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William Hung on Pokemon
Hello
trainers,
This will be the final article for
"Road to State Championships"
series, and I would like
to reevaluate the top
decks/contenders, discuss them in
more detail (looking at their actual
popularities, consistency, etc.) and
discuss some miscellaneous topics
that I believe are helpful to all of
you, but can't seem to fit them into
a particular category.
As a reminder, if you don't know
what the cards do, please check the
card spoilers, the Card of the
Day's, and anything else that may
help you.
Top Decks/Contenders:
These are my new top 5 decks, after
some serious re-evaluations and
playtesting -
1) Blastoise ex/Steelix
ex/Lugia ex (BSL): I
still conclude this as the best
deck with
Cost: Very High! It costs you
$150-$200 to build this deck. Even
though this is a great deck, I don't
think it will be the equivalent to
the days of the good old Feraligatr
(Riptide), and Blaziken (Firestarter)
+ Blaziken ex decks. Nevertheless,
it has very few bad matchups (if
any), and so no matter what you
face, you are in good shape. Just
make sure your deck doesn't betray
you. (i.e. bad starts)
Popularity: High - although the high
cost of this deck will be a major
factor to consider. BSL was a rogue
deck (just an experimental deck) not
too long ago, and now all of a
sudden Lugia ex are $45-50 each,
Blastoise ex are $20 each (on ebay).
Difficulty to use: Low - You still
have to know what Pokemon is most
valuable to your opponent at any
given time to use Avalanche
properly, but overall, it's really
simple.
One more thing - If this is indeed
the best deck (will have to wait
after States to find out), then I
don't think this is the best deck
after Holon Phantom comes out in
May. I also believe that people
will be quite ready for it (States
and Regionals), and choose their
decks accordingly. For
instance, Rock Lock has a very good
chance beating BSL. Nevertheless,
if you want to win State
Championships and Regionals, I think
your investment will be well
rewarded.
2) Nidoqueen/Milotic/Pidgeot,
aka Queendom:
This deck will inevitably run
into problems against BSL,
Cost: Low - Just buy all the stuff
you need. Using ebay is fine too.
If you're a fairly new player, and
need a very competitive deck right
off the hat, this is your best
shot. Buy the uncommons and commons
from other players, trainers as
well. Very economical - definitely
within a $40-50 budget.
Popularity: Average - You have to
figure out what other players are up
to in your region. It's not very
popular in CA (that's where I live),
but don't take it for granted - this
deck is a serious threat for anyone
not ready for it.
Difficulty to play: Average - You
will need to pay attention to
details. Depending on your
match-up, every 10 damge counts.
3) Rock Lock:
This deck can compete against almost
all the other top decks, but has
serious problems against Medicham
ex/Espeon ex, Machamp (Legend
Maker), and any deck that can
totally shut-down Poke-Powers. Even
if Rock Lock has many
variations, it really needs
something to find all the pieces of
the puzzle to win the game (Magcargo/Pidgeot).
For instance, if you run Dark
Ampharos/Dark TTar you'll probably
need 1 complete line of evolution,
and the other would be something
like Mareep, Rare Candy, Dark
Ampharos. After that, you need to
continue to use Magcargo/Pidgeot to
search for ATM [Rock], gyms,
Energies, and everything else as
needed.
Cost: Low - Very affordable, and
easy to put together. Again, you
can definitely build this deck
within a $40-$50 budget.
Popularity: Average to High - I
expect Rock Lock to be played just
about every State Championships,
because it can definitely keep up
with BSL toe to toe.
Difficulty to play: Very High -
it's one of the toughest decks to
play optimally. You need to
playtest against the other decks a
lot. It's easy to make one costly
mistake during every game, but
having a plan ahead of time against
your most probable match-ups help a
lot.
4) Medicham ex/Espeon
ex: It can
 beat
many "2nd Tier" decks and many rogue
decks, and thus it stands at #4.
Being able to shut down all non-ex
Poke-Powers is devastating to your
opponent, and you can use POW! Hand
Extension to lock out your
opponent's attack options for quite
a while, and Pure Power them until
they are KOed, one by one.
Cost: Average - Not ridiculous, but
still expensive. Nevertheless,
we're talking about 2 Espeon ex, 1
Umbreon ex, 3 Medicham ex. So
you're definitely spending $100+ if
you want to build this deck.
Popularity: High - I am saying this
with respect to the CA metagame.
But it doesn't matter where your
State Championship is. This is a
deck you should expect to face at
least once or twice during the
tournament.
Difficulty to play - Average - It's
straightforward overall, but you
need to make good use with the POW!
Hand Extension. Sometimes you need
to POW! the energies, not the
opponent's Pokemon.
5) Typhlosion/Weezing: This
deck can handle just about anything,
because this deck has the ability to
One-Hit KO. It combines the
Poke-Body from Typhlosion's
(Emerald) Burning Aura, placing 1
damage counter for both your Active
and opponent's Active Pokemon at the
end of each player's turn, and
Weezing's Liability attack, usually
knocking out itself, leaving your
opponent's Pokemon with 10 HP, then
placing Typhlosion as Active to KO.
 Once
Typhlosion has a decent number of
damage counters (5+), you can play
Energy Root to stop inflicting
damage to yourself, because you can
basically One-Hit KO your opponent's
Pokemon.
Cost: Low - This is one of the most
economical decks you can build. A
lot of players in CA will be playing
this deck.
Popularity: Very High - You're also
very likely to battle against this
deck at your State Championships.
Also, don't be surprised if 1 or 2
of these make top cuts.
Difficulty to play - Average - The
concept is simple, but making the
most of Energy Root and your
Weezings will be the difference
between winning and losing. Also,
try to get Pidgeot out early so you
can keep up with your opponent and
eventually seize the advantage (and
the game).
There are many, many possibilities.
I'm not saying to stick to
archetypes. Decks such as Ludicargo,
Scizor ex/Metagross, Dark Slowking
all have potential. In all
honesty, use my top 5 decks as a
guide only, in terms of preparing
for States, and playtesting, and
deciding on the deck you would like
to play.
O) Objective: If I haven't stated
this before, then I will do so now.
The objective of my articles are to
point players in the right direction
towards winning. My articles are
written with assumptions that you
know the game mechanics, and most of
the current rulings on the cards
legal within the Modified format.
But I'll continue to do my best to
describe the card rulings and other
nitty-gritty as needed.
X) Psychology: Because I've played
many trading card games, I've
developed a proper persective in
terms of winning and losing. Let's
face it - just about all of us wants
to win, losing hurts. Losing hurts
your self-esteem and
confidence. I've lost a lot of
crucial games when it counts the
most - Super Trainer Showdown,
Regionals, Nationals, and World
Championships. Many of you have
been through that as well - because
you are playing against the best of
the best, and with card games, luck
is inevitable. Or perhaps, since
we're very human, we've made a bad
play or two that costs us dearly.
All we can do is to choose the deck
that gives us the best chance of
winning, make optimal in-game
decisions, and hope for the best.
Good luck in your State
Championships! I will look forward
to all of your State Championship
success stories.
Cheers,
William Hung
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the best chance of winning heading
into State Championships. You can
control your own destiny by just
setting up and blast away. However,
for this deck and rest of the decks
in this discussion, here are some of
the factors I will evaluate:
but
you'll be able to handle some of the
other top decks with ease, such as
Rock Lock, Medicham ex/Espeon ex,
and DragTrode (Dark Dragonite/Dark
Electrode). I think Queendom has a
good chance against most of the
other decks (such as ZRE, Scizor ex/Metagross),
but it's just not the best deck.
It's one of the best, but not the
best.