The Pokemon TCG World Championships are the pinnacle of competitive Pokemon. The best trainers from all across the world compete for the crown of World Champion. Ever since I was a little kid growing up in the community, it has been my ultimate goal to win the World Championships. As I write this 30,000+ feet in the air en route to Honolulu, I look back … Continue reading “Worlds in Paradise:” A Dive into SmartTCG’s Top 3 decks for Worlds

Hello, Cut or Tap readers! It has been about two months since the last major tournament in New Orleans, and the World Championship is in just a week. A lot has changed since NAIC, including the release of the new expansion Shrouded Fable, and the increase in popularity of Regidrago. There are several game-changing cards within Shrouded Fable which are helping certain archetypes like Charizard … Continue reading Flying Under The Radar: Raging Bolt Ogerpon for The 2024 World Championships

Aloha, Subs! Back again for more coverage of the 2024 World Championship in Hawaii. I’ve been testing this format for seven weeks now, and I feel like I’ve covered all my bases on testing the top contenders. By those, I mean Charizard ex/Dusknoir, Gardevoir ex, Lugia, Lost Zone Box, Regidrago, and finally Raging Bolt. These six decks to me have felt the strongest for a … Continue reading “Lost For Words:” My Final Lost Box List for Worlds 2024

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

Crikey, Subs – I spotted the apex predator in its natural habitat! Welcome back to the site for our continued coverage of the 2024 World Championships. This time, we’ll be going over a deck that has practically had no viability above League Challenges prior to NAIC. Regidrago is a Pokemon that has certainly been searching for proper attackers and a well-oiled engine. I think we … Continue reading “The Apex Predator”: Regidrago Vstar

Boo, Subs, and welcome back to another article here on Cut or Tap! Finally the time has come for our lovely website to begin coverage of the 2024 Worlds format. Players across the world will undoubtedly start their preparations for the World Championship now that July has arrived. For those who are unfamiliar with the format, it will consist of the same sets legal for … Continue reading “Creeping Down the Block:” Intro to Charizard ex/Dusknoir

Hey, what’s up everyone! SmartTCG here. I hope many of you are enjoying a little break from real life major events. League Challenges and League Cups are quickly approaching, and I am excited to hop back on the grind for the 2024-2025 season! It always feels a little weird playing events for the next season in July, when the World Championships for the previous season … Continue reading “Return to the Top:” a Look Into Charizard for the 2024-2025 Season

Welcome back, Cut or Tap readers! The North America International Championships took place a couple of weeks ago in New Orleans, Louisiana, and I was able to win the entire tournament with my version of Lost Zone Box! This was the biggest ever event outside of Japan, and I had to close the tournament on an extremely difficult 9-0 run in order to make it … Continue reading “A Need for Speed:” Explanation of my NAIC-Winning Lost Zone Box List

Hey there, Cut or Tap readers! I just got home from this year’s North American International Championships and am beyond pumped about how the tournament went! My friend and teammate Andrew Hedrick took the whole thing down with Turbo Lost Zone Box, while I, unfortunately, bubbled out of the Top 16 after losing the win-and-in to the Top 8.  I chose to play Chien-Pao ex, … Continue reading “How I Beat Tord Reklev and Ross Cawthon in the Same Tournament:” NAIC 2024 Tournament Report 

NAIC is upon us, Subs! While writing this, we are currently one week away from the big dance, and I couldn’t be more excited to compete. This is the largest tournament of all time, so we’ll be sure to see some amazing decks and players rise to the top. I’ve now been testing this format for close to two months, so once again I feel … Continue reading “Dodge, Duck, Dipplin, Dive and Dodge:” a Dipplin/Thwackey Guide

Hey there, Cut or Tap Readers! Today I will be sharing my thoughts on a deck that has been absolutely dominating the online tournament scene – Raging Bolt ex. When Temporal Forces first released, I initially wrote off this card as bulk ex material. However, just one set later, the introduction of a small masked Supporter catapulted Raging Bolt into the top tiers of competitive … Continue reading “Thunderstruck:” The Meteoric Rise of Raging Bolt ex

Welcome back, Subs! I’m so incredibly excited to begin our coverage of the Twilight Masquerade metagame. I haven’t been playing the previous format because I didn’t attend Indianapolis or any of the other majors this past month. This has allowed me to focus on our upcoming format, which I will play in the biggest tournament of all time: NAIC. We’ll cover the decks I believe … Continue reading “Party in the Moonlight:” Initial Thoughts on Twilight Masquerade

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

Hi there, Cut or Tap readers! If you read my most recent article on my top cards from Twilight Masquerade, you would know that Lugia VStar is one of the decks I am most optimistic about in the upcoming format. It is the deck I have been testing most extensively, and the initial results have been very promising. If the North American International Championships were … Continue reading “The King has Returned:” Lugia VStar in the Twilight Masquerade Format

Hello, Cut or Tap readers! The Indianapolis Regional Championships were held two weeks ago, and I was able to take down the tournament with Dialga VStar! This was the second biggest Regionals of all time at over 2,300 players, and I had to fight through 18 rounds and many amazing players to come away with the victory, with one of the more unique and overlooked … Continue reading Dialga’s Time to Shine: A Look at My Winning List From Indianapolis

Hey there, Cut or Tap Readers! I am thrilled to be fresh off a 5th place at the Indianapolis Regional Championships! While many of you might be interested in reading about my tournament experience, Indianapolis was my last tournament in this regrettably brief format, which I believe was a great one overall. Therefore, today I want to shift my focus to the future, and share … Continue reading First Impressions On My Top Cards From Twilight Masquerade

Crikey, Subs, I think there’s an elephant over there – lemme go touch it! I hope all of you have been enjoying this lovely Charizard-centric format. This past weekend, Pedro Pertusi, a friend of mine and one of the most prolific players of the modern era, became a three-time Regional Champion. Pedro played an extremely resource-intensive Charizard list, focused on the mirror and multi-card disruption … Continue reading “Water for Elephants:” a Look at Great Tusk/Dudunsparce

Welcome back Subs, to another special article from yours truly about my Groudon deck that I’ve continued to pilot throughout this season. I’m happy to say that I’ve amassed 1/3 of my invite with Groudon, and after my 36-point bubble at Orlando, I have achieved my invite to the 2024 World  Championship in Honolulu, Hawaii. I want to start with some shout-outs since this season … Continue reading “I am Groudon:” Meta-Shaking Performance at Orlando Regionals

Greetings, Cut or Tap readers! With the conclusion of the 2024 European International Championships, I would like to reflect on my tournament run, sharing what went well and what could have been improved. In this article, I hope to provide you with some valuable insights into the position of the Chien-Pao/Baxcalibur deck in the current metagame. Chien-Pao is a deck that has been on my … Continue reading I Played Chien-Pao at the Largest Tournament Ever

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