After its strong performance at the Gdansk Regional Championships, Banette has proved to be a top contender in the current meta. With the Gardevoir engine being able to trade favorably into two-prize decks like Raging Bolt, and the Item lock to slow down aggressive Dusknoir decks like Palkia and Terapagos, Banette has a very solid matchup spread, which is compounded by its consistency. After my … Continue reading Spooky Season ain’t Quite Over Yet: the Rising Star Banette ex/Gardevoir ex

Gardevoir?! I don’t have an addiction! YOU have an addiction! But seriously, I cannot stop playing this deck post-rotation – it is so powerful, and very fun and rewarding to play, especially with the addition of Munkidori from Twilight Masquerade. While I thought the deck was well positioned for NAIC, I ended up playing Lost Box instead, as I felt people were respecting it much … Continue reading Post-NAIC Gardevoir: List Development and Decisions

Hello, Cut or Tap readers! If you’ve seen my Twitter and event placements recently, you’ll know I have been a huge Gardevoir fan pre- and post-rotation. The built-in consistency of the deck gives you a ton of options each turn, while having multiple different ways to play the game, whether aggro or tanky, and overall it’s been one of my favorite decks this year, getting … Continue reading “Munki Business:” Gardevoir ex in the Twilight Masquerade Format

Hello, Cut or Tap readers! With EUIC quickly approaching, I figured we should take a look at the Lost Zone archetype, as it performs well and grows in popularity. Utilizing the consistency of Comfey, and a variety of attackers such as Roaring Moon ex, Radiant Charizard, Giratina VSTAR, and more, the deck can be built to counter a specific meta. The only concern now is: … Continue reading Lost in London: Building Lost Zone Decks for EUIC

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! The Paradox Rift format is starting to get stale after about five months or so, and because of that, I’ve prioritized theory-ing and testing post-rotation a lot more than for Vancouver, so today I’m going to share some of my findings on everyone’s favorite card: Snorlax PGO!! There are a few different variants to cover, starting with the simplest … Continue reading “Control Freak:” Control Lists and Theory for EUIC

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! I just got back from an 18th place finish at the Knoxville Regional Championships with Lost Zone Box! I’ve been playing a ton of Lost Zone decks recently, such as the Groudon/Roaring Moon build for San Antonio, as well as testing a ton of Tina. However for this event, I went with a build utilizing Super Effective Glasses to … Continue reading “Triumphant Frames:” Supereffective Glasses in Lost Zone Box for Knoxville and Beyond

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! While Gardevoir has been lacking some major finishes recently, I think the deck is in a fantastic position for local events and Regionals, as it is absurdly consistent and has a solid matchup against everything. With Gardy, it is important to keep your techs to a minimum, as playing the deck has led me to understand the importance of … Continue reading “New Year, (Not-So-) New Decks:” Gardevoir and Snorlax Control for Portland

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! As I mentioned in my last article, there was a high likelihood of an interesting meta dynamic popping up: 1) aggressive decks, like Roaring Moon, having a favorable matchup into Iron Hands decks, like Chien-Pao, which 2) are favored into one prize decks, like Gardevoir, which 3) are favored into aggressive decks. In this dynamic, we have a seemingly … Continue reading Gardevoir for LAIC 2023 and Beyond

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! Today I have a variety of topics to discuss for the new Paradox Rift format. I am super amped up for this set, as it has a ton of cool cards, with a ton of potential, and control gets buffed a ton. As a short disclaimer, I haven’t done much testing with these cards, however I have put a … Continue reading Looking at the Past and Future: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Paradox Rift Format

Hello, Cut or Tap Readers! As of writing this, the Peoria Regional Championships is a few days away, then the weekend after that, Sacramento, and finally, Lille Regionals. While these events may affect the meta of the next format quite a bit, I believe that the many variants of Charizard ex will see good success across all three events.  After Worlds, the Obsidian Flames expansion … Continue reading The Four Horsemen of the Char-pocalypse

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! With the 2024 season starting soon, and the meta looking fairly similar to the Paldea Evolved format, I thought I would take a look at how I plan to get my invite this season, as opposed to looking at the top decks for Pittsburgh, Barcelona, etc. In this article, I will cover a breakdown of Best Finish Limits at … Continue reading Planning Your Season to get an Invite and Pittsburgh Plays/Meta Analysis

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! Day 1 Worlds is a super weird event to prepare for, and a lot of people will be playing top meta decks like Arceus Duraludon Umberon, or Giratina Lost Zone Box. While these decks are all very powerful, and great calls, my favorite way to play the game is with off-meta decks. While this may seem risky going into … Continue reading Making a Meta Call at Worlds

Hello, Cut or Tap readers! Today I am going to be discussing a couple builds of Lost Box Giratina VSTAR, their strengths and weaknesses, and some important notes on playing the deck, since they feel quite a bit different from some of the more aggressive builds in the past.  Before getting into Giratina builds, I want to give a brief overview of my NAIC run. … Continue reading Lost in the Abyss: Lost Zone Giratina Lists, and Analysis for Worlds

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! With the introduction of Paldea Evolved into the format, many new consistency options are available, such as Iono and Squawkabilly ex. These cards have been increasing Lugia’s consistency to be significantly higher than last format, making the deck an underrated choice for NAIC. Last format, we saw Lugia dominate in the hands of Regan Retzloff, but there were still … Continue reading Looking at Lugia: Single Strike vs Colorless Lugia for NAIC

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! I am here today to bring you some analysis of the new Paldea Evolved set, which will be legal for NAIC. By the time this article releases, prereleases will be occurring across the globe, so I will be covering some of the chase cards, their impact on the meta, as well as some of my favorite cards, and some … Continue reading Set Review and Early Analysis of the Paldea Evolved Format

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! It is a common consensus that you can throw any tech Pokemon together with the Lost Zone engine, and your deck won’t be half bad, as seen with Zacian VSTAR as an example. However, a frequent issue with many of these lists was the late game. This is why typically we see powerful attackers being added, such as Kyogre … Continue reading “Wrath and Storms:” The Importance of Late-Game Power in Lost Box

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! As you may know, I love rogue (otherwise known as counter) decks, and with a ton of League Cups and Challenges happening across the globe, I will be presenting my current lists, or works in progress, of some off-meta decks. In this article, I will go over some of the pros and cons to playing rogue decks, especially for … Continue reading Attacking, Locking, and Stalling: Post-EUIC Musings on Rogue Archetypes

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! As I write this article, I am on a train from Brussels to London! After a couple days of vacation, it’s time to do some last-minute testing and refining of my list. With that being said, today I am going to share four of my top contenders for this weekend: Sableye/Radiant Charizard Lost Box (updated from my last article) … Continue reading Across the Pond: My Top Deck Choices for EUIC

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! As we finally reach the end of the six-month Silver Tempest format, the long awaited mid-season rotation will be occurring, along with the introduction of the new block, Scarlet and Violet. With many consistency cards such as Quick Ball, Scoop Up Net, Oranguru, etc, rotating, many people have shifted to a Mirage Gate-based Lost Box deck, full of tech … Continue reading The Art of Simplicity: Post Rotation Sableye/Radiant Charizard Lost Zone Box

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! Recently I got 5th Place out of roughly 1150 players at the Regional Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee! Up until this point, I had been playing Lugia/Archeops, and was both getting bored and not seeing the success I wanted to with the deck, so after Orlando, I knew I had to change things up. Leading up to the event, I … Continue reading Inteleon’s Ride Into the Sunset: Top 8 at Knoxville Regionals with Palkia VSTAR/Inteleon