This week, I am giving you a detailed report on how we did at our Battle Roads tournament we went to, starting our road to Worlds 2011! :)
So where did I come in? Watch to find out..
PokemanDan Read More
For this article, I’m going to focus on the play of the “vanilla” version of TOSSED. It was built to be a Shuppet replacement, so I play it a lot like I would play Shuppet. You may want to read about how the deck came to be before you continue this article. If so, head over to the “TOSSED: A Rogue Ahead” article at www.SixPrizes.com. Before we get into the play of the deck, I’ll give you a list of what the deck might look like.
| Pokemon 3 Uxie – LA 43 1 Uxie Lv. X – LA 146 2 Crobat G – PL 47 1 Shuppet – PL 92 1 Dunsparce – HS 41 1 Toxicroak G (Promo) – DP 41 2 Garchomp C – SV 60 2 Garchomp C Lv. X – DP 46 1 Ambipom G – RR 56 1 Unown Q – MD 49 |
Trainers 4 Poke Turn 4 Pokedex 4 Poke Drawer+ 4 Plus Power 2 Expert Belt 1 Luxury Ball 2 Dual Ball 3 Energy Gain 2 SP Radar 2 Power Spray 1 Premier Ball 1 Energy Exchanger |
Supporters 4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy 2 Pokemon Collector 1 Bebe’s Search 1 Aaron’s Collection |
Energy 2 Psychic 4 DCE 1 Cyclone |
Yes, the angry dragon/eel/fish is STILL here and kickin’ (or splashing, rather)! Over the past few weeks of going through old tournament reports and decklists, I remembered how well Gyarados has treated me every time I’ve played it. However, I had a small issue with the deck concerning the recent rotation. The exclusion of Claydol (GE), Night Maintenance, and Felicity’s Drawing were something of a hindrance to the efficiency of the deck. Sure, there are cards like Uxie and Volkner’s Philosophy that could fill in, but would it work? Some….no, MANY have completely written of Gyarados until Junk Arm and Rescue Energy are released. While I agreed with the assumptions that the deck won’t work without Felicity’s/Claydol for a while, I quickly found that the deck can not only still fully function without them, but THRIVES in a format with trainer lock where using supporters is required as well as a pokemon that can FISH (har har, puns) them out of your deck.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “What are you going to do against Vileplume, scrub? Good luck winning when you can’t play SSU, Communications, Poketurns, and most importantly, your rescues, which Gyarados hinges on.” This is a very valid argument for not running the deck, but the key to victory lies in Dialga G Lv. X. Yeah, DGX as some call it gives Gyarados the edge it needs in a meta full of trainer locks whether it’s from Spiritombs or Vileplumes. I initially thought Floatzel GL Lv. X was a more solid play, not requiring me to run recovery cards, but G’dos is also about NOT being KO’d (thanks to super scoop ups), and another pokemon with Lightning weakness is no fun. When you combine the 1-1 DGX along with 3 warp energy, you can get it out relatively quickly and continue your beatdown on some of the most played decks in the format right now. While it doesn’t help the SP matchup in the slightest, you should be able to do well against them anyway, considering you OHKO them while they are typically forced to take cheap prizes around gyarados as well as the occasional Trash Bolt/Lucario OHKO. The SP matchup hasn’t really changed as much post rotation, I’d put it at an even 50-50 because so much of the matchup depends on who can keep up the stream of KO’s as well as the use of Expert Belt on G’dos’ side of the field. Regimove also plays a huge factor, allowing Gyarados to take a prize nearly every turn, barring Power Sprays.
I was also asked to discuss the relevance and efficiency of Volkner’s Philosophy as a Felicity’s Drawing substitute. Yes, Volkner is a moody guy, nowhere nearly as cheerful as Felicity, and he makes it clear that he doesn’t care that you can only discard one Magikarp with his “Philosophy”. Aside from the 1 card discard, Volkner’s can do wonders for the deck. Judge is a commonly played card right now, and getting rid of G’dos’ large hand for a measly 4 can suck, especially when holding onto those recovery cards you need. Volkner’s can not only get rid of a trash card from your hand, but also let you keep the good cards while drawing until you have 6, which is pretty good for not having claydol. The other reason it still works is because you need 3 magikarp in the discard. Regice can take care of 2 while Volkner’s drops the 3rd, still getting the same amount of discard *required* to set up, but not necessarily drawing as many cards mid-late game as Felicity’s would.
One last note before posting the list is the importance of Warp Energy. Between Bright Looks, Luring Flames, Sleep Inducers (Froslass GL), Reversals, and starting with Regice or Dialga G X, Warp Energy has saved my bacon several times. It can also be used to get out of a Status Condition such as Paralysis, Poison, Sleep, Confusion, etc. It also comes in handy when getting Gyarados back to the bench so that you can Psychic Restore back into the deck for late-game Set Up. The main reason it’s so essential in the current list is really to get your DGX to the bench safely after you level up, though. Read More
Eh, there’s not much to say, but I figure that I ought to write something up. This weekend, there were 2 BRs in the area. Ava, Abdi, and I went to the first one. Abdi played Machamp, I played “Hot TOSSED” (as it was dubbed), and Ava played Donphan. Ava and Abdi couldn’t make Sunday’s tourney, so Gyarados and his pals accompanied me.
We had a higher than normal turnout at both events, thanks in part to a group of guys that road tripped it from South Dakota. It seems that the Sioux Falls league is poorly run, and they never receive their proper promos or prerelease swag at the events there. Someone ought to do something about that, because if these guys are that into the game attending a mismanaged league, just think how well things could be going (and how many people they could get into the game) if league and other events were run properly.
Well, on to the reports. Read More
This week, I’m analysing a very new deck which many people haven’t seen. I’m looking at a deck that involves Wormadam and Mothim from Arceus. It can hit hard and fast in a few turns so watch and see if it’s a deck you would like to try out!
Thanks again for watching.
The next PokeClass episode will be the 9th October.
Dan Read More
Hey all you members of Omar-Nation. This is Pikkdogs here.
The Fall Battle Road season is well under way, and I hope you guys are having fun at your own tournaments. I have had an interesting season so far, and will try to right up one big report once my season is over. So make sure to try to play at as many tournaments as you can in the last couple weekends. 
I am here to give you a rundown of a Stupid Deck that I have been playing this week. This time the stupid deck idea centers around Jumpluff.
Jumpluff has been very popular since it was released in the Heart Gold Soul Silver set. It saw a lot of play at States, Regionals, and Nationals last year. Jumpluff was popular because it is a cute Pokemon, that can do 10 damage for each Pokemon in play, for only 1 Grass energy. The classic build featured Jumpluff with the support of Luxray Gl and Claydol Ge. The deck was very successful, and appealed to many players. But, after Worlds the format changed and Claydol Ge was rotated out. Many players tried to play it after the rotation, but the deck was too slow to setup and too slow to recover. Some other builds that have seen a little play since rotation included Jumpluff with Sunflora, and Jumpluff with the VileTomb combo. But, these builds only seem to middle out at tournaments. Read More
Thanks for watching PokemanDan’s PokeClass :)
This week, I’m analysing a new-ish deck that has seen light recently. It’s Steelix Prime. After reviewing it, I have started to like the deck a lot and it should get more credit than it does now. Watch for more info! Thanks again for watching.
The next PokeClass episode will be the 2nd October.
Dan Read More
Throughout this budding season, the format has undergone a massive fluctuation in speed. Some decks have sped up while some have slowed down. Claydol (or lack thereof) is mostly to blame.
With Stage 2 decks getting the shaft by relying on trainers such as Rare Candy, Pokemon Communication, Luxury Ball, etc, Stage 1 and Basic pokemon are picking up rapidly. The format is starting to clutter with sablechomps, luxchomps, dialgachomps, Legends, and a few fiery stage 1’s such as scizor and donphan. These SP decks have picked up massive popularity lately simply because they work! Why not run a deck that does everything you want without having to evolve your pokemon? The real question is “What can I do to topple these giants?” Here’s your answer:
Take Out
Get your pick-up lines ready ’cause you’re about to take SP’s on a date they won’t forget (and you won’t return their calls later). Machamp (Stormfront) is once again a deck to be reckoned with, and yes, I’m talking about “straight” Machamp. The ability to win a game on the first turn is still a strong possibility as well as “super-effective” to gaining the points or Victory Medals you’re after. Many may call it a cheap win, but if you can design your deck to win on the first turn 9/10 games, then your skill is still there, but more in your deck building rather than playing (Yes, there is a difference!). In this article I want to share with you how you can take Machamp and turn him into an SP-smashing, turn 1 donking, late-game killer of a deck. After the list, I will give a brief strategy on how the deck works, followed by a tournament report.
The List:
4-3-3/1 Machamp
4 unown r
3-1 uxie
1 unown q4 judge
3 collector
2 bebe
1 palmer
4 rare candy
4 poke drawer+
4 pokedex
2 warp point
3 communication
2 dual ball
1 lux ball
3 BTS2 dce
5 fighting
The deck purely focuses on setting up Machamp turn 1 for Take Out, but also boasts 4 judges to disrupt your opponent and keep them from setting up their field as fast. Your goal as the operator of the deck is to take 2-4 prizes before your opponent is set up. Typically, you can get them to sacrifice a few prizes to machamp while they do. With the new 30 minute time limit, it’s much more important to hold onto a prize lead this season, so any chance you can jump out with a 3 prize lead, you’re *likely* going to win. Machamp will tend to “fizzle-out” late game if you’re playing against a Stage 1 or Stage 2 deck, so Machamp Lv. X, Warp Points, and DCE come in handy later in the game when you’re ready to Level Up for extra damage, Rage, or warp point a couple of prizes to finish off your opponent.
Oklahoma City Battle Roads – Sep 18th, 2010
Round 1: Gengar/Vileplume
He flips over lone uxie to my machop with him going first. He attatched and psychic restored. I play my hand out and end up with the rare candy/machamp/fighting energy for the donk.
1-0
Round 2: Sablelock
He starts with sableye and impersonates a Cyrus Conspiracy to start setting up. I collector for my Q, Machop, and an Uxie and pull the T1 Machamp again for the donk.
2-0
Round 3: Machamp
I’m playing Taylor who agreed to play Machamp with me today (almost the same exact list save for 2-3 preference cards). We’re both undefeated and we know it comes down to whoever goes second. He goes 2nd and gets the T1 champ as I managed to still set up my Machamp but he leveled up and hit the 3 heads to OHKO my machamp.
2-1
Round 4: Sablelock
He opens sableye to my lone machop, attaches SP Dark and overconfidents my machop for 20. I guess he didn’t think I had the ability to evolve or grab another poke, but either way I lux ball/rare candy into machamp, judge, and attach fighting energy for the Take Out. After 2 more turns of Take Out he scoops.
3-1
I tied for 2nd place in win% opp. win% and opp.opp. win %, but TOM gave the other player the spot in top 2, so I watched Taylor take the Victory Medal with our deck. All in all, it was a great tournament with the deck going a combined 8-1 with it’s only loss being to itself.
After yesterday’s BR, I decided that I ought to try another version of TOSSED for BR #2. I opted for “Vanilla” TOSSED, because I thought it might be easier to play. I want to get an idea of the strength’s of each. I can’t say that I got a great idea of it. I can’t say that I did much at all today. I’m pretty unimpressed with my performance.
Ava, however, won another 2 packs. I think she got 3rd, but she may have been 4th. She actually won only 1 game (and lost 1), because she got a bye. Her first match was winable, but she forgot to lay the ExBelt. Her next match was the bye, and then she got a hard-fought win to claim her 2 packs.
I didn’t fare that well.
Round 1: Ryan W.
Ryan had LuxChomp with Blaziken. All I saw was Luxray. It didn’t make it past my first turn, partially thanks to an Expert Belt and a DCE.
1-0
Round 2: Peter (Senior)
Peter also had LuxChomp. Last night, I made the decision to tech in a Regice for Spiritomb. In this match, I realized my worse Regice fear, starting with it active and being unable to retreat it. Yeah, that sucked, otherwise I think I had a first-turn KO. Peter actually did me a favor by Bright Looking it to the bench, and the game went to sudden death. Each of us were like 10 away from a KO a couple turns in a row. I came real close on my final turn, but I was unable to draw the card I needed for the win.
1-1
Round 3: Nick
Nick had Gengar C. I started my first 2 turns with back-to-back KOs on Gastly and Toxicroak G. Nick actually almost conceded, but decided to play it out. After that, there was one turn when the juniors winners were announced (and my daughter got a prize) where I was fairly distracted. Nick asked me to please play faster, and I think that was the turning point. I started making hasty plays, and by then, I was kinda mentally spent anyway. I can’t say why. I really don’t know how I lost this. I do know that Nick got a couple important KOs, and I had a bad prize, but this should not have meant doom for me. I really think that I just rushed things assuming I had the win. I even got a KO on his Gengar and he flipped tails. I honestly wonder if I forgot to take a prize or something, because I dunno how it went downhill that fast. I think that Nick won on the 3rd turn of +3 (after time was called).
1-2
Round 4: Michael Slutsky
I start lone Unown Q. Michael starts Garchomp C. He wins the toss, he attaches DCE, I get up and leave. The day is over, and I’m a bit relieved to be done.
1-3
What did I learn? TOSSED surprises people. Regice is not a good tech unless you add in a good (more than just SSU) way to get it out of the active spot. Vanilla TOSSED is not easier to play (compared to the other variants) when you play SP all day. I think it can be a good meta choice, but it’s not the right one against this local MN meta right now.
The title is slightly misleading, but it’s true. Today’s Team Omar crew consisted of Ava, my 7-year-old daughter, and myself. Ava and I both went 3-0 to start the day. Then Ava got paired against the other top junior player and lost. That put both of them into top cuts (top-2), so they played again. She lost again, but that gave her 2nd overall on the day winning her 4 packs. She had a good time, and I’m very proud of her. She played Donkphan, and it’s built mainly around cards she already knows from previous decks. She really only played it once before the tourney, but she knew how it worked.
For me, today marked TOSSED’s inaugural voyage into the seas of tournament play. TOSSED used to stand for Team Omar Super Secret Excellent Deck. Yeah, I know, it’s lame, but it’s not meant to be explained worded out like that. It’s kinda a backronym anyway, and now that it’s been played, it’s not so secret. It’s just TOSSED, so the player can say something like, “You just got TOSSED!” At some point, I’ll unveil its new meaning when I’m ready to give out more info about the deck. For now, though, I’m still playing it, so I’m not quite ready to publicize the list.
So, on to my mini tourney report.
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PokemanDan 
Ed 
Austino 
Pikkdogs