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Hey guys, Phinn again. This is going to be an informative piece, letting you all know exactly what we are losing with this year’s rotation. It’s a bit of a pain to search out which set every card came from, so I thought I would save you all the trouble and make a list. I also list out the cards that were reprinted in a … Continue reading “And So the Balance Shifts:” What is Kept and Lost with the 2017 Rotation
Hey guys, Phinn again. Just want to keep you all up to date with what we’re doing with the site. As you may know, over the last week we did not post the Pro Podcast, or any articles. With Worlds we did not have a chance to record the podcast. As for the articles, I wanted to try out doing some matches instead. However, it … Continue reading Website Update
Hey guys, Phinn again. As this article goes up, Worlds is happening tomorrow. Before we all hop in the pit, I want to cover my final options going into the tournament. This piece won’t be super text-heavy because I’m tight on time. However, these are my exact lists for all of my options, so it should be worth your time. Before I get into this piece, … Continue reading “One Day More:” My Final Options for Worlds
Hello, Cut or Tap readers! Jeremiah back with another article. This piece is going to be geared towards players competing in the World Championship this month, and I’ll be going over the deck I’ve been putting the most work into, which is metal! This is the deck I played at Nationals, and the changes that come with Steam Siege only make this deck a better … Continue reading A Different Worlds Approach
Introduction Hey guys, it’s been quite a while since my last article and I’m excited to be writing for CutOrTap! For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been playing Pokémon competitively since 2006. Accomplishment-wise, I qualified for Worlds every year, made Top 16 at Worlds three times in Masters, and secured multiple Top 8/Top 16 finishes at US Nationals in Masters. Along the … Continue reading Night March vs The World
Hey guys, Phinn again. If you guys are like me, you’re looking at an odd format for Worlds. Most of us have realized that not a lot has changed with Steam Siege being around. It is almost unanimous among good players that the top decks to be expected at Worlds are either Night March, or based around item lock. However, because of that, we may … Continue reading Four Decks That Beat Night March and Item Lock
Hello, Cut or Tap readers! Bodhi here again to talk about something a little off the beaten path of our current format. I believe we have pushed it very close, if not all the way to the edge in terms of solving the current metagame. Our main topic today will be about advanced and solved formats, and I’ll elaborate on their meaning and how they … Continue reading “Solutions and Evolution:” How to Approach Thinking about New and Old Formats
Hey again, CutorTap! Daniel Altavilla here, doing my second article for this wonderful site. My last one was on efficient playtesting, and it seemed to take off among newer players, which is wonderful. This time around, there will be more meat in the area of actual decks. I have four decks I’ve built recently that I have almost perfected, but I feel the meta as … Continue reading Hyperbolic Time Chamber: Awakening Untapped Potential with Steam Siege
Yo Cut or Tap, Liam back again, this time with a Steam Siege set review. This set has a lot of exciting possibilities in the XY-on Standard format that will be used at the 2016 World Championships, the Primal Clash-on Standard format for the 2016-2017 season, and the Black and White-on Expanded format that we can expect to see come Regionals next season. While every card … Continue reading A Fantastic Odyssey: Investigating the Contents of Steam Siege
Hey guys, Phinn again. Last time I covered my US Nationals run with Toad Bats. This time I want to cover the list that I used, and how to play some of its match-ups. It was a little difficult to know which match-ups to cover, considering Pokemon Ranger changes things significantly. For that reason, I have a section explaining what decks I expect to see … Continue reading “No Day But Toad-ay:” How to Build and Use Seismitoad Bats
Hey guys, Phinnegan again. About a week ago I played in the US National Championship, where I was able to make 15th as the only Seismitoad Bats player in all of top 64. This piece is going to cover how the tournament went for me, and I also include my list at the end of the piece. I don’t have a list explanation ready right … Continue reading Diving with Skill: Top 16 Nationals Report with Seismitoad/Bats
Hey CutOrTap nation, Liam here with my US Nationals report. I was lucky enough to finish in fourth place in a field of 1,105 masters, making it the largest Pokemon TCG tournament ever, at least outside of Japan. Today I want to give you a run down of my play for Nationals, some of the card choices, and my matches. I played this deck at … Continue reading US Nationals Top 4: Darkrai/Giratina/Hydreigon Deck Analysis + Tournament Report
Introduction Hi readers, I am Clifton Goh from Singapore, a Pokemon player from the Masters division and the newest contributor to the Cut Or Tap Website. I hope to churn out more quality content for your benefit and enjoyment for the near future. In this article, I would like to talk about a favourite deck of mine and a comfort pick all season – YZG. … Continue reading Singapore Nationals Winning YZG: A Comprehensive Matchup Guide
Editor’s Note: We apologize to Mr. Lesage for delaying his article’s publication, making his use of future tense to describe US Nationals no longer accurate. However, we obviously appreciate his insights on deck-building, the metagame, etc. – and so, the proverbial show will go on! -Andy Table of Contents Introduction Origins Game Fair Locks and Keys Vileplume/Jolteon EX/ Yveltal EX Vileplume/ Jolteon EX/ Vespiquen A … Continue reading A Reprise from the North – A Canadian Nationals Insight
INTRODUCTION Hey, Cut or Tap readers! Let me take this moment to introduce myself! I am Caleb Gedemer, a recently turned eighteen-year-old high school graduate and Pokemon Trading Card Game player hailing from the great state of Wisconsin in the United States. I have been playing competitively since the 2013-2014 season of play, earning an invitation to the World Championships in that year as well … Continue reading “Lock ’em Down” — Vileplume in the Standard Format
Table of Contents Article Introduction My Deck List My Tournament Report Top 8 Decks A Focus on Metal Decks Championship Point Payout for Canadian Nationals What about US Nationals? Closing Thoughts — Article Introduction — Eh! Cut or Tap readers, you are a-boot to go on a crazy Canadian adventure where I will explain what happened at Canadian Nationals (watch out for the igloos and … Continue reading Eh!: An Exclusive Look at the 2016 Canadian National Championships
Hello, CutorTap readers! Today I would like to talk about what I believe to be one of (if not the) best decks in the Standard format, Greninja, and how it fares going into the U.S. National Championships. But before that, let me introduce myself a little bit. My name is Bodhi Tracy, and I have been playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game competitively for around 4 … Continue reading The Problems with Greninja
Hey guys, Phinn here. This is my first article for Cut or Tap! I have been writing for other sites for about a year now, which is what inspired me to start this site. However, I have been so busy creating other content and running the site, that I haven’t had time to make an article until now. Normally I would give you guys a … Continue reading Phinn’s Evil Ball Trick: Three Spins on Yveltal/Zoroark/Gallade
This will be our first article for Cut or Tap and I would like to introduce us to you… Wait, hold up… our???… us?!?!… Yes, you did read that correctly! This is a joint collaboration between Zach Lesage 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 … Continue reading The Lesage Brothers: Looking at Nationals Two Ways!!
Hello hello hello! Thanks for coming to Cut or Tap! I want to go over some quick thoughts about a deck that always seems to perform well, but never wins the big tournaments, and that’s Mega Manectric-EX. This guy can be, and has seemingly been, paired with every Pokemon under the sun. We’ve seen him with Black Kyurem-EX, Genesect-EX, and even the more odd ones like … Continue reading (Rough-) Seize the Day! A Look at Mega Manectric & Water
