2011

Another Michigan State Championships Report!

Joel March 16, 2011 4 Comments

Hello everyone in Omar Nation! This is Joel here with a report on the Michigan State Championships that took place over the weekend in Lansing, Michigan.

Before I go on any further with my report, I’d like to thank Pikkdogs and the rest of the Team Omar staff for inviting me to write for you guys. Here is a little bit about myself, I have been playing since the Base Set, took a hiatus when the first e-reader set came out, then got back into the game around Diamond and Pearl. But enough about me, let’s go on with the article!

I decided to run Luxchomp for this event because that was the deck I felt most comfortable with. Luxchomp has an excellent track record and hasn’t really disappointed me. I’ll post my deck list at the end of the article. For this event, there were 76 Masters, with 7 rounds and a top 16 cut.

Round 1 vs Marvin P with Luxchomp

My first round match was a mirror. I have never met Marvin before but our pre-game talks give off the impression that he is a really nice guy. The game starts and I go first. I start with an Ambipom G and a Bronzong G on my bench, with a Double Colorless Energy, Energy Gain, and Cyrus in my hand. He has a Garchomp C active, Luxray GL and Dialga G on his bench. I go first and get a quick knockout first turn with Ambipom’s “Snap Attack”. He goes, benches a Crobat G, and uses Flash Bite to drop a damage counter on my Bronzong G, then passes. I draw, and get a Pokemon Collector. I get Uxie, Luxray GL and Crobat G. I drop Crobat, Flash bite his Crobat, attach a lightning energy to Luxray, then Snap Attack his active Luxray for 60. He goes, draws, and attaches to his active Luxray and passes. It seems he didn’t have anything playable in his hand, which is odd because there is usually something playable. I Poke-turn my Ambipom and Crobat, I flash bite his Bronzong, and promote Luxray to Bright Look his Crobat. I bite to get a 2 prize lead. It was after this turn that the game started to go downhill for me. He finally draws a Cyrus which allows him to catch up. I made my terrible misplay here as I played Professor Oak’s New Theory over Cyrus, and end up getting a terrible hand followed by terrible draws. He finally catches up and gets a prize lead over me. As soon as he gets his prize lead, time is called. After realizing that there isn’t much I can do in the next 3 turns, I scoop and get a terrible case of the first round jitters. It was a good game though.
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State Championships

Gyarados ReRocks Minnesota State Championships (1st Place)

Ed March 14, 2011 16 Comments

I got back into the game a bit over a year ago, because I thought it would be something that my daughter, Ava, would be into. We started during Cities last season, which didn’t go so hot. By the time States preparation rolled around, though, I knew I needed a new deck, and I chose Gyarados based on several factors. After making that choice, I started looking for the right combination of cards for the meta, and that’s how I got in contact with Austino.

At the time, Team Omar was meeting almost weekly, so I got plenty of practice and experience against multiple decks. With Austino‘s deck help and Team Omar’s playtesting help, I was able to ride Gyarados to 5th place after Swiss in the 2010 MN State Championship. I then dropped before top cut, but it was a decision that I always wondered about. Should I have canceled my other plans? Should I have stayed and played. I felt like my top-8 matchup was favorable, and I think I could have made top4.

This season saw Omar depart the state and with him went the regular playtesting sessions. I hung onto Gyarados and still kept in contact with Austino, but I started playing much less Pokemon. Andy (the reigning State Champion) and I got together to try to get a regular playtesting thing going. It worked well, but as time went on the regular turned into irregular and seemed to fall apart completely in the month leading up to States.

I had thought of switching to a new deck. I had planned on making a new deck for Ava. I had even considered rebuilding Gyarados for Ava and coming up with something completely new for myself. With my hobbytime focus diverted to other things for a while, none of this happened. I decided that I would once again lean on my old pals Magikarp and Gyarados to get me through. I’m a big believer in playing what you’re comfortable with, and this tale just further solidifies my stance, but we’ll get more into that as things unfold.
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State Championships

Pikkdog’s Michigan State Report: If You Live by the Sword….

Pikkdogs March 12, 2011 4 Comments

One of my favorite quotes by Jesus is in Matthew 26 verse 52

“For those who take the sword, will perish by the sword.” (English Standard Version, 2001).

And you say, “Pikkdogs this is a Pokemon site not Sunday School, why are you talking about this verse?”

It is a verse that sums up my day at the 2011 Michigan State Championships. I tried to live by the sword, but I ended up dying by it.

The event was held at the Radisson in downtown Lansing, Mi. We normally play the states out in the burbs, so being in an urban area was kind of a shock. Besides some parking issues, this new venue wasn’t too bad, although the playing area is smaller than in our previous location.

I decided to play Uxie donk for this event, there were many reasons why I chose this. 1. I was tired of getting pushed around by Luchomp, so I thought I’d play something that could beat it. 2. Radu wrote a great article on this site that told people how to play the deck in a very easy to learn matter. With a couple reads through this article I felt I knew everything I needed to know about it. 3. I was getting tired of everything else, so why not try Uxie?

I will not post my list here, but not because I am keeping it secret. I will not post it because it is very similar to Radu’s decklist. I just took away 3 victory medals from this list, and added 2 Unown R’s and 1 Quick Ball. I have to apologize a little for this report. Uxie donk is a cool deck, but there is not much to talk about. The games will not sound to interesting, because in fact they weren’t. But theres not much we can do about that.

Through-out this article I will not post my usual pictures, but instead will post the incredibly medicore pictures that I took at States. These pictures are more inserted for comic relief than anything, except for the one of Cheffords that one is pretty cool. Man these pictures are terrible, I should take a class on pictures or something.

The event was very Luxchomp heavy. So much so that basically any deck other than Luxchomp was considered rogue. There were a couple Machamps, a couple Gyarados, and a couple trainer lock decks; but not very many.

So I get to the tournament about 20 minutes before registration, and hung out in the lobby for a while. I got my sleeves checked and turned in my decklist then went in to meet some of my Pokemon friends. I loved talking to all my Michigan Pokemon buddies, it was kind of better than the event itself. When the orgainizers finally get ready I get paired up for round 1.

Round 1 Magnezone

My English brother Pokmeon Dan was hyping up Magnezone ever since the European Challenge Cup, and at the event we find a couple Magnezone decks.

I think I go first and start with a Crobat G. I only have trainers in my hand, so I have to pace. He starts with two Magnemites, but doesn’t have any supporters. So all he can do is attach an energy and an expert belt, then end. This leaves me with 2 Magnemites to run over. I use trainers to get a Seeker, that takes care of one Magnezone. Then I get a couple flashbites on the active and “Psychic Restore” for the win.

1-0. Exactly how the game is supposed to be played.

Round 2 Regigas

This game was against my good Friend Ryan Graham. Even though I have known him for a while, I haven’t yet played him. He starts with something (maybe Crobat G) and a Giratina. I go first and I have an Unown Q, I draw but don‘t get anything. Ryan then plays a Collector and gets an Uxie and a Regigas. He retreats for Uxie, attaches an energy and then knocks out my Unown Q.

1-1. I play 11 other basics, but I have to start with the 30 HP Unown Q.

After this round me and Mat (Chefford’s friend) take a walk to Subway for a sandwich. We have a good lunch time chat, and then walk back to the hotel.

Round 3-Dialga Chomp

This was a really weird game, but I play through it.

I start with Crobat G, and my hand consists of 2 Super Scoop Ups, 2 Poketurns, 1 Expert Belt, and 1 Poke Blower +. What am I supposed to do with that? My opponent starts with Garchomp C, and I go first. I draw into another Poketurn (yay) and pass. He goes and Cyrus’s to find a Dialga G with a metal energy and an Energy Gain. But he does not have a Poketurn to get Dialga G active.

So he passes and I draw into a Luxury Ball. I play it for the Uxie, and have to setup for 1. I get an Unown R, and “Retire”. After getting another Super Scoop Up, I have to play all three of my Super Scoop Ups. On my last Scoop Up I finally get Uxie back in hand. I then Poketurn Crobat G and start “Flash Biting” the active. I eventually get a seeker, and find enough resources for the knockout on Garchomp C.

2-1. He got a fairly bad start, but Uxie is meant to take advantage of this.

Round 4- Luxchomp

This match was what Radu would call a “Game State Two.” He set up a lot of basics so I could not donk him. I did take a long turn and knockout two Pokemon, so I should have a good advantage. On the next turn he uses a Pokemon Collector and gets a Drapion 4. Who plays a Drapion 4?????????????? I don’t think anyone has ever played this card, ever. He played this card to tech against Gengar Prime, but he brillantly used it as a wall against me. It has 100 HP and a psychic resistance, this means that I need to do 120 damage for a knockout, which I can’t do. And because he also has a Luxray Lv. X, I can’t get a knockout on that Pokemon either. All he has to do is wait till time is called and he wins.

2-2. Who plays Drapion 4????????????????? Just my luck that I play the only person who has ever played Drapion 4.

Round 5- Machamp.

I start with an Uxie, and he starts with the double Machop. Since I only have 1 Pokemon, the person who goes 2nd will win this matchup. I luckily win this matchup. I play my hand out a little and get a Seeker and a Cyclone energy.”

3-2- I get Lucky

Round 6-Gyarados

I start with an Uxie and he starts with an Unown Q and a Crobat G. I again get lucky and go second. He can’t draw anything on his first turn so I go. I actually only play 1 trainer card this game. I play a Pokedex and get a Cyclone Energy. I then use the Seeker from my hand and take card of the Q with “Psychic Restore.”

4-2 I keep going. Now I am at a spot where there is 1 game left. If I win I go on, but if i lose I get to go home. Just like Michigan State, I am a bubble team.

Round 7-Luxchomp (I think)

This was against a guy who always has fun decks. This time his deck isn’t too fun. I start first for the 5th game out of 7, terrible luck for an Uxie deck. I only have a Unown R active, and he has an Ambipom G and a DCE, thats game.

4-3. Thats it, my day is over. I would have gotten in with a win, but I got donked myself. I end up getting #20, so I finish decent but not what I wanted.

This brings me back to my original Bible verse. When I played Uxie I made a commitment to live by the donk, but unfortunately I also had to die by the donk. When you play Uxie you can also get donked yourself, its all about luck. After the tournament I went out to dinner with my brother and his wife, who live in town. So, all things considered it was a good day, I just wish I had a little better luck.

Thats what happens when you live by the sword.

Now for some props and slops

Props

Judges- Michigan Judges always do a great job.

Radu- For the decklist and inspiration.

My Pokemon Friends- For a good day

My Brother Wayne- For buying me dinner

Slops

The regular Hotel that we play at- for being under construction

Parking in Lansing- Only decent if you got there early

Luck- For not being with me 100%

The Format- for being 99% Luxchomp.

Uncategorized

Pikkdog’s 4 Simple Rules

Pikkdogs March 9, 2011 6 Comments

Hey all members of Omar-Nation. This is Pikkdogs here with a strategy article. This seems like a very simple article to write, but it took me a while to come up with the idea. This article is about the simple rules of the Pokemon TCG that I have learned in the game. These rules are tips and tricks I have learned that helped me become a better Pokemon Player. The rules may be simple, but they are trustworthy practices that will help you win more games.

Before we get to the rules, I just wanna remind you of the State Tournaments that are starting this weekend. Well, State tournaments are starting this weekend. Even if your state isn’t holding a tournament this weekend, try to sneak across the border to get to another tournament. They will be a lot of fun and a great way to show off all of your skills.

I have to give mad props to Omar on this article. This is because most of the simple rules that I have written down here, were taught to me by Omar. Although he has not played as much since he moved to California, Omar is still one heck of a Pokemon player and could be one of the best if he wasn’t so busy. So thanks Omar!

The First Simple Rule- Practice, Practice, Practice.

I hate to start out the article with this rule because you hear it in every article. Everyone tells you to test a lot, but it really does make a difference. The best way to get better at the game is to play every deck and play against every deck. This way nothing will surprise you in a tournament, and if nothing surprises you you will probably win.

The best way to practice is to get a few friends together for a regularly scheduled testing session. You each will push each other to become better players and each person will benefit.

But, it doesn’t really matter if you test by yourself, at a league, on Skype, on Redshark/Apprentice, or with a team; testing just makes you a better player. It’s just like the phrase “basketball players are made in the summer.” The more time you spend practing for a tournament the better you will do at it.

The Second Simple Rule- Don’t Overextend Yourself

This is something that Omar has always harped about, it is one of the fundamental rules of the game. A lot of Pokemon games now a days are determined by a prize race. If you make one mistake you can fall behind on a prize race, and lose the game. One thing that can make you lose a prize race is overextending yourself (using resources when you already have a knock out.)

Overextending yourself is something that is hard not to do. The setting is this: you have a Luxray Gl Lv. X active with a lightning and an energy gain and your opponent has a Crobat G active. In you hand you have a Cyrus’s Conspiracy, a DCE, an Energy Gain and an Uxie La with 2 open bench spaces and a Garchomp C. At this point you would be tempted to put down the DCE and gain on Garchomp C, and “Setup” with Uxie for 6. But, in most situations this would not be the best play, and here’s why. Next turn your opponent could “Dragon Rush” your Garchomp C with all the resources for the knockout, and you have lost all of those resources plus you already dropped the Uxie. If you would have not played down those resources, you would have only lost 1 basic Pokemon, but now you have lost a lot of resources.

The simple rule here is to just get the knock out, do not waste your resources for no reason. If you play all your trainer cards and get a great hand, your opponent can come back next time and Judge you. This would force you to return all of your resources to your deck, and you have already used your trainer cards up. Do everything you need to do to get the knockout, you can worry about you next turn on your next turn.

The Third Simple Rule- Take the easy knockout.

The situation is that you have an active Gengar Sf with 2 energies on it. Your opponent has a Charizard with 80 Hp remaining and an Uxie on the bench with 1 damage counter on it. The opponent also has 8 cards in his/her hand, and you have no idea what is in that hand. So, which attack do you use? The answer is “Shadow Room” on Uxie La.

Its almost always better to go for the easy knockout. This goes back to the principal that most games are prize races. You need to get a knock out each turn. It’s true that knocking out the Charizard will be better for you, but its more important to take a prize each turn than to have a shot at getting a good knockout. Since you don’t know what is in your opponent’s hand, you may or may not have a knockout. If you don’t get the knockout it could turn the balance of the game. In the long run, it’s better to get as many prizes as you can.

The Fourth Rule- Pay Attention

This rule seems like an easy one to do, and you may think you do it, but most players do not.

Heres the situation you and your opponent are playing Luxchomp decks, and you two just unloaded on each other. You lost two Luxray Gl’s and two Garchomp C’s. Its your turn and you have 1 prize left, as does your opponent. You have an active Crobat G and an Uxie and Azelf on the bench, while your opponent has an active Toxicroak G promo. In your hand you have a DCE, an Energy Gain, a Powerspray, a Cyrus Conspiracy, and a Bebe’s Search. So whats the play? If you don’t pay attention to the game state you might think that you don’t have a great choice. But, if you are paying attention, you would notice that Toxicroak G has a psychic weakness. So what you can do is retreat for Uxie, attach the DCE to him, Bebe’s for Uxie X, and then “Zen Blade” for the knockout.

You always need to pay attention to a lot of things. You have to pay attention to how much total HP the Pokemon has left (don’t forget about Expert Belt and resistance, and how much damage you can do (don’t forget about weakness). Also there are things like effects of previous attacks, Poke-Bodies, Stadiums, Trainers, and Supporters that can effect how much damage is done. You always have to pay attention to the game state and about how much damage you need to do to get a knockout and how much HP you need to prevent a KO from your opponent.

I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people say “Dragon Rush” and go to take a prize, only to realize that their opponent has a resistance that prevents the knock out. It isn’t just on calculating damage either. I have done this before, I tried to use powers like “Flash Bite” and “Setup” or turns that I was effected by “Psychic Bind.” There are a lot of things to pay attention to, so its important not to let your mind wander. To avoid these embarrassing situations you need to practice hard and pay attention to the game state.

Well those are my simple rules. 4 great rules that can help you win. If you think I have left out some simple rules please include them in the comments. Thanks and….

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Pokemon Education

Pokemon Black & White Mall Tour @ Mall of America

Ed March 7, 2011 7 Comments

Ava and I attended the Black and White Mall Tour on Saturday. It was a pretty well run event for the most part. We were planning to meet some friends at about 9:45. Unfortunately, we had car troubles (dead battery), so we ended up arriving just after 10AM. The first showing of the Zoroark movie was at 10, and they got in. We missed it.

We kinda got hosed on the whole movie deal. We arrived at the first info booth at about 10:10. It was too late for the 10AM movie, but we were told that they hadn’t yet received the 12:00 movie tickets. We’d just have to come back.

Ava and I then proceeded to rush around the mall to get 5 stamps before the lines became unbearable. It’s a good thing we did. After getting 5 stamps, people then had to wait in line to spin a wheel to see what prize they would receive. When we got there (at about 10:45), there were exactly 0 people ahead of us. We waltzed up and spun. Ava got a Snivy stylus. I got a Snivy patch. And there was much rejoicing.

We then decided to go back to see some of the stuff we zoomed by before, so we headed back to wait in line to play the new videogame. In line just ahead of us was a loud group of Team Rocket cosplay girls and a bit behind us was the Lesky crew (with Troy sporting a new tattoo which I should have captured on film). All the cosplayers were one of the more interesting attractions of the day, actually. It gave the event a fun and friendly feel.

Speaking of cosplay, we ran into Umbreon along the way. After the event, I looked him up. Apricot the Gerbil had a password giveaway, which was quite cool. Ava really appreciates the Mew bouncy ball she received.

Oh yeah, at one point, we headed back to get our noon movie tickets. We were informed that they ran out. All they had was 2:00 ones. Well, Ava had to be at a hockey game at 4:15, so that wouldn’t work. We found a young couple of Pokemon trainers before leaving and donated our 2PM tix to them. Hopefully they had a good time at the movie.

We did finally meet up with our friends, but we were all done with the stamping by then. We walked around with them and ended up meeting Grumpig. When we decided to leave, they went to wait in line for the wheel spin. Man, that line was LONG. I’m so glad we bolted through the stamp process early.

Here are our pictures. It was fun. States is coming up on Saturday. I’m definitely not prepared.

[Show picture list]

Uncategorized

PokemanDan’s PokeClass Episode 22 – The “State” of the Game!

PokemanDan March 6, 2011 3 Comments

[youtube width=”640″ height=”480″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrQsskW2k08[/youtube]

This week, I go over all you need to know about what to expect at States! I’ll give you the ins and outs of pretty much every deck you will encounter including changes post-Call of Legends and how to play against them all.

Let’s hope this ultimate guide helps you to decide what to run at States.

Thanks for watching. Read More

Card Discussion

Bring in the Tanks: Tanking Pokemon in the TCG.

Pikkdogs March 4, 2011 4 Comments

Hey Everyone. This is Pikkdogs here to talk about Tanks in the Pokemon TCG. In military terms, a tank refers to a heavily armored, slow moving, and hard hitting vehicle. In reference to the Pokemon TCG, a tank is a Pokemon card that has high HP, is usually slow to setup, and can deal a lot of damage. This article is all about tanking Pokemon.

Tanking Pokemon are pretty cool. They can absorb a lot of damage and deal it right back to your opponent. The problem is the fact that they are fairly slow and hard to evolve.

So what are some of the strategies that you can use with tanks? Well, each tanking card is different, but for the most part you would want to get the tank out as fast as possible and then heal the tank. Healing can be done with cards like Pokehealer +, MooMoo Milk, and Blissey Pt.

Currently in the game there are a lot of Pokemon who can be considered tanks. Here is a profile of some of the more interesting ones.

Tank #1- Dialga G Lv. X

Description– Dialga G Lv. X is possibly the smallest yet most played tank. It is a basic Lv. X, with 120 HP, a 2 retreat cost, a fire weakness, and a psychic resistance. Its Poke-Body is called “Time Crystal” and it has the effect of turning off all non SP Poke-Bodies. Its “Remove Lost” attack does 80 damage for MMCC and has a chance of putting energy attached to your oppoent’s Pokemon in the Lost Zone.

Although 120 HP is not usually enough to reach tank status in today’s game, the way this card is played makes it a tank. First, players attach Special Metal energies to Dialga G. For every Special Metal energy attached to Dialga G any attack done to Dialga G is reduced by 10. These energies help Dialga G stay around longer, and when the damage counters pile up you just bring in Garchomp C Lv. X and use “Healing Breath” to heal all damage counters. These things can make Dialga G quite a powerful tank.

Should it see play?– Oh yeah, Dialga G is a great card. It combines disruption and tanking to make a good combo. It is mostly used in SP decks like Dialgachomp, though has seen some play as a tech in Luxchomp and Gyarados. With the SP engine it is perhaps the fastest tank out there, which makes it the most playable tank.

Tank #2- Wailord SV or TM.

Description– When I think of tanks, I think of Wailord. Ever since its first appearance in EX Ruby and Sapphire, Wailord has had the biggest HP in the format. Having the best HP has never translated into being the best Pokemon, but it has made it one interesting card. In the Great Encounters set Wailord had an amazing 200 HP. But, in the Supreme Victors and Triumphant set Wailord only had 180 HP. Each of the two cards in the current format have 1 attack that heals Wailord, and the other that can do some major damage. They both has a 4 retreat cost and a x2 lightning weakness.

The SV Wailord can heal 4 damage counters for CC with its “Rest” attack. Its second attack is “Giant Wave” which does 100 damage for WWWCC. The TM Wailord has the “Underwater Dive” attack which lets you flip 2 coins and heal 3 damage counters for each heads. It’s “Swallow Up” attack does 50 damage for WWWC and can do 50 more if Wailord has more HP.

Both cards are fairly similar, but not that great. To make them better you can add Feraligatr Prime, which has the “Raindance” Poke-Power, which lets you attach as many water energies to any water Pokemon that you like. This means that you can do either “Giant Wave” or “Under Water Dive” faster.

Should it see play?– Although I love Wailord, I just can’t recommend playing either of these cards right now. Wailord is just too slow and its lightning weakness is just too hard to overcome. But, the 180 HP is too nice to look over. For right now keep Wailord in the back of your mind, maybe a good combo will come out in the new Black and White set.

Tank #3-Torterra Ul

Description– Around Nationals last year Torterra Ul was making some noise in Europe. Torterra was used in conjunction with the Lv. X and Flygon Lv. X. Flash forward a year later and the Lv. X is gone, Flygon is all but un-usable thanks to Garchomp C, and the Claydol Ge engine that the deck used is rotated. But, its still a good card, so lets look at it.

It has 140 HP, a fire weakness, and a 4 retreat cost. Its best attack is called “Giga Drain” and does 40 damage and you get to remove an equal amount of damage counters that you did to the defending Pokemon. That means the more damage you do, the more you heal. And since doing a lot of damage and healing is great, there are techs you can use to increase both damage and healing.

Cherrim SF’s “Sunny Day” Poke-Body increases the amount of damage done to the defending Pokemon by 10 for each Cherrim you have in play. If you have an expert belt and 4 Cherrims in play, you can to do 100 damage with “Giga Drain,” and then heal 10 damage counters. You could also use Shaymin Lv.X Ground Forme and give Torterra 40 more HP thanks to its “Thankfullness” Pokebody. That means with a belt, Shaymin, and 4 Cherrims you have 200 HP and are attacking and healing 100 HP each turn.

Should it see play?– Although there are lots of techs that can help it, Torterra is just too slow in the current format. If properly setup this deck is unstoppable, but it is very hard to setup. This tank is just not fast enough. But, keep this card in the back of your mind, it could get a good tech card in the Black and White set to make it playable again.

Tank #4-Nidoking Tm

Description– Nidoking is a card that can become an unstoppable tank, but needs a lot of help. He is another tank that seems just a little too slow for the format. But his potential is so great that it can’t be ignored.

He is of course a stage 2 Fighting Pokemon with 140 HP, a 3 retreat cost, a water weakness, and a lightning resistance. He has a Poke-Body called “Pheremone Stamina” which increases his HP by 20 for every Nidoqueen you have in play. He has one attack, and its called “Venomous Horn.” This attack does 80 damage and poisons the defending Pokemon for FFCC.

Nidoking’s resistant is awesome, but he has a tough weakness for the current format. “Pheremone Stamina” works excellently with Nidoquen RR’s “Maternal Comfort” Poke-Body, which heals away 1 damage counter between turns. This means if you are able to get 3 Nidoquens’s on the bench, Nidoking will have 220 HP (with an expert belt) and will be healing 1 damage counter between turns. The problem here is getting 4 stage 2 Pokemon in play. Right now, its hard to get even 1 in play, 4 is un-thinkable.

Should it see play?– As mentioned, it is way too hard to get a lot of Stage 2 Pokemon in play. It is just too slow to see any play. But, just like Torterra and Wailord, this card is good enough that we should all keep it in mind. Plus, Nidoking is a beloved Pokemon and will always be a fan favorite.

Tank #5- Steelix Prime

Description– Steelix Prime is one of the better tanks in the current format. It first got attention at World’s last year when the Steelix deck made top cut and did a great job at the tourney.

Steelix is a stage 1 Steel Pokemon, with 140 HP, a fire weakness, a psychic weakness, and a 4 retreat cost. It has the “Perfect Metal” Poke-Body which prevents him from being effected by a special condition. Its first attack is called “Energy Stream” and can do 30 damage for CC, it also lets you attach an energy card and attach it to Steelix. Its second attack is called “Gaia Crush” and does 100 damage for MMCCC, it also lets you discard any Stadium card in play if you choose.

The Steelix deck is actually a pretty good deck. It isn’t Tier 1, but it might be tier 2. It has a good shot at beating SP decks (as long as they don’t have Blaziken FB in the deck.) If you can get a Steelix turn 2 and use “Energy Stream” to attach an energy, you could possibly be in line to “Gaia Crush” next turn. One thing that is needed in this deck is an early expert belt. It will give you more HP so you will be able to survive a big hit. And, this deck is all about surviving a big hit. If you can keep Steelix alive you can heal him next turn. Most decks use Poke Healer + and Blissey Pt to heal a lot of damage counters on one turn.

Should it see play?– If you haven’t tried this deck, what are you waiting for? It is a really fun deck that does work. It is probably the best pure Tank in this list. It has high HP and can hit for a lot. It also can help get itself more energy. This deck may not be the best, but it is good. Unless there is a lot of fire in your metagame, this wouldn’t be a bad choice for States, if you still haven’t chosen a deck.

So there it is, a profile of some of the better tanks in the format. There are many other tanks out there, and some good pseudo-tanks (like Ursaring Prime) but this a list of some of the most interesting ones. If you can think of some good tanks, please list them in the comment section so we can have a little discussion about them.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

RenaeCollects

An Introduction from RenaeCollects

RenaeCollects March 2, 2011 2 Comments

Hello everyone! Pikkdogs has asked me to be a part of the Team Omar community! And I’m very excited to do so. I figure the best thing to do is to start by introducing myself!

I’ve only been doing so seriously for a few months now. If you know my boyfriend, JWittz, then you may know that we’ve played a big role in each others’ involvement in PokÃ©mon. In high school, some of our peers started playing their old Game Boy Color PokÃ©mon games and it spread all over school. Who would have thought, right? So we both decided to whip out our old games. I started playing PokÃ©mon Yellow because I had always been a Pikachu fan, and Josh played PokÃ©mon Red. It was our “gateway drug”, so to speak, into the world of PokÃ©mon. (Of course we played it and had cards as kids, but this was serious stuff for two high schoolers :P)

So PokÃ©mon Yellow and Red led to PokÃ©mon Diamond and Pearl. At first, I was turned off by the newer generation PokÃ©mon. In fact, until we started playing those games, I didn’t even know that many PokÃ©mon existed. But after a short while they grew on me like crazy. And after a while PokÃ©mon Diamond and Pearl led to me asking about PokÃ©mon cards. I found a small binder of cards that I had from when I was a kid. But I didn’t have many and I didn’t have anything too exciting or rare. And that was when I found out you could actually PLAY A GAME WITH THE CARDS! (I didn’t know anything, did I?) So we went out and bought two theme decks and I learned for the first time how to play the PokÃ©mon TCG. In the long run, however, it just wasn’t for me. I enjoy the game, but oh my goodness it’s so hard to play competitively! So props to all you crazy people who can keep up with it all!

I liked PokÃ©mon too much, though, to give it up completely. There are countless videos of collectors on YouTube. And I started watching tons of those videos. So a few months ago I decided to start doing the same. I finally had something that I could call my own in PokÃ©mon; something that I could do independently of Josh and his role in the TCG community. And now, for the first time ever, I know things about PokÃ©mon that he doesn’t! (But we’ll let him continue thinking he knows more ;))

This is where my YouTube channel, RenaeCollects, comes into play. I mostly upload videos of pack openings, a few raffles, and some trades. And that’s mostly what I’ll be contributing to this site. I hope that my perspective as a collector is insightful, and maybe just fun, for players out there. Just like I enjoy hearing about the TCG (even though the meta game is mostly all over my head), because it helps keep collecting in perspective. And it sometimes has unfavorable and favorable effects on the value of cards. What collector wants to trade their Primes and Legend pieces for the same value as some trainers?! But at the same time, every collector wants to trade their extra trainers for a Prime or Legend piece! Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you can see what I mean about the TCG affecting collecting. So maybe together we’ll find more ways how collectors and players can affect each other, as well as work together!

Whew! so after all that, I just want to say “Hi”. And thanks for welcoming me into this community. Here’s a video from my channel just to introduce you to the kind of content I make. I hope to talk to you all soon and to start a new relationship between collectors and players!

State Championships Uncategorized

What European Challenge Cup Means to State Tournaments

Pikkdogs February 28, 2011 6 Comments

A big hello to everyone in Omar-nation. This is Pikkdogs here with a report on the upcoming state championships.

So I had my preview of states all done and written, and I was ready to make some final tweaks to my deck, and then………………………….. The Europeans screwed it up.

Darn Euros! They had one tournament and with that turned the Metagame on its side.

In case you haven’t watched PokemonDan’s video on the ECC, the talk of the Benelux region was Italy’s Andrea C. and his Lostgar Lock deck. Its basically just a trainerlock deck but that exchanges 2 Gengar SF for 2 Gengar Primes. Even though he was very lucky in the tournament, he was at a place where he should have won the entire tournament, but misplayed at then end. So he basically should have won the tournament, and turned quite a few heads while he did it. You can bet this deck will migrate to the U.S. and become the biggest Italian import since the Pizza pie.

So what does this mean for State Championships?

Well I’m glad you asked that, because it is the topic of this article. We will examine this effect by analyzing what decks have gotten better because of this news, and what decks have gotten worse.

The Winners

Lostgar Lock– Of course one of the biggest winners of this news is the deck that is sweeping the metagame. This deck will be played a lot, now that Andrea proved that it can win. Andrea did not give us a list that can be easily copied, but everyone basically knows how to build a deck like this. He ran 2 Gengar Primes, 1 Gengar Sf, and 1 Gengar Prime; that seems to be the best play. A 2-2-2 Vileplume line is standard, as well is at least 3 Spiritomb Ar. You will also see some new cards like Mr. Mime Cl and Spiritomb Tm. The reason this deck is so good is because of the Rescue Energy + Broken Time Space Combo. An SP deck will mostly likely have to take 2 hits to knock out either a Vileplume or Gengar. When they do knock it out, it just goes back to the player’s hand, and they can lay it all back down thanks to Broken Time Space. This is an unstoppable combo.

On the downside, a Lostgar Lock player will have to make sure to build the deck so it does not have Split Personality Disorder. Lostgar Lock is a mix of two decks Lostgar and Vilegar. You don’t wanna take 3 prizes and put 3 Pokemon in the Lost Zone, that does you no good. Consistency is big on this deck.

Luxchomp– Luxchomp is a deck that can beat any deck consistently, it just needs to know what deck it will play so that it can tech against it. What Andrea did in Benelux was that he just tipped his hand and the hand of all Lostgarlock players. Now Luxchomp knows what the Lost World threat is, and can tech against it. So what can you put in your SP deck?

To me, there are 4 good techs that you can play to stop Lostgarlock. I assume that you are starting your deck with a basic Luxchomp list with a 1-1 Blaziken Fb line.

One tech is Dialga G. If you get an early lead against Lostgarlock, just rid your hand of trainers and use “Deafen” so that your opponent cannot play Lost World down. It is a simple tech that is useful against a lot of decks, the ability to also shut down Poke-Bodies is amazing. But, if you can’t rid your hand of trainers, Gengar SF is gonna run over you.

Another tech is Weavile G. Weavile G is a Dark Pokemon that has the “Team Attack” attack. For DCC you can do 10 damage plus 10 more damage for everyone Pokemon SP you have in play. That means if you have 4 Pokemon SP on your bench, you will be doing 120 damage to Gengar Prime (thanks to weakness), which leaves you just 1 “Flash Bite” away froma OHKO. Its “Call For Family” attack also is nice because it has a Call Energy like effect, so it is a good starter. If you need to get rid of Gengar Prime fast, Weaville G is probably the easiest way to do it, though Absol G Lv.X can also hit for 120.

Weavile G saw some play at the ECC, another card that did as well was Roserade Gl. Roserade is a card that can be used in conjuction with Luxray Gl Lv. X’s “Bright Look” or Blaziken FB’s “Luring Flame” attack. You would use these attacks to bring either Spritiomb or Vileplume to the active spot. Once they are there, you can use Roserade Gl’s “Poison Bind” attack to do 10 damage, plus a poison, and prevent a retreat next turn. The only way that your opponent would be able to free a Pokemon would be to use Warp Energy. Even if this does not get you a knock-out, it will help you. If the Lostgar player is going for the win with Lost World, you just need to get the prize lead, and then stall till time is called. So Roserade Gl can help you lengthen the game, which is good for you and bad for them.

The fourth and final tech against Lostgar Lock is Staraptor Fb Lv. X. In my opinion the best thing about Lostgar Lock is not Gengar Prime, nor is it Vilegar, nor is it Gengar Sf, but it is the Rescue Energy+ BTS combo. This combo is amazing and makes Lostgar Lock such a great deck. If you knock out a Gengar or Vileplume they just put it back down again and say, “can you do that 5 more times?” Well SP decks cannot do that 5 more times, so lets stop this combo. You can go at this 2 ways. You can get either get rid of the Rescue Energy, with Lost Remover. Or, you can get rid of the Broke Time Space. Because of trainerlock, the best way to do this is to get rid of the stadium card.

The easiest way to get rid of the stadium is with Staraptor FB Lv. X. Staraptor has the “Defog” attack that does 70 damage and discards a stadium for CCC. Unfortunately this attack only does 50 to Gengar Prime, thanks to resistance but the main part of this attack is the discarding of the stadium. Without BTS they will need 3 turns to get their Vileplume or Gengar back, which will buy you enough time do get more prizes. Also, Staraptor’s “Fast Call” Poke-Power will let you get any Stadium from your deck. This lets you setup a Cyrus Chain very quickly, or be able to get a PONT to refresh your hand.

Gyarados– This seems like a weird place to put Gyarados. How will this be good for Gyarados? It is a trainerlock deck, in which the opponent has a chance at Lost Zoning a Magikarp. This doesn’t sound good for Gyarados.

But if you build a decent Gyarados build, you can make a list that has at least a 50% chance of beating any Trainerlock deck. Where Gyarados really improves is the fact that SP is not thinking about it any more. We might see some decks losing their Lucario Gl, or at the very least losing consistency. And, if SP decks are not as consistent as possible Gyarados will be able to swoop in and beat SP decks. With the changing of SP lists, Gyarados now has the chance of winning a lot more tournaments.

The Losers

Vilegar– Vilegar was already losing to SP decks, now SP decks are really teching against them, this can’t be good. The number of traditional Vilegar players will drop because of the fact that Lostgar Lock is very similar. So, I would be surprised if traditional Vilegar does anything at S/T/P Championships.

Uxie Donk– If you build Uxie Donk really well you can easily beat any deck except any kind of Trainerlock or a deck with sustained Powerlock. The ECC did nothing if it didn’t reaffirm that trainerlock will be around for a long time. Unfortunately, Uxie Donk Players will be running into a lot of trainer lock decks.

Rogue Decks– A lot of rogue decks rely on trainers. And Lostgar Lock stops trainers, so Lostgar Lock will stop a lot of rogue decks. Its that simple. Although, there are some rogue decks that don’t rely on a lot of trainers these decks are mostly unaffected. Unfortunately, it seems like the rise of Lostgar Lock means a lot less original decks.

So thats what I think the ECC means for the Metagame. I may be over-reacting to the news a little, but I think Andrea’s good showing is a harbinger for things to come.

PokeClass

PokemanDan’s PokeClass Episode 21 – The European Challenge!

PokemanDan February 26, 2011 2 Comments

The European Challenge Cup was this week and it has shown us some great things for the game. It seems to me that the meta is starting to show some light past SP, with many rogue decks and crazy ideas actually doing well in high grade tournaments. This episode will go over the best parts of the ECC which took place last weekend. There are some good things coming from Europe at the moment and wait til you see what Gengar Prime did!

Thanks for watching! Read More

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Pikkdog’s Michigan State Report: If You Live by the Sword….

Pikkdog’s 4 Simple Rules

Pokemon Black & White Mall Tour @ Mall of America

PokemanDan’s PokeClass Episode 22 – The “State” of the Game!

Bring in the Tanks: Tanking Pokemon in the TCG.

An Introduction from RenaeCollects

What European Challenge Cup Means to State Tournaments

PokemanDan’s PokeClass Episode 21 – The European Challenge!

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