The new Diamond and Pearl set, Secret Wonders, has brought a ton of metagame changes to the game of Pokemon./ I'll review over the best 5 cards for several different conditions and formats.
Modified Top 5:
1. Gallade
This little guy can do tons of damage, unfortunately I'm bound to secrecy on what to use him with, as he's in my Cities deck ;) Just the sheer power of doing 180 max, to Blissey you can OHKO. The first attack won't be used as much, but is great utility.
2. Gardevoir
A stronger and stage 2 Jirachi ex, the power speeds plenty up for you, and with a stream of Psy-locks, you'll seal the game easily with the right cards.
3. Flygon
This guy has auto-poison on anything not fighting, can deal 80 for FFC, and has an amazing Stage 1 in the form of SW Vibrava, who deals 10 to all for F.
4. Minun
He generates huge card advantage, when something hits the discard, he'll draw 2 to bounce you right back with more resources. Tough decision over Ampharos.
5. Ampharos
This damages the opponent's field whenever they use supporters, so any decks without Cessation are extremely harmed by this. The attack is nice for spread, too, but I'd use Amphy as a tech 1-0-1 line.
Rares Top 5:
1. Minun
Obviously, this is amazing as explained above.
2. Absol
This thing discards your opponent's hand so fast they might lose simply due to not having enough resources available. Phunphun.
3. Magmortar
The body and second attack are extremely gopod, a 40 with a double 20 split is really good for spreading damage.
4. Electivire
I didn't like him after testing with Delcatty PK, but the idea is still out there, the damage to energy output is decent, and with Energy Switches and Delcatty with extra switchers, you might be able to have a decently competitive deck.
5. Plusle
Minun's ability but acts as a Magneton PK as a Basic, I like it for decks with low energy, otherwise, stick with a solo Minun.
Uncommons Top 5:
1. Vibrava
This is a psuedo-Prinplup DP, 10 to all for F is the best attack on an uncommon here.
2. Muk
Could be decent for a budget Psychic deck, but otherwise a crapshot.
3. Donphan
Remember NG Donphan with Rapid Spin? That thing dominated, I have a feeling Donphan will be back in some form that might win a few tournies like CCs.
4. Cloyster
Decent spread attack for a Stage 1, not the greatest of cards, but good for budget Water spreads.
5. Farfetch'd
This might be good as a haymaker basic if haymaker ever becomes viable again.
Draft Top 5:
1. Kecleon
The god of SW drafting, play it with every energy, and watch as the opponent can't manage to do anything to you.
2. Ho-Oh
Again, rainbow card, with the power this thing will sweep entire draft matches.
3. Spinda
Rainbow card again, this one can draw cards and do quick cheap damage. Nice pull.
4. Miltank
Heals your Kecleon swarm if they take damage.
5. Smeargle
With so many rainbow cards, why not fetch energies and maybe even use Trace to get a cheapshot in.
That's a rundown of the best of SW. Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Feature Article: Control in The Spoils Part 1
If you play The Spoils and someone asks what type has the most control oriented cards, you'll probably answer Arcanist or Rogue, but underneath it all, there are many more control cards that don't come from these two types. Here I'll show some of the best control for each type and make a control deck at the end.
Let's start with Rogue, the easiest:
ROGUE -
1. Heist Planner
This card is literally the best card in The Spoils at the moment, at least to most people who have played competitively. It not only allows you to look at your opponent's entire DECK, seeing every tech, every beatstick, tactic, resource, anything they own that isn't in their hand or on the field. It also lets you pick 3 of different names and discard them. This requires quite alot of skill of knowing what to pick, but many will know what to piuck and you'll be devastated by a few of these hitting the board.
2. Pluck
Another one of the best cards, combos oh so nicely with Heist Planner, discard a beefy character and get it on your side for 5 resources. You get more characters, they get less, you have a whole new arsenal of warriors at your side now. Hehe.
3. Rapine
I kill my small guy, take your big guy, I'm happy, your happy... wait, your NOT happy, I swing for 10+ damage, I win. Yay?
ARCANIST -
1. Quotidian Ejector
I honestly don't know if this can be stopped in a token deck, but even alone, it's a cheap cost bounce removal.
2. Quotidian Assassination
Anither Quotidian family member, these guys just love to bounce stuff back, and when they do, you won't like it.
3. Swarm of Gnats
He takes out 2 cards from your opponent's hand, with bounce removal, that's huge, and I don't know if he was right, but a little birdy told me it's extremely hard to win with no hand.
BANKER -
1. Brummagem Jewelery
This is basically a card that you slap on your opponent's cards, and it reads "This character becomes useless" Insane.
2. The Ministery of other Smaller Ministeries
They now have to pay to attack, with disabling stuff, this becomes pretty hard to deal with unless they just make a huge party to attack with...
3. Pettifogger
...Then you Pettifogger the huge party to a pile of dead stuff. Yay. This is never worse than a 1-1 character tradeoff which is good for 3 resources.
The rest are coming in part 2, which will come out during the next Feature Spoils Article (check schedule for day)
Let's start with Rogue, the easiest:
ROGUE -
1. Heist Planner
This card is literally the best card in The Spoils at the moment, at least to most people who have played competitively. It not only allows you to look at your opponent's entire DECK, seeing every tech, every beatstick, tactic, resource, anything they own that isn't in their hand or on the field. It also lets you pick 3 of different names and discard them. This requires quite alot of skill of knowing what to pick, but many will know what to piuck and you'll be devastated by a few of these hitting the board.
2. Pluck
Another one of the best cards, combos oh so nicely with Heist Planner, discard a beefy character and get it on your side for 5 resources. You get more characters, they get less, you have a whole new arsenal of warriors at your side now. Hehe.
3. Rapine
I kill my small guy, take your big guy, I'm happy, your happy... wait, your NOT happy, I swing for 10+ damage, I win. Yay?
ARCANIST -
1. Quotidian Ejector
I honestly don't know if this can be stopped in a token deck, but even alone, it's a cheap cost bounce removal.
2. Quotidian Assassination
Anither Quotidian family member, these guys just love to bounce stuff back, and when they do, you won't like it.
3. Swarm of Gnats
He takes out 2 cards from your opponent's hand, with bounce removal, that's huge, and I don't know if he was right, but a little birdy told me it's extremely hard to win with no hand.
BANKER -
1. Brummagem Jewelery
This is basically a card that you slap on your opponent's cards, and it reads "This character becomes useless" Insane.
2. The Ministery of other Smaller Ministeries
They now have to pay to attack, with disabling stuff, this becomes pretty hard to deal with unless they just make a huge party to attack with...
3. Pettifogger
...Then you Pettifogger the huge party to a pile of dead stuff. Yay. This is never worse than a 1-1 character tradeoff which is good for 3 resources.
The rest are coming in part 2, which will come out during the next Feature Spoils Article (check schedule for day)
Pokemon TFG: Figure of the Day - Absol 2/42
Absol seems to be the Jack of all Trades, has good dodge rate of 1/6, a solid 1/3 White 70, a small White 30, and the **Purple, which could be bad or good depending on the situation. Here's the overview:
Double Edge - 105 degrees
** Purple
Absol and the Defending pokemon are knocked out.
My thoughts: This can be strong for taking out things which prevent your fast and weaker Pokemon like Murkrow from reaching the goal. It can also get something you want out of the Pokemon Center without burning a Max Revive, out. But the drawback is, you don't always want Absol dead, a simple solution is, don't send in Absol when you want him to get the goal, unless your opponent's team is bad enough to let a White 70 beat them out, it won't work.
Razor Wind - 120 degrees
White 70
My thoughts: Very strong White that covers 1/3 of Absols base, this is good for nailing pesky little rushers such as Eevee or Murkrow. But 70 is just all around strong.
Scratch - 75 degrees
White 30
My thoughts: Obviously not Absol's strong point, but it's better than having a miss in its place.
Dodge - 60 degrees
Blue
Definately in the list of top 5 dodgers, just great to have a strong dodge chance on anything.
Ratings:
Rushing - 2/5
Not strong here, as I mentioned earlier, White 70 is the only attack that can draw blood without dying. And alot of walls laugh at White 70. With a strong chance of dying from your own attack, Absol is best used as a utility weapon.
Blocking - 3/5
Nice dodge, and can immediately dispose of other Pokemon, but Lugia, Golem, Gatr, and others out-class it here. More simply put, a *** beats a **, and knocking your self out isn't good when you are blocking your goal.
Midfield weapon - 3/5
Again, killing yourself loses huge field presence, so it just is outclassed by things like Zangoose and Pikachu, who have good dodges and strong Whites.
Utility weapon - 4/5
Almost wanted to give it a 5, it's just amazing, you can move 2 so you can have access to killing alot, you can get things out of Your P.C. and things into the opponent's P.C. that they want active. White 70 is generally strong against rushers.
That's all for the figure of the day, next up: Groudon.
Double Edge - 105 degrees
** Purple
Absol and the Defending pokemon are knocked out.
My thoughts: This can be strong for taking out things which prevent your fast and weaker Pokemon like Murkrow from reaching the goal. It can also get something you want out of the Pokemon Center without burning a Max Revive, out. But the drawback is, you don't always want Absol dead, a simple solution is, don't send in Absol when you want him to get the goal, unless your opponent's team is bad enough to let a White 70 beat them out, it won't work.
Razor Wind - 120 degrees
White 70
My thoughts: Very strong White that covers 1/3 of Absols base, this is good for nailing pesky little rushers such as Eevee or Murkrow. But 70 is just all around strong.
Scratch - 75 degrees
White 30
My thoughts: Obviously not Absol's strong point, but it's better than having a miss in its place.
Dodge - 60 degrees
Blue
Definately in the list of top 5 dodgers, just great to have a strong dodge chance on anything.
Ratings:
Rushing - 2/5
Not strong here, as I mentioned earlier, White 70 is the only attack that can draw blood without dying. And alot of walls laugh at White 70. With a strong chance of dying from your own attack, Absol is best used as a utility weapon.
Blocking - 3/5
Nice dodge, and can immediately dispose of other Pokemon, but Lugia, Golem, Gatr, and others out-class it here. More simply put, a *** beats a **, and knocking your self out isn't good when you are blocking your goal.
Midfield weapon - 3/5
Again, killing yourself loses huge field presence, so it just is outclassed by things like Zangoose and Pikachu, who have good dodges and strong Whites.
Utility weapon - 4/5
Almost wanted to give it a 5, it's just amazing, you can move 2 so you can have access to killing alot, you can get things out of Your P.C. and things into the opponent's P.C. that they want active. White 70 is generally strong against rushers.
That's all for the figure of the day, next up: Groudon.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Pokemon TCG: The future of Absolutions? Part 1
Absolutions won Nationals in Masters and Worlds in Masters, a feat if I recall correctly has never been done by a deck before. Simply amazing. Absolutions is a control deck with options. And lots of them at that. Just a few of the key players in Absolutions:
Absol ex - The Power is HUGE when you can lay down so many counters a turn, the attack with Jolteon is a (D)(C) Spin Tail. Huge.
Jolteon ex - Free 1-6 counters when you play it, half a spin tail for free.
Vaporeon ex - IMO the second best Eevee in this deck, it was the only form of disruption last format and was dominant when played at the right moment.
Espeon ex - Another Eevee, it de-evolves a benched Pokemon, when you can manipulate damage to hit a benched Pokemon for over 100 damage in one turn, de-evolving it to a stage 1 or basic can be game-breaking. Also you could shuffle the evolution in with Vaporeon.
Jirachi ex - 30 a turn then no powers, the wrld champ abused this so much in the finals vs. Flygon ex LM, No powers is another dominant ability.
Mew ex - Copies not only your attacks, but your opponent's too, energy saver by not having to retreat.
Rayquaza ex - Snipage, pure, raw snipage.
Super Scoop Up - Allowing you to reuse "Into play" powers is amazing, and can heal an Eeveelution who suffers from Cursed Stone and the like.
With so many of these cards leaving, it looked like Absolutions was gone. But a new card in English DP4 Spoilers has said otherwise.
Zapdos L.45 – Lightning – HP100
Basic Pokemon
Poke-Power: Lightning Bolt
This Power can be used once during your turn, when this card is played from your hand onto your Bench. Flip a coin, if heads place 1 damage counter on each of your opponent’s Pokemon.
[L][L][C] Raging Thunder: 80 damage. This attack does 40 damage to 1 of your Benched Pokemon, ignoring Weakness and Resistance.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 2
A basic Jolteon ex that just needs a flip. Still huge with Absol. The attack is great too, setting up 130 HP Pokemon for Knockout range. But that alone won't remake Absolutions, so PCL thought we needed more:
Cresselia L.X – Psychic – HP100
Level Up
Poke-Power: Full Moon Dance
This Power can be used once during your turn. Choose a damage counter on 1 Pokemon in play (yours or your opponent’s) and move it onto another Pokemon in play (yours or your opponent’s). This Power can’t be used if this Pokemon is affected by a Special Condition.
[P][P][C] Moon Skip: 40 damage. If the Defending Pokemon is Knocked Out by damage from this attack, when you take your Prize card take 1 additional Prize card.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 1
If you setup a few things at 40/50 HP, this WILL sweep. The basic has a healing attack, too, which would make it a counter to other Absol/Zapdos varients.
Claydol HP was the last card I looked at, for (C) it does 10 to all of your opponent's Pokemon. Bam. I made a list.
4 Claydol HP
4 Baltoy DP4
2 Cresselia Lv. X DP4
2 Cresselia DP4
4 Zapdos DP4
4 Absol ex PK
5 Lightning
5 Psychic
4 Darkness (Basic)
4 Super Scoop Up
4 Roseanne's Research
4 Windstorm
4 Bebe's Search
2 Holon Mentor
2 Time-Space Distortion
3 Team Galactic's Mars
3 Professor Oak's Visit
It might not be the best list out there, but it's only beta. Is there still some hope for Absolutions? You might find out in Part 2 ;)
Absol ex - The Power is HUGE when you can lay down so many counters a turn, the attack with Jolteon is a (D)(C) Spin Tail. Huge.
Jolteon ex - Free 1-6 counters when you play it, half a spin tail for free.
Vaporeon ex - IMO the second best Eevee in this deck, it was the only form of disruption last format and was dominant when played at the right moment.
Espeon ex - Another Eevee, it de-evolves a benched Pokemon, when you can manipulate damage to hit a benched Pokemon for over 100 damage in one turn, de-evolving it to a stage 1 or basic can be game-breaking. Also you could shuffle the evolution in with Vaporeon.
Jirachi ex - 30 a turn then no powers, the wrld champ abused this so much in the finals vs. Flygon ex LM, No powers is another dominant ability.
Mew ex - Copies not only your attacks, but your opponent's too, energy saver by not having to retreat.
Rayquaza ex - Snipage, pure, raw snipage.
Super Scoop Up - Allowing you to reuse "Into play" powers is amazing, and can heal an Eeveelution who suffers from Cursed Stone and the like.
With so many of these cards leaving, it looked like Absolutions was gone. But a new card in English DP4 Spoilers has said otherwise.
Zapdos L.45 – Lightning – HP100
Basic Pokemon
Poke-Power: Lightning Bolt
This Power can be used once during your turn, when this card is played from your hand onto your Bench. Flip a coin, if heads place 1 damage counter on each of your opponent’s Pokemon.
[L][L][C] Raging Thunder: 80 damage. This attack does 40 damage to 1 of your Benched Pokemon, ignoring Weakness and Resistance.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 2
A basic Jolteon ex that just needs a flip. Still huge with Absol. The attack is great too, setting up 130 HP Pokemon for Knockout range. But that alone won't remake Absolutions, so PCL thought we needed more:
Cresselia L.X – Psychic – HP100
Level Up
Poke-Power: Full Moon Dance
This Power can be used once during your turn. Choose a damage counter on 1 Pokemon in play (yours or your opponent’s) and move it onto another Pokemon in play (yours or your opponent’s). This Power can’t be used if this Pokemon is affected by a Special Condition.
[P][P][C] Moon Skip: 40 damage. If the Defending Pokemon is Knocked Out by damage from this attack, when you take your Prize card take 1 additional Prize card.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 1
If you setup a few things at 40/50 HP, this WILL sweep. The basic has a healing attack, too, which would make it a counter to other Absol/Zapdos varients.
Claydol HP was the last card I looked at, for (C) it does 10 to all of your opponent's Pokemon. Bam. I made a list.
4 Claydol HP
4 Baltoy DP4
2 Cresselia Lv. X DP4
2 Cresselia DP4
4 Zapdos DP4
4 Absol ex PK
5 Lightning
5 Psychic
4 Darkness (Basic)
4 Super Scoop Up
4 Roseanne's Research
4 Windstorm
4 Bebe's Search
2 Holon Mentor
2 Time-Space Distortion
3 Team Galactic's Mars
3 Professor Oak's Visit
It might not be the best list out there, but it's only beta. Is there still some hope for Absolutions? You might find out in Part 2 ;)
Magic: Paul Cheon's Blue/White Pickles
Paul Cheon traveled to Krakow to compete in the Grand Prix, which he went on to win with Blue/White Pickles lock.
Cheon added white for Oblivion Ring and Wrath of God to deal with Planeswalkers. I'm a fan of the mono-blue version more, though. It seems like all the games in top 8 he sided out Wrath of Gods and Oblivion Rings, so I think mono-blue is the play to conserve space for more control cards. I really love how you can lay Shapeshifter and Elementall and just say "Better luck next time?" and your opponent is devastated. Pickles is huge in Lorwyn Standard right now, and it will be for a while, look out for this beast at tournaments near you.
| |
| 4 Adarkar Wastes 4 Calciform Pools 3 Nimbus Maze 10 Snow-Covered Island 4 Snow-Covered Plains 2 Urza's Factory 27 lands 3 Brine Elemental 4 Phyrexian Ironfoot 2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir 2 Venser, Shaper Savant 4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter 15 creatures | 4 Ancestral Vision 4 Cryptic Command 3 Oblivion Ring 4 Rune Snag 3 Wrath of God 18 other spells |
| Sideboard |
| 2 Aeon Chronicler 3 Aven Riftwatcher 3 Faerie Trickery 2 Jace Beleren 2 Magus of the Tabernacle 1 Oblivion Ring 1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir 1 Wrath of God 15 sideboard cards |
Cheon added white for Oblivion Ring and Wrath of God to deal with Planeswalkers. I'm a fan of the mono-blue version more, though. It seems like all the games in top 8 he sided out Wrath of Gods and Oblivion Rings, so I think mono-blue is the play to conserve space for more control cards. I really love how you can lay Shapeshifter and Elementall and just say "Better luck next time?" and your opponent is devastated. Pickles is huge in Lorwyn Standard right now, and it will be for a while, look out for this beast at tournaments near you.
The Spoils: Daniel Hanson's invitational win
http://www.thespoils.com/spoils/view.php?pg=article_hanson
Daniel Hanson wrote a report from the Washington Invitational on thespoils.com a few days ago and I thought I'd review it. Here was his deck:
Just a basic Arcanist/Rogue control deck with the tech Grand Theft All for the random win. Obviously, you'll need to know your decks to play this, because you don't just go discarding cool looking things with Heist Planner and Quotidian Assassinating anything that hits the board. The deck seems solid, and the inclusion of 4 Pluck is also very key. With all the discard control cards, Pluck is going to win games by itself. Martial Artist seems to be the best Rogue beatstick, along with Swashbuckler. The rest is mostly obvious as to why it's there.
With Heist Planner it's important to know what to get rid of and how to keep it discarded. For example, don't discard beefy characters out of a Banker deck when they can simply Postmortem Debenture it back for free, that's virtually letting them have access to it for free. So discard any cards that can recover cards. Discard all Heist Planner and Pluck you find, maybe even Pluck their Heist Planners to disable them further. All the bounce in the deck is great, psuedo-removal and a way to replay Rogue characters or Swarm of Gnats.
"It was a unique experience, seeing the metagame shape up after having worked on Part II. Decks I thought were good while working on Part II ended up being not as good due to the metagame. For example, I really liked mono Arcanist Unnatural Alteration but the metagame has too many Micromajigs for it to be good. I can’t wait to see what Seed: Children of the Lingamorph does to the metagame, especially being that I wasn’t as involved in the testing of constructed for it. I do know one thing for sure, it’s going to be fun and I’m going to be there to see it."
Basically Daniel's thoughts on the tournament. Good job to Daniel and good luck at future events.
Daniel Hanson wrote a report from the Washington Invitational on thespoils.com a few days ago and I thought I'd review it. Here was his deck:
| 4 Pluck | ||
With Heist Planner it's important to know what to get rid of and how to keep it discarded. For example, don't discard beefy characters out of a Banker deck when they can simply Postmortem Debenture it back for free, that's virtually letting them have access to it for free. So discard any cards that can recover cards. Discard all Heist Planner and Pluck you find, maybe even Pluck their Heist Planners to disable them further. All the bounce in the deck is great, psuedo-removal and a way to replay Rogue characters or Swarm of Gnats.
"It was a unique experience, seeing the metagame shape up after having worked on Part II. Decks I thought were good while working on Part II ended up being not as good due to the metagame. For example, I really liked mono Arcanist Unnatural Alteration but the metagame has too many Micromajigs for it to be good. I can’t wait to see what Seed: Children of the Lingamorph does to the metagame, especially being that I wasn’t as involved in the testing of constructed for it. I do know one thing for sure, it’s going to be fun and I’m going to be there to see it."
Basically Daniel's thoughts on the tournament. Good job to Daniel and good luck at future events.
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