As I type this, I am at Memphis Regionals, looking at a notepad stacked with information about the event. Unfortunately, I forgot to register for the tournament. Not sure how that happened; I have a memory of registering but I suppose that might have been a different Regionals on accident? Either way, I had to sit this one out. The extra time gave me the … Continue reading Musings From an Outside Perspective: Understanding What People Will Play

The meta is somewhat static, with a few clear best decks, and several other tier two or three options. This means Memphis Regionals should have a predictable meta, making it an easy tournament to prepare for. This article is here to display the options that I consider to be the top tier, along with some lists for other decks and explanations of why they are … Continue reading “The (First) Impression That I Get:” Options for Memphis Regionals

Hey, Cut Or Tap readers!  I’m really happy to be back writing again!  I have taken a pretty long break from writing because school is starting up, but I should be able to write a little more frequently from now on. Today I am going to talk about Zoroark GX in Expanded and why I believe it is the best deck to play in San … Continue reading “Got Any Trades?”: Zoroark GX’s Viability in Expanded

Hey readers, I am currently in a Starbucks in Canada, reflecting on my 5-3-1 finish. The event was painful for several reasons, but I learned a lot about the format for Standard right now, and I wanted to share this info with you all. In this piece, I am going to talk about: How to navigate time in the Best-of-3 format for Regionals. How to … Continue reading “How Do You Plea?” – Navigating Standard Regionals This Season & Post-Vancouver Conclusions

Hey guys, I’m back with another piece but this time talking about both formats. We are now in full swing with Regionals and there will be both Standard and Expanded Regionals coming up soon. I will be attending both Daytona and Vancouver, so I will be talking about the meta for both of these events. In this piece, I am going to swap back and … Continue reading “Two Formats Team Up:” Options for both Standard and Expanded Regionals

Hello again, readers! Frank here, and I thank you for joining me in my second article with Cut or Tap. If you had the chance to read my last article, you may remember I was preparing to compete in the Anaheim Open, as well as for the upcoming rotation and addition of Burning Shadows. In the few months following that time, I was able to … Continue reading “Breaking Dawn with Twilight GX:” Optimizing Gardevoir in a New Standard Format

Hey guys, I’m fresh off my plane from Fort Wayne Regionals and ready to start the new Standard format! One of the biggest changes we are going to see is an adjustment to the way our Supporter and overall draw counts look like. In this piece, I am going to cover how the Standard decks should be built, in a way that will keep the … Continue reading “Espe-en Garde:” An Introduction To The BKT-on Standard Format

Hey guys, Phinn again with another piece about the meta. This time I want to cover the Expanded format in a holistic manner. I see people putting out articles about a single deck, or a couple Expanded options, but for this piece I want to talk about how we should view the Expanded format and what decks are actually top-tier. There are tons of options … Continue reading “Marshadow and More:” A Look at the New Expanded Format

Hey reader, Phinn again. We are fresh from Worlds with plenty of information to explore and analyze. This article is going to cover what changes we saw in the meta, as opposed to past Worlds’ metas, and what has stayed consistent through each Worlds. The idea here is to think about what we thought we knew about the meta before Worlds, and then looking at … Continue reading Post Worlds Conclusions: Final Lists and Lessons for Next Season

In the weeks leading up to Worlds, we have had (and continue to have) a rapidly-evolving meta that will most likely give us a completely new format. Now we have Gardevoir GX, but this has not changed the fact that Garbodor is incredibly strong. Decidueye/Vileplume is actually able to beat both. With that being said, Volcanion and Rayquaza beat Decidueye. Volcanion seemed amazing when we … Continue reading “So Say We All:” The Final Five Options for Worlds

Hey CutOrTap readers, it’s Charlie, back with another article.  This is the one time of year where there is a major divide between players – some are working to test for Worlds while others are testing out next year’s format.  Today, I’m going to share with you some of the front-runners in my group’s large testing pool, along with a few predictions for what will … Continue reading “Don’t Wimp Out!” First Impressions on Golisopod/Vileplume and Tips for Worlds

Hey reader! Many of us are preparing for a format including a set that does not exist in English yet. For most Worlds competitors the format that is relevant at the moment is including Burning Shadows. The only tournament we have to base our format on is the 2017 Japan championship, which actually is a different format because they have many more sets legal. For … Continue reading Primal Clash through Burning Shadows – Gardevoir, Greninja, Darkrai, and Noivern

Hey guys, Bubble Boy back again with another tournament report. US Intercontinentals was this past weekend with a somewhat diverse meta and tons of interesting information to talk about. I ended the event with yet another bubble, but this time it wasn’t as painful because it was only for Top 16 rather than Top 8. I took notes about my matches throughout all of Day … Continue reading “International Espeonage:” 17th-Place Tournament Report with Espeon/Garbodor

Continue reading Phinn’s Deck list for North American Intercontinentals 2017

USA Intercontinentals is less than a week away, and the unfortunate truth is that most people still don’t know what they are playing. I am here to help those players figure that out with my metagame predictions, and with what decks I expect to be making it to Day 2 of the event. Some archetypes will be better for players just looking to hit Day 2, … Continue reading “Choose Your Character!” Meta Predictions for North American Intercontinentals

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