It’s a winter wonderland, Subs! Welcome back to another piece from Yours Truly, where I break down the slipperiest of slopes that is the Paradox Rift format. Portland Regionals is just a week away, and the meta is finally starting to become centralized. My last few articles have gone over top decks and ideas surfacing throughout the stabilization of this meta game. We’ve gone through … Continue reading “Snowfall in Portland:” Two Cold Rogues

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

Welcome back, Subscribers! San Antonio Regionals has just concluded, crowning Azul GG a six-time Regional Champion with his straightforward Charizard ex/Pidegot ex variant. From new decks to old, we’ve seen this meta take some twists and turns since its release. This time we’ll go over how some of these top decks have adapted to the new meta, while also taking a look at newer decks … Continue reading “Professor Butler’s Analysis:” Updates on Paradox Rift Decks

Miraidon is on top of the world, and it continues to dominate the Standard format. What’s up, everyone! SmartTCG here, and today I am going to go over one of the current best decks in the standard format. As of right now, the format has been shifting quite a bit. Paradox Rift warped the format substantially, and things are looking quite different out on the … Continue reading “Journey to the Peak:” A Look into Miraidon for the Paradox Rift Format

Greetings from the Lost Zone, readers! I’m back from my Amazon travels with minor rewards. I played Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex to a 282nd place out of 1300 players. Not the finish I wanted, but due to some unfortunate situations like playing with a 59-card deck, not calling a judge to reach a penalty on extra drawn cards, and losing to an unexpected Thorton in Chien-Pao … Continue reading “The Lost Boys:” Lost Zone in the Paradox Rift Format

Paradox Rift is the brand new set to come out, and the Pokemon TCG may never be the same. With the new set’s arrival, the game is feeling fresh again, and there are so many intriguing combinations of cards you can pair with each other. The Latin American International Championships just occurred this past weekend, where we saw Miraidon take down the entire event. This … Continue reading The Tides Have Turned: Where Do We Go After LAIC?

Counter Catcher is undeniably one of the strongest cards from Paradox Rift. As an Item card, it allows for advantage-swinging combo plays that include the effect of a Supporter card, to be executed by any deck that expects to fall behind on prize cards in the early game. Among the traditional prize-trading decks, Gardevoir ҼX and Giratina 𝙑sᴛᴀʀ stand to benefit the most, as they … Continue reading Block Lax Strikes Back

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! I’m Michael Davidson, a Master who recently aged up following a Seniors season including a Regional win, NAIC Top 8, Worlds Top 16, and numerous other Top Cuts, finishing 5th globally in Seniors Championship Point Rankings. I’ve made Day 2 in two out of four major events I’ve attended this season, with my highlight being an 11th place finish … Continue reading Zard ex in the New Paradox Rift Format

The future is now, subs! Welcome back to another article, where I’ll be going over some new and interesting topics concerning the Paradox Rift Standard format. This piece will detail some of the biggest meta changes, cards that influence it, and my personal Roaring Moon list. We will also briefly go over a tier list for this new format, with some predictions for LAIC. I’m … Continue reading “Shoot for the Stars and Land on the Moon”: The Paradox Rift Meta

Welcome back, Cut or Tap readers! With the conclusion of the previous format at Toronto Regionals, it is now time to turn the page with the release of Paradox Rift. In just a week, our first event of the new format (LAIC) will take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This set adds new archetypes to the game as well as many upgrades to existing decks, … Continue reading Is Giratina VStar Good Again? A Look at the Deck in Paradox Rift

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! I’m Alex Arand, the latest addition to DDG and one of the inaugural VGC players on our team. With several Regional events unfolding since the initiation of Regulation E in early October, beginning with the Peoria Regionals, I’d like to take this opportunity to recap the recent developments in the VGC landscape, and share insights on what we might anticipate … Continue reading From Peoria to the Future: A Breakdown of VGC’s Regulation E

Welcome back, subs! Coming off a mediocre 5-2-2 finish at Sacramento Regionals has me pondering the idea of what disadvantages you can face when you’re becoming complacent with a comfort deck. I’ve stated in previous articles that picking a comfort deck that is well-suited for the meta is mostly going to be that: comfortable. Skill, variance, and predictability are factors that will show more when … Continue reading “Trials and Tribulations”: Dissection of Comfort Decks

Hey, what’s up everyone! Hope you have been enjoying a month full of Pokemon events. In just the past few weeks, we have seen multiple Regionals take place, with Peoria, Sacramento, and Lille Regionals all crowning separate decks. In Peoria, we saw Lost Box Kyogre with the Zamazenta take down the event. In Sacramento, we saw none other than Lugia VSTAR return to the top … Continue reading Returning to an Old Friend: Single Strike Lugia for Toronto Regionals

Welcome back, Cut or Tap readers! With Sacramento in the rearview mirror and a few Regionals already behind us this season, it will soon be time to prepare for the release of Paradox Rift, which becomes legal starting at LAIC in a month’s time. Before that, however, we still have a big event left in North America: Toronto Regionals. Throughout this format, we have seen … Continue reading Back on the Box? My Adaptations to Turbo Lost Box to Keep Up With the Meta

I most recently got back from the Peoria Regional Championships, placing 38th out of over 1700 players, and I was able to collect a lot of data on the format, heading into the next major event: Sacramento Regionals! What’s up, everyone! SmartTCG here, and I am stoked to be writing another article for you all! Peoria Regionals just wrapped up, with Raymond Long taking down … Continue reading “Burning Down Sacramento:” Charizard ex for the Upcoming Regional

What’s happening, Subs! Peoria Regionals has just concluded, crowning yet another Lost Kyogre Champion from the land of poutine. As this piece is being typed, I’m headed to Sacramento to compete in my second Pokemon Regional of the year. Together, we’ll break down the results of the two American Regionals, why Miraidon has risen to a top contender, and my personal build. The Battle Styles-to-151 … Continue reading “City Bike’s Up”: Miraidon’s Road to Success

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

Power creep: A term often thrown around in discussions of card game design. Broadly, it describes the phenomenon of cards becoming gradually more ‘powerful’ over long periods of time. In my view, the way most people talk about power creep is superficial. Discussions I’ve seen only focus on the surface and elude anything worth being concerned over from a player’s perspective. What I’ll be exploring throughout … Continue reading Power Creep, and Its History in the Pokemon TCG