A Wilde, Oscar has Appeared! (to Discuss Deck Building)

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Lets talk Durant for a second. The deck is out of tier 1, probably even 1.5, but the actual skeleton of deck is solid. Ten to thirteen energy, a large trainer base, and probably no more than six Pokemon with three to four of them as same main attacker. Durant used this because Durant’s devour attack required more Durant in play to be effective however it’s working for other decks as well. This skeleton is also used for the mono-Terrakion build that saw some play at states. This week at the Whimsy Tackle table SBJ brought a new contender into the ring with a mono-Kyruem build. What is making these decks function so well?
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Stating Stats from States

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Hey poke-nerds I’d like to start with a grand apology. I’M SORRY THIS ARTICLE IS LATE! See how grand that was? Done. Next, I want to give you some tips based on what I’ve seen and read from last weekends States. The big bad bidoof of the format is definitely Zekrom/Eelektrik. Reporting from Top Cut says 30 of the top four decks across the tournaments were a Zekrom/Eelektrik varying with some techs like Thundurus or Terrakion. Celebi/Mewtwo/Tornadus took 21 of the top four slots followed by my favorite deck. Dur-dur-durant , taking 10 spots.

Two awesome things we can take away from this. First, Mewtwo was not the bomb to the format that everyone thought it would be, more like a small hand grenade. Secondly, with the release of the spring tins the top deck in the format is relatively affordable. That also means you will see a lot of it so lets get into how to beat it.

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Trainers! Trainers for States

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The heart and soul of any great deck is its trainers. Even decks that run the silliest Pokemon lines still stand a solid chance if they’ve built their trainer base correctly. With the EX wave dropping into the format there are a few trainers that I think will spike in popularity before states.

The card that a lot of people have been talking about is Lost Remover. Its an important addition into your deck to get rid of Double Colorless Energy, which every EX is going to use. The card that people aren’t talking about is Crushing Hammer. Lets do some Pro-Con work here. Lost Remover is a guarantee removal of a special energy. Crushing Hammer flips a coin to remove any energy. So we can’t count on Crushing Hammer but it has more playability. How to pick between these two? Really it comes down to Junk Arms. If you’re running Junk Arm, and you like to push chance, I think Crushing Hammer is the better pick.  I’d run something like one or two Lost Removers and then three to four Crushing Hammers.

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Why I Bother and A Thought From My Brother

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Pre-releases have wrapped up and I am proud to say I had the best record I’ve ever had. I played two events going 4-1 and then 5-0. If only there was more prize support for the pre-releases. There are two things that I really would like to address, things I’ve learned from these two prereleases. The first is what benefits do pre-releases provide and the second is “Vinnie, when did you get good at Pokemon?”

After the second pre-release wrapped up the Whimsy Tackle crew was sitting around playing some casual games when the question was raised what’s the point of paying for this? I believe the exact argument was “I could buy two Reggigas EX for what I’m paying to play”.  Granted this is true but lets see what the pre-release experience can give you that those Reggigas EX cannot.

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The Crystal Ball of Next Destinies Pre-release

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Prereleases are upon us. Next Destinies is right around the corner and I have some quick predictions for cards that will help take you to the winners seat at your prerelease.

First and foremost as we’ve seen in almost every build of deck being played anything with an “outrage” ability is worth the time of day. Zekrom and Reshiram are both being reprinted and I can confidently say that in any type of deck you draft these two are worth it. The other “outrage” like ability is Regigigas’ raging hammer. 4 energy is a bit slower than I’d like in a limited deck but still very strong.

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Don't Play With Destiny, Preorder

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So Next Destinies is right around the corner and I have not been so excited for a set in a long time. Troll and Toad has opened up preorders for some singles and I’m doing everything I can to keep my bank account in check. There are a few cards that I think may be worth the trouble to preorder, lets take a look.

Card 1: Musharna http://tinyurl.com/7h8e4ku This is a perfect filler tech. Its Pokemon power allows you to look at the top two cards and put one into your hand. Granted Musharna is a

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