The HGSS-on format is one of the most unusual in the history of the game; however, due to the return of x2 Weakness as the norm, teching will be more useful than it has been in years. Today, I intend to cover a lot of tech discussion in a short period, including not only the “what” of teching, but the “how” of it as well.
Teching for a new format requires that you have a good idea of what you’re going up against, and sometimes these assumptions can make or break our chances of top cutting an event.
Furthermore, it requires the patience to make tweaks from your original deck list, and to decide what’s going to contribute most to you winning a tournament. With the following suggestions in this article, I hope that you will feel more equipped than ever before when teching.
So given all that, let’s jump straight into figuring out the deeper challenges of HGSS-on…
Tackling the Metagame: What is it About?
In my last article, I suggested that a few decks would rise above the rest. They were:
- Emboar/Reshiram
- Decks featuring Magnezone Prime
- Yanmega Prime
- Tyranitar Prime
- Serperior
- Gengar Prime
- Donphan
- Cinccino
If you include my lukewarm reference to Zekrom, then it seems like my prediction of what would become popular is generally being realized – it only missed Machamp Prime.
For the most part, these decks are quickly becoming the face of the format, and are going to become your focus for teching. Although it’s important not to underestimate the potential for atypical or non-archetypal decks to succeed in this format, your effort is best spent helping you win those matchups that you know you are going to see.
Even if you play one of the aforementioned decks, it’s possible you may need to tech for a specific matchup, or just shore up a blind spot in your build (e.g., Yanmega Prime in Zekrom). If you’re stuck playing with the format than playing ahead of it, then the tactical advantage that a tech gives you is extraordinarily important, and in many cases means the difference between winning and losing.
Beyond simply recognizing the potential threats, though, we should consider how much of each deck there ought to be at a given event. Normally, this estimation requires resources two key areas: A) general awareness of the metagame; and B) some clue of last-second shifts.
Achieving A) isn’t too difficult, because pure intuition of which combos the player population will gravitate towards could be enough to help gauge percentages.
To illustrate an example of “intuition,” the moment I saw our English version of Black and White, I knew that a great deal of people would be focusing on Emboar decks: it has painfully obvious synergy with some cards (particularly Reshiram), has massive potential for teching, and is a powerful card all on its own if need be.
Add in the fact that the most obvious combo is also relatively inexpensive to build due to Reshiram’s triple release (regular holo, promo holo, full art holo), and you have what could easily be the most popular deck concept at Nationals.
Even if you are currently lacking said intuition, staying informed is a fine replacement. Whereas intuition governed my earlier prediction that Emboar will be the biggest deck at the 2011 U.S. Nationals, knowledge of what receives the most hype online could result in the same conclusion…
After all, if you’re seeing the same deck appear over and over again on Pokegym, SixPrizes, and Pokebeach, then it’s probable that it will show up in a very respectable quantity. Granted, a good mix of intuition and knowledge ought to give you the clearest sense of what the metagame holds in store for you, but you aren’t dead-on-arrival without one or the other.
Ultimately, both contribute to your general awareness, and help paint the clearest picture of your tournament day competition.
This first area’s implications on how you run your list are as clear as the area itself is: if a deck is more popular, then there may be a greater need to cope with it in some extra way.
For instance, water decks may be well equipped on their own to deal with cookie cutter Emboar/Reshiram decks, but when there is a significant percentage of Zekrom and Magnezone decks included in the mix, a tech may be necessary to shore up those unfriendly matchups.
Unfortunately, the second area – recognition of last-second shifts – is much more difficult to achieve, since most players are finalizing the finest points of their lists the night before Nationals (or some other big event). The fact is, you have no realistic way of knowing how each player will change his or her list, so your only recourse is to keep your ears open for any major shifts that are picking up steam.
One somewhat recent example of this process is the pre-event popularization of Flychamp at Worlds 2009. Because several people loved the way that it played, tested, and combated a fairly diverse metagame, several invitees switched from their first decks of choice to this.
Luckily for everyone in attendance, this wasn’t exactly a secret, and so any player who was not locked up in his or her hotel room could have easily capitalized on this newfound, pre-tournament information. Be careful, though: sometimes last-second leaks and hypes have no weight behind them, and could just as easily be a red herring as they could a major factor in your decision-making.
