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Card Discussion

Pikkdogs top 10 Cards of 2010

Pikkdogs 6 Comments

A big hello to all members of Omar-Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here, and I am counting down the top 10 cards that were released in 2010.  I will rank them based on their current playability, their past usage, and my predicitons on how the card will fair in the future.                 

But before we get to that we have a couple of announcements to talk about.  There is still time to register for the Team Omar 1st Anniversary contest, but you must get your answer into us before midnight on the 31st of December.  That means that if its 2011, you will be too late.  There have not been a lot of entries, so if you hurry up and enter, you have a decent chance at winning a prize.  Also, all of us at the website would like to wish you guys a Happy Newyear.  Hopefully you guys will have fun on New Years Eve, but remember to be safe.                                         

Okay onto the rankings, there have been 4 sets released in 2010.  All of these sets belong to the HS block, the individual sets are: HGSS, HS: Unleashed, HS: Undaunted, and HS: Triumphant. The first two sets of 2010 were playable in the 09-10 format, while the last two were not.  This year is the first year without Lv.X cards, we have gotten Prime and Legend cards instead.  Some of the Prime cards have been playable, while the Legend cards have seen a minimal impact on the format. So with those thoughts out of the way, lets rank the cards of 2010. 

10.  Gengar Prime

The list starts off with Gengar Prime.  This Gengar was released in the Triumphant set and has not had a significant impact on the format yet.  It has seen some play in Trainerlock decks with Gengar SF.  It is mostly used to send Pokemon in your opponents hand to the Lost Zone.  This is mostly effective against Gyarados decks.  If you can send a Magikarp to the lost zone, you will have a huge advanatge in the game.  But as I said this card has not made a huge impact on the format.  It has made it on my list because of its potential.  If the U.S. ever gets the card Lost World, Gengar Prime will become a lot more important.  This is because Lost World is a stadium card that lets you win the game if your opponent has 5 or more Pokemon in the lost zone, and Gengar Prime can easily put Pokemon in the lost zone.  So the future looks bright for Gengar Prime.
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Deck Discussion

Fun with Magnets: A Magnezone Deck.

Pikkdogs 1 Comment

A big hello to all members of Omar-Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here with a deck analysis of a Magnezone deck that I made up.

Before I get into the article, I have a couple of announcements to make.  First, Ed and I at teamomar.com would like to wish you and yours a great Christmas, even though it is a couple days late.  I hope you guys could meet with family and friends and have a good time.  Second, our first ever contest is currently running.  So far the entries have been scant, so if you enter the contest before the deadline, you should have a decent chance at getting a prize.  Okay announcements are over, time to get to the article.

I must issue a disclaimer first, this deck isn’t very good and won’t win a tournament but can be comeptitive against almost any deck.  If you don’t care if you win a tournament or not and just want to win a couple games, this deck could be for you.

I got this idea the day before the first City Championship that I went to this year.  I had been struggling all week to perfect my Gyarados deck, and wasn’t having any success.  So I decided I should either fix the deck quick, or think of something else to play.  After doing some thinking, I took a jog.  On that jog I thought of ways to play a shuppet donk deck, and how to put together a Magnezone deck.  When I came back from the run I was sure that I came back with a consistent Magnezone list, all I had to do was put it together.
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Contest

TeamOmar.com 1 Year Anniversary Contest

Pikkdogs No Comments

Well, its been an entire year.  December 20th 2010 marked the one year anniversary of www.teamomar.com.  The site has came a long way in a year.  It has grown from a site that organizes information for a small amount of people, to being a global website that is known for its Pokemon knowledge.  Ed and I are really excited to see the website grow into what it is today.  So a big happy birthday celebration goes out to all of our readers and all of our freinds who have came and written articles.  I don’t wanna leave anyone out, but I’ll try to give a good shoutout to those who have given us articles: Thanks to Bittyboy, Andrew, Andy, Ava, Pokemon Dan, Omar, and Jona. 

To celebrate our 1st birthday we are giving back to you guys, the readers that have chosen us one of your favorite sites.   We are instituting a contest, winners of this contest will win one of four prizes.  The contest is a bit of a treasure hunt, but we will get back to that later.

We originally had the contest idea last summer, we were just days away from starting the contest, but because of circumstances beyond our control we were forced to scrap it.  Well, now about 6 months later we are bring it back for another go.

The contest goes like this.  Below, we have 14 questions for you that deal with information from the TCG, the video game, and this website.  There are also two questions that deal with some of your personal information, this is just done to prevent cheating.  This contest does require that you include your POP ID and Age.  We are using this information only to make sure that each person has an unique/individualized answer, and we will not do anything else with it.  So as for the contest, find the answer to each question and do what the step has asked you to do with it.  For example, if the question asks you to add the HP of Uxie La to the number of Magikarp that Ed ran in his 2010 Cities deck, the answer would be 74.  Then you would carry that number onto the next step and keep on going till the end.  Here are the Questions:

1.  Start with your pop ID
2.  add the number of damage counters Gengar SF’s “Shadown Room” attack would do to Bastiodon Pt
3.  Subtract the number of wins that Cheffords had in the 2010 Pokemon U.S. Nationals
4.  multiply this by the number of Pokemon Violet City Gym Leader Falkner had has in Pokemon Heart Gold
5.  subtract the amount of damage Kabutop’s MD’s “Chop Up” attack does to Benched Pokemon if he has an expert belt attached.
6.  add the number of Slowking Primes that Pikkdogs used in his Slowpluff deck.
7.  add your age
8.  subtract the level of Celadon City Gym Leader Erika’s Vileplume in Pokemon Blue
9.  add the number of HP that Exploud SV has
10.  add the number of Volbeat and Illumise that Pokemon Dan ran in his Triumphant Pre-Release deck.
11.  subtract the number of coins that a porygon costs in the Celadon City Game Corner in Pokemon Crystal
12.  add the number of coins that you flip for Jirachi Ul’s “Star Dust Song” Poke-Power.
13.  add the number of separate pictures that Ava drew in her “artwork” article
14.  subtract the level in which  Machoke learns the attack “Seismic Toss” in the Pokemon Blue, Red, and Yellow versions.

birthday cakeThis contest is open from now until December 31st, 2010.  If it’s 2011, you’re too late. All you have to do is complete the contest, and send your age, POP ID #, and the answer to the contest question to anniversary@teamomar.com with “TeamOmar.com Anniversary Contest” as the subject.  If you do not have a POP ID # (or are very paranoid and don’t want us to know yours) then send us an email with “ID Number Request-Team Omar.com Anniversary Contest ” as the subject and we will send you a number that you can use in its place.  Though we will try to respond promptly, we can’t guarantee that we will get back to you immediately over these holidays (especially if you ask at the last minute).

If you are chosen as a winner, we will contact you via email about how we can send you your prize. Entries must be received by midnight on December 31st. Unfortunately we are not able to accept any entries from outside of the contiguous 48 states, because of concerns with shipping. So we apologize to all of our foreign fans, we do love you guys, but it just isn’t possible.  And, of course we can only accept one correct entry from one person.

We will randomly select 4 correct entries and those will receive a prize.  We have four prizes available:

  1. One Pokemon TCG Tin
  2. 2 Packs of HGSS Triumphant
  3. One pack of 2010 Play Pokemon Holo Energies
  4. Both the Top and Bottom half of Ho-Oh Legend HGSS.

Winners will be able to pick their choice from the available prizes. We will contact the first winner, and they will select a prize. Then we will contact the 2nd place, and they will select from the remaining prizes and so on.

We will reserve the right to change the prizes or make substitutions at any time (but we don’t see this as likely). We also reserve the right to disqualify any participant (or even cancel the contest) if we feel that it’s necessary. I only say this so we’re covered just in case someone posts all the answers or something like that.

So that’s it for the rules, now all you have to do is figure out the answer and submit it (your POP ID and age) to anniversary@teamomar.com before midnight on the 31st of December.

Good luck.

Card Discussion

Return of the Base Set?

Pikkdogs 9 Comments

Hey all members of Omar-Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here.  Over the weekend our freinds at pokebeach.com posted scans of the cards from the new Black and White Collection set in Japan.  There was a theme in this release and the cards will be very impactful on next years format, so I thought I would post some of my reviews of the cards here.                                                                          

But of course since these are Japanese cards, I have to issue a disclaimer.  I do not read Japanese and am not sure that the person who translated these cards can read it properly either.  So there are possibily translation errors, and it is likely that wording on cards will change as they reach America, so don’t take this wording as the final wording.  Also, it is a personal rule of mine to not believe that a single Pokemon card that was released in Japan will be released in the U.S. until I actually pull it from the pack.  Japan does get a lot of different cards that we don’t, so there is a chance that we will not get some of these cards.

So with that out of the way we will look at some of the imactful cards that are coming out of the Japanese Black and White Set, these are listed in no particular order.

1. Enbuoh– This Pokemon is a Stage 2 Fire Pokemon.  He has 150 HP and a 4 retreat cost.  His Poke-Power, Fervant Dance, allows you to attach a Fire Energy from your hand to any Pokemon, you can do this as many times as you like during your turn.  His attack, Heat Stamp, does 80 damage for RRCC.  Well this Pokemon is a bit of a tank, 150 HP is great and the ability to do 80 isn’t bad, but its his Poke-Power that really brings him playability.  With Fervant Dance you can attach as many fire energies as you want, this makes a lot of cards playable.  Enbuoh seems to be the new version of the old Rain-Dance Blastoise.

2.  Ranculus– This Pokemon is also a stage 2 Pokemon.  He was 90HP and a 2 retreat cost.  His Poke-Power, Damage Swap, lets you move one damage counter from one Pokemon to another, you can do this as many times as you like during your turn.  His attack is not as impressive, it does 30 damage for PPP and an extra 10 for each energy your opponent has attached to the active.  Well, the attack is terrible, but the power is game changing.  The ability to move damage counters is great, and can be used in a lot of decks.  Ranculus seems to be like the Base Set Alakazam.

3.  Gothruzelle– This Pokemon is a stage 2 Pokemon with 130 HP and a 2 retreat cost.  It has a Poke-Body, Magic Room, that does not allow your opponent to play any trainer cards,  Its attack does 30 damage plus 20 for every psychic energy you have attached to Gothruzelle.    Its attack may not be stellar, but the ability to put a trainer lock on your opponent wihtout putting it on yourself is amazing.  This card is like Vileplume EX.

4.  Max Restore.  Max Restore is a trainer card that allows you to heal all damage counters off of a Pokemon and then discard all energy attached to that Pokemon.  I think this could be an impactful card.  The ability to heal damage counters is very nice, and there are some decks that can work around the discard the energy part.  It is similar to Blissey Prime’s Poke-Power. 

There are also some trainer reprints

  1. Crash Hammer is a reprinted Energy Removal 2.  It lets you discard your opponents energy with a coin flip.
  2. Pokemon Communicator is basically Pokemon Communication.
  3. Professor Araragi is a reprinted Professoar Oak from the Base Set.
  4. Revive is a reprinted Pokemon Rescue, but it only works on Basic Pokemon
  5. Pokemon Catcher is a reprinted Gust of Wind.

As you can see it seems like Pokemon is taking a big turn in the future.  The new cards that are being printed are more like the older cards we had.  It seems like the innovation is over, no more Pokemon SP or Level X, its back to the evolution lines and trainers.  The reprint of Gust of Wind is going to be very impactful, it is a very good effect.  Most of the other cards that I did not list in this article, are also kind of similar to the base-set days.  The HPs are similar to modern Pokemon, but the damage output they deliver is just not on par with cards from the Diamond and Pearl and HGSS sets.  The damage output is bigger then that in Base Set days, but not many of them reach past 70 or 80. 

So what do you guys think?  Do you like the return to some old principals?  Or did you like how things were going before? 

Personally I think Pokemon needed to change something.  The SP Pokemon are just way to powerful now, and Pokemon needs to do something to shake up the format. 

This is Pikkdogs signing off and saying So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!

Card Discussion

How to use Seeker

Pikkdogs 3 Comments

A big Hello to all members of Omar Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here with a strategy article.  As you can see, this article will be about the card Seeker.

Well to start out, Seeker has a simple effect.  Both players pick up a Pokemon from their bench, the person who plays it chooses first.

It may be a simple effect, but the many ways that it can be used make it a card that is complicated to use.  It also is a pivotal card, that can easily change the fate of the game.  That being said, it is important that every player know how to play the card.  First we must look at how this card is played.

  1. The first way that this card is used is to heal a benched Pokemon.  This is fairly simple, just setup two main attackers, when one is damaged beyond repair, you retreat or warp it out and then use Seeker and throw those damage counters away.  This use makes it useable for almost any deck.   If you use this strategy, be sure to have Broken Time Space in play, so you can lay down the Pokemon back down again.
  2. Another way to use this card is to use it to re-use a coming into play Poke-Power.  For example, if you only have Seeker in your hand, you can play Seeker and pick up your Uxie La, and then use “Set-Up” again for 7 cards.  This card is also useful for cards like Crobat G, Mespirt La, and Azelf La.

    3. Read More

City Championships Uncategorized

Like Jerry Seinfeld, Pikkdogs is Even Steven, Rochester Hills Cities Report

Pikkdogs 18 Comments

My fellow Seinfeld fans will appreciate the reference to the episode where Jerry continually loses things and then gains things back again.  This is how I felt today at the Rochester Hills City Championships. No matter how hard I fight to break away from the crutches of mediocrity, it pulled me back in, but then I was reminded that it wasn’t that bad.                            Austino's Gyarados

The story of the 2010 Rochester Hills Michigan City Championship begins on Friday afternoon.  I got back from my jog and fired up the computer.  I got a message from Derek, our tournament organizer, saying that he expects a record draw to the next cities and reccomends that we all show up early.  I decided to pass that info on to my buddy Jona, and hope to make it there when registration starts, at 11.  I end up making it by 11:10, the parking lot was full, but I was able to register.  At about 11:20, they begin turning people away, because the fire code only lets 70 people in the building.  This left several players, including last years state champion, away from the tournament.  When I saw this I thought I might have a better shot today, with a cut of top 8 and one less great player.

Lets backtrack here to when I first chose my deck.  Last weekend I went to a cities and wanted to play Gyarados, but mine wasn’t working properly, so I threw together a Magnezone deck.  It was pretty cool, probably the best Magnezone deck I ever seen.  It was a little slow, but once it got going it was unbeatable.  I went to the cities with that deck, and played a Luxchomp, Sablelock, and SP Toolbox.  The Luxchomp made quick work of me, I got donked by sablelock (but then beat him easily in the rematch), and then lost to the SP toolbox, which I had beat the previous night in testing.  After receiving a bye, I went home pretty angry.  The next week I took Ed’s advice and used Austino’s Gyarados List.  This is a basic Gyarados build, so I won’t explain the list.  I like the list because, its all consistency, it only has 1 tech, and this is Dialga G Lv.X, for the trainer lock matchup.  I made 1 small change to his list(another Pokemon Communication instead of a VS seeker) and went with that list. If you wanna see the list you can find it at:

http://www.sixprizes.com/deck-analysis/the-elite-4-decks-part-24-gyarados/ .

Its in the comment section.

Before getting to the tournament, I cranked up the jams from the CD “Family Guy: Live in Las Vegas”, and made the one hour drive north to Rochester Hills.  Once I got there I turned in my list, saw my freind Jona, lent him a card, and then played him in a practice game.  When parings were up I went to the table to meet my first opponent.

Round 1 v.s Cradily.

I think I start Sableye and he starts with two Root Fossils.  I was kinda shaken up cause I didn’t know what deck he was playing.  I remembered seeing the Cradily card, but for the life of me couldn’t remember what it did.  I start a little slower then I want to having to “Time Walk” for a Magikarp, he starts a little slow as well.  When he finally gets  a Cradily I look at it, and see that it has two attacks, “Drain Down” does 30 (for G) damage to a Pokemon on the bench that you can make active and you can heal all damage counters if you knock out that Pokemon, and “Acid” which does 50 (for GCC) and prevents retreating.                                                 

I actually start fairly well after a little slow beginning. I end up taking 5 prizes with a couple good “Flash Bite” drops.  For most of the game he didn’t do much, he once got my Regice active, but I was able to warp him out.  Then all of a sudden he goes crazy out of no where.  He drops 3 SF Cherrims and Shaymin Ground Form Level X, which gives him +30 for all attacks and +40 HP.  He then proceeds to drop Plus Powers and attach an expert belt to knock out Uxies and Crobat G’s with “Drain Down” and heal all damage.  He does this until he takes 4 prizes.  After this, I become very annoyed and decide that I will take no more of this.  I scoop up all Uxies, the Regice, and the Azelf, then I Poke-Turn all Crobat G’s, which leaves the bench empty.  With nothing on the bench, he can’t really do anything and loses when I am able to “Tail Revenge” for the win.

1-0, I commend him on the great comeback, and then get ready for round 2.

Round 2- v.s. Collan Baker and SP Toolbox.

Collan is a friend from Team Warp Point.  I beat him at BR’s at this same venue, and he was looking for some revenge.  I think I start with Uxie and Regice, I pass first turn, the second turn he starts to set up, on my 2nd turn I use collector for Karp, Sableye, and Azelf.  I try to “Regimove” but I get sprayed.  So I scoop up Regice and “Regimove” again, this time I get it.  Then I use Azelf (cause I notice that I prized 2 Magikarps), but when I say “Time Walk” he says “Power Spray.”  So I thought, “no matter I’ll just scoop up Azelf next turn.  5 Super Scoop Ups later I am unable to get a heads and with only 1 karp in the discard pile, my Gyarados is no threat to him.  He just knocks it out and continues to watch as I am unable to get a heads on Super Scoop Up.  I then scoop as time is called.

1-1.  Not much can be done when you prize 2 Magikarps and are unable to get to them.  When I look at the pairings for next round I notice that I get paired up, yay!

Round 3- v.s. Trainerlock

I enter this game still fuming about the 5 tails I got last turn.  But, there’s no time to think about that, I am playing one of my worst matchups.  I don’t start Sableye, but I get him my 2nd turn and collector for 2 Magikarps and my Dialga G.  He starts with 2 Oddish’s, it takes him a while but he does get a SF Gengar out.  I have to waste my Bebe’s Searchs so I cannot get Dialga G X out in time.  I also prize Azelf and Regice, and since I am under trainerlock I have to use Volkners to discard Magikarps.  Towards the middle of the game I get 9 damage counters on Gengar SF, 2 Crobat G’s in my hand, and the Dialga G X.  But just as I am about to bust the game wide open, he uses a Lookers Investigation on me and puts my awesome hand into the deck.  Without the Crobats, I am unable to avoid Fainting Spell, and Gengar takes me with him as I knock him out.  After this I cannot rebound, so I lose another one.                                                                                            

1-2.  Not much can be done about a bad matchup and another bad coin flip.  But a little luck is just around the corner.

Round 4- Trainerlock.

I play another Trainerlock deck, but this one is teched out more with Slowking HGSS and Bellossom Ud.  Those techs are nice, but it seemed to hurt his consistency.  This time I set up faster then his trainerlock does and am able to get setup fast.  The turning point was when I knocked out a Gengar SF and avoid the “Fainting Spell”.  This gives me a huge advantage, and I am able to beat the Bellossom, Vileplume, and Cursegar.

2-2- This time the coin flips go my way.  After this game I look at the parings and I again get paired up, this time against Evan Baker, Yay!

Round 5- Evan’s Luxchomp

For those that don’t know Evan is no doubt the hottest player in the state.  He is consistently beating everyone, even last years state’s winner.  So needless to say I am intimidated and expect to get steamrolled.  He gets a promocroak starts and I get a sableye.  I get going fast, but am unable to find a gyrados for a couple turns.  This proves to be the difference as he is able to get the first kill.  From then on the race is on and we just exchange kill after kill. I am able to get enough Poke Turns to get knock outs without the expert belt, and run over 3 Luxray Gl’s, 1 Garchomp C, and an Uxie.  But alas, after time is called and turn 3 is over, its his turn and he has Garchomp C X active.  He attachs a DCE and shows me a Cyrus’s Conspiracy with a gain in his deck.

2-3.  What an awesome game!  I take one of the hottest players in the country to sudden death and darn near almost beat him!  Evan won all of the Cities last weekend, and took his streak into today’s tournament.  It was all I could do to keep up with him.

Round 6- Magnezone

I am familiar with this matchup since I have a similar deck.  My Magnezone deck has a very favorable matchup to Gyarados.  But, I think my deck is more consistent then this one.  He runs Heatran and Raichu, which slows him down.  He also runs the Level X and does not run the Prime, which I think hurts the deck.                                                                  

He starts with a Spirtomb and a Magnemite.  I start Crobat G and Dialga G.  I again have troubles getting a Gyarados, it takes me like 8 turns because I prized both of my Bebes.   It was weird, I ended up belting a Sableye and getting a couple prizes with “Over Confident.”   But I eventually do get one and a Dialga G X, which makes Spiritomb useless.  Unfortunately, he is able to setup 3 Magnezones and is ready to go crazy on me.  Thankfully, he does not run Lucario Gl and after the loss of 1 Gyarados I am able to “Flash Bite” the field, and OHKO everything with Gyarados after I Super Scoop him up each turn.

3-3.  Just like Jerry Seinfeld, I am an Even Steven.  I think I played well today, even though the record is only mediocre.  Especially with the fact that I always started first, even though I only started Sableye twice.  I didn’t make any misplays my only losses were because of: 5 tails on Super Scoop Up, a bad “Fainting Spell” roll and Lookers Investigation, and playing one of the best players around.  So thats nothing terrible.  I went home pretty happy.

As for comments on the entire field, there was a lot of SPs.  The best players in Michigan play SP’s and a couple play Gyarados and Trainerlock, thats about it.  The Top 4 at this tournament according to Pokegym.net’s City Championship forum was:

1. Marvin A. (LuxChomp)
2. Evan B. (LuxChomp) TEAM WARP POINT
3. Kyle L. (LuxChomp/Mewtwo)
4. Mike M. (Gyarados)

Big Ups to Austino for sharing his list, thanks man!

Tourney Report

Pikkdogs guide for a successful tournament.

Pikkdogs 4 Comments

A big hello to all members of Omar-Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here.  Since its tournament season, I think we should have some tournament related advice for our younger players.

When people see me they always say, “Pikkdogs, what are you doing in my closet?”, then after that they say, “how can I become a better tournament player?”While I haven’t had the best success in tournaments, I have learned a couple lessons that I can share.                                                                                                                                                           

1.  Prepare Your Way

Every article that gives you tournament advise always starts  by telling you to get a good nights sleep and get a good breakfast.  While I agree that this is good and will improve concentration, it is impractical for most people.  Most tournament goers are college age and just never get a good sleep or a good breakfast.  So lets not change the routine, just do whatever it takes to make you normal.  Eating a big breakfast when you normally don’t, can get you a big stomach ache, so just do whats normal.  This step isn’t as important as people think it is.

2.  Don’t change your shuffling routine.

This is a huge step in entering a tournament, and is a piece of advice that is rarely given.  I have seen it a lot of times, people test their deck and it works great, then they arrange their decks to make their list.  While this is fine, in practicing you don’t arrange your deck first before you shuffle.  This inconsistency in shuffling can cause your deck to have a different starting hand then you normally do.  A similar effect can happen when you shuffle your deck for a longer period of time then normal or switch from normal shuffling to pile shuffling.  In theory shuffling your deck makes sure that your deck is randomized, this does not always happen, and different shuffling techniques get different results.  I have seen many people, even myself, fall victim to a different shuffling routine. To combat this I usually play a practice game before the tournament, or just play a solitaire game to get your deck like it would be if this were practice.

3.  Focus

During the tournament, your first few games will be fairly easy in regards to focus.  You will most likely be interested in the game and have fun with it, you won’t have any trouble concentrating.  But if you make it to the top cut rounds, the story could change.  You will most likely be playing a great player who knows you and your deck inside and out, on top of that, you will probably be tired, hungry, and thirsty.  This makes it very important, and very hard to concentrate.  To combat this, bring a couple bucks to get water and snacks from the candy machine.  In an ideal world, you would have some friends who will go to a restaurant and bring you back some good food.  Another thing you can do to improve concentration is to find a comfy seat to sit in between tournaments.  If thats not possible, climb into the backseat of your car and get a 10 minute break between games, if time allows.

4.  Follow the rules

This may seem like an easy thing to do, but I can tell you some horror stories.  The most famous recent case was the player who wrote on his deck list “3 Magikarp, and 4 Gyarados.”  No Pokemon player who has been to a tournament would believe that anyone would play a 3-4 line of Gyarados.  The player obviously just mixed up the number of Karps and Dos’s, because there is nothing to gain from mixing them up on the deck sheet.  This player made top cut, but was disqualified for a simple mistake.  So, things like this do happen. Also make sure you know what cards are legal, if you bring an illegal card you will have to replace it with a basic energy card.   Be careful when you fill out a decklist and make sure you follow other rules.  Like don’t make a lot of noise, repeated offenses could get the judges to penalize you.  Another thing is to make sure your sleeves are in mint condition.  Not all judges care about the condition of sleeves, but there are some Sleeve Nazi’s out there.  I have taken a penalty for this before.   And, of course don’t cheat this won’t help you do well.

5.  Get in the zone.

One important thing to remember is to maintain a good game psychology.  I have came into many games in which I was sure I was going to win, needless to say, I didn’t come out of those games happy.   Other people have told me that if they don’t think that they can win the game, then they might as well not even try.  Different players have different states of mind that they have to be in, it is important to choose the one that lets you relax and remain focused.  It is often helpful just to think of the game as a turn by turn affair, and not to think of who your opponent is or what other disadvantages you have.  This allows you to think about your weakness’s in the current game, and not to fool with other emotions.

6.  Get the Prep Work Done and Have Fun.

Once you have internalized the other tips, just sit back and have fun.  Don’t worry about your next match-ups, just retain your focus.  Say Hi to some friends and have a good time, don’t take it the tournament too seriously.  Always make sure that you are having fun, this is the most important part of a tournament.

Well thats all my advice.  I invite other people to leave advice on this topic in the comment box.  Good luck in the tournaments that you go too.

So long and Thanks for all the fish.

Deck Discussion

“Steeling” the Show with Steelix Prime

Pikkdogs 17 Comments

Hi Everyone, this is Pikkdogs here.  I hope your preparations for Cities are going well.  I hope today you might learn something about possibly a deck to play, or a deck that you might play against.  City tournaments start in just a few days, so get ready for your final preparations.

Another housekeeping issue is that we at Team Omar wish you guys a Happy Thanksgiving.  I love Thanksgiving, it has a lot of turkey, stuffing, gravy, and pie; so what could be wrong with that?  So I hope you guys are able to go home and meet with your family to have a great Thanksgiving.

A final housekeeping issue is that next month will mark our first anniversary.  Ed and I are tossing ideas around to celebrate this mark.  We are trying to think of a good contest idea, but are having a little trouble.  If anyone has an idea of how to best celebrate our first year of operation, please leave the idea in the comment box.                                    

Okay, now onto the article.   At the end of the battle road season I wrote an article that reported my tournament results.  I played two decks for the BR season, Trainerlock and Steelix.  I posted my Trainerlock decklist, and wrote that I would post my Steelix decklist soon.  Well, I forgot to do that.  So now that Cities are coming up, now seems to be the perfect time to write the article.  It should help people prepare to face the deck, and it should help people who are still looking for a deck to play.
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Deck Discussion

The New Machamp- Does it work?

Pikkdogs 10 Comments

A big Hello to all members of Omar-Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here.  I noticed the website has had a lack of content (Ed must be pulling a Rip Van Winkle or something), so to pick up the slack I will talk to you guys about Machamp Prime and what changes in the format will come about.                                                                     

As you know, Machamp Prime came out in the new Triumphant set.  It is a decent card, it lets you do 60 damage for FCC and 100+ damage for FFCC, and it has a decent Poke-Power that lets you move energy cards to it.  But, Machamp SF is still in the format and has a large history in the format.  Machamp SF is known as an excellent card, because it allows you to knock out any basic Pokemon, for just 1 energy.

Together these cards can make a good deck.  But, how should we go on about building a deck.  Most Machamp decks play like a speed deck, trying to get a Machamp SF out as fast as possible.  If you can get Machamp SF up on turn 1, and start taking prize cards right away, you will take  a large lead that is hard to give bacl.  To get a fast Machamp, most lists use a lot of trainers.  Other people have teched their lists out to give the deck an advantage against specific decks. To analyze them, I’ll take a look at specific techs.

1.  Donphan Prime.  People have talked about Donphan Prime as a great combo with Machamp Prime.  This is because Donphan can damage your own bench, and Machamp Prime takes advantage of a bench with damage encounters, with it’s second attack.

The problem with Donphan is that it takes deck space without really doing much.  There really isn’t much difference between 130 and 100 damage on a consistent basis, so the damaged bench doesn’t help you that much.  And Machamp SF is already a great early attacker, so you don’t really need Donphan to attack.  The only advantage he gives you is the fact that he doesn’t need rare candy to evolve, and is not weak to Psychic.

Recommendation: Don’t Tech, Machamp SF is better then Donphan Prime early game, so why put in Donphan?      

2.     Dusknoir Sf (Shadow Command). Dusknoir gives you two big advantages, one is that it gives you a draw engine, another is that Dusknoir can hit other Machamp decks for weakness. Props to Scott Faust for showing me this tech, he didn’t really show it to me, but I think it was his idea.  Most decks already run 4 rare candies, so adding in a 1-0-1 tech of Dusknoir isn’t going to slow the deck down that much.  Also, having a draw engine is very valuable to any deck.

The downside of Dusknoir is that you would also have to run 2 psychic energies, and it can be hard to find those energies when you really need them.

Reccomendation: Tech, if you want to.  I don’t think it can be that consistent, but its not a bad play.

Gengar Sf:  This is the old GengChamp deck.  It can also hit another Machamp for weakness, and has a lot of extra goodies, like Fainting Spell and Shadow Room.  It also can attack for just 1 energy, this makes it more flexible then Dusknoir.

The downside of this tech is that it isn’t 2009 anymore.  The format has changed since GengChamp ruled the format a year or so ago.  The synergy that they once had, is now lost.

Reccomendation: Don’t tech.

There are more techs out there, the limits are endless.  Those were just three of the more popular techs.

Now that we got that out of the way, lets take a look at a list that I drew up.  Its more of a straight-machamp type deck that relies on speed

Pokemon-20

  • 4-Machop
  • 3-Machoke
  • 2-Machamp Sf
  • 2-Machamp Prime
  • 3-Unown R
  • 1-Unown Q
  • 1-Azelf
  • 3-Uxie La

Trainers-29

  • 4-Rare Candy
  • 2-Broken Time Space
  • 4-Poke-Drawer +
  • 4-Pokedex
  • 3- Judge
  • 2-Pokemon Communication
  • 3-Pokemon Collector
  • 3-Bebe’s Search
  • 2-Warp Point
  • 1-Pokemon Rescue
  • 1- Palmers Contribution

Energy: 11

  • Fighting-7
  • DCE-3
  • Warp-1

This deck is pretty basic and vanilla.  It has unown Rs and trainers to get Machamps fast, and it has Judge’s to disrupt the opponent.  Props to Austino for the basic build of this deck, he listed his straight Machamp deck, and I tweaked it to make it work with Machamp Prime.

So does it work?  Well yes and no.  The deck does work, it gets a Machamp fast and lets you switch to Machamp Prime when needed.  The problem is that it faces some bad matchups with some of the best decks out there.  It does well against SP decks, but fails against other decks.  The Gyaraodos matchup is iffy, Gyarados just has too much HP and can deal too much damage for Machamp.  Machamp just can’t deal consistent enough damage against Gyarados.  The Gengar VileTomb matchup is fairly problematic because your deck relies on trainers.

So it has a lot of disadvantages, but it is still a good deck.  It can stop SP decks and most other decks.  If Trainerlock isn’t huge in your metagame, this deck could be a good play for the upcoming City Championships.

So what are your favorite Machamp builds?  Let us know in the comment box.

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