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Pokemon TCG Decklists and Articles

2010

Card Discussion

Pikkdogs top 10 Cards of 2010

Pikkdogs 6 Comments

A big hello to all members of Omar-Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here, and I am counting down the top 10 cards that were released in 2010.  I will rank them based on their current playability, their past usage, and my predicitons on how the card will fair in the future.                 

But before we get to that we have a couple of announcements to talk about.  There is still time to register for the Team Omar 1st Anniversary contest, but you must get your answer into us before midnight on the 31st of December.  That means that if its 2011, you will be too late.  There have not been a lot of entries, so if you hurry up and enter, you have a decent chance at winning a prize.  Also, all of us at the website would like to wish you guys a Happy Newyear.  Hopefully you guys will have fun on New Years Eve, but remember to be safe.                                         

Okay onto the rankings, there have been 4 sets released in 2010.  All of these sets belong to the HS block, the individual sets are: HGSS, HS: Unleashed, HS: Undaunted, and HS: Triumphant. The first two sets of 2010 were playable in the 09-10 format, while the last two were not.  This year is the first year without Lv.X cards, we have gotten Prime and Legend cards instead.  Some of the Prime cards have been playable, while the Legend cards have seen a minimal impact on the format. So with those thoughts out of the way, lets rank the cards of 2010. 

10.  Gengar Prime

The list starts off with Gengar Prime.  This Gengar was released in the Triumphant set and has not had a significant impact on the format yet.  It has seen some play in Trainerlock decks with Gengar SF.  It is mostly used to send Pokemon in your opponents hand to the Lost Zone.  This is mostly effective against Gyarados decks.  If you can send a Magikarp to the lost zone, you will have a huge advanatge in the game.  But as I said this card has not made a huge impact on the format.  It has made it on my list because of its potential.  If the U.S. ever gets the card Lost World, Gengar Prime will become a lot more important.  This is because Lost World is a stadium card that lets you win the game if your opponent has 5 or more Pokemon in the lost zone, and Gengar Prime can easily put Pokemon in the lost zone.  So the future looks bright for Gengar Prime.
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Deck Discussion

Fun with Magnets: A Magnezone Deck.

Pikkdogs 1 Comment

A big hello to all members of Omar-Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here with a deck analysis of a Magnezone deck that I made up.

Before I get into the article, I have a couple of announcements to make.  First, Ed and I at teamomar.com would like to wish you and yours a great Christmas, even though it is a couple days late.  I hope you guys could meet with family and friends and have a good time.  Second, our first ever contest is currently running.  So far the entries have been scant, so if you enter the contest before the deadline, you should have a decent chance at getting a prize.  Okay announcements are over, time to get to the article.

I must issue a disclaimer first, this deck isn’t very good and won’t win a tournament but can be comeptitive against almost any deck.  If you don’t care if you win a tournament or not and just want to win a couple games, this deck could be for you.

I got this idea the day before the first City Championship that I went to this year.  I had been struggling all week to perfect my Gyarados deck, and wasn’t having any success.  So I decided I should either fix the deck quick, or think of something else to play.  After doing some thinking, I took a jog.  On that jog I thought of ways to play a shuppet donk deck, and how to put together a Magnezone deck.  When I came back from the run I was sure that I came back with a consistent Magnezone list, all I had to do was put it together.
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Contest

TeamOmar.com 1 Year Anniversary Contest

Pikkdogs No Comments

Well, its been an entire year.  December 20th 2010 marked the one year anniversary of www.teamomar.com.  The site has came a long way in a year.  It has grown from a site that organizes information for a small amount of people, to being a global website that is known for its Pokemon knowledge.  Ed and I are really excited to see the website grow into what it is today.  So a big happy birthday celebration goes out to all of our readers and all of our freinds who have came and written articles.  I don’t wanna leave anyone out, but I’ll try to give a good shoutout to those who have given us articles: Thanks to Bittyboy, Andrew, Andy, Ava, Pokemon Dan, Omar, and Jona. 

To celebrate our 1st birthday we are giving back to you guys, the readers that have chosen us one of your favorite sites.   We are instituting a contest, winners of this contest will win one of four prizes.  The contest is a bit of a treasure hunt, but we will get back to that later.

We originally had the contest idea last summer, we were just days away from starting the contest, but because of circumstances beyond our control we were forced to scrap it.  Well, now about 6 months later we are bring it back for another go.

The contest goes like this.  Below, we have 14 questions for you that deal with information from the TCG, the video game, and this website.  There are also two questions that deal with some of your personal information, this is just done to prevent cheating.  This contest does require that you include your POP ID and Age.  We are using this information only to make sure that each person has an unique/individualized answer, and we will not do anything else with it.  So as for the contest, find the answer to each question and do what the step has asked you to do with it.  For example, if the question asks you to add the HP of Uxie La to the number of Magikarp that Ed ran in his 2010 Cities deck, the answer would be 74.  Then you would carry that number onto the next step and keep on going till the end.  Here are the Questions:

1.  Start with your pop ID
2.  add the number of damage counters Gengar SF’s “Shadown Room” attack would do to Bastiodon Pt
3.  Subtract the number of wins that Cheffords had in the 2010 Pokemon U.S. Nationals
4.  multiply this by the number of Pokemon Violet City Gym Leader Falkner had has in Pokemon Heart Gold
5.  subtract the amount of damage Kabutop’s MD’s “Chop Up” attack does to Benched Pokemon if he has an expert belt attached.
6.  add the number of Slowking Primes that Pikkdogs used in his Slowpluff deck.
7.  add your age
8.  subtract the level of Celadon City Gym Leader Erika’s Vileplume in Pokemon Blue
9.  add the number of HP that Exploud SV has
10.  add the number of Volbeat and Illumise that Pokemon Dan ran in his Triumphant Pre-Release deck.
11.  subtract the number of coins that a porygon costs in the Celadon City Game Corner in Pokemon Crystal
12.  add the number of coins that you flip for Jirachi Ul’s “Star Dust Song” Poke-Power.
13.  add the number of separate pictures that Ava drew in her “artwork” article
14.  subtract the level in which  Machoke learns the attack “Seismic Toss” in the Pokemon Blue, Red, and Yellow versions.

birthday cakeThis contest is open from now until December 31st, 2010.  If it’s 2011, you’re too late. All you have to do is complete the contest, and send your age, POP ID #, and the answer to the contest question to anniversary@teamomar.com with “TeamOmar.com Anniversary Contest” as the subject.  If you do not have a POP ID # (or are very paranoid and don’t want us to know yours) then send us an email with “ID Number Request-Team Omar.com Anniversary Contest ” as the subject and we will send you a number that you can use in its place.  Though we will try to respond promptly, we can’t guarantee that we will get back to you immediately over these holidays (especially if you ask at the last minute).

If you are chosen as a winner, we will contact you via email about how we can send you your prize. Entries must be received by midnight on December 31st. Unfortunately we are not able to accept any entries from outside of the contiguous 48 states, because of concerns with shipping. So we apologize to all of our foreign fans, we do love you guys, but it just isn’t possible.  And, of course we can only accept one correct entry from one person.

We will randomly select 4 correct entries and those will receive a prize.  We have four prizes available:

  1. One Pokemon TCG Tin
  2. 2 Packs of HGSS Triumphant
  3. One pack of 2010 Play Pokemon Holo Energies
  4. Both the Top and Bottom half of Ho-Oh Legend HGSS.

Winners will be able to pick their choice from the available prizes. We will contact the first winner, and they will select a prize. Then we will contact the 2nd place, and they will select from the remaining prizes and so on.

We will reserve the right to change the prizes or make substitutions at any time (but we don’t see this as likely). We also reserve the right to disqualify any participant (or even cancel the contest) if we feel that it’s necessary. I only say this so we’re covered just in case someone posts all the answers or something like that.

So that’s it for the rules, now all you have to do is figure out the answer and submit it (your POP ID and age) to anniversary@teamomar.com before midnight on the 31st of December.

Good luck.

Card Discussion

Return of the Base Set?

Pikkdogs 9 Comments

Hey all members of Omar-Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here.  Over the weekend our freinds at pokebeach.com posted scans of the cards from the new Black and White Collection set in Japan.  There was a theme in this release and the cards will be very impactful on next years format, so I thought I would post some of my reviews of the cards here.                                                                          

But of course since these are Japanese cards, I have to issue a disclaimer.  I do not read Japanese and am not sure that the person who translated these cards can read it properly either.  So there are possibily translation errors, and it is likely that wording on cards will change as they reach America, so don’t take this wording as the final wording.  Also, it is a personal rule of mine to not believe that a single Pokemon card that was released in Japan will be released in the U.S. until I actually pull it from the pack.  Japan does get a lot of different cards that we don’t, so there is a chance that we will not get some of these cards.

So with that out of the way we will look at some of the imactful cards that are coming out of the Japanese Black and White Set, these are listed in no particular order.

1. Enbuoh– This Pokemon is a Stage 2 Fire Pokemon.  He has 150 HP and a 4 retreat cost.  His Poke-Power, Fervant Dance, allows you to attach a Fire Energy from your hand to any Pokemon, you can do this as many times as you like during your turn.  His attack, Heat Stamp, does 80 damage for RRCC.  Well this Pokemon is a bit of a tank, 150 HP is great and the ability to do 80 isn’t bad, but its his Poke-Power that really brings him playability.  With Fervant Dance you can attach as many fire energies as you want, this makes a lot of cards playable.  Enbuoh seems to be the new version of the old Rain-Dance Blastoise.

2.  Ranculus– This Pokemon is also a stage 2 Pokemon.  He was 90HP and a 2 retreat cost.  His Poke-Power, Damage Swap, lets you move one damage counter from one Pokemon to another, you can do this as many times as you like during your turn.  His attack is not as impressive, it does 30 damage for PPP and an extra 10 for each energy your opponent has attached to the active.  Well, the attack is terrible, but the power is game changing.  The ability to move damage counters is great, and can be used in a lot of decks.  Ranculus seems to be like the Base Set Alakazam.

3.  Gothruzelle– This Pokemon is a stage 2 Pokemon with 130 HP and a 2 retreat cost.  It has a Poke-Body, Magic Room, that does not allow your opponent to play any trainer cards,  Its attack does 30 damage plus 20 for every psychic energy you have attached to Gothruzelle.    Its attack may not be stellar, but the ability to put a trainer lock on your opponent wihtout putting it on yourself is amazing.  This card is like Vileplume EX.

4.  Max Restore.  Max Restore is a trainer card that allows you to heal all damage counters off of a Pokemon and then discard all energy attached to that Pokemon.  I think this could be an impactful card.  The ability to heal damage counters is very nice, and there are some decks that can work around the discard the energy part.  It is similar to Blissey Prime’s Poke-Power. 

There are also some trainer reprints

  1. Crash Hammer is a reprinted Energy Removal 2.  It lets you discard your opponents energy with a coin flip.
  2. Pokemon Communicator is basically Pokemon Communication.
  3. Professor Araragi is a reprinted Professoar Oak from the Base Set.
  4. Revive is a reprinted Pokemon Rescue, but it only works on Basic Pokemon
  5. Pokemon Catcher is a reprinted Gust of Wind.

As you can see it seems like Pokemon is taking a big turn in the future.  The new cards that are being printed are more like the older cards we had.  It seems like the innovation is over, no more Pokemon SP or Level X, its back to the evolution lines and trainers.  The reprint of Gust of Wind is going to be very impactful, it is a very good effect.  Most of the other cards that I did not list in this article, are also kind of similar to the base-set days.  The HPs are similar to modern Pokemon, but the damage output they deliver is just not on par with cards from the Diamond and Pearl and HGSS sets.  The damage output is bigger then that in Base Set days, but not many of them reach past 70 or 80. 

So what do you guys think?  Do you like the return to some old principals?  Or did you like how things were going before? 

Personally I think Pokemon needed to change something.  The SP Pokemon are just way to powerful now, and Pokemon needs to do something to shake up the format. 

This is Pikkdogs signing off and saying So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!

Card Discussion

How to use Seeker

Pikkdogs 3 Comments

A big Hello to all members of Omar Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here with a strategy article.  As you can see, this article will be about the card Seeker.

Well to start out, Seeker has a simple effect.  Both players pick up a Pokemon from their bench, the person who plays it chooses first.

It may be a simple effect, but the many ways that it can be used make it a card that is complicated to use.  It also is a pivotal card, that can easily change the fate of the game.  That being said, it is important that every player know how to play the card.  First we must look at how this card is played.

  1. The first way that this card is used is to heal a benched Pokemon.  This is fairly simple, just setup two main attackers, when one is damaged beyond repair, you retreat or warp it out and then use Seeker and throw those damage counters away.  This use makes it useable for almost any deck.   If you use this strategy, be sure to have Broken Time Space in play, so you can lay down the Pokemon back down again.
  2. Another way to use this card is to use it to re-use a coming into play Poke-Power.  For example, if you only have Seeker in your hand, you can play Seeker and pick up your Uxie La, and then use “Set-Up” again for 7 cards.  This card is also useful for cards like Crobat G, Mespirt La, and Azelf La.

    3. Read More

City Championships Uncategorized

Like Jerry Seinfeld, Pikkdogs is Even Steven, Rochester Hills Cities Report

Pikkdogs 18 Comments

My fellow Seinfeld fans will appreciate the reference to the episode where Jerry continually loses things and then gains things back again.  This is how I felt today at the Rochester Hills City Championships. No matter how hard I fight to break away from the crutches of mediocrity, it pulled me back in, but then I was reminded that it wasn’t that bad.                            Austino's Gyarados

The story of the 2010 Rochester Hills Michigan City Championship begins on Friday afternoon.  I got back from my jog and fired up the computer.  I got a message from Derek, our tournament organizer, saying that he expects a record draw to the next cities and reccomends that we all show up early.  I decided to pass that info on to my buddy Jona, and hope to make it there when registration starts, at 11.  I end up making it by 11:10, the parking lot was full, but I was able to register.  At about 11:20, they begin turning people away, because the fire code only lets 70 people in the building.  This left several players, including last years state champion, away from the tournament.  When I saw this I thought I might have a better shot today, with a cut of top 8 and one less great player.

Lets backtrack here to when I first chose my deck.  Last weekend I went to a cities and wanted to play Gyarados, but mine wasn’t working properly, so I threw together a Magnezone deck.  It was pretty cool, probably the best Magnezone deck I ever seen.  It was a little slow, but once it got going it was unbeatable.  I went to the cities with that deck, and played a Luxchomp, Sablelock, and SP Toolbox.  The Luxchomp made quick work of me, I got donked by sablelock (but then beat him easily in the rematch), and then lost to the SP toolbox, which I had beat the previous night in testing.  After receiving a bye, I went home pretty angry.  The next week I took Ed’s advice and used Austino’s Gyarados List.  This is a basic Gyarados build, so I won’t explain the list.  I like the list because, its all consistency, it only has 1 tech, and this is Dialga G Lv.X, for the trainer lock matchup.  I made 1 small change to his list(another Pokemon Communication instead of a VS seeker) and went with that list. If you wanna see the list you can find it at:

http://www.sixprizes.com/deck-analysis/the-elite-4-decks-part-24-gyarados/ .

Its in the comment section.

Before getting to the tournament, I cranked up the jams from the CD “Family Guy: Live in Las Vegas”, and made the one hour drive north to Rochester Hills.  Once I got there I turned in my list, saw my freind Jona, lent him a card, and then played him in a practice game.  When parings were up I went to the table to meet my first opponent.

Round 1 v.s Cradily.

I think I start Sableye and he starts with two Root Fossils.  I was kinda shaken up cause I didn’t know what deck he was playing.  I remembered seeing the Cradily card, but for the life of me couldn’t remember what it did.  I start a little slower then I want to having to “Time Walk” for a Magikarp, he starts a little slow as well.  When he finally gets  a Cradily I look at it, and see that it has two attacks, “Drain Down” does 30 (for G) damage to a Pokemon on the bench that you can make active and you can heal all damage counters if you knock out that Pokemon, and “Acid” which does 50 (for GCC) and prevents retreating.                                                 

I actually start fairly well after a little slow beginning. I end up taking 5 prizes with a couple good “Flash Bite” drops.  For most of the game he didn’t do much, he once got my Regice active, but I was able to warp him out.  Then all of a sudden he goes crazy out of no where.  He drops 3 SF Cherrims and Shaymin Ground Form Level X, which gives him +30 for all attacks and +40 HP.  He then proceeds to drop Plus Powers and attach an expert belt to knock out Uxies and Crobat G’s with “Drain Down” and heal all damage.  He does this until he takes 4 prizes.  After this, I become very annoyed and decide that I will take no more of this.  I scoop up all Uxies, the Regice, and the Azelf, then I Poke-Turn all Crobat G’s, which leaves the bench empty.  With nothing on the bench, he can’t really do anything and loses when I am able to “Tail Revenge” for the win.

1-0, I commend him on the great comeback, and then get ready for round 2.

Round 2- v.s. Collan Baker and SP Toolbox.

Collan is a friend from Team Warp Point.  I beat him at BR’s at this same venue, and he was looking for some revenge.  I think I start with Uxie and Regice, I pass first turn, the second turn he starts to set up, on my 2nd turn I use collector for Karp, Sableye, and Azelf.  I try to “Regimove” but I get sprayed.  So I scoop up Regice and “Regimove” again, this time I get it.  Then I use Azelf (cause I notice that I prized 2 Magikarps), but when I say “Time Walk” he says “Power Spray.”  So I thought, “no matter I’ll just scoop up Azelf next turn.  5 Super Scoop Ups later I am unable to get a heads and with only 1 karp in the discard pile, my Gyarados is no threat to him.  He just knocks it out and continues to watch as I am unable to get a heads on Super Scoop Up.  I then scoop as time is called.

1-1.  Not much can be done when you prize 2 Magikarps and are unable to get to them.  When I look at the pairings for next round I notice that I get paired up, yay!

Round 3- v.s. Trainerlock

I enter this game still fuming about the 5 tails I got last turn.  But, there’s no time to think about that, I am playing one of my worst matchups.  I don’t start Sableye, but I get him my 2nd turn and collector for 2 Magikarps and my Dialga G.  He starts with 2 Oddish’s, it takes him a while but he does get a SF Gengar out.  I have to waste my Bebe’s Searchs so I cannot get Dialga G X out in time.  I also prize Azelf and Regice, and since I am under trainerlock I have to use Volkners to discard Magikarps.  Towards the middle of the game I get 9 damage counters on Gengar SF, 2 Crobat G’s in my hand, and the Dialga G X.  But just as I am about to bust the game wide open, he uses a Lookers Investigation on me and puts my awesome hand into the deck.  Without the Crobats, I am unable to avoid Fainting Spell, and Gengar takes me with him as I knock him out.  After this I cannot rebound, so I lose another one.                                                                                            

1-2.  Not much can be done about a bad matchup and another bad coin flip.  But a little luck is just around the corner.

Round 4- Trainerlock.

I play another Trainerlock deck, but this one is teched out more with Slowking HGSS and Bellossom Ud.  Those techs are nice, but it seemed to hurt his consistency.  This time I set up faster then his trainerlock does and am able to get setup fast.  The turning point was when I knocked out a Gengar SF and avoid the “Fainting Spell”.  This gives me a huge advantage, and I am able to beat the Bellossom, Vileplume, and Cursegar.

2-2- This time the coin flips go my way.  After this game I look at the parings and I again get paired up, this time against Evan Baker, Yay!

Round 5- Evan’s Luxchomp

For those that don’t know Evan is no doubt the hottest player in the state.  He is consistently beating everyone, even last years state’s winner.  So needless to say I am intimidated and expect to get steamrolled.  He gets a promocroak starts and I get a sableye.  I get going fast, but am unable to find a gyrados for a couple turns.  This proves to be the difference as he is able to get the first kill.  From then on the race is on and we just exchange kill after kill. I am able to get enough Poke Turns to get knock outs without the expert belt, and run over 3 Luxray Gl’s, 1 Garchomp C, and an Uxie.  But alas, after time is called and turn 3 is over, its his turn and he has Garchomp C X active.  He attachs a DCE and shows me a Cyrus’s Conspiracy with a gain in his deck.

2-3.  What an awesome game!  I take one of the hottest players in the country to sudden death and darn near almost beat him!  Evan won all of the Cities last weekend, and took his streak into today’s tournament.  It was all I could do to keep up with him.

Round 6- Magnezone

I am familiar with this matchup since I have a similar deck.  My Magnezone deck has a very favorable matchup to Gyarados.  But, I think my deck is more consistent then this one.  He runs Heatran and Raichu, which slows him down.  He also runs the Level X and does not run the Prime, which I think hurts the deck.                                                                  

He starts with a Spirtomb and a Magnemite.  I start Crobat G and Dialga G.  I again have troubles getting a Gyarados, it takes me like 8 turns because I prized both of my Bebes.   It was weird, I ended up belting a Sableye and getting a couple prizes with “Over Confident.”   But I eventually do get one and a Dialga G X, which makes Spiritomb useless.  Unfortunately, he is able to setup 3 Magnezones and is ready to go crazy on me.  Thankfully, he does not run Lucario Gl and after the loss of 1 Gyarados I am able to “Flash Bite” the field, and OHKO everything with Gyarados after I Super Scoop him up each turn.

3-3.  Just like Jerry Seinfeld, I am an Even Steven.  I think I played well today, even though the record is only mediocre.  Especially with the fact that I always started first, even though I only started Sableye twice.  I didn’t make any misplays my only losses were because of: 5 tails on Super Scoop Up, a bad “Fainting Spell” roll and Lookers Investigation, and playing one of the best players around.  So thats nothing terrible.  I went home pretty happy.

As for comments on the entire field, there was a lot of SPs.  The best players in Michigan play SP’s and a couple play Gyarados and Trainerlock, thats about it.  The Top 4 at this tournament according to Pokegym.net’s City Championship forum was:

1. Marvin A. (LuxChomp)
2. Evan B. (LuxChomp) TEAM WARP POINT
3. Kyle L. (LuxChomp/Mewtwo)
4. Mike M. (Gyarados)

Big Ups to Austino for sharing his list, thanks man!

City Championships

A Tale of Two Cities (winning LuxChomp Report)

Andy Wieman 3 Comments

Luxray GL Reverse HoloIt was the best of times! and then the next day it was the best of times again.  Ugh, what a start.  Sorry about that

Ed asked me to write a tournament report about my weekend at the Source and Dreamers.  I usually tweet updates as the tournaments go on (www.twitter.com/wiem0014) so those notes helped a lot in writing this report.  Sorry if I don’t remember names or all of the details.

The previous weekend Emmanuel, Lukas, Nick and I traveled to Madison and LaCrosse for the first weekend of Cities.  I performed extremely sub-par that weekend, mostly due to bad luck, but also due to a costly misplay on Saturday.  I ended up 2-3 Saturday (after starting 0-3) with Luxchomp  This was the deck I was most comfortable with, winning States with it last year, and testing it heavily for Regionals and Nats.  It was the right deck in a field of Gyarados, but I started against two Machamp decks and couldn’t recover.  I finished 3-2 on Sunday while playing a Machamp deck focused on the Prime more than most.  Jay Hornung (from IA) ended up winning both days with Luxchomp and going 13-1 on the weekend.

The week in between, I was able to test a bit with Ed and Abdi and had basically decided that Luxchomp would be my deck.  Machamp couldn’t beat Gyarados, and I was very confident in my basic Luxchomp list.  I had a few spots to tweak depending on what I though the metagame would look like, so Friday night I spoke with Mike Lesky and we determined that teching for Gyarados and the mirror would be the correct play.  This turned out to be very good advice.

Saturday – Source, St. Paul, MN – 25 Masters 5 Rounds Top 4

I always like playing at the Source because Radu is banned from there (haha) which makes the field a bit easier.  However, that Saturday at the Source was terrible due to some bad planning on the store’s part.  They crammed almost 50 players into a space fit for 30, while allowing weekly miniature players free use of many other tables. I showed up list in hand, and visited with the South Dakota boys that traveled in.  I saw a lot of Gyarados and not much Machamp and was very happy with my list.

Garchomp C Regionals RHRound 1) Rahim w/Dialgachomp
I know that Rahim has played this deck before.  I saw him play it during Battle Roads and doing fairly well.  He is a bit rushed, still filling out his decklist as the round is about to start.  We set up, and I “win” the die roll.  I start Garchomp with a Call Energy in hand.  I top a Luxray, bench it and then Call for two more Garchomps.  He starts relatively poorly but sacrifices a lot of resources to get a turn two Deafen.  He starts to build up a Dialga but doesn’t realize that Luxray is resistant to Metal which allows me to 2-Hit KO the Dialga.  This leaves him with not much on his field but an Ambipom and a Garchomp which I quickly snipe.  I end up taking 6 prizes fairly quickly.
1-0

Round 2) One of the Yule’s w/Magnezone/Vileplume
Once again I “win” the die roll and have a great setup, except for the fact that I open with Dragonite and he opens with Spiritomb.  I attach and pass.  He basically does nothing but drop an Elektrike and use Darkness Grace to get a Magnemite.  He missed his first two energy drops with killed his setup, as well as prizing Magnezone X.  I use these turns to get plenty of energy on the field and end up having one turn of trainers, after manually retreating Dragonite, and KO his Tomb.  He goes the agro Manetric route and uses the second attack to get some energy on a Magnezone.  At this point he has a Plume setup, so I have to expend a lot of energy to KO the Manetric, then the Plume.  Then I 2-Hit his Magnezone and it feels pretty secure up 4-2.  However, on his last turn he drops ERL, but would end up killing two of his own as well, and scoops.
2-0

Round 3) Abdi w/Gyarados
I know that Abdi plays Blissey, so I will have to pick up cheap prizes and OHKO his Gyarados’s to win.  He starts off with Sableye and Collectors for two Karps and a Regice.  I don’t have much to do although I do have a Cyrus, and I end up calling for two more SP.  This allows me to Spray his turn 2 and 3 Regimove, and then Looker’s his hand away with his three Karps.  I then snipe his Chancey, bait an Expert Belt to kill a Garchomp, and OHKO the Belted Gyarados for my 5th and 6th Prize.
3-0

Round 4) Danyelle Simon w/Gyarados
Danyelle is playing my Gyarados deck, so I feel like I have an advantage knowing every card in her deck.  The truth is though, it didn’t matter.  I spray some early stuff, including Uxie two turns in a row, and she never even gets a Gyarados setup before I bench her.
4-0

Round 5) Michael Slutsky w/Gyarados/Donphan
His use of Donphan tilts this matchup a bit, but he does sacrifice consistency which shows here.  We both start awful, but I rip a Cyrus to get started and setup way faster than he does.  He prized Azelf and Regice (although I had Sprays aplenty), and he cannot discard any Karps.  At one point he Tail Revenges’ me for zero.  I make a terrible play and Looker’s away his terrible hand to get rid of his 3 Karp.  He draws a great hand and goes off, but he is too far behind at this point to catch up.
5-0

I’m feeling pretty good going into top cut, until I get hit with two pieces of bad news.  First, I find out we are playing best of one in the top cut, which I think is absolutely and completely wrong.  Secondly, I find out I am playing against Machamp while the two Gyarados Decks slug it out.

Top 4) Emmanuel Divens w/Machamp
Once again, we both draw awful, but I am able to Call for two SP which allows me to Spray an early Uxie.  He ends up getting a SF Machamp setup quickly, which I am able to OHKO with Uxie Lvl X and Lucario.  He sets up another and KO’s my Uxie.  I proceed to 2-hit KO that Machamp with Garchomp and Luxray.  At this point he runs out of steam a bit before setting up a Machamp Prime.  I am able to knock that Machamp out without it taking a prize and coast from there.
6-0

The other game is done by this time and I find out that I am playing another playtesting partner for the second round in a row.

Top 2) Ed w/Gyarados
In this game I follow the same formula for Gyarados that I have found to be effective.  I spray a few early Regimove’s, which slows him down because he cannot play Junk Arm.  I begin sniping around his Sableye.  I find out later that he does not have energy to retreat Sableye, which I finally knock out for my fourth prize.  At this point I use Luxray X to KO the Sableye, which baits the Belt on the Gyarados, which allows me to take the last two prizes with a Trash Bolt.
7-0

So I end up winning my second CC (first was in Chicago last year) and go undefeated in the process.  I was overall very happy with my deck choice and knew that I would play the same deck the next day, since I expected a lot of SP.  I wake up in the morning and pick Michael up for the ride to Dreamers.  On the way I find out Radu will be playing Vilegar w/Mewtwo.  I debate teching further for that matchup, but decide to just change one trainer to a supporter to allow setup under lock a bit easier.  e

Sunday – Dreamer’s, St. Louis Park – 26 Players 5 Rounds Top 4

I walk in and socialize a bit, but for the most part I was just anxious to get started.

Round 1) Aubrey w/Kingdra
This is obviously a good matchup for me due to weakness, but it gets better when she mulligans twice, and starts with a lone Horsea.  She “wins” the die roll, attaches, Smokescreen’s and it’s my turn.  I start Luxray with Garchomp on the bench.  I Flashbite the Horsea, Poketurn the Luxray, lay it back down (to get rid of Smokescreen) attach a DCE and bite for the donk.
1-0

Round 2) Abdi w/Gyarados
I am expecting Abdi to badly want revenge for my beating him the day before.  He misplays turn one by using Time Walk to free a pokemon, but putting back a Sableye which stunts his setup.  He also cannot find a BTS, and I pick up two easy prizes Bright Looking two Karps and Biting them for the KO.  I then let through a few Regimoves which warp my Luxrays to the bench, and I am able to easily OHKO his Gyarados’s for the victory.
2-0

Round 3) Alex Hauser w/Mewperior
I know that I have almost no way to win this game if it goes longer than a turn or two.  He “wins” the die roll and puts a Ryperior X in the Lost Zone with no other Pokemon.  I start Smeargle, Portrait his hand and see a Collector.  This allows me to grab Uxie, Crobat and Unown Q.  I then Cyrus for an energy and Poketurn, Flash Bite his Mew twice, retreat Smeargle and KO the Mew with Uxie.
3-0

Two Donks in one day and I am feeling pretty good about my chances with plenty of SP at the top tables.  I am heavily teched for the mirror and want nothing but SP for the rest of the day please.

Round 4) Mike Lesky w/Luxchomp
Right idea, wrong player.  Mike has a lot of mirror experience, and I know this should be tough.  I spray an Azelf turn two, then I rip a Cyrus, and end up Cyrus’ing four times before he does once.  Midgame, I have won the Garchomp/Dragonite war and have four energy on the field, while he has one.  He put up a good fight, but is too far behind to recover.
4-0

Round 5) Emmanuel Divens w/Machamp
Emmanuel must be feeling great with nothing but SP at the top tables.  I also know that he tweaked his deck for the SP matchup, playing 3-1 Take Out/Prime split.  Turn one I drop a Pokemon and Call for two more SP to allow a Power Spray.  He ends up Portraiting twice, Setup once, and gets two Machamp in play turn one.  Needless to say he runs through me.
4-1

I am feeling pretty darn good about my tiebreakers, but my worry is the Machamp and possibly Mewtwo in the Top Cut.  Luckily, Radu ends up missing, taking 5th with Vilegar.  This means Emmanuel vs. Michael, and Me vs. Mike Lesky.  I also find out that we are playing best of one again in Top Cut (total BS IMO).

Dragonite FB RHTop 4) Mike Lesky w/Luxchomp
This is a very close game all the way through.  The following exchange takes place early on in the game:

Mike: Snipe KO Andy’s Garchomp (0-1)
Andy: Return KO with Dragonite (1-1)
Mike: Return KO with Dragonite (1-2)
Andy: Return KO with Garchomp (2-2)
Mike: KO Crobat with Luxray (2-3)
Andy: Return KO With Promocroak (3-3)
Mike: Return KO with Uxie X (3-4)
Andy: Return KO with Uxie X (4-4)

I am then able to keep my Uxie on the field long enough to find an Aarons, bring my Dragonite and Garchomps back and find the last two prizes.  Great Games Mike.
5-1

Top 2) Emmanuel Divens w/Machamp
Emmanuel opens horrible again w/Lucario and goes second.  He proclaims that he needs to draw a basic or he loses.  He rips a Machop, but uses it to Communicate for a Uxie.  I spray the Uxie.  He Seekers, and uses Uxie again.  I can’t stop this one and he draws a bunch.  I can tell from his expression that he drew horrible.  The game goes very poorly for him, with me killing three Machops over the course of the game.  I end up taking four prizes, then killing my first Machamp, before sniping for the last prize and the Medal.
6-1

So, I end up going back to back, and end up 13-1 on the weekend.  I know that I only beat Emmanuel both days due to sub par draws on his part, but I still feel pretty good about my weekend.  I comment to a friend that “When the deck that I am most comfortable playing also happens to be the BDIF, it might allow good results.”  Next weekend will bring another tourney, and I will most likely show up with another version of the same deck, due to not having testing time for my Vilegar deck.  See you guys there.

Props
Ed: For prompting me to write the LONG report
Abdi: For testing the week prior
Mike: Having a late night idea bouncing partner is VERY helpful
Radu: For being banned form the Source
All RH Decks: For being amazing
Emmanuel: For Drawing poorly when it counted

Slops
Emmanuel: For playing Machamp both days
Best-of-One Top Cuts: Despite the fact that this worked out well for me, I am totally against it and voiced my opinion to our PTO.  As far as I know, we are the only state to do this.
LONG Tourney Reports: For being too long

City Championships

Second Best or First Loser? Gyarados vs. Luxray

Ed 24 Comments

Austino's GyaradosThis past Saturday (12-04-10), I went up to The Source to play in their city championships. 25 masters showed up, giving us 5 rounds of Swiss with a cut to top 4. I brought Gyarados with me, but I left my sick daughter, Ava, at home. Hopefully she can join me this weekend.

Fire ArceusRound 1) Justin K. with Lefeon/Flareon/Arceus
I don’t know why, but I’ve played Justin in just about every tourney we’ve both participated in. Heck, I even got matched against him at regionals. Well, at least he’s used to playing against me. He started with a fire Arceus on his bench. I think I Regimoved it active, and he ended up belting it. I used the 2X water weakness to my advantage and went up 2-0 in prizes. After that, he couldn’t recover.
1-0

Machamp PrimeRound 2) Emmanuel D. with Machamp SF/Prime and Kingdra Prime
I’ve played against this deck before. You might think it’s heavily weighted in my favor, but it’s not that bad for him. What is bad is prizing like all his primes and 2 Bebe’s. I am pretty sure he used Seeker to use Azelf’s Time Walk 3 times. In theory, he should be able to set up Machamp Prime and Kingdra Prime to get OHKOs on Gyarados (which is impressive, because Gyarados is resistant). In practice, it didn’t work out for him. He was on the ropes the entire game. I think this was his only loss in Swiss.
2-0
Read More

PokeClass

PokeClass Episode 14 – Machamp, Back At The Top!

Ed 2 Comments


I don’t know what happened to Dan this week. He usually posts his vids here, but maybe he fell asleep at the wheel. Anyway, I noticed that he had a new one up, so I’ll post it for him.

This week is another deck analysis on one of the top decks appearing at City Championships at the moment, Machamp. This deck used to fail to keep up to speed with everything that wasn’t SP or Regigigas, but with Machamp Prime for Triumphant, this deck is slowly crawling its way back to the top spot!

Watch for analysis and skeleton list! Read More

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