One Hit KO

Outpost 2000’s New Play Space

Usually I’m pretty pleased with doing well at a tournament and leaving feeling proud even when I haven’t won anything. In the past, I’ve seen the good in times like when I got 17th at Regionals and was able to drive home at a reasonable hour instead of playing top-16. When I dropped my first States, I still felt good about my performance even though I could have played in the top-8 (though I look back on it and think I probably wouldn’t make the same choice if it happened again, but it’s not a regret). I’m not the type of guy that gets pissed when I lose, but I’m also not the type of guy that jumps up and down when I win. However, I don’t think I’ve ever felt like I’ve done so well in a tournament and then walked away feeling so empty handed as I did this past weekend at Battle Roads. We’ll get to that a bit later.

First, I’ll give you a bit of backstory. When BW-on was announced, I wasn’t sure what I would do. I am now building decks for 3 people from my collection, because my second daughter, Petra, has started playing. When I played in Nationals 2011, I used Emboar. I had played and liked it (kinda), so it was easy for me to build. I also had a Zoroark deck from last format, and it was something that could be easily rebuilt for BW-on. That was 2 decks, so I needed something for another junior. I decided to throw together an autopilot style all EX deck. The idea was to just set stuff up without having to evolve, keep damage off, and keep the opponent down (with energy removal thanks to Kyurem EX and hammers). Part of my choice here was that I didn’t care a ton about my BR results, so I refused to buy any Darkrai EX or Mewtwo EX knowing that they’d come out in tins soon.

Continue reading "Hammertime Darkrai BW-on : Battle Roads Report with Darkrai EX, Sableye, Dark Patch, Energy Switch, Crushing Hammer, etc."

[youtube width=”640″ height=”390″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeSicm8wmo4[/youtube]

Sableye SF has been a very popular topic this week so I’ve decided to make an episode analysing the card pre and post-rule change along with what we can do about stopping this potentially hard to beat card. Watch for analysis, strategy and ways to counter this possibly over-hyped deck.

Thanks for watching and make sure you subscribe!

Dan
Continue reading "PokemanDan’s PokeClass Episode 25 – Saving Us From Sableye!"

I’ve been meaning to post about this for a while now. The Sablock (aka Sablelock, Sableye Lock, SPionage, Sabledonk, etc.) deck was gaining in popularity, and now that it won US Nationals, it’s becoming the deck to play (or at least know how to play against). Lots of people want a good list for this deck, and rightfully so.

Way back when the deck was first starting to come to the forefront (right after it made some impressive showings in certain State Championships), we covered it. At that time, TeamOmar.com ran a Sablelock Deck Workshop in which we discussed how the deck worked and, with reader help, built a workable list for it.

At the time, some considered it a secret deck, but now it’s a known top-tier headache (for its opponents, of course). It is so well known now that even POP (aka PP) has even posted a decklist for it. So, let’s take a look at it.

Sablelock Deck List courtesy of http://www.pokemon.com/us/news/op_nationals10_analysis-2010-07-28/:

Pokemon: 19
4 Sableye (Diamond & Pearl—Stormfront, 48/100)
2 Uxie (Diamond & Pearl—Legends Awakened, 43/146)
1 Uxie LV.X (Legends Awakened, 146/146)
2 Garchomp Champion (Platinum—Supreme Victors, 60/147)
2 Garchomp Champion LV.X (Supreme Victors, 145/147)
1 Unown Q (Diamond & Pearl—Majestic Dawn, 49/100)
1 Azelf (Legends Awakened, 19/146)
1 Murkrow (Diamond & Pearl—Secret Wonders, 95/132)
1 Honchkrow (Supreme Victors, 29/147)
1 Honchkrow [G] (Platinum, 77/127)
1 Toxicroak [G] (Platinum, 40/127)
2 Crobat [G] (Platinum, 47/127)

Continue reading "Sablock Deck List (aka Sablelock Decklist)"

“Austino’s Gyarados” No, it’s not a new gym leader’s Pokemon, but maybe it should be. After all, Austino rode Gyarados to 3 top cuts in States/Regionals ultimately grabbing second place in the CO regionals earning him a 2 round bye at nationals and a $1000 scholarship. All it got me was 5th (after Swiss) in MN states and 17th in the WI regionals.

Let’s take a look at the deck that helped Austino and I get all those match wins, but first I should provide a little background on why I am posting about Austino’s deck in the first place. Leading up to states, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to play. For a while, I had been thinking SP, but whenever I played it, it just didn’t feel right to me. I’m not saying that I didn’t have fun playing it or that I couldn’t play it well. It’s just not my style, I think. I could have worked it out, but I wanted something that felt more natural to me. I researched a lot, and I came to the conclusion that Gyarados would be a good fit for me. I started building the deck, but I got stuck on what techs to run in it. Lots of people were running Luxray. I tried that. Omar built a version with Blissey, but I wasn’t sold on it. I was really worried about the SP matchup and a bit worried about things like Mime and Spiritomb. I tried tossing in things like Combee, Promocroak, Relicanth, etc. I still wasn’t getting the feel that I was searching for.

Continue reading "Austino’s Gyarados Decklist"

Some call it the Secret Florida Deck. Others call it Sablelock (Sablock), Sabledonk, Sableye Honchkrow, or Sableye Garchomp. Does it win by donking? Does it win by locking your opponent? Does it win by starving them of resources? Does it win by controlling their hand? Let’s just say that it wins by making the opponent lose!

I’ve not seen the deck around here, but I can say that it is causing a bit of a stir on the interwebs. There are a bunch of people discussing this deck in various places. Let’s go through the list. No, not the decklist, yet. Here’s the list of who’s talking about the deck:

1) People begging for info about the deck that took 2 of the top 4 spots in Florida and was seen topping at other states.
2) People like Curry/Silvestro that obviously played the deck, but don’t want its secrets made public.
3) People that have played against the deck and either got donked or annoyed to death.
4) Trolls

Now we can add “5) Team Omar” to that list.  I’m not going to pretend that I know the deck.  I just want to fan …

I don’t even know how to properly set this article up. You see, it’s not my deck, and I’m not the one that wants help with it. The problem is that I can’t seem to teach Abdi how to log into these internets. I’ve been waiting for almost a week for him to post this article asking for help with his Tyranitar deck. Last time I saw him play it, he was whining about how it wasn’t working well enough and fast enough, and he wanted suggestions. I figured “Who would be better to help him than you guys?,” so I told him to post his plea for help here. Well, since then, that Noctowl article has sat there waiting to be bumped from top spot, and I feel like we need something new for people to read. I guess that means that I have to post Abdi’s help request for him, and maybe if I disparage him enough in the process, he’ll finally log in to defend himself. It seems like a long-shot.

The problem, though, is that I don’t know Abdi’s current decklist. Omar might, though, so hopefully we’ll get a reply from him. For now, I’m going …