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What’s up, Cut or Tap readers? It has been a little while since my last article and I wanted to update everyone on my own personal Pokemon journey with some awesome news: I made it to Worlds! After a grind of a season and a last minute trip to the Origins Special Event in Columbus, Ohio, I am now invited to the 2017 Pokemon World … Continue reading “May the Forest Be With You: Discovering DeciPlume for Nationals
Hey friends, Phinn again. This article is mostly an update on lists going into Nationals. Most of my time has been put into practicing Vespiquen, Zoroark, and Garbodor; however I have come up with some other lists like Raichu Lycanroc, and Raichu Bats. I’m not going to go into a ton of detail on any of these decks, because I have already covered all of … Continue reading “Divide (GX) and Conquer:” My Options for US Intercontinentals
[Editor’s Note: This piece was originally intended as an analysis for the Mexico Regionals meta (tournament date June 10-11).] Hey Cut or Tap readers! My name is Charlie Kerr, and I am a player from the Florida area that recently aged up to Masters. I am going to be a sophomore in high school next year. Today I am going to reflect on Madison Regionals … Continue reading “Nitro T’ank You:” Three Plays For The Nationals Meta
Hey guys! Caleb Rice here with my first article for Cut or Tap! Before we get underway, I want to take a moment to tell y’all a little about myself. I am a competitive player playing out of Charlotte, NC. I have only been on the scene for a little over a year, starting my career with a Top 16 at South Carolina states last … Continue reading “Crystal Bae:” Caleb Rice’s Look at Ninetales for Indianapolis
Hey guys, Phinn again, back with some more weird decks. Seems like the last two articles about Zoroark were very well received. Literally half of the players at my last League Cup were using Zorokark Umbreon, and in Finals was my new friend Frank Percic and I played a mirror. However after winning the Cup I felt like there was not a whole lot for … Continue reading “Dangerous Rogues:” Two Standard Decks to Challenge the Three BDIF’s
Hey guys, it’s Charlie back with another article. Today, I’m going to talk about my Madison Regionals experience, the impact of Guardians Rising when it comes to draw engines, and my favorite card from the set, Drampa GX. The new cards in Guardians Rising have proven to shake up the format like never before, so I hope you enjoy hearing my opinions on the new … Continue reading “Dragon Tales”: All About Tapu Bulu/Vikavolt, the Power of Drampa, and an Aside on Draw Engines
Hey there, Cut or Tap Readers! Daniel Altavilla here, fresh out of Wisconsin Regionals. I was able to take another 4th place finish after my similar finish in Virginia, with another Dark variant. I guess we’ll never have a Dark deck sitting outside of the top tier! I really had a blast with every part of this Madison trip and though I didn’t have to … Continue reading Foxy Drampa in Cheese World – 4th Place Madison Regionals Tournament Report
Hey guys, Phinn again. Madison Regionals just wrapped up and we saw a complete change in the meta. Seattle Regionals was dominated almost entirely by Garbodor variants, while Madison had a very diverse meta, and only eight Garbodor decks. This is still a very significant number, but what is more significant is the number of decks that people have found to either counter or go … Continue reading “Mind Jack of All Trades:” Introducing Zoroark Umbreon, Darkrai Regirock, and Garbodor Sandslash
Hey friends, Phinn once again with an in-depth report on Seattle Regionals. This article is going to cover how the event panned out for me, and why I went from the highest record to missing Top 16 during Day 2. The event gave me a lot of insight about the format, the way to build Garbodor, what can counter the deck, and the future of … Continue reading “Nope, There’s Only Trash Here:” From 1st to 19th in Seattle with Espeon Garbodor
The release of Guardians Rising means my comfort deck (Darkrai) is longer viable. Field Blower is a huge problem because the deck’s strategy revolves around Fighting Fury Belt and Exp. Share. Choice Band presents an even bigger issue because Darkrais can now be knocked out in one hit easily. Darkrai could come back with a new set next year, but at the moment it is … Continue reading “Sophie’s Choice Band:” Vespiquen for the new Standard Format
What’s happenin’, Cut or Tap readers? I am back with a shorter article today discussing a few experimental Decidueye lists to play in Toronto – or as we like to say, the 6ix! I have been building decks in the Expanded format with Sun and Moon cards for a while and I have hopefully cracked the format open again with a few of these lists. … Continue reading New Views From The 6ix: Experimental Expanded Decidueye Lists
Hey there, Cut or Tap readers! We’ve had League Cups going on for two quarters already and we’re about to be heading into our third and final quarter for the season. Because players are often comfortable playing five different decks in five different League Cups, I’d like to share how to make a risky “Meta Call,” which is just a more extreme way to beat … Continue reading “Officer Jenny, I Got Your Number:” Calling Your Meta, plus A Taste of What’s to Come
Good afternoon, good evening, and good night, Cut or Tap readers! I’m Jay Lesage, and I recently just got back from the Latin American International Championships! Three of the four Internationals have now concluded, and I’ve essentially lost track of which time zone I’m in – if you know a sleep doctor, feel free to leave me a contact number in the comments. It’s been … Continue reading “Bom Dia-cidueye” – An Awakening in Latin America
I know we’re all excited to use the new cards from Guardians Rising, but we still have a couple events before the set is legal. May 19th is when we have sanctioned tournament access to the new set, which means both Toronto and Virginia Regionals will be in the current format, along with several League Cups. Hold off on Tapu Lele; we have to work … Continue reading “Tri-, Tri-Again:” Three Picks for Facing Standard’s Big Three
Hey everybody! My name is Nick Conocenti and this is my first article for Cut or Tap. With the new set Guardians Rising coming out in just a few weeks, I am sure everybody, including myself, is itching to see what new archetypes will come out and how this set will affect the meta. Let’s start off by taking a look at already existing decks … Continue reading Improvements to established decks and new archetypes with Guardians Rising
Hey everybody! My name is Charlie Lockyer, and this is my second article for this wonderful site. Today, I will be discussing what decks I believe will be most prevalent in Brazil (including what decks I would be considering if I were attending), providing an update on Aerodactyl/Wobbuffet, and sharing my initial testing results for the next Expanded Regional in North America, which is Toronto. … Continue reading “Panqueca Grande Mão:” A Preview of Brazil, Updates on Aerodactyl, and one Option for Toronto
Phinnegan Lynch starring in the sequel to his last Regionals, return of the 9th. I thought for sure after getting 11th, 10th, and 9th, I could not bubble again. The Gambler’s Fallacy is a fallacy for a reason. While I do think I could have either played better, or use a better list in my last three Regionals, in this case I cannot find much … Continue reading Salt Lake City Regionals 9th Place Tournament Report & Deck Analysis
Hi folks, I’m James ‘Peterpot’ McInnes. You may remember me from such decks as ‘Toad Bats and Time Puzzles” which I got Top 8 at two Regionals with last year, “Mega Manectric with Giratina and Trev EX” which I Top 8’ed Canadian nationals with, and most recently, Wobbufett/Accelgor/Decidueye (WAD) which I finished 18th with in Portland. I began playing the Pokémon Trading Card Game last … Continue reading Winning All Day (WAD) with Wobbufett/Accelgor/Decidueye (WAD)
Welcome, Cut or Tap readers, to the article that will make your life (or at least deck choice) easier if you are heading into Salt Lake City Regionals this weekend! I have been building decks with Sun and Moon cards for what seems like ages, and I feel like I have had a fair bit of success in my findings. I have found our current … Continue reading “Chaos Wheel in the Sky:” Zach’s Top Six Picks for Salt Lake City
I apologize for taking extra time to post this article. I wanted to make a more tested version of the standard list in this article so that I could provide you all with the best lists I can make. Most of this article will be covering my Portland experience and Dark Dragons in Expanded, however I do cover my Standard Dark Dragons list later on … Continue reading Portland Regionals 9th place Dark Dragons List and Review
