Info | By: [mod]Glaceon[/mod] | Last Update: 3/16/2012 | Target Audience: Advanced| Word Count: 3,051
Week 1 States Analysis
Hello, this is Glaceon here with a States report, and an analysis of the meta as a result of States.
Going into States, I could not decide what I wanted to play. I almost used Straight Terrakion, the deck that won in Masters, but decided not to because of lack of testing with it. I decided my two test games with it against Vulpix Yolk and DylantheVillian were not enough to affect my States result, so, I chose to use ZekEels with a Terrakion tech. I knew that the meta was fairly ZekEels based, so I thought if I could keep the deck consistent while still using a tech, the deck would do well. Little did I know Curran Hill decided to use what I turned down - Straight Terrakion.
Editor's Note: This article is a little shorter than our average one because he had less than a week to write it, and had a lot of other stuff going on in his life. The content is still good, though, so don't be turned off by how short it is.
Round 1 vs Jimmy M (Eels)
This guy usually beats me, so I am pretty nervous about this matchup. I get the turn one Collector and go first though, so I am not in a bad shape. I go first and he flips over a Zekrom BW and a Tynamo, while I start with a Zekrom BW. I draw, attach, and Collector for 2 Tynamo and another Zekrom BW. I then pass. All he is able to do in his turn is attach an energy to his Zekrom. I draw, attach an energy and an Eviolite to Zekrom, and use Sage. From it, I have a couple good cards and one or two bad cards, a good mix. I keep a Junk Arm and a Catcher, discarding an energy, a Collector, and a Level Ball. I then use a Level Ball from my hand and grab an Eelektrik. I use Dynamotor and then Outrage. He then proceeds to bench a Thundurus and a Zekrom EX, attach to his Zekrom, and Outrage for 20. When I draw I know he has a bad hand, and Junk Arm away my second Collector and the N I was holding on to for the Level Ball to get the other Eelektrik. This is a risky play, but pays off as a bit of a safety precaution too. Having the second Eelektrik allows me to get out another Zekrom the turn after my active one gets knocked out (supposing it does get knocked out) because I have a Switch in my hand. This means if he charges up his Zekrom EX, I can take it down, which would put him in a really bad position. However, he never gets the energy or anything useful, and his next turn consists of using Dynamotor and passing. After I knock out his Thundurus, he misplays by sending up Zekrom EX instead of Eel. At this point my Zekrom BW has 10 HP left, so he could knock it out with Zekrom EX. Had he drawn an energy this would have helped him, though I was up on prizes already. I win by benching him if I recall correctly, because after knocking out his Zekrom EX, I knock out his Eelektrik for the win.
1-0
Round 2 vs Darmanitan?
He goes first with a lone Darumaka, and I believe I start a Thundurus. He just passes; I draw, use Skyarrow Bridge, and pass. He then evolves, attaches a Double Colorless Energy to Darmanitan, and hits me for 50. I bench a Mewtwo, attach a Double Colorless, and donk him for the game.
2-0
Round 3 vs Water Deck?
At this point I have been downpaired again, and find out I am up against… a water deck. During this game he never really gets out an attacker, and since he doesn’t use Mewtwo, I take all my prizes with Mewtwo.
3-0
Round 4 vs Ray R (Eels w/ 3-1-3 Magnezone)
I take an early lead with Thundurus, and am able to knock out a Magnemite, a Blitzle, and a Tynamo. When he knocks out my Thundurus with Zekrom EX, I use Terrakion, which I had been keeping in my hand, to take two more prizes off of Zekrom, leaving me with a four prize lead. At this point he Ns me, but I am able to play off of my field, and use the Pokémon Catcher I got.
4-0
Round 5 vs Dean N (Eels)
We both take easy prizes, him with Mewtwo, me with I believe Zekrom BW, until he knocks out my attacker. At that point I decide to take another easy prize, but that left my Mewtwo open to his. He wins the game by Dynamotoring three times, using a Pluspower, and then Catchering up my Mewtwo for the win. There wasn’t much I could do that game, especially considering I started with Mewtwo, but that only shows how much of a counter Mewtwo is to itself.
4-1
Round 6 vs Alex (CMT)
I start with an undesirable Pokémon, I believe Terrakion, and have a really slow start. I use Collector to grab two Tynamo and a Zekrom. I would have gotten a Thundurus, but all of them were prized. I switch to Zekrom, attach the one energy in my hand, and pass. His turn is made up of him using Catcher to knock out a Tynamo with Mewtwo. I Pokegear to find nothing, attach, and use Outrage. He knocks out another Tynamo for his turn, after starting to set up his bench. My turn then consists of taking an easy prize off of a Celebi, and then drawing Thundurus as a prize. I got it a bit late, but better late than never. When he is able to knock out my third Tynamo, I am stuck. The rest of the game is made up of him taking prizes off of my bench and damaged Zekroms, while I manage one more prize.
4-2
In the end, I have the best resistance (losing to the 6-0, beating a 5-1 and 4-2, losing to a 5-1, and come in 6th place, and make cut.
Top 8 vs Alex (CMT), Game One
We both start off okay, with him getting the first prize a turn or two into the game off of a Tynamo. I decide to knock out his Mewtwo with my own by evolving into Eelektrik, attaching a Double Colorless Energy to Mewtwo, and using Dynamotor. I also however attempt to bait him by benching a Tynamo. I Level Balled for in hopes that he will go for a prize to limit my set up over knocking out my Mewtwo. Even if he doesn’t knock it out, it is fine because I have an Eelektrik in hand, so there isn’t a problem with the Tynamo being there if he doesn’t knock it out. I guess he figured he might as well finish the job, because this is exactly what he does during his turn. My turn is made up of drawing, using N, and knocking out his second Mewtwo, putting me ahead by two prizes. However, I got to draw four, and then took two more prizes, leaving my hand at a healthy six cards, and his at four. I guess he didn’t draw what he needed because all he did was Catcher up an Eelektrik. My hand at first seems bad: a Pokémon Catcher, 2 Switch, 2 Energy, a Junk Arm, and a useless card. Then I see what I can do to win – I use Junk Arm, discard a single energy, Dynamotor to Mewtwo EX, Catcher his Mewtwo EX with no energy, use Switch to switch to my Mewtwo, and knock his out for the win.
1-0
Game Two
During this game, I am unable to get anything off of a PONT, nor my draws, and he is able to knock out all but one of my Eelektrik. I have limited resources, and am not able to get out attackers consistently, so he wins rather easily.
1-1
Game Three
Both of us have ideal starts in this game. I choose to go first after losing the last game, and since I am able to get out Thundurus, that is a nice advantage. In this matchup, Thundurus is amazingly useful. I get the turn one Charge after using Switch and Collector. He has an even better hand, but whiffed the Switch. He is, however, able to get a Skyarrow Bridge, and two energy on his Mewtwo, and attacks my Thundurus for 40. I evolve both Tynamos into Eelektriks, Dynamotor the energy, and use a Sage’s Training. Through that, I am able to discard another energy, though I don’t really get much that is useful. At this point in the game, my hand begins to look worse. Though I have a Pokémon Catcher and a Junk Arm, I also have a Pokémon Collector and some other cards that are not useful such as Skyarrow Bridge. I attach an energy to Thundurus and use Catcher to bring up a Celebi. I use my second of the two Collector I was dealt to get a Tynamo, Mewtwo EX, and a Terrakion for Junk Arm bait. I can discard my Terrakion because it is not useful at all in this matchup. I bench the Tynamo, and knock out the Celebi. The reasoning for benching Tynamo is mainly because of Tynamo’s free retreat. This means even if my Thundurus is knocked out, I can get up another attacker. He is able to get the Catcher this turn however because of a Juniper, and knocks out my Tynamo, but not after attaching to his Tornadus. After sending up my Zekrom (which at this point has two energy because of previous Dynamotors), I use a single Dynamotor to get the third energy on my Thundurus, and retreat. I pick the Terrakion I got with Collector and Skyarrow Bridge to discard when using Junk Arm to reuse Catcher, and take another easy prize off of his Tornadus. When he uses his Mewtwo EX to get the revenge KO, I use mine to knock out his. After that, I take one more easy prize for the win.
5-2
Top 4 vs Jimmy M (ZekEels)
These two games pretty much turned out the same. I had an okay set up, but he set up better. At one point an N really hurt me, but there is not much else to say here. In mirror matches, consistency is key, even though Terrakion did prove useful. He beat me in two close games.
What Won:
8x Zekrom/Eelektrik (Hawaii, Oregon, Idaho, North Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, Estado de Mexico, Alberta, and Oklahoma)
Techs used:
x2 w/ Terrakion, x1 with Thundurus, x1 with Thundurus and Terrakion, x1 with Pachi/Shaymin, x1 with Thundurus, Terrakion, and Zapdos
6x Celebi/Mewtwo (x1 w/ Terrakion) (Ohio, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Turin Italy)
2x Durant (Nebraska and Ontario)
1x Straight Terrakion (Virginia)
1x TyRam (Rome, Italy)
As expected, ZekEels wins the most States at a count of 8, followed by Celebi/Mewtwo. Both decks are consistent and able to apply early game pressure (CMT through various attackers, ZekEels through Thundurus). Next is Durant with two wins. I guess it is understandable because Durant is luck based, but I am a bit surprised those slots were not filled by a ZekEels. ZekEels can usually take down Durant, but I guess not in this case. Durant having two wins really proves it is Tier 2. Otherwise it would have three or four wins.
Tier One:
CMT
ZekEels
Straight Terrakion
(not in order)
Tier Two:
EelZone
Durant
TyRam
Emboar Variants
The Truth (though I could see some potential for this)
I am putting EelZone in Tier 2 because it didn’t have any wins I am aware of, compared to ZekEel’s numerous wins. Durant is Tier 2 because though it won twice, I doubt it could do well in most metas.
All of the Tier 2 decks work depending on the meta. TyRam is okay, and could pose a threat to ZekEels or Straight Terrakion, but not really. Setting up multiple Typhlosion isn’t easy, especially with early game pressure from Pokémon such as Thundurus. Emboar variants are also getting even worse because Emboar is hard to get out, and it's not very hard to OHKO anymore. The Truth could be okay in a meta of Straight Terrakion, but the only problem is that it loses to Mewtwo. Since no meta is just Terrakion, it would be hard for The Truth to do well.
In Virginia, the meta was pretty much all ZekEels. A friend of mine ([member]thefleeee[/member]) played over six ZekEels throughout the tournament, and only two other decks. In this sort of meta, Straight Terrakion is the play. It won here in Virginia, beating Michael Pramawat during finals. Terrakion is a good deck partially because it is a fantastic metagame counter, but also because it is very consistent. In my list, I use the extra space I get from using only four Pokémon to make the deck more consistent. It can easily fit 14 consistency Supporters while still having luxury cards and a high Catcher line. The matchup of CMT is a bit rougher because of Tornadus, but since both Terrakion and Tornadus two-hit-knock-out each other, it wouldn’t be that hard.
The possible popularity of Straight Terrakion could cause an increase in decks such as CMT, which have an even to favorable matchup against it. A consistent damage output is what really hurts Terrakion. If a player is able to get out an attacker that can easily knock out Terrakion, and is easy to get out, it can beat Straight Terrakion. That, however, is a lot to ask for, and not many decks fit those requirements. Based off of this, ZekEels would be good against Terrakion, but this is not the case. All Pokémon, or possibly all Pokémon except a single tech, will have weakness to Terrakion. This means Terrakion absolutely tears apart the deck, and can knock out just about any Pokémon in the deck (spare Tornadus, Mewtwo, and Zapdos). I expect many players to try out this deck for the upcoming States this weekend, because frankly it is an amazing play. It can beat a large variety of decks, and has the easiest time with ZekEels, the possible post-BDIF.
ZekEels was thought of as the BDIF going into Week One of States. It has a variety of attackers so if one doesn’t work, another can be used. In my opinion, the best way to play ZekEels is a mix of consistency and techs. A deck can be consistent and still use Terrakion. Terrakion is helpful in a number of matchups, but in some matchups the opponent wouldn’t even know Terrakion is played because it never hits the field. It has a good CMT matchup, and good matchups all around the board otherwise. Mirror is also fairly skill based because of attacker choice and Catcher choices. ZekEels is hurt by Straight Terrakion a lot, but just not to the point where it is unplayable. Terrakion also very helpful against CMT with Regigigas; being able to knock out Regigigas in one attack helps a lot. Otherwise, the best way to knock out Regigigas EX is to first attack it with Thundurus, putting it at an HP where it cannot knock out an EX with its second attack, and then attacking the next turn with Bolt Strike for two prizes. A prize is still sacrificed because after Disaster Volt, Regigigas can use Raging Hammer, the exaggerated Outrage, for an easy prize on Thundurus. Watch out for Catchers, because Gigas is also able to knock out the Zekrom you were planning to use to knock out Regigigas. The format is in a way Rock-Paper-Scissors. CMT often beats Straight Terrakion, but loses to ZekEels. Straight Terrakion beats ZekEels, but doesn’t do well against CMT. ZekEels beats a good portion of the format, CMT included, but has an extremely bad matchup against Straight Terrakion. In Virginia, Curran Hill, the winner, was able to take down multiple ZekEels to claim his title (though he did lose to Pramawat in Swiss).
Straight Terrakion, which is quite an original concept in this format, works by manually attaching energy to an active Terrakion and attaching EXP Share to benched Terrakions. This way, once one is knocked out, the energies are spread to your benched Terrakion. If each Terrakion on the bench has an EXP Share, no energies are discarded as a result of the knock out. Through EXP Share and manual attachments, Straight Terrakion has all the energy is needs in play all the time, and is able to consistently attack with Terrakion. After a Terrakion is knocked out, all energy are saved and then next Terrakion is line is able to do 90 damage for two energy. Terrakion’s 130 HP also makes it hard to knock out, and when a Terrakion is not knocked out, it still does 90 damage for just one extra energy. This means Terrakion can take easy prizes while the opponent is still setting up a way to knock it out. Terrakion can use four Pokémon Catcher because it has a low Pokémon count, so the Terrakion player almost always has a Catcher. Prizes are even easier to take against ZekEels because basically everything is an easy prize.
Zekrom EX, which was thought of as a Terrakion counter, has the opposite effect. This Zekrom EX could take the place of a different Terrakion counter such as Tornadus or Zapdos, a definite advantage for Straight Terrakion. Unless ZekEels can take a prize every turn and takes the first prize, it is nearly impossible to win. Straight Terrakion is made for a prize trade off, and always gets the revenge knockout, while if ZekEels doesn’t get the revenge knockout once, it would be nearly impossible to win.
For next week, I expect to see a mix of Terrakion and ZekEels, with a bit of CMT. Some people will continue to play ZekEels because they do not believe they have enough experience with Straight Terrakion, or they do not believe their Straight Terrakion lists are good enough. Some players may also think Straight Terrakion is still beatable with ZekEels. Though playing Straight Terrakion could be considered a risky play because of a lack of testing, the fact that it has many good matchups will sway players towards it. Be especially prepared for Straight Terrakion, ZekEels, and CMT. Good luck to all those playing!
