The Ultimate Past Format Guide

Water Pokémon Master

I like Pokemon more than you! :p
Webmaster
Elite Member
Advanced Member
Member
Hello all! My name is Alex Koch. It has been a while since I wrote for PokeBeach, so I just want to thank everyone involved in editing my article, and allowing me to post it! Hopefully everyone enjoys the read.
To give you some background on myself, I’ve been playing Pokemon since the very beginning. I was never really a competitive player until around the HeartGold-SoulSilver era. I finally got my big break with a runner up finish at Vancouver Regionals in 2014. Since then, I gathered together four Worlds invites, a few Top 8 finishes here and there, and most importantly, a community of people from across the globe that I am able to call my friends!
In my real life, I am a teacher! When I was going to school to get my degree, one of my favorite professors told me, “Good teachers borrow. Great teachers steal and modify.” It basically breaks down to, “if you want to be a great teacher, steal a lesson someone else has done, and modify it to best suit your classroom and needs.” If...

Continue reading...
 
Last edited:
I believe the Totals/Checklist link is going to the same lists spreadsheet instead of the totals spreadsheet, but this is a really great article! Thank you for your hard work and sharing this with everyone!
 
I believe the Totals/Checklist link is going to the same lists spreadsheet instead of the totals spreadsheet, but this is a really great article! Thank you for your hard work and sharing this with everyone!
Ooooooo it totally is. I'll see if they can edit it.

If not:
 
the person who created that legacy deck was 4funplaying! they were one of the main characters of the format

Im creating a website that documents everything about Legacy, since theres no good resource out there and the useful knowledge is typically limited to discussion in private/hard to find circles. Legacy actually plays very differently from any format between 2011 and 2014, and a good amount of tier 1 Legacy decks never got to see play in any form in any format (Yanmega Flareon, Porygon-Z control, Shucklestoise, etc) or are made so much better by the inclusion of HGSS consistency options (Empoleon, Fluffychomp, etc). If you want to know more about the format or anything in specific, let me know!
 
the person who created that legacy deck was 4funplaying! they were one of the main characters of the format

Im creating a website that documents everything about Legacy, since theres no good resource out there and the useful knowledge is typically limited to discussion in private/hard to find circles. Legacy actually plays very differently from any format between 2011 and 2014, and a good amount of tier 1 Legacy decks never got to see play in any form in any format (Yanmega Flareon, Porygon-Z control, Shucklestoise, etc) or are made so much better by the inclusion of HGSS consistency options (Empoleon, Fluffychomp, etc). If you want to know more about the format or anything in specific, let me know!
I LOVE my experience with Legacy so far! It's just a vast improvement on BW format. The lack of catcher and the consistency with Junk Arm have felt very healthy! I would absolutely LOVE to see that website once it comes out <3
My big question: how do you feel about the "community bans," that I mentioned? Archeops doesn't feel as oppressive, but Vileplume seems rough
 
I LOVE my experience with Legacy so far! It's just a vast improvement on BW format. The lack of catcher and the consistency with Junk Arm have felt very healthy! I would absolutely LOVE to see that website once it comes out <3
My big question: how do you feel about the "community bans," that I mentioned? Archeops doesn't feel as oppressive, but Vileplume seems rough
The community bans were created by Vik for his limitless tournament series back when PTCGO was a thing, and most Legacy players will adhere to them just because everyone else playing the format respects the banlist. In my honest opinion, the only one out of the three that is truly broken and worthy of a ban is Vileplume because of its capability to create permanent locks that put unprepared decks out of the game as soon as turn 3 without a whole lot of investment or setup. Archeops and Weavile arent as totally broken as Vileplume, but they still are fairly oppressive and I think the format is more fun and creative with them gone
 
I starting playing in 2020, so I do have a soft spot for that era despite everything. Expanded back then had a very different vibe to Expanded now, which is awash with Lugia and Regidrago VStar (and hideous hand locks but they were always there). It's interesting how even all-encompassing formats can still see dramatic upheavals in their metas after a while
 
The community bans were created by Vik for his limitless tournament series back when PTCGO was a thing, and most Legacy players will adhere to them just because everyone else playing the format respects the banlist. In my honest opinion, the only one out of the three that is truly broken and worthy of a ban is Vileplume because of its capability to create permanent locks that put unprepared decks out of the game as soon as turn 3 without a whole lot of investment or setup. Archeops and Weavile arent as totally broken as Vileplume, but they still are fairly oppressive and I think the format is more fun and creative with them gone
That's good to know! Community bans always give me a little bit of pause, but it's good to know they're well respected within that group of players
 
I starting playing in 2020, so I do have a soft spot for that era despite everything. Expanded back then had a very different vibe to Expanded now, which is awash with Lugia and Regidrago VStar (and hideous hand locks but they were always there). It's interesting how even all-encompassing formats can still see dramatic upheavals in their metas after a while
MORE EXPANDED PLEASE

It's cool to see the progression of decks from era to era and set to set; just seeing what was good and not good in certain times is always interesting
 
Finally, we get to read this article after it crashed the site on the first attempt! XD
I'm with everyone here: I'm surprised that this kind of article wasn't locked away for Premium members. After reading the article, though, I understand why: THIS is something that EVERYONE who loves the TCG should be able to read! I loved reading through all the formats; the article played out like an article from Beckett Pokemon magazine, which I can really, REALLY appreciate. Wonderful, wonderful stuff, Alex, welcome back! :D
 
Finally, we get to read this article after it crashed the site on the first attempt! XD
I'm with everyone here: I'm surprised that this kind of article wasn't locked away for Premium members. After reading the article, though, I understand why: THIS is something that EVERYONE who loves the TCG should be able to read! I loved reading through all the formats; the article played out like an article from Beckett Pokemon magazine, which I can really, REALLY appreciate. Wonderful, wonderful stuff, Alex, welcome back! :D
Thank you for the kind words =D I'm glad you enjoyed the read! Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you out with any future Pokemon things!
 
I'm really glad this article was free! I'm guessing the reason is that it's a community-enriching resource rather than a piece of sage insider information intended to give paying customers an edge in the competitive scene. There's no competitive advantage to paying for this article, and locking most of it behind a paywall would only deny the community a valuable resource that could lead to growth in the old format ("Retro") community and the community at large.

When mentioning cuts for the 2017 Worlds format, did you mean to say “one of the two DECIDUEYE decks” when you said “one of the two Vileplume decks?” Also, I don’t think your editor warned you that people probably weren’t building a deck around Trevenant from XY at your house the night before 2017 Seattle Regionals (I’ve seen a Garbodor/Trevenant GRI list on PTCGLEGENDS, so that was probably the list).

As for 2014 Worlds versus NXD-XY, I feel like decks like RayBoar, Dragonite variants, and Greninja/Kingdra are probably the examples more experienced players would cite when they argue what was lost with the introduction of Lysandre. I personally think that the latter two look like really neat decks, and I would love to try either of them, Empoleon Box (Yes, I saw your warning), or an Aromattise deck if I played NXD-XY.

More comments to follow as I read beyond 2014 States. This is a long read, but an enjoyable read.
 
I'm really glad this article was free! I'm guessing the reason is that it's a community-enriching resource rather than a piece of sage insider information intended to give paying customers an edge in the competitive scene. There's no competitive advantage to paying for this article, and locking most of it behind a paywall would only deny the community a valuable resource that could lead to growth in the old format ("Retro") community and the community at large.

When mentioning cuts for the 2017 Worlds format, did you mean to say “one of the two DECIDUEYE decks” when you said “one of the two Vileplume decks?” Also, I don’t think your editor warned you that people probably weren’t building a deck around Trevenant from XY at your house the night before 2017 Seattle Regionals (I’ve seen a Garbodor/Trevenant GRI list on PTCGLEGENDS, so that was probably the list).

As for 2014 Worlds versus NXD-XY, I feel like decks like RayBoar, Dragonite variants, and Greninja/Kingdra are probably the examples more experienced players would cite when they argue what was lost with the introduction of Lysandre. I personally think that the latter two look like really neat decks, and I would love to try either of them, Empoleon Box (Yes, I saw your warning), or an Aromattise deck if I played NXD-XY.

More comments to follow as I read beyond 2014 States. This is a long read, but an enjoyable read.
Ahhh yes, the Garb/Trev deck is meant to be Garb/Trev GRI. The PTCGLegends list was the list cooked up at my place!

And yes, I did meant to say Decidueye! I'll see if I can get that changed; thanks for the assist!

I'm glad you're enjoying the read so far! =D
 
Back
Top