Hi, everyone! Like most of you, I am getting tired of the current Standard format and am absolutely ready for Scarlet and Violet to drop, and for rotation to hit. This format has certainly been kind to me. I made every Day 2 at every event I attended and made Top 4 twice and Top 16 once, all with Amazing Rare Rayquaza Lost Zone, and … Continue reading Top 10 Cards from Scarlet and Violet

What’s poppin’, COT subscribers! This time I’ll be escorting you through the most anticipated moment of the 2022/2023 season: our midseason rotation! Days have turned to months since Lugia’s chokehold on this format, and a breath of fresh air is severely needed. I hope I’m not speaking for myself as a rogue deck builder, but as a community member, when I say these last few … Continue reading “Pigs Might Fly:” A Short Guide to the Japanese Meta, and My Take on Oinkologne

Hey! What’s up everyone! SmartTCG here! I am ecstatic to be writing another article for you all. Over the past few months, the Pokemon TCG has become relatively stale, but this is set to change over the next month! As I write this, we are just about a month away from the next Pokemon TCG Rotation. Rotation is typically a yearly occurrence that causes multiple … Continue reading “A Psychic Embrace:” Diving Into Gardevoir EX

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      

This article was intended to be a guide on how to beat Lugia, but quickly morphed into descriptions of how to play two match ups optimally – that is, the ones in the title. When writing, the pen can have a mind of its own (or in this case, I suppose my keyboard does). Let’s get right into it. Lugia VS Lugia The mirror is … Continue reading Lugia Mirror and Lugia VS Lost Box

Hey all, my name is Owyn Kamerman and if you are reading this you might know I recently finished 3rd at the Oceania international championships with Mew/Aerodactyl. I had a request to write about the deck, and as I had time to spare on the airplane home, I thought I might as well. A short introduction to me: I’m 19 years old and I’ve been … Continue reading Owyn Kamerman – OCIC Top 4 tournament report

Hi everyone, this is Nick Moffitt bringing you another article for Cut or Tap! I just finished in 3rd place at the largest Regional ever in Orlando with Rayquaza/Raikou Lost Box! This is by far my favorite deck to play in the current Standard format and I believe it is the strongest deck behind Lugia VSTAR. I am excited to share my thoughts on the … Continue reading Orlando Regionals Top 4 Tournament Report

Below is the full audio recording of this article, recorded by Andy Hyun Hello everyone, my name is Manuel Soto and I’m pleased to be sharing my thoughts on the Ditto Control deck I took to an 18th place finish at Orlando Regionals. This event was massive, having nearly 1500 Masters competing for that 1st place spot. I finished with a 10-2-3 record over both … Continue reading “DIT-CON 1:” a Look at Ditto Control in the Standard Format

Abstract In a meta that will span four months, including one Champions League, two International Championships, and 19 Regional level events across the world, the following question is extremely relevant: how can one build the best list of the best play for each event? In this article, I will be taking a deep dive into my general plan of testing, metagaming and deckbuilding –  that … Continue reading An Analysis of Metagaming, Deck Choice, and Deck List: How to succeed in any division at any event

Hey everyone! My name is Gabriel Smart, and I am ecstatic to begin writing for Cut or Tap. I am a professional Pokemon TCG Player based in California, and I travel the world playing the TCG. Currently, I am ranked in the top 10 players in US/Canada, and have already achieved my Worlds invite. You might know me from my consistent tournament placements, Youtube Videos, … Continue reading “Wish Upon a Summoning Star:” a Look at Lugia VSTAR/Archeops

Hi everyone! My name is Nicholas Moffitt, and I am excited to bring you my first ever article for Cut or Tap. Today I am going to be talking all about Lost Zone Box decks. I will start with a brief recap of my last tournament in San Diego, where I finished 10th place with a unique take on Amazing Rare Rayquaza. I will also … Continue reading Lost Zone for Crown Zenith Format

Welcome back, Cut or Tap subscribers! Hunter here to present insightful information on the phenomenon that is Vikavolt Melony box. I’ll be setting the stage for how a completely unknown archetype took down two Regional Championships, earning $7,500 and almost 400 CP. More impressive than the prizes this deck has conquered, the sheer size of these tournaments command respect for the placements from both Krekeler … Continue reading “Follow The Lightning Bug:” Vikavolt Toolbox for Orlando Regionals

Crown Zenith has presented some new interesting cards that we all should be aware of going into Orlando Regionals. We have a new archetype in the form of Lost Box Eternatus variants and some other strong cards that will improve existing archetypes. In the first section of this piece I cover these new changes and a few hyped cards. After that, the rest of this … Continue reading Crown Zenith & Eternatus/Flying Pikachu/Duraludon

Logos Howd’y! It’s Michael Perez and I’m happy to share about what I believe is the most interesting engine and revived mechanic since the 2009-2010 era of Pokemon: the Lost Zone. The Comfey + Colress’s Experiment engine is so rewarding, punitive, and fragile. I’ve played over 500 games using a combination of Giratina Vstar, Kyogre CEL, Amazing Rayquaza, Radiant Charizard, and of course a handful … Continue reading Feeling Lost?

This is a very short piece that I wanted to share before San Diego Regionals. I played Lost Box Charizard in a 1K event yesterday and lost in top 4 to a Duraludon deck playing multiple Lost City, along with some other interesting techs. Although I was disappointed by the fact that I lost to someone who hard countered my deck seemingly on accident, I … Continue reading Duraludon & my play for San Diego Regionals

Lugia VStar is fresh off another win at the largest Regional ever, staving off a myriad of rogue ideas, despite the humongous target on its back. With the 2023 San Diego Regionals fast approaching, the overwhelming feeling has been to either give in and play Lugia, or play a deck that has at least an even matchup into the terror of the format. Typically, I … Continue reading “Fusionator 2: Judge-Mew Day:” Mew VMAX for San Diego Regionals

In this article, I cover Lost Box Charizard first and a new build of Mewtwo that fits this format in the latter half of the article. The Charizard section is more focused on list explanation and the Mewtwo section is almost entirely about how to play match ups against opponents with Mewtwo counters (Drapion V, Snorlax LOR, Regice, etc.) It seems most people have pushed … Continue reading Lost Box Charizard & Recreating Mewtwo V-Union

Hello, Cut or Tap! My name is Piper Lepine, and as you may know, I just won the Toronto regional championships with Mewtwo V-UNION control! This article goes over my group’s thought process in building and testing the deck, why we played the cards we did, how to navigate the different matchups, and looking at the deck for the upcoming Arlington regionals. Table of contents … Continue reading Mewtwo V-UNION: the Control List People Weren’t Expecting

I asked my followers on Twitter if they wanted an article about Mewtwo or a piece on options for Arlington. The response was about 50/50 so Cut or Tap is going to cover both bases. The Toronto Regional Champion Piper Lepine will write about Mewtwo and we will be posting an article from her next week. I am very excited about this because Cut or … Continue reading Options for Arlington