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City Championships

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Bold Predictions for Cities Format

coolestman22 4 Comments

Hey OneHitKO, it’s me, coolestman22, trying to get another article out for the site because I have some free time and an idea. I figured I may as well write about my predictions for the format created by the new set, and we’ll see how many of them end up being legit.

I had to sit down and think for a bit about these before I actually wrote anything, but there might be a couple that slipped my mind. If I remember anything, I’ll edit it into the article.

Prediction 1: Darkrai/Hydreigon is BDIF

Of the decks we had in BW-DRX, Hydreigon is probably the one that benefits the most from new cards. Skyla is great for searching out Rare Candies or Ultra Balls that get you the Hydreigon right away, and Computer Search benefits Hydreigon more than anything else because you can Junk Hunt for it and create a chain of Computer Search.

It also has easy access to Sableye DEX (Which most decks don’t because they don’t run Darkness Energy), probably the best starter in the game right now, which can turn bad hands into T2 set-ups and bait N’s that get you a brand new, better hand. It allows you to reuse your Catchers and Max Potions late game, and it can get back Dark Patches for extra energy acceleration.

It’s also good for taking out your opponent’s energy acceleration. You have Darkrai, which can take out 3 Eels with 2 Catchers over the course of 3 turns and leave your opponent with nothing to power up attackers with, or you can use Dragonblast on your opponent’s Hydreigons or Blastoises. Decks generally need an engine in play to function right, and if you take those out it can often be the difference between winning and losing.

I also like how you can’t really Catcher-stall against it when it sets up a Hydreigon because you can Dark Trance the energy to your active and free retreat with Dark Cloak. Against Eel decks, most decks can Catcher up Eels, and if the Eel player doesn’t have a Switch (Or Double Colorless Energy) they can’t attack that turn. With Hydreigon, that isn’t the case, and that’s another reason I think it’s the BDIF.

Hydreigon also has Blends to play techs like Shaymin EX, Virizion EPO, Cresselia EX, and some other cards that either do something or counter something. In my opinion Cresselia is the best Mewtwo counter there is right now if you can manage to set it up, and Hydreigon can providing it has the right energy on the field (Which it does most of the time). Cresselia isn’t vulnerable to another Cresselia and is less vulnerable to a Mewtwo as well because it loses its Psychic Weakness when it attacks.

Perhaps the thing I like best about Hydreigon decks, however, is that the deck is both offensive and defensive. Most decks usually either focus on doing a bunch of damage or tanking, but the thing I like about Hydreigon decks is that it can do either, or both. You can be aggressive with Darkrai and deny your opponent prizes because of Max Potion. You also have a heavy hitter in Hydreigon that, combined with the 30 damage to the bench from Night Spear, can knock out Keldeos and other 170 HP EX’s in one hit.

Prediction 2: Landorus decks will be Top Tier

Let me say this: Landorus is a great card if you find a deck that works with it. The problem is that because Ether was cut, Landorus won’t see as much play because Ether could fuel other attackers faster.

I can see three Landorus decks working: Landorus/Garchomp, Landorus/Empoleon, and Landorus/Terrakion EX/Terrakion NVI (With or without Garbodor). These three decks will be at a huge advantage just because they get donks and apply early game pressure so easily. The best of the three in my opinion is Landorus/Empoleon simply because in the late game it has the best damage output of the three, however if Hydreigon and Eel decks are Tier 1 the Fighting-based variant may end up being preferred.

The reason Landorus is such a great card is that not only does it apply early-game pressure to your opponent, get you a potential donk, and hit two Pokemon at once, the cost is extremely easy to pay. One Fighting Energy is a lot easier to have in hand on Turn One than a Double Colorless Energy that Mewtwo EX or Tornadus EX would require, and the attack is a lot better on Turn One as well under non-donk circumstances.

Land’s Judgement is also a good attack to draw that last prize (Or two prizes), and combined with the 30 from Hammerhead has the potential to KO any non-Eviolited, non-Cresselia EX in at most two hits.

The discarding of the energy isn’t as big a deal as people say because if you just attach one more Fighting you’re attacking again, but it’s still not great. It also hinders your ability to retreat, but you should be running a decent Switch count anyway.

Prediction 3: Dusknoir will be a good tech in anything with Ditto and Rare Candy, and other 1-1 or 1-0-1 techs will be popular as well.

I’ve been doing some testing with Dusknoir, and I’d rank it as one of the three most powerful Pokemon to have in play

Get used to seeing a lot more 1’s and 0’s in decklists again.

(Reuniclus and Serperior would be on that list, too), plus it’s likely to stick around for a couple turns if not for the rest of the game.

Moving your opponent’s damage around is just so powerful in any format. In an older format with un-nerfed Rare Candy and Broken Time-Space Dusknoir would be amazing. Even now, Ditto is amazing for 1-0-1 techs. I will expect to see some tournament winning decks play Ditto and surprise techs like Dusknoir (Ninetales and Reuniclus are some other ideas), and then they become more and more popular as Cities goes on. (I really wish Ditto had been out sooner, 1-0-1 Kingdra Prime anyone?)

Just the other day I was playing a game at league where I was up 2 prizes to 5, and my opponent managed to get a Dusknoir in play and won by moving my damage around and drawing a bunch of prizes in one turn. If you’re playing Ditto and Rare Candy, Dusknoir will be something to consider, just because it’s surprise factor is worth the two spaces.

Prediction 4: Ho-oh’s popularity will slightly decrease, but will still be just as good.

I’ve been hearing a lot of “Ho-oh EX is weak to water, so Keldeo will destroy it” lately.
However, that isn’t the only thing to consider. Kyogre EX was written off because of the Lightning Weakness, and it was in the deck that won Nationals. Darkrai EX is amazing even with all the Terrakion running around.

Ho-oh also has an amazing ability to tech for any matchup because it runs all types of energy and accelerates. Ho-oh is a very versatile deck, and one bad matchup won’t really set it back too much. All I would expect is that people will play more Virizion EPO or NVI and Shaymin EX to make the matchup a bit better.

Blastoise probably isn’t even the BDIF! There’s a possibility that it is, but people don’t need to be scared of one bad matchup out of three Tier One decks, especially when the others are fairly decent. Chandelure was a Tier One deck even though it had a terrible matchup against Durant. I don’t see why Ho-oh is any different.

The other thing is that I’m not hearing that much about how Landorus is unplayable because of Blastoise. All I’m hearing on the forums is “Landorus donks Dark Deino. Switching to Dragon Deino” or “Better not play Eels or I’ll get my Tynamos donked”. Especially when Shiny Rayquaza already donks Tynamos and donks Dragon Deinos and isn’t an EX x2 weak to a Tier One deck! Ho-oh is also a donk threat, so why is it that Landorus is all the hype when they have the exact same weakness?

What I mean by the popularity will slightly decrease is that people will still be afraid to play it because it has a bad matchup to a legitimate deck. John Roberts saw past that and played Kyogre, and he won Nationals with it. People need to see that a weakness to a major type doesn’t make a card unplayable, it is merely a setback to it.

Alright guys, that’s gonna wrap up this article. I know it’s been fairly short, but I ran out of predictions. I’ll try to get

another article out soon, but last minute Cities testing is probably gonna get in the way. Maybe I’ll write an article about the different techs that go with Ditto.

As always, feel free to leave a comment, and I’ll try to respond to it. I’m open to discussion, and if there’s something about the upcoming format that you want to hear my opinion on, feel free to ask and I’ll tell you!

City Championships

Pikkdogs Does a Cities Wrap Up

Pikkdogs 5 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with his extra-dimensionary sidekick, Pedro.  Officially, City Championships are not over.  They will still be carrying on for another week or two yet, but I’m all done playing mine, so I’ll just assume that everybody else is too.  Things have changed a lot over Cities so let’s take a look at what has happened.

Pikkdogs.

Yes Pedro.

Well before we recap Cities as a whole, don’t you think you should recap your own Cities season?

No I don’t.

Oh come on, if you won’t then I guess I will have to. 

How Pikkdogs Did

Pikkdogs went to 3 City Championships and went a combined 6 and 11.  That means he lost almost twice as often as he won.  That also means that he finishes with a very poor losing record.  Not only did he not win, he never made a top cut, nor did he have a winning record, nor did he ever have a non-losing record for any single tournament.  We can recap this tournament season by stating that Pikkdogs did very very bad. 

Thank You Pedro for reminding me.

You are welcome. 

Now, if you are through Pedro, we can go on to the actual article.

What Won, or is Winning?

The release of Noble Victories has changed the format a lot.  A lot of decks that came out in NV are actually doing very well.  We will start out this section by looking at the official unofficial numbers from www.pokegym.net.  The numbers are not that current right now, so I won’t post actual numbers, just rankings.

  1. Magnezone/Eelektrik
  2. Chandelure
  3. Zekrom
  4. The Truth
  5. Six Corners
  6. CaKE
  7. Reshiphlosion
  8. Lanturn Eelektrik
  9. Donphan Dragons
  10. Durant

While we do have a list here of top winners, these numbers are not all current, and Cities have not all ended yet.  What we can see from this list is that Zekrom now has friends at the top of the list.  No longer is Zekrom the best deck around, there are a lot of good decks out there.  Magnaeel has had  a lot of success, Chandelure has been winning lately, and Mew Lock is back and stronger than ever.  I don’t know if we can make a tier list right now, but its safe to say that there are a lot of good decks that are all doing really well.  One way to see how the format is different is to look at Durant.  Durant is in most places a crappy deck, while some Durant decks are good enough to win an entire tournament in a good area.  There are a lot of variants in lists right now, and that leads to many different decks doing well.  Here is a closer look at some of the newer decks

The New Decks 

1.  MagnaEel

Goal– To attack with either Magnezone or Zekrom to take 6 prizes.

What it uses– Eelektrik is used for recovering energies from the discard pile.  N is a major source of draw and disruption.  Magnezone is the draw engine and the main attacker.  While Zekrom and Thundurus can be used as secondary attackers.

How it works– You start with Magnemites and Tyanmos, and slowly evolve into Magnezone and Eelektrik.  Then use N to disrupt the opponent, while drawing cards with “Magnetic Draw.”  You can use “Dyanmotor” to load up Zekrom, or you can use it to put energies that can be “Lost Burned” away.  Every time something is knocked out the energies are recovered with “Dyanamotor”, and hopefully you will have enough energy that is not in the Lost Zone to take that last prize.

2. Chandelure

Goal– The goal of this deck is to use “Cursed Shadow” to put 3 damage counters on the field each turn and knock out some benched Pokemon.  Then use the attack, “Eerie Glow”, to cause confusion and paralysis.

What it uses– Dodrio is give Chandelure free retreat and the possibility of using “Cursed Shadow” twice in one turn.  Vileplume to disrupt and protect Dodrio.  And, Tropical Beach to draw cards early in the game.

How it works– This deck is very slow to attack.  It uses Twins to make up for the slow start.  It usually takes till about turn 5 to attack, the rest of the turns are spent using Tropical Beach.  It will take a while to get energies on Chandelure, but placing damage counters is almost more important than attacking anyway.  Eventually you should be able to switch between a couple Chandelure, place a lot of damage counters, and then attack for a bunch of prizes.

3. Six Corners

Goal– To get six prizes by exploiting weakness and cards like Eviolite.

What it uses– Just a hodgepodge of legendary basic Pokemon that came out in Black and White sets.  Kyurem, Landorus, Virizion, Cobalion, and Terrakion from NV, along with Reshiram and Zekrom from Black and White, and Tornadus from EP are most often used.  It also uses Eviolite to make it hard to knock out one of the Pokemon.

How it works– It mostly uses “Outrage” to attack, and Virizion to start.  But, it will try to get weakness on you after a couple of turns of using Virizion.

4. CAKE

Goal– Load a lot of energies on Kyurem and Cobalion very quickly.  You can either spread damage with Kyurem, or make it hard for y9ur opponent to attack with Cobalion.

What it uses– Of course Kyurem, Cobalion, and Electrode Prime are here.  Key trainers include Pokegear, Eviolite, and Twins.

How it works-  On the first turn you need to have 2 Voltorbs in play.  On your second turn you need to get at least 1 of each of your main attacker, and then you can use “Energy Mite” to knock out your Electorde and load energies on your attackers. 

5. Durant

Goal– Mill your opponent’s deck with Durant’s “Devour” attack.

What it uses– Durant, Special Metal Energies, Defender, Eviolite, Lost Remover, and Crushing Hammer are all staples.  Cobalion and Weavile are popular techs.

How it works– You need to use Pokemon Collector to get 4 Durants in play early, and then use Revive to keep the Durants in play.  You can use Lost Remover and Crushing Hammer to disrupt your opponent, and hopefully Eviolite and Defender will stop some KO’s.  Weavile is another tech that you can put in to add to the disruption.  A lot of people put Cobalion in this deck as well, I’m not exactly sure how it works, but I think it does.

6.  Mew/Unfezant/Vanilluxe

Goal– Make sure that once you setup, your opponent will never be able to attack you.

What it uses– Relincanth as the starter, Unfezant and Vanilluxe go in the Lost Zone, Mew is the main attacker, and Vileplume goes to the bench for disruption so that your opponent can’t use cards like Full Heal or Switch.  Twins is used a lot, and Rainbow Energy is very important.

How it works– You can start with Relincanth and use Pokemon Communication to get Vanilluxe and Unfezant into your hand, then you can Lost Zone with Relincanth and draw 3 cards.  Once you get Vileplume on the bench, you can then spread out energies on the Mews and then begin to attack.  You will want to use Vanilluxe’s “Doubel Freeze” to paralyze your opponent.  You can keep on using that attack until you get within 50 HP away from a knockout.  Then you can use “Fly”, and then Mew will be invincible on your opponent’s next turn.  Then you can just start again with “Double Freeze.”  It is a really good deck that will soon see a lot of play.

Conclusion

City Championships have shown us a lot this year.  The metagame has changed a lot with a lot of new decks sprouting up and doing well.  We now have a lot of decks that can win, and that makes for a very exciting and spontaneous format.  Pokemon is now going on a couple month hiatus until States come in March, so it will be an interesting couple months testing all these new decks and all the decks that will come with the release of the next set.

So Pedro, I’m all done.  What do you have for us today?

Well, today is Christmas Eve.  We would like to wish all of our readers a very Merry Christmas.

It sure is Pedro.  We hope you all can spend time with your family, and time reflecting on the season.

Merry Christmas everybody. 

City Championships

Just call me bubbles.

Michael 1 Comment

I seriously hate bubbling out. Read my last two CC reports to find out why.

It’s at the Source. Details are a little hazy, but I’ll do my best. Playing Jewgar both days.

Source: Round 1: VS Ed(playing ZPST)
Before the round even starts, Ed tells me that he’s gonna drop after the round to trade. So we’re already off to a great start. I destroy him, because he starts bad and I start broke. So I win. And…he drops. Tie breakers are already fantastic. I tell myself that I’ll have to literally go X-0 to top unless I get some better tie breakers.
1-0

(Opponent finishes: 0-1 drop at the end of the day)
Read More

City Championships

Pikkdogs and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: Findlay, Oh Cities Report

Pikkdogs 4 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a tournament report for you.  I usually try to bring you guys photographs of the event, but I left my camera at my apartment, so no pictures today.  It’s just as well, since my photography skills suck anyway.

Today’s City Championship was in Findlay, Oh.  It was about an hour and a half drive for me, about 2 hours south of Detroit.  I was joined by my buddy Frank and two other Team Warp Point members.  The guys arrived to my apartment about a half hour late, but luckily, the judges were all later than us.  So we got there in plenty of time, but the tournament was also delayed.

This Cities was mostly made up of Ohio players.  Fort Wayne, In also had a Cities on the same day, that kept all the Indiana players away.  The 2 hour drive also kept a lot of Michiganders away, since my car, my buddy Matt K, and Team Bertolli were the only ones there.  But, Ohio sure came out swinging.  Regionals winner Carl S. was there, along with The Top Cut member Drew Holton, and one of Ohio’s most consistent players: Jack Iller.  There ended up being 62 masters, so we had some quality players and lots of them.

I have toyed with playing a lot of decks this Cities season.  I tried Steelix Ross and Durant, but none of those turned out to be any good.  So I had to fall back on my old standard, Donphan and Dragons.  Here is my list.

Pokemon-15

  • 4-Phanpy HGSS
  • 4-Donphan Prime
  • 2-Tornadus
  • 1-Reshiram
  • 1-Zekrom
  • 2-Kyurem

Trainers-31

  • 3-Pokemon Collector
  • 4-Professor Oak’s New Theory
  • 3-Professor Juniper
  • 3-Sage’s Training
  • 2-Cheren
  • 3-Pokemon Communication
  • 1-Dual Ball
  • 4-Junk Arm
  • 4-Pokemon Catcher
  • 2-Plus Power
  • 2-Switch

Energy-13

  • 4-Double Colorless Energy
  • 4-Rainbow Energy
  • 5-Fighting Energies

The list is basically a slightly tweaked version of what I have been playing since BRs.  Kyurem is played more than the other dragons because he has weakness on Reshiram and his spreading attack can cause decks like Ross Deck to have a bad day.  I might want to play 1 Terrakion NV next weekend, that seems to fit in well in this deck.  So let’s get back to the tourney and see how it went.

Round 1- 6 Corners (deck with a bunch of Legends)

I am not sure of how this deck is as good as it seems to be since it seems to be like a theme deck, but with legends.  But, I knew the player of this deck was good, so I knew the match would be hard to win.

I start with Phanpy and he starts with Verizion NV.  I go first attach, and pass.  He attaches and uses “Dual Draw.”  I start to get a Donphan going and damage the Verizion.  I knock it out on the next turn, but he gets a Kyurem going.  All of his random Pokemon seem to come together to work somehow.  They are able to knock out about 2 Donphans, but I am able to get rid of Kyurem with Tornadus.  At one point I had taken 3-4 prizes and got him down to one Pokemon.  But, he uses a Collector and somehow gets everybody setup very quickly.  I run out of Donphans and he is able to win a very close game.

0-1- Not a good start but it was a good game with a good player.  It was at this time that Frank left his Ipod by me, so I took it so he wouldn’t lose it.  I decided to play with him a little and put it in his backpack without telling him.  It was really funny watching him trying to figure out how with Ipod got into a place where he knew he didn’t put it. Lol good things, I don’t think he ever found out how it got there.

Round 2- Eelektrik with Magnezone Prime and Zekrom

This game was against my buddy Matt K., and boy was it ever a great game.  I start with a Phanpy and a Collector, and get 3 Donphan Primes on turn 2.  Matt was very shocked that I got so many Donphans so quickly, but the battle was far from over.  On turn 2 I am able to knock out a Zekrom, except the Plus Power eluded me.  So I had to put 120 on him, and “Outrage” eventually led to a prize for Matt.  Next turn I drew a Plus Power but didn’t need it to finish off the Zekrom.  On his next turn Matt used N to take my Plus Power away.  Then I had a chance to knock out a Magnezone, but I again did not have the Plus Power.  So I had to take 2 turns to knock out Magnezone.  This gave Matt time to setup up Eelektriks and maximize the playability of Zekrom and Magnezone.  He is able to get a string of 3 knockout on my Donphans, but this only gives him a 1 prize lead after I took down 3 Magnezones.  By the time that time was called, the field was setup for a great finish.  I had a Reshiram with no energy active, and he had a Pichu on the bench.  I had a Plus Power and a Pokemon  Catcher in my hand, so I played them.  All I needed was a DCE, and I knew I had 2 of them in my deck.  So  I used a PONT, and knew I had a decent shot to hit the DCE.  If I did get the DCE I would be able to knock out the Pichu, and Matt would not be able to attack since he Lost Zoned all his energies by this time.  I draw my 6 cards but I did not reveal a DCE.  I think for a bit and then scoop.  Just for fun I revealed the top card of my deck, and it was a DCE, so I swore a couple times.

0-2. Sorry Matt, I didn’t mean to swear so much, just got caught up in a really great game.  That will go down as one of the better games in a career filled with great games.  At Regionals Matt was screwed by his opponent getting a DCE out of nowhere, but it didn’t happen this time.  So I know my day is over after a 0-2 start, but I had some great games, so I knew the rest of the games would be really fun.

Round 3- Chandelure

I have never really played a Chandelure.  I don’t think my opponent was really comfortable with her deck, and never really attacked with Chandelure.  But that didn’t mean that the Ability along with Vileplume still couldn’t give me a bad day.

I again start with Phanpy but she goes first.  She starts with Promo Litwick, uses a Collector, and does Call For Family for a total of 2 Oddishes and 2 Litwicks.  I start to get my Phanpys going and get a Kyurem out.  I also Pokemon Catcher an Oddish and then end.  She retreats the Oddish and evolves into Lanturn before passing.  On my next turn I evolve into Donphan, Catcher an Oddish, and get a knock out.  On her next turn she evolves into Gloom on her other Oddish, and then passes.  I am able to again use a Pokemon Catcher, but I am not able to get the 2 Plus Powers needed to get a knock out on Gloom.  So on her turn she retreats Gloom, evolves in Chandelure and Dodrio, and starts putting damage counters all over.  Although she never really attacked, she was able to setup 2 Donphans for a Jirachi double De-Evolve KO.  She also took advantage of the damage counters placed thanks to “Earthquake” and knocked out a Tornadus.  However, during this time I put 2 Rainbow Energies and a DCE on Kyurem.  I meant to finish off Vileplume this way, but she uses Blissey Prime to get rid of all damage counters on the field.  However, this just delayed the inevitable since she lost some energies because of Blissey.  I was able to “Glaciate” 3 times and take my last 2 prizes.

1-2. I finally get a win and I do it by taking out a deck that is tough to beat.

Round 4- Reshiphlosion

I again go first and get a Phanpy start.  On my second turn I am able to “Earthquake” a Cyndaquil for a knockout.  On his next turn he Catchers my benched Kyurem with no energy, and passes.  Luckily, I am able to find a DCE and use a Pokemon Catcher to knock out a 2nd Cyndaquil.  He then evolves his third Cyndaquil, and lays down the 4th.  On my next turn I again Catcher a Cyndaquil, and get my 3rd prize.  But, now he is ready with an army of Reshirams to get going.  He takes advantage of the damage counters on my Donphans to get some easy “Blue Flare” knock outs.  I don’t remember exactly how this game ended, but I think I got another Kyurem in play and he had a Reshiram with 7 damage counters on it.  He ended up taking a prize by knocking out Donphan, but I was able to take my last prize when a damaged Kyurem “Outraged” for the win.

2-2.  Another great game.  Some really good games today, no win was easy.

Round 5- Weird 6 Corner Variant with Landorus, Terrakion, Kyurem, Zekrom, and the rest here on Gilligan’s Isle. 

This was another one of those weird legendary hodgepodge legend decks.  My opponent said she made the deck just to beat people who were playing Eelektrik.  This game was very weird for me.  She goes first with Landorus and passes.  I have a lone Kyurem and a bunch of energies and Catchers in my hand.  I draw a Juniper, but cannot afford to kill all those energies and Catchers.  I am able to “Outrage” 3 times on Landorus to get the first knock out.  She uses Terrakion NV to do 90 with “Retaliate”, but I top deck a Max Potion.  I attach another DCE and then knock out a Cleffa (I think).  After she puts a couple damage counters on me, I use them to “Outrage” on another Landorus for a knockout.  So at this point I have a 3 prize lead, but a hand full of energies and no Donphans in sight.  I finally get a Communication so I switch my Donphan for  a Phanpy, and get the Donphan chain going after I finally use the Juniper.  She then mounts a comeback using a fully powered Terrakion with an Eviolite and a bunch of Defenders.  That was a big tank that took me a long time to take out.  I think the game ends when I run out of energies, but am not sure.  Either way it was a great game.

2-3.  An Amazing back and forth game that shows how good basics and Eviolite are.  Of course I hate to lose, but so far all my losses have been fun.  I still don’t know how I took 3 prizes without setting up.  But, man is Terrakion ever a big tank with Eviolite and Defenders.

Round 6- Reshiphlosion

My last match was again a very boring Reshiphlosion deck.  Once I saw the Cyndaquil I thought of just scooping since this matchup is really boring, but I decide to play it through.  He starts with Reshiram and Cyndaquil, attaches, and passes.  I start with Phanpy, I attach, and use Pokemon Collector.  On his turn he uses Rare Candy to get a Typhlosion and gets another Cyndaquil out.  On my turn I get a Donphan and Pokemon Catcher to knock out a Cyndaquil.  The next turn he uses Junk Arm to get Rare Candy back, and gets his second Typhlosion.  On my next couple turns I “Earthquaked” a couple times on Reshirams.  The Reshirams eventually won the battle, but I evened it up with “Outrage” from Kyurem.  Then, I get 2 Rainbow Energies on Zekrom and do “Bolt Strike” for a knock out on another Reshiram.  We are tied late in the game and he only has 1 Typhlosion left.  I am in the spot to get a knock out, however, I can’t get another energy.  So he wins.

2-4.  So overall lots of really good games, with really bad outcomes.  I was in every game until the very end.  Luck just was not with me at all today.

Frank and Amanda (who also came with us) were about to make top cut, but did not have good enough tiebreakers to make it in.  So we took off and rode down to Arbys and had some really good Roast Beef.  I don’t know why, but all my tourney reports seem to end at Arbys.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

City Championships

An Introduction to Cities 2011-2012.

Pikkdogs 6 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs and his extra-dimensionary sidekick Pedro here with a short article about this years Cities tournaments.  It seems like I just got back from Regionals, but yet Cities will be starting this week!  Besides having no time to prepare for Cities, there are new cards in the format.  So let’s slow things down a little bit and look at what’s going on in the format.

Before we get going, I should announce that onehitko.com has a new sponsor, www.propokemon.com.

Someone actually is giving you money to promote their site? 

It appears that way.

So you’re like a whore now, you pimp yourself out for money? 

I thought we already established that.

Oh yeah, forgot about that.  I smell a part of the article where you are about to sell your soul to the man and give them a cheesy commercial, so go ahead. 

Alright.  www.propokemon.com Is a great place to get deck lists and different tricks and tips for the format.  They always have some cool free articles, but, they are now changing the game by offering you premium articles from the best players on a  per article basis.  So you no longer have to subscribe with a monthly fee to every premium article, you can just pick and choose the ones you want for a very low fee.

Sounds smart to me.  Plus. people get to read articles from someone who is actually good.

That always helps.  So make sure to go over there and check out the site, and then check back for all the latest strategies.  Well there Pedro, we did the commercial.

Did a little bit of you die inside?

Yes.  Though nothing against propokemon, I actually do love the site and I read articles there all the time.  I’m just not used to selling out to the man.  I kinda feel dirty.

Well, I could say something about the “dirty part”, but our sponsors may not like it. 

Do you mean we have to watch our language now?  No more penis jokes?

No. Well, maybe just a few. 

Can I tell the story about a man from Nantucket?

That might be going too far.  Plus we are going way off topic, just get on to talking about Cities. 

Cities Overview. 

Okay, let’s talk about Cities by revisiting what happened at Regionals. Here are the breakdown of how many decks made it to the top 4:

  • Reshiram-8
  • Primetime-7 
  • Zekrom-5
  • Stage 1 Variants-4
  • The Truth-2

So that kind of gives us a look at the format.  Reshiram, Zekrom, and Primetime seem to be the best around.  With Stage 1 and a couple other decks peeking their heads in and doing a decent job.  So with those three decks in mind, let’s continue by looking at what Noble Victories adds us.

Changes from Noble Victories

We will begin our look at NV by listing the popular cards from that set, and then state what decks they will help or hurt.

  • Kyurem– Kyurem may or may not be decent in a deck of its own, but will see a lot of play in other decks.  Expect Donphan and Dragons, Zekrom, The Truth (Ross Deck), and Gothitelle to play this card to counter Donphan Prime and Reshiram.  Kyurem being played will hurt Donphan and Dragons, and could make it unplayable if it gets a lot of play.  It will also hurt Reshiram decks, but it certainly won’t kill the deck, just make games closer.
  • Vanilluxe/Chandelure– You might see some play of these Pokemon in Ross Decks.  The play won’t be significant nationwide, but very well could be in your local metagame.
  •   Durant– Watch out for the milling Durant.  Of course it won’t be splashable in any deck, and won’t be a top tier deck itself.  But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look out for it.  Players of Stage 1 decks might wanna tech in a card like Victini #15, because they will have a hard time doing enough damage to consistently knock out Durant without a fire Pokemon.
  • The Musketter Trio– Well, the duo anyway, nobody will be playing Virizion.  The other two might see some play in stage 1 tool box decks.  Cobalion might see even see some play in its own deck.  Terrakion could be a decent Donphan replacement in a stage 1 deck for people who are worried about Donphan’s water weakness.  Cobalion could see its own deck as it has the “Iron Breaker” attack which does not let your opponent attack next turn.  Perhaps it could be paired with Electrode Prime.
  • Rocky Helmet– I am not really sold on this card, but expect to see a little of it anyway.  It doesn’t really seem to benefit one deck, so expect it everywhere, expect in Ross Deck and Mewlock.
  • N– I also am not sold on how N impacts the format.  I think it is a good card, but it is not a great card.  Regardless of what I think of it, it will be played simply because it is a cool card.  Remember when Seeker came out in Triumphant?  Everybody played that for a couple of months, before we realized that it’s crap.  The same might happen with N, but that doesn’t matter because the fact is that people will play N.  As for impacting individual decks, it will give a huge lategame advantage to Magnezone Prime decks.  Since they can use “Magnetic Draw” to recover from a late game N, they will have a huge advantage if N gets as much play as expected.  It doesn’t really seem to effect the other good decks in the format, just the rogue ones like Lost World and Durant.
  • Eviolite- I have saved the best for last.  Eviolite will make a huge impact on Cities.  It will be used by any Pokemon that is basic.  So that means Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Tornadus, Durant, Druddigon, and others will receieve a huge boost.  This gives basic decks a huge advantage over others.  It may not impact Primtime too much.  Yes it will make Yanmega much less useful, but 150-20 is still 130 and a knockout for Magnezone Prime’s “Lost Burn” attack.  Look for basic decks to reach new heights at cities. 

Well that’s it for the list.  After all that, I think we can say that Zekrom should be the winner of the Noble Victories release.  Although Reshiram also gains from the release of Eviolite, Zekrom does not have to worry about Kyurem “Outraging” for weakness.  Although saying that, the balance beam won’t fall too much towards Zekrom, Primetime and Reshiram still have a great shot.  And Gothitelle and Ross Deck will still be around.  So the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Tips for Cities

Cities is always my least favorite tournament season.  They usually are scheduled during holidays or during big snow storms.  Yet, people might be able to get out to a couple of them, so let’s look at some tips and tricks for winning Cities.

  1. It’s a small tournament, so your decks can be riskier.  At regionals you needed a deck that could win 10 times in a row, not so here.  Just winning 5-6 times might be enough to win.  So you can try running riskier decks like Sharpedo, and hope you get lucky.  Though consistency is never a good thing to lose, you might need to take a risk to get a win.
  2. I’m liking Magnezone.  Even though Eviolite makes basic decks a lot better, Magnezone is still a good card.  The reason I like it now more than ever is because of N.  A lot of people will be playing it and Magnezone has a built in N recovery system.  “Magnetic Draw” will help you make you recover from an N better than any other deck.
  3. Basics are the safest bet.  With Eviolite it is impossible to go wrong by choosing Reshiram and Zekrom decks.  Although you may not be lucky enough to win, you should do well with these decks.  Just be aware that you will see more rogue out there than usual, so be prepared.

Okay Pedro, I’m done.  What do you have for us today?  

Well, today is Black Friday.  Have you done your holiday shopping Pikkdogs?

Oh of course, I’ve been spending all that www.propokemon.com money.  I’ve got so many commercials going I’m like the Shamwow guy of Pokemon.

So you’re rolling in the cash?

Well, I’m supposed to say so.  But I’m actually still the same homeless guy that Ed picked off the street and lured into writing for the promise of chicken.

So you’re lying to me and you didn’t do any Christmas shopping?

Not really, I’m still waiting for the chicken from Ed. Did you do any Black Friday shopping?

Well, I wouldn’t call it shopping.  I just went to a busy shop and waited for a popular item to be almost gone, and then when someone picks up the last item I would punch them. 

That’s not very nice.

No, but its fun.  Good night everybody. 

City Championships

Gyarados, Gyarados, Gyarados : City Championships, MN, Jan 8+9, 2011

Pikkdogs 33 Comments

Regice - LAHey Everyone, this is Pikkdogs and Ed here to give you a dual article about the Cities we attended this weekend.  We’re going to see how merging the two reports works.  Pikkdogs played on Jan 8th, and Ed played both the 8th and 9th.  Pikkdog’s matches will be in blue and Ed’s in red.  The article intro is by Pikkdogs, and the wrapup is by Ed.

Jan 8th Misty Mountain Games in Burnsville

I was able to attend a tournament in Minnesota this weekend.  I normally play in Michigan, but I spend my time away from school in Minnesota so I was able to attend the tournament on Saturday in Burnsville, MN.  I was really excited to go to this tournament, because it was slated to be the reunion of Team Omar.  This is because both me and Omar will be in town, so the team will be able to get together for one more tournament.  I have fond memories of this past summer, when Omar won 3 cities so I was excited to see if we can take another victory medal.

I always like to play in Minnesota because the Metgame is much more relaxed.  It is a lot easier to just relax and have a good time with your friends.  I love playing in Michigan as well, but things are more competitive there.  First, you have a lot of really good players who like to win.  This is good but can take some of the fun out of it.  Second, the Metagame is a meat grinder; there are so many players there with good decks that it takes a lot to stand out.  Third, since things are bigger there the game is more official with match slips and stuff like that; its sometimes nice to have a friendlier atmosphere.  Then again Michigan does have some of my best buds like Jona and my Team Warp Point buddies, and there are a bunch of original decks.  So each metagame has different advantages, but it is nice to have a change of pace and play in a quieter environment.

I arrived at Misty Mountain games right at 10 a.m. and was the first T.O. member to arrive.  I turned in my decklist and patiently waited for the tourney to start.  Shortly after registering my team members all arrived, I greeted them and got ready for the tournament.

I stuck with my basic Gyarados list.  I used the same one as in my last tournament; but I switched out a Pokemon Communication for Ditto La, and the 3 Special Dark Energies were changed for 3 Rainbow Energies.  I decided to go with Ditto and the rainbows because of the myriad of 1 or 0 energy decks.  Ditto is not only great against Gyarados, but can work well against Jumpluff and Gengar SF.  So it is a very versatile card.  I do lose a little bit of my donking ability without the Special Dark Energies, but those rarely help anyway.  So without any more distractions, lets go to the report.

Round 1
Pikkdogs Vs. Card Selling Ed (Gengar Sf and Crobat Prime)
Officially I had a bye this round, but my buddy Card Selling Ed (not to be confused with Ed the owner of this site) had a good deck ready and wasn’t playing today, so he invited me for a game while I wait.  This was nice of him since I would be able to get warmed up.

He starts with lone Gastly and “Pitchdarks” the first turn.  I started Crobat G and Uxie then Bebe’s’d for a Sablye and began my setup.  He sets up a Gengar right away, and I knock it out with a “Tail Revenge” and Crobat G “Flash Bites.”  He then tries a Crobat Prime and the “Severe Poison” attack, but whenever he does that I either Scoop it up or warp it out.  I win this game after knocking out a couple more Crobat Primes and Gengar Sf’s.
1-0

Ed Vs. T. Andrew T. with Tyranitar
I don’t recall much, but I got set up fairly quickly. I was able to run through his Tyranitars, because he was unable to keep up with energy drops (which my Gyarados doesn’t even require).
1-0

Round 2
Pikkdogs Vs. Abdi with Jumpluff
I, of course, hate playing Team Members, especially Abdi.  He’s like one of the nicest guys ever.  But it was me and him, so I have to try to beat him.

I think he starts Uxie and I start Sableye.  I “Impersonate” for a collector and get rolling.  I use “Flash Bites” to knock out a benched Hoppip and then take out the active Uxie on turn 4.  About 4 turns later I use “Flash Bites” to knock out a damaged Jumpluff and “Regimove” up a belted Crobat G for the win.

2-0, easy win, sorry Abdi.

Ed Vs. Andy Wieman with LuxChomp
I Judge twice (thanks to VS Seeker). The first one wasn’t especially good for me. The second wrecked him and gave me the two cards I needed to win.
2-0

Round 3
Pikkdogs Vs. Ed with Gyarados
Just before this game I told Ed that I had a premonition that we would play today.  We had played together in 3 tournaments and had yet to face each other.  When I went to look at the parings I am not surprised to see me matched up against Ed.

I had actually not played the mirror matchup in a tournament before, so this was kinda new to me.  He gets setup first and gets a knockout on my Sableye.  I am unable to get a Broken Time Space and therefore a Gyarados.  To combat this I chuck all my Magikarps in the discard pile, attach an Expert Belt, and “Tail Revenge” for 140.  I could have avoided this by using a Crobat G, but I couldn’t find that either.  Ed responds by belting his Sableye and knocking out Ditto with “Over Confident”.  At this point I am 3 prizes down and don’t wanna have to play anymore, so I scoop.  I might have played it out, but since Ed was an undefeated Team Member I just scoop.

My weird draws cause me to not have much a chance against Ed, so now I need to win out to have a chance.

2-1

Ed Vs. Josh (Pikkdogs) with Gyarados
We run almost the same lists, except Josh teched for the Gengar/Mirror with Ditto and Rainbow energy. He immediately went for the Ditto strategy, and I think it hurt him when I was able to KO his belted Ditto with my belted Sableye.
3-0

Round 4
Pikkdogs Vs. Michael Slutsky with Luxchomp
Mike is a nice Bieberish looking kid who plays a lot better then he looks.  He previously have donked me with a Horsea, I still don’t know how.

I won’t go into too much detail here. I found out that unless Luxchomp starts bad, I lose.  Luxchomp started well here.

I am officially out of the running.

2-2

Ed Vs. Soari with LuxChomp
I dunno. It was LuxChomp. Actually, I think I came close to winning about 4 different times. Between him having well-timed Power Sprays and me getting tails on SSUs and such, I think it could have easily been a win if I had slightly better luck.
3-1

Round 5
Pikkdogs Vs. Collan with Gyarados
Another mirror matchup, good thing I included Ditto.  I never met Collan before today, but he seems like a nice guy.

We start fairly evenly, but I think I get the first G-dos.  I am able to stay in front of the Prize race through most of the game.  I kept Ditto on the bench, and after the game he mentioned that he never wanted to knockout my G-dos because he knew that I could just return the kill with Ditto.  After we exchange prizes, time gets called and I have a 1 or 2 prize lead.  I get scared when he says “Flash Bite” on Ditto and drops a Crobat G, 3 Turns and a Junk Arm.  But, after we count the damage, he is left 1 damage counter away from knocking him out.

3-2 Not the best record, but was just happy to play with some friends.

Ed Vs. Michael S. with LuxChomp
I’m not sure why, but when I play Michael with Gyarados vs his LuxChomp, I never seem to have a chance. I “hid” an Expert Belt on a Crobat at one point, and in hindsight, I’m not really sure why. After I didn’t PokeTurn it, he Bright Looked it and KO’d it. That was pretty much it.
3-2

After the Tourney
I sulk a bit while reflecting on my bad luck for pairing up against 3 LuxChomps. Just 3 days earlier, I had played Uxie Donk in a tourney and got matched up against the only 3 (as far as I know) people that played 4 Spiritomb in their decks. I got lucky against one of them and went 2-2 that day.

Today, I got lucky against Andy (who I can beat in Swiss but never in tops), and came out 1-2 versus LuxChomp. OHKOs on Gyarados is just too much for me to handle. So, I grab my daughter’s and my backpacks and toss them in the car. I come back in for the door prizes and find out that Soari (4-1) is dropping, because he has to be somewhere else. That means the top 4 is a 5-0, two 4-1s, and a 3-2. I think that I spy my name just after Andy (who was 4-1), so I think there’s a bit of luck streaming my way. Indeed, when the top4 is re-set, I’m in 4th. This means that I’m playing the 5-0 Jay Hornung.

Because I was done, and Ed was still playing (props to Sudi for dropping and allowing someone else to get in top 4), I decide to stick around, keep an eye on Ed’s daughter, and watch Ed play Jay H.

I end up playing a fun game against Ed’s daughter, and then watch the end of his game.  He holds everyone up by failing to take a prize when he knocked out a Pokemon, when we finally get the ruling, Ed is able to wrap it up and win game 3.

So I am thankful for just being able to hang out with Team Omar and being able to support Ed as he gets another Top 2 finish. Benny even won Senior’s with Gyarados, so that was cool.  It was no doubt a successful weekend.

From here on out, the report is all Ed’s, so we’ll just stick with black text.

Top-4 Game 1: Jay Hornung playing VileGar
I get a good lead, and as Jay is beginning to come back, I opt to risk a Fainting Spell. Jay gets tails, and scoops soonafter. I make a slight mistake at one point and forget to pull a prize off of my Flash Bite KO, but I grab it just after that, and Jay pretty much just says not to let it happen again.

Top-4 Game 2:
I do not get a good lead in this one, but it’s not too one-sided. About halfway through the game, Jay looks at me and says, “You take like thirty seconds to make every decision!” After that, I make an effort to play faster, but it has nothing to do with the outcome of the game. Jay ends up winning it.

Top-4 Game 3:
I don’t recall the details here, but I’m pretty sure that Jay never gets Vileplume set up. I’m able to Regimove or KO Spiritomb almost every time I need to. I get ahead, and he has a Mewtwo with 70 damage sitting on his bench. I Flash Bite it, PokeTurn, and Flash Bite it again. Jay puts it in his discard, and then I drop Uxie to Set Up to 7 in hand. I announce Tail Revenge, go to grab my prize, and after I grab one, I realize that I did it again. I think he already knew that I forgot to take my Flash Bite prize, so I figured that I’d just take it now. What I didn’t figure is that, because I played the Uxie, I drew an extra card from Set Up (because I “saved” my prize draw until afterward). The head judge (that’s sitting right next to me and watching our game, because the other one is already done) didn’t notice it, and doesn’t really know how to rule it. His first reaction seems to be that I just don’t draw my prize. Andy Wieman speaks up mentioning that I absolutely have to take a prize. When a Pokemon is KO’d, it is not an option whether you take the prize. The problem is that, while Andy is a professor, he plays the winner of the match in top-2. Because he has a stake in the outcome, he should not be making a ruling. Several calls are made to other Professors/TOs, and we get a ruling after about 20min. Jay gets to randomly remove 1 card from my hand and shuffle it back into my deck. Then, I take my prize. I get warnings, and play resumes. Jay hits tails on his second Fainting Spell of our 3 games (maybe this was before all the hoopla), and concedes after we’re in +3.

I don’t like this win. I mean, yeah, I like beating a player of Jay’s caliber, but it was very bittersweet. First, Jay is pissed that I play too slowly, and then my mistake makes us sit and wait 20min (at least what it felt like) for a ruling. Ultimately, I think this was a bad impression to make. He already thinks I’m a Nazi for banning Radu from this site (which never actually happened).

4-2

Top-2 Game 1: Andy Wieman playing LuxChomp
I think he gets a KO on Gyarados, and I can’t find BTS. Game.

Top-2 Game 2:
I lose. These games were a bit of a blur. I recall not being able to put Gyarados back together like I usually can, but maybe that was the lack of BTS in the first game. I really need Rescue Energy and Judge in this matchup. Oh well.
4-3

So, again, I can beat Andy in Swiss, but never in top cuts. This is the 3rd time I’ve lost to Andy in top-2 (both Cities I’ve played thus far this season and a Battle Roads last season). Andy wins all 3 MN Cities thus far with his LuxChomp. What is in store tomorrow?

Jan 9th Outpost 2000 & Beyond in Coon Rapids
Round 1: CJ with a preconstructed deck
Can you believe that he Beat me on his first turn (after I go first with Sableye)? Luckily for me, Beat only does 10 damage. I get set up fast. He has X2 weakness to Gyarados.
1-0

Round 2: Justin with the deck his son made (Masquerain, Shuppet, Sableye, etc.)
Justin has Sableye, but I don’t think he ever used it to Impersonate. He just keeps hitting with Overconfident + Special Dark (which only does 10 +SpDarks for him). He gets a Shuppet with 3 Plus Powers set up at one point, so I play Judge. That’s about the end of it. Really, that’s about the end of my tourney.
2-0

Round 3: Michael with LuxChomp
What did I tell you about me playing Gyarados against Michael’s LuxChomp?
2-1

Round 4: Nate with Machamp
This one was pretty silly. It’s one of those things that should be frustrating, but what can you do? I start Sableye to his Smeargle. I have a lone Karp on the bench, but I can’t do anything else (my hand is like Judge and a bunch of trainers), so I Impersonate. Now, I should expect him to Portrait, but I don’t really have anything else to do. I impersonate Collector and get Karp, Karp, and Regice. He starts his turn and calls Portrait. The only supporter I have is Judge. He’s kinda upset, because he has all the pieces to play Take Out that turn. He now has to Judge them away. I wish he hadn’t. I can afford to lose Sableye. I can’t afford to lose the rest of my hand. He Judges into a full Machamp Prime on his bench, but has to pass due to no Take Out. I draw and Impersonate (as my new hand from Judge is horrible with like Expert Belt and Junk Arm or some garbage like that). He sets up Machamp SF, plays a Seeker (returning my Karp), and KOs Sableye. Donk
2-2

Round 5: Ross playing Jumpluff
I’ve played against Ross and his Jumpluff before. I don’t know how much it’s changed since then. I’m pretty tired of thinking for 2 days straight. I ought to exercise my brain more, so that it’s ready for this sort of thing. I know I can’t top. I have a hard time caring. Ross starts Unown Q (Hoppip on bench) to my Sableye. I throw caution to the wind and drop SpDark to get a “Quick” KO (pun intended). From there, I get a good prize lead, but (thanks to Ross’s repeated use of Judge and Let Loose) I have no good recovery. My lack of caution in the match leads me to go for card drawing and the chance of winning instead of Impersonating to give Ross a prize (but me a better chance in upcoming turns). I recall wasting my hand to Junk Arm a SSU and getting tails. I think I got tails on all my SSUs in this match. I’m convinced that I wasted all my luck on the previous day (lucking into top 4 and then beating Jay on Fainting Spells). I finally get a Combee (which I seem to forget about, because I went SOOO long without playing it) and a Gyarados. The problem is that I need 2 bench slots to use Combee. I have to sacrifice something to use it, and that puts Ross in position to win. In fact, I think I get Gyarados back on my final turn, but Ross has the belted Jumpluff doing 140 (thanks to Combee filling my bench).
2-3

So, I go from 2nd one day to 2-3 the next only beating a preconstructed deck and the deck Justin’s kid tossed together the night before. Ick.

Now, on to the only redeeming part of the day. After Juniors is done (in which Ava went 0-3), they give out door prizes. The first prize is obviously (though we’ll revisit that in a few moments) going to be a mat. There are 8 Juniors, so the TO asks for 2 dice. I’m not really certain of what happening until I see it happen. The first roll adds up to more than 8, so it’s rerolled. The second roll adds up to 8, so the 8th name is announced as the winner. I have to step in. My first thought (which I voice) is, “How do you roll a ONE on 2 dice?” My daughter, Ava, is first in alphabetical order, and happens to be name number one. If this is the method, then there’s no way she can possibly win anything. They realize that I’m 100% right and quickly change the dice rolling. The first roll is odd/even (names 1-4 odd, names 5-8 even). The second roll determines the winner. They reroll, and it comes up odd then a one. I already said that Ava is kid #1, so she wins the mat. I’m so pleased!

Dice Roll DistributionIt occurred to me, afterward, that the original 2-die roll had WAY more wrong with it than just not having a possibility of rolling a 1. Have you ever heard of a Bell Curve or the game of Craps? Take a look at this picture (shamelessly stolen from anther website). So, if there were 8 players, and anything over 8 was a reroll, then player 1 has 0 chance of winning. We already established that. But look at how much higher probability it is for players 6, 7, and 8 to win compared to players 2, 3, and 4. It’s a combination thing. When you roll 2 (6-sided dice) there is only ONE way to get a two (1-1). There are 6 ways to get a 7 (1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, and 6-1). Player 7 would have 6 times more of a chance to win the mat than player 2 would have.

Now, back to the obviousness of the mat going to the first winner. In Masters, I recall there being 2 mats. The first winner took a playmatmat. The next winner was a girl named Frankie. She was there with someone else that was really prompting her to take the mat. She wanted a hat. They said it was her choice, and she grabbed the hat. The 3rd door prize was called, and the winner chose the mat. Here’s another lesson in odds. If there is a prize that’s obviously sought after more than others, odds are that people are willing to trade you for the more coveted prize. If you win a mat, but you really want a hat, you can get more than just a hat out of the deal. Take the mat, and while you’re doing it, announce that you really want a hat, and you have a mat for trade. There’s a high probability that your mat will fetch a hat PLUS. I bet some players would give a hat plus a $10 bill. Others might bid a hat plus the cards you need to finish your deck. Odds are in your favor, and if you really really want that hat and can’t get more than a hat, I have no doubt that the hat winner would trade straight-up.

So, Frankie, if you’re out there, you weren’t wrong for wanting a hat more than a playmat. It’s just that you could have done even better, and there’s Ed’s probability lessons for the day.

City Championships Deck Discussion

SPread, an attempt at going rogue

Cheffords 11 Comments

Now that my City Championships are done I thought it would be good to share my experience and my deck. First, a little background to set the stage; I played a Shuppet deck all season last year. When the Rotation came I set aside Shuppet because it lost too much to stay viable (not to mention the increase in trainer locking decks.) Having done so left me without a deck of choice, or even a deck I was familiar with. Ed had been sharing the TOSSED deck list with me and since I was at least familiar with half of the deck I went with it for Battle Roads. I modified it to have a Blaziken FB Lv.X tech line and called it HOT TOSSED. After 3 tournaments and losing about 2/3 of my matches I decided TOSSED just wasn’t for me.

One thing I came to like during the Battle Roads was the concept of an SP toolbox style deck. I also had a distinct desire to avoid any and all of the current tier 1 decks; I felt like they had all been around for so long that they offered little new in regards to tactics and strategy. I was still looking for a deck of my own to play.

I had always liked Gallade 4 Lv.X but never could get it to work very well as the main attacker of a deck. It occurred to me that it might do better as a tech instead and so I looked for a partner that could benefit from its spreading power to be the basis of my new deck.

Here is what I eventually came to, this is the exact list I played at my third City Championship in Rochester Hills, MI. It is an evolved version of what I started with 3 weeks prior. I played this deck at all 3 City Championships this year.
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City Championships Uncategorized

Like Jerry Seinfeld, Pikkdogs is Even Steven, Rochester Hills Cities Report

Pikkdogs 18 Comments

My fellow Seinfeld fans will appreciate the reference to the episode where Jerry continually loses things and then gains things back again.  This is how I felt today at the Rochester Hills City Championships. No matter how hard I fight to break away from the crutches of mediocrity, it pulled me back in, but then I was reminded that it wasn’t that bad.                            Austino's Gyarados

The story of the 2010 Rochester Hills Michigan City Championship begins on Friday afternoon.  I got back from my jog and fired up the computer.  I got a message from Derek, our tournament organizer, saying that he expects a record draw to the next cities and reccomends that we all show up early.  I decided to pass that info on to my buddy Jona, and hope to make it there when registration starts, at 11.  I end up making it by 11:10, the parking lot was full, but I was able to register.  At about 11:20, they begin turning people away, because the fire code only lets 70 people in the building.  This left several players, including last years state champion, away from the tournament.  When I saw this I thought I might have a better shot today, with a cut of top 8 and one less great player.

Lets backtrack here to when I first chose my deck.  Last weekend I went to a cities and wanted to play Gyarados, but mine wasn’t working properly, so I threw together a Magnezone deck.  It was pretty cool, probably the best Magnezone deck I ever seen.  It was a little slow, but once it got going it was unbeatable.  I went to the cities with that deck, and played a Luxchomp, Sablelock, and SP Toolbox.  The Luxchomp made quick work of me, I got donked by sablelock (but then beat him easily in the rematch), and then lost to the SP toolbox, which I had beat the previous night in testing.  After receiving a bye, I went home pretty angry.  The next week I took Ed’s advice and used Austino’s Gyarados List.  This is a basic Gyarados build, so I won’t explain the list.  I like the list because, its all consistency, it only has 1 tech, and this is Dialga G Lv.X, for the trainer lock matchup.  I made 1 small change to his list(another Pokemon Communication instead of a VS seeker) and went with that list. If you wanna see the list you can find it at:

http://www.sixprizes.com/deck-analysis/the-elite-4-decks-part-24-gyarados/ .

Its in the comment section.

Before getting to the tournament, I cranked up the jams from the CD “Family Guy: Live in Las Vegas”, and made the one hour drive north to Rochester Hills.  Once I got there I turned in my list, saw my freind Jona, lent him a card, and then played him in a practice game.  When parings were up I went to the table to meet my first opponent.

Round 1 v.s Cradily.

I think I start Sableye and he starts with two Root Fossils.  I was kinda shaken up cause I didn’t know what deck he was playing.  I remembered seeing the Cradily card, but for the life of me couldn’t remember what it did.  I start a little slower then I want to having to “Time Walk” for a Magikarp, he starts a little slow as well.  When he finally gets  a Cradily I look at it, and see that it has two attacks, “Drain Down” does 30 (for G) damage to a Pokemon on the bench that you can make active and you can heal all damage counters if you knock out that Pokemon, and “Acid” which does 50 (for GCC) and prevents retreating.                                                 

I actually start fairly well after a little slow beginning. I end up taking 5 prizes with a couple good “Flash Bite” drops.  For most of the game he didn’t do much, he once got my Regice active, but I was able to warp him out.  Then all of a sudden he goes crazy out of no where.  He drops 3 SF Cherrims and Shaymin Ground Form Level X, which gives him +30 for all attacks and +40 HP.  He then proceeds to drop Plus Powers and attach an expert belt to knock out Uxies and Crobat G’s with “Drain Down” and heal all damage.  He does this until he takes 4 prizes.  After this, I become very annoyed and decide that I will take no more of this.  I scoop up all Uxies, the Regice, and the Azelf, then I Poke-Turn all Crobat G’s, which leaves the bench empty.  With nothing on the bench, he can’t really do anything and loses when I am able to “Tail Revenge” for the win.

1-0, I commend him on the great comeback, and then get ready for round 2.

Round 2- v.s. Collan Baker and SP Toolbox.

Collan is a friend from Team Warp Point.  I beat him at BR’s at this same venue, and he was looking for some revenge.  I think I start with Uxie and Regice, I pass first turn, the second turn he starts to set up, on my 2nd turn I use collector for Karp, Sableye, and Azelf.  I try to “Regimove” but I get sprayed.  So I scoop up Regice and “Regimove” again, this time I get it.  Then I use Azelf (cause I notice that I prized 2 Magikarps), but when I say “Time Walk” he says “Power Spray.”  So I thought, “no matter I’ll just scoop up Azelf next turn.  5 Super Scoop Ups later I am unable to get a heads and with only 1 karp in the discard pile, my Gyarados is no threat to him.  He just knocks it out and continues to watch as I am unable to get a heads on Super Scoop Up.  I then scoop as time is called.

1-1.  Not much can be done when you prize 2 Magikarps and are unable to get to them.  When I look at the pairings for next round I notice that I get paired up, yay!

Round 3- v.s. Trainerlock

I enter this game still fuming about the 5 tails I got last turn.  But, there’s no time to think about that, I am playing one of my worst matchups.  I don’t start Sableye, but I get him my 2nd turn and collector for 2 Magikarps and my Dialga G.  He starts with 2 Oddish’s, it takes him a while but he does get a SF Gengar out.  I have to waste my Bebe’s Searchs so I cannot get Dialga G X out in time.  I also prize Azelf and Regice, and since I am under trainerlock I have to use Volkners to discard Magikarps.  Towards the middle of the game I get 9 damage counters on Gengar SF, 2 Crobat G’s in my hand, and the Dialga G X.  But just as I am about to bust the game wide open, he uses a Lookers Investigation on me and puts my awesome hand into the deck.  Without the Crobats, I am unable to avoid Fainting Spell, and Gengar takes me with him as I knock him out.  After this I cannot rebound, so I lose another one.                                                                                            

1-2.  Not much can be done about a bad matchup and another bad coin flip.  But a little luck is just around the corner.

Round 4- Trainerlock.

I play another Trainerlock deck, but this one is teched out more with Slowking HGSS and Bellossom Ud.  Those techs are nice, but it seemed to hurt his consistency.  This time I set up faster then his trainerlock does and am able to get setup fast.  The turning point was when I knocked out a Gengar SF and avoid the “Fainting Spell”.  This gives me a huge advantage, and I am able to beat the Bellossom, Vileplume, and Cursegar.

2-2- This time the coin flips go my way.  After this game I look at the parings and I again get paired up, this time against Evan Baker, Yay!

Round 5- Evan’s Luxchomp

For those that don’t know Evan is no doubt the hottest player in the state.  He is consistently beating everyone, even last years state’s winner.  So needless to say I am intimidated and expect to get steamrolled.  He gets a promocroak starts and I get a sableye.  I get going fast, but am unable to find a gyrados for a couple turns.  This proves to be the difference as he is able to get the first kill.  From then on the race is on and we just exchange kill after kill. I am able to get enough Poke Turns to get knock outs without the expert belt, and run over 3 Luxray Gl’s, 1 Garchomp C, and an Uxie.  But alas, after time is called and turn 3 is over, its his turn and he has Garchomp C X active.  He attachs a DCE and shows me a Cyrus’s Conspiracy with a gain in his deck.

2-3.  What an awesome game!  I take one of the hottest players in the country to sudden death and darn near almost beat him!  Evan won all of the Cities last weekend, and took his streak into today’s tournament.  It was all I could do to keep up with him.

Round 6- Magnezone

I am familiar with this matchup since I have a similar deck.  My Magnezone deck has a very favorable matchup to Gyarados.  But, I think my deck is more consistent then this one.  He runs Heatran and Raichu, which slows him down.  He also runs the Level X and does not run the Prime, which I think hurts the deck.                                                                  

He starts with a Spirtomb and a Magnemite.  I start Crobat G and Dialga G.  I again have troubles getting a Gyarados, it takes me like 8 turns because I prized both of my Bebes.   It was weird, I ended up belting a Sableye and getting a couple prizes with “Over Confident.”   But I eventually do get one and a Dialga G X, which makes Spiritomb useless.  Unfortunately, he is able to setup 3 Magnezones and is ready to go crazy on me.  Thankfully, he does not run Lucario Gl and after the loss of 1 Gyarados I am able to “Flash Bite” the field, and OHKO everything with Gyarados after I Super Scoop him up each turn.

3-3.  Just like Jerry Seinfeld, I am an Even Steven.  I think I played well today, even though the record is only mediocre.  Especially with the fact that I always started first, even though I only started Sableye twice.  I didn’t make any misplays my only losses were because of: 5 tails on Super Scoop Up, a bad “Fainting Spell” roll and Lookers Investigation, and playing one of the best players around.  So thats nothing terrible.  I went home pretty happy.

As for comments on the entire field, there was a lot of SPs.  The best players in Michigan play SP’s and a couple play Gyarados and Trainerlock, thats about it.  The Top 4 at this tournament according to Pokegym.net’s City Championship forum was:

1. Marvin A. (LuxChomp)
2. Evan B. (LuxChomp) TEAM WARP POINT
3. Kyle L. (LuxChomp/Mewtwo)
4. Mike M. (Gyarados)

Big Ups to Austino for sharing his list, thanks man!

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