Who-Do-I-Choose You!

Hey guys, it's Troy here again to bring you another Pokemon filled post! This time, I'm gonna be talking about how one goes about building a deck for Pokemon Trading Card Game. I want to post this one as I've had a couple of people ask me for some deck building advice, so I figure a blog post will at least have me putting it in writing so all can read at leisure.

My first, and I would say best, piece of advice for building a deck is to choose the pokemon you like the most. If you've got a decent idea of what pokemon are around or already know your favourites, that's half the battle done. For those of you who don't know all that much about pokemon, here's a handy list of all 649 current pokemon complete with some sprites for a quick picture reference (http://pokemondb.net/pokedex/national).

As Magic: The Gathering players will know, mixing too many different types can have a tendency to result in drawing the wrong resources for the wrong creatures. Once you've figured out what your number 1 favourite pokemon is, check it's type. That will narrow down the number of other pokemon you have to choose from to a more manageable amount. Just like in M:tG you can mix two types, but taking into account that each type has a weakness to another type, you may want to consider picking a secondary type to compliment the first one. Types are categorised as follows:

Grass (includes some bug and poison) - weak to Fire
Fire - weak to Water
Water (includes ice) - weak to Electric, some Grass and some Steel
Electric - weak to Fighting
Fighting (includes rock and ground) - weak to Psychic and Grass
Psychic (includes some bug, poison and ghost) - weak to Psychic and some Dark
Dark - weak to Fighting
Steel - weak to Fire
Dragon - weak to Dragon
Colourless (includes flying) - weak to Fighting and some Electric

Now that you've figured out which pokemon you want to use, the next thing to do is figure out which version of that pokemon you want to use. Pokemon Trading Card Game has been around since 1996, so many versions of even the most recent pokemon to be released have been printed over a great deal of booster sets. Picking which one you want to use is entirely up to you, but it's worth checking each one to see which you consider to be the best version. Remember that there is no right or wrong version to pick, it could even come down to which one has the best artwork. A very helpful tool for this is the TCG Card Database on the official Pokemon website (http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-trading-card-game/database/).

Keep in mind however that while Kev has a great deal of pokemon cards dating back to the very first base set, cards that aren't from a set with Black & White in the title will be harder to find. Trust me on this, I can honestly say that getting my hands on copies of Feebas (EX Hidden Legends 61/101) was as difficult as trying to catch one in Pokemon Emerald Version or Platinum Version. Another thing to keep in mind is while you're welcome to use any card at the Card House with the exception of Birthday Pikachu (and I will ask for photo ID to make sure you're not lying about it being your birthday to gain unfair advantage in a children's card game), if you want to attend an official event chances are rotation will come into effect. Much like Magic: The Gathering Standard format this means that only cards from Black & White Base Set are permitted.

That's the most complicated part out of the way. Onto actually building a deck now.

A Pokemon TCG deck must contain exactly 60 cards, and no more than four duplicates of any name card can be used with the exception of basic energy cards and Arceus. Pokemon-EX are considered to have a different names to the standard version and can be included as well (eg, I could put 4 x Cobalion and 4 x Cobalion-EX in a single deck). The only other limit is that you must have at least a single basic pokemon in your deck (and unless you're a masochist you'll want more than one).

These cards are split into three different kinds - Pokemon, Trainers and Energy. Pokemon are your hitters, there to take hits and dish them out in pursuit of victory. Energy is vital, as without it your pokemon can't do any hitting. Finally, Trainers are your support cards and are further split into Supporters, Items, Tools and Stadiums. For now though I'll just cover the basics of building a deck, and maybe talk about them more in depth at a later time.

When choosing pokemon, it's crucial that you use multiple copies of each one. I've found a good ratio for starting out is to have 3 basic and two of any stage 1 or 2 evolved pokemon (eg, 3 Charmanders, 2 Charmeleons and 2 Charizards). If the pokemon doesn't evolve, two can suffice. My recommendation of how many pokemon should take up your 60 card limit is between 15 and 25. Too few and you run the risk of your opponent getting more cards in their opening hand (you must have a basic in your starting hand, and any time you have to reshuffle lets them draw another card), too many and you might not be drawing the trainers or energy you need to attack.

As far as energy goes, you need to be able to use your most powerful attacks. Counting up the energy you need for the pokemon you expect to be using the most to attack is a good start, plus adding in a few extras for good measure. Some tournament decks can use as few as 8 energy cards, but in the beginning I recommend using about 20 energy cards until you start fine tuning your deck.

This just leaves trainers, and you can fill out the remainder of your deck with these. A good place to get the most basic trainer cards is in starter decks, but if I've got a couple spare of the one you want feel free to ask. Trainers are there to add in what you need to keep the deck going during a game. For example, Fire and Electric pokemon tend to discard energy to use their most powerful attacks, so having copies of Energy Retrieval or Super Rod will be higher on your needed list. Draw power can be found in many ways, from drawing three cards with Cheren or discarding your whole hand to draw seven with Professor Juniper. There's usually a trainer for all occasions, but one thing to keep in mind is that you can only use a single Supporter in each turn. Make sure that when you're choosing your trainer cards, you don't just load up on Supporters or you run the risk of your deck being slow. Also, only a single Ace Spec trainer can be used in any deck so if you plan on including one choose wisely!

Well, that should be clear as mud. The starter decks are usually the best place to start anyway, as they include a fold out mat which has all the rules and a diagram of what the play area should look like. I'm normally better at explaining stuff with examples to hand, so if you see me in store and want to learn how to play I have two example decks you're welcome to have a go with and should showcase most of the cards you can expect to see.

Assuming you've managed to slog you way through all of that, thanks for reading!
Troy, Lucario/Photon Fanatic (Mind you, I'm also eagerly awaiting the new Harpie cards in the next Yu-Gi-Oh! booster set)

Good News Everyone!

Good News Everyone! I have created a device that let's you read this new-fangled web-log in Professor Farnsworth's Voice.

Bad News everyone! Fox has cancelled Futurama... (So what about Zoidberg?) so no more Planetary Express deliveries...

Which reminds me: We have the Hidden Arsenal 6 that needs to be delivered, along with the Blessing of the Ascended One that the fellow cardhousians got from a Facebook Competition.

Anyway, I want to thank Aaron Ford for his awesome posts on Card Fight : Vanguard. It is a Shame he wasn't writing when I started, as his advice would have made it so much easier for me to get started, C'est la vie.  

 I have also made it easier for everyone to post on here. Just send me a message on Facebook with an email address you can access; I'll send the invitation to post here in your own name, and then you can follow the prompts and be showered in the praise from your fellow Cardhousians!

Remember, my incentive/bribe is still up for grabs, so you can earn a booster pack of your choice while earning the respect of your peers!

Enough on that, here's the list and analysis of my current deck that I promised, and while a whole week late, is better then never.


Without Further Ado:

"RED ROOSTER" (Kev said no "Giant Flaming Cocks" on the blog.)

MAIN DECK

Monsters -

1 x Amarylease
3 x Flamevell Firedog
3 x Hazy Flame Cerberus
3 x Hazy Flame Griffon
3 x Hazy Flame Hypogriff
2 x Hazy Flame Peryton
2 x Hazy Flame Griffon
3 x Laval Lancelord

Spell

3 x Hazy Pillar
1 x Heavy Storm
2 x Kaiser Colosseum
3 x Mystical Space Typhoon
1 x Dark Hole
2 x Rekindling

Trap

2 x Bottomless Trap Hole
3 x Dark Bribe
1 x Hazy Glory
2 x Mirror Force

XYZ

3 x Hazy Flame Basiltrice
1 x Lavalval Chain
2 x Photon Strike Bounzer

Extra

1 x Amarylease
2 x Fire King Avatar Garunix
1 x Dark Hole
1 x Kaiser Colosseum
1 x Mausoleum of the Emperor
2 x Onslaught of the Fire Kings
1 x Rekindling
2 x Royal Decree
1 x Solemn Judgement
1 x Ultimate Offering
2 x XYZ Tribalrivals
1 x Recycling

RESULTS (Sunday 7th April, 2013)

1st opponent - Loss to Pharoh

Round 1 => Pharoh had his Atlanteans drown my monsters with sheer weight of numbers in the 1st game.

I  had Hazy Pillar to begin my lvl 5 normal summon spam, but the inability to draw Kaiser Collosseum until it was too effectively left the floodgates open for an atlantean synchro-drowning.

In hindsight, if I XYZ'ed for Photon Strike Bounzer instead of Basiltrice, I could have made it alot more painful.

Round 2 =>. Pharoh had free reign to drown with atlantean synchro-spam.

I had the inverse situation of above: I had Kaiser Colosseum, and needed Hazy Pillar to summon the one monsters required to activate Kaiser Colosseum's eff.


2nd opponent - Loss to Fallon

1st round => I was paired up against Fallon, using my old "Troll-face" Final Countdown deck, with her own modifications. Like our Regionals match-up last time, she stalled me through the countdown.

2nd round => My Hazy-Flame Basiltrice was about to be defeated through lifepoint loss, but her "Defense Draw" card effect negated the attack, and she got a free draw... The last piece of Exodia! She didn't tell me that was in there!

3rd opponent => Bi

4th Opponent => Draw to Nathan

1st round => Nathan's Six-Samurai were crippled by Kaiser Colosseum. He made one fatal mistake: He had shi-en, yet chose not to negate Kaiser Colosseum.

Because of this, I was able to stop Nathan from getting reinforcements until after I used rekindling to summon a host of Hazy Flames from the grave for a fully charged Basiltrice.

After that, That giant red Cock Hazy-Flame Basiltrice was able to roast all the 6 samurai individually.

2nd round => Nathan learned from his mistake in the 1st round, and went on to slay all my poor Hazy Flames... What did they do to you personally Nathan? If the 6 samurai weren't such evil bastards, killing fiery beasts of legend for "honour", there wouldn't have been a problem. Were the trophies really worth it? Hope their Dojo catches alight from a mounted head!

3rd round = before we had a 3rd round, I was Saved by the bell.

What Did I learn:

Dark bribes need to be changed out with something that minimizes hand advantage. "Magic Drain" might do for one, and a "Trap stun"

Monster effects are also a Pain In.The ... Arm, Okay, we'll go with that. Atlantean and Six Samurai are able to outnumber and overwhelm my Hazy Beasts using monster effects, I am thinking that Breakthrough Strike would be a better solution then Skill-Drain, and I need to fit them into my side deck somewhere.

Admittedly, Yugioh is FUBAR, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

The Chad is Great!

Update: We got the Power!

Follow-up to Sir Robert Teirney's ascension: We shed no tears, for he is on a better plane.

As a guild, we combined our lands to power up the spell, as a guild, we Succeeded! This prize is yoursCardhousians! Pat yourselves on the Back!

We got a small blessing from the Ascended one, but alas our rites were in the shadow of greater orders.

Still, we did it!

for now, we must await Our Guild-Master's (Kev) decision on what shall be done with this powerful gift.

The humble neophyte of Cardhousian Guild, Chad.

Vanguard, a run through of the game!

Welcome back to Cray and let me tell you, things are starting to heat up.

This post will be an explanation into how the game is played so please bear with the longer post :)

Cardfight!! Vanguard, in my view and opinion, is a mash up of Yu-Gi-Oh! (the artwork and anime design), and Pokemon (similar game play and turn system).

Ok, I have typed out, deleted, re typed out, and re deleted this so many times I am starting to get dizzy. The easiest way for me to explain Vanguard is to start from the beginning.

Building a deck:

• A deck must consist of exactly 50 cards. (This number includes your starting Vanguard).

• A deck may not contain more than 4 of any individual card.

• A deck must contain exactly 16 Trigger Units

• A deck may only contain 4 cards with the "heal" trigger ability.

The field of play is made up of one "Vanguard" circle surrounded by five "Rear guard" circles. The Vanguard circle is exactly that, the circle your Vanguard is placed in and leads his team from. The Rear guard circles are used for extra attack and defence when the time calls for it. Between your Vanguard and your opponents, is a Guardian circle.

The Vanguard circle is where your beginning Vanguard is placed at the start of the game.

Rear guard circles are for units to support your Vanguard.

The Guardian circle is where blockers and intercepts are put (Explanations will follow bellow).

Now all this may seam like a lot to take in, but like we all know, reading the rules and set up once, makes the game a lot easier when actually giving it a go later on.

Now>

Turn phases are as follows:

1) Stand Phase

• In this phase, you stand all rear guards and vanguard cards.

2) Draw Phase

As you would expect, you now draw a card from your deck and add it to your hand. If you are unable as your deck has no cards you loose (like most if not all TCGs)

3) Ride Phase

• You may now place a unit from your hand on top of your existing vanguard. This is called Riding your vanguard. The unit can be of the same grade or one (1) grade higher than the existing Vanguard.
• This is done once each turn, but you do not have to if you do not want to/can't.
• Point to note, riding your vanguard does not heal any damage taken on your vanguard.

4) Main Phase

Calling units

• This is where you call units from your hand onto the rear guard circles to support your Vanguard (Their grade can be equal to or less than that of the Vanguard. Not higher.).
• You may call units into already occupied rear guard circles, however, you must first retire the unit that is currently there.

Promoting/Demoting units

• You may move units in the rear guard forward or back in the rows, but never side to side.
• Units in the same column may switch with each other, but never from one column to another.

Using Card Abilities

• Some units have abilities which are only activated in certain phases. Read each ability to find when it can be activated (Auto, main, Vanguard/Rear guard, continuous).

5) Battle Phase

As soon as you have finished all actions in the main phase, the Battle phase is entered.

In the battle phase, as many attacks are able to be made as long as units are able to attack.

To initiate an attack, declare a front row unit to attack, and declare a target for the attack from the opponents front row units (unless otherwise stated on the attacking card).

• If a card directly behind the attacking card has a "Boost" symbol, this unit can be rested to provide a boost to the attacking unit.
• For example, my front row unit has a base attack of 10000, and my rear guard unit has a base attack of 8000, by resting the back unit, my new attack from the front unit is now 18000.

At this point, the opponent may call a guard unit from his/her hand to defend against the attack. This can be any number of cards deemed necessary by the opponent.

• They are placed in the guardian circle (Between the two vanguard circles).
• Some units may intercept to defend (Specific to Grade 2 units).
• This may happen by taking the unit with intercept and placing it in the guardian circle.

Now, if you attacked with your Vanguard another step is added.

Drive Check

When attacking with your vanguard, you perform an action called a drive check.

You reveal the top card from your deck. The purpose of this is to check for a trigger unit.

If the card is a Trigger Unit and is of a Clan that is also in your Vanguard or Rear-Guard, then its Trigger effect activates. Regardless of whether the card is a Trigger Unit or not, add the card to your Hand after resolving it.

• There are four (4) types of triggers:
• Each Trigger has a +5000 bonus to a unit of the players choice.
• Critical - You add one to the Critical of any unit on the board, until the end of your turn. You may choose to give the Critical and +5000 to different Units
• Draw - You draw a card into your hand.
• Stand - You Stand a Resting Rear-Guard and then use it to attack or boost again.
• Heal - You move one card of your choice from your Damage Zone to your Drop Zone if the number of cards in your damage zone is greater than or equal to your opponent's
• If your Vanguard has a "Twin Drive" symbol (Specific to grade 3), this is done twice.
• To determine the winner of the battle, compare the total attacking power with the power of the target (Modifying for boosts and guards respectively).
• If the attacking power was equal to or more than the target, the attack is a success. If the target was a rear guard, it is removed from play and placed in the drop zone. If the target was the Vanguard, the opponent then performs a damage check. Much like a Drive check, the damage check reveals the top card of the deck looking for a trigger. The damage check follows the same rules as the drive check, however, the Trigger Unit does not have to be the same Clan as the Target.
• This is repeated until all front row rear guards are rested and can no longer attack.

6) End Phase

• After all attacks have been competed and all effects carried out, the turn ends and play is handed over to the next player.

Now with all this, you might be able to get a small grasp on the rules and maybe even perfect your game a little more. As we all know, giving it a go is a lot more fun than reading about it, so come on into the Card House and hit me up for a game. I have a few different decks so don't worry if you haven't got a deck of your own. This is all about fun so come on down and have a few rounds :) 

Again, i apologise for the length of this post. I only realised it takes a lot longer to type it all out than it actually takes to play the games.

I hope you all enjoyed this Walkthrough :P and I will catch you all around the Cardy.

From Cray, 

I say good battling, and may the best clan win!

Aaron F - Ride the Vanguard

Welcome one and all to the wonderful and fearful world of Cray.

Here, the local clans battle it our for total domination of the planet Cray.

I am Aaron, one of the newer players in the world of Vanguard, and as such, with motivation :P, decided to make this little introduction into Vanguard at the Card House.

I first started playing with little to no idea how to play or what this game was all about (sounds like most of the games i play). So I did what all good Cardhousians do, and went online to look up what Cardfight!! Vanguard was all about. To my absolute surprise, I found it to be an Anime as well (JOY!!! :D ).

After watching not only the first episode, but the entire first season, i decided this is a game for me. Amazing artwork and animation, with a lot of fun characters too.

I went in, got my Royal Paladin started deck, and started to play that day. As expected, I lost. However, with the help of a few of the experienced Vanguard players, I started to modify my deck, and get a hang of all the rules.

As we all know, the best way to learn a game, is to jump right in an have a round or two with someone.

This began my near obsession with this awesome game.

I now have three different decks, each with their own good and bad points, and i am working on two others. I am usually found at the Cardy every day (when fuel allows), with my cards looking for games or even trades. As a newer player myself, I have found the help the other guys have given me invaluable and Would like to thank you all for the support.

Ok, enough from me for now. I will be back with more on Vanguard in a few days or a week max.

Feel free to post questions as this will help me, help you and write more to what you are looking for :)

Remember, Cray lies in the balance

Aaron

Chad - "PRO-AM = Whip your deck (list) out!"

With Fallon and Blake back from Uluru, the dog has finally hopped off my lap, so now I can go back to doing what I do best, apart from eat, sleep, and something else a gentleman cannot speak about in public.

Just want to first-off thank our resident Pokemon-Master/Reporter Troy Crossingham. Pokemon TCG is another game on my "to-do list" that seems to get longer by the hour, and thanks to Troy, it's moved up past Magic:The Gathering.

Troy has inspired me to do a few "Duel reports" (I'm still working on a nice formatting, maybe like those year 8 science practical results?) and the Yu-Gi-Oh PRO-AM on Saturday would be a great a day as any to do it. Also the more who contribute articles/reports, the better!  (*hint hint*) Which reminds me; what division does a Professional Amateur like myself fit in?

Anyway, I wish you all a wonderful week, and good luck if you play with me.




TL:DR I can get back to writing now a dog isn't on my lap, TY to Troy for the awesome Content, a yugioh Duel post-mortem is in the works, and we require more user/player-contributions.

Watch this Space:

The Chad Is Out

Latest from Troy "You'll think of a witty title Chad,"

Hi everyone, it's your favourite Lucario/Photon fanatic again! Some of you might remember my last blog post on Pokemon TCG, and now that the second Pokemon tourney of this school holidays has come and gone I'm gonna report on it again.

For those of you who are still reading, you're awesome and should point and laugh at those who didn't keep reading. Anywho, this tournament was great fun as the number of attendees rose to twenty eight. For those of you who pay attention, that's close to the number that attend your average Yu-Gi-Oh! event on Saturdays. So for those of you who are a bit iffy about coming due to a lack of people remember this - if you come, that's one more person who came. It's also one more person who gets to play a fantastic game, and contribute to the possibility of regular Pokemon tourneys on Saturdays.

Onto how the tourney went. I personally had a great improvement on last weeks result, managing 6th place and earning the honour of being able to tell people what I beat them with as placings were called out. For game results, I came at about the bottom of those who won four out of five games. Funnily enough, it was the first game of the day that I lost, being stuck against a Zekrom and not drawing any energy to fight back with. I'm sure that more than a few Magic players understand that feeling of not drawing the lands you need. In fact, my first opponent went on to win the Young Player of the Day award if I recall correctly, so good on him.

Second opponent was using a fire and water deck, but while he loaded up his White Kyurem-EX with energy I was setting up my Plasma Steel Klinklang which nullified his Pokemon-EX and let Cobalion tear through his Pokemon like Goku through one of Chi-Chi's meals. Third opponent had an electric deck, which had me worried when I started with Durant (Dragons Exalted 83/124) as my only Pokemon staring down a Zekrom-EX. But then, in a heroic feat that little steel ant took down his monstrous adversary over two turns (not including the first turn as it takes two energy to use Iron Head). I still can't believe my luck in that moment.

Game four wasn't particularly of note, mostly because it went too fast for anything interesting to happen. Game five was similar, and for both games Cobalion was the star as I don't believe he got knocked out in either game. I think I shall find a Cobalion and a Durant in my Pokemon White version and raise them up in honour of their performances today.

What interested me the most for today's event was the appearance of several high tier tournament decks. Of note were Rayquaza/Eelektrik, Darkrai/Chandelure, a Mewtwo/Gardevoir deck and everyone's favourite My Little Pony- er, I mean Keldeo/Blastoise (the overall winner and only one to get five out of five wins). Frankly I expected more Keldeo/Blastoise decks to happen ever since the release of the Keldeo-EX tin, but I suppose one still has to get the Blastoises to actually make it. The one thing that probably did me some good was that first loss, as a first round win has a tendency to match you up with nasty decks like that. Then again, if it had any limbs Klinklang (Plasma Storm 90/135) would probably just extend a giant middle finger in the direction of most of them, all the while cackling about how invincible it is.

I can't particularly say that I learned much about my deck this week, although getting my hands on a couple more Blend Energy (Lightning/Water/Steel/Fighting) so that I have the maximum amount wouldn't be a bad idea. Today was actually great fun, from watching the younger players trying to dibs prize cards like a flock of Vullaby to the dad who approached me after for an intro game (although a first generation deck vs Plasma Steel was never going to end well) so he could play with his kids, I don't think I've had a more enjoyable tournament experience.

One thing before I finish this post, I think I'll make a nice friendly deck for those of you who want to learn to play and don't want to get mauled by the Plasma Steel deck. Feel free to ask me for an intro game if you're looking to get into Pokemon TCG, I'm the handsome guy who usually wears Pokemon themed shirts. I'm also happy to help you out with any questions you might have about the game.

Your favourite Lucario/Photon fanatic, Troy.

First Guest Post: Troy C. on Pokemon.

Once you leave school, the school holidays mostly become meaningless. A couple of days ago I was struck with the realisation that they actually do serve a purpose for older Card Housians like myself - Pokemon TCG tourneys!

I was excited when I first saw the dates for two Pokemon events for these holidays, and while one has passed already (of which I'll go into detail in a minute) there's still one more to enjoy. While Pokemon TCG may not have the popularity of Yu-Gi-Oh! or Magic: The Gathering, it's actually a really fun and generally balanced game that anyone can enjoy. I say "generally" because there are always methods to break a trading card game and make the small children that they're aimed at cry. Not that anyone I've played against goes out of their way to make children cry.

Anyway, the first event of the holidays has gone by and it was certainly great fun. Only a turnout of about twelve people, but that also made for a nice and relaxing atmosphere. (More people should get into Pokemon TCG, just so there are more players and we can have more tourneys!) It was also the first competitive outing for the latest version of my deck, known as Plasma Steel. It's a loosely anti-meta deck, designed to shut down the opponent's powerful Pokemon-EX cards with Klinklang (Plasma Storm 90/135) sitting on the bench with its Plasma Steel ability rendering all damage from Pokemon-EX against steel type Pokemon null. Cobalion-EX (Plasma Storm 93/135) and Cobalion (Noble Victories 84/101) are the main attackers of the deck, but I've also added in Lucario (Plasma Storm 78/135) because its Dual Armor ability lets it fit in easily enough and also gives me something that doesn't immediately become molten slag at the first sight of a fire type Pokemon.

I faced a variety of decks at the event, which is always a good thing opposed to going up against the same meta decks over and over again (Wind-Up and Rabbit players, are you paying attention?). The first game of the day was against a combined water and steel deck, and was a very fun game as well as a close fought victory for me. My second opponent was using what I'm going to dub "Classic Darkrai", in that it seemed to mostly do what the current Darkrai-EX deck does but also had a lot of hand control going on. I fell victim to my biggest flaw when playing card games, in that I don't want to immediately commit everything just in case it backfires too early. That was what lost it for me.

Of course, my next game was against a current Darkrai-EX build, complete with the horrifying Hypnotoxic Laser/Virbank City Gym combination. This opponent also made good use of Bouffalant (Dragons Exalted 110/124), which meant that Klinklang could keep Darkrai-EX out of the main fight but a combination of poison and blocking meant that I couldn't get set up quickly enough. Which makes two losses. Fourth game was against a water deck, and while my opponent had a Wailord fully set up it was at the cost of having no energy anywhere else. Cobalion kept Wailord at bay, before going on to take the win for me. This opponent got an honourable mention at the end, which I think he deserved fully. Admittedly I can't remember what deck my final opponent was using, but I do remember Cobalion-EX running through it without too many problems. It was a prize guarantee event, though I did walk away with Player of the Day which in my opinion is one of the better awards as it shows that I'm a nice guy.

So, what did I learn? Mostly, it was that poison sucks. The composition of my deck won't allow me to add in Full Heals without gimping in in other ways, but I do have an idea on how to combat it by adding in a Keldeo-EX for its Rush In ability. Keldeo-EX can offer more than that as well, as it's a water type and will counter those nasty fire types. On top of that I already use Blend Energy (Lightning/Fighting/Steel/Water), which can activate the secondary effect of Keldeo-EX's attack for even more damage. Well, it's something to think about for the future, along with a shirt that has a Lucario hitting Mewtwo over the head with a Klinklang while yelling "DUAL ARMOR!" that I can wear to Pokemon TCG tourneys.

Definitely looking forward to the next event, which is on Tuesday 9th of April for those of you who have any Pokemon cards (no matter how old) and want to have a go. I hope to see more people enjoying this game, so that I can enjoy it more!

Troy, Lucario and Photon Fanatic

Disclaimer: I was not in any way bribed to write this. Nope, not at all. What do you mean you don't believe me? Do you really think The Chad would bribe anyone into writing stuff for him?*

*Boudaries Crossed, please.