State of States: An article on the upcoming meta.

@ Ironman: I know, I was just commenting on how in the Junior's format and meta, I could see Machamp as a solid play, seeing as you probably wont see as competitive or expensive decks that would normally beat Machamp.
 
@Thedrone1man: Money and time, the two biggest woes of mankind. Rather than running around buying cards to compete in the current format (and then finding the time to participate), I figured it would be more worthwhile to observe on the sidelines for a little while before stepping up and keeping my focus past the upcoming format change. I just got back into the TCG game literally a month ago, having not played since the original Team Rocket expansion, so I have a lot to catch up on. I'll be moving to Europe later this year, so I'm hoping to find a local league and build up to be tournament ready by the next time it comes around.
 
Its a good article that sheds light on what to expect in an expanded field that will play at states (vs the same old crew you battle at Br and CC).
If it pans out this way, I stand fair odds.

Its too bad there isn't an article like this for Tier 2 decks as they can wreck you day just as bad sometimes.
 
@ jackandellie19: Well. Though Tangrowth does have some potential, and it could be a viable rogue, it is most certainly NOT the play for states. Did you, by chance, actually read the article? While I did mention Tangrowth, I did say it was a possible rogue, and nothing more. Out of curiosity, why do you think Tangrowth will be the play? What, in your opinion, makes it the play?
 
Well lets see, it is fast, consistent and not a lot counters it. In my area it will see play and I believe it will top in many states. Once you get it going it is a huge tank that can 1 shot the majority of the meta.
 
Which Tangrowth are we talking about here?? Can't really see any of them making a major impact... Please explain the main strategy.
 
I'm not exactly sure which Tangrowth we are talking about either. Funny story really, when Tangrowth Lv.X was first released last year, everyone had the same thoughts as you, Jackandellie. Then, Cities happened, and everyone realized that it wasn't good. Yes, once it is set up it can get good, but it can be easily countered, to be completely frank. Gengar leveling you down consistently ruins you, fainting spell ruins you, Luxchomp/BLG's speed is faster and they can possibly disrupt you before you can get set up, Blaziken kills you, Dialga can swing a lot bigger than you can, Gyarados can hit equally as hard turns faster(due to lack of energy attachment), something like a Tyranitar can get swinging and just pummel you with the same force, Sablelock just won't let you get a Tangrowth out, Lostgar will be faster and get stuff out of your reach, as well as leveling you down, and the fact that Tangrowth is slow, takes many energy, and needs two Lv.X to get its "tank" going. Getting two Lv.X, one of them being on bench isn't the easiest thing. On paper it looks great, but on the field it may not.

I would love for you to prove me wrong. I would love for Tangrowth, a rogue deck, to top or even win states. But the fact that nothing has changed in the past year for it(except maybe...the loss of Claydol and Roseannes?), as well as the fact that it is slow, and was sub-par to mediocre back then, as well as all of the counters listed above(just a few, a smart player can just outplay it), make using Tangrowth a very, very steep uphill battle. I'm not trying to be mean here, but have you, and only you, built, successfully tested and hammered out a functioning Tangrowth list, and then actually, legitimately, rigorously tested it against not only SP, but Lostgar, Gyarados, and Vilegar(for example)? Because testing against your friends dark type fun deck doesn't count as actual testing, when it comes to legitimate match ups.
 
It does? I recounted, and I had 22 pokemon and 26 t/s/s instead of 23/25, but I'm still coming up with 60...
 
Well, wanted to test this beast a little further, and decided to make myself a proxy tangrowth-deck... Tested it against my own Scizor-build and it lost harshly... Also tested it against Arceus which definitely wasn't pretty! Maybe I just don't understand how to make Tangrowth a fast enough deck, but to me, it seems like a rather unfortunate deck-choice...
 
Well don't you think you know everything. A matter of fact I have built it and it plays very well against most of the current metta. It trolls lostgar because lostgar cant deal with the heavy hitting damage. Also lostgar is less consistent than tangrowth. It almost always wins against Gdos if you play it smart. The fact that tangrowth is resistant helps a lot there considering you can heal large amounts of damage nearly every turn. Out of all your supposed counters the only two that I find difficult are blaziken fb lv x and dialga g lv x. Other then those two sp is not a hard matchup. Also the deck is not slow in the slightest. First turn attach an energy and use tangelas first attack now you have two energy. Second turn attach a third energy and an expert belt and evolve and your swinging for eighty second turn. From that point on it is really easy to keep it alive unless your playing fire. FYI I am a competitive and skilled player and I do not consider anyone's how did you put it random dark deck a playtest. All in all your entitled to your opinion whatever I may think of it. I just figured I would inform you of my thoughts on tangrowth. Have a swell day.
 
Didn't mean to come off as arrogant or anything... Maybe I just lack the skill to utilize this card? Who knows...:p

But I can most certainly argue that 80 damage t2 isn't excactly spectacular... With not too much luck I can achieve 110 damage with a belted Scizor Prime the same turn without losing any tanking-ability (due to sp. metals:D)... Also Tangrowth doesn't have Scizor's amazing Red Armor. Maybe I'm a little blind-sided here, but as for pure tanking, I believe decks like Healix does a lot better.

So I guess there's nothing left for you to do than to win states with this solid grass creature of a Pokemon and prove me wrong? That'll convince me - but for now - I sincerely doubt it doing well at any tournament... Just my opinion though;)
 
I really liked this. It was very informative, and went IN DEPTH. It's much better then some stuff I've read no here. :/ But that aside, I'm hoping that this will help educate those going to their first tournament, which this states will be the first one I've really gone to that I prepared for, and didn't just build a deck and test it once in the hotel room before Nationals.
 
@ jackandellie19, gyarados can easily hit for 80 before resistance T1 (assuming it goes second so you can use BTS) so, if they plus power, or crobat G drop on you, they can OHKO your tangela that same turn. or, survive the same 80 you're hitting for your T2, then Gyarados hits for 110 it's T 2 before resistance. and you've already got 60 damage on you from gyarados' t1. and this is more the rule, than the exception, for a well built gyarados deck.

the only real way to stop something like that is to get lucky on coin flips and use the tangela that prevents effects of attacks including damage off a heads and lets you attach a leaf energy, then using level max to level up a shaymin while it's benched T1.
 
@ carlitosbob: Well, generally, you want to be starting Sableye(and therefore going first), but if your lucky, you can be swinging T2 for 110(not counting resistance). But still, the point that Gyarados is a lot faster than you is the point here. And you can't OHKO Gyarados with a belt, and if you don't, he will either scoop up, or play Seeker/Warp energy, and play VS seeker to keep that chain going. So I mean you have to get lucky on your flips, Gyarados just needs supporters/energy in hand, which chances are, it has either Super Scoop, Seeker, and Warp energy in hand, or any combination of the three.
 
I jacked up a gyarados deck the other day.. I got my metagross sv and miasma valley out. No karps could be put on the bench. It was quite amazing. They eventually drew into a call energy and got it down that way, but I just hit with tina x and that was basically game. If I can keep my speed up, I think people will be pissed to lose to a giratina/metagross deck. It's like.. "What the?? Aren't those supposed to be slow??" Bwahaha.
 
Thedrone1man said:
3-3-3-1 Gengar (SF-SF/SF/TM-Prime)
Click to expand...

...Could you please explain to me why exactly you're only using 1 Gengar Prime in a deck based around Gengar Prime? Unless that's a typo and it's supposed to be 3 prime 1 SF.

Also, just my opinion, I think Luxray GL LV. X, Dialga G LV. X, and Pokemon Reversal earn at least a mention in the Gdos article. Sure they're optional, but they're still great techs. I'm just surprised they weren't mentioned at all.

Aside from that, it's a pretty cool article. How long did it take you to write all this? This is a lot of decks. <_<
 
Those sets in parenthesis are for the evolutions.

Gastly(SF), Haunter(SF/SF/TM), and Gengar(Prime). Its all Gengar prime, its just using one Triumphant Haunter as opposed to three SF.

Also...I didn't mention Luxray? I thought I mentioned Luxray...weird. Lemme check.

It took me about a weekend to write. Surprisingly, not playing XBOX allows you to get a lot done.
 
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