Charles Randall Larenas-Leach

By some stroke of luck, I haven't yet been to a League Challenge that I haven't won. There aren't any League Challenges that occur within a good hour and a half of me. This means that I have to travel a decent amount just to get to one. Since I returned to the game this year, I have attended a total of three League Challenges. My first one was a two-hour drive, after the release of Phantom Forces, where I brought my newly built Night March deck with four Professor Juniper, four Random Receiver, and four Roller Skates. I managed to go 4-1, which gave me the win. The second League Challenge that I attended was a bit further away from home, in Copenhagen, Denmark .  I brought Night March again this time, and I earned a 3-1 record, giving me the win. I had a third opportunity this weekend to attend a League Challenge in the Netherlands, which was a wonderful change of pace. Our weekend in Amsterdam fortunately coincided with Dutch Nationals. The main ev...

Lysandre's Trump Card has just been banned. Confused? Vince Krekeler will explain This changes things completely. Madison Regionals just happened, and Jason Klacynski's winning deck centered around playing Trainers' Mail, Shaymin EX, Ultra Ball, and Super Scoop Up to draw through his deck multiple times per game. This let him reuse his Crushing Hammers, Hypnotoxic Lasers, and other disruptive cards. Cards like Acro Bike and Battle Compressor let you thin your deck, and this lets you draw the cards you want faster. Look at the following skeleton list: 4 Shaymin EX 4 Ultra Ball 4 Super Scoop Up 4 Acro Bike 4 Trainers' Mail 4 Battle Compressor 4 Professor Juniper 4 VS Seeker 1 Lysandre's Trump Card With a deck like this, it is easily possible to draw through your entire deck. In the Night March list that I have built currently, I don't run the Shaymin EX or the Super Scoop Up, but I run everything else. As a result, I can draw thro...

Photo Credit:  Exteam001 Many of you may have spent this weekend at Pokemon Regionals in Madison, Wisconsin or Athens, Georgia. If you are like me, you spent this weekend not able to go to any Regionals and you coped by watching the stream. If you are actually like me, you spent the night before Regionals lost in Paris, France, frustrated by the poor signage, your lack of French-speaking skills, and you were very tired and simply wanting to get back to your hotel. Paris's time zone is seven hours ahead of Madison. I went to bed at 11 on Saturday night. I had a little bout of insomnia though, and woke up at 3 AM. I managed to watch Kyle Haverland finish beating a Toad deck, but more importantly I got to see Ross Cawthon play against Alejandro Luna. That was a very interesting game to watch, because we got to see both Raichu and Groudon EX in action taking advantage of the new cards. I might end up writing about Groudon/Wobuffet within the next few days (although it is much l...