Hello Beachbums - as there have been a number of sun and moon set reviews online recently (Omnipoke's was REALLY good), I have been thinking more about Tsareena, especially Yellowswellow's video on it about a month ago. Therefore, I decided to replicate his list and attempt to recreate the same scenario he did.
So to be absolutely clear, my sole intention was to see how many cards I could clear from my opponent's hand in the first turn of the game (whether I went first or second). I used the Test Deck simulator on PTCGO, and, again to be completely clear, I was not concerned about getting set up to attack or winning the game or doing anything beyond the first turn. My sole purpose was to completely focus on seeing how many cards I could remove from my opponent's hand on the first turn.
And just to let you know - my list was almost identical to Yellowswellow's - the only difference was that I only have 2 Shaymin and he used three. I threw in an additional Sycamore as a substitute.
Here were my results:
First attempt: I discarded all 5 of his cards in his hand and left him with zero cards.
Second attempt: I discarded both of the cards in his hand and left him with zero cards.
Third attempt: I discarded only 1 card from his hand and he had 5 cards remaining.
Fourth attempt: I discarded 4 cards from his hand and left him with 1 card.
Fifth attempt: I discarded 2 cards from his hand and left him with 3 cards.
Sixth attempt: I discarded all 3 cards from his hand.
Seventh attempt: I was unable to discard any of the 4 cards in his hand.
Eighth attempt: I discarded 2 cards from his hand, leaving him with 2 cards.
Ninth attempt: I discarded 3 cards from his hand and left him with only 1 card.
Tenth attempt: I discarded 4 cards from his hand and left him with only 1 card.
On average, I was able to discard 2.6 cards per attempt. On average, my opponent was left with 1.7 cards remaining in his hand. There was only one time when I was unable to discard any cards from his hand.
The counter to this is that obviously I was discarding resources left and right, and that this list by itself isn't particularly competitive. Tsareena isn't a great attacker, and I doubt that I would be able to discard as many cards if I were considering competitive play beyond the first turn. Still, this is potentially a very dangerous deck, but I don't think it's going to rule the meta like I was afraid it might. I think it'll be more of a rogue deck like Typhlosion or Gyarados or a good mill deck, but I'm sure someone's going to put together a good list for this that will balance disruption with attacking power as well.
So to be absolutely clear, my sole intention was to see how many cards I could clear from my opponent's hand in the first turn of the game (whether I went first or second). I used the Test Deck simulator on PTCGO, and, again to be completely clear, I was not concerned about getting set up to attack or winning the game or doing anything beyond the first turn. My sole purpose was to completely focus on seeing how many cards I could remove from my opponent's hand on the first turn.
And just to let you know - my list was almost identical to Yellowswellow's - the only difference was that I only have 2 Shaymin and he used three. I threw in an additional Sycamore as a substitute.
Here were my results:
First attempt: I discarded all 5 of his cards in his hand and left him with zero cards.
Second attempt: I discarded both of the cards in his hand and left him with zero cards.
Third attempt: I discarded only 1 card from his hand and he had 5 cards remaining.
Fourth attempt: I discarded 4 cards from his hand and left him with 1 card.
Fifth attempt: I discarded 2 cards from his hand and left him with 3 cards.
Sixth attempt: I discarded all 3 cards from his hand.
Seventh attempt: I was unable to discard any of the 4 cards in his hand.
Eighth attempt: I discarded 2 cards from his hand, leaving him with 2 cards.
Ninth attempt: I discarded 3 cards from his hand and left him with only 1 card.
Tenth attempt: I discarded 4 cards from his hand and left him with only 1 card.
On average, I was able to discard 2.6 cards per attempt. On average, my opponent was left with 1.7 cards remaining in his hand. There was only one time when I was unable to discard any cards from his hand.
The counter to this is that obviously I was discarding resources left and right, and that this list by itself isn't particularly competitive. Tsareena isn't a great attacker, and I doubt that I would be able to discard as many cards if I were considering competitive play beyond the first turn. Still, this is potentially a very dangerous deck, but I don't think it's going to rule the meta like I was afraid it might. I think it'll be more of a rogue deck like Typhlosion or Gyarados or a good mill deck, but I'm sure someone's going to put together a good list for this that will balance disruption with attacking power as well.
