Wind of Change (in the metagame) - Pre-Nationals thoughts

Stay as cool as Vanilluxe at Nationals

Hi everyone!

The last (and biggest) Nationals are just around the corner and since it’ll be the last big tournament of the year for many of you, in this entry I’ll concentrate on the most popular decks of the upcoming weekend, and how they have changed from the old lists. I’ll also be discussing about Vanilluxe since I’ve gotten so many requests about it and because it has surprised many players by doing great in Battle Roads and international Nationals. Just last weekend a Vanilluxe deck won the Nationals of Czech Republic. In the end, I’ll also reveal my top3 tech choices for this weekend’s Nationals.

This may be the last entry of mine about HGSS-on format depending on your comments and requests. I know that many of you are already concentrating on BW-on format, if you aren’t attending Worlds this year, and since Worlds will be only for a small amount of people, I don’t think it would benefit anyone to write about HGSS-on format after this weekend. However, about that later on in this entry.

Anyways, let’s start this entry by discussing the most hyped deck of the moment – Darkrai.

Empoleon/Terrakion & Empoleon/Donphan

Empoleon - the HC Jumpluff (and Ludicolo)

Hello everyone!

As I have covered all the played Darkrai EX decks (or have I –let me know if I haven’t!), it’s time for a different kind of deck. This deck has done fairly well in Battle Roads and I believe that this deck has potential for more as well. So far, Empoleon/Terrakion has won only 2 Battle Roads but to be honest, it’s pretty good for a deck that isn’t that played and that is assumed to be bad.

I’ll also take briefly a look at another Empoleon variant – Empoleon/Donphan and compare it with Empoleon/Terrakion, we’ll see, which one deck is the better choice in my opinion. I’ve tested Empoleon before my National pretty extensively because I thought it had potential and as ironical as it sounds, Hammertime had the most difficult time against Donphan/Empoleon (before I added Tornadus EXs that is).

Anyways, let’s start by first looking at the Empoleon/Terrakion.

Dakrai EX/Terrakion/ Mewtwo EX

Terrakion is the anti-metagame card number one.

Hello everybody!

I just finished my entrance exam and now need something to distract me from the overthinking so here I go writing another entry once again. There is nothing like Pokémon when it comes to taking the stressing thoughts out of my head. In today’s entry I’ll discuss another Darkrai variant – Darkrai/Terrakion/Mewtwo EX.

After my Nationals victory the amount of Sableye/Darkrais increased everywhere and for example in Germany’s top32, there were 8 Sableye/Darkrai variants. I think they have been increasing in the U.S. Battle Roads’ as well. If you were running list similar to mine and did well in a tournament, be sure to let me know! I think before the Sableye/Darkrai entry, Terrakion/Darkrai/Mewtwo was the most discussed one because it won both Argentinian and Norwegian Nationals. And it’s no surprise that it won those tournaments because it’s a very strong deck with good typing against the most popular decks of the current metagame.

Anyways, let’s start with the list.

The Decklist Out updated!

Hello everyone!

Today, I finally got the time to update the whole The Decklist Out! The most important part is of course the new decks and “the hottest decks now” lists but I also updated most of the old decks with the current sets’ cards. I haven’t had the time to code the links to the respectful articles of those decks. However, I’ll update the links as soon as I have time and I’ll start making the entries of the Darkrai decks as requested.

Anyways, my entrance exams will be next Tuesday and I’ll be fully concentrating on them from this moment on so there will be no entry on Monday. However, after my exams are over, I’ll continue doing 2 entries per week. I guess I’ll keep some time off from my blog before Worlds (2 weeks or so) so I have time to test properly and have great time in Hawaii. After that it’s a whole new season, format and lots and lots of things to analyze! I hope I can keep up with my blog after August as well when I (hopefully) start my semester in my new university. It’ll be busy for me but I’ll try to make it work.

I hope you enjoy the new update of The Decklist Out and that it’s useful for you and other players as well in testing for Nationals! If you have any comments, questions or requests about my blog and it’s future, feel free to tell me in the comments, Facebook, Twitter or e-mail. Also, let me know if there is any typos in the decklists of The Decklist Out.

Once again, thanks for reading my blog and here is the updated version of The Decklist Out. You can find it also from the Pages part of the blog.

Hammertime! - Darkrai EX/Sableye explained

Hunting the Junk (in a diamond mine?)

Hi everyone!

I’ve gotten a load of questions regarding my Nationals winning deck and now I had finally time to write an article about it. In this article I'll try to answer every question you have made about the deck. There are lots of Darkrai variants out there and I can’t say that this is the best Darkrai variant but I can easily say that this is equally good as the best ones out there.

Darkrai EX variants have won all the official Nationals so far that are played in the HGSS-DEX format (I think). They have also dominated like a dictator the U.S. Battle Roads. I think I could do an own article about each different variant of Darkrai EX and if you think that’s a good idea, just let me know and I’ll do it. I think it’s already pretty clear that Darkrai EX is the best card in the format and Darkrai variants are the best decks in the format. If you haven’t yet gotten your Darkrais, and will attend Nationals or Worlds, get them as soon as possible. If you aren’t going to Nationals or Worlds, don’t bother getting Darkrai EXs just yet – they will be released in a tin box in autumn so the price of Darkrai EX and Mewtwo EX will decrease a lot when the tin boxes hit the store.

Anyways, let’s get into the article by starting with the list.