When cold steel isn't enough, try some hot lead!

          For this mid-week post, we will be going over some of the decks (specifically, the cards) that won regionals in our area. Being that this was pre-Plasma Storm, we will be going over some tech options to combat these decks, as we move into the new format.

          The 1st place deck in the 2013 winter regional championship was Darkrai EX/Mewtwo EX/Bouffalant. These decks are tricky to play against, due to their speed, and with new cards like Virbank City Gym, and Hypnotoxic Laser, it's only going to get tougher. The key to getting through their speed is either disruption, or haste of your own. The first card we will look at, is the supporter card N.

          The most important aspect of this card is timing. When you know for a fact that they've just junk hunted for the cards that make their deck tick. Keep an eye out for cards such as Dark Patch, Energy Switch, and those despicable Enhanced/Crushing Hammers. This requires extreme field/discard awareness at all times. Remember, the discard pile is always public knowledge and your opponent cannot deny you access to view their discard. Keep tabs on how many of these power cards that they've used.

          There are always options for disruption based on what type of deck you are playing. For example, RayEels. Made popular by Zach Zamora at the Mississippi Valley Regional Championship, his Rayquaza/Eelektrik/Zebstrika deck managed to take him to top 16. Zebstrikas disconnect attack prevents your opponent from using item cards on their next turn, also dealing 40 damage. Psychic based decks always have the option to play the stage 2 pokemon, Gothitelle, whose ability states, as long as it is your active pokemon, she prevents your opponent from using item cards. Her attack isn't too shabby either. For 3 colorless energy, she does 30+ damage, doing 20 more for each psychic energy attached to her.

          Next up, we have one of the most anti-meta cards to date. Given it's recent spotlight appearances in cities and regionals all over the world, Garbodor has risen to a meta position on our list. Paired with Darkrai EX, these two secured a second place victory at our very own Virginia Regional Championships. Garbodors ability, from anywhere on the field, shuts off all other pokemon abilities on the field, but ONLY whilst he has a pokemon tool attached to him. This leads us to one major, and apparent conclusion.

          Tool scrapper, TOOL SCRAPPER, TOOL SCRAPPER. Getting rid of Garbodors tool (usually a rescue scarf), is the one key to getting around his ability. Just like N, using your tool scrappers at the right time (hindsight is 20/20 from a personal standpoint on this one), can make or break games.

          Unfortunately, on this one. There aren't too many viable tech options, due to grass types having such weak support lately. This being said, there are a few cards that can secure some knock outs, in the right situations. For example, most ho-oh variants can tech in Virizion NVI or Shaymin EX. Virizion's Leaf Wallop attack can 2HKO a Keldeo or Blastoise, however this can easily be catchered around, due to the attack NEEDING to hit two turns in a row, and if Virizion is sent back to the bench, it resets his ability. Now, with Escape Rope in the mix, this becomes even more tricky. Next, Shaymin EX is a more viable option, but due to his low HP (110), he is rather easily bowled over, giving your opponent two prizes. On the plus side, after your opponent takes two prize cards, Shaymins attack will do 180 damage, due to weakness. Do the risks out-weigh the reward?

          So, this will conclude this weeks discussion on the current meta, and how to counter it. However, know that the release of Plasma Storm has brought some new weapons to add to our arsenal. As always, we will keep on wuuub wuuub, droppin' the knowledge (it's cheesy and I love it).

P.S. - The following is a list of the top 4 decks from our regional championships.

1) Ray Cipoletti (Darkrai EX/Mewtwo EX/Bouffalant)
2) Dylan Bryan (Darkrai EX/Garbodor)
3) Michael Skoran (Blastoise/Keldeo EX)
4) Azul Garcia Griego (Darkrai EX/Mewtwo EX/Bouffalant)


(Also, to appease Kayla, none of the art used in this article belongs to me.)

Post league updates (February 2nd, 2013)

Welcome to our first ever, post-league blog. Ground breaking, I assure you.

          Today, as you can see, was rather fruitful for myself, and some of my team mates. The sole reason that I came across this Charizard, was that I had a mighty need! For what, you might ask? CAFFEINE. After having a rather late night, watching season 8 of "How I Met Your Mother", with some good friends, I found myself nothing short of lackluster this morning. Proceeding with my usual ritual, I headed here to Atlantis Games & Comics, and had them fire up the magical coffee producer. Now, normally, I would just have them throw the coffee onto my store credit, but with the most recent set release (Black and White 8: Plasma Storm), I decided to buy a couple of booster packs to break the $5 minimum on my credit card. I crack open the very first pack, and find this bad larry, just hanging out. I'm pretty sure I almost vomited. 

          More impressive however, is our team mate, Shawn, and his newest creation. Shawn is locally known for his off-the-wall deck creations. Raticate had seen a fair amount of speculation, however, no one had taken it to the next level. Not only did he make it work, he squeezed a win out of my newest deck Cobalion EX/Klingklang. The following, is his deck list:

Pokemon: 14

2x Rattata

2x Raticate

2x Cherubi

2x Cherrim

2x Tornadus EX

1x Shaymin EX

3x Virizion

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:

4x Professor Juniper

3x Colress

2x N

3x Skyla

1x Bianca

1x Computer Search

1x Pokemon Communication

2x Level Ball

2x Super Rod

4x Hypnotoxic Laser

4x Pokemon Catcher

2x Ultra Ball

3x EXP Share

2x Skyarrow Bridge

Energy: 12

8x Grass Energy

4x Double Colorless Energy

          Over all, this list was surprisingly solid. Personally, I was very impressed. So much so, that I asked for this to be the guest decklist of the week. In the coming weeks, I might reveal some bits and pieces of what I will be playing for the upcoming format. As a reminder, keep your eyes peeled for our next blog midway this week. Until then, keep on (wub wuuub!) droppin' the knowledge. 

Welcome to pokemon Wuuuuuuub! Droppin' the knowledge.

Before any of this begins, I would like to ensure that all credit for the above photo, goes to arkeis-pokemon. I just added some fancy shmancy words, and some super boss lighting effects.

          Firstly, I believe I should introduce myself. My name is Steven Boram, currently residing in Virginia Beach. To date, I have next to no credibility as far as the pokemon tournament scene is concerned. I made a top 8 in cities once (that counts, right?). Unfortunately, due to my job, I can't actively participate as much as I would prefer, so when I can't compete, I like to write. Anywho, on to the fun stuff.

          So, this blog will be kept, and maintained by myself. However, I will have guest writers, and hopefully we can keep pace with at least 2 articles a week. One, after our Sunday leagues, and the other sometime mid-week, just to keep you guessing. (Quick side note: We will also be keeping a separate blog for Cardfight!! Vanguard, so check for that in the coming week or so)

          This blog will primarily be covering the meta game in Virginia Beach and the surrounding areas. We will be bringing you tournament reports, deck lists, League updates, and various articles covering a plethora of topics (purposefully making this as vague as possible). 

          So, with all this being said our first blog will be tomorrow. So please check back tomorrow afternoon!