The Scramble for CP! Tournament Tips and a Glance at BREAKthrough!

Hello everyone, Grant Manley here with another article. Instead of writing about the usual rogue decks or metagame predictions, I am going to go into the nuances of each stage of the Premier Event series with tips on each of them. I will be discussing League Challenges, Cities, States, Regionals, Nationals, and Worlds. In other words, just about everything! Make sure to check out the section on Cities! They’re right around the corner, and you don’t want to miss out on advice to squeeze as many Championship Points out of these tournaments as you can. There’s a lot to these tournaments that players don’t really think about, and I’m going to show you a lot of these small things that can really put you ahead of other players.

These tournaments are somewhat different for each age division, though I will try to remain focused on the Master division; however, a lot of what I cover is still relevant for younger age divisions as well. I’ll try to include some tidbits of information for Seniors that I picked up during my years playing in that division. One thing to note is that I will be talking about these tournaments assuming they are American ones, as those are the only ones I have experience in. Most of what I say will be relevant for international tournaments as well, but Nationals and sometimes Regionals tend to be wildly different in every country. After talking strategy for each of these tournaments, I will also be taking a look at a few cards from BREAKthrough, which is the upcoming set that will be used for Cities.

League Challenges

Let’s start with League Challenges. These grassroot events are held almost everywhere all year long. It isn’t terribly difficult to win one of these tournaments unless you live in a very specific location known for a tough community. I don’t usually take League Challenges as seriously as I should, as they have a potential combined yield of 90 Championship Points (henceforth referred to as CP). Winning six of these is equivalent to the CP yield of second place at a State Championship, which is no small feat. League Challenges are odd because of how diverse they can be. You can have casual players win the whole thing with decks as silly as [card name=”Camerupt-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”29″ c=”name”][/card] and Machamp-EX, and on the other hand see Jason Klaczynski go 1-3-1 or me go 0-3 drop with EeveeBox. Yeah, don’t ask.[cardimg name=”Joltik” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”26″ align=”right” height=”150″ c=”none”][/cardimg]

While League Challenges are rightly viewed as the easiest tournaments, they are ironically the most unforgiving. This is because you almost always have to go X-0, occasionally X-0-1, and rarely X-1 to win. This means that one unplayable opening hand costs you the tournament. [card name=”Jirachi-EX” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] start? Too bad. Went second with lone [card name=”Exeggcute” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”4″ c=”name”][/card] against [card name=”Hypnotoxic Laser” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”123″ c=”custom”]Laser[/card][card name=”Virbank City Gym” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”126″ c=”custom”]Bank[/card]? Sorry, you’re out. Any bit of bad luck costs you harshly. My point is that you need an ultra-consistent deck to minimize your “bad luck.” For the most part, any spare space in your deck should be dedicated towards consistency. Add another drawing Supporter or Pokemon-search card whenever you can. Matchup-specific techs are not desirable, especially if you have no clue whether you will run into the matchup in question.

Sometimes League Challenges are predictable, but I’ve found that most of the time they are not. You don’t want to play a deck that loses to anything even somewhat relevant. At a League Challenge right before Worlds this past year, I built a [card name=”M Manectric-EX” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card] deck that was focused purely on consistency so that I would never dead draw. I ran a thick line of M Manectric-EX with only a single [card name=”Mewtwo-EX” set=”Next Destinies” no=”54″ c=”name”][/card] and a single [card name=”Articuno” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”17″ c=”name”][/card] as backup. While this deck was consistent, I made a mistake in leaving it overly susceptible to Fighting-type decks while going into a completely unknown metagame. I ended up playing against two [card name=”Landorus-EX” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”89″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”54″ c=”name”][/card] decks and a [card name=”Donphan” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”72″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Trevenant” set=”XY” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] deck. Oops.

This is why I have to discourage decks like Night March for League Challenges. Night March is a solid and consistent deck that rips apart some things, but if you face any of the numerous Crobat variants, you are done for. For the current Expanded format, decks such as [card name=”Blastoise” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Keldeo-EX” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”49″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Yveltal-EX” set=”XY” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Darkrai-EX” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] seem like well-rounded plays for League Challenges.

Overall, powerful and consistent decks are great in League Challenges. You don’t want to struggle with random decks and you don’t want to lose because of an unlucky draw. Normally I dislike cookie-cutter meta decks with a passion, but for League Challenges I can make an exception.

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Cities

With our City Championship circuit coming up in about a month and a half, Cities are currently the most relevant tournament type. Cities are nestled in between League Challenges and States in size and CP payout. Cities are perhaps the most important tournament type in the year, and this is because of how many there are and how much CP they give. It seems to me that a great deal of competitive players compete in five to 10 Cities, with this number significantly increased depending on which marathon the player attends. Personally, I’ve attended a steady six Cities for the past few years and don’t always take them too seriously.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, Cities have a best finish limit of four. That means the maximum amount of CP that can be obtained from Cities is 200, quite the score. Due to the attainable quantity of Cities and the somewhat small difficulty level, many competitive players end up with 150-200 CP from these tournaments alone. Marathons are completely different monsters, and I’m going to look at them separately after going over individual Cities. For the purposes of this article, I’m going to assume that Cities are five or six rounds with a top cut of eight, as this is most common in my experience. Of course, you do occasionally have the seven-round Cities or even three to four-round Cities in younger age divisions.

To be honest, it is incredibly easy to make top cut at a Cities. From there, you only have to be better than the seven other people still in contention. Cities are more forgiving than League Challenges. X-1-1 or better often guarantees a spot in the top eight, and competition won’t be much tougher than a League Challenge. However, competition can depend on a variety of factors such as where you live and what other Cities are occurring at the same time. Cities tend to see a wide variety of decks for whatever reason, but with the margin of error being a loss and a tie, you don’t have to have an ultra consistent list with decent matchups across the board. You can afford a loss to that odd Manectric deck or a pairing against the perennial Worlds qualifier. Night March is something I’d be more willing to bring to a City than I would to a League Challenge.

[cardimg name=”Garbodor” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”54″ align=”right” height=”250″ c=”none”][/cardimg]

Most standard meta decks are safe plays to make top cut at a Cities, but to win you’ve got to be lucky with your top cut pairings or have winnable matchups against everything else that showed. One time I went 4-0-1 with an [card name=”Aromatisse” set=”XY” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”M Manectric-EX” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card] toolbox deck that had a good matchup against nearly every other deck present. I coasted to first seed easily, with only one close game against Night March / [card name=”Flareon” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card] during Swiss. Unfortunately, the single [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”54″ c=”name”][/card] in the room managed to squeak in as the only 3-2 and handily 2-0’d me in Top 8. The point is that you can have a great meta call and a solid deck, but sometimes you hit a bad matchup in top cut and there’s nothing you can do about that. The great thing is that there are so many Cities, so if this happens a couple of times then you still have more chances.

Marathons

I should warn you that I’ve never personally attended a marathon event, which is a string of multiple Cities taking place over a week in the same vicinity. I do know many people who have attended these events and have observed the results of these tournaments for the past couple of years. Through secondhand information and observation I am confident that I can put together some useful info.

Marathons attract competitive players like moths to a lamp. This means that Cities as part of a marathon are significantly more difficult than regular, standalone Cities. There are many Cities in a short time period, allowing the metagame to develop drastically and change quickly. First and foremost, it is important to keep up with the trends. What’s winning? What’s seeing the most play? What decks have good matchups against the above decks? To some of you, this is basic stuff, but even you can get ahead of yourself and “over-predict.” Due to the high level of competition, other players will take note of these trends and have a variety of decks ready to play. Marathons are very much a game of prediction rather than perfecting your deck.

Last year, [card name=”Flareon” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card] started being played, which punished [card name=”Virizion-EX” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”9″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Genesect-EX” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] players. This allowed the “Princess Toadstool” deck to see some play. It used [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Malamar-EX” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Aromatisse” set=”XY” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Max Potion” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card] to create a near unwinnable game state for most decks besides Virizion-EX / Genesect-EX. It happened to work wonders against that Flareon deck as well. A less recent example would be Quad [card name=”Sigilyph” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card]. I don’t quite remember the details, but the rogue deck was able to enjoy its 15 minutes of fame because one clever player took a City or two with it in a meta chock full of Pokemon-EX.

Even though it seems like an obvious pitfall to some people, winning decks will continue to see play despite the potential for players to counter it. Don’t play the deck that just won. You’ll probably be facing mirror matches and bad matchups all day. As for popular decks, it depends on their relation to the winning decks concerning whether or not they stick around. One thing is for sure, some marathon days are easier to predict than others.

Marathons are a great place to use specific techs and risky decks, though that might just be my opinion because I typically favor risky decks. I imagine that techs are a huge part of marathons even though I’ve never personally observed them. If there’s a tech for any deck that’s being played, use it! Inclusions of Virizion-EX or even Genesect-EX would have made life more bearable for the aforementioned Flareon deck if it happened to face Toad / Aromatisse. Counter-meta decks can be one-hit wonders if used correctly. If the current Expanded format was used for a marathon, I’d have no trouble bringing [card name=”M Manectric-EX” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Leafeon” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] (with some sort of [card name=”Archeops” set=”Noble Victories” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card] counter). I’ll take that highly favorable matchup against [card name=”Blastoise” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Yveltal-EX” set=”XY” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card] even if it means losing to everything else, though I wouldn’t dare make that gamble at a Regional. If you correctly identify a few dominant decks, you get an easy score of 50 CP. If not, you learned for the next day and you still have some Cities left.

The last thing I’ll leave you with is a warning not to over-predict. Don’t get carried away and play [card name=”Donphan” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”72″ c=”name”][/card] with the hope that players will use M Manectric-EX to counter the Yveltal-EX to counter the [card name=”Gengar-EX” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”34″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Trevenant” set=”XY” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] that just won, especially with a nigh-unwinnable matchup against Gengar and the always-iffy Yveltal matchup. Of course, I’m not saying that Gengar will win, this is just an example. To sum it up, try to predict the decks being played and bring a favorable deck or a deck with appropriate techs, but don’t overthink it.

States

Historically, my best performances have always been State Championships. These are where I bust out the rogue decks that many players struggle to deal with. I can’t bring myself to recommend meta decks for these tournaments, but I do understand that crazy effective rogue decks don’t magically appear to anyone who wants to make one. One thing to note is that the popular decks and level of predictability shifts depending on the week of play. At the same time, the meta doesn’t evolve as rapidly as marathons because there are only four days of play and they are a week apart from each other. Sometimes the States season has three weekends and sometimes four. The meta tends to be varied and diverse on the first two weekends and more predictable on the last two. This is why my [card name=”Virizion-EX” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”9″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Genesect-EX” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Crobat” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] deck was able to win a week four State, defeating a few [card name=”Primal Kyogre-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Exeggutor” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”5″ c=”name”][/card] decks along the way.[cardimg name=”Exeggutor” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”5″ align=”right” height=”200″ c=”none”][/cardimg]

Due to the unpredictable nature of week one States which usually directly follow a new set’s release, I recommend testing for week one States more than any other tournament (besides perhaps Nationals and Worlds). Test a variety of decks and choose the one that you are most comfortable with, as long as it has good testing results of course. This is what I did last year and it led me to [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Crawdaunt” set=”Primal Clash” no=”92″ c=”name”][/card], with which I tested many games and became well-acquainted. Being prepared is the best way to succeed at week one States in my experience. Sometimes the meta won’t work out for your deck choice, but that can be blamed on bad luck because it is nearly impossible to predict exact week one metagames. For week two States, much of the same applies. Sometimes you want to switch decks or add / change some cards depending on week one results though.

The latter weeks of States are easier to predict due to the slower-moving nature of the meta and an array of results from all regions of the U.S. to analyze. This is why [card name=”M Manectric-EX” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Empoleon” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”29″ c=”name”][/card] was able to have a strong showing last year after [card name=”Exeggutor” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”5″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Yveltal-EX” set=”XY” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card] were being played heavily in some areas, which were favorable matchups for the spiky-haired canine. The latter weeks of States relate to marathon events. You want to predict the decks being played based on what is appearing in nearby areas and react accordingly. Just as you would in a marathon, consider what decks beat the popular decks (like last year’s Manectric) as well. States, like many tournaments in one way or another, seem to be decided by matchups and metagaming. I couldn’t bring myself to play Seismitoad-EX / Crawdaunt later on due to its extremely poor Exeggutor matchup.

Regionals

Disclaimer: I have the worst track record at Regionals than any other tournament levels, but I like to think that this is because of the limited amount of Regionals I actually attend each year. I had a taste of success in the Senior division, and most recently a decent top 32 finish in one of the largest Regional to date (Lancaster, PA), but for the most part my Regional success hasn’t been anything special. Nevertheless, I do have experience playing in them and results to analyze.

Regionals with a new format are often full of the hyped decks. For example, the most recent week one Regionals in Texas and Arizona were full of [card name=”Blastoise” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Yveltal-EX” set=”XY” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card], with a bit of [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] / Giratina-EX and Night March. Besides the lone winning [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Crobat” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] deck and a couple of Vileplumes, the Regionals turned out exactly how I expected them to. However, this doesn’t necessarily carry over to the next week, as I saw firsthand in Lancaster last week. For week one, you want to pick a counter-play to the hyped decks and hope to hit those matchups. I was going to play [card name=”Wobbuffet” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”36″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Sigilyph” set=”Legendary Treasures” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Crobat” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] for week one a couple weeks ago for example. In testing it had a near auto-win against Seismitoad-EX / Giratina-EX, and slightly favorable matchups against [card name=”Yveltal-EX” set=”XY” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Archeops” set=”Noble Victories” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card] and Blastoise. Theoretically it would beat Night March as well. I got cold feet on the neat rogue deck for week two and I’m glad I did.[cardimg name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”106″ align=”left” height=”200″ c=”none”][/cardimg]

Lancaster Regionals saw a field completely dominated by Vespiquen, [card name=”M Manectric-EX” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card], and Yveltal-EX. Yveltal was no surprise to anyone due to its popularity during the first weekend. Why Yveltal carried over and [card name=”Blastoise” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card] didn’t is beyond me. In hindsight, I’d guess it was because of Blastoise’s susceptibility to the easily-teched [card name=”Ghetsis” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”101″ c=”name”][/card]. Vespiquen and [card name=”M Manectric-EX” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”54″ c=”name”][/card] were easy choices to counter Blastoise and Yveltal from the first week, and they took the tournament by storm. [card name=”Donphan” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”72″ c=”name”][/card] / Jolteon would have been an excellent play if it could avoid the sprinkling of Seismitoad-EX decks. Additionally, my friend Carl “Eddie” Sitavi made Top 4 with Seismitoad-EX / Giratina-EX, which was a stellar call. He managed to play against many of the favorable Manectric and Vespiquen decks while barely managing against a couple Yveltal decks all the way to the semi-finals, where he lost to the champion Jimmy O’ Brien due to dead drawing twice. To put it short, expect a mix of the best poised week one decks and their counters for week two of Regionals.

For week three of Regionals this fall, we didn’t see anything new. The successful Tyrantrum-EX and [card name=”Sableye” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”62″ c=”name”][/card] decks were neat, but they had already seen some play. Regionals seem to be a bit different every year, especially when it comes to week three. This makes it difficult to analyze trends. For example, last year we had a Regional season with only two weekends, and another cycle that had Regionals split between two different formats. I’d say for the upcoming Regionals in winter and spring, if we have a similar format as this fall, then we will have similar trends. This fall had a variety of meta decks, and that made it difficult for new and rogue decks to do well over the long tournaments. It seems that these meta decks are a bit scattered in terms of results and popularity across the three weekends, besides [card name=”Yveltal-EX” set=”XY” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card], which consistently put up strong showings. Of course, I wouldn’t expect Yveltal in particular to continue dominating Regionals, but I expect a similarly dominant deck to emerge.

Nationals

Nationals is a game of matchups, prediction, and just “running hot” in general. Over the past three years, I have been fortunate enough to have respectable Nationals runs because I ran into favorable matchups for most of the way. 2013 and 2014 had easily predictable Seniors metagames, and I’m going to illustrate these tournaments to make a point. In 2013 I played a “Big Basics” / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”54″ c=”name”][/card] deck with favorable matchups against the field completely dominated by Plasma and [card name=”Darkrai-EX” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card]. I somehow lost in Top 16 to a Darkrai after defeating numerous other Darkrai decks and Plasma decks exclusively (barring one [card name=”Blastoise” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card]). If I had advanced I would have played against more Darkrai and Plasma decks. In 2014 I played [card name=”Manectric” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”43″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Pyroar” set=”Flashfire” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Landorus-EX” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”89″ c=”name”][/card] and started off 10-0-1 (and finished in the Top 8) by playing against auto-win matchups like Plasma and Yveltal the whole way.

The most hyped decks see the most play at Nationals because they just work. Quite often you see these decks doing well, but the best players use decks that beat them. There is no shortage of examples here. 2012 had John Roberts II use Klinklang with numerous techs to counter the meta all the way to a win. In 2013 we saw the champion Edmund Kuras take a different approach than I did to countering all of the Plasma decks by using the [card name=”Gothitelle” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Accelgor” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] deck that many people had little faith in. In 2014 we had two great anti-meta decks in the finals. Michael Pramawat’s call of [card name=”Pyroar” set=”Flashfire” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Charizard-EX” set=”Flashfire” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card] was only brought down by Brandon Salazar’s unique [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”54″ c=”name”][/card] / Toolbox deck. Of course, there was the [card name=”Wailord-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] deck last Nationals with a highly favorable matchup against most other decks besides arguably [card name=”Bronzong” set=”XY Black Star Promos” no=”XY21″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”M Rayquaza-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”M Manectric-EX” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card]. There are enough examples of anti-meta decks succeeding to justify using them.

Leading up to Nationals, what are the hyped decks? What decks have seen results internationally? What about Canada? Canada’s results tend to hugely impact America’s, especially at 2015’s Nationals. Nobody was concerned about Bronzong until Chase Moloney won Canada with it, and that caused an influx of Metal decks at the American National. In turn, Manectric decks saw heavy play partially due to their highly favorable Metal matchup. The risky decks are the ones that end up winning, so don’t be afraid to bring a rogue, especially if it shows promise from testing. Based on the sheer number of players at Nationals, you are sure to play against many mainstream decks that you can prepare for, especially during the first day. In my opinion, Nationals is the best place to play rogue and underused decks, and this is demonstrated almost every year.

Worlds

Recently, Worlds has been a crapshoot. 2013 wasn’t too hard to figure out and 2012 was the year of [card name=”Darkrai-EX” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card]. In 2014 and 2015 however, I have played against a stunning variety of decks, including unexpected ones. The trend for Worlds seems to be that there is no trend. The tournament turns out differently every year, and it just depends on the format and card pool. My only successful finish at Worlds so far was a Top 4 in Seniors with a Big Basics / [card name=”Max Potion” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card] deck. The main thing I can apply from this is that it was a very solid deck that could deal with just about everything, but with no overwhelmingly favorable matchups. It was also a rogue, which was difficult for players to deal with. I’m glad I picked a solid overall deck, because I ended up playing against eight different decks throughout the tournament, most of which were well equipped to deal with the popular decks. You never know just what you’re going to get at Worlds, so mastering a well-rounded deck is an effective technique.[cardimg name=”Darkrai-EX” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”107″ align=”left” height=”200″ c=”none”][/cardimg]

This was shown not only with my run in Seniors, but also by the two [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Crobat” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] decks in the Top 4 of 2015’s Masters, and the Japanese [card name=”M Kangaskhan-EX” set=”Flashfire” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card] deck which placed in the Top 4 of 2014. After playing Seismitoad-EX / Crobat at Lancaster recently, I can appreciate just how diverse the deck can be when it comes to handling different matchups and Pokemon, albeit sticking to Quaking Punch almost 100 percent of the time. Kangaskhan also seems to me like a great example of a deck to play at Worlds. I was testing a version of it heavily and knew it was a good call, but I decided on Big Basics instead and I am glad that I did.

With the best players giving everything they’ve got and there being all kinds of decks in the room, any finish at any Worlds (at least in recent memory) can be credited to luck in some way. I think Worlds, like Nationals, is a prime tournament to play rogues at. Unlike Nationals, don’t bring “silver bullet” counter-meta decks because the meta is often crazy. If I had brought my [card name=”Manectric” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”43″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Pyroar” set=”Flashfire” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] deck from Nationals to that year’s Worlds, I would have performed poorly for sure.

Tying this back to my earlier point about luck, playing a well-rounded rogue is a way to minimize your luck. If you play an unconventional deck, you reduce luck just because your deck is unique (as long as it’s competent of course). Think about it, if many of the best players are all using the same deck, what is going to dictate the difference in their performances? Of course you see mainstream decks do well at Worlds, but that’s because with so many top players using them, some of them have to succeed! Night March in 2015, [card name=”Virizion-EX” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”9″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Genesect-EX” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] in 2014, Darkrai-EX in 2013 and 2012, the list goes on. But how many players actually used Blastoise this past year? How many ran Kangaskhan in 2014? I haven’t crunched the numbers, but I have to guess that the percentages favor the rogues over the cookie-cutter meta decks. Of course, if you haven’t found an effective rogue, you may as well play a popular deck and hope that the luck goes your way and that you end up at the top of those playing the same deck. If you do go that route, I recommend something wonky to throw people off or improve matchups, because the best players are expecting to face the top tier decks and know how to deal with them.

BREAKthrough

With that, I’ve covered every main type of tournament in the season! I hope you found it useful! Now it’s time to turn our heads and focus on the upcoming set! I’m not going to do a thorough review like Ryan Moorhouse’s excellent one, but rather share some thoughts and opinions on what I believe to be the most influential of the new cards. Overall, the set itself isn’t terribly exciting, barring the sheer number of cards that will appear in the set. For the Cities format, I expect that we can see many of the same decks that succeeded in Standard League Challenges in the XY-AOR format. Unfortunately, the set is not released yet, so some stuff below might become outdated based on what actually turns out to be in the set. Most of it should stay relevant though. That being said, let’s go!

Gallade

There’s no logical reason for me putting Gallade first, but I have been eager to write about it since starting this article. Gallade looks like a powerful and extremely fun card to play around with. It has a mind-blowing combination of a phenomenal typing, attack, and Ability. First off, it is a Fighting type, meaning that it can be played instantly with a use of [card name=”Maxie’s Hidden Ball Trick” set=”Primal Clash” no=”133″ c=”name”][/card]. I don’t expect to see Gallade played with Ralts at all. It also gets the obvious Fighting-type buffs such as [card name=”Fighting Stadium” set=”Furious Fists” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card] and the less case-relevant [card name=”Strong Energy” set=”Furious Fists” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card], as you will mostly be attacking with a [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”111″ c=”name”][/card]. Fighting typing allows it to easily KO [card name=”Manectric-EX” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”23″ c=”name”][/card] and its Mega with the Sensing Blade attack.[cardimg name=”Maxie’s Hidden Ball Trick” set=”Primal Clash” no=”158″ align=”right” height=”200″ c=”none”][/cardimg]

Sensing Blade costs a mere DCE to attack and starts off as a 60 damage attack, and deals 70 more damage if you played a Supporter on the same turn. So you may as well read it as a 130 damage attack for a DCE that happens to OHKO M Manectric-EX lacking Flash Energy. You can easily buff this with [card name=”Muscle Band” set=”XY” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Fighting Stadium” set=”Furious Fists” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card] as well. This would allow an easy 170 damage attack which seriously dents or outright KOs everything.

Now for its Ability, called Premonition. This is a once-per-turn use that allows you to look at the top five cards of your deck and put them back in any order! This has obvious synergy with [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Primal Clash” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card], allowing you to choose what to get and what to discard with Acro Bike. Topdeck control is also handy in general. Knowing and manipulating what you will draw next turn is a nice advantage. Finally, there is the obvious use of [card name=”Ether” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] as an effective Energy accelerator in Expanded as well. Did I mention that Gallade has a whopping 150 HP and is a non-EX?!

Gallade can most definitely be splashed into most decks that run Maxie, and I think it can be its own deck in addition. As long as you can stream Maxie efficiently — which isn’t as daunting a task as it seems — Gallade can function as a main attacker. You can play like other non-EX decks like Vespiquen and Night March, with their strategies of trading evenly against non-EXs and favorably against EXs. Gallade, however, comes with the high HP and nifty Premonition Ability that other non-EX decks lack. I think Gallade will make a splash in tournaments and would be surprised if I turned out to be wrong on this one.

M Mewtwo-EX (Y Form)

M Mewtwo-EX is a more powerful version of [card name=”Mewtwo-EX” set=”Next Destinies” no=”54″ c=”name”][/card], and that means a lot to those of us who remember the Basic’s impact on the game in 2012. Steve Guthrie recently posted an article all about this card, and I recommend checking it out. I have some thoughts of my own to add as well.

M Mewtwo-EX is a Mega with a vanilla 210 HP (for Mega standards), but this is still bulky. Its lone attack is Psychic Infinity, and it costs two Colorless Energy to use. It deals 10 damage plus 30 more damage for each Energy on both Active Pokemon, and doesn’t apply Weakness. When you combine this with [card name=”Mega Turbo” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”111″ c=”name”][/card], and the Energy cards already on your opponent’s Active Pokemon, it becomes easy to deal substantial amounts of damage with Psychic Infinity. This is an incredibly powerful and bulky card that I think will see play in Standard, and possibly Expanded as well.

Since M Mewtwo-EX requires only Colorless Energy, you can play it with any type of Energy! This means you can tech just about anything in a Mewtwo deck, and you can slide a 2-2 line of Mewtwo with two Mewtwo Spirit Link into most decks for an alternate attacker that can deal some damage. Steve mentioned using Mewtwo with [card name=”Darkness Energy” set=”XY” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] and Zoroark from BREAKthrough, and I would take this one step further by running a full playset of [card name=”Shadow Circle” set=”XY” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card] instead of [card name=”Dimension Valley” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] to improve the otherwise unwinnable Night March matchup. I also think [card name=”Mew-EX” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] would be a decent inclusion to Mewtwo decks in Expanded. While you can’t use Mega Turbo to power up Mew, you don’t have to play as many Megas down either. Even playing just one or two Mew-EX could save you the trouble of getting out an extra Mega. Of course, you would only use Mew in situations where you don’t immediately need or have Mega Turbo, and when you don’t require M Mewtwo-EX’s massive HP.

Dodrio[cardimg name=”Dodrio” set=”Undaunted” no=”11″ align=”right” height=”200″ c=”none”][/cardimg]

The most obvious use for Dodrio that I see is a welcome addition to Vileplume decks, as it helps with Vilplume’s biggest problem. Dodrio reduces Vileplume’s Retreat Cost from three to one, alleviating the need for Vileplume decks to run multiple copies of [card name=”AZ” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card] to get Vileplume out of the Active spot. If Vileplume is [card name=”Lysandre” set=”Flashfire” no=”90″ c=”custom”]Lysandre’d[/card] while Dodrio is in play, all you have to do is attach one Energy and retreat it. I wish Dodrio was a Basic Pokemon, but as it stands, [card name=”Float Stone” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] looks to be the superior option in decks that don’t have Vileplume and still want to retreat for free.

Octillery

I don’t have too much to say about this card. It’s receiving some amount of hype because of how similar its Ability is to the omnipresent [card name=”Shaymin-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card]’s Set Up. Abyss Hand allows you to draw until you have five cards in hand, and it doesn’t limit this to when it comes into play like Shaymin does. You can use the Ability turn after turn for added draw power. I expect many decks will try to fit in a 1-1 line of Octillery or one Octillery and one [card name=”Archie’s Ace in the Hole” set=”Primal Clash” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card]. Two cards is a minimal investment for such a great effect. [card name=”Electrode” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] was a weaker version of Octillery, and it still saw some play in its time.

Zoroark

Here we have yet another Stage 1. Zoroark looks full of potential. Zoroark’s Impersonate Ability is exactly like [card name=”Keldeo-EX” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”49″ c=”name”][/card]’s Rush In. I don’t know if its Ability will make Metal decks like Tyrantrum-EX viable in Standard, because it is a Stage 1 which isn’t always easy to get into play consistently unless you’re running a thick line. It’s worth a shot, and minimal testing should reveal whether or not Zoroark can function as Keldeo-EX in Standard. Its attack allows Zoroark to pull its weight as a heavy hitter even in decks intending to use it mostly for the Ability. Mind Jack reminds me of [card name=”Absol” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card], but it does 10 damage plus 30 more for each Pokemon on your opponent’s Bench. Like M Mewtwo-EX, this powerful attack requires only a [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”111″ c=”name”][/card] to use! I don’t know how popular Zoroark will be, but I would be surprised it never saw play.

Assault Vest

[cardimg name=”M Rayquaza-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”76″ align=”right” height=”250″ c=”none”][/cardimg]

I am hyping this card to no end. I think it will be hugely popular and I plan on using it for sure. Assault Vest is a Tool that reduces 40 damage from any Pokemon with Special Energy attached. I can see it being useful for Megas to survive even more attacks than normal, at the price of forgoing Spirit Links. 210 HP Megas can now survive full powered Emerald Break attacks from [card name=”M Rayquaza-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card] and makes life for Night March and Vespiquen significantly more difficult. Special Energy are extremely prevalent in both Standard and Expanded right now, especially with a Special Energy now dedicated to each type besides Water. With Assault Vest, you can bet you will make Rayquaza players rather, ah, “saulty.”

The other Trainers in the set are either reprints or rather underwhelming, so I don’t see the need to go over them. I like the direction that cards like Parallel City and Giovanni’s Scheme indicate, but the cards themselves don’t seem great to me.

Conclusion

With Cities and BREAKthrough right around the corner, we are about to really into the new season after the Fall Regionals warm-up. I am excited to try all kinds of new things. In the tournament lull between Regionals and Cities, try to become acquainted with all of the popular decks (in both Standard and Expanded preferably), so that you will be comfortable playing different decks on the fly. Cities require adaption to different metagames and typically you need to play various decks to succeed at them. Of course, you also want to be well-versed in matchups to improve your odds of winning.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Thanks for checking out my article! Make sure to leave a comment on this article or post in the Subscriber’s Secret Hideout. I love to hear what you guys think about my article. Good luck at Cities!

~Grant Manley

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