Pokeballing The Meta: Mewtwo/Celebii

Pokémon(11):
4 Celebi Prime
3 Tornadus
2 Mewtwo EX
1 Regigigas EX
1 Shaymin EX

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums(35):
4 N
4 Professor Oaks New Theory
4 Professor Juniper
4 Dual Ball
4 Junk Arm
4 Pokémon Catcher
3 Switch
3 Eviolite
2 Pokégear 3.0
3 Skyarrow Bridge

Energy(14):
10 Grass Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
This is the base list for the deck thats recieving alot of hype coming out of Next Destinies. The Strategy is quite simple, Use Celebi Prime to attach extra energy to Tornadus, Mewtwo EX, or Regigigas EX to achieve large early game damage or a Donk. Tornadus should be used for the first few turns, while charging up a Mewtwo EX's X Ball to use for mid-late game. Shaymin EX will be your finisher/revenger, and will help get you out of normally un-winnable situations. Keep in mind that this is a skeleton for the deck and you can add in your own tech, like say Shaymin from Unleashed which would allow you to move some energy around when say your active tornadus or Mewtwo Ex is about to be KOed. Terrakion can also be used for a revenge killer, while Prism Energy could be used in 2-3 to power Mewtwos Psydrive for faster KO's early game.

Just a short blog today as in between major tournaments there isnt alot going on in the pokemon world. Thus I am gonna keep this at one or two blogs a week until we get closer to Provincials.

Pokeballing The Meta: Perfecting Archeops

So its been a while since i posted anything and today i really felt the urge to talk about Archeops from the Noble Victories set.

Archeops – Fighting – HP130
Stage 1 – Evolves from Archen
Ability: Prehistoric Power
While this Pokemon is in play, no player can play a Pokemon from their hand to evolve his or her Pokemon.
[F][F][C] Rock Slide: 60 damage. Choose 2 of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon. This attack does 10 damage to each of them. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokemon.)
Weakness: Grass (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2

So Archeops brings back a old lock by stopping evolutions from being played. What this means is that when Archeops is on the field neither you nor your opponent will be evolving your pokemon. Now those of you familiar with the game will think man thats such a broken card all i have to do is play the fossil then rare candy and i am good to go........wrong.


Plume Fossil – Trainer
Look at the bottom 7 cards of your deck. If you find an Archen there, you may put it on your Bench. Shuffle the remaining cards back into your deck.
You can use any number of Trainer cards during your turn.

The fossil mechanic has changed greatly in the Noble Victories set as you can see greatly reducing the broken Archeops playability. However there is a way to get around this mechanic and get your archeops on the field.

Research Records –Trainer- Item
Look at the top 4 cards from your deck, choose any number of those cards and return them to the bottom of your deck in any order. Then, return the remaining cards to the top of your deck in any order.
You can use any number of Items cards during your turn.

Research Records makes it easier to put Archen on the bottom of your deck to use Plume Fossil. This places your chances of of getting Archeops out early game very high.

Now what type of deck would you run Archeops in, well clearly one that doesnt need to evolve alot of pokemon. Some decks in the format right now that dont require evolutions are CaKE, 6 Corners, ZPST, and Durant (though i dont think you will wanna waste the space needed to consistently pull this combo off in a deck that isnt based on attacking). Another deck that is rising up in hype is Mewtwo EX/Celebii Prime a deck that requires getting Mewtwo EX powered up on turn 1.

Looking ahead to the next set after Next Destinies we will be getting a Stadium card called Twist Mountain.

Twist Mountain – Stadium
Each player may flip a coin once during his or her turn. If heads, he or she choose 1 Revived Pokemon card from his or her hand and plays it onto his or her Bench.
You can only bring 1 Stadium card into play during your turn. If a Stadium with a different name comes into play, discard this card.

This is gonna make it so much easier to get your Archeops out early (as it can be a pain drawing into a Archen). Also it will counter Archeops's one weakness in Vileplume as trainer lock will prevent you from playing Plume Fossil.

So overall Archeops is a card that is just waiting to be used right. Even though we are in a format of basic Pokemon attackers there are decks that use these attackers that need to set up to do anything with them (Reshiboar, Reshipholsion,Eelzone) as well as decks that get their win conditions off of set up and evolved attackers (VvV, Chandelure/Vileplume). Archeops is a underrated card that just needs some tinkering with to find its place in this meta.

A Pokeballing Deck Analysis: GG(Gothitelle/Gardevoir)

So Gothitelle has been one of my favorite cards from the Emerging Powers set (mind you that wasnt a great set to begin with). However, with the release of Next Destinies the card gets a new partner to help it power up faster in Gardevoir.

Gardevoir – Psychic – HP110
Stage 1 – Evolves from Kirlia
Ability: Psycho Mirage
As long as this Pokemon is in play, each Basic Psychic Energy card attached to your Psychic-type Pokemon provides 2 units of Psychic energy. This effect can’t be stacked, regardless of how many Pokemon with this ability you have in play.
[P][P][C][C] Mind Shock: 60 damage. Don’t apply Weakness or Resistance for this attack’s damage.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2

Now for the low cost of two energy Gothitelle caan hit your opponent for 110 (which you can boost even more with plus power). this will give Gothitelle the speed it needs to be a threat on the board earlier rather then later.

Deck List

Pokemon 21
3 Gothita
2 Gothorita
3 Gothitelle
3 Ralts
2 Kirila
2 Gardevoir
2 Doduo
2 Dodrio
2 Cleffa

Supporters 9
3 N
3 Pokemon Collector
1 Oaks New Theory
1 Twins
1 Flower Shop Lady

Trainers 16
3 Rare Candy
3 Junk Arm
3 Pokemon Catcher
3 Pokemon Communication
2 Switch
2 Plus Power

Energy 14
14 Psychic

This deck is designed to hit fast with Gothitelle and hit hard, Gardevoir sets up with its ability allowing you to hit 110 for 2 energy. Dodrio provides free retreat for your injured Gothitelle to produce another one to attack. Magic Room locks your opponents options and can be very damaging to them early game.

Pokeballing The Meta: Reshipholsion Vs Eelzone

For the better part of the format Reshipholsion was a dominating deck that won so many tourneys in Canada and the United States ( for Battle Roads in America it was the second most winning deck behind ZPST). However since the release of Noble Victories and then the City Championships its seemingly died off a bit. Sure people are still playing it (its still an amazing deck) but its place at the top of the meta it seems is no longer there.

Another deck has risen to take its place and is what some people are calling the best deck in the format(BDIF). Eelzone has exploded into the meta with a nice combination of heavy attackers, energy acceleration and draw power........but wait isnt that what Reshipholsion did. So lets have a look and compare the two decks in those three categories.

Draw Power

Ninetales – Fire – 90 HP
Stage 1 – Evolves from Vulpix
Poke-Power: Roast Reveal
You can use this power once during your turn. Discard 1 Fire Energy card from your hand. Then, draw 3 cards from your deck. This power can’t be used if this Pokemon is affected by a Special Condition.
[R][R][C] Will-o-Wisp: 60 damage.
Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 1

Magnezone (Prime) – Lightning – HP140
Stage 2 – Evolves from Magneton
Poke-Power: Electromagnetic Draw
You can use this power once during your turn. Draw cards from your deck until you have 6 cards in your hand. This power can’t be used if this Pokemon is affected by a Special Condition.
[L][C] Lost Burn: 50x damage. Place any number of Energy attached to your Pokemon in play into the Lost Zone. This attack does 50 damage for each of those Energy cards.
Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: Metal (-20)
Retreat: 3
So first off we have both the decks draw engines Ninetales and Magnezone Prime. Both cards are very good for the draw though i myself would have to give advantage here to Ninetales. Magnezones Electromagnetic Draw only works while you have less then 6 cards in your hand, where as Ninetales can go on and on so long as you have energy to feed the Roast Reveal (which if your playing Energy Retrieval you will). While Magnezone does serve as an attacker as well Ninetales also has the added bonus of being able to be set up at any time (magnezone will take longer if your under trainer lock).

Winner: Reshipholsion

Energy Acceleration

Typholsion Prime – Fire – 140 HP
Stage 2  – Evolves from Quilava
Poke-Power: Afterburner
You can use this power once during your turn. Attach 1 Fire Energy card from your discard pile to one of your Pokemon. Then, place 1 damage counter on that Pokemon. This power can’t be used if this Pokemon is affected by a Special Condition.
[R][R][C] Fire Destruction: 70 damage. Discard 1 Energy attached to Typhlosion and 1 Energy attached to the Defending Pokemon.
Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2

Eelektrik – Lightning – HP90
Stage 1 – Evolves from Tynamo
Ability: Electric Dynamo
Choose 1 Lightning Energy card from your discard pile and attach it to one of your Benched Pokemon. You can use this Ability 1 time during your turn.
[L][L][C] Lightning Ball: 50 damage.
Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
The thing about these decks as my teammate showed me is that they just swap stage 1's and 2's. where Reshipholsion has the faster draw support in Ninetales Eeelzone has the faster energy acceleration in Eelektrik. Now some might say that Typholsion makes up for it by being able to attach anywhere for the cost of 1 damage counter, However keep in mind that Eelzones ideal start is a Thundurus which comes packing its own form of acceleration in Charge. This allows Eelektrik to start powering up your next attacker for when Thundurus gets KO'ed.

Winner: Eelzone

So these decks are very close in terms of playability and how they play during a game, however the difference in my opinion is in the attacking area. Reshipholsion has one main attacker with Typholsion as a decent back up attacker, While Eelzone is Capable of producing many attackers. The other reason i feel that Eelzone has kind of taken over Reshipholsions place is the amount of damage it can do. At best Reshipholsion can hit for a max damage output of 130 (Reshiram with a Pluspower), Where Magnezone Prime hits for pretty much whatever it wants. Eelzone is also boosted by having access to a opening attacker (Thundurus) and amazing mid game attacker (Zekrom) and then Magnezone to finish off the job.

Overall though it has seen a drop from the top spots at tourneys Reshipholsion is still one bad ass deck and with Reshiram EX being released very soon, I totally see this deck taking back its spot as one of the most dominating decks this format.

Pokeballing The Meta: EX Wave of the Future or Overhyped

In ten days i will be attending the prerelease for Next Destinies and i cant even begin to describe how excited for this set i am. The set has so many good cards in even if you dont mention the EX Pokemon, which will be so much easier to get then before as they are being printed in a regular and full art card. However the real question I have is will they make as big of an impact on the game as they did during thier last run.

The EX Pokemon enter a format with another already popular gimmick set of pokemon still running loose, The Prime Pokemon. As well we are in a format of heavy hp hard hitting basics, so can the EX Pokemon dominate the format or are we in a format better equipped to deal with these powerhouses.

Here is a list of all the potential EX Pokemon we will be recieving in Next Destinies and list some cards that are already in our meta that you can use to counter them

Kyurem EX – Water – HP180
Basic Pokemon
[W][C][C] Freezing Wing: 60 damage. Choose 1 Special Energy attached to the opponent’s Active Pokemon, and discard it.
[W][W][C][C] Hail Blizzard: 120 damage. This Pokemon can’t use Hail Blizzard during your next turn.
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon EX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Steel (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 3
Counter Cards: Cobalion, Scizor Prime, Steelix Prime

Groudon EX – Fighting – HP180
Basic Pokemon
[F][C] Trample: 20 damage. This attack also does 10 damage to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance when damaging the Bench.)
[F][F][C] Giant Claw: 80 damage. At the time of dealing damage, if the opponent’s Active Pokemon already has 2 or more damage counters on it, this attack does an additional 40 damage.
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon EX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance: Lightning (-20)
Retreat: 4
Counter Cards: Kyurem, Feraligatr Prime, Blastoise, Suicune/Entei Legend

Regigigas EX – Colorless – HP180
Basic Pokemon
[C][C][C] Giga Power: 60 damage. You may do an additional 20 damage. If you do, this Pokemon also does 20 damage to itself.
[C][C][C][C] Raging Hammer: Does 50 damage plus an additional 10 damage times the number of damage counters on this Pokemon.
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon EX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 4
Counter Cards: Terrakion, Donphan Prime, Machamp Prime, Landorus

Mewtwo EX – Psychic – HP170
Basic Pokemon
[C][C] EX Ball: Does 20 damage times the number of Energy attached to each player’s Active Pokemon.
[P][P][C] Psycho Drive: 120 damage. Choose 1 Energy attached to this Pokemon and discard it.
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon EX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
Counter Cards: Cobalion (with at least 1 special metal and eviolite Psycho Drive will only do 70), Chandelure, Gothitelle (which will possibly see more play with Gardevoir). and Mew Prime( depending on the situation and whats in your lost zone) Dexoys/Rayquaza Legend

Kyogre EX – Water – HP170
Basic Pokemon
[W][C] Smash Turn: 30 damage. You may switch this Pokemon with one of your Benched Pokemon.
[W][W][C] Dual Splash: Choose 2 of your opponent’s Pokemon, and do 50 damage to each of them. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance when damaging the Bench.)
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon EX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 4
Counter Cards: Zekrom, Magnezone Prime, Thundurus, Lantern Prime, Entei/Raikou Legend

Shaymin EX – Grass – HP110
Basic Pokemon
[G] Synthesis: Choose 1 Grass Energy card from your deck and attach it to one of your Pokemon. Shuffle your deck afterward.
[G][C] Revenge Burst: Does 30 damage plus an additional 30 damage times the number of Prize cards your opponent has already taken.
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon EX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Fire (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 1
Counter Cards: Reshiram, Emboar, Suicune/Entei Legend, Typholsion Prime, Victini (V-Create)

Reshiram EX – Fire – HP180
Basic Pokemon
[R][C][C] Shining Claw: 50 damage. Flip a coin, if heads this attack does an additional 30 damage.
[R][R][C][C] Brave Fire: 150 damage. Flip a coin, if tails this Pokemon also does 50 damage to itself.
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon EX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 3
Counter Cards: Kyurem, Feraligatr Prime, Blastoise, Suicune/Entei Legend

Zekrom EX – Lightning – HP180
Basic Pokemon
[L][C][C] Shining Claw: 50 damage. Flip a coin, if heads this attack does an additional 30 damage.
[L][L][C][C] Strong Volt: 150 damage. Choose 2 Energy attached to this Pokemon and discard them.
Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 3
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon EX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Counter Cards: Terrakion, Donphan Prime, Machamp Prime, Landorus

Now those are just some of the cards that can counter the Ex threat, most of which are already run in some of the most popular decks already in play (Chandelure/Vileplume,ZPST,Eelzone,6 Corners,CaKE,Reshipholsion,KyuremGatr, and many more). Also I will mention that for 4 energy Magnezone Prime will one shot every EX Pokemon except Groudon(which i dont expect to see as much play as the others.

So while we get ready for the return of a once dominating Pokemon theme, I feel we are ona much more level playing field this time around (I played in the last EX format and every deck had them). Pokemon Primes, our heavy hp hard hitting basics, and some of the more decent Pokemon Legend cards can all KO them in 1-2 attacks. While these cards are very powerful and will find thier way into many decks (as replacements perhaps for their non EX counterparts) I don't really see them being that impactful on the meta, of course I could be wrong.

Pokeballing The Meta: Teching For Your Meta

Teching for your meta can and will help you in the long run, as being able to counter your opponents deck and turn its weakness to your advantage is great. Right now in the Pokemon meta there are 5 big decks and several decks that sit on the edge of what we like to call tier 1. These decks are CaKE, Durant,Eelzone, ZPST, and Chandelure/Vileplume. Sometimes teching for these decks is easy sometimes not so much so here are a few good counters to your meta.

Donphan (Prime) – Fighting – 120 HP
Stage 1 Evolution – Evolves from Phanpy
Poke-Body: Hard Body
Damage done to this Pokemon by attacks is reduced by 20.
[F] Earthquake: 60 damage. Does 10 damage to each of your Benched Pokemon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance when doing damage to the Bench.)
[F][F][F] Heavy Impact: 90 damage.
Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance: Lightning (-20)
Retreat: 4
First up is Donphan, this card is a great counter to ZPST, and Eelzone. Being able to hit the decks big attackers for 120 damage for only 1 energy while they struggle to kill you because of your pokebody and lightning resistance. Eelzone can potentially tech in Cryogonal from the noble victories set and use its Ice Shard attack on you. However, since, Donphan hasnt really seen that much play time recently the chances of this are slim.

Scrafty – Darkness – HP90
Stage 1 – Evolves from Scraggy
[D] Spit Acid: 20 damage. The opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Burned. Flip a coin, if heads, the opponent’s Active Pokemon is also now Paralyzed.
[D][D][C] Hi Jump Kick: 70 damage.
Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: Psychic (-20)
Retreat: 1
Next up on the list is Scrafty, a cvard that I recently came into notice of  myself. Chandelure is weak to Dark and while under a trainer lock Scrafty can sit and dismantle your opponents Chandelures with its first attack. by Paralyzing your opponents Chandelures your prevent them from retreating and trainer cards cannot be used under trainer lock. you could even tech this into your own chandelure deck as a way to keep a heavy retreat cost pokemon like Terrakion, and Magnezone Prime active with no way to retreat and then use your chandelure to spread damage longer. Obviously it needs some energy investment to hit hard but thats not what its there for.

Zoroark – Darkness – HP100
Stage 1 Evolution – Evolves from Zorua
[D] Nasty Plot: Choose any 1 card from your deck and put it in your hand. Shuffle your deck afterward.
[C][C] Foul Play: Choose 1 of your opponent’s Active Pokemon’s attacks, and use it as this attack.
Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: Psychic (-20)
Retreat: 1
When Black&White were first released this card was very hyped for its ability to one shot the Zekrom and Reshiram with a Plus Power for 1 Double Colorless Energy. While it still serves that purpose it now can also slow down CaKE, by using Foul Play on your opponents Cobalion you can deny them the chance to attack. This will either force them to retreat for that Kyurem which cannot kill you in one turn and will allow you to use Glaciate as well, or into another Cobalion which will just allow you to use the same tactic.

Absol (Prime) – Darkness – HP80
Basic Pokemon
Poke-Body: Eye of Disaster
As long as this Pokemon is your Active Pokemon, whenever your opponent plays a Basic Pokemon from his or her hand onto the Bench, place 2 damage counters on that Pokemon.
[D][C] Bloody Claw: 70 damage. Place 1 Pokemon card from your hand in the Lost Zone. If you can’t place a Pokemon card in your Lost Zone, this attack fails.
Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: Psychic (-20)
Retreat: 1
Durant decks are popping up all over the place and this Pokemon is the exterminator so to speak. Starting Absol against the Druant match is amazing cause when your opponent places those Durant's down they each take 2 Damage Counters. Cahndelure decks tech this in to make durant easier to kill as trainer lock will keep your opponent from using Revive to keep bringing them back.

The last Card I wanna look at is a card that is both meta and anti-meta, I am talking of course about Vileplume.
Vileplume – Grass – HP 120
Stage 2 – Evolves from Gloom
Poke-Body: Allergy Flower
Neither player can play any Goods cards from his or her hand.
[G][G][C] Dazzle Pollen: 50 damage. Flip a coin, if heads this attack does an additional 20 damage. If tails, the opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Confused.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
This is by far one of the most broken cards in the game right now and has been apart of so many good decks(Vilegar,The Truth,Chandelure/Vileplume). So many decks in this game rely on trainers to set up and press thier advantage. Vileplume shuts all that down with ease and then lets you take care of winning the game. I myself have been in games where i seem to be in control then Vileplume hits the field and just like that I lose. Dodrios rise in play has made it so you cant even use a attack to make Vileplume active to KO next turn, making one of the most broken cards even more amazing.

These are just a few of the techs you can use to secure a good chance of winning in this game. The joy of Pokemon is with the variety of decks that are played there is so much tech out there so take time playtest and see what feels right to you.

A Pokeballing Next Destinies Preview: The Ball Engine

Engines have been around in pokemon for a long time and have generally been really good or amazing. Some Engines that come to mind are the SP engine(Cyrus's Conspiracy, Energy Gain, Poke Turn, Power Spray, SP Radar), The Arceus Engine(Beginning Door,Ultimate Zone, Ripple Swell Arceus), and more recently The Fire Engine( Roast Reveal NInetales, After Burner Typholsion Prime). All of these engines were created to help a specific decktype dominate, now pokemon is adding in a new engine that players are simply calling The Ball Engine.

Now when you think of Balls in pokemon you think of Pokeball, Great Ball, Dual Ball etc. and with a few minor instances these cards arent that great. However, these 3 cards are actually pretty good so lets take a look.

Level Ball – Trainer’s Goods
Choose 1 Pokemon from your deck with HP of 90 or less, show it to your opponent, and put it in your hand. Shuffle your deck afterward.
You can use any number of Goods cards during your turn

First up on the list is Level Ball this card is great for decks that run alot of support from stage 1 pokemon like Ninetales and Eelektrik. Right now in the current meta we have only 1 item card that searches for any pokemon you want and its relied on the fact that you need a pokemon in hand to use it. Level Ball will search for that Ninetales and Eelektrik to run start your comboes. Level Ball will also search for Mew Prime, Shaymin UL and Pachirisu if your running ZPS, Victini, Dodrio, the card has so many uses in our current meta right now.

Heavy Ball – Trainer’s Goods
Choose 1 Pokemon from your deck with a retreat cost of 3 or more, show it to your opponent, and put it in your hand. Shuffle your deck afterward.
You can use any number of Goods cards during your turn.

As of right now the only meta deck i can see the use of this card is Eelzone. Magnezone is a 3 retreat pokemon and again being able to search this card really early and fast could easily win you the game.

The last card from The Ball Engine is in the japanese Reshiram EX/Zekrom EX decks and i am not 100% sure we will get it in our set even though it combines some of the cards from the decks with the japanese set it comes from. However I feel like talking about this card now cause its gonna be played if it comes out.

Ultra Ball – Trainer’s Goods
This card can’t be used unless you discard 2 cards from your hand.
Choose 1 Pokemon card from your deck, show it to your opponent, and put it in your hand. Shuffle your deck afterward.
You can use any number of Goods cards during your turn.

This is the evolution of pokemon searches hands down. Eelzpne and Reshipholsion will love this card as not only will it fetch there engine cards, it will also allow them to dump more energy into the discard pile. other decks will also enjoy the chance to get dead cards out of there hands to search for more pokemon to better their chances of winning.

So The Ball Engine is looking to be the way of the future, providing more and faster ways to search for pokemon in this meta that runs so many decks that need fast set ups to win.

A Pokeballing Next Destinies Preview: Shaymin EX

As we draw closer to Next Destinies there is little doubt that the most hyped cards are the EX Pokemon. However, while everyone else is hyped up for heavy hitting cards like Mewtwo EX, Reshiram EX, and Zekrom EX I myself am looking forward to Shaymin EX.

Shaymin EX – Grass – HP110
Basic Pokemon
[G] Synthesis: Choose 1 Grass Energy card from your deck and attach it to one of your Pokemon. Shuffle your deck afterwards.
[G][C] Revenge Burst: Does 30 damage plus an additional 30 damage times the number of Prize cards your opponent has already taken.
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon EX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Fire (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 1

Grass is a type that is in dire need of support, and though it doesn't get a lot of it Shaymin is a nice start. This card reminds me so much of its Lv.X counterpart from the Platinum set years ago. Shaymin EX's whole purpose in any grass deck or (or as potential tech in decks) is revenge kills. Your only gonna wanna use this card when your opponent is up in prizes as lest say four prize cards taken will do 120 for two energy. this card will combo nicely with cards like Blackbelt and N which will allow you to either do 40 more damage (Blackbelt) or disrupt there hand preventing a comeback or potential KO to Shaymin (N). The fire weakness sucks a bit but with reshipholosion seemingly dying out in play that shouldn't hurt to badly. Fighting resistance is good as donphan still serves in some anti-meta decks and 1 retreat is very manageable and if you run this in a basic deck Skyarrow Bridge erases.

Shaymin has the potential to be the dark horse of the EX Pokemon being able to hit hard late game while your behind and then creep back to the bench with relative ease. With not a whole lot of fire good fire types in this set if you pull Shaymin at the pre-release i see no reason not to run him.

Rating: 4/5 (why it doesn't have free retreat like its Lv.X counterpart is beyond me)

Pokeballing The Meta: A Look at Next Destinies

So given the fact that we are closing in on Pre-release time I figured I would look at some of the potential breakout cards from this coming set.....Next Destinies. So i am just gonna go over a few of my three personal favorite cards.

Vanilluxe – Water – HP130
Stage 2 – Evolves from Vanillite
Ability: Slippery Soul
Switch your Active Pokemon with one of your Benched Pokemon. Then, the opponent switches his or her Active Pokemon with a Benched Pokemon. You can use this ability 1 time during your turn.
[W][C][C] Ice Crush: Does 60 damage plus an additional 10 damage times the number of Energy in the opponent’s Active Pokemon’s retreat cost.
Weakness: Steel (X2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
The Ability on this card is Warp Point on a pokemon and makes it easier to disrupt your opponents strategy, I can see VvV players teching this into the deck to have acces to disruption and taking out set up decks while under Trainer Lock.

Gardevoir – Psychic – HP110
Stage 1 – Evolves from Kirlia
Ability: Psycho Mirage
As long as this Pokemon is in play, each Basic Psychic Energy card attached to your Psychic-type Pokemon provides 2 units of Psychic energy. This effect can’t be stacked, regardless of how many Pokemon with this ability you have in play.
[P][P][C][C] Mind Shock: 60 damage. Don’t apply Weakness or Resistance for this attack’s damage.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
Gothitelle is one of the decks that i really really wanna experiment with and i totally see this replacing Reuniclus in the deck to give that extra little bit of speed.

Cilan – Trainer’s Support
Choose 3 Basic Energy cards from your deck, show them to your opponent, and put them in your hand. Shuffle your deck afterward.
You can only use 1 Support card during your turn
this card is gonna see play in decks in various numbers energy heavy decks should for sure run this over Interviewers Questions (yes i know Interviewers Questions can get Special Energy but if your like me its often a flop or you only get like 1-2 Energy anyways).

So these are three of the cards i will be on the lookout for at Pre-releases this month but thats not to say they are the only three cards worth getting. The Pokemon EX all look to be alot of fun and since they are also being released as full art pics to the chances of pulling them are actually very good.

Pokeballing The Meta: VvV(Vanilluxe/Victini/Vileplume)

Today I am gonna look at one of the more interesting and fun looking decks and one that i am going to be testing very soon, VvV. this deck is a solid deck choice because quite simply you can lock your opponent down so fast with the combination of Vanilluxe and Vileplume. this is just a sample deck list I made myself with the cards i have.

Pokemon 17
3 Victini (2 Ability, 1 V-Create)
3 Vanillite
2 Vanillish
3 Vanilluxe
2 Oddish
2 Gloom
1 Vileplume
1 Cleffa

Supporter 14
4 N
3 Sages Training
3 Pokemon Collector
3 Seeker
1 Professor Oak's New Theory

Trainers 15
3 Rare Candy
3 Pokemon Communication
3 Junk Arm
2 Pokegear 3.0
2 Pokemon Catcher
2 Super Rod

Energy 14
11 Water
3 Fire

Pokemon
This is the basic pokemon list (minus 1 Vileplume since i only own 1). Vanilluxe when paired up with Vileplume can easily lock your opponent out of  attacking using Double Freeze to paralyze them and do 40-80 damage, while Vileplume locks them from playing Switch or Super Scoop Up to remove thier paralyzed Pokemon from the active slot. Victini and its Ability Victory Star are in the deck cause it gives you a second chance should the possibile two tails happen. Now I have included 1 V-Create Victini in this deck for your Cobalion/Scizor Prime/Steelix Prime or any other random Steel deck that will stand in your way as Vanilluxe will die horribly to them. and Cleffa supplys support for bad hands and to send up after something dies to give you more options.

Trainers
Again in Pokemon the Trainer/Supporter/Stadium line is almost always the same for every deck out there, it is important to note that for a deck running Vileplume i am running more trainers then i really should be, However i am only running one Vileplume right now so there shouldnt be to much interference there right now.

Energy
the Energy line here is pretty basic, 11 Water is probably to much , but i have yet to playtest this really so we will see. The 3 Fire Energy provide consistency with your V-Create Victini, which in turn provides you with more of a chance against decks like 6 Corners, CaKE, and Chandelure/Vileplume variants that run Cobalion.

Overview
This deck has the potential to be a strong contender with several good matchups in the current meta, being able to set up both a trainer lock and an attack lock to keep your opponents options limited. With the hyped return of Pokemon EX, this deck could find itself thrust into the spotlight as a deck that can completely counter the meta should it be taken over by The EX Pokemon.

As always this is just my opinion and is by no means how everyone should run this deck if you have ideas or aruments please feel free to comment. Later

A Pokeballing Deck Analysis: Genie Corners

So i was sitting at home one night and got to thinking what if we added genies into 6 Corners well here is what i came up with

Pokemon 17
2 Virizion
2 Tornadus
2 Landorus
2 Thundurus
2 Cobalion
1 Kyurem
2 Shaymin
2 Voltorb
2 Electrode Prime

Supporters 9
3 Pokemon Collector
3 Sage Training
3 N

Trainers 17
4 Eviolite
3 Research Record
3 Junk Arm
3 Pokemon Catcher
2 Switch
1 Super Rod

Energy 17
3 Double Colorless
3 Rainbow
3 Fighting
2 Electric
2 Steel (basic)
2 Grass

Pokemon
Thundurus and Landrous have there own little built in energy acceleration while Tornadus can move around energy before it dies. Typical numbers of Kyurem, Cobalion and Virizion, as always you want Virizion to be your starter for early hand advantage. Shaymin and Electrode Prime are obvious choices by now if you have been reading my other articles.

Trainers/Supporters
I am opting for 3 N, Sages Training and Pokemon Collector cause those now open spaces allow me to run Research Records. Research Records is a trainer that allows me to look at the top 4 cards of my deck choose as many cards as i like to put on top of my deck then the other cards go on the bottom. This paired up with Electrode Prime maximizes my chances for getting Energy with Energymite. the rest of the lineup is the standard trainer line.

Energy
Like in the competitive 6 Corners my energy line is directly like my pokemon line with Rainbow and Double Colorless the standard in the deck.

Changes
Obviously if this deck actually works (fingers crossed) i would like to add in Skyarrow Bridge as almost all of my pokemon have 1-2 Retreat they would retreat for 0-1. Prism Energy is also a must for this deck as a Rainbow Energy replacement.

Pokeballing Deck Analysis: Looking at 6 Corners

Hello Pokemon world today i am gonna go over a decklist for one of the most talked about decks to explode out of our noble victories set, 6 Corners.

Pretty much this deck is built to counter anything you will see and play off of your opponents turn. If played right this deck should always be hitting for weakness.

here is a sample decklist submitted by Jonathan 21810 from the pokegym forums

Pokemon:
3 Virizion (NV)
2 Cobalion(NV)
2 Terrakion (NV)
2 Kyurem (NV)
1 Reshiram (BW)
2 Shaymin
3-3 Electrode Prime

Supporters:
3 Pokemon Collector
3 Sage's Training
2 Professor Oak's New Theory
2 Professor Juniper
2 Natural (Aka N)

Trainers:
4 Junk Arm
3 Eviolite
2 Pokemon Communication
2 Pokemon Catcher
2 Switch
1 Pokegear 3.0
1 Super Rod
1 Plus Power

Energy:
4 Rainbow Energy
3 Double Colorless
2 Grass
2 Fighting
2 Steel (Basic)
1 Water
Strategy
So like i said before the whole point of this deck is to counter whatever your opponent is playing to always be hitting for masssive damage to score quick KOs. Now being an all basic deck this should be easy to do as you require little actual set up. The 3 Virizion are meant to be your starter (the ideal pokemon you wanna have as the game begins) as its Double Draw attack will let you gain quick advantage by drawing 2 cards a turn and its Leaf Wallop is a very fast hitting attack that over 2 turns can hit for 120 damage. Cobalion is your Vanilluxe and Kyurem counter, plus it also shuts down the very powerful ZPST deck (Zekrom/Pachirisu/Shaymin/Tornadus) as the deck can only really produce one solid attacker at a time. Terrakion is your Magnezone Prime counter hitting it for 180 with Retaliate after one of your pokemon have been KOed. Glaciate makes Kyurem a solid starting attacker after Virizion has been KOed as it can spread multiple 30 damage across your opponents field and then destroy there active with outrage after a few turns of damage. Reshiram is your Cobalion and more importantly your Durant counter, as it will hit them both for super effective damage with Outrage. Now your probably sitting and asking yourself how does this deck work it seems so slow with all these high energy attacker. This is where Shaymin and Electrode Prime come into play. I have already done a review on Electrode Prime so i am gonna talk about Shaymin, which is really the star support of this deck being able to use Celebration Wind to move energy around always making sure you have a fully charged threat on the field. There isnt really anything in this list that stands out as worth mentioning as most decks run pretty much the same line of trainers and supporters these days. Energywise this deck will run a energy line similar to what your Pokemon line is. Rainbow and Double Colorless are a must in this deck and remember Rainbow Energy will not deal the 1 Damage Counter if attached through Energymite

Pokeballing The Meta: Welcome to The Basic Barrage

Basic pokemon decks have come and gone since the Pokemon TCG first hit back in 1999. Some of the most prominent basic Pokemon decks have been Haymaker (Hitmonchan Electabuzz Scyther) SP (Luxchomp,Dialgachomp) and Arceus. However, lately it seems that now more then ever Pokemon is shoving basics down our throats so to speak. Today i will briefly discuss the four breakout decks from the black and white era.

CaKE
First up on our list is CaKE, also known as Cobalion/Kyurem/Electrode Prime. CaKE is a hard hitting deck that spreads damage with Kyurem's Glaciate attack then hits hard with Cobalion. Both of these Pokemon have high enery cost attacks so Electrode Primes Energymite Pokepower helps you set up quickly. CaKE has alot of good matchups in the current meta cause of its potential to set up two heavy attackers by turn 2.

Durant
This deck has taken the pokemon world by storm. Durant is becoming one of the best decks this format hands down. In a game where most of the popular supporter cards thin your deck, Durant's Devour punishes those plays. Devour sends the top card of your opponents deck to the discard pile equal to the number of Durant on your field. Pokemon decks are 60 cards you draw 7 putting you to 53 then you set out 6 prizes dropping you to 47 then you draw, so you start the game with 46 cards in your deck. Take into account you draw a card every turn Durant can deck you out in 4 turns.

6 Corners
Perhaps one of the most talked about deck types to come around 6 Corners doesn't really have a set list to use. This deck attempts to do what the Arceus deck did so well, play off your opponents weakness. The Pokemon used will be any of the current hard hitting legendary Pokemon we have (Cobalion,Terrakion,Virizion,Landurus,Tornadus,Thundurus,Kyurem,Reshiram,Zekrom), but the number of and which ones you play will all depend on what decks you see. This makes 6 Corners one of the hardest decks to prepare for and play.

ZPST (Zekrom/Pachirisu/Shaymin/Tornadus)
This deck hits hard and fast and works best in situations where you can get the donk (one shotting an opponents only pokemon for a first turn win). A turn for ZPST should go like this
1. Open Zekrom/Tornadus
2. Play Pachirisu attach 2 lightning energy to Pachirisu using its pokemon power
3. Play Shaymin to use its Celebration Wind Pokemon Power to move the two energy from Pachirisu to Zekrom/Tornadus
4. Attach an energy to Zekrom/Tornadus, attack and win.
The deck is very consistent and is probably one of, if not the best deck this format.

The Future
The Basic Barrage doesnt seem to be slowing down at all with Next Destinies bringing back Pokemon ex (all of which are basic) and support for the deck in Skyarrow Bridge and Prism Energy i hope your all prepared to enjoy playin with and countering this dominating deck type.

Prism Energy
Special Energy

Provides 1[C] Energy
If Prism Energy is attached to a basic Pokemon it provides 1 of every energy type.

Just a quick card review since i missed yesterday. Meet Rainbow Energy's little more appealing brother. Prism Energy is just Rainbow Energy for basic Pokemon minus the 10 damage you take.

Rating
Modified: 5/5 in basic decks 0/5 in every other deck

So if you want to read anything about these decks in the future let me know

These are just my opinions and is in no way shape or form right or wrong.

A Pokeballing Next Destinies Preview: Skyarrow Bridge

So soon the time comes for a new set with prereleases starting for Next Destinies (my own being jan 28th) and the set is making quite the buzz with the return of the pokemon ex theme.

However there is more to this set then just the 8 or so pokemon ex such as todays first preview card of the day........Skyarrow Bridge

Skyarrow Bridge
Trainer Stadium
Each players basic Pokemons retreat cost is lowered by 1 Energy.

Wow is all i can say for this people. Skyarrow Bridge is the latest in a line of amazing stadiums that benefit a basic pokemon deck (Snowpoint Temple and Galactic HQ come to mind look them up). Skyarrow Bridge makes the Genie Trio (Tornadus,Thundurus,Landorus) free retreat. It also lowers the massive retreat cost of the ex pokemon to a more manageable 1-2 (most of the good ex pokemon range from about 2-3).

The biggest plus to this Stadium is that it counters one of the best Trainer cards in the game Pokemon Catcher. In a all basic deck such as 6 Corners, CaKE and ZPST Skyarrow Bridge makes your opponents Catcher pretty useless as your pokemon will have very manageable 1-2 energy Retreat Cost.

Its becoming apparent we have entered the era of basic decks as this card and tomorrows card Prism Energy are making it very hard to build anything but basic pokemon decks

Rating
Modified: 4/5 (decks like CaKE, 6 Corners and ZPST are gonna abuse this card alot)

If at any point anyone feels like i missed something big about a card feel free to comment and let me know, till next time.

just a quick hello and card of the day

Hi and welcome to The first issue of Pokeballing. My Name is Michael Tremere and i am a Pokemon tcg player from Belleville Ontario. This blog will be used to discuss a variety of topics in the pokemon community either by me or my teammates, also deck lists and card of the day.

So i want to get this started with a card of the day now i hope to post this everyday sometimes on top of another blog.

The very first Card of The Day will be Electrode Prime from the Triumphant set

stats

Electrode
stage 1 evolves from voltorb
hp 90 lightning
poke power energymite
Once during your turn(before you attack), you may use this power. If you do, Electrode is knocked out. Look at the top 7 cards of your deck. Choose as many energy cards as you like and attach them to your pokemon in any way you like. Discard the other cards. This power cant be used if Electrode is affected by a Special Condition
[L][C] Gigashock 30
Does 10 damage to 2 of your opponents benched Pokemon.
weakness: [F]x2
resistance: [M]-20
retreat cost: [C]

So Electrode is really a very lackluster pokemon for the most part. 90 hp on a stage 1 is okay but also means Electrode wont be a surviving many turns. the fighting weakness is actually not that bad as the only real fighting pokemon in the current meta are teched in decks. Metal resistance is nice as cobalion is a growing force in the current meta. Luckily for Electrode none of this matters cause of Energymite.

Energymite is the only reason you should be running Electrode at all. Since the release of Noble Victories two decks have Emerged that can make full use of Electrodes power, CaKE and 6 corners. Both decks rely on heavy hitting big beefy basics that need alot of energy to attack, which is easily supplied by Electrode. Cards like Pokedex and Research Records maximize the chances of your Energymite being really effective.

So given the proper deck build Electrode Prime has the potential to power up multiple attackers at one time.

rating
Modified: 3/5 (Is a necessity in CaKE and 6 Corners but not really anywheres else)