My friends,
As requested, and as promised, I will post
eight of the best entries (one from each pod).
Pod One: Acutin
Deck name: EggLock !
Pokemon – 21
3 Exeggcute LA
3 Exeggutor LA
3 Regirock LA
2 Staryu LA
2 Starmie LA
2 Baltoy GE
2 Claydol GE
2 Mespirit LA
2 Unown Q MD
Energy -18
4 Call
9 Fighting
5 Psychic
Trainers – 21
4 Rosanne’s Research
4 Bebe’s Search
4 Felicity’s Drawing
3 Cynthia’s Feelings
2 Night Maintenance
4 Warp Point
Strategy:
Onto the pokemons:
Exeggutor! combo it with a regirock T2 and reduce your opps hand as much as you can.
While doing this, you are charging up regirock (an amazing basic attacker) BUT the most important thing: YOU ARE PLAYING ANOTHER ENERGY ON THE FIELD
This powers up Eggs 2nd attack so quickly! Next turn, unown q helps to retreat Eggs and keep energy in play.
If any threats comes out you should be able to have 6 energies in play by T3 - 4 which is enought to ko virtually anything.
After you reduced your opps hand, 2 things can happen:
1- your opponent has nothing and you sweep through their basics with Regi and Eggs
2- your opp lays down a claydol (or any other pokemon that helps the set up) and starts setting up like if you didnt take their hand down. In this case, you have Starmie! that combined with Mesprit LA (this little boy is SOOO unexpected) wont let your opp never set up.
If needed you could attack again with eggs 1st attack after you got that claydol down.
The trainers are pretty self explanatory, the felicitys and warp poitns help to get the 1st fighting energy discarded
Also the warp points help a lot when your opp is empty handed. Theyll try to save their good pokemon on the bench, but you can either attack them with starmie if they have powers or warp point them to the active position!.
Thats all,
hope you like it!
Agustin
Thoughts:
List - Agustin's list was excellent. No uxie, chatot, phione, etc for recovery, but plenty of supporters. A couple questionable Pokemon counts, such as two Unown Q, but when looking at it from the "I may start with Regirock so I have to be prepared" angle, it's a good move. Very minor issues. Probably the second or third best list in the contest.
Creativity - Starmie...Who woulda thunk it, lol. Regirock is a pretty "average" creativity move, but Starmie puts him in a solid position, because it _creates_ a very unique, clever hand lock strategy. Again, very minor grapes
Card Use - again, very well-rounded. No surefire ways to assure a 0 card hand, so once again, he was BARELY off of scoring a perfect score. It's nit-picking, so while I may be the judge, you all on your computers can judge if this was a 20 entry.
Regardless of such, I loved it.
9/10 Deck List
4/5 Creativity
4/5 Card Use
17/20 Final Score
Pod Two: CRIMINAL
3 Rayquaza L.56 LA
3 Typhlosion L46 MT
2 Quilava L25 MT
3 Cyndaquil L12 MT
1 Electivire SW
1 Electabuzz SW
2 Claydol GE
2 Baltoy GE
2 Chatot MD
1 Heatran L.47 LA
4 Roseanne's Research
4 Bebe's Search
4 Energy Switch
4 Felicity's Drawing
3 Rare Candy
2 Warp Point
2 Switch
1 Night Maintenance
4 Call Energy
4 Lightning Energy
8 Fire Energy
The list is pretty self explanatory: Electivire + Typhlosion help to recur energies since Rayquaza's attack discards them. 4 switching cards are required so you can consistently use Typhlosion's power on Rayquaza, and Energy Switch for Electivire's power. Chatot was chosen over Uxie/Azelf because of his free retreat, which is very important. 2 were necessary because chatot will often be used early in the game and be the 1st sacrificial pokemon you lose. Heatran also compliments the deck very nicely and is an efficient big basic cleaner pokemon.
When I first started making this deck I felt Rayquaza just wasn't good at all, but I strongly believe the Pokemon in the deck compliment each other so well. With the right trainers (Switch/Energy Switch) the deck actually becomes very synergistic and powerful!
My Thoughts:
Deck List - A very solid list. It seemed as if it would have minor fits of inconsistency, despite the two Chatot ("maybe" overkill?) and 2-2 Claydol. Also, it gave off a very "crammed" feeling, and the Typhlosion/Rare Candy count seemed ever-so glitchy. Energy seemed "mildly" off as well. Strong showing, though!
Creativity: While Crim featuring only one of any of these elements would have netted him a two on creativity, combining them in a very synergistic manner led to a convincing three - almost four in this category.
Card use: Strong card use. In Criminal's deck, you can do a lot with energy, and can abuse Rayquaza in numerous ways.
8/10 list
3/5 creativity
4/5 card use
15/20 overall
Pod Three: Vanderbilt_Grad
Pokémon (16)
2 Anorith (LA)
4 Armaldo (LA)
2 Sneasel (LA)
2 Weavile (SW)
2 Baltoy (GE)
2 Claydol (GE)
1 Houndour (LA)
1 Houndoom (LA)
Trainers (28)
4 Claw Fossil
2 Night Maintenance
4 Rare Candy
2 Switch
4 Bebe’s Search
4 Fossil Excavator
3 Roseanne’s Research
3 Technical Machine TS-1
2 Moonlight Stadium
Energy (16)
10 Fighting Energy
4 Special Darkness Energy
2 Basic Darkness Energy
Armaldo:
Positives
* Has 140 HP
* Poke-Body makes him immune to many attacks
* Is able to deal good damage, especially if he gets a second attack against the same opponent.
Negatives
* Anything that can get past his body is going to 1 or 2 shot him.
* 3 Energy attack take a long time to power up
* The above combined with high retreat makes him fairly vulnerable to status conditions.
* Initial damage is a bit low
* It is easy to get around his boosted follow-up damage since it’s an effect on the defending Pokémon.
In the words of Shirley, the cook from Alice, “The best defense is a good offense” so that’s what the focus of this Armaldo deck is.
Armaldo is the main attacker & Weavile is his primary support. Weavile can be used to accelerate energy onto Armaldo, speeding up his attack, but given the FFC cost this is only a secondary function. Instead Weavile’s primary purpose is to increase Armaldo’s damage from 60 to 70+ on a consistent basis. The extra damage ensures that he gets the 2 hit-KO against most foes even if they manage to avoid his extra damage effect. It also allows him to bypass Fighting Resistance. In theory Armaldo’s damage could be boosted to 80, 90, or even 100 by attaching more special darks to him, but in practice this is rarely a good idea. Weavile can also make a surprisingly effective backup attacker. Since Armaldo puts the damage boost as an effect on the defending Pokémon it is still there even if they KO the Armaldo that put it there. Weavile can come up and attack for his normal damage +40 for the surprise counter-KO.
Claydol is in the deck for consistency and it’s even possible to attack with him given the fighting energy. Houndoom is a tech to counter Armaldo’s grass weakness. If Armaldo’s are getting swept then it’s fairly easy to build him and attach a single F or D energy and attack for 20, 60+ with possible burn on top of that. While he is best against Grass & Metal types, Houndoom can serve in nearly any situation where Armaldo is having trouble.
Trainer wise the deck is geared towards constancy in building and maintaining the flow of Pokémon. TS1 is amazing early game and makes the Fossil start good, letting it evolve itself or something on the bench. Fossil Excavator is fantastic in getting the Fossils on the bench or cards out of the discard pile and back into play. Night Maintenance is mostly there to get energy or techs back into play.
The Switches and Moonlight Stadium function as condition removers and to counter the many decks that try to bring stuff like Claydol active. With Weavile’s Dark Engage everything in the deck has free retreat when Moonlight Stadium is out. Switch is used instead of Warp Point so as to not inadvertently remove Armaldo’s damage boost against an opponent’s active.
My thoughts:
List - another solid list, but not "quite" as tight. Although throwing in Evolutors for consistency was a smart move, the three Roseanne and no call seems devastating for setup. No auxiliary consistency basic made me a little uneasy, as well.
Creativity: Maaaad creativity! To be honest, I was somewhat dumbfounded when I saw Weavile, but then the fog began to clear, and I was very pleased with what I saw.
Card Use: Possibly the best part about your entry was that you did "not" take the bait that I had deliberately set for the Armaldo pod; that is, I chose a card whose Poke-Body is uniquely ineffective, yet his attack was underrated. You covered every weakness that Armaldo has, and for that reason, you got a five.
Pod Four: Scizor
//NAME: Iron Chef 1
2 Night Maintenance
4 Warp Point
2 Premier Ball
2 Poké Radar
2 Cynthia's Feelings
4 Roseanne's Research
4 Bebe's Search
1 Water Energy
3 Psychic Energy
4 Metal Energy
4 Grass Energy
4 Call Energy
1 Uxie LV.X
1 Uxie L.55 LA
1 Azelf LV.X
1 Azelf L.55 LA
1 Mesprit LV.X
1 Mesprit L50 MT
2 Claydol GE
2 Baltoy GE
2 Forretress L.43 LA
2 Pineco L.11 LA
1 Espeon MD
1 Vaporeon MD
2 Leafeon LV.X
2 Leafeon MD2
4 Eevee MD1
Pokemon (that may need explanation):
Leafeon MD2 – I chose to run this Leafeon in this deck because it removes 10 damage when it attacks. This is helpful if you are trying to score a KO on the defending pokemon, but you also want to heal yourself after being hit by Forretress’ Poke-Body. In addition to the healing, I feel as if you should be attaching most of your energy to Forretress, so this Leafeon is more cost efficient than its counterpart.
Leafeon LV.X – Leafeon LV.X allows you to attach two or three energy (if you get two in play) a turn to a Forretress, which makes it possible to do as much as 60 damage to your opponent’s field per turn. Its Verdant Dance attack also has great synergy with the attachment of several energy throughout your field.
Vaporeon MD – Vaporeon is amazing for its Cleanse Away attack and is clearly worth the two cards to do it (itself and the lone Water Energy).
Fairies – I decided to go with a 1/1 line on all of these. First, I believe Uxie to be a required component of every deck in this format, so that’s in here. Its LV.X form is also very good to add consistency to the deck and has an efficient attack. Azelf’s Poke-Power is very good for getting any of your many singles or even a second Leafeon LV.X out of your prizes. Azelf LV.X is nice to do more bench damage for just one Psychic. Finally, Mespirit LV.X is the key of the fairies here. It allows you to remove 30 damage from all of your benched pokemon. Since, we are running the other fairies, Mespirit LV.X can also OHKO threats that are trying to mess up your strategy.
Energy:
Four Call Energy is basically a requirement in every deck and it is no exception here. I feel like Leafeon LV.X is your best and most consistent attacker in here, so there is the primary reason for 4 Grass Energy. Forretress is not a bad attacker if you need it, so 4 Metal for him is optimum. Three Psychic is enough, even with Mespirit LV.X costing two. By the time all your fairies are set up in a game, you will easily have the Psychics ready to go. The one Water is to use Vaporeon’s Cleanse Away attack.
Trainers:
Standard 4 Warp Points, Roseanne’s and Bebe’s like most things. In addition, I have Poke Radars and Premier Balls for easy search. The deck runs a lot of pokemon, so Radar should typically get 1-2+ guys. 2 Cynthia’s Feelings because I think it is the best recovery trainer in the format. It’s nice when your Leafeon LV.X or Mespirit LV.X dies to just get it back out if you’re able to draw eight cards the next turn. Finally, 2 Night Maintenance is to get back all your singles, two-ofs, etc. Since your energy is a bit scattered, it is better than Time-Space Distortion in this deck.
My thoughts:
List - The best list of the tournament so far. A mildly risky play by choosing the "other" Leafeon, and a low supporter count. However, it is more or less uber. The Poke-Radars work awesomely in a deck that runs 24 Pokemon.
Creativity - I didn't feel that the creativity was too beaming here, but Scizor did some interesting plays to keep himself afloat, including the entire sprite line, as well as theintriguing Leafeon.
Card Use - Absurdly good card use. Nearly every choice in the list either contributes to Forretress, or consistency. Well done!
List: 9/10
Creativity: 3/5
Card Use: 5/5
Overall: 17/20
Pod Five: Pidgeotto Trainer
Pokemon 24
4 Unown ? la
3 Gible mt
1 Gabite mt
2 Garchomp mt
2 Garchomp x
1 Mareep sw
2 Ampharos sw
1 Beldum la 84
2 Metagross la
1 Exeggutor mt
1 Magmortar sw
2 Mamoswine la
2 Gallade sw
Trainers 20
4 Bebe’s Search
4 Roseanne’s Research
3 Buck’s Training
3 Felicity’s Drawing
4 Rare Candy
2 Warp Point
Energy 16
1 Grass
2 Fire
1 Water
3 Lightning
3 Fighting
3 Psychic
2 Metal basic
1 Darkness basic
Unown ? fits two different kinds of decks: decks with many different type pokemon, and decks that want to discard. Decks I thought of with many different type pokemon: Eeveelutions, Garchomp. Decks that discard: Mag/Typhlosion, Electivire, Garchomp, Kingdra. Eevees don’t really want discard. Those other decks are very monotype. Garchomp was the obvious choice, the only deck that fits both of Unown ?’s uses.
I tried to fit as many different typed pokemon as I could. One card I knew combo’d well with Garchomp was Ampharos. Garchomp x’s power along with Amphy puts many things into ohko range for Garchomp. Also, Garchomp can do 110 and then Amphy follows up by koing it with 20 to the bench. As I looked for big attackers that only take one of a certain type (ie FCCC, LCC, PCC), one guy I saw was Mamoswine. For just FCCC it does 100 and 40 to the bench at a cost of only damage to itself when it has a huge 140 hp. Another active/bench hitter was Magmortar, really the best Fire option. As I looked for metal guys, Metagross immediately caught my eye. Gusting is great with bench/active hitting attacks like Mamoswine, Magmortar, Ampharos and even with Garchomp x’s power. The gust allows you to not waste any damage, so when you leave something with 20 hp, put it on the bench and get a double ko. Many different attackers in here can do this. It doesn’t really matter which one you draw and ends up getting rebirthed. Also joining these are Garchomp, Exeggutor (much better with dre/scramble gone) and Gallade which are just great attackers. The bench damage of Garchomp x, Amphy and others will setup more ohkos for them as well.
The trainers are pretty standard. Warps good for those damage splitting strategies if Metagross isn’t out yet, or against other warps. Buck’s Training is utilized better in this deck than Claydol decks where it’s often 2 less for Cosmic Power later. Not the case here.
Every pokemon in this deck is a great attacker, but because they’re all different you get to use Unown ? to its fullest. With 8 different types (throwing in a dark for the heck of it wasn’t worth it), Unown ? has a VERY high success rate. Especially when you can use the power multiple times per turn. What Unown ? allows you to do is have a Claydol essentially. I imagine 3 Unown ? on the field, Garchomp x and two spots to Rebirth to. With 3 Unown ?, you’ll draw at least 2 every turn and sometimes 3. Maybe not quite as good as Claydol but Unown ? saves you space as it’s also your starter. It even replaces the Lunatone that most Garchomp decks would have to play. Every feature of Unown ?, its ability to be an opener and a midgame draw engine is utilized well in this deck, where as most decks could not utilize it well in either role.
Thanks
My Thoughts:
List - Very believably consistent list. However, "only" having Unown as your engine is very risky. Lots of draw negates this concern though. I am also very questioning of the flimsy Garchomp line.
Creativity: You took a mildly obvious combo, and then just went nuts with it. I was happy with the wide variety of options you have in this list.
Card Use: very substantial abuse of Unown ?. You ran more types than any non-eeveelution deck builder, and played some good discards. Great job.
List: 7/10
Creativity: 4/5
Card Use: 5/5
Overall: 16/20
Pod Six: Zangoosed
4 Voltorb
4 Electrode
3 Regigigas
2 Chatot
2 Baltoy
2 Claydol
2 Eevee
2 Leafeon
2 Leafeon Lv. X
4 Multi Energy
2 Metal
2 Water
2 Fighting
3 Lightning
3 Grass
4 Roseannes Research
4 Bebe's Search
3 Prof. Oaks Visit
2 Cynthia's Feelings
2 Team Galactic's Wager
2 Warp Point
2 Night Maintenance
2 Snowpoint Temple
Ok so Regigigas is a tough card to get to work due to difficult requirements to attack. My first thoughts were how can I get my opponents to draw 3 prizes quickly, and how can I get this massive energy requirement for Regigigas to go smoothly. My 2 answers were SW Electrode and Leafeon Lv. X for obvious reasons. Ideal start to the deck would be Electrode who can blow itself up, which gives your opponent a prize, and it gives you an energy to attach to Regi and most likely gives you a prize as well. So you have early game attacker with Electrode and late game Regigigas cleans house. Leafeon Lv. X's attack and Electrode have some synergy as well.
List - You did very, very well, considering that no Call are being used (and to good effect, perhaps). 15 supporters, well-rounded choices, and just an overall consistent build. You play solid quantities of everything you need to.
Creativity - My standard rule of thumb has been that for every non-creative idea, I set it at 2/5, and either go up or down from there. Your Leafeon adds a fresh new element, but I don't see creativity being challenged beyond this little bit.
Card Use - Decent Card Use...You are getting by the body, getting by the energy cost, and countering fighting weakness. Good. Now try to challenge the abuse of the card. Unown K, more Warp Points, etc would have helped you around Regigigas' attack limitation.
List: 9/10
Creativity: 3/5
Card Use: 3/5
Overall: 15/20
Pod Seven: Bigchuck01
Pokemon: 26
3 Yanma
3 Yanmega
2 Bronzor
2 Bronzong MD
4 Root Fossil
2 Lilleep
4 Cradilly
2 Baltoy
2 Claydol
1 Uxie
1 Spiritomb
Energy: 11
5 Grass
2 Psy
4 Call
Trainers: 23
4 Bebe's
4 Rosanne
2 Fossil Excavator
4 Bucks
3 Rare Candy
3 Plus Power
3 Switch
Strategy: Use Yanma and Bronzong to spread damage to the bench, then Pluspower/Buck/Cradilly to bring something to the bench active, KO it, and remove all damage from Cradilly. Also you can do the inverse, bring something active with Cradilly (preferably something with a high retreat cost like Claydol), then use switch and get free shots at the field with Yanmega and Bronzong. Low energy because Bronzong/Yanmega attack for free, and Cradilly attacks for 1.
List - Powerful list. While the slight unreliability on pulling out Creativity wasn't awesome, as well as the low Fossil Excavator count, this is the most metagame-conscious list of any I've seen thus far. The techs are all very relevant, to both consistency and deck abuse. Spiritomb is awesome, and will see play in tons of decks this format.
Creativity - Much like Criminal and Zangoosed, you were spared a 2/5 because of extending the deck's creativity beyond just Yanmega.
Card Use - solid card use. Tons of abuse on the first attack, and running a Spiritomb tech allows you to pull off some clever maneuvers with Acid.
List: 9/10
Creativity: 3/5
Card Use: 4/5
Overall: 16/20
Pod Eight: Dreamchaser AJ
Pokemon
2 Unown R
4 Unown !
2 Unown B
3 Unown L
2 Unown V
2 Unown Z
2 Unown G
1 Unown Q
2 Barboach
2 Whishcash
22 Pokemon
Trainers
4 Roseanne's Research
4 Pokeradar
3 Snowpoint Temple
4 Prof. Rowan's
4 Duskball
4 Super Scoop Up
2 Team Galactic's Wager
25 Trainers
Energy
8 Psychic
3 Multi
1 Water
1 Fighting
13 Energy
Strategy
Unown L uses any Unown's attack. Use Unown !'s power with Unown V's attack to use Unown Z's attack at it's best! (Move damage counters to their active pokemon.)
Snowpoint to add more hitpoints to you low HP attackers.
Whishcash is the Mewtwo Lv. X counter. Fury w/ 6 or 7 damage counters to 1HKO it. I chose him because he uses the self-damaging of Unown !/V to his benefit, and he needs less damage on him than Gastrodon or Gyarados. Unown R's attack can help set-up Whishcash fast, or just retire him to get a card. Magnitude also works well with the Unown Z combo.
Unown G and him also operate as counters to Mighteyena.
Rowan/Wager draw engine works well with the pokeradar/dusk ball.
Unown B/Super Scoop Up are used to bring Unown ! back as much as needed.
Unown L also can operate as Night Maintenance. So that is included.
(Fun note, if the have a dud active with a dud hand, you can put more dud cards in their hand while you kill the bench with Unown !, and set-up another attacker.
Multi is so Whishcash can attack. Also one water and fighting is so Roseanne's can get it.
Low energy count is okay with low energy cost to attack.
This should be very fast.
List - a good list, but not without its flaws. A low-supporter, low setup build to your deck is troublesome, but functions relatively well nonetheless.
Creativity - Absolutely amazing. Sooooo many Unowns, "and" Whiscash!
Card Use: You abused this card a good deal.
List: 7/10
Creativity: 5/5
Card Use: 4/5
Overall: 16/20
