How to win a pre release

Tips on Winning your Dark Explorers Pre-Release

Pikkdogs April 24, 2012 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.