Discussion Top 10 most common Pokemon for the new rotation

2

21times

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hello fellow Beachbums,

I have been testing for the new standard rotation over the past three weeks and wanted to share the Pokemon I am seeing the most from my opponents. There are a couple criteria I have to establish before getting into the list though:

1. I am no longer playing opponents whose decks are based on cards that are rotating out. If you turn up a Joltik or a Phantump, I'm hitting the concede button. Therefore, they are not included in this list. I am including only cards that are still standard compliant after Sept. 1.
2. I am sure that at least some of the cards on this list will drop off the face of the Earth after rotation even though they aren't rotating out themselves (#1 being case in point).
3. These games were all played on PTCGO in the Standard format.
4. I did not include some common non-attacker cards like Shaymin and Hoopa, I only included attacking pokemon.
5. This includes 185 matches played since around August 1st.
6. Because of ties, there are technically 12 Pokemon on this list.

Again, this is what I've counted over the past three weeks, these are just the facts, do with them what you will.

Tied for TENTH place at 6 times are:
Zygarde EX
Gyarados EX
Yveltal EX
Sceptile EX

Tied for SEVENTH place at 7 times are:
Entei
Xerneas

SIXTH place at 8 times:
Gyarados

Tied for FOURTH place at 9 times:
Lugia
Lugia EX

THIRD place at 10 times:
Articuno

SECOND place at 12 times:
Regice

FIRST place at 14 times:
Delphox
 
If I have to name Pokemon that you will see often post-rotation, M Mewtwo Y is going to be at the very top of the list, followed by M Rayquaza. M Mewtwo's Psychic Infinity hits everything trying to attack like a truck, and most deck builds run Shrine of Memories to have access to Damage Change, meaning you have a Pokemon that can not only OHKO anything trying to mount an offense, but can also heal off any damage you deal with a well-timed Lysandre + Damage Change on one of your benchsitters (usually Shaymin-EX so it can get a KO at the same time).
 
I totally agree. Mewtwo / M Mewtwo just missed the cut at 5 times. I have 2 M Mewtwo decks that have had good success in prw rotation testing. I haven't seen much of Rayquaza though but I think you're right that he'll pick up on Sept. 1.
 
21times said:
1. I am no longer playing opponents whose decks are based on cards that are rotating out. If you turn up a Joltik or a Phantump, I'm hitting the concede button. Therefore, they are not included in this list. I am including only cards that are still standard compliant after Sept. 1.
Click to expand...

Just curious, you're not insulting your opponent's before conceding are you? Had a rude opponent do that to me a few days ago, in a manner that made it clear it was because my deck was Standard Legal, and not September 1st Standard legal. =P

Anyway, interesting results. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the bottom four tied for ninth place? Your ties in fourth place is followed by a listing for sixth place, since the two cards listed in fourth are also essentially tied for fifth. ;) That or just list the seven most common encounters, and not have ties eat up later ranks.

Despite questioning how you presented the data, I thank you. I am trying to figure out if Delphox is really going to become that much stronger, or if it was a side effect of many people countering an expected surge in Grass and/or Metal decks.
 
Sorry you are correct the last group was technically 9th place. Let me post it this way, I was going for a more dramatic effect:

1. Delphox 14 times
2. Regice 12 times
3. Articuno 10 times
4. Lugia 9 times
4. Lugia EX 9 times
6. Gyarados 8 times
7. Entei 7 times
7. Xerneas 7 times
9. Zygarde EX 6 times
9. Gyarados EX 6 times
9. Yveltal EX 6 times
9. Sceptile EX 6 times

I just concede. I don't usually chat with my opponents, it distracts me too much. But I'm definitely not rude, I'm too afraid they'll report me.

But I understand where he's coming from. Almost 90% of the matches I play, my opponent is using at least 1 card that will not be in the new rotation. And I'm not talking about just an older version of a VS Seeker. Everybody is still playing muscle bands, Blacksmith, Korrinna, etc. This makes it tougher for testing for the new rotation.

I think we won't see hide nor hair of Delphox after Sept. 1. Regice is another story. I really hate that card right now.
 
Sabaku, I also agree with M Mewtwo. I have two decks I'm testing, one with Garbodor and another with Togekiss, and I'm having good success with both. Regice is definitely my achilles heel. I've brought in Hoopa (SS), 2 Rangers, 4 Lysandres, and even swapped out 1 of the Psychic Infinity Megas for 1 of the Vanishing Strike ones. This way I have multiple options for countering Regice.
 
21times said:
But I understand where he's coming from. Almost 90% of the matches I play, my opponent is using at least 1 card that will not be in the new rotation. And I'm not talking about just an older version of a VS Seeker. Everybody is still playing muscle bands, Blacksmith, Korrinna, etc. This makes it tougher for testing for the new rotation.
Click to expand...

I understand wanting to move on, but if anything shouldn't people be annoyed that they can't enjoy the last few weeks of the current format because of people wanting to rush to the new one. ;) I mean the PTCGO is a mixed bag for testing in the first place, given its nature; for those who want to move on ahead of time, the real choice is to seek out like minded people (maybe start a thread over on the official PTCGO boards?) and just use Friend Challenges. :)

I just encountered a delightful fellow on the PTCGO the other day, and even though I was using the Top 8 Worlds version of Bronzong/Genesect, we both had slow starts and he ultimately defeated me with a PRC-On deck using Magnezone, Octillery, and Raikou (plus one Lugia-EX). I think none of those have more than one PRC-On legal options... anyway, I copied the deck and used it for a bit myself and I really enjoyed it. The main drawback is that Ability lock hurts. If there was room, I'd add a few Max Elixir so there was a slight chance of getting a Raikou up against an opponent while Abilities are down.
 
So my reply to that would be to ask if you could continue enjoying your soon to be non standard compliant deck in the Expanded format instead of the Standard. Nothing's rotating out of Expanded, every card you currently are using you can go ahead and use in Expanded. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Expanded is much more used, popular, and enjoyed by the majority of players since it is so wide open.... But you did give a great piece of advice that I wish I had thought of a month ago - I could ask for a new standard challenge on the chat they have on the site. I'm going to do that tonight, thanks for the idea!
 
Volcanion EX was also just outside at 5 times. Volcanion not EX was 3 times.

I would say that it's odd that Delphox has been so much more common than Volcanion EX. I disagree that any fire will be top tier though. Fire doesn't strike fear into me the same way Regice, Glaceon EX, or Mewtwo EX do.
 
So, you're NOT worried that a 210 HP Pokemon could be swinging for 210 HP on T2 after hitting for 120 with a different Pokemon T1?
 
He can't do that without Blacksmith. Even with Blacksmith, the probability of that occurring is very minimal.

But I could be wrong, and I'm just documenting my experience over the past few weeks. I'm on my tablet right now not my computer, so I can't tell you what my record was against Volcanion EX right now, but I'd be surprised if I lost more than 2 of those 5 matches.
 
Did you concede if they used a Trainer card that is rotating out? I've fought Despair Ray decks that use Dimension Valley, for example.
 
21times said:
So my reply to that would be to ask if you could continue enjoying your soon to be non standard compliant deck in the Expanded format instead of the Standard. Nothing's rotating out of Expanded, every card you currently are using you can go ahead and use in Expanded. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Expanded is much more used, popular, and enjoyed by the majority of players since it is so wide open.... But you did give a great piece of advice that I wish I had thought of a month ago - I could ask for a new standard challenge on the chat they have on the site. I'm going to do that tonight, thanks for the idea!
Click to expand...

Everything in Standard is Expanded legal, and everything legal for the beginning of PRC-On Standard is legal in XY-On Standard... so why aren't you enjoying your decks in the current Standard or Expanded Formats? ;) Same reason we aren't using the Unlimited Format. XD So yeah, the card pool matters; you can't enjoy your PRC-On Standard decks in XY-On Standard or Expanded play because they aren't built for those formats; not because of missing cards, but because of additional cards. Even if there is a version of your deck in either of those, it is not the same thing. I guess if you have a deck that will be wrecked by Karen or XY: Evolutions, you have a compelling point; you have very little time to enjoy it!

Also you should really use the official PTCGO forums: http://forums.pokemontcg.com/ and not the chat. The chat is just what its name means; a place for an informal conversation.
 
So I will have to admit I'm a little surprised.

Overall, I was 2-3 in those five matches against Volcanion EX; however, two of the three losses came against a deck that I am no longer considering for the new meta (a Ho Oh EX deck) because it performed very poorly (won less than half of the games I played). However, Volcanion EX (without Flareon EX) did defeat a Mega Mewtwo EX Garbodor deck that I am having good success with in testing (18-10 record in 28 matches).

2 of the five times, my opponent paired Volcanion EX with Flareon EX. I won both of those matches, one with a Talonflame Break deck, one with a Mega Tyranitar Alakazam deck.

This is obviously very limited and inconsistent sampling. I don't know that any hard and fast conclusions can be drawn from this. Also, in all 5 matches at least 1 non Standard compliant card was used (almost certainly Blacksmith and Muscle Band).

As to when I decide to concede or not concede, that is usually made within the first minute of the game. If my opponent turned up a starting pokemon that is not going to be in the new rotation, then I would concede right away. If a non standard compliant pokemon was used later in the game or if there were only 2 or 3 non compliant trainer / supporter cards used throughout the game, I would usually not concede. I don't want to waste my time or my opponent's by conceding after we get knee deep into a match, and if I were to only play against completely standard legal decks, I would play about 2 matches a night.

However, there were some cases where my opponent started out with standard compliant cards and then would pull out several non compliant cards. If I felt that these multiple non compliant cards were turning the game too much in their favor, then I would concede. I hate conceding because I feel I learn more from my losses than I do my wins, and I think it's fair to my opponent to stay with the game. I committed to that game, that 50 minute window when I pushed the button on the versus ladder. Plus, I play games all the time where I think I'm done for and suddenly pull 4 prize cards in the last two rounds to win a huge come from behind victory. Actually, I did that last night against a M Gardevoir EX deck that also was using Dimension Valley - but that was the only non compliant card that he used.
 
My own experience with Volcanion/Volcanion-EX decks is that I can't build a good one, and that a lot of people seem to share my problem. That or we are building similar decks and sometimes it works and sometimes it fails miserably, with very few "in between" games.

For the record, yeah come-from-behind is in no way abnormal for Pokémon, and even winning a seeming "auto-loss" is just uncommon, not truly rare. That is the nature of Pokémon, for better or for worse. Disregarding concerns about formats, people are far too quick to concede. Not only are some of my wins from times when I stuck to it and fought back... some are simply because my opponent beat me to conceding. XP
 
Not only are some of my wins from times when I stuck to it and fought back... some are simply because my opponent beat me to conceding. XP

And that is the funniest thing I've heard all day :)
 
Hello fellow Beachbums,

I have now played 100 matches in the new standard format on PTCGO and wanted to provide a comparison to the most common pokemon listed above.

The most common pokemon I've seen in these 100 matches since Sept. 1:

Regice - 7 times

Articuno - 6 times
Gyarados - 6 times
Yveltal EX - 6 times

Carbink - 5 times
Lucario - 5 times
Mewtwo EX - 5 times
Zoroark - 5 times

Ariados - 4 times
Delphox - 4 times
Entei - 4 times
Lugia - 4 times
M Gardevoir - 4 times
Slowking - 4 times
Talonflame - 4 times
Volcanion EX - 4 times
Yveltal - 4 times
 
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