One Hit KO

Pokemon TCG Decklists and Articles

2011

Deck Discussion

Mew Lock Deck Update and Testing Results

Pikkdogs 13 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with his sidekick Pedro, here to give you an update on my Mew Prime deck.

The first post-catcher decklist I gave you was a Mew Prime deck.  It relied on Vileplume to lock trainers, Pidgeot to stall, and Jumpluff to attack (through Mew Prime of course).  Pedro, tell the nice people how to view the previous article.

If you were lucky enough to miss the last article about Mew Prime, and you for soe reason want to change your luck, you can view it here.

Thank You Pedro.  Since the last article my mind has changed about Mew Prime a couple times.  When I first tested it I thought it was one of the best decks in the post catcher era.  Than I did more testing, built other decks, and played matches against other people.  The final straw with my Mew deck was when Ed’s deck took apart my Mew deck.

If Ed beats you that bad, it indeed is a bad sign.

I agree Pedro.  So after that match I decided to try to find a different deck.  I tried a couple decks but nothing seemed to fit with me.  I know that for Battle Roads I needed something with Vileplume, I thought Pokemon Catcher made Pokemon to complicated.  After failing with a Beartic deck my mind kept on going back to the Mew deck.  I had watched on thetopcut.net’s youtube channel that Jason K. had made a similar deck.  His deck featured Sunflora HGSS and Aipom  as tech cards.

At first I had no confidence in a bad tech for a bad Jumpluff deck and a random common like Aipom.  I just didn’t see how that would work in a deck like Mew.  It was partly my ego, and partly my previous experience with Sunflora.  But eventually I was desperate enough to try the deck out.  Even I was shocked at the results.

Who would have guessed, Jason.K knows more about Pokemon then you.  You won a pre-release and he only won at a little tournament called worlds.

I know weird right? 

Anyway, I studied the videos on thetopcut.net’s youtube site and was able to come up with a rough decklist of what Jason was running.  I made some adjustments for my own playstyle, tweaked a few things, and changed a couple tires.  What I came up with was a deck that was very disruptive and very fast.  It does struggle in certain situations, but I think this version of the deck was one of the best versions that I have tested.  I hope to keep testing the deck and maybe take it to a Battle Roads.

I won’t talk about how this deck works too much because I talked about it in the last article.

Thanks for sparing us.

Your welcome Pedro.  But I must talk about how Sunflora changes the deck.  Sunflora makes the deck a lot faster by letting you search out Vileplume and Yanmega parts from your deck.  It is very important to get a turn 2 Sunflora.  The odds of getting a turn 2 Vileplume goes up by a lot if you get a turn 2 Sunflora. 

Never tell me the odds.

Okay Han Solo. At first I thought that running Sunflora would slow the deck down a little, but I have always been able to get the Sunflora out fast, and the Sunflora always gets Vileplume out faster.  And getting the Vileplume out faster is what will give you success at Battle Roads.

Here is a version of my list that I am working with.  I am probably planning on playing this deck for Battle Roads, but the list is not yet tournament worthy.  It is still just my testing deck so there are some tweaks to be made before a tournament.  It is a decent list to start, but I admit that it is far from perfect.

Pokemon-26

  • 4-Mew Prime
  • 3-Yanma
  • 3-Yanmega Prime
  • 2-Muk Ud
  • 1-Jumpluff HGSS
  • 1-Cleffa HGSS
  • 1-Smoochum HGSS-The idea here is to use Smoochum to deny energies to active Pokemon.  It works against low energy Donphan decks and cards that use more than 1 energy to attack.  It works a lot better than I thought it would.
  • 3-Oddish
  • 1-Gloom
  • 2-Vileplume
  • 1-Jirachi-The idea here is to spread damage with Yanmega and use Jirachi to de-evolve Pokemon for an easy knock-out.
  • 2-Sunkern
  • 2-Sunflora-This card speeds up the deck a lot.  Jumpluff - HGSS

Trainers-22

  • 4-Pokemon Collector
  • 4-Judge
  • 4-Juniper
  • 3-Rare Candy
  • 3-Pokemon Communication
  • 1-Flower Shop Lady
  • 2-Professor Elm’s Training Method
  • 1-Copy Cat

Energy-12

  • Psychic-6
  • Grass-2
  • Rainbow-4

One change from Jason K.’s deck to my version is the substitution of Aipom for Smoochum.

What a coincidence, I used to dance under the name Smoochums.

Really, I used to dance under the name “Spray Splash”. Anyway, back to Smoochum.  As I mentioned he is used to stall the game by moving energy around on your opponent’s side of the field.  I chose to use Smoochum instead of Aipom because they do a similar thing, but Smoochum attacks and retreats for free.  The bad things about Smoochum is that he only has a donkable 30 HP, and has the ability to stay asleep while on your turn.  Using either Aipom or Smoochum would be a good play, which card you play is more of a personal preference.

Testing Results

I didn’t get a lot of testing done with this deck before I went to the Pokebarn to test the deck against Michigan’s finest, but my initial testing was very good.  I thought it was worthwhile to head to the Poekbarn to test against the Team Warp Point guys to see if my version of the Mew Deck is Battle Roads worthy.  I will not be giving names out or explaining rogue decks because I respect the privacy of the players at the barn.  I don’t wanna give anything away because I know we have a lot of readers who live and play in Michigan. 

Since when do we have “A lot of readers” anywhere?

Okay, so maybe be have 1 or 2 people who live and play in Michigan, I still don’t wanna spoil any secrets for BRs.  If this report needs clarification please tell me so in the comment box and I will see what I can do.

Game 1– This game was against a Reshiphlosion player, and it was actually just a fun game played before the tournament started. The game started very well for me.  I started first, and a turn 2 Sunflora led to a turn 2 Vileplume.  Once I setup a Vileplume, all I needed to do was keep on “Sludge Draging” a benched Reshiram, and then snipe around it with Yanmega.  This game was pretty much over from the beginning.  1-0.

Game 2– I don’t remember the first game of the actual tournament very well. I think it was against a Stage 1 Rush deck.  Again I was able to get a turn 2 or 3 Vileplume and bring up a heavy retreater like Donphan.  I then was able to snipe around it, and eventually knock it out for the game. 2-0

Game 3–  This was a really cool game for me.  Again a turn 2 Sunflora led to a turn 2 Vileplume.  The minute I evolved my opponent decided to throw in the towel.

Which is of course the most useful object in the universe

Right you are.  That brought me to   3-0.  This just shows how terrifying an item lock can be.

Game 4–  This was no doubt the match of the night.  It was against a stage 1 Rush deck.  He got an early Donphan, and I got a turn 3 Vileplume.  I ran into an energy drought early, so I used Smoochum to move the energy to the bench a couple times.  Then I sniped around with Yanmega Prime for 6 turns until he was able to kill 2 of them.  I then got a 3rd Yanmega out before time was called.  By that time we were tied on prizes with 2 left for each of us.  I was able to take a prize on turn 1, and he scooped when he was unable to return the favor on turn 2. 4-0

Game 5– I don’t wanna talk too much about this game to protect some secrets.  I will say that I got a terrible start, and he got a great one.  He was able to knock out 3 Oddishes with 2 Pokemon Catchers and a Junk Arm.  I was unable to do too much since my Jumpluff was prized, so the game was pretty lopsided. 4-1.  After the game we decided to play a fun game, as time was called we each had taken 2 or 3 prizes.  I really hope I can play this guy at a Battle Road.  

Game 6-This game was for Top Cut. I honestly can’t remember what deck this was against, but I think it was against a Stage 1 Rush.  I was unable to get a decent setup, I think I had a turn 3 or 4 Vileplume.  He was able to put 2 energies on Donphan, so I was unable to Smoochum the energies off him.

You were unable to Smoochum him?  Is that the kind of thing that usually goes on at the barn?

Oh yeah we are all a bunch of big Smoochum guys. Anyway,  It can be hard to beat a stage 1 Rush if they get a lot of energies quickly and don’t put up anything to trap.  So I ended up at 4-2 including the practice match.  Even though this was an informal tournament, it was still a good testing session. I learned that the deck is pretty good and faster than I thought it would be.  I also learned that some matchups can be very hard to win, a lot of luck goes into winning.

Just a little bit about matchups.  It seems that against Reshiphlosion and Stage 1 Rush decks I should have a slight advantage.  Although the match can turn the other way fairly quickly.  I haven’t played this deck against a Beartic or Gothitelle deck, but I assume that they would be fairly favorable matchups.  However, anything that can attack fast and is hard to trap, will be tough for this deck to play against.

Here are a few tips for playing against this deck.  It can be fruitful to put in 1 Mew Prime and some Rainbow Energies.  Then you can use the other player’s Muk to “Sludge Drag” up the Vileplume, in hopes of either stalling or knocking it out.  This should be a pretty easy solution against this deck if the deck is played a lot in your meta game (though I don’t anticipate it to be).  It is also very helpful to not put down anything that can be trapped.  As long as each Pokemon can attack for 60 fairly easily, you should be okay.

Well that’s all we got for today.  I hope you enjoyed the article, feel free to leave your comments and questions in the comment box.  So uhhhhhh we’re all done here, Pedro, how do we usually end articles here.

We usually say goodnight to all of our regular writers like they do in the Waltons.

No, I don’t think we do.

No, we do.

Well alright.  Good Night Ed.  Good Night Joel.  Good Night Misnos.  Good Night PokemanDan.  Good Night Renaecollects. Good Night Andrew.  Good Night people who haven’t written in a long time.  Good Night Writers that came for Guest Writers week who I hope will come back to write again. 

Goodnight John Boy

Good one Pedro, I’m sure a lot of Pokemon players love the Waltons.  Thats the way to hit the big 18-24 demographic.  Bring up something popular with the kids, like the Waltons. 

Goodnight Pedro

Deck Discussion

TAndrewTesting: Gothitelle/Reuniclus

TAndrewT 12 Comments
Christina Ricci as Gothitelle

For Pokémon players, Labor Day week means the beginning of a new competitive season and preparing for Battle Roads. (And not wearing white pants, if you have any.) We now know that the Battle Roads season will start on September 17th, in just under two weeks (!), so it’s a great time to start thinking about what you’ll bring to BRs that first weekend.

As a bit of personal introduction, I’ve been playing Pokémon TCG for just a year, and 2010’s Fall Battle Roads was my very first tournament. In fact, my very first tournament opponent was Radu Ciocan, who posted an OHKO article on MewPlume just last month. (Yes, I lost that first game.) Since then, I’ve been splitting my Pokémon time between playing, judging, and volunteering at league and tournaments. With that short a resumé, I’m not sure how OHKO’ers will feel about my authority on Pokémon strategy or about my very first article on this site. The new format rotation has completely changed the competitive landscape and made us all take fresh looks at many new deck concepts, so even if you’ve played for years longer than I have, I hope this article contains some new perspective you can use in your upcoming Battle Roads play.

The Emerging Powers set gave us a brand new deck archetype—Gothitelle/Reuniclus—and this article will explore that deck. The real focus of the deck is Gothitelle, a Stage 2 cross between Christina Ricci and Mary Poppins. Gothitelle has an Ability, “Magic Room”, which prevents your opponent from playing Trainer-Items, but not you. Although this may sound like an unfair upgrade to Vileplume’s item-lock, Gothitelle’s Ability comes with a catch: she has to be active for the Ability to take effect. Now, with 130HP and a convenient weakness to Psychic (not a popular type in the current format), Gothitelle can certainly hold her own in the active spot. But her attack, Madkinesis, costs three colorless energy, and does just 30 damage, plus 20 damage for each Psychic energy attached to Gothitelle. Ideally, all three of the required energy will be Psychic, so that Gothitelle will initially do 90 for 3—okay, but not great, and attaching all those energies one-by-one will take time.
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PokeClass

PokeClass Episode 41 – Possible Changes to the 2011-2012 Season

PokemanDan No Comments

[youtube width=”640″ height=”390″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rBNkUEx5No[/youtube]

This week I cover a pretty controversial topic which has been the center of many rumours around the community at the moment. I will be talking about possible changes to the ELO system that we currently have in preparation for the new season which technically started on the 1st September.

Enjoy!
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Pikks Three

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Vileplume Ud, Great Ball EP, and Hydreigon Red Collection

Pikkdogs 14 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a Pikk Three Article.  If you haven’t seen this article before….

Yeah, like anyone reads your articles.

True dat, Pedro, but be quite while I’m trying to introduce the article.  Geez its hard to find a good side kick now a days.   Back to the article, some people may have had the unfortunate luck to stumble past this site before and read a Pikk Three article.  Pedro, will you explain the Pikk Three article.

Well, its like a big card of the day article on a site like Pojo, Pokegym, or Sixprizes.  Except this article will review three cards; one that is a popular card, one that the fat guy feels is under-rated, and one that is from a new or unreleased set; and nobody will read this article.

Thank You Pedro…… I think, now lets get on to the article.

Card #1 Vileplume UD

Details– Vileplume is one of the most popular cards in the last couple years.  He first saw play with Gengar Sf as a part of the popular Trainerlock deck.  This deck saw a lot of victories at tournaments, and was something to be feared.  After Gengar SF was rotated out, not many people played Vileplume right away.  Now, we expect to see a lot of Vileplume in the upcoming season.  Either in the deck with Mew Prime, or in a deck with Beartic.  If you do not play Vileplume you still should know all about it because you still will be seeing it around a lot.

It is a stage 2 120 HP Grass Pokemon.  It is weak to psychic and has a 2 retreat cost.  Its attack is pretty lack luster, “Dazzling Pollen” does 50 damage for GGC.  The attack also lets you flip a coin, if heads the attack does 20 more, if tails the defending is confused.  In over a year of playing this card I only used the attack 1 time.  The Poke-Body is what everybody is talking about, the ability to lock all tra…. items is very good.  With most decks running 4 Pokemon Communications, possibly 3 Rare Candies, 4 Pokemon Catchers, and 3-4 Junk Arms; that is about 15 trainers.  The ability to lock 15 important cards is really awesome.  Item lock will be very important in the next season, and Vileplume is the Pokemon that will bring it about.

Analysis– As mentioned, Vileplume will have a big impact on the upcoming season.  It is hard to get Vileplume out really quickly, but once it is out there is a huge advantage.  Just being able to take out Pokemon Catcher from use is quite an amazing thing.  It makes the game a lot simpler and that is to your advantage.  While it is true that decks without a lot of trainers will not be as good, at least your deck will be prepared for the loss of trainers, other decks will not.

As I previously mentioned, the most talked about Vileplume decks have been Mewbox and Beartic.  The strategy of Mewbox is to Lost Zone a Muk and a Jumpluff early.  While you are doing that you can set up the trainer lock.  You can bring up a bench sitter with Muk’s attack and then either snipe around them with Yanmega Prime or use “Mass Attack” to knock them out.  It is fairly slow, but it is very disruptive.   Beartic is a deck that we don’t really have a list for yet.  But, it will probably involve setting up a Vileplume fairly quickly and prevent your opponent from attacking by using Beartic’s “Sheer Cold” attack.  Without the use of Switch, you will not be able to attack or retreat, and will have to watch your Pokemon get beaten on by Beartic.

The drawback to Vileplume is the speed.  Most of the time you will not be able to lock trainers until your opponent has already setup.  Another drawback is the 2 retreat cost, your opponent can tech in a Bellsprout in an attempt to make your Vileplume active.  The Bellsprout can then retreat next turn and then Vileplume will be able to get knocked out.  The last drawback is the meager 40 HP on Oddish.  If you do not setup a Vileplume before your opponent can setup a Yanmega, you may not be able to get Vileplume out.

Final Rating– 9/10–  Yes there are drawbacks but you just gotta love the best item locker around.

Card #2 Great Ball EP

Details– Great Ball is  an item with a simple effect, look at the top 7 cards of your deck and put any one Pokemon you find there into your hand.

Analysis– If this card came into the format last year, I would not have taken another look at it.  We had cards like Bebe’s Search and Luxury Ball that could do the job better than Great Ball.  But, those cards are now gone and we do not have a lot of search cards.

If you play a deck with a legend in it, the only way to find a Legend Piece is basically to draw into it.  You cannot Elms it, nor can you Dual Ball it.  Now, with Great Ball you can finally grab a legend piece out of your deck.  Legend Pieces usually enter later in the game.  By this time you will have gone through enough of your deck as where the top 7 cards should be about 25-33 percent of your deck, if not more.  While you probably can’t rely on this card to get you the card you need, most of the time you will be able to grab at least 1 Pokemon.

And that is the weakness of this card.  It just is not consistent.  It is very versatile and very useful, but you never know what you are gonna get.  If all you need to do to get your first prize is search for a Yanmega Prime, the chances are you will not get it with Dual Ball.  For that reason I can only recommend this card if your deck has a lot of Pokemon in it.

Final Rating–6/10– Nobody is talking about this card, and that is a shame.  It is a good card that deserves some play.  Although it will not be a great card, decks that run about 20 Pokemon should fit this card in.

Card #3- Hydreigon Red Collection

Details– This card is from the Japanese set called Red Collection.  It will probably be in our Noble Victories set.

It is a 150 HP Stage 2 Dark Pokemon with a fighting weakness, psychic resistance, and a 3 retreat cost.  Its ability lets you treat every card attached to it as a Darkness Energy.  Its one attack lets you do 60 damage to the active, and then snipe for 40 to two benched Pokemon! The attack will cost 4 energies.

Analysis– Wow a 150 HP Pokemon that lets you attack for 60 and then snipe twice for 40.  If you are able to attach a couple Special Darkness Energies to this Pokemon, you could be taking 3 prizes every 2 turns!

Of course it is not always as easy as it looks.  Once you are able to pick off 2 Pokemon on the bench it is unlikely that your opponent will then put 2 more Pokemon out there to snipe.  Also, the fighting weakness is a big drawback because of how good Donphan is.  Although it is easy to counter Donphan, it is never nice to have a fighting weakness.

The biggest partner for Hydreigon is Emboar BW.  Emboar lets you attach as many fire energies per turn as you want to whoever you want.  With Hydreigon’s ability, you will be able to make all those fire energies dark, and be able to attack a lot faster.  Even though it is hard to get 2 Stage 2 Pokemon out, the Magneboar deck has proved that 2 Stage 2 Pokemon can work.

Final Rating– 8/10– While it is impossible to tell how big of an impact this card will have, I think it will see some play.  Doing 60 damage and sniping twice for 40 is just too good to pass up.

Well thats all we have for today.  Pedro, how do we usually end articles here.

Uhhh…. the mister Rogers song?

I don’t think we do, but lets try it anyway.

“

It’s such a good feeling to know you’re alive.
It’s such a happy feeling
You’re growing inside.
And when you wake up ready to say
I think I’ll make a snappy new day
It’s such a good feeling,
A very good feeling,
The feeling you know that we’re friends.

It’s a good feeling
It’s a happy feeling

It’s such a good feeling
To know you’re in tune.
It’s such a happy feeling to find you’re in bloom
And when you wake up ready to say
I think I’ll make a snappy new day.
It’s such a good feeling,
A very good feeling,
The feeling you know that we’re friends.

And I’ll be back
When the day is new
And I’ll have more ideas for you.
And you’ll have things you’ll want to talk about.
I will too.

”
No Pedro, I’m almost sure that is not the way we end things here.

Uncategorized

Pikkdogs Stupid Deck Idea:Victreebel Lock

Pikkdogs 4 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a Stupid Deck Idea.  I haven’t done one of these for a while, so I thought I would try something different and throw a stupid deck idea together. 

Before we get to the article, lets go over some news.  The first piece on news is that the Victory Medal is no more.  The card that you won from winning a Battle Roads is now gone and replaced with a card called Victory Cup.  Not much is known about Victory Cup, but sine BR’s are right around the corner I’m sure Tournament Organizers will be getting them in the mail soon and they will let us know when they find out.

I don’t know what Victory Cup will do but I don’t think it could be better than an athletic cup, those things are life savers.

Right you are Pedro (If you have read my last article, first I apologize, but second if you did read it you would have known that Pedro is the name of my sidekick).

The next news article first came out about a month ago, but of course with the speed of this fine site we are just getting it to you now.  The news is that Pokemon EX are coming back.  In the next Japanese set there will be at least 3 EX Pokemon.  We don’t know if there any different other components of EX cards compared to the previous “ex” cards, but we assume its basically the same as the ex cards that were in the format so many years ago.  So far all of the Pokemon revealed have been basic and have had 180 HP.  The attacks have been somewhat lack luster, but the HP has been great.  Right now I don’t see these cards being great, but they seem to remind me of SP Pokemon.  At first they released SP Pokemon with high energy attacks that didn’t really work, and then they released other cards that were broken.  I only hope that Nintendo can have some restraint and not make these Pokemon be unbeatable.  The Pokemon that have currently been revealed are Mewtwo, Regigigas, and Kyurem (the 3rd Pokemon of the Reshiram and Zekrom Energy trio).

The final bit of news is that Pokemon TCG online is progressing very well.  When I played a couple weeks ago, all I could do was play with theme decks and win 1 match before the game froze on me, but that has all changed.  Now, you can build your own deck by purchasing real packs.  With every Emerging Powers pack you open, you will get a code for the game.  If you enter that code online you will be able to “buy” a pack online from any set that is in the format.  After you buy the pack  you will be able to open it, and every card will be sorted and added to your collection.  Once you have enough cards you can build a deck and play against computer or human opponents.  The problem is it will take a long time to build up your collection to the point where you can build a decent deck.  Its sort of like starting out as a new player again, having to build yourself up from a theme deck.  But once you get your collection set, you should be able to do a lot of good testing online.  I think this program could be really valuable.

Okay, now we can get on to the article and the stupid deck idea.

I thought all your deck idea’s were stupid?

Hey, watch it Pedro………okay maybe they are but  that’s not the point.  If you haven’t read one of these article before, a stupid deck idea is an article where I provide a deck analysis and list of a deck that I don’t think will be very good, but it could be pretty fun or cool.  It could just have a fun idea behind it, it could be a league deck, or it could be an okay deck that spotlights one of my favorite Pokemon. Anyway, these decks are not for tournaments but they are fun for talking about and maybe taking to league.

Today’s stupid deck idea is about Victreebel.  From the Triumphant set, Victreebel has been an interesting Pokemon since I first pulled it at a pre-release.  It is a 110 HP Stage 2 Grass Pokemon.  It has a 2 retreat cost and a weakness to fire.  Its Poke-Body adds CC to every Pokemon’s retreat cost.  Its attack, called “Acidic Drain” does 30 damage, poisons and burns the defending, and lets you heal 30 damage off Victreebell.

As you can tell, Victreebel is a locker.  If you get a Pokemon trapped in the active, it is unlikely that it will be able to escape (the number of Switches being played right now is very very very low, almost non-exsistant).

The strategy would be to setup a Victreebel quickly, then use a Pokemon Catcher to put a bench sitter in the active spot.  Once you get the lock on you can either attack it to finish it off.

The main problem with this deck would be fire decks.  Almost anything fire would be able to OHKO it, so it would not matter what you were able to trap.  But since this is only a stupid deck idea we do not care about that as much.

Well we got a Victreebell active, what sort of Pokemon can we use to backup Victreebell?  If we were trying to have a shot at beating fire decks, we might try to look at Zoroark BW or Swanna EP.  Zoroark lets you copy Reshirams attack and do 120 damage to him.  White Swanna lets you OHKO Reshiram because of weakness for WCC.

One other good Pokemon to partner Victreebell could be Yanmega Prime.  Since Yanmega is versatile and disruptive, it would work in this deck.  I would not put this in my list because they is supposed to be a league deck, and shouldn’t have one of the better Pokemon in the set.  But, if you did put it in this deck, the deck would probably be better for it.

So here is a basic thrown together list of a Victreebell deck.  As I said this is not a serious deck, just something fun to play at league.

Pokmeon-18

  • 4-Bellsprout 
  • 2-Weepinbell
  • 4-Victreebell
  • 2-Cleffa
  • 3-Zorua
  • 3-Zoroark BW

Trainers-30

  • Pokemon Collector-4
  • Elms-2
  • Pokemon Communication-4
  • Flowershop Lady-1
  • Professor Juniper-4
  • Judge-4
  • Switch-1
  • Pokemon Catcher-4
  • Junk Arm-4
  • Plus Power-2

Energy-12

  • Grass-8
  • Double Colorless Energy-4

Well, what time is it Pedro?

Time to go home and play with our dolls.

Okay, Pedro said it, lets go home.  If ya have any experience with Victreebell or have a cool fun deck idea please leave your thoughts in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Uncategorized

How to Pick a Battle Roads Deck

Pikkdogs 8 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with kind of a strategy article. 

 It may seem like the fourth of July was just a week or two ago, but the summer is now coming to an end.  With the end of summer comes some of my favorite things: cooler weather, cool colored trees, American Football, and Battle Roads.  Although I feel like writing an entire article about fall and how its the best time of the year (except bikini waxing day), I think we should get to the Battle Roads.

Setting the Stage

If you were not able to make it to Nationals, you must feel really out of the loop.  The last time you played you were looking at Garchomp C’s and stuff like that, Battle Roads will be a whole nother animal.  Those of us who made it to nationals, and those that went to world’s, basically know the format.  Stage 1 Rush is good along with decks like Reshiphlosion, Reshiboar, ZPS, and Primetime (Yanmega Prime and Magnezone Prime).  But, thanks to the release of Emerging Powers, Battle Roads will be a little different.  So before you start getting your deck ready for BRs, make sure you know what is coming your way.

The Effect of Pokemon Catcher

The most dramatic change in the game will be the rise of Pokemon Catcher.  Of course, Pokemon Catcher is a card that lets you switch your opponent’s active.  Meaning Knock Outs are easier to get and disruption is easier to do.  There is no question that Pokemon Catcher will be a very popular card, and there will be probably 4 Catchers in just about every deck.  So how will this effect your deck choice.

Just like when we had SP decks in the format, you can either use Catcher or plot against it.  If you want to use Pokemon Catcher you will need a fast deck.  Donphan Prime is great because it requires 1 energy to do 60 damage.  That attack will knock out almost all basic Pokemon, so it will be great for disruption.  But on the other hand, Pokemon Catcher is also great for decks that are a little slower like Reshiram based decks.  So although fast decks and Pokemon Catcher are a great fit, you don’t need to run an extremely fast deck.  Just be aware that if you don’t plan for your basics being knocked out and your bench sitters getting dragged into the active, you are in for a long day.

I  do not think that Pokemon Catcher will dramatically change the format.  We will see a lot of the same decks, games just will be a little quicker and we could see more lopsided wins.  We could see less big lumbering Pokemon like Magnezone Prime, and more speedier cards like Yanmega Prime.  We could also see a lot of cards that can stand up against Poekmon Catcher, like Vileplume.

Was that a Segway into the next part of your article?

No, I wouldn’t do that, segway’s are for professionals, I am just a creepy fat guy writing a Pokemon article on a website nobody reads, the only segway I know about is the geeky vehicle.

A Segway isn’t geeky

Of course it is Pedro (of course Pedro is the name of my sidekick who randomly jumps in).  Could you prove it isn’t by showing me a picture of an attractive Woman on a Segway.

Well met Pedro, well met. 

Anyway, we are talking about Vileplume.  Vileplume is great because it sets up an item lock that is very hard to break.  While Gothitelle can put one heck of a nice itemlock on your opponent, it is easy to knock out.  Vileplume might be a better play because it does not have to be active. 

Vileplume will make games a lot simpler because you won’t have to worry about Pokemon Catcher messing things up.  And it will also mess other things up like Pokemon Communication and Super Scoop Up.

The bad thing about Vileplume is that your deck will have Schizophrenia because you need to run trainers like Rare Candy to setup.  If you want to run Vileplume you will need to make sure your list is tight and polished for it to work in this trainer heavy format.

New Emerging Powers Decks!

Emerging Powers does not just have Pokemon Catcher, it has some other decks that might see some play at BRs, and you better know what they are you they don’t end up taking you by surprise.

I do not know of any specific deck lists that I can share right now, but I would at least be prepared to deal with two cards: Gothitelle and Beartic.  Gothitelle is fairly easy to take care of, just have something that doesn’t take a lot of setup to attack, and you will be able to match it blow for blow.  This is another reason to use a deck that is simple and fast.  Donphan is a good candidate here to take care of Gothitelle. I would reccomend Yanmega, but the trainerlock makes it a LOT harder to even your hand size.  

The other big card you might see is Beartic.  Beartic actually won’t be able to hit that hard, or that quickly.  With 3 and 4 energy attacks only doing 50 and 80, it will take a while for damage to add up.  The problem here is that his first attack does not let you attack next turn.  That is not so much of a problem if you have Yanmega Prime, you can just retreat and use another attacker.  However, Beartic could give you fits if you have a high retreat like Donphan, Zekrom, or Reshiram.  If you think a lot of your metagame will be made up of Beartic decks and techs, then make sure to run Yanmega Prime and Max Potion.  If you get 2 Yanmega’s out Beartic will not be able to do anything, and Max Potion will guarantee that the damage will not stack up. 

How to Pick A Deck

Battle Roads are a very tricky tournament to plan for.  Bigger tournaments like Nationals, States, and Regionals are fairly easy to plan for.  For the the bigger tournaments it is all about consistency.  For BR’s there are many ways to skin a cat.  Of course you usually see a lot of the better players do well with consistent decks, but that is not always the best play.  Battle Roads rely on luck a lot of the time since there are usually only 4-5 rounds.

For example, my first tournament was a Spring Battle Road.  I was playing a risky build of Scizor/Cherrim that relied on a lot of luck.  Despite the odds, I was able to grab 2nd place in the tournament, beating a lot more expierenced players on the way.  Sometimes its not all about consitency, sometimes in a BR its better to have a risky deck and a lot of luck.  Though, its always great to have a consistent deck.

So how should you pick your deck?  Well that is hard because even I do not know what I am going to play yet, but I would suggest that you go with a few principles.

1.  Go with what you are familiar with.  There are always growing pains with a deck, so if you haven’t had your growing pains with your deck, don’t take it to a tournament.  Make sure you know your deck in and out before you go.

2.  Be comfortable with Pokemon Catcher.  If you are not comfortable with either blocking this card or using it, you should get familiar very soon.  The card is very powerful, do not be caught un-prepared (see what I did there, “caught” and Catcher, haha).

3.  Consistency is always good.  If you got a really great consistent deck, than by all means play it. 

4.  But you can do well at a BR with luck and a risky deck. A deck that relies on flips and stuff like that could do well, if you are lucky.

5.  Leave disruption alone.  For some reason disruption does well in tournaments like States and Regionals, but does not do well at Battle Roads.  So wait for a while to break out your Ambipoms, Weaviles, and Sharpedos.

Well I wish you all good luck on preparing for states.  Remember make sure to test Pokemon catcher with Pokemon like Reshram, Zekrom, Magnezone Prime, Yanmega Prime, Beartic, Donphan Prime, Zororark Bw, and whatever else you hear will be popular in your metagame.   And if you can’t get your deck to where you want it, it might be best to just go balls to the walls with a risky deck and hope you get lucky. 

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Uncategorized

The Structure of the New Season. A News and Opinion Article.

Pikkdogs 7 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is kind of a news/opinion article about the upcoming season.

The Past

The structure of the tournament season has been pretty stagnant for the last couple of years.  The season starts in September and October with Fall Battle Roads, a small local tournament with a small ratings value.  Next we have Cities starting in November and continuing in December.  We then all celebrate Christmas and the New Year, and get ready for State Tournaments in March.  Next we go to one day in April which hold the Regional championships.  Battle Roads show up again in May and June, while Nationals are usually in June or July.  And of course, the World Championships are in August.

So that is what we have been doing for the past couple years.  It seems like a good schedule, lots of events but not too many where people would be spending an excess amount of time and money going to tournaments.  A lot of other card games have more tournaments, but this schedule seems to be pretty good for emphasizing local metagames.  So what’s the problem?

The problem is that when it comes to the bigger tournaments, the best players drop out to protect their ratings so they can be invited to worlds. This leaves the more exciting rounds of the tournament, a lot less exciting.  For example, at U.S. nationals I was excited to see the best players play deep into the day on Sunday.  Instead, most of the top players either dropped after a game or two, or never entered the tournament at all.  They were nice to talk to, but I would rather see them play then talk to them while we watch a league game.

How I Would Change Things.

If the goal is to make bigger events more exciting than one option is to put more emphasis on the bigger events. My favorite events are Battle Roads, but it seems like a lot of players are winning the BR’s and Cities, and using this to take them to Worlds.  I do not want to suggest that these tournaments should not mean anything, but I think if they were only worth about half of what they are worth now (especially Cities) it would be hard for some people to already make it into worlds before Regionals and Worlds.  If the only events that could make a difference in getting to Worlds would be Nationals, Regionals, and States; then I think those events would be a lot more exciting.

If you do not want to devalue the smaller tournaments, which I think might be best, then I think the rating system should be less important.  By this I mean that we should have more spots at Worlds decided by smaller tournaments.  Instead of having 40 invites to worlds (in North America) decided by ratings invites and only a few decided by invites from National tournaments, we should lower the number of ratings invites to about 5 and have invites to Worlds given out at States and Regionals.   

I think it is kind of similar to the problem that NASCAR is having right now.  Most casual fans only care about who wins the races, but the drivers who are doing well in the point standings are not winning races, instead they consistently doing good in races.  Even though consistency is very important in Pokemon, it is more exciting to see the best players win the tournaments.  So if there are only a few spots given out to rating qualifiers, the best players will stay in the bigger tournaments longer, if they don’t they probably won’t be invited to Worlds.  I think Pokemon should stop awarding players who just dominate their local area and instead award people who do well against the best in the country.

What Changes Have Been Made

So that is what I think should happen to solve the problem, lets look at what Pokemon has done so far.  We do not know exactly what Pokemon has up their sleeves, but they have tipped their hands a little.  This is the schedule that has so far been released for the upcoming season.

Battle Roads: Sept. 17-Oct.16th

Fall Regionals: Nov. 12-13.

Cities: Nov. 25- Jan 8.

As you can see, there is a new tournament added in, Fall Regionals.  This means that the regionals will be split between Spring and Fall.  This could mean that you will have a chance at going to 2 regionals this year instead of just 1.

I don’t think that this will solve the problem of having people qualify for Worlds before Nationals, it will probably just make it worse.  Now people can go to 2 regionals instead of 1, another reason not to play at Nationals.  I do not like this decision for another reason, if I were go to a second regionals, it would take me about 6 hours to drive there.  I do not like having to drive that far for a tournament that is not Nationals, and I am sure a lot of people feel the same way.  And if nobody goes to the 2nd regionals, why have them on different days?  Another bad thing about this decision is that it is taking another weekend in fall away.  Even though Pokemon is important to me, I live for watching football.  And this new regionals will take another day of football away from me.  Why should Pokemon try to play against the most popular game in the civilized world (that’s right Europe, I’m talking to you)?

I do not think that the new regionals will be the only change.  I do think we will see changes to the ratings system in the next few weeks in an attempt to keep the bigger tournaments more interesting.  Hopefully they will gives us more invites from tournaments and less from the rating system.

So, Will These Changes Be Enough?

Well it is too early to say if the changes Pokemon has made will fix the problem because they have not announced all the changes.  But, Pokemon has seemed to be open to change in the past, so lets hope they can think of a cool new system that gives us a cool local game while still making Nationals important.

Sorry about that European joke before, I do like Europe.  I’ll prove it to you, I enjoy many European things like Doctor Who…….ahhhhh….Danishes…..and………um…..wearing very small underwear.

If you have any thoughts about how to better fix the tournament season schedule, or my underwear choices, please leave your thoughts in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Card Discussion

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Typhlosion Prime, Ruins of Alph, and Durant

Pikkdogs 6 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a Pikk Three article for you.  If you are not a frequent reader of this site I will explain this article series for you.  I will review three cards for you, one card is a commonly used card, another card is one that I think is under-used, and the third is a card that is from a new or yet un-released set.  Does anyone need to go the bathroom?  If not, we can start the show.

Card #1-The Staple-Typhlosion Prime

Description– Typhlosion is a stage 2 140 HP Fire Pokemon with a weakness to water and a 2 retreat cost.  Its Poke-Power afterburner lets you attach an energy card from the discard pile, and a damage counter to any of your Pokemon.  Its attack, called “Flare Destroy” does a lackluster 70 damage for FFC, but it has the awesome effect of requiring a discard from each of the active Pokemon.  The best part is that you get to choose which energy goes in both circumstances, that means you can discard the DCE on pesky Pokemon like Zoroark and Boufallant.

Analysis– Typhlosion saw a heck of a lot of play at U.S. Nationals this year with his buddy Reshiram.  Before that it was just a card that was used in rogue Ursaring Prime decks.

This card has a lot of synergy with the best draw Pokemon in the format, Ninetails HGSS, and one of the best basic attackers ever, in Reshiram BW.  Those buddies make Typhlosion pretty powerful.

Reshiphlosion did have a lot of success at both nationals and worlds, but some people doubt that it can succede with Pokemon Catcher.  In my testing I have found that Pokemon Catcher does not really hurt this deck, so I think this deck will still be powerful in the next season.

One knock on this card is that it is not the best attacker. 70 damage for 3 energies is not that great.  But, it is great to be able to disrput with the energy discard while attacking.  It can be game changing to discard an important DCE.  I know this firsthand, as I was crushing everything at Nats until Typhlosion discarded my DCE.

Final Rating–8.5/10– Ya gotta love this card as a freind for Ninetails and Reshiram.  Because of this card, the deck can keep on re-using energy making the deck very hard to beat late game.

Card #2-The Underdog-Ruins of Alph

Description– Ruins of Alph is a stadium card, you know a stadium card, its like a trainer but it always stays in play.  We have seen so little decent stadium cards lately that I am afraid for the most part that stadiums are dead.  This little card does still have a use.  The effect of Ruins of Alph lets you ignore resistance on every Pokemon in play.

Analysis– Being able to stop resistance could be good, or it could be bad, you just need to use it in the right situation.  So what is the right situation?  I think this card is best used with Donphan Prime.  If Donphan Prime were to attack Yanmega Prime with “Earthquake”, it would only do 40 damage, and would setup Yanmega for a 3HKO.  But if Ruins of Alph is in play, “Earthquake” does 60 damage to Yanmega, setting it up for a more manageable 2HKO.

Sure there are drawbacks, if your opponent is playing Primetime they can bait you into playing this card, and then attack Donphan Prime with Magnezone Prime.  This move would allow the Magnezone player to do an extra 20 damage to Donphan and probably save an energy from going into the Lost Zone.

But I think for the most part, Ruins of Alph works very well with Donphan Prime.   I played 1 Ruins of Alph in my Donphan/Samurott deck at Nationals and the card saved me in about 2-3 of my games.

The uses for this card basically stop there.  Sure other cards do have resistance that it would be nice to take away, but the main use of Ruins of Alph would be for a Donphan deck against Yanmega.

Final Rating- 8/10-In this format the ability to run over Yanmega’s like Omar’s car (see out nationals reports for the story) is very impressive.  Yanmega is probably the most popular Pokemon out there, so if you can win that matchup you should have an easy time at winning the game.

Card #3- The Young Gun-Durant

Description– The next thing up for review is Durant

No, not that Durant, this Durant.

It is a basic Metal Pokemon, it has 70 HP, a weakness to fire, a resistance to psychic, and a 1 retreat cost.  This Pokemon will probably be featured in the Noble Victories expansion.  Its first attack is what everyone is talking about, it is called “Devour” and it lets you mill (or discard from the top of your opponent’s deck) an amount of cards equal to the amount of Durants that you have in play for 1 metal energy.  His second attack, “Vicegrip”, is not very good, it only does 30 for CC.

Analysis– One of my favorite aspects of this game is milling.  I love discarding cards from my opponent’s deck.  It just makes me feel good.  So I always like when a quick and easy milling card comes into the format.  But will it be any good?

Well first lets take a look at what it does.  It lets you mill a card for each Durant you have in play for just 1 metal energy.  Now, that doesn’t sound too hard to get out.  Just run 4 Collectors and 3  Dual Balls, and you should be able to get 4 Durants in play on turn 1 no problem (as long as they aren’t prized).  And the metal energy could be a special one, which takes you away from the OHKO range of Yanmega Prime.

That all sounds well and good, but things get worse from there.  Milling 4 cards a turn is not really that much.  If you mill 4 cards a turn for 7 turns (the time it will probably take your opponent to knock 6 Durant’s out) you will have only milled 28 cards.  If your opponent started with 7 cards, 6 prizes, drew 6 cards, that will leave him with 13 cards.  Now I know some of those 13 cards will get drawn with draw/hand refresh supporters, and others will get searched out, but I think leaving 13 cards in the pile is just too much.  Its hard to say exactly because with cards like Judge you will be putting cards you drew from your deck and as prizes back into your deck, and that to the effect of cards like Flowre Shop Lady and it is so hard to say exactly how many you need to mill. But, I think if you mill 28 cards with Durant (and I am being generous with 28) you still will be a little shrot, so lets look at other cards that can partner up with Durant.

First you got Kyorge/Groudon Legend.  It has an attack that lets you mill 5 cards.  This could be a good finisher for this deck.  There is also a Magmortar that allows you to mill based on the number of fire energies attached to him.  You could add an Emboar tech, and try to finish off with Magmortar.  But, because of energy requirments I do not like any of these cards.  I think that Durant does not have the partner he needs yet to be good.

Perhaps I will play this deck if the format changes so it is easier to trap things in the active spot, but until then I think this card juts has too much going against it.

Final Rating–6/10- The format is not ready for Durant yet.

Well, thats all I got for ya guys today.  Please feel free to tell us what you think about this card in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Uncategorized

Deck Analysis: What a Rush! (Donphan Prime, Yanmega Prime, and Zoroark BW)

Pikkdogs 4 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a deck analysis for you guys.  This deck has been called many things: Megazord, Stage 1 Rush, and others.  I call my deck “what a rush” because it is an easier take off of Stage 1 Rush, and of course who doesn’t like the Legion of Doom?  The deck was popularized at Nationals by Kyle “Pooka” Sucevich, a tournament at which he narrowly lost in the finals.

The three attackers featured in this deck make the deck versatile, and add a toolbox like quality to the deck.  Here is a basic over view of the deck.  Donphan Prime is a great primary attacker.  It is tough to knock out, and can attack for just 1 energy.  It also has a type advantage over Mangezone and Zekrom.  Yanmega Prime is a versatile attacker that can snipe for 40 damage or attack for 70 damage.  The best part of Yanmega Prime is that he can attack for free (if you and your opponent have the same hand size) because of his “Insight” Poke-Body.  Yanmega is both disruptive and versaitle.  Zoroark BW is a card that I don’t really like, but it does work because it is a great Reshiram/Zekrom counter.  Zoroark is also fairly versatile and can do damage to most Pokemon, not including Mew Prime.  The goal of this deck is to adapt to the deck that your opponent is playing, and be able to take advantage of your ………………. advantage.

This is the part where I usually talk about how to setup the deck.  The problem is that this deck does not have a regular setup.  It all depends on what you are playing against.  If you are playing Zekrom, Mew, or a Mangezone based deck, I would lead with Donphan Prime.  The early Donphan start will allow you to get type advantage on the main attacker, and will give you a good front-man on which to get some easy knock outs on basics with Pokemon Catcher.  If you are playing a Reshiram based deck, I would instead try to setup a couple Zororarks because those will be your only answer to Reshiram.  I would also setup a quick Yanmega Prime to take some easy prizes with Pokemon Catcher.  Of course, no matter what Pokemon you lead with it is a good idea to get a couple Judges in to disrupt your opponent’s hand.

Matchups

Lets look at some of the matchups out there.

Zekrom– Favorable. Zekrom won’t be able to do much if you lead with Donphan and then finish it up with Zoroark.  Of course things will change based on the list of the Zekrom play, but in theory this should be a favorable matchup.

Reshiphlosion or Reshiboar-Even to Slightly Unfavorable.  Reshiphlosion is a really tough deck to beat, but I think that the Stage 1 Rush deck should be fairly even.  The matchup should be decided early in the game based on how many knock outs this deck can do against the basics of the Reshiboar or Reshiphlosion player.  Hopefully you should be able to cause some chaos early in the game, and it will be enough to get you an early lead that you can’t lose.  The winner is decided based upon what the exact lists are.

Mew and Trainerlock–slightly favorable.  Donphan is pretty tough for Mew to deal with.  While Mew decks are very diverse, the list does not change the fact that Donphan is Mew’s worst nightmare.  The mew player can do well by establishing an item lock, as long as they can get it done early.  The matchup will probably be decided early, I don’t think that either deck will be able to come down from a large lead, unless the Mew deck is more lock based.

The List.

I know I say this almost every article, but I will provide a list that will not be perfect.  It is just a list to start testing with.  It is not a polished list that is ready for a tournament, but it will get you testing some new ideas.

Pokemon-15

  • 2-2 Donphan Prime- You might wanna go to a 3-3 line depending on your metagame.  If you expect Zekroms and Magnezones, make sure to go to 3-3.  The Phanpy you run does not really matter, thought I think the HGSS might be the play, because of the extra 10 HP.
  • 3-3 Yanmega Prime.
  • 3-3 Zoroark- You can drop to 2-2 with 3 DCE’s if you don’t expect a lot of Reshirams.
  • 1- Bellsprout-Your only hope if you do not have the game in hand by the time an item lock is put in place.

Trainers-35

  • 4-Pokemon Collector
  • 2-Professor Elms Training Method
  • 4-Judge
  • 4-Professor Juniper
  • 4-Pokemon Communication
  • 3-Junk Arm
  • 3-Max Potion
  • 2-Plus Power
  • 1-Switch
  • 1-Energy Retrieval
  • 1-Flowershop Lady
  • 1- Switch
  • 4-Pokemon Catcher

Energy-10

  • Fighting-6-If you play 3-3 Donphan, I would play 7 fighting energies.
  • Double Colorless Energy-4

So there is my list.  Of course don’t bash it too hard, I acknowledge that its not tournament ready I just wanted to provide a list so you can test this deck if you want to.  I am not sure how good this deck is because it struggles a little against Reshiram.  But it is one of the best contenders coming into the Battle Roads, so you better be familiar with this deck.  Please share any thoughts you have about this list in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

PokeClass

PokeClass Episode 39 – Worlds 2011 Recap

PokemanDan 4 Comments

[youtube width=”640″ height=”390″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oFJm2zcJnc[/youtube]

This week we finally saw the 2011 World Championships come to a close and there were some very interesting results indeed. The Top 2 consisted of two interesting deck choices which I will go into detail about in this episode and I will also talk about why certain other decks did so well at the tournament.

Enjoy!
Read More

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