#sudowoodo gri

[ptcgdecklist]

Lucario GX - Marlin Whitford (US) - Top 8 - Salt Lake City Regionals - May 2018 - Expanded

[aidyjamespokemon]

I’m on spooky. I’m so pretty: Card of the Day #5

Now would be a good time to tell you about something cool I have planned. Why now? You’ll see soon enough! From next week, I’ll be making a weekly video post in which I talk about a very special card indeed - a higher accolade than Card of the Day, if you will. Rather predictably, this will be called Card of the Week! Which card will be our first Card of the Week? I’ll drop a little hint today... Maybe I’m biased towards ghost-type Pokémon. I’ve always loved them throughout the Pokémon franchise and I really like the way their sense of mischief often translates so well into the TCG. Today’s card of the day is one I like for exactly that. It’s not just more of my bias towards my beloved spoopy guys - I promise! Say hello to Banette!

Stats

Banette is small by any measure in the TCG. 90 HP isn’t surviving much, to say the least, and it falls behind many basics in this regard. In a sense, Banette could be described as a glass cannon. It’s not going to stick around for long, but it’s going to make quite the impact while it’s around.

Although, being a stage 1, it does have access to Bodybuilding Dumbbells, an item that gives it an extra 40 HP. 130 is a much more workable number in most cases, as many attacks hit for 120 damage. Unfortunately for Banette, the most common of these attacks is Zoroark-GX’s Riotous Beating, which hits for weakness. If you’re not facing down a Zoroark deck (lucky you!), you may want to slap some Dumbbells on this little guy to give it an extra turn to cause trouble.

Dark is an unfortunate weakness to have in this Zoroark-heavy metagame, but this is balanced out by a resistance to the ubiquitous fighting type. Taking 10 damage from a Jet Punch is rather nifty, by any measure! I guess this is one of those “high risk, high reward” situations and it seems on-flavor for Banette to be prone to risky behaviour!

A single energy retreat cost is very nice indeed, especially in the post-rotation metagame, where Escape Board is the closest thing we have to Float Stone. Not only is Escape Board compatibility incredibly useful (retreating through sleep and paralysis is very strong), but the image of a Banette rolling around on a skateboard is delightful.

Ability

Ability: Red Eyes When you play this card from your hand to evolve a Pokemon during your turn, you may play a Basic Pokemon from your opponent’s discard pile to their Bench.

It’s easy to underestimate this effect on paper, but trust me - it’s likely to be the bane of your opponent! See what I did there? I’m proud of that one! Think of it like a Sudowoodo GRI that you can turn into prizes. For example, you an KO that Tapu Lele-GX all over again and your opponent won’t see any benefit from it!

In its most basic utility, it stops your opponent from placing something more useful on their bench, which is how I imagine many people will read this ability. However, I see it from a more aggressive point of view: a means of knocking the same Pokémon out over and over again. I imagine that Banette will see the most use in Zoroark Banette builds. The ability to OHKO the same Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX or Necrozma-GX over and over again (with Zoroark-GX or Banette-GX, respectively) has the capacity to win games very quickly indeed.

Attack

[P][C] Enemy Show: Count the number of your opponent’s Pokemon in play. Put that many damage counters on your opponent’s Pokemon in any way you like. 

Softening up your opponent’s battlefield is almost as underestimated as the effect of Red Eyes. In a deck like Zoroark Banette that’s hitting for 150 or 160 with Choice Band - just a hair short of a OHKO on most basic GX Pokémon - this sort of attack is incredibly strong. While 20 damage here and 30 damage there may seem inconsequential in the short-term, it can quickly close the gap between a Riotous Beating and a OHKO on a Tapu Lele-GX. Being able to allocate up to 60 damage wherever you please every turn can become ludicrously strong very quickly.

It’s quite flavorful, in a way. It’s very ghostly and mischievous to lay little traps for your opponent that can snare them when they least suspect it!

Synergy

The most obvious home for Banette is as a 1-of in a Zoroark/Banette build. It’s perfect for setting up surprise knockouts, whether it’s by resurrecting a basic GX Pokémon for an easy 2 prizes or by softening targets up for a Riotous Beating or Shadow Chant. Indeed, these knockouts can be even easier to attain with Banette-GX shadily moving damage counters around, too! As a single prize attacker, it makes ideal front-line infantry for this sort of deck; just watch out for opposing Kartana-GX in the late game! There’s also a spread deck that’s coming together slowly, but surely. I imagine that Banette will be quite at home with Flying Flip Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, and Latios. Of course, I’m eagerly awaiting Mimikyu-GX in November’s Lost Tunder set - as is Banette! The question then will be which Tapu Lele to run!

Counters

They’ll be all over the table! Oh - you didn’t mean DAMAGE counters... Acerola and Max Potion are Banette’s mortal enemies. Imagine meticulously laying the groundwork for a KO by Riotous Beating, only for your target to be back to full health in an instant. It’s not pleasant!  Sky Pillar also thwarts Banette’s attempts to soften up benched Pokémon, besides asking its bigger brother to use Shady Move to transfer damage counters to them one at a time - tedious, to say the least. Be sure to pack a Field Blower or two to deal with this scourge! Funnily enough, there’s a little sibling rivalry in the Banette family. Whilst they’re usually the epitome of synergistic brotherly/sisterly love, things turn sour when Banette and Banette-GX are on opposite ends of the battlefield. Imagine being poor little Banette, meticulously setting its opponent up for a swift knockout, only for its bigger brother to come and move one of those counters to someone else, ruining Banette’s perfect damage math! Fellow siblings - we’ve all felt like that sometimes, right?

In Conclusion

Baby Banette may stand in the shadow of its flashy GX relative, but it can certainly steal the spotlight with its own talents - or even complement those of its sibling in a rather heartwarming display of battlefield family bonding. Sometimes, it can take a while for players to read a card in the context of a game, rather than assessing it in a vacuum. That said, it still amazes me that I’m not seeing more hype surrounding this card. Trust me - give it a try. I’m certain that you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the tricks that this little ghost has up its sleeves. I love flavorful cards and Banette takes the cake in every possible way, from its mischievous play style to that delightfully cheeky artwork. Yes, Banette, you’re very pretty. Now, let’s clean that up before Mommy catches you going through her makeup bag! Do you do voodoo? Perhaps you should!

[undauntedtcg]

ZoroGarb Propaganda (Updated List Included)

Going into Portland, which is happening tomorrow, I think ZoroGarb (My deck from Richmond) is the play.

Given the awful performance I had with it at Richmond, I would understand those who are skeptical. However, I think a list with double Klefki STS for the EggRow matchup can beat pretty much the whole meta. With Archie’s being completely gone from the format after their poor showing in Richmond, and BuzzGarb being forced out for its poor matchup against EggRow, ZoroGarb has great chances against the rest of the decks we saw last weekend!

That is all, just spreading my propaganda before the tournament so I can have my predictions validated as I won’t be competing. 

New List!

Pokemon: 26 4 Zoroark GX 4 Zorua 2 Garbodor GRI 1 Garbodor BKP 2 Trubbish 1 Ditto* 2 Klefki 2 Exeggcute 2 Tapu Lele GX 1 Shaymin EX 1 Dedenne GX 1 Sudowoodo 1 Oricorio 1 Wobbuffet

Trainers: 28 2 Colress 1 N 1 Professor Juniper 1 Guzma 1 Brigette

4 Ultra Ball 4 VS Seeker 2 Cherish Ball 2 Field Blower 2 Float Stone 1 Choice Band 1 Battle Compressor 1 Rescue Stretcher 1 Super Rod 1 Dowsing Machine

3 Sky Field

Energy: 6 2 Psychic 4 Double Colorless

I will note, this list only really works based on the assumption that the decks that did poorly in Richmond continue to do poorly now that the decks that beat them are more popular. Archie’s, Trev/BuzzGarb with Let Loose + Plant, ZoroToad are all STILL bad matchups. However, our matchups against the decks in Richmond’s Top 8 like EggRow, ZoroControl, TurboDark, and Gardeon are just a little better. (But you might wanna dodge Gardeon just to be safe) Compressor decks like Night March and Vespiquen were also really popular in Richmond and are probably still really good and this deck can pretty much just beat them! So go get ‘em in Portland.

Aside from all this Expanded stuff, I’m going to be running a Malamar list through some locals leading up to LAIC and there will probably be some testing results and which deck I think is the best for the tournament (Let’s be honest it’s already Malamar)

Thanks for reading!

[puclpodcast]

P.U.C.L. TCGcast #053: Meta review and Zeraora GX revealed!

Some say that Jushiro is joined by Sigma and the amazing Mr. Maximus to talk about the new Zeraora GX reveal! Later we go over the recent tournaments in the Pokemon TCG.

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, follow us on Tumblr, subscribe to our Subreddit, and most importantly Review us on iTunes!

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Deck of the Episode!

f1v3s’ Enjoy the Bees!

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon – 28

* 4 Eevee SUM 101 * 1 Shaymin-EX ROS 106 * 1 Sudowoodo GRI 66 * 4 Flareon PLF 12 * 4 Combee AOR 9 * 4 Exeggcute PLF 4 * 4 Vespiquen AOR 10 * 2 Jirachi-EX PLB 60 * 4 Unown AOR 30

##Trainer Cards – 28

* 4 Professor Sycamore STS 114 * 1 Computer Search BCR 137 * 3 Acro Bike PRC 122 * 1 Lysandre AOR 78 * 4 Ultra Ball SUM 135 * 4 Battle Compressor Team Flare Gear PHF 92 * 2 Special Charge STS 105 * 1 Field Blower GRI 125 * 2 N NVI 92 * 2 Choice Band GRI 121 * 4 VS Seeker PHF 109

##Energy – 4

* 4 Double Colorless Energy FCO 114

Total Cards – 60

from P.U.C.L. TCGcast #053: Meta review and Zeraora GX revealed!

[ptcgdecklist]

Drampa GX / Garbodor - Azul Garcia Griego (US) & Igor Costa (US) - Top 8 - Salt Lake City Regionals - May 2018 - Expanded

[ptcgdecklist]

Lucario GX - Joseph Georgio (US) - Top 32 - Salt Lake City Regionals - May 2018 - Expanded

[ptcgdecklist]

Zoroark GX / Exeggcute - Isaiah Williams (US) - Top 16 - Costa Mesa Regionals - March 2018 - Expanded

[ptcgdecklist]

Zoroark GX - Riley Hulbert (US) - Winner - Dallas Regionals - January 2018 - Expanded

[ptcgdecklist]

Zoroark GX / Golisopod GX - Igor Costa (US) - Top 16 - St. Louis Regionals - February 2018 - Standard

[ptcgdecklist]

Zoroark GX - Nico Gist (US) - Top 32 - Costa Mesa Regionals - March 2018 - Expanded

[ptcgdecklist]

Zoroark GX / Golisopod GX - Andrew Michaud (US) - Top 64 - Dallas Regionals - January 2018 - Expanded

[ptcgdecklist]

Zoroark GX / Golisopod GX - Jose Marrero (US) - Top 8 - Dallas Regionals - January 2018 - Expanded

[ptcgdecklist]

Zoroark GX / Lycanroc GX - Emmanuel Jacobs (US) - Top 32 - San Jose Regionals - November 2017 - Expanded

[ptcgdecklist]

Zoroark GX - John Collins (US) - Top 32 - San Jose Regionals - November 2017 - Expanded

[ptcgdecklist]

Zoroark GX - Josh Marking (US) - Top 64 - Dallas Regionals - January 2018 - Expanded

[ptcgdecklist]

Zoroark GX / Lycanroc GX - Benjamin Salonga (US) - Top 32 - San Jose Regionals - November 2017 - Expanded