Buck’s Training is a Supporter. Of course, it’ll have to be good enough to justify it’s use versus another Supporter. Buck’s has two effects, so let’s cover one at a time.

“Draw 2 cards.” I know you’re groaning because it’s a Bill clone. But Bill is only a bad card because better alternatives like Engineer’s Adjustments exist, and this is a better alternative.

“As long as Buck’s Training is next to your Active Pokemon, each of your Active Pokemon’s attacks does 10 more damage.” (It says something else, but it was errata’d.) This is where things become interesting. Cards inflicting 100 damage, such as Steelix, Blastoise, Wailord,  or Magnezone, can now do the extra 10 damage without sacrificing that extra prize when knocked out.

Although not an extremely efficient draw engine, it comes at less of a cost than Engineer’s Adjustments, provides more of a benefit than Bill, and is more flexible than PlusPower. It’s a unique combination of effects that may prove worth using.

A problem with Buck’s Training also lies in its effect: It doesn’t work well when fished out by Sableye or when copied by Jirachi. It can’t be used if you can’t draw the cards, so it won’t win you the game if you’re in danger of decking out. It can be searched for with Cyrus’, but it’s not great in SP decks like it is when countering them.

I’ll give Buck’s Training a 1.5/5. Buck’s isn’t easily searched for, so there’s no guarantee you’ll have it when you’ll need it. Drawing 2 cards isn’t enough to call it great. It’s hardly better than PlusPower, seeing as how while you can’t use PlusPower under Trainer Lock, you can only use one Buck’s per turn. However, it still may find a niche in decks like Steelix that can utilize indiscriminate draw power and may have trouble one-shotting SP Pokemon.

Buck’s Training (Legends Awakened LA 130) – Card of the Day is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

For today’s Card of the Day, I decided that today is as good as any to take a look at Azelf Lv.X. For starters, 90 HP for a Basic Level Up is pretty low. Psychic type is pretty good, hitting Uxie Lv.X and Machamp for Weakness.

Unfortunately, it also has a Psychic Weakness. The Retreat Cost of C is okay. One other thing I would like to mention, it is the Level Up of Azelf, which means you won’t have to make many changes to fit this card into any deck.

Azelf Lv.X has the Poke-Body “Psychic Aura”, which eliminates the Weaknesses of your in-play Psychic Pokemon. This is actually a nice Poke-Body, acting like a more restricted version of Exploud. It can’t be used in all decks, but in the ones that can use it get a very nice advantage.

“Deep Balance”, which costs a low P, allows you to choose one of your opponent’s Pokemon. For each Energy attached to it, place one damage counter on it. Even if your opponent has a fully loaded Steelix Prime in play, the most you’ll be doing is 50 damage. In most match ups, you’ll be lucky to play two damage counters. However, it can still be a good way to place some needed damage counters.

But if you’re like me, you won’t be adding Azelf Lv.X into your deck for the attack, but for the Poke-Body. This card hasn’t seen as much play as its Uxie counterpart, but it has recently seen a lot of attention for its potential use in LostGar, eliminating Gengar Prime’s Weakness and making it much harder for your opponent to run counters to.

Unfortunately, it isn’t as effective as many were hoping it would be. First of all, having a low 90 HP means it can be easily KOed by a multitude of SP Pokemon not to mention being shut off completely by Dialga G Lv.X.

The other deck that uses this card is AMU, since it is necessary to have the Level Up forms of all the Pixies in play to hit for 200 damage with Mesprit Lv.X. Unfortunately, AMU hasn’t really been competitive in a while, mainly due to it being a very fragile deck.

My Recommendation: Some LostGar lists might be able to use it better than others, but I’m not really sold on the concept yet.

My Rating: 3/5 (Not amazing, not terrible.)

Azelf Lv.X (Legends Awakened LA 140) – Card of the Day is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Mew Prime was released in the latest set, Triumphant (Call of Legends isn’t out as of the writing of this article). When scans of Mew were first shown, experts and novices alike began testing out various cards that could effectively be abused by Mew. Jumpluff, Gyarados and Machamp were the most common, at least at first. Mewperior was never really recognized by the Pokemon community as a viable deck, but all that changed when it took first place at a City Championship this year. For today’s review, I’ll be looking at one of the cards that make this deck possible, Rhyperior Lv.X.

Now, I’m not going to jump into this review acting like the only deck that can run Rhyperior Lv.X is Mewperior, when in fact an actual deck based around Rhyperior is possible. We’ll start with the basics:
For starters, Rhyperior has 170 HP- good, but not amazing for a Stage 2 Level Up- a Fighting Type (I’ve been over the pros and cons of being a Fighting type so many times that I’m getting tired of writing it). How good or bad a Water Weakness is will really depend on the popularity of LostGar. If it dies down after the first week, then Lucario/Palkia/Mesprit and Gyarados decks will be played a lot more than if LostGar is seeing heavy play. Kingdra decks see such little play nowadays that it isn’t a concern.

The -20 Lightning Resistance is good, making it impossible for any Lightning Pokemon apart from Magnezone Prime to OHKO it. My god, the retreat cost is so high that it looks as if Rhyperior has a Colorless Resistance.

“Hard Crush” is the reason it fits so well in Mewperior decks. By discarding the top 5 cards of your deck, this attack does 50 damage times the number of Energy that were discarded… all for free! Since Mew Prime needs Psychic Energy to get Pokemon into your Lost Zone, Rhyperior works perfecting since it doesn’t require you to run additional Energy types.

Rhyperior does have a second attack, “Upthrow”. For FFC, it does 60 damage and takes all Fighting Energy in your Discard Pile and shuffles them back into your deck. Obviously the original design of the card was for you to alternate between discarding Energy with “Hard Crush” and returning them to your deck with “Upthrow” (by doing so, you also make your deck heavily populated with Energy, which increases your damage output). However, this attack is one that is rarely used by Mew Prime because it has a steep cost.

My Recommendation: I, like most players who have played with Mewperior for any given amount of time, believe that it is certainly a fast, powerful and unexpected deck, but not Tier 1.

My Rating: 3.25/5 (In my opinion, while Rhyperior Lv.X is certainly an important part of Mewperior, Mew Prime is the card that does most of the work. Sure, “Hard Crush” can be a good attack, but it is in no way broke.

Rhyperior Lv.X (Legends Awakened LA 145) – Card of the Day is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

The particular Magnezone I’ll be taking a look at today is Magnezone Lv.X, which was released way back in Legends Awakened. Magnezone Lv.X is a Stage 2 Level Up, meaning it will take a bit of searching and evolving before you get it in play.

For all of this investment, you’re rewarded with a low 140 HP (it isn’t bad, but for a Stage 2 Lv.X, it’s pretty low, especially when compared to Regigigas Lv.X, Tyranitar Prime or Steelix Prime), an average x2 Fire Weakness, a very handy -20 Psychic Resistance and a massive four Retreat Cost. Finally, since it’s a Metal Pokemon, you’ll have access to Special Metal Energies.

Since there’s a number of different Magnezone you could run with this card, I will focus my review more on the Level Up. Its Poke-Power allows you to, as often as you like during your turn (Immune to Power Spray) move around Lightning or Metal Energies from one Pokemon to another.

One great combo I can see with this card is with Blissey Prime. If Magnezone is damaged, transfer all of the Energy away from the Pokemon you wish to heal, place down Blissey, then move them back. Unfortunately, it won’t work with Double Colorless Energy (Meaning Magnezone SF #6 won’t work as well with Blissey because you’ll require a third turn to power up “Gyro Ball”).

To round of the review, we’ll look at Magnezone Lv.X’s attack, “Cyber Shock”, for the cost of LM does 80 damage, but forces you to discard both a Lightning and a Metal Energy attached to Magnezone. In addition, the defending Pokemon is now Paralyzed. The attack isn’t terrible against tank decks such as Tyranitar, but for the most part, you’re better off just attacking with whatever Stage 2 Magnezone you’re running.

My Recommendation: I suggest using it in a hit-and-run type Magnezone deck. Since the Lv.X is Metal, you can use Special Metal Energies and it gains an additional 20 HP, you can make it so that Magnezone is very difficult to KO.

My Rating: 3/5 (The extra HP, Metal typing and Poke-Power will all come in handy. The rating would be higher if it had a good attack)



Magnezone Lv.X (Legends Awakened LA 142) – Card of the Day is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Technical Machine TS-2 saw some play last season, but, this season, it seems to have completely disappeared from the format for some mysterious reason. It seems that now this card has more use than ever and I’ll get to you why:

Technical Machine TS-2, ultimately called “Devoluter”, is an essential tool this format, I believe. This nifty Trainer card is a Technical Machine. Like the TM machines from the actual game, they will give your Pokemon a different attack. This one gives your Pokemon the attack called “Devoluter” obviously. “Devoluter” lets you choose your opponent’s evolved Pokemon and return the highest evolution stage card to the hand, excluding Lv.X Pokemon.

Why is this so useful this format? This format is the perfect format for this card to be teched into almost any deck. Right now, the format is flooded with stage 1 and 2 decks, like VileGar, Machamp, and Gyarados, and this card will almost guarantee you a knock out without extending your hand too far, or having the risk of being caught by that annoying “Fainting Spell”. You can attack your opponent’s Gengar for 80 or higher damage, and next turn devolve their Gengar to knock it out since their stage 1 form will only have 80 HP.

Yes, I do realize that it is a Trainer card and, against VileGar, it might not be usable, but many decks now carry 1-1 Dialga G Lv.X tech or another tech to knock out a Vileplume. Worst comes worst, you can always attach it before the locks set up. Of course, against other non-lock decks, it is even better. Having trouble dealing with a 150 HP Machamp Prime? No worries, just attack it for 80 with your Uxie with an Expert Belt, put it back into the deck, then “Devolute” their Machamp Prime for the knock out. Gyarados annoying you? Don’t worry, this will be a quick fix. Use your Crobat G 3 times, then “Devolute” it for a knock out.

Wait! That last thing was the main reason why this card should be teched in your deck! Gyarados is starting to flood the meta and, with Devoluter, you will be easily be able to tame that Gyarados that has been constantly annoying you and frustrating you.

In this format, I rate this card 3.5/5.

Guys, remember to e-mail peterbae6P@Hotmail.ca with deck lists, single cards, or just ideas on what articles to write about and I’ll be sure to respond to you and tell you if I will be using it to write an article. Of course, if I write your idea, you will be mentioned in the article.

Card of the Day – Technical Machine TS-2 (Legends Awakened LA 137) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Mesprit has one attack, “Extrasensory,” that does 20 for PP. It will do an additional 50 damage if you have the same number of cards in your hand as your opponent. Not terrible, but it’s pretty situational.

Thankfully, Mesprit has another feature that makes it worth playing: its Poke-Power. Mesprit’s Poke-Power, “Psychic Bind,” restricts your opponent from using Poke-Powers the turn after you play Mesprit to the bench.

Mesprit was a decent card before Triumphant; it worked as a handy tech against pretty much any deck where it could, if played at the right time, stall your opponent’s set up by locking their “Set Up.” It was nice to prevent an untimely “Healing Breath” or “Flash Bite” against SP, but, in most cases, it wasn’t worth the space.

Since the release of Triumphant, Mesprit’s usefulness has gone way up. Firstly, Seeker has made the reuse of Mesprit’s Poke-Power much more feasible, enabling you to maintain a consistent Power lock. Junk Arm has also helped, allowing for the use of more than 4 Super Scoop Ups a game.

The other reason I think Mesprit has become an important card is its talent as a tech against Gyarados. If you can get it out early and maintain a Power lock for a few turns, Gyarados’s usual way of discarding Magikarp with “Regi-Move” is rendered impossible. This gives you a huge speed advantage. Gyarados decks often blow through many cards a turn and “Set Up” multiple times, and Mesprit ruins this aspect of their start as well. It is also a great tech IN Gyarados to help in mirror matches. It’s just a race to get the Power lock out first!

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommendation: It’s still not for every deck but, if you’re running Seeker and/or Super Scoop Ups and wouldn’t usually have the upper hand against Gyarados, or are just slower in general and need the extra speed advantage, Mesprit LA could be a great help.

Card of the Day – Mesprit (Legends Awakened LA 34) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Gliscor Lv.X’s Poke-Power, “Shoot Poison”, poisons and paralyzes the defending Pokemon. Special condition decks haven’t been viable since the release of SP; however, it is a nice bonus. Its attack, “Night Slash”, is where it really shines. For the semi-low cost of FC, “Night Slash” does 60 damage and you may switch it with one of your benched Pokemon.

This is essentially the same idea as CurseGar, just without the damage control Poke-Power. I actually have taken a liking to this card and, while I know it was more powerful with Mr. Mime MT in the format, I believe it to still be viable. Perhaps the best card to put in its place is Spiritomb AR to lock your opponent’s Trainers while you can still use yours as long as you retreat Spiritomb with Unown Q, Warp Energy, or a basic energy card.

My recommendation: Try it out in a sort of hit-and-run style deck, probably with Spiritomb. Also, try it out with Vileplume UD as well for a full blown Trainer-lock deck.

Rating: 3.25/5

Card of the Day – Gliscor Lv.X (Legends Awakened LA 141) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Mewtwo Lv.X was brought to use in the 2009 season and was quickly realized as an amazing SP counter because of it’s Poke-Body, “Psybarrier”, which states “Prevent all effects of attacks, including damage, done to Mewtwo by your opponent’s Pokemon that isn’t an Evolved Pokemon”. Yeah, you can see why it was good. How can SP kill what it can’t even touch?

Let’s back up a bit with the basics of the card. Mewtwo Lv.X is a Basic Level Up Pokemon with a nice 120 HP and Psychic Coloring, meaning you’ll hit Uxie Lv.X for weakness as well as Machamp SF & Prime. Uxie Lv.X would traditionally hit you for Weakness, but thanks to “Psybarrier”, you safely evade that threat. However, you will be hit for weakness by Gengar SF, which is a big downfall. The no Resistance is disappointing and the retreat cost of 2 sucks, but sadly, all is expected.

Its only attack, “Giga Burn”, for PPC does a massive 120 damage. However, you must then discard all energy attached to Mewtwo. That is a very steep cost, even if you do have a high chance of getting a OHKO. Thankfully, if you play the Majestic Dawn Mewtwo, you will have other options of attack, such as “Energy Absorption” to retrieve those discarded Energy and “Psyburn” for a vanilla 60 damage.

Mewtwo Lv.X was an amazing SP counter in 2009, where a big number of decks played it to fight the Tier 1 Demon. However, now that Garchomp C Lv.X has entered the format, both of LuxChomp’s main attackers have a way to play around Mewtwo. In addition, many LuxChomp decks, as well as DialgaChomp run Dialga G Lv.X, which shuts of Mewtwo Lv.X’s Poke-Body, making it an easy OHKO target for their Uxie Lv.X.

Overall, I think Mewtwo Lv.X was a great card, but as new sets came along, Mewtwo was left behind.

Rating 3/5

Card of the Day – Mewtwo Lv.X (Legends Awakened LA 144) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Regice is an unevolving Basic with a good HP of 90, a decent Weakness of Metal (x2), no Resistance, and an abysmal Retreat Cost of 3. I don’t think he has an attack. Maybe I should check… nah, it’s not worth it.

The truth is, Regice is one of the best tech Basic Pokemon in the Modified format right now. “Regi Move” serves so many purposes, it alone warrants this card in almost any deck. When you declare the Power, you discard any 2 cards from your hand. Then, if your opponent has a Basic Pokemon active, they choose a Pokemon on their bench to switch it with. Simple right? Well why is this Power so great?

“Regi Move” is a searchable way to get out of Spiritomb’s trainer-lock. If you have a single turn to “Go Off” with your trainers, you instantly get the leg-up. The only thing your opponent can do is lay the 2nd Spiritomb, which limits their bench space.

“Regi Move” is Uxie’s friend. If you are tired of “Setting Up” for only 2 or 3 cards, simply “Regi Move” some garbage, and “Set Up” for more. Going all out for T2 Machamp? You’ll wish you had 2 more cards to draw.

“Regi Move” is Prizes and Disruption. Don’t let your opponent push up a sacrifice, “Regi Move” it! Crobat G? “REGI MOVE!” In Machamp, “Regi Move” the Toxicroak G (PL). If your opponent only has 1 benched Pokemon and a Basic active, you know what you are getting. Timing a good ‘Move could make your opponent waste an Energy attachment, or even stall them out for several turns if you ‘Move them into something with high Retreat. ‘Moving a Ditto with 6 damage counters nets you a free prize and attack in the same turn.

One of the most important things “Regi Move” does in the new format is Discard cards. (Insert obligatory “VileGar is one of the BDIF” here). Yes, Vilegar is popular right now. A fad? Maybe. “Regi Move” lets you discard the trainers that would be clogging up your hand with Vileplume out, therefore reducing the damage of “Poltergeist”.

If your opponent does the smart thing and starts “Shadow Room”ing Regice, you will still have the chance to discard 4 trainers total, which may nullify “Poltergeist” completely, not to mention, they just wasted 2 turns killing a bench sitter that you took all of 1 Pokemon Collector/Bebe’s to get.

Of course, Regice comes with his downsides. “Regi Move” can be Power Sprayed, but I wouldn’t cry if it is. Regi’s only attack is expensive and underpowered. His Weakness is negligible because of his Retreat Cost. You see, nobody wants to kill Regice, because they just did your job FOR you- getting it out of active. Regice has a bad habit of getting “Bright Look”ed. With his 3 Retreat, “LuxChomp” will drag it up and take a few Prizes off the bench while you try to build it up to painfully Retreat. The obvious solution is Warp Point and/or Warp Energy, both solid choices. Warp Point can be locked, but is still relevant along with Warp Energy. My best advice however- just don’t bench the damn thing in 4/5 “LuxChomp” match-ups.

Rating: 4/5. It is really, really good at doing what it does. It is one of the most relevant cards in the game, and an easy solution for many problems. Starting with it is a drag, and you can only Warp it out so many times. Its Power for a tech Basic Pokemon is only rivaled by “Set Up” and “Portrait” as one of the best in the Game.

Card Of The… Oh My God Is It Really 4am?? Regice (Legends Awakened LA 36) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

It is a basic Lv.X with 90 HP, which is quite low compared to SP Lv.X’s such as Dialga G Lv.X and Luxray GL Lv.X. It’s a psychic type, meaning it can hit Machamp for double +30 (double with Lucario GL). One good advantage is having Uxie LA as it’s basic, which is what I would say to be the best draw card in the format.

It’s attack, “Zen Blade” for 2 colorless does 60 damage, but you can’t use Zen Blade during the next turn. It’s Poke-Power, “Trade Off”, allows you to look at the top 2 cards of your deck, put 1 in your hand and send the other to the bottom of your deck. It’s essentially a Pokedex Handy 910is every turn, which is nice, but not Claydol nice. There are very little non-fire decks that shouldn’t use a 2-1 Uxie Lv.X line(fire should probably use Ninetails and 1 Uxie LA).

In the since it’s release, it was considered to be a good card, used in many SP builds due it needing a Basic and a Lv.X, making it easier to get into play. Also, it was used to help counter Machamp as well.

However, due to rotation, we lost Claydol GE, which was easily the most played engine in the format (along with Uxie), so many people are using Uxie Lv.X as the engine for their deck, with some people having more success than others.

Wanna give 6p and the rest of the world a piece of your mind? Leave your comments, questions and ratings below.

Modified 4.5/5 (since Claydol is out, 98% of the decks out there are using a 2-1 Uxie Lv.X line)
Unlimited 1.5/5 (Claydol IS in this format, along with being a bad attacker in unlimited seals it’s fate)

Card of the Day – Uxie Lv.X (Legends Awakened LA 146) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.