The Revival of Empoleon

Monday, November 11th, 2013

empoleonHi guys! Today I would like to go look over Empoleon variants.

Before that, I would like to say thanks to Plus Four, Alex, and Jeff C. Because I do not know how to respond to things using this account,(Hit me with your best shot technology lovers.) I would like to respond to your comments here.

Jeff C:
Thanks for the thumbs up on the VGC comment! Also, I forgot to add catchers.Whoops. Four catchers are good catchers!

Alex:
I forgot rare candies too. Oh well. We all make mistakes.

Plus Four:
Thank you very much! I will try to make this and other articles as long as possible, Also, Ed decides who writes on what date. If Tyler, Ed, Owen, and Mike could write again, that would be amazing! Right now, as I write this on Thursday, I am the only active writer. It’s much harder than your think for a seniors player to do this.

Now we return to your regularly scheduled article.

Empoleon Thoughts

I believe Empoleon is a very good deck. It can abuse Max Potion, has amazing draw power, benefits from the new rules, and can make your opponent struggle bench wise. Here is my first deck list for Straight Empoleon.
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Opening the Emerald Toolbox

Friday, September 27th, 2013

VirizionWhat’s up everyone!

I hope everyone is as stoked for X & Y as I am. They’ve really been slow-rolling the final evolutions of the starters in particular, and I for one am anxious to see what they look like so I can finally figure out which one I want to use (at the moment I am leaning towards Fennekin, like many others, but I am still undecided).

Anyways, we’re back, this time with a new rogue strategy article for you to ingest! Much like my second article (http://www.onehitko.com/2013/09/06/unveiling-b-side-plasma/), I will be delving into my thought processes as I was developing the deck, as well as giving you a card-for-card list with detailed explanations, and an in-depth matchup guide to boot. We’re closing in on Regionals season, so preparedness is of the utmost importance, regardless of what deck you’re looking to play!

 

The Discovery

 

Much like the Plasma alternative I spoke of in my second article, my quest to create this deck began during my testing of the Virizion/Genesect archetype, not long after the Plasma Blast set was released. Players have a tendency to evaluate strategies found in the Japanese metagame and compare them to our …

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Pikkdogs Plays “Stock Up or Stock Down”

Sunday, August 12th, 2012

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a weird article for you today.  Well, all my articles are weird, I have a talking extra-dimensional sidekick for crying out loud, but this one is weird in a different way.  This article will be all about cards that are in the sets Black and White through the set Dark Explorers.  We all know how these cards did during the previous format, but how will the rotation effect the cards currently in the format and how they do in the future?  To know that we will play a little bit of “Stock Up and Stock Down.”  If I think a card will be played more than it has I will give it a “Stock Up” grade, and if I think it will lose playability it will get a “Stock Down” grade.  Sounds simple enough, so let’s get to it…………after we say hello to Pedro.

Hey Pedro, do you have a news article for us today?

Hello Pikkdogs,  I sure do.  Today’s news comes from Foxnews.com.  They are reporting that a private U.S. company is raising money to complete a project called the “Deepflight Super Falcon”.  If

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Zekrom/Eelektrik (ZekEels): Calvin’s MN State Championship 2012

Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

Trust me, the banana thing works.

Greetings OHKO!

I guess I’m going to start with a brief introduction. My name is Calvin Chang and I started playing Pokémon competitively halfway through the 2011-2012 season. I actually started playing Pokémon casually when I first investigated it for a high school composition class (yeah… long story). It was fun, the people were nice and I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Then I graduated from high school, moved onto the college campus at the University of Minnesota and took a hiatus from Pokémon since I had no car and no way to continue going to league. When January rolled around, some of the guys at Pokémon asked me if I wanted to compete at Midwest Regionals in the Dells. I figured it would be fun, grabbed a Magnerock deck from some friends and started playing competitively, all the way through Nationals. I wasn’t good but at least I went positive at all the events I played in and eventually finished 10th best player in Minnesota based off ELO points. Since then, I’ve been getting more and more into the competitive environment though still doing mediocre as always.

A week before Minnesota states, I went down to La Crosse with the other guys from league. I had no idea what I was going to play, as mid-terms just finished up and I didn’t have a chance to thoroughly test my options so Joey, Lukas, Michael, Curtis and I stayed up until about 1 in the morning so that I could figure out a deck to play. I didn’t.
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Pikkdogs Presents: The Top 10 Most Impactful Cards from Next Destinies

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with my quarterly review of the next set.  I usually review the set by taking a look at the top 10 cards that will have an impact on the current format, and this set is no different.

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.
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Teaser: “Next Destinies: How it Will Impact the Game”

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Hey guys.  I just got done reading Jak Armstead’s latest article over at ProPokemon.  I think it covers a lot of good points about how the new cards will impact the tournament scene.  He presents new possibilities as well as the impact on current popular decks, and each time he presents a decklist.  I just did a quick count, and it looks like there’s at least 10 decklists in there.

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 is for the opponent to drop their own Mewtwo, a Double Colourless Energy, and a PlusPower and then you will find yourself down on Prizes. Learning to master the ‘Mewtwo Wars’ is essential for anyone with aspirations to win in the upcoming format.

Click here to see the full article at ProPokemon.

Later, after that discussion, his 6133 word article gets into how the new cards effect current established archetype decks.  Here’s one example where he’s discussing the current reigning City’s Champion, Magnezone/Eelektrik.
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