One Hit KO

Pokemon TCG Decklists and Articles

League

Principles for a Healthy League

Alan 2 Comments

Hello OneHitKO readers! My name is Alan Traxler, and I’m a casual player who has been invited by Pikkdogs to write an article about my experience as a league leader in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I’ve decided to write about some basic principles I used when running the league; I hope you can apply them to your own league, as a leader or member.

Note: This article is not intended to be a guide for starting a league. For that specific information, here’s a great resource for getting your league off to an excellent start.

Here’s a little background: the Ann Arbor league was started in 2008 by a UM college student named Levester. He chose to meet on Sunday afternoons at a local game shop, Get Your Game On. When the league first started, I would occasionally fill-in as league leader when Levester needed to devote the Sunday afternoon to his studies. Later on in his academic career, Levester decided to study abroad for a semester. I agreed to take over as league leader during this time and took charge for several months. While I was the leader, the league experienced some growth and I attribute it to these ideas:
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Tourney Report

2011 World Championships – A Groundbreaking Weekend

Pooka 4 Comments

Well folks, we’re just a couple days away from the 2011 World Championships, taking place in beautiful San Diego, CA. Players from all over the world are coming together to compete and share their passion for the game they love – the Pokémon TCG. At the end of the weekend, a new champion will be crowned in each division as usual. However, this year things are going to be much different with the Last Chance Qualifier, Worlds, and more. Are you excited? If you’re not, here’s why you should be!

            To kick things off, we have the LCQ, more commonly referred to as the Grinder. Of course the big change this year is that the tournament format will be single elimination best 2/3 matches, instead of Swiss rounds. Plain and simple, if you lose one match you are eliminated, and you keep playing until there are about eight players remaining. Although there have been some complaints about the change, the best 2/3 format should favor skilled players and reduce the luck factor, so it seems to be a positive change. Most importantly, if you lose a game on the first turn, you still have a chance to win the match; this certainly is welcomed in a format where first turn wins are not uncommon. In addition, the Grinder should be less stressful on the judging staff this year, which is something that most people overlook. When it comes down to it, we’ll have to wait and see how the changes affect things. While the new tournament format is huge news, it’s only the first of many groundbreaking announcements for this year’s World Championship weekend.

            For the first time in the Nintendo era, the format changed completely in the middle of the season. Even though most of the season was played using the MD-On format, Worlds will be played with the HS-On format. While some countries had their Nationals use this format, many countries have not had a tournament using HS-On yet; so it will be interesting to see how everyone adapts. Will players from the US, Canada, and Mexico have an advantage by experiencing the format at Nationals? Or have players from the other countries adapted already? With the amount of coin flips present in HS-On, will we see an established player win? Or will a new face rise to the top? Has someone figured out a rogue deck that can take everyone by surprise? Well, all of those questions will be answered this weekend! Just like at US Nationals, The Top Cut will be providing coverage of the event, so pay attention to Twitter (@topcutpokemon) and the website, http://thetopcut.net/, for updates.

            Speaking of The Top Cut, a truly unique event will take place this weekend – the Top Cut Invitational. What is the Top Cut Invitational? Basically eight National and World Champions have been invited to play in a special tournament with one purpose in mind – showing people what the Pokémon TCG is all about. Unlike a normal tournament where the focus is on the players, this event will cater to the spectators. Throughout the tournament, every game will be recorded with commentary, so you won’t miss anything that happens. Here is your chance to see some of the best players in the world duke it out! For a list of the competitors and for information concerning the tournament, visit http://thetopcut.net/tcinvitational/. If possible, the event also will be streamed live, so you can watch even if you aren’t in San Diego. For those attending Worlds, the event will take place in the Open Gaming Area (Sapphire Ballroom) around 6 PM PST, and all spectators are welcome! Without a doubt, this is the first time an event like this has taken place for the Pokémon TCG, and we are very thrilled to be hosting it.

            Between the LCQ, Worlds, and the Top Cut Invitational, the 2011 World Championship weekend is sure to deliver lots of fun and excitement for the whole community. For updates on the event, be sure to stay posted by checking out The Top Cut’s coverage throughout the weekend. In addition, there is an official site for Worlds updates, http://pokemon.com/worlds/. If you can’t make it to Worlds this year, rest assured there will be information on it one way or another. Now the only question I have left is this: are you excited yet?

-Kyle “Pooka” Sucevich

This article is part of OneHitKO’s Guest Writer Week for August 2011. Please check out all the articles in the series, and please give the authors your feedback in the comment section below.

  1. Michael’s article about upcoming Japanese cards.
  2. Radu’s article about his Mew/Muk/Jumpluff/Vileplume deck and how it can be made better.
  3. Pooka introduces Worlds 2011.
  4. Alan’s article about how to run a Pokemon league.
  5. Jay. H takes a look at past formats of the game.
  6. Jordan’s article about running rogue decks and his worlds decklist.

Be sure to check back throughout the week for more great articles from our friends!

Deck Discussion

Mew/Muk/Jumpluff/Vileplume: The Mistakes I Made With My Nationals List

TheRadu 17 Comments

At this year’s nationals, I had my best nationals finish.  I made Top 64, but it was bittersweet.  While I had done fairly well, I still made the same mistakes in deck building and deck choice which had led to my poor results in previous years. I played a build of a deck which was largely untested and that I was fairly unfamiliar with. While the list I played was by no means bad, it did suffer from being teched improperly.  In addition, there were logical flaws with the trainer engine and how it synched with the rest of the deck.

This article has two main points.  First, it will provide some insight into the Mew/Muk Jumpluff/Vileplume archetype.  Second, it will showcase some of my thoughts about the deckbuiling process highlighting what I did wrong with this deck.  Right now. I’m going to share the list I played and explain my reasoning behind my choices. Also, let me state that this list is not just my own. Emmanuel Divens is also a co-creator of this build and a lot of the ideas behind this list can be attributed to him.

25 Pokemon 23 Trainers/Supporters 12 Energy
4 Mew
3-3 Yanmega
3-1-2 Vileplume
2 Bouffalant
2 Muk
2 Jumpluff
1 Spinarak
1 Tyrouge
1 Cleffa		 4 Judge
4 Collector
4 Copyct
3 Twins
1 PETM
4 Communication
3 Rare Candy		 4 PSY
2 Grass
4 Rainbow
2 DCE


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Card Discussion

Peering Into the Future

Michael 3 Comments

Ed asked me to write something, so I did. Apparently, I’m part of this guest writer week thing. I hear guys like Jay and Pooka are also doing it! That makes me feel super duper special :P. It would be even cooler if I won a sweet T-shirt like this awesome guy I know did. Eh, you can’t win ’em all. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

I think I might start doing something like this where I write about upcoming cards currently receiving hype. For each card, I’ll analyze it and then give my opinion on whether or not I think the hype is worth it. You might think this article seems really premature. You might be right, and if this information turns out to be wrong, it’s whatevs. Everything is subject to change. PONT was “bad”, and then it was in an odd LuxChomp list that happened to win Worlds. You never know what the future holds.

You know, with Red Collection, we get a lot of, hmm, unique cards. We get some tools, some abilities, and then like 90 other filler cards. There is one Pokemon with an ability that definitely stands out among the others. That Pokemon is Victini, playfully dubbed FlipTini or reFlipTini. Let’s look at the stats. Read More

Card Discussion

The Post Pokemon Catcher Pokemon Stock Market

Pikkdogs No Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a card discussion article.

It is no secret that Pokemon cards change value very easily.  Pokemon is one of the cheapest TCG’s out there, but cards that are really useful could command a fairly large price.  This means that cards that are cheap one day can be very expensive the next.  The most popular example is Yanmega Prime.  In the winter and spring Yanmega Prime was about a 5-7 dollar card.  It was used in a couple rogue decks, but for the most part people only wanted the card for fun decks.  Then in July the format changes and Yanmega is a lot easier to play.  All of a sudden that 5 dollar card is up to 14 times more expensive then it once was, commanding a 70 dollar price tag at U.S. Nationals.

Even though Yanmega is an extreme example, it is not unlike the value of other Pokemon cards.  Most cards value in price over their life time.  Some cards like Crobat Prime are hyped and command a high dollar amount early, but then crash and burn a couple months later.  While other cards like Sage’s Training are not talked about at all, and then all of a sudden jump up in price thanks to a higher demand.

The rotation was the biggest variable that has shaken up card prices in the recent months, but one card has the power to shake up the value of cards again, that card is Pokemon Catcher.  This article is all about how the release of Pokemon Catcher effects the playability of certain cards.  So we will go through several cards, some that have increased in play ability thanks to catcher, and others that have fell.  Keep your eyes out for these cards, it could save you from being stuck with a lot of cards like “usta” be good.

Buy!!!!-Cards on the Rise

1. Vileplume

Why?: We currently have a very trainer heavy format, and there are about to be even more important cards that are trainers (items).  So having an itemlock has never been more important.  The ability to lock items will shut down the search ability and disruption of most decks out there.  This makes it very hard for your opponent to setup and recover.  A lot of people will run decks that rely on easy knock outs with Yanmega Prime, Vileplume takes care of these decks too.  These facts make Vileplume very important next season.  Don’t be surprised if about half of the decks at your Battle Roads have Vileplume in them somewhere.

2.  Mew Prime

Why?:  Pokemon Catcher makes it pretty easy to get knock outs, so having Mew Prime in your active spot will not make it that much different than a deck that has Manaphy on their bench.  Pokemon Catcher also helps Mew Prime because his decks usually have trouble doing a lot of damage, so Mew can choose which Pokemon to attack, and what Pokemon in the Lost Zone to attack with.  It gives Mew’s deck a lot more choices, and for this deck, choices are very dangerous.  I can see Mew Prime being a great card next season.

3.  Anything with Free Retreat.

Why?: It might be better to use inferior cards that have free retreat to avoid having your deck stall out against Pokemon Catcher.  An example of this is Floatzel, he is not as good as Emboar in attaching energies, but some people are pairing him with Magnezone instead of Emboar, because of the free retreat. Free retreat has always been great, but it will never be better than it will be in the upcoming season.

4. Mismagius CL

Why?: I think Mismagius was an under-rated card during Nationals, now with Pokemon Catcher out the card will be even more powerful.  Vileplume will be very popular in the next format, and I think these decks should at least try out Mismagius.  It is not hard to add Rainbow energies and a 2-2 line of Mismagius.  Itemlock will be very important next season, so Mismagius will be in a pretty good position to prosper.

Sell!!! Cards on the decline

1. Emboar

Why?: Emboar is a card that started off hot, but lately it just can’t seem to get a break.  First it was Typhlosion edging him out as the most popular combo to Reshiram, then Magneboar was broken apart at Nationals, and now the release of Pokemon Catcher might put that final nail in the coffin.  With a high retreat cost and a 4 energy attack that only does 80 damage, it is not fun to have Emboar active.  And that is just where Emboar will be once Catcher comes out.  I think you will see Emboar not being very popular until it gets another attack to pair up with.  It may be more of a rogue choice until then.

2.  Tyranitar Prime

Why?: I have never been a big fan of Tyranitar Prime.  Yes it has a big HP, but Donphan takes care of that.  Yes it can spread for 20 but that’s only 20 damage, it will take 5 turns before it starts piling up. The only real attack it has costs 4 energy and forces you to mill your own deck.  But, the card has had its share of supporters in the past.  It even had a couple good showings at this years nationals.  But, these showings each had bench sitters. The deck that used Reuniclus is gone because that deck just does not work now.  The deck with Serperior might still work because of the fact that Serperior can attack for 60 for GC.  But the fact is, these decks will be weakned by catcher more than they will be helped.  It looks like we may be seeing the end of Tyranitar, for now anyway.

3.  Boufallant

Why?:   The 2 retreat cost does hurt Boufallant, and does let him be brought up to be sniped around.  The unreliable attack also hurts his chances.  The good thing about Boufallant is that you don’t need to put it on your bench the turn before you attack.  You can play him down, attach a DCE, and retreat for him.  The problem is that once he is played, he can then be used to stall and snipe around.   Another problem is that if your opponent plays a Judge before he/she plays RDL, Cincinno, or whatever Pokemon you are using it against, it makes setting up Boufallant very hard.  Catcher will not kill Boufallant, but it is a little harder to play him. Machamp Prime

4.  Machamp Prime

Why?:   Machamp is usually played with Donphan as a heavy hitter.  It is usually played by having a Donphan active and building Machamps on the bench.  When the time is right you can evolve and do a “Fighting Tag”  for Machamp and then do a lot of damage.  But, in a format with Pokemon Catcher people can knock out Machokes and Machops before they can evolve.  Donphan Prime will still be a great card with Pokmeon Catcher, and Pokemon Catcher will not completely kill Machamp Prime, but for right now I think the Donchamp deck will not be as great with catcher.

Well that’s all for this article.  If ya know of any other cards that you think will be effected by Pokemon Catcher, please leave your thoughts in the comment box.  Remember Guest Writer week starts this Monday with Kyle “Pooka” Sucevich and continues Tuesday with Michael Slutsky.  Next week will be very exciting, so make sure you keep tuned to the website all week.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Pikks Three

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: What Would Happen? Lass, Pidgeot FRLG, and Broken Ground Stadium

Pikkdogs No Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a special edition of Pikk Three.  This round of card reviews will be different, and frankly a little weird.  All three of the cards I am reviewing are cards that are not in the format, but I will review them as if they were.

I decided to do this because for the last couple sets, TPCI have been giving us a lot of re-prints of older cards.  Now in the format we have cards like Bill, Double Colorless Energy, and Pokemon Reversal.  We also have Pokemon cards that have qualities that are similar to earlier cards like Feraligatr Prime, Reuniclus, and the upcoming Archeops card.  TPCI has been giving us a lot of cards that we have seen before, so I thought what would happen if we get some of the more interesting cards from the past.

Before we get into the card reviews I have a reminder for you.  This coming Monday, Kyle “Pooka” Sucevich starts off Guest Writer Week at www.onehitko.com.  That means that for the next week we will have new authors writing articles for the site.  It will be a great week of great writers giving us a lot of different ideas.  Guest Writer week will lead us into our Worlds Reactions, which will lead us into our Emerging Powers coverage.  So the dog days of summer are over, and the www.onehitko.com coverage is just heating up.

Remember for these reviews I will assume that these cards will be entering the format, however THESE CARDS ARE NOT LEGAL.  I’m just reviewing them for fun.

Card #1 Lass from Base Set

Description– Lass was a trainer from the base set that let each player reveal their hand, and force each player to shuffle their trainers back in to their hand.  The challenge with this card coming in to the current format, if it ever does, would be the difference between items and supporters.  Back in the base set days there was no such thing as supporters, items were just a little stronger.  If this card did come to the format, there would have to be errata or a compendium update to rule whether Lass would require you to shuffle just item cards in your deck, or if it would also take away supporters.

Review– Of course the playability of this card depends on if it takes away supporters our not.  If it does, it would be an awesome card.  The perfect pair for Lass would be Slowking Cl.  You could make sure that your opponent had no supporters or items in his/her hand, and then make sure they don’t draw any with Slowking’s “Second Sight” Poke-Power.  It would be a great disruption card, as good or better than Judge. 

The card would be incredibly disruptive since nearly all decks rely on supporters for draw.  The best card in the game today is perhaps Professor Juniper, while PONT and Judge are widely played.  Without these cards, only decks with Ninetales would be able to draw.  Yanmega Prime decks would also be out of luck because it will be very hard to equal your hand size without Junk Arm, Judge, and Copycat.

If this card would not shuffle in Supporters, the card would still be semi-playable, but not nearly as good.  It would still be very disruptive, taking away cards like Junk Arm, Pokemon Catcher, and Switch; but not as great as it would be if it would take away supporters.

Rating–9/10 if it would take away Supporters, 7/10 if it only took away Items.  This card has the potential to be a staple in the format if it did come out.  It is so disruptive that this card would help usher in some of the best disruption decks we have seen in a while.

Card #2 Pidgeot from Fire Red and Leaf Green

Description– Pidgeot was a 100 HP stage 2 Pokemon.  It had free retreat and a weakness to lightning.  It’s attack, “Clutch” did 40 damage for CC and prevented retreat on the following turn.  It’s Poke-Power, “Quick Search” let you search your deck for 1 card and then shuffle your deck after.  You could only use one “Quick Search” Power each turn.

Review– There is no need to say that Pidgeot was a great card back in the day, and was used in a lot of the best decks.  The ability to get any card from your deck is amazing in any  format.  It would probably be a staple in any format it was stuck in to.

The current format does not have Broken Time Space or a favorable Rare Candy rule, but this card would still be awesome.  It is well worth a 2-1-2 line in every deck with 2 rare candies. The ability to get any card you need would give you an awesome edge over a deck that did not have Pidgeot.  Plus, Pidgeot has free retreat, which is great in a format with Pokemon Catcher.

The free retreat means that your opponent cannot bring up Pidgeot and stall.  They could still pull it up and knock it out, 100 HP is not a lot.  If this card was not a straight re-print, and instead had the “Quick Search” power on a different card, the HP would probably be around 120, which isn’t terrible but still OHKO able by Reshiram and Zekrom.  So there are drawbacks to this card, but the Poke-Power is so good that you can live with them.

Rating–9.5/10- It is tough to get a stage 2 out, but this card is worth it.  If it did ever get re-printed, I would be all for it.

Card #3-Broken Ground Gym from Neo Destiny 

Description– This was a stadium card.  Remember kids back in the day when we had stadium cards, you know those trainer type things that always stayed in play? I jest, but stadium cards today stink compared to what they were previously.  This specific card added one to the retreat cost of each basic and baby Pokemon.

Review– This card doesn’t seem that great, but it would be a good counter to the current format.  Starters like Cleffa, Manaphy, and Stantler will be much worse with this card in play.  This card would hurt the consistency of a lot of decks if it could eliminate starters.  It could also hurt decks like Zekrom, Reshiram, and any more basic Pokemon that are used as main attackers.  It would not kill these decks, but it sure would not help them.

Rating–7.5/10–  It would be hard to get this card early in the game when you need it, but if you can lock your opponent’s starter in place it would be worth a couple slots in most decks.

So what do you guys think of this type of article?  I don’t want to make this article a regular occurrence cause it could be confusing, but I think it could be fun looking at some older cards.  Please leave your thoughts about these cards and this type of article in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Website

Big Announcement – Introducing…

Pikkdogs 25 Comments

Hey Everybody.

This is just Pikkdogs here to make a special announcement.

Don’t  get your hopes up, I’m not retiring.

But, I guess you could say I’m retiring for one week.

Ed and I are proud to announce that during the week of August 8th-14th, www.onehitko.com will be introducing its first “Guest Writer Week.”  During this week you will read articles from people who have never written on this site before.  The writers will be from all different areas of expertise.  From Nationals winners to league leaders, Guest Writer Week will have it all.

Ed and I have been working really hard on this week to try to get the best writers, and I think I can say that we got one of the best and most diverse groups of writers ever assembled for one week of articles.  The authors who have currently signed on for Guest Writer Week are, in no practicular order:

  1. Alan Traxler – Ann Arbor’s League Leader and player in Michigan.
  2. Jay Hornung – the 3rd place finisher of Worlds in 2009 and winner of too many other tournaments to mention.  He writes the “Jay’s Gym” article on sixprizes.com.
  3. Kyle Sucevich – also known as “Pooka,” he is the 2009 U.S. Nationals 1st place winner, finished in the top 4 in 2010, and got second place in 2011.  He currently is one of the masterminds of the show “The Top Cut.”  It can be found on www.thetopcut.net.
  4. Michael Slutsky – Competitive player in the Minneapolis area.
  5. Jordan Baker – Member of Team Warp Point and competitive player in the Detroit Area.
  6. Adam Capriola – Adam has many accomplishments including multiple Nationals top cuts (most recently this year) and multiple Worlds invites. Oh, and he has a little website you may have heard of called www.sixprizes.com.
  7. Radu C. – Competitive player in the Minneapolis area.  He top cut in this year’s U.S. Nationals and has won many other tournaments. He also has competed in Worlds.  He has the distinction of being the first player I have ever lost to, which doesn’t really matter that much to anyone but me.

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Card Discussion

Starters, Where Are We Now???

Pikkdogs 1 Comment

Hey all you OHKOers, this is Pikkdogs here with a strategy article. Starting Pokemon have been important since the rotation.  But, the way they are used have changed a lot over the summer.  To find out what will happen with them from now on, lets look back at what happened with Starters.

Before the Rotation

Before the rotation, most decks did not have a starter, decks were fast enough where you could probably do a decent attack on turn 1.  The decks that had a starter were Gyarados and Sabledonk, both of these decks ran Sableye.  Gyarados used it because that made it easier to put Magikarps in the discard pile, Sabledonk used it because it relied on two supporters working together in one turn.  Besides those exceptions, starting Pokemon were laughed at.

Leading up to Nationals

With the rotation Pokemon decks have lost a lot of draw power because of the loss of Uxie.  To respond to the HGSS on format, people have been using starting Pokemon in there deck.  These starting Pokemon have allowed decks to setup quickly without the need for draw power from Pokemon like Claydol or Uxie.

The most used starter at first was Cleffa.  It’s “Eeeeeek” attack lets you shuffle your hand in your deck and draw 6. It also puts itself to sleep, and thanks to his Poke-Body, he cannot receive damage from an attack while asleep.  The ability to hand refresh was really good, so most people put a lot of Cleffa’s in their Nationals deck.

Other starters that people were talking about were Manaphy, Tyrogue, and Stantler.  Manaphy has 60 HP, free retreat, and an attack that costs 1 energy and lets you shuffle your hand into your deck and draw 5.  Manaphy isn’t as good as Cleffa, but it has 30 more HP.  Tyrogue is a direct counter to Cleffa. I’m not sure if Tyrogue is an actual starter, but it is used early in the game.  It’s “Mischievous Punch” attack does the 30 damage neccessary to knock out Cleffa.  Stantler also was talked about, but not used as much. For one energy, Stantler let you search two basics from your deck and put them on your bench.

Nationals 

At nationals, most people decided to play a 3/1 mix of Cleffa and Tyrogue.  This gave them a good chance of getting a refreshed hand early, which means a great start, which means a better late game.  But, 4 baby Pokemon also meant that there was a good chance that you would start with a lone Baby.  This lead to a lot of games ending on the donk.  One player would start with a lone baby, the other would just Pokemon Collector for a Tyrogue, retreat, and end the game.  These donks happened a lot, and a lot of people got mad.  2nd place finisher Kyle. S used Manaphy as a starter instead, and just ran Tyrogue as a counter to Cleffa.  This helped him avoid being donked as much.  I also ran Manaphy instead of Cleffa, but I did not run Tyrgoue because my Pokemon had higher retreat cost, the inclusion of Manaphy instead of Cleffa was great because I did not suffer one donk the whole tournament.

Worlds

While, I’m not sure what the best decks at Worlds will contain, I do know what a lot of people are talking about now.  The talk now seems to be a 1/1/1 line of Cleffa/Tyrogue/and Manaphy.  As mentioned, Manaphy is good but not as good as Cleffa.  The 1/1/1/ line could change to a just 2 Manaphys if the player expects a lot of Tyrogue.  If the player does not expect a lot of Tyrogue, expect a Nationals like starter line of a lot of Cleffas.

It can be  expected that Manaphy will be the most popular starter for worlds.  Stakes are too high at worlds to run a deck that has a high shot at being donked, especially in the Grinders.  But, we must remember that although Worlds is a very important tournament, it is not a huge tournament.  In a 9 round Swiss tournament it is easy to get donked a couple times, it is a little harder to get donked in a smaller tournament like Worlds.  I think we could see Cleffa come back at Worlds.  We may not see as many Cleffas in one deck as we did at Nats, but I could see the average play being 2/1 with Cleffa and Tyrogue, but I know Manaphy will be very popular.  For testing purposes the 1/1/1 line is a good start.

I could also see a deck only running 1 Manaphy just in-case they need it, and not rely on starters as much.  As we saw at Nats, Starters can be a liability as well as an asset.

Pokemon Catcher and the Future 

Pokemon Catcher will definitely change the role of starting Pokemon.  Baby Pokemon will not be as effective as walls with their “Sweet Sleeping Face” Poke-Body.  If you encounter a sleeping Baby you can just use Pokemon Catcher to bring up something else and attack that Pokemon.  It will still force the opponent to waste 1 Pokemon Catcher, and your opponent won’t always have a Catcher early in the game, but it still is a bad thing for  Baby Pokemon.  Catcher will also effect the non-Baby starters.  Opponents can now bring up Pokemon like Stantler to force you to waste your energy drop on a retreat. And if you try to Sacrifice Manaphy, your opponent can bring up your main attacker instead.

But Pokemon Catcher is not all bad for starters.  Stantler may see more play since it makes evolving a lot easier.  If you “Call for Family” for two of the same basic Pokemon, your opponent will only be able to knock out one of those basics. You are then free to evolve the other basic normally.  Stantler is really good in a Catcher heavy format for a deck that relies on evolutions.

Future sets will probably also change the role of starters.  We are not sure of what decks will be great in BR’s, Cities, and States; but we can be sure that the new decks will probably change the roles of starters somewhat.  However, there doesn’t seem to be any great draw cards coming out, or any starters that are better than Cleffa.  We can assume that the starters that are used immediately after Pokemon catcher, will also be used in the coming months.

So that’s all for now.  I hope you enjoyed this look back at starting Pokemon and can use it when you are making your Post Catcher decks.  Please tell us what you think about the upcoming role of starters in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Uncategorized

Consistency: The Key to Success at Worlds

Misnos 5 Comments

[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. Read More

Deck Discussion

Deck Analysis: SAW (Slowking, Ambipom, and Weavile)

Pikkdogs 8 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKoers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a deck analysis.  This deck is a disruption deck that became popular after its great showing at Canadian Nationals. Like all of my lists from the last week or so on, this deck will be in the post Pokemon Catcher format.  Even though the card is not out right now, it is very important to start testing Pokemon Catcher right now so you will be ready for it in the fall.

This deck is all about hand disruption.  The goal is to have Ambipom attacking and disrupting, while Weavile is on the bench knocking out helpful cards from your opponent’s hand, and Slowking is on the bench making sure your opponent does not draw anything good.

Ambipom is a stage 1 that has two attacks.  His first attack, “Astonish” lets you do 20 damage and then choose 2 random cards from your opponent’s hand and have them shuffled back in the deck.  The second attack, Tail Spank (is that code?) does 60 damage and you must discard 2 cards.  60 might not sound like a not of damage, but it can be enough if you are able to attack weaker Pokemon with Pokemon Catcher, or if you attack a basic or stage 1 before it can fully evolve.  Weavile is used because of his “Claw Snag” Poke-Power.  Whenever you evolve a Weavile you can look at your opponent’s hand and discard 1 card from that hand.  Weavile can snipe for 30 damage, but this attack is not used that much.  Slowking is used for his “Second Sight” Poke-Power.  This power lets you look at the top of either decks and re-arrange the top 3 cards.

The goal of this deck is to make sure your opponent cannot draw anything useful.  The first thing you should do is get a Pokemon Collector and get 1 of each basic Pokemon, that means a Slowpoke, an Aipom, and a Sneasel.  I would first try to get an Ambipom active with a DCE.  Then I would use Judge to cut your opponent’s hand to 4.  Then I would hopefully be able to use “Claw Snag” to get rid of any supporter or other helpful card.  After that, I would use “Astonish” to shuffle in two cards of your opponent’s back to their deck.  At this point your opponent will draw a card and have 2-3 cards in his/her hand.  Usually your opponent will not be able to do too much.  Next turn you should be setting yourself up for another “Claw Snag” soon, and should be setting up another Ambipom. Now, the most important thing would be to do a “Second Sight” so that your opponent’s hand will not improve.  Then, hopefully you should be able to use “Tail Spank” for a knockout.  Then you should be able to take it from there.

Matchups

Right now SAW does not have the best match-ups, so I won’t list all the matchups up like I normally do.  This time I will list what this deck is good against, and what this deck has problems with.

What the Deck is good against

This deck is really good against decks that take a little while to get going.  This is where decks like Magneboar come in.  Decks that rely on 2 Stage 2 Pokemon are really easy for this deck to play against.  The disruption that this deck has makes it very tough to get more than 1 Stage 2, and Ambipom should be able to easily knock out important basics and stage 1’s with Pokemon Catcher.  It should only take you about 3 turns to get a hand lock going on them with Slowking Prime, it should just be a matter of time before you knock out 6 Pokemon.  This deck is also good against deck that need high energy like Blastoise.  You should be able to keep energy and other important cards away from the Blastoise player.

What the deck struggles against.

The deck struggles against decks that can attack early.  Donphan is a really tough matchup for this deck.  If the Donphan player gets a T2 Donphan with a fighting energy, the game is about over.  The fast attacking Donphan is really hard to play against because he doesn’t need a lot of maintenance once he is setup.   The other thing this deck struggles against is Zekrom and Reshiram, with the latter being the bigger problem.  Ambipom can only do 60 damage at a time, and these Pokemon require 130 damage for an OHKO.  If you do not OHKO these Pokemon, they can use the “Out Rage” attack to OHKO Ambipom.  Zekrom is not as much of a threat as Reshiram, since it is a little easier to keep energy away from Zekrom.

The List.

I built a SAW deck when I was first testing Post Catcher decks.  I ended up modifying it to a different deck with Sharpedo, so I do not have my original list.  The list was nothing special anyway, so I do not have a problem trying to guess at  my original list.  The deck does work with this list, but of course the list is not perfect.  I only post lists on decks like this so you can start testing with it and try to make it better and bend it to your play style.  This deck needs some work, but it is a good list to start with.   SAW is a decent deck that can be good in the Post Catcher Format.  So if disruption is your thing you should copy this list and then change it to make it your own.

Pokemon-18

  • 4-4 Ambipom
  • 1-1 Slowking Cl- I would like to run a 2-2 line, but Slowpoke is such a horrific starter that I don’t want to.
  • 3-3 Weavile-Important to have a bunch of these since you can evolve to Weavile, Seeker, and evolve again.
  • 1-Boufallant-Can be dropped if you don’t have lots of RDL in your area.
  • 1-Manphy

Trainers: 30

  • 4-Pokemon Collector
  • 3-Professor Elms
  • 4-Judge
  • 3-Professor Juniper
  • 4-Pokemon Communication
  • 4-Pokemon Catcher
  • 3-Junk Arm
  • 1-Flower Shop Girl
  • 1-Switch
  • 1-Dual Ball
  • 2-Seeker

Energy-12

  • Double Colorless Energy-4
  • Special Darkness Energy-4
  • Darkness Energy-4

As you can see, the deck is not polished.  It is just a place to start for your testing.  Since I no longer have my list I did estimate some things, but this should get you going on your testing just fine.  I think because of this decks bad matchups this deck may be just for fun.  But, it is a really good deck that can surprise a lot of people.  The only reason this isn’t tier 1 is because of the bad matchups that it is.  Once the format changes a little, this deck could be really good.  Regardless, it is a really cool fun deck that you should try if you haven’t already. What do you think of the deck?  Please leave you thoughts in the comment box.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

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