09/13/2019 by Henry Brand
Hey everyone, it is me Henry Brand, your current Masters World Champion. I am ecstatic to write this article for 60 Cards and I hope that you enjoy it. I will be writing more articles for this site in the future and I will sue my expertise to guide you in the right direction.A few weeks ago, the Pokemon World Championships concluded, completely changing my life. Today we're going to relive the story of these events, discuss the deck that won it all, and take a look at how the deck fares going forward.Prior to the tournament I'd been in a slump. Fresh off the back of a poor performance at NAIC and feeling the effects of chasing a Day Two invite, I was no longer as enamored by Pokemon as I was 6 months prior. I'd fully resigned myself to a post worlds hiatus, bar any miracle occurring. That being said, I was still ready to give it my all.
Table of contents
The Beginning
After a successful collaboration with Stephane Ivanoff led to his NAIC win this year, we were keen to work together once again. Our testing group consisted of Stephane, Bert Wolters, and Brazilian player Joao Pedro Medeiros, myself and my fellow australian Jack Fone. Leading up to the event I had done minimal testing, but I had hope for the potential that Mewtwo&Mew possessed. So, when Joao told us he had a good Mewtwo & Mew GX (UB; 71) list, I was excited. We arrived on the Sunday before Worlds, checked into our airBnB, and began testing. These days were filled with a mix of testing and sightseeing, with a trip to the Spy Museum being one of the highlights.
Our original list was fairly similar to our final list, with the following key differences: Coach Trainer (UB; 192) instead of Bill's Analysis (TM; 133) , Dedenne GX (UBO; 57) , two Electromagnetic Radar (UBO; 230) , two Solgaleo GX (BW; 104) , Dragonite GX (UB; 152) and Blaziken GX (CLS; 28) , and no Magcargo GX (LT; 44) / Espeon & Deoxys GX (UB; 72) . I always felt that Coach Trainer (UB; 192) was lacking, so I proposed Bill's Analysis (TM; 133) and we noticed the benefit immediately. We tested Hapu (UB; 200) as well, however the discard was too volatile, and digging one card deeper with Bill's Analysis (TM; 133) was great. Swapping to three Dedenne GX (UBO; 57) and one Electromagnetic Radar (UBO; 230) was a quick change and one that required very little deliberation. The original inclusion of Blaziken GX (CLS; 28) was as a three Energy attack to KO the likes of Zeraora GX (LT; 201) and Blacephalon GX (LT; 52) , whilst Dragonite GX (UB; 152) was a fairly straightforward inclusion to have OHKO potential on tag teams. When we began testing matchups, I found that the only way we would lose to Green's Exploration (UBO; 175) / Reshiram and Charizard GX (UBO; 20) was because of Choice Helmet (LT; 169) , so I sought a way around that. This led to our main great dilemma: choosing the Fire Type attackers. We debated between the following: Blacephalon GX (LT; 52) , Magcargo GX (LT; 44) , Blaziken GX (CLS; 28) and Reshiram and Charizard GX (UBO; 20) . Each had their strengths, with Reshiram and Charizard GX (UBO; 20) and Blacephalon GX (LT; 52) also acting as outs to Fairy Charm (Psychic) (LT; 175) / Fairy Charm Ability (UBO; 171) , however the variability in damage numbers that Magcargo GX (LT; 44) provided was too high, whilst also being able to discard Psychic Energy (TM; null) for its Damage. By around Tuesday morning we were confident that the list could beat everything except for Blacephalon GX (LT; 52) and Malamar (FLI; 51) , both of which we expected to see play. This all changed when we began to test Espeon & Deoxys GX (UB; 72) in the list. Having the win condition of six Energy Cross Divide against Malamar (FLI; 51) made the matchup at worst even, but verging on favourable. In addition to the Malamar (FLI; 51) matchup, it gave us so many more options in different scenarios, as well as the potential to skip Beast Ring (FLI; 102) .
Having scouted out the Day One field, we saw the surprise appearance of Gardevoir & Sylveon GX (UBO; 130) , and some select few Keldeo decks make it through. This immediately made us uncomfortable as our list at the time lacked Keldeo GX (UB; 47) , making both matchups autolosses. We decided to go halfway and teched only for Gardevoir & Sylveon GX (UBO; 130) , thinking that Keldeo GX (UB; 47) would either not be played, or it would be countered. Our final changes saw us drop the third Bill's Analysis (TM; 133) from the list for Reshiram and Charizard GX (UBO; 20) , then I cut the Dragonite GX (UB; 152) for Resetting Hole Marshadow (UBO; 81) whereas Bert left it in. We also deliberated on whether Fire Crystal (UBO; 173) or Energy Recycle System (CLS; 128) would be better, Joao and I went with Fire Crystal (UBO; 173) as we hadn't tested ERS, but Bert went for Energy Recycle System (CLS; 128) (the correct choice). Interesting as well is that Stephane felt he did not have enough games with the deck himself, so he stuck with his beloved Gardevoir & Sylveon GX (UBO; 130) .
The Final List
I'll discuss some of the things that were unconventional at the time, giving some insight to why we built the list how we did.
Perfection
- 3x Dedenne GX
- 4x Mewtwo & Mew GX
- 1x Cobalion GX
- 1x Reshiram and Charizard GX
- 1x Magcargo GX
- 1x Jirachi GX
- 1x Espeon & Deoxys GX
- 1x Naganadel GX
- 1x Latios GX
- 1x Marshadow
- 1x Solgaleo GX
- 1x Fire Crystal
- 4x Welder
- 3x Giant Hearth
- 1x Viridian Forest
- 4x Pokégear 3.0
- 4x Acro Bike
- 3x Mysterious Treasure
- 4x Cherish Ball
- 1x Electromagnetic Radar
- 2x Bill's Analysis
- 4x Custom Catcher
- 2x Switch
- 8x Fire Energy
- 3x Psychic Energy
Pokémon (17)
Trainer (32)
Energy (11)
Here are my explanations:
4 Pokegear, 4 Acro Bike
Many lists prior to Worlds ran either
Acro Bike (CLS; 123)
or
Pokégear 3.0 (UBO; 182)
, not both.
Lillie (UPR; 125)
Beast Ring (FLI; 102)
Judge (FLI; 108)
Malamar (FLI; 51)
Poipole (FLI; 55)
Acro Bike (CLS; 123)
Blaziken GX (CLS; 28)
Energy Recycle System (CLS; 128)
Energy Switch (CLS; 129)
Rainbow Energy (CLS; 151)
Switch (CLS; 147)
Altaria GX (DM; 41)
Turtonator (DM; 50)
Solgaleo GX (BW; 104)
Blacephalon GX (LT; 52)
Choice Helmet (LT; 169)
Custom Catcher (LT; 171)
Electropower (LT; 232)
Fairy Charm (Psychic) (LT; 175)
Magcargo GX (LT; 44)
Naganadel (LT; 108)
Thunder Mountain Prism Star (LT; 191)
Wobbuffet (LT; 93)
Zeraora GX (LT; 201)
Bill's Analysis (TM; 133)
Tapu Koko Prism Star (TM; 51)
Cobalion GX (TM; 106)
Jirachi (TM; 99)
Pikachu & Zekrom GX (TM; 33)
Psychic Energy (TM; null)
Viridian Forest (TM; 156)
Vulpix (TM; 15)
Metal Energy (TM; null)
Lightning Energy (TM; null)
Fire Energy (TM; null)
Greninja GX (BW; 197)
Welder (UBO; 189)
Reshiram and Charizard GX (UBO; 20)
Power Plant (UBO; 183)
Pokégear 3.0 (UBO; 182)
Marshadow (UBO; 81)
Green's Exploration (UBO; 175)
Gardevoir & Sylveon GX (UBO; 130)
Fire Crystal (UBO; 173)
Fairy Charm Ability (UBO; 171)
Electromagnetic Radar (UBO; 230)
Dedenne GX (UBO; 57)
Reset Stamp (UB; 206)
Raichu & Alolan Raichu GX (UB; 54)
Naganadel GX (UB; 160)
Mewtwo & Mew GX (UB; 71)
Latios GX (UB; 78)
Keldeo GX (UB; 47)
Jirachi GX (UB; 79)
Heatran GX (UB; 25)
Hapu (UB; 200)
Giant Hearth (UB; 197)
Espeon & Deoxys GX (UB; 72)
Dragonite GX (UB; 152)
Coach Trainer (UB; 192)
Cherish Ball (UB; 191)
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