Bold Statements

Bold Predictions for Cities Format

Hey OneHitKO, it’s me, coolestman22, trying to get another article out for the site because I have some free time and an idea. I figured I may as well write about my predictions for the format created by the new set, and we’ll see how many of them end up being legit.

I had to sit down and think for a bit about these before I actually wrote anything, but there might be a couple that slipped my mind. If I remember anything, I’ll edit it into the article.

Prediction 1: Darkrai/Hydreigon is BDIF

Of the decks we had in BW-DRX, Hydreigon is probably the one that benefits the most from new cards. Skyla is great for searching out Rare Candies or Ultra Balls that get you the Hydreigon right away, and Computer Search benefits Hydreigon more than anything else because you can Junk Hunt for it and create a chain of Computer Search.

It also has easy access to Sableye DEX (Which most decks don’t because they don’t run Darkness Energy), probably the best starter in the game right now, which can turn bad hands into T2 set-ups and bait N’s that get you a brand new, better hand. It allows you to reuse your Catchers and Max Potions late game, and it can get back Dark Patches for extra energy acceleration.

It’s also good for taking out your opponent’s energy acceleration. You have Darkrai, which can take out 3 Eels with 2 Catchers over the course of 3 turns and leave your opponent with nothing to power up attackers with, or you can use Dragonblast on your opponent’s Hydreigons or Blastoises. Decks generally need an engine in play to function right, and if you take those out it can often be the difference between winning and losing.

I also like how you can’t really Catcher-stall against it when it sets up a Hydreigon because you can Dark Trance the energy to your active and free retreat with Dark Cloak. Against Eel decks, most decks can Catcher up Eels, and if the Eel player doesn’t have a Switch (Or Double Colorless Energy) they can’t attack that turn. With Hydreigon, that isn’t the case, and that’s another reason I think it’s the BDIF.

Hydreigon also has Blends to play techs like Shaymin EX, Virizion EPO, Cresselia EX, and some other cards that either do something or counter something. In my opinion Cresselia is the best Mewtwo counter there is right now if you can manage to set it up, and Hydreigon can providing it has the right energy on the field (Which it does most of the time). Cresselia isn’t vulnerable to another Cresselia and is less vulnerable to a Mewtwo as well because it loses its Psychic Weakness when it attacks.

Perhaps the thing I like best about Hydreigon decks, however, is that the deck is both offensive and defensive. Most decks usually either focus on doing a bunch of damage or tanking, but the thing I like about Hydreigon decks is that it can do either, or both. You can be aggressive with Darkrai and deny your opponent prizes because of Max Potion. You also have a heavy hitter in Hydreigon that, combined with the 30 damage to the bench from Night Spear, can knock out Keldeos and other 170 HP EX’s in one hit.

Prediction 2: Landorus decks will be Top Tier

Let me say this: Landorus is a great card if you find a deck that works with it. The problem is that because Ether was cut, Landorus won’t see as much play because Ether could fuel other attackers faster.

I can see three Landorus decks working: Landorus/Garchomp, Landorus/Empoleon, and Landorus/Terrakion EX/Terrakion NVI (With or without Garbodor). These three decks will be at a huge advantage just because they get donks and apply early game pressure so easily. The best of the three in my opinion is Landorus/Empoleon simply because in the late game it has the best damage output of the three, however if Hydreigon and Eel decks are Tier 1 the Fighting-based variant may end up being preferred.

The reason Landorus is such a great card is that not only does it apply early-game pressure to your opponent, get you a potential donk, and hit two Pokemon at once, the cost is extremely easy to pay. One Fighting Energy is a lot easier to have in hand on Turn One than a Double Colorless Energy that Mewtwo EX or Tornadus EX would require, and the attack is a lot better on Turn One as well under non-donk circumstances.

Land’s Judgement is also a good attack to draw that last prize (Or two prizes), and combined with the 30 from Hammerhead has the potential to KO any non-Eviolited, non-Cresselia EX in at most two hits.

The discarding of the energy isn’t as big a deal as people say because if you just attach one more Fighting you’re attacking again, but it’s still not great. It also hinders your ability to retreat, but you should be running a decent Switch count anyway.

Prediction 3: Dusknoir will be a good tech in anything with Ditto and Rare Candy, and other 1-1 or 1-0-1 techs will be popular as well.

I’ve been doing some testing with Dusknoir, and I’d rank it as one of the three most powerful Pokemon to have in play

Get used to seeing a lot more 1’s and 0’s in decklists again.

(Reuniclus and Serperior would be on that list, too), plus it’s likely to stick around for a couple turns if not for the rest of the game.

Moving your opponent’s damage around is just so powerful in any format. In an older format with un-nerfed Rare Candy and Broken Time-Space Dusknoir would be amazing. Even now, Ditto is amazing for 1-0-1 techs. I will expect to see some tournament winning decks play Ditto and surprise techs like Dusknoir (Ninetales and Reuniclus are some other ideas), and then they become more and more popular as Cities goes on. (I really wish Ditto had been out sooner, 1-0-1 Kingdra Prime anyone?)

Just the other day I was playing a game at league where I was up 2 prizes to 5, and my opponent managed to get a Dusknoir in play and won by moving my damage around and drawing a bunch of prizes in one turn. If you’re playing Ditto and Rare Candy, Dusknoir will be something to consider, just because it’s surprise factor is worth the two spaces.

Prediction 4: Ho-oh’s popularity will slightly decrease, but will still be just as good.

I’ve been hearing a lot of “Ho-oh EX is weak to water, so Keldeo will destroy it” lately.
However, that isn’t the only thing to consider. Kyogre EX was written off because of the Lightning Weakness, and it was in the deck that won Nationals. Darkrai EX is amazing even with all the Terrakion running around.

Ho-oh also has an amazing ability to tech for any matchup because it runs all types of energy and accelerates. Ho-oh is a very versatile deck, and one bad matchup won’t really set it back too much. All I would expect is that people will play more Virizion EPO or NVI and Shaymin EX to make the matchup a bit better.

Blastoise probably isn’t even the BDIF! There’s a possibility that it is, but people don’t need to be scared of one bad matchup out of three Tier One decks, especially when the others are fairly decent. Chandelure was a Tier One deck even though it had a terrible matchup against Durant. I don’t see why Ho-oh is any different.

The other thing is that I’m not hearing that much about how Landorus is unplayable because of Blastoise. All I’m hearing on the forums is “Landorus donks Dark Deino. Switching to Dragon Deino” or “Better not play Eels or I’ll get my Tynamos donked”. Especially when Shiny Rayquaza already donks Tynamos and donks Dragon Deinos and isn’t an EX x2 weak to a Tier One deck! Ho-oh is also a donk threat, so why is it that Landorus is all the hype when they have the exact same weakness?

What I mean by the popularity will slightly decrease is that people will still be afraid to play it because it has a bad matchup to a legitimate deck. John Roberts saw past that and played Kyogre, and he won Nationals with it. People need to see that a weakness to a major type doesn’t make a card unplayable, it is merely a setback to it.

Alright guys, that’s gonna wrap up this article. I know it’s been fairly short, but I ran out of predictions. I’ll try to get

another article out soon, but last minute Cities testing is probably gonna get in the way. Maybe I’ll write an article about the different techs that go with Ditto.

As always, feel free to leave a comment, and I’ll try to respond to it. I’m open to discussion, and if there’s something about the upcoming format that you want to hear my opinion on, feel free to ask and I’ll tell you!

Bold Statements with Pikkdogs: New Years Resolutions

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs and my sidekick Pedro here, with another opinion article.  This time the opinions won’t go in the form of statements, but instead resolutions for the new year.  Pedro is finally back from his Christmas vacation, how are things going Pedro?

Pretty well.  What did you get for Christmas Pikkdogs?

My mom was nice enough to replace my TV for Christmas, it had previously broke.  She also bought me a Kitchen table and a bunch of soap and stuff.

Nothing more exciting than soap and a table.  I thought you were boring before, but I didn’t know how bad it was.

Well what did you get for Christmas then?

Mostly just clothes, not very exciting, but better than soap. 

Maybe, what clothes did you get?

Just normal stuff, like shirts, pants, and underwear.

What type of underwear do you use Pedro.

I like the tighty whities, but when I go to bed, I sleep with boxers. 

I like to sleep with boxers too……………………and then I put on underwear.

Another bad joke, let’s go to your article, even though it is probably even worse.

New Years Resolution for The Pokemon Company

This year, Nintendo and TPCI should resolve to keep the format balanced without a rotation.  This year we had one of the biggest rotations in Pokemon history, it made a lot of people mad because it took a lot of really good and valuable cards out of the format.  The rotation was made necessary because of poor choices they made in the format, such as bringing in SP Pokemon and having Sableye SF and the first turn trainer rule in the format at the same time.

Even though it was the right decision to make and the format was better for it, the early rotation was a decision that should never have had to be made.  It left us with a very small card pool, and that made the format very luck based.  The very small card pool made even long time fans like me question whether I want to play this game.  Although rotations are good for this game, TPCI and Nintendo should work towards a format that doesn’t use rotations to balance the format.

Pokemon SP were very powerful Pokemon that could only be stopped with a rotation, I hope that Pokemon EX do not have the same fate.  They are also very strong Pokemon that can easily crush other Pokemon.  It seems that we will very soon have a Mewtwo EX dominated format, more on that later, but I hope that Nintendo is working hard to make sure the EX  Pokemon are not similar to SP Pokemon.

It seems that Nintendo likes to release a powerful Pokemon, and then release something more powerful to counter it later.  But, if this trend keeps on going cards will just keep getting better and better without having any kind of balance.  We hope that in the new year Nintendo can buck this trend and have a lot of cool balanced Pokemon in the format.

New Years Resolution for Pokemon TCG Online

This year, the people at PTCGO online should resolve to setup at least 1 premiere rated event online.  I don’t think we can say that PTCGO is a success until we get our first event online.

PTCGO had a huge year this year.  PTCGO wasn’t born until earlier this year, so it hasn’t  been out for too long.  But, they have grown a lot during this time.  They went from a place where you can learn the game by playing a theme deck, to a place where you can collect all the cards n the format and have matches against players around the world.  PTCGO did do great things this year and it has become one of the most promising aspects of the games as a whole.

However, PTCGO has a long way to go.  There are many problems facing the service right now.  First are foremost are technical problems.  The game is interrupted way too much, and sometimes Pokemon just get put under other Pokemon on your bench, and are unplayable throughout the game.  I also played a game where I knocked out a Chandelure and my opponent promoted Dodrio, the problems was that Chandelure was also in the active spot and he could use his Ability.  The game suffers from a lot of weird glitches like that, and those are problems that need to be fixed.  I know a software program will always have bugs, but let’s hope in 2012 that Caterpie is one of the only bugs in Pokemon Trading Card Game Online.

As said, we need to see an online tournament in 2012.  I know that it is unrealistic to expect it within the next month or two.  But, I think during the summer or fall we should see at least one tournament.  It doesn’t have to be  a big one, maybe like a pre-release tournament.  Or maybe there can be an online Nationals or Worlds for those that cannot make the actual event.  These are all events that I would love to see, and are within our reach.  Magic has a lot of online tournaments, I’m sure within a year Pokemon that can get a couple tournaments going.  I don’t want Nintendo to replace actual events with online ones, but it would be nice if they take the steps to creating an online competitive play atmosphere.   This should be a new years resolution that they should be able to keep.

New Years Resolution for the Format

If this format was a person, it would resolve to not let Mewtwo EX rule the format.  Mewtwo EX will come out in our next set, called Next Destinies, and is expected to dominate the format.  Its ability to attack for just 1 DCE and use the energy of your opponent against him, has made it deadly in Japan, and there is no reason why it can’t be just as good here.

The format has had a rough year.  At the beginning of the year, SP decks were  dominating the format creating a major competitive imbalance.  Then we get a new rule change that lets Sableye run roughshod over the format.  So to fix all these problems the format was cut to only 5 sets.  But, that created more problems of luck being too much of a factor.  So, as more Black and White sets come out, the format is finally becoming healthy.  What the format does not need is 1 card coming into the format and dominating things like SP decks and Sableye did before.

The format needs balance and a lot of decks that can do well.  The release of Mewtwo EX does not necessarily mean that we have lost the balance that we have worked so hard for, but if Japan is any indication, Mewtwo EX will be very very very good.  So here is to toasting to a new year where the format is balanced and fun.

New Years Resolution for Judges and Tournament Organizers

I have always said that the real heroes of this game are the judges and tournament organizers.  I love this guys, these guys basically donate their time so we can play the game.  Even though I do not think that they need to change much of anything, I thought I would not leave them out and give them a New Year’s Resolution too.  In the New Year, Judges and T.O.’s should resolve to reevaluate where they hold tournaments.

I know this falls more on T.O.’s than Judges, but these are two groups of people that always get clumped together anyway.  This game has grown a lot in the past couple of years.  When Diamond and Pearl first came out, the game did not have any many participants as it does now.  The game has grown a great deal lately, and the T.O.’s should evaluate how they hold tournaments to make sure things are still held in a convenient way.

I have learned this lesson when I travel to tournaments in Ohio from Michigan.  Michigan does not have perfect tournaments, but they do have some great venues.  Ohio does not have great venues, they mostly use small card shops.  I do not have anything against card shops, they are very convenient, but most of them are fairly small.  This was not a problem in days of yore, when there were not as many players, but now it is a big problem.  T.O.’s should look at moving their tournaments to more spacious venues to accommodate all players.  It is not fun packing in to one card shop with other card players and trying to play a tournament when you can barely move.  Tournaments need to be in a large venue to accommodate all players, if not, players may leave the game and stop supporting the game we all love.

Another thing that T.O.’s can adjust has to do with who is playing the game.  I do not have any hard facts on this, but it seems like less Juniors and Seniors are playing the game.  It seems like Masters make up about 75 percent of the playing field, this may not be the same in all areas, but it does seem like there are less Juniors and Seniors.  T.O.s should do things like reevaluate where they advertise for tournaments and adjust the time that tournaments are held.  Juniors and Masters are very different, and we do things differently.  If things are focused more towards masters now because of the lack of juniors, I think more masters might join the game.

Well that’s all I have for us today.  Do you have anything Pedro?

Well, since you are so keen to give out resolutions for other people.  I will give one for you. 

New Years Resolution for Pikkdogs

Pikkdogs has had a rough 2011.  He did begin the year fairly good, have an okay Nats, and a decent Battle Roads season.  But, he finished the year sucking it up at Regionals and laying an egg at Cities.  The New Years Resolution for Pikkdogs will be to actually win a tournament. 

Pikkdogs did not win anything last year, so actually winning something this year would be a change.  And for a second resolution, Pikkdogs should resolve to write better articles without so many errors. 

How do you like your resolution Pikkdogs?

They seem way too unrealistic.  First, we all know I stink at this game.  So actually winning in a tough area like Michigan is not going to happen.  And, of course we all know this website sucks.  We also know that I can’t write, and Ed overworks me so much that I don’t have enough time to edit the articles.

Well we can hope anyway.  Good night everybody.