One of the biggest “shocks to the system” hitting the new 2010-2011 Modified Format is the rotation of the fighting type Pokemon Claydol. Claydol was a near requirement in every deck for the past 3 years. Despite being a normal rare, the card spiked to nearly 20 dollars a piece before it was released as League promo, which reduced its value to a managable level. Even at that point, the card stayed strong in value.
It could be argued that the card was so important to how decks set up and flowed that it defined those formats. Even if you disagree, it is hard to argue that it was extremely vital to those formats, and that its removal is leaving a giant, gaping hole in the new format. Now the question that lingers is: How do we re-build the skeletons of decks to remain consistant in it’s wake?
This has always been one of the most challenging tasks when facing an undefined format. It is easy to look at cards and say ” these cards work well together, and will be a powerful force “. The challenge comes from figuring out how to streamline the engines of those decks in order to maximize their effeciency. In some cased, it could be argued that the draw engines dictate what decks are viable more so than vice versa.
