A lot of Pokemon writers don’t mention card art, and only talk about playability.  But, card art is something that connects to the card collector and the serious player.  We all can appreciate a good piece of card art.  Not all of us can appreciate Mewtwo EX, but we all can appreciate how beautiful a Full Art card is.  I think its nice to take a step back from competitive play now and then and just appreciate something as simple as card art.   So let’s take a look at how we are going…

This set is a very impactful one.  This set givs us a card that might dominate the format, and a bunch of other cards that are really good.  We even got some trainers, stadium cards, and special energies.  This set will shape what will be played at the top tables at States, though, it may not be to the extent that we currently think.  Before we start the countdown, let us welcome Pedro to the conversation.  How’s Pedro doing today?

Doing well.

Do you got any news for us today?

Well, not too much going on. February 8th is when you can start buying Next Destinies packs from the stores.  February 8th is also a holiday, it is National Kite Flying Day. 

So if you don’t pull a Mewtwo EX, you can go fly a kite.

Exactly,

10.  Amoongus

This was a very tough spot…

First, he discusses Mewtwo EX which can’t be ignored.  Everyone is discussing it, but he’s got some very good points.  Here’s an excerpt in which he’s discussing a new deck that could be built around Mewtwo EX.

Mewtwo decks are going to form an important part of the metagame for State Championships, and learning how to play against them, and how to play with them, is going to be a major test for players. The two Prize mechanic will lead to the kind of intense strategic encounters not seen since the days of Gardevoir/Gallade decks back in 2008. Then, as now, the taking of Prizes will need to be carefully planned. Taking the initial KO with a Mewtwo-EX will generally be something to avoid, as all it will take

…

Pretty good, a nice sports weekend.  We had the Pro Bowl, the NHL All Star Game, the finals of the Australian Open, the Royal Rumble, and even some Free UFC on Fox. 

I watched that UFC on Saturday.  There is no doubt that it takes a man much tougher than me to step into the Octagon, but on Saturday it seemed like UFC is just an excuse for two dudes to cuddle in the corner of a cage.

Those are big men, I wouldn’t be calling them gay. 

I didn’t call them gay, I implied it.  Plus, they always wear those bright T-shirts, you can’t wear that many pastel colors without some questions.  Let’s get onto the article before I say more things that I will regret.

The Introduction…

Basic Pre-Release Tips

If you never played at a tourney before, here is what happens at a normal Pre-Release.  You sit down at a table, and a judge will come over and hand you 6 packs.  You open all of your packs, and then build a 40 card deck consisting of only the cards that you…

Yo.

I was thinking-

That’s a first.

Will you let me talk for one moment.  Geez, extra-dimensionary sidekicks ya can’t live with em, ya can’t destroy their interdimensionary portholes.  As I was saying, I was thinking that since you have been with me on my articles for so long, there are probably new readers who don’t know much about you. 

Could be.

So, why don’t you re-introduce yourself so that new readers will know who you are, and it won’t be so weird. 

I think the ship has sailed on the weird thing, but…

Negatives

When I first dreamed up this crazy plan, I had several goals.  My overarching number one goal was to build community around this project.  Have we succeeded in that?  Well, I think it’s been mostly a unmet goal.  Looking at webserver statistics, it seems that the site is getting slightly more views now. I can’t be sure if that has anything to do with the challenge, just the fact that there have been more articles lately, or just the fact that City Championships were in full swing. Since I can’t undoubtedly attribute it to the challenge, I won’t.

What I originally hoped for (and expected) was that many people would come together and each donate maybe 4-8 cards.  I would have a bunch of random “junk” to sift through and build from.  Making a…

Because you stink.

Well, I do, but at least I know a little about the game.

A little is right. 

Just so you know Pedro, I do admit that I had a terrible Cities season, but I came to a decision that it is because I am cursed.

Go on.

So, instead of wasting time play testing, I instead am going to do the scientific  thing and try to break the curse.  I already know a couple ways to break a curse, but if any of our readers know something, I would appreciate it.

So what are you doing with all the curse breaking stuff?

I will compile a list of things, and then do all of them before states.  It probably won’t work, but it should make for a pretty cool article.

Well, that would be a first.

Agreed, let’s get onto the article.  This article will deal with three…

How’s it hanging Pedro?

It’s going well.  It’s nice to be back, after you didn’t include me in your last couple articles.

Well, they were mostly tournament reports, and you would have just made fun of me.

I understand.  You don’t need me anyway, you play bad enough that you make fun of yourself. 

I know.  So what have you been doing.

I took a vacation to Florida.

Oh, do you like it down there?

Yes………………………………… and I…

I decided that I would go with Mew Prime/Vanilluxe/Unfezant.  It is a cool deck that is different and disruptive.  I did do an article on it, but I will explain it briefly.  You try to get Vanilluxe and Unfezant in the Lost Zone with Relicanth and Mew Prime.  Then, you use Mew to attack with “Double Freeze” for 40-80 damage and paralysis.  Then when you are ready for a knockout, you can use Unfezant’s “Fly” attack for 50 damage and no damage or effects on Mew for the next turn.  This is the list that I used for…

Click on the pic to the left if you want to see what he donated. I think he really wanted to see how the deck and I would do if things were taken to the next level. For the final Cities here, I think he wanted the challenge deck to be a real contender. Thanks to you donators, here’s the list I was able to run today.

…

Rafal himself was in a good position, because he had been able to trade and borrow into cards good enough to build a workable 6 Corners style deck.  He said that, other than a Cobalion and a second Kyurem, he’s got it pretty set already.

However, he has 2 friends that are finding it difficult to build a competitive deck.  He was able to send me one of the lists, so we’ll talk about that one here.  The other, by chance, is a Raichu Prime / Eelektrik deck, which I have personal experience with.  Maybe we’ll get to that deck at a later date.  For now, let’s talk about…

Hey Pedro what’s going on today?

Hey Pikkdogs, I have some news for you.  Next Destinies Pre-Releases will start on January 28th, and the set will be released on February 8th.  So you can practice early for states so you know exactly how you will lose at states. 

That’s always nice.  However, I do like to be surprised by the way I lose.

I can appreciate that.  We also have one last weekend for Cities this coming weekend.  So you might be able to lose one last time.  And finally, things are starting to come out of Japan about the new Dragon type Pokemon that we are getting.  We have received the first 3 Dragon type Pokemon.  We still don’t know all…

Check out these videos of the Saint Louis Park City Championship’s Top Cut.

Below the videos is the report of my day. Enjoy :)

Well where to start? I was suppose to judge at this citys but it turns out, thanks to Mark and Steven, that I got to play.

Let’s begin with my deck

I chose to play Magnezone/Eels, Because of it’s built in draw engine and it’s match ups across the board it seemed like the right choice.

One really big mistake, on my part, I FORGOT to put in a super rod. This was a huge mistake.

Round 1: V.S. ED with Raichu/Eels

I saw I was playing ED. So I started by going over in my head what he had played in the past which would be ZPST.  I know ED as a very good player so I was going to have to be on top of my game. When the game got going I noticed some odd cards in his deck that really didn’t seem to belong there. Now I know that he was only playing with cards that he received from other people…

The additions were:

• 1 Zekrom: Excellent damage output without the energy discard that all my other attackers have
• 1 Thundurus: Second turn 80 damage and puts 1 energy in the discard
• 1 Pokemon Communication: Gets my evolutions
• 1 Great Ball: Maybe the best addition (gets Junk Armed a lot)
• 1 Pokemon Circulator: I gets me out of certain situations, but is also annoying when you know Catcher is in format.
• 1 Professor Juniper: Great draw supporter for this deck

Notable omissions (stuff that didn’t quite make the cut):

• Switch: Never NEEDed it, but sometimes thought it would have been handy
• Good Rod (the only available Pokemon recovery): Too flippy to make the cut, but maybe could have helped
• Judge: Maybe better than Copycat, but wasn’t obvious
• Plus Power: This was ultimately cut after I deemed 16 energy too little
• 4th Tynamo: This was ultimately cut after I deemed 16 energy too little
• Stunfisk (Fighting): Type trumping tech seems nice, but still does only 100 damage if they’re weak
• Raichu (HS-10 / not Prime): Just wasn’t as

…

Now, I’m not all sad or anything. In other ways, I’m very pleased with how things have turned out. I’m playing a deck that I otherwise never would have used in tourneys, and I’m having fun with it.

I’m happy with the cards that have been donated. There’s another area in which things have exceeded expectations. When I expected to be running a deck full of the best picks from random junk, I’m running a deck with 3 Primes, several popular trainers/supporters, some great dragons, and one of the most impactful Pokemon of the moment.

My goal was to build a community around this project, and in that I feel like I’ve failed.…

Randomizers/Damge Counters

There is a really good chance that one of the first Pokemon things you ever bought was a theme deck.  Theme decks are nice because they teach you the rules of the game, give you some cards, and give you a rule book with some other stuff.  That “other stuff” contains things like a coin and damage counters.  The coin is a cheap plastic thing, and is very hard to flip.  I have tried to flip those, but I end up either not flipping it or hitting my opponent, more often than I do a successful flip. The damage counters are not much better, they get too messy…

This weeks bit of news comes from the field we are most qualified in, politics.  Well this past week in Iowa they held the Iowa Caucuses, to help determine the Republican candidate for the Presidential elections that will be held later this year.  And we have to talk about it just so I can say the word “Caucus”.

Who won the Caucus?

That was Mitt Romney.  You know Pikkdogs, I once won a Caucus?

Is ”won a caucus” code for amorus homosexual activity?

Maybe.

I have a feeling we should just go onto the article. 

One of the coolest decks to come out of the later Cities season was a new version of Mew Lock.

The basic build of Mewlock goes back to the Mew/Gengar deck that uses Mew Prime to attack with Vileplume on the bench.  A little later, Gengar was taken out of this deck and Muk and Yanmega were added.  Now both of these cards are…

Do you remember a while ago when Pikkdogs did a Six Corners deck analysis and then gave a couple Cities reports where he got knocked around and ended up with losing records.  Well this article is kind of like that deck, except the deck that this article is talking about is actually good.  And the article is written in a way you can understand it, without a ton of spelling errors.  Sounds like a much better article to me.

Now if you want to subscribe to propokemon’s premium membership, you can do so very easily and on the cheap.  It only costs $6 a month to subscribe to propokemon.  That is cheaper than one of the meals from Arby’s that Pikkdogs always talks about in his tournament reports. …

I have a bit of catching up to do here. I was out of town (and fairly busy) between Christmas and New Years. I’m back now, so I should update you on the happenings since the last installment.

We were in Rapid City, SD for vacation, because we have family there. We go there almost every year for Christmas. This time, there were 2 league times that occurred during our stay. I penciled in both, but I didn’t know if we’d have other family stuff going on.

If you have been reading here for quite a while, you may recall from my Alakazam/Chancey Report that Rapid City has some interesting formats that they attempt. The Pokemon scene there is quite different from other places I’ve played. It pretty much exists in its own little bubble. Adam, the league leader and one other guy named Ben seem to be the ones that really drive the scene.

Now, from what I’ve seen/heard, most leagues allow an unlimited card pool, but even then, most players play modified-legal cards. Yeah, if you want to play old cards, people won’t mind, but most will prefer to play against tourney decks.…