Preparing When You Can’t Playtest — A Guide for the Busy and Bored

Editor note:

Unfortunately we were unable to get this article up before Toronto however the vast majority of this article is written as a very general guide for all tournaments. We apologize for any inconvenience!

[cardimg name=”Ultra Necrozma-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”127″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Hello again! It’s been months now since the release of Ultra Prism, and we are finally coming to the end of what has been a thoroughly interesting BKT – ULP format. After seven Regional Championships, eleven Special Events, and the Latin American International Championship, we’ve arrived at the final weekend of tournaments before Forbidden Light becomes official! There may have been plenty of exciting decks to have performed well over the tournaments of this format, but it’s perfectly understandable if you don’t care about any of them! After all, Forbidden Light is preparing to bring with it plenty of exciting new concepts, including potentially great cards in [card name=”Ultra Necrozma-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”127″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Zygarde-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Greninja-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Beast Ring” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card], and more!

While it may be easy to look ahead to the upcoming excitement of the new set, for many of us there is still one major event that remains: the Toronto Regional Championships. Even for those who are not attending the Regionals, vital League Cups and Challenges remain, ever-important sources of points for those looking to bolster there chances of obtaining that Worlds invite. The idea of trying to playtest for this last week of events may sound rather boring, and can be easy to ignore, particularly for those attending a future Regional Championship where Forbidden Light will be legal (such as in Roanoke or Madison). So, for this article, I’ll be writing about what to do if you haven’t had time to playtest for Toronto, whether by choice, or by chance. This tends to be a rather common scenario: there’s a major tournament ahead, but you haven’t had time to practice for it! While there are tons and tons of players extolling playtesting as the key to success (and frankly, it is incredibly important), reality also means that there are plenty of times where adequate playtesting simply isn’t an option. Perhaps you’ve been busy with work, or with school. Maybe you’ve gotten sick, or something’s come up that’s been taking away your free time. You know, when that weird, non-Pokemon related part of your life gets in the way of all of your planned testing and practicing. Alternatively, you could just be bored with the format, especially at the end when you could instead be testing out exciting new cards and concepts.

So, what should you do when you find yourself in that situation, when you haven’t had much time for playtesting, need to make a last-minute deck decision, and yet want to have the best chance of winning? Read on, and I’ll give you my approaches to solving this dilemma, some solid last-minute decklists, and more!

In addition to being useful for those players in that unfortunate scenario, this article’s advice is also excellent advice for any Junior / Senior player, particularly those who are looking to step up for the first time into the competitive side of the game. For younger players in particular, constant deck-changes or concept introduction can be difficult to grasp, and attempts to force such changes in an effort to better be prepared for the meta can easily backfire. By accounting for the increased learning time for newer players, you can avoid such pitfalls, and instead give them the best chance for success, even at times when they may seem under-prepared. For both the bored Master and the excited new Junior, the first piece of advice I would give is:

Stick With What You Know

[cardimg name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”Steam Siege” no=”114″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This seems fairly obvious, but it can also be one of the hardest concepts to stay with, especially when you want to try and get ahead of and plan for the format that you’re going to be playing in. That said, for players with limited time for playtesting, sticking to a well-established concept can do wonders for their tournament results. It’s much easier to climb a mountain if you start near the top, as opposed to the bottom. Likewise, it’s much easier to master a Pokemon deck if you start with a deck you already know incredibly well! Rather than constantly switching and having to start learning matchups from scratch, you can perform much better if you only have to learn matchups against the few new decks that pop up with each new tournament or set release. If you’re light on time, this can be a huge difference; rather than only being able to learn some of your matchups at a shallow level, you can instead focus on those newer matchups, and thus master them to a much deeper level than you would otherwise be able to. When added to your accumulated deck knowledge, this means that rather than knowing all matchups only decently, you’ll instead be able to know pretty much every matchup inside and out. For junior players, this strategy also allows you to hammer home more complex strategies that may otherwise be lost in the effort to grasp a new deck. In addition to knowing their matchups better, this will also improve their understanding of their own deck, and concepts of the game as a whole! When my younger brothers and myself were first learning how to play competitively, we rarely switched decks, for this very reason. While it may be very tempting to try and push them to the newest tier-1 deck, particularly in cases where their current deck has become less competitive or is being targeted by other players, the benefits of doing so may not be worth it if they can’t adequately grasp the new concept quickly enough.

Likewise, if you’ve been playtesting a lot with a particular deck, don’t make a last-minute switch to a new, exciting concept unless you can put in the time to adequately learn the new deck. Rather, go with the choice that you know well. Even if the hot new deck might be a better meta call, those advantages can be easily negated if you don’t know the best way to approach certain matchups, or certain little tricks and plays that can be critical to that deck’s success. In many situations, making a late deck switch to an untested deck can be actively detrimental, since you lose those aforementioned advantages that you would otherwise have with your other, tested option. If you’ve been playing one deck for the past few months, stick with it for the last week! Many top players consistently stick to their particular deck of choice – prominent examples include Xander Pero with Espeon/Garbodor and Tord Reklev with Zoroark — so you shouldn’t think that you have to switch constantly in order to have success.

In my own experience, mastering and continuing with a single deck concept was critical to being able to maintain a decent level of competitiveness during times where my playtesting was sparse or nonexistent. This was the case for my first few years of college; with no car, not much time to playtest, and plenty of other distractions (such as, you know, going to college), there was no way that I was going to be able to switch from deck to deck and still remain a competitive player. So, rather than fruitlessly attempt to do so, I had one deck that I would play whenever I went to a tournament.

During that time, my deck of choice was Plasma, first as a Colorless-based variant, then later as the popular deck TDK. (For those unfamiliar with it, these decks utilized Team Plasma Pokemon such as [card name=”Thundurus-EX” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”38″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Kyurem” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Deoxys-EX” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Absol” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Tornadus-EX” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card], while taking advantage of cards designed to benefit them such as [card name=”Colress Machine” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Team Plasma Ball” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card].) This was my go-to deck since its release, pretty much up until it became completely outpaced in the format (around the time of Phantom Forces). Over two or so years of playing the deck, I was able to get back-to-back Top 64 finishes at US Nationals, a Top 8 Regionals finish, a first place State Championship finish, as well as some competitive finishes in other events. That success, while modest in comparison to some of the heavyweights of the time, was certainly enough to keep me happy and competitive, despite never switching decks during that time. While my success certainly went up and down with the deck’s spot in the meta, I was able to have a chance just about every time I played. The main trick was that I knew how to play Plasma very well, and so was able to eventually pick up the strategies for dealing with certain matchups, despite the lack of outside playtesting.

Once you get to the point that you know your own deck’s strategies inside and out, it can be remarkably easy to adapt it to account for the changes in popularity and makeup of other decks. With enough tournament play, you’ll have plenty of knowledge of your deck’s strengths and weaknesses. From there, you can look at tournament results and set releases, acknowledge the most popular and best performing decks, and from there adjust your list to best fit into the expected format. Most of the time, you likely won’t change much at all; the exceptions to that often come after the release of new sets and/or the introduction of new cards into the format (such as promos).

If this is you, or you expect to find yourself in a similar scenario, picking a deck to stick with over the next while is a great step to remaining competitive. You more than likely have an idea of your own play-style and strengths and weaknesses as a player – pick a deck that adapts to those attributes.

Planning Ahead

[cardimg name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM84″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

For the long-term, it’s often best to plan ahead if possible. That is, if you have a feeling that a particular deck will remain competitive not just for the near future, but for the long-term as well, that deck would be a great pick as your go-to deck. These concepts can often be apparent when Pokemon seemingly “gives you” an archetype in a set (or over several), such as they did for Plasma Pokemon back in the day. Other great examples of that include [card name=”Virizion-EX” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”9″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Genesect-EX” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] decks (which was the “obvious” archetype from Plasma Blast) or SP decks (back in the Diamond/Pearl era). Whenever a deck seems overwhelmingly strong, it also is more than likely to stick around for a while, and thus makes a good candidate for a long-term deck. Bad choices for this include “meta-call” decks or decks which have obvious weaknesses in upcoming sets. Rotations are also something to be well-aware of – you don’t want to pick a deck if the main attacker is going to be gone in September! Likewise, picking a deck immediately after a rotation or right after a new deck comes out can maximize your time to use it. Currently, [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] and Ultra Beast based decks seem well-positioned for the long term, other possible choices include VikaBulu and [card name=”Gardevoir-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] decks. In Expanded, you don’t have to worry about that rotation, just the occasional ban. Decks such as [card name=”Trevenant” set=”XY” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] have been around for years now, and as such many expanded decks can be maintained in your arsenal for as long as they remain viable.

Even if you aren’t necessarily going to find yourself in a long-term playtesting drought, you can still utilize this idea in the short-term as well. For those of you who have been more than happy to ignore the current format in favor of the more exciting Forbidden Light meta, another strategy you can take is to use this weekend as a pseudo-testing ground for your future deck. What you can do, if you know what you want to try and do after this weekend, is to play the analogous deck for this weekend’s events, since much of the gameplay and strategy will be the same. This strategy will work best with decks such as [card name=”Espeon-GX” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card]; that is, decks which already exist in our current meta, but also look to be highly competitive once the next set becomes legal. This also works in reverse; if you know you won’t have too much time to test the Forbidden Light cards, you can stick to one of these decks, and thus not have to replicate your testing with a new deck.

[premium]

Take Advantage of Available Resources

Another important skill for those lacking in time, is to make the most of the Pokemon-based resources you have at your disposal. For the most part, these resources — be them decklists, deck advice, or strategy advice — will come from other members of the Pokemon community. If you know someone who’s great at deckbuilding, don’t try and blindly put together your own list – use one of theirs! Likewise, plenty of players are more than happy to give advice (myself included!), and so asking questions to better grasp particular strategies or decisions can go a long way in improving your in-game play, especially if you don’t have adequate time to play matchups yourself.

As a reader of this article, you also have a pretty great advantage in terms of resources: you’re subscribed to the PokeBeach Premium Article Program! Alright, shameless self-promotion aside, these articles are actually great for providing decklists and strategy before a tournament. These tend to work best if you’ve already been sticking with a particular deck, as they can build on your existing knowledge, and provide yet another perspective of builds and matchup approaches. These resources are also excellent for learning the strengths and weaknesses of new decks (such as those that come out when a new set releases), which can likewise give you insight into how your deck can best approach a matchup which you may not have even known existed! Overall, the more information you can gather, the better your chances will be once it comes time for the tournament.

Simplicity

[cardimg name=”Ho-Oh-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”131″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Here is some pretty important advice, a principle that I feel is applicable to pretty much every tournament you go to:

If you are deciding between two decks for a tournament, and consider them to have an equal chance to win, play the deck that is more simple.

That advice was given to me many years ago, when I heard it from the great Colin Moll, and is a principle that I believe can make a huge difference in your results. The logic behind it is as follows; by playing a simpler deck, your decision tree will be smaller, which means that you will have fewer possibilities to make mistakes. Over the course of a long tournament, fewer opportunities to make mistakes will naturally mean that you make fewer mistakes overall, which will lead to better results. So, if you’ve got to pick between two otherwise equal decks, the simpler one will give you the best chance of winning.

Given the rather grueling nature of modern Regional Championships, I would argue that simplicity is more important than ever. The following scenario occurs at pretty much every Regional: It’s round 9. You’ve arrived at the tournament early in the morning, it’s now late evening, well over 12 hours later. You’ve played 20+ games of Pokemon already, you’ve barely eaten, you’ve been tired since round 5. In that final round, you’ve got the pressure of playing for Championship Points (or, hopefully, a Day 2 slot). You definitely don’t want to misplay, but given the strenuousness of the day, odds are you aren’t going to be at your best, especially if the tournament has been running long. In such a scenario, having a simpler deck can be a tremendous advantage! If you can keep your play clean and misplay-free, and your opponent can’t, that can easily mean the difference between a final-round win or loss. For younger players (particularly Juniors), those difficulties can be harder to overcome (as I certainly have experience with from my younger years of playing). As such, that advantage gained from simplicity can be even more important.

Finally, it’s also worth pointing out that simple =/= bad. Many decks can dominate with a straightforward yet hard-to-beat strategy; excellent examples include [card name=”Durant” set=”Noble Victories” no=”83″ c=”name”][/card] , [card name=”Ho-Oh-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”21″ c=”name”][/card] , and [card name=”Trevenant BREAK” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card]. The first of my last-minute deck options is no different; despite a general strategy that can be explained rather quickly, it has a ton of strength into plenty of matchups!

If you haven’t been able to adequately playtest for Toronto, and are either jumping back into the game, or simply don’t want to play your past deck of choice, I would strongly recommend to play something straightforward. The less mistakes you make, the better you will do!

Some Last-Minute Decks

If you are in the boat of “what do I play”, here are some last-minute decklists and quick guides that you can use. Each of these decks has the advantage of being a relatively simple option for Toronto or your local League Cups, and can be picked up fairly quickly.

20-Energy Buzzwole-GX

This first deck has a bit of a reputation as being a “meme” pick, but it remains strong despite its straightforwardness. In fact, this has become my go-to recommendation for a first-time competitive player. The deck has many advantages for such a role: the strategy is relatively simple and easy to explain, it is incredibly consistent, both in hitting what it needs and in the strategy used from game-to-game, your main attacker is incredibly handsome, and it can be a ton of fun to play! Most importantly though, this deck can also be easily adapted to a more “competitive” version, such as [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card]once the player has a solid grasp of the concepts needed to play this version successfully. Even with its simplicity though, this version has found success, with two Top 32 and one top-64 finish at Regional Championships, despite a low meta share. Here is the decklist that those players have been utilizing:

[decklist name=”20-Energy Buzzwole” amt=”60″ caption=”so handsome” cname=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”137″][pokemon amt=”11″]4x [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”104″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Mew” set=”Fates Collide” no=”29″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”29″]4x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”143″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”Steam Siege” no=”114″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Skyla” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”161″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”162″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”158″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Scorched Earth” set=”Fates Collide” no=”110″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”20″]17x [card name=”Fighting Energy” set=”EX Emerald” no=”106″ c=”deck2″ amt=”17″][/card]3x [card name=”Strong Energy” set=”Fates Collide” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

As you can see, it really is very straightforward. You use Buzzwole-GX and [card name=”Mew” set=”Fates Collide” no=”29″ c=”name”][/card] to attack, use [card name=”Scorched Earth” set=”Fates Collide” no=”110″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card] to provide some minor draw, and maximize your count of [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] to ensure constant access to your supporters. This deck has the goal of successfully using [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] as many times as possible, so that you can easily power up multiple attackers and get to the point where your opponent cannot prevent you from earning knockouts. The ideal strategy for the deck goes something like this:

• Turn 1. Get down your Buzzwole-GX and/or Mew. If going second, use Jet Punch to soften up high-HP Pokemon that would otherwise be out of KO range, or to try and take out some early non-GX basics.
• Turn 2. Hopefully, between last turn and this turn, you’ll have been able to hit multiple Max Elixir, and will have a fully-powered up Buzzwole-GX or two. Bring up a GX Pokemon (if one isn’t already active), and knock it out with Aborption-GX. At the same time, begin to get your second Buzzwole ready to attack.
• If they haven’t knocked out your active Buzzwole-GX, take another knockout with Knuckle Impact, while continuing to set up your bench attackers. If they have, then hopefully your second Buzzwole-GX is ready to go, in which case you can take another knockout anyway. In any case, keep using those Max Elixir to set up more attackers.
• At this point in the game, it may only be a few turns in, but you’ve ideally taken plenty of prizes. Figure out where your last prizes can be taken (often by knocking out something like a Tapu Lele-GX), and do what you need to do to get them.

Easy, right? Just power up Buzzwole-GX with Max Elixir over and over again, and then hit your opponent hard. Against GX-reliant decks, the strategy can be surprisingly difficult to stop. Tricky techs you may have to deal with include [card name=”Mewtwo” set=”Evolutions” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Mew-EX” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card], both of which can easily get return knockouts. Against Mew-EX, you can easily OHKO it with your own Mew (via a [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card] and Jet Punch). Mewtwo is a bit tougher to deal with, but you can try to play around it by not fully powering up your own Buzzwole-GX until you can get a KO.

This deck also works well as a transition deck into the Forbidden Light format, as it gains multiple incredibly strong cards, most notably [card name=”Beast Ring” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Beast Energy Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Diancie Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card]. If you’re looking for a deck that you can start with this week, and stay competitive with next week, Buzzwole is an excellent option.

Anti-Meta Decks

[cardimg name=”Hoopa” set=”Shining Legends” no=”55″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Anti-meta decks, in general, can be wonderful plays if you haven’t had too much time to playtest. These decks are best for this when the counterplay aspect is at its highest. That is, if you can almost always win a particular matchup, such as playing [card name=”Hoopa” set=”Shining Legends” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] into a GX-heavy deck, then that can go a long way in mitigating your playtesting disadvantage. With some luck and the right matchups, an anti-meta deck can carry you very far into a tournament.

Of course, there’s a pretty big problem here. If you haven’t had time to playtest, you likely also haven’t had the time to properly evaluate the current meta, or to figure out the weaknesses of the popular meta decks. So, given that, how are you supposed to know what the right anti-meta call is? The answer here is to do as I said above, and take advantage of your available resources. If you have a trusted friend who is great at making meta calls, follow their advice! Likewise, if you see a number of articles about popular decks, all decks of which have a particularly weak matchup in common, then you know you can hone in on that deck as a possible anti-meta play. In our current format, [card name=”Sylveon-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Glaceon-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”39″ c=”name”][/card], and Hoopa have been the popular go-to anti-meta decks, though each have been downgraded slightly as a consequence of the recent increase in the success of Fighting-Type decks. I’ve discussed Hoopa previously in my previous article; the attacking Hoopa list remains the same – though I would caution about planning on using this deck post-Forbidden Light (as non-GX Fighting types become much more powerful). That said, it is rather simple to play – you simply power up your Hoopa, aim for their non-GX threats, and take full advantage of your Scoundrel Guard to prevent your opponent utilizing their best attackers.

Greninja BREAK

[cardimg name=”Greninja BREAK” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”41″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Despite its notoriety for inconsistency and certain players, [card name=”Greninja” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] remains a favorite of mine, and has been a reliable back-up deck for me for some time now. I include it here not only because it fits the criteria of a simpler deck option (while the late-game can be fairly complicated, the early-game and setup phases are reliably consistent), but also because this is the deck that I was able to learn, adapt, and stick with after Plasma, in order to remain competitive over the 2016 and 2017 seasons. In fact, the bulk of my Championship Points during those years – both years in which I was able to earn an invitation to the World Championships – were earned while playing Greninja. The deck itself has changed plenty since it first came out – initial builds favored cards such as [card name=”Rough Seas” set=”Primal Clash” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Bursting Balloon” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] – but the core concept has remained pretty much the same. Greninja is a deck which utilizes non-EX/GX attackers (to the point that most builds never even included Tapu Lele-GX), and a strong control-based strategy, and is able to make massive comebacks as a result. While it may be reaching the end of its usefulness (Greninja itself is likely to rotate out in September), it still has a spot in the meta and is more than likely to remain viable for the rest of the year.

Throughout its existence as a deck, the early-game strategy has remained pretty much the same:

• Turns 1 and 2, make every effort you can to get out a [card name=”Frogadier” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”39″ c=”name”][/card], with the goal being to use Water Duplicates on turn 2.
• After using Water Duplicates, set up as many [card name=”Greninja” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] as possible, preferably on your bench (as this shields them from potential KOs).
• Get out your [card name=”Greninja BREAK” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card], and start taking control of the game.

The entire goal of the first few turns is SURVIVAL. Greninja is a unique deck in that you can expect your opponent to take an early lead in just about every game, as you sacrifice early [card name=”Froakie” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”38″ c=”name”][/card] and Frogadier in an effort to successfully set up your multiple Greninja. In early versions of this deck, [card name=”Talonflame” set=”Steam Siege” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] was another inclusion, one which took advantage of Greninja’s low basic count and rapidly bolstered your setup and survivability in those games where you were able to start with it. Later (and current) versions of the deck scrapped the Talonflame in favor of a heavier Froakie count, more tech GX Pokemon (such as [card name=”Tapu Fini-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”133″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card]), and more Pokemon search cards such as [card name=”Brooklet Hill” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Evosoda” set=”Generations” no=”62″ c=”name”][/card]. All of these changes had the same effect – to boost consistency – and as such this version of the deck became the dominant one, particularly after strong finishes, first by Xiao Xiao Long, later by other top players.

In the later stages of the game, your attacking strategy can generally be broken down by what kind of deck your opponent is playing. If they are using a deck that is rather reliant on abilities, you want to stick to using Shadow Stitching as much as possible. If they don’t use many abilities, you want to apply extra damage with Moonlight Slash, while saving Shadow Stitching for late-game situations where you need to shut down your opponent’s occasional abilities (such as [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card]’s Wonder Tag or [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card]’s Bloodthirsty Eyes). When using Giant Water Shuriken, you want to aim for your opponent’s threats, particularly those that could be capable of OHKOing your Greninja BREAK (such as a Buzzwole-GX). If they start to attach energy to something, it’s typically a good target.

Here’s the current Greninja list I’ve been using:

[decklist name=”Greninja” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Greninja” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”40″][pokemon amt=”21″]4x [card name=”Froakie” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”38″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Frogadier” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”39″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Greninja” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”40″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Greninja BREAK” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”41″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Staryu” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”25″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Starmie” set=”Evolutions” no=”31″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Tapu Fini-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”133″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Espeon-EX” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”117″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”29″]4x [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”101″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”Steam Siege” no=”114″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”161″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Evosoda” set=”Generations” no=”62″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”162″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”162″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”120″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Brooklet Hill” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”120″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”10″]6x [card name=”Water Energy” set=”EX Emerald” no=”103″ c=”deck2″ amt=”6″][/card]4x [card name=”Splash Energy” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

This list is very similar to (and based on) other top-performing lists from recent Regional Championships. The few “unique” techs I tend to insist on in this deck are the second copy of Staryu, and at least one copy of either Counter Catcher or Guzma. The second copy of Staryu is important in two ways. First, it increases your odds of hitting it early, and thus can speed up your Starmie availability, so that you can more reliably hit those critical Giant Water Shuriken. Second, by including more than one copy, you greatly reduce the odds that a piece of your Starmie line will be prized, thus furthering the deck’s consistency.

The second addition I will not go without is the inclusion of at least one Catcher-type card. In my own experience, playing against Greninja becomes much, much more straightforward when you know that they can only damage what you have active. Playing a catcher card also allows you to buy some time with Shadow Stitching, and is particularly important against decks such as VikaBulu, where a locked-up [card name=”Vikavolt” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM28″ c=”name”][/card] can buy you the turns needed to set up and win the match. While most lists I’ve seen tend to drop Counter Catcher, its benefits can be difficult to play without. Remember, much of the strategy with this deck is to survive!

The rest of the techs in the list – Enhanced Hammer, Field Blower, and the various non-Greninja Pokemon cards – all result from the current meta. With many decks running [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Strong Energy” set=”Fates Collide” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] , Enhanced Hammer is a critical inclusion to help slow down your opponent. Field Blower is another must-have, now that [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] decks (particularly Espeon/Garbodor) are making a return to the format. Espeon-EX helps tremendously as an end-game card against Zoroark and Lycanroc decks, while Tapu Fini-GX easily shuffles away a single enormous threat (such as a Gardevoir-GX).

Like Buzzwole, Greninja is another deck that will remain strong after the Forbidden Light release, as it gains potential inclusions of [card name=”Crasher Wake” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Greninja-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card]. It’s meta-outlook should also improve, as it looks to be favorable against new [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] decks, and it is one of the few decks that can actually play around [card name=”Beast Ring” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] (by utilizing Giant Water Shuriken so that you never go to three or four prizes). While we may unfortunately be losing Greninja come September (when BREAKPoint will likely rotate out of Standard), that still leaves plenty of tournaments in which it will be a more-than-viable option.

[cardimg name=”Beast Ring” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”102″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The Importance of Some Playtesting

Finally, I’d like to stress the importance of what is without a doubt the easiest way to mitigate a lack of playtesting — and that is to actually playtest a bit! That isn’t to say to sacrifice your life to squeeze some in, but rather, to try and make some time for some last-minute, pre-event games. A few games in the hotel the night before an event – or even some solitaire games the morning of – can make a huge difference in your mindset approaching a tournament, and can help you avoid incredibly obvious mistakes that you might otherwise make. Even if you’re really tight for time, you can still perform some simple exercises such as practicing prize-checking or going through the first few turns of setup. Each of these, when combined with your pre-event knowledge, can help you go from lost to focused, giving you that final boost to have a good tournament run.

Conclusion

Well, that’s it for today! My next articles will be prior to the Roanoke and Madison Regional Championships, so if you’re attending either of those, be sure to take a look at them! Hopefully this article has been beneficial, either in helping you to narrow in on that deck choice for the final events before Forbidden Light, or in giving you a fun (yet simple) new deck to play! In any case, if you have any questions, take the advice of this article, use your resources (here and in our PTCG Subscribers’ Hideout), and ask away! Best of luck to you all in the upcoming weeks!

Thanks for reading!

[/premium]