The Ultimate Past Format Guide

SM-LOT supremacy CONFIRMED.

Jokes aside, this is an amazing resource and a very interesting read. It's always interesting to come back to old formats, as you might often find that, without the pressure of a competitive environment and social media opinions, some decks and builds turn out to be way stronger than initially thoughts.

I obviously have to address this statement, as I am glad it appeared in the first place:
However, one of the unintended consequences of this era is the rise in competitiveness. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is FANTASTIC that we are seeing increased prize support, more discussions on meta, and a general desire to want more from this game. However, there is also discourse around being the best and getting Worlds invites. Generally, that turns people off to the game, especially those who just want to enjoy the game casually. I’ve been on both sides of that coin; earning Worlds invites, and also just playing in fun, wacky formats in small game shops. One of the biggest gripes I ever heard when working in card shops was that the competitive people turned new players off to whatever deck the new players wanted to play.
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When I was a wee lad that barely classified as a "teen", I regularly came to my local game store to play in Magic tournaments. While I was aware of the "meta", the prohibitive cost of the best decks meant that I had to play rogue builds and homebrew constructions. Nonetheless, each Friday tournament also had a few people with these "top tier" decks as well. This did not ruin my enjoyment - the "top" decks were rarely truly oppressive, and falling down the Swiss table meant I played with more people that had decks similar to mine.
Fast forward to SM-LOT, this was still the case, except now I was the "meta gamer". Kids were bringing their homebrews or "slightly unoptimal" decks, yet no game was truly an autopilot. Even in loss the casual player had an actual shot at, if not winning, then at least contesting the board state in a serious way. This is hard for competitively-oriented players to wrap their heads around, but casual players enjoy the game for it's gameplay, not just the thrill of winning - but to do that, they have to be permitted to play in the first place.
I don't believe the culture has changed so drastically in just a few years. I believe - and in fact, I know - that this is due to the way the Standard format is/was constructed and the type of player it mainly appeals to. For an entire generation and a half homebrews were essentially dead, totally eclipsed by a few cards that just gave the player endless free resources. That is not appealing to casual players.
 
Okay, time for my massive brain dump.

Great article! I loved the detailed explanations for why the reader might want to build or avoid each format. I always love hearing different perspectives on a format; one player can parse out the exact dose of Pokémon TCG history you get from the number of iconic decks you have in a format, another analyses which formats revolve most around who goes first or who draws the luckiest, still another can point out when a deck is simply too automatic and affects the format as such. When I’m reading different people’s synopses on a particular format, I feel more like I’m piecing together a jigsaw puzzle than trying to reconcile seemingly conflicting accounts.

I’ve toyed with the idea of building small Prop 15/3 and BTS-PAR gauntlets some day, but building 16- or even 8-deck gauntlets for most formats stresses me out, especially as I play comparatively few games of Pokémon in-real-life. I tend to spend more time with my family, close friends and elders than people who are passionate about the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and I don’t regret it, but it makes me a lot more selective about what decks I proxy and will probably make me just as selective about what decks I buy. I definitely resonate with keeping my old format decks in reserve as a sort of “party game,” though: I have a close friend who occasionally played the game as a child and who asked to play with me a couple of times this year.

I was surprised to see that Tool Drop was viable in Black and White block. I suppose the absence of Startling Megaphone would make a big difference?

I saw the Shedinja/Ninjask deck and thought “Oooooh boy, how long does it take to win games with THAT thing?” I remember reading about someone who built a Shedinja/Ninjask deck for a 100 card deck singleton Unlimited format (With deck building restrictions) called Unlimited 150, and this person mentioned that it unfortunately took 3 hours to win games. I’m sure this deck functions very differently, even if the goal is the same, but that’s just what came to my mind first.

I realized I skipped 2019 Worlds by mistake, and wanted to ask you about why you didn’t list any of the rogue decks of this format. Aren’t decks like Beeheyem/Aerodactyl GX, Whimsicott GX, Chandelure and Fossils worth highlighting, even if they didn’t place very well at Worlds? Or is the strength gap simply too large?

One of the two lists ZapBeasts lists for SUM-UNB on PTCGLEGENDS (Daniel Altavilla’s 1st place one from the Origins Open) contained a Spiritomb and a Buzzwole & Pheremosa GX. This certainly seems to match the idea of “Fun things you can do with ZapBeasts,” but I was wondering what other ideas you were thinking of.

For 2011 Cities, I noticed you said “Recourse Management” instead of “Resource Management.” I’m sure most people will know what you mean, but it doesn’t hurt to make sure.

Did you mention anywhere where you got the HGSS Block lists from? Jason Klaczynski’s blog, I just wanted to make sure you remembered to credit him after you joked about stealing the lists.

What matchups were the person who hated MD-COL alluding to when they called it a “triangle format?” (Your “Cut to 8” section made me let out a distressed “Mmmmm!” sound, as Turtwig and MewPerior are the decks I would be most excited to try, although I do enjoy playing Gyarados in 2009 and would probably enjoy it just as much in any other format where it was legal.)

Technically DP Block was an official format that existed in the fall of 2009. Also, I’m confused by your “highlighted deck” paragraph for DP Block, as it seems like the first sentence should be “I DON’T fully understand” if the rest of the paragraph will make sense.

Why didn’t you name TCGONE when you mentioned that 2009 just got added to one of the largest Pokémon simulators online? It’s free to use, and it doesn’t compete with Pokébeach for anything, so I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to name the website.

Torterra might be a better option than Ho-Oh for adding spice. It’s the only deck that beats Empoleon more often than it gets beaten, and Ho-Oh wasn’t particularly good from what I’ve heard. Not necessarily saying Ho-Oh shouldn’t be included, I’m just saying Torterra should probably be higher up in the queue (Source: Jay Hornung has begun playing Torterra a lot and described it’s strengths and weaknesses on his YouTube channel, TheLostZone).

I would like to point out the fact that many decks commonly lumped together with 2007 Worlds decks on resources like PTCGARCHIVE are better suited for the format just before Worlds, before Diamond and Pearl released. Source: https://retro-library.com/2021/03/01/picking-matchups-for-2007/-

“Plus, it has some of the coolest deck names out there.” Give decks for other formats cool names, then. :) Once you get 10 percent of a community on board with those names, it will start to catch on in that community and spread from there.

Okay, take a deeeeep breaaaath innnnn... and a deeeeep breaaaath ouuuuut... congratulations! You finished!... or did you skip here for the too long; didn't read version? If so, I'll need to think about what the most important parts to include are.

Sorry for making you read this. Hope you are doing well.
 
A couple of other things. First, why does 2011 Cities make such a good format for teaching Resource Management? Second, which of these formats would you say are best suited for playing a casual game with a friend who comes over to your house and hasn't played Pokémon in years, if ever, but wants to try it, and probably won't touch the game again for a while afterwards?
 
This article crashing the site was such a tease, but boy was the tease worth it 😆
I have to say it was an absolute treat to read and an instant bookmark. Thoroughly enjoyed it
 
Charmaster:) said:
Okay, time for my massive brain dump.

Great article! I loved the detailed explanations for why the reader might want to build or avoid each format. I always love hearing different perspectives on a format; one player can parse out the exact dose of Pokémon TCG history you get from the number of iconic decks you have in a format, another analyses which formats revolve most around who goes first or who draws the luckiest, still another can point out when a deck is simply too automatic and affects the format as such. When I’m reading different people’s synopses on a particular format, I feel more like I’m piecing together a jigsaw puzzle than trying to reconcile seemingly conflicting accounts.

I’ve toyed with the idea of building small Prop 15/3 and BTS-PAR gauntlets some day, but building 16- or even 8-deck gauntlets for most formats stresses me out, especially as I play comparatively few games of Pokémon in-real-life. I tend to spend more time with my family, close friends and elders than people who are passionate about the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and I don’t regret it, but it makes me a lot more selective about what decks I proxy and will probably make me just as selective about what decks I buy. I definitely resonate with keeping my old format decks in reserve as a sort of “party game,” though: I have a close friend who occasionally played the game as a child and who asked to play with me a couple of times this year.

I was surprised to see that Tool Drop was viable in Black and White block. I suppose the absence of Startling Megaphone would make a big difference?

I saw the Shedinja/Ninjask deck and thought “Oooooh boy, how long does it take to win games with THAT thing?” I remember reading about someone who built a Shedinja/Ninjask deck for a 100 card deck singleton Unlimited format (With deck building restrictions) called Unlimited 150, and this person mentioned that it unfortunately took 3 hours to win games. I’m sure this deck functions very differently, even if the goal is the same, but that’s just what came to my mind first.

I realized I skipped 2019 Worlds by mistake, and wanted to ask you about why you didn’t list any of the rogue decks of this format. Aren’t decks like Beeheyem/Aerodactyl GX, Whimsicott GX, Chandelure and Fossils worth highlighting, even if they didn’t place very well at Worlds? Or is the strength gap simply too large?

One of the two lists ZapBeasts lists for SUM-UNB on PTCGLEGENDS (Daniel Altavilla’s 1st place one from the Origins Open) contained a Spiritomb and a Buzzwole & Pheremosa GX. This certainly seems to match the idea of “Fun things you can do with ZapBeasts,” but I was wondering what other ideas you were thinking of.

For 2011 Cities, I noticed you said “Recourse Management” instead of “Resource Management.” I’m sure most people will know what you mean, but it doesn’t hurt to make sure.

Did you mention anywhere where you got the HGSS Block lists from? Jason Klaczynski’s blog, I just wanted to make sure you remembered to credit him after you joked about stealing the lists.

What matchups were the person who hated MD-COL alluding to when they called it a “triangle format?” (Your “Cut to 8” section made me let out a distressed “Mmmmm!” sound, as Turtwig and MewPerior are the decks I would be most excited to try, although I do enjoy playing Gyarados in 2009 and would probably enjoy it just as much in any other format where it was legal.)

Technically DP Block was an official format that existed in the fall of 2009. Also, I’m confused by your “highlighted deck” paragraph for DP Block, as it seems like the first sentence should be “I DON’T fully understand” if the rest of the paragraph will make sense.

Why didn’t you name TCGONE when you mentioned that 2009 just got added to one of the largest Pokémon simulators online? It’s free to use, and it doesn’t compete with Pokébeach for anything, so I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to name the website.

Torterra might be a better option than Ho-Oh for adding spice. It’s the only deck that beats Empoleon more often than it gets beaten, and Ho-Oh wasn’t particularly good from what I’ve heard. Not necessarily saying Ho-Oh shouldn’t be included, I’m just saying Torterra should probably be higher up in the queue (Source: Jay Hornung has begun playing Torterra a lot and described it’s strengths and weaknesses on his YouTube channel, TheLostZone).

I would like to point out the fact that many decks commonly lumped together with 2007 Worlds decks on resources like PTCGARCHIVE are better suited for the format just before Worlds, before Diamond and Pearl released. Source: https://retro-library.com/2021/03/01/picking-matchups-for-2007/-

“Plus, it has some of the coolest deck names out there.” Give decks for other formats cool names, then. :) Once you get 10 percent of a community on board with those names, it will start to catch on in that community and spread from there.

Okay, take a deeeeep breaaaath innnnn... and a deeeeep breaaaath ouuuuut... congratulations! You finished!... or did you skip here for the too long; didn't read version? If so, I'll need to think about what the most important parts to include are.

Sorry for making you read this. Hope you are doing well.
Click to expand...
Lots to respond to here! I'll do my best:

1st things 1st: U150 was such an amazing format. I ran a small but humble YouTube channel for that format before stuff power-crept things out of the meta entirely. Shedinja/Ninjask is OKAY in that format. It's better in Legacy because of not guaranteed gust.

Tool Drop is viable because it's a single prize deck that uptrades. Even with Megaphone, it was played a little bit down the line with Manectric as a way to counter anything fighting.

With 2019, and some other notable rogues that were left out here and there, the decision to include them or not came down to meta-share. Most gauntlets aim to give credit to the notable decks, both in placement and in conversations. While there are many GREAT rogue decks out there, this article was already too long (plus SUMOT has enough poor deck building decisions for us all)

The HGSS lists are from Jason's blog. There's a reason I didn't credit any other website, but I have him and others plenty of credit on my Podcast! (Same for not name dropping TCGOne)
 
Alex Koch said:
Lots to respond to here! I'll do my best:

1st things 1st: U150 was such an amazing format. I ran a small but humble YouTube channel for that format before stuff power-crept things out of the meta entirely. Shedinja/Ninjask is OKAY in that format. It's better in Legacy because of not guaranteed gust.

Tool Drop is viable because it's a single prize deck that uptrades. Even with Megaphone, it was played a little bit down the line with Manectric as a way to counter anything fighting.

With 2019, and some other notable rogues that were left out here and there, the decision to include them or not came down to meta-share. Most gauntlets aim to give credit to the notable decks, both in placement and in conversations. While there are many GREAT rogue decks out there, this article was already too long (plus SUMOT has enough poor deck building decisions for us all)

The HGSS lists are from Jason's blog. There's a reason I didn't credit any other website, but I have him and others plenty of credit on my Podcast! (Same for not name dropping TCGOne)
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Thanks for replying!

Yes, Unlimited 150 was epic. I discovered it years too late to participate, but I think what really killed the format was the fact that people weren't willing to treat it like a retro format when the custom rules became unfeasible. People could have just picked the peak era of the format (What era or eras would you suggest?) and kept enjoying those. The website has been taken down now, but it's archived, and ironically works better as an archived website than it did in its last weeks, when I kept getting warnings that it was not secure and physically couldn't access several pages. If anyone wants to know what in the world we're talking about, or wants to access the format's rules, ban list, deck list-filled forums, or any other part of the website, here's the link. https://web.archive.org/web/20210307195858/https://pokemon150.webs.com/

Thanks for informing me about Tool Drop. M Manectric EX is a card I have fond memories of, by the way. It was my first Mega. I don't have it any more, but I'll be buying another one soon.

Your reasoning for not including the 2019 rogue decks makes sense. I was just worried that your not mentioning them meant they were not good enough to compete reliably. I must admit I am a little scared by how many viable decks one can build in SUM-LOT. I suppose not having as overwhelming a selection is part of the reason why I am interested in BTS-PAR, although I also just like many of the decks in that format, both for their strategies and for my memories of following their progress in the competitive scene (BTS-PAR also has lots of close-to-even matchups between the top decks, although many other formats can say the same).

Thanks for replying to the first few questions as quickly as you did instead of waiting until you'd read them all. I know it's a long message, but it's encouraging to know that you've seen it and are progressing through it.
 
This was such an amazing article 👏 This completely encompasses basically every format and its such a great guide for anyone trying to make a gauntlet!!
 
cjrn1 said:
This was such an amazing article 👏 This completely encompasses basically every format and its such a great guide for anyone trying to make a gauntlet!!
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Basically every non Wizards of the Coast era format. Those are still formats, and there are still people who enjoy them, even though many attacks in those formats involve coin flips (Prop 15/3 is possibly my favorite format, for example).
 
Great article that will be an amazing resource for years to come! well worth crashing the site (I can see why it did, HUGE read)
 
Alex Koch said:
Lots to respond to here! I'll do my best:
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I suppose the only big question left from my "brain dump" was "What matchups were the person who hated MD-COL alluding to when they called it a 'triangle format?'" Or, to phrase it better, why did they feel like they had lost many games before they began?
Charmaster:) said:
A couple of other things. First, why does 2011 Cities make such a good format for teaching Resource Management? Second, which of these formats would you say are best suited for playing a casual game with a friend who comes over to your house and hasn't played Pokémon in years, if ever, but wants to try it, and probably won't touch the game again for a while afterwards?
Click to expand...
These were my only two other questions, besides asking what formats you thought were the golden age of U150 or would recommend revisiting as a retro U150 format. These four questions should hopefully be less daunting than the second half of my brain dump.
Thanks for all your replies.
 
You should link to jklacz in the section about WotC era stuff. His website has the best info on it.
 
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