One Hit KO

Pokemon TCG Decklists and Articles

2011

Trading

Building Your Collection: Purchasing

Pikkdogs No Comments

Hey everyone in Omar-Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here, with an article about purchasing Pokemon Cards.

But, before we get to that I actually have a breaking news update for you.  It was just announced that the cards that were released in the Black and White Theme decks that are reprints of cards that are currently in the format, will be legal for Regionals (with the exception of Potion).  That means that if you are low on Pokemon Communications, you can use the ones you have from the Emboar deck.  Its not a huge change to things, but putting these cards in your deck could be pretty cool.

There are a lot of articles out there today that talk about becoming a better player.  While reading these articles can make you a better player, if you do not have the best cards in your collection, you won’t be able to compete with the best players. You need to have a large collection if you want to be a great player.  This article is geared more towards  newer players.

Playing this game can get very expensive, so its important to examine how you can acquire cards.  Buying packs is great, but if you only buy packs you will probably be spending too much money.  There are 2 main ways to grow your collection through purchasing; by buying packs, buying singles, and buying from other players/collectors.

Buying Packs (and other stuff like official Pokemon bundles)

Packs are the building blocks of all Pokemon purchasing.  Every Pokemon card that you buy (except Promo’s and cards from Theme decks) originally were pulled from a pack.  In the U.S. they come with 5 common cards, 3 uncommon cards, 1 Rare card, and 1 Reverse Holo card.  Depending on what set the pack comes from and your luck, a pack can be worth a lot more than the $3.99 price tag, or a lot less. Usually, single packs will not be worth more than what you paid for them, but they still are really fun to open.  When there are great cards in a set, they can be really addictive.  For example, when Rising Rivals came out I was hooked on buying the packs.  I really wanted to pull either a Flygon Lv.X or a Luxray GL Lv. X.  When you get hooked on buying packs, you usually spending more money than you get value, but the rush you feel when you pull the card you want is priceless.              

Stores like Target, Walmart, K-Mart, and card shops sell packs individually for about 4 bucks.  You can also buy special sets of packs from these stores that may give you a good deal.

  • Single Blister Packs– Single blister packs usually come with 1 pack of cards and 1 or 2 promo cards, and are usually sold for about 5 bucks.  For example, when the HGSS set first came out they released a single blister pack with one pack of HGSS and promo versions of Hoothoot and Noctowl. Some of the older single blisters may also contain a POP pack.  Most of the POP packs are not legal anymore, but there still pretty cool to open.    Are they worth the money?– Usually if you like the promo card it is a good buy, but if not its  not worth the extra buck.
  • Standard Blister Packs–   Like the single blisters, they usually are released when a new set comes out.  Blister packs carry 3 packs of cards, and one promo card.  They usually have 2 packs of the new set, one pack from a set that was released about a year ago, and a promo card.  If my memory serves me right, they normally retail for about 11-13 bucks.  Its always cool to buy something that gives you 3 packs and a promo card, so thats always a plus.  Are they worth the money?–   Just like the single blisters, the standard blisters are usually only worth the money if you like the promo card.  For example, with the Platinum set a Porgyon Z blister pack was released.  The Promo Porygon Z was very playable, so it made sense to buy 3 of them, so you could build the Porygon deck, and have an extra 9 packs.  
  • Tins- Tins are metal containers (primarily not made of Tin) that contain a promo card and 4 packs of cards.  They are released with most of the new sets, and contain 3 packs from the new set and one from an older set.  They retail for about 18 bucks, and contain a good promo.  The promo cards are normally Lv.X’s or Pokemon Primes.  Are they worth the money?-Since the promo card are usually good, the tins are normally a good thing to buy.  The promo cards are sometimes really good, some examples are Garchomp C Lv.X Mewtwo Lv.X. They are a good combination of buying a good single card and 4 packs.
  • Other Things– Even though the tins and the blister packs are the most common packaged deal with packs (hah, package and packs), there are other ways to buy packs and other cards at stores.  There are poster packs, that are like Blister packs but usually contain an extra pack and a poster that has pictures of all the cards in the set.  There are also other random packaged deals.  Like the boxes that came out this winter that had 4 packs and both Palkia G and Dialga G Lv.X! There are also packs that are similar to single Blisters that have the complete evolution lines of Pokemon like Charizard and Torterra.  There are also packages that are not sold by Nintendo, that have loose cards.  These packs usually are just real packs of cards that have the rares taken out of them.   Are they worth the money?-Usually the value is tied to the promos that lie within the package.  The Palkia/Dialga box was a great value, but once it came out the price of btoh Palkia/Dialga G Lv.X plummeted.  The value of the 3rd party packages usually are just not there.

Buying Singles

If you are trying to complete your collection or your deck, the most cost effective way to do this is to buy singles.  Online card stores  buy packs and cards in bulk, and then sell them individually.  You can usually find the best deal for cards at a store like this, although you don’t feel the rush that you do when you  buy a pack.  One thing you should be aware of is the fact that card values change fast.  For example, when Gengar Prime was first released it was valued at around 9 bucks.  When Lost World was released the value shot up to around 50 bucks!  About a month later, that same card was valued for around 20-25 bucks.  You don’t wanna be the one who buys the card for 50 bucks. So when do you want to buy singles and where do you buy them?

I usually buy singles either when I need to complete a deck or when a set first comes out.  When a set is released, I usually want about 8 copies of every good trainer card.  In order to get that many cards I would need to buy about 2 boxes of cards, so it makes sense that I instead buy those cards for just a couple bucks a piece at an online store.  And of course, when you think of a new deck you will probably need at least 1 or 2 new cards.  It is much easier to buy them as singles, then to hope that you will pull them in a pack.

So where should you buy singles?   I usually start my search on E-bay.  A lot of the online Pokemon stores are on Ebay and are selling cards for decent prices there.  If the prices are not great, I usually check on a couple websites like gatheringground.com or stop2shop.com.  They usually are about on par with Ebay prices, but are less subject to the whims of some TCG players.  These kinds of sites are also good to get cards when the set first comes out.  Ebay prices tend to be inflated near the release of the set, while other sites are usually not as bad.

Buying Cards from Other Players    

Other players/collectors can usually give you a pretty good deal on cards and packs, that stores just can’t match.  But, it can some times be hard to find people to consistently find the cards you want.  Other players can also scam you as bad as stores do, so you must also be aware of that.  Here are some good ways to buy cards from other players/collectors.

  1. On Ebay Auctions– Ebay auctions are a popular way to either make some money or to find some good cards.  But, usually it is a lot easier an efficient to buy cards online from a store, than through an auction.  Auction’s take a lot of time and usually will not give you great prices.  But for some cards, auctions can be a good way to acquire things.  Usually you can get a pretty good price on more expensive cards, such as Primes and Lv. X’s.  It may not be worth the time and effort to save 50 cents on a $2.00 card, but it is worth the extra time to save 10 bucks on a $50 card. Also, be aware of cards that jump up in value quickly, you don’t want to be stuck paying more for a card than you have to.
  2. At Tournaments/Leagues–  Most people who go to a Pokemon TCG event usually bring their trade binder.  A lot of Pokemon players are broke college students and respond well to cash offers.  You can probably get about 40% off trade value by offering cash.  The drawback to buying cards at tournaments is that it is hard to find the card you are looking for.  It can take you a while to see if people have a specific card up for trade.
  3. Online Message Boards- On a lot of Pokemon websites like Pojo.biz, Pokebeach.com, Pokegym.net, and sixprizes.com there are trading/selling message boards.  On these sites you can make a list of the cards you have for trade, and the cards you want to acquire.  On most of these sites, you can also make cash offers to other people for their goods.  Unfortunately, you usually do not get a great deal.  Most of the traders/sellers go by Ebay prices, and if you wanted Ebay prices you could just go to Ebay, so there aren’t a lot of great deals on there.  Occasionally you will get some people who will sell for fairly cheap, but not often.  Pokegym also has a special selling thread, in which you can post a “wants” list and then screened authorized sellers can make you offers.  Unfortunately, my experience with this service is that these sellers offer you prices way above and beyond Ebay prices.  This service is only good when you are looking to buy really hard to find cards or merchandise.  I have used this service twice.  Once I bought a Pikachu M, which is about a 5 buck card.  The seller valued it at 10, so I offered 5 bucks and 5 bucks trade value.  It was a terrible deal for me, but I couldn’t find the card at any other place.  Another time I was looking for the Pokeball Beach balls.  I can’t remember how much I paid for the beach ball, but at best I paid a retail like price.  As you can see, its a place where you can find rare items, but not a good deal to be found.
  4. Personal Websites/Videos– This is the newest way to buy cards.  It is by far the least common way to do it.  Famous players and collectors like my buddies the JWittz and Renaecollects each have websites in which they will trade and sell cards.  You can look at their haves, and make an offer.  It could take a while to find the deal you want, but you mostly end up getting a fair deal.  Some collectors also like to trade and sell cards.  These collectors make Youtube videos of either their collection, or them opening up cards; and then advertise that they have cards for sale or trade.  These traders also usually won’t give you a great deal, but will give you a fair deal.  Collectors usually have surplus stores of good trainer cards. and are eager to trade for  some bad, but rare cards.

There is a good review of how to buy cards.  Hopefully with this guide you are now introduced into the many ways to buy cards, and can easily find the best deals.  Please share your tips about buying cards in the comment box.  We always to hear from ya.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Deck Discussion

Pikkdogs’ Uxie Donk Handbook

Pikkdogs 4 Comments

Hey everyone in Omar-Nation.  If you have read my States report, you would know that I have been playing with Uxie donk lately.  This Regionals, one of my friend’s decided to play Uxie as well.  So I wrote the following text to the friend as an Uxie Handbook to help him out.  After I read it I decided it would make a pretty good article ( well not a good article, but one that is just as bad as most of the other crap that I write her), so I turned it into article form for everyone to read.                         

If you are unsure of what you wanna play this weekend, then you might wanna read this article to give you an advantage at Regionals.  Or, if you want to play during Spring Battle Roads or Nationals, you will want to read this article.  Because, the best deck will be Sableye donk, and Uxie donk and Sableye Donk are very similar.  The only change will be basically 4 Sableyes instead of 4 Plus Powers, and Special Darks instead of Cyclone Energies.  You might want to change a couple other things, but alas, this is not a Sabledonk article, but is an Uxie article.

If you want to be great at Uxie donk, here are things you should know.

First, read and re-read Radu’s articles about the deck.  Read them now, and then read them after you have tested this deck a  couple times, they are that good.   Mostly pay attention to part 1, though the slow play described in part 2 might come in handy.  I only used it once, and it didn’t really work, but it could.

http://www.onehitko.com/2011/01/14/donking-for-dummies-part-1-radus-obnoxious-uxie-deck/

http://www.onehitko.com/2011/01/18/donking-for-dummies-part-2-radu%C2%92s-guide-to-cultivating-hatred/

First Thing You Do

1.        You get your hand, and then you pick your starting Pokemon.  Mostly, you will want to start with Crobat G, if you start with Unown R, make sure you will be able to find Unown q quickly.

2.        After you pick your starter, the first thing you do is look at your hand.  The first thing you want to find is Uxie.  If you don’t have one, then look for Luxury Ball, Dual Ball, or Quick Ball to get him.

3.        If you have Poke Turns, try to find Crobat G and use the turns as you get them.  You can use the scoop ups to use “Flash Bite” if you must, but if you want to cycle through your deck, you need to scoop up Uxie at least once, maybe twice.

4.        After you have an Uxie, what you want to do is play out your remaining hand.  Play your Unown r’s and drawing trainers so that you played everything you can with them.

5.         Now you are basically setup so just keep going.  Seeker

Words of Wisdom

Junk Arm-Only use Junk Arm if you absolutely need to, or you have extra cards like seeker, e belt, and cyclone energy, but you can use it with quick balls if you need to.  You mostly want to use Junk Arm to get Poke Turns, but if you have a Junk Arm late game it can be prove to be very versatile.

Seeker-Be careful when you use Seeker.  For the most part, when you place “Flash Bites”, you will want to put them on the active, so just in case you are forced to use seeker, your opponent can’t pick the damaged guy up.  If your opponent has played Mesprit, NEVER USE SEEKER. They will just pick it up and do it again its not good.  For the most part you will need to use Seeker to cycle through your deck.

Expert Belt-Never put an Expert Belt on a benched Pokemon that you can’t get rid of,  unless you are sure they can’t snipe or get that guy active.

Playing a Long Game-If you get a prize lead, but they somehow setup, keep as many basics on the field as possible and do Radu’s timing technique until the time is called.  If you have a prize lead, you don’t need to take all the prizes, just try to survive.

Matchups

You also need to know about different decks.

Trainerlock– you either catch them with a bad start, or you cycle through your deck enough to find a cyclone energy, or you lose.

Other Stage 2’s–  Most stage 2’s you should be able to just run over their basics.  If they start with a Mesprit lock, don’t ever use seeker.  Wait out the lock, if necessary play your deck enough until you have 2-3 basics, preferably Unown R.  If they start Spiritomb, try to cyclone it, if not try to wait it out.

SP- The toughest matchup.  Not because you lose a lot, you should win about 70 percent of the time, but because its so hard to play against.  First you want to analyze what game state it is.  If they don’t start with Call Energy and start first, you should be at a game state one.  If they either start 2nd or start with 2 Pokemon and get Call, you are in for a game state two.  You don’t need to stall, but you do need to cycle through the entire deck.  Put all “Flash Bites” on the active, and you should be able to knock it out.  The most important thing, other than cycle through your deck, is to knock out all energy (if no energy, then take out the Energy Gains) on the field.  If they pile on the energy then they have more options, and if they play ERL and you don’t take out the energy you will lose.  Once you “Flash Bite” a Pokemon to death, and have 4 plus powers and a belt on Uxie, you Psychic  Restore and put the Plus Powers on the bottom first, then put the energy and the Expert Belt, and then Uxie.  You should be able to “Setup” next turn for the cards, unless you have more than 1 card in your hand.

With SP you need to be wary of Powerspray.  For the first couple turns when you use Uxie, always have a way to get another uxie. If your opponent doesn’t Powerspray you the first couple times, you know he doesn’t have a spray and if he pretends he does, he is just bluffing, don’t let him push you around! If it’s a gamestate two, you know he will try to Powerspray you at the end.  What you need to do is have ways to re-use uxie, there are 4 ways to do so.  1) have a backup Uxie, 2)Pokemon Rescue Uxie, 3)Seeker, 4, scoop up.  Make sure to prepare for at least 2 of these.  The easiest way to do is to keep maybe one of these cards in your hand, and make sure you keep these cards in your prizes till the end (that’s where Alph Lithograph comes in handy.  SP is tough so keep focused and be ready for anything.  The most important part is to get a prize lead before they get 2 Lv.X’s, or can spray you to death.  If they sprayed you at the end and you can’t get it back, Under no condition are you to put Uxie on the bottom of your deck unless you are positive you can get him back easy.  Just having a lot of basics will make sure they can’t knock out everything and win even though you took more prizes.

Here is my list, its basically just Radu’s list, without 3 Victory Medals. 

12Pokemon 46 Trainers 2 Energy
4 Uxie
3 Crobat G
4 Unown R
1 Unown Q		 4 Poke Drawer+
4 Pokedex Handy
1 Victory Medal
4 Super Scoop Up
4 Poketurn
4 Poke Blower+
4 Plus Power
4 Dual Ball
4 Junk Arm
4 Quick Ball
2 Luxury Ball
2 Pokemon Rescue
2 Expert Belt
2 Seeker
1 Alph Lithograph FOUR		 2 Cyclone

That’s all this for my Uxie handbook.  If you use my list, you should be able to cycle through your deck 95% of the time.  With reading this article and Radu’s articles, you should be able to do very well.  If you are able to play a couple of games against a great SP player before a tournament, you should be prepared for almost everything.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

RenaeCollects

Opening an Oshawott Black & White Preview Tin

RenaeCollects No Comments

Here is the third and final Black & White Preview Tin, Oshawott.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”390″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDw9tcRPThE[/youtube]

I wasn’t overly thrilled with the tins, but they did make me excited for the Black and White set to come out. After a while, the cards in the preview pack have grown on me. I need to learn to not be so critical right off the bat. At first I didn’t like the fifth generation Pokemon, and now I do. So I suppose that’s how it is with the new card design, too.
-Renae

Read More

PokeClass

PokemanDan’s PokeClass Episode 25 – Saving Us From Sableye!

PokemanDan No Comments

[youtube width=”640″ height=”390″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeSicm8wmo4[/youtube]

Sableye SF has been a very popular topic this week so I’ve decided to make an episode analysing the card pre and post-rule change along with what we can do about stopping this potentially hard to beat card. Watch for analysis, strategy and ways to counter this possibly over-hyped deck.

Thanks for watching and make sure you subscribe!

Dan Read More

Stupid Deck Idea

Pikkdogs’ Stupid Deck Idea: Ampharos Prime.

Pikkdogs No Comments

Hello to all members of Omar-Nation, this is Pikkdogs here with a Stupid Deck Idea for the new format.  As we all know, stupid deck ideas are decks that either are meant to be played for fun, or decks that show promise but have not yet been tested.  This deck falls in the later category.  

Ampharos Prime has  been out for about a year now, and has yet to see any noticeable play.  But with the changes in the format, it may just be time to dust off your Amphy Primes and make a deck out of them.

Ampharos Prime has the “Conductivity” Poke-Body, which lets you put 1 damage counter on every Pokemon that your opponent attaches an energy to from his/her hand.  It has one attack “Crunch” that does 40 damage for LCC, and allows you to flip a coin.  If you flip heads you do 40 more damage, if you flip tails you can discard an energy from the defending Pokemon.

The reason that Ampharos Prime might make a good deck is because of the increase in the amount of decks that attach a lot of energy.  Thanks to Feraligatr Prime’s “Raindance” (that allows you to attach as many water energies to any water Pokemon that you want) and Emboar BW (which allows you to attach as many fire energies as you want to any of your Pokemon) it is now easier to attach a lot of energies.  Soon, Pokemon like Kyogre/Groundon Legend, Ho-Oh Legend, Charizard G, Samurott BW, and Blastoise Ud will be very playable.

To counter these Pokemon, you can use Ampharos Prime to put a lot of damage counters on any Pokemon that gets energy.  For example, say your opponent is running a Charizard G/Emboar deck.  If he attaches a Rescue Energy for the turn, and then attaches 4 Fire Energies thanks to Emboar’s ability, you can then put 5 damage counters on Charizard G.  Putting 5 damage counters a turn, isn’t too shabby, and it sets you up to get an OHKo.  Now that we know the premise of the deck, lets look at some techs that will help make this deck work. 

Techs

Ampharos Pt– The Ampharos from Platinum lets you stop all Poke-Powers from Pokemon that have damage counters on it.  It is not a game changing Poke-Body, but its good enough that you should play it if you can.

Spiritomb Ar– Spiritomb is your starter here, and helps you get a fast Ampharos.  He also stops trainers when he is active, thanks to his “Keystone Seal” Poke-Body, this makes him essential for stopping Sabledonks.

Sunnyshore City Gym– If you are gonna play a deck where a lightning Pokemon attacks, you should at least consider running this card.  It takes away weakness from all lightning Pokemon, and prevents resistance from being applied to their attacks.  This card turns a Donphan deck from an auto-loss to an even matchup.

Cincinno– This card is your secondary attacker.  Ampharos Prime is kind of a lack luster attacker, so Cincinno will be very helpful.  You already play DCE, and if you have room for it there is no reason not to play this good card.  For just one Double Colorless Energy, you can do 100 damage if you have a full  bench.

The List

I have not tested this deck out, partially because this deck will only good in the future.   But, this is a list that I drew up.  If you do end up testing this out, just use this as a guide to building your deck.  You will have other ideas and other techs to try out.

Pokemon-23

  • 4 Mareep Pt   
  • 3 Flaffy Pt
  • 3 Ampharos Prime
  • 1 Ampharos Pt
  • 4 Spiritomb Ar
  • 3 Mincinno
  • 3 Cincinno
  • 2-Uxie La

Trainers-25

  • 4- Pokemon Collector
  • 4-Bebe’s Search
  • 2- Pokemon Communication
  • 2- Rare Candy
  • 2- Warp Point
  • 1- Luxury Ball
  • 1-Pokemon Rescue
  • 2- Sunny Shore City Gym
  • 2- Broken Time Space
  • 2- Expert Belt
  • 3- Hand Refresh Card of your Choice (like PONT, Juniper, or Copycat). 

Energy-12

  • Lightning-8
  • Double Colorless Energy-4

So that’s it, just a little list to point you in the right direction.  As mentioned before, this deck isn’t very good right now.  But, possibly if Feraligatr and Emboar become popular this deck will be a great counter to them.  I also considered adding Luxray Gl or Garchomp C to this deck.  Luxray Gl can take advantage of the lightning energy, and Garchomp C can do the same withe DCE.  But, I think Cincinno is better for basic testing.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Pikks Three

Pikkdog’s Pikks Three: Gyarados Sf, Defender, and Cinccino

Pikkdogs 2 Comments

A big hello to all members of Omar-Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here with another Pikk Three article.  Two Pikk Three articles in one week?  There must not be much going on in the Pokemon world.  Actually, there are a couple things going on, lets look at a couple of news stories.  

The first news story is that the Black and White Theme decks are now out!  You can get a little taste of the new set by picking up a Black and White theme deck.  There are three decks released, each featuring the last evolution form of the three Black and White starters.  Unfortunately,  the featured cards in these decks are not the ones in the Black and White Japanese sets.  For example, if you pick up the Emboar theme deck does not come with the Emboar that lets you attack Fire energies, it comes with a different one.  But, the good part of the deck is that you can play with the deck you purchase on www.pokemontcgonline.com.  You don’t even need to type in a code.  The website has a cool feature where you just need to hold a card that comes with the theme deck up to your webcam, and the website will scan a barcode and unlock the deck online for you.

The second news story is probably one you have already heard.  Based on an insert from the Theme decks, the U.S. will receive the rule changes that Japan got.  However, no mention was made of a rotation.  This could be horrible for the game, if every game was decided by a Sableye start and a lot of trainers.  But, we do not have an actual rulebook so we do not yet know if there is no rotation.

The last bit of news has to do with regionals.  It is only about a week away!  So make sure to get your testing done fairly soon, regionals is just around the corner.

Okay, so lets move onto the Pikk Three article.  As always,, we will review three cards.  One card that is commonly played, one card that I feel is under played, and one card from a new or yet un released set.

Card #1- The Staple- Gyarados Sf

Description–  Its a wonder why I haven’t yet reviewed this card.  Gyarados is a Stage 1 water Pokemon with 130 HP, a 3 retreat cost, a resistance to fighting, and a +30 weakness to lightning.  Its stats are solid for a stage 1 Pokemon, but the weakness can be a bit pesky. It’s main attack is “Tail Revenge”, which does 30 damage times the number of Magikarp in the discard pile.  It does have two other attacks, but to my knowledge no one has ever used them in competitive play.

Analysis–  The use of Gyarados goes back to the Worlds tournament two years ago.  A couple of French players merged it with Regice for a quick consistent deck.  For the next year Gyarados was a very popular deck.  After rotation this past year, the loss of Claydol and Felicity’s Drawings curtailed its play.  That was until Junk Arm, Seeker, and Rescue Energy came out in the Triumphant set and brought more consistency to the deck.  So now we know a little bit of history, lets look at the card.

130 HP is really nice for a stage 1 Pokemon.  The fighting resistance comes in handy, but the weakness can be compounded by the Poke-Body of Lucario Gl, making Luxray Gl a real threat.  The retreat cost of this Pokemon is also annoying, but this deck usually runs Warp Energy for this reason.

The Gyarados deck is quite the nice deck.  It is fast and very consistent.  Of course, the strategy with this deck is to discard 3 Magikarps within 1-2 turns, and then hit for a lot of damage while placing damage counters with Crobat G’s “Flash Bite” Poke-Power.  Gyarados’s high HP makes it hard to OHKO, and it can deal a lot of damage without any energy.  If ran with a high trainer line, this deck can out speed SP decks, and have a real advantage against them.  Or, if you are leery of trainerlock, you can run it with Sableye Sf and Volkner’s Philosophy to get a good matchup against trainerlock decks.

Final Rating– 9/10-Gyarados is a great card and a great deck.  You either have to run it, or know how to play against it.

Card #2- The Underdog- Defender

Description– Defender is a trainer card released in the Undaunted set.  When attached to a Pokemon, this card reduces each attack done to that Pokemon by 20 damage.  Defender is discarded after you opponent’s next turn.

Analysis– Defender is a card that never got a second look by most players.  But, I cannot help but wonder why.  In a format that is so reliant on one hit knock outs, why would people not want to play cards that prevent a Pokemon from being knocked out?

It is also a very versatile card, being useful in a deck that has both low HP and high HP attackers.  But, it is most useful when it is used to stop a OHKO.

An interesting aspect of Defender is that it can be played on a bench Pokemon.  If you are playing Luxchomp, and have an important Pokemon that has 90 HP on the bench, without Defender most players will be able to use one “Flash Bite”, and then finish the job with Garchomp C’s “Dragon Rush.”  But, with Defender that player would now need to find 3 “Flash Bites”.  A feat that is not impossible, but highly unlikely.

Final Rating– 7/10– This card can make a big impact on any deck, but it can be played around.  There are many ways to change the opponent’s active Pokemon, so that Defender would not be taken into effect.  But, regardless I think Defender is not getting as much play as it should.

Card #3- The Young Gun- Cinccino Black and White

Description–  Cinccino is a stage 1 Normal Pokemon, with 90 HP, a 1 retreat cost, a fighting weakness, and a name that’s hard to pronounce.   It has one relevant attack, “Do the Wave”, which has got to be one of the worst names for an attack.  For two colorless energies you can do 20 damage for each Pokemon you have on your bench.

Analysis–  90 HP is not very impressive.  It is a lot easier to OHKO Cinccino then it is to pronounce it’s name.  But, it does have some good damage output.  If you have 5 benched Pokemon you can do 100 damage for just one Double Colorless Energy.  That makes this card fast and powerful.

Add a lot of Pokemon Collectors and Dual Balls to your deck, and you will be doing a lot of damage really fast.  Make sure to add Broken Time Space to your deck, because of the new Rare Candy rules.  I think with some help, a Cinccino deck can do really well.  Most people compare this card to Jumpluff, because of the similar HP and attack.  The only difference is that this card is a stage 1, but needs a DCE instead of a basic energy card (which could slow up the deck a little).

Final Rating-8/5/10– It is hard to guess how good the Black and White cards will be, but this card seems like its pretty good.  It can even hit Garchomp C for weakness.  All signs point to this card being pretty good, so make sure to test it out when the card comes out.

So thats all for this edition of Pikk Three.  Make sure to comment on this article and give us your ratings for these cards.  We love to hear from you.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

–

Pikks Three

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Crush Hammer, Musharna, and Reuniclus

Pikkdogs 9 Comments

Hey all members of Omar-Nation.  Welcome to a special edition of Pikkdogs Pikks three.  Usually I provide you a review of three cards; one that is commonly used, one that I feel is under-rated, and one that is from a new or yet un-released yet.  But this edition of Pikk Three is special.  This edition mixes up the former two categories.  This a review of three cards from the Black and White cards that are good, but not many people are talking about them.  So now that you know whats coming at you, lets start the party!

Card Number 1, Crush Hammer

Description- The first card on our list is Crush Hammer, which is basically a re-printed Energy Removal 2.  It is a trainer card that allows you to flip a coin, and if heads you can discard an energy attached to one of your opponent’s Pokemon.

Analysis– The ability to discard an energy is not really something that we have in the current format.  That means that it is something that you can’t really get with other cards.  The ability to discard an energy is fairly useful.  If your opponent is trying to tank against you, you can discard a key energy card.  You can also use Junk Arm to use it again later in the game.  It is also a card that is useful no matter what deck you play against, this makes it fairly flexible.

However, this card is not talked about much for a good reason, it isn’t format changing.  It can be useful, but it can also be locked from use.  With the expected popularity of Vileplume and the Gothitelle deck, you may not be able to use this card very much.  The success of this card is also dependent on the format.  Right now discarding energy would not be very popular, because the format emphasizes one hit knock outs.  But, if OHKO’s are not very realistic in the next format, this card could be more popular.

Final Rating– 6/10–  It is a good card that does thing that not a lot of other cards can do.  But, the uncertainty of the format make this card unpredictable.

Card Number 2, Musharna

Description– Musharna is a stage 1 Pokemon Psychic Pokemon with 90 HP and a 2 retreat cost. Its first attack does 20 damage and puts the defending Pokemon to sleep for one Psychic energy.  Its second attack, “Dream Eater”, does 90 damage for PC if the defending Pokemon is asleep.

Analysis– 90 damage for 2 energies is pretty good.  This card won’t make the best deck ever, but it could be pretty decent.  With 90 damage for two energies and the ability to use Pokemon Catcher (Gust of Wind), you have a lot of options.  The catch is that you need to get your defending Pokemon asleep.  A lot of Pokemon can put other Pokemon to sleep through attacks, but the chance that the Pokemon will still be asleep on your next turn is very low.  So, you will need something that can put your defending Pokemon to sleep from a Poke-Power. 

If there is no rotation, you can use Vileplume La, which fits will into a trainerlock build.  If you attach a grass energy to Vileplume, you can put the defending Pokemon to sleep with his “Energy Reaction” Poke-Power.  But, another Stage 2 Pokemon and the necessity to attach an energy to him is a lot.  So you can also use Hypno HGSS.  For a coin flip you can put the defending Pokemon to sleep with his “Sleep Pendulum” Poke-Power.  Hypno is only a stage 1 Pokemon that will only sit on your bench, so its not too much of a hassle to setup.  The problem is the coin flip, the good thing is that you can use multiple “Sleep Pendulums” per turn, if you have multiple Hypnos.

So is 2 for 90 with “Sleep Pendulum” good enough?   Well it is good, but unless you can get multiple Hypnos out, it will not be very consistent.  But, if you can get multiple Hypnos out, then watch out because 90 damage will be able to knock out most of your opponent’s bench.  Which makes Musharna a great combo with Pokemon Catcher.

Final Rating– 6/10- Has great potential, but unless you can swarm with Hypnos or find another consistent way to put the defending Pokemon asleep, the deck is a little too inconsistent.

Card Number 3, Reuniclus

Description–  Reuniclus is a stage 2 Psychic Pokemon with 90 HP and a 2 retreat cost.  It’s attack, “Psywave”, does 30 damage plus 10 for every energy on the defending Pokemon, for three Psychic energies.  Its ability “Damage Swap” lets you move one damage counter from one of your Pokemon to another, as many times as you want per turn.

Analysis–  The first thing you think about with Reuniclus is, “what’s up with that name?”  The second thing you think about is, “30 damage for 3 energies?”  But, then the third thing you realize is that “moving damage counters around is awesome.”

So the attack is lackluster at best, but the ability is pretty cool, it is pretty similar to the power of the base set Alakazam.  You can move as many damage counters as you want from one Pokemon to another.  This means that you can put up one tanking Pokemon and then move all damage counters off of him, and hide the damage counters on another Pokemon.  Even if you have to knock out a benched Pokemon, it is better than losing your main attacker and all his energies.

The bad part of this strategy is that it has never worked in the past.  In the base set days Alakazam was just too slow.  And, today Alakazam 4 Lv. X does not work thanks to a lack of good tanking SP Pokemon and the existence of Garchomp C LV.X.   These two similar Pokemon never panned out, and I fear that Reuniclus could share the same fate.  With Pokemon Cather released, it seems like Reuniclus’s basic form will be knocked out before you can even evolve it.

Final Rating– 7/10–  Even though it is slow, I think that it is a great card.  If Spiritomb stays in the format, you might be able to get this Pokemon out and ready to support a tanking Pokemon.

Well thats what I think of some of the better cards in the Black and White set that aren’t being talked about.  As you can see from the ratings, I don’t think a lot of these cards will be great, but I do think they have potential.  So  be sure to take notice of these seldom talked about cards.  And, if you would be so kind to share your ratings on these cards we would love you to put them in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

RenaeCollects

Opening a Snivy Black & White Preview Tin

RenaeCollects No Comments

Here is the second of the three Black and White preview tin openings that I did. This one is the Snivy Tin and, although I didn’t pull the greatest of cards, it’s my favorite, mostly because of the Snivy figure. In my opinion, these tins are a great deal whether you’re a player or a collector!

[youtube width=”640″ height=”390″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozt6IqYDKvw[/youtube]
Read More

PokeClass

PokemanDan’s PokeClass Episode 24 – What Have We Learned?

PokemanDan 3 Comments

[youtube width=”640″ height=”390″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l57rVLcIoqo[/youtube]

Hey All!
This week is a recap of States happenings in the UK. Standings, top decks and future predictions are all in this packed episode along with a ton of news about what’s been going on while we’ve been at tournaments. There’s also a quick look at how our new set will shake up the metagame! Make sure you subscribe!
Dan Read More

Uncategorized

Discussion of Rule Changes and Possible Format Changes

Pikkdogs 9 Comments

Last October the Pokemon world was shaken up by news from Japan.  When Japan got there Black and White sets they also got new rules changes and a mid season rotation.  Fast forward to April, and now North America, Europe, and South America are about to get the Black and White set.  What will this mean for the format?  Will we also get the rules changes and the format change?

If you haven’t guessed already, the topic of this article will be the possible changes to the rules and format changes.  Before we begin to talk about the impact of the changes too much, lets review what happened in Japan.

What were the changes in Japan?

  1. Rules change so that Trainer/Goods cards can be played on the first turn of the game.
  2. Supporters are now called “Supports” and are considered Trainer/Goods cards and can be played once per turn, even on the first turn.  They are now immediately discarded after use.
  3. Stadium cards are also considered Trainer/Goods cards and can also be played on the first turn.
  4. Rare Candy cannot be played on either player’s first turn, and they cannot be played on the same turn that you first played the basic Pokemon.
  5. Poke-Powers and Poke-Bodies are merged into one category called “Abilities”.
  6. After you knock out a Pokemon, you draw your prize card before your opponent sends out a new active Pokemon.
  7. The format was changed to HGSS-on.

Will we get them?

All signs seem to be pointing to the fact that we will get at least points 1-6.  The rules changes are already in effect on the online game simulator (www.pokemontcg.com).  It seems unlikely that they would make different rules for online play.  I also heard that someone from Portugal’s organized play stated that they would follow the rules changes that the U.S. employs.  That seems to suggest that the U.S. will have rule changes.

What about a rotation?

A mid season format rotation is a powerful thing.  It would mean that a large percentage of everyone’s cards will become almost worthless. Decks that people have been playing all season could now be deemed illegal.   It could turn a lot of people off about the game.

Regardless of the negative aspects of the rotation, I think a rotation is needed.  If there is no rotation, I think that most of games would end on the first turn of the game.  The problems in the format are trainer cards like Poke Drawer and Pokedex, that allow you to go through your deck fairly quickly.  Other problems are Sableye SF and Uxie La.  Sableye guarantee’s that you go first, so that your opponent has no chance to brace themselves against a donk. If you start Sableye all you would need to do is use a Pokemon Collector for an Unown (dark) and 2 Uxies, and you would be very close to winning the game.   Speaking of Uxie, like the Trainer cards, Uxie will help people go through their decks really quickly.   If these cards are ousted from the format longer games can take place, and games would rely less on luck.

So now that we know we need a rotation, what should it be?  Japan got rid of all of their Diamond and Pearl and Platinum sets, but Im not sure if thats really neccessary.  If we would get a similar rotation that we had the last two years, it would mean that the format would be Rising Rivals on.  To see if we need a large rotation, lets look at the problem cards in the format, and find out what sets they are from.  Besides cards that i have previously mentioned, I will also include SP cards since I believe they are the cause of our stagnant format. In the list, I will italicize cards that would be rotated if the rotation is RR-on.

  • Poke Drawer +-SF
  • Pokedex Handy 910’s-PtExpert Belt - AR
  • Super Scoop Up- Unleashed
  • Expert Belt- Arceus
  • Cyrus’s Conspiracy-Pt
  • Energy Gain- Pt
  • Power Spray- Pt
  • Sp Radar- RR
  • Uxie-La
  • Sableye-Sf
  • Unown (Dark)-UD
  • Luxray Gl-RR
  • Garchomp C-SV
  • Double Colorless Energy-HGSS

As you can see, most of the problem cards will be taken care of with a format of RR-on.  With the loss of Sableye, the important drawing Trainers, and Uxie; it will be a lot less likely for the game to end with a donk.  And, even though there will still be SP cards in the format, the SP deck will no longer work without the SP engine.  The loss of the SP engine will make sure that the format is not in the same stagnant state that we have had to deal with in the last couple of years.  But, I fear that if Japan got the HGSS-on format that we will also receive it.

Impact on The Format

Obviously a mid-season rotation would radically change the format.  The only deck that would stay similar to the way it is now is Lostgar Lock.  Other decks like Machamp, Gengar Sf, Uxie, Gyarados, Luxchomp, Dialgachomp, and many others will be wiped out.  Besides taking out main attackers, it could also take away a lot of staples like Uxie, Spiritomb Ar, and supporters like Palmer’s Contribution.

All decks would have to be changed and adjusted to the new format.  The new format would be a lot slower without Uxie, and would be more reliant on Trainers (and Trainerlock).  If a rotation comes we will all have to re-work our decks and completely change them.  It will make Nationals a lot different than States and Regionals.

Conclusion

A lot of people are understandably opposed to a large format change.  But, I think a mid-season format rotation would be great for the format, taking away the SP problem and making sure that the new rule changes will not lead to a format of all donks.  I don’t really see the need for the rules changes, but if they are going to make the rule changes they also need to rotate at least 4 sets out of the format.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

You Missed

Freeplaytech

New Handheld Retro Video Game System For You Pokemon Fans

Trouble With Robots

iOS/Android Collectible Card Game, Trouble With Robots

Trouble With Robots

New Card Game – Trouble With Robots – iOS/Android

OneHitKO.com Budget Challenge

OHKO Budget Challenge: Round Two (Fight!)