- Mateusz Laszkiewicz (8-0-0), Pikachu & Zekrom-GX/Vikavolt V
- Richard Ruiz (7-1-0), Pikachu & Zekrom-GX/Vikavolt V
- Sander Wojcik (7-1-0), Orbeetle Toolbox Control
- Max L. (7-1-0), Mewtwo & Mew-GX Toolbox
- Openogility (7-1-0), Pikachu & Zekrom-GX/Vikavolt V
- Daichi Shimada (6-0-2), Snorlax/Lillie's Poké Doll Stall
- Caio Paoli (6-1-1), Snorlax/Lillie's Poké Doll Stall
- Syoiti S. (6-1-1), Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX/Octillery
- Erik Bladh (6-2-0), Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX/Zacian V
- GuatonMartini (6-2-0), Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX/Zacian V
- Angel Aranibar (6-2-0), Pikachu & Zekrom-GX/Vikavolt V
- Tankmin5 (6-2-0), Zacian V/Bronzong
- Greg Minklei (6-2-0), Pikachu VMAX/Lightning Toolbox
- Magma Admin Courtney (6-2-0), Primal Groudon-EX/Wobbuffet
- Attar Ricco (6-2-0), Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX/Zacian V
- pongi00 (6-2-0), Garchomp & Giratina-GX/Roxie
- kyoukaiten (6-2-0), Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX/Zacian V
- Kim Pobega (6-2-0), Pikachu & Zekrom-GX/Vikavolt V
- AJ (6-2-0), Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX/Rillaboom/Vileplume AOR
- arukoto (6-2-0), Coalossal VMAX/Magcargo
- Leu (6-2-0), Electrode-GX/Bronzong Toolbox
- Avarin Villarreal Jr. (6-2-0), Mewtwo & Mew-GX Toolbox
- Yuto Nakajima (6-2-0), Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX/Octillery
- Tatsuya Ota (6-2-0), Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX/Zacian V
- Tsubasa Shimizu (5-1-2), Dragapult VMAX/Garbodor
- Haruto Fujita (5-2-1), Snorlax/Lillie's Poké Doll Stall
- Andy Wu (5-2-1), Honchkrow-GX/Crushing Hammer
- Julien Hyra (5-2-1), Bronzong/Metal Toolbox
- LuckyBoy (5-3-0), Pikachu & Zekrom-GX
- Manuel Gonzalez Fernandez (5-3-0), Pyroar/Lillie's Poké Doll Stall
- raller151 (5-3-0), Dragapult VMAX/Garbodor
- Haru Nishikawa (5-3-0, Dragapult VMAX/Garbodor
Showing posts with label Expanded. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Expanded. Show all posts
Day 2 Players & Decks: LOS Major #4
The Limitless Online Series takes us into the Expanded format this weekend with their fourth cash-prize "Major" event. As a Regional-style online event, this Major drew 215 competitors; the Top 32 players after Day 1's eight Swiss rounds are advancing to Day 2 tomorrow. We've compiled those players, and their decks, below, and we'll have a more in-depth write-up on takeaways from this tournament once the finals conclude tomorrow.
BLW-CEC League Cup Results Entering Dallas Regionals
✎ Tate Whitesell (@twhitesell42) / Luke Morsa (@Celios_Network) / Kiernan Wagner (@KiernanWagner)
Click to view rankings + statistics Google doc
(You can always view the current week's rankings and statistics at the Weekly Cup Data tab, and can check back on previous weeks with the archive.)
This data sample covers every BLW-CEC League Cup in our database so far. This should be considered the definitive statistical content source for preparing for this weekend's Dallas Regional Championships.
Our metagame analysts Luke Morsa and Kiernan Wagner have compiled some notes on the top-ranked decks in the sample.
Turbo Dark
Dark amassed a whopping 865 CP at these Cups, putting it almost 300 points ahead of the second-ranked deck. This should come as no surprise, given the multitude of factors surrounding this deck's success; its low skill ceiling and inexpensiveness to build, combined with its immaculate matchup spread--concerning the more popular decks--make for a serious contender. I think the deck's only truly bad matchups are Fighting decks, Shock Lock, and a good Mewtwo & Mew-GX player--and considering the under-representation of the former two, along with the difficulty of playing MewMew, Turbo Dark is likely the “safest” pick for Dallas. -Kiernan
Mewtwo & Mew-GX
“KiernyBox” showed up in high numbers at the start of many of the cup marathons, only to falter when Turbo Dark established dominance. But a little retooling quickly shifted the Turbo Dark matchup back to favorable, at least for a skilled MewMew player. The deck remains extremely under-respected, despite taking a slightly favored Turbo Dark matchup, overwhelmingly positive matchups against Zoroark-GX/Garbodor and Ultra Necrozma variants, while also being one of the few decks to naturally take a favorable matchup versus both Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX and Shock Lock, without including specific techs. Much of the CP that MewMew earned (586 in total) was attributed to a relatively small number of players. The deck is very difficult to play properly, and the lack of respect for it often comes from players under-utilizing the plethora of options it offers, but those who played it and took time to learn it were rewarded fruitfully. If you’re willing to put the time in to learn this complicated beast, I think it currently sits as one of the best possible plays for Dallas. -Kiernan
Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
ZoroGarb is still alive and kicking, garnering a number 3 spot in these CP rankings. It is still a strong option because of comfort, consistency, and tech options. Players may stick with ZoroGarb due to the consistency of Zoroark-GX and the power of shutting your opponents’ Abilities down with Garbotoxin. ZoroGarb is notorious for not having many autowin or autoloss matchups; rather, it will usually be able to adapt to the meta and have many close matchups that come down to tech cards and player skill. This is appealing to players of higher skill who are comfortable with the deck. ZoroGarb will undoubtedly have a presence at Dallas, and if it follows the Cup data trend, it should be fairly successful. -Luke
Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX
Gardeon saw some play in Expanded in the BLW-UNB format, which was played at Cups during the Origins SPE week in the summer of 2019. It then became cemented as a top-tier Expanded archetype when Drew Cate took it to Top 4 at Richmond Regionals. and the deck earned two more Top 8 placements at the following Portland Regionals. Since then, the deck has gained Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff-GX, which is a huge asset for dealing with aggressive GX decks like Turbo Dark and Pikachu & Zekrom-GX. Gardeon is typically paired with Aromatisse and healing cards to constantly move Energy around and heal, which allows the deck to tank attacks over and over again. Magical Miracle GX is one of the easiest ways to completely strip an opponent's hand, which is another strong attribute of this archetype. Gardeon is a unique deck in Expanded and it has a strong matchup versus any single-Prize-attacker deck that struggles to one-shot Gardeon. -Luke
Ultra Necrozma/Garbodor
Ultra Necrozma has been one of the most hyped cards for the new format, and it does have some solid Cup performances to back up that hype. The biggest question when it comes to this deck has been: is Garbodor the correct partner for Ultra Necrozma? Garbotoxin is obviously a very powerful Ability, but playing a build of the deck with Octillery and Alolan Muk allows the Ultra Necrozma player to have on-board draw support to increase consistency and avoid bricking off N. We expect this archetype to be popular in Dallas; its success will likely depend on whether players develop an optimized list. -Luke
Lucario-GX
Lucario was a deck brought back seemingly from the dead by our team, Gentlemen & Scholars, following Turbo Dark’s re-establishment as the BDIF. Despite being built as a hard counter to Turbo Dark, the deck also takes favorable matchups to many other top-tier decks, including Zoroark-GX/Garbodor, Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX, Shock Lock, Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX, and Night March, while taking approximately a 50-50 against Ultra Necrozma. Almost every matchup you will see except for Mewtwo & Mew-GX is workable, and while the deck is somewhat of a gutsy call if you expect MewMew to be highly played, the neutral-to-favorable matchups it enjoys otherwise make it a potential bombshell and title contender in the hands of a decent player. -Kiernan
Shock Lock
Shock Lock is a constant threat at any Expanded event, though in limited numbers due to the restrictive nature of any deck that requires four Tropical Beach. Few decks are capable of beating Shock Lock without hard-teching for it, and the worth of teching for a deck that will be represented by only a small handful of players is usually not worth it for most competitors. This archetype primarily fears Zoroark-GX/Garbodor, although Lucario-GX and Mewtwo & Mew-GX can also be sketchy matchups, and even some Turbo Dark lists can beat it via a combination of Weavile-GX, Mega Sableye & Tyranitar-GX, and possibly an Escape Rope. I believe if you want to win Dallas Regionals, you should have some kind of game plan for Shock Lock. -Kiernan
Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX
EggRow sits in a funny place in the format. On its own, it isn’t really a great deck. Its slow setup, clunkiness, and low damage output make the deck much worse on paper than most of the others in the format, it becomes a very serious threat--this is what happened when JW Kriewall took it to first place at Richmond Regionals. The deck's main selling points are Item lock, Faba, and Vileplume BUS for shutting down Basic decks that do not play a counter. Currently, almost all Turbo Dark lists are playing Weavile-GX, so Turbo Dark should still be favored against EggRow, and Mewtwo & Mew-GX, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor, Ultra Necrozma/Garbodor, Lucario-GX, and Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX all have ways to beat it as well, often with ease. The deck feels like a very poor play for Dallas just given its matchup spread, but the church of EggRow tends to have devout followers, so the deck deserves some amount of respect going into the weekend. -Kiernan
Pikachu & Zekrom-GX
Pikachu & Zekrom-GX is a very solid deck but was almost forgotten about for this format. It did not see much play or success in this Cup sample, but we believe it is probably the most under-the-radar play for Dallas. -Luke
Night March
Night March is another deck that has fallen off somewhat due to new archetypes or improvements to old archetypes, but it still had some decent Cup performances, including a Top 4 finish under Michael Pramawat. While it can trade favorably against most GX-based decks, the archetype is susceptible to Item lock, Special Energy lock, and even Ability lock on turn one or after a late-game N. -Luke
Click to view rankings + statistics Google doc
(You can always view the current week's rankings and statistics at the Weekly Cup Data tab, and can check back on previous weeks with the archive.)
This data sample covers every BLW-CEC League Cup in our database so far. This should be considered the definitive statistical content source for preparing for this weekend's Dallas Regional Championships.
Our metagame analysts Luke Morsa and Kiernan Wagner have compiled some notes on the top-ranked decks in the sample.
Dark amassed a whopping 865 CP at these Cups, putting it almost 300 points ahead of the second-ranked deck. This should come as no surprise, given the multitude of factors surrounding this deck's success; its low skill ceiling and inexpensiveness to build, combined with its immaculate matchup spread--concerning the more popular decks--make for a serious contender. I think the deck's only truly bad matchups are Fighting decks, Shock Lock, and a good Mewtwo & Mew-GX player--and considering the under-representation of the former two, along with the difficulty of playing MewMew, Turbo Dark is likely the “safest” pick for Dallas. -Kiernan
Mewtwo & Mew-GX
“KiernyBox” showed up in high numbers at the start of many of the cup marathons, only to falter when Turbo Dark established dominance. But a little retooling quickly shifted the Turbo Dark matchup back to favorable, at least for a skilled MewMew player. The deck remains extremely under-respected, despite taking a slightly favored Turbo Dark matchup, overwhelmingly positive matchups against Zoroark-GX/Garbodor and Ultra Necrozma variants, while also being one of the few decks to naturally take a favorable matchup versus both Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX and Shock Lock, without including specific techs. Much of the CP that MewMew earned (586 in total) was attributed to a relatively small number of players. The deck is very difficult to play properly, and the lack of respect for it often comes from players under-utilizing the plethora of options it offers, but those who played it and took time to learn it were rewarded fruitfully. If you’re willing to put the time in to learn this complicated beast, I think it currently sits as one of the best possible plays for Dallas. -Kiernan
Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
ZoroGarb is still alive and kicking, garnering a number 3 spot in these CP rankings. It is still a strong option because of comfort, consistency, and tech options. Players may stick with ZoroGarb due to the consistency of Zoroark-GX and the power of shutting your opponents’ Abilities down with Garbotoxin. ZoroGarb is notorious for not having many autowin or autoloss matchups; rather, it will usually be able to adapt to the meta and have many close matchups that come down to tech cards and player skill. This is appealing to players of higher skill who are comfortable with the deck. ZoroGarb will undoubtedly have a presence at Dallas, and if it follows the Cup data trend, it should be fairly successful. -Luke
Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX
Gardeon saw some play in Expanded in the BLW-UNB format, which was played at Cups during the Origins SPE week in the summer of 2019. It then became cemented as a top-tier Expanded archetype when Drew Cate took it to Top 4 at Richmond Regionals. and the deck earned two more Top 8 placements at the following Portland Regionals. Since then, the deck has gained Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff-GX, which is a huge asset for dealing with aggressive GX decks like Turbo Dark and Pikachu & Zekrom-GX. Gardeon is typically paired with Aromatisse and healing cards to constantly move Energy around and heal, which allows the deck to tank attacks over and over again. Magical Miracle GX is one of the easiest ways to completely strip an opponent's hand, which is another strong attribute of this archetype. Gardeon is a unique deck in Expanded and it has a strong matchup versus any single-Prize-attacker deck that struggles to one-shot Gardeon. -Luke
Ultra Necrozma has been one of the most hyped cards for the new format, and it does have some solid Cup performances to back up that hype. The biggest question when it comes to this deck has been: is Garbodor the correct partner for Ultra Necrozma? Garbotoxin is obviously a very powerful Ability, but playing a build of the deck with Octillery and Alolan Muk allows the Ultra Necrozma player to have on-board draw support to increase consistency and avoid bricking off N. We expect this archetype to be popular in Dallas; its success will likely depend on whether players develop an optimized list. -Luke
Lucario-GX
Lucario was a deck brought back seemingly from the dead by our team, Gentlemen & Scholars, following Turbo Dark’s re-establishment as the BDIF. Despite being built as a hard counter to Turbo Dark, the deck also takes favorable matchups to many other top-tier decks, including Zoroark-GX/Garbodor, Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX, Shock Lock, Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX, and Night March, while taking approximately a 50-50 against Ultra Necrozma. Almost every matchup you will see except for Mewtwo & Mew-GX is workable, and while the deck is somewhat of a gutsy call if you expect MewMew to be highly played, the neutral-to-favorable matchups it enjoys otherwise make it a potential bombshell and title contender in the hands of a decent player. -Kiernan
Shock Lock
Shock Lock is a constant threat at any Expanded event, though in limited numbers due to the restrictive nature of any deck that requires four Tropical Beach. Few decks are capable of beating Shock Lock without hard-teching for it, and the worth of teching for a deck that will be represented by only a small handful of players is usually not worth it for most competitors. This archetype primarily fears Zoroark-GX/Garbodor, although Lucario-GX and Mewtwo & Mew-GX can also be sketchy matchups, and even some Turbo Dark lists can beat it via a combination of Weavile-GX, Mega Sableye & Tyranitar-GX, and possibly an Escape Rope. I believe if you want to win Dallas Regionals, you should have some kind of game plan for Shock Lock. -Kiernan
Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX
EggRow sits in a funny place in the format. On its own, it isn’t really a great deck. Its slow setup, clunkiness, and low damage output make the deck much worse on paper than most of the others in the format, it becomes a very serious threat--this is what happened when JW Kriewall took it to first place at Richmond Regionals. The deck's main selling points are Item lock, Faba, and Vileplume BUS for shutting down Basic decks that do not play a counter. Currently, almost all Turbo Dark lists are playing Weavile-GX, so Turbo Dark should still be favored against EggRow, and Mewtwo & Mew-GX, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor, Ultra Necrozma/Garbodor, Lucario-GX, and Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX all have ways to beat it as well, often with ease. The deck feels like a very poor play for Dallas just given its matchup spread, but the church of EggRow tends to have devout followers, so the deck deserves some amount of respect going into the weekend. -Kiernan
Pikachu & Zekrom-GX
Pikachu & Zekrom-GX is a very solid deck but was almost forgotten about for this format. It did not see much play or success in this Cup sample, but we believe it is probably the most under-the-radar play for Dallas. -Luke
Night March
Night March is another deck that has fallen off somewhat due to new archetypes or improvements to old archetypes, but it still had some decent Cup performances, including a Top 4 finish under Michael Pramawat. While it can trade favorably against most GX-based decks, the archetype is susceptible to Item lock, Special Energy lock, and even Ability lock on turn one or after a late-game N. -Luke
2019 Portland Regionals: Day 2 Players and Decks
- The complete Day 1 metagame breakdown from RK9 Labs is here.
- The complete Day 1 final standings are here.
- Le Bui (8-0-1), Night March
- Ian Robb (7-0-2), Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
- Drew Kennett (7-1-1), Moltres & Zapdos & Articuno-GX/Ho-Oh-EX/Ninja Boy
- Kiernan Wagner (7-1-1), Mewtwo & Mew-GX Toolbox
- Chris Collins (7-1-1), Crabominable
- Preston Ellis (7-1-1), Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX/Aromatisse
- Kevin Clemente (7-1-1), Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
- Liam Williams (7-1-1), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX/Octillery
- Michael Pramawat (7-1-1), Oranguru/Pidgeotto Control
- Chris Gunn (7-1-1), Turbo Dark with Zoroark-GX
- Ivan Stoyenov (7-1-1), Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX/Aromatisse
- Andrew Muñoz (7-2-0), Zoroark-GX/Vileplume
- Bradley Ireland (6-1-2), Gardevoir-GX/Gallade
- Calvin Connor (6-1-2), Zoroark-GX Control
- Daniel Altavilla (6-1-2), Oranguru/Pidgeotto Control
- Alvin Ng (6-1-2), Night March
- Kevin Abernathy (6-1-2), Turbo Dark
- Zak Turchansky (6-1-2), Shock Lock
- Chris Stotts (6-2-1), Turbo Dark
- Zach Lesage (6-2-1), Hitmonchan/Wobbuffet with Primal Groudon-EX
- Kian Amini (6-2-1), Turbo Dark
- Brian Bacigalupi (6-2-1), Turbo Dark with 3 Weavile-GX
- Zane Nelson (6-2-1)
- Derrick Hong (6-2-1), Pikachu & Zekrom-GX
- Kaden Brent (6-2-1), Buzzwole/Garbodor
- Michael Catron (6-2-1), Pikachu & Zekrom-GX
- John Gawaran (5-0-4), Hitmonchan/Wobbuffet/Ultra Beasts
- Dylan Young (5-0-4), Mewtwo & Mew-GX/Vileplume Toolbox
- James Washer (6-2-1), Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX/Aromatisse
- Simon Narode (6-2-1), Shock Lock
- Kevin Tran (6-2-1), Mewtwo & Mew-GX Hand Lock
- Trevore Read (6-2-1), Turbo Dark
- Caleb Gedemer (6-2-1), Oranguru/Pidgeotto Control
- Bodhi Tracy (6-2-1), Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
- Andrew Mancuso (6-2-1), Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX/Aromatisse
- Zachary Everest (6-2-1), Lucario-GX/Octillery
- Andrew Whitfield (6-2-1)
- Brandon Jones (6-2-1), Greninja BREAK
- Malachi Sparks (6-2-1), Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX/Aromatisse
- Chase Moloney (6-2-1), Turbo Dark
- Grant Manley (6-2-1), Vespiquen/Flareon
- Jackson Ford (6-2-1), Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
- Jacob Chen (6-2-1), Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX/Aromatisse
- Noah Sakadjian (6-2-1), Zoroark-GX/Vileplume
- Chris Schmidt (6-2-1), Blastoise/Archie's Ace in the Hole
- Zac Cooper (6-2-1), Zoroark-GX Control
- Grant Sellinger (6-2-1), Lucario-GX/Octillery
- Alan Cook (6-2-1), Lucario-GX/Octillery
Richmond Recap, Portland Predictions: How the Expanded Meta Has Changed in the Last Week
✎ Tate Whitesell (@twhitesell42) / Luke Morsa (@Celios_Network)
Last weekend we saw the first major Expanded event of the 2019-20 season, and the first ever major Expanded event with Unbroken Bonds and Unified Minds as legal sets, in Richmond, Virginia. Just one week later, the same format returns to our attention in Portland, Oregon as the West Coast gets its first taste of Regional action this season.
JW Kriewall took down Richmond with the new Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX/Vileplume archetype, earning his second Regional win six years after his first. But he wasn't the only one to perform well with the deck. "RowlEgg" (as we'll call it to save space in this article) earned nine of the 39 Day 2 spots in Richmond, making it the most represented deck in Day 2. Two different testing groups actually developed their lists independently: Ian Robb (who made Top 8) and his testing partners played a Sceptile-GX line, while Kriewall's group (including Michael Zele, also in Top 8) did not play the Sceptile-GX but opted to play two Steven (or, exclusively for Kriewall, one Steven and a Shuckle-GX).* In PokéStats chat we've been a bit back-and-forth on whether RowlEgg will perform well again in Portland. Tate believes it might be a bit of a trap situation where players assume other players will tech for RowlEgg or play counter decks, but no one actually does, which clears the field for RowlEgg to do well again. Others of us aren't so sure and believe RowlEgg will see much less play and success in Portland.
For this short article, Luke has prepared a few words on each of the format's major archetypes, and we also got in touch with JW Kriewall himself to get his thoughts on RowlEgg for Portland. At the end of the article, Tate will share a counter-meta list he built after analyzing the Richmond metagame and theorizing decks that could beat the variety of strategies seen there.
* Note that Grant Manley, who made Top 4 in Richmond, has said that although the Sceptile-GX was intended as a Zoroark-GX counter, he actually thinks the two Steven are a better counter for that purpose.
"Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX/Vileplume was such a force in Richmond because nobody respected Vileplume or Power Plant. Many of the expected decks going into the tournament had heavy reliance on Items, Basic Pokémon, and Abilities. Thus, crafting a deck to shut down each of those types of cards helped my deck win the tournament. I expect Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor / Vileplume to perform well again in Portland, but not be nearly as dominant as it was in Richmond. Since it is no longer an unknown quantity, attendees will not only know how to tech their decks to beat it, but will also develop gameplay strategies to maximize their chances of winning. Look for there to be a handful in Day 2 of Portland, but I expect it to succumb to counter decks such as Zoroark-GX Control with Reset Hole Marshadow, and Turbo Dark with Weavile-GX."
Last weekend we saw the first major Expanded event of the 2019-20 season, and the first ever major Expanded event with Unbroken Bonds and Unified Minds as legal sets, in Richmond, Virginia. Just one week later, the same format returns to our attention in Portland, Oregon as the West Coast gets its first taste of Regional action this season.
For this short article, Luke has prepared a few words on each of the format's major archetypes, and we also got in touch with JW Kriewall himself to get his thoughts on RowlEgg for Portland. At the end of the article, Tate will share a counter-meta list he built after analyzing the Richmond metagame and theorizing decks that could beat the variety of strategies seen there.
* Note that Grant Manley, who made Top 4 in Richmond, has said that although the Sceptile-GX was intended as a Zoroark-GX counter, he actually thinks the two Steven are a better counter for that purpose.
JW Kriewall on RowlEgg
Was it a one-time thing, or a new Expanded meta staple?
"Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX/Vileplume was such a force in Richmond because nobody respected Vileplume or Power Plant. Many of the expected decks going into the tournament had heavy reliance on Items, Basic Pokémon, and Abilities. Thus, crafting a deck to shut down each of those types of cards helped my deck win the tournament. I expect Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor / Vileplume to perform well again in Portland, but not be nearly as dominant as it was in Richmond. Since it is no longer an unknown quantity, attendees will not only know how to tech their decks to beat it, but will also develop gameplay strategies to maximize their chances of winning. Look for there to be a handful in Day 2 of Portland, but I expect it to succumb to counter decks such as Zoroark-GX Control with Reset Hole Marshadow, and Turbo Dark with Weavile-GX."
Deck profiles
Luke's thoughts on how the major Expanded archetypes performed in Richmond and how we think they'll hold up in Richmond
Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
our pre-Richmond power ranking: #11 of 11
at Richmond: 1 in Day 2
Zoroark-GX/Garbodor is a good mid-range deck that has multiple routes of play depending on the matchup and the player's choice of techs. N plus Garbotoxin is a powerful combination that has the ability to control games that at first seem to swing out of favor.
Night March
our pre-Richmond power ranking: #2 of 11
at Richmond: 2 in Day 2
Even in today's game with all its high-HP attackers, Night March remains strong due to its massive damage output from single-Prize attackers. It can be countered (to varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the Night March player's skill) with one-card techs: Seismitoad-EX or Karen.
Trevenant BREAK
our pre-Richmond power ranking: #4 of 11
at Richmond: 2 in Day 2
Trevenant is not objectively strong compared to many newer cards, but it is subjectively strong in the right meta. The combination of Item lock and spread damage, plus disruptive cards like Counter Catcher and Faba, can make it quite difficult to play against.
Buzzwole/Garbodor
our pre-Richmond power ranking: #3 of 11
at Richmond: 4 in Day 2
Evolving from the previous Shrine of Punishment-based build, Buzzwole/Garbodor now runs Power Plant and leans on the Let Loose plus Power Plant strategy of turn 1 disruption. Ability lock makes the Zoroark-GX and Mewtwo & Mew-GX matchups strong, and the deck's reliance on single-Prize attackers means it trades favorably in most matchups.
Archie's Ace in the Hole
our pre-Richmond power ranking: #9 of 11
at Richmond: 0 in Day 2
In my opinion, the only thing still keeping this deck afloat is Espeon & Deoxys-GX. The possibility of a turn 1 Cross Division GX against decks like Zoroark-GX or Sableye/Garbodor is a fearsome threat. Archie's is a high-risk, high-reward deck with strong potential but a very volatile setup and strategy.
Sableye/Garbodor
our pre-Richmond power ranking: #1 of 11
at Richmond: 0 in Day 2
Reset Stamp, Mars, Chip-Chip Ice Axe, repeat. This deck is potentially even stronger than Pidgeotto is in Standard because Expanded has a larger pool of disruptive Trainers to work with. We were surprised to see none in Day 2 in Richmond, but it would not likely have performed well in Day 2 against all the RowlEgg decks.
Vespiquen
our pre-Richmond power ranking: not ranked
at Richmond: 2 in Day 2
The two Vespiquen players in Day 2 in Richmond played Bronzong FCO to block damage and damage counters to their Benched Pokémon, helping against Espeon & Deoxys-GX as well as Trevenant BREAK. This deck does have some rough matchups, especially if Archie's adds Articuno back into the deck as we expect it might, but the presence of Flareon in the list is very good for the RowlEgg matchup.
A case study in metagame prediction and building a counter deck
Tate's thoughts on Lucario-GX/Octillery for Portland
Tate's thoughts on Lucario-GX/Octillery for Portland
After analyzing the Richmond metagame I thought about what decks could counter the variety of strategies we saw in Day 2 there. I realized that a potential weakness of RowlEgg would be a deck that could trade two-shots (since RowlEgg does not have much OHKO potential) while surviving under Item lock and having an out to Vileplume BUS. To that end, I thought a deck with a heavy count of Acerola (to win two-shot wars without using Items) and non-Item-based search would be strong. Based on the success of Turbo Dark and Zoroark-GX variants, I also thought a Fighting-type deck would be strong. What Fighting-based archetype could survive in a two-shot war and function well under Item lock? It seemed like Lucario-GX, which I was first told about by Zachary Everest, would fit the bill.
Here's the list I would likely use if I was able to teleport to Portland in the next few hours. It's pretty rough, as I made it yesterday and tested about 10 games with it, and I'd probably be testing and refining it in my hotel room late into the morning hours, but the concept of this deck feels very strong to me. The matchup spread against the Richmond Day 2 meta feels great. Octillery is a great card and I think this deck even beats control decks because you only need one Energy to attack with Lucario-GX and they cannot lock your hand when Octillery is in play. Zygarde-EX is mostly in the deck to deal with Trevenant and to give you a non-Psychic-weak attacker. One Beast Ring has felt really strong to close out games with Buzzwole-GX or baby Buzzwole. I noticed that very few lists in Richmond played Field Blower so I think Focus Sash also has tremendous value right now.
Studying metagames and using them to predict future tournaments and craft decklists that counter the expected meta is one of the most fun parts of Pokémon for me, so I wanted to add this section on to the article to discuss it a little bit.
Don't miss our Portland Regionals coverage all weekend long right here on PokéStats. We'll have the same live match data, top-player and metagame updates, and round/day recaps as we did for Richmond, and you won't want to miss it.
Studying metagames and using them to predict future tournaments and craft decklists that counter the expected meta is one of the most fun parts of Pokémon for me, so I wanted to add this section on to the article to discuss it a little bit.
Don't miss our Portland Regionals coverage all weekend long right here on PokéStats. We'll have the same live match data, top-player and metagame updates, and round/day recaps as we did for Richmond, and you won't want to miss it.
2019 Richmond Regionals: Day 2 Players & Decks
- JW Kriewall (8-1-0), Vileplume/Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX/Shuckle-GX
- Kristopher Kemp (8-1-0), Turbo Dark with Weavile-GX
- Drew Cate (8-1-0), Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX/Aromatisse
- Alex Garcia (7-1-1), Night March
- Michael Zele (7-1-1), Vileplume/Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX
- Benjamin Branch (7-1-1), Vileplume/Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX
- Michael McCutcheon (7-1-1), Vileplume/Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX/Sceptile-GX
- Jimmy Pendarvis (6-0-3), Zoroark-GX Control
- Alex Schemanske (7-2-0), Buzzwole/Garbodor/Power Plant
- Grant Manley (7-2-0), Zoroark-GX Control
- Ahmed Ali (6-1-2), Fire Toolbox
- Ian Robb (6-1-2), Vileplume/Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX/Sceptile-GX
- Rowan Stavenow (6-1-2), Zoroark-GX Control
- Michael Pramawat (6-1-2), Zoroark-GX Control
- Andrew Mahone (6-1-2), Vileplume/Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX
- Dean Nezam (6-1-2), Zoroark-GX/Counter Energy Toolbox
- Luke Morsa (6-1-2), Trevenant BREAK
- James Langley (6-1-2), Regirock/Snorlax Stall
- Harris Noor (6-1-2), Pikachu & Zekrom-GX
- Bryan Hunter (6-2-1), Trevenant BREAK
- Joe Turrentine (6-2-1)
- Andrew Buckner (6-2-1)
- Noel Totomoch (6-2-1), Spiritomb/Ultra Beasts
- Ryan Antonucci (6-2-1), Vileplume/Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX/Sceptile-GX
- Brady Botner (5-0-4), Vileplume/Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX
- Isaiah Bradner (6-2-1), Zoroark-GX Control
- Jake Keebler (6-2-1), Buzzwole/Garbodor/Power Plant
- Michael Catron (6-2-1), Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
- Rahul Reddy (6-2-1), Vespiquen/Flareon
- Alex Hamilton (6-2-1), Turbo Dark
- Zachary Bokhari (6-2-1), Night March
- Benjamin McEachen (6-2-1), Vileplume/Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX
- George Illidge (6-2-1), Mewtwo & Mew-GX Hand Lock
- Steven Varesko (6-2-1)
- Brady Guy (6-2-1)
- Seth Wagner (6-2-1)
- Travion Tiller (6-2-1)
- Arthur Terceira (6-2-1)
- Adam Reinhardt (6-2-1)
- Connor Finton (6-2-1), Vespiquen/Flareon
Matchup Analysis and Metagame Predictions for 2019 Knoxville Regionals
✎ Tate Whitesell / @twhitesell42
A bit last-minute, but PokéStats would like to share some analysis of the expected metagame at the 2019 Richmond Regional Championships this weekend, and offer some predictions for the tournament.
Richmond is the first major Expanded event of the 2019-20 season, and the first major Expanded event to feature both Unbroken Bonds and Unified Minds as legal sets. Due to the large number of cards in those sets that have not yet seen play at major Expanded events, it is difficult to predict the Richmond metagame based on past data alone (and Expanded League Cup data is sparse enough that it also does not serve as a satisfactory prediction tool). However, our own Luke Morsa has developed a different method to predict this weekend's top-performing decks:
For these scores, Luke selected eleven decks, which we believe will be the most-played decks at Richmond based on general community consensus. The table below shows the WMS of these decks, ranked from highest to lowest. Effectively, these are PokéStats's "deck power rankings" for this event--the decks we predict to see the most play ranked by how likely we believe they are to win the tournament.
You can view the entire data spreadsheet, containing the UMS and individual matchup win percentages, here.
WMS will be displayed when any of the above decks appear in our Live Match Data Graphics on our liveblog this weekend.
A bit last-minute, but PokéStats would like to share some analysis of the expected metagame at the 2019 Richmond Regional Championships this weekend, and offer some predictions for the tournament.
Richmond is the first major Expanded event of the 2019-20 season, and the first major Expanded event to feature both Unbroken Bonds and Unified Minds as legal sets. Due to the large number of cards in those sets that have not yet seen play at major Expanded events, it is difficult to predict the Richmond metagame based on past data alone (and Expanded League Cup data is sparse enough that it also does not serve as a satisfactory prediction tool). However, our own Luke Morsa has developed a different method to predict this weekend's top-performing decks:
- Aggregate the top-tier decks as suggested by top player predictions, meta forecasts, article sites, and Cup results.
- Assign a percentage value to each of those decks' matchups against each other (based on personal testing and the input of top players).
- Average the matchup percentages to calculate Unweighted Matchup Scores (UMS).
- Weight UMS according to the expected metagame (matches expected to be played more often are given greater priority) to calculate the Weighted Matchup Scores (WMS).
For these scores, Luke selected eleven decks, which we believe will be the most-played decks at Richmond based on general community consensus. The table below shows the WMS of these decks, ranked from highest to lowest. Effectively, these are PokéStats's "deck power rankings" for this event--the decks we predict to see the most play ranked by how likely we believe they are to win the tournament.
You can view the entire data spreadsheet, containing the UMS and individual matchup win percentages, here.
WMS will be displayed when any of the above decks appear in our Live Match Data Graphics on our liveblog this weekend.
2018 Utah Regionals: Day 2 Competitors
- Azul Garcia Griego, 8-0-1 - Drampa-GX/Garbodor
- David Tomhave, 7-1-1 - Zoroark
- Caleb Gedemer, 7-1-1 - Zoroark
- Mark Garcia, 7-1-1 - Zoroark
- Kaleb Sommers, 7-1-1 - Sableye/Garbodor
- Travis Nunlist, 7-2-0 - Gardevoir-GX
- Ryan Pena, 7-2-0 - Glaceon-GX
- Frank Percic, 6-1-2 - Sylveon-GX
- Daniel Altavilla, 6-1-2 - Donphan
- Nathian Beck, 6-1-2 - Greninja BREAK
- Travis Zabala, 6-1-2 - Drampa-GX/Garbodor
- Rahul Reddy, 6-2-1 - FightingBox/Octillery/Wide Lens
- Michael Catron, 6-2-1 - Trevenant BREAK
- Michael Pramawat, 6-2-1 - FightingBox/Octillery/Wide Lens
- Joe Ruettiger, 6-2-1 - Drampa-GX/Garbodor
- Marlin Whitford, 6-2-1 - Lucario-GX/Octillery/Scoop Up Cyclone
- Tony Morgan, 6-2-1 - FightingBox
- Jimmy Pendarvis, 5-0-4 - Drampa-GX/Garbodor
- Edward Wong, 6-2-1 - Sylveon-GX
- Igor Costa, 6-2-1 - Drampa-GX/Garbodor
- Geoffrey Weil, 6-2-1 -
- Bodhi Tracy, 6-2-1 -
- Justin Kinney, 6-2-1 -
- Gabe Cherniske, 6-2-1 - Zoroark
- Ryan Allred, 6-2-1 - Gardevoir-GX
- Brian Vogt, 6-3-0 -
- James Arnold, 6-3-0 - Trevenant BREAK
- Emilio Orozco, 6-3-0 -
- Amelia Bottemiller, 6-3-0 - Gardevoir-GX
- Justin Knowles, 6-3-0 -
- Mike Morton, 6-3-0 -
- George Hall, 6-3-0 -
Follow Live: 2018 Salt Lake City Regionals
The Salt Lake City Regional Championships take place in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA this weekend, May 5-6.
The strongest decks entering the event are considered to be straight Zoroark, Garbodor variants, and Fighting Toolbox variants. Greninja BREAK, Durant, Wailord-EX, and the new Lucario-GX are also predicted to see play.
This post contains event information and live updates on stream matches, top players' decks, the tournament experience, and the general metagame. For more, including updates on notable players' records, follow us on Twitter.
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/playatgamegrid
Live updates
Times shown are EST.
10:18 PM: Entering Round 9, players advancing to Day 2:
9:29 PM: Some names we know are currently guaranteed Day 2 (or can make Day 2 with a Round 9 ID): Azul Garcia Griego, Michael Pramawat, Rahul Reddy.
9:16 PM: John Collins started 4-0-0 with Trevenant BREAK, including beating a Zoroark deck that ran Giratina XY84, but has now fallen to 4-2-1. Pablo Meza (Tablemon) also played Trevenant, dropping at 3-3-1.
6:07 PM: Prior to the event, Kyle "Pooka" Sucevich had hinted at a possible Draft format being tested at this Regional. Christopher Schemanske reports that this is in fact the case; as demonstrated, the format involves constructing a deck from 4 booster packs plus a prerelease-style Evolution Pack. We'll have more information as this develops.
2:15 PM: The stream situation has improved somewhat, with the FPS rate now much closer to what we expect from official streams. (Chat is still in 3-month-followers mode.)
8:57 AM: There are many complaints about the quality of the stream. The framerate is extremely slow (nearly unwatchable) and there is no commentary. While there are markers for Prize Cards taken and player records, there is no indication of a series score.
7:33 AM: Christopher Schemanske notes that this event is now the first US Regional of the 2017-18 season to see a drop in attendance from the previous season. With just 280 Masters present, a 5-0-4 record will make Day 2, as well as almost all players at 6-3-0.
Top players' decks
Jon Eng Drampa-GX/Garbodor
Caleb Gedemer Zoroark
Zach Lesage Donphan/Wobbuffet
Jose Marrero Lucario-GX
Frank Percic Sylveon-GX
Sorina Radu Gardevoir-GX
Rahul Reddy FightingBox/Octillery
The strongest decks entering the event are considered to be straight Zoroark, Garbodor variants, and Fighting Toolbox variants. Greninja BREAK, Durant, Wailord-EX, and the new Lucario-GX are also predicted to see play.
This post contains event information and live updates on stream matches, top players' decks, the tournament experience, and the general metagame. For more, including updates on notable players' records, follow us on Twitter.
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/playatgamegrid
Live updates
Times shown are EST.
10:18 PM: Entering Round 9, players advancing to Day 2:
- Ryan Allred (6-2-0)
- Nathian Beck (6-1-1)
- Michael Catron (6-2-0)
- Mark Garcia (6-1-1, Zoroark)
- Azul Garcia Griego (7-0-1)
- Caleb Gedemer (6-1-1, Zoroark)
- Justin Kinney (6-2-0)
- Tony Morgan (6-1-1)
- Travis Nunlist (7-1-0, Gardevoir-GX)
- Ryan Pena (7-1-0, Glaceon-GX)
- Jimmy Pendarvis (6-2-0)
- Michael Pramawat (6-2-0)
- Rahul Reddy (6-1-1, FightingBox/Octillery)
- Kaleb Sommers (6-1-1)
- David Tomhave (6-1-1, Zoroark)
- Bodhi Tracy (6-2-0)
- Geoffrey Weil (6-2-0)
- Marlin Whitford (6-1-1, Lucario-GX/Octillery)
- Travis Zabala (6-2-0, Drampa-GX/Garbodor)
ID-and-bubble/win-and-in:
- Frank Percic vs. Kevin Abernathy
Win-and-in:
- Amelia Bottemiller vs. Nicholas Fonseca
- Jonathan Donham (down-pair)
- Chris Brown (Durant) vs. Joe Ruettiger
- Chris Stotts vs. Kirk Dube
- Danny Villareal vs. Matthew Price
- Edward Wong (Sylveon-GX) vs. Simon Narode (Zoroark)
- Gabe Cherniske vs. John Collins (Trevenant BREAK)
- Jake Morgan vs. Igor Costa
Win-and-bubble:
- Brian Vogt (down-pair)
- Cory Dickman vs. Matthew Holst
- Dallas Wright vs. James Arnold
- Diane Schemanske vs. Hector Machado
- Eduardo Gonzalez vs. Justin Knowles
- Emilio Orozco vs. Preston Tucker
- George Hall vs. Nathan Stratford (Zoroark)
- Gage Roach vs. Joel Stroeve
- Hayden Cameron-Jacobus vs. Brandon Jones
- Hunter Butler vs. Mike Morton
- Israel Sosa vs. Aidan Toler
9:29 PM: Some names we know are currently guaranteed Day 2 (or can make Day 2 with a Round 9 ID): Azul Garcia Griego, Michael Pramawat, Rahul Reddy.
9:16 PM: John Collins started 4-0-0 with Trevenant BREAK, including beating a Zoroark deck that ran Giratina XY84, but has now fallen to 4-2-1. Pablo Meza (Tablemon) also played Trevenant, dropping at 3-3-1.
6:07 PM: Prior to the event, Kyle "Pooka" Sucevich had hinted at a possible Draft format being tested at this Regional. Christopher Schemanske reports that this is in fact the case; as demonstrated, the format involves constructing a deck from 4 booster packs plus a prerelease-style Evolution Pack. We'll have more information as this develops.
2:15 PM: The stream situation has improved somewhat, with the FPS rate now much closer to what we expect from official streams. (Chat is still in 3-month-followers mode.)
8:57 AM: There are many complaints about the quality of the stream. The framerate is extremely slow (nearly unwatchable) and there is no commentary. While there are markers for Prize Cards taken and player records, there is no indication of a series score.
kind of unfortunate that the stream is a slideshow in 3 months follower's mode— Jonathan (@EzraelVGC) May 5, 2018
This is the worst stream of all time.— Karl Kujak (@Kuj4k) May 5, 2018
It’s always sad to see events with low quality streams. It’s such a missed opportunity to grow the game as well as the TO’s brand for future events.— LPH (@siLPH_Co) May 5, 2018
7:33 AM: Christopher Schemanske notes that this event is now the first US Regional of the 2017-18 season to see a drop in attendance from the previous season. With just 280 Masters present, a 5-0-4 record will make Day 2, as well as almost all players at 6-3-0.
Salt Lake City has officially become the first Regional Championship in North America to see a TCG Masters attendance drop from 2016/17 to 2017/18. 305 to 280. #PlayPokemon— Christopher Schemanske (@cschemanske) May 5, 2018
Jon Eng Drampa-GX/Garbodor
Caleb Gedemer Zoroark
Zach Lesage Donphan/Wobbuffet
Jose Marrero Lucario-GX
Frank Percic Sylveon-GX
Sorina Radu Gardevoir-GX
Rahul Reddy FightingBox/Octillery
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