One Hit KO

Pokemon TCG Decklists and Articles

September 2011

Opinion

Ratings Discussion and Battle Roads Impressions at the Mid-Point

Pikkdogs 1 Comment

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with his sidekick Pedro, and we are here to talk about the new ratings system and how Battle Roads are going.   

The New Ratings System

We’re talking about the ratings change now?  Didn’t that occur like two weeks ago?

Well, yes, but I just understood it now.

Don’t lie to us, you don’t understand it.

Well, no, but nobody really does, so I will just pretend I do like everybody else does.  And I’ll say the term “kicker points”  a lot, that will make me look smart.

I see.  “Kicker Points.”  Oh, yeah those are how I won my fantasy football game last week.

You play fantasy football?

Oh Hell Yeah!  Though my team is suffering this year.  I always take Peyton Manning first because I like his tushy.

Pedro are you gay? 

How can I be gay? I’m not human. I’ma  freaking extra-dimensionary being.

Ok, good enough for me, lets get back to ratings points.

Play Points

As you probably found out a couple weeks ago, Pokemon is changing how ratings work, and how people get invited to certain events like Worlds and Nationals.  Instead of using ELO, we are instead going to use Championship Points and Play Points.

I kind of liked the ELO.  I like the cellos and the violins.

I don’t think we’re talking about the same ELO, and i think someone on www.sixprizes.com did that same joke last week.

Anyway, ELO is not used as much anymore and Championship Points (CP) are in.  CPs reward you for winning or making top cut in premiere rated tournaments.  Anytime you win a tournament or do well in it you will receive points.  For winning a Battle Road you will get 2 points, for a City Championship it’s 6 points, and it is 10 points for  a State or a Regional win.  The second place finisher will always get points as well.  1 for  a Battle Road, 5 for a City, and 8 for a State or a Regional.  3rd and 4th place finishers will also get points at cities, and 5-8 finishers will get points at states or regionals.

So  just because you got 3rd and a victory cup at a Battle Roads, does not mean that you get a championship point.  But, you could.  That’s where Kicker Points come, or “kick”, in.  If there are more than 31 people at your BR and you get 3rd you will get a championship point.  This is nice because it rewards people who are in tough playing areas, while it doesn’t reward people who live in less competitve areas.

That’s about it for CPs, except for the fact hat CPs are given at Worlds.  This is really weird because traditionally the season is over after Worlds, so why would you need a ratings system. The only thing the ELO really did was give us Worlds players, so why are we using a ratings system after it has out lived its usefulness?  I’m not sure, but it sounds like either points will carry over next season, or we are going to have some kind of award for the most points.   I hate either option.  I don’t want winners from one season be given a pass in the next, and why should we have two champions for one year?  Things are looking weird with this, but I bet Pokemon will keep their lips sealed until about a day before they are about to use these worlds points for something.

Play Points

There are now something called Play Points.  Pokemon has not discussed exactly what will happen with these yet.  It seems that if you go to a BR or a league season you will get a point.  You probably will get more points for going to a bigger event like Regionals.  Your player rewards will be determined from these, which is basically just what they do now, they just are giving more weight to bigger tournaments.

This is entirely speculation, but Play Points might also help you qualify for your national tournament.  What Pokemon is trying to do here by making nationals by invitation only seems to be to try to stop one man, Tom Dolezal.  Tom does not play in games most of the season, but always goes to nationals and always gets a high enough rating to go to worlds.  I know it might seem unfair to point out Tom when other people do it too, but he does it the best.  I guess Pokemon does not like people who sit out the entire season, and then pick the game up in the last 2 months of the year and win all the prizes.  It has not yet been confirmed, but it seems like Pokemon might be requiring us to have so many Play Points to enter Nationals.  While I do not like the idea of having to qualify for Nats, only rewarding us hardworking players seems like a good thing to me.  The only problem is that for the area around Nationals, a lot of local people start the game at Nationals.  I have a lot of friends who started the game at nats, now that will not be able to happen.  So on the whole, I do support the Tom Dolezal rule but it is not the best rule.

Opinion

I think the new rating system does some good things, while also promoting some not so good things.

One good thing that comes out of this rule change is that there are less incentives to drop.  Now a player cannot hurt himself by playing in a tournament.  The worst thing that can happen by going to a tournament is that you don’t get any CPs.  Before, the better players were dropping out of the bigger tournaments because they were afraid that they would lose and lose the rating points that they already earned.  Now, this will not be the case.

But, this does not mean that the new system discourages dropping as a whole.  I think that on the whole this system encourages dropping.  If you know within the first couple rounds that you will not be making top cut and getting a CP, it only makes sense to drop.  There is no longer an incentive to play a tournament out, once you know you will not top cut, you might as well drop.

Which brings us to another critique of the new ratings system, the fact that this system does not reward consistent play.  This system does not reward people who consistently do just above average, it rewards the people that Top Cut.  Sine CPs will probably only effect Worlds participants, this shouldn’t be a big problem, but I think there is a lot to be said for a consistent player.

Well that’s my overview and thoughts about the new ratings system.  Although it is not perfect, I think it is a step in the right direction.

Fall Battle Roads at the Midway Point

Here is the second part of the two part article.  Battle Roads have reached their mid point, and it is time to see how things have been going.  Lets start by looking at what has been winning.  According to Pokegym.net, here are the top preforming decks with their corresponding number of wins:

  1. Reshiram (either Typholosion or Emboar)-10
  2. Stage 1 Rush (varius variants)-10
  3. Zekrom–9
  4. PrimeTime–5
  5. Magneboar–2
  6. Gothitelle–2

That is just the number of BR’s that were reported to Pokegym, I am sure there are many other BR’s that did not report.  Anyway, this should be a good list of what has gone on in the past couple weeks.

The interesting thing about this list (and the way I compiled it) is that it gives us three distinct decks that are doing very well.  You could call Zekrom, Reshiram, and the Stage 1 Variants as our Top Tier.  Next you have Prime as a solid Tier 2 (if not Tier 1) and then a bunch of decks coming later.  Those decks include the likes of Gothitelle, Ross Deck, and Donphan and Dragons.  You could think of these being solid Tier 2 or 3.  This is just based on what has happened so far, the next couple weeks could change things, but for right now it seems we have some pretty neat categories.

If you read other sites, you will notice that their lists have a lot more decks in it than mine.  This is because I have consolidated a lot of decks with other similar decks.  I think there are basically only about 6 or so decks out there.  Why other people list there being 15 is that people play a lot of different variants in this format.  This means that one list is very different from another.  This can make it difficult to play test if people are running decks that are different from what other people are running. 

What is key in this format is the word “variation.”  No stage 1 deck is the same, no Donphan and Dragons deck is the same.  There is a lot of room for techs in this format and people are sure showing that.

Another thing we learned in this format is that so far Gothitelle is a good deck, but has not found good player support.  The best players right now are playing Stage 1 Rush or Zekrom, but they are not playing Gothitelle.  Once Gothtitelle gets more support from the best players (like Trainerlock deck last year) I think the deck will take off.  Especially look it to take off during Fall Regionals.

Another thing I learned is that a lot of the nationals decks are still around.  Yes, basically the same Reshiphlosion and Primetime decks are still pretty good.  I suppose a good Stage 1 deck could still make it today, but the deck can be changed a lot.  Of course, the biggest change is 4 Pokemon Catchers, and the importance of getting early knock outs.

So………….well……….I’m pretty much done here, I think I rambled on for enough words, Pedro how do we usually end articles here?

Well we usually leave by having a musical guest.

A musical guest?  We can’t afford a musical guest.  I’m just a poor fat guy who lives in a one bedroom shack somewhere.  What do you expect us to have some cool and popular singer like Tony Basil?

No, but it does give us an excuse to show a picture of her in a cheerleaders outfit.

Card Discussion Deck Discussion

The Changing Face of Stage 1 Decks + a Deck List.

Pikkdogs 7 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs and his extra dimensionary sidekick Pedro here with kind of  strategy/deck article for you.  Pedro, would you be kind enough to introduce the article?

Why I would be happy to.  Stage 1 decks can be traced to U.S. Nationals 2011.  Kyle “Pooka” Suceveich, among others, did very well with a deck that featured Donphan Prime, Zoroark, and Yanmega Prime.  While Pikkdogs did not do so well with Donphan/Samurott.

What does that have to do with the article?

Nothing, I just thought I would mention it while we were on the topic.  As I was saying, the deck was refered to as Stage 1 Rush, because  every important  Pokemon was a stage 1 Pokemon.  It also emphasized the fact that this deck was both hard hitting and fast since it didn’t have to use Rare Candy, or just rely on puny basic Pokemon.  The deck itself was very fast and could counter almost any deck.  It is almost like a tool box in that it has so many options on what it wants to run.

Fast forward to the end of the summer when Emerging Powers came out.  With the new set came new changes to the stage 1 rush deck.  Cincinno BW became more popular because it could attack for 100 damage for only one energy.  Another Pokemon that recieved play was Tornadus, because it could be a decent attacker and a great Donphan counter.  The other Pokemon that saw play in this deck was Mew Prime, it could “See Off” a Jumpluff and then be a great Gothitelle counter. 

Thank You Pedro.  But these changes left the deck with many variants.  And not all the decks relied on stage 1’s any more!  Mew and Tornadus are both basics.  With all these changes how are we supposed to know what to run?  Well to settle this we will look at each of the Pokemon and how they impact the game.  Then at the end of the article I will give you the list that I am working with right now, and give you some pointers for running stage 1.

Since you do it so well?

Well, not exactly, but I don’t see anyone else writing this article, so they gotta settle for me.

I see that “settling” is very popular around here.

You’re telling me.  Anyway, lets look at those Pokemon.

The Pokemon

Donphan Prime

Basics– It is a 120 HP Stage 1 Fighting Pokemon.  It’s “Exoskeleton” Pokebody reduces all damage done to him by 20.  The attack that is used the most is “Earthquake”.  This attack does 60 damage for 1 fighting energy, and does 10 damage to each of your own benched Pokemon.

What it’s good against– Donphan Prime has always been a great Pokemon since the rotation occured in early July.  That is because a lot of good Pokemon are weak to fighting, like Zoroark, Magnezone Prime, Zekrom, and Cincinno.  If you are playing any deck that relies on a lightning attack, Donphan Prime is a great option.  It can single handidly give you a victory against any Magnezone or Zekrom deck.

It is not only a good attacker, but it is fast and hard to knock out.  Any deck with Donphan Prime should be able to get a prize on turn 2.  It is also very hard to get a knockout on Donphan Prime.  The Poke-Body makes it so your opponent would have to do 140 damage at once to knock it out.  And if they do not make the 140 damage mark, you can just use Max Potion to heal all the damage counters and start again.

What it’s not so good against– One knock on Donphan is that limits your starter choices.  What I mean by that is if you want to include Cleffa in your deck either as a starter or hand refresher, you will probably knock it out with “Earthquake” on your 4th turn.

Another bad thing about Donphan Prime is that it can be stuck active.  If you don’t really want to attack with Donphan but have it out, your opponent can use Pokemon Catcher to make it active and you will have a hard time paying the 4 retreat cost.  

Donphan Prime also isn’t great against Pokemon like Reshiram and Gohtitelle.  Since Donphan Prime basically maxes out at 60 damage, you will need a Plus Power to even get a 2HKO with Donphan.  Gothitelle is a whole nother problem, because Donphan will never be able to get the 130 damage that you need for a knock out without trainers.  So if your opponent sets up a Gothitelle all your Donphans are basically dead cards.

Donphan can also be easily countered with Tornadus and Yanmega Prime, if you don’t also run either Zekrom or Ruins of Alph.  Ruins of Alph will negate the resistance that these two Pokemon have, and Zekrom will be able to OHKO both Pokemon for only a DCE if you have 4 damage counter on it.

Usefulness– On the whole I would think that Donphan Prime should be in most Stage 1 Rush Decks.  Unless your metagame is full of Gothitelle and Donphan counters, I think Donphan will be a great play.

Zoroark BW

Basics– Zoroark is a 100 HP Stage 1 Dark Pokemon.  The attack that most stage 1 rush decks use is the “Foul Play” attack.  This attack lets you copy any attack of the defending Pokmeon, and use that attack as Zoroark’s own.  What is great about this is that it sometimes lets you avoid some bad effects of the attack.  Like if you were to copy Reshiram’s “Blue Flare” attack, you would not need to discard the customary 2 fire energies, unless Zoroark has them attached.

What it’s good against– Zoroark is a versatile Pokemon that can be used for many things in many different situations, but it is most frequently used as a Reshiram or Zekrom counter.  Usually this deck has a hard time of doing enough damage to knock out these dragons, but Zoroark can copy either “Blue Flare” or “Bolt Strike” and get a OHKO on them for just a Plus Power and a DCE.

One cool thing that can be done with Zoroark is that if you don’t plan on using him too often, you can put him in the Lost Zone with Mew Prime’s attack, and then have Mew use Zoroark’s attack.  This will cut down on the number of cards you need to dedicate to Zoroark, and will give you more room for other techs.  But this should only be done if you don’t plan on seeing Zekrom or Reshiram too often.

What it’s not so good against– Zoroark is not so good against a lot of things.  It has weakness to Donphan, so it won’t even be put on the bench in a Donphan matchup.  It also is not good against Mew Prime, unless it has the neccessary energy attached it will not be able to copy attacks of any Pokemon in the Lost Zone.

Another weakness of Zoroark is that it takes up a lot of space.  If you want to use Zoroark you need to run a 3-3 line and 4 DCE, that is 10 slots taken up in your deck (unless you already run DCE for something else like Cincinno).

Usefulness– This will be a metagame choice.  If you expect to see a lot of Zekroms or Reshirams, then you need to commit to Zororark.  But if you are able to play without Zoroark, your deck may be better off.  It is still a great Pokemon that is very useful.

Yanmega Prime

Basics– This is the so called best card in the game.  It is a 110 HP stage 1 Grass Pokemon.  It’s “Insight” Poke-Body allows you to not have to pay for the cost of an attack, as long as you have the same hand size as your opponent.  It’s first attack, called  “Linear Attack”, lets you snipe for 40.  While its second second attack, “Sonic Boom”, does 70 damage.  The basics aren’t over whelming, but when combined with cards like Judge, Yanmega becomes a very fast and disruptive card.

What it’s good against– Yanmega is known as a good all around attacker.  It doesn’t really have a speciality but it is basically good at almost everything.

A jack of all trades and a master of none?

Exactly Pedro.  It is good at sniping Pokemon like Oddish and Sunkern, but it is also good against fully evolved Pokemon like Donphan Prime.  I would say most Stage 1 decks should use Yanmega Prime.

What it’s not so good against– The Zekrom matchup is a problem as is the Magnezone matchup.  If it gets hit for weakness it can go down really easy.

It can also struggle against decks that run something like Ninetales, because it would be difficult to match your opponent’s hand size without relying on supporters.

Another strike against Yanmega is that it is very expensive.  Playing Yanmega might be cost prohibitive to some people, so they may not play it because they cannot get their hands on one.

Are you using the phrase “cost prohibitive” correctly?

I don’t know

Usefulness– Yanmega is very useful in every Stage 1 Deck.  It is nice to have a 3-3 line in every deck, it is a card that has the versatility to win almost every matchup and is a great partner to Donphan Prime.

Cincinno BW

Basics– Cincinno is a stage 1 Pokemon with 90 HP.  It’s attack “Do the Wave” does 20 damage for every Pokemon you have on your bench for just one DCE.  This means that you should be able to do 100 damage for just 1 or 2 energies.  And doing triple digit damage very quickly is what Stage 1 decks are all about.

What it’s good against– Like Yanmega Prime it also is a jack of all trades.  It doesn’t really have one use,but it is good against a lot of different things.  It should be able to knock out anything if it first got a “Linear Attack” from a Yanmega Prime.

It is especially good if your opponet is trying to get damage counters on Zekrom so that they can knock out Yanmega Prime.  You can just pull up the Zekrom that has 3 damage counters on it with Pokemon Catcher, and then knock it out with “Do the Wave”.

It is also a good Yanmega Prime counter.  All it needs to do to knock out Yanmega Prime is one Plus Power.  Although it doesn’t really have a speciality, it just a good, fast, and consistent attacker.

What it’s not so good against– The main weakness here is Donphan Prime, which can OHKO it for just 1 energy.  If you see your opponent playing Donphan, don’t put a Mincinno down because it will just get knocked out.

Cincinno is also not that great against Reshiboar.  Since Emboar doesn’t place any damage counters, it will be hard to get to the magic number of 130.  If your opponent is playing Typholosion instead, it mgiht get a little easier but not with Emboar.  In fact, Cincinno does struggle a little against the big tanks.

Usefulness–  All in all Cincinno is very useful.  It is a very versatile card that can do a lot of things.  It can knock out most Pokemon with the help of Plus Powers, and is very fast and easy to get out.  It would be a good addition to most stage 1 decks.

Tornadus EP 

Basics– Torandus is a 110 HP basic Pokemon.

Hey wait, this is supposed to be an article about Stage 1 Rush.  How come you are putting basic Pokemon here.

Well, while I won’t speak to how certain variations change a deck, I think you are taking the Stage 1 thing too literally.   “Hot Pockets” aren’t actually warm pouches off fabric are they?   No they are a bunch of crap rolled into some stale bread.  What I am trying to say is that the name “Stage 1 Rush” does not define the deck, but it describes it.  And there are still some Stage 1’s in those decks.

Kind of like how there is still like 1 music video a day on MTV, so they can still call themselves Music Television?

Exactly…..kind of.  Anyway, who cares let’s talk about the attacks of Tornadus.  The one that makes a difference is the second one, called “Hurricane”.  This attack does 80 damage for CCC.  The effect of this attack moves a basic energy from Tornadus, if there is one.

What it’s good against– Although Tornadus can be used to attack other things, Tornadus is included to almost exclusivley counter Donphan.  Since Donphan Prime runs over Cincinno, Zoroark, and Mew Prime; you need something to counter it.  Tornadus has a fighting resistance, so Donphan Prime can only hit it for 40 damage.  That means Torandus can do 60 damage to Donphan, and 2HKO it without being knocked out itself.

Although Tornadus is not a perfect counter to Donphan, it’s a lot better than not having a counter at all.

What it’s not so good against– If you don’t expect to see a lot of Donphan at your tournament, than don’t ever run Tornadus.  Sure Tornadus isn’t bad against other things, but it is basically just a Donphan counter.  If Donphan is not big in your area than there are other good things to run.

Usefulness–  Yes it is not the best card overall, but if you expect to see Donphan Prime, Tornadus is your only shot.

Mew Prime 

Basics– Mew Prime is a basic Psychic Pokemon with 60 HP.  It’s “Lost Link” Poke-body lets you use any attack of any Pokemon in either Lost Zone.  Its one attack, “See Off””, lets you search your deck for a Pokemon and put it into the Lost Zone.  In the context of this article, Mew will be used only as a way to use Jumpluff’s “Mass Attack” or Cincinno’s “Do the Wave.”

What it’s good against–  Although you can use Mew against other things like Mew Lock, by far the most popular use would be to counter Gothitelle.  No Pokemon that is used in Stage 1 Rush stands a chance against Gothitelle.  No other Pokemon can hit it for weakness, or hit it for 130 damage.  So the idea is to attack with Mew Prime, who can hit Gothitelle for weakness.  You either see off an attacker, like Cincinno, or you “See Off” a special tech like Jumpluff.  That way you will be able to knock out a Gothitelle.

What it’s not so good against– Well, the only reason that you would play Mew is so that you will have a chance against Gothitelle.  So if you don’t plan to see Gothitelle, you do not need to add Mew.  However, if you don’t play Mew, you will be almost auto-loss to Gothitelle.

One bad thing about Mew is that it will take at least 3 (probably more like 5) or so spots in your deck.  So if you do play Mew your consistency will suffer, and it could all be for not if you don’t play any Gothitelle.

Usefulness– Well it is not a very versatile choice for this deck, but it is a great counter.  If you think you will play Gothitelle, you almost have to run Mew.  However, if you don’t think you will see Gothitelle, your deck will be better for it.

So what’s the play?

That is the question.  Stage 1 Rush has proved to be nothing more than a fancy tool box.  This deck is good because it is a direct counter to a lot of decks out there.  There are a lot of options to choose from, so how does one choose from all these great options?  Well, your metagame will be the biggest determining factor.  If you expect to see Donphan and Gothitelle you will build your deck one way, but if you expect to see Magnezone and Reshiram you will build your deck another way.

The important thing to do is to scout out your metagame.  Of course there will be all kinds of different decks at a tournament, it is important to know what is most popular and what the best players in your area are playing.  If you have a decent idea about what people are playing, you will be better equipped to change your deck to counter the other decks.

The important cards to keep in your mind are Yanmega Prime, Donphan Prime, and Cincinno.  They are just overall good cards and would be great in any deck you play.  No they do not need to be in every Stage 1 Rush Deck, but should always be kept in mind.

Pikkdog’s Current List

I am only providing this list as something to test with.  Again, this list is not very good and is not tournament worthy, I just want to give you guys an example of what I am talking about.  I did throw this together about a week ago to test against, and didn’t really fix it that much.  So it still needs work, but this is an example of what a basic deck might look like.  This particular deck is teched out for a Donphan and Gothitelle heavy format.

Pokemon-18

  • 3-Mincinno EP- the best Mincinno, but if you have to use BW it’s okay.
  • 3-Cincinno BW
  • 3-Yanma
  • 3-Yanmega Prime
  • 2-Mew Prime
  • 1-Zoroark BW-in this build it is only used to be “See’ed Off”
  • 2-Tornadus
  • 1-Cleffa Cl

Trainers-30

  • 1-Revive
  • 4-Pokemon Catcher
  • 4-Junk Arm
  • 4-Pokemon Communication
  • 4-Pokemon Collector
  • 1-Professor Elm’s Training Method
  • 2-Copy Cat
  • 4-Judge
  • 4-Professor Juniper
  • 2-Plus Power

Energy-12

  • 4-Psychic Energy
  • 4-Rescue Energy
  • 4-Double Colorless Energy

The Big Ending

Well, the title for this section sure sets up some unrealistic expectaitons.  There will be an ending, but it probably won’t be big.  So, what will our ending be tonight Pedro?

Well, tonight we will end by looking at a picture of Launchpad McQuack from Duck Tales.

Why would we do that?  That is really random and has nothing to do with Pokemon.

You mean it won’t help anybody become a better player.

Yeah.

Well then it will fit in with the rest of this article then.

Well I can’t argue with that.  Show the picture.

Tourney Report

Battle Roads Report and Deck Analysis: Donphan and Dragons

Pikkdogs 9 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a battle roads report and a deck analysis of the Donphan and Dragons deck.  I also have my inter dimensional sidekick Pedro with me.  Pedro, would you be kind enough to tell all the kids out there how I chose the Donphan and Dragons deck for this battle roads.

Sure, well if you read Pikkdog’s article about a week ago, first we apologize, and second you would know that all of the Michigan and Indiana players got together and kicked his a-

Hey, you can’t say that word here.

I was going to say Acidophilus.

They, kicked my Acidophilus?

Yeah, it’s a bacteria, Ed can’t yell at us for saying the name of a bacteria.

I suppose he can’t, go on.

As I was saying, at your last two Battle Roads you got your Acidophilus kicked around, so you decided to change decks.  And I think you chose Donphan and Dragons because it is a very simple deck, and it takes a real imbecile to screw it up.  All ya gotta do is set up 1 thing, nothing should go wrong.

The Deck

Okay, I get it Pedro.  Maybe I’m not a fan of complicated decks.  I did get tired of losing with my Mew deck, so I decided to use Donphan and Dragons instead.  As you said it is a simple deck.  All you gotta do is set up an active Donphan Prime.  For one energy, “Earthquake” does 60 damage and puts 1 damage counter on each of your benched Pokemon.  So you put up a bunch of Zekrom’s and Reshiram’s on the bench and absorb all of those damage counters.  When needed you can bring up one of the dragons and use “Outrage”.  This attack does 20 damage plus 10 for every damage counter on Reshiram or Zekrom, so that means Donphan’s attack will power Reshiram and Zekrom’s attacks.  The emphasis will be on Zekrom because both Yanmega Prime (the most popular Pokemon in the format) and Tornadus (the most popular Donphan counter this week) are both weak to lightning.

The matchups for this deck are pretty good.  Donphan is very good against Pokemon like Cincinno, Zekrom, and Magnezone.  When you play against a bad matchup like Yanmega Prime or Torandus, you can just use Zekrom.  The only thing that this deck doesn’t like is Beartic, and nobody plays Beartic.  Gothitelle is not a very good matchup, unless you decide to run Mew Primes and a Jumpluff.  Reshiboar and Reshiphlosion are decent matchups, if you get a good start you should be able to win, but the matchup is just about even. 

As you can probably tell because Donphan and the dragons only take about 25 spots in your deck including the energies, there is a lot of room for techs.  A lot of your 35 other spots will be dedicated to cards that improve consistency, there is room for techs against certain decks.  My friend Bohdan, who inspired me to write this article, techs in 2 Mew Primes and a Jumpluff to go against Gothitelle.  I like the card Lost Remover because it is a very disruptive card that can be used again with Junk Arm.  Max Potion is also a great tech to use in a Donphan deck, an easy way to heal a Donphan Prime is a no brainer.

A no brainer that reminds me of someone.

Are you gonna make fun of me again Pedro.

No, I would never do that. I wasn’t thinking of you, ………………………….  I was thinking of ………………………… Tom Bosley.

The guy from Happy Days, why are you making fun of him?

Not a fan man, not a fan.

Well I love Tom Bosley, and we must finish the article. Lets go on to the list that I used for the tournament. 

The List

Well I was not able to spend half as much time testing this deck as I would have liked to, so I must say that my list is not very good.  However, this list can be a good starting point if you guys wanna start testing with this deck.  It is a very good deck now, and once Kyurem comes into the format the deck will be much better.

Pokemon-12

  • 4 Phanpy HGSS (I kind of like the CL one better, but you need every single HP you can get with Pokemon Catcher out there)
  • 4- Donphan Prime (I would stick to a 4-4 line and not go down to 3-3)
  • 3-Zekrom Bw
  • 1-Reshiram Bw

Trainers-37

  • 3-Pokemon Collector
  • 2-Dual Ball
  • 4- Professor Juniper
  • 3-Professor Oak’s New Theory
  • 3-Sage’s Training
  • 1-Cheren
  • 1-Max Potion-awesome card, I wish I would have ran 1 more.
  • 1-Lost Remover
  • 1-Tropical Beach (1/2 playing this card because it does work in this deck, and 1/2 playing it because I spent so much money on it that I need to use it a couple times to justify the purchase) It actually does work in this deck
  • 4-Pokemon Catcher
  • 4-Junk Arm
  • 4-Pokemon Communication
  • 2-Switch
  • 2-Plus Power

Energy-11

  • Double Colorless Energy-4-May sound kind of weird, but it lets you attack with the dragons, and it lets you “Outrage” faster.
  • Rainbow Energy-4- used to put more Damage counters on the dragons.
  • Fighting Energy-5.

The Tournament

So that is what I played going into the tournament, let’s see how it went. 

I bet I can guess that you got enough championship points to fit into a donut hole.

Why are you always so cynical of my performances?

Well if you would ever win something, I might give you an “addaboy.”

It’s sad that I need to seek approval from my own sidekick.  Anyway, today’s tournament was in Tecumseh, Mi.

Is that town named after  the Native American chief who fought against the American’s in the war of 1812?

Either that or the company that sells small engines and air compressors.

Anyway, the tournament was held in Tecumseh.  It is always held at the Masonic Temple there, which is a fairly nice place for a tournament.  I like going to Tecumseh because it is only an hour away, so I don’t have to get up too early.  Anyway, I woke up a little earlier than I wanted to, and ate a little bit of left over pancakes for breakfast before leaving.  As I was driving down there I decided that I was just playing for fun today.  My testing from the previous night didn’t go too well, I couldn’t even beat my own crappy Reshipholsion deck.  So I decided that my goal today was just to get some feedback on my deck and talk to a lot of my friends.

I got to the venue a little later than I wanted, but it all worked out fine.  I said “hi” to all my Team Warp Point buddies and met some new friends from Ann Arbor.  It was great seeing everyone again, I love talking to all my buddies.  Anyway, I filled out a decklist and talked to friends while waiting for the first round tournaments.

Round 1- Mike (from team Bertoli) Donphan Prime, Zoroark, and Tornadus.

The day pretty much started like I thought it would.  I got a decent start with a Donphan Prime and Zekroms, but my opponent just used Pokemon Catcher to bring up the Zekroms and knock them out with Donphan.  Without Zekrom I was unable to counter Tornadus, so the game only lasted about 15 minutes, he had control of the game pretty much the whole time.

0-1. Not very surprising, I only expected a couple wins today, and I didn’t get one here.  The matchup was pretty much auto-loss, but I was distracted by the fact that I was not very hopeful about my record on the day.  I thought my day was over, but I soon found out that the only person that circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills is Pikkdogs.

Round 2- Leavanny/Belossom

This game was against a beginner who had kind of a hodgepodge grass deck.  He started first with Sewaddle and Metapod, I started Phanpy.  I got a turn 2 Donphan Prime and knocked out 3 straight basics for the win.

1-1– After this game I helped the guy improve his deck.  I hope he continues with the game and keeps improving.

Round 3- Reshiboar

I start this game really poorly.  I don’t think I got a turn 2 Donphan, and he was able to get “Blue Flaring” fairly quickly.  But I was able to withstand a couple “Blue Flares”, and I twice used Pokemon Catcher to bring up the Emboar.  By this time I was down 2-3 prizes and was feeling pretty defeated.  I did have his Emboar stuck for a couple turns and thought I might be able to deck him out.  He was using 2 “Roast Reveal”s per turn, and usually used a Cheren.  So that meant he was drawing 10 cards a turn!  But once he noticed I was waiting for him to deckout so he used a PONT and started passing.  So I ended up knocking out the Emboar with Donphan Prime and knocked out every Tepig that he tried to lay down on the field.  I also knocked out a Cleffa to bring me pretty much even in prizes.  At this point he started to rely on a Bad Boar that he setup early in the game, and he was able to get a couple knock outs with it.  However he was not able to get enough fire energies to use Bad Boar again.

2-1-I was somehow able to pull off another victory.  I should have never won this game, I just somehow was able to throw a Hail Mary pass, and it was answered.  I was really lucky here

Round 4- Cincinno/Zoroark (maybe Tornadus)

This round was against another Team Warp Point friend.  I started with a Zekrom and he started with something like Hoot Hoot.  He started first and used a Pokemon Collector.  Since I started with Zekrom he thought I was playing ZPS, so he got 2 Zorua’s and another Hoot Hoot.  The problem was that I was not playing Zekrom and he took 3 Pokemon that are not good against Donphan Prime.  I took advantage of his misplay and used Pokemon Catcher to knock out some Cincinno’s and the Zorua’s.  He could never really recover from the misplay and I ended up winning fairly easily.

3-1-Feeling pretty good here.  I did a lot better so far than I ever thought I would.  I thought I would win a couple games here and there, but I thought that my list just wasn’t tight enough.  But, so far I was doing pretty well, I knew that the rest of the day would be much harder so I was not very optimistic.

Round 5- Jack Iller with Stage 1 Rush

Today was the first time I actually got to talk with Jack, he seems like a really nice guy.  He is also a really good player, he is always one of the top cut players in Tecumseh.  As we were shuffling I looked at some of my buddies who were also playing at the same table with 3-1 records and told them that we each control our own destiny, we just needed to win out.  Now I am not sure exactly what happened early in this matchup, but I know it was not good.  I don’t think I could get a Donphan out fast and started attacking with Zekrom. I actually used Tropical Beach early in the game because I couldn’t attack that much.   I think he was able to get a couple knock outs with Yanmega and then was able to use Cincinno to finish up a Zekrom.  I finally got a Donphan out and started to take care of some Cincinnos. All of a sudden the Donphans were knocking out everything in sight, and got me back in the game.  I was able to use a Zekrom to knock out the Yanmega’s when I needed it.  Somehow I was able to come back and win this game.  It was really thrilling to come back from so many prizes to a great player.

4-1– So on a day that I thought I was just going to get some good testing done for the next tournament, I end up making it to the last round with a chance to make top cut.  All I need is one more win, and I get a championship point and prove Pedro wrong.

Round 6-Tracey with Reshiphlosion.

I’ve seen this show before, I have a good day and Tracey comes along and gives me my final loss.  If you guys don’t know Tracey is probably the most accomplished female who ever played the game.  And in my opinion she probably still is the best player in the state.  She was a long time SP user and has always done very well.  I think I might have beaten her 1 time before in a best of three game, but she ended up winning the 2 other games.  So I never really have beaten her before, she is just that good.  So on to our game here.

She starts with a Cyndaquil and “Beat”s my Phanpy.  I end up getting a Donphan Prime the next turn but she gets a Reshiram on her next turn and is able to “Blue Flare” for the knockout.  I then get another Donphan Prime and Catcher up the Typhlosion twice, and eventually knock it out.  It was here that Max Potion came in very handy.  I was able to use it twice to keep Donphan alive.  After the Typhlosion goes down Tracey ends up getting 1 more.  There was one time where I loaded up Zekrom with Rainbow Energies and tried to use “Bolt Strike”, but Zekrom was catchered and knocked out before I could attack.  I used Catcher again to knock out the Typhlosion, and her hands were tied.

Ohhh kinky.

Stop it Pedro! that’s my friend, don’t say things like that.  Well I won’t be expecting a Christmas card from her, but lets get back to the report.

She was able to “Outrage” a couple of times, but she was not able to take the last two prizes.  I was able to win on turn 3.

5-1–  Forget the Buffalo Bills, nobody circles the wagons like Pikkdogs.  I finally beat my friend Tracey and am able to make Top Cut.

How the heck did you top cut, and how did you beat all those good players?

I think its the power of negative thinking.  As long as I think I’m going to lose I can somehow come back and win.

Top Four-Dan with ZPS

Dan is a great guy that I have played in a couple of great matches in the past.  Most notably we played a great game at Indiana states last year.  I played Uxie donk and he played Machamp.  We ended up going back and forth a lot of times and he was somehow able to pull it off.  He ends up coming into this matchup undefeated.

I start with a Phanpy and he starts first with a Zekrom.  He ends up finding a Pachirisu and 2 Plus Powers, the problem was he had accidentally Junk Armed one of his electric energies and did not have the energy to Pachirsu donk me.  The trouble was that next turn I still had only 1 Pokemon active.  All Dan needed to do was use a Super Scoop Up to get the energies from Zekrom and then use them on Pachirisu, but he ended up flipping tails.  He then  Junk Armed and flipped tails again.  After this string of really bad luck I end up setting up Donphans and use them to knock out the Zekroms.  If he tried to use Tornadus, I would just “Outrage” with Zekrom and knock them out.  I end up winning a close 1st game.

In the second game Dan again whiffs on a Donk, and I am pretty much able to control the field.  I then go on to wait for the winner of the other game.  That game featured my buddy Matt Kish versus Mike, the guy who beat me in the 1st round.  Unfortunately for the me and Matt Mike ends up winning fairly easily.  Matt was playing Magnezone and those guys don’t do well against Donphan.

6-1-Very happy with what I got out of today.  I did not expect to do this well, and I ended up making it to the finals.  I knew that if I were to win I would need to do something weird like donk a Phanpy two times.

Top 2- versus Mike with Donphan/Zoroark/Tornadus

Game one was actually a lot closer than I thought it would be.  I use Donphan Prime and Max Potion to knock out some Tornaduses (Tornadi?), and am able to get a wash on the Donphan war.  We end up spending about 35 minutes on this game and I scoop when we are tied on prizes at 3-3.  I scooped because my deck was just about empty, so I would have decked out before anybody could have won.  In game 2 I play through a couple turns and find out that I could not get the easy win.  So I end up throwing my hand on the table and congratulating him on the extra championship point.

6-2– Overall very happy with what happened on this day.  I haven’t gotten into a championship game since Cities last year, so it is a rare treat to be invited to play for so long.  Both Mike and Dan are really great guys, so it was a treat to play with them, as it was top play all my opponents.  A really big thanks to my buddy Bohdan for convincing me to play this deck.  He also gave me a lot of tips during the week, so thanks for everything Bohdan, this ones for you!

I had a tough time going home.  I had a headache after the tournament, and that made the drive very uncomfortable.  I eventually got home and opened my 4 prize packs, and ended up pulling squadoosh.  Man I can’t seem to pull anything from EP packs.  In fact I didn’t just get squadoosh, I got full art squadoosh.

Today I did learn a couple things.  I did learn that this deck is pretty good, and a good play for anyone who likes simple decks.  I also learned that my Tropical Beach, Max Potion, and Lost Remover techs were pretty good.  Lost Remover wasn’t as good as the others, but they were all still good.  You probably need 2 Max Potions in every deck like this, it is that good.  And while not everyone has a Tropical Beach, if you have it and you don’t expect to find Gothitelle, I would play it.  One last thing that I learned is that everyone who said that the winner of the coin flip is the winner of the game is a complete liar.  I only started once all day, and that was the 2nd game of the championship game (so there was not even a coin flip).  Though I did go behind in just about every game (except the Leavanny game) there is still enough time to come back.

But anyway I had a decent day, wouldn’t you say Pedro?  Don’t you have something to say to me?

Well I guess I could say “Addaboy”!

Yay! Thanks Pedro.  Well I’m done here, how do you think we should end this article.

I think we should say thanks to all the Judges.

I agree, thanks Judges!

RenaeCollects

Opening a Terrific Tepig Box!

RenaeCollects 3 Comments

Hello everyone! I realize that I haven’t posted any pack openings here in… well, a very long time. It’s time to change that! It seems as though all of the special boxes featuring 3D jumbo cards of the 5th generation starters have been released early. I was able to find the Terrific Tepig Box, but strangely enough, it appears that they are releasing only one of the 3 different boxes at 3 different stores. From what I understand, Terrific Tepig is at Target, Outstanding Oshawott is at WalMart, and Super Snivy is at Toys ‘R Us. I plan to find them all, but for now, here is my (not so) Terrific Tepig Box Opening!

-Renae

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soRo-IVicd4[/youtube]

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Pikks Three

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Battle Road Edition: Mew Prime, Lost Remover, and Tornadus

Pikkdogs 4 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with his sidekick Pedro, and we are bringing you a Pikk Three article.

Hey Pedro, I couldn’t help but notice that you were absent in my last article.

Yes I was.

The word on the street was that Ed had suspended you for one article, is that true?

Absolutely not.  I was actually traveling in a different dimension that day.

Really, what dimension were you in?

Well, one pretty much similar to this one, except that you were a good Pokemon player.

Okay, let’s just go on to the article.  If you haven’t seen a Pikk Three article before-

count yourself lucky-

As I was saying, if you haven’t seena  Pikk Three article, it is basially a big card of the day article.  It reviews three cards; one card that is popular, one that I feel is under-played. and one that is from a new or un-released set.

Card #1 The Staple-Mew Prime

Description– Mew is a 60 HP Psychic Pokemon with a weakness to Psychic and a free retreat cost.  His Poke Body “Lost Link” lets you use the attacks from any Pokemon in the Lost Zone (either yours or your opponent’s).  He only has one attack, “See Off”, which for one psychic energy lets you put one Pokemon from your deck to your Lost Zone.

Mew has seen some play since its release in Triumphant.  It was first used to assist Gengar Prime in putting Pokemon in the Lost Zone.  However, that deck wasn’t all that good.  Its meager HP prevented it from seeing serious play until this season.  It is now good in a deck that uses Mew and Vileplume to lock your opponent.  It is also the best Gothitelle counter.  You just need to “See Off” something like Cincinno or Jumpluff, and you will be able to OHKO Gothitelle very easily.

Analysis– Well, the 60 HP is never good.  Donphan Prime and Yanmega Prime can easily knock it out.  But, you do have 6 prizes to work with.  If you can lock down an opponent or knock out a very important Pokemon, you will gladly sacrifice one Pokemon.  Another problem with Mew Prime is that if you do not “See Off” early in the game, it can be hard to setup.

The good part about Mew is that he is very versatile.  You can use Mew Prime to trap, mill, Lost Zone, or attack.   The Mew lock deck that is out right now is really good, it may not be the BDIF, but it is awfully good.  Attacking with Mew might take a while, but when you get a good setup you can attack with any Pokemon in the format from a basic Pokemon.

In this Battle Road season you will have to watch out for Mew.  The lock deck will easily beat almost any deck in the format with a little luck.  And even if you don’t play against that deck, you will see Mew in other decks, so you will need to know how Mew is used.

One good way to counter Mew is to play Mew yourself.  If your opponent tries to “See Off” anything, you will be able to use the attack first on your opponent.  You can use Muk’s “Sludge Drag” attack to bring up your opponent’s Vileplume, or you can use Jumpluff’s attack to knock out any active Mew.

Final Rating– 8/10– It is not a perfect card and has a lot of drawbacks, but it is a very useful card in this format.  It also is a very fun card.

Card #2- The Underdog-Lost Remover

Description– Lost Remover is a very simple item card.  It lets you put one special energy card attached to your opponent’s Pokemon, and put it in their Lost Zone.  The card has never really seen that much play.  Last year it did see a little play in a Dialgachomp deck, but it was more of a rogue choice.

Rogue Choice, isn’t that the name of a Bruce Springsteen Album?

I don’t think so. 

Analysis–  I think that Lost Remover is a good card in this format.  Right now almost every deck is playing some kind of Special Energy, mostly either DCE or Rainbow Energy.  Cincinno is the card that has possibly the fastest growing play rate of any card in the format, and Cincinno almost exclusively uses Double Colorless Energy to attack.  There are a lot of other attackers that use DCE like Zoroark, Beartic, and Zekrom/Reshiram.  It can be very disruptive to take away a DCE because it is very hard to get a DCE when you need it.

The major problem with Lost Remover is that it is hard to fit into a decklist.  A lot of Pokemon that use DCE are easy to knock out, so it doesn’t seem right to waste a card on taking out a card that will just get knocked out this turn anyway.  And since it is very hard to get DCE back from the discard pile, putting the card in the discard pile is almost as good as putting it in the Lost Zone.

I do think that this card is as useful as ever and that it could have a great impact on Battle Roads if it gets some play.  One good play is to Lost Remove an active Poekmon’s Special Energy, and then catcher up something on the bench that they were going to use next turn.   This would leave them without an option to attack. 

Final Rating– 7.75/10– This card is really under-played right now and I think it could make a good impact on Battle Roads if it gets some play.

Card #3 The Young Gun-Tornadus

Description– Tornadus is a basic Pokemon with 110 HP, a 1 retreat cost, a weakness to lightning, and a resistance to fighting,  He has two attacks.  The first one, “Energy Wheel”, just lets you move one energy from a benched Pokmeon to Tornadus.  The second attack, “Hurricane”, does 80 damage for CCC, and you move 1 basic energy from Tornadus to a benched Pokemon.

Tornadus is fairly new and has not seen a lot of play so far.  It has mostly seen play in a deck with Zekrom, to be a Donphan counter.  It is also used in the upstart Mew/Cincinno deck, also as a Donpha counter.

Analysis–  I think Tornadus is  fairly cool card.  One way of getting around the
energy moving effect of “Hurricane” is to only attach special energy cards.  If you only have a DCE and a Rescue Energy, there will be no basic energy to move to the bench. 

People mostly talk about it as a Donphan Prime counter.  The rationale is that Donphan Prime can only hit it for 40, while Tornadus can hit it back for 60. 

The problem with that is that a lot of people are playing Zekrom with their Donphan.  So in order to OHKO a Tornadus, all the Donphan player will have to do is to use “Earth Quake” 4 times (or attach Rainbow Energies), and they wll be able to “Outrage” for the needed 120 damage for a knock out. 

Another problem is that if you want to try to knock out Donphan Prime with Tornadus, you will basically need to have only Toranduses in play.  If you have anything else, the Donphan Player will use Pokemon Catcher to bring it active, and by pass the whole Tornadus thing. 

Final Rating–7/10-In some situations Tornadus does work, but I feel that most times Tornadus will not work the way we think it will.  Yes it is still a good card that deserves some play, but I think it has receieved a little too much hype. 

So, Pedro…………That’s all I got for today.  Why don’t you tell the good people how there voice can be heard.

Sure thing.  If you would like to correct all the errors Pikkdogs made, just leave your thoughts about these cards in the comment box. 

So Pedro, how do we normally end things here.

Well, we normally dance to Bruce Springsteen’s song, “Rogue Choice.”

No we never dance here, and that’s not even a song. 

Well, can we show a picture of him dancing?

Sure

Tourney Report

Battle Roads Report/Adventure of Aurasphere87.

Aurasphere87 3 Comments

Hello fellow OHKOers, This is Mark back with my Battle Road report for the opening to our new 2011 – 2012 season! 

Myself, accompanied by a group of friends went to the South Bend and Angola Battle Roads in Indiana. Initially I was gonna back out of going due to monetary issues. However, thanks to my great friends I was able to get things together! On the way there we got hit by traffic from the Michigan State Game and Notre Dame game. We actually got to the tournament 10 minutes late expecting game losses but we luckily got there just in time to register! PHEW!!

I played Stage One Rush, also known as “Mega Dragonzord”, which features Yanmega, Donphan, and Zoroark. I also played 2 Mew Primes as  techs along with 4 Rainbow Energies for the Gothitelle match up.  I had been playing this deck pretty much since Nationals and decided to stick with it due to its great coverage and excellent match ups.

As the tournament started we were informed about the new Championship Point structure and given news that Regional championships would take place twice during the season. For the record I’m very found of the championship point idea. So lets get into it!

SOUTH BEND, IN         Battle Road

Round 1         vs        “Pikkdogs”      with Mew/Vileplume

I wasn’t to enthused about having to play Pikkdogs round 1, let alone at all. As you may have read in his tournament report, we had played the previous weej with the same deck lists, so i knew it would be a great game! Pikkdogs goes first and is able to “See Off” a Muk very early in the game while also getting a turn 2 Vileplume out. I didn’t have an excellent start. With Zekrom on my bench Pikkdogs opted to sludge drag up the Zekrom in order to slow me down. Unfortunately for him i was lucky enough to have 3 DCE in hand to retreat each turn and take early ko’s with Yanmega Prime. I only run 3 DCE and to have the all available so early was pretty amazing. We still had a decent game but i got in front in prizes pretty early and clinched the win.

1-0

Round 2          vs      Tim Luce      with Reshiplosion
Tim is a player i remember from last season, I know he is a good player so i was definitely on the ball in this game. He goes first with a pretty good start. I’m able to “See Off” Jumpluff turn 1, and have a Pokemon Collector which elts me  set up. I just got ahead by Catchering up Cyndaquils for easy k.o.’s and “Mass Attacking” the Reshirams with Plus Powers in order to claim victory.

2-0

Round 3          vs        Bohdan with Donphan/Dragons 

I found myself playing against another friend this round. Ironically, this was the person i rode there with. Bohdan’s Deck was something a lot of people overlooked and i must say it is arguably one of the sturdiest decks in the format. His idea is to lead with Donphan  Prime while accumulating damage on benched Zekrom/Reshiram so they can serve as huge HP support attackers and easily knock out the likes of Yanmega Prime and others. He goes 1st and judges my AMAZING hand. I draw pretty bad and was unable to setup early which is immensely important against his deck. To add insult to injury, my Cleffa was prized, so needless to say this game ended pretty quick. I lost a in a humiliating defeat LOL.

2-1

Round 4       vs Jeff Libersky      with Don-champ with Reshiram

I go 1st FINALLY. We both open with lone Phanpy. I had the Donphan and fighting energy in my opening hand. He was able to get another Phanpy on the bench and avoid the donk. But, Me going first made the difference. I was able to Catcher up the Phanpy with energy and KO it with a Plus Power. He got a Donphan Prime out himself, but i had already set up the bench with Yanmegas. He drew extremely bad as well. So i win this one very easily.

3-1

Round 5    vs    Wes Huener with Kingdra/Zoroark

I go first and knew that getting my Zekrom out early would greatly benefit me, especially if i handled Zoroark with Donphan early. Unfortunately for him i get the “GOD” start and am able to KO 5 or 6 Horsea pretty much back to back. He used Flower Shop Lady for the 5th and 6th Horsea in case you were wondering. He never got a Kingdra up and i took this game 6-0 prizes to place me 2nd overall. Time for top 4!

Top 4 consisted of Bohdan (Donphan/dragons) Myself, Dustin Zimmerman (Stage 1 rush) and Alex Leachman (Reshiphlosion)

Semi Finals    vs  Dustin Zimmerman  With Stage 1 Mirror

Dustin Zimmerman is an extremely cool guy representing team hovercats. We chatted a bit on Facebook. Though we had never seen each other in person or played against each other.

In Game 1 he goes first and has what i would like to described as the “Ultimate God Start”. It was as though he chose his opening hand! He steam rolled through me and i scooped 3 prizes behind to go to game 2.

In game two i chose to go first but had a not so great start. I had to “eek”, and he was able to set up quickly again. The game was extremely close this time, but he pulled it out and advanced to the finals. I was relying on Bohdan to win so i could take the 3rd place victory cup, but, he went on to lose in sudden death of game 3 by whiffing on a fighting energy when he had game. So he gets 3rd, I take fourth and Alex Leachman wins the tournament. It was an amazing run and i had high hopes for day 2!

Intermission: Between days with the boys.

Bohdan and myself had planned to crash in his car over night but we asked Pikkdogs if we could just crash in the hotel and he gladly obliged. We followed them back to the room and just ordered out for pizzas and tested against each other. We all decided to make slight to drastic changes to our list. Mine being only the inclusion of Cheren which was inspired by Dustin Zimmerman. We joked and laughed until falling asleep relatively early around 11:00 pm. We woke up extra early like at 5 am and got breakfast from the hotel. We headed out to Walmart where i wasted 2 dollars in one of those grappling vending machines trying to get a toy Sneasal and Zubat. Joe and Rob (two other Michigna players) bought Bohdan a Poncho and we set off for Angola for Battle Road 2.

ANGOLA, IN          Battle Road

We arrived to discover several fellow Team Warp Point members decided to come out. So i was pretty stoked. The venue was the Pokagon Park/Resort (couldn’t be a better place to have it this tournament). The place was beautiful. Myself and Frank visited the gift shop where we bought 2 plush snakes which were worn like scarfs throughout the entire day! We entered and right off the bat i knew this would be a tougher tournament because of the arrival of all excellent players and other familiar faces that are extremely good. So here we go.

Round 1     vs    Derek Watson   With   Cinccino/Zoroark/Ninetales

This game almost made me lose my mind…. My opponent was just coming back into the game.  However he was still a decent player. I was confident in this match up as well. He went 1st and was able to get a turn 2 Cinccino and Double Colorless Energy. I struggled to get a Phanpy turn 1, and finally did after playing through several cards. Here’s the ridiculous part of this game, My opponent didn’t own any Pokemon Catcher and was using reversal instead. He flipped 4-4 on reversals through out the game, 2 of which were for KO’s on my only Phanpys in the deck. I had got behind 3 prizes and was pretty steamed. However, I started to marched back with foul play KO’s on the Cinccino’s. He was stuck a few turns with Zoroark active as well not being able to foul play for my “Foul Play”. He could of “Foul Played” for “Nasty Plot” but i suppose it didn’t cross his mind. I was able to come back to win somehow in quite possibly the most nail biting match I’d ever had. wow… 

1-o

Round 2    vs    Kyle Brandon (TWP) with Kingdra/Yanmega/Magnezone

Kyle’s a good buddy and teammate so i wasn’t glad about the pairing. I had a great start and he drew dead the entire game… It was very unfortunate, at one point he had 4 Rare Candy, Kingdra and a water energy with no Horsea. I think the deciding play was his decision to allow me to choose what supporter he played turn 1 at random. I chose the left hand and got judge instead of copycat which ultimately was his downfall. He got Magnezone up eventually, but it was already far to late to make a comeback.

2-0

Round 3    vs   Alex Leachman   With  Reshiphlosion

Alex had won the previous days tournament so i was very anxious to see how this turned out. I started first and got to “See Off” Jumpluff and used a Pokemon Collector to set up. I go early KO’s on Cyndaquils with “Mass Attack” and Yanmega Prime. He got 1 Reshiram set up the the whole game which was taken care of with Zoroark. The play that really disgusted him was he had 1 card in hand with an active reshiram that had 2 damage counters on it. I had 5 cards in hand with Yanmega active. I Junk Armed for a catcher and played Copycat to match him with 1 card in hand. With the luckiest top deck of the day i drew a DCE and was able to attach it to a benched Zoroark and then retreat, and blue flare for the KO. It was pretty sick and he couldn’t recover after that. I took the win and told him that i know i got very lucky with that situation and he was cool about it.

3-0

Round 4   vs    James Hall   with Speed Zekrom/Lanturn
As we sit down he tells me that he knows that I played his  auto lose because he knew i had Donphan. I tried to encourage him that anything could happen but it turned brutal. I got Donphan early and just rolled through his deck. 6-0 in prizes. This one ended super fast.

4-0

Round 5    vs    Dustin Zimmerman   with Stage 1 Rush Mirror

After a Crushing defeat at Dustin’s hand the previous day i was determined to pay him back for it….. Long story short he goes first, I start with lone cleffa, he has the Zorua AND DCE and flips heads for the donk. I knew i was in top 4 for sure but was pretty mad about getting donked. To add insult to injury, he had donked Jack Iler  the previous game in the exact same way. So i end the Swiss Rounds in 2nd place for the second day in a row. On to top cut.

Top cut consisted of myself and Dustin for two days in a row. Nikolas Campbell with Cinccino/Yanmega and Justin Young with Yanmega/Magnezone also joined us.

Semi Finals    Vs   Nikolas Campbell  With  Yanmega/Cinccino

Another long story short, I had a not so good start game 1. He goes first and had an  amazing start, I had to “eek” and Cleffa stayed asleep for about 4 turns.  He set up and we exchanged prizes, but his headstart was too big, so i lost. In game 2 I get an amazing start and chose to go first. He also sets up and we exchange prizes the entire game, but i just couldn’t get ahead in prizes and lose with 1 prize remaining.

I’m pretty bummed for taking 4th two days in a row and missing out on a victory cup(Poke ball), but I’m very proud for playing my heart out and top cutting both days!! I found myself relying on Dustin to win his game so i could place 3rd, but he ALSO whiffed for the win and lost in game 3 against Justin Young. Overall i had a blast and can’t wait to see how well I do in up coming events. I also want to give a shout out to my Broski and fellow team mate Evan Baker for winning a Battle Road that he attended elsewhere. I also commend my team for they’re hard work and effort both days. I don’t think i have ever typed this much haha but i hope you enjoyed this report and Good luck to everyone at upcoming events.

PEACE




 

Tourney Report

Pikkdogs Battle Roads Report- The Super Indiana Weekend

Pikkdogs 12 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs here with a 2 pack of Battle Roads Reports.

As you probably all know this past weekend was the first weekend of fall Battle Roads, hence the first weekend of the new tournament season.  Unfortunately there were no tournaments in my home state of Michigan, so I had to travel to Indiana to hit them up.  There were 2, one in South Bend and one in Angola.  Fortunately. the Michigan player base is full of a lot of cool and nice people who were willing to do the traveling with me.  So Saturday morning I got up early and traveled to South Bend, In with friends Joe, Rob, and Frank.  We also met our  buddies Bohdan and Mark at the tournament, and we all stayed the night on Saturday so we would be at a good spot to hit the BR on the next day.

So our crew was able to make it to South Bend with no trouble, we were able to use back roads to sneak around the game day traffic (our tournament organizer likes to schedule our tournaments right next to large college football games).  I had never been to South Bend before so I was pleasantly surprised by the town.  I thought it would have been a bigger place, but it was fairly small.  We played the tournament at a card shop there, and that place was fairly cool as well.

I had decided to play my Mewlock deck this weekend.  I will not post the list because it is basically the same list that I posted in a previous article.  The only change was the inclusion of Basculin, and I also added a Spinorak from HGSS to the list for Sunday’s tournament. Read More

Deck Workshop

Deck Workshop: Bear Hug: Beartic, Ursaring, and Vileplume

Pikkdogs 11 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs and his sidekick Pedro here with a deck analysis for you.

Before we get to the article, Pedro, I have some news for you.

Some news.  Hmmmm…… is it good news, like…….are you quitting writing?

No I’m not quitting, but it is good news.   The man, Ed, and I call him the man not because he is especially masculine but because he is the authority figure of which he can rebel against, has told us that we can start using more adult humor.

So we are no longer bound  by the rules of the PG rating?

Exactly.

So we can say naughty things……… like dry hump?

Well yes i suppose so.

Dry hump, dry hump.

Well, Pedro.  Just because we can say dry hump, does not mean we should just say it.  It should make sense, you know so it’s comedy.

Comedy, when did we start that?

Well Pedro-

Urethra.

Hey you interrupted me with another dirty word that doesn’t even make sense.  In fact Urethra isn’t even a dirty word, its a part of the human anatomy.

Like coccyx? 

Coccyx is not a dirty word, it’s another word for your tail bone.  Though it is fun to say.  Well this conversation is going no where,  lets just go on to the article.

Uranus

Again, not a dirty word, just a planet, try again.  Wait, don’t try again, just let me talk about the article.

The deck we will be talking about today features Beartic.  While I have not used this deck very much, I thought I should talk about it because everybody is talking about Beartic, but nobody is talking about a list.

So you thought you would screw people up by talking about your stupid version of the deck?

Well I guess you could say it that way.  As I was trying to say, I will talk about the deck and then hopefully people will talk about their own Beartic decks in the comment box at the end of the article.  Hopefully at the end we can get to a Beartic list that is kind of playable.  But, before we get there, lets talk about Beartic and how my Bear Hug deck works.

The Bears

There are two bears in this deck, one of these is Beartic from Emerging Powers.  Let’s talk a little about the basic stats of Beartic.  It is a 130 HP stage 1 Water (Ice) Pokemon.  It has a 3 retreat cost and a weakness to metal.  It has two attacks.  The first attack, “Sheer Cold” is the one that everyone is talking about.  It lets you do 50 damage for WCC, and prevents the defending Pokemon from attacking next turn.  It’s second attack, “Icy Wind” costs WWCC and does 80 damage.

As you can tell, the second attack is nice, but nothing to exciting.  The first attack is what all the fuss is about.  The ability to hit for 50 damage and prevent the defending Pokemon from attacking next turn is great.  The problem is that it is not impossible to switch your active Pokemon with a benched one.  You can just retreat, or you can use a card like Switch. 

If you use Vileplume, you will be able to stop the use of Switch, meaning the only way they can escape from a “Sheer Cold” lock would be to get knocked out or to retreat.  Now there are some good free retreaters like the prime versions of Mew and Yanmega.  But, there are also Pokemon like Donphan Prime that have high retreat cost.  So Beartic will stop a lot of the Pokemon in the format but it will not stop all, so what can we do if we run into Yanmega?

I don’t care, but I have a feeling you are going to tell us.  Also, can I add just one more thing…. Dry Hump.

Just ignore him, he got a little excited when he learned that he can say dirty words.

I was going to say that a good pair for Beartic would be another Bear Pokemon, Ursraing Prime.  It can hit for 120 damage, and Teddiursa can provide an Item Lock until Vileplume gets setup.  Although there is an Item Lock in this evolution line, the main reason to use this Pokemon is because Ursaring Prime can do some damage.

Ursaring has very meager stats, compared to that of Beartic.  He only has 110 HP, and has a fighting weakness.  What is good about Ursaring, however, is that he has the “Berserk” Poke-Body.  It lets him do 60 more damage on each of his attacks if he has a damage counter on him.  His first attack, “Hammer Arm”, does a base damage of 30 damage for CCC, and lets you mill one card from your opponent’s deck.  It’s second attack, “Megaton Lariat,” does 60 damage for CCCC.

I also mentioned that Teddiursa wasn’t a terrible Pokemon.  He does only have 50 HP, but in this format that is not really that donkable.  The good thing about Teddiursa is that it has the “Fake Tears” attack.  This attack lets you flip a coin, and if heads  you can prevent your opponent from using items next turn and prevent 30 damage from any damage done to Teddirua next turn.

These Pokemon work together by each using Double Colorless Energy.  They also work well in regards to weaknesses.  Ursaring is weak to Donphan Prime, but Donphan Prime is weak to Beartic.  So even though these Pokemon may seem a little clunky, they do have some basic things in common.  If we ever do get this deck in working order, I am not sure that we will want to keep Ursaring, but it seems like a good idea to start with him.

How to Set it Up.

This deck is a little bit clunky right now, and does not have a typical setup, but the number 1 thing you should think about when setting up this deck is to lock trainers.  Make sure to have an active Teddiursa (and hope you flip heads) and at least 2 Oddishes on the bench with a way to get a Vileplume in a turn or two.  Next you can think about a main attacker.  You will probably want to start with Beartic.  This means getting  a water energy and a DCE on Beartic.  The hardest thing is consistently finding a DCE.  You might want to play Twins in your deck to setup faster after you lose a Teddiursa.

The List.

As mentioned before this list is very early in testing. 

Pokemon-20

  • 3-Beartic #30 EP
  • 3-Cubchoo #28 EP
  • 4-Teddiursa Cl
  • 3-Ursaring Prime
  • 1-Cleffa
  • 3-Oddish
  • 1-Gloom
  • 2-Vileplume

Trainers-26

  • 4-Juniper
  • 4-Pokemon Collector
  • 3-Elms
  • 4-Twins
  • 3-PONT
  • 1- Flower Shop Lady
  • 3-Pokemon Communication
  • 4-Rare Candy

Energy-14

  • 4-DCE
  • 4-Rainbow Energy- For getting damage counters on Ursraing
  • 6-Water

You know what Pikkdogs-

Do you have another comment about boobies or Uranaus?

Well now that you mentioned it, coccyx.  But, I was going to say that this deck is kinda sucky, it looks a little too slow.

I am afraid of that too.  How would you fix it?

How would I know, I’m a freaking extra dimensional being, how would I know how to fix a deck?   Why don’t you ask the people who read the site to give feedback on the deck, to see if we can get a decent Beartic list?

The Future of the Deck

As you can see, my list is not all that tested, or all that good.  Hopefully you guys can leave comments on this article, to try to improve the list.  There has been talk about Bearitc, but nothing in the way of a workable list.  Maybe we can change that.

Is Ursaring the right play here?  Or should something more orthodox to be used instead?  Is there just not enough DCE to spare?  Or can the two bears co-exsist?  So please leave your thoughts in the comment box so we can try to fix this list up and get a good Beartic list out there.

So Pedro, how do we normally end articles….. So Long and Thanks for all the fish!

Haha I remembered how we normally end articles here and I said it before you could think of something silly like the Teletubbies thing you did last time.

Ahhhhh stick it in your Coccyx.

Revisions to the Deck

As people have commented, I can change the decklist around.  It does seem clear that Reuniclus could be better than Ursaring in this deck.  It does leave the deck with less trainer deck and less heavy hitters.  But, it does make the deck more consistent.  Here are some changes.

Subtractions

-4 Teddirursa

-3 Ursaring Prime

-4 Rainbow Energy

Additions

+3 Solosis

+1 Duosion

+2 Reuniclus

+1 Chansey

+1 Blissey

+3 Water Energy

Card Discussion

Techs That You Will See at Fall Battle Roads 2011

Pikkdogs 5 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs and his sidekick Pedro here with a strategy article of sorts.

Before we get into the article I would like to thank my buddy Mark for writing the last article on the website, the one about Lilligant.  I hope this begins a long friendship with Mark and ONEHITKO.com.  Oh, before we get off the subject, I got a story for you, Pedro, you’ll like this one.

I doubt it, but go ahead.

Well when Mark and I were talking about the article, he hinted that we might not want to publish the article.  As if we had some kind of quality control or something.

Yeah that is funny.  You gotta have quality before you have quality control.

Haha, Like we have an Editor or something.  We just drive around down-town Detroit and ask the homeless to write articles for us in exchange for the promise of chicken.  But there’s never any chicken.  We publish whatever they give us, and hope it makes sense. 

Of course we do.  And nope, there’s never any chicken.  But, if you wanna check out Mark’s article, click here.  And thanks again Mark, we’re happy to have you around.

When talking about decks this year, the big word to use is variant.  With few exceptions (Reshiphlosion, mainly), most decks have a lot of room to be used to cater to your own play-style and your local metagame.  No two Stage 1 Rush, Gothitelle, or Mew deck is the same because there is a lot of room to work with.  Adding different cards makes the deck your own, and can give you an advantage in a Battle Road.  Picking the right tech is every important.  While it is impossible to talk about every tech that is out there right now, Pedro and I will do our best to talk about the most important techs out there.

Actually you will do that, and probably fail.  While I will stand back and make fun of you.

Isn’t that what I said?  Anyway, let’s go and talk about techs.

Starting Pokemon (Cleffa, Pichu, Manaphy, etc …)

The first techs we will look at are Pokemon that are usually looked upon as starters.  A lot of decks run Cleffa as a starter, but if you have another starter or usually don’t need a starter, you could think of Cleffa as a tech in your deck for  a better start or for hand refreshing to improve consistency.

Used For– I kind of already wrote about what it’s used for.

Yeah, good job ya jerk.  

Thanks, Pedro.  Anyway, you could use a starter like Cleffa as a tech to improve consistency or for a “just in case” card.  If your deck is behaving normally and you draw into a Juniper, you might think that everything is fine.  But if you get a really weird draw on your Juniper, you might need a starter like Cleffa to come in mid-game to help you recover from that weird draw you just got.  Cleffa, Pichu, and Manaphy are good early game and mid game to improve consistency.  If your deck does not already use a starter like this, you might want to consider teching in one just in case.

Used In– Decks like Mew that already have a different starter, or your deck that usually doesn’t use a starter.

Why it may be a good choice– It could be a good choice to run 1 of a starter just so you do not get screwed on the off chance that you get a weird draw.  Also, it is always good to have at least 1 Pokemon with free retreat.  It is also not a big investment, taking only 1 card slot in your 60 card deck is not a bad trade off for consistency.

Why there may be better choices–  I usually play Battle Roads in a “balls to the walls” manner.  I like to play risky decks and then go to a lot of tournaments and hope I get really lucky at one and win it all.  Having more consistency is really important in a 9 round tournament like Nationals, but it may not be that important for a 4-5 round tournament like Battle Roads.

Tropical Beach

After Worlds everyone was talking about the promo card that was given away.  Tropical Beach is a stadium card that lets you draw until you have 7 cards in your hand, and then your turn is over.  The down side is your opponent can use it too.

Used For– Again, we have another consistency or setup card.  Tropical Beach is a card that is mostly used to  help you improve consistency.  Since there is not a lot of draw power in the format, draw power, even if it is from a stadium, is valued.  There are times when you run out of options mid game, and would gladly sacrifice an attacker for some draw power.

Used In– Could fit in all decks, but has mostly been talked about in Ross Dot Deck and Gothitelle.

Why it may be a good choice– A Bianca like card that nets you one extra card  and is always in play is always nice.  It improves consistency a lot.

Why there may be better choices– Tropical Beach is very expensive.  If you are lucky you can get one for 50 bucks, but that still is out of the price range for a lot of players.  Another strike against this card is that your opponent can also use it.  Meaning that you could play a card that will help your opponent more than it will help you, which is never good.  The final downside about Tropical Beach is that it is not searchable.  This means that if you really want to use Tropical Beach and it is not in play, then you are out of luck.  You will have to draw into it to use it.

Basculin Emerging Powers #24

Wait do you hear something Pedro

Ahhh I get it.  Are you talking about the sound of my heart beat running away, beating like a drum and its coming your way, can’t your hear that boom badoom boom badoom, bass, he is that super Bass(culin)

Quick thinking Pedro.

Used For– Basculin is a Donphan destroyer.  He has the “Flail” attack which lets you do 10 times the number of damage counters on Basculin.  If you have a Vileplume on the bench it will be very hard for your opponent to get Donphan out of the active spot, and if you have Basculin active that has taken an “Earthquake” last turn, you will be able to OHKO Donphan. There is no way for the Donphan player to get out of this situation, if they would attack Basculin they know they would get knocked out last turn.  But if they do not attack the game would end, and if they have not taken more prize cards than you, they will lose.

Used In– Mewlock

Why it may be a good choice– Very good Donphan counter in a deck with Vileplume.

Why there may be better choices–  There are a lot of other ways to deal with Donphan Prime that do not involve Basculin.  Like just using the Yanmega to snipe around Donphan, and then use Ambipom or Smoochum to move the energy off of Donphan.  And if the Donphan player is winning, that super bass will be of no help because the opponent will just pass until either the game is over or your break your Basculin lock. 

Mew Prime

Used For– Mew Prime is a very versatile tech.  It can help in a lot of different matchups.  It can be used to counter Gothitelle, or to counter other Mew decks.  If you “See Off” your main attacker to the Lost Zone, you can then Mew next turn to attack Gothitelle for weakness.  You could also use Mew to use the Mew player’s Muk, and then use “Sludge Drag” to bring up their Vileplume so you can knock it out next turn.

Used In– Almost any deck.

Why it may be a good choice–  If you have a lot of item locking decks in your metagame, I think you should give Mew and Rainbow energies a very good look.

Why there may be better choices–  If item lock is not prevalent in your area, Mew is probably not needed.  You also don’t need it if you already have an answer to the trainer lock decks.

Solrock and Lunatone

Used For– Solrock and Lunatone are tech cards that are used to counter Gothitelle and Ross Dot Deck decks.  Both Gothitelle and Ross Dot Deck decks like to pile up damage counters and then heal them with cards like Blissey Prime and Max Potion.  Solrock has a Poke-Body that does not allow healing, so Solrock can be used to cunter these decks.  If these decks are allowed to pile up damage and then heal, you will never be able to pile up enough damage.  If Solrock and Luntone are in play, the damage counters will pile up fast.

Used In– A meta game that is heavy with item lock.

Why it may be a good choice– It only takes up 2 deck spaces and really gives you an advantage against Gothitelle.

Why there may be better choices–  A lot of decks take up most of their bench spaces already, so using 2 more spaces is not feasable in some decks.

Ditto Triumphant 

Used For–  As mentioned earlier, bench spaces are at a premium in this format.  A lot of decks use bench sitters like Vileplume and Reuniclus, and can clog up their bench really fast.  If you play Ditto down your opponent will have to discard one of their Pokemon, if they have 5 on the bench.  They will also not be able to play another one down until Ditto is taken out of play.  This can be a very disruptive card, especially when people tend to put a lot of extra basics on the bench to make up for the Pokemon Catcher threat.

Used In– Can be used in any deck.

Why it may be a good choice– It is a  very versatile tech that can be very disruptive against a lot of decks.

Why there may be better choices–  You never know when Ditto will be needed, so it is hard to recommend using it.  Also, the meager 40 HP is sniping bait for Yanmega Prime.

Tornadus  

Used For– It is a Donphan Counter.  It has an attack that can utilize DCE, and can knock out Donphan Prime in two hits.  It also can only get 3HKOed by Donphan and his “Earthquake” attack.  It is a card that has revolutionized the Zekrom deck and can be used in any deck with a bad Donphan matchup.

Used In– Zekrom and basically any other deck that uses DCE.

Why it may be a good choice–  It is a great Donphan counter that is easy to fit in to a lot of decks.  Not  a lot of cards can be you quite as good of a shot against Donphan Prime, but Tornadus can pull it off fairly easily.

Why there may be better choices– You may have another anti-Donphan tech in mind, but overall Tornadus is the best.

Smoochum/Aipom.

I can track the use of Aipom back to Worlds 2011.  Jason K. used it in a Mew lock deck to move the energy off the active onto the bench.  A very handsome guy named Joshua Pikka-

Ahh, I don’t think he’s that handsome.  I think he’s a fat guy who sits all day writing articles on a poor quality Pokemon website that nobody reads.

well I prefer handsome.  Anyway, I can only track the use of Smoochum to my use in a mew lock deck in early September of 2011.  I used it as a substiute for Aipom.  Aipom is not a bad play, but Smoochum does what he does for free and retreats for free, although it is a lot tougher to donk Aipom. 

Used For– Stalling, moving energy off of the active to a benched player.  A lot of the Stage 1 Rush decks out there only play about 6 fighting energies.  Imagine that you have 1 of those fighting energies prizes, 1 in the discard pile, 1 on  the active, and 3 left in a 40 card deck.  If the energy in play was moved onto the active, it could be pretty hard to get that energy back onto a Pokemon such as Donphan. 

Used In– Mewlock, but anything with Vileplume. 

Why it may be a good choice–  If you cannot match each player’s hand size for Yanmega Prime, Donphan Prime will be a difficult change for a Mew deck. But, if you can move the energy off of Donphan, that player may not be able to attack next turn.  This card could change the shape of a lot of different matchups.   

Where there may be better choices– It is kind of hard to know if your opponent has another energy in his/her hand.  To change the odds you can tech in Mr. Mime Cl, but that would take another valueable bench space.  You might think that it could be better to just run that super bass, Basculin. 

boom  badoom, boom, boom, badoom.

Indeed.  Well, Pedro we are finally done with this article. 

You mean you are done speculating about cards that probably w on’t be played at all.

Yeah, that’s pretty much it. 

Okay, then can I end the article?

I guess so, how are you going to end the article tonight.

How we always do it, just like the Teletubbies do.  Bye bye Tinky Winky, bye bye Dipsy, bye bye Lala, bye bye Po.  The sun is setting in sky, Teletubbies say good bye. 

Wow, that was great Pedro, even though I don’t think that is how we usually end the articles, you had everything except that creepy baby in the sun.

I know, that baby was pretty creepy. You know I like these articles, we don’t pretend to know anything, we just sit here and talk about the Teletubbies.  

Exactly, cause I know I don’t know anything.  And you aren’t even human, you of course are a extra dimensional being without a body, so you can’t even play Pokemon.

True, but it is time to end the article,  Teletubbie Bye Bye.

Card Discussion Deck Discussion Deck Workshop Opinion

Green Light Gridlock! Lilligant/Vileplume/Yanmega

Aurasphere87 10 Comments

Hello All and welcome to my first Article! 

Biography

Allow me to briefly introduce myself, My name is Mark McDonald. I am a native of Detroit, Mi. I am a member of the Michigan based Team Warp Point, and friend of the well known Pikkdogs. I’m relatively new to the card game. Nationals 2010 was my first tournament ever. I hadn’t even seen a battle roads, and there i was in the largest tournament of pokemon history. I ended 6-3 with dialgachomp (that i learned how to play a week prior) missing top cut in 75th place of my flight. In 2011, nationals saw me  ending with a  5-4 record with zekrom. But that’s enough about me. Today’s topic is lilligant!

The Idea:

On the horizon of the 2012 tournament seasons start we all have been in search of the deck that will handle the various threats the current format pose. The obvious presence of Pokemon catcher is definitely not being overlooked and the hype of gothitelle is spreading like wildfire. The release of Emerging Powers brought some interesting cards into the format with the potential to stir up our competitive meta game and question deck choices for events. Lilligant is an interesting card to say the least.

In a format with such huge early game damage output and massive HP basics, Lilligant brings a high degree of potential disruption. First lets ‘go over Lilligant. With a not so impressive 90 hp for a stage 1 Lilligant is pretty frail, however, it makes up for it with  low energy attacks that can be devastating for the opponent. For 1 grass energy Bemusing Aroma does 20 damage to the defending pokemon with the chance to poison AND paralyze the defending Pokemon with a heads on a  coin flip. With a result of tails the defending pokemon becomes confused. Lilligant has a good retreat cost of only 1, a x2 fire weakness, and decent water resistance (for beartic). At first glance this seems decent and not really ground breaking due to the heavy play of free retreat pokemon such as mew and yanmega. But that’s where Vilplume comes into play. With a benched Vileplume in play you are able to not only eliminate trainers but ensure that the active pokemon cant be switched by any means other than paying retreat cost. When matched up with popular decks such as donphan, magnezone, zekrom, reshiram, beartic, gothitelle or anything with a 2 or more retreat cost, Lilligant can render them useless for several turns if not the entire game. Yanmega Prime also serves as a secondary attacker, given its ability to snipe around stuck active pokemon for easy ko’s or simply deal good damage in general for no energy.

Paralysis and Poison Or Confusion:

With only 20 damage output, Lilligant is far from 1 shotting a Pokemon but it’s the residual damage that makes it such a scary card. By paralyzing the opponent it ensures that during the following turn, that particular Pokemon cant attack or retreat. Since trainer lock is present, it means that there is absolutely nothing the opponent can do. Since the defending Pokemon is also poisoned the attack technically does 30 damage because of the 1 damage poison adds. with a guaranteed damage after the opponents turn that equals a total of 40 damage and without the opponent being able to respond. In the case that confusion occurs, it presents the chance that the opponent can inflict 30 damage to itself by attempting to attack which in a way increases the initial damage output to 50, the downside is in this case the defending Pokemon can retreat. Confusion isn’t really the ideal result. but is relatively disruptive due to the current structure of decks relying on benched supporting Pokemon that rarely, if ever, attack. Lilligants second attack, “Cut”, does 60 damage for 1 grass and a DCE, and isn’t really worth using but it has potential to finish off a  crippled Pokemon after the status effects have taken its toll. Overall the point is to get vileplume up as early as possible preventing the opponents accelerated setup and catchers while getting early K.O.’s with Yanmega Prime and stalling out Pokemon that need to set up to attack with Lilligant.

Other cards that make this deck a force to be reckoned with:

A few techs that i have been trying out include Smoochum from HGSS, for it’s the ability to additionally disrupt the opponent by moving energy from any Pokemon on they’re field to any other Pokemon. By doing this you can target their main attackers early while you set up and render valuable energy drops useless as you stall them in return. Another benefit of moving an energy to another [Pokemon is, if you plan to snipe that Pokemon with Yanmega or especially if the Pokemon can’t utilize the type of energy moved.

Sunflora from HGSS is another option for this deck, for it s ability to search out grass Pokemon with it’s Poke Power “Sunshine Grace”.  You can use the power to search things  such as Vileplume, Yanmega or Lilligant. With no Pokemon Communication in the deck, this method of search is great for helping you set up.

Spinarak is an amazing tech to completely lock the opponent from retreating a Pokemon that can’t attack, which buys you more time to set up. Since the deck is all grass, it will be easy to find the correct energy for Spinorak to attack with.

The last tech I will talk about is Bellsprout from Triumphant. Bellsprout has an extremely useful Pokemon Catcher like attack built into it that can provide disruption and set up the defending pokemon for Lilligant on your following turn. For 1 colorless energy Bellsprout’s ‘Inviting Scent” simply allows you to switch the defending Pokemon with a Pokemon of your choice on the opponent’s bench. This works great with Yanmega and Lilligant.

My list for you to reference:

Lilligant can be partnered with other Pokemon for different variants of this deck but i feel this version with Vileplume and Yanmega is the most consistent. Here’s the list I’ve been trying.

27 Pokemon 23 Trainers/Supporters 10 Energy
3-4 Yanma
3 Yanmega Prime
3 Petilil
3 Lilligant Emerging Powers
3 Oddish
2 Gloom
2 Vileplume
2 Sunkern
2 Sunflora
1 Cleffa
1 Smoochum
1 Bellsprout
1 Spinarak		 4 Pokemon Collector
4 Twins
3 Copycat
3 PONT
2 Sages Training
2 Juniper
2 Judge
3 Rare Candy		 7 grass
3 Rescue

In conclusion:

By no means am i trying to convince anyone this deck is the BDIF but i believe it could be a lot of fun to play. It has the potential to lock the opponent in multiple ways, It can hit hard or snipe the bench and lock trainers also. Again the biggest weakness is its frailty and sort of luck reliance on coin flips.

 Definitely consider trying it out, and please comment below and give any advice that you think would help this deck. I hope i did okay for my first article and I plan on getting better to provide my perspective on different ideas. Thanks for reading!

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