Hello again! The last article I put out was on October 3rd of 2023, just over a year ago. I am back with some insights and ideas related to Charizard ex! Terapagos is the new interesting deck and some may be interested in the recent success of Raging Bolt and Lost Box, but Charizard still deserves respect. People are pushing Charizard aside and trying other … Continue reading Bringing Charizard Up to Speed!
Howdy! As many of you know, I have decided to take this season off. I simply do not have enough time to start a home improvement business and go for my 8th Worlds invite. Still, I will play in Sacramento Regionals, seeing as I live in Sacramento, and I have been preparing for the event. Peoria is of course happening before then, so any of … Continue reading An Exploration of Colorless Lugia and Some Thoughts about 151
Hello, Cut or Tap readers. I hope you have been enjoying our new roster of great players who now write for my website. Although I have taken more of a backseat role in Cut or Tap’s content lately, I still have some information and advice to give to those going to Worlds. In this article, I cover the patterns we can can observe from previous … Continue reading Preparing for Worlds 2023
Due to a flight cancellation, I will not be making it to NAIC this year. I looked into options for hours and none of them worked. Now that I am not attending the event, I hope someone else can take advantage of all the testing I have done and play the list I created. Subscribers will see that list bellow. Continue reading What I would have played at NAIC
This article is 2,565 words on Lost Box. I will be playing either Turbo Lost Box or Lost Box Kyogre at NAIC and this article details those decks in the Paldea Evolved format. I believe Lost Box was the best deck before the release of Paldea Evolved, and this new set release does not change that. Lost Box can be structured to beat anything. Recently … Continue reading Lost Box is Still King
I have a method for meta prediction that I use for every upcoming event, which I felt our subscribers could benefit from understanding. Without having at least a loose idea of what a meta will be, one cannot properly decide what deck is the best play or what the best techs are. In other words, meta-gaming is the foundation for deck choice and a significant … Continue reading Understanding How to Meta-Game
I try to always post my lists before events that I attend. I am dead set on one deck, which you will see bellow. However, Lugia is my second option and the community needs a proper list for the deck. There has not been a solid Lugia list circulating recently, so I wanted to take this opportunity to post the Lugia list that I took … Continue reading My play for Portland Regionals 2023
I try to always post my lists before events that I attend. I am between a few decks for EUIC and the event is rapidly approaching. If I could post my 60 and say I am definitely playing it, then I would. Instead you will find multiple lists bellow. I really have no idea which one I will chose yet. [Day of event update] At … Continue reading My play for EUIC 2023
The reason for Giratina’s potential resurgence Going into EUIC, there is room for Giratina to be viable again. Rotation and a new set release will lead to competitors playing all sorts of different archetypes and novel lists. Giratina has strength in this type of meta because of the well-rounded nature of the deck. Star Requiem takes a knock out on any ex, V, VStar or … Continue reading Giratina VStar in the Post-Rotation Format
I try to always post my lists before events that I attend. I will be playing the list you see below at Charlotte Regionals. Continue reading My play for Charlotte Regionals
I try to always post my lists before events that I attend. I will be playing the list you see bellow at Vancouver Regionals. Continue reading My play for Vancouver Regionals
This article was intended to be a guide on how to beat Lugia, but quickly morphed into descriptions of how to play two match ups optimally – that is, the ones in the title. When writing, the pen can have a mind of its own (or in this case, I suppose my keyboard does). Let’s get right into it. Lugia VS Lugia The mirror is … Continue reading Lugia Mirror and Lugia VS Lost Box
Crown Zenith has presented some new interesting cards that we all should be aware of going into Orlando Regionals. We have a new archetype in the form of Lost Box Eternatus variants and some other strong cards that will improve existing archetypes. In the first section of this piece I cover these new changes and a few hyped cards. After that, the rest of this … Continue reading Crown Zenith & Eternatus/Flying Pikachu/Duraludon
A game of the Lugia VS Lost Box Charizard match up. Michael Perez and I provide commentary about the match up and discuss the plays needed in the late game for Charizard to win. Continue reading Lugia VS Lost Box Charizard
This is a very short piece that I wanted to share before San Diego Regionals. I played Lost Box Charizard in a 1K event yesterday and lost in top 4 to a Duraludon deck playing multiple Lost City, along with some other interesting techs. Although I was disappointed by the fact that I lost to someone who hard countered my deck seemingly on accident, I … Continue reading Duraludon & my play for San Diego Regionals
This is a game of the Lugia vs Regis match up. Michael Perez and I provide commentary about the match up and explain the strategy to beat Lugia about 60% of the time, even when the Lugia player has Manaphy and Dunsparce. Continue reading Lugia VS Regis
In this article, I cover Lost Box Charizard first and a new build of Mewtwo that fits this format in the latter half of the article. The Charizard section is more focused on list explanation and the Mewtwo section is almost entirely about how to play match ups against opponents with Mewtwo counters (Drapion V, Snorlax LOR, Regice, etc.) It seems most people have pushed … Continue reading Lost Box Charizard & Recreating Mewtwo V-Union
Post Arlington Regionals, I have conceded to the meta. In other words, I am now only comfortable playing higher tier decks with strong engines. Mew, Lugia, Lost Box: these are archetypes with strong engines that offer high levels of power and a consistent support engine. Regis and Mewtwo also have engines, but not with the same level of resilience. I played Arceus Box at Arlington, … Continue reading Decks With True Engines
