States Predictions

[Cinema]

IMO ZekEels is the better more consistent play for States. In a smaller tournament like City's Magneels might be better, but those turns before you get a Magnezone out are just too scary for comfort, since with a catcher the opponent can easily take out anything on your bench.

 

[Celebi23]

I can't decide and this is driving me abolutely insane. ZEKEELS OR EELZONE!! I really need your guys honest opinion on this because I want to do well at States.

If you want to do well at States, test both decks and choose the one that you think is the better play. Asking random people on the internet to tell you what to play usually results in disaster.

 

[James]

I can't decide and this is driving me abolutely insane. ZEKEELS OR EELZONE!! I really need your guys honest opinion on this because I want to do well at States.

If you want to do well at states, simply pick the deck you feel most comfortable with. Test both, and after some testing, test them some more. I know this sounds crazy, but this is actually what I do every once in a while to keep my memory fresh of each deck (not only to decide what I will play, but also to keep up to date with how everything else works, and how to possibly counter it).

What do you favor in a deck though? Do you like to go all fancy and evolve your entire field into some killing machines that will give your opponent the shivers by just looking at your field? Do you prefer a much faster play, needing only to evolve a few of your pokémon (or even none at all) before you get rolling? Do you draw your cards with Supporters and the likes, or do you rather search/shuffle with your Supporters, leaving the draw aspect to something completely else? These are all just small examples, but when picking your deck these can be some crucial facts for your final choice. The only way to be sure what to play is simply testing it all, look at what takes your fancy, and adjust it to suit your playstyle. While I discourage it, you could always look up some sample lists, test those, and adjust them to your prefference. Eventually you'll know which one you like better, and you can make your choice.

To get back on topic, I think the States meta will mainly consist of these decks:

- MTC (seeing how it won the ECC, I think people will want to copycat this)
- MEZ / ZekEels (very consistent and populair as seen on the ECC)
- ReshiBoarEX (a lot of people will consider this ''rogue'', but the deck has some potentional, and I think more people will notice this. I expect this to be the ''underdog'' of the states)
- Zebstrika (some people will try it out, and while not abig threat, you better be prepared for it)
- Donphan (yes, I said it. I think Donphan will be tried out again simply due to the dominant Electric types. Maybe Donphan won't be the direct answer, but I guess some people will try it anyways)
- Durant (everyone knows Heatmor will be coming out soon, so Durant will enjoy it's glory as long as it can)
- 6 Corners (Though less viable than before, some people will still be trying it out. Not a bad play imo, but to me 6 Corners lost it's shine a bit)
- Team White.deck (Can't spill any info on this, but Im sure a few people will be playing it)

Im sorry if I forgot anything, but I think I summed it up quite nicely.

~ James

[/sand=James]

 

[Simwar]

Umm, I cut a local tournament. Not the ECC lol. I don't even live in Europe. Also, I haven't given out the list I used yet. What list are we talking about?

Lolled, sorry xD
It was RobertBenjamin who posted that list

 

[Gistica]

@ James- Thanks for the advice
@ Celebi- That is very true but I still trust you guys.

 

[alex]

James pretty much got a lot of the decks that will be played, but I think CoKE still has potential. I tried it out and it's pretty good, but Electrode is still a little unreliable as always.

Also, I think that there are two ways to play ZekEels and MTC. For MTC, one focuses on just Celebi and Mewtwo (the way Esa played it, I'm sure people will copy that) and the other way is Celebi/Tornadus/Mewtwo with maybe added techs like Terrrakion and Shaymin EX. For ZekEels, one is focusing mostly on Zekrom BW, with maybe Zekrom EX, Zapdos, Thundurus, Tornadus, and/or Mewtwo EX techs. The other way is the way Celebi plays it (I'm not sure if I should give this out).

 

[RobertBenjamin]

Lolled, sorry xD
It was RobertBenjamin who posted that list

you need to keep in mind that when i posted the list the ECC was going on and it was based on live updates from tweeter and the chance of having errors are greater than getting the list after the event.

nonetheless the purpose of the post was to show decks made the top cut in the ECC to help predict what will win in states. i believe the ECC outcome will be influential in states so much so i expect a lot of stateswins by eel decks and ExTC/MTC decks.

 

[Futa]

I'd like to remind everyone that the ECC results don't mean everything. In the Benelux Cup, Vilegar with Gengar Prime took second, but didn't do very well here (at least with the Gengar Prime tech). More people will be prepared for decks like Zekrom/Eelektrik or Tornadus/Mewtwo-EX/Celebi, but these decks will probably do much better than the Gengar deck.

 

[RobertBenjamin]

I'd like to remind everyone that the ECC results don't mean everything. In the Benelux Cup, Vilegar with Gengar Prime took second, but didn't do very well here (at least with the Gengar Prime tech). More people will be prepared for decks like Zekrom/Eelektrik or Tornadus/Mewtwo-EX/Celebi, but these decks will probably do much better than the Gengar deck.

although past ecc cups didnt reflect what actually dominated states here in north america i believe that because of the new EXes in the meta , the ECC will mirror the states results this year.

 

[Cinema]

I think the ECC results will greatly affect what is seen at States, but I do not think that the results will mirror. People see that the top two decks are Zekrom/Eels and CTM, and so they bring a deck that beats those decks. When that happens, Zekrom/Eels and CTM aren't played as much because they lose to too much of the field.

 

[Futa]

I think the ECC results will greatly affect what is seen at States, but I do not think that the results will mirror.

This is kind of what I'm going for.

although past ecc cups didnt reflect what actually dominated states here in north america i believe that because of the new EXes in the meta , the ECC will mirror the states results this year.

I think I'm missing your point. What does that have to do with anything?

 

[Brendan]

^ the new EXs are highly playable and the decks that got top cut are highly consistent even with techs against them. Atleast that's how I took what he was saying.

 

[RobertBenjamin]

I think I'm missing your point. What does that have to do with anything?

then what deck will dominate states i ask you? this thread about states predictions. what decks do you predict will dominate states? please post something specific and not just "it wont be eels or EXTC/CMT".

^ the new EXs are highly playable and the decks that got top cut are highly consistent even with techs against them. Atleast that's how I took what he was saying.

exactly! people are forgetting eel decks dominated cities. adding an EX to this deck actually just made it more potent.

CMT is the fastest deck in the format. it is a more consistent deck than the last fastest deck ZPS/ZPST (which also got a lot of wins). Now you rely on one pokemon to accelerate energy whereas last time you relied on getting both shaymin and pachirisu to get a good start.

the strategies behind these decks are well-proven. on the other hand Gengar Prime and the lost zone was something novel when it came out. People thought it had potential but it never panned out. There is a difference between playing an established deck versus a novel deck.

 

[Futa]

then what deck will dominate states i ask you? this thread about states predictions. what decks do you predict will dominate states? please post something specific and not just "it wont be eels or EXTC/CMT".

Alright, I understand what you mean now.

I'm not saying that Eels or a Celebi variant won't do very well. Nowhere in my post did I say that. I'm saying that the results of ECC does not mean that we will get the same results at states. More people will be prepared for Eel variants or Celebi variants. Will these two variants win multiple States? Yes, they will. These two variants are probably the best decks in the format right now, save Durant. But will they outright dominate the format? No, they probably won't, but only time will tell.

Or it could be what I mean by "dominate", since I usually think of Plox, or to a much lesser extent, Luxchomp.

 

[Furaigon]

Ah, I see what you mean. They'll do well for sure, but unlike LuxChomp, they have counters that are probably a little easier to tech. Terrakion just needs 2-4 spaces, and is dangerous but not unstoppable. It causes problems for Eels decks, but does not eliminate them in the way that people could have teched for Gengar en masse, right?

Also, I know it's off-topic, but what is Plox? I've heard of it, but never really found out that the deck is about.

 

[Nigel]

Since Magnezone requires the use of a Stage 2, I think the deck is going to start to fizzle. What I think are going to be the best decks are Eelzone and MTC, mostly because you don't require a lot to set up. The big deck that's going to do good, though, is MTC since it won the ECC.

 

[Gistica]

Again, so many people have been saying this. IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT WON THE ECC. It might have a small impact , but seriously, that is Europe, and this is not. I think that everyone thinks they know what is good and what is bad. And they are going to play accordingly. IMO, the ECC is just the ECC, and States are just States.

 

[venasour x]

I'm gonna jump in here to answer this question:

Also, I know it's off-topic, but what is Plox? I've heard of it, but never really found out that the deck is about.

Plox is a deck that revolves around Gardevoir and Gallade around when you could still use EX cards from Power Keepers and stuff I think back in '07-ish, but don't quote me on that. It completely dominated every tournament you went to back then. You stopped Powers, mainly Claydol SW, with Gardevoir, and took out threats with Gallade. After the original EX sets were rotated, it kinda lost its luster because Scramble Energy was rotated, along with Double Rainbow Energy. The latter was much more important, though.


Now for my two cents, I think that Eel decks will still be the most popular deck of choice, because of their consistency and general popularity. I don't think there will be much MTC (you have no clue how much I wanna call that MTG) will be ran a whole lot because of cost issues, but they will still be seen. I don't know what else though, because at my last tournaments all I saw was Eel, and little to nothing of most other decks. At my league all I see is one MTC and Eels everwhere else, and I have no clue what is popular at other places.

 

[Slowbro]

Again, so many people have been saying this. IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT WON THE ECC. It might have a small impact , but seriously, that is Europe, and this is not. I think that everyone thinks they know what is good and what is bad. And they are going to play accordingly. IMO, the ECC is just the ECC, and States are just States.

Really? What was the most popular deck in the ECC? Then, tell me what is the hyped bdif now.

 

[Brendan]

Again, so many people have been saying this. IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT WON THE ECC. It might have a small impact , but seriously, that is Europe, and this is not. I think that everyone thinks they know what is good and what is bad. And they are going to play accordingly. IMO, the ECC is just the ECC, and States are just States.

I strongly disagree with this. When people see what won they will test with the winning decks with the desire to win or for opposite reasons test against it. Even if it has no impact on you it's guaranteed that that others will see the outcomes and prepare accordingly.