Jason at the Granada Hills Undaunted Prerelease

Went to an Undaunted Prerelease today! I had been pretty excited about this set, but I haven’t really seen many of the cards in it. Well, a couple of my friends from Ackerman League (Jeff, Scott, and Aaron) and I split a ride and hit up the Granada Hills event! In the morning I explain a bit of how to make a good sealed event deck, and some of the cards I saw on PokeBeach that I thought were good (Raticate, Sneasel). Jeff gets us to Granada Hills really fast, and we are totally stoked to play in a prerelease. I trade him my Absol G stuff for random junk – I was high on Absol G but he really helped me a lot to get to the tournament etc, so I decide to let it go for a bit cheaper :P

When we get there, the building is pretty packed. We got our Leafeon promo, which is HOLO! and sleeves, which seemed to be of pretty poor quality. In my packs, I pulled a bunch of random stuff – Kyogre/Groudon Legend, Scizor Prime, 2-2 normal Scizor, 3-1 Weavile, 2 Sableyes, and more. Some of the stuff that I pulled and was good, but didn’t fit in my deck, was Oddish (its Grass-searching attack is strong and reminiscent of Tropius Unleashed), Tropius (it has a massive healing attack), Muk (its Blaziken FB-like attack will punish your opponent for playing anything with 2+ retreat cost), Jolteon/Raichu (free retreat), Metagross (very strong attack if you can get it out). Note – when I say good, I mean for Prereleases, not Constructed! I noticed that Eeveelutions were very common – if you can pull the Eevees, you will most likely have 2-3 Eeveelutions to work with.

I built my deck with basically what I pulled, and not any coherent plan – my Pokemon line was 2-2/1 Scizor, 3-1 Weavile, 2-1 Honchkrow, 2/1 Togetic, 2 Sableye, and Mawile. There were several strategies – all of my starters had decent attacks, and the disruption capability of Murkrow and Weavile could help me to use Sableye as a strong attacker. The free retreat of my big Weavile line could help me stall and rotate some pretty strong attackers/snipers. Togepi was a decent starter, and could evolve into Togetic, which could net me the evolution I need. The Scizor line was just extraordinarily strong (both versions), thus making it my main attacking threat. That’s all it is in Sealed – a simple strategy, good starters, and strong attackers.

Out of the four of us, Jeff’s deck impressed me most. It included a 2-2 Raticate, which I felt was one of the strongest cards available (free retreat, and two decent attacks for only C each!), and some kind of Hitmonlee/Hitmonchan stuff.

On to the tournament:

Round 1: vs. Slugma deck

This kid actually built a very strong deck around Slugma. By using its “Active Volcano,” he was able to get his Slugmas energized very quickly, dealing a decent-sized 40 damage with type so I could not play my Scizors. However, his “Active Volcano” discarded his only Magcargo, capping his damage output and HP. I use Weavile’s snipe abilities and Honchkrow’s weak attack to finally take care of the Slugma threat. I win, 1-0.

At this point, my friends and I all won. However, the next round, we were paired together. Scott against me, Aaron against Jeff.
1-0

Round 2: vs. Scott with some Murkrow/Raticate/Eeveelutions deck

I started out with Togepi, and he starts with Murkrow. He plays down many cards and uses Energy Exchange Unit for a Special Dark. This was his downfall; he lost a huge card advantage, and I was able to play Weavile and take out his Umbreon. I then stall a while until I hit a Sage’s Training, which nets me Scizor Prime. Scizor pretty much cleans up his field after that.
2-0

Round 3: vs. Scizor/Jolteon/Raichu

He starts off by placing Energies seemingly randomly, while I start off with the lone Scyther. My opening hand was amazing: Scyther, Scizor Prime, 2 Metals, and some other stuff. Turn 2, I do 70 to knock out his Sableye. Turn 3, he gets out his own Scizor (non-Prime) for 50, but I am able to topdeck another Metal for a 90 HP KO. He sends up Jolteon, and fails Agility – I cannot topdeck another Metal, so I hit for only 70. He succeeds on Agility, and I retreat to Togepi to tank. He fails another Agility, and Sneasel and Scizor clean up.
3-0

I found out that Jeff lost to an Espeon deck. I had seen Espeon from a League Leader that attended and I was amazed at the power of its attack in Sealed – Psychic Energy to move 4 damage counters from your Pokemon to your opponent’s – healing, snipe, AND cheap damage in one attack, which is basically unstoppable in this format. And sure enough, Jeff faces this guy, and manages to do a grand total of 20 net damage during the entire game. He ends up 1-2 I believe, Aaron loses to go 2-1, and Scott wins to go 2-1. I thought their decks were very well built and if we didn’t have to play each other, we probably would have done a lot better.

After the tournament I try to trade, but cannot get a deal for the Shiny Vulpix or Vileplumes I wanted. I did get a Kyogre/Groudon Top for a Crobat Prime which I thought was worth it – but now I have two of the top half! Props to Kim Cary (bulbasnore) for running a great event and being very friendly to me, I know most other mods on PokeGym do not like me, my friends for coming and having a great time, and for the church people for letting us use such a great venue.

I am sure that was not so interesting, but as a special treat for reading this far I will share my thoughts about the top 5 best, and top 5 most overrated cards I saw today.

Overrated (no, not the Eeveelutions, because everyone knows that they are overrated):

5: Scizor Prime
While this card was the champion of my sealed deck, and could be VERY strong in the format, it seems to me to lack the HP and attack of a game-breaking card. No doubt that this is a solid card, but I see it more as a surprise Tech than an actual attacking option in a deck. Its Steel-type makes it more difficult to even use in that regard.

4: Legend Box
This card is another great one, with the ability to summon Legends out of nowhere. Many people have already realized one fact though: It’s hardly reliable, even with a multitude of combos to get Legends in the top 10 cards of your deck. Furthermore, it’s blocked by Vileplume. The upside will be how fun it will be to bust out some of these Legends. I can’t say it will be bad, and I am sure it may see play. I just think it’s highly overrated and can only work in maybe one deck EVER.

3: Energy Exchange Unit
Sure, this card can search out Double Colorless Energies. But the big thing is that it makes you lose card advantage, and you must have an Energy in your hand to use it. The average deck plays around 22 Pokemon and about 13 Energies, making it almost twice as hard to use as Communication. Roseanne’s is gone, making it hard to get basic Energies to use as fodder. And if you aren’t needing a DCE at any particular time, it’s pretty much a dead draw. Vileplume blocks this, and while a decent card, I don’t really have an idea of what deck I would play it in.

2: Sage’s Training
I don’t understand why people are even hyping this. It’s just not that good.

1: Combee
30 HP, a very conditional attack (reminiscent of a bad Ursaring Prime), Memory Berry is blocked by Plume, and a much stronger Combee exists. This card is just flat out bad, and doesn’t deserve half the hype it’s getting.

Best:

Honorable Mention: Groudon & Kyogre Legend, and Rayquaza & Deoxys Legend
These may not be the most practical cards, but the art alone makes them amazing. Mix in one of the most devastating attacks ever printed or a great Poke-Body, and while they probably will not see play, these are very interesting and memorable cards. Unfortunately, it cannot see the “Best” category due to its reliance on the unreliable Legend Box.

5: Bellossom
Similar to Nidoqueen, but slightly less healing. However, if you run 2 you can bring them both for a smidge more healing than Queen. The big advantage is in its lower Retreat Cost, and the fact that it shares the evolution line with Vileplume.

4: Unown (Dark)
While its Power may seem somewhat bad, in a format without Roseanne, this gives decks a new way to search out Special Darks. While not the greatest Pokemon perhaps, it has almost no hype and is severely underrated. I will definitely be playing this card.

3: Dodrio
Basically, this card gives -2 Retreat Cost to all of your Pokemon. It is somewhat like Moonlight Stadium, that can be searched with Spiritomb or Bebe’s, and works for all types. While similar cards have seen the printing press, and have been utterly forgotten in dusty binders, the format seems to be ripe for this kind of card.

2: Weavile
Its attack is weak, but its basic and its Power are extremely strong. This is one of the best disruption cards ever made; it is to Rocket’s Sneak Attack what Luxray GL LV.X was to Gust of Wind. And I always preferred the RSA over the Gust! But only time can tell if any deck can fit in its Stage 1 line, non-SP nature, and mediocre attack.

1: Vileplume
An obviously game-breaking card. SP is finished in my opinion as Vileplume is pretty much a hard counter to it. I would be very surprised if SP even makes it past this upcoming set of Battle Roads, but Plume’s biggest test is how it fares against non-SP decks.