Mekkah provides stiff competition for the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
Hello 6PUG! You must be surprised to see my name on an article that says “Underground Exclusive”, and I can’t blame you. I am not even a blip on the radar in the “real” Pokemon TCG world. My official tournament record stands at a perfect 0-0, I do not play on TCGO or go to any leagues, and my collection of cards fits in a box the size of my laptop.
However, what I do have is countless of hours of online testing experience through the free programs, Redshark and PlayTCG. Both of these simulators have provided me with the tools needed to build and play against anyone around the world, as long as they go through the trouble of the online deck building.
Redshark is pretty far behind the rest of the world, generally releasing an update for the newest set around a month after the set actually comes out. PlayTCG, however, is generally really fast with these, and had most of the scans implemented before they were even in the stores. This allowed me to get quite a lot of playtesting in while everyone else was still concerned with HGSS-EPO, the format for Regionals.
I really wanted to get all the information I got from this to you all as soon as possible, but Adam and I both kind of dropped the ball on this one. He had offered me a spot to write in November way back in the summer, but since we hadn’t communicated since, he filled the month up and I had to wait for December. This is a bit frustrating, since I believe the major strength of the 6PUG comes from getting the information quickly, rather than getting the information at all.
However, I had quite a few things to say, and a lot of them have not been mentioned in previous articles. Sometimes this is just a different perspective on a certain deck, sometimes it’s a deck that hasn’t been mentioned at all. I obviously started testing the things that I knew were going to get attention, so those will also have most information in the article.
Understandably, most people wouldn’t put testing on PlayTCG on the same level as testing with their team. Everyone you encounter is a “random”, and if you are the one hosting the game (meaning you pressed New game, made it public, and waited for someone to join), you don’t even know the username of the person you are playing. It could be John Kettler, John Travolta, or Little Johnny for all you know.
OMG!!... a Weedle?
But, it does generally give you a good feel of what works and what doesn’t. The real fine tuning of the deck would need to happen on a different ground, probably. On the flip side, though, if you test a lot with the same partner or team, you run the risk of their playstyles and deck preferences locking in the way you play your deck. Everyone thinks differently, solves problems differently, and therefore, plays differently. PlayTCG is more of an “open field” for testing, and I believe that definitely has its merits.
Before I start my analysis, I just want to thank Adam for giving me a chance. This isn’t a playground: many people are paying to read this. So what I’m going to do is try my best to give you an article I would pay to view. While I have no tournament experience, I am not new to playing Pokemon-related games in online tournament settings. In addition, even before I had UG access, I always felt like I was ahead of the curve, and oftentimes I recognize plays and ideas from UG writers from my own games.
As a hipster would say it, I hated ZPS before it was cool, and wrote about how it suddenly became good with Tornadus (and how Tornadus is the better early-game attacker of the two). I was playing around with Yanmega/Magnezone in HGSS-on while everyone else was on the Magneboar/DonChamp train. And I was working on Mew/Vileplume/Muk way before it was public. I’m sure I’m not the only one for any of these, but I do know what I’m doing.
Also, I started writing this article around halfway through November. It is obviously possible this article contains information you’ve seen elsewhere, like in Josh’s newest article. I think the slight double ups are forgivable since I’ve made sure there’s plenty of new information and ideas in here. The metagame develops incredibly fast. I’ve tried to keep it updated, while also keeping old ideas and thoughts intact just so you can see my thought processes where relevant.
Oh, and this article is long. I didn’t check, but it might just be the longest on-site. I don’t intend to make up for quality with quantity (I aim for both!). However, since this could be my only UG opportunity, I wanted to get everything I could out there that I could.
Vanilluxe/Vileplume/Victini
The basic idea of Vanilluxe, for the few of you who are unaware, is to immobilize the opponent’s Active with Double Freeze. Vileplume stops Switch and Super Scoop Up (which would escape the lock), and Victini turns your 75% chance of Paralysis into 93.75%. For those who have played the video game, the chance of not Paralyzing your opponent with Double Freeze and Victory Star is the same as getting a Critical Hit.
Here is the basis of the list I’ve been using.
VVV.dec
