that many energies. This is a winnable matchup for you as long as you don’t get matched up against a great player. 40-60.

Machamp– Machamp has recently re- gained more popularity, and you need to be ready for it. You don’t run basic Pokemon who attack, so your okay there. This forces them to either attack with “Hurricane Punch”, or attack with Machamp Prime. Use Espeon Prime and Espeon to make it tough for them. The toughest part of this matchup is getting an umbreon and espeon on the bench, and an Espeon Prime active. Once you do this, just 2 knockouts should seal the game for you. A very winnable matchup, 70-30.

Gyarados– Easy matchup to talk about. Unless your opponent is stupid and puts a Special Energy on Gyarados then you are auto-loss. 10-90.

Trainerlock– This is an interesting matchup. You have their weakness, and it is very hard for them to attack you. But, with Gengar Prime little actual attacking needs to be done. Your opponent will try to put things in the Lost Zone. Use Special Darkness Energies to try to OHKO a Gengar Prime, if you can do it about 2-3 times you should be able to win. 90-10

Uxiedonk– If you get an early double spiritomb you win, if you get behind on prizes or donked early, you lose. 30-70

It isn’t a great deck, but is really fun. As you can see it has some good matchups. It can run through trainerlock and Machamp, but SP matchup is tough and Gyarados is Autoloss. It might not be worthy of regionals, but it still is something you should build to test against. One of the problems of this deck is that consistency suffers. Since it is a mix of Scizor and Umbreon you sometimes want to setup Umbreon but only have stuff for Scizor. People will always run Umbreon and Scizor because they are both popular Pokemon, so you better be ready for them.

State Championships

Pikkdogs’ 2011 Indiana State Championship Report

Pikkdogs March 20, 2011 4 Comments

Hey everyone in Omar-Nation, this is Pikkdogs here with a tournament report for Indiana’s states. I again decided to run Uxie, after briefly flirting with an Umbreon/Scizor Prime deck.

I woke up a little after 5:30, and got on the road before 6:30. This was very early for me, but it was cool to go outside and see a huge full moon hanging in the sky before sunrise. I then took the 3 hour drive to Fort Wayne, Indiana. When I got there I met my friend James in the parking lot. James, who is a testing buddy of mine, tried really hard to get me to come today and I’m glad I capitulated to his requests. Before the tournament started I made some trades with some players, borrowed some cards, said hello to a lot of my Pokemon friends, and received a cool deck box from James. The format again was very Luxchomp heavy. It was a little more diverse than last week, but Luxchomp was by far the most popular deck.

The tournament was held at a neat venue, a minor league baseball stadium. Just past right field is a long narrow room where we had the tournament. The venue was pretty sweet, though there was a noticeable lack of comfy chairs. There was a lot of people there on that day. I think there was 114 masters with people from Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio attending. This meant a lot of good competition and a tough day for anyone hoping to top cut.

My goal that day was simple, to grab the gold medal from Indiana and take it back to Michigan. The winner of last week’s Michigan State’s was from Indiana, so nothing would feel better than to take one from them. After turning in my decklist I was ready to get going.

Round 1- Kingdra.

He starts first with 2 Unown R’s benched, and a Horsea active. I start with Crobat G and Unown R and get going on my strategy. I am able to “Flash Bite” an R to death, I seeker up the other, then “Psychic Restore” the Horsea for the win.

1-0. A good start to the day, this is what is supposed to happen.

Round 2- Matt Kish with Vilegar.

Matt was the gentleman who took 2nd last week in Michigam, for that reason and because I am auto-loss to trainerlock; I was shaking in my boots. But, I was lucky and he has a bad start. He starts first with Uxie and Gloom, while I start with Uxie and I am able to play the turn out until I get the Seeker+knockout.

2-0, Sorry Matt you just got a bad start.

Round 3-Brandon with Luxchomp.

This was the rubber game for me and Brandon, and what a game it was. We first met in the first round of a Michigan cities, he ended up winning that game and the tournament. We also met last week in Lansing, when I had donked his two Magnemites. This game ended up being one of the best of the season.

The game starts off really bad for me. Even though I go 2nd, he starts with a Call energy and has a large bench when I start. I try to knock out the Garchomp C with the energy with “Flash Bites” but am unable to do so, and I am forced to let it stay on the field. I am not able to finish it because I got 9 tails on my first 10 dice rolls. I also make a dumb misplay and Expert Belt an Uxie, which he can easily Dragon Rush. I do however get one knockout on my 2nd turn.

He comes back and sets up fast getting a Cyrus chain. However, he can only get 1 Level X on the field. Since I went through my deck on the first turn, I can just use Uxie to draw all of the cards I need and then use Cyclone Energy to bring up a weak Pokemon for the knock out. This pattern goes back and forth until time is called.

One funny thing about this game is that Brandon tried 3 times to spray my “Setup” but I fought it off all three times. The first time I had a 2nd Uxie, so I just dropped the other one to draw the cards I need. I then drew a Pokemon Rescue for a prize. The 2nd time he again Sprayed an Uxie, and I used “Seeker” to do it again. Then on the last turn he used his last spray, but I used the Pokemon Rescue to get another Uxie. Brandon thought he had me there, but I planned ahead well enough to fight him off.

On turn 2 of plus 3 prizes are even. He has just run out of ways to draw DCE, and he has no Luxray in sight. He has to “Claw Swipe” for 3o. I go next and can win with a prize. I attach a Cyclone Energy to Uxie, and he brings up Honchkrow Sv. Honchkrow has 90 HP, one away from what Uxie can do. But, I am able to play the last card in my hand, a Crobat G, for the win.

3-0. What an amazing game. Brandon is a really good player and he put me through a great match.

Round 4-Andrew C. with Luxchomp

Not much to say here. I go first with a Unown R, and he has an Ambipom G, an energy gain, and a Cyrus; so I scoop.

3-1. Getting donked sucks, but it happens.

Round 5- Dan Machamp

This is another one of my great matchups. Dan ended up getting 4th at the end of the day. This game would have gone by very quickly if I would have started 2nd, but I had to start 1st. It also would have gone quicker if the opponent didn’t run Mespirt, but he ran 2.

I start with an Unown Q active and a Crobat G on the bench. I go first, drop an Uxie and an energy to do “Hidden Power” for 30. He then plays a Pokemon Collector for two Mesprits, and sends out a Machoke. I am able to take advantage of the damage counters on Machoke when I bring up Uxie and “Psychic Restore” for the KO. Even though he psychic binded me this turn I still was able to get a knockout.

We go back and forth trading knockouts. He is unable to establish a second Machamp until later in the game, so I am able to get a knockout on most turns. My big misplay came when I used Seeker, and he picked up Mesprit, to just “Psychic Bind” me again. Throughout the game he used VS Seeker 3-4 times for great results.

We are tied up at prizes at the end, and I have 2 Pokemon left. He uses a VS seeker to get Seeker back and then uses it to get me down to 1 Pokemon and then uses “Take Out” on the last guy.

3-2. I started out the day great, but then fell face first. This was a great game, but I just couldn’t pull it out. I knew that I needed to win out and have luck to be able to top cut.

Round 6- SP

I don’t quite know who my opponent was but I know he’s a nice guy. He goes first and uses Call Energy to get 4 basics.

I make a bad move during this game. My opponent left an Unown Q on the bench, and I knocked it out with “Flash Bites.” But, I forgot to take a prize. Fast forward 15 minutes later when I’m still on my same turn, but have ran out of Uxies. My opponent has a damaged Weaville G, but I have to use Seeker to pick up an Uxie, so he picks up Weaville. When I do that I remember,”hey I should have taken the Uxie with my prize, oh crap I didn’t take my prize.” I call a judge over and a humorous moment occurs.

The judge asks me what cards I played after I knocked out the Q, and I handed him my discard pile full of like 45 cards. After having a good laugh we go through the deck and find out that I didn’t play a card that would force me to put my hand in my deck, so I was okay with just taking the prize. I did get a caution, but thats nothing more than a slap on the hand.

The game went well for me after that. My opponent just couldn’t draw a supporter so I was able to take 5 prizes, and I win on time.

4-2. I still have a chance at making top cut, but I am feeling the pain right now. I have a back ache and am feeling really tired. That last game took a lot out of me.

Round 7- Andrew with Gyarados.

Andrew is the cool chap who wrote a Regigas article for this site a couple months ago. But, for some reason he switched to Gyarados.

Andrew knew what was coming because he sat by me for one game. But, he also told me that he ran Mesprits, so I also knew what was coming.

He starts with a Registeel and a Magikarp and goes 1st. I start Crobat G and am ready to go to town. Andrew draws and slowly reveals a Psychic Pokemon, but I can see the yellow tail of an Uxie, instead of Mesprit. He lays down Uxie and prays that he can survive.

I quickly knock out the Magikarp and Seeker the Uxie. Registeel has a Psychic resistance, so this makes the game more interesting. I am able to get 3 “Flash Bites” on the active, but do not have many Plus Powers. I actually make a couple misplays and am unable to cycle though the deck. But, at the end I only need 2 Plus Powers to win. I can’t “Setup” again, but have 1 Pokedrawer + in my hand. I use a Pokedex to reveal another Pokedrawer +, thats game!

5-2. For a second week in a row I am on the bubble and am waiting to see if I top cut. I order my deck and talk to my buddy Robert Hall to pass the time. The standings are finally announced and I am placed at #18, not good enough for top cut.

Props

The judges always do a great job, thanks to them
All my opponents for being nice.
James for buying me lunch.
My Pokemon friends for being cool.
The nice location for the tourney. Ft. Wayne is a cool city, and one I could see myself moving to. It was really cool to play at a ball park too.
Lots of restaurants around the ball park.

Slops

the early 3 hour drive.
Not top cutting at any States.
A lot of my Michigan buddies not being there.
Having 17 people go 5-2.
No comfy chairs.
Mesprit.

I feel that I did pretty well with Uxie during States. I went a combined 9-5 and made my rating a lot better. But, since I didn’t top cut at all, I have to call this States season a disappointment, but not by too much. It is really hard to do well in Michigan right now, and just having a 64% ain’t too bad.

Opinion

Opinion: A Solution to the Kid Problem

Pikkdogs March 18, 2011 9 Comments

Hey everyone in Omar-nation. This is Pikkdogs here with an opinion article that analyzes an aspect of how tournaments are orgainized. I want to point out that I am not a tourney orgainizer or a judge, or anything like that. I don’t have the expierence that other people do, but I do have my expierence as a player. And that is what this article shall be based on.

First, before I get going I want to officially welcome Joel to the Teamomar.com staff. Joel is another Pokemon player in Michigan and I believe he runs a league in the area. He is a nice guy and a good Pokemon player, he should be a great addition to the staff. The only problem with Joel is his unhealthy obsession about Lady Gaga (the person not the deck). Gaga fan or not, we are very happy to have Joel writing for us. We thank Joel for writing and look forward to his future articles.

Pokemon tournaments are a marvel of diversity. When I walked around the Michigan State Championships the other day I saw young people and old people, black people and white people, people who look like models and people who look like extras from the Planet of the Apes.

In today’s U.S. society diversity is a good thing, Americans are not just Finnish or Italian; they are African, Scottish, Irish, Polish, Norweigan, Croatian, Chinese etc … It is this diversity that makes us fairly special. But, however this article is about a diversity that I think is causing more harm than good.
Read More

Pikkdogs’ Uxie Donk Handbook

Pikkdogs’ Stupid Deck Idea: Ampharos Prime.

Pikkdog’s Pikks Three: Gyarados Sf, Defender, and Cinccino

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Crush Hammer, Musharna, and Reuniclus

Discussion of Rule Changes and Possible Format Changes

A Review of Pokemon TCG Online

Recap of States 2011, and Your First Regionals 2011 Preview

Running with Scizors, and Umbreons.

Pikkdogs’ 2011 Indiana State Championship Report

Opinion: A Solution to the Kid Problem

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