Pikkdogs

Pikkdogs and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: Findlay, Oh Cities Report

Pikkdogs December 12, 2011 4 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with a tournament report for you. I usually try to bring you guys photographs of the event, but I left my camera at my apartment, so no pictures today. It’s just as well, since my photography skills suck anyway.

Today’s City Championship was in Findlay, Oh. It was about an hour and a half drive for me, about 2 hours south of Detroit. I was joined by my buddy Frank and two other Team Warp Point members. The guys arrived to my apartment about a half hour late, but luckily, the judges were all later than us. So we got there in plenty of time, but the tournament was also delayed.

This Cities was mostly made up of Ohio players. Fort Wayne, In also had a Cities on the same day, that kept all the Indiana players away. The 2 hour drive also kept a lot of Michiganders away, since my car, my buddy Matt K, and Team Bertolli were the only ones there. But, Ohio sure came out swinging. Regionals winner Carl S. was there, along with The Top Cut member Drew Holton, and one of Ohio’s most consistent players: Jack Iller. There ended up being 62 masters, so we had some quality players and lots of them.

I have toyed with playing a lot of decks this Cities season. I tried Steelix Ross and Durant, but none of those turned out to be any good. So I had to fall back on my old standard, Donphan and Dragons. Here is my list.

Pokemon-15

4-Phanpy HGSS
4-Donphan Prime
2-Tornadus
1-Reshiram
1-Zekrom
2-Kyurem

Trainers-31

3-Pokemon Collector
4-Professor Oak’s New Theory
3-Professor Juniper
3-Sage’s Training
2-Cheren
3-Pokemon Communication
1-Dual Ball
4-Junk Arm
4-Pokemon Catcher
2-Plus Power
2-Switch

Energy-13

4-Double Colorless Energy
4-Rainbow Energy
5-Fighting Energies

The list is basically a slightly tweaked version of what I have been playing since BRs. Kyurem is played more than the other dragons because he has weakness on Reshiram and his spreading attack can cause decks like Ross Deck to have a bad day. I might want to play 1 Terrakion NV next weekend, that seems to fit in well in this deck. So let’s get back to the tourney and see how it went.

Round 1- 6 Corners (deck with a bunch of Legends)

I am not sure of how this deck is as good as it seems to be since it seems to be like a theme deck, but with legends. But, I knew the player of this deck was good, so I knew the match would be hard to win.

I start with Phanpy and he starts with Verizion NV. I go first attach, and pass. He attaches and uses “Dual Draw.” I start to get a Donphan going and damage the Verizion. I knock it out on the next turn, but he gets a Kyurem going. All of his random Pokemon seem to come together to work somehow. They are able to knock out about 2 Donphans, but I am able to get rid of Kyurem with Tornadus. At one point I had taken 3-4 prizes and got him down to one Pokemon. But, he uses a Collector and somehow gets everybody setup very quickly. I run out of Donphans and he is able to win a very close game.

0-1- Not a good start but it was a good game with a good player. It was at this time that Frank left his Ipod by me, so I took it so he wouldn’t lose it. I decided to play with him a little and put it in his backpack without telling him. It was really funny watching him trying to figure out how with Ipod got into a place where he knew he didn’t put it. Lol good things, I don’t think he ever found out how it got there.

Round 2- Eelektrik with Magnezone Prime and Zekrom

This game was against my buddy Matt K., and boy was it ever a great game. I start with a Phanpy and a Collector, and get 3 Donphan Primes on turn 2. Matt was very shocked that I got so many Donphans so quickly, but the battle was far from over. On turn 2 I am able to knock out a Zekrom, except the Plus Power eluded me. So I had to put 120 on him, and “Outrage” eventually led to a prize for Matt. Next turn I drew a Plus Power but didn’t need it to finish off the Zekrom. On his next turn Matt used N to take my Plus Power away. Then I had a chance to knock out a Magnezone, but I again did not have the Plus Power. So I had to take 2 turns to knock out Magnezone. This gave Matt time to setup up Eelektriks and maximize the playability of Zekrom and Magnezone. He is able to get a string of 3 knockout on my Donphans, but this only gives him a 1 prize lead after I took down 3 Magnezones. By the time that time was called, the field was setup for a great finish. I had a Reshiram with no energy active, and he had a Pichu on the bench. I had a Plus Power and a Pokemon Catcher in my hand, so I played them. All I needed was a DCE, and I knew I had 2 of them in my deck. So I used a PONT, and knew I had a decent shot to hit the DCE. If I did get the DCE I would be able to knock out the Pichu, and Matt would not be able to attack since he Lost Zoned all his energies by this time. I draw my 6 cards but I did not reveal a DCE. I think for a bit and then scoop. Just for fun I revealed the top card of my deck, and it was a DCE, so I swore a couple times.

0-2. Sorry Matt, I didn’t mean to swear so much, just got caught up in a really great game. That will go down as one of the better games in a career filled with great games. At Regionals Matt was screwed by his opponent getting a DCE out of nowhere, but it didn’t happen this time. So I know my day is over after a 0-2 start, but I had some great games, so I knew the rest of the games would be really fun.

Round 3- Chandelure

I have never really played a Chandelure. I don’t think my opponent was really comfortable with her deck, and never really attacked with Chandelure. But that didn’t mean that the Ability along with Vileplume still couldn’t give me a bad day.

I again start with Phanpy but she goes first. She starts with Promo Litwick, uses a Collector, and does Call For Family for a total of 2 Oddishes and 2 Litwicks. I start to get my Phanpys going and get a Kyurem out. I also Pokemon Catcher an Oddish and then end. She retreats the Oddish and evolves into Lanturn before passing. On my next turn I evolve into Donphan, Catcher an Oddish, and get a knock out. On her next turn she evolves into Gloom on her other Oddish, and then passes. I am able to again use a Pokemon Catcher, but I am not able to get the 2 Plus Powers needed to get a knock out on Gloom. So on her turn she retreats Gloom, evolves in Chandelure and Dodrio, and starts putting damage counters all over. Although she never really attacked, she was able to setup 2 Donphans for a Jirachi double De-Evolve KO. She also took advantage of the damage counters placed thanks to “Earthquake” and knocked out a Tornadus. However, during this time I put 2 Rainbow Energies and a DCE on Kyurem. I meant to finish off Vileplume this way, but she uses Blissey Prime to get rid of all damage counters on the field. However, this just delayed the inevitable since she lost some energies because of Blissey. I was able to “Glaciate” 3 times and take my last 2 prizes.

1-2. I finally get a win and I do it by taking out a deck that is tough to beat.

Round 4- Reshiphlosion

I again go first and get a Phanpy start. On my second turn I am able to “Earthquake” a Cyndaquil for a knockout. On his next turn he Catchers my benched Kyurem with no energy, and passes. Luckily, I am able to find a DCE and use a Pokemon Catcher to knock out a 2^nd Cyndaquil. He then evolves his third Cyndaquil, and lays down the 4^th. On my next turn I again Catcher a Cyndaquil, and get my 3^rd prize. But, now he is ready with an army of Reshirams to get going. He takes advantage of the damage counters on my Donphans to get some easy “Blue Flare” knock outs. I don’t remember exactly how this game ended, but I think I got another Kyurem in play and he had a Reshiram with 7 damage counters on it. He ended up taking a prize by knocking out Donphan, but I was able to take my last prize when a damaged Kyurem “Outraged” for the win.

2-2. Another great game. Some really good games today, no win was easy.

Round 5- Weird 6 Corner Variant with Landorus, Terrakion, Kyurem, Zekrom, and the rest here on Gilligan’s Isle.

This was another one of those weird legendary hodgepodge legend decks. My opponent said she made the deck just to beat people who were playing Eelektrik. This game was very weird for me. She goes first with Landorus and passes. I have a lone Kyurem and a bunch of energies and Catchers in my hand. I draw a Juniper, but cannot afford to kill all those energies and Catchers. I am able to “Outrage” 3 times on Landorus to get the first knock out. She uses Terrakion NV to do 90 with “Retaliate”, but I top deck a Max Potion. I attach another DCE and then knock out a Cleffa (I think). After she puts a couple damage counters on me, I use them to “Outrage” on another Landorus for a knockout. So at this point I have a 3 prize lead, but a hand full of energies and no Donphans in sight. I finally get a Communication so I switch my Donphan for a Phanpy, and get the Donphan chain going after I finally use the Juniper. She then mounts a comeback using a fully powered Terrakion with an Eviolite and a bunch of Defenders. That was a big tank that took me a long time to take out. I think the game ends when I run out of energies, but am not sure. Either way it was a great game.

2-3. An Amazing back and forth game that shows how good basics and Eviolite are. Of course I hate to lose, but so far all my losses have been fun. I still don’t know how I took 3 prizes without setting up. But, man is Terrakion ever a big tank with Eviolite and Defenders.

Round 6- Reshiphlosion

My last match was again a very boring Reshiphlosion deck. Once I saw the Cyndaquil I thought of just scooping since this matchup is really boring, but I decide to play it through. He starts with Reshiram and Cyndaquil, attaches, and passes. I start with Phanpy, I attach, and use Pokemon Collector. On his turn he uses Rare Candy to get a Typhlosion and gets another Cyndaquil out. On my turn I get a Donphan and Pokemon Catcher to knock out a Cyndaquil. The next turn he uses Junk Arm to get Rare Candy back, and gets his second Typhlosion. On my next couple turns I “Earthquaked” a couple times on Reshirams. The Reshirams eventually won the battle, but I evened it up with “Outrage” from Kyurem. Then, I get 2 Rainbow Energies on Zekrom and do “Bolt Strike” for a knock out on another Reshiram. We are tied late in the game and he only has 1 Typhlosion left. I am in the spot to get a knock out, however, I can’t get another energy. So he wins.

2-4. So overall lots of really good games, with really bad outcomes. I was in every game until the very end. Luck just was not with me at all today.

Frank and Amanda (who also came with us) were about to make top cut, but did not have good enough tiebreakers to make it in. So we took off and rode down to Arbys and had some really good Roast Beef. I don’t know why, but all my tourney reports seem to end at Arbys.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Uncategorized

Deck Analysis: Steelix Prime Ross Deck

Pikkdogs December 8, 2011 4 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs here with a deck analysis for you. My extra-dimensionary sidekick Pedro will also be joining us. Pedro, what do you have for us today?

Well, not much news for today. Cities are still going on, and a special Victini tin is coming out. It will contain 5 packs and a Victini promo (the one with the “Victory Star Ability.” So that’s pretty cool.

Anything else?

Well a couple days ago, December 5th, was International Ninja Day.

But we missed it.

Of course we did, ninjas are very elusive.

Well, it makes sense. Enough ninja talk, let’s get on to the article. Read More

Pikks Three

A Very Special Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Vanilluxe, Unown (Cure), and Steelix Prime.

Pikkdogs December 5, 2011 6 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs and his extra-dimensionary sidekick Pedro here with a Pikk Three article. If you couldn’t guess it from the title, this Pikk Three has a theme.

Like a Prom?

Well kind of.

Can the theme be “Springtime in Paris?”

How could that be a theme for a Pokemon article? There are no French Pokemon.

I guess so. If there were French Pokemon I would bet they all would have no attacks and the “Surrender” Ability.

Probably. As I was trying to say a while ago, this Pikk Three article has a theme. The theme today is “Special Conditions.” All three of our cards have something to do with special conditions. Vanilliuxe can paralyze the defending Pokemon, Unown can remove Special Conditions, and Steelix Prime is untouchable by them. Special conditions were never really that big in Pokemon outside of Pre-Releases, so its nice to see them actually seeing competitve play. So before we offend any other nationality, let’s procede to the article. Read More

Deck Discussion

Stupid Deck Idea: Unfezant/Mew/Vileplume Lock

Pikkdogs November 30, 2011 5 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with a Stupid Deck Idea for you. I am also joined by my extra-dimensionary sidekick Pedro. Say “Hi” Pedro.

Hi Pedro

Really, we did that joke? We must be hitting the bottom of the barrel, that’s like a 1st grader joke.

Yep.

Anyway, Pedro why don’t you tell people about Ed’s Onehitko.com challenge.

Okay. Well you guys have probably been reading the articles about Ed trying to come up with a deck made by you guys, the Onehitko.com community. What happens is people send him some of their spare cards (usually more rogue cards) and we all come together to help him make a deck that he will play at the City Championships. Well, Cities are very close for Minnesota people like Ed, so there is not much time to get your cards into Ed. He does need your help to get a good deck that we can all have an input on and grow as a community. So if you have some rogue cards like Switch, Professor Elm’s Training Method, or some random Pokemon; please pass them on to Ed so we can add them into our communal card pool. If you want to read about how to get things going you can click here. This really is a cool event and should be really fun, so please if you can, send a couple of your un-used cards in an envelope and help us make a cool rogue deck!

Thanks Pedro, that sounded almost sincere.

It was, almost. Why don’t you just go on and talk about this crappy deck we are all here to talk about?

Ok sounds good. Cue the bolded titles please!

Strategy

A little background about this deck before we talk about it in depth. I have bought a lot of Black and White packs in my lifetime, and like other people, I hoped for lots of Reshirams and Zekroms. But, it seemed like in every other pack I had pulled an Unfezant for a rare. I got so mad that I kept on pulling this crap card that I almost started ripping them up.

Now fast forward to just after the release of Noble Victories. I felt that the release of Victini might bring us a new era of rogue decks, so I went through my binder trying to find cards that would work with Victini. What I found was that a surprising number of cards worked well with Victini, and could actually be semi-playable. One of those cards was Unfezant BW.

Unfezant is a 120 HP stage 2 Pokemon with a 1 retreat cost, a lightning weakness, and a fighting weakness. It has two attacks. The second attack, called “Cutting Wind” does 70 damage for CCC.

That sounds a lot like “breaking wind”, which means to fart.

So, what’s your point?

The point is that we get to say “Fart” a lot.

Yes we do……………….Fart.

Anyway, the first attack is why Unfezant is here. “Fly” does 50 damage and does not allow it to be attacked next turn by your opponent, if you flips heads on one coin flip.

So first things first. The stats are not that great for a stage 2. The weakness is bad, but the resistance is good. The HP and Retreat cost are normal. The 2nd attack stinks-

just like farting.

I think we get it Pedro. The second attack isn’t good, but maybe the first one could be. 50 damage and no way of attacking him next turn could be great. So let’s put him into a deck. Of course we are going to want Victini in this deck. It would also be nice to have Vileplume in this deck, so that your opponent can not Pokemon Catcher over your Unfezant wall.

There is a deck that Unfezant and Victini can slip right into easily. That deck is Mew Lock. This deck features Mew who uses Muk’s attacks to lock an unsuspecting Pokemon into the active spot. It also has Yanmega Prime, Sunflora, and Vilplume in it. Vileplume is to make sure your opponent cannot use the Switch card, Yanmega is a secondary attacker, and Sunflora gets the other two Pokemon out a lot faster. To fit in Unfezant and Victini, you just need to remove the Muks and Yanmegas.

Now that we have a basic deck idea, let’s explain it more.

How To Setup

Your first turn you are going to want to use a Pokemon Collector to get 2 Sunfloras and a Mew out, and then “See Off” an Unfezant. On the second turn you will evolve into Sunflora, and then start getting Vileplume setup. While doing this you should also get Victini out. Just attach one more energy, and you will be able to “Fly” for 50. Now, hopefully you should be able to keep “Flying” and keeping yourself untouchable while Vileplume sets up and basically ends any chance of them getting another knock out. That’s the hope anyway, let’s see if it can really work.

Testing Results

Well the reason why this is a Stupid Deck Idea is because I didn’t really get this deck to work. It has a solid premise to it, but it just didn’t work. That’s not to say that it can never work. With a different build it might stand a chance, but I just couldn’t get it going well enough to recommend it. Here is what happened

The problems with this deck were two pronged. The first set of problems had to do with bench space. There just wasn’t enough bench space because of the need to put multiple Pokemon down thanks to the Pokemon Catcher threat. By the time you get 2 Mews down and 2 Sunkerns there is no room for both Victini and Oddish. This problem was compounded in my initial testings because I had Yanmega in the deck. When I took him out the bench problems got better, but it was still a concern.

The second set of problems centered around energy. When the deck runs perfectly you will attach one energy to Mew on the first turn, “See Off”, then on the next turn attach another energy. But, things rarely go according to plan. Usually the Mew would either get knocked out, the opponent would catcher up something with a retreat cost, or I would run into an energy drought. Then, even if I could get two energies and a Unfezant in the Lost Zone, I would always flip 2 tails. So things were not going my way. The flips were probably just bad luck but the energy problems point to the lack of a draw engine in the deck. If you don’t get lucky it could be hard to get attacking on turn 2, and if Mew Prime decks don’t “See Off” turn 1 they usually lose. Possibly a build that was more focused on turn 1 would be more consistent. Anyway, those are the problems with the deck, let’s show you my list so you can maybe improve on it.

List

Pokemon-19

3-Sunkern
2-Sunflora HGSS
3-Oddish
1-Gloom
2-Vileplume
2-Victini #14
2-Unfezant
4-Mew Prime

Trainers-27

1-Super Rod
4-Pokemon Communication
3-Rare Candy
1-Revive
1-Dual Ball
1-Professor Elm’s Training Method
2-N
4-Pokemon Collector
4-Professor Juniper
3-Proffesor Oak’s New Theory
3-Sage’s Training

Energy-14

10-Psychic
4-Double Colorless Energy

Summary

So this deck was not very good for me. It could possibly be changed around to be better, but for right now I would say its not very good. It is a good fun deck with a Pokemon that many of us have used in Pokemon Black and White, so people might want to use a deck like this for fun. So it may be a cool deck, but probably not competitive with the current list.

So, I’m all done with this deck article. What do you have for us Pedro.

Well, I have said news for you today. One of your favorite comedians, Patrice O’Neal, has passed away.

Man that stinks, Patrice was a really funny guy. How old was he Pedro?

41.

That’s not a good sign, fat funny people don’t seem to last for too long. Patrice at 41 Chris Farley at 33, this doesn’t bode too well for me.

No, you’ll be okay, I think it only applies to funny people.

Well that’s good, have a good night guys and R.I.P. Patrice!

Deck Discussion

Deck Analysis: TCE-Terrakion, Cobalion, and Electrode Prime

Pikkdogs November 27, 2011 8 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with a deck analysis for you. I am also joined by my extra-dimensionary sidekick, Pedro. I had a hard time trying to decide if this should be a stupid deck idea or a regular deck analysis. I did try the deck, and it does work, but it does not work all that well. So I’m not sure if I got everything that this deck offers, or if there is more that can be sucked from this deck idea. I will let you guys decide for yourself.

So, Regionals and Battle Roads are all over and Cities are well under way. Football is winding down and basketball is starting up. It seems that Fall has worked its way into Winter.

That’s usually the order.

Yes it seems to be a pattern. Do you like the Winter Pedro?

Oh Hell Yeah! Love the winter.

What’s your favorite part about winter?

Snowball fights.

How come every time I ask you about something the conversation ends up being about you wanting to fight with people?

Well I guess I’m just a confrontational person. You know my dad is Mogor the conqueror.

Mogor the Conqueror?

Sure, in my dimension he is like the Alexander the Great of the Quadrant. I guess I get my aggressive side from him.

That would make sense. Let’s get onto the article, we can talk about your father another day.

I like to call the deck we will be talking about today TCE, for Terrakion, Cobalion, and Electrode Prime.

Strategy

The strategy of this deck is easy. Noble Victories brought us a lot of good high HP Pokemon that have steep energy costs (kind of reminds me of early SP Pokemon). What we want to do is get these Pokemon going turn 2 with a lot of energy on them. Then we will be able to easily do a lot of damage.

There are two main attackers in this deck. The first main attacker is Cobalion. The deck tries to use his “Iron Breaker” attack to do 80 damage and cause the defending Pokemon to be unable to attack next turn. It should be easy to do 80 damage and knock out a Pokemon on two hits without taking a hit. Then you can take advantage of Special Metal Energies and Eviolite to make sure Cobalion can survive a hit. After another “Iron Breaker” you should be able to knock out the second Pokemon. This should give you the advantage in the game. Also, since it is a metal Pokemon it can hit Kyurem, Vanillux, and Beartic for weakness. Cobalion is probably the attacker you would want to use in most matches.

The second attacker in this deck is Terrakion. Terrakion has a high 130 HP and can hit for 90 for three energies. While 90 isn’t a great number, it does have type advantage over the most popular deck, Zekrom. It also can take advantage of Eviolite to stick around for a while. Terrakion may not be the best Pokemon around, but 90 damage, 130 HP, and weakness over Magnezone Prime and Zekrom makes him a pretty good Pokemon.

The third piece of the puzzle is Electrode Prime. Electrode has the “Energy Mite” Poke-Power that will let you attach any energy card from the top 7 cards of your deck to any of your Pokemon. The drawback being that Electrode Prime is now knocked out, and any of the top 7 cards that weren’t energies get discarded. While you never like giving up a prize, it is the only way to get Terrakion and Cobalion powered up so quickly. The deck will not work without some form of energy acceleration and right now all we got that fits this deck is Electrode. So while we aren’t happy that we have to use Electrode Prime, it really is the glue that holds this deck together.

I have seen people talk about this deck with Kyurem in the place of Terrakion. Personally, I prefer Terrakion over Kyurem in this deck, but my feelings could betray me (can you tell that I’m writing this article why watching Star Wars?). You should be able to switch Terrakion for Kyurem and the fighting energies for water energies in the decklist without any other changes.

How to Setup

You are going to start with ether Voltorb, Terrakion, or Cobalion. It doesn’t really matter which one it is, unless you know what deck you are going against. On your first turn you are going to want to use a Pokemon Collector to get 2 Voltors in play, hopefully you will also get at least 2 attackers on the field. On your second turn you are going to evolve into Electrode Prime, then use all of your Research Records to put all non energy cards on the bottom of your deck. You can then use “Energy Mite” to power up one or two of your attackers. This move will allow you to use Twins if you wish. Then you can start attacking.

Matchups

TCE is kind of like a tool box deck similar to Stage 1 Rush. You can mold the deck and form it to fit your meta-game by adding in any number of the many Big Basic Pokemon (BBP). So it is hard to set matchups when you can easily change the deck. But we will assume you are using the Terrakion and Cobalion version fo the deck. We will also assume that you will be able to improve on the decklist that I will eventually give you guys, and make the list a little more consistent with a better late game.

Zekrom– even. The high HP of your Pokemon will make them very hard to donk. While it is true that you might get stuck having to attack with Cobalion, if you can get Terrakion going they will have a hard time responding. Good Zekrom players might be able to out play you, but you do have a good shot at winning if you can keep your deck consistent.
Primetime-Favorable. This deck is similar to Zekrom except that Yanmega is not as much of a threat has Tornadus is. Yanmega does have the free retreat that Cobalion hates, but you should be able to control the game with only Terrakion.
Gothitelle/Truth– slightly unfavorable. You will setup faster and hit really hard right away. However, if they can stop your momementum they should easily be able to control the game. So it just depends on their setup.
Donphan/Dragons– slightly favorable- Terrakion will probably match up well with Donphan with an Eviolite. Throw in some help with Cobalion and you should be okay.
Reshiram– Unfavorable. Cobalion will be of no help here because of the weakness. Terrakion will be able to hold its own, but with no weakness 90 damage doesn’t cut it.

So if you can get a consistent list, the matchups are not that bad. The hard part will just be to get your list polished up so it works all the time. That gives us a good segway to the part of the article where we talk about the decklist.

Decklist

I will admit that I have a very poor decklist of this deck. It is in no way ready for a tournament. I am still trying to make room for necessary cards like Junk Arm. This deck has to be very focused on getting a turn 2 Electrode. If it is not focused on Electrode the deck will never work. However, getting your deck focused so much on turn 2, will not leave a lot of room for trainers that will help you later game. So the balance in building this deck has to be kept. I will give you a list similar to the one I tested with, and although it is not a good list, it is something that you might be able to work with.

Pokemon-12

Terrakion NV-3
Cobalion NV-3
Voltorb-4
Electrode Prime-3

Trainers-31

4-Pokegear 3.0
4-Pokemon Collector
4-Twins
4-Professor Juniper
4-Research Records
3-Pokemon Catcher
4-Pokemon Communication
2-Eviolite
2-Switch

Energy-16

4-Special Metal Energies
4-Metal Energy
8-Fighting Energies

Summary

So there is my list and a run down of the deck. The list does need some work before I am convinced that this a great deck, but it does have some potential. This list doesn’t even have Junk Arm in it, you probably are going to need to fit that in somewhere. So if you have some time, you can test with this list to see if the deck is any good.

Well that’s all I can say about this deck. What you got for us to end the article Pedro?

In this day in history in 1942 Jimi Hendrix was born. Do you like the Jimi Hendrix Pikkdogs?

Love the Jimi Hendrix. I don’t know which song I like better, “Hey Joe” or “Foxy Lady.” I do enjoy the Jimi Hendrix. I actually have a Jimi Hendrix story.

But he died like 15 years before you were born?

Well I have a story about someone named James Hendrix. A couple towns over from where I grew up there was a guy named James Hendrix, and we always used to call him up and ask for “Jimi Hendrix”, then we would giggle and hang up.

That was not a funny story at all Pikkdogs.

No, I guess it wasn’t. Kind of anti-climactic. But, I guess it will fit right in with all the other un funny stuff. Have a good night everybody!

City Championships

An Introduction to Cities 2011-2012.

Pikkdogs November 25, 2011 6 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs and his extra-dimensionary sidekick Pedro here with a short article about this years Cities tournaments. It seems like I just got back from Regionals, but yet Cities will be starting this week! Besides having no time to prepare for Cities, there are new cards in the format. So let’s slow things down a little bit and look at what’s going on in the format.

Before we get going, I should announce that onehitko.com has a new sponsor, www.propokemon.com.

Someone actually is giving you money to promote their site?

It appears that way.

So you’re like a whore now, you pimp yourself out for money?

I thought we already established that.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. I smell a part of the article where you are about to sell your soul to the man and give them a cheesy commercial, so go ahead.

Alright. www.propokemon.com Is a great place to get deck lists and different tricks and tips for the format. They always have some cool free articles, but, they are now changing the game by offering you premium articles from the best players on a per article basis. So you no longer have to subscribe with a monthly fee to every premium article, you can just pick and choose the ones you want for a very low fee.

Sounds smart to me. Plus. people get to read articles from someone who is actually good.

That always helps. So make sure to go over there and check out the site, and then check back for all the latest strategies. Well there Pedro, we did the commercial.

Did a little bit of you die inside?

Yes. Though nothing against propokemon, I actually do love the site and I read articles there all the time. I’m just not used to selling out to the man. I kinda feel dirty.

Well, I could say something about the “dirty part”, but our sponsors may not like it.

Do you mean we have to watch our language now? No more penis jokes?

No. Well, maybe just a few.

Can I tell the story about a man from Nantucket?

That might be going too far. Plus we are going way off topic, just get on to talking about Cities.

Cities Overview.

Okay, let’s talk about Cities by revisiting what happened at Regionals. Here are the breakdown of how many decks made it to the top 4:

Reshiram-8
Primetime-7
Zekrom-5
Stage 1 Variants-4
The Truth-2

So that kind of gives us a look at the format. Reshiram, Zekrom, and Primetime seem to be the best around. With Stage 1 and a couple other decks peeking their heads in and doing a decent job. So with those three decks in mind, let’s continue by looking at what Noble Victories adds us.

Changes from Noble Victories

We will begin our look at NV by listing the popular cards from that set, and then state what decks they will help or hurt.

Kyurem– Kyurem may or may not be decent in a deck of its own, but will see a lot of play in other decks. Expect Donphan and Dragons, Zekrom, The Truth (Ross Deck), and Gothitelle to play this card to counter Donphan Prime and Reshiram. Kyurem being played will hurt Donphan and Dragons, and could make it unplayable if it gets a lot of play. It will also hurt Reshiram decks, but it certainly won’t kill the deck, just make games closer.
Vanilluxe/Chandelure– You might see some play of these Pokemon in Ross Decks. The play won’t be significant nationwide, but very well could be in your local metagame.
Durant– Watch out for the milling Durant. Of course it won’t be splashable in any deck, and won’t be a top tier deck itself. But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look out for it. Players of Stage 1 decks might wanna tech in a card like Victini #15, because they will have a hard time doing enough damage to consistently knock out Durant without a fire Pokemon.
The Musketter Trio– Well, the duo anyway, nobody will be playing Virizion. The other two might see some play in stage 1 tool box decks. Cobalion might see even see some play in its own deck. Terrakion could be a decent Donphan replacement in a stage 1 deck for people who are worried about Donphan’s water weakness. Cobalion could see its own deck as it has the “Iron Breaker” attack which does not let your opponent attack next turn. Perhaps it could be paired with Electrode Prime.
Rocky Helmet– I am not really sold on this card, but expect to see a little of it anyway. It doesn’t really seem to benefit one deck, so expect it everywhere, expect in Ross Deck and Mewlock.
N– I also am not sold on how N impacts the format. I think it is a good card, but it is not a great card. Regardless of what I think of it, it will be played simply because it is a cool card. Remember when Seeker came out in Triumphant? Everybody played that for a couple of months, before we realized that it’s crap. The same might happen with N, but that doesn’t matter because the fact is that people will play N. As for impacting individual decks, it will give a huge lategame advantage to Magnezone Prime decks. Since they can use “Magnetic Draw” to recover from a late game N, they will have a huge advantage if N gets as much play as expected. It doesn’t really seem to effect the other good decks in the format, just the rogue ones like Lost World and Durant.
Eviolite- I have saved the best for last. Eviolite will make a huge impact on Cities. It will be used by any Pokemon that is basic. So that means Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Tornadus, Durant, Druddigon, and others will receieve a huge boost. This gives basic decks a huge advantage over others. It may not impact Primtime too much. Yes it will make Yanmega much less useful, but 150-20 is still 130 and a knockout for Magnezone Prime’s “Lost Burn” attack. Look for basic decks to reach new heights at cities.

Well that’s it for the list. After all that, I think we can say that Zekrom should be the winner of the Noble Victories release. Although Reshiram also gains from the release of Eviolite, Zekrom does not have to worry about Kyurem “Outraging” for weakness. Although saying that, the balance beam won’t fall too much towards Zekrom, Primetime and Reshiram still have a great shot. And Gothitelle and Ross Deck will still be around. So the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Tips for Cities

Cities is always my least favorite tournament season. They usually are scheduled during holidays or during big snow storms. Yet, people might be able to get out to a couple of them, so let’s look at some tips and tricks for winning Cities.

It’s a small tournament, so your decks can be riskier. At regionals you needed a deck that could win 10 times in a row, not so here. Just winning 5-6 times might be enough to win. So you can try running riskier decks like Sharpedo, and hope you get lucky. Though consistency is never a good thing to lose, you might need to take a risk to get a win.
I’m liking Magnezone. Even though Eviolite makes basic decks a lot better, Magnezone is still a good card. The reason I like it now more than ever is because of N. A lot of people will be playing it and Magnezone has a built in N recovery system. “Magnetic Draw” will help you make you recover from an N better than any other deck.
Basics are the safest bet. With Eviolite it is impossible to go wrong by choosing Reshiram and Zekrom decks. Although you may not be lucky enough to win, you should do well with these decks. Just be aware that you will see more rogue out there than usual, so be prepared.

Okay Pedro, I’m done. What do you have for us today?

Well, today is Black Friday. Have you done your holiday shopping Pikkdogs?

Oh of course, I’ve been spending all that www.propokemon.com money. I’ve got so many commercials going I’m like the Shamwow guy of Pokemon.

So you’re rolling in the cash?

Well, I’m supposed to say so. But I’m actually still the same homeless guy that Ed picked off the street and lured into writing for the promise of chicken.

So you’re lying to me and you didn’t do any Christmas shopping?

Not really, I’m still waiting for the chicken from Ed. Did you do any Black Friday shopping?

Well, I wouldn’t call it shopping. I just went to a busy shop and waited for a popular item to be almost gone, and then when someone picks up the last item I would punch them.

That’s not very nice.

No, but its fun. Good night everybody.

Deck Discussion

Deck Analysis and Testing Results: The Durantula

Pikkdogs November 22, 2011 4 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs here with a deck analysis. I am only joined by my extra-dimesnionary sidekick, Pedro.

Before we begin the article Pikkdogs, I gotta stop you and wish you a 25th Birthday.

Well, Thank You Pedro.

Oh you’re welcome, we gotta celebrate your birthday, 25 years is a big milestone for a guy as big as you.

You mean penis wise?

No, I don’t. I mean a 300 Lb guy doesn’t get too many birthdays, we could be looking at the halfway point for you.

Well, Thank You Pedro I appreciate the care you show.

You’re welcome, now finish up the article before your heart fails.

Strategy

The Durant deck has one main Pokemon, any one care to guess?

Jigglypuff?
Read More

Pikks Three

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Pachirisu Cl, Electrode Prime, and Eviolite

Pikkdogs November 18, 2011 2 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with another Pikk Three article for you. This Pikk Three article will be a normal article, but it will be about cards that will be impactful at Cities. Of course, today I am joined by my extra-dimensionary sidekick, Pedro. Pedro, what’s going on today? .

Hey Pikkdogs, well today I don’t have any news for you but I can bring you what happened this day in history. On this day, November 18, 1886, former U.S. President Chester Alan Arthur died of Bright’s disease.

Sounds like a cheery way to die.

It does, but I doubt it was that fun. Say Pikkdogs, Arthur was one of our more obscure Presidents, who is your favorite obscure President?

I guess I would say William Howard Taft. As a fat guy, I gotta support my fellow portly gentlemen.

Did you know he was so fat that he got stuck in his bath tub?

I did.

You’re over 300 pounds, have you gotten stuck in your bathtub yet?

I can’t say that I have. I would think it would be hard to get stuck in the bathtub, since you can always water yourself down and get your fat moist enough to slip out.

This is all getting very disguisting. Can we just stop talking about your fat and get onto the article?

Okay.

The Staple-Pachirisu Call of Legends

This cities themed Pikk Three will start with a card that has been great since Nationals, it is Pachirisu Cl.

Description– Pachirisu is a 60 HP basic lightning Pokemon from Call of Legends, it has a fighting weakness, a metal resistance, and a one retreat cost. Its one attack, “Shocking Bolt”, is good for an early game donk, it does 50 damage for LL. The reason why Pachirisu is good is because of the “Self Regeneration” Poke-Power. When you play Pachirisu down, you are allowed to attach up to 2 energies to Pachirisu.

Analysis– When Pachirisu was first released we knew it was going to be good at something, we just didn’t know what. We knew that anything that can bring 2 energies into play is good, but there really was no need for it. Remember this was still the SP format. People were talking about using him with Raichu Prime, which was a good use, but Raichu never became playable. So it stayed into our binders until around Nationals when we paired it with Zekrom. Zekrom was a good deck but it got tossed around by Donphan Prime a lot. Then Tornadus came out and Donphan wasn’t as big of a threat. So this means that Zekrom and Pachirisu became one of the better decks and cards in the format.

Let’s look at the stats. 60 HP is very low, so it is a Pokemon Catcher prize waiting to happen. The fighting weakness would be bad, but its HP is so low that it doesn’t really matter. It is always nice to have a resistance, but nobody plays Metal Pokemon right now. The 1 retreat cost is great, sure free would be nice, but we can’t always get free things.

Unless you have boobs.

I have man boobs, do I get anything free for that.

Yes, heart disease.

Oh, that’s not good. Anyway, let’s talk about the attack next. Usually 50 damage for 2 and a 2 discard (or Lost Zone) is not good, but this is different. Because Pachi can bring 2 energies onto the field on the first turn easily, his first attack is actually good. You should be able to donk almost any basic Pokemon with a Plus Power including but not limited to: Cleffa, Gothita, Reuniclus, Tepig, Cyndaquil, Tornadus, Yanma, Zorua, and Mincinno. The attack is really good early game, but almost useless later in the game.

And that will bring us to the reason we are all here, “Self Regeneration.” Being able to add an extra 2 energies onto the field out of nowhere is great. They can be moved over to another attack with Shaymin Ud, moved with a Poke-Power such as Raichu Prime, or be used on Pachirisu with an attack like that of Magnezone Prime’s “Lost Burn.” There are not many basic Pokemon out there that can provide a great energy accelration like that, so Pachirisu is very useful.

I kind of mentioned it already, but Pachirisu is mostly used in decks like Zekrom and Magnezone. He is a staple in most decks that feature these Pokemon as their main attacker. Pachirisu is also vital in these decks, they couldn’t do it without him. Pachirisu is why Zekrom is the best deck around.

Rating– 8/10- Energy acceleration and 2 great decks to use them in is great. Sure it is a free Pokemon Catcher prize, but not everything is perfect-

Except Stacey Keibler.

Of course, nobody is perfect except Stacey Keibler. Pachirisu is a great card and has a great use in the format. No wonder that most people sell it for 30 bucks, it is that good.

I bet it was hard finding a picture of Stacey Keibler to use?

Well it took me like a half an hour, because I was actually being kid friendly for once and trying to get one where she is covered up.

Where’s the fun in that?

I think the fun is looking at all the ones that are not covered up first.

Gotcha.

The Underdog-Electrode Prime

The next card will be a card that you will probably see very often in a deck with Cobalion and possibly other BBP (BIg Basic Pokemon), Electrode Prime. Electrode Prime was always the worst rare in a set of great Primes. Whenever someone opened a Triumphant pack they dreamed of pulling a Magnezone Prime, Yanmega Prime, or Mew Prime; and they almost ripped the card up when they instead saw an Electrode Prime. Let’s look at the card in this format to see if anything has changed.

Description– Electrode is a 90 HP stage 1 electric Pokemon with a fighting weakness, a metal resistance, and a one retreat cost. He has on attack called “Gigashock”. For LC it does 30 damage and snipes twice for 10. But the stats of Electrode are not as important as the Poke-Power, “Energymite.”

This Poke-Power has four steps. First you reveal the top 7 cards of your deck. Next, you attach any energy cards you find there to any Pokemon you have in play in any way you like. Then, you discard the non-energy cards that you revealed. Finally, you put Electrode in the discard pile and your opponent takes a prize. Quite an interesting Pokemon, its stats are bad; has a crappy attack, you have to discard a lot of cards from your own deck, and you have to give up a prize. But, yet a lot of people are seriously thinking of playing this card in a tournament. Let’s look a little deeper to see if these people are crazy or not.

Analysis– Well, as mentioned the stats are very crappy. If it ever sees the field on your opponents turn it will almost always be a prize for your opponent with Pokemon Catcher. The attack is perhaps the worst that has ever appeared on a super rare. But yet, all of this doesn’t matter because Electrode will probably be knocked out a couple seconds after he is evolved.

Electrode isn’t used to attack or to wall, it is used for energy acceleration. If you have a really focused deck Electrode can be a great way of loading a lot of energies on one attacker very quickly. There are of course a lot of positives and negatives of this Pokemon.

On the plus side there is not really anyone who can do what he can. Electrode can load a lot of any type of energies on any Pokemon. He also works well with a lot of good Pokemon who have a lot of potential, but have a high energy cost. Pokemon like Cobalion and Terrakion could be really good, but Electrode is needed to get them going by turn 2. Even though Electrode forces you to give a lot of things up, the energy acceleration he provides is amazing and unmatched.

However there are a lot of things on the negative side. The first thing is that you need a very focused deck for Electrode is to work. He is not a splashable Pokemon. You can’t just throw him into a deck with a stage 2 and a stage 1 and expect him to work. You will be running a lot of cards and the cards you discard with “Energymite” will be crippling to your deck. Electrode can only consistently work with a basic Pokemon or a stage 1. Another negative thing about Electrode is that you will have a hard time winning a prize race with him in your deck. Don’t expect to run Electrode and then be able to go blow for blow with another deck. Because he gets knocked out and you give your opponent a prize, you will need to run a deck that doesn’t give your opponent a chance to go toe to toe with you. Audino donk works because it hits the opponent before he or she can really setup. Cobalion will probably work because “Iron Breaker” will not allow your opponent to attack next turn. So Electrode doesn’t work with every deck, but when it does have a place in the deck I think that it can work.

Rating– 8/10– I expect big things for Electrode in the coming months, it should go from obscurity to the top tables. Expect Audino, Cobalion, and Kyurem to be a lot better for it.

The Young Gun- Eviolite.

The final card today will be a trainer from Noble Victories that should single the reign of the BBP, Eviolite.

Description– – Eviolite is a new card from Noble Victories that is ready to break the format. It is a Pokemon Tool card that can be attached to any basic Pokemon. When it is attached it reduces any damage done from an opponent’s attack by 20. So it basically makes every basic Pokemon like Donphan Prime.

Analysis–

Ever since Black and White came out we have been moving to the era of Big Basic Pokemon. You don’t need to evolve any more to do a lot of damage from a high HP Pokemon. It is no longer just Reshiram and Zekrom; Kyurem, Coballion NV, and Terrakion NV are all playable. Eviolite only makes them better.

The best use for Eviolite is probably on the energy trio (Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem). This is because they have the “Outrage” attack. “Outrage” makes these Pokemon very powerful for only one Double Colorless Energy. “Outrage” is best used when these Pokemon take a big hit and are still alive and kicking, ready to return that big hit. Eviolite will almost make sure that no Pokemon (without using weakness) can OHKO one of the energy trio.

Even if you are not playing one of the energy trio, Eviolite will still be very valuable to the BBP. Terrakion NV has 130 HP and is weak to grass, it will be very very hard for your opponent to match up against a Terrakion that gets a lot of energy on him fast. Cobalion EP has 120 HP and can utilize Special Metal energies. Getting an OHKO on Cobalion with Special Metals and Eviolites will be very hard indeed.

I think the sky is the limit for Eviolite. It will help make sure that the age of BBP will never go away as long as it is around. I think the release of Eviolite with the BBP can be compared to the release of Double Colorless Energy with Garchomp C Lv. X. It could be that dominate.

Rating– 9/10– We are in the age of BBP and I don’t know if anything will be able to consistently beat the BBP.

Well, that’s all I got say, I guess we can wrap this article up. Say Pedro, I notice you again missed an article early in the week, what happened this time?

I kind of got into some legal trouble, I can’t really talk about it right now.

Legal trouble like domestic violence? or legal trouble like insurance fraud?

I got arrested for assault with a battery.

Don’t you mean assault and battery?

No, I hit somebody with a Duracell.

Oh I see, that’s not really nice of you. Assault with a battery is a new low, although “Hooker Urn” might have been lower.

I liked the Hooker Urn joke.

Of course, what’s not to like about a hooker joke. Anyway, we gotta go before Ed notices that we said “hooker” a bunch of times. Have a good night.

Regional Championships

Pikkdogs Great Lakes Regionals Report.

Pikkdogs November 15, 2011 9 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOERS out there, this is Pikkdogs here with a tournament report from the 2011 Fall Great Lakes Regionals. Just a note for you guys, we have been having a lot technical problems with our server lately. So we apologize for that stuff, Ed is trying to figure out what the problem is and if it will be fixed soon. We ask that you bear with us with the delays, this article was delayed two days, so we are sorry for the delays.

Intro

After Zekrom ended the Battle Road season very strong, I was not very excited about the format. So I did not get a lot of practice in, in fact, I did not decide on my deck choice until about half an hour before the tournament started. So when I decided to go to regionals, I knew very well that I was never going to cut. The night before, I decided to make a Gothitelle deck because I thought it would be fun to play. I didn’t get much chance to play-test it, but the testing I did do did not turn out well. I could set Gothitelle up, but then my deck would stall. So I needed to switch to something else or fix Gothitelle. Before the tournament started, I decided to go back to my Donphan and Dragons deck, which is more of a Donphan/Tornadus/Zekrom deck. If you guys want a list you can request one in the comment box.

I decided to go to the regionals in Fort Wayne, Indiana with my buddy and fellow onehitko writer, Mark. I woke up early at 4:30 A.M. and warmed up some rolls for breakfast. Then I watched a little tv and went to pick up Mark. We ended up making very good time and made it to Fort Wayne in less than 3 hours. The tournament ended up having about 220 masters, including people from Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and the magical land of Canada. It was really nice to see most of my friends from the area. Almost all of my Team Warp Point buddies were there, James and the Fort Wayne players showed up to defend their turf, and my buddy Andy drove with a bunch of some of the cool Minnesota players; it was nice seeing all of those guys again. I also got to meet some new people, I finally got to meet The Top Cut’s Kyle “Pooka” Sucevich. I didn’t get to talk to him too much, but he seemed like a nice guy and it was nice to finally meet him in person.

Another cool part of the day was that I decided to where my Halloween costume. I had decided to dress up as my buddy Frank S. for Halloween night at the league that Team Warp Point runs. But, I was not able to make it to the event, so I wore it to regionals. Frank always wears his Sonic shirt but for some reason he decided to make me mad and wear something else, oh well, at least the hat and the snake were right. You can see the pictures to the right. Anyway, that is enough distractions for the moment, let’s go to the tourney report.

Tournament Report

Round 1 against Reshiboar

` My first round was against a new comer from Michigan with the last name of Moncreif. I loved that because I am a big fan of the play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” and there is a character in that play with the same name. Unfortunately, the game was not as exciting as his name. He started with a Reshiram and a Tepig, and I started with a Phanpy and a Tornadus. I go first and attach to Phanpy and pass. On his turn he doesn’t do much, and passes to me. On my turn I evolve to Donphan Prime and use a Pokemon Catcher and Plus Power to knock out the Tepig. On his turn he uses a Professor Oak’s New Theory, but can’t come up with any more Pokemon, and passes again. It takes me two more turns to knock out the Reshiram after he whiffed on another supporter and I got another Plus Power.

1 – 0. didn’t expect to do too much today, but I had a good start.

Round 2 against Zekrom

My opponent was a guy named James who was from Columbus, Ohio. We had the Michigan/Ohio State rivalry going in full force. I happened to be playing with blue sleeves, and he had red sleeves. Even though I knew I wasn’t doing well today, I knew that I had to beat this guy for Michigan. This game was pretty much like the first. He started first with Zekrom and I had Tornadus. I had a bad hand with 3 Donphan Primes and a Professor Juniper, luckily he decided to Judge it away on the first turn. I didn’t end up with a great hand, but it was good enough to get a Phanpy on the field. On his next turn he used another supporter like PONT, but he was not able to find another basic, he did get to knock out my Tornadus. On my turn I used a Sage’s Training to get both a Plus Power and a Donphan Prime for the win.

2 – 0. Another good win, but I know that there was still a lot more tournament to be played.

Round 3 against Zekrom/Magnezone/Vileplume

This game was against Moncriefs’ friend J.W. The game started off pretty poorly as I had to mulligan 3 times to get a basic. But it improved as I got two Donphan Primes by my second turn. I then was able to use Supporters to draw into Pokemon Catchers. With those Catchers I was able to knock out an Oddish and 2 Mangemites. Eventually he was able to setup Vileplume and Magnezone, but I was down to 2 prizes left at this time.

008 — Troll and Toad was at Regionals too.

3 â€“ 0 Well I did get another win and I was happy to be undefeated at the lunch break. Mark and I were able to drive on over to Five Guys Burgers and Fries and got a couple of crazy good burgers. This was actually Marks first time to 5 guys, so it was nice to introduce him to the one of the happiest places on earth.

Round 4 against Gothitelle.

This round was against Sarah, she is known throughout the area as the best Gothitelle player around. This ticked me off because my deck does not have a single Gothitelle tech in it. The only way I can win this game is if I am able to take control of the game early with Pokemon Catchers, and knock out all of the Gothitas. This did not happen in this game. I started with a Zekrom and she started with a Gothita. I attached a DCE, but was not able to get a Phanpy going until the next turn. Sarah was not having a good time in setting up either, but I knew she had Twins in her hand just waiting for a chance to use them. I decided that I had to eventually take a prize, so I knocked out one of the Gothitas. As expected, she used Twins about 3 times in a row to get setup. My only hope now was that she had prized her Blissey Prime or something, but she was able to control the game and do whatever she wanted. She used Blissey once, and then a couple turns later she used Seeker and “Mad Kinesis” for the win.

012 — My buddy Matt K. (right) in action.

3 â€“ 1 Good job Sarah, she played the deck well. I just had no counters against it, so she was able to control the game easily. I was not very mad at this game, I knew I had no chance against decks like this.

Round 5 against Ross Deck

As I mentioned, I have a bad Gothitelle matchup. I also have a bad Ross Deck matchup. I need to knock out the Oddishes and Solosi before they can evolve. At first I was doing really well. I started with Phanpy and was able to get Donphan with an energy on turn 2. I used Pokemon Catcher to knock out an Oddish on turn 2. On his next turn he used Twins to get a Suicine/Entei Legend out. I decided that SEL was a big threat because it could hit Donphan for weakness, so I used Pokemon Catcher to attack it for 90. He was able to knock out my Donphan on his next turn, but I used Tornadus to get the revenge knock out for 2 prizes. On his next turn he again used Twins, but was not able to get much going. On my turn I used Pokemon Catcher to knock out a Phanpy, and then got another knock out next turn. But before I could take my 6^th prize, he setup Vileplume and Reuniclus. After this he was able to make sure his Donphan Prime kept free of damage counters. And was able to slowly knock out 6 Pokemon for the win.

3 â€“ 2. I never expected to do well at this tournament, and here was my wakeup call. I knew I had to win out from here on to top cut.

Round 6 against Donphan and Dragons

This game was against another Donphan player, this guy was from Fort Wayne and is a league member with my buddy James. I have talked to him several times about the deck, and we have talked a little about the game before so it was nice to finally meet him in battle.

I can’t recall too much about the specifics of this game, but I think he had a tough time setting up. I think I had a Phanpy start and a fairly easy Donphan Prime. I used Pokemon Catchers to take out his bench, so that left him with only one Donphan Prime to contend with. I was able to use Donphan Prime and Tornadus to finish off the last Donphan and get the win. Hopefully we have more interesting battles in the future.

4 â€“ 2. I kept my hope alive here with a win. It’s nice to at least be in the hunt at this point.

Round 7 versus Primetime.

I had a really poor start in this match. I probably should have won the game, but I just had some bad luck that prevented me from going on. I started with a Zekrom, I eventually got a turn 2 or 3 Donphan, but had a hard time of getting it going. On about his 5th turn he was able to respond to a knockout with my Donphan with an attack by Magnezone Prime. I was able to get back going with the help of Tornadus and a couple Donphan Primes, but he had started taking prizes way before I did. I ended the game by having 1 prize left as he took his last.

4 â€“ 3. I knew my small hopes of top cutting were over, so I started looking at the side events to see when a new 8 man tournament would start. But there was not one until after the next round, so I decided to stay and play.

Round 8 versus Ross Deck

Ross Deck and Gothitelle were my two worst matchups, and I managed to play them three times. This game was against Abraham from Wisconsin. I think he was one of Pooka’s friends. He seemed like a really nice guy and we talked about Wisconsin before the match started, since I was born in that state. In my last Ross Deck game I was able to get 5 prizes before he setup, this time was much worse. I did start with a Phanpy, but so did he. I did knock out an Oddish with Pokemon Catcher, but he used Pokemon Collector to get a lot more basics out. By his 4^th or 5^th turn he got all setup and I just decided to scoop. I was fairly tired from a long day of Pokemon, and didn’t want to fight another losing battle.

The Aftermath

So I fizzled out to 4-4 after a 3-0 start, but my buddy Mark had better luck. I will not tell you too much about how he did since Mark will probably write an article himself. But I will say that he did Top Cut and eventually made top 16. Since I had to wait around for Mark I decided to play in a side event with my friend James. In my first game I played a Reshiphlosion deck and beat it in a long game. In my second match I played James who was playing my Gothitelle deck. Of course I again lost to a stupid Reuniclus deck. One funny part was that during my first match I noticed that my buddy Andrew was walking by so I looked at him. While I was distracted, Bruce the judge tried to throw a pack to the person who was sitting right next to me. But instead of throwing to him, Bruce hit me right in the mouth with it. The really bad part was that I didn’t even get to keep the pack.

After the side tournament Mark and I added Cody B. to our group after he also made top 16. We were going to get a motel, but I wasn’t happy about having to pay for a room when I wanted to go home. Luckily my buddy James stepped in and said we could stay with him for the night. Dustin Z. from Indiana also joined us and we stopped at Arby’s before we got to James’ apartment. After ordering, we got lucky and the Arby’s people gave us some free chicken, onion rings, and mozzarella sticks. So big thanks to Arby’s, that was really good. Then we went to James and just about collapsed as we walked in, and woke up just in time for top 16 the next morning. I won’t spoil the story of what happened to Mark, so let’s skip to the ride home. We ended up stopping at a McDonalds and talked about cartoons and other television shows (Anime sucks by the way), and then we listened to “Family Guy: Live in Las Vegas” until we got home.

It ended up being a really fun trip. I didn’t win, but I didn’t expect to, so that’s okay. A big thanks to James for saving us and putting us up for the night. Cities starts in only two weeks, so good luck to everybody who will be trying to get a hold of the new cards and make new decks.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Card Discussion Uncategorized

Possible Decks From Noble Victories

Pikkdogs November 11, 2011 2 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with an article about decks that can come from the Noble Victories set. I also have my extra-dimensionary sidekick Pedro here with me. Sorry for this article coming out late. Again the server crashed on me when the article was almost finished. So that pushed the article back a day or so. But let’s move on, What’s on your mind tonight Pedro?

Well I got no news to report or anything like that. I can remind our readers that if they leave right now they can avoid reading another article on this site, there is still time.

Pedro, I’m trying to draw people to the site. I don’t want to drive them away, no matter how beneficial it will be to them. Sure we aren’t as good as a normal website with a sponsor, paid writers, and servers that don’t crash every half an hour; but I still do my best to put out sub par articles with lots of spelling errors.

Well if you wanna torture these good people, I guess you can continue on. Let’s look at possible decks from the cards from Noble Victories.

Deck Ideas for Noble Victories.

After a long Battle Road season and an upcoming regionals in the same tired format, I am excited for a set that might bring us some new deck choices. I will separate deck ideas into 3 categories: Top Tier Decks, Rogue Decks, and Fun Decks.

Top Tier Decks

Cobalion

Right now I can only see one good deck coming from NV, and that is Cobalion. Now the Cobalion decks will not be a good deck for Cities, but it will be a good deck from here on out. That is because Mewtwo EX will be a great card, and Coballion is a great counter to it. So give it a little time and Cobalion will be a part of a top tier deck.

Card Description– Cobalion is a 120 HP basic metal Pokemon with a weakness to fire and a resistance to psychic. Its first attack, “Energy Press”, costs MC and does 20 damage plus 20 more for every energy attached to the defending Pokemon. The second attack is kind of like Beartic’s attack. “Iron Breaker,” costs MMC and does 80 damage while not letting the defending Pokemon attack next turn.

The Goal of the Deck– There will be two main goals of this deck. The first goal of the deck would be counter Mewtwo EX decks. Mewtwo has not been released yet, but we know it will have an attack that does basically the same thing as “Energy Press.” Well, Cobalion can do that too plus he has resistance against Mewtwo. So he should be good against Mewtwo.

The second goal of the deck will be to do attack with “Iron Breaker” as fast as possible and then hope your opponent cannot get a knockout against Cobalion. If you have an Eviolite and Special Metal energies on Cobalion it will be hard to get an OHKO on him. To load energies on Cobalion quickly the best way might be Electrode Prime. His “Energy Mite” Poke-Power will let you attach energy from your deck to Cobalion.

Using an Electrode build, you would want to get a Pokemon Collector on the first turn and make sure you have 2 Voltorbs on the field on the first turn. Then on the second turn you can evolve to Electrode Prime, do “Energy Mite” and you should be ready to “Iron Breaker” a lot for the rest of the game.

How to Make the Deck– I would run a 3-2 line of Electrode and 4 Cobalions. I would also run about 2 Cleffas so I could get a hand refresh on the first turn. I would run about 10-11 Hand Refresh cards like Professor Juniper. I’m not sure about how much energy you would want, maybe around 15 including 4 Special Metals and a couple Rescue Energies.

Rogue Decks

Victini

Now Victini is not really a main attacker in this deck, but it will be a very important part.

Card Description– Victini’s “Victory Star” Ability lets you re-flip after your attack is over if you flipped coins for your attack. The stats on Victini are very poor, so he will be an easy prize with Pokemon Catcher. So make sure you have a plan to get him from the discard pile.

The Goal of the Deck– Well the goal of the deck will depend on what main attacker you choose. Some of the main attackers that have been talked about are Sharpedo, Audino EP, and Lilligant EP. But no matter which of these Pokemon you choose, there will be a basic goal of your deck. You are going to want to attack very quickly, probably turn 2. You will want to get a Pokemon Collector on turn 1 and get 2 basic forms of your main attacker, and a Victini. If you already have a Victini in play you can play the other one down, but if you don’t you might wanna hold it until turn 2 and hope it doesn’t get Judged away. On your second turn you can evolve your main attacker, put down Victini, and then attack. Make sure you have recovery cards like Super Rod and Revive so you can get back Victini when it gets knocked out.

How to Make the Deck– I would probably run 2 or 3 Victinis and 1 Revive and 1 Super Rod. I would probably run 4-4 of your main attacker. Then depending on what deck you are running, you can fill out your list with trainers and energy.

Durant

Card Description– Durant is a basic metal Pokemon that is weak to fire and resistant to Psychic. Its main attack is called “Devour” and it lets you mill 1 card for every Durant in play. The key here is to understand that Durant is feeble and you will want 4 out at all times.

The Goal of the Deck– The goal is just what I said, to mill while having 4 Durants in play at once. You hopefully will mill enough cards from your opponents deck that they will eventually not have a card to draw at the beginning of their turn. You will want to make sure that you have a lot of recovery cards in your deck so you can always have 4 Durants in play. It is always nice to have cards like Special Metal energies and Eviolite to see if Durant can withstand an attack. If Durant can withstand 2 attacks, then you should be able to mill their entire deck.

How to Make the Deck– Of course I would play 4 Durants. I would also play about 3 Revives and 4 Junk Arms. As for other Pokemon, I would play 1 Mime Jr. and one Rotom to try to find a prized Durant. Of course it would be nice to have 4 Pokemon Collectors and a couple Dual Balls so you can have 4 Durants out on the first turn. I would also run 4 N’s. Since you are never taking prizes you will always draw 6 cards, and your opponent will draw less most of the time. This deck is a little bit cheaper because you probably will only run 1 Pokemon Catcher if you run one at all.

Vanilluxe

Card Description– Vanilluxe is a stage 2 Water Pokemon with 130 HP, a 2 retreat cost, and a weakness to metal. Its second attack, “Frost Breath” does 60 damage for WW, which is good, but its not the reason we are here. The first attack, “Double Freeze” lets you flip 2 coins. If you get 1 heads you do 40 damage and paralyze the defending Pokemon. If you get 2 heads you do 80 damage and paralyze.

The Goal of the Deck– Obviously the goal of this deck will be to get a turn 2 or 3 Vanlliuxe and paralyze the defending Pokemon while slowly chipping away at the HP. It can be more consistent with the addition of Victini.

How to Make the Deck– I would probably run a 4-2-4 line of Vanilluxe. I would probably run 2-3 Victinis and at least 1 Super Rod. I would also run about 2 Cleffas for early game hand refresh. You might want to run Twins to come back from a slow start. You probably would not need a lot of energy for this deck, probably 8-9 water energies and 2-3 Rescue Energies. The trainer lines will be pretty standard. 10-12 hand refresh, 4 Pokemon Catcher, 4 Junk Arm, and 4 Pokemon Communication.

Accelgor

I was struggling on whether this should be a rogue deck or a fun deck, but I thought I would put it here cause I don’t really care where it goes.

Card Description– Accelgor is known as being a bad Donphan Prime. Well, Donphan Prime is a good card in this format, will there be any room for a bad Donphan? Its stats are not that good. It has 90 HP, a weakness to fire, but it does have free retreat. For one grass energy, “Slashing Strike” does 60 damage, but can’t be used next turn. The other attack is called, “Acid Spray”, and it does 20 with a flip to remove and energy attached to the defending Pokemon.

The Goal of the Deck– I could see Accelgor being used in 2 possible ways. The first way is to use him as a Donphan replacement in a stage 1 deck. There are a lot of Donphan counters out now, so Accelgor will have a space to slip in to. It can do the 60 damage and then retreat for something else next turn. It is a very fast way to get an easy 60 damage. The drawback is nobody is weak to grass. The second build with Accelgor that I can think of is basically in a Mewlock deck, but without Mew. You would have a Vileplume line to disrupt, Sunflora to get all your Pokemon out, and Yanmega Prime as a secondary attacker.

How to Make the Deck- Well the build that of Accelgor that you choose will vary the structure of the deck greatly. For the Stage 1 Build, just take your Donphan out and replace the fighting energies with Grass Energies. You could also just add 4 Rainbow Energies to a deck without fighting energies. After that replacement you should be fine. For the 2nd build you will need a 3-1-2 Vileplume line, 2-2 or 3-3 Sunflora, and 3-3 Yanmega Prime. Your supporter lines will probably max out on both Judge and PONT, with a good showing of Sage’s Training. You will not need a lot of energies, probably about 7 Grass will be enough.

Fun Decks

Archeops

Archeops will be a fun deck for people that want to use the new fossil mechanics.

Card Description– Archeops is not only really cool because of the fossil, but because of it’s Ability. “Ancient Power” will not let anyone evolve Pokemon from their hand. They can still be evolved through ways like Leavannay EP, but most people will no tech a 1-1-1 line of that in. Archeops does have an attack, for FFC “Rock Slide” does 60 damage to the defending Pokemon and snipes 2 Pokemon for 10. The stats of Archeops aren’t that great, it is a stage 2 Fighting Pokemon that has 130 HP, and a grass weakness.

The Goal of the Deck– The goal of this deck would be to get Archeops out as fast as possible so you can stop your opponent from evolving. While you are disrupting your opponent’s setup, you can evolve with basic Pokemon. You might want to run some basics like Terrakion EP, since he can use the same fighting energy as Archeops. If you can get Archeops out fast and attack with other basic Pokemon, you should be able to beat any deck that evolves. The problem is most damage is being done by basic Pokemon, but that is why this is a fun deck.

How to Make the Deck– I would probably run 4 Plume Fossils, 4 Archens, and 4 Archeops. You could use Research Record to get Archens on the bottom of your deck, and then you can play Archen to your bench with Plume Fossil. I would probably run 4-6 of some basic attackers. Depending on the attackers that you choose, I would run about 12-14 energies. Then you can fill out your list with trainers. The trainer list should be fairly normal, just with 4 Plume Fossils and some Research Records. Make sure you leave yourself enough room for at least 10 hand refresh and draw supporters.

Chandelure

Card Description– Chandelure is a stage 2 psychic Pokemon with 130 HP, a weakness to Dark, and a 2 retreat cost. Its attack, “Eerie Glow” does 50 damage and burns and confuses for PPC. It has the “Cursed Shadow” Ability that drops 3 damage counters on your opponent’s Pokemon if Chandelure is active. The main problem with Chandlure is that it takes 3 energies to attack, but that does not mean that it can’t still be a cool fun deck.

The Goal of the Deck– The goal of the deck will be to get an active Chandelure and just fool with damage counters. I would run a 4-2-4 Chandelure line with 3 Rare Candies. To make use of the 3 damage counter drops a turn, I would run a 2-2 line of Darkrai/Cressalia Legend. DCL will be able to move damage counters around and knock out a bunch of Pokemon. Through spreading and confusing and burning the defending, you should be able to cause a lot of confusion.

Was the pun intended there?

Nope.

How to Make the Deck– As mentioned, 4-2-4 Chandelure and 2-2 DCL. I can’t think of any good spreading Pokemon that work with Psychic energies, but if you can work a spreader on sniper in here, that might work. Perhaps Yanmega Prime would work because of the sniping ability. I would also add a couple Cleffas, and probably play Tropical Beach. Your energy line should probably be around 13 psychic energies. Your trainer lines should be fairly standard. Just make sure to run a couple Switches if you play Yanmega Prime,.

Well that’s all we got here. Let’s end the article Pedro.

Already, why so early?

Well since the server crashed again, I had to hurry this article out and I need to go home to get my deck ready for tomorrow.

So no lame jokes or anything like that?

Nope.

Please?

No.

Well you are screwing with your own format. I must protest.

I will note your objection in the logs.

Pikkdogs

Pikkdogs and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: Findlay, Oh Cities Report

Deck Analysis: Steelix Prime Ross Deck

A Very Special Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Vanilluxe, Unown (Cure), and Steelix Prime.

Stupid Deck Idea: Unfezant/Mew/Vileplume Lock

Deck Analysis: TCE-Terrakion, Cobalion, and Electrode Prime

An Introduction to Cities 2011-2012.

Deck Analysis and Testing Results: The Durantula

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Pachirisu Cl, Electrode Prime, and Eviolite

Pikkdogs Great Lakes Regionals Report.

Possible Decks From Noble Victories

You Missed

New Handheld Retro Video Game System For You Pokemon Fans

iOS/Android Collectible Card Game, Trouble With Robots

New Card Game – Trouble With Robots – iOS/Android

OHKO Budget Challenge: Round Two (Fight!)