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Bold Statements City Championships Uncategorized

Bold Predictions for Cities Format

coolestman22 4 Comments

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!

Deck Workshop Stupid Deck Idea Uncategorized

Stupid Deck Idea: Stoutland

coolestman22 10 Comments

Hey OHKO people, I decided it was time to get a new article out, and since I haven’t tested quite that much of Boundaries Crossed, I thought the category Pikkdogs oftenly used, “Stupid Deck Idea” would suit this better than “Deck Analysis”. Stoutland is probably going to be Tier 2-3, but I felt that a deck review for a deck that I am liking would be a good thing to do.

I have only played a couple games with Stoutland, so the deck might not be perfect, but I’m just going to post a deck I have been testing so you guys can get an overview of the deck and an option for something to play at a Cities if you opt

Like Gothitelle, but for Supporters.

to.

Stoutland revolves around locking your opponent’s Supporters via Stoutland’s Ability, Watchdog, which, well, shuts off Supporters so long as Stoutland is active. On top of that, it attacks your opponent with “Wild Tackle” (Not sure about the English name of this attack, so for my proxies I just put in cool sounding names, such as “The All-Mighty Stoutland Attack”), which does 90 and has a possibility of hitting Stoutland for 20.

The problem with this strategy is that Pokemon Catcher can manipulate what you have active, and if something other than Stoutland is your lock is down. To counter this, I have found that if you set 3 Stoutland up by Turn Four and don’t bench anything else, your opponent can’t get out of this situation. If you can get an active Stoutland up early, they will need to burn a Catcher as well to play a Supporter, and without a Supporter they might not have a Catcher to use. This also helps when you’re forced to put down extra Lilipup because your opponent is attacking you and you are about to run out of Stoutland.

The first thing I have to say is that Stoutland basically scoops once your opponent sets up. Since the main idea of playing a Supporter is to get the things you need in your hand, if you already have everything you need on the field you don’t rely on Supporters as much. They’re a nice benefit, but you don’t absolutely have to play a Supporter most of the time when you’re fully set up. Stoutland’s attack also isn’t quite enough to keep up with most of the decks in the new format.

Here is a basic skeleton list I have to provide for Stoutland decks:

4 Lilipup BW 80
2 Herdier BW 82
3-4 Stoutland BoC
-9-10

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
3-4 Skyla
0-1 Hugh
-11-13

3-4 Rare Candy
3-4 Pokemon Catcher
3-4 Level Ball
2-3 Heavy Ball
3 Switch
3 Rescue Scarf
3 Hammer Mix (Can be mini-Hammertimed with Lilipup’s attack)
2 Super Rod
1 Computer Search
-23-27

0-1 Asperita City Gym
-0-1

6-7 Basic Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
-10-11

Total – 53-62

Lillipup

This is the best Lillipup in my own opinion. Being able to do half of a Junk Hunt gives you some access to some good plays where you Heavy Ball for one Stoutland and then get it back with Pickup, and then Heavy Ball again and Rare Candy to two Stoutland. It’s definitely not as good as Junk Hunt, but it gets a bunch of points for being part of the Stoutland family, and it allows you to use extra Hammers and Catchers. I feel like there’s a bit of an argument to be made for the Collect one, but in the end getting an Item back is definitely better than just drawing a card.

Herdier

This Herdier is the best Herdier because it can use Collect for a DCE to draw 3. It’s not a great attack and you wouldn’t want to play it in any deck where you can’t evolve it, but for a deck where Herdier is your Stage One to your Stage Two main attacker, this is the best Herdier available.

I could explain Stoutland, but that would just be explaining the deck’s strategy once again, which I already did above.

4 Juniper, 4 N

I feel like this is the best draw Supporter split a deck can have in this metagame. Because you have Skyla, you can use Skyla to search for the Supporter, and this deck runs mainly off of a Skyla engine. I feel like 8 Supporters is enough if you’re playing the 4 Skyla and 1 Computer Search, because that’s 13 outs, and 14 if you also play the Hugh.

Skyla

Skyla is the card that makes Stage Twos a lot better in this format. You can use it to search for the piece of your Stage Two/Rare Candy by getting an Ultra Ball (Or in this deck, a Heavy Ball), or the Rare Candy itself. I know a lot of people aren’t convinced that Skyla is a 4-of in everything yet, but I feel like it is in decks like this which rely on getting multiple Stage Twos out.

Hugh

Hugh is a tech that I play in my list just because your opponent’s hand is likely to be so built up from lack of Supporters, not just because they have cards they can’t play but because they have cards like Catcher that they’re holding on to, and cards like Switch that they don’t need to use, and cards like Rare Candy that they can’t use but need to hold onto for when they draw something specific . It could force your opponent to discard that Catcher they so desperately need to break the lock once you need to bench a Lilipup (Although if they do discard a Catcher they probably have another, N away), and at the same time it provides you with a nifty draw Supporter.

Rare Candy

I don’t feel a need to do that much explaining for Rare Candy in this deck. It is needed to get a Stage Two out on Turn Two, and it allows you to have extra Stage Ones in a sense. It is a staple in any deck that runs a Stage Two (Except maybe Vileplume decks in MD-on), and this deck is no exception.

Pokemon Catcher

Same with Rare Candy, I don’t feel like there’s much explaining to do as to why I run Catcher. This isn’t a Trainerlock deck and Catcher is an amazing card.

In this deck you can also use Catcher to take out the few Eelektriks that your opponent managed to set up, meaning that the little setup that your opponent needs to win is gone.

Level Ball/Heavy Ball over Ultra Ball

In this deck I think I would prefer Level Ball and Heavy Ball over Ultra Ball simply because you don’t have to discard cards with them and you can Skyla for the one you need. Heavy Ball gets Stoutlands out and Level Ball gets Herdiers and Lillipups out. The only downside is that it takes up more space, but with Ultra Ball you’ll end up discarding cards that you might want later.

Switch

Stoutland has a 3 retreat cost, and people might Catcher other Stoutlands without energy in order to stall for a bit. Having a couple Switch means you can Skyla for one if this scenario ever pops up.

Rescue Scarf

Right now I like this card in any deck that attacks with a Stage Two just because it helps you evolve the Basics/Stage Ones of it you already have down. In this deck it isn’t as important since you shouldn’t have Lillipups sitting too much, but normally when a Stoutland is KO’d you might want to put down another Lillipup. Rescue Scarf gives you that Lillipup even if your opponent does N, and it also gets you a Stoutland back.

Hammers

The third picture in a row that starts with S.

In decks like Stoutland which revolve around your opponent not setting up before you get a lock established, Hammers are great for buying you that extra turn before your opponent Night Spears you to death.

Super Rod

Sometimes your Rescue Scarves will get Tool Scrapped, which can force you to get a new Lillipup or Stoutland on the field. Super Rod not only increases your odds of doing so, but it allows you to later in the game as well.

Computer Search

Stoutland is one of those decks where you could use any consistency boost you can get, and Computer Search is great for that. It also allows you to Skyla for your Double Colorless.

Asperita City Gym

Yes, this is the Gym that gives all Colorless Pokemon 20 more HP. This is great for avoiding several magic numbers, such as Dragonblast or Night Spear + Wild Tackle damage + Bench Night Spear damage, and forces Keldeo to have one more energy (Which sounds easy, but under Supporter lock it’s harder than it sounds, especially if they haven’t set up a Blastoise). It also gives you a counter to other Stadiums if your opponent plays any (RayEels and Flygon decks both do).

Double Colorless Energy

Your main attacker’s attack requires CCC, which is perfect for Double Colorless Energy. There’s no reason not to play it.

Normally this would be the part where I would talk about techs, but with this deck I feel like you need to steer clear of techs (At least Pokemon techs). Why? Because with Stoutland, you need to have all Stoutland on the field at the same time to maintain a guaranteed Supporter lock. If you were to play a Pokemon down of any sort, even if you’re not planning on attacking with it, it’s still something that your opponent can Catcher up and break the Supporter lock with.

The Trainer techs, such as Hugh and Asperita are ones I’ve already talked about. If you have another idea, feel free to comment and let me know.

Normally this would be the part I talk about matchups (Hate to do this again), but I honestly haven’t tested them much. I have tested enough to know that if any deck sets up against you, it pretty much just wins. If you can establish a lock first, however, you win unless your opponent can break the lock or set up under the lock. If I test matchups I’ll edit this, but for now I can say something like this:

Hydreigon: Unfavorable. Because they have Junk Hunt, they can get the Candy-Hydreigon pieces they need to set up,

It’s not this one-sided, though.

even under Supporter lock. If you can hit clutch N’s early game and attack early on, the matchup is in your favor. Otherwise, you kind of just bash them with your wimpy attack and hope for the best.

Eels: Slightly Favorable. Because they rely on Professor Juniper to discard energy, if you can get an early Stoutland out and your opponent doesn’t hit a Catcher, you can sometimes lock them out of Dynamotors. Then, once you start attacking you can Catcher-KO the Eels until they all disappear.

Blastoise: Even/Slightly Unfavorable. Because they rely on the hand for energy attachments, being locked out of Supporters means no Cilan, and no Juniper or N to draw into Energy. However, if they do manage to load up a Keldeo with enough energy to OHKO Stoutlands, you aren’t in a good position. If you run an Asperita, you might want to spend extra effort trying to get it.

Alright, that’s it for my Stupid Deck Idea. If any of you guys has questions or comments, Disqus has a nifty feature below that I encourage you guys to use. Thanks for visiting OneHitKO and bothering to read the articles, and I’ll try to put something new out soon.

Uncategorized

Your 2012-2013 Pokemon Calendar

Pikkdogs 6 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  I was trying to think of an idea for a different kind of article, and this popped into my head.  The image of Tawny Kitaen grinding on top of a car also came into my head, but that’s another story.  This idea is about a year preview, a look ahead to each thing that will be coming at us in the coming year.

This is the usual time that I introduce my extra-dimensional sidekick Pedro, however I have been unable to reach him since the last article.  So I guess we have to skip over this part.

So, first up in the 2012-2013 year after the release of Dragon’s Exalted is the Autumn Battle Road Season.  Before I get started I should mention that everything in this calendar is subject to change. I am just guessing on some of this stuff like the set releases.  But judging from the fact that i am a fat drunk guy, I probably made a lot of mistakes, so bare with me.

Autumn Battle Roads; Sept 1st-30th. 

As it always does, the season starts with Autumn Battle Roads.  Battle Roads are the smallest tournaments out there, think of them as small local tournaments.  Most people don’t travel more than an hour and a half for a BR.  They don’t carry that many Championship Points, so they aren’t very important in the grand scheme of things, but they are still my favorite tournament.

It seems like Pokemon is just made for the Fall, it feels great to play Pokemon with the leaves changing and the weather cooling down.  Even though the stakes are low, the tournament season is still very fun.

This year there are a lot of changes for Battle Roads.  There is no longer a top cut.  So in most cases you will just play rounds until there is just 1 undefeated, and then everybody can go home.  Since the tournaments are smaller, it will be nice to have a short day of Pokemon and then leave to watch Football.  It will feel bad to finish 2nd-4th and not get a chance to win, but this season is all about fun, not winning.  If you do want to win, you must think consistency.  You can’t count on getting lucky every time, try to find a deck that is consistent and try to win each game that you play, that is your only hope of winning.

So, that’s pretty much it for Battle Roads.  They are very fun tournaments that should be easy to get to.  So try to get as many as you can and you will have a great time.  If you have a Fall Regionals in your area, Fall Battle Roads serve as the introduction to the third most important tournament of the season.  Speaking of Fall Regionals!..

Fall Regionals: October 13th (Fort Wayne, In, Houston, Tx, Eastern Canada)

Regionals used to always happen in the Spring, now we get Regionals spread apart across three weekends.  I don’t really know if the spreading of Regionals across three weekends really makes a difference since most people don’t have more than one Regionals in their area, but there is not really too much of a downside.  The first will happen in the middle of October

If you got to one of these I really hope that you played in a lot of Battle Roads.  The Fall Battle Roads serves as the capstone for the Battle Roads season.  If you did really well at BRs and have a lot of knowledge of the format from the BRs, than you should do well at Fall Regionals.  The format for this Regionals is exactly the same as Fall Battle Roads, so if you want to do well at Regionals expect to hit a lot of Battle Roads.

Success at Regionals also involves a lot of strategy in picking your deck.  This tournament will have a large Top Cut, some places will see anywhere from a top 32 to a top 128.  So taking a deck that is all about consistency might not make as much sense as it did during Battle Roads.  Since you are looking at 7, 8, or even 9 rounds of Swiss, you can afford to lose a game or two.  So you can afford to tech out your deck a little more, or run a more risky deck.  This different format should cause more varied decks to be played then there were during Fall Battle Roads.  There should be more variations in decks, so Fall Regionals should be pretty fun.

Set Release of Boundaries Crossed (Equivalent of Freeze Bolt/Cold Flare)

Just before Thanksgiving comes upon us and we eat a lot of Turkey, the next set will come out.  It is expected to contain a lot of cards in the Japanese Freeze Bolt and Cold Flare sets. It will be called Boundaries Crossed, which sounds like what the title of a speech that police officers usually give me after I get arrested. I don’t really know why it’s called Boundaries Crossed, maybe Brock will finally take his woman chasing one step too far, who knows. Anyway, the Freeze Bolt and Cold Flare sets were really cool because they not only contained a lot of cool cards, but they contained some new game mechanics. 

The most notable game mechanic is the addition of ACE SPEC cards.  Since they have not been officially announced in the West, they are kind of mysterious, but we do know what the first ones are and what they do.  ACE SPEC cards are cards that are super powerful trainer cards.  You are limited to only one Ace Spec card in each deck.  There are currently 4 ACE SPEC cards.  The first one is Computer Search, which is like a Junk Arm that works on any card in your deck.  The next is Gold Potion.  Gold Potion works like a regular Potion, but it only works on your active Pokemon, and it heals 90 damage instead of 30.  The last two Ace Spec cards only work on Black Kyurem EX and White Kyurem EX.  Crystal Wall is a Tool Card that gives Black Kyurem EX 300 HP.  Crystal Edge is another Pokemon Tool Card that let’s White Kyurem EX do 50 more damage from each attack.  These cards are really powerful and will be great in most decks.

But this new set has more cards than just the ACE SPECs, it has a lot of cool cards.  Staying in the trainer arena, Warp Point gets a reprint with escape rope.  Bicycle is an item card that lets you draw until you have 4 cards into your hand.  Ether is a card that can help with energy acceleration.  Town Map let’s you flip your prize cards flip you.  And finally, Hugh is a supporter card that evens all hands at 5 cards each.

As far as new Pokemon, Vileplume has been getting hype for turning all weaknesses into X4.  Blastoise is like a repint of the Base Set one, but with updated HP and attacks.  We also get a new Charizard, it isn’t that good, but everybody loves Charizard.  There are a bunch of new EXs including Black Kyurem, White Kyurem, Celebi, Keldeo, Cresselia, and Landorus.

It is hard to know exactly how impactful this set will be, but it looks to be a great set.

City Championships: Nov. 17- Jan 6th

So now we got a new set, and City Championships are a whole new game.  We thought 180 HP Pokemon were bad, now we have 300 HP Giants running around.

City Championships are not really that much different from Battle Roads.  They are about the same size tournaments and they usually happen at the same location.  But, for some reason City Championships are very important in the scheme of Championship Points.  A lot of people really like Cities, but I really hate them.  I don’t really know why since they are very much like Battle Roads, but I guess it’s the timing.  Most Tournament Organizers seem to schedule Cities right next to Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it is pretty hard to attend all of the tournaments that you would like to.

Anyway, Cities are pretty must like BRs.  Expect, we think that they will still have Top Cut rounds.  Since the tournaments are still very small, consistency is still important, just not quite as important in a tournament without Top Cut.

It is pretty hard to imagine what the format will be like at this point.  I will assume that Black Kyurem EX will be a popular card, nobody can hate 300 HP, and the ability to do 200 damage in one attack does make White Kyurem EX pretty cool.  We don’t really know what exactly will happen, but we can imagine that Dragon Pokemon will be very important in Cities.  Perhaps you will be able to use Vileplume to use the Dragon weakness in your advantage.  Who knows exactly but will happen, but I can smell the rain (reign) of the Dragon Pokemon.

Winter Regionals: Jan 19th (Salem, Oregon)

Just like Fall Regionals were the capstone to the BR season, Winter Regionals are the capstone for the Cities season.  There is not much to say about Winter Regionals.  The format will be the same as in Cities, and the structure of the tournament is the same as in Fall Regionals.  Also the same is the fact that you can be a little more risky in Regionals than you could during Cities.  The tournament again will be huge, so do your best to do well and have fun.

Set Release of Black and White 8 (Equivalent of Plasma Gale).

We don’t know a lot about BW8 yet, but it is expected to contain a lot of Plasma Gale cards.  We also don’t even know a lot about Plasma Gale cards, but we do know some things.

We do know that this set will contain another new gimmick, Team Plasma Pokemon.  This is not the first time we have seen Pokemon that are owned by people.  The early days of the game saw Pokemon owned by gym leaders.  And most famously a couple years ago we had SP Pokemon, which were Pokemon that were owned  by people like Team Galactic and Elite Four members.  We will soon have more trainer owned Pokemon, though we do not really know what the exact mechanic will be.

We do know that Team Plasma won’t be in their name, but an indicator will  be directly under their name.  There will also be certain trainer cards that have Team Plasma in their name which work with other team plasma trainer cards, energy, and Pokemon.  This brings back disturbing memories of the Cyrus engine in the SP days.  Let’s hope that Pokemon has learned from their mistakes and that they don’t let Team Plasma cards be as powerful as the SP cards were.

Even though we don’t have scans of most of the cards, we do have some cards.  The first big card that we got a look at was Lugia EX.  Lugia has an Ability that lets you take one more prize card after you knock out a Pokemon.  It’s attack costs 4 energies and does 120 damage with a discard of one Plasma Energy.  We also have a Crobat that has an Ability that lets you draw one card, and has an attack like Crobat Prime had (the defending is poisoned and takes 4 damage between turns).  Another cool card that we have seen a scan of is Rotom, it has a “Boltergeist” attack that is like the attack of last format’s Mismagius and Gengar SF (20 damage times the number of trainers in your opponent’s hand).  The rest of the cards we have revealed have an Infernape and a Druddigon.

There are also a few trainers that were revealed.  One card that I like is Plasma Frigate.  It is a stadium card that gets rid of weaknesses for Pokemon that have Plasma Energy attached.  Colress Machine is an item card that lets you search your deck for a Plasma Energy and attach it to a Plasma Pokemon.  Colress is a supporter card that lets you shuffle your hand in your deck and draw an amount of cards equal to the amount of Pokemon in play, expect this card to get a lot of play.  The Plasma Energy card does not have any special effects, all it does is provide C energy.

State Championships: Mar 9th, 16th, and 23rd.

This is expected to be the first tournament after the release of BW8 (though these things have not been verified yet).  State Championships are big tournaments like Regionals, but are a little bit smaller attendance wise and not worth as many Championship points.  States are split up to three different weekends in march.  State tournaments are usually split up by date geographically, so you will at least have a shot to get to 2 or 3 states instead of just one.  I also like States because it is around the time of the NCAA basketball tournaments, and it is cool to think about brackets for Pokemon as the nation is talking about brackets for college basketball.

The strategy to winning this tournament is similar to the regionals.  It will be a big tournament probably 7 or 8 rounds.  Consistency will be important, but there will be some room to run a more risky build.

States is a fun tournament, just a little less serious than Regionals.  The tournament shouldn’t be as far from you as Regionals is, since it is in your state.  So just enjoy the day and be thankful that you don’t have to drive very far.

Spring Regionals (Western Canada, Madison, Wi)

I expect this will either be the first tournament since the release of BW9, or the release could come right after Spring Regionals.  The tips for winning these regionals is the same as the others.

Set Release of Black and White 9

I don’t know anything about this set, nobody does as far as I know.  Perhaps it will be the first Black and White 2 set because of the release of the video game. I expect some new game mechanics if so, and possible replacement of the EX Pokemon.  But, any kind of speculation is just that, speculation.  Nobody knows anything about this set.  So your guess is as good as mine.

Spring Battle Roads: May-June

Spring Regionals is like the red headed step child of Battle Roads.  Most people don’t respect Spring BRs.  Even Pokemon doesn’t really respect it, two years ago they used it as a testing ground for how the format will be for Nationals.  Most people don’t attend a lot of Spring Battle Roads because it is in the spring, and there are better things to do.  People are attending graduation parties and cookouts and stuff like that, they don’t really have the time or interest to play in as many Spring BRs as they do Cities or Fall BRs.

The claim to fame of this tournament is that it is the precursor to the National Championships and Worlds.  The format for Spring BRs is the same as what Nationals and Worlds will be, so if you are able to get to some Spring BRs you will have a leg up on the competition in the summer.

We do not know if there will be any new rule changes this year.  The fall BRs this year had no top cut, it is unlikely if this will change much for Spring Battle Roads.  Unless people get really made about no Top Cut in the fall, it is likely that the spring ones will also be sans-top cut.  The strategy for winning these BRs is same as the fall ones.

National Championships: June-July (more info to come)

To me National Championships is the capstone of the entire season. I know that Worlds is supposed to be the Super Bowl of Pokemon, but few people are invited to Worlds.  Nats is something that everybody can go to.  It is one of the most fun experiences that the game has to offer.  If you haven’t gone yet, plan to make a trip this year.

Where are you making the trip to?  I don’t know.  It is expected that U.S. Nationals will be back in Indianapolis, but it has not been announced as a sure thing.  Perhaps Pokemon will move it to another spot.  We do not know much about the location yet, but just make sure you go.

It is hard to give you tips for a tournament that is about a year away.  But, it will be a very very big tournament (the U.S. one will be anyway) so make sure you build your deck on that.  Make sure you have a balanced deck that is ready for everything, because you will see everything at Nationals.  You will see both meta and rogue decks played in high numbers.

World Championships:  August 9th-11th in Vancouver,  Canada. 

The final tournament of the season is actually one of the smallest non BR or City tournament of the year.   It does have the best players in it though.  And, even if you can’t make it to the tournament, Pokemon is expected to keep us updated by text and video updates online.  If you do make it there, there are some cool events like concerts and stuff like that.

The tournament this year will be held in Vancouver, which is in the magical land of Canada. Hopefully more people will be able to get to Vancouver than were able to make it to Hawaii this year.  But, it was in San Diego 2 years ago and they didn’t have great attendance there either.   Hopefully this year people will be drawn to Worlds because of Canadian things!!!like!!uh!.. maple syrup, Shania Twain, and hockey.

I have heard that Worlds is a fun event, but I have never been able to go.  I have heard that it is cool because you get to meet people from all over the world who enjoy the same game.  Like the Olympics, it brings people all over the world together in peace.  That is always a cool thing.  So if you are in the west coast of North America it would be cool to go and compete in worlds, but unless you do well at Nats it is hard to get to Worlds.

So that is all I know about the calendar year of Pokemon.  Just a note, there are also a couple European tournaments that take place during the year.  One of those is one that invites players from all over Europe.  Last year there were some Spanish players who flung their poo around, so that would be fun to see.  These tournaments are really only for serious European players, but I guess it would be cool for a North American player to go (if that’s even legal).  The only thing it does is that it gives us a look at a format and it tends to give us a hint at how the other tournaments that are next to it on the calendar will go.  Again, I must warn you that I guessed at the time of some of these events so it won’t be perfect, but it should be fairly correct.  Yet, I still don’t want ya to be disappointed if a couple events are switched around here and there.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

 

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Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Dragons Exalted Preview Part 2: Registeel EX, Emolga, and Ninetales.

Pikkdogs 2 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  We are dangerously close to knowing what our Battle Roads format will be, but we are not quite there yet.  So before I go testing decks out and sharing what I learned with you guys, we will look at one more preview article.  This is a special Pikk Three article that will have three card reviews that will all be from the Dragons Exalted Set (one card is not yet confirmed, but he should be in it).  Before we get started, we should say “hello” to my extra-dimensional sidekick Pedro.  Hey Pedro, do you have some kind of news piece to get us started?

Hey Pikkdogs, yes I do.  We will not be doing a news piece, but we do have a this day in history.  Today is the fifth anniversary of the release of the last Harry Potter book.   Do you like the Harry Potter Pikkdogs?

Oh, love the Harry Potter.  A good retelling of the classic story of the young hero who rises to defeat evil.  Plus the Saturday Night Live version of the book gave us a look at Lindsy Lohan in a very tight shirt. Show the picture.

 Why is everything about boobs with you? You don’t even like SNL.

I know, I hate SNL, but if it has to do with Lindsy Lohan’s boobs, I suddenly like it.

We were talking about Harry Potter here, not boobs.  A beloved Young Adult novel series about fighting evil, let’s talk about that. 

Okay, what I really like about Harry Potter is when Harry sticks his wand in the cauldron.

I give up, let’s go to the article. 

Card #1 Registeel EX

Description– Registeel is a 180 HP basic Metal Pokemon with a weakness to fire, a resistance to psychic, and a 4 retreat cost.  It has two attacks, the first one, Triple Laser”, will do 30 damage to three Pokemon for CCC.  The second attack, “Protect Charge”, will do 80 damage for MMCC and will reduce the damage done to Registeel next turn by 20.

Analysis– Registeel is one of the Pokemon that I have been waiting on for a long time.  I first was looking at this card around Spring Battle Roads, I thought it could work well with the healing trainers that were in the format at that time, plus there were still Special Metal Energy in the format.  This is the first metal Pokemon to be playable without Special Metal Energy, so this is something to look out for.  Registeel is cool because he is a nice tank that can snipe for some serious damage, he also can use colorless energies to attack, so that can make him even more playable.  I can’t wait to learn more about this guy.

So far there hasn’t been a whole lot of hype about this card.  Some people have been talking about using him to go against those 30 HP Tynamos that people still use.  But, I don’t know if people are thinking of using Registeel just as a tech, or if they are thinking of using him as a tech in any deck with energy acceleration or DCE.

Let us look at the stats here.  180 HP seems to be where you want to be with an EX.  The fire weakness could be problematic if Emboar is playable like people think he might be.  The psychic resistance will no doubt be a good thing, no matter what happens we do know that Mewtwo EX will still be a great card in the next format.  The retreat cost is of course not good, but we have come to expect bad retreat costs for EX Pokemon.  The first attack is good, and it is what most people are looking at.  For just CCC you can do 30 damage for three Pokemon.  If Registeel can attack 2 or 3 times, you should be able to get a couple KOs from this attack if you play a deck that runs evolutions.  We don’t know if evolutions will be big enough to justify using this attack, but I guess only time will tell.  The second attack is nice.  80 damage is not great, but it is fairly good.  I’m thinking that most people will probably only play it for the first attack, but if tanking comes back people could start using the second attack.

As mentioned before, Registeel EX can be used two ways.  It can be used as a tech against Eel decks, and it can be used on its own as a tanking deck.  I could see people teching in Registeel EX in a deck with DCE just like people teched in Tornadus EP in the last format.  I don’t see it running as a tanking deck right now.  The rotation will take out some of the healing trainers and Special Metal energy, and the loss of those cards will hurt the playability of tanking decks.  So that leaves us with the tech option.  I could see him going into almost every deck that runs energy acceleration or DCE energy.  If you can get him going early you should be able to get some damage spreading early, and that could take out some basic Pokemon before they can be evolved.  There is also a third way to play Registeel, in a spreading deck.  Registeel is not the only Pokemon that can spread, the non-EX Kyurem can also spread thirty damage around.  Since Kyurem is also a water type, he can cover Registeel’s weakness.  With these two guys you should be able to spread a lot of damage around, put these two guys in a deck with Exp. Share, and you should have a decent shot of doing well.  I could also see the new Dusknoir going in this deck.  Although it is not out yet, the newly announced Dusknoir can move damage counters around on your opponent’s side of the field.  This Ability works very well with Kyurem and Registeel EX, and it might make a cool fun deck that might actually work.

Now we shall look at the good and bad things about this card.  The good includes the stats of Registeel, the diverse attacks, and the variety of cards in the format that can compliment this card.  The bad parts of this card include the retreat cost, the lack of tanking in the format in regards to the second attack, and the weakness.  Taking all of these into consideration, I do like this card.  I do not know that this card will be playable since we don’t know everything about the new format, hedging your bets on it will be risky.  But, it is a deck that can do a lot of things well and can fit into almost every deck.  You have to love this diversity, I am looking forward to using this card.

Final Rating– 8/10– No guarantees here, but if I were a betting man I would bet on this card.  It seems like something that should see play in a lot of ways.  I like this card.

Card #2 Emolga (maybe) DRE

Description–  Emolga is a 70 HP basic lightning Pokemon with a lighting weakness, a fighting weakness, and a free retreat cost.  It has two attacks, the first one is what people are hyping, the second one is pretty useless.  The useless one is called “Static Shock”, and will do 20 damage for one electric energy.  The good one is called “Call for Family”, it lets you search your deck for two basic Pokemon and put them onto your bench.  Since there is not really any trainer card that lets you search for basic Pokemon, this could be an important card.

Analysis– I heard this hype last year with Stantler, it was basically the same card and it was supposed to be good, but it was never playable.  You aren’t going to fool me again, but then again maybe you are.  The last format did have both Dual Ball and Pokemon Collector, which took away from Stantler.  Since there are no equivalents of Collector or Dual Ball, perhaps Emolga will be playable in this format.  Let us take a closer look to see if we can learn any more as to the playability of the card.

The stats of this card are not terrible.  This is only a basic non legendary Pokemon, we are not expecting 180 HP here.  We only expect something around 60.  So, the fact that we get 70 is pretty good.  It is good enough to avoid a donk by Tornadus EX and Mewtwo EX, so that is about all you can ask for.  The weakness to lighting isn’t usually a good thing, but lightning attackers usually don’t attack for any amount of damage that won’t KO Emolga without the weakness anyway.  Zekrom does 120, Zekrom EX does 150, and Thundurus does 80.  The only thing you will have to worry about is Zekrom EX, he does have a smaller attack that can be used for a KO.  The resistance will probably be really good because we expect that Landorus, Terrakion, and Terrakion EX will be around in the format.  The resistance doesn’t really matter for the Terrakions, but Landorus can’t OHKO Emolga without a Plus Power.  I do love the retreat cost, that means you can do your job in getting basic Pokemon, and then retreat out of it without having to waste an energy on retreating.  Also, it is always good to promote a free retreating Pokemon and then retreat when you know which Pokemon you want to attack with, so free retreat is always a good thing.

There has been a lot of hype about Emolga.  People have been talking about using up to 4 copies of this card in almost every deck.  The interest really comes from decks that have evolutions in it.  If you just are running about 6 basic Pokemon, you don’t really need Emolga.  But, if you are playing an evolution deck you might need Emolga.  If you can only search for one basic a turn, and it is sniped or made active with Pokemon Catcher, you are going to need to start again.  This could mean that evolutions may not work without Emolga.  Some decks are also using Emolga as a one of tech in some other decks.  It is of course always great to have a free retreat Pokemon.

Final Rating– 5.5/10– I am not sold on the playability of Emolga.  Even though Emolga is a very cute Pokemon and it is one of my favorite, I have been burned with these “Call” Pokemon before.  They haven’t been playable so far, so I am not sure that they will be playable this year.  Perhaps the game will slow down enough for Emolga to be useful, but I don’t think so.  If it hasn’t been good yet, I don’t see a reason that things will change.  I could be wrong like I usually am, but this is just my opinion.  I doubt people will be talking about this card after the first weekend or two of BR’s, but what do I know.  It could be a cool consistency card, or it could be a card that just holds you back.

Card #3 Ninetales DRE

Description– Ninetales is a 90 HP stage 1 fire Pokemon with a water weakness and a 1 retreat cost.  It has the famous “Bright Look” Ability.  This lets you switch one of your opponent’s benched Pokemon with his active when you first evolve Ninetales.  It only has one attack.  That attack is called “Cursed Flame” and costs one Fire energy.  The attack does 20 damage plus 50 more damage for every special condition on the defending Pokemon.

Analysis– Finally “Bright Look” is back in the format!  But, time has not been well to “Bright Look”.  The last time we saw this Ability it was on Luxray Gl Lv.X, and it dominated the format.  Ninetales will not dominate the format, but it could be playable.  We must look into it more to see if it will stay in you binder, be a good rogue card, or if it will be a great card.

There has been some hype with this card.  Of course the big thing about using Ninetales is getting special conditions on the defending.  The easiest way to do that is pairing Ninetales with Amoongus.  Amoongus will confuse and poison the defending Pokemon when you evolve it, so that means that you can do 120 damage with “Cursed Flame.”  The 120 damage doesn’t stop there, you must add 10 for the poison, and add a possible 40 damage if they attack and lose the confusion flip.  All that damage adds up to 170 damage with the confusion flip.  If you add one Plus Power, that will mean that you can OHKO just about any EX Pokemon in the format.  But, that is banking on the fact that they will attack with that Pokemon next turn and then loss the flip.  There are also more Pokemon that can add special conditions to the defending from the bench that you can throw in, but Amoongus is the guy to watch.

Even though there is just about a completed list of this deck ready to go, that doesn’t mean that this deck will work.  I know that even if you run a 4-4 line of Amoongus, you can only expect to get those two special conditions on the Pokemon 4 times.  Seeker would have been good in the deck, but it is now gone.  You still can use Super Scoop Up, but it is not as effective.  If you can find a way to use Amoongus’s Ability 6 times you might win, but it is hard to do this.  I think you are going to find another way to get Special Conditions on the defending in order for this deck to work.  Even though I did outline a way to OHKO almost every Pokemon in the format, it is going to be really hard to hit for that much on a consistent basis.  I think you just need too many things to happen right at the same time for this deck to work, but that doesn’t mean much.  I won’t write the history of Ninetales, only competitive play can do that.

As of now I don’t really see any other combo’s for this card, but it is a good card that may even be used as a tech for the “Bright Look” Ability.  I don’t know if it will be worth it just to get 1 more Pokemon Catcher type thing, but I could maybe see somebody teching a 1-1 or 2-2 line and some Switches.  Without Junk Arm, a late game “Bright Look” could be the difference between a win and a loss.  It may seem like a large thing to devote for just a small reward like another Catcher, but just remember how often you saw lying down a Junk Arm, two other cards, and then saying “Good Game”.  I could see this card being a rogue tech.

Final Rating– 6.25/10- I am not a big believer in this card, but then again I am known to be wrong.  I am the guy who poo-poo-ed Eelektrik, so I am routinely wrong.  I just don’t think the deck is consistent enough to work.  And I don’t know if it is good enough to be a tech.  Only time will tell if this card will be good or not.

Well, that is all I have to talk about.  What do you have to end the article Pedro?

Today we are celebrating the release of the new Batman movie.  You are a big Batman fan right?

Oh, big Batman fan.  Love the Batman.  Love the fact that it is a very psychological character, and the bad guys of Batman are no doubt the best.

Who is your favorite Batman villan Pikkdogs?

I love the Mr. Freeze, because he is a tragic villain who just wants to save the life of his true love.  He seems like a very believable villain, and then Arnold Schwarzenegger had to come and ruin things.

 Even someone who didn’t like Mr. Freeze had to be cringing at that performance, he actually sang the Snow Miser song.

When I heard that his marriage had collapsed and he lost a lot from all of the scandal, I kind of felt happy, does that make me a bad person?

No, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t one.  You probably aren’t one because you make a lot of penis jokes on a website about a kids game. 

I can see that.  Good night everybody.

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Pikkdogs’ Favorite Things

Pikkdogs 7 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs with a weird article for you guys.  I say “weird” because this article doesn’t really fit into any cookie cutter mode that’s out there now.  Its not that all my articles aren’t weird, this is just a little more so.  Do you guys remember how Oprah used to have a special where she would take a look at some her favorite products?  It was called “Oprah’s favorite things”, and since I am just as fat as Oprah, I thought I might as well do my Favorite Things-Pokemon Edition.  I am not just limiting myself to products here, it could be cards, or strategies.  So just sit back and enjoy the bumpy ride.  Wait, we gotta get Pedro in this.  Hey Pedro, what are some of your favorite things?

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens

Okay?  Those seem like popular choices, why don’t you get us started with a news article?

Alright.  In world news, it seems that there is a controversy about the new $20 bill in Canada.  The new design has a picture of Queen Elizabeth II and the Vimy Memorial.  The controversy came about because the Vimy Memorial has a statue of a naked lady on it.  Some say that the design on the bill is “shockingly pornographic”, why others state that it is a good depiction of a patriotic symbol.  The Vimy Memorial is a statue in France that honors members of the CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) that died in the battle of Vimy Ridge in World War I.  What do you think of this debate Pikkdogs?

I gotta be on the patriotic side here, the monument is a patriotic symbol of honor for brave men that gave their lives for the Allied cause.  And, I always like to see a picture of the Queen with naked women.  It gets me hot.

That’s understandable.  I think this is a brilliant idea, it should start a new trend.  I think all bills should have pictures of the Queen with Naked Women, its kind of kinky. 

My vote for the next one is Megan Fox.

She’s nice, but doesn’t she have a toe thumb?

Hey, she can have a pig thumbs for all I care, that’s not the part of body that I focus on.

One, pigs don’t have thumbs, and two before out talk gets too centered on lesbian scenes with the Queen, we should get to the article.

Pikkdogs’ Favorite Things

Japanese Sleeves and Deck Boxes

The first of my favorite things are Japanese character sleeves and deck boxes.  These are fairly normal sleeves and deck boxes that have Pokemon characters and scenes on them.  There are all kinds of different designs, from Pikachu in a meadow to Stunfisk, these sleeves and  matching deck boxes are cool and have unique Pokemon scenes on them.  The deck boxes are usually the biggest and roomiest around, with lots of space for your deck and other cards.  The sleeves are not the highest quality around, but they are from the lowest.

The biggest problem with these products are that they are very expensive in the United States.  They are usually only sold in Japan, so, in the United States, the demand is high and the supply is low.  These products can be found on Ebay from anywhere around 25 bucks to 40 bucks.  That does not include shipping, which could cost from $8 to $15.  If you add the two weeks or more that it usually takes to get these products to the U.S., they usually are not practical for everyday use.

But for special events like Nationals, these cool character deck boxes and sleeves are a great way to add some individuality for a special day.  I don’t know about other people, but I do enjoy playing with unique sleeves.  I do love my regular Dragon Shields, but sometimes you need to show some bling bling, and these Japanese sleeves are a good way of doing that.

Eviolite

One of my favorite cards in this format is Eviolite.  It was released alongside one of my least favorite cards, Rocky Helmet.  Eviolite will always be compared to Rocky Helmet because it is a similar Tool Card, but I think Eviolite is very superior to Rocky Helmet.

If you don’t know what it is, Eviolite is a tool card that when attached to a Basic Pokemon allows you to deduct 20 damage from each attack done to it.  Donphan Prime had a similar Poke-Body, and it propelled Donphan to being one of the most successful cards from the HGSS sets.  It works perfectly with today’s BBP (Big Basic Pokemon) that have decent attacks and a lot of HP.  It almost seems unfair that a basic Pokemon can have up to 180 HP and attacks that do up to 150 damage, while being able to bottle Donphan’s Poke-Body and give it to them.

Although it can be hard to find room in a deck for a non essential card like Eviolite, I still think it is one of the best cards in the format.  The One Hit Knock Out is very important in this format, even though it is getting harder and harder to obtain, an OHKO can help you set the pace for the game.  Even a 2HKO is very important, if you can’t at least consistently get a 2HKO, you will not win.  This is where Eviolite really shines.  Eviolite makes it very hard for any Pokemon to OHKO you, and it can also prevent a 2HKO.  Eviolite is a great defensive card that can change the face of a game, nobody really prepares for Eviolite, and it is this surprise factor that can give you a big advantage is a game.

As I said before, this card will always be compared to Rocky Helmet.  But, I must argue that Rocky Helmet is not a great card.  It does cause your opponent some problems, but it can be played around with cards like Pokemon Catcher.  Plus, who knows if those 2 extra damage counters will make a difference in a game.  It always makes sense to stop an OHKO, so it seems to me that Eviolite is a much better and versatile card than Rocky Helmet.

Locking

One of my favorite deck strategies is Locking.  Locking is a broad term that means trapping one of your opponent’s bench sitting Pokemon in the active spot.  There is not really a concept of locking in the current format because there are really not many bench sitting Pokemon.  Most of the bench sitting Pokemon that are currently in the format like Celebi Prime and Eelektrik are easily retreatable in one turn, but there was once a time when Locking was popular.

In modern times, the heyday of locking was when Claydol GE was in the format.  Claydol GE was a great Pokemon with draw power, but he had a 2 retreat cost with no DCE in the format.  It was very hard to get Claydol out of the active spot once he was pulled in, so it was fairly easy to pull off locking decks.

Locking itself is not really a strategy to win, because just screwing up your opponent does not let you win.  There are three ways to win once you have the lock on.  The most simple way to win is to snipe around the trapped Pokémon and hit the bench.  There are a lot of Pokemon that can attack the bench, the most popular right now is Raikou EX.  Sniping usually produces less damage, but if you can lock and snipe, you could be unstoppable.

The next most popular strategy is to mill your opponent’s deck.  Milling means discarding cards from the top of your opponent’s deck (the term comes from the Magic TCG and the “Millstone” card), you will win the game once your opponent has no card to draw at the beginning of the turn.  Milling is also one of favorite strategies in this game.  I just love the ability to discard cards from your opponent’s deck and know that your opponent can do nothing about it.  Unfortunately, the most famous milling card in recent history is Durant.  Durant is widely considered to be an unfair card that is no fun to play against.  Games against most milling decks are very fun, Durant has just given milling a bad name.

The third and final strategy is to win with the Lost World stadium card.  Lost World is a stadium card that allows you to call yourself the winner if your opponent has 6 Pokémon cards in his/her Lost Zone.  It is fairly hard to put Pokémon in the Lost Zone, and there are not a lot of Pokémon that do it.  So, it is not hard to imagine that Lost World decks have not had a lot of success.

Considering all the good and bad things about locking decks, I still really love the strategy.  Right now the strategy is not really feasible.  Switch is a card that is popular, and Skyarrow Bridge is a card that gives  a lot of Pokemon free retreat.  There are too many ways to get out of a trap right now, but I do love trapping.

Good Luck Varsity 

Now for some plugging for the Unofficial 2012 U.S. Pokemon Nationals After Party.  Good Luck Varsity will be headlining this concert, and I can’t wait to see it.  GLV is a band from the Detroit area that releases some really cool Indie rock music.  They are not just rock stars in waiting, but are some amazing Pokemon players.  They are some real cool guys that make some awesome music.  They actually just released a new CD, you can hear the single “Lakes” by following this link (I seriously can’t get this song out of my head).  You can find a little more about the concert here.  You can also find more about The Noozles here. 

The Unofficial 2012 U.S. Pokemon Nationals After Party should be really fun.  I am very excited to see and hear the three bands perform, and what tricks they have up their sleeves.  It is sure to be a cool party that will give everybody a good time.  So if you will make it to the Indy City for Nationals, make sure you stop by the VFW at  1850 S. East Street which is just a couple miles away from the convention center.

Nationals

Speaking of Nationals, it also is one of my favorite things.  I think one big Pokemon convention in the summer is a great thing.  It feels so great to test your skills against people from all over the nation.  Last year I played against people from California, Texas, Florida, and New York.  People from all over the U.S. come to the Indy City to celebrate all things Pokemon.

Nationals is not a perfect event.  It would be nice if there were some more vendors there, and if there were some events that take place to give it more of a Comic-Con like feel, but I do think that it is a very cool event.  One of the things that caught my eye last year was the decoration.  There were a ton of cool banners that were hung to the tall ceilings of the convention center.  There were also statues, large balloons, and people in character costumes.  The convention center looked very awesome, and that really added a cool ambiance to the event.

Card Art

Not everybody can pickup and play a Zekrom deck correctly, but everybody can enjoy some card art.  That’s why I love me some card art,  it transcends competitive play, and possibly Pokemon all together.

Modern Pokemon TCG art is fairly varied.  In recent sets we have had some real cool Pokemon cards with people in the background.  We have also had Pokemon art that have an almost clay like look to them, those have been kind of hit and miss in my opinion.  The greatest contribution to modern Pokemon TCG card art has been the Ultra Rares.  In the HGSS sets we had the Legend cards which were very cool to look at, possibly some of the best looking cards ever.  Now, we have full art cards and full art EX cards.  This mixes great art with playable cards which is always awesome.

Pokemon art is cool because it is very diverse.  Some art is scary like Terrakion Full Art, while others are scenic like Lapras ND, while still others are cute like just about every Pikachu card ever made.  The art does communicate a lot of different emotions that the world of Pokemon should convey.  Art let’s us feel that we are in the Pokemon World, and you can not ask for any more than that.  You gotta love Card Art, even if you think “The Starry Night” is a song by Paris Hilton.

POP Merchandise (or whatever they are calling it nowadays)

POP merchandise refers to a lot of cool exclusive merchandise that is only available for purchase to Pokemon Professors.  Judges earn points for every event they judge, and with those points they can get this cool stuff.  I am not sure exactly what kind of merchandise that are in the store, but I have seen anything from Binders to sleeves to bags of all sorts. 

I somehow was able to acquire a Groudon bag that was originally a POP item.  It is a really cool and really big bag.  Kind of like the sleeves and deck boxes that I mentioned earlier in the article, POP merchandise is cool because it has a lot of exclusive art on it.  Nintendo does not sell the professor mats, hats, and sleeves anywhere; so you need to get them here or from a professor to get them.   What you end up with when you order POP merchandise is really cool licensed stuff that really makes you stand out from the crowd.  I am thinking of being a judge just for the swag, it’s that cool.

 

Max Beef and Cheddar from Arbys

Finally, I gotta say that Pikkdogs loves his Arbys.  One of the most important parts of Pokemon is the lunch/dinner stop after the tournament.  While I can not find anything wrong with any fast food place ever, I gotta say that I prefer my Arbys.  Who doesn’t love Arbys, they have burgers made of Roast Beef, ya gotta love Roast Beef.  Plus, in commercials they used to use Barry White’s voice.  If you don’t like Barry White, you just shouldn’t play Pokemon.

 

Conclusion

So, those are some of my favorite things.  I think we are all done here, let’s get to the end of the article.  Why don’t you wrap things up Pedro?

Okay, on this day in history the Buttonwood Agreement was signed in 1792.

Is that dirty?  It sounds dirty.  Buttonwood.

It does sound dirty, but its not.  It was the agreement to begin the New York Stock Exchange. 

Stock trading, nothing more dirty than that.

I guess, even porn stars feel dirty when they walk past Wall Street. 

Have you been to New York Pedro?

Nope, never.  Have you?

Sure, I went there in 1999.  It was pretty cool.  But you gotta be careful in New York, it’s quite a dirty city, you can’t touch anything because people have pee’d on it.

It’s like your house after you had too much to drink. 

Kind of, good night everybody.

 

 

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The Path to Nationals Begins: Battle Roads Preview

Pikkdogs 5 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a Battle Roads preview for you.  Now I do know that we already did a BR preview here on this site, and that the article was much better than this one will be, but I will come at it from a different angle.  Before we get this started I must apologize for not posting an article in a while, the bossman has been riding me hard and taking time away from writing.  Hopefully, in 2 weeks things should get more quiet.  So let’s go on and get this thing started by saying “hi” to Pedro.  Hey Pedro.

Hey Pikkdogs. 

Do you have a news story for us to get things started.

Sure.  Everybody has been cockahoop since last week when the new Time Magazine came out.  This magazine gave us a new figure to talk about, the breast feeding man.    Jamie Lynn Grumet is known as the Breast Feeding Mom.  She was the one that was on the controversial Time Magazine cover a week or so ago.  The article was supposed to be about a parenting style called Attachment Parenting that creates a bond between mother and child by spending more time with the child and becoming more intimate.  But, this was not to be so.  The discussion was more on the cover photo.  What did you think of the cover photo. 

It made me thirsty.

Understandable. 

In all seriousness, that was quite the interesting technique they have for breastfeeding.  Usually the kid is reclining back,  here he is using a step ladder.  Which is one way to do it I guess.

Yeah, that doesn’t seem efficient.  But, I think it is safe to say that of all the three moms that have been in the news lately, Breast Feeding Mom is by far the hottest. 

By far Pedro, by far.  She is very attractive.  I’m curious Pedro, in your dimension do they use attachment parenting and nursing until your 5 years old?

No, babies don’t drink milk in my universe, they drink Whiskey. 

At least that gives them a reason for the irrational behavior of babies.

It does.  What do you think of the extended breast feeding Pikkdogs?  You are a man that is famous for liking boobs.

Well, most men are, but I do like boobs.  I guess I don’t really see anything wrong with breastfeeding until they can go to school.  It probably makes snack time at soccer practice awkward, but I don’t think there are any health risks besides sore nipples.

Toughens your nipples doesn’t it?

Nice Silence of the Lambs quote.  Anyway, nothing wrong with it, just seems a little awkward.  But I think I am happy for the kid.  If I could still be breast feeding I probably would.

At least your honest about being creepy.

Toughens your nipples doesn’t it?

On the Road to the Indy City

As Nationals is getting closer and closer, people have been coming up to me and saying, “Pikkdogs, put on your pants!”  Then after I put on my pants they say, “how are you preparing for Nationals?”  I tell them that the best way to prepare for Nats is to begin in Spring Battle Roads.

The Spring Battle Roads never has the competitiveness that the Fall version has.  Spring BRs are all about getting ready for Nationals.  They are a good dry run.  Even though the layout of BRs are different from Nationals, you still can benefit from BRs by getting adjusted to the format.  There will be no big changes to the format until after Nats, so BRs are going to give you a good look at the Nationals format.

Nationals is such a great event that it is worth giving all the preparation that you can.  Remember, it was won last year by an unknown-

those weird letter things

No not “Unowns”, an unknown player.  Nationals is up for grabs for every player, if you put enough work into it, you can win Nationals.  But, the process begins here and now in Spring Battle Roads, so let’s see what things are like.

The Format

Like I said, a big article on all of these decks was already written on this site, so I will not talk about it too much.    Here is just my quick take on what to watch out for during Spring Battle Roads.

Tier 1

Zekrom– Zekrom decks will be the most played decks now that Durant lost a little steam.  They can snipe and hit hard and are great at recovery.  The weaknesses to Zekrom are the setup and the fighting weakness.  If you can kill all of their Tyanmos before they can evolve, their hands will be tied.  Look to play a fast deck like CMT to take advantage of this.  The second weakness has to do with playing fighitng types.  Although some players might play Tornadus EX to cover their weaknesses, Zekrom as a whole is vulnerable to fighting Pokemon.  Look for Terrakion NV and Groudon EX to come up big.  Even though this deck is fairly boring and has holes, it will probably be the most successfull deck during BRs.

CMT-Mewtwo is back again for domination with this really fast deck.  Players that play Mewtwo EX as a tech can try to out Mewtwo CMT, but if you don’t have Mewtwo you will be in trouble.  CMT is the fastest deck out there and it is great (on paper) against any deck.  Maybe people will have pulled enough Mewtwo EXs by now that CMT can gain more popularity as a whole, even though it did recently take a hit against Zekrom decks.  Look for this deck to be played a lot, and for it to do really well.

Tier 1.5

Dark Deck– The dark deck is the new kid on the block.  It has a lot of hype, but a lot of questions  needs to answer.  Perhaps it will prove itself to be a Tier 1 deck, bet we are not sure yet.  It is a fairly fast deck that can hit for a consistent amount of damage.  It may not hit as hard as Zekrom, but its not that far off.  It uses a lot of different trainers to accomplish its goals. Dark Claw is like Expert Belt and Dark Patch is kinda like Eelektrik.  This helps increase consistency and damage output.  The Dark deck should have a fairly even match-up across the board, while it struggles with fighting decks.

Fighting Deck– Fighting decks is a broad term for any deck that uses fighting Pokemon as the main attaker.  These decks usually use some combination of Landorus, Terrakion NV, and Groudon EX.  This deck relies on weakness and revenge kills to get a good match-up against other decks.  Tornadus EX will be tough for this deck to get around, so that is a huge challenge.  It also struggles against CMT decks.  This seems like an all or nothing deck based on what the match-up is.  There will be a decent number of these decks, but not a ton.

Durant– There ain’t no Heatmor that can kill the durable ant, it will survive.   Since Heatmor is in the format, look for people to assume Durant will not be played.  If they assume that, they will probably not play Heatmor, and will open the door for Durant.  I think that Durant will lose some play, but not a whole lot of play.  The better players probably will leave the deck, but the bulk of the players will still play the deck.  Durant has a pretty good match-up against most decks that will be played.  It may not be autowin against the best decks, but it at least has a good chance at every deck.  Expect Durant to do better than most people expect.

What to Watch For

The first thing to watch out for is rogue decks.  The only new deck that people are really talking about is the dark deck, but there must be a lot more new ideas out there.  Expect the unexpected for battle roads.  Spring BRs are a mix of the best players, and some middle of the road players with some interesting decks.  Expect to be surprised at a lot of the decks that you see.  Remember, some people count this season as a prep for Nats, so they might not be trying to win, but trying to get a hold of a deck they want to play.  So there should be a lot of rogue stuff out there.

If you are trying to win Spring BRs, remember that it is a sprint.  We just came out of States and Regionals, those are marathons.  To win at spring Battle Roads, all you have to do is get lucky a handful of times.  So you can try some lucky decks and still do well.  Consistency will never be unimportant, but it is not as important in the smaller BR tournaments.  So try some of those flippy decks, and maybe give disruption decks like Sharpedo a try, you could get lucky all the way to a trophy.

Another thing to remember out Spring Battle Roads is that you shouldn’t get discouraged.  If you are playing in Nationals, don’t get upset if things don’t go your way at a BR.  You must be lucky to win a BR, but don’t forget that it is more important to be practicing for Nationals then to win a BR. It is more improtant that you guys are familiarizing yourself with the format, and begin to look at different rogue strategies.  If you get a tournament win, all the better, but I think your eyes should be on the bigger picture: competing at Nationals.

What Is the Play?

Well, there is no bad play for Battle Roads.  As long as you are out there learning about the format, you are not wasting your time.  But, I do think that for winning a single tournament, I would try a fighting deck.  Zekrom decks will win most tournaments, but you should be able to get a win easier with fighting decks.  These decks struggle the most against CMT, but CMT might have a little drop off in play and we all know that Zekrom will increase in play.  So, it seems that if you can get a good fighting deck that beats Zekrom decks most of the time, that would be a good play.  There is no bad play among the top decks, but I think next I would choose Durant.  Most people expect Durant to die off, so now is the time to play it.   You can’t go wrong with a top tier deck choice at Battle Roads.  Just make sure you are comfortable with your deck.  Make sure you know everything about your deck that there is to know, and it will give you a big advantage.  When picking a deck it is always best to go with what you are comfortable with, so go with what you feel confident with and you will have a good shot.

Conclusion

Well, that’s all I got about Battle Roads.  I hope I get shocked with a lot of cool rogue decks when I go to one.  Hopefully you guys do well and get one more step closer to doing well at your own Nationals.

Well Pedro, I am all done.  Why don’t you give us a news story to end the article.

Okay.  Foxnews.com is reporting that scientists who studied fossils of an ancient sea monster type creature have diagnosed the animal with arthritis.

He might want to take something for that.

If he wasn’t dead, he might.  This creature is known as a pliosaur. 

Pliosaur, sounds like a finishing move in wrestling.

Is a Plliosaur a better move than a German suplex?

Yes, but not as good as “The Scorpion Death Lock.”

Do you like to watch the wrestling Pikkdogs?

A little, I did more when I was a kid.  Though I think wrestling doesn’t like me, because when I was a kid they had all kinds of cool things like Bra and Panties matches, and everybody swore a lot.  But, now that I am older and can appreciate obscene things, everything is clean.  It’s like Vince McMahon doesn’t like me.

Well you know what they always say, wresting isn’t fair.

Just ask Brett Hart.

Good Night Everybody

 

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Tips on Winning your Dark Explorers Pre-Release

Pikkdogs 5 Comments

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

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

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

So you prefer meatballs to the work of Nsync?

Of course.

Who’s work do you favor more than meatballs?

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

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

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

Principles for building your Pre-Release Deck

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

Cards to Watch from Dark Explorers

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

No.

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

Seems only fair. 

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

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

Of course.

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

I heard that you like the big fuzzy ends.

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

 

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Teach Me How to Rogue

Pikkdogs 3 Comments

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

except a winning tournament report.

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

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

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

Alright. 

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

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

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

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

That must have been one big cup.

Indeed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is Rogue?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My History with RoguesScizor SF

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

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

How to Rogue.

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

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

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

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

you wrote the Baha Men song while jogging?

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

Is that code?

Of course.

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

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

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

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

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Stupid Deck Idea: Volcarona’s Crash & Burn

balasar 18 Comments

Note: This deck contains cards that are not yet released. 

Deck Strategy   

I was looking at the Dark Rush scans to predict what will be coming in our Dark Explorers set, when I saw the new Volcarona in Dark Rush. Here is the direct translation from Pokebeach:

“Volcarona –Fire–HP110
Stage 1 – Evolves from Larvesta

Ability:Burning Scales
As long as this Pokemon is in play, the number of damage counters placed on your opponent’s Burned Pokemon in between turns is now 4.
[R][C][C] Heat Wind: 70 damage. You may choose 1 Energy attached to this Pokemon and discard it. If you do, the opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Burned.
Weakness:Water(x2)
Resistance:none
Retreat: 3
15/69″
 
    I instantly thought of a crazy rouge idea to drive the EXs insane. What you do is you set up Volcarona on the bench then you also set up Houndoom Prime on your bench. The goal of the deck is to do massive amounts of damage using burn and attacking with Blaziken. Blaziken’s purpose in the deck is to be an extremely strong attacker and possibly deal burn. This is the translation for Blaziken:
Blaziken – Fire – HP140
Stage 2 – Evolves from Combusken
[R][C] Blaze Kick: 40 damage. Flip a coin, if heads this attack does an additional 30 damage. If tails the opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Burned.
[R][R][C] Flamethrower: 130 damage. Choose 1 Energy attached to this Pokemon and discard it.
Weakness:Water(x2)
Resistance:none
Retreat: 2
12/69
Deck List
  This is what a skeleton list for the deck I now dub “Crash&Burn” would look like:

Pokemon: 18
2x Houndour 54/90 UD
2x Houndoom Prime
2x Larvesta DarkRush
2x Volcarona DarkRush
3x Torchic DarkRush
2x Combusken DarkRush
3x Blaziken DarkRush
2x Entei EX DEX (confirmed to be in Dark Explorers)
 
T/S/S:24
4x Collector
4x Junk Arm
3x Communication
3x Rare Candy
4x PONT
2x Juniper
3x PETM
1x Seeker
 
Energy:10
10x Fire
 
Total: 52
Free Space: 8
 
I find that all of the cards in here have either been explained or are self-explanatory.
 
Techs:
Typhlosion Prime: a 2-1-2 line won’t be enough, but this deck could use a good source of energy acceleration.
Houndoom UD+ Rainbow Energy: we all know that Dark.dec and Zeels will be on the rise, therefore, it would make sense to say that Troll and Quadrakion will be big too. This helps seal the Troll match-up by doing that extra damage if Fighting types are on your opponent’s field.
Pokemon Catcher: This one is a pretty obvious tech as it lets you control which Pokemon is getting Burn damage.
Switch: You may need to retreat some for this deck.
 
Matchups:
            As much as I hate to say so, this section is purely theory because we don’t know what cards will be out and what won’t.
 
Zeels: 45-55:
            This matchup comes down to who gets set up first. If the Elektriks are set up before your Volcarona and Blaziken, to put it simply, you’re dead.
CMT: 35-65:
            This deck is just too fast for Crash&Burn. The Celebi are set up too fast. If you get lucky and face a CMT with Terrakion, that’s when the Houndoom UD comes in handy. If you’re scared of this matchup, put Houndoom Prime and UD in Crash&Burn.
 
Durant: 40-60:
            Once again, you have a deck that tends to be quicker than Crash&Burn. You also have the problem of the Durants milling you. Crash&Burn is not equipped to lose resources. Not the most favorable of matchups.
 
Dark.dec/Darkrai.dec/Dark Toolbox/ etc.: 35-65:
            Look! It’s the deck of many names! To put it gently, you have very little to no chance of winning this. Dark.dec is fast and has free retreat. Free retreat is the worst nightmare for this deck because when you Burn someone, it just gets retreated.
 
 Conclusion
 
            So that pretty much wraps up the deck. It has some synergy, but not a whole lot. The main key is to get set up as fast as possible and cause the opponent to crash, and then Burn.
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A Look at the Metagame: Pikkdogs does a State’s Review and your 1st Spring Regionals Preview

Pikkdogs 4 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a wrap-up of States, and a quick look ahead to Spring Regionals.  Before we get going, why don’t we have my extra-dimensionary sidekick come and start this article off with a news story.  What do you got for us today Pedro?

Well, today we will start off by some news in the world of business.  It seems that to nobodys surprise, Apple is in trouble for over-working their employees.  It seems that Apple has been forcing their workers to work over 60 hours a week and for a week without a day off.  In their defense, Apple says that  they are not overworking their laborers for an unfair wage, they said that Chinese workers are greedy and they want to work more hours so they can make more money and put the money into their savings account.  Do you believe that Pikkdogs?

Sure I do.  I also believe that the victims in the Spanish Inquisition wanted to be tortured until they died because they thought God would like it.  I also believe that the Native Americans in the early 19th Century weren’t forced from their homes, they just wanted to see what the west looked like.  That is kind of like the African slaves, they weren’t abused for the benefit of wealthy plantation owners, they were just people who liked to work but thought that money would make them evil.

Of course they did.  This may be  a controversial stance for you Pikkdogs, you know that we get a lot of attractive nerds on this site, and we all know that nerds love their Iphones. 

True.  But this is the same company that when faced with high suicide rates from their employees jumping off their buildings rather than working for meager wages, decided to put a net around their buildings to catch the divers, instead of increase wages.

Are you a commy Pikkdogs?

Only on the weekends when I like to play  the game “the Commie and the Americans”.  It is kind of like “Cowboys and Indians”, except that you play it with no pants on.

Sounds………ah……….. fun.  Let’s just go onto the article. 

States by the Numbers

According to Pokegym.net, here is the decks that won States/Province/Territory Championships.  This list does include the foreign States results as well, so it may not be a perfect look at the States Metagame.

Wins:

  1. Zekrom: 24
  2. CMT:20
  3. Durant: 4
  4. Terrakion: 4
  5. Donphan Mewtwo: 2
  6. Reshiphlosion: 2
  7. Troll: 1

As we can see, the States metagame was split between Zekrom and CMT.  Those two decks were the ones that had the most success.  I did predict that CMT would have more wins, but they were  split fairly evenly.  So we can safely say that Zekrom and CMT are the decks to look out for, they make out the tier 1 of the format.  On Tier 2 is basically everything else listed in the list.  Durant should have a “*” by it, because it probably got more play than everything else in tier 2.  Looking forward to Regionals, you need to be aware of Durant as much as you do Zekrom and CMT.

 

Analysis of What Won

What surprises me most about this list is the dissapearance of Magnezone.  I know there are a lot of Terrakions out there, but I still expected Magnezone to have a better showing than it did.  It only won 2 States and it only made top 4 5 times.  Although the 2 number is fairly expected, I expected the deck to be played in greater numbers than it was.

Another surprise was the rise of 2 great decks, Terrakion and Troll.  We will first talk about Terrakion.  Terrakion is a deck that came out of nowhere during the first week of States.  It didn’t have a whole lot of time to catch on, but there was considerable play of the deck through the next 2 weekends.  The deck relied on a simple combination of Terrakion and………..some more Terrakions.  It is a simple deck that just relies on EXP. Share to keep 90 damage going on each turn.  It also is great because Zekrom did very well, and Zekrom is very weak to Terrakion.  Even a poorly made Terrakion deck should have a decent shot at a good Zekrom deck.  I like the deck because it is a very simple deck that uses the wealth of great trainers that this format has to offer.  And I think that every deck that follows that principle should do very well.  Terrakion relied on trainers like Crushing Hammer and Lost Remover to disrupt your opponent.  While other decks could not fit in all these trainers, Terrakion is a simple deck that has the room.

The Troll deck took the format by storm in the last weekend of States.  Troll is a very bad name for a deck that features Terrakion, Tornadus, and Mewtwo EX.  I hope that I will soon have a deck review on this deck.  I don’t know too much about this deck right now, but it uses EXP share just like Terrakion.  It is a deck that features basic Pokemon that can counter the format fairly well.  If you play against Zerkom you can use Terrakion.  If you play against Terrakion you can use Tornadus.  The deck also features Mewtwo EX to go against CMT decks.  The Troll deck took its cue from Terrakion and got some good trainers in its deck, it uses cards like Rocky Helmet and Super Scoop Up.

What to Expect for Regionals

The cards that we will have to use at Spring Regionals are exactly the same cards that were open to use for States.  So we should see the same basic patterns appearing at Regionals.  My prediction is that States have set the format, Regionals is the time for rogues to come in and try to break it open.  We have already seen some great rogue ideas being used, we just need some time to prefect them.  But, don’t wait for too long because Regionals are just around the corner.

We can expect that Zekrom and CMT will be the most successful decks at Regionals.  I also would think that Durant will see as much play as the other two decks, if not more.  But, the decks you will have to watch out for are the rogue decks.  Since a rogue deck can be anything, it is best to plan by expecting everything.  Make sure you take a look at a lot of the cards in the format, and try to think of the strategy that you would use if you saw those cards.  For example, how would your troll deck handle Steelix Prime? Or Scizor Prime?  Or a Weavile based deck?  Or, how would it handle new Pokemon like DarMAXitan and Cofagrius?

I think that since the format is faiirly predictable, we should see a lot of rogue decks doing well.  Now, I don’t mean to say that Rogue decks will win most of the Regionals, I just think that they could do fairly well.  CMT and Zekrom still will have the advantage when it comes to wins, but a lot of people will have their day ruined by rogue decks.

Sadly, I am too poor to be able to make it to a Spring Regionals (my area had the Fall Regionals).  But, if I were to play in one of these to win, I would first look to see if I could master the CMT deck.  This deck seems like hands-down the BDIF.  It is fast enough to outspeed almost everything else in the format, and it can hit for a ton of damage by using your own energies against you.  It is a game changing deck like Luxchomp was before it.  But, if I could not master CMT, I would look for the deck that I am most comfortable with.  Unless you have been working on a rogue for a while now, it is getting too late to start testing right now.  If you have a great rogue idea right now, you should have just enough time to get some testing in.  But, if you can’t start right now, just stick to a deck that you are familiar with.  There are a lot of decks in the format right now that are easy to play.  Playing a Troll deck or a Terrakion deck is not that hard.  You should be able to master those decks in the next couple weeks.  You just need to throw in a couple of techs to adjust to the metagame that you are playing in, and you should be ready.  If you can find a deck that fits you like a glove, you should have a good shot at doing well at Regionals.  Of course there are never any promises, but sticking with a deck you are familiar with is usually a great way to do well in a tournament like this.

Remember, Regionals is like States, it will be a large tournament.  There are too many rounds for you to be able to rely on luck for you to win.  So, don’t be taking out flippy decks and hope you get lucky, save those for the Spring Battle Roads.  Regionals is a big tournament that will make you work the entire day.  If you do not have a heavily tested well balanced deck, you will eventually be exposed by the great players in the area.  So make sure to bring a consistent deck that is ready for a long day, it is not the time to rely on luck.

 

Well, Pedro that is all I have for the readers today.  Do you have a news article to end this thing?

Sure. ESPN.COM is reporting that University of Florida Guard Erving Walker was arrested and jailed on one count of Petty Theft for stealing a taco.  It seems that Walker was enjoying some street food, and decided to walk away without paying for a three dollar taco. 

Since Walker stole the taco from a Latino area, the Hispanic heavy jury is likely to give him the death penalty.

That’s right. 

If I learned one thing from working at a Mexican bar, its don’t touch a Latino’s beer or their food.  I also learned to always check pretty girls for Adam’s Apples, but that’s another story.

Can we hear that one?

No, we must go.  Goodnight everybody!

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