Hello, Cut or Tap readers! I just got back from Anaheim, hot off a 7th Place finish at the World Championships with Gholdengo Togekiss. The deck was an interesting twist on the highly anticipated archetype, and it worked out great for everyone who played the list. In this article. I will go through the preparation for Worlds which led me to Dhengo, the logic behind … Continue reading Time is Money: Top 8 at Worlds with Gholdengo Togekiss

Hello, Cut or Tap Readers! The World Championships is just a few days away as I am writing this, and to be honest, I have no clue what I should play. My testing this summer has been mostly dedicated to Dragapult Dusknoir, Grimmsnarl, Gardevoir, and Zoroark. Since all of these decks have been covered a ton on the platform, I figured I would go through … Continue reading Last Minute Worlds Thoughts + Charizard Analysis

One of the most interesting decks we have seen since the release of Journey Together and rotation is N’s Zoroark ex. While this deck boasts a strong Gardevoir matchup, a deck many have considered to be the best in the format, it only has a few Top Cut results, and otherwise fairly underwhelming finishes. The two main causes of this are the low play rate … Continue reading “Trade Routes:” N’s Zoroark for Worlds 2025

Hey guys! After my last article, recapping my Top 8 finish at Portland, I was able to place in the Top 8 again, this time at NAIC! Ending my season with back-to-back Cuts felt great, and catapulted me to the top of the leaderboards to get stipends for Worlds and probably LAIC as well, so overall I’m super excited and hope to continue the momentum … Continue reading Filching a Top 8 in New Orleans: Grimmsnarl Tournament Report

Gardevoir has dominated the format since the rotation of F-block, but with the recent release of Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex, some have been questioning the deck’s viability moving forward. Currently, Gardevoir is one of my top three picks for NAIC, along with Dragapult Dusknoir and Joltik Box, mainly due to my comfort with the archetype and its fantastic matchup spread. Portland Recap and List Theory As … Continue reading “Southern Charm and Psychic Embraces:” Gardevoir ex for NAIC

After its strong performance at the Gdansk Regional Championships, Banette has proved to be a top contender in the current meta. With the Gardevoir engine being able to trade favorably into two-prize decks like Raging Bolt, and the Item lock to slow down aggressive Dusknoir decks like Palkia and Terapagos, Banette has a very solid matchup spread, which is compounded by its consistency. After my … Continue reading Spooky Season ain’t Quite Over Yet: the Rising Star Banette ex/Gardevoir ex

Gardevoir?! I don’t have an addiction! YOU have an addiction! But seriously, I cannot stop playing this deck post-rotation – it is so powerful, and very fun and rewarding to play, especially with the addition of Munkidori from Twilight Masquerade. While I thought the deck was well positioned for NAIC, I ended up playing Lost Box instead, as I felt people were respecting it much … Continue reading Post-NAIC Gardevoir: List Development and Decisions

Hello, Cut or Tap readers! If you’ve seen my Twitter and event placements recently, you’ll know I have been a huge Gardevoir fan pre- and post-rotation. The built-in consistency of the deck gives you a ton of options each turn, while having multiple different ways to play the game, whether aggro or tanky, and overall it’s been one of my favorite decks this year, getting … Continue reading “Munki Business:” Gardevoir ex in the Twilight Masquerade Format

Hello, Cut or Tap readers! With EUIC quickly approaching, I figured we should take a look at the Lost Zone archetype, as it performs well and grows in popularity. Utilizing the consistency of Comfey, and a variety of attackers such as Roaring Moon ex, Radiant Charizard, Giratina VSTAR, and more, the deck can be built to counter a specific meta. The only concern now is: … Continue reading Lost in London: Building Lost Zone Decks for EUIC

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! The Paradox Rift format is starting to get stale after about five months or so, and because of that, I’ve prioritized theory-ing and testing post-rotation a lot more than for Vancouver, so today I’m going to share some of my findings on everyone’s favorite card: Snorlax PGO!! There are a few different variants to cover, starting with the simplest … Continue reading “Control Freak:” Control Lists and Theory for EUIC

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! I just got back from an 18th place finish at the Knoxville Regional Championships with Lost Zone Box! I’ve been playing a ton of Lost Zone decks recently, such as the Groudon/Roaring Moon build for San Antonio, as well as testing a ton of Tina. However for this event, I went with a build utilizing Super Effective Glasses to … Continue reading “Triumphant Frames:” Supereffective Glasses in Lost Zone Box for Knoxville and Beyond

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! While Gardevoir has been lacking some major finishes recently, I think the deck is in a fantastic position for local events and Regionals, as it is absurdly consistent and has a solid matchup against everything. With Gardy, it is important to keep your techs to a minimum, as playing the deck has led me to understand the importance of … Continue reading “New Year, (Not-So-) New Decks:” Gardevoir and Snorlax Control for Portland

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! As I mentioned in my last article, there was a high likelihood of an interesting meta dynamic popping up: 1) aggressive decks, like Roaring Moon, having a favorable matchup into Iron Hands decks, like Chien-Pao, which 2) are favored into one prize decks, like Gardevoir, which 3) are favored into aggressive decks. In this dynamic, we have a seemingly … Continue reading Gardevoir for LAIC 2023 and Beyond

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! Today I have a variety of topics to discuss for the new Paradox Rift format. I am super amped up for this set, as it has a ton of cool cards, with a ton of potential, and control gets buffed a ton. As a short disclaimer, I haven’t done much testing with these cards, however I have put a … Continue reading Looking at the Past and Future: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Paradox Rift Format

Hello, Cut or Tap Readers! As of writing this, the Peoria Regional Championships is a few days away, then the weekend after that, Sacramento, and finally, Lille Regionals. While these events may affect the meta of the next format quite a bit, I believe that the many variants of Charizard ex will see good success across all three events.  After Worlds, the Obsidian Flames expansion … Continue reading The Four Horsemen of the Char-pocalypse

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! With the 2024 season starting soon, and the meta looking fairly similar to the Paldea Evolved format, I thought I would take a look at how I plan to get my invite this season, as opposed to looking at the top decks for Pittsburgh, Barcelona, etc. In this article, I will cover a breakdown of Best Finish Limits at … Continue reading Planning Your Season to get an Invite and Pittsburgh Plays/Meta Analysis

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! Day 1 Worlds is a super weird event to prepare for, and a lot of people will be playing top meta decks like Arceus Duraludon Umberon, or Giratina Lost Zone Box. While these decks are all very powerful, and great calls, my favorite way to play the game is with off-meta decks. While this may seem risky going into … Continue reading Making a Meta Call at Worlds

Hello, Cut or Tap readers! Today I am going to be discussing a couple builds of Lost Box Giratina VSTAR, their strengths and weaknesses, and some important notes on playing the deck, since they feel quite a bit different from some of the more aggressive builds in the past.  Before getting into Giratina builds, I want to give a brief overview of my NAIC run. … Continue reading Lost in the Abyss: Lost Zone Giratina Lists, and Analysis for Worlds

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! With the introduction of Paldea Evolved into the format, many new consistency options are available, such as Iono and Squawkabilly ex. These cards have been increasing Lugia’s consistency to be significantly higher than last format, making the deck an underrated choice for NAIC. Last format, we saw Lugia dominate in the hands of Regan Retzloff, but there were still … Continue reading Looking at Lugia: Single Strike vs Colorless Lugia for NAIC

Introduction Hello, Cut or Tap readers! I am here today to bring you some analysis of the new Paldea Evolved set, which will be legal for NAIC. By the time this article releases, prereleases will be occurring across the globe, so I will be covering some of the chase cards, their impact on the meta, as well as some of my favorite cards, and some … Continue reading Set Review and Early Analysis of the Paldea Evolved Format