Shady Moves — Updated Banette-GX and How to Protect Yourself from Cheaters

[cardimg name=”Zoroark” set=”Black and White” no=”71″ align=”right” c=”custom”]Watch out for foul play![/cardimg]

Hey there PokeBeach readers, and welcome back. Since my last article, not too much has happened in the metagame; as of writing this article, we are still waiting for the new set, Celestial Storm, to be released so players can begin testing their deck ideas on PTCGO. I have taken it upon myself to print out English scans of the new set in order to practice with proxies; but outside of this, most testing groups have done little-to-no testing up to this point.

While little has changed in the metagame, a lot has happened in all of the other aspects of the game, specifically in regards to cheating. Recently, one of the most notable players in the game was exposed bribing someone for a tournament win, as well as cheating multiple times on stream at different events. With the amount of money pouring into the game, it is imperative to know what to look for in regards to cheating and how to prevent it.

In this article, I will be going over some tricks I use to prevent anyone from cheating against me when I play against them, so hopefully you can adopt these tricks and help prevent cheaters from getting away with their crimes. Unfortunately, there are way too many ways players can cheat, so I will not be covering every way to catch a cheater. However, these tricks are great solutions to common cheating practices.

I will also go over the latest revision of my [card name=”Banette-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] deck from the last article I wrote. I have since updated the list so that it is more streamlined, and it has better matchups against [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] and other top decks.

Cheating: The Dark Underbelly of Pokemon

In the past week, the topic of cheating has been a hot issue in the community. A few different people spoke out Facebook, all writing detailed allegations of players cheating in different ways, such as marked cards and palming cards out of one’s discard. However, the biggest scandal of the week dropped when a player reported that his opponent bribed him to scoop in exchange for money. This is a big no-no; section 8.6.4 in the Penalty Guidelines specifically states that “offering some form of compensation to an opponent for a concession” falls under Unsporting Conduct: Cheating, with the punishment being disqualification. However, since the bribery was exposed months after the tournament, the player who bribed their opponent for a win will likely face some other form of punishment by TPCi.

The most shocking part of this wave of posts is that each one reported a different type of cheating, showing that there are tons of ways unfair players can, and still do, gain an advantage over others at tournaments. It is important to stay vigilant and watch for anything illegal your opponent might be doing.

Always Shuffle Your Opponent’s Deck

One of the oldest and most easily preventable ways of cheating is for your opponent to stack their deck. This can be done in a few ways: they can “declump” their deck, moving around cards that were next to other copies of that card so that they are more distributed in their deck; or they can place certain cards in a position in their deck to guarantee that they will draw those cards when they want them.

This is by far the easiest form of cheating to prevent as well as identify; a player can be caught stacking their deck by just watching them move cards around in their deck during a deck search without taking said cards. In order to counteract this, all you need to do is to randomize their deck yourself. That way, any deck manipulation they did will be cancelled by your legal shuffling.

While you always want to cut or shuffle, I must stress that if you ever see your opponent doing fishy deck movements during their searches, do not cut their deck. Cutting your opponent’s deck can be a dangerous game; if you constantly cut your opponent’s deck to the same place every time, they can catch this and start stacking the cards they want to draw so that when you cut their deck it will show up at the top. As such, always, and I mean always, shuffle your opponent’s deck. The extra minute or two you spend shuffling during a match is worth it if that means that you can prevent yourself from losing a game unfairly.

Keep a Close Eye on the Clock

One of the lesser talked about forms of cheating that I believe occurs far too often is the manipulation of the clock. Each match of Pokemon is 50 minutes long, and many people do not treat those 50 minutes as preciously as they should. Some players have even made a habit out of playing the clock to gain favorable positions and match outcomes that otherwise would not have happened if the match was untimed.

Keeping track of both the clock and your opponent’s pace of play is incredibly important, especially if you believe that your opponent is taking additional time for their plays in order to illegally stall.

When watching for slow play, it is important to distinguish between your opponent slowing down to think through one or two crucial plays and constantly slow playing to gain a time advantage. You can distinguish this difference by watching your opponent’s pace of play the entire match. If you see they only slow down for a few actions, you have nothing to worry about. However, if you suddenly notice a large shift in their pace of play for more than just a few actions, your opponent is likely trying to game the clock and you should take action.

The best way to address this is to IMMEDIATELY call a judge over. In the Pokemon rule book, it states that each action should be given 15 seconds; a competent judge should enforce this while watching your game. The sooner you call a judge over after recognizing slow play, the less chances you will give your opponent to slow play against you. Even if you ask your opponent to speed up, they can choose to ignore that request to no repercussions. However, if you ask them to speed up while a judge is watching, they are much more likely to comply with your request so as to not get called for a slow play penalty, which can be a detrimental time extension that would kill the slow player’s chance at victory.

If you’re looking for more advice on how to handle slow playing, I highly recommending reading this article by John Kettler. It goes into more detail on different types of scenarios where your opponent is playing slowly. It’s a great read.

Pay Attention to the Different Card Arts Your Opponent Plays

[cardimg name=”Warp Energy” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”123″ align=”right” c=”custom”]Warped Warp Energy?[/cardimg]

The biggest thing to come out of all of the cheating scandals from this past week is that it is incredibly important to pay attention to what card art your opponent is playing. This is probably the hardest form of cheating to catch, as technically the player is not breaking any rules by playing different card arts as long as all of them are legal for play. However, not all cards were made equally, and some can give your opponent an advantage if they are trying to take advantage of it.

For example, your opponent could be only playing full art/holo Supporters, and everything else non-holo. Full art cards and holos warp, so if that player has a Supporter prized, they can notice that one of their Prizes is warped and know exactly where one of their Prize cards is. Another example of cards that are known to warp are Heart Gold and Soul Silver and early Black and White era reverse holos. Some cards that are notorious for their massive warping that are seeing play or will see play in the upcoming format are reverse holo [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”103″ c=”from”][/card], reverse holo [card name=”Copycat” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”90″ c=”from”][/card], and reverse holo [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Black and White” no=”101″ c=”from”][/card].

One of the easiest ways someone can use warped card arts to their advantage is to take their prize cards out of order. If we take the previous example we were using, let’s say the player sees that one of their full art Supporters is in his Prize cards. If that player has a hand with no Supporters when they takes their Prizes, that player could use their knowledge of what cards in their list are warped and take their warped Prize, even if it is not the next Prize card that they would normally take. While the above scenario is one of the most blatant forms of cheating that one can do when using different card arts, most are a lot more subtle and hard to identify. For example, said player using full art Supporters might notice that their top deck for next turn is significantly warped. That player now has knowledge that they shouldn’t have of their top deck for next turn, giving them additional information they can use to calculate their line of play for the turn.

While this form of cheating might seem difficult to catch compared to the others, there are still some ways you can look for it when playing. First, when your opponent is setting up, watch their deck to see whether or not some cards are noticeably more warped than others. Then, during the match, take a look at your opponent’s discard pile near the end of game one and try to figure out whether any of your opponent’s significantly warped cards have a pattern to them, such as the full art Supporter pattern that I mentioned up above. Now, if you have noticed that there is a pattern to some of the card arts that make them distinguishable, watch your opponent like a hawk during the remainder of the match to see whether or not they take Prizes out of order or top deck said marked card(s) in important scenarios where it would otherwise be unlikely for them to get it.

Unless you can 100% prove during your match that there was a pattern of marked cards, you usually will not be able to call a judge over and prove your case. However, you should absolutely tell a judge after the match about the pattern you noticed. While judges cannot retroactively change your match outcome based on your information, they will almost certainly be watching that player for the rest of the tournament to see whether your opponent uses their different card arts to their advantage during the rest of the tournament. If they can establish a pattern of usage of this information, they will take action and disqualify said player from the tournament.

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Banette-GX 2.0

I have done a good amount of testing with [card name=”Banette-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] since my last article. Unfortunately, it was not as much as I would have done if the cards were released on PTCGO, as coordinating with friends to test in person is much more difficult to do than hopping online to playtest. However, while testing, I have noticed some flaws in the deck and took the time to make the list much more streamlined.

If you haven’t read my first article about Banette-GX, I highly recommend you check that out here before reading the rest of this article. There, I go over the core strategy of the deck and the purpose behind many of the key cards. Some of the card counts in this deck may confuse you unless you’ve read that article.

[decklist name=”Banette Spread” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Oricorio” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”46″][pokemon amt=”17″]3x [card name=”Banette-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”66″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Shuppet” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”63″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Hoopa” set=”Steam Siege” no=”51″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”155″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Espeon-EX” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”117″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Sudowoodo” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”67″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Tapu Lele” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”94″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”46″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”35″]4x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”Steam Siege” no=”114″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”143″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”TV Reporter” set=”EX Dragon Frontiers” no=”82″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”101″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”142″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”162″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”161″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”145″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Float Stone” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”149″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Shrine of Punishment” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”143″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”8″]3x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”EX Emerald” no=”105″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Rainbow Energy” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Counter Energy” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

3-3 Banette-GX

First off, I would like to explain why I play the 60 HP [card name=”Shuppet” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”64″ c=”name”][/card]. While the Confusion attack on the 50 HP [card name=”Shuppet” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] is strong, the extra HP is important versus Buzzwole decks; Buzzwole can easily hit 70 damage to Knock Out the 50 HP Shuppet, but has to hit their one-of [card name=”Beast Energy Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card] and/or get their [card name=”Regirock-EX” set=”Fates Collide” no=”43″ c=”name”][/card] into play to Knock Out the 60 HP version. Since you win if you set up, I felt it was much safer to play the 60 HP Shuppet to ensure I can evolve into my Banettes and win the matchup.

I have dropped the Banette-GX line from a 4-4 to a 3-3. This was done after testing versus three archetypes expected for Worlds: [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM84″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card]. In all of those matchups, I found myself never needing the fourth Banette-GX or Shuppet.

Versus Buzzwole, as long as I set up consistently, I was beating them without the additional Banette-GX line. Versus Zoroark-GX, I was rarely using Banette-GX until I needed to move a crucial damage counter to take a Knock Out by devolving their Zoroark-GX with my [card name=”Espeon-EX” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card]. Otherwise, it was a complete liability, as it was a free two Prizes if they ever brought it into the Active due to its Dark-type Weakness. As for Rayquaza-GX, this was my least tested matchup of the three. In the matches I played I usually used [card name=”Tapu Lele” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card] for two of my Prizes and then Banette-GX would clean up the rest. It was not necessary to play a full 4-4 line.

When creating this deck, I thought Banette-GX was going to be a key component in every single matchup; I now realize that is not the case. I still consider it a focal point of the deck, but after playing a few games, it was not enough of a focal point to justify eight slots in the list when I was looking to include some other important cards to shore up some otherwise iffy matchups.

Four Hoopa, Zero Tapu Koko

[cardimg name=”Hoopa” set=”Steam Siege” no=”51″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This is the biggest change to the deck. Originally, after my first testing session with Banette-GX versus Zoroark-GX, I felt as if the matchup was fine with the list I had built. While I did recognize that [card name=”Hoopa” set=”Steam Siege” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] was a better attacker than [card name=”Tapu Koko” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM30″ c=”name”][/card]  against Zoroark, I still felt as if Tapu Koko provided better value due to the higher amount of spread damage it could inflict. However, after doing some more testing, I realized that the additional HP that Hoopa had was far more valuable than the additional spread damage and free Retreat Cost that Tapu Koko offered. The increase in HP allows it to survive a Riotous Beating from Zoroark-GX without a damage modifier like [card name=”Reverse Valley” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”110″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Professor Kukui” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card], It was clear to me that the games I won versus Zoroark-GX were games where they could not get a massive Prize lead early on. This scenario comes up far less often than it would if I played Tapu Koko. While the additional spread damage and free Retreat Cost were nice, I am afraid of Zoroark-GX headed into Worlds and the Nashville Open, so I have prioritized that as a matchup I must shore up in any way possible.

One Sudowoodo and One Buzzwole

I included [card name=”Counter Energy” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Sudowoodo” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card] to ensure that the Zoroark-GX matchup is at worst a 50-50. Since this is a spread deck, Counter Energy should be active for as long as you need Sudowoodo to take a return Knock Out on Zoroark-GX even if they are not at four Prizes.

If they are at four Prize cards, [card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] can come in with either a [card name=”Rainbow Energy” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card] or a Counter Energy and take an easy Knock Out. Since we run both we can use Swing Around, giving us another solid one-Prize attacker that is strong not just versus Zoroark-GX decks but overall one of the best cards in the format.

If you are worried about facing Zoroark-GX decks, I would suggest running this Counter Energy package to shore up that matchup. Otherwise, you risk falling behind on your spread damage and not having any response for a snowballing Zoroark-GX deck.

One Oricorio

I would like to apologize for both failing to mention why I included this card in my list, and for falsely tagging it in my list as [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”56″ c=”from”][/card] in my last article. The correct Oricorio for this list is [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”55″ c=”from”][/card]. It deals 30 damage to all Pokemon-GX/EX on the field, including yours.

This is incredibly powerful versus Zoroark-GX decks. You only need one additional damage spread with Hoopa plus one turn of [card name=”Shrine of Punishment” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card] damage to be able to devolve their Zoroark-GX for a Knock Out. If you attacked with Hoopa instead, you would need two ticks of Shrine of Punishment damage, or an additional attack, before their Zoroark-GX can be devolved for the Knock Out. While it may seem like damaging your own Pokemon is a significant downside, you do not want to evolve your Shuppet into [card name=”Banette-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] until absolutely necessary in this matchup anyway, and even if you do damage yourself you can always use Shady Move.

Finally, Oricorio has Fighting-type Resistance. While this may not seem important considering how easy the Buzzwole matchup is for this deck already, it is never a bad thing to have a Resistance to one of the strongest and most played decks in the format, especially if you have a poor start and need a Pokemon to stall behind.

Three TV Reporter

[cardimg name=”TV Reporter” set=”EX Dragon Frontiers” no=”82″ align=”right” c=”custom”]This really is 2007![/cardimg]

I noticed when playing my first Banette-GX list that it was difficult for me to get Supporters into the discard pile to deal significant damage early on. That is not always necessary, considering that this deck has a significant spread component. However, it is important to attack with Banette-GX as soon as possible in the Buzzwole matchup. I took a page out of [card name=”Banette ex” set=”EX Legend Maker” no=”85″ c=”name”][/card] builds from around 2007 and added in [card name=”TV Reporter” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”149″ c=”name”][/card]. This card gives the deck some form of draw while giving me another way of getting Supporters into the discard. 

Two Float Stone

One question you might have after comparing this list to my last one is “if you cut the Tapu Koko, which had free Retreat Cost, why did you not add in additional copies of [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] in your list to compensate?” The primary reason for this is space.

I would love to run more copies of Float Stone. When I revamped this list, I prioritized other inclusions over a third Float Stone, such as Pokemon techs that can use Counter Energy, TV Reporter, and the fourth [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card].

While I have considered going to a 3/3 split of Choice Band and Float Stone, Choice Band is too important to pass up. Hoopa needs Choice Band in order to hit the Active Zoroark-GX if necessary, Banette-GX needs it to hit for significant damage early game as well as reaching 160 damage late game, and Tapu Lele needs a Choice Band to Knock Out a Rayquaza-GX with three or four Energy on it. I am more comfortable with only two Float Stone and slightly less mobility in order to hit key Knock Outs.

I have made several changes since my first draft. I think the changes I made highlight the importance of testing a deck concept before taking it to a tournament. If I had taken my first list to an event and expected to beat Zoroark-GX consistently, I would have had a bad time. Now, I feel much more comfortable against [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] variants of all kinds, as well as still enjoying strong matchups versus the other two decks I believe will be the strongest at the World Championships.

Matchup versus Stakataka-GX Variants

Before I sign off today, I would like to talk about one more matchup. While I have yet to test this matchup, I do believe that this deck takes an auto-loss to any build that uses four [card name=”Stakataka-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card]. That card completely shuts down the strategy of this deck; your spread damage gets reduced by Stakataka-GX’s Ability if multiple are in play and it also has Psychic-type Resistance, making both Hoopa and Banette-GX poor attackers. While I would love to run a Fire-type Pokemon that works with Counter Energy to counter this deck, I have yet to find one that fulfills that niche.

This matchup is currently an auto-loss; if you play against this deck in a tournament, you might as well save your time and scoop the match to go grab some food.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for reading my latest article for PokeBeach. This is a weird time in the game right now, given that there is not much going on between the end of the season and the World Championships, but I hope that I was able to give you some valuable information as to what to look for in your games to help you prevent players from cheating against you as well as a strong [card name=”Banette-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] list for the World Championships.

If you enjoyed this article or have some constructive criticism about it, please let me know in the Subscriber’s Secret Hideout. Follow me on Twitter @OrgansmanTCG if you want to stay up to date with my journey in the Pokemon Trading Card Game.

Until next time,

–Eric Gansman

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