Tomorrow I'll be posting a full-fledged tournament report for the deck I used to get Top 16 at Anaheim Regionals. However, I understand a lot of people were wanting to know more about my Decidueye/Vileplume deck. So here it is in all its crazy glory!
Does this look familiar? It should, because I spent a whole fourth of my last blog entry talking about Decidueye! As I mention in that article and in my Quick Search entry, my preferred way to run the list was Vileplume, and the changes to make the list I posted there to Vileplume were not that hard. From that list, literally all you have to do is cut VS Seekers and Fighting Fury Belt.
I'll be posting the list again in the tournament report, discussing choices and last calls, but for now I figure this'll give you guys something to chew on.
Tomorrow I'll be posting a full-fledged tournament report; however, I understand a lot of people had some intense curiosity in my Decidueye/Vileplume deck!
Does this look familiar? It should, because I spent a whole fourth of <a href="http://www.heytrainer.org/blog/posts/The_Elite_Four_of_Anaheim:_Four_Decks_Capable_of_Winning_it_All">my last blog entry</a> talking about Decidueye! As I mention in that article and in my Quick Search entry, my preferred way to run the list was Vileplume.
I'll be posting the list again in the tournament report, discussing choices and last calls, but for now I figure this'll give a lot of you guys something fun to stew over for future tournaments!
Going to Anaheim’s Regional Championship and struggling to choose a deck? In this concise but hopefully illuminating read, we’re going to go through what I consider to be the four best overall choices for the upcoming Standard format Regional in Anaheim, California.
First, some housekeeping:
1. This is not a top X list, and I will not be ranking the decks in comparison to each other. I'm going to be unconventional because in this instance, I believe any one of the below deck choices has a great chance of winning on any given day. I even think a couple decks not included are also capable of pulling off the win, but in my mind these four are on a tier of their own.
2. To keep you guys from overthinking or feeling like you have to “read between the lines,” I’ve organized the decks in ABC order, based on the most prominent letter in their traditionally-recognized name. (E.G., Yveltal goes to the bottom; Grass goes closer to the top.)
3. Since this is a step beyond the typical "top X" list, I've given a four-star rating to each deck in numerous categories. Such categories include:
oSafety: How likely is this deck going to yield you a good day? I define a “good day” here in generalized terms, e.g., if you’ll end up getting a cash prize.
oEase of use: Some decks are easier to play than others. And in a big Regional Championship with hundreds of opponents, misplays matter. I'm a big advocate of being prudent in your deck choice, and so whether you're newer, younger, or just really busy and haven't had time to learn this new set, I wanted to give you some recommendations on what might be the better play for you.
oPersonal preference: To make this blog the best it can be, we need to give you reliable, premium-quality content. But in order to do that, I need you to trust what I’m saying, and the best way to earn that trust is by sharing my exact feelings about all four decks listed. I have a clear favorite, a fallback, a deck I'd only use in specific circumstances, and a deck I won't even touch.
…And now, the choices!
Turbo Darkrai
Simple and safe
Why it's good: Although some decks explode, other decks explode consistently. Darkrai falls comfortably into category two, as it's an all-Basic deck capable of hitting amazingly efficient Damage counts in record time. EXP Share also does an incredible job at maintaing your momentum throughout the whole game, and never having to attach more than two Energy to an attacker is a huge advantage.
Safety: 3/4. It’s still very much a proven, powerful deck, and is still fresh off a great Regionals win. It’s also got several great matchups. Don’t ignore the bad matchups though, and virtually every new GX should be a cause for concern – yes, Incineroar GX included! Still, I think if you’re good enough and are ready to play up to 27 games in a single day, this’ll work fine for you.
Ease of use: 4/4. Darkrai is one of my biggest motivations for writing this article the way that I did. As with every deck, you need to make optimal plays with your Trainers, Darkrai is mostly a linear deck with linear choices. It’s great for a new or younger player, and it’s especially good for a semi-retired old school great. This is one of the main decks in Standard where you’re less concerned with perfect play, and more concerned with avoiding terrible misplays.
Personal preference: 1/4. Despite all its positive attributes, it’s not personally appealing to me at all. This is partially because it’s behind the curve on the metagame, but especially because it’s so linear. One of the most valuable ways to outplay someone is to have something unpredictable up your sleeve, and Darkrai just doesn’t scratch that itch.
(Also, since the very last thing I wrote before finishing this article was the "why it's good" section for Darkrai, I'm convinced I have som sort of inherent bias against the deck.)
Decidueye
Believe me, there are a LOT of other directions you can take this list! (…Also, why is Tauros a regular art now?)
Why it's good: Sun and Moon changed the game with its new-but-not-so-new choice to make both Basic and Evolution GX Pokemon. Chief among these absurdly powerful cards is Decidueye GX, a card I feel has gotten an insane amount of disrespect leading up to this tournament. First and foremost, this is my favorite Sun and Moon card! I’m a bit biased here, but I believe it’s for good reason. First, its Ability is the most efficient “free damage” in the Standard format: The longer a game draws out, the more devastating two to three Feather Arrows can be. Second, it’s beefy as sin, which is a rare trait to have for a Grass type. Third, its options for locking and/or teching Attackers supplies ample opportunities to handle its number one threat, Garbodor’s Ability-locking Garbotoxin. Finally, its GX Attack is hands-down the best resource recovery available in Standard.
Safety: 2/4. What comes with the territory of being a new card is the risk that you will collapse. It can hit some bad matchups, and needs a bunch of cards to set up in every variant.
Ease of use: 1/4. In principle this deck should be very easy: get a bunch of Owls into play and smash in your opponent’s face. However, it’s much more complicated than that, particularly because each of those Feather Arrows you announce is game-changing. Conversely, a single wrong Feather Arrow could lose you the game, and a poorly-played or poorly-timed Hollow Hunt GX Attack will stick out like a sore thumb. Finally, you need a great plan for best two out of three match play, or else you’ll be drawing and losing matches you should’ve won otherwise.
Personal preference: 4/4. Despite the risks and the difficulties, I’m absolutely in love with this card and its way to sweep games completely and utterly. It does have some glaring issues and matchups, but they’re mostly just players not settling on all the right list choices – myself included. Multiple Feather Arrows in play is format-changing: it can and will dominate games that should be completely unwinnable on paper. We haven’t seen something capable of such tempo manipulation in years, and so it definitely has a home in any format it’s legal in. I'm currently leaning towards a version of the above list with Vileplume, but I'm also enamored with the way the pictured list deals out, too.
Mega Mewtwo/Garbodor
Wait, isn't this just Igor Costa's list with the wrong Tauros?
Why it's good: It’s got incredible firepower, healing, and Ability lock! Mega Mewtwo’s always been good, but at every turn, Weakness has held it down badly. Be it due to Night March or Mega Gardevoir, this deck has struggled to take down anything sizeable in this Standard or the last. However, headed into Anaheim, all the hype is surrounding cards which conveniently don’t pose any imminent auto-win threat against Mewtwo. Furthermore, the counters to these decks (e.g., Volcanion) suffer against Mega Mewtwo because they can’t handle the strength of Psychic Infinity.
I think if any time is the best time for Mewtwo to take down a Regional, it’s Anaheim. It has hard losses Yveltal EX/Garbodor will never be exposed to (see below), but in many ways it’s a stronger version of Yveltal. So assuming we see a lot of players swarm to Yveltal as the “safe” play, Mewtwo may be a great meta call.
Safety: 3/4. See above reasons. It’s got some pretty incredible matchups and doesn’t fare poorly against the new Sun and Moon cards, but will always have glaring weaknesses to be exploited.
Ease of us: 3/4. In my experience, Mega Mewtwo has a rhythm – that is, a set of very normal, scripted plays that hardly ever deviate. It’s also pretty simple to know where to attach, when to use what attack, and so on. Where it does deviate, however, is in how elite players handle bad matchups, or sticky situations. Whereas a Mega Gardevoir player who’s equally as talented as a Mega Mewtwo player will win most of their games, a skill discrepancy could easily expose the weaker Gardevoir player to a Mewtwo player, who by virtue of the deck will be very aggressive in seizing on those mistakes.
Personal preference: 3/4. In investing, there are high risk investments, medium risk investments, and low risk investments. In other words, the greater the risk, the more money you’ll make. Now imagine the three decks I want to play as investments. Playing Decidueye can result in either an incredible tournament-tearing day or a crash-and-burn day – I see little in between. Playing Yveltal (discussed below) will probably result in a perfectly fine day one, but will undoubtedly result in a lot of grindy day two games that could easily be broken by a rough hand or two.
Then there’s Mewtwo, the medium risk guy that “may” have some solvency issues, but is still totally capable of making me a good chunk of change. This is where really knowing the California metagame would really help in making a decision, as it could help predict just how big your “risk” truly is.
Yveltal EX/Garbodor/Tauros GX
Okay, now we're just getting ridiculous with this whole wrong Tauros thing.
Why it's good: Except for a select few niche attackers, Yveltal has no bad matchups – none! Everything in the metagame is 100% workable, and even against those bad matchups, Yveltal’s unholy combination of versatility, power, and disruption makes even those bad matchups entirely winnable. Furthermore, Tauros GX closes up a lot of the holes the deck had previously, and supplies a ferocious attacker to handle formerly horrible matchups.
Safety: 4/4. If you’re a good player and have a good list, you have a great chance of walking away with some money, and there’s no way I imagine you finishing with a negative record.
Ease of use: 2/4. The first-level plays aren’t hard at all, but if you don’t have the skills to handle all of its intricate matchup interactions, then don’t play it.
Personal preference: 3/4. I have a long history of using Yveltal EX, trust its consistency and other positive aspects, and am open-minded about using it in a state I don’t play in. There’s a good chance I may fall back on this in case I suffer a crisis of faith in Decidueye.
A Few Words for the Fallen
I said "fallen," not "Knocked Over"!
Of course, there are several decks not featured on my list. Chief among them is Mega Rayquaza, the high-sailing dragon God that deals untold amounts of damage to every EX south of 250 HP. I think common wisdom would take Decidueye off my elite four and replace it with Mega Rayquaza, but many of the metagame threats meant to target these new Sun and Moon Ability decks will inevitably hurt Rayquaza, too. Chief among them being sticking Garbodor in literally everything – who ever thought garbage could be so popular? Also, considering how common Parallel City is, it’s tough to see Rayquaza actually winthe whole tournament.
For Greninja and Volcanion, I see it being much worse. Although in theory Volcanion should benefit from all the new, good Grass decks, it’s one of the worst decks to deal with Ability lock, which a plurality of decks will be packing. Greninja is even worse in coping with it, and now suffers the added “bonus” of having to contend with viable Grass decks.
Lurantis is a good card, but in testing it’s revealed itself to be fairly overrated. Chloroscythe GX is an incredible GX move though, and lists aren’t incapable of running a few surprises, so its time may come yet.
While I didn’t put it on my list, Vespiquen is a highly capable threat. Contrary to other premium article writers, I don’t think Sun and Moon added enough to change its composition too dramatically. However, it’s still great – just perhaps not safe the way the four listed decks are.
Finally, I think Water Box’s fate is pretty much left up in the hands of the meta. While a heavy-hitting Lapras GX is stellar against much of the “old” metagame, Water Box takes hard losses to every single Grass deck out there. And since Grass is monopolizing the hype, it’ll be a super-risky choice for Anaheim.
Conclusion
There are several decks I trust to be very good choices, but ultimately only four I identify as having a good enough chance of taking the whole thing. As with any deck choice, remember that it's a personal decision: You may want a surprise factor, something easy, or maybe something that'll just get you to day two easily. Whatever you do though, and whatever your goals may be, be sure it's a good choice for you!
Just a friendly reminder that HeyTrainer, through associated Youtube channel RogueTrainer, will be doing streams select Monday nights at 8:00 PM Eastern/7:00 PM Central Standard Time! Tonight's will be going LIVE in three hours, and we're excited to have you join!
In the past, our blog coined a now commonly-used phrase called the "deck list dump": an article which provides users deck lists. As used here, the deck list dump's practical purpose was to provide users quality content on days in which we couldn't provide a more in-depth article such as yesterday's. That way, there's still a lot to learn even if the actual article writers here can't provide normal premium-level content.
In recent times, the term has taken on a more negative meaning, thanks to the rise of many premium content websites that exist just to regurgitate other people's content. At some point people DID pay specifically for deck lists, but nowadays they're quite literally a dime a dozen! That's why whenever we do a deck list dump, we'll focus on achieving the following:
1. Enough decks to make reading the article worthwhile;
2. Some minor explanation or analysis; and
3. Unique decks or a unique purpose behind the dump (example: today's dumping of Legacy format decks)
LEGACY LISTS
Despite being a frozen format, Legacy actually has a lot of untapped potential. That's because the people who play it are usually either inexperienced or nostalgia seekers, both of which are not actively seeking out new ideas. (There are also "Genters," or people who collude to get benefits in the VS ladder, but I don't include them because they aren't actively engaging with the cards or the format.)
Below are six ists which I've found decent amounts of success with:
Flareon
Concept Competitiveness: 7/10. Great versus Genesect/Virizion/Celebi, competitive with most other decks, but struggles at times.
Durant
Concept Competitiveness: 5/10. Struggles against all of the top decks, but has a hard cap to the amount of times its games takes. Also beats Plasma very handily.
This particular list could use Twins from Triumphant.
Donphan/Garbodor
Concept Competitiveness: 8/10. Amazing versus all of the top decks in Legacy, but will take very hard losses, including to anything Water.
Darkrai
Concept Competitiveness: 7/10. Darkrai as a concept will always be extremely powerful, but in all honesty this particular list is not very good. I've included it however as an option for how to build Darkrai even if you don't own the very expensive Junk Arm card.
RayEels
Concept Competitiveness: 9/10. Incredibly powerful, versatile, and has no bad matchups. Only thing keeping it from being a "10" is that it struggles a bit with Darkrai and select rogue from time to time.
Garchomp
Concept Competitiveness: 8/10. Extremely consistent, and exchanges very well with most of the format. The card pool from HeartGold/SoulSilver makes a big difference for this deck.
In the past, our blog coined a now commonly-used phrase called the "deck list dump": an article which provides users deck lists. As used here, the deck list dump's practical purpose was to provide users quality content on days in which we couldn't provide a more in-depth article such as yesterday's. That way, there's still a lot to learn even if the actual article writers here can't provide normal premium-level content.
In recent times, the term has taken on a more negative meaning, thanks to the rise of many premium content websites that exist just to regurgitate other people's content. At some point people DID pay specifically for deck lists, but nowadays they're quite literally a dime a dozen! That's why whenever we do a deck list dump, we'll focus on achieving the following:
1. Enough decks to make reading the article worthwhile;
2. Some minor explanation or analysis; and
3. Unique decks or a unique purpose behind the dump (example: today's dumping of Legacy format decks)
LEGACY LISTS
Despite being a frozen format, Legacy actually has a lot of untapped potential. That's because the people who play it are usually either inexperienced or nostalgia seekers, both of which are not actively seeking out new ideas. (There are also "Genters," or people who collude to get benefits in the VS ladder, but I don't include them because they aren't actively engaging with the cards or the format.)
Below are six ists which I've found decent amounts of success with:
Flareon
Concept Competitiveness: 7/10. Great versus Genesect/Virizion/Celebi, competitive with most other decks, but struggles at times.
Durant
Concept Competitiveness: 5/10. Struggles against all of the top decks, but has a hard cap to the amount of times its games takes. Also beats Plasma very handily.
This particular list could use Twins from Triumphant.
Donphan/Garbodor
Concept Competitiveness: 8/10. Amazing versus all of the top decks in Legacy, but will take very hard losses, including to anything Water.
Darkrai
Concept Competitiveness: 7/10. Darkrai as a concept will always be extremely powerful, but in all honesty this particular list is not very good. I've included it however as an option for how to build Darkrai even if you don't own the very expensive Junk Arm card.
RayEels
Concept Competitiveness: 9/10. Incredibly powerful, versatile, and has no bad matchups. Only thing keeping it from being a "10" is that it struggles a bit with Darkrai and select rogue from time to time.
Garchomp
Concept Competitiveness: 8/10. Extremely consistent, and exchanges very well with most of the format. The card pool from HeartGold/SoulSilver makes a big difference for this deck.
Do you miss insanely bulky cards that are offensive as well? Do you want a concept capable of splashing in a wide variety of specialty niche attackers? Best of all, do you want tons of Healing on top of free prizes?
If so, then you may strongly consider playing Lunala GX the next chance you get!
In today’s deck profile, we’ll be looking at a Standard format list for Lunala GX. We’ll consider the general concept, the finer options, and the matchups. Of course we’ll also consider Lunala’s uncertain, but still very real place in the new metagame.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Deck List
1.1 Deck Demonstration
2. Core Strategy
3. List Choices
4. Playing Options
5. Matchups
1. DECK LIST
Pokémon (16):
3 Cosmog SM 64
1 Cosmoem SM 65
3 Lunala GX SM 141
4 Wobbuffet GEN RC11
2 Hoopa STS 51
1 Hoopa EX AOR 89
1 Shaymin-EX ROS 77
1 Lugia-EX AOR 68
Trainers (35):
4 Trainers' Mail ROS 92
1 Skyla BKP 122
4 Rare Candy SM 129
1 Super Rod BKT 149
2 Lysandre AOR 78
4 Professor Sycamore BKP 107
2 Teammates PRC 141
3 N FAC 105
3 Float Stone BKT 137
4 Ultra Ball FAC 113
3 Max Potion BKP 103
4 VS Seeker PHF 109
Energy (9):
9 Psychic Energy
1.1 Deck Demonstration:
2. Core Strategy
Lunala GX’s Psychic Transfer lets you move Energy, deny Prizes, and heal damaged Pokémon with no downside.
3. List Choices
(Pokémon)
3-1-3 Lunala GX: In a format with such monstrously fast Basic attackers, Lunala is made or broken on how consistent every aspect of getting out your Stage Two can be. The starting point is of course with the line you dedicate, and here I’ve decided on a 3-1-3 for very important reasons…
3 Cosmog: Just enough to keep from being prized too often, but not too much to clog up your deck. In an average game, benching two by the first turn shouldn’t be too difficult.
1 Cosmoem: This is a horrible card in its own right, but it’s necessary for two reasons. First, for all the situations where you can’t get out a turn two Lunala via Rare Candy (more on that in a moment), you still want a smooth transition in case you fail to draw into Rare Candy on the third turn. Cosmoem does that for us, hedging our line to set up at the latest on Turn Three (as the Poke-Gods intended).
3 Lunala GX: The prizing logic is the same here as with Cosmog. But while the same urgency doesn’t exist to get two out into play immediately, you’ll still want two out eventually. This lets you juggle two Lunala as a viable offensive tactic, in spite of Moongeist Beam being a horrible attack with an equally horrible cost.
…And then there’s Lunar Fall GX, which is incredible. But more on that later.
4 Wobbuffet: Setting up a Stage Two line in a turbo format is tough, which is why we want to slow everyone down to our snail’s pace. Wobuffet’s attack also permits for the perfect one-two punch when combined with Lunala’s hideously inefficient first attack.
2 Hoopa STS: Non-EX Hoopa, a.k.a. “Ugly Muppet Baby, Model Violet” is valuable both for setting up future Knock Outs for your other attackers, as well as slugging through Shaymins or non-EX threats with Hyperspace Punch. Although it is decent versus Gyarados AOR, as well as its Steam Siege nemesis, Ugly Muppet Baby Red (Volcanion), Hoopa has been very underwhelming in testing, and is looking like it will see at least one copy cut. Most likely in favor of…
1 Lugia EX AOR: Lugia EX AOR is a star attacker, taking full advantage of Lunala GX’s Psychic Transfer for big, oftentimes unanswered Damage. Deep Hurricane is also my deck’s sole answer to counter stadiums, and is a huge Damage source in its own right.
1 Hoopa EX AOR: Unlike the vast majority of lists in Standard or Expanded, I’m actually running Hoopa EX for its own sake and less for Scoundrel Ring. While Scoundrel Ring is indeed an excellent Ability, I'm using Hoopa EX as a surprise sniper to clean up for our mutant muppet baby pals, who in many instances would have dealt tiny but decisive amounts of Damage to, say, Shaymin EX's. This, like the count on Hoopa, is not quite as useful in practice as I would have liked, and so is subject to getting cut.
1 Shaymin EX ROS: Shaymin EX is still the best this game has in terms of Pokémon-based draw support. Although we’re hiding behind a wall of Wobbuffet, which shuts off your own non-Psychic based Abilities such as Set Up, I still run a single copy because when looping with Lunala GX or other attackers, you’ll oftentimes need some extra draw power to keep you afloat.
(Trainers)
4 Trainers’ Mail / 1 Skyla / 4 Rare Candy: Greninja and Vileplume have been the solely prominent Stage Two Pokémon in this Standard format, but you can’t build the vast majority of Stage Two decks like Greninja or Vileplume: You don’t have Frogadier’s Water Duplicates to skip a Stage, and you don’t have Forest of Giant Plants to get it all out by turn One.
So what’s the key principle to getting out a Stage Two line consistently? Simple:
RUN ENOUGH STUFF TO GET IT OUT!!!
I run the 3-1-3 line I do in order to get out Lunala GX consistently, and I run these nine cards to do the same. The game you’ll be playing is two-fold: get (and keep) Cosmog on the Bench; and then Rare Candy Cosmog into a Lunala GX by turn two. That’s also why I run a maximum count on Rare Candy, as well as five cards capable of getting me Rare Candy on second blush. The single copy of Skyla is particularly useful in smoothing over the difficulties you may otherwise encounter when trying to get Ultra Ball at the same time as Rare Candy.
Over time, you and I may decide that four Rare Candy is inefficient. Okay, that’s fine, but at this point in testing a new deck, the things you should do always come back to consistency! Four Rare Candy – and its support Trainers – is the key to doing that in a Stage Two deck.
2 Teammates: I run two Teammates on top of the above not just as the occasional way to fetch a turn Two Lunala, but as a great mid-game crutch to fetch either pieces of a second Lunala GX line, Max Potions and Energy, or a combination of the above. This is a set up deck, and while your perfect board begins with a single Lunala GX, it ends with multiple Lunala GX and lots of energy. Teammates helps move that along efficiently.
3 Max Potion: Max Potion means maximum healing in exchange for discarding Energy, which is incredible in a deck that moves Energy. I run three because in combination with the rest of the deck, it’s a high enough count to guarantee that I enjoy the benefit of healing, but not disrupt the rest of the deck.
3 Float Stone (and 0 Fighting Fury Belt!): It may seem strange that I don’t run Fighting Fury Belt (+40 HP) in a deck whose main objective is to tank and heal, but that is in part because I want space for lots of Float Stones. Several Float Stone copies means I can transition seamlessly from a Wobbuffet into a turn three attacker. It also means I can quickly move into a Wobbuffet turn one in case I didn’t start with it. One change I am strongly considering is to remove a single copy of both Max Potion and Float Stone to afford the space for Fighting Fury Belt.
(Energy)
9 Psychic: This is the minimum energy count I’ve allowed to make the deck work. Except in the rare instance where I need to have enough Energy for a big Aero Ball, I’ve never lacked for energy, and haven’t wanted to have more. That’s probably because of the strange Energy efficiency in this deck: Because you are constantly moving Psychic Energy, they go a longer way here.
0 Rainbow! Lastly, I currently run zero Rainbow, or any differently-typed Attackers for that matter. This build is still in its beta stage, and I feel a format which runs so much Special Energy hate, Rainbow-typed tactics would be a dangerous metagame choice for now.
4. Playing Options
When to Lunar Fall with Lunala GX: I’m a firm believer that the more rigid a philosophy you have with when to execute this attack, the more games you’ll lose.
First off, remember that Lunar Fall GX is a conditional attack – that is, because it can only target non-GX Basic Pokémon, there’s no guarantee you can use it in the late game against a good player with the right deck. Your top target will without a doubt be a benched Shaymin EX in order to draw the last two Prizes you need to win the game, but the opponent might have already Sky Returned their Shaymin EX, returning it to the hand in anticipation of your impending, game-finishing Attack.
Second, the value in eliminating a big Attacker is much higher in the early game than in the late game, but it’s all very matchup-dependent. In Volcanion decks, for instance, the greatest threat to your Lunala is a Volcanion EX that can somehow overcome its 130 base Damage to OHKO a Lunala. The only way to do that is to get four Volcanion EX into play all at once, but with Lunar Fall GX threatening a Knock Out against those Volcanion EX at any time, how will they get up to that magic 250 HP count?
When to Go Aggro: In this deck, there are aggressive games and conservative games. In the aggressive games, you wall behind Wobbuffet until you have three Energy in play for a good attack; in conservative games, you continue building your Energy and Attackers until a Wobbuffet gets Knocked Out, potentially triggering Teammates for even more resources and Attackers.
I’ve found that in a surprising number of games, you actually want to play aggressively. That’s because a Lunala GX will very rarely get Knocked Out with one hit after you start attacking, and so can transition seamlessly from a turn three Lunar Fall GX into a turn four Moongeist Beam. Also, in some matchups such as turbo Darkrai EX, you will really want to take the initiative before their board becomes too powerful to control.
Best Practices with Energy Placement: Lunala GX may have its own unique bells and whistles, but Energy transfer decks are hardly new. Since Lunala GX has no Energy acceleration of its own without also including Max Elixir, you will generally want to spread out all of your extra Energy in places where your Opponent won’t or can’t target. That’s partially why getting a second Lunala GX into play is so helpful, and why I’m considering including Fighting Fury Belt in future versions of this deck.
Anticipating Hex Maniac: A well-timed Hex Maniac can ruin many of our plans discussed above, and punish a player for being aggressive. But that doesn’t devalue the benefits of taking any of the suggestions discussed, so rather than paralyze yourself with fear of losing your Abilities, just ask yourself two questions –
1. “What are the chances my opponent runs Hex Maniac?”
2. “If I for some reason lost access to Psychic Transfer next turn, would I be okay?”
Engage yourself; actively consider the risk of your plays, as you would in any other scenario. But your interactions with Ability denial are just as important as your one-sided decisions with Psychic Transfer.
Dealing with the Dank Jank Duo: Garbodor BKP and Alolan Muk SUM shut off all or some of your Abilities. These two gross, but cool and useful Psychic Types, a.k.a. the Jank Dank Duo, are a thorn on your side for different reasons.
Garbodor shuts off All Abilities, a game-killer for you if you’re not prepared. The current list also doesn’t run many efficient Psychic answers to kill Garbodor, so you’ll either need to find a new tech attacker, snipe Garbodor with Hoopa EX’s Hyperspace Fury, or make some clever bench-attacking plays with Ugly Muppet Baby Hoopa. Unfortunately you can’t charge into a Garbodor with Lunala GX itself when against Yveltal, because then you’ll face the ugly reality of Darkness Weakness when Yveltal EX Evil Balls you for a Knock Out.
Alolan Muk is a bit different. Rather than shut off your entire deck, it will shut off your Basic Abilities…which includes your Wobbuffet army That has some weird implications, but the biggest is that Power of Alchemy permits your Opponent to start using Evolved Pokémon’s Abilities again. Stacked Abilities therefore can get very strange, such as in the below example —
–Villeplume AOR shuts off your Items, BUT…
–Wobbuffet GEN shuts off your Opponent’s Vileplume, thereby triggering your Items again. BUT…
–Alolan Muk SUM shuts off your Wobbuffet, thereby reactivating the Item denial.
To be fair, situations like this will be very rare. But if you’re considering using this deck in the lead-up to Regionals, know that the concept of Vileplume with Alolan Muk has a lot of hype.
The normal answer to this issue is pretty simple, which is to not bother with Alolan Muk at all, and have faith in the construction of your list. Remember that we rely much less on the all-powerful Basic Pokémon Draw cards like Shaymin EX, so in most matchups we’ll just get carried by our own consistency. For the sole issue of Vileplume though, remember that both Vileplume and Alolan Muk have high Retreat costs, meaning you can Lysandre and kill one of them relatively slowly without consequence.
5. Matchups
Although including percentage calculations is a traditional thing to do in matchup discussions, I don’t think it’s as helpful to the average player as a general term. There also comes to be a point when assigning a percentage has negative implications, such as an unrealistic probability. It is still a useful shorthand in my day-to-day talk with testing partners, so I wouldn’t discourage it for you either. However, I’ll only call matchups Very Favorable, Favorable, Even, Unfavorable, and Very Unfavorable.
Yveltal/Garbodor: Unfavorable. This is perhaps your worst matchup, and in many people’s minds will disqualify it as a choice for the first Regional of the season. Garbodor shuts you down; Yveltal EX can oftentimes OHKO a Lunala GX with only two Energy, and it’s hard to keep up the pace in the face of either of those! Lugia EX may be your saving grace against both, and your Wobbuffets can work wonders.
Turbo Darkrai: Unfavorable. Turbo Darkrai is perhaps far less unfavorable than Yveltal EX, especially if they don’t run a single copy of Yveltal EX to deal with Lunala GX. However, all Darkrai EX needs to reach Lunala GX’s max HP is half its Darkness Energy in play, which doesn’t take all that long However, Wobbuffet does an incredible job of grinding their otherwise endless onslaught to a halt. It also helps tremendously that Lunar Fall GX doesn’t trigger EXP. Share, which means that when you use your GX attack to KO a Darkrai…That energy is going away for good!
So we have two tough matchups against two historically popular decks – one on the downturn but historically known to make comebacks; and the other on the rise. Why on Earth, then, would Lunala GX be worth considering in the short term?
I’ll start by saying that this deck profile isn’t supposed to argue the deck’s playability in the instant moment, but give you a strong starting point with the deck in all aspects when you’re ready to start playing it. However, there can and will be realistic upcoming metagame scenarios where Dark is pushed out in favor of Volcanion and the fast Grass decks it presumably beats.
“Various Grass decks”: Favorable. This is a broad category which will eventually deserve to be split into its various decks, but when I say this I think of the combined might of Vespiquen and/or Vileplume, as well as new Grass cards like Decidueye GX, Tsareena, and Lurantis GX. All of these Grass decks that depend heavily on Abilities are locked by Wobbuffet, and they all struggle to reach Lunala GX’s dreaded 250 HP mark.
Volcanion: Favorable. With the onslaught of Grass comes a return to players of Volcanion, which is a great format dynamic for Lunala to come in and surprise. As discussed above, Volcanion struggles really, really hard to reach that magic 250 HP mark as well, and it’s highly unlikely Volcanion will be making the list choices that would make quadruple Steam Up a reality. This ultimately results in being able to wall a very strong deck.
M Rayquaza: Favorable. Shutting off Abilities against a very Ability-driven deck is highly advantageous, but the most absurd aspect of this matchup is that M Rayquaza can’t OHKO Lunala GX! Well, not without aid of some damage addition card, but that’s a hard thing to include in an otherwise tight list. Unlike other games, the tech Basics mostly take a back seat to Lunala GX, which has a lot of openings to snipe Shaymin EX’s and perhaps even Lunar Fall GX a Rayquaza EX.
M Mewtwo/Garbodor: Even. Despite Garbodor shutting down your Abilities, Weakness goes a long way for you. Hoopa EX and the Ugly Muppet Babies are the leaders in this aspect, and Lugia EX can from time to time result in a surprising damage play. However, I wouldn’t count out M Mewtwo EX’s Ability to do absurd amounts of damage against what’s clearly a very hoggish deck.
M Gardevoir: ”Even.” This is the one matchup where I’m least convinced in my assessment, but all early indicates suggest it’s even. On one hand, Wobbuffet is especially crippling to this deck as it relies as much if not more on Abilities than M Rayquaza. On the other hand, a good M Gardevoir player will rarely leave openings for Lunar Fall GX, effectively making the attack worthless. This is actually a rare instance where Moongeist Beam’s secondary effect, the blocking of healing on the Defending Pokémon, to be incredibly useful, as it blocks their Fairy Drops.
Greninja: Unfavorable. I don’t like our chances against a deck that perpetually locks our Abilities, is above our normal Damage caps, outpaces our attackers, and rarely if ever offers up a viable target for Lunar Fall GX. As far as techs go, a Professor Kukui could be useful in letting Lunala reach Greninja’s 130 HP, or Lugia EX to reach Greninja BREAK’s 170 HP. Pokémon Ranger could also be incredible in fixing most of these problems; however, that would be yet another tech that could possibly drag down consistency. It’s also a big question of whether we want to bother with even beating this deck when there are so many good Grass options now!
CONCLUSION
Lunala GX is one of the most underrated cards out of the new set. It is not only with one of the highest HP Pokémon in the game, but is a great support card
with an incredible, game-breaking GX attack. The skill cap here is quite high, and the matchups are so-so. Nevertheless, it’s an enjoyable deck with lots of future potential, and could even make a showing next week in the chaos that is Anaheim.
—"WAY BACK WEDNESDAY"—
Highlighting HeyTrainer's Best Retro Articles
Tables of Contents
0. Introduction
1. Luxchomp (John Kettler)
2. Porydonk (Jason Wyndham)
3. "Staying Clean in a Dirty World" (Billy Kettler)
4. Pitfalls in Preparation (John Kettler)
5. 2011 National Champion's Report (Justin Sanchez)
Introduction
I'd be remiss without giving some sort of substantive update today and break our great track record so far! Fact is, reviving a blog which had otherwise been inactive for several years is easier said than done. However, We're committed to offering you the best original content for free, and to making HeyTrainer a bastion for the community.
The article title is misleading — I won't be making this a weekly column. However, I know a lot of our previous articles have nuggets of wisdom, and especially a ton of history for those retro format buffs among you. Therefore, I've compiled links to the articles I feel will best help educate you today!
Why it's relevant: To this day, new players are fascinated by old decks. Luxchomp is among the most dominant decks of the old school formats, to the point where everything everyone wrote about for months on end was Luxchomp! In this article is the list which proves just how absurd mirror became, as well as how nuanced the lists were.
Why it's relevant: Unlike the above, this article is actually relevant to you right now. Why? Because nothing rotates in Unlimited, and Unlimited will never go away! There is always some Unlimited tournament somewhere, and the most historically renowned deck of the Unlimited format is the dreaded Porydonk. It's been several years since the article, and therefore I doubt the build is optimal. However, it is without any doubt in my mind sufficiently powerful to tear down Unlimited events.
Why it's relevant: Everyone understands that card shops are generally dirty, nasty, filthy places. We also understand that Pokemon players are lacking in hygeine at times, as well. Drrtybylf guides the readers through some seriously good advice on how to cope.
Why it's relevant: This is so useful, it's a re-post of a re-post. In this article, I examine the pitfalls people suffer during last-minute prep.
I'm a long-time premium content author. Many of the premium articles I've written for SixPrizes, Pokebeach, and 60cards have had a more abstract focus. The reasons I write articles like these are two-fold:
I "teach a Trainer how to fish," which feels a lot more rewarding to me as someone who's been paid for Pokemon;
I produce an article which has long-term or even timeless value to the player base;
It's the easiest way to share my direct experiences and stories to the next generation of players.
"Pitfalls" may be short, but it's still one of my personal favorites. It also in a weird way helped me achieve greater accomplishments, because it forced me to take a good, hard look at what separated me from who I regarded as higher-tier players at the time.
Why it matters: This is the report from a former National Champion in a 1,000-person tournament — it kinda speaks for itself! Also highlights the legendary "secret deck that never was," Magnezone/Yanmega.
For those reading Picks 1, 2, and 5, I hope you had an excellent blast from the past; and for those reading Picks 3 and 4, I hope you gathered something which will be immediately helpful for the upcoming Regional Championships!
From time to time, I and others will be doing columns discussing particular cards. Think of these as "card of the whenever," but with a lot more depth and substance. Today, we'll be going over my personal favorite new card out of the entire Sun and Moon expansion: Decidueye GX.
Let's hop straight into analysis:
Hunting the most dangerous game: your wallet!
Card Overview
— Its HP effectively walls everything in the Standard and Expanded formats except for M Rayquaza EX, select Fire attackers, and extremely well-timed Evil Balls from Yveltal EX.
— Taken by itself, Razor Leaf is actually a mediocre attack on something that yields two Prizes for a Knock Out. However, when combined with numerous Feather Arrows over.
-Hollow Hunt GX is a strong attack in either format, but its impact is especially felt in the Standard format, where resource replenishment isn't nearly as efficient.
–Ah yes, how could I ignore the entire reason you're running this card: FEATHER ARROW!!!
So good, you'll get it in ink.
Line Considerations
How many Decidueye GX do you want in play in order to reap stacked benefits from Feather Arrow? Theoretically, anything more than one. This means that I would advise against tech or small splash lines of Decidueye — either go big (at least 3 Rowlet, 2 Dartrix, 2 Decidueye GX) or run none at all. That's in large part because it takes so much before you start seeing the dividends pay off from Decidueye. To start a single Feather Arrow chain "on time" (by turn one or two), you will ALWAYS need 1 Rowlett, 1 Dartrix, 1 Decidueye GX, and 1 Forest of Giant Plants. Add in any search cards you may have used to find the aforementioned pieces, and you're easily looking at having invested 10% of your entire deck in a single effect. A good, gamebreaking effect, but a single effect nonetheless.
However, from a perspective of resource management, it's just more efficient to have a deck utilizing more than a single Decidueye per game. For example, getting out that first Decidueye may have taken 10% of your deck, but because of cards like Battle Compressor and Revitalizer, you can seriously cut down your overall "cost," saving a lot more to close out the game with a fully dedicated, 3-3-3 or 4-4-4 Decidueye deck.
Also, consider your Decidueye line from a metagame perspective. In Standard, Olympia and Pokemon Center Lady are both very popular; and in Expanded, both AZ and Scoop Up Cyclone see a ton of play. In the face of menaces like these, what on Earth is your gimpy single Decidueye going to do?
(Remember, the Ability is called Feather Arrow — not "Feather Mosquito Bite." If you're gonna play Decidueye, go all the way in!)
Standard Options
Vileplume — Running Decidueye GX with Item lock at first blush is the most stable, long-term approach to the deck. Although you are playing two thick Stage Two lines in the same deck, it's efficient to run the two together because you can Turbo-evolve both with a Forest of Giant Plants in play, and you can fetch missing pieces of either line with Revitalizer. Vileplume is also a natural partner to Decidueye because the Feather Arrow Ability is complimentary and indeed devastating as part of a lock strategy. To best illustrate this concept, let's take a look at a deck with an above-average count of switching options:
–Two Switch
–Two Float Stone
–One Escape Rope
–One Olympia
–Four VS Seeker to get back Olympia
I don't have to tell you how many of those options are starved the moment a Vileplume hits the board. This means that with as little as a single Decidueye and a well-timed Lysandre, you could win the game outright if your opponent has a vulnerable benched Pokemon. How's that for a Lock deck?!
Vespiquen — Another option is to run the deck with Vespiquen, which has many of the same deck consctruction advantages to being paired with Decidueye GX that Vileplume does. While Vespiquen may lack the lock potential that Vileplume does, and while it won't be stealing nearly as many games, Vespiquen offers us our one and only way of getting a full attacker into play.
Big Basic Attackers — A third idea which I've found interest in is pairing Decidueye GX with big neutral attackers like Tauros GX. This is in theory very similar to the Vespiquen approach, only a bit more space-efficient, slightly less offensive, and much more defensive. It's also by far the most cost-efficient way to run a dedicated Decidueye GX list, and may have the best shot at beating imposing Mega decks such as Rayquaza and Gardevoir. (Remember that Rayquaza can one-shot your Owls!).
What are some good Big Basic attackers aside from Tauros?
–Lugia EX: With Feather Arrows, your potentially gimpy Aero Balls are now at or above keeping up with Yveltal EX's Evil Balls. Also, Deep Hurricane aided with enough Feather Arrows can one-shot almost any Mega evolution.
–Trevenant EX: Offers a soft lock option similar to the above strategy discussed with Vileplume, only with Retreat block via Dark Forest. Very good in setting up clever plays where you keep an Active locked while slowly whittling away or evne Knocking Out Benched Pokemon.
–Celebi XY93: Theta Stop protects Celebi from opposing Feather Arrows; Sparkle Motion is great at getting odd-numbered Pokemon in range for Decidueye such as Shaymin EX, and a Heads on Leap Through Time can function as a wall in a pinch when you can't afford to give up a prize in close games.
Expanded Options
All of the above for standard — Remember that all of the above are respectable ways to run Decidueye in Expanded as well as Standard. I think with Battle Compressor, Decidueye/Vespiquen can become a lot more deadly so long as you have a way to cope with Archeops (or otherwise KO it really quickly).
Other than Mewtwo EX, not that many tech options emerge. However, some interesting variations with big Basics at the heart of the deck emerge:
Seismitoad EX — The theory here is essentially the same as with the Vileplume variants, only a lot more space-efficient. For three spaces over 6-9, cutting Vileplume dashes your hopes for a turn one obliteration in exchange for a smoother, more streamlined game. It's also much more hopeful to cope with Archeops when you have a well-timed Seismitoad that could theoretically Lysandre it up and then subsequently attack a few times.
As one last note for this variant, I am struggling to decide whether I want to include Hypnotoxic lasers or not. I'm strongly leaning against it for consistency's sake, but if you are on the boards and have a separate take, leave me a line!
Virizion/Genesect — This is an untested gimmick, but I like the theory behind it because the deck is fully functional without Decidueye. Muscle Band/Emerald Slash is by itself enough to defeat an Archeops, and by that point you can lay waste to your opponent with a brutal combination of Megalo Cannon and well-placed Feather Arrows. You also see a lot of that all-important Grass synergy through Revitalizer. My one major concern is that this is likely to be highly inconsistent. You also might be much better off by pairing Virizion EX/Genesect EX with Lurantis GX, which seems to be a much more natural partner for those two.
Virgen/Lurantis — La Ménage à Lurantrois for another day???
Conclusion
I hope this in-depth review of Decidueye GX got your creative juices flowing. It's an incredible card, and while I don't blame you for being scared of Volcanion and Garbodor, it would be a fantastic choice for the upcoming Anaheim, CA Regional Championship. It would also be a great choice for the Collinsville, IL Regional Championship, despite being in a totally separate format.
It's been five years since the last time I've preordered a card — Darkrai EX from Dark Explorers to be precise, which went on to win Worlds three times. I don't think Decidueye will be pulling off something crazy like that, but there is very rarely such a "wow" card as this.
It’s Super Bowl Sunday (well, technically Monday as of posting), and I had a unique opportunity to attend Alternate Reality Games’ (“ARG’s”) Texas “Pokemon TCG State Championship” in Houston! Since the Super Bowl was actually IN the city of Houston on the very same day, it was quite a trek for me to drive from my end of town to the event venue. However, I’ve been very intrigued by what ARG has to offer as a new source of organized play for Pokemon.
On Supporting Alternate Organized Play, and Why I Fought the Super Bowl to Attend ARG States
Before I go too far into this report, let me preface that as of writing, I have no affiliation with ARG. My only financial incentives to write this article extend to ads and the glorious DONATE button…the latter of which I promise not to plug too often, but is definitely worth considering if you enjoyed the article!
Anyways, I like the concept of alternate organized play (“OP”) because alternate options are healthy for the game’s growth.
1.First, and perhaps most importantly, Play! Pokemon is pretty much just Regionals and up now, so there's a huge gap in the season that needs to be filled for people who can't go to the 15-some locations. Alternate organized play means that locals whose seasons begin and end at League have an increased chance for something big and exciting to be accessible.
2.Second, actions taken in alternate OP can encourage the official OP to improve. I know a lot of players have voiced frustration about the length of Regional Championships, and can totally relate to that frustration. Most ARG events appear to have sidestepped this issue completely by having shorter preliminary rounds, and reserving the much longer best-two-of-three matches for top cut.
3.Alternate OP can be a lot more imaginative than main OP. Whereas a standard form of organized play always has to appeal to more standard sensibilities, alternate OP can create absurd situations such as “high-roller” entry fees of $100 and first place prizes as big or bigger than Regionals. If higher stakes aren’t your thing, alternate OP also opens up the possibility for new formats. Ever wanted to play a “draft World Championship” in a game which routinely disrespects and ignores draft? Maybe you’d like a respectable event for Legacy, the Pokemon Trading Card Game Online-exclusive format which to my knowledge has still not had a major tournament in real life? With dedicated business and groups groups like ARG, these dreams can become reality.
Those are some convincing reasons to go, huh? However, it gets complicated, especially when the prizes don’t look all that appetizing. The advertised breakdown for this particular tournament was as follows:
“Prizing:
1st Place: Gold ARG State Chamionship Logo Medal, Champion Playmat, ARG Invitational Invite, ARG State Championship Lapel Pin, and current sealed Booster Packs.
2nd Place: Exclusive Top 8 Playmat, ARG Invitational Invite, ARG State Championship Lapel Pin, and current sealed Booster Packs.
3rd/4th Place: Exclusive Top 8 Playmat, ARG Invitational Invite, ARG State Championship Lapel Pin, and current sealed Booster Packs.
5th-8th Place: Exclusive Top 8 Playmat, ARG Invitational Invite, ARG State Championship Lapel Pin, and current sealed Boosters.
9th-16th Place: ARG State Championship Lapel Pin
**If 32+ players attend the event 9th-16th Place will receive Invitational Invites**
*Extra door prizes*
Booster Pack Prize Payout which is based on attendance.
8 to 18 Players: 1st 16 Packs, 2nd 8 Packs, 3rd/4th 4 Packs, 5th to 8th 2 Packs 19 to 36 Players: 1st 30 Packs, 2nd 15 Packs, 3rd to 4th 6 Packs, 5th to 8th 3 Packs
37 to + Players: 1st 60 Packs, 2nd 30 Packs, 3rd/4th 12 Packs, 5th-8th 6 Packs & 9th-16th 3 Packs.”
Prizing – For our attendance, first place got a box and a trophy. That actually isn’t so bad, and neither is second, but everyone third and below really didn’t get that much. For alternate OP like this, it’s awkward trying to balance the prizes, since small outfits like ARG don’t have nearly the resources and soft benefits that Nintendo or The Pokemon Company International does. What costs Play! Pokemon not much more than production and shipping to dole out as prizes costs companies no less than $60 or $70 to appropriate.
Top eight also got some cool mats pins, and a medal. I’m not sure what of this stuff is actually desirable to the players, but I’m sure these exist primarily to promote the ARG brand. Personally I would’ve been happy with cash or more packs where possible, but it is what it is.
Invitational Invites – Apparently there is an “ARG Invitational” happening from August 11th-13th of this year in Oaks, Pennsylvania. Since Pokemon TCG Worlds is held in August each year, there is a virtual if not absolute scheduling conflict, meaning many of the best competitors in the ARG circuit won’t even show up if they wanted to. This might be due to ARG wanting to run Pokemon alongside all of their other events, meaning that Pokemon’s inaugural first year won’t cost so much for them. However, the ARG invitational gives players without a worlds invite something competitive and exciting to do that weekend, which is always good for the game!
As an advertising award meant to add “value” to these qualifier events, however, I’m not sure if they do much. All I can say is that it’s a good thing ARG posts the invite list online, because there’s a high chance I’ll lose this advertisement I got.
$25 entry – okay, hold the phone…that’s REALLY expensive! I’m not sure how much it costs to make all those play mats, and who’s footing the bill for the ARG “kit,” but on paper, that’s a mediocre minimum payout. To be fair, the great store which actually ran this event opted to increase everyone’s pack payout considerably. However, I can’t help but think that if a more generous pack distribution was advertised by both ARG and the store, then attendance would have gone up.
“Preparations”
My overall approach was…not to prepare. This was going to be a low-stakes tournament no matter how you look at it, and it was the end of this leg of Standard (Primal Clash-Evolutions). All the same, I messed around with a couple weird Giratina variants. The one which I came closest to using was the following:
The idea here is to counter as much of the metagame all at once. You have Zygarde for Darkrai EX; Giratina EX for Vespiquen; Spinda for Gyarados; Garbodor for Volcanion and Greninja; careful Faded Town shenanigans against Mewtwo and Gardevoir; and then a whole host of attrition strategies involving your attackers for other matchups. To handle the latest onslaught of Volcanion lists running Pokemon Catcher, I opted for a 3-2 Garbodor line and a Super Rod, ensuring that I can have as many as four Garbodor out in a single game.
However, as effective as this deck turned out to be in the few games of testing I played, I lost interest when accepting that I’d rather not end up in a situation where I burned my $25 entry fee in a local tournament for no payoff! And that’s actually an interesting point I’d like to study at some point: the impact an entry fee or other softer expenses have on deck choice.
In the end, I went with trusty Yveltal. I’ve been using it since it first came out, and it’s single-handedly earned me almost all of my Championship Points from both this season and the last. So why not break it out one last time?
If this list looks familiar, then you’ve probably seen something identical to what’s been played by Azul Garcia Griego, Jimmy Pendarivs, or Michael Pramawat to win their major events. The sole oddball inclusion is Lugia EX. It has the same HP, Resistance, and Weakness as Yveltal EX, and a slightly weaker first attack; however, its Deep Hurricane is incredibly useful. First, it offers me a way to reach higher damage ceilings that I can’t against low-energy threats, primarily Greninjas and Darkrai EX. Second, its secondary effect of discarding a Stadium gives me a tertiary way to rid the field of unfriendly Stadium cards.
Other techs I’ve included to make the Lugia even more dangerous include Giovanni’s Scheme (+20 damage) or Absol ROS (moving three Damage Counters from a previously damaged Pokemon to a vulnerable active). I included neither, which worked against me in a metagame which would turn out to be so heavy in Darkrai, but the deck works just fine.
The Tournament
Most of these ARG tournaments nationwide have been fairly small affairs, and this one was no different. Since this particular ARG had to compete with the Super Bowl, only 21 players total attended. Still, it was a good mix of people in the Houston area, as well as some people from Dallas – four hours away for those unfamiliar with the geography here in Texas.
I took a headcount of the entire field, and here was the divide:
7 Turbo Darkrai variants
3 Yveltal EX/Garbodor decks
2 M Gardevoir
2 Volcanion
2 Greninja
1 M Mewtwo
1 Damage Change Mewtwo EX/Fighting Fury Belt
1 Giratina/Metal techs (!!!)
1 M Scizor
1 M Rayquaza/Jolteon
At this point I was thinking, “Man, I should have used my Zygarde garbage.” Too bad, so bad! When you run decks like Yveltal EX, you are hedging your bets against heavy fluctuations in the metagame. The plus side to always running decks like these is that you are rarely not in contention for winning the whole thing; the down side is that you can frequently find yourself in situations where you are the underdog against every single deck you play against. Obviously it didn’t pan out that way, but I look at this field and think I have a bad matchup against no fewer than 12 of these players. To that extent, I think any high finish was an overperformance on my part.
So, how did I finish? Read on to find out!
Round One: VS M Scizor
Both of us had slow starts, as I was stuck with a Lugia EX turn two Aero Ball against his regular Scizor EX. He drew out of his rut first, using Hoopa’s Scoundrel Ring to set up his M Scizor and bench, but the small amounts of damage with the Lugia EX paid off, as it allowed me to take complete control of the game with Yveltal Breakthrough. After Knocking Out his M Scizor EX, I forced the Hoopa into the active position, and locked him out of the game for the last four prizes, killing the active Hoopa and a benched EX at the same time. (1-0)
Round Two: VS Turbo Darkrai
I drew poorly and got steamrolled! While my first couple of turns were not bad enough to get me benched, there was no way I would be able to come back when he already had nine Darkness Energy on the board. (1-1)
Round Three: VS Volcanion
It seems like every single piece of luck went my way this game. His first turn resulted in a Professor Sycamore which discarded four Fire Energy from his hand. Additionally, both of his attempts to use Pokemon Catcher to bring up my Trubbish or Garbodor with a Float Stone yielded Tails-fails results. Finally, on top of no Abilities, I caught him on a brutal Delinquent play to discard his entire hand. This advance in resources gave me the time I needed to build up a couple very big, dangerous Yveltal EX’s, and I Knocked out his Volcanion EX’s with little problem. (2-1)
Round Four: VS M Gardevoir
M Gardevoir is one of those matchups that should on paper be too brutally difficult for Yveltal to even hope to compete in, yet in practice is actually very winnable. It’s a very methodical process where you chip away at only their attackers with Yveltal Breakthrough, and then close out with a heavily loaded Yveltal EX or Lugia EX. Multiple things can go against you when doing this, particularly well-timed Lysandres or Hawlucha Steam Siege plays to get keep Fright Night from shutting off Gardevoir’s Spirit Links.
However…none of that went against me at all this game. The moment I got out Fright Night via Yveltal Breakthrough, it’s as if the game grinded to a halt on his end. So I then turned my “methodical process” into a “methodical KO-everything-in-sight process”: I Lysandred up a vulnerable Hoopa EX on the bench, and would somehow find myself drawing all six of my Prizes with careful Pitch-Black Spears. Eventually I learned that almost ALL of his switching cards were prized – talk about bad luck! (3-1)
Round Five: VS M Mewtwo
I offered an intentional draw in order to make top eight….which he accepted! (3-1-1)
I finished 5th overall in Standings, but because we were cutting to a top eight, I still had a chance to play for the win…not to mention more packs!
Top Eight: VS Mirror
He ran a mirror list with a much larger emphasis on Yveltal EX, and less on the non-EX attackers. This worked out in my favor, as the whole tempo of the match became favorable for me. In both games, I took great care to spreading as much damage on his side of the board as possible before committing to an Evil Ball or Aero Ball attacker. I also guessed correctly he ran at least one between Olympia (Switch and Heal 30) or Pokemon Center Lady (Heal 6), so I took as many chances as I could to add damage to his EXs beyond these multiples. It paid off big time, as I would frequently find myself in spots where my decision play a Fighting Fury Belt on Yveltal GEN allowed me to Oblivion Wing for an extra ten damage turn one on a Pokemon I guessed would be Olympia’d, only to pay off around turn 10 to win me the game.
Both games more or less played out in this manner, though my Enhanced Hammers were of course huge in keeping his Yveltals under control.
Top Four: VS Turbo Darkrai
Game One – Despite being a completely different Darkrai player, my hand dealt out in a very similar manner to the one in Round Two. While my slow start this game was a bit better, repeated whiffs on Max Elixir coupled with not drawing into Energy pulled me further and further behind. I finally got an Yveltal EX into play and attacking, but it was quickly Knocked Out the next turn.
Game Two – He made the best out of a relatively weak hand, using a combination of two Lysandres and two Escape Ropes to keep my Yveltal Breakthrough from destroying his Yveltal EX tech and Darkrai EX. However, I reversed fortunes this game by being able to set up two “Ball” attackers with little difficulty, and mowed through his EXs with little trouble. He did not get close to an OHKO this game!
Game Three – My heart sinks to see my opening hand: Trubbish, three Max Elixir, a Float Stone, a Super Rod, and a Darkness! Although I top-decked a Professor Sycamore, I regrettably only drew into more unplayable garbage (pun intended), to the point where I had zero playable cards before benching my Shaymin EX! Meanwhile, Christian got out a turn two Darkrai EX dealing big damage, and I got benched by turn three.
I’m not sure if he ended up winning; however, it was an all-Darkrai finals, meaning there’s little guess as to what won.
Prizes and Conclusion
Omg your invited, guyz!
Pictured above is what I got for finishing third. While I still definitely have some reservations about that $25 price tag, my day out in ARG-land was fun, and got me some packs of the latest set…of which I owned none until today. The store was smart to increase the prize pool across the board, and they were really great hosts. I’m looking forward to their upcoming League Challenges and League Cups, which as I understand should have a much better prize payout than ARG!