This article goes over my current Toad Zoroark list, why the deck is still strong, and how to play the important match ups. Tomorrow there will be another article from Hunter Butler on Blastoise Wails. On my trip to Denver I started the weekend explaining to my friends that I was tired of Expanded and would avoid going to any more Expanded events. By the … Continue reading Toad Zoroark is as strong as it was before the Lusamine ban

This is a short post on options for Denver other than Zapdos. If you want to read about Zapdos you can find match up descriptions and other info here. For my exact updated list you can go here. The first deck is of course Zoroark, which has been my first choice for a while. I don’t think people even believe I will play anything else … Continue reading Other options for Denver

As it became more obvious that players are trying to counter Zoroark, it started to become evident than I needed a second option for Denver. I knew that playing PikaRom and Blacephalon was out of the question for me, which meant the only options outside of Zoroark were Zapdos, Ultra Necrozma, or a rogue. Ultra Necrozma match results have been very draw-dependent rather than skill-dependent, … Continue reading The Cut or Tap Zapdos variant

One of the main shortcomings of the site has been the fact that I don’t cover match ups in much detail. I want to change that over the course of the next month or so. The next few articles will be covering specific decks and all of their match ups against the popular archetypes in the standard format. This piece is about the match ups … Continue reading Guide to ZoroRocWeavile match ups

I was both thrilled and annoyed about seeing that Night March won Toronto Regionals. On one hand, I was vindicated in my picks for the event since I had posted a Night March Order Pad list saying it was likely the best play, but that reason is pretty superficial. The much more hindering side of Night March’s success is that I had been working hard … Continue reading Expanded options for Greensboro Regionals (ZoroGarb, BuzzShrine, Archie’s Wails)

After seeing the list that Alex Cole managed place well at St. Louis with, ZoroGarb became of interest again. As many of you know the deck has been my favorite archetype over the last two years, so the prospect of being able to play it in Standard again is enticing. I also won a Team Up case tournament with ZoroRocWeavile using a list that I … Continue reading Standard: ZoroRocWeavile, BuzzMuk, and ZoroGarb

Oceania Internationals has concluded and Zapdos won the tournament, which is completely unsurprising considering eight of the best players in the game played it. I underrated Zapdos at first. The deck was mediocre in testing because I was using, and playing against, the Japanese lists which ran far worse. Now that Zapdos is the king that needs to be slain, I am excited to talk … Continue reading ZoroRoc and Malamar variants, plus Darkrai Zoroark and Alolan Muk Garbodor updates

I am very surprised by how people are building Malamar right now. The build that I have seems very normal and to the point in my eyes, but I am starting to see that it is actually unorthodox. For the Team Up format I am also working on a similar list that continues to focus on Giratina rather than Ultra Necrozma. Ultra Necrozma does have … Continue reading Giratina Malamar Pre & Post Team Up

ZoroRoc has become my favorite deck once again, mostly because it is the only thing I can find that actually beats Malamar. If you are not already aware, Malamar is somewhat decidedly the best deck right now. Playing ZoroRoc again has made me realized how much stronger it will be when Team Up is legal. This piece goes over my list before Team Up and … Continue reading ZoroRoc for Pre-Team Up and Post-Team Up