Darkrai/Giratina won Anaheim Regionals four days ago, making Kenny Britton a Regional Champion, and giving Darkrai/Tina its first major Standard accomplishment. Dark/Tina is a deck that I used to refer to as a worse version of Turbo Dark. In my “What the Hex” article, and multiple others, I argued that the decreased Max Elixir probability, vulnerability to Enhanced Hammer, and the decrease in consistency create … Continue reading “Paint it Black:” Darkrai Giratina, Turbo Dark, & Yveltal Garbodor

Good morning, Malibu – or should I say Melbourne? How’s it going, Cut or Tap readers! I haven’t written an article for this website for a while, but I’m ecstatic to bring an article that has excited me this past week. Chronologically, I’m writing this before Anaheim, California’s Regionals go underway, so it’ll be interesting to see if my knowledge is correct. I always find … Continue reading “Dragon the Line:” a Look at Gyarados for Standard PRC-SM Format

Hey there, Cut or Tap readers! Daniel here, teaming up with Phinn to bring you our first collaboration! Anaheim Regionals is awfully soon (tomorrow), and Standard is in a crazy place right now. As a bit of an introductory segment, I’ll go over the information we’re sitting on: Yes, these Grass decks work. Decidueye and Lurantis are two GX Pokemon that have been tossed into the … Continue reading Daniel Altavilla & Phinnegan Lynch – Exploring Passimian Raichu, Mega Rayquaza, and Solgaleo Darkrai

What is up, Cut or Tap readers! You may be wondering how the weather is up here, and I can only reply with a smooth “sunny and rocky”! If you have guessed that I have been “up in space” testing the new Sun and Moon decks, well, you would be very much correct! I have been spending late nights crushing out decklists, going over ideas … Continue reading “Fly Me to the Moon (and the Sun):” Updates and Creations with the new Sun & Moon Format

Vespiquen is one of the few decks that has been a very hard puzzle to crack – not only for me, but for anybody who plays it. With the current Standard format, there are a vast number of options to take up the Pokemon line in the deck. If you disagree, you most likely have not spent any significant amount of time testing and/or building … Continue reading “The Great Unown:” Building Vespiquen For the Sun & Moon Format

Hello! A long-time request I have gotten is to write a piece about how to play small events; namely League Challenges and League Cups. For most of my competitive career I haven’t felt comfortable doing so, because I didn’t actually think I did that well at them. If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you might have seen my rather annoying rants about the problem … Continue reading “Professor Lynch’s Observations:” Scientific Testing and Successful League Cup Play

Well met, Cut or Tap community! I’m back out of the woodwork of editing for the site, offering a look at a rather under-the-radar niche within our current Standard format. If you’ve followed CoT throughout this season, you may recall my coverage about the infamous Wailord EX deck and its misadventures as my choice for Phoenix Regionals. Since Phoenix, I’ve had moderate success in League … Continue reading “Deck-Outs For Harambe:” Exploring Houndoom and other Standard Mill Decks

Introduction Hey Cut or Tap readers, I am back to close out an awesome month of articles from this website! I have been thinking long and hard all month on what I should write about, and I figured that a lot of you may appreciate my thoughts on Sun and Moon cards. I hope that you get your deck list feast for both formats and … Continue reading Thoughts out of This Galaxy: A Sun and Moon Thought Analysis

Hey kiddies, it’s Phinny again. Over the last week I played a lot of Pokemon – probably too much. But you know what that means, don’t you? I made a bunch of lists! My last piece covered some more fringe decks that may have been too abstract, in hindsight. So this piece will cover three of the more commonly-played meta decks. With the Break membership … Continue reading “Beauty and the Bees:” a Look at Volcanion, Rainbow Road, and Vespiquen

Hey there, Cut or Tap readers! Daniel here, to silence all talk of Standard PRC-SM. I feel that it will take plenty of innovation to actually change this format. We’re in a good place right now, with the gist of it all being: Ability-heavy decks Garbodor decks to counter the Ability decks Third-party decks with no affinity towards Abilities (Spare Shaymin or Hoopa-EX) or Anti-Abilities … Continue reading “What’s Changed, Jesse?” – Breaking (a) Bad Format

Yo! I feel like a new player! If you thought I liked Pokemon before, you should see me now. Since San Jose Regionals, something in my head ticked and I have escaped the slump I was in about four weeks ago. Lots of good things are happenin’ for Phinny these days. I won a League Cup on Sunday using Darkrai – you can see my … Continue reading “Phinn: Guy of Volcano” – Expanding on Darkrai and Exploring Its Counters

This is a collaboration between Zach and Jay Lesage for double the reading pleasure! We were asked to do a special article as brothers and we loved the idea upon hearing it! We both have been playing for over a decade with multiple successes across the span of our Pokemon careers. — The first part of our article will be handled by Zach, discussing his … Continue reading “Double Trouble” – A Double-Take on Poke-Thoughts

Hey readers! My name is Kiernan Wagner, and I’m back again today with my fourth article written for this wonderful website. After my return from Dallas just four days prior to writing this. I was looking forward to taking a short break from Pokemon, at least for my finals week – but alas, I just can’t stay away from this game for more than a … Continue reading “Keep Calm and Jolteon:” Four Potential Plays for PRC-EVO Format

Hey Cut or Tap readers, my name is Jon Eng. I am a player from Maryland finishing up my last year in Seniors. I have been playing for just under seven years now and some of my more notable accomplishments are: Top 4 at U.S. Nationals 2014, Top 8 at Worlds 2015, 10th place at Nationals 2016, 9th place at Worlds 2016, and Top 8 … Continue reading “An Insight Into the Senior Division:” A Top-8 Dallas Report and Looking Ahead to Georgia.

Hey, Cut or Tap readers! At the time of writing this, I’ve just gotten home from Dallas Regionals. I managed to put up what was probably my worst tournament performance ever, playing Vileplume. Despite this, Dallas was a very fun experience, and I had a great time ringing in the new year with friends from all over the US and Canada. Dallas saw a very … Continue reading “Don’t Mess With Techs-as:” Better Teching with Kiernan Wagner and Daniel Altavilla

Hey friends, Phinn again. I did not have the pleasure of attending Dallas Regionals. Instead, I get to stay home and build deck lists for my friends who are competing. I just happened to come up with a deck earlier this week that turned out to be really strong. I have been too excited about it to keep it to myself, so I decided I … Continue reading “What the Hex?” – Standard Darkrai Yveltal Deck List & Explanation

Good morning, Cut or Tap readers! I’ve recently been on Christmas vacation and generally just enjoying the atmosphere that the holidays have to offer, but with some heavy Regionals around the corner, I figure it’s about time I act on my call to action. You can only take so much time off from the game before you get rusty, and before you know it you’ll … Continue reading “Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall:” An In-Depth Look at the Yveltal/Garbodor Mirror

Table of Contents 1) Article Introduction 2) The Top Players of London Internationals 3) The Big Threats 4) Yveltal/Garbodor Revisited 5) How to Physically and Mentally Prepare For a Regionals 6) Closing Thoughts Article Introduction Happy Holidays to all of you wonderful Cut or Tap readers! I hope you and all of your friends and family have enjoyed your holiday season and are ready to … Continue reading The Dallas Regionals Survival Guide

Hey reader, Phinn again. San Jose Regionals has just passed, and yet again, I learned a very valuable lesson. Initially, I was depressed after the event because of my poor performance. However, after a conversation with Mark Garcia, I realized that there is nothing to be sad about. I sent Mark a huge message on Facebook asking him different questions about the game, and how … Continue reading “No Shaym-in Defeat:” a Look at Consistency in Deck Building

With the recent conclusion of the San Jose, CA Regional Championships and London Intercontinental Championships, one thing is abundantly clear: Dark is the king of both formats. Expanded format is more pertinent for me, with my upcoming League Cups in that format, and I’ve spent much of the past few months testing Expanded Dark decks with Kian Amini. While I was not able to attend … Continue reading “Black Christmas:” Dark Decks for Winter League Cups