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Pokemon 2012 Season Overview

By Kohrok

Greetings everyone! I hope that you followed Worlds as eagerly as I did, and are ready for the 2011-2012 tournament season just like me! We’ll go through the new Battle Roads Promo, the structure of events, and conclude today’s article with some thoughts on possible deck ideas for this coming year. Without a pause, let’s go!

We were fortunate enough to get our first scans of the new promo – “Victory Cup” today. It is available in 3 versions – a “Bronze” version with Victini, “Silver” with Victini and Snivy, and a “Gold” with Victini and the three starters. Like previous “Victory Medal” cards, it is stamped with the tournament season and year. Unfortunately, the promo is not a unique effect like Victory Medal, instead coming as what amount to a “Poke Ball” reprint. The card, although thrice as available as the old promo, now has almost no competitive value in a deck, although, admittedly, it looks incredible and would be fun to pull out in a league deck.

The next topic of discussion revolves around the tournament schedule for this year. Although not yet set in stone, our Battle Roads will run from Mid-September until Mid-October, with Regionals taking place in November. Wait, Regionals in November? Yes, for the first time, Pokemon will have 2 separate “seasons” of Regional tournaments. The first set will be followed by the post-Thanksgiving City Championships, the tentative March State championships, and, if the schedule follows last year’s, July Nationals. The season will, of course, culminate in the World Championships in August. We’ll also have Prerelease events sporadically placed throughout the season, with our first, Emerging Powers, already having come and gone, we look to our third Black and White set, which should be released in November, and according to my information, AFTER the first Regionals events. We also have the return of the Gym cycle, this time looking at Unova’s 10 Gym Leaders. The 8 seasons will each feature a different Energy Type, with promo cards including basic energy and Pokemon of the corresponding type. Unfortunately, there will be no Collector print as a promo, at this time.

However, that all is for the future, as even the first official week of league does not start until September 26th. September 17th brings the first Battle Roads – Fall, and with it, the deck ideas can commence. Any follower of the current HGSS-EP metagame will recognize key contenders for this fall, including Typhlosion Prime/Reshiram, Magnezone/Emboar, the Worlds-winning deck, Yanmega/Donphan/Zoroark, and with the release of Emerging Powers, the use of Vileplume or Gothitelle to block the infamous Gust Of Win(d)/Pokemon Catcher. Just as Power Spray was key in stopping Luxray GL Lv. X’s “Bright Look” Pokemon Power when it was in play, these two Stage 2’s offer a solution to Pokemon Catcher.
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Pokemon Championships In Hawaii

By Pokemon Professor A

Who wouldn’t want to play Pokemon in paradise?

Get those trading card game decks tested and built. Or, if you prefer, train your Pokemon party in Black or White until they’re ready to take on the world. According to an article printed in the L.A. Times, the Pokemon World Championships will be held from August 10-12, 2012 in Kona, Hawaii. It could be more fun than watching Surfing Pikachu catch some waves.

Kona is a district on Hawaii’s Big Island. If you’re staying on Kona for your entire trip, the easiest flight option is to come in and out of Kona International Airport (KOA). It is a smart idea to keep your Nintendo DS or 3DS handy at the airport. Other players may be arriving around the same time and should be easy to spot wearing everything from Pikachu shirts to Oshawott hats. It’s a great opportunity to meet fellow Pokefans and exchange friend codes before the pressures of the competition set in.

Due to the large number of people flying in for World Championships, and with the generally high number of families that travel to Hawaii during the summer months, it can be hard to find last minute flight and hotel packages. If you want to attend the championships in Hawaii, you’ll need to plan well in advance to get the best deal. It’s generally not a good idea to wait and see if you’ve qualified for an invitation to Worlds. If you wait, Nationals typically takes place in July, and then you’ll only have a few weeks to prepare for the trip. If you’re committed to compete at Worlds, try your best to qualify for the trading card game or video game competition, but be prepared to attend the Last Chance Qualifier if you do not receive an invitation. When making your flight and hotel reservations in advance, make sure your reservation can be changed or cancelled within a reasonable time, typically a few days or weeks prior to your anticipated arrival date.

A trip to Hawaii doesn’t just have to please the Pokemon fans in your family. In the fall of 2011, Disney opened a new resort and spa facility named Aulani. Fun and famous Disney characters like Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale have made their way to the Hawaiian islands, too. As of this writing, the characters are mostly found at character dining opportunities, but this may change in the future. In addition to photos and autographs with the character celebrities, Aulani truly is a Hawaiian resort at heart. The amenities include a private snorkeling area, fireside puppet shows, adventure trails and nightly sunset ceremonies. With all of the magic of Disney and the rich nature and culture of Hawaii, a trip to Aulani can be the perfect complementary experience to Pokemon Worlds.
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Pokemon 2011 Last Chance Qualifier Report

By Kenny Wisdom

I’m back from San Diego, and decided that for my next article I would write about my Pokemon Worlds 2011 Last Chance Qualifier experience. As you’ll see, my time in the tournament was rather short, but I thought it would be a good way to re-introduce readers to my work here on the site, and the LCQ/Worlds in general is definitely a hot topic in the community as a whole. I’m a little pressed for time (still dealing with a backlog of work and other real-life issues in a post San Diego world), so without further ado…

Round 1: BYE

I’m not sure how many of you followed the LCQ this year, but they changed to a single elimination format (as opposed to the format which most tournaments are run under, Swiss). What this means is that they have to find some way to get to a power of 2. Since they can’t turn people away from registration or otherwise limit/fix the number of people playing, they decided to give the majority of players byes in the first round, with the idea being that after this round there would be a perfect power of 2, so that they could eventually give the top 16 or top 8 players remaining invites to Worlds.

I didn’t do a whole lot during the bye round. Everyone else besides one person from our group all got byes, so we mainly just watched his game, wandered around the tournament center, and awaited when we would finally get to play. Which we eventually did, as you’ll see…

Round 2: Yanmega/Vileplume

I was playing MegaZone w/ Kingdra, so when I saw my opponent flip over a Yanma and an Oddish I wasn’t necessarily downtrodden, but I knew that I was playing against a good player with a real deck, and I knew that Vileplume could be a serious problem for me, if I wasn’t careful.

Game 1: He gets out Vileplume on turn 2 and there’s simply not much I can do. The game is legitimate and goes a while as I try and mount a comeback, but it just wasn’t meant to happen. I let the game go on for quite a while, hoping that if time was called on Game 2 or 3 that I would have an advantage. Not sure if that was the right call or not. I eventually scoop up when I realize I simply cannot win.

Game 2: I have more confidence going into the second game, becasue I get to go first. Unfortunately I open with a hand of Horsea and 6 unplayable cards, and then draw a 7th unplayable card. He Tyrogues me twice while I fail to do much of anything, and am eliminated from the tournament.

I was a little bit better, but at the end of the day I lost to a great opponent, so there’s not much I can say. Good Game.

So, that’s all I’ve got. The week was still amazing, as a member of my team ended up winning the Pokemon World Championship in the Masters Division, and a member of our team in the Junior division grinded in. After those types of results I really can’t complain about much of anything, haha.

Next week I’ll be writing about the Emerging Powers set and the best competitive cards from it, so check back then for your Kenny Wisdom fix!

xoxo,

kw

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Double Dragon

By JC

Hey guys! Today I’ll be doing a review over the Zekrom (47) and Reshiram (26) cards from the Pokemon Black and White Set. I’ve been pulling a lot of them from my Victini Gift Box Set, a couple of blister packs, and from the Zekrom and Reshiram tins that also come with Promo versions. I have 4 Zekrom cards (1 secret rare, 1 promo, 1 holo, and 1 reverse holo) and 4 Reshiram cards (1 secret rare, 1 promo, 2 holo). I wish I had been this lucky with getting Charizard from the Base Set.

Before I get to the specifics, I’d like to discuss the artwork. Both look great and have a nice background. The holographic adds a nice touch, but I would prefer any other previous holographic style than the streaks used in B&W. Let me say that the secret rare full art versions of Zekrom and Reshiram are just gorgeous. Pictures don’t do them justice; you’ve got to see them in person. I’ve pulled a secret rare Reshiram, but purchased the Zekrom. It turns out there are now 2 different types for each secret rare full art. The older print of the Zekrom has a black background whilst the newer print has more of a grey background. The older print of the Reshiram supposedly looks “lighter” than the newer print. They are also supposed to feel and reflect light differently, but as I only have 1 of each, I cannot compare.

Zekrom is a legendary dragon and lightning Pokemon. It is portrayed as a lightning Pokemon in this set. It is a Basic Pokemon with 130 hit points, 2 attacks, a x2 weakness to fighting, no resistances, and a 2 energy card retreat cost. Outrage costs 2 colorless energies and does 20 damage plus 10 more for each damage counter on Zekrom. With a hefty 130 hit points, Zekrom can potentially do 140 damage with Outrage. Bolt Strike costs 3 energies (2 lightning, 1 colorless) and does 120 damage at the cost of 40 recoil damage. Bolt Strike is an excellent complement to Outrage.

Reshiram is a legendary dragon and fire Pokemon. It is portrayed as a fire Pokemon in this set. It is a Basic Pokemon with 130 hit points, 2 attacks, a x2 weakness to water, no resistances, and a 2 energy card retreat cost. Reshiram also comes with Outrage and it is the exact same move as Zekrom’s. His secondary attack is Blue Flare. It costs 3 energies (2 fire, 1 colorless) and does 120 damage, but requires Reshiram to discard 2 fire energy cards.
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The Krooky Monster

By JC

Hello Pokeman fans! I recently purchased a Victini Box Gift Set in hopes of pulling a secret rare. It came with 5 black and white booster packs, a promo Zoroark card, and a little Victini figure. Although I pulled an awesome secret rare full art Reshiram (in my first pack!), I want to talk about the Krookodile I also pulled.

At first I didn’t give it much thought. When I pulled it, I said “Oh, that’s nice,” and set it aside. Some people absolutely love Krookodile, but I thought he looked goofy, ferocious no doubt, but still a little goofy. I even chose to go with Drilbur-Excadrill instead of Sandile-Krokorok-Krookodile in the video game. However, I really started to appreciate the Intimidation Pokemon after pulling a second one from a random booster pack.

I haven’t played the trading card game in over a decade, but I’m certain this Krookodile card (65/114 B&W) is a force to be reckoned with. Krook is a ground type with a x2 weakness to water and a -20 resistance to lightning. His two attacks, Torment and Krookoroll, make a deadly combo. This is actually the first card I have seen with the attack Torment. It requires 2 colorless energy cards and does 30 damage and you can disable one of your opponent’s Pokemon’s attacks. Of the new 94 Pokemon cards introduced in the black and white set, 28 of them have only one attack. That’s over a fourth! Torment effectively disables those Pokemon, making them punching bags for our favorite crazy crocodile. Pretty much any Pokemon with an ability is also unable to dish out damage (I’m looking at you Emboar, Serperior, and Samurott!).

Of course your opponent can switch his or her Pokemon, but the retreat costs will add up while you Torment away. Krooks’ second attack Krookoroll requires 2 colorless and 2 fighting energy cards. Krookoroll does 60 damage plus 40 if the defending Pokemon already has any damage counters on it. Not many cards can withstand a Torment-Krookoroll combo dealing a whopping 130 damage. Krooks does have a 3 energy retreat cost, but his 140 hit points ensures his staying power.
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Pokemon Red Frenzy: Back to Basics

By JC

I took a stroll down memory lane and purchased a Pokemon Black and White Red Frenzy Theme Deck. The last time I bought a starter deck was the very first one that featured a holographic Machamp, so I really felt excited about opening this one. It comes with 60 cards, a deck box, a metallic coin, a checklist, damage counters, a play mat, and an online code card.

Red Frenzy
Pokemon: 30

2 Emboar
3 Pignite
4 Tepig
2 Simisear
3 Pansear
1 Darmanitan
4 Darumaka
2 Timburr
1 Stoutland
2 Herdier
3 Lillipup
1 Cincinno
2 Mincinno

Trainers and Supporters: 12
2 Energy Search
2 Switch
2 Energy Retrieval
2 Pokemon Communication
2 Professor Juniper
2 Revive

Energy: 18
12 Fire
6 Fighting

First of all, I can’t believe there are 30 Pokemon cards. You get 5 different evolution lines, 5 rares, 3 different types of Pokemon, and an awesome holographic Emboar card. Let me just get this out of the way and say that I’m relieved that Nintendo has stopped making so many rare trainers (Clefairy Doll and Devolution Spray come to mind). Energy Search looks like it could just be replaced with an energy card.

I’ve always found Switch useful, especially with the heavy Pokemon included in this deck. You’ll need them for the likes of Emboar, Stoutland, and Darmanitan.

Energy Retrieval will help in getting those fire energy cards back from discarding energy costs and Revive is a decent card. It seems like Professor Juniper is this card generation’s Professor Oak. Almost every deck will have 4 of these—it’s that good.

Pokemon Communication is an amazing card as well. You can trade any Pokemon card in your hand for any Pokemon card in your deck (Tepig for Emboar? Yes, thank you).
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PreRelease Events In North America

By TokoyamiTheDark

I remember that I once went to a PreRelease for the Platinum:Arceus set back in Fall 2009 (I won’t tell where I was, and I won’t tell the day neither…). It was really exiting. Anyone who enters gets 2 free booster packs from the set which PreReleases occured (in this case, it was Arceus booster packs) plus a prerelease card. (Platinum :Arceus’ PreRelease card was a Raichu.

For a fee of 30$, one could enter a fun-orientated challenge where you get 6 additional booster packs and 60 protective sleeves with Arceus on the back…but this time, there was NO Arceus sleeves at all, as everyone got Garchomp sleeves instead… Apparently, PUSA didn’t made the Arceus sleeves in time, so that was why we all got Supreme Victors sleeves instead.

Anyone with a deck of 60 cards could challenge someone else. I used to build my deck mostly with cards I got from booster packs and Energies from Platinum theme decks, and my deck was a Grass and Psychic deck, featuring Shaymin lv.X as the « lead » ; I lost 3 times and won twice, but the most important part was having fun!

I USED to have a Gengar lv.X, but someone stole it (GRRRRAAAAH!) so the staff gave me a FREE Arceus lv.X as a consolation for having my Gengar lv.X stolen by someone. Seems that even card thieves takes opportunities for stealing cards in PreReleases. At the end of the battles, people could trade their prized cards with other people as well to buy Tin Decks, Theme Decks, additional Booster Packs and Card supplies. Even single cards were on sale, so I bought a lot of cards that I had difficulties to find, such as Palkia, Shining Milotic, Regirock, etc… So, at the very end of the PreRelease, 2 other Booster Packs were given to people when they leave, so let’s count the minimum number of cards someone who participated in these tournaments could have gotten :
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How To Spot Fake Pokemon Cards

By Carl00456

I recently bought over two hundred Pokemon cards from a person at a local car-boot sale. It cost me £10, which I thought was worth it for the amount and rarity of the cards. I went home happy until my brother explained to me that some of them were fake. I counted the fake cards and then the real cards and it turns out that only around fifty cards were real. Here are a few ways to tell if your Pokemon cards are fake and a few tips on how to avoid buying them. Please note that this only applies to English Pokemon cards.

Firstly, check the back of the Pokemon card. Though not that obvious, a real Pokemon card is usually a dark blue colour while a fake one would be paler in colour. To easily tell if a Pokemon card is fake look at the light blue spot next to the red bit of the pokeball. To the right of it you should see s light blue patch that is fairly detailed. On a fake card, however, there will just be a blue splat with no detail.

If you want to know if trainer cards are fake, look at the word ‘Pokemon’ on the card. If the card is real then the word ‘Pokemon’ will have an apostrophe on the letter e. If it is a fake card then there will be no apostrophe and the word will just be spelt ‘Pokemon’. You can also look is there are any spelling mistakes or if the image is at a slant or misplaced. The same rules apply here as you can check the back of the card to see if it’s fake.

For actual Pokemon cards, you can still use the same methods above, checking for spelling mistakes and so fourth. There is a way to tell if the Pokemon card is fake, by looking at the energy symbols. There are usually energy symbols after the hit points or HP, next to the attack moves and at the bottom of the card, as weaknesses or resistance. The symbols themselves are defined by their symbol and colour. Real Pokemon cards will have a small symbol so you can easily see the colour while fake Pokemon cards will have the symbol enlarged, almost touching the edge so they will look quite crowded. Fake Pokemon energy symbols will also look slightly darker.
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DisasterBuzz Deck

By Megapoola

Have you ever needed or wanted a fun deck for league or playing friends? I am here to give you some ideas on how to build one. This is a fun deck I call disasterbuzz. This involves using Absol prime from HS Triumphant and its Poke Body eye of disaster. This says that whenever Absol is active and your opponent benches a Pokemon it takes 20 damage. It also has an attack for one Dark and one Colorless that does 70 but you are required to send a Pokemon from your hand to the lost zone. It may seem bad against Lostgar decks but it does one-shot Gengar prime. Absol is not the main attacker though.

Mandibuzz from Black and White is the most effective pokemon for attacking. For only one dark energy you can do 50 damage to any of your opponent’s pokemon with damage counters on it. With Absol’s body that means that you should be able to snipe your opponents benched pokemon. if your opponents has not evolved their bench yet you should be able to knock out most basic pokemon in one hit.

The Trainer supporter stadium line of this deck involves professor elm’s training method. This allows you to get the Mandibuzz very quickly. You should also have pokemon collectors to retrieve Vullaby and Absol prime from your deck. The deck also uses research records and professor oak’s new theory. Due to the deck’s low energy count, you may choose to run energy search and energy exchanger. This allows you to get special dark energies and double colorless energies. That allows you to either use Zororark form Pokemon Black and White or Mandibuzz’s punishment attack.
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Sabledonk Deck Discussion

By Kohrok

Hey guys, Kohrok back with a Deck Discussion on Pokezine!

Alright, so many of you may have been waiting for this – it’s the list that caused so much havoc and mayhem during the Spring Battle Roads in America! It’s a list that I found online, tweaked, and had a lot of fun with. Ultimately, I decided not to play it, because it really didn’t give me much of a good feeling inside, it didn’t feel very original, and overall, it just left the opposing player in a foul mood. I got to experience that last part in my games, so I definitely feel like I made the right choice not choosing it.

However, that’s not to say that people can’t learn from the deck, and try to take lessons away from strategies it used. Although the majority of the deck (IE over 90%) is being rotated, we can still look for new ways to build decks that don’t necessarily need Stage 2 attackers and tanks with 3 or 4 energy to win.

So here we go:
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