July 2011

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Zekrom, Metapod HGSS, and Recycle

Pikkdogs July 30, 2011 No Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with a Pikk Three article. Of course this article like all the other Pikk Three articles, it will review three cards. One card will be a card that is played a lot, another will be a card that I think is under-rated, and the third is from a new or yet-unreleased set.

Before we get to the article, I have an announcement to make. The announcement is that there will soon be a big announcement about the site. I know some of you might know about it, but I will wait until this coming week to make the announcement. The only thing I will tell you is that the announcement is big and will make the site really cool and really fun. Stay tuned for more details.

Card #1 The Staple: Zekrom Black and White

Description– Zekrom is a basic Lightning Pokemon with 130 HP and a 2 retreat cost. He is weak to fighting. His first attack, “Outrage”, does 20 damage (for CC) plus 10 for every damage counter on this Zekrom. His second attack, “Bolt Strike”, does 120 damage for LLC and does 40 damage to Zekrom.

Analysis– Zekrom was used a lot since it was released, and saw some decent play in the North American nationals. It even won Canadian and Mexican nationals. But, Zekrom got thrown around in U.S. Nationals and was no where to be found later in the tournament.

The 130 Hp is amazing for a basic and works great with “Outrage.” The 120 attack is also good, but it can be hard to get the lightning energies on him fast. The downside of Zekrom’s attack is that he damages himself making him more OHKOable. This effect can be stopped by using Defender. Defender lets you stop 20 of the damage that Zekrom does to it self, and 20 more damage that your opponent does to you, this adds up to the 40 that Zekrom does to itself. In the future, it looks like there will be a tool version of Defender, so that will make Zekrom even more playable.

Zekrom is lucky that it has weakness against Yanmega. Yanmega Prime will be very popular next season and Zekrom can OHKO Yanmega with his Outrage attack if he has 4 damage counters on him, or with “Bolt Strike.” So I am pretty sure that Zekrom will be around in the format for a long time. Zekrom is mainly paired with Pachirisu and Shaymin. Pachirisu lets you lay down 2 lightning energies with Pachirisu, and Shaymin lets you move those to Zekrom.

Final Rating– 8.5/10- Not a big fan of Zekrom since its hard to power up Bolt Strike and I don’t wanna damage myself. But I can’t deny that ZPS is a great deck and will be popular for a while.

Card #2 The Underdog- Metapod HGSS

Description-Metapod is a stage 1 80 HP Grass Pokemon. Metapod is weak to fire and has a 2 retreat cost. It has a Poke-Body called “Green Shield”. This body gives all Grass Pokemon no weakness. Metapod’s attack is “sharpen”, which does 20 for CC.

Analysis– Well this is another one of the grass tech cards. Its stats are horrible and cannot attack at all, but his Poke-Body could be very useful with Yanmega Prime.

If you were to pair Metapod with Yanmega you might have to give up some other techs, but you would be able to conquer Zekrom and Mangezone Prime, 2 Pokemon that are keeping Yanmega down. The good thing about Metapod is that you probably will only need a 1-1 line of it to be effective.

The bad part of Metapod is that Pokemon Catcher will soon be out, and it will not be hard to take out bench sitters. Even if the opponent cannot knock out Metapod, just having it active with that 2 retreat cost could be destructive to your chances of winning.

Of course you don’t need to play it with Yanmega. You could also try it with Tangrowth, Serperior, and Jumpluff. It is a very versatile card that is splashable into any deck with a grass Pokemon.

Final Rating–6/10– I really like the idea of adding it to a Yanmega deck, and it almost seems mandatory in a Serperior deck, but nobody has proved that it is a great card yet. I would have rated it higher, if Pokemon Catcher wasn’t coming out. Now that it is, you can still play Metapod, you just have to be more selective when you do.

Card #3 The Young Gun- Recycle

Description– Recycle is a trainer that was in the Japanese Black Set. It is expected to be released in English with the Emerging Powers Set. This card kind of reminds me of Good Rod, but it is better. It is a trainer card that lets you flip a coin, if heads you can take a card out of the discard pile and put it on the top of your deck.

Analysis– Right now we don’t have a trainer that can consistently return a Pokemon or Supporter to your hand or deck. This card could change all that. I think it has the potential to be a staple, although its hard to say how much playability a card like this will have next year. All signs point to this being a pretty good card late game. Although it is flippy, the ability to get a Professor Juniper back from your discard pile could be really amazing.

One way to deal with the flippiness is to use it with Junk Arm. If you flip tails, odds are that most of the time you will flip heads the second time if you Junk Arm it back to your hand. But we all know how flips go.

Noctowl pairs beautifully with this card. Notice that if you flip heads, the card goes to the top of your deck, not your hand. To get it into our hand, you can use Noctowl’s “Night Sight” to draw that card.

The downside of this card is obvious. Why would you want to waste precious space in your deck for a card that might work if you by chance need it? It is situational, but we won’t know how good it is tell we get it in our packs and we test it.

Final Rating– 6.5/10– As I mentioned, this card could be a staple or it could be as useful as a card like Pokeball. We don’t know if this card has a great future, it certainly has not been hyped at all. I am not sure what will happen to this card, but if I had to ebat I would say that this card could be pretty good…maybe.

Thats all for today kiddies. Please make sure to leave you thoughts and ratings of these cards in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Deck Discussion

Deck Analysis: FloatZone

Pikkdogs July 28, 2011 28 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs here with a post Pokemon Catcher deck analysis.

The subject of this article will be a deck that features Magnezone Prime and Floatzel. One of the most popular decks going into Battle Roads will be Prime Time (Magnezone Prime and Yanmega Prime), this deck is a little different. I consider this deck to be the spirtual successor to Mangeboar. I am unsure if this a tier 2 deck or a fun league deck, maybe you can help decide.

Since Pokemon Catcher will make it more difficult to run a deck with bench sitting Pokemon, I decided to try a deck that had energy acceleration and free retreat from the bench sitters. Now, you can still run Magneboar but in the Post Catcher (PC) format, the deck that started out a little shakey is about to get even shakier.

The decks main goal is to use Magnezone Prime’s “Lost Burn” attack to get a One Hit Knock Out each turn. To get more energies on the field, Floatzel is used. His “Water Acceleration” Poke-Power lets you attach a water energy to each Floatzel you have in play per turn, that does not include the 1 energy you can attach for your turn.

Of course this deck is very similar to Magneboar, so lets look at the pro’s and con’s of using this deck over Magneboar. Read More

Card Discussion Deck Discussion

Post-Pokemon Catcher impressions and a Mew Prime/Yanmega Decklist

Pikkdogs July 25, 2011 7 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs here with another article for you guys. For the top 40 players in North America and the players in Southern California all eyes are on World Championships. All these people are thinking about is either countering the format or making a deck that will be consistent enough to grind into the main event. But, for the rest of us, we have our eyes on Battle Roads and the new season. And the new season means dealing with Pokemon Catcher.

Pokemon Catcher is a trainer card that lets you pick a Pokemon on your opponent’s bench and switch it with the active. The last time this card was released, as a card named Gust of Wind, it was the best card in the format. It ushered in an era of dominance for a very fast deck with all basic Pokemon. The question was will Pokemon Catcher have the same format changing effect as Gust of Wind did? To answer these questions I decided to test multiple decks in the PC (Post Catcher) format. The testing yielded some surprising results. To start this article off I will begin by running a “Mythbusters” type list about statements people made about Pokemon Catcher.

Mythbusters- Pokemon Catcher

1. Myth-Kenny Wisdom in his Sixprizes article said that some decks will be unplayable because they get destroyed by Pokemon Catcher. It would make sense that decks that rely on bench sitters would no longer be playable.

Verdict–Plausible. I have not tested a deck with a bench sitter like Reuniclus and Vileplume, but I would assume that it will be hard to setup 2 bench sitting stage 2s. But, if you need a bench sitter, it would be best to have either Gothitelle active or Vileplume on the bench.

2. Myth: On the SixPrizes forum, a user named Johnny Blaze wrote that all Stage 2 decks will be horrible because you can just catcher up the basic first.

Verdict– Busted. Stage 2 decks are still very playable. In fact one stage 2 Pokemon named Vileplume could become one of the most important cards in the format. Since everyone will be playing trainer heavy decks, the ability to take away the trainers will be amazing. Also, decks with 4 Pokemon Catcher don’t always get one when they need it, and they can’t always knock out a basic or stage 1 if they do find a Catcher. I think what is worse off than Stage 2’s are bench sitting stage 1’s like Weavile. If you don’t also have Vileplume in play, those quick stage 1’s become a problem because anytime the opponent draws a Catcher, they can then stall by bringing up a bench sitting stage 1. But when it comes to stage 2’s, it will be harder to get them out, but I would say they are still very viable.

3. Myth: Pokegym User Mew723 wrote that Emboar will be unplayable in the next format. If you think about it, catchering up a Tepig or Pignite would be hard to deal with.

Verdict– Busted. I have tested an Emboar deck, and while it is no longer quite as consistent as it once was. it is not unplayable. The same principle works in the PC era as it did in the BC (before catcher) era. You might have to alter the decklist a little, but for the most part you can still run a Reshiboar deck about as good as you could before.

4. Myth: This myth will address some of the comments made on my Pokemon Catcher article. The comments are: Cincinno will be big, Zekrom is good, babies won’t be as effective.

Verdict– Plausible. Cincinno is now a much more effective Pokemon than he was before. He can attack fast and is almost on par with Donphan and Yanmega in some respects. Zekrom was always good, he might be a little better now thanks to Yanmega being that good. Babies will not be as popular as they once were. Its just really easy to Catcher them up when you need, or to Catcher around them when they are asleep. But, a lot of decks will run at least 1 Cleffa to help as a hand refresher.

Pokemon Catcher does change the format, but you know what they say about change. The more things change the more they stay the same. While some decks will be gone because of Pokmeon Catcher, the format will still come down to Donphan, Yanmega, Reshiram, Zekrom and other Pokemon that are currently popular. Decks that run benched Pokemon can still win, players just need to change their decklist a little to adjust. From my testing, it looks like all of those who say that Pokemon Catcher will ruin the format will be wrong. So thats all for the Mythbusters episode, lets go to the list I promised you.

Mew/Yanmega: The Other Prime Time.

I gotta give the credit for this deck idea to Radu C. from Minnesota. I heard Radu was running this crazy good deck during Nats. It had Mew Prime, Yanmega Prime, Spinorak, Muk, and Jumpluff. The deck was like a tool box, it could lock, snipe, stall, or do lots of damage; it was a really cool deck. After I had my rest after Nationals, I came home and made my own version of the deck. It was not a polished list that was even near where Radu’s actual deck was, it was just a rough version of the deck. My deck did okay, but nothing special.

Then I updated the deck to deal with Pokemon Catcher. I took out Muk, because Pokemon Catcher does what he does, and I added Pidgeot instead. Pidgeot is great for stalling against Pokemon like Reshiram, Zekrom, and Donphan. Its “Headwind” attack adds an extra CC to each attack cost on the defending Pokemon. If you first were able to Catcher up the Typhlosion or Emboar, Reshiram will be stuck active for a long time.

Goal of the Deck

The goal of this deck is to attack with Jumpluff’s attack or Yanmega while setting up a Trainerlock. What you want to do first is to get Mew Prime active with a Psychic energy attached, and have him put Jumpluff and Pidgeot in the Lost Zone. While doing this, get Oddish on the bench and try to evolve him to Vileplume. If they catcher up an Oddish, wait until you have stalled with “Headwind” and then try a second time to get Vileplume up. If they are able to catcher up 2 Oddishes, don’t worry. This deck works better with Vileplume but it does not need it. Sometimes getting the opponent to look at Oddish when your setting up Yanmega and Mew will be worth the loss of Trainerlock. You should also try to get Yanmega going. Once Yanmega is evolved and you have 2 Pokemon in the Lost Zone, you just need to judge what attack is best to use.

Good Things About the Deck:

It is so versatile that it can work against almost any deck, so far it has been the deck that has worked the best in my testing.
It is disruptive. The ability to lock trainers is HUGE since almost all decks will be trainer based. Judges also work well in this deck.

Bad things about the deck:

If you don’t get an early Mew Prime you will be behind the Eight Ball all game.
This deck does not feature Stantler, which means it can be hard to setup Vileplume. The deck is not as good without Vileplume, but it is possible to get it evolved later in the game after a Judge.

The List.

Okay here is the list. This is still a very early list, so don’t beat me up on this list. I don’t think its polished at all, I am only posting it so that you can copy it and start testing.

Pokemon-17

2-Oddish
1-Gloom
2-Vileplume
4-Mew Prime-Your starter and main attacker, can use Pidgeot or Jumpluffs attack.
2-Pidgeot CL or TM
2-Jumpluff HGSS- Has the attack that you will use the most.
2-Yanma
2-Yanmega Prime-Great for Sniping and a backup attacker incase you can’t get Pokemon in the Lost Zone.
Mew as seen by Ava

Trainers-30

2-Professor Juniper-The best Supporter in the format.
3-Copy Cat-A supporter that works with Yanmega
4-Judge- Disruption and working with Yanmega
3-Professor Elms Training Method- If you trainerlock yourself, here is how you get Yanmega, or this is how you get a Vileplume setup.
4-Collector
1-Flower Shop Lady
1-Seeker- Can Seeker up Vileplume, use trainers, then Rare Candy on a 2nd Oddish to get the lock setup again.
3-Rare Candy
3-Communication
3-Pokemon Catcher
1-Dual Ball
2-Junk Arm

Energy-13

4-Rainbow
4-Psychic- needed for an early “See Off”
3-DCE-For Pidgeot’s attack and works well if your run Bouffallant
2-Grass

I admit this is a weird list, but its just something to test around and fix yourself. It is weird to have so many trainers in a trainerlock deck, but this is the one trainerlock deck that is not really reliant on the trainerlock deck. It doesn’t matter if your opponent either uses his/her resources to knock out an Oddish or 2 while you setup with Mew, or they get trainer locked; either way you have an advantage. Whether you lock them up, or you lure them into a false sense of security, it does not matter. This deck can work with or without trainerlock.

Techs

Here are some possible cards to fit into your list.

A hand refresher: Something like Cleffa or Manaphy, either one helps consistency.
Boufallant: If you are thinking people will still play RDL, then you will need Boufallant. Though, Pidgeot’s attack will pretty much stop RDL from attacking anytime soon.
1-1 Yanmega: I originally built this deck with 3-3 Yanmega and I felt it a little overkill. If you like Yanmega and know how to use it well, 3-3 might be the better play.
1 Oddish– If you want a better chance to evolve into Vileplume early, here is a better shot.
1 Spinorak– The list originally had a Spinorak in it. The idea is to trap a starter, with it’s “Spider Web” attack, until the end of the game when you can retreat for Yanmega and kill that starter. I’m just not that good at that strategy.
2-2 Cincinno: This deck si great for Yanmega, but if just cannot afford Yanmega’s, Cincinno may be able to appropriately replace Yanmega.

So that’s all I gotta say about this deck. Expect more PC decklists coming soon. Feel free to tell us all what you think about this decklist by leaving your thoughts in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Contest

Contest Winners

Pikkdogs July 25, 2011 32 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with a quick article to announce the winners of the contest.

First, Ed and I would like to thank all of you who entered. There were a lot more entrants this time then there were for our last contest, so thank you. Also, we love the suggestions and comments you had about the site. We have already started working on improving the site based on some of your suggestions.

Now, onto selecting the winner. The 2 winners will each receieve a www.onehitko.com t-shirt, just like Team Omar wore during Nationals this year. This is an exclusive design that was never open to the public. Read More

Pikks Three

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Magnezone Prime, Bellsprout, and Max Restore

Pikkdogs July 23, 2011 No Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. Its Pikkdogs here for another Pikk Three article. Because there is not a lot of news going on right now, I have decided to do a couple Pikk Three article. I have just started my testing for Pokemon catcher, and I think I have a really cool deck to share with you soon, so look out for that in the next week. Also look out for the announcement of the contest winners either Monday or Tuesday. If you still have not entered, than you have until the end of the day on Sunday June 24th.

If ya guys forgot, a Pikk Three article is like a big card review article. One card is a card that is used a lot, another is a card that I feel is under-rated, and the third is from a new or yet un-released set. So lets get on to the article.

Card #1 The Staple: Magnezone Prime

Description– Magnezone is a Stage 2, 140 HP Lightning Pokemon. It has a fighting weakness, metal resistance, and a 3 retreat cost. It’s Poke-Power, “Magnetic Draw,” lets you draw until you have 6 cards in your hand. It’s attack does 50 damage times the number of energy from all of your Pokemon that you put in the Lost Zone, the attack costs LC.

Review– Magnezone has been used in a lot of ways since its release. When we first saw it, everyone thought that this was going to be the successor to Claydol that we are all waiting for. Well, the stage 2 part of it made sure that it was not the next Claydol. After its release the card was summarily pushed to the side until the European Cup. In Europe a player paired Magnezone with Regirock and that deck began a good run in States and Regional tournaments. After the rotation it was paired with Emboar to make it the OHKO machine it is today. But, it was a little slow, so some players added Magnezone as a last minute attacker in a Yanmega Prime deck.

First, lets look at the basics. The 3 retreat hurts it, as well as the fighting weakness. The attack is really cool, but its not something that you can just splash into any deck. The power is also good, but again, its not splashable.

Everyone thought that Magneboar was going to be one of the best decks at Nationals. It received a lot of play, but was pushed around by Donphan and other really good consistent decks. Its the kind of deck that seems awesome in testing, but when you are staring right at one of the best players in the country, your deck kind of folds up on itself.

One of the best current decks is Yanmega/Magnezone. It did well at Nationals because it was fast and disruptive. I would give Magnezone a good forecast for the rest of the season if it wasn’t for Pokemon Catcher. With only 50 HP, Magnemite will not stand up to well if it is dragged up to the active spot. Also, if Yanmega is attacking you, just bring up the Magnezone with no energy and you will get an easy knock out.

Rating–7/10– It is hard to not rate this card very high, but at the same time, Catcher has the potential to bury this card. If Catcher was not coming out, I would give this card probably and 8 or 8.5.

Card #2 The Underdog: Bellsprout

Description-Bellsprout is a 40 HP basic Grass Pokemon with a weakness to fire, and a 1 retreat cost. His first attack, “Inviting Scent,” lets you choose one of your opponent’s benched Pokemon and switch it with their active.

Review– Well of course, 40 HP is just a prize for Yanmega Prime, so if you play it be prepared to loss a prize sometimes in the game. The retreat cost is not so great, but understandable.

Usually I do not review un-evolved Pokemon, but Bellsprout is an awesome card that saw a little play at Nationals. It’s attack is like a gust of wind, its really good in a lot of decks to bring a bench sitter that can’t attack, and then snipe around it. Its a good tech that could work in some decks.

The problem that it is only a good card until the end of August, when Pokemon Catcher is released. After that there is no reason to bring a Pokemon to do a trainers job. It is possible that it could still be played, if Vileplume or Gohtitelle are played.

Rating– 4.5/10-for right now it would get a 6.5, but because of catcher, this card may never see the light of day again. But, overall, not a terrible card.

Card #3 The Young Gun: Max Restore

Description– This is a simple trainer card that will come out in the emerging powers set. It lets you pick one of your Pokemon, discard all energy from it , and remove all damage counters.

Review– I did not engineer this to be the “What to use or not use with Pokemon Catcher article” but it seems like it is anyway, maybe that tells us how impactful that card will be.

This card is great with Pokemon Catcher. All you gotta do is get a turn 2 Donphan Prime and attach an energy. Then use Pokemon Catcher to bring up something weak and important, and then you knock it out for 1 energy. Next turn your opponent will promote something and probably do less than 140 damage. On your turn you just gotta use Max Restore and attach an energy, and Donphan is brought back to what he was, and you can use Pokemon Catcher again. This strategy could be used with Yanmega Prime and others, but it seems to work best with Donphan. Though, if you play it with Yanmega, you will likely never have to discard energy, but make sure not to run Rescue Energy then.

The bad part of this card is two fold, the energy discarding and the fact that it is a trainer. The discarding can be remedied by using low energy attackers or energy accelerators like Floatzel, Feraligatr Prime, Typhloshion Prime, and Emboar BW. If your opponent can setup a trainer lock, not only will that stop this card, it also stops Pokemon Catcher. If you can setup a Vileplume next format, look for it to be a really important card.

Rating–8/10– Yes an 8, I think its that good. People do not run decks that use high energy attackers without energy accelerators anyway. Most decks can fit this in and help keep their Pokemon alive longer. This card will only cement that this is a format determined by the OHKO.

Well, thats all 3 of em. Please tell OHKO nation what you think of these cards by leaving your thoughts in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Pikks Three

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Yanmega Prime, Pidgeot Tm, and Beartic EP

Pikkdogs July 21, 2011 13 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with another Pikk Three article. I haven’t done one of these in a while, so I’ll explain some stuff. These articles are like a big card review. One card is a card that is used a lot, one is a card I feel is under-rated, and and another one is a card that is from a new or yet un-released set.

Before we get to the article, just wanna let you know the contest is still going on. I have explained the contest in the last couple articles, so go to the last couple articles and read up on what it takes to enter. The contest will end at the start of the day on Monday, so the time you have to enter is slowly passing away.

The Staple- Yanmega Prime

Description: Yanmega Prime is a 110 HP Stage 1 Grass Pokemon. It has free retreat, a lightning weakness, and a resistance to fighting. It’s Poke-Body”Insight” lets you ignore the cost of all attacks if you have the same hand size as your opponent. It’s first attack, “Linear Attack”, does 40 damage to any of your opponent’s Pokemon. Its second attack. “Sonic Boom”, does 70 damage and you don’t factor in weakness or resistance.

Review: Yanmega was a great card for a fun deck a couple of months ago. But now hand sizes are easy to equalize and sniping for free is an amazing ability.

When Uxie left the format, people decided to go for a better setup with Cleffa. Yanmega is good because it can kill a Cleffa no matter if it is active or not, and if Cleffa is asleep, Yanmega can just hit something else for 40. The emphasis on Supporter based draw has also given Yanmega a boost. Yanmega has turned into a very fast disruptive card.

The one drawback for Yanmega is that it cannot hit hard. 70 just doesn’t cut it any more its not 1999, we kinda want to get to around 110 damage. That is why Yanmega is usually paired with the hard hitting Magnezone Prime. Yanmega Prime is also paired with Kingdra Prime to maximize Sniping damage. Another knock on this card is that the format is changing because of Pokemon Catcher. It is likely that the baby Pokemon will not be as useful. Because of this there will be less things to snipe and to snipe around. Yanmega once owned the Indiana Convention Center at U.S. Nationals, I think it will continue to be a great card in the Catcher era, I just don’t think it will be quite as good.

Rating: 8.5/10– Yanmega Prime is an average card that just happens to fit the format perfectly. It will be great with Pokemon Catcher, and have enjoyed a great run in the past month or so.

The Underdog: Pidgeot Tm

Description: Pidgeot is a 120 HP Stage 2 Pokemon. He has a free retreat cost, a lightning weakness, and a resistance to fighting. His first attack, “Headwind,” does 20 damage and increases the energy cost of any of your opponent’s Pokemon by CC. His second attack, “Quick Attack,” does 40 damage for CCC and you may flip a coin, if it is heads you can do 30 more damage.

Review: This card was brought to my attention by an article of sixprizes.com, and I’ve been in love with it ever since. No its not an over powering card, but it is very interesting. The ability to add CC to an attack cost is pretty crazy, it would even drive a Reshiboar deck crazy. It is a great walling Pokemon and can stand up to Donphan very easily. I could see this in a disruption deck.

The bad things about this card are easy to pick out. It’s a stage 2 that doesn’t really jump out at you. It can’t hit hard and can be easily shot out of the sky by Magnezone, Zekrom, and Reshiram.

Rating: 7/10– This card kinda reminds me of a mix of Yanmega Prime and our next card, Beartic. It’s like Yanmega because at first glance it looks like an average card, but when used right it can be a great card. It’s like Beartic because it makes attacking next turn difficult for your opponent. I think this card is very under-rated and could be great soon.

The Young Gun- Beartic EP

Description: Beartic is a stage 1 130 HP Water Pokemon. It is weak to metal and has a 3 retreat cost. Its first attack, “Sheer Cold,” does 50 damage for WCC and prevents the defending Pokemon from attacking next turn. Its second attack, “Icicle Crash,” does 80 damage for WWCC.

Review: The stats are great for a Stage 1. 130 HP is great, and can hit for weakness on Reshiram and Emboar without being weak to Zekrom and Magnezone. Having the ability to stop a Pokemon from attacking next turn is really great. If your opponent is running a tanking deck, they would have to use a switch and have another tank ready to go.

This card has had a lot of hype, but I’m just not drinking the Kool-Aid. If you want to delay the Pokemon from attacking, I think Pidgeot works a little better. For a tanking Pokemon like Beartic, he just does not push out a lot of damage for the amount of energy he requires. He can be used with Floatzel/Shaymin and Feraligatr Prime, but bench sitters will be all but eliminated with Pokemon Catcher.

Rating: 7/10– A lot of potential and a lot of hype here, so people will try to make it work. But, I think I might want Pidgeot in my deck a little more than Beartic.

So there is the first Pikk Three article I have done in a while. Please tell me your thoughts on these cards by leaving a comment.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Tourney Report

Etiquette for A Pokemon Tournament.

Pikkdogs July 19, 2011 6 Comments

Hey all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs here. Today’s article is about etiquette at a Pokemon tournament. We get a lot of new players here at www.onehitko.com and tournament etiquette is one thing that isn’t easy to pick up. Some players are rude without even trying to be, so I wrote this article to help you be more freindly at your next tournament.

Before we get to the article, this is just a heads up that my 100th post celebration contest is still going on. Just write an email and send it to me at pikkdogs@teamomar.com, and tell me what you like or don’t like about the site. If you do that, you will be entered in a contest to win 1 www.onehitko.com t-shirt. There will be 2 winners, so make sure to register by the 25th of July. Now back to the article, here are some polite things to do at a tourney.

Etiquette is a french word for a small card or sign. It comes from when the French Monarchy threw big parties at the palace of Versailles. The palace guests would do rude things like run on the lawn and go into private rooms. To prevent these things, the palace staff would put out little signs that said, “hey you, don’t run on the grass.” Consider this article an etiquette, or a small sign, to tell beginning players how to act at a tournament. Following these rules will help you make more Pokemon friends and will make sure you don’t offend people.

0. What to do Before the Game?

When you get paired up, head straight to the table and find a seat. When your opponent shows up I usually introduce myself to them if I don’t already know them. Just say something like, “Hey I’m Enrique, how’s it going?” When you are about to flip over your basic and begin the game, offer your hand for a handshake and say “Good Luck.”

1. Shuffling Etiquette.

Before each game starts, each player should randomize their decks. If you have done it prior to this game, make sure to do a couple of extra shuffles while your opponent is watching, just so he/she has no reason to complain.

After you are done shuffling, place the deck in front of your opponent or on his/her playmat, and say something like “would you like to cut?” Do this until you get a basic, and then start to play the game.

When you need to shuffle your deck, shuffle it and then place it between where your deck normally goes and your opponent, and say something like “you may cut if you like.” If they cut/shuffle the deck, place it back where it normally goes and continue the game.

One last shuffle etiquette has to do with you shuffling your opponent’s deck. You can cut or shuffle your opponent’s deck after they have shuffled, if you wish, but make sure you okay the shuffling method with your opponent. For example, I always use the fan shuffling method, but some people may think that this method may damage their cards. So be sure to let your opponent know what kind of shuffling you will do, if you are going to do a shuffle technique that may bend a card. Its not in any rule book, but bending cards will not make you any friends.

2. In Game Talk

For the most part, I try to stay silent during my games. Most people don’t like to be bothered during their turn, so don’t do anything that will bug other people. But, in some cases other people like talking during games. If you want to talk, start talking while you are waiting for the game to start, and wait for a cue from your opponent. If he/she talks back, than maybe you can talk a little during the game, but if he/she keeps to him/herself, then don’t bug them. For the most part, most people don’t talk that much during games, they just try to keep their mind on the game, however, games with people I know can be a little chattier.

3. Endgame Conversation.

The sixth prize has been taken and the game is over. No matter if you win or lose, you need to say something like, “thanks for the game, good luck the rest of the day.” If you say anything else about the game, be very careful. It is probably best to just say good luck and then move on.

If you lost, don’t try to make up excuses. Nobody likes to play against the guy who keeps saying, “Man I woulda killed ya if I coulda flipped heads.” If you say anything about your luck just say something like, “Good game, too bad I had some bad luck that game, congrats on the win, see ya later.” Don’t make a big deal about your loss, the game is over, just move on.

If you won, don’t gloat or make your opponent feel bad. Running all around the building saying, “I win, I win” probably is not very nice. Also, make sure that you don’t talk about their bad luck too much, this could end up making them feel worse. If you say anything, just say something like, “good game, I just got a really good start, have a good day the rest of the tournament.”

4. Don’t be Too Shy or Too Obnoxious

When the games are not going on, it is important not to draw extra attention to yourself. Nobody likes the grumpy guy who sits in the corner. Conversely, nobody likes the guy who yells or is running all around the building.

While you are waiting for a game, start some small talk with some other players, or try to do a couple trades with other players. Try to blend in with other people, and leave all the running and yelling to the Juniors (they are really good at it).

That’s all for this article, if you have any more etiquette tips for new players please leave them in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Deck Discussion

Reshiram Emboar (ReshiBoar) Nationals Deck Analysis

Ed July 18, 2011 1 Comment

Alright, let’s get this out of the way right off the bat. I did not do well at Nationals. Well, I didn’t do terribly. My record was positive (5-4). One of those “wins” was a BYE, so I was actually even on the day. If I had won my final match, I’d have been in the top cut. All that makes it sound better than I felt like I did, though. This isn’t about Nationals so much as it is about my deck, though. If you want to read more about my Nats experience, you can do that here, here, or even here.

First of all, I’d like to point out that I think that there really is (at the moment) multiple ways to build a Reshiram deck. To me, any deck that focuses on using Reshiram as the main attacker can be lumped together. The main 2 Reshiram decks now are Reshiram/Emboar and Reshiram/Typhlosion. Both decks strive to achieve the same main goal, but they go about it slightly differently.

When I built my deck, I was of the opinion that Typhlosion was unnecessary, and I was concerned that there would be many others running Reshiram, Zekrom, or Zoroark. Therefore, I did not want to put extra damage on my own Reshiram (which would make it easily OneHitKO-able by anyone that could do 120 damage). Ultimately, the Nationals field did not feature so many Reshiram or Zekrom based decks, so Typhlosion’s damage placement wasn’t as big of a concern as I first thought it might be.

Let’s jump right into the deck I ran at Nationals.
Read More

National Championships PokeClass

A Look at Two National Championships

PokemanDan July 18, 2011 1 Comment

Hey all of you at OHKO! Today, I bring you two of my episodes covering everything about the past two weeks in both Canada and the US.

Canadian Nationals Recap:

[youtube width=”640″ height=”390″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMHut4q91Ck[/youtube]

This episode covers all of the very interesting results we received from Canada two weekends ago. We have a very nice range of decks making the Top 16 and I go over some of the most interesting ones.
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Card Discussion

Introducing Pokemon Catcher

Pikkdogs July 17, 2011 10 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with a discussion about the card Pokemon Catcher. This card will come out in the Black and White: Emerging Powers set. Its effect is simple, switch one of your opponent’s benched Pokemon with the active. This makes it like Gust of Wind from the base set. This article will tell you what this card means for the format. This article will also speculate what the format will be like for this card, and what type of counter the new high HP Pokemon will be to Pokemon Catcher.

Before we start the article, just a little reminder about the contest. The contest that celebrates my 100 articles is still going on. All you have to do to enter is send an email to “pikkdogs@teamomar.com.” In the email just tell us something you like or don’t like about the site. When you enter you will be in the running to win one of two official www.onehitko.com t-shirts. To see the complete rules, just read my 100th article celebration post here. Okay, back to the article about Pokemon Catcher

What it does

Pokemon Catcher allows you to do 2 strategic things. The most obvious thing it does is to bring an un-evolved Pokemon active. Once that Pokemon is active you will be able to knock it out before it evolves to a scary stage 2 like Emboar, Tyranitar, or Magnezone. The other thing you can do is to pull up a bench sitting Pokemon and then either knock it out, snipe around it, mill your opponent’s deck, or put Pokemon in the Lost Zone. This card is very powerful, so lets talk about what happened last time it came out.

What Happened Last Time: Gust of Wind.

Gust of Wind was a card in the base set that did the same thing as Pokemon Catcher. When it came to competitive play, Gust of Wind forced a deck called Haymaker to become the best in the format. Haymaker was a deck with base set cards like Hitmonchan, Scyther, and Elektabuzz. It was a fast deck that used Gust of Wind to bring up basic Pokemon and do damage for not a lot of energy. Haymaker was not the only deck that saw play, but it was the winning-est deck of its time by far.

It worked by pulling up anything that was a threat and knocking it out before it could get going. Haymaker was a powerful deck that had only one enemy, the first rotation. Now, Gust of Wind is coming back and most Pokemon players are afraid of what it could do in today’s format. The format is different from base set. Back then, doing 40 damage for 2 energies was really good, now a 100 HP basic Pokemon is not hard to find. Who knows what will happen when the wind changes and we get that some old gust coming back into the format. Some people say the format will be very similar just a little more disruptive. While most people are predicting the end of stage 2’s in the format, but could that be?

What do you mean I can’t evolve on the same turn?

About a year ago, the return of Gust of Wind would not be a huge problem. You could just play a Rare Candy, or evolve through Broken Time Space. Now you have to leave a Basic on the bench for one turn. Unless you are able to play 2 copies of the same basic on one turn, it will be unlikely that you will be able to evolve on the upcoming turn. To evolve to a stage 1 or 2 Pokemon you will need to be very speedy or very disruptive.

How to Combat Catcher

As mentioned,you can either try to keep Pokemon Catcher away from the opponent, find a way to evolve before they can disrupt the evolution, or don’t play any basics down that you don’t want in the active spot.

To keep catcher away from the opponent you can try to get an early Judge. Pokemon like Weavile and Ambipom can disrupt your opponent’s hand so that they cannot setup. If you get an early disruption on your opponent, he/she will not be to get the Pokemon Catcher that they need to disrupt you. You can also make Pokemon Catcher useless by setting up a trainer lock with either Gothitelle or Vileplume. However, these Pokemon are stage 2’s and can be disrupted by Pokemon Catcher. So, in order to evolve them you will have to be quick about it.

One way of negating the effect of catcher is putting down 2 of the same basics at once, so they can knock out 1, and you can evolve the other. This is where cards like Pokemon Collector, Revive, and Stantler come in really big. After the big Cleffa donfest that was U.S. Nationals 2011, Stantler is a good Pokemon to use as a starter. He will not be donked, and he can search out 2 basics and put them on the bench. All you need on the next turn is a Rare Candy and a Stage 2. Look for 4 Rare Candies to be a staple in the next format. Another way to go around Pokemon Catcher is to start fast. If you start with a basic, there is a good chance there will probably be time to evolve the Pokemon before Catcher gets played.

If you don’t want your opponent to Catcher in a Pokemon, then don’t play it down. With the number of big basic HP POkemon that can do damage, you don’t really need evolved Pokemon. In the next couple sets there will be about 10 100+ HP Pokemon coming into the format. The question is whether these Pokemon will be able to knock out Pokemon that are used with Pokemon Catcher, like Donphan Prime and Yanmega Prime. Only time will tell whether these Pokemon will be good enough to stop the good stage 1’s.

The Big HP Pokemon

As mentioned, there are a lot of big HP Pokemon coming out, so lets look at them, since they are not very afraid of being made active by Pokemon Catcher.

1. Virizion

Japanese Set- Battle Strength Deck English Set- Emerging Powers

Basics- 100 HP, 1 Retreat, Weak to Fire, Resistance to Water.

Attack 1- Giga Drain. For GC you do 30 and heal from Virizion the amount of damage that you do to the defending Pokemon.

Attack 2-Sacred Sword. For GGC you can do 100 damage, it can’t be used twice in a row.

2. Virizion

Japanese Set- Red Collection English Set- Probably the 3rd BW set

Basics- 100 HP, 1 retreat, weak to fire, resistant to water.

Attack 1- Dual Draw. For one energy you can draw 2 cards.

Attack 2-Leaf Slugger. For GC you can do 40 damage. If you used this attack last turn, the attack does 80.

3. Terrakion

Japanese Set- Battle Strength Deck English Set- Emerging Powers

Basics- 120 HP, 4 retreat, weakness to grass.

Attack 1- Boulder Crash. For FC it does 40 damage.

Attack 2-Sacred Sword. For FFC it does 100 damage and cannot be used next turn.

4. Terrakion

Japanese Set- Red Collection English Set- Probably 3rd BW set

Basics- 130 HP, 4 retreat, weakness to Grass.

Attack 1- Vengance. Does 30 damage for FC. Will do 90 damage if you lost a Pokemon last turn.

Attack 2- Land Crush. For FFC it does 90 damage.

5. Coballion

Japanese Set-Battle Strength Deck English Set- Emerging Powers

Basics- 110 HP, 2 retreat, weak to fire, resistant to Psychic.

Attack 1- Metal Sword. For MC you can do 30 damage and have your opponent switch the defending Pokemon.

Attack 2- Sacred Sword. For MMC you can do 100 damage, and you can’t use this attack twice in a row.

6. Coballion

Japanese Set- Red Collection English Set- Probably the 3rd BW set.

Basics- 120 HP, 2 retreat, weak to Fire, resistant to Psychic.

Attack 1- Energy Breath. For MC it does 20 damage times the number of energy attached to the defending.

Attack 2- For MMC you can do 80 damage and prevent the defending Pokemon from attacking next turn.

7. Landorus

Japanese Set-Red Collection English Set-?????? I would guess Emerging Powers, but it could be the 3rd Black and White Set.

Basics- 110 HP, 1 retreat, and weak to water.

Attack 1- Harvest. For 1 energy you can attach an energy card from the discard pile to this Pokemon.

Attack 2- Gaia Hammer. For FFC you can do 80 damage and spread 10 to everyone’s bench.

8. Volteros

Japanese Set- Black and White English Set-Emerging Powers

Basics- 110 HP, 1 retreat, weak to fighting

Attack 1- Recharge. For 1 energy you can search your deck for a lightning energy and attack it to this Pokemon.

Attack 2- Discharge. For LLC you can do 80 damage and discard an energy card.

9. Torneros

Japanese Set- Black and White English Set- Emerging Powers

Basics- 110 HP, 1 retreat, weak to lightning, resistant to fighting.

Attack 1- Energy Well. For 1 energy you move one energy from your bench to the active.

Attack 2-Gale Force. For CCC you can do 80 damage and move 1 energy card to the bench.

10. Kyurem

Japanese Set- Red Collection English Set- Probably the 3rd Black and White Set

Basics- 130 HP, 2 retreat, and weak to Metal.

Attack 1- Outrage. For CC it does 20 damage plus 10 for every damage counter on this Pokemon.

Attack 2- Glaciate. For WWC it spreads 30 damage to all of your Opponent’s Pokemon.

So those are the 10 big Pokemon that are coming out. Most of these Pokemon will not be easy to knock out by Yanmega or Donphan, so they will be great counters to Pokemon Catcher. The problem will be just coming up with other cards that can help make these cards attack faster. None of these Pokemon seem like great Pokemon right now, but I think given the right situation, these cards could help to make a good deck.

Sot there is a look at Pokemon Catcher. The card will sure change the format, maybe it will only change a little, or it may change it a lot. I hope I gave you some ideas of how you can plan to play against this card in the fall. Be sure to check on this website for more strategy articles about this impactful card. So, what do you guys think of this card. How will you play it and play against it? Please leave your thoughts in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Zekrom, Metapod HGSS, and Recycle

Deck Analysis: FloatZone

Post-Pokemon Catcher impressions and a Mew Prime/Yanmega Decklist

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Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Yanmega Prime, Pidgeot Tm, and Beartic EP

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A Look at Two National Championships

Introducing Pokemon Catcher

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