What we learned from 2010 Fall Battle Roads

by Pikkdogs ~ October 14th, 2010.

Greetings everyone.  This is Pikkdogs, here to give you a rundown of the results of the Fall Battle Roads.

This is of course the first tournament season of the new format.  There was a little amount of uncertainty coming into the season about how the loss of Claydol would effect decks.  There was also the big SP question.  Would it rule the format?  Or would trainer lock decks or Machamp decks run all over them? To answer these and other questions I will give you a list of things we learned from the Battle Road season.

Not that much has changed: SP still ruling

Based on statistics provided by Pokegym; Luxchomp decks have won 34 BR’s, and Dialgachomp decks have won 26 times.  These decks, which work similarly, have won many more times then any other deck.  The next closest deck is Gengar Viletomb with 15 wins.

Time and time again Luxchomp decks have proved to be the most consistent decks out there.  They mix in the best combination of speed and disruption to run the table.

The format has changed to make life a little tougher for SP players, so lets talk a little about that.

Trainer Lock: Not dominating, but good

Coming into the season, there was a great debate about trainer lock.  Some players thought that Trainer Lock decks would ruin SP decks, and others thought the opposite.  But with 15 tournament victories, 25 second place finishes, and 40 third and fourth place finishes Gengar Viletomb has proved that it is a solid deck in this format.

It is a fearsome deck that can easily knockout any SP deck.  Gengar Lv.X provides the perfect counter to Dialga G Lv.x, and provides more HP for Gengar so that it is harder to get around “fainting spell.”  And the constant trainer lock puts SP decks in a bad spot.

But the deck isn’t currently beating SP decks in most matchups.  There are a few reasons for this, one is that the best players usually play SP.  The players that went to worlds last year, are almost all playing SP decks right now.  It only makes sense that the best players are going to win, no matter what top tier deck they play.  Another reason was the high percentage of luxchomp players who were playing a Dialga Lv.x tech.

As the Sp decks turn

Early in the Battle Road season most SP decks were either Dialgachomp decks or featured a Dialga tech.  Towards the end of the season, Dialgachomp saw a lot less play, and most luxchomp decks decided to tech in Blaziken Fb instead.  This change made it a little easier for trainer lock decks, but made these decks more versatile.  The ability to use “Luring Flame” on any Pokemon has helped slow down and disrupt the opponent.                                                                                                             Blaziken FB

The best new cards

Some new cards were displayed in this Battle Road season. In this new season,  Judge cemented its place as a great card.  It provides hand disruption and hand refresh.

Another card that has seen a lot of play is “Staraptor FB Lv.x.”  Staraptor has seen some play in a lot of SP decks for its Poke-Power, “Fast-Call.”  This power lets you search your deck and get a supporter and put it into your hand.  This lets the SP player search out a supporter when they have a bad hand.

Mightyena La is not a new card, but has finally found a use.  It’s attack “Bite On” does 30 damage, and if the defending Pokemon is unevolved it cannot use Poke-Powers, attack, or retreat.  This card has seen some play in Gengar VileTomb decks.  This is because while decks are in trainer lock this cannot use Poketurns, so the only way a player can escape from “Bite On” is with a Warp Energy.  It also provides a good tech against other Gengar decks.

The new  old secret deck

Last year during States and Cities we were hearing reports about a secret deck being made in Florida.  That deck turned out to be what we know as Sablelock.  Then during nationals, Jason Chen reworked the list adding Blaziken Fb, and we called it Chenlock.  This year it looks as if the deck has changed again.  Josh Wittenkeller from Illinois, you know him as J-Wittz, has changed the deck again and has gone undefeated with it.  He has added a Garchomp C line to the deck, making it play more like an SP deck.  I don’t know much about the deck, but he has been doing very well with it in a very tough area.  And because Josh is very famous for not giving out any information about his decks, its very unlikely that we will hear anything from him about the decks.

Scizor SFCool Rogue Decks

This BR season has seen some cool Rogue decks.

I know of two Giratina decks at one Battle Roads that did very well.  They disrupted many decks and caught many people by surprise.

Here are a list of some cool rogue decks that have done well at a tournament.

  • Drapion/Vileplume
  • Scizor/Cherrim
  • Tangrowth/Yanmega
  • Rayquaza C/Electivire FB/Garchomp C
  • Kecleon
  • Blastoise/Feraligatr
  • Hippowdon
  • Abamasnow/ Masquerain
  • Arceus

Tyranitar has also seen a lot of play.  It is a popular deck, so its not really a Rogue deck, but it has seen more play then usual.

SP decks miss their G

Unown G is gone, and the format is missing it.  Without it Machamp and Gengar are doing pretty well.  Without that card, SP decks have no counter to Machamps “Takeout.”  That is why Machamp variants have won 15 tournaments.  Gengar SF is also doing well in Trainer Lock decks, and others.

Tomorrow’s just the future yesterday.

I don’t know what that title means, but the future has been on everyone’s mind this BR season.  Last year during the fall BR season, the best decks were Blazeray decks.  Those decks didn’t really exist just a couple months later,  so we all know that the format could change.

The format could change really soon with the release of HS: Triumphant.  This set introduced new cards that exploit the lost zone.  I heard some players speculating that these new cards are so powerful that perhaps Nintendo will have to eventually ban them.  While this talk is possibly heresay, it does confirm that players are excited about the new cards.  Many are already contemplating the new decks they can create.  The new stadium, Lost World, creates another way to win, while the new Gengar Prime could make Gengar even more popular.

Well thats what I think we have learned during this BR season.  The format has changed, but like they say “The more things change the more they stay the same.”  SP decks are still really good, and other decks are still trying to beat them.

This is Pikkdogs signing off saying, So long and thanks for all the fish!

Category: Deck Discussion | Tags: , , ,
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