One Hit KO

[youtube width=”494″ height=”400″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFoYbDEUcF8[/youtube]

Hey everyone, sorry it has been a while. Both Kyle and I have graduated from high-school and college respectfully and have taken some time off from writing and creating videos. With Nationals gone by and Worlds coming within the next few weeks, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit some of the deck concepts we had been working on and that have proven to be consistent. In the past we have looked at both Donphan/Yanmega and Reshiram/Typhlosion, both of which had great showings at the US National Championship. Today we will once again take a look and see what makes these decks great in the metagame.
Continue reading "Consistency: The Key to Success at Worlds"

[youtube width=”556″ height=”450″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVFPTDtIK-4[/youtube]

Hey everyone, this week we are going rogue; no political reference there.  By rogue we mean less mainstream, not bad by any means. We have always had a fascination with off-beat decks so this week we chose to look at two very different concepts. Jumpluff/Yanmega and Blastoise/Floatzel., are two decks you may have heard about, and we feel deserve a look.

We will start with Blastoise/Floatzel. Blastoise has always been a fan favorite Pokémon, and the Blastoise from UL seems to live up to the name. Sniping is something this format seems to lack and can be a very powerful tool with so many techs bench sitting these days. Blastoise’s attack Hydro Launcher combines well with his Wash Out ability allowing him to continuously snipe for 100 when combined with the Water Acceleration of Floatzel.

Blastoise has several favorable matchups against some of the more popular decks this format. Blastoise is a direct counter to Reshiram, a very popular archetype that will see large amounts of play for at least the next season or two. Reshiram also requires energy acceleration in the form or Emboar or Typhlosion, while weakness is not taken into effect on the bench, Blastoise can two shot either of these. Blastoise also has 130 HP and will not be OHKOd by Reshiram without the use of a Plus Power. Another bench sitter you will often see in a Reshiram deck is Ninatales or Shuckle, either of these can be taken out with just 1 Hydro Launcher. Donphan is probably the second most popular archetype that will be played this format. While Donphan is usually safe with 120 HP and Exoskeleton, this fails against Blastoise. Whatever Donphan is paired with also suffers from Blastoise, Machamp is normally slow to setup and its evolutionary forms will sure draw the attention of a Blastoise Player.
Continue reading "Going Rogue"

[youtube width=”494″ height=”400″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcaQelmixOk[/youtube]

Variation is the spice of life, and apparently Pokémon too. Once you have found something that works you always should ask yourself, “What can make this better?” and from there,  seek perfection. This does not mean you are going to find what you are looking for, but I truly believe that if you are not constantly trying to get better or reaching for something higher, you will never get to where you want. While this may seem over the top, these same ambitious ideas can easily translate to Pokémon. From our last video/article, we have pondered this concept and thought long and hard for other alternatives that can possibly improve on the two decks we last tested. In this article we will outline one possible alternative for each of our decks we wrote about last time. Following the process of editing and re-editing a deck list may help others see an alternative way of deck creation.

We will begin with Kyle as we did in the last article for a bit of consistency. This week in play testing I have opted for a Donphan Prime/Yanmega Prime variant that I received from a member at our league. Instead of the Machamp Prime, which was a slow set-up heavy hitter, Yanmega prime is used as a quick attacker. Along with Yanmega Prime comes the ability to add a bit of disruption in the form of Judge and Slowking (Second Sight).
Continue reading "Variety is the Spice of Life. Donphan/Yanmega vs. Reshiboar"

[youtube width=”494″ height=”400″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQN-e_3DP8A[/youtube]

An Introduction:

Hey everyone, for the past month or so, my brother and I have been posting videos on YouTube so we can watch them as replays and share them with whoever may be interested. Over the past month we have learned a tremendous amount by reviewing our videos and watching for misplays or foregone opportunities that may have altered the course of a match. Some of our videos have gotten a little attention, and this surprised us both. But to make a not-so-long story even shorter, we now have the opportunity to compose written commentary in the form of articles here at OneHitKO.com. We are very grateful for this prospect as we sense that we, along with our viewers can benefit more from an in-depth look at each game, rather than just a recap in video form. Combining both mediums will allow us to gain ultimate insight and offer a more well rounded look into each match.

Misnos, as a moniker actually represents both of us (Kurt and Kyle) and while these articles may come from a first person point of view we are writing together, always interacting and debating amongst ourselves in order to supply the best product. A little about us first, I (Kurt) am an economics major and will be graduating within the next month, from there I will continue my education and attend law school, although where is not known yet. I have played Pokémon from base set, but first started collecting. I successfully collected Base through Neo Genesis. When I finally got serious about playing the TCG it was August of 2001, in September the tragedy of 9/11 occurred and I was not allowed to participate in the tournament I was going to attend, and lost interest from there. I never let my cards go, and always retained an affinity for Pokémon in general so it has been very easy for me to pick up where I left off so long ago, this time as a competitive player. I (Kyle) started playing Pokémon when I was about 4 years old, I learned to read from the cards my brother was collecting, and on the Game Boy games. I have grown up around the TCG, video games, and T.V show, Pokémon is part of my life. I am 17 years old and will be graduating high-school within the next few months. I plan to attend university and hope to become a M.D. I began playing Pokémon competitively one month before states this year. At the time I had no current cards and after reading online I built a Jumpluff deck due to its low cost. With little time to prepare and even less experience I went 5-3 at Florida states coming in 23 out of 157. After states, despite my relative success I chose to completely abandon Jumpluff and created a Donphan/Yanmega deck for Regionals and failed horribly. I dropped after I realized I could not top cut with such strong competition and went back to the drawing board. With the announcement of the new format, we both have a clean slate and have high hopes for the coming season.

Continue reading "Battle Video Series With Deck Analysis. Donphan/Machamp v.s. Reshiram/Typhlosion"