Chris Mathers

@KrisHarsh Disrupting the opponent to 4 cards isn’t enough. With Fezandipiti and draw for turn, opponent will have 8 cards in hand after Judge and since you need to use your supporter on Judge you can’t Boss the opponent’s Fezandipiti. With access to eight cards the disruption is minimal.

@hgssprime Does everyone hate Judge? People talk like its not even legal.

People are going to learn that you don’t need hand disruption to outplay/checkmate your opponents.

@Whimsicast It’s beautiful!

Happy Pokémon Day

Season is chalked, so it’s time to play retro for the next six months. Week one featuring Dusknoir, Palkia G, Regigigas, and so much Zoroark.

@Mellow_Magikarp @kingdrec1out @uncommon_energy @AzulGG @ChipRichey Old head jumping in, Tsuguyoshi Yamato had a pretty impressive run between ‘04 & 2010 as did Takuya Yoneda between ‘04 & 2013, but neither have the prestige or impact of the players in the original post. I’d say modern Japanese players probably have a better claim to the HOF

@kingdrec1out @uncommon_energy @AzulGG @ChipRichey I'd need more old heads to speak up on it but all the stories I've heard about 04 Worlds and Japan just showing up and destroying everyone is huge and has to have had a big impact on how the game was thought about

My First Class first ballot PTCG HOF 1. Jason K 2. Pooka 3. Michael Pramawat 4. Ross Cawthon 5. Jimmy P @uncommon_energy @AzulGG @ChipRichey

Not too sure what’s more difficult, choosing what to play for Sydney Regionals, or choosing which retro format(s) to bring and which decks to select from those formats. Current choices that have been put to the group chat are 2010, 2016, and 2018:

@CachoOfSinnoh Not too sure how you get that from my post; non-interactive OHKO and aggressive formats are what I’m complaining about. Conditional gust, comebacks cards, and hand disruption are all conductive to a good format and what I prefer.

@MiniMathers96 Do you prefer BatteVIP pass/ boring OHKOs formats? Post rotation is looking really interesting if you ask me. Creatures Inc doing a great job, I'm sure we'll see hand disruption printed later this year. They have always left us without a certain effect, think back to Super Rod

Not normally one to jump in on doomposting, but post-rotation is looking miserable. Three prizers, unconditional supporter gust, and no meaningful hand disruption. Only redeeming factor is that three prizers evolve from one prizers so games won’t be over in three turns.

@gearhartpkmn Haven’t put too much thought into post-rotation, but I’m not convinced (yet) that it’ll be as bad as Team Up-Chilling Reign.

@MiniMathers96 People are terrified of coin flips until they discover flips are the only way

@gearhartpkmn I’m holding out hope that people are terrified of coin flips.

@MiniMathers96 They won't be over in 3 turns? 🙃

Regardless of what may or may not have happened with Gabriel at LAIC, I'm sure we can all agree that the way that TPCi communicates these kinds of things (or the lack of it) is incredibly frustrating I don't know who at TPCi keeps pushing the agenda that the community should be kept in the dark about pretty much everything, and that DQs and similar issues should always be swept under the rug. Today has once again shown that this approach is incredibly harmful to the community and causes a lot of unnecessary conflict that could've easily been avoided by clear communication. 🤷‍♂️

Brisbane regionals - incredible list, but sadly in the hands of a garbage player.

@TrainerJEvans Only one Quilava and one Rescue Energy, man is not scared of Vileplume in the slightest.

Me + 3 of my favourite decks. This felt incredibly impossible to do, I like and love SO many decks, but here’s 3 lists I really enjoy!

Also, we got in. See you all in Brisbane!

500 players registered in less than five minutes. While still dwarfed by attendance in other regions, the growth in the Oceania region has been incredible to see. Love this community.

@Whimsicast Some of the choices are pure nostalgia and improved versions of decks that my friends and I played during the era. I tested Flygon/Weavile, and other Weavile/Darkrai variants, a fair amount at the time, so seems wrong not to build it.

@MiniMathers96 I wouldn't bother with the Weavile one for 2010 personally. DCE replaces the value of Weavile. Flygon Dusknoir is fun, though very clunky

Today I decided to play a little Devil's Advocate and write about formats that you probably shouldn't build for your retro deck collection. Link: note.com/whimsicast/n/n…

@Whimsicast Straight Flygon (essentially Flygon/Palkia but with Mewtwo Lv.X over Palkia), Flygon/Metagross, Flygon/Torterra, and Flygon/Machamp. Flygon/Donphan, Flygon/Dusknoir, and Flygon/Weavile/Darkai Lv.X are all on the to the build list. Some are ‘09 decks brought forward to ‘10.

@MiniMathers96 What other Flygons do you have built for 2010? I've got FlyTerra, Flygon Dusknoir, Flygon Metagross, and Flygon Magnezone

@Whimsicast So I tend to build it for the format with the larger card pool, then adjust it if someone wants to play the earlier format or if there’s a side event at a regionals.

@Whimsicast You’re not alone, I’ve got 4 ‘10 Flygon decks built and more in the to build list. Flygon/Palkia isn’t the best example (I’ve replaced it with straight Flygon in ‘10), but the sentiment that it’s hard to justify building a deck in consecutive formats with little changes remains.

@Whimsicast It’s viable, trust. You just need to dodge Gardie, LuxChomp, and DialgaChomp, haha. When building for retro formats I tend to have a lower bar for what is “viable” so I can justify building more decks. The ability to curate matchups means you can have fun by avoiding autolosses

@MiniMathers96 Would like to correct the record that Flygon Palkia is not too viable in 2010. 😅

@Whimsicast Only applies to a limited number of formats where there was a inconsequential rotation, but it has made some of my retro gauntlets awkward as by choosing not to build decks (like ‘13 Blastoise) my gauntlet becomes highly centralised on a few decks (namely Darkrai for ‘13).

@Whimsicast Formats like ‘09 and ‘13 lose their uniqueness to me when the decks can be built in the next format in slightly different form. Flygon/Palkia lock is playable in ‘10, with worse matchups, so might as well build it for the expanded card pool of ‘10 and then adjust to ‘09 if needed