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Pikks Three

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Dark Explorers Edition: Espeon DE, Hooligans Jim and Cass, and Raikou EX

Pikkdogs 6 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  Since we are in the time right before serious testing is about to start for Spring Battle Roads, I thought it would be a good time to do a Pikk Three article.  This is a special Dark Explorers edition of Pikk Three,  we will showcase some of the more interesting cards from the Dark Explorers set that I haven’t talked about yet.

But first, we must bring in Pedro because if we don’t, I think the government will have to start paying him unemployment.  So its easier if we let him speak.  Hey Pedro.

Yo.

Hey Pedro, you have been doing a lot of news articles lately, why don’t you try a this day in history.

Because I don’t know which day it will be published?

Well, just pick a day.

Okay, on this day, May 5th, John T. Scopes was arrested for teaching Darwinism.  What followed was one of the more highly publicized trials of its day.  The trial was nicknamed the Scopes Monkey Trial.  Pikkdogs, you were once on trial for a crime that included monkeys weren’t you?

Well it’s best not to talk about that.

I guess.  Do you like the evolution? 

I’m a skeptic.  I don’t not believe in it, but I’m not 100% sold on it either.  It does make some sense, but then again there are some HUGE holes in it.  Who knows what happened, I wasn’t there.

I don’t much like the evolution talk.  But, when we talk about early man, we can show the picture of Raquel Welch in a fur bikini from the movie “One Million Years B.C.” because that was about early man. 

Okay, show it.

Yep, much better than the Scopes Monkey Trial. 

True, time to get on with the article.

Card #1 Espeon DE.

Description– Espeon is a stage 1 Psychic Pokemon with 90 HP, a 1 retreat cost, and a psychic weakness.  Its Ability is called “Solar Revelation” and it stops all effects of attacks on any of your Pokemon that have energy on them.  The attack is just okay.  It is called “Psy Report” and it does 60 damage for PCC and lets you look at your opponents hand.

Analysis– Since Espeon has had no hype prior to its release, why don’t we go to the stats?  The stats of Espeon are fairly bad.  The one retreat cost is good, but it goes downhill from there.  The weakness is terrible and the HP is terrible.  It is a free prize to almost any deck.

The Ability is what we came here for.  The ability to stop effects of attacks can be great.  There doesn’t seem to be a great reason to use it right now, but this baby sure has potential to be used in the future.  It is a good Ability to have, it reminds me a lot of Pokemon three years ago with Unown G.  Unown G worked as a tool card that did the same thing as Espeon, but it was better since it was a basic Pokemon that didn’t really have to be on the field.

The attack of Espeon is not that great.  Even though I will take a look at my opponent’s hand if you give me a free one, it is not a great thing to do normally.  60 damage is very low in this format, its not even that much if you double it against Mewtwo EX.

So we got the basics out of the way, let’s talk about if we think it will see some play.  I already said that it could have some good uses in the future, which it could.  But, it is hard to really rate based on potential.  I do see some possible play with Mewtwo EX.  If in the near future special conditions rule the format, than Espeon will be a great tech.  Possibly there will be a good paralysis or burn deck out there that works well on EXs.  It does have potential, but its not a great choice right now.

Final Rating– 5.75.  Could be a good card in the future.  Even though you shouldn’t keep it close to you, do not keep it too far away, it could be a good card if the format changes just a little bit.

Card#2- Holligans Jim and Cas

Description– HJC is a supporter card that is very unlike most supporters in the format.  When you play it you get to flip a coin, if you get heads you can choose 3 random cards from your opponent’s hand and have your opponent shuffle them back into the deck.  If you get tails, you get to swear in frustration.

Analysis– This is a very interesting card.  We haven’t had much disruption in the game for about a year, so its nice to see the format get more versatile.

HJC didn’t get any hype before its release, and nobody talked about it being in any deck.  So there’s not much to talk about in this category.

As I mentioned, disruption is not really something we have in this format.  There are a couple cards like Weavile that can do the disruption, but it is yet to prove that it can be a viable deck.  So, the question is; “will HJC be good enough to resurrect disruption?”  While disruption is one of the best strategies in a TCG, I don’t feel that this card is consistent enough.

The problem with this card is not the 3 card max.  Three cards are good.  The problem is also not that you don’t get to see what cards you are sending back, with three chances you have a decent shot of getting something good with the low hand sizes in this format.  The problem is also not that the cards go back in the deck, the discard pile would be better, but just getting it out of the hand is good enough.  The problem is the coin flip.  You have a 50 percent chance of it not working.  In Pokemon you have to have a glass half empty philosophy, you just can’t count on luck to always bail you out.    You need to rely on what will work 100% of the time, not 50%.

So, I think the lack of consistency will hurt this card.  Does that mean that it will not be played?  I don’t think so, other cards have worked that include a coin flip, so its not like all the odds are against HJC.  But, this card just seems to be so all or nothing that it could be hard to get any consistency with it.  If you do want to try it, maybe make a disruption deck that was popular at last year’s nationals (Ambipom and Weavile), and see if the deck is any better now.

Final Rating– 5/10– There is potential here for this card to be better, just not a lot.  I don’t see this card doing well in the near future.

Card #3- Raikou EX

Description– Everybody went cockahoop when I didn’t put Raikou in my ten most impactful cards article.  So, I decided it deserved another look, maybe it is a good card.

It is a basic lightning EX Pokemon with 170 HP, a 1 retreat cost, and a fighting weakness.  The first attack isn’t that great.  “Thunder Fang” does 30 damage for LC and lets you flip a coin, if you get heads you can paralyze the defending.  The second attack is much better. “Volt Bolt” is hard to say 5 times fast, and lets you snipe for 100 and discard all energy attached.

Analysis– There was a small amount of hype when Raikou was announced, but not a whole lot.  Some people thought he could be a good addition to the Zekrom deck.  They didn’t think it was the best ever, but with Skyarrow Bridge and Eelektrik they thought it might work.

Let’s look at the stats.  170 and 1 retreat cost is normal for an EX, not bad.  The fighting weakness could be really bad, but we will have to see if fighting Pokmeon become a big thing.  The attacks aren’t bad, so the stats of this card aren’t that bad.

I do agree that this could be a good card in Zekrom.  The 1 retreat goes well with Skyarrow Bridge if you would want to put it in this deck, that would make up for the discarding.  Of course anything that uses electric energy works well with Eelektrik.  The ability to snipe is something that is always nice to have.  One good thing about this card in Zekrom is that it is fairly splashable.  Using this card wouldn’t screw up consistency or anything like that, it is an easy fit.  Plus, it is always nice to have the ability to paralyze, just in case you run into some weird rogue deck.

The reason that I didn’t include this card in my top 10 list is that I don’t think he will really impact the Zekrom deck at all, and I don’t see him making his own deck.  Players can already play Zapdos, and that has a sniping attack.  So, sniping is not something new in a Zekrom deck, there already is a sniping element there.  Even if you find that Raikou is better than Zapdos, it still doesn’t really change the deck or make it that much better.  The deck may be better with Raikou than without (or may not), but its not going to be that much better.  With or without Raikou the deck will go on and be the same as it always was.

I also do not think that sniping is that important these days.  There are no bench sitters these days, and in the rare event that you do want to hit someone for the bench, you can just run one of those little known cards called Pokemon Catcher.  With Catcher there is no real reason to really want to snipe a lot, it is nice to do it in certain situations, but it could be nice.  I just don’t think that being “nice” is very impactful.

Now, I am not badmouthing Raikou.  I do think that it is a good card.  Doing 100 damage with a 1 retreat is nice.  I could see a couple chain of attacks going on with a couple Raikous and three Eelektrik.  I could see it doing well in Zekrom.  It could be a very successful card, but I just don’t classify it as “impactful.”

 

Final Rating–8/10- It is a decent card, it just doesn’t seem like the best EX out there right now.  There are other options out there like Zekrom EX, he does 50 more damage for his big attack than Zekrom.  So, I would just rather use Zekrom and Pokemon Catcher than Raikou.  The best move for this format may be to add 1 or 2 Raikous to your Zekrom deck, but its not really going to push Zekrom over the top or anything like that.

 

Well, that was another below average article for us.  Why don’t you end it with something exciting Pedro.

Alright, our final bit of news comes from the world of technology.  It seems that scientists and robotics experts in Switzerland have created robots that you can control with your mind.  Apparently, the Swiss scientists are designing these robots so that paralyzed people can still do things like open doors and stuff like that by just using brainwaves.  Do you want a mind controlled robot Pikkdogs?

Of course.  That’s like asking “who wants ice cream?”  Everybody wants ice cream, and everybody wants a mind controlled robot.

What would you do with your mind controlled robot. 

Probably teach him to fight.

Like that Hugh Jackman movie, “Real Steel.”

Love that movie, it was like Rocky but with robots.  And if there was one thing that was missing from Rocky it was giant boxing robots.

Yeah, I think that that movie proved that all movies should have giant fighting robots in it.  Movies are just better with giant robots. 

Yeah,  what if “Gone with the Wind” had robots in it, than whatever that was gone with the wind probably wouldn’t go.

And all those “Sex and the City” movies.  The giant robots can just punch those whiny chicks in the face so we don’t have to hear them be annoying anymore.

Agreed, all movies are better with giant robots.  Good night everybody.

10 Impactful Cards

Top 10 Most Impactful Cards of Dark Explorers

Pikkdogs 15 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs with my quarterly article about the most impactful cards in the upcoming set.  This time we have  a set named “Dark Explorers.”  Though it sounds like a porn movie about African American chicks, it could be a set that impacts Nationals in a big way.  Is it full of cards that are all hype, or will this set set the pace for Nationals?   Let us take a look at some of the cards in this set to find out.  But, before we start we have a couple announcements for you.

The first is that I want you guys to put your own top 10 of Dark Explorers in the comment box.

The second is that we have a contest going on right now.  Look here for the rules and stuff.  Look here for some fun with Noozles.

The third is that Pedro has a news article for us to get us started.  Hows it going Pedro?

Oh doing well Pikkdogs. Today’s news comes from the world of medicine.  Foxnews.com is reporting that according to a new study, people who suffer from nighttime teeth grinding can be cured by receiving Botox injections.  But, it seems that there are side effects to this drug.  You will stop grinding your teeth, but you will have the irresistible urge to marry a Kardashian.  

That would be terrible.  What if you meet Khloe, the big one,  you’d be screwed.

Plus, you would go through life without having to show emotion.  It makes you like a real life Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Hate that guy.  He butchered Mr. Freeze in one of those 90’s Batman movie.  One of my favorite villans of all time, and he slaughtered him.

But, he did make up for it with that funny, “Go Chargers” soundbite. 

I guess, but let’s go to the article.

The Top 10 Most Impactful Cards

10. Entei EX

What’s this?  We start our list off with a fire Pokemon not named “Reshiram”?  Yes, finally Reshiram takes a back seat to an old school fire Pokemon, one of the legendary dogs, Entei.

The card has solid stats.  180 HP is the best in the business.  The water weakness is expected and not that bad.  The three retreat cost is standard for an EX.

The first attack burns the defending Pokemon for 2 energies an does 30 damage.  This works well with one of the most interesting cards in the set, Volcarona.  I could see these two cards doing well together.  The second attack is a little under-powered, but it has a good twist in it.  Most big attacks by fire Pokemon do a lot of damage and require a discard, this is different as it only does 90 damage, but attaches an energy from the discard pile to the bench.

When we talk about the playability of Entei EX we are talking about two things.  One thing is a part of a combo with Volcarona.  This deck might work, it is something to test.  The other thing with Entei is as a secondary attacker in Reshiphlosion.  It may not have the pop that the Reshirams have, but it can burn the defending Pokemon.  Burning can go a long way against big HP EX Pokemon.  Special Conditions are something that those EX Pokemon do not like.  It may not take them out right away, but it will eventually do them in.

I could see Entei going right in to a Reshiphlosion deck.  Reshiphlosion is on life support right now, and I am not sure if Entei is enough to save it, but I do see this card making an impact on the format.  It is just a great card that can have an impact, even if we cannot see that impact right now.  I like this card and see it doing well eventually.

9.  Zoroark

Zororark is one of the Pokemon that the dark side will be relying on if they want to take over the format.  Zoroark is a nice versatile swarming attacker that can use a lot of the new dark trainers.  If Zoroark pans out and is good in this format, watch out, Dark decks can be really good.

The stats don’t seem too impressive. 100 HP is a little disappointing, the retreat cost is bad, and the fighting weakness is a tough thing to have.  The only good part of his stats is the psychic resistance.  His second attack is a rage like attack, but he doesn’t really have enough HP for that to make a difference.  It is his first attack that will be used.  It does 20 damage for every one of your Dark Pokemon in play, that means it maxes out at 120.

Or does it?  What gives Zoroark the potential to be so impactful are Special Darkness Energy, Dark Patch, and Dark Claw.  If Zoroark has 2 Special Darks attached and a Dark Claw, the attack now maxes out at 160.  That is just 2 Plus Powers away from OHKOing all EX Pokemon in the format.  While I realize that 2 Special Darks, a Dark Claw, and 2 Plus Powers are a lot to ask,  it’s not impossible to pull off a couple times a game.  With Dark Patch we could see a pretty good stream of Zoroarks out there, and that could scare people.

People will be trying out the Dark Deck, and I think that there is a lot of good things about the deck.  It could be a good deck going into Spring Battle Roads and Nationals, and Zoroark will be with this card every step of the way.  I am not sure if the dark side will once again rule the empire like some people think, but it is something to worry about.  I could see the deck doing well.

8.  Random Receiver

No Random Receiver is not who Tim Tebow throws the ball to, it’s the name of a Pokemon Card.  This card lets you reveal cards from your deck until you see a supporter, and then put that into your hand.

Random Receiver is a card that is automatically in competition with Poke Gear 3.0.  Most people have come to love Poke Gear, and they are not happy that Random Receiver is in the format.  They say that because Poke Gear let’s you choose between different supporters it is better.  I disagree.

I have never been a Poke Gear fan, and am very happy to see Random Receiver enter the format.   Although I think that supporter search cards are not that great.  If I did play a Supporter search card,  I would want one that always gets me a supporter, and that’s what RR does.  How many times have you heard people complain that Poke Gear did not net them any supporters?  It has happened a lot.

We can forget all of those times that we never got a supporter, and now run Random Receiver instead.  Trainers and Supporters are supposed to increase consistency, and Random Receiver is much more consistent than Poke Gear.  I think that in this format, just getting  a supporter is the most important thing.  Most people use supporters for draw and hand refresh, and don’t really care whether they get a Professor Juniper or a Professor Oak’s New Theory.  So, it doesn’t really matter what supporter you get.  Sure, there are other supporters out there that are used like Pokemon Collector, but most supporters are for draw or hand refresh.

So will Random Reciever be impactful? I think it will be.  I think that RR will soon replace Poke Gear, and decks will be more consistent because of it.

7. Ultra Ball

We go from one Item card that already has an equal, to another item card that has an equal.  Ultra Ball lets you search your deck for any Pokemon and put it into your hand, but you do have to discard two cards from your hand.

The tendency in Pokemon search cards has been to ease off of cards like Pokemon Communication and go for cards that just get basic Pokemon.  Since basic Pokemon are ruling the format right now, it only makes sense that we use more basic Pokemon friendly cards.  Cards that find evolution cards are not that important right now, but that doesn’t mean Ultra Ball will go un-noticed.

There were two bad things about Communication.  The first was that there were better cards for basic Pokemon, and the second was that you needed another Pokemon in your hand.  This was very problematic in this format where we do not run much more than 15 Pokemon.  Now we do not need to have an extra Pokemon just to search for one.

Sure discarding two cards is not good in a format that does not give us a draw engine in Pokemon form.  And we are already discarding two cards with Junk Arm, so it is hard to  discard cards from your hand.  But, I think most people would rather discard cards from their hand than try to find a Pokemon in their hand.

I do think that this card will have an impact on this format.  I expect it to be about as popular as Pokemon Communication.  The use of this card could also bring up the use of cards like Cheren and Bianca.  If you do use Ultra Ball, you better be prepared to draw a lot of cards to make up for the ones you are discarding.

6.  Groudon EX

There are three types that are expected to be big after the release of Dark Explorers.  Those types are Psychic, Dark, and Electric.  Two of those types are weak to fighting Pokemon, so we are in great need of fighting Pokemon.  One of the better fighting Pokemon that is out right now is Groudon EX.

Groudon is kind of like the anti-Zoroark.  Zoroark had terrible stats but great intangibles.  Groudon has great stats and only decent intangibles.  180 HP is great for  a fighting Pokemon, and with an Eviolite and the lightning resistance, he will be Zekrom’s worst nightmare.  Groudon’s first attack isn’t great, 20 damage for FC and spreading 10 to your opponents field.  But, his second attack does 80 damage for FFC and could do 40 more if your opponent’s defending Pokemon has at least 2 damage counters on it.

The second attack could be better.  I would rather have a base damage of 90 on the attack, and not have the possibility of 40 more.  That way you would be able to OHKO any Zekrom and Darkrai EX.  But, as the attack is worded right now, you will be able to OHKO all Fighting weak Pokemon if they have two damage counters on them.  How will you be able to get those damage counters on the defending Pokemon.  You could attack twice with the first attack, or you could use one of my least favorite cards, Rocky Helmet.  That card will put 2 damage on the defending Pokemon if they choose to attack you.  That is enough to do 120 base damage.  But, I fear that your opponent will be too smart to fall for that trap and they will do anything to prevent you getting an OHKO.  Without the easy 2 damage counters, it will be hard to get the OHKO.  This will hurt the card, but it is not the end of Groudon EX.  Adding a simple Plus Power will give you more than enough damage to OHKO a fighting weak EX.  And you will still be able to use the Pokemon Tool cards like Eviolite and Exp. Share.

So, does this card have a place in the format?  I think it does.  I don’t see a deck right now that this card can fit in, but kind of like Terrakion, Groudon is good enough to make its own deck.  It is simple enough to have a Terrakion style simple Item based deck.  I could see this card doing really well in the future.  This is an overall good card for the format.

5.  Darkrai EX

The Dark attacker that everyone is talking about is Darkrai EX.  Although I have always disliked Darkai because he looks like a big black chicken, he could be of the most impactful cards in Dark Explorers.

Darkrai EX has some of the best EX stats.  It has the full 180 HP, but only has a 2 retreat cost.  A resistance on an EX is unexpected, and it has a great one, psychic.  Sure the fighting weakness hurts, but that can be played around.  It has a decent Ability, “Dark Cloak”, gives everybody free retreat if they have a Dark energy attached.  This is good, but usually if you have one energy attached retreating is not a huge deal.  I see this Ability being used more in a rogue deck than a meta Dark Deck.  The attack does 90 damage and snipes 30.  90 isn’t great, but it can be approved with Dark Claw and stuff like that.  The 30 sniping isn’t something that I look for, but I would never pass up 30 damage on any Pokemon.

All of the Dark Decks that are being thought of out there have Darkai EX as a big part of its attack strategy.  Although the attacks base damage is just 90, it can be bumped up to 130 very easily.  130 may not be the 150 that Zekrom EX can do, but it is still enough to get the job done.  Don’t forget about the 30 that it does from sniping.  That could add up and knock out Pokemon like Eelektrik, Smerargle, and Celebi.  That extra prize could be what determines the outcome of the game.

So how impactful will Darkrai be?  I think he will be impactful.  I am not convinced if he will take over the format, but the Dark Deck will be played and will have at least some success.  You gotta love decks that are based on trainers in this format, and that is what the Dark Deck is all about.  As long as the Dark Deck can keep its strategies simple, it should be able to be around Tier 2.

4. Dark Claw

One of the most impactful cards of this set is an Expert Belt like card, you gotta love that.  All Dark Pokemon can now do 20 more damage to the active with all attacks.  This should give Dark Pokemon the advantage that they haven’t ever had.  Look for this card to make all Dark Pokemon more playable.

Dark Claw is the card that could possibly make the Dark Deck a tier 2 deck.  Having the ability to add 20 more damage means a whole heck of  a lot.  It could really put Dark Decks over the top and give them a huge advantage.  Not only do most Dark Pokemon have resistance on the best Pokemon in the format, now they can do 20 more damage.  There are a lot of Dark Pokemon out there that can OHKO most Pokemon in the format with Dark Claw and Special Darkness Energy, that means a whole lot in this format.

So will it be the most impactful card? No, will it be used a lot throughout its entire life?  I think so.  I think we will always see a dark deck around that uses Dark Claw, its such a  good card.

3.  Heatmor

All Durant players were dreading the release of Heatmor, and now the day is here.  But will Durant’s mortal enemy end his run as a top tier deck, or will it be too impractical?

Let’s take a quick look at its stats.  The 90 HP and 1 retreat cost are good stats to have.  That is basically everything we need to know here, except the first attack.  “Hot Lick” does 10 damage for one energy, or 60 damage  to Durant (120 with weakness).

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s see if this card can get rid of Durant.  A Durant counter should have three aspects: a one energy attack, the ability to OHKO it, and the ability to be splashed in to any deck.  This counter has every one of those aspects.  I think Heatmor is all you need to win against Durant 90% of the time.

Now, will using Heatmor hurt your deck more than it will helps it?  Sure having Heatmor will give you an autowin against Durant, but will it hurt consistency more than it helps against Durant.  It will suck to start Heatmor against a non-Durant deck.  It could give your opponent a huge advantage, and with decks right now running 6-10 basics, starting with Heatmor is a real possibility.   But, this is not the first time that we have heard of  a player using one card for just one other deck.  It usually doesn’t hurt consistency that much, so I don’t see why Heatmor should be different. 

The interesting thing in my mind is the question of when will people stop playing Heatmor?  Most people will start playing Heatmor soon, and that will encourage people to not play Durant.  But, when people don’t play Durant, than there is no reason to play Heatmor.  When nobody plays Heatmor, than you should go back to playing Durant.  So it will be interesting to see how much play this card gets, and if it gets enough play to kill Durant.

Heatmor may or may not kill Durant, but it no doubt has a great deal of potential to effect the format in a negative and positive way.  Very impactful card here.

2. Tornadus EX

One of the most versatile EX attackers in the format will be Tornadus.  The regular Tornadus was a great card because it was versatile, it seems that these same traits will be in the EX version.  The EX card seems a lot like the regular Tornadus, just more HP nad more attack power.

Tornadus still has that pesky lightning weakness, which will be a HUGE problem for this card.  It was one thing to get OHKOed for 1 prize, but a 2 prize OHKO will hurt even more.  But, it still has a place in the format against the great fighting decks that will soon hit the format.  I like its two attacks.  The first does 30 damage for CC, or 60 if a stadium is in play.  And the third does 100 for CCC with the possibility of a discard.

This card can go right into all most any deck.  Any deck that has Tornadus can have Tornadus EX.  Expect to see it a lot in CMT and Zekrom.  Those cards will be a lot better because of this card.  One of the bad things about the regular Tornadus was the lack of a one energy card attack (one that does damage anyway), and now that has all changed.  Tornadus EX is more versatile than Tornadus and can hit harder.  It just needs to be aware of the OHKO with electric Pokemon.  If you can afford to sit Tornadus against electric decks, than you have a great deck.

Tornadus EX is a card that will be around for a long time, it will have a big impact on the format.

  1.      Dark Patch

In my opinion, the most impactful card in this set is this energy recovering trainer.  Anything with any kind of energy acceleration is much needed in this format.  People will go crazy over anything that can load up a Dark Pokemon in one turn.  Pokemon is all about being fast, so anything with energy acceleration will be impactful.

It might be a bit of a stretch to put Dark Patch at #1, but I think it is a safe bet.  How confident are you guys that the EXs will be around in a year?  I know that Dark Patch will always be around and make some sort of an impact.  You will never throw away an easy form of energy acceleration, it is that important.  I picked Dark Patch here because I know it will always be a good card.  Especially with cards like Dark Claw around, Dark Energy will always be a good thing to have attached.

So what kind of impact will this card have?  I think it has a good chance of being a big part of a tier 2 deck.  I also think that even if the Dark side does not rule the empire, it will still impact the format as a rogue card.  I think that this card has more upside, and more potential for an impact than other cards.  Sure Tornadus EX might be better, but is Tornadus EX  that much better than the regular Tornadus?  I don’t think so.  There are other options when it comes to most of the EXs out there, but there is not really a viable option for Dark energy acceleration.

I love trainers in this format, and Dark Patch is one heck of a trainer.  The ability to have energy acceleration is not an ability that comes around too often.  Plus, Junk Arm gives you the ability to grab it from the discard pile whenever you want.  A deck that runs off of great items is great in the format, and Dark Patch is the most important part in what could be one of the newest and best decks in the format.

 

Conclusion

Well, Pedro, I am all done here.  Do you have some news to end this article?

Sure.  Our last bit of news to end the article comes from the world of entertainment.  Last weekend the motion picture “The Raven” was released to theaters.   The movie of course is a fictional account of the life of American poet and author Edgard Allan Poe.  You, Pikkdogs, are a big fan of the Edgar Allan Poe aren’t you?

Love the Edgar Allen Poe.  Love his detective stories, and his short stories as a whole.

Did you know that Poe married his cousin?

Yes, we have something in common.  I am in a relationship with my third cousin.

It didn’t work out with the first two?

No.

Anyway, this movie stars the boombox holding John Cusak.  We couldn’t make the movie “Say Anything” these days, Cusak would just be holding up an Ipod instead of a boombox, and that is not as impressive.  

She probably wouldn’t have been able to see the Ipod, it would just look like he was shaking his fist at the girl.

And that won’t make a girl fall in love with you. 

Well, it depends on what kind of girl you want to attract I guess.  Have a good night everybody.

Contest National Championships

2012 Unofficial Pokemon Nationals After Party Contest!!!! Free Tickets to a Concert with Good Luck Varisty, PK Fire, and Rival Summers

Pikkdogs 7 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. 

Nationals last year was great, but it just was missing some rock and roll.  That will not be the case this year.

I am here to confirm to you that there will be a Pokemon Nationals After Party this year.  On Friday June 29th, the first official day of Nats, there will be a concert after the Swiss rounds are over.  It will be held just a couple miles away from the convention center at the local VFW.  Here is the exact address: 1850 South East Street, Indianapolis, IN 46225.  It is just a little jaunt from the convention center, and the concert will start soon after Swiss Rounds end (officially scheduled to start somewhere around 7:30 local time).

The concert will be headlined by some of the craziest and most attractive indy rock bands from the midwest.  Here are the bands that will play:

  • Good Luck Varsity.  Here is their link, here is a link to my favorite GLV song.
  • PK Fire.  Here is their link, and here is a link to an episode of the Noozles.  Sorry PK Fire, but I couldn’t find a good video out there, you guys have the best name, that should count for something.
  • Rival Summers.  Here is their link, and here is the link to my favorite RS song.

There will be a $3 cover charge that will be used to cover the rental of the venue.  This is a really cheap cost to join what will be a very cool event. 

I shall be there, it is sure to be a good time for all involved.  It will be nice to get a chance to connect with all different people from the Pokemon world and blow off a little bit of steam.  I know these bands are really cool and it should be a great time.

So make sure you guys plan to have a ride to the VFW right after Swiss rounds are over.  Mark your calendar now, cause it should be a great time.

Contest

Sure the tickets are cheap, but why not party on the tab of Pikkdogs?  To help promote the concert and as a part of my ongoing 200th article celebration, I will give away a pair of tickets to each of the six winners of our 2012 Nationals After Party Contest.

Here are the rules.  The contest will be open until 11:59 PM on May 15th, 2012.  The contest is open to everyone except me and Ed.  Everybody can play and win, but obviously you will have to be in Indianapolis for Nationals to redeem your tickets. You can enter multiple times, but you may only win once.

So here is what you need to do to enter the contest.  The way to win this contest is to send an email to me (pikkdogs@onehitko.com) and answer only one of the questions below.  Entries that answer more than 1 question will not be entered into the contest.  There will only be one winner for each answer, and the first person to answer the question wins that prize.  If you answer a question and are the first one to do so, you cannot be wrong, just as long as you write something like “Answer #2: Chris Webber”, you will win.  The final requirement is that the subject title on the email be “OnehitKO Contest Answer”.  So all you have to do is be the first one to answer one of the questions below, and have “OnehitKO Contest Answer” in the subject line of an email to “pikkdogs@onehitko.com” and you will win.  Here are the questions:

1.  What do you like most about the Noozles?

2.  Why do you think Pedro and Tom Bosley are enemies?

3.  What is the thing you like least about the philosophies of Soren Kierkegaard.

4.  Who would you like to see Pikkdogs interview next?

5.  What is your favorite band of all the bands that will play at the Nationals After Party?

6.  What food is better to have while shopping for furniture than meatballs?

 

So all you guys gotta do is be the first to answer one of these questions, and I will buy you two tickets for the 2012 Pokemon Nationals Unofficial After Party with Good Luck Varsity, PK Fire, and Rival Summers.  So get those emails out as fast as possible, and if you win I will send you an email that will ask you for your name, and those will go on a list that will get you in free to the concert.

So Long and Thanks for all the fish.

Uncategorized

Tips on Winning your Dark Explorers Pre-Release

Pikkdogs 5 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  It is that time again, 4 times a year we get to attend a pre-release event.  And for every PR that there is, I try to give you guys tips on winning it.  I know winning is not always something associated with a PR, but if you go you might as well win.  Some places also give you a free pack if you win, so that is a good motivation to do well.  Before we get into the cards that you should play, I will give you my standard tips for PRs.  But, before that happens we have Pedro who wants to give us a news article.

Yes I do.  Today we have news from your favorite world, home design.  Former boy bander, Justin Timberlake has announced that he is teaming up with furniture companies to come up with Home Mint, his own interior design line.  It will feature things like furniture, pillows, and knick knacks.   Would you buy your furniture from Justin Timberlake Pikkdogs? 

No, I buy mine from Ikea, cause that’s the only store that combines my two great passions, furniture and meatballs.  How great is it when you can shop for furniture, and then follow those weird arrows to a lady who sells meatballs?  It would be like if car dealerships started selling chessesteaks.  It is just a great idea, if its one thing I love more than wicker bed frames, it is meatballs.

So you prefer meatballs to the work of Nsync?

Of course.

Who’s work do you favor more than meatballs?

I don’t know, but what if the singer Meatloaf had his own furniture store.  Than I would have to choose between Meatloaf and meatballs.

I don’t really care for either.  When I’m eating something I need a better description of a food than “meat.”  Its like we don’t really know whats in meatloaf, just throw some stuff together and call it meat. 

I could see that.  But, I gotta go and start the article now.

Principles for building your Pre-Release Deck

  1. The usual balance for a deck is 15 Pokemon, 15 Energies, and 10 Trainers.  Put more Trainers in if you have them, that will only increase consistency, and that is a great thing.  Don’t go over 15 energies unless you really need to.  And try to stay with 2 energy types, go three if you must, but 2 is best.
  2. Play as many consistency trainers that you can.  You want to try to run as many trainers as possible because that increases consistency.  Of course if you don’t have any Dark type Pokemon, you shouldn’t play Dark Patch.  But for the most part, having more trainers is a good thing.
  3. Look for consistency Pokemon.  You do not usually play a Pokemon that lets you draw 2 cards for one energy, but for a PR, this one will be a good card.  Any card that let’s you draw cards, search for cards, or evolve is great for a PR, so it is to your advantage to play these cards even though you know they will get no play after the PR season is over.
  4. Build your deck with the Ultra Rare cards in mind.  Even though this is just a PR deck, that doesn’t mean you can’t plan to counter the best cards in the format.  For example, during the Next Destinies PR I played a fighting deck.  The rationale here was that if I saw a Regigigas EX I would be able to take it, while others deck couldn’t.
  5. Be careful with Stage 2’s.  It is almost always a good idea to avoid Stage 2s in a PR deck.  It is just so hard to pull a 3-2-2 line of a Stage 2 Pokemon in a PR deck, and if you don’t have a line like that, there will be no consistency.  If you can get a Stage 2 out it will be great, but it is really hard to get it out.  There are Rare Candies in this set, so that may increase Stage 2 playability a little.  But still, be cautious of them.  Stage 1 Pokemon are the way to go, they have the best damage output and are fairly consistent.  If you can get an EX that is great, but not everybody will pull one of those.
  6. Stay away from fossils.  Consistency has always been a problem with fossils.  When you talk about consistency dropping more during PRs, that makes it even worse for fossils.  These new fossils do have a better chance at getting played since the deck is smaller.  But, I would still say that it would be smart to stay away from them if possible. 

Cards to Watch from Dark Explorers

Before we get started, at the time of writing this I didn’t have the exact setlist.  So there will be some things that aren’t in the set, and maybe some cards that I didn’t know about.  So if things are a little off, don’t beat me up too bad. 

  1. Professor Juniper–  Juniper is an overall great card, and using it will probably give you all the cards you need to win.  There is no doubt that Juniper will probably decide most of the games.  Plus, you even have Random Reciever which will let you get Juniper out easy.  Just becareful, Juniper can easily cause you to deck out with only a 40 card deck.  So make sure to count how many cards are in your deck before you use the card.  It can easily give you a sweeping win, or a deckout loss.  N is also reprinted in this set, remember N can only give you a maximum of 4 in a PR.  So don’t rely on N for a lot of draw power. 
  2. Scyther– 60 for CCC is not usually anything to write home about, but in a PR it is not bad.  If you pull some of these, I would play at least 1 or 2. 
  3. Slowpoke- For one energy, “Big Yawn” can put both actives to sleep.  This may not be an amazing attack, but it does have a good chance of providing some disruption.  So I would play one of these if I pulled it. 
  4. Carnivine– Carnivine has an attack that let’s you switch the defending Pokemon with a benched Pokemon, and then poison it.  That’s a good attack for early on, I would play that card if I pulled it.  This card may or may not be in the set. 
  5. Plusle– This Pokemon has an attack that lets you shuffle your hand into your deck and draw 4 cards, 8 if you have Minun on your bench.  Whether or not you pull any Minun, play every Plusle that you pull.  It is one of the best cards for PRs. 
  6. Sableye-If you play Darkness energy, than Sableye is a great card.  It lets you return 2 trainers from your discard pile to your hand.  This could be Dark Claw, Fossils, Rare Candy, Dark Patch, or Random Reciever.  It is a good card, but play it only if you have a lot of Dark energy and trainers in your deck. 
  7. Zorua/Zoroark– If you pull 1 Zoroark, than play all the Zoruas that you have.  Zorua #69 has the “Ascension” attack which evolves Zorua, this greatly increases consistency. 
  8. C hansey/Blissey– These Pokemon are like Scyther.  For CCC Chansey does 60 Damge and 30 to itself, and Blissey does 90 damage and 30 to itself.  Chansey also has the one energy “Sing” attack.  Blissey is nice because he has an Ability that can heal himself, but of course only play him if you have Chanseys in your deck. 
  9. The Eeveelutions– If you get enough Eevees, the Eeveelutions are always great.  But if you only pull 1 Eevee, its probably not time to play a bunch of Eeveelutions. There are two different Eevees in this set, so if you pull 3 or more, maybe you should play some Eeveelutions.  Remember, there are no card limits in a pre-release, so if you pull 8 Eevees than you can play them. 
  10. The EXs–  Of course if you are lucky enough to play an EX you should play it.  It will not win you tournament, but it should give you a big advantage. 
  11. Excadrill-If you are playing a fighting deck and can get a decent line of Excadrill you should have a fun time.  The ability to snipe, attack, and recover is all built into this one card.  Gotta love the versatility. 
  12. Volcarona- This is like Combusken but a little better.  For RCC you can do 70 damage, if you want to discard you can also burn the defending.  It also has the ability that turns the burn damage up from 2 to 4.  So if you can burn people, you want Volcarona around,
  13. If you must run a stage 2– If you gotta run a stage 2, I like Empoleon and Venasuar.  Venasuar lets you search your deck for  a Pokemon each turn, while Empoleon can attack well and has draw power.  Remember, Rare Candies are in this set, so this can help you get stage 2’s out quicker. 

Conclusion

So, you might be a little prepared for your PR now.  I hope you guys have fun in them and get some good cards.  Remember that trading cards is big at a PR, so make sure you bring all your cards so you can make some good trades.  People will usually over trade for the newer cards and give you a good deal on old cards.

Well, I’m done.  Why don’t you end this for us Pedro.

Sure.  Well, a maid service from Lubbock, Texas has been in the news recently.  Fantasy Maid service is not your regular maid service, they will clean your house, but they do it in the nude. The service employs three maids who are named Star, Hazel, and Kit.  Which don’t at all sound like stripper names do they Pikkdogs?

No.

One funny thing on their website is that they have a policy against the customer being nude.  Which seems normal for a maid service, but if they can be nude shouldn’t you?

Seems only fair. 

If you could hire a nude maid, what would you have them clean?

Well, first I would have them dust my banister……………and then I would have them clean my staircase. 

Of course.

It also wouldn’t hurt if when they dusted they used an old school feather duster with a narrow shaft and a big fuzzy end. 

I heard that you like the big fuzzy ends.

Who doesn’t like a big old fuzzy end.  Good night everybody.

 

Pokemon Education

The Spirit of the Game.

Pikkdogs 12 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with an article about the Pokemon document called, “The Spirit of the Game.”  This is a document that is rarely talked about on websites like this, but is supposed to be vital to any Pokemon player.  So I figured we should talk about it and analyze it.  We can talk about what we like about it, and what we don’t.  But first, we must get a news article from Pedro to start things out.  Hey Pedro, what do you have for us today?

Hey Pikkdogs.  Today, CNN is reporting that there is controversy with Sweden’s Minister of Culture.  It seems that she was attending an art exhibit opening and she ate a piece of a cake that was in the form of a stereotypical African figure.  Groups representing African Swedes are calling for the minister to resign after they feel that Africans were portrayed in a racist manner. 

Well this is quite a controversy, who knew there were black people in Sweden?

True, I always imagined that the whole country is full of blue eyed blondes who wear tight T-shirts and frolick in a meadow all day. 

That’s exactly what I imagine too.

The story gets even better.  It seems that the cake was made to bring awareness to female genital mutilation in Africa.  To strike home the point of the piece, the “artist” cut a piece of the African Girl shaped cake from the cake’s genital region and screamed loudly in pain. 

That sounds weird.

Agreed.

I think we should get that image out of our mind and just think about a bunch of Swedish blondes in tight T-shirts frolicking in a meadow.

Sounds good with me.  But, we should get to the article. 

Okay.

The Spirit of the Game

The Spirit of the Game (TSG) is one of the few documents that makes up official Pokemon TCG policies.  Along with the rule book and compendium, this is your Pokemon bible.  I am not sure of the history about TSG, such as when TSG was adopted, so if someone can fill us in on the historical information I would appreciate that.   

To start us off, here is TSG in its entirety.

”

  • Fun: The Pokémon TCG is a game, and games are meant to be fun for all parties involved. When a game ceases to be fun, players find other things to do.
  • Fairness: Games cease to be fun when players break the rules to achieve victory. A player should prefer to lose a game than to win by cheating.
  • Honesty: Players of any game should strive to act honestly while playing that game. If a player inadvertently breaks a rule during a game and becomes aware of the error before his or her opponent or a judge, that player should make the opponent and the judge aware of the misplay.
  • Respect: Players, spectators, and staff should be treated with the same respect that players would expect for themselves. Distracting an opponent or a judge to gain advantage shows disrespect to everyone involved in a Pokémon TCG event.
  • Sportsmanship: Winning or losing with grace is vital to the enjoyment of a game. The desire to continue playing a game can be soured by players that berate their opponents after winning or losing a match.
  • Learning: Players should strive to help each other increase their Pokémon TCG play skills. It is not a player’s responsibility to make his or her opponent’s plays for that opponent. However, discussing strategies, offering deck tips, or constructively critiquing game play decisions after the match has been completed helps both participants to become better players.

”

That is the exact text that is found of Pokemon’s website.  Although very brief and very broad, it does give us some interesting things to talk about.  I will go through each one of TSG’s six principles and give you my opinion on them and how they relate to how the game is actually played.  I will ask you guys to please use the comment section to tell us what you feel about TSG and how you see things happening in real life.  It will be interesting to see if these 6 principles are still important to us today.

Fun

TSG starts off with a simple statement.  The TCG is a game, and it is meant to be fun.  It sounds simple enough, games and fun seem to go hand and hand.  So no real problem there.  The second part of this principle says that when the game is not fun, people do other things.  This is really weird to put in here, I don’t really care what people do if they do other things, it just seems like a weird thing to put in here.

Even though the first statement is broad and understood by everyone, it is still very important.  It outlines the fact that the game is supposed to be fun, and that is the first and foremost rule of Pokemon.  If you are making things not fun for your opponent you are going against TSG, and the game itself.

I interpret this rule to mean that if someone plays a deck that is successful but not fun, it is unsportsmanlike.  I know that it sounds weird, but it is based on one of the foremost rules of the game.  I take this to mean that it is against TSG, and the game itself, to play a deck like Durant.  I don’t know if I ever heard anyone called Durant a fun deck.  Most people state that it is not fun, but tedious.  If this is so, Durant (and any deck that people generally do not find fun) does go against TSG and players should not play it.  This is a fairly standard interpretation of a very simple rule, that makes for a very interesting debate.

Since TSG is mandatory (we all signed that we would uphold these principles when we got our POP IDs), technically you should be kicked out of Pokemon for playing decks like Durant, if this strict interpretation is believed.  It all depends on how far you take the first principle.  Even if you don’t take this strict interpretation, it is significant to know that Pokemon is about fun first and foremost,  everything else takes a backseat to fun.

Fairness

The Fairness principle again brings fun into the equation.  The first part of it states that generally, games aren’t fun when one player cheats and wins.  The second part states that a player should want to lose before they want to win by cheating.

While I don’t want Pokemon telling me what is fun and what is not, this principle seems to state things very simply.  It states that cheating breaks the first principle of fun, therefore cheating is very much frowned upon.  Cheating in itself implies that it breaks the rules, so Pokemon is hitting it home for us that cheating is a good way to break the first principle of the TCG, fun.  It also gets us thinking that we should always have the concept of Fun in our hearts when we are playing the game.

The second part of this principle does not have anything to do with fun.  It implies that we all should have the morality needed to play a game as a civilized adult.  We should not try to win at all costs, instead we should take the rules to heart and live and die by them, not to forsake them for a chance to win.

This principle is very important.  I have seen some people cheat before, and it is not good for the game.  Winning should not consume you so much that you would break the rules of a game.  You should want to win, but you should want to have fun and interact with people more.  TSG spells this out very clearly and well.

Honesty

The principle of Honesty is closely tied to Fairness and cheating.  When they spell out Honesty, it does not have to do with cheating intentionaly, but unintentionally.  It says that if you break the rules without realizing it, when you do realize it , you need to tell your opponent and a judge.

This principle is all about being………well honest to your opponent and the game as a whole.  Mistakes happen, but you got to call yourself on them when they do.   It is actually a simple rule that is second nature to almost everybody.  You shouldn’t have to really tell people this, it should be done whether it was a rule or not.

Cheating by mistake does happen a lot.  It happened to me at a Cities this season.  I had to put my hand down to help someone get something behind me during a match, and I accidentally picked up my deck by mistake.  Mistakes like these happen and there is not much that can be done.  If it doesn’t effect the outcome of the game, like in my example, warnings are just given (the Pokemon equivalent of a slap on the wrist).  If it does hurt the game a lot, then you will see game losses being handed out, but that is fairly rare.  The most common occurrence now-a-days is when people use Pokegear 3.0 for a long time, and then shout out “N!”,  this sometimes can cause the other player to think you are playing N and shuffle his hand in the deck.  This wouldn’t happen if a player clearly announces his moves during the game, and if the other player pays attention.

Respect

haha I noozled you guys again!

 

The first part of this principle just re-states the Golden Rule, be kind to others as you would have them be to you.  That it is a real simple rule we all learned in Kindergarten and we all should know it by now.  The second part has to do with not distracting the judges or your opponent to gain an advantage.  This can be thought of as cheating and be put into the same category.  I don’t know why they put it with respect, it is just another form of cheating.

Sportsmanship

The principle is funny because it is just a restatement of the first principle, but includes winning and losing maturely.  It states that winning and losing with dignity are vital to the “fun factor” in the game, and if people become sore losers people will leave the game.

I’m sure we can all think of examples of people breaking this principle.  One profanity laced rant in Toledo comes to my mind.  It is probably the hardest one to uphold for a lot of people, but it is still a basic principle that you should have learned when you were 4.

We all should be adults here and be able to lose without sulking and win without taunting.  Its just a simple principle that everyone should follow, it is not that hard.

Learning

This final principle is one of the strangest in this list.  It states that it is your responsibility to help teach other players the game, and help them get better.  It also clearly states that you should go out of your way to help other people, and do everything short of telling your opponent exactly what to do while playing.

I find this principle to be really strange because during a tennis match, you never see Roger Federer telling John Isner that he should work on his backhand.  There is no parallel in sports to this principle, which is very strange.

While I do think that we should become a community and help each other learn the game, I do think that this principle goes a little too far by expecting everybody to help everybody else with their decks.  It isn’t practical or smart for that to happen.  I do try to follow this principle when I play a newcomer to the game, but I think it is a little arrogant to always be telling someone else what to do.  Up to a certain point people need to learn from their own mistakes and figure it out on their own.  It is not my responsibility to help each and every player to get to my skill level.  Make no mistake, I’m not being selfish here, just stating that it is not reasonable for Pokemon to expect us to be that dedicated to a principle.  So, they went just a little overboard in this principle.

Conclusion

I was really surprised when I started analyzing TSG.  I did not expect TSG to contain the things that it did.  It sets up a Pokemon world that is much more informal and fun based than the game actually is.  I think that the real world is more cut throat than TSG outlines. Should we all obey these rules more than we currently do?  I don’t know if we should say that.  Competitive play should be more aggressive than league play, and we need a slightly different attitude for it.  I would say while most Pokemon players do not follow TSG rules exactly, the game is not full of spoiled brats.  Most Pokemon players are nice people that don’t whine and cry when things don’t go there way.  There is no doubt that there are some of these players out there, but you can’t expect everybody to be nice.  It seems like most players are gracious about how they play the game, and that’s really what TSG is all about.  There are some players who do not follow TSG out there, but its not like making TSG more strict will change that.

So what do you guys think after you looked at TSG more closely?  Do you feel that we should change these principles at all?  Do other games have a similar set of principles?  I will be anxious to read your comments in the comment box.

Off the top of my head, I can’t really think of any principle that should be added.  Most things that I can think of are specific rules that need to be enforced on a local level.  TSG seems to be fairly balanced.

Okay, Pedro I am done.  Do you want to close things out for us?

Sure, today we have sad news from the world of entertainment.  Beloved TV host Dick Clark has passed away.  Clark hosted American Bandstand, which was a music show that inspired other shows like “Soul Train” and the UK’s “Top of the Pops.”  Producers of current music shows like American Ido and X-Factor all state that there would be none of those shows without American Bandstand and Dick Clark. 

Which is one bad thing about Dick Clark.

Yes, it seems weird like those producers would try to sully Clark’s name after he did all that.   

You know Pedro, a lot of celebrities and musicians preformed on American Bandstand.  Including people like: “The Polish Prince” Bobby Vinton, Johnny Cash, Run DMC, Richard Simmons, and Cher.

Richard Simmons and Cher are very different people of course.  One is an elaborate diva who is known for wearing dresses and thick makeup…………….and the other is Cher. 

Good one.  Good night everybody.

Website

200 Articles for Pikkdogs: Part Two

Pikkdogs 20 Comments

Hey everybody, we are back for the second part of my 200 article celebration.  I decided to break these interviews up

into two articles so they will be easier to read.  Here is the interview with Ed.  I recently got a chance to sit down with him for a half an hour or so and we chatted about the history of the site, his experience with the game, and my feud with Soren Kierkegaard.  If you didn’t get the first part of the article, you can view it here.  Here is nearly our entire conversation.  One note before we get started, Ed did swear once in the interview, so to be nice I replaced it with the word “Jigglypuff.” 

Interview with an Ed

 

Pikkdogs: Thanks for being a part of my 200th article.  I know you are busy with the 5 girls running around.

Ed: The wife doesn’t run around as much lately.

P:     woops I mean 4.  Lol.   You almost have enough for a basketball team now.  Was that your plan all along?

E: I keep hearing the basketball comment.  Can’t we make it a hockey team?   Maybe without goalies.

P: you Minnesota people.  B-ball is where it’s at.

E: Anyway, I dunno.  The Wife came from a family of 4 kids.  I was an only child.  1 kid was plenty for me. 2 seemed doable.  3 is crazy.  3-4 seems negligible.

P: My parents had 7 kids.  You could give them a run for their money.

E: I wouldn’t mind having the money, but I’m not into running.   Is this part of the interview?  :) Read More

Website

Two Hundred Articles for Pikkdogs! Part One

Pikkdogs 5 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a bonus article for you guys.

Well, it has happened, I have reached the 200 article mark!  I am actually at around 210 if you count some of the Pedro articles, but to be simple, we shall say I just reached 200 articles!  Speaking of Pedro, we might as well bring him into this mix.  Hey Pedro!

Hey Pikkdogs.  Today is a sad day.  You have officially tortured the nice people of the Pokemon TCG 200 times.  Odds are that they would have picked up their pitchforks and revolted by now.  They must be into pain or something. 

Well, then I guess we have something in common.

Indeed. 

200 articles is a  really cool and prestigious mark.  There are few other people that can say that they have 200 articles or videos related to the TCG!  Although I still think I am probably the worst writer that Pokemon has ever seen, it is still nice to get to 200 articles.

I tried to think long and hard-

–haha, long and hard.

Thanks Pedro.  Yes, I tried to think long and hard about how to celebrate this historic mark.  I though about doing another contest, but those never bring out too many people.  I also thought about sponsoring a concert at Nationals, but the money just wasn’t there for this year.  So I guess we will have to make do with another boring article.

Well, they suffered through 200 boring articles, one more couldn’t hurt.

I guess.  This article series features two interviews.  The first article will include my Barbara Walter interview and some fun facts about the site.  The second article will include a real interview that I had with OnehitKO founder Ed.

For an anniversary article I usually try to get a preview of an interview I had with a magazine, but this time I have an advanced script of an interview that I recently did with Barbara Walters.  In fact, she was nice enough to pose for a picture with me. So here now we have an excerpt from that interview.

Barbara Walters: First of all, welcome and congrats on 200 articles!

Pikkdogs: Thanks Barbara, its an honor to be here.

BW:  How does one stay for so long on one sight without much thanks or any pay?

P:  I have no life.

BW: That explains it.  Pokeman Dan has 67 episodes of Pokeclass along with more articles. Jwittz had 54 Episodes of Profit along with a bunch of other videos and articles.  I don’t have the actual numbers, but I would assume that Pokemon Dan has just under 200 articles/video and that Jwittz has around 200.  What makes you tick and to write more than almost anyone has before?

P: I love writing and I love doing what other people don’t.  I don’t want to be known as just a guy who wrote 200 articles.  I want to be someone who wrote 200 articles that are different from any other article out there.  Even if that means they are complete crap.  Sometimes things can be so bad that they are good.

BW:  You mention that your articles are different.  They feature comedy and news as much as Pokemon, what made you want to do something different like that?

P: Well, I started writing like a lot of other people did.  I started by writing just whenever I had an idea, so I would write just a couple a month.  Than, a lot of writers on onehitko.com started dropping out, and I knew that if I didn’t write at least 1 article a week, the site would die.  Eventually 1 article a week turned into 3, and all of a sudden I got to 100 articles fast.  As I started to write a lot of articles, I noticed that I sucked.  I wasn’t a great writer and that other writers knew more about the game than I did.  So I just thought that  wouldn’t try to play a game I couldn’t win.  I would still write, but I would write my own way.  I would incorporate comedy that would be commonplace in a late night talk show, and put it into a Pokemon article.  Ed gave me creative control to do what I want, so I took it and tried to make it as bazaar as possible.  Anything to stand out and be different.  I still love sharing my love of the game, but Im gonna share it the way I want to and to the audience that I want to.

BW:  You have been called out before for your disdain towards Juniors and Seniors.  How can you bring something so adult to a game for children?

P:  We are not a site for children, we are a PG 13 site.  Although historically this is a game for kids, most of the players now are adults.  So we cater to the adults.  I have had people yell at me for saying that Juniors and Seniors are nothing but dragging down the game, but that’s what I feel, and that’s what Im gonna stand for.

BW: Your articles are known for kind of being more towards the ADD side, having popular news and historical items as well as Pokemon news, how do you account for that.

P:  Well, its all about emulating a late night talk show, that’s what they do, and so I decided to bring it in an article form.  Sure it gets weird when I talk more about English literature, philosophers, and Stacey Keibler but that’s a good thing I think.  If you don’t love English Literature and pretty looking girls, well I don’t want you to read the website.  We aren’t just talking about Pokemon we gotta celebrate all aspects of life.

BW:  And why is celebrating life and comedy so important to you, they do seem to be foreign concepts to Pokemon.

P: My philosophy is to always laugh, if you don’t laugh you will probably cry.  Life is full of bad things and heartbreak, comedy let’s us escape from all of the problems that the world gives us.  I live in Detroit, and here everyday I can see the bad things that can happen to people.  Comedy is a great escape from all of that.

BW: You also are known to make fun of your website and call it “crap”.  Why do you take such harsh tones?

P:  Because I honestly believe it is crap, and that’s how I like it.  Six Prizes is a great site, and it is like the eldest child in the Pokemon family.  It went to Harvard and came back with a doctorate, and our parents speak highly of it.  Onehitko on the other hand is like the drunken half-brother of the family.  Nobody really takes us seriously or gives us any credibility, and we respond by making a lot of fart jokes and talk about boobies a lot.  We aren’t looked at as a great site, so I think we should just run with it and act like the black sheep of the Pokemon family.

BW: You mentioned that you live in Detroit.  Do you like Detroit?

P:  Sure, I love Michigan.  And from Detroit, Michigan is only like 2 hours away by car.

BW: Has a cult of celebrity followed you in the Pokemon circles like it has to other writers like J-Wittz. 

P:  No, JWittz looks and acts a lot more rock star-y than I do.  Plus, people don’t see my face too often, so its hard to bring a face to a name.  There were a couple tournaments where people kept coming up to me and telling me that they loved the site, but for the most part I am still the same fat guy that sits in the corner that I always have been.  Aside from all the Pokemon groupies of course.

BW:  In your Pokemon career, what moment would you count as the most fun for you?

P:  That’s a tough one.  I think I had the most fun moment at a tournament was at Michigan States 2009.  I barely made it into Top Cut as the 16th seed, and had to play my buddy Jonah who was undefeated at the time.  I was able to sweep the best of three series and knock out the #1 seed in the first round.  It was one of the best feelings that I have had in a while, to know that nobody else could beat him, yet I did in straight games as a 16 seed.  The moment of adjulation was shortlived  however, as I have my top 8 game won, and then I make a horrible misplay for no reason and lose the game.  But, I still can say that I beat the #1 seed, and he would have had a really good chance to win out.

BW: Well, you do have 200 articles and 300 pounds under your belt, do you think that you will be riding off into the sunset any time soon.

P:  Well, the sunset plan was in place after 200 articles, but things have happened so that I can stay on for some more articles.  It seems that I will be writing for a little longer anyway, not sure for how long.  Probably until I say something racist and everybody forces me to resign.

 Fun Facts

We have one more interview to get to in this article series, a real one, with Ed that will be in the next post.  But, before we end this article and start another one, let me tell you some fun facts about this site.

  • The original URL of this site was “www.teamomar.info”
  • The site was originally intended as a way to communicate between about a dozen people among one Pokemon team.
  • Pikkdogs and Ed actually met through www.sixprizes.com, kind of.
  • The first decklist that was posted on the site featured Blaziken FB.
  • The first article on the website featured artwork from Ed’s first daughter.
  • The first episode of The Noozles premiered 2 years before Pikkdogs was born.
  • Onehitko has had a total of 28 authors, most of which who have written 3 articles or less.
  • Ed will soon hit his 100 article mark, but the person who wrote the 3rd most articles for this site is our buddy PokemanDan.
  • Pikkdogs does not care for the thoughts of Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

That is all for Part One.  Part Two is published now, so make sure and read the interview I had with Ed, it is cool.  You can get the link here.  Just don’t follow this link, that is to a chicken soup recipe.

So Long and Thanks for all the Fish!

 

Uncategorized

Teach Me How to Rogue

Pikkdogs 3 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs here.  Today I want to talk to you guys about how I build rogue decks and rogue techs/strategies/ideas.  There are some other articles out there about how to build a rogue deck that aren’t that bad, but I thought I might as well try my hand at it since I wrote just about every other type of article-

except a winning tournament report.

Of course, who would want to write one of those.  Only people who like to brag write those.  And why are you talking?  I haven’t introduced you yet.

Well, I don’t think it will help.  When it comes down to understanding me, there are two groups of people.  One group is confused, but they did see me a couple times before.  And the other group is really confused, and an intro wouldn’t really help. 

But, I shall do it anyway.  Please welcome my extra-dimensionary sidekick Pedro.

Alright. 

The topic today is rogue decks, something I actually know a little about.

That’s the problem, you know too little about everything.

I know.  Hey are you here to give us a piece of news to start the article, or are ya here to go all Statler and Waldorf on me?

Both, but I will start us off with news.  The Associated Press reported that last weekend,  a band of thieves stole 2 tons of coffee worth about $72,000 in Austria. 

That must have been one big cup.

Indeed.

I wonder if committing this crime is “grounds” for punishment.

That pun may just be the worst joke ever.  How would you catch a thief that stole 2 tons of coffee Pikkdogs?

Keep an eye on the public urinals, and arrest the guy that stands there for 3 days straight.

I would feel sorry for the bladder of the guy who drank that much coffee.

I don’t, I have a principle where I never feel sorry for bladders.

That’s nice, just start the article all ready.

What is Rogue?

The ability to go rogue is one of the best things about Pokemon.  The ability to use your brain and t0 think up an idea or strategy that nobody else has, and use it to win is very gratifying.  It makes you feel proud and really smart, and if you are a guy like me, you need to savor those few moments.

Most people know what “rogue” means.  If not, picture all of the decks that are commonly used, the cards that are commonly included in decks, and the orthodox strategies that are used.  Now think of the opposite of all of those things, and that is what rogue is.  Rogue is going outside of the box and using your own creativity to come up with an idea.

When we normally think of the word “rogue”, we think about uncommon decks.

Actually, when I think about “Rogue” I think about Anna Paquin in a skin tight leather body suit.

True, one of the only good things about the X-Men movies.  Iceman as a kid, are you kidding me? Anyway, as I was saying.  The word rogue is thought to mean uncommon decks that people play.  But, it can have a broader definition that may encompass things like unorthodox strategies.

There is a big fallacy out there that says that the best strategies have already been thought of, and you have to sell your soul to Mewtwo EX in order to do well at Pokemon.  But, Rogue decks have always been around to show the middle finger at the conventional way of doing things.  A real rogue player is someone who is real creative and uses that creativity to find new ways at beating a stale format.

I categorize rogue decks into two types.  The first type of deck I will call a “reactionary rogue” deck.  This deck type includes all decks that seek to exploit a weakness in the current format.  For example, if you find that a lot of people are playing fire Pokemon, you can build a so-so deck that includes water Pokemon and do really well with it.  Your fire deck may not stack up to well when it meets a random good deck like a Psychic deck, but because the format is water-weak, your water deck could do well.  Another example is to build a mill deck if you find that a lot of the meta decks are using a lot of cards that thins their decks out.  Your mill deck will usually not be good enough to mill a normal deck, but if you come across these meta decks that are thinning their deck out at high rates, than this deck has a good chance.  So, this type of deck is not necessarily great by itself, but in the format it can win because of the match-ups it has.

The second type of rogue deck that I will talk about is a “conventional rogue” deck.  This type of rogue does not need any specific match-ups to do well, it has a strategy and it sticks with it.  For example, if you would use Palpitoad and Wigglytuff together in a deck to use the “Round” attack, that would be a conventional rogue.  It isn’t made because it does well against a specific deck, it is made because you think you can win while using “Round.”  Conventional decks are solid decks by themselves and are not in response to any other good deck in the format.

My History with RoguesScizor SF

Before we get in to talking about how to make a rogue deck, I would like to talk about the rogue decks and ideas that I have made.  I don’t bring this up because I want to talk about how great and good looking I am, I just want to let you in to my thought processes, so you can see how I think of rogue ideas.  All this might make some sense when I get deeper into the article, but now seems like a good time.  Here are the three rogue ideas that I have thought of and used in my playing days.

  1. Speed Engine in Scizor/Cherrrim.  I pride myself on being a no talent bum who has no effect on the outside world what so ever, but this case did make me think I effected the game in a very slight way.  Back when the format was Diamond and Pearl on, there was this cheap deck called Scizor/Cherrim.  Today, we would think of it kind of like Durant.  It was easy to make, easy to play, and good for beginners; except it did not have the negative connotation that Durant currently has.  Since this was the time that I was just starting back out, I did make the cheap Scizor/Cherrim deck.  I actually did well with it early, I got 2nd in my first tournament ever, but later I thought it was just too slow.  Then I saw that someone had created a deck that used Unown R, Pokemon Rescue, and Night Maintenance for a draw engine.  I decided to steal his idea and put it into the Scizor/Cherrim deck.  I wrote an article on my changes to the deck, and a meta deck was never the same again.  Whenever it was played after that, it usually contained the Unown R speed engine that I popularized.  No I didn’t invent the idea, but I put it into a place where it had never gone before, and that is no doubt a rogue strategy.  The speed engine worked really well and although the deck never really won anything, it was a more consistent deck because of the engine.  So, even meta decks can be played rogue, you just have to keep thinking.
  2. Who Let the Dogs Out?  This is a rogue deck that I came up with myself during Spring Battle Roads 2011.  This was when the format was in chaos because of Sabledonk, and people were trying to think of  a way to stop the trainers that  a Sabledonk player can now abuse on the first turn.  I racked my brain trying to think about how this deck could be stopped.  I just couldn’t think of any rational idea that could stop or keep up with Sabledonk without going meta.  So, I thought outside the box. I knew that I needed Spritomb Ar, and that I had to start with him.  The answer finally came to me while I was running.  I could put Legend pieces in the deck and be able to attack with them without having to risk a non-Spiritomb start.  So, I used the Legendary Dog Pokemon from the Unleashed set since they have similar energy requirements.  The deck did stop Sabledonk in its tracks, but it needed some help against SPs, Gyarados, and Gengar.  So, I wrote an article about it but I never tried it myself.  But, someone else did try the deck, and they won a Battle Roads with it!  Now I know that Who Let the Dogs Out is a bad deck, and it got very lucky to win, but it did somehow win.  So it does prove that if you think outside of the box, you can come up with a a totally strange deck that can win.   
  3. Scizor’s Late Game Durant.  This is the least successful of my three big rogue ideas, but it does show a good thinking process.  This deck is a reactionary deck to the current format, with a twist in it.  It is a tool box deck that is led by Scizor Prime, but it ends the game with 4 Durants milling your opponents deck.  I did not come up with the idea in fact, nobody actually did.  Airhawk wrote an article on Sixprizes about a deck that seemed like it used the same startegy, but it actually seemed to be more like a bad conventional Durant rogue.  I decided to actually use the late game Durant strategy, I just had to think about what cards I should use it with.  I instantly thought about Scizor because people get scared about not using Special Energies, and they tend to lose track of anything else.  Than I put in the most popular Pokemon of the day, Terrakion NV, to deal with lightning types.  And finally, I added the other fire Victini to go against Durant.  This was a direction reactionary deck to a format that thins out decks, uses fighting weak Pokemon, and uses a ton of Special Energy.  I only took it to one tournament, Michigan States, but I did get a winning record with it.  Although I wasn’t in Top Cut contention late, I was at a top table in the middle of the day, and did have a good chance at cutting until the last round or two.  It didn’t have a great day, but it did get a winning record in a very tough area.  This flimsy rogue deck was able to do a lot better than other decks that had multiple copies of the $60 Mewtwo EX card.  So, it may not have won, but it still proved that it belonged.

How to Rogue.

Okay, that was a long introduction, now we can finally talk about how to rogue.

The first step to construct a rogue deck from scratch is to start a basic plan of what you want to do.  If you want to do a “reactionary” deck or a more “conventional” deck.  Try to think about what strategy you are trying to do, and try to think if you know of any card that could help you achieve the strategy.  At this stage it is possible that you may have thought up a rogue deck all by yourself, but more likely you would be just as lost as ever.  So let’s go to step 2. 

Step 2 is to do research.  This usually involves sometime on the carpet with a box of cards and a couple binders.  Or, it could involve sometime online on sites like www.pokegym.net/tower .  Get a good look at every card that is in the format.  When looking it is important to look at each card without prejudice.  Just because the other Donphan from HGSS has never ever been used before, doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t be used in the future.  Try to look at each card with a blank slate in your mind, don’t come in with any preconceptions.  Doing so could kill a good Rogue Deck before it is even made.  There are a lot of great ideas out there that haven’t been thought of yet, you just have to have an open mind and think about it.  Once you take in each card in the format, you can go on to step three.

Step three is to relax.  Do something that will clear your mind and will let you really concentrate on the rogue deck that you are thinking about.  I find that I come up with almost all of my rogue ideas while I am running.  I came up with the idea for “Who Let the Dog’s Out” on a jog.

you wrote the Baha Men song while jogging?

Sure.  Anyway, do whatever relaxes you and helps you think.  Maybe you are a little hippy dippy guy from California and you like to do the Yoga, that might work.  Or maybe you are in to the meditation, that should clear your head.  Whatever you like to do, swim, hunt, or hike, I feel like that will give you time to really connect with the cards that you just looked at.  Doing this seems to make sense of whatever format you are in, and whatever cards you just looked at.  There are around 800  or so cards in the format right now, so it can be hard to make sense of them all.  Doing something relaxing both takes your mind off of it for a little, and then frees your consciousness open to really strategize about your rogue deck.  This is where your rogue idea should just pop into your head, and you can start building off of it from here.

The next step after you took a jog, or a swim, or immitated a down-ward facing dog is to get input on your idea.  To do this you may want to go back on your computer and search your idea on Google.  You may find that someone has already thought of this deck, and you can take something from their ideas, or you may have found a different idea with similar cards.  Whatever input that those searches give you will be nothing but good for your deck.  After you took whatever you could from the internet, you can now call on some of your best Pokemon friends and tell them about the idea.  They will probably have some kind of ideas about your rogue deck, and might even add to it.  One note here, if your friends shoot you down, don’t be discouraged.  I always tell my rogue ideas to Ed, and he shot down both Who Let the Dogs Out and Scizor’s LGD, but I didn’t let that stop me.  Your friends should give you honest advice, and usually honest advice for a rogue deck will usually be pretty harsh.  But, if you still have confidence in your idea even after your friends have shot it down, you can move on to the next step.

The next step is to grab a pen and paper, lay down somewhere, turn on a cool tv show, and plan out a decklist.  You probably had suggestions from your friends and from the internet about what to run, so now you can implement them here.  One problem that I always have with a decklist is that I always want to run decks with 65 cards, I just can’t fit all the cards I want in the deck.  My trick is that I usually run 1 or 2 copies of different techs instead of 4, and if I don’t like it, I can later go back in and take out what didn’t work and add what did.

Your final step to making a rogue deck is to actually play test it.  Either grab a friend, or grab two decks and see if your deck does what it is supposed to do.  If it doesn’t work you can either draw up the decklist in a different way, or you may decide to scrap the idea.  But, make sure you give the initial deck a good testing against 4-5 different decks.  Hopefully it will accomplish the task that you set out to do.  If you still like the idea, go back a couple steps and share your results and decklist with your friends again.  Don’t tell everybody of course, just some Poke-Friends that you can trust.  They will give you some more feedback and you can begin to polish your decklist.

You should be able to take it from there.  I have said all I can think of about Rogue decks, so let’s have Pedro bring us a news article to end things here,

 

Okay.  Today’s new comes from the world of Food.  Pizza Hut is offering a new hotdog stuffed crust pizza in select U.K.  locations.  This will be a normal pizza, but with a long hot dog baked into the crust. 

Really?  That sounds amazing.  You know I once stuffed a pizza with a wiener.

Is that code?

Of course.

Anyway, Pizza Hut is also serving the pizza with “mustard drizzle.”

“Mustard Drizzle” , that’s the name I used to dance under.

I thought you danced under the name “Crusty Weiner.”

Maybe, but I think we better stop now or we could get censored again.  Good night everybody

Pikks Three

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Zekrom EX, Black Belt, and Empoleon DE

Pikkdogs 8 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a Pikk Three article.  Right now in the Pokemon world people are looking towards Spring Regionals.  After that there is the release of the Dark Explorers set, so that is all very exciting.  But, we are still kind of in a slow period for a couple more days waiting till Regionals comes our way, so why don’t we do a Pikk Three article?  Now it is time for my extra-dimensionary sidekick Pedro to start us off with a news article.  Why don’t you talk about sports today Pedro?

Okay sounds good, I can do a sports thing.  This is a busy time for sports we just got over a busy weekend with the opening day of baseball, and the Masters.  But, what has been capturing a lot of the attention has been the scandal in Arkansas over head football coach Bobby Petrino.  Petrino was fired this week for inappropriate behavior with a staff memeber.  He was in a motorcycle accident two weekends ago, fortunately he was able to recover with only minor injuries.  The intrigue started when the police report stated that he was riding on his motorcycle with a 25 year-old ex-volleyball player.  Petrino did admit that there was a young woman at the scene of the crash, he just forgot to mention that that woman was the same woman who he was having coitis with outside of his marriage.  So now Petrino is involved in a cheating scandal.  What are your thoughts about this Pikkdogs?

Well, he shouldn’t be having an affair, but if he must, a volleyball player is the way to go.

Agreed, basketball players are too masculine. 

No doubt that volleyball players are the sexiest athletes.  Tennis players aren’t that far behind, but you can’t argue with those tight shorts.

Except the beach volleyball players, they get too sweaty. 

Any more news about Petrino?

It seems that he isn’t the only who is channeling their inner Bill Clinton.  The person who he was having coitis with, Jessica Dorrel, is engaged to be married.  You can still go to their wedding website and buy them some gifts from their gift registry. 

Is there a hoe on the list?

No.  But you can buy them a set of wine glasses.

Well, I could, but that wouldn’t suggest that she is promiscuous.

I think she did that herself.

Agreed, start the article!

Card #1-The Staple-Zekrom EX

Description– Zekrom EX is a 180 HP basic EX Lightning Pokemon with a 3 retreat cost and a fighting weakness.  It has two attacks.  “Glinting Claw” costs LCC and does 50 damage plus a chance at 30 more with a coin flip.  “Disaster Volt” does 150 damage for LLCC and requires a 2 energy discard.

Analysis–

Zekrom EX was of course released in the Next Destinies set, and has been one of the most played EX cards.  Maybe it didn’t have the hype that Mewtwo EX did, but it did have about as much success as Mewtwo did at States Tournaments.  It saw the most played in the Zekrom and Eels deck.  This was a lightning hodgepodge deck that used Eelektrik for energy acceleration.  Some of the more popular attackers in this deck are Zekrom BW, Zekrom EX, Thundurus, and Zapdos ND.  It was a very popular deck in States 2012, grabbing the most number of outright victories.

Before we get too far into analysis, let us look at the stats of this card.  180 HP is the best in the format for EXs, so that is really good.  The retreat cost could be better, but the rest of the card makes up for the sub-par retreat cost.   The fighting weakness is not great, but it is manageable.  Donphan Prime has fell out of favor among players, and the only real fighting Pokemon left is Terrakion NV.  Terrakion is usually a Pokemon that you can deal with by an early attack and the use of Pokemon Catcher.  So the stats as a whole are really good.

As mentioned, Zekrom EX had a lot of success in its short lifespan.  It may or may not have been the most important card in the current Zekrom deck, but it certainly has a major impact on the deck.  It is the card that can put the hammer down on the defending Pokemon.  150 damage is a whole heck of a lot of damage, it may not be the most damage ever recorded, but it is more than enough to knock most Pokemon out right now.  Whenever this card hits the field we know that what happens to it will probably decide the game.  It is a hugely impactful card that is one of the most feared right now.

The bad part of the card is of course the drawbacks that are inherent to most EX Pokemon, the high retreat cost and the 2 prize penalty at knockout.  Although Zekrom EX is great, it is hard every time you have to give up an extra prize.  Every time that Zekrom EX hits the field, there is a chance that it could cost you the game rather than helping you win it.  You must think really hard whenever you drop this card, because an extra prize could go a long way in a close game.

Final Rating–  8/10–  It is not the best card in the format, and there are some serious things wrong with this card.  But, its success speaks for itself.  It can be a very powerful card for you if you can use it right.

Card #2- The Underdog-Black Beltblack belt

Description-Black Belt is a supporter card that lets you do 40 extra damage when you are losing the prize battle.

Analysis-Black Belt came out in the Triumphant set.  When the card came out, SP decks were ruling the format with Gyrados trailing not too far behind.  Black Belt was thought of as a one of card that could be used in every deck to take an important prize card when you really need it.  It was especially useful with VS Seeker, because you could use it or discard it, and then use it whenever you really need it.  After the hype of the Triumphant set wore away, Black Belt fell out of favor.  Once in a while it would pop up in a rogue deck, but for the most part it wasn’t played until the Durant deck came out.

Durant does sometimes play Black Belt.  The Durant player could tech in an attacker like Cobalion, and do up to 120 damage in a single turn, something that Durant could never do without Black Belt.  It is a nice card to tech in when Durant is playing a deck that can knock out Durants easily.  There is a good chance that taking out just 1 attacker could play big part in the game, because most Durant counters are ran only as a one of card.

Black Belt is a good card because nobody expects it.  It is so important to estimate how much damage your opponent can do next turn, but nobody factors in Black Belt.  If you would tech this card into your deck, you will take your opponent by surprise.  It is especially important now because of the two prize card giving EX cards.  An EX knock-out out of nowhere will really change the shape of a game.  So if you are looking for a card that will give you a surprise advantage for only a 1 card slot investment, Black Belt can be a good card to insert into almost any deck.

The bad part of Black Belt is that it is a card that is only useable in certain situations.  If you get the card early game, it is basically a dead card.  And, if you have to discard it with Juniper, Sage’s Training, or Junk Arm; it is now gone forever.  Black Belt will only help you if you get it late in the game when you are trailing in prizes.  You just can’t expect the card to stay in the deck that long and to come in to play exactly when needed, it really does not help your consistency.  Consistency is very important in this game, and this card seems to go against this principle.

Final Rating– 6.75/10– This is a good card for this format because it works and your opponent is not expecting it.  It is a card that will take your opponent by surprise and perhaps when you a game or two in the course of along tournament like Regionals.  But, it is not without its drawbacks.

Card #3- The Young Gun-Empoleon DE

Description–

One of the cards that is expected to be in the Dark Explorers set that caught my eye the most is Empoleon.  There hasn’t been an Empoleon in the game since the Platinum set (unless you count Empoleon FB, which if you do, you are probably crazy), so the format is due for a cool Empoleon card.

It is a 140 HP Stage 2 Water Pokemon with a lightning weakness and a two retreat cost.  It has a cool Ability and a cool attack.  The Ability is called “Diving Draw”, and it lets you discard one card to draw 2 cards from the top of your deck.  The attack is expected to be called “Attack Command”.  It cost 1 water energy, and does 10 damage for the amount of Pokemon in play.  This makes it like a Jumpluff, but with more HP and a built in draw engine.

Analysis–

Let us start with the basics.  140 HP is decent for a stage 2, even though some EXs can one shot it.  The lightning weakness is fairly terrible, because the Zekrom deck is one of the most played decks in the current format.  Any deck that solely relies on Empoleon will not do that well because it will be auto-loss to Zekrom.  The 2 retreat cost is not great, but it is what is expected from a stage 2 Pokemon.

The Poke-Power is very interesting.  There is currently no Pokemon that is played a lot that has a built in draw engine.  The fact that you need to discard one card from your hand probably is not a huge deal, in fact, it could be a good thing.  Perhaps Zekrom decks will play it so it will be easy to attach energies with Eelektrik.  It could also be played with rogue cards like Steelix Prime.  The ability to draw 2 cards is not amazing, but it is very good if you plan to attack with Empoleon.

This brings us to the attack.  I think that the attack is actually fairly good.  For just one energy you can do up to 120 damage!  The effectiveness of the attack will vary based on the deck you are playing against.  A Zekrom deck will probably get you 120 damage, whereas a Terrakion deck may only get you 80 damage.  Being able to attack for only 1 energy is always great, and if you splash Empoleon into another deck, you can still use it to attack with only one Rainbow Energy.  But, the attack probably is not good enough to base an entire deck around.

So if you probably should not build an entire deck around Empoleon, what will Empoleon be played in?  I don’t know for sure, but it seems like it has some promise.  For just a 2-1-2 line, Empoleon can be a draw engine and a secondary attacker.  I think it can make a real difference in a deck.  But, I don’t know which deck it will be in.  It might just be in a rogue deck, but I think it should see some kind of play.

The bad parts of Empoleon have to do with speed.  Most decks right now rely on basics or Stage 1 Pokemon, really fast decks and Pokemon lines.  Empoleon is a lot slower, so it will probably get ripped apart before it can be evolved.  So, it should not be a primary attacker.  However, I do think that it could be a secondary attacker.  This is because it is a decent draw engine without being that much of a Pokemon Catcher target.  If someone does use Pokemon Catcher on it, they will need to be a lightning Pokemon to get an easy KO on it.  If they want to stall with Empoleon active, you can just attach a Rainbow Energy and hit for up to 120 damage.

Final Rating– 7/10–  I am not sure if this card will be all that great, but I do see a lot of promise here.  I think it can be a good tech in some decks as a draw engine.  It is always great to draw more cards and increase consistency.  It is weak to Zekrom, but Empoleon could be in the format long after the Zekrom deck falls out of favor. I could see this deck doing well.

Okay, that is all for me, do you have a news story to end the article Pedro?

Sure, according to The New York Press, a boy in China has sold his kidney for an IPad and an Iphone. 

What does he use to pay for the monthly charges?  Teeth?

I don’t know, back to the story.  This story highlights two major problems in China, the poor wages that laborers are paid, and the amount of people that need organ transplants. It is assumed that over 1.5 million people need transplants, while only 10,000 operations are preformed each year.   The boy, who is identified as Wang,  had the transplant preformed in the black market without the consent of his parents.

Well, I can relate to that.

You have sold your organs on the black market?

No, I let my Wang do the thinking for me.

Sounds about right.  Good night everybody.

Stupid Deck Idea

Pikkdogs Stupid Deck Idea: Regigigas/Cofagrigus NV #46/Vanilluxe ND

Pikkdogs 14 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a Stupid Deck Idea for you.  Stupid Deck Ideas are a series of articles where we talk about decks that are more towards the fun side of the game, more than the competitive.  We also might call it a Stupid Deck Idea because we haven’t tested it a lot, which is the case with this deck.  Before we tell you all about the deck, why doesn’t Pedro come in and give us a little news story to get us going?  Hey Pedro.

Hey Pikkdogs.  Today we have some news from the world of technology.  Google has released information on a new product that will allow people to do things like check their email and surf the web without having to use a hand held device.  “Project Glass” is a program that involves the use of smart phone goggles.  They are an eye piece that you would wear like glasses that is connected to your smartphone, and you use them to view a webpage without the use of a handheld device.  One would make the “click” on a link or scroll down a page by making head movements.  Do you want to wear Smart Phone glasses Pikkdogs?

Not really, they look like the game that was being passed around on the Enterprise during The Next Generation Episode “The Game”.  And I don’t have any special allegiance to the Ktarians.

You don’t think that Project Glass is just a mind control technique by the Ktarians to give away military secrets?

Well, maybe not the Ktarians, that would be crazy.  Maybe the Russians.

Cause, we all know the Russians run Google. 

They may not run Google, but what if the game started with the Google Guys, and know they are passing it on to everybody, and pretty soon everyone is passing around military secrets.  Without Lt. Commander Data to save us, we might be overrun by the Russians.

Or maybe it is not a mind control device and it is just a way to view your email.

Possibly.  A little bit of trivia about that episode, Ashley Judd plays Wesley Crusher’s girl friend.

And why is that significant?

Because, I now get a chance to show a sexy picture of Ashley Judd.

Before we start talking about the Judds, why don’t just get on with it and talk about the article? 

Okay, I guess.

The Idea

I always wanted to do something with Regigigas EX since he was released.  The artwork on the Full Art is just so darn pretty that I couldn’t help myself.  It is just a crazy cool looking piece of art.  My idea to combine him with Cofagrigus and Vanilluxe came from a deck idea that I saw on www.sixprizes.com.  I think someone had combined those two with a Zekrom deck or something.

The glue that holds this deck together is Vanilluxe ND.  He is here for his “Slipper Soles” Ability.  This lets you switch you active Pokemon with one from the bench, and then allows your opponent to switch his/her active Pokemon with one from his/her bench.  This is handy for when people try to bring up a bench sitting Pokemon to stall, you can just use this power to get the Pokemon you want to use back in the active spot.  You can also use it to attack a Pokemon that your opponent does not want you to.  It is a cool Ability that can be used in a lot of situations, and it is really useful in this deck which is kind of made for it.

So, Vanilluxe is probably the most important Pokemon here, yet he is not your main attacker.  You can get into a debate on who the main attacker is in this deck, but that’s not a debate that I want to have with myself, so I will just skip it and talk about Regigigas EX.  He is your first attacker in this deck, or, he will at least be the first Pokemon you want to have active.  He can do 60 or 80 damage for CCC, or 50 damage for CCCC plus 10 damage for each damage counter you have on him.  With a whopping 180 HP, there is no doubt that Regigias is a tank in this deck.  You want to use him for some early attacking, but you mostly will want to use him to absorb hits from the opponent.  When you have run out of avaliable HP on Regigas, you just use “Slippery Soles” to bring us Cofagrigus #46.

Cofagrigus is hard to spell, but I will give it my best.  This is a very interesting card.  He has 90 HP, a dark weakness, and a three retreat cost.  His second attack is called, “Perplex” and it does 30 damage and gives Confusion for PCC.  The first attack is called “Damagriiigus”, which is not a real word.  The attack is impossible to say, and for PC, it lets you switch damage counters from one of your benched Pokemon to the defending Pokemon.  This means that you can have Regigigas EX take a lot of hits, and Cofagrigus can throw it all right back at your opponent while healing the Gigas.

The Good and the Bad

Now that we know what this deck is all about, let us discuss the good and bad parts of it.  The good part is that you seem to have a fool proof strategy.  No Pokemon can OHKO Regigigas EX when he has an Eviolite on him (okay, so there are some, but it is fairly hard to do so), and it should be easy to switch out Gigas and bring Cofagrigus to switch the damage counters around.  Another good thing is that the deck seems to cover a big weakness with Vanilluxe.  You should not have to worry about having to pay retreat costs when “Slippery Slope” is avaliable.  And there is no real way to counter “Slipper Soles” without knocking out Vanilluxe.  Another good thing about this deck is that it is different and it is fun to play.  No other deck out there right now is similar to this deck.  Troll feels a lot like CMT and Six Corners, but this deck is very different from all of those decks.

The bad things about this deck are numerous.  One thing is that things do not always happen as we see them.  In out heads we see Gigas switching off to Cofagrigus effortlessly, but in real life it could be hard to do this when Cofagrigus only have 90 HP.  It can easily be knocked out before it does its job, and without Energy acceleration, it could be hard to get energies at the right moment.  This brings us to another problem, energy.  While both attackers can attack with only 2 cards, energy drops are very important to this deck.  Energy must be where it needs to be at the right time, and this can be very hard to deal with when your opponent is trying to disrupt you.  Another problem with this deck is that it relies on at least two evolutions.  You need to get a stage 2 out, and 1 stage 1.  Historically, that is not a huge problem.  But, in this format it can be very hard to get evolutions out when Pokemon like Mewtwo EX are out there attacking for large amount of damage very quickly.  Getting the right number of evolutions out is going to be a problem when the format is so fast and basic friendly.

How to Setup

Setup with this deck is  very important.  Since some CMT decks can control the game from turn 1, you must get things going quickly.  Hopefully, you will get a turn 1 Pokemon Collector, and are able to get 2 Yamasks and 2 Vanillites out, as well as your active Gigas.  You are then going to want to quickly try to burn through your deck to find evolution cards and Rare Candies.  Perhaps you could run a list that has Smeargle and Skyarrow Bridge in it, that would make it easier for you to get a fast setup.

The most important thing for you to do in the first couple turns, besides attaching energy, is to get a Vanilluxe going.  If you get that out, things should get much easier.  You can begin attacking, and hopefully a Cofagrigus or two will come soon enough.

The List

As I mentioned before, I did not test this deck out, it is just a rough idea in my head.  So of course this decklist isn’t very good right now.  But maybe someone will like it as a fun deck and make it.  I made the trainer lines kind of weird in this deck to see if Smeargle will help you out.  If it doesn’t work, take Smeragle and the Skyarrow Bridges out, and make it more Supporter driven.  I don’t have room for Eviolite in this list, but I think I need this card in the deck.  So maybe it can be worked in somehow.

Pokemon-20

  • 3-Regigas EX
  • 4-Yamask
  • 4-Cofagrigus NV #46
  • 3-Vanillite
  • 1-Vanillish
  • 2-Vanilluxe ND
  • 3-Smeargle

Trainers-28

  • 1-Super Rod
  • 3-Skyarrow Bridge
  • 3-Rare Candy
  • 3-Junk Arm
  • 3-Pokemon Catcher
  • 4-Pokemon Collector
  • 3-Twins
  • 4-Professor Juniper
  • 3-Professor Oak’s New Theory
  • 2-Poke Gear 3.0

Energy-12

  • Double Colorless Energy-4
  • Psychic Energy-8

Match-Ups

Since this is just a fun deck I will not go in-depth with match-ups, since this deck probably won’t be doing that well.  But, I will be  talking a little about what this deck is good and not good against.  This deck is good against decks that aren’t that fast, don’t have fighting Pokemon, and don’t do a whole lot of damage.

This deck is good against decks like Reshiphlosion and Zekrom.  None of those decks normally run fighting Pokemon, so you are good there.  The decks are also not super fast.  Although you should worry about an EX doing 150 damage a turn, these decks normally will only be doing 2-3HKOs.  You should be able to absorb a couple hits, and then bring up Cofagrigus to heal and knock out at the same time.  These decks shouldn’t give you a huge amount of disruption, this will let you run your deck according to plan.  Durant should be a good match-up too.  As long as you keep energy on Regigas EX, you shouldn’t have much of a problem.  You just need to pray that they don’t get a lot of heads on Crushing Hammer flips.

This deck is bad against decks like Troll, 4 Terrakion, and CMT.  Troll and 4 Terrakions can hit this deck for weakness, so you don’t want to get into a match with these guys.  CMT is just too fast and probably won’t let you setup all of your evolutions.

Conclusion

So, now you should know a little about this deck.  It probably is more of a fun deck that lets you use your pretty Regigigas EX cards, than something you want to take to Regionals or Spring Battle Roads.  But, who knows maybe you will give it a try and like it, stranger things have happened.

Okay, I’m all done.  Hey Pedro, what do you have for us to end the article with?

Well as we all know, today is a big day.  It is Croatian Independence day!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhh Pedro, I don’t think we care that much about Crotian Independence.

Why Not? On this day in 1941, Italy and Germany, of the Axis Powers, helped create the country of Croatia out of Yugoslavia.  It was originally just a puppet state for the Axis, but as the Allies Invaded deeper into Europe, a democratic government was soon elected. 

Yeah, still not a big fan.

What’s wrong with the Croats.  In the world of sports today, a lot of people are Croation or  have Croatian ancestry.  People like Milwaukee Bucks Center Andrew Bogut, Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichek, tall tennis pro Ivo Karlovic, ESPN’s Mike Golic, Former member of Michael Jordan’s Bulls teams Tony Kucoc, and former Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjonovich.

Yeah don’t like anybody there.  If I want a tall tennis pro, than I got my buddy John Isner. I hate Belichek, and I think Golic is too much of a company man for me to like him.  So I’m not feeling the Croats today.

Well then you can just go to hell, cause I love the Croats!  Good night everybody, and long live Croatia!

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