While Path was definitely a pain for lots of people (myself included!) but it was a necessary evil. I think that a reintroduction of a Path-like card in the format would help dramatically slow down decks like Charizard, which could give single prizers a bit more of a chance again.
14:55 Thwackey actually doesn’t need the stadium, just a Festival Lead Pokemon in the active. As long as you have a Dipplin in the active spot, you can just fetch a Festival Grounds from your deck. It’s a real shame the stadium doesn’t do anything else though, like reduce damage or something
Oh, I didn't notice that, thank you for the clarification! That definitely makes things a lot better for the Festival Lead deck! I also think that Festival Grounds could've had a cooler effect, like maybe a coin flip for an Item card search, or something to help protect the deck itself...
Having a Goldeen with Festival Lead also helps if you only have a Dipplin in the active after it gets KO'd. That way, if you still have Applin on the bench, you can chain your set-up
@@ussgordoncaptain How are you going to use binding mochi in the first place? There's no way I'd risk putting B. Bonnet on my bench to be gusted into the active and stuck...or to have to start with it in active...that would just end your draw engine. Just recycle max belt with Rose. Also, it does gatekeep some single prize decks like Klawf and Conk as they cannot even poison themselves. It's not a great effect, but I wouldn't call it detrimental.
10:14 Just to be _that annoying guy_ , Manaphy doesn't protect your bench from Dragapult because he places counters, don't do damage. The only true protection against Dusknoir or Dragapult it's the Temporal Forces's Rabsca.
Then let me be the annoying guy that tells you that rabsca is doing exactly nothing against dusknoir ;) rabsca prevents damage and effects from attacks not damage and effects from abilities
Alot of these single prize decks rely on gimmicks which is probably why they come and go so often. I like decks that use a mixuture of single prize and ex attackers. Galvantuala ex uses both ex and shrouded fable galvantuala and gardevoir ex uses drifloon/scream tail
That's a great point, I totally agree with that! Pure single prize decks like having cool gimmicks that unfortunately almost never work. But I think that a format that could embrace a better relationship between single prizers and multi prizers (especially in the same decks, like you said) would be much healthier for the game, although it would be pretty improbable. Gardy and Galvantula are great examples of a healthy symbiotic relationship, I would love to see more decks like them!! 😁
Festival Grounds is such a cool deck, I absolutely love the synergy between all the different Pokémon in the deck and how it's completely self-reliant without needing ex Pokémon! I respect the grind, mate, keep at it! Don't let those pesky gatekeepers get in the way of your experience! 💯
Powercreep. There´s your asnwer. Evenin the way lower power level of Pokemon TCG Poccket, is all about ex decks with the exception of Dragonite, which while competitive, is not as trong as is a 2 (sometimes 3)energy deck, which almost unplayable in the current form. I do hope there´s hopes for single prize Pokemon in Pocket, I haven't played the real TCG, but from what i saw, I think there's no hope there.
I know little to nothing about the meta of Pokémon tcg but this popped into my feed and I gave it a watch as a huge card game fan, great video great explanation good use for procrastination 10/10
I'm super glad you enjoyed it!! I put 34 hours into this project, so it really means a ton to see how big the reach has gotten! Thank you so much for the kind words, I hope you get your tasks done now though 😅
I hear 'healthy balance between EX and single prize" and I think back to their introduction in the EX sets. But it had not a single mention. Crying. I feel ancient.
I did mention OG ex Pokémon at 0:30, but I was way too young to have a good understanding of the original EX series... my apologies for making you feel old, that was not my intention!!
@blastchaos4286 This was only accurate to the beginning of the EX era, there were plenty viable EX's in the later half. Like flygon EX (both delta and normal), or stuff like Delcatty. Its only at the beginning they released really bad ones and started halfway coming with cards like Banette EX
I think if only the decks were like Gardevoir deck the meta would be much healthier, there is so much decks who go turbo and could end a match in 3 turns
I think making most or all multi-prize decks "glass cannons" of sorts would balance the game out a lot more. Games could slow down a bit, but it would also allow for some more interesting gameplay. Seeing everything just be turbo beat stick decks does get old really quickly lol
@@pikiptcg I'm trying out the Terapagos Dusknoir deck lately although is funny in the beginning simply deny the other player to set up or do crazy comebacks, after I few days I think it just too much... Sometimes I feel bad for play this deck
I'm literally in the same boat right now, mate... I've been grinding with Terapagos/Dusknoir for about a week now and I definitely feel the same way... Dusknoir is completely unfair in its own way 😅
Pokemon and Yugioh share the exact same problem of having core mechanics that have been almost entirely abandoned due to power creep. YGO has Normal and Tribute Summoning and PKMN has Single Prize combat.
I love my Festival Lead deck, but I do believe they are probably trying to keep single prize decks out of the meta to "speed up" the games. Games take less time if you only have to KO 3 pokemon compared to 6.
It's a real shame, because Festival Lead is such a cool deck in concept. If there weren't so many gatekeepers, I genuinely think it would be a solid B tier deck! However, you're definitely right. Creatures wants games to feel "exhilarating" and "fast paced" with the big dumb 2 prize beat stick decks, which is a real shame. Wishing you the best with your experiences with Festival Lead! 😁
Personally this usually happens at the tail end of a format, where card pool gets so big the options become to varied. Once rotation comes around a third of these options will be gone (Radiant Greninja, Regidrago VStar, and Lugia Vstar). Without them the only deck that have positive matchups are the stage 2 decks, but those loose to big basic decks which single prizes win the prize trade in. Sure it makes a rock paper fizzles format, but that’s a decent reset. Though you can always advocate for Single Prize tournaments at your locals.
Your analysis here is spot on! I agree that rotation will most likely help realign things and make playing single prize decks a bit more manageable! I really like the "rock paper scissors" analogy, I think that once we have a more linear meta that this is the best way to summarize it! Here's to hoping that post-rotation helps favor the little guys! 😁
I think what is hurting Single Prize Decks is the card philosophy that the Pokemon Company seems to be going down as of late. Cards like Dragapult and Dusknoir to spread damage around for mutliple knock outs to Iron Hands and Briar to that just gives extra prizes, making it so hard for single prize decks to get going. I have Dragapult and Terapagos decks for competitive play, but I enjoy single prize decks like United Wings more due to them normally being more creative in strategy than just setting up big boy and swing. Doesn't help that these ex decks tend to run Seal Stone engine, which is so frustrating to play against.
I think rotation might help a little bit with the issues with Seal Stone engines and Double Turbo Energy. It'll help slow the game down for a tiny bit, but like you said, the card philosophy that TPCI is going for will just cause new problems to pop up everywhere... It's super frustrating, I totally agree with you.
I was looking at the Night March era meta, and there literally was not a single good bench damage attack in the Standard format. Now we have a ton of options to make single prizers hard to pull off. Ancient box still has a chance since Roaring Moon has 140 HP, which is just slightly above the bench and extra prize threshold and the +60 HP from the Booster Capsule can even deny some 1-shots early game. Briar is still a big issue, but luckily it doesn't seem to be that popular.
Night March's only bad marchup was Seismitoad EX/Crobat, but a lack of gatekeepers allowed Night March to tear through the meta. Like you said, Ancient Box is able to act like a bigger two-prize "beat stick" deck because of its incredibly high HP, especially with the added bulk from Ancient Booster. It's unfortunate that high HP Basics seem to be the only successful single prize decks, though...
Venomoth/Froslass is super annoying to go up against every time, but sometimes it just falls short of being disruptive enough. It also doesn't help that Dusknoir and Kyurem completely shred entire boards, though...
@@pikiptcg Dusknoir isn’t as big a problem as you may think if you’re able to Salvatore out Venomoth, or if you go first and attack turn 2. Rare Candy is an Item card, so they can’t get Dusknoir out right out the gate, plus of course no Item search cards. Hell, many lists don’t run any Dusclops at all so Item lock the whole game = no Dusknoir the whole game I also feel like it’s disruptive enough if you run Dusknoir yourself. May be a bit weird, but you never know. Currently, asking for a Salvatore turn 1 going second is a bit of a stretch though, but I genuinely believe that will change with Service Bell. I could be wrong, but we will have to see haha
14:58 just a clarification, Thwackey only relies on any card with the Festival Lead ability. Festival Grounds does not need to be in place for his ability to work. This video is an awesome breakdown. New sub!
When I was editing that segment, at one point I just stopped and stared at my screen and wondered, "how the heck did I come up with this" 😅 I'm glad you liked it lol
I really appreciate it, dude! I'm so glad you liked it, I spent 34 total hours on this project and I'm super happy that it's doing well! We'll have to do some brainstorming for the next big project at some time!! 💯
Thank you so much for the kind words! I currently have a Yeti Blue mic, I've been tinkering with it lately to improve the quality of my audio, but it's tough with my workspace being under my loft bed in my college dorm 😅 I'll keep on making these kinds of videos to the best of my ability! I've got tons of ideas for the future, and I hope they're able to hold up to the standard I set here!
I only play with single prize decks, currently i don’t like where the multi prize cards are headed. They are also too large of hp or damage to just evolve once or not at all, it makes the game unfun to play like this, i would recommend playing with your friends with only single prize cards and try it out there is more strategy and its more enjoyable.
It's definitely a lot more fun to play single prizers at locals for sure, but I also totally agree with you about your concern about power creep... I think it'll eventually either force a massive change or it'll slowly kill the game off. I'm hoping single prize decks make a comeback someday, but we'll have to wait for all the gatekeepers to rotate (and hope that no new ones are printed)... 🙁
I've actually seen some good success with my Mind Ruler Chandelure deck since it takes advantage of something that was always prevalent in the pokemon TCG and turns it against my opponent: DRAWING. Now, I'm aware that without Imposter Oak, the deck doesn't reach its full potential, but Lucius, Lure Module and Iono do the trick quite well. On a different note, I've been scrolling through a bit of your comments and WOW! You're ability to reply to so many of them is astounding and respectable!
I really like gimmicky decks like Chandelure, I actually was trying to craft a build in my head the other day! Also, thank you for the compliment! I try my best to stay 100% engaged with my community and make sure everyone's voices are heard! It definitely takes a while to get through them all, but I know it's more than worth it! 😁
Wow... Literally yesterday I thought I'd get back into the TCG and asked around for what the best single prize deck was at the moment (basically none), as that had always been my favourite play style, especially the gimmicky ones. But then as if by fate I found this video this morning and 😳 hooboy.
I sincerely apologize that this was one of the first things that you saw when you were looking to try to play a single prize deck! I hope I haven't discouraged you from playing your favorite kind of deck... that wasn't my intention at all! If you do decide to play a single prize deck (I especially encourage gimmicky ones!), just be aware of all the gatekeeper cards that I mentioned and do your best to telegraph how and when they're going to be used! I have full faith in you, mate! Play what you want to play, and I'm wishing you the best!
@@pikiptcg No no not at all, it was very informative! Not played for like half a year so good way to catch up on what's been going on haha. I've always been a fan of 1 prize decks but doesn't mean it's all I've played :) so I'm sure I can find something I like haha Just sad my boy Sandaconda (Battle Styles) rotated 😭
I think Spiritomb (ft. ditto) was the best ('recent') example of a fun 1 prize deck. Required set up, reasonable but not absurd damage, a game plan that wants their attackers KOd, consistent without being guaranteed...
Me too akdjdksjskshs Except I’m here revamping my Scolipede deck out of sheer stubbornness to make this bug horse work and become a spooky bug horse Working with someone else who is actually well versed in and apparently well known for playing single prize decks on making my Scoliosis deck (yes, Scoliosis because i said so) work as well as it possibly can.
I think the best way to make single prize decks better would be a card like “You can only use this card if you don’t have any multi-prize pokemon in play. During this turn, if your opponents active pokemon is knocked out by an attack from one your active pokemon, take one more prize card.” Obviously this could mean mirror matches would be disabled, but could at least do something. Defenitally would be a Supporter so one per turn, and could maybe be a Heath Card? Thoughts?
I like this concept of Prize boosting, but I also think it could be really dangerous. There are some big damage single prizers out there, like Conkeldurr, Klawf, and Roaring Moon, so that could be super bad for the game if you go after opposing support Pokémon like Squawkabilly. I think this would be a great ACE SPEC though, it could really give single prize decks a huge boost!
@@beuks4478 your unable to use the card if you have any multi-prize pokemon in play, wich means pokemkn on your bench and active, so you do have to have a single prize attacker or you can’t use the card
@@ChonkyToad I get that and I agree but with how its currently written you can think of it like briar where you can use it then mid-turn your opp takes a prize but the affect is still active.
Thanks mate!! I worked really hard on this video (34 hours!) and I'm glad that you enjoyed the thumbnail! (I had to use a new software and everything for it... but I think I could do it again for the next high quality video!! 😁)
More single prize cards should have ways of increasing damage output or nerfing opponents, such as each energy is extra damage, or energy in the discard etc. Maybe some abilities such as if you have no Rule Box pokemon in play, this attack does extra damage, or if your opponents active pokemon has a rule box, choose one of their attacks, and that attack cannot be used by any of their pokemon during their next turn (Yes this is aimed at Zard I hate it lmao)
This is a completely possible and reasonable buff/solution! All of the effects that you've mentioned have been implemented on tons of different Pokémon in the Standard format alone, but unfortunately most of them are on unplayable or practically useless Pokémon. I definitely think that if some "mainstream" single prizers were given these secondary effects/Abilities, they'd have a much better and more balanced shot at success! Great ideas, mate!! 😁💯
I got back into the game right before 2024 rotation and my clefairy deck got killed. Its slowly getting more support but the cards that beat it are still better than what makes it good.
I played Clefairy on my channel 2 years ago during the Lost Origin meta, and it felt great back in that format, even with the early Lost Box builds floating around. Nowadays, there's just so much counterplay and gatekeeping cards compared to protection cards, which makes playing fun decks like Clefairy super difficult. I'm hoping we get some more effective protection cards soon!
Thank you so much for the glowing compliments!! I poured my heart and soul into this project, and seeing your comment really made my day 🥰 Thank you for all the kind words, God bless you mate and thank you so much for watching!! 💚
Single-prize decks are non-existent in this meta, to the point that single-prize decks themselves need two-prized support cards like Fezandipiti ex. Bibarel alone cant keep up with consistency.
It's really unfortunate to see how heavily single prizers rely on ex support Pokemon... it just defeats the whole purpose of playing single prize decks to begin with. Single prizers definitely need more self-sufficient support
In the past 5 years, there have been three different types of cards that give up THREE Prize cards when they get KO'd... power creep has been ridiculous since you played, my friend...
Klawf popped back up on the competitive radar about 3 days after I finished the script and audio for the video, but I definitely would've put it into the "exceptions" category if I knew about its success earlier!
lots of girls like tcg, and lots of love is in your future. Humanity is built to love and also collect little cards hold this regret close so you remember to love a bit more fully. I hope you stay well. It's gonna be alright
I'm really sorry to hear that, mate. I've felt that sort of regret before as well. You've got time, my friend, your perfect partner is out there somewhere! Keep your chin up high and keep on trying, you've got this! Take care of yourself, mate! 🫂
Don’t ghost people! At least tell her why you think things won’t work out (the distance) instead of leaving her wondering and possibly feeling insecure.
Great video, although I kinda wish you'd talked about decks like Ancient Box a bit. I honestly don't know what could solve this situation that would still bring money; but the truth is, most people do enjoy playing fast-paced decks that can one-shot any Pokémon.
If I were to make this video again, I definitely would've had a more dedicated segment for the successful single prize decks like Klawf and Ancient Box! I think the best solution that would keep profits high would be to buff protection against gatekeepers and the single prizers themselves, to make things a bit more exciting and give a bit more incentive to play a single prize deck!
That's exactly the same experience I've had... I've luckily found out how to play against it, but it's really difficult to win now that it has Sparkling Crystal...
What a pleasant video. When I played Pokemon during the Night March era I had a Giratina EX deck with the "Chaos wheel" attack that prevents the usage of special energies with Reshiram to generate energy to attack on the first turn because of my annoyance with night march and because of how ubiquitous it was in the ladder I literally called it "The Last Day Of The Night March Players" good riddance haha
I'm glad you enjoyed the video, mate! When I first started learning about the Pokémon TCG for the first time during the Night March era, I saw Giratina EX and thought it was the coolest card ever! The fact that it had immunity from Megas AND locked opponents out of playing a huge amount of cards is absolutely broken, I wish I could go back to those days to experience "The Last Day of Night March" in person rather than barely having 20 Pokémon cards in my possession
The single prize cards aren't used as often because even though it's a safer option where your opponent can only take 1 prize card instead of 2 or 3, it is also that almost all of the single prize cards attacks do a lot less damage then the double or triple prize card
i really love the festival lead deck and still run it. i know it’s not “optimal” or whatever but it’s just so fun when it works. i hope they release some cards that make it stronger in the coming sets 😮💨
I love Festival Lead as well, it's so cool when you set it up properly! I also really hope that we get some good gatekeeper counters and more support in the future, Festival Lead could be a much bigger threat if it gets the right support!
This is one of the big reasons why I like how creatures designs their most recent floodgate cards. We've had a couple of really impactful stadium cards over the years that carve out a reason for someone to actually play a deck that is wholly unaffected by them. Honestly, would be kind of sick to see an ability version of Path to the Peak that isn't itself a 2 prize Pokemon
We 110% need a new floodgate card specifically for single prizers ASAP. I can tell that Creatures tried with Neutralization Center, but it's such a waste of an ACE SPEC... It needs to be something easier to play and something that can be recycled, an Ability like you said would actually be great!!
A single prize deck is mostly comprised of weaker/lower HP Pokémon with no Rule Boxes. In exchange, they only give your opponent a singular Prize card. Multi prize decks focus on (in Standard) either V or ex Pokémon that give up 2 or 3 Prize cards when they get KO'd, giving them the nickname "multiprize" Pokémon. Hope this helps clear up some confusion! 😁
ironically i use Iron Hands on lost box and i specifically save 2 mirrage gate for it, ive won so many matches online with it, and some weekly in locals and i found it so satisfying seeing their face going from happy and excited to gasp and shocked after they see my iron hands getting 3 or prizes because i kept chipping them away with sableye and to rub salt on the wounds i used Ursaluna EX to finish the game (people in my locals have this weird grudge againts ursaluna so i just want to fuel the fire even more)
Lost Box is always super satisfying to play, and I think it's probably the best single prize deck at embracing multi-prize attackers. I'm glad you're having fun terrorizing your locals, though, I always love a good Ursaluna finish out of nowhere!
11:23 exactly man, I wouldnt dislike the current powercreep as much if the current sp pokemon could keep up, but the fact we are still getting stuff like "3 energy for 100" with very few modifiers for damage (yeah mochi exisits but deck space) is what hurts for me the most. (Especially disappointed in the likes of feraligatr, 280 for two basic waters felt like it should have been enough)
Feraligatr had so much potential, but like you said, most single prizers just have disappointing costs for disappointing effects/damage. Power creep would be fine if everything was boosted, but instead Creatures favors the flashy cards that'll make them money. It's overall just really unfortunate 😕
@@emberpowertcg7692it would be worse with Trainer's Pokemon. Because the Trainer's Pokemon we got rn as of Worlds are the one that can interact themselves, i.e: very restrictive not widely covered, like Marnie's Grimmsnarl. Accels D energy *ONLY* to Marnie's Pokemon. So what, do we use Thornton to make use of 5 Darkness energy? Hail no. Too much to ask.
Atlest GLC exists as a small scene to play single decks as a comunity and I on top of that play regilar no multiprizer format with friends without the other glc restrictions (and few obious bans). Those formats have so much cool stuff that standart just skips past. @@pikiptcg
For that many extra prize cards, they should really create a card that redução the number of prizes toked, or a card that let you pick-up a prize when your opponent KO your mon.
I'm super glad that you enjoyed the video! If you want to get into competitive PTCG, now is a really great time to! Most decks are super affordable and there's plenty of resources out there to help you start your journey! It would be awesome to see you get involved in the TCG!
Kyurem only seen play in Regidrago, not as a tech in an on itself. I don't even see Kyurem teched in smth like Gardevoir. It is because Kyurem is *too restrictive* , it needs someone play Colress cards to make it work, which is rare outside Lost Box, which is not common rn.
Thank you so much! My mic is a pretty standard grade Yeti Blue, it used to sound way better but I think I messed up a setting when I moved into college... I'll keep tinkering with it and see if I can improve the mic quality, thank you for bringing that to my attention! 😁
On the online, I have a deck with just four Safeguard Mimikyu. It got me just two ranks under Master before the ladder reset since I started late, but the one master rank I matched with conceded after 3 turns because he can't deal with it. The entire meta is just rulebox cards and about 80% of the decks are comically useless against Mimikyu and aren't prepared to see any more than 1.
Quad Mimikyu seems like a super risky deck to play with all the Dusknoir floating around right now, but that's super impressive that you got to Master rank with it! Just be careful when going up against the unliving bomb decks and keep it up!
@@pikiptcg Lux cape is how I deal with Dusknoirs, as it makes their HP higher than they can instantly KO, making the trade in my favor, not theirs. It prevents me from using my other tool cards though which is a pain. I don't use the ace spec +100HP tool because I run Deluxe Bomb to help keep non-rulebox off the board and keep pressure. I also run the deevolution TM to knock out HP walls, which helps stop Dusknoir from time to time by eliminating rare candy or the final evo.
As much as possible i often lessen the use of double prizer. Its not that the single prize are getting out of hand, most players wanted to start with a meta decks rather than to start with the weaker ones.
Massive respect there mate! We definitely could use some more single prize (and less beat stick meta deck) representation out there! You bring up a great point about newer players, it's tough to get started with single prize decks right now because of all the resources for new players having meta decks involved. Plus, playing with a weaker deck is definitely not an incentive to play. That's a great aspect of the situation that I didn't consider, thank you for pointing that out!
I scripted/recorded this video a few days before Joinville, so that's why Klawf wasn't mentioned. I definitely think it deserves an exception from a lot of the single prize flaws that I talked about though!!
@@pikiptcg do you think that with Klawf having exceptions to a lot of the flaws of single prize decks that it's possible for many strong single prize Pokémon decks to be made with clear but less impactful flaws (e.g. Klawf needing multiple combo pieces so hand distruption becomes much more effective, ancient box relying on Sada to reliably set up, Snorlax having an extremely skewed matchup spread, etc.) through designing the single prizers around the counterplay instead of just boosting stats? Or adding more support for single prizers that helps them compete? Just spitballing, something like a Stadium that prevents the effects of attacks and abilities on non-rulebox Pokémon could be a strong form of counterplay that is still interactive for both sided and fits multiple archetypes It's an interesting conversation to have for sure and i do wonder if we'll see more strong meta decks that play around forcing good trades by way of having fewer to no multi prize Pokémon
@@carsthatdrive1891 Klawf honestly sets a good example and a solid standard for what I wish single prize decks could be right now (High HP, big damage, at the cost of having multiple combo pieces). I think the best solution has to include higher stats to keep up with power creep, but I would love to see more direct counters to popular meta decks to keep the single prizers alive in matchups with stuff like Dusknoir. A counterstadium similar to something like Neutralization Center seems like a really good idea, especially since the Stadiums in the format are mostly healthy and allow for decent/healthy counterplay. I'm hoping that as time goes on, single prize decks can feel more comfortable and "settled in" to Standard. And while it might take a while (ex. waiting for the current gatekeepers to rotate), I definitely think it's possible!
My first deck was “baby” Dragapult. It was so much fun. The first game I won with it we went into time and my opponent observes the difference in prize cards between us and asked the judge “How do I win?😭” I hope it somehow gets back in rotation
Baby Dragapult was one of the most annoying decks to play against, but so much fun to play... It would be nice to see more Pokémon like it in Standard I definitely think there's a place for something like Baby Pult in the meta right now! (Also I absolutely love the story about your first win, I can assure you that your opponent was 't the only one who said "how do I win" against Pult... I said that a lot too haha 😅)
My absolute favorite deck is Chien Pao ex, but at the moment it has the exact same problem as all of the single price decks, because 1, 220hp is just to low in the current meta for 2 prices and 2, your opponent can just swipe you Baxcalibur und Frigibax out of play with Dusknoir on Frigi plus like any attack on Bax. And then with Briar, it doesn’t even help when you are ahead on prices against Zard, cause it doesnt help anything. If not CPao, my second choice would be Dipplin, but i think you made that point clear… I mean, just look at it: Zard has 330hp, which is the same as Mew VMAX, but instead of 3 prices, it gives up only 2… and yes, those two decks we‘re in the same meta about a year ago!!!
Chien Pao essentially acts like a single prize deck when you break it down to the essentials. Like you said, it completely relies on Baxcalibur and there are now so many ways to get OHKO'd by other meta decks... Dusknoir really was a huge mistake
Malamar was so much fun... I hope we get a deck like it again someday, because it was so cool and satisfying to manage all your resources and hit huge damage...
I get that people don't like slow games but the ease at wich current meta decks can knock out one-prizers is insane. Having three of my ralts get sniped by a combination of dusknoir and prime catcher terapagos before I can take my second turn feels rough lol
I honestly would take it a step further, watching 3 Ralts get obliterated Turn 2 is actually just disgusting... there's not really anything you can do to protect yourself, and it's a really bad issue.
Medicham, Ribombee, Crobat with Crispin and Reversal Energy. Does that count as a single prize card deck? Medicham sets a pokemon's HP to 50, Rib deals 30 and your next attack gives 2 more prize cards, Crobat gives his attack 2 more prize cards. So you take like 5 to 6 cards at once but it requires you to be losing generally for it to work, along with 3 turns to set up if you don't pull an evolution and also evolve a medicham. (Assuming 1 Reversal for Crobat, 1 Crispin and 1 Energy pulled). I'm surprised it isn't used since all energy needed is generic, but it's about to be out of rotation.
I really like the idea for this combo! While it definitely seems super fragile, it's incredibly innovative and I'm definitely a sucker for gimmicky combos! I think that deciding whether it's a single prize deck or not is ultimately up to personal opinion, since it does require the use of an ex Pokémon. But I feel like this combo is a perfect representation of what a healthy "hybrid" deck would look like, and I'm really a big fan of it! I might have to tinker with it and see if I can pull it off!
11:34 that's the issue. 90% of the cardpool is worthless. powercreep and rarity disparity are insane in pokemon. for the people arguing if set rotation would fix games like yugioh, no, it doesn't. all that matters is if the company behind the game cares about that disparity to begin with.
It's really sad to see so many neatly designed and cool gimmicky Pokémon that will never see the light of day... power creep is 110% ruining the game more and more over time. And there's no sign of stopping anytime soon either... I think we'll get to a point eventually where the game will need more than just a rotation to get things back on track again, but I would love to see some more appreciation for the underrated Pokémon from Creatures asap!
No Baby Blacephalon in the video, big sad... But really now, I remember the format where Baby Blacephalon was the biggest damage dealer around, being able to k.o. TAG TEAM GX pokemon
Baby Blowns was awesome and was actually on the list of considered decks to talk about! (Unfortunately, it didn't make the final cut, my apologies ) Blacephlon was such a cool deck right until ADP came along and ruined everything
As a United wings enjoyer, i very much relate to this video. Those gatekeepers are the stuff of my nightmares 😅 was honestly surprised at the list that was shown though since mine is fairly different
You would think their functional abandonment of the Expanded Format would allow them to reduce the power level until these problem cards got rotated out (because who cares if cards get weaker for the sake of less powercreep), but instead cards KEEP getting stronger even though ⅓ if your options rotate out every year.
It's all about marketing to keep competitive appeal. If we started getting more weaker cards, they'd be eaten alive in the competitive scene and then nobody would buy the sets that they came from. TPCI basically has created probably one of the worst examples of power creep in any TCG...
@pikiptcg I guess it's just way too difficult to make incomparables (that being cards that are "Weaker" in some way, but can make up for it with a gimmick that makes them unique). I think Rulebox 'Mons filling the roles of both attack AND support is one of the main reasons powercreep is so darn severe. 'Mons are just hitting way too hard way too fast, and you don't have to earn it because they're just that strong out-the-gate. Alternatively, Support 'Mon have to struggle with the push and pull of 2 Prize Cards (meaning a huge penalty for failure) versus Low HP (less punishing, but also easier to get KO'ed).
One prize decks definitely still have a place in the Meta right now. It’s just different then it used to be. Instead of gimmick reliant strategies like united wings or festival plaza it’s ancient box and Snorlax stall. I don’t think you can just completely disregard them for the sake of argument and just show off gimmick decks. Klawf isn’t bad either and there’s also some single prize mill deck in the format. All in all they make up about 12,5% of decks which is a good chunk considering the top 1 deck Regidrago V-Star makes up 12,3%.
I totally agree with you! Nowadays, the only truly successful single prize decks are ones that have big HP Basics that can do big damage, like Klawf and Okidogi (both decks that popped up on the radar almost immediately after this video was published), or Snorlax because it's designed to stall out meta decks. It's nice to see a resurgence in single prize usage again, there's still quite a bit of improvement that needs to be made to protect the archetype further, but I definitely agree with you! Well said, mate!
TPCI makes silver bullets on purpose for single prize decks because they hate them. Multi prize decks usually have more expensive cards, and halfway through a generation they will just decide they don’t want you play these. ADP to Malamar, Kyurem to Lost Box, etc
I agree with the "silver bullet" philosophy, but I'm not sure if it's because TPCI hates single prize decks specifically. I personally think it's more of a marketing situation, they want to make cooler and flashier cards that have absurd effects to say, "hey, look at what this stupidly overpowered card can do!" The two examples you gave are perfect representations of a deep hatred for single prize decks, though, so you might be right 😅
I saw ForTheWinTCG talking about this too in his more recent videos, and I think it's really unfortunate. Gatekeepers are a major reason why I don't try playing as many rouge or non meta decks on my channel at the moment. I hope things improve for the future so that us off meta deck enjoyers can succeed again!
@@pikiptcg I play them anyways, but PTCG live loves to give me disadvantages on top of the inherent ones: Sorry, you can't grab your Bibarel with that ultraball you just played...it's bugged out. Yeah, I'm just gonna prize all the most important cards for you. So you Iono'd your opponent down to one card...well, let's give them the that one copy of research they play as their top-deck (no, that will never happen for you, don't even ask for it). Ah-ha! I see you expected me to mulligan you twice and still give you a bad hand so you play Carmine....well, jokes on you. Go ahead and throw away boss, counter catcher, rod, your ace spec, and the evolution you need for next turn (don't worry, the other 2 are prized...with your other boss). Heads? For you? Silly rabbit, heads is for your opponent. The only match I could find for you was a perfect counter to your deck...for the last 4 matches!
I made an entire documentary about how ADP terrorized the game for a long time, and it was ridiculous to see how much the meta warped around Altered Creation GX...
could someone explain to me (I am new to the TCG) why ancient box and snorlax doesn't just completely contradict his argument? he just mentions them and then throws them out and I don't quite understand why.
Ancient Box and Blocklax are exempt from the gatekeeper argument because they have a few qualities that protect them. For Ancient Box, it's high HP, easy "beat stick" Basic Pokémon that can whittle away at opponent's HP. Only Briar is ultimately effective against it in an immediate sense. It essentially acts like a 2-prize deck but with single prize attackers. Blocklax is a control deck, which basically is purely designed to keep your opponent from playing the game naturally. This strategy locks opponents out of using gatekeeper cards effectively, which allows it to avoid the pitfalls that smaller HP and traditional single prize decks like United Wings fall into. I hope this helps you understand a bit more! I do have a different video on my channel from about a year ago explaining Snorlax control in more detail if that might help a bit more! Wishing you the best as you start your Pokémon TCG journey!
I like playing single prize deck, I played lots of Festival Decks recently, but I have to agree. Especially Kyurem + Dragapult ex is super annoying and you can't really protect yourself. Rabsca is too hard to get into play imo; Manaphy is a must-have, but its effect is too weak. Imo they should just print a stronger version of it that offers better protection.. And maybe also something that protects against effects that take additional price cards
If I were to give single prize decks an immediate fix right now, I'd definitely prioritize better protection against gatekeepers. I like the idea of Prize card control, maybe an effect that only benefits single prizers just to give more on an incentive to play them? I like your thinking process here!
As an avid United Wings enjoyer, this is sad to realize. That being said, I'm having fun trying to figure out how to make the deck work in my local scene. Having the 1 of Rowlet for Charizard is always funny. I want to make use of the Kilowattrel eventually (unlikely but who knows)
It's really unfortunate to see just how oppressed single prize decks are right now, because all the crazy gatekeepers make the playing experience nearly impossible. But, I also love seeing the innovation that creative and truly passionate players such as yourself truly shine! I do like seeing the decks playing 1 Rowlet to OHKO Zards and I think it's super cheeky but also a very smart call! And I really like the idea of sniping with Kilowattrel too, I honestly forgot that card existed! Wishing you the best on your United Wings endeavors, mate!
If you can somehow trap a pokemon in the active and then get Kilowattrel into the active you can easily force a checkmate. I run a single copy, and so far that's been working well enough. It's niche but a nice option. Also can't waif for Perfect Mixer ACE spec!
Ancient Box is relatively less affected by the major gatekeepers that hold every other single prize deck back. Plus, it can get aggressive and go turbo just like any multi prize deck relatively quickly, so that's why I decided to keep it exempt from the rest of the video (since the rest of the video was mainly talking about the aforementioned gatekeepers). Festival Lead is really good on paper, but it's really held back at this point in time by both itself (super fragile, sometimes a bit lackluster) and basically every gatekeeper in the format at the moment.
Nothing about night March was healthy is the funny thing lol. I agree that single prize decks aren't very good right now but that deck was broken back in the day. The biggest issue with them is balancing everything. It is easier to balance the game around bigger damage higher health cards I'd think than having it be low health single prize Pokémon.
To be honest, I didn't play competitively during the time Night March was legal, so my analysis in the video might be a bit skewed compared to reality 😅 I agree with your comment about balancing, it's really tough (especially in the modern game) to balance cards nowadays thanks to power creep. And, like you said, it's easier to spend resources around meta cards rather than smaller cards with less impact. I wish I was able to play during the Night March era to see how broken it was...🥲
@pikiptcg be happy you didn't tbh. Night march was a feast or famine deck that either dumped its whole deck turn 1 or lost on the spot to the funny toad. It frequently had to play like a two prize deck due to its reliance on dce which is hilarious as well.
@@pikiptcg you not playing for very long is pretty obvious. The 1st Gen meta was all haymakers. Huge damage cards have almost always been the main meta of Pokemon, and there was no really consistent counter to the Hitmonchan haymaker in 1st Gen or fossil. If you don't like that short of play, you simply don't like the game. It's like complaining about doom being in first person.
I feel like a big premise of the video is defeated by the fact that ancient box and stalllax are a thing. It’s hard to take “single prize decks are dead” seriously when there are 2 very strong and consistent ones in this very format. Regardless good discussion video
Ancient Box, Blocklax, and even newcomer decks like Klawf and Okidogi have all been super successful lately, but that's because they all are big HP Basics that either resist/are relatively unaffected by gatekeepers. That's sort of what the main premise of the video was about (smaller HP evolution decks getting wrecked by gatekeepers), but I agree that the single prize archetype is still alive and kicking, especially in the past two Regionals. I'm glad you enjoyed the video, mate!
I do hate prize manipulation everywhere, even when playing 2-Prizers. If I could remove any card from the meta i think it would be dusknoir, since it can force your opponent to take prize cards while setting up ANY pokemon to be KOd with a countercatcher + Briar combo.
I totally agree with you! I actually made an entire Twitter thread explaining why Dusknoir is such a bad card for the health of the game, and I also think that Dusk+Catcher+Briar is so disgusting right now lol
I'll tell you what happened: Path to the Peak rotated. Rulebox pokemon getting a nerf was the only thing balancing single and multiprize decks.
While Path was definitely a pain for lots of people (myself included!) but it was a necessary evil. I think that a reintroduction of a Path-like card in the format would help dramatically slow down decks like Charizard, which could give single prizers a bit more of a chance again.
14:55 Thwackey actually doesn’t need the stadium, just a Festival Lead Pokemon in the active. As long as you have a Dipplin in the active spot, you can just fetch a Festival Grounds from your deck. It’s a real shame the stadium doesn’t do anything else though, like reduce damage or something
Oh, I didn't notice that, thank you for the clarification! That definitely makes things a lot better for the Festival Lead deck! I also think that Festival Grounds could've had a cooler effect, like maybe a coin flip for an Item card search, or something to help protect the deck itself...
Stadium prevents all conditions from affecting your pokemon...not that it matters with out weak conditions other than poison are.
Having a Goldeen with Festival Lead also helps if you only have a Dipplin in the active after it gets KO'd. That way, if you still have Applin on the bench, you can chain your set-up
@@dannik9932 Stadium's effect literally makes the deck worse because you can't use binding mochi :(
@@ussgordoncaptain How are you going to use binding mochi in the first place? There's no way I'd risk putting B. Bonnet on my bench to be gusted into the active and stuck...or to have to start with it in active...that would just end your draw engine. Just recycle max belt with Rose.
Also, it does gatekeep some single prize decks like Klawf and Conk as they cannot even poison themselves.
It's not a great effect, but I wouldn't call it detrimental.
10:14 Just to be _that annoying guy_ , Manaphy doesn't protect your bench from Dragapult because he places counters, don't do damage.
The only true protection against Dusknoir or Dragapult it's the Temporal Forces's Rabsca.
Then let me be the annoying guy that tells you that rabsca is doing exactly nothing against dusknoir ;) rabsca prevents damage and effects from attacks not damage and effects from abilities
To stop dusknoir you need EnamorusV and a P energy attached to the mons you want to protect
It saves against Kyurem I guess ..
Jirachi does a Great Job against Dragapult too, no? 👀
@@XElClasicox no, because it's only preventing the placement of dmg counters by attacks of basic pokémon e.g. Sableye
Alot of these single prize decks rely on gimmicks which is probably why they come and go so often. I like decks that use a mixuture of single prize and ex attackers. Galvantuala ex uses both ex and shrouded fable galvantuala and gardevoir ex uses drifloon/scream tail
That's a great point, I totally agree with that! Pure single prize decks like having cool gimmicks that unfortunately almost never work. But I think that a format that could embrace a better relationship between single prizers and multi prizers (especially in the same decks, like you said) would be much healthier for the game, although it would be pretty improbable. Gardy and Galvantula are great examples of a healthy symbiotic relationship, I would love to see more decks like them!! 😁
Then I like Charizard Ex with Dusknoir
Saw my boy Dipplin in the thumbnail, had to click. If Festival Grounds has 0 players I am dead
Festival Grounds is such a cool deck, I absolutely love the synergy between all the different Pokémon in the deck and how it's completely self-reliant without needing ex Pokémon! I respect the grind, mate, keep at it! Don't let those pesky gatekeepers get in the way of your experience! 💯
right there with you!
Nope, got my swirlix/arven based Festival Grounds deck here on my deck beside me right now.
Real, Festival grounds is one of the most fun decks I’ve played in tcgl.
@@zacharyjackson7584 Swirlix as main attacker? Is that really playable?
Powercreep. There´s your asnwer. Evenin the way lower power level of Pokemon TCG Poccket, is all about ex decks with the exception of Dragonite, which while competitive, is not as trong as is a 2 (sometimes 3)energy deck, which almost unplayable in the current form.
I do hope there´s hopes for single prize Pokemon in Pocket, I haven't played the real TCG, but from what i saw, I think there's no hope there.
I know little to nothing about the meta of Pokémon tcg but this popped into my feed and I gave it a watch as a huge card game fan, great video great explanation good use for procrastination 10/10
I'm super glad you enjoyed it!! I put 34 hours into this project, so it really means a ton to see how big the reach has gotten! Thank you so much for the kind words, I hope you get your tasks done now though 😅
I hear 'healthy balance between EX and single prize" and I think back to their introduction in the EX sets. But it had not a single mention. Crying.
I feel ancient.
I did mention OG ex Pokémon at 0:30, but I was way too young to have a good understanding of the original EX series... my apologies for making you feel old, that was not my intention!!
It was not a healthy balance, Pokemon ex were not strong enough to be worth the 2 prize trade-off, so you simply did not use them.
@blastchaos4286 This was only accurate to the beginning of the EX era, there were plenty viable EX's in the later half. Like flygon EX (both delta and normal), or stuff like Delcatty. Its only at the beginning they released really bad ones and started halfway coming with cards like Banette EX
I think if only the decks were like Gardevoir deck the meta would be much healthier, there is so much decks who go turbo and could end a match in 3 turns
I think making most or all multi-prize decks "glass cannons" of sorts would balance the game out a lot more. Games could slow down a bit, but it would also allow for some more interesting gameplay. Seeing everything just be turbo beat stick decks does get old really quickly lol
@@pikiptcg I'm trying out the Terapagos Dusknoir deck lately although is funny in the beginning simply deny the other player to set up or do crazy comebacks, after I few days I think it just too much... Sometimes I feel bad for play this deck
I'm literally in the same boat right now, mate... I've been grinding with Terapagos/Dusknoir for about a week now and I definitely feel the same way... Dusknoir is completely unfair in its own way 😅
@@pikiptcgYeah, Dusclops seems kinda good, but 13 damage is just too unfair
Gardevoir is a little unhealthy for single-prize decks too tho. It beats most of them, excluding Ancient Box
Pokemon and Yugioh share the exact same problem of having core mechanics that have been almost entirely abandoned due to power creep. YGO has Normal and Tribute Summoning and PKMN has Single Prize combat.
I love my Festival Lead deck, but I do believe they are probably trying to keep single prize decks out of the meta to "speed up" the games. Games take less time if you only have to KO 3 pokemon compared to 6.
It's a real shame, because Festival Lead is such a cool deck in concept. If there weren't so many gatekeepers, I genuinely think it would be a solid B tier deck! However, you're definitely right. Creatures wants games to feel "exhilarating" and "fast paced" with the big dumb 2 prize beat stick decks, which is a real shame. Wishing you the best with your experiences with Festival Lead! 😁
Lost box pika kinda fixes lost box abit and slows the game down enough to were the single prize lost box deck is viable
Personally this usually happens at the tail end of a format, where card pool gets so big the options become to varied. Once rotation comes around a third of these options will be gone (Radiant Greninja, Regidrago VStar, and Lugia Vstar). Without them the only deck that have positive matchups are the stage 2 decks, but those loose to big basic decks which single prizes win the prize trade in. Sure it makes a rock paper fizzles format, but that’s a decent reset. Though you can always advocate for Single Prize tournaments at your locals.
Your analysis here is spot on! I agree that rotation will most likely help realign things and make playing single prize decks a bit more manageable! I really like the "rock paper scissors" analogy, I think that once we have a more linear meta that this is the best way to summarize it! Here's to hoping that post-rotation helps favor the little guys! 😁
I think what is hurting Single Prize Decks is the card philosophy that the Pokemon Company seems to be going down as of late. Cards like Dragapult and Dusknoir to spread damage around for mutliple knock outs to Iron Hands and Briar to that just gives extra prizes, making it so hard for single prize decks to get going.
I have Dragapult and Terapagos decks for competitive play, but I enjoy single prize decks like United Wings more due to them normally being more creative in strategy than just setting up big boy and swing. Doesn't help that these ex decks tend to run Seal Stone engine, which is so frustrating to play against.
I think rotation might help a little bit with the issues with Seal Stone engines and Double Turbo Energy. It'll help slow the game down for a tiny bit, but like you said, the card philosophy that TPCI is going for will just cause new problems to pop up everywhere... It's super frustrating, I totally agree with you.
I was looking at the Night March era meta, and there literally was not a single good bench damage attack in the Standard format. Now we have a ton of options to make single prizers hard to pull off. Ancient box still has a chance since Roaring Moon has 140 HP, which is just slightly above the bench and extra prize threshold and the +60 HP from the Booster Capsule can even deny some 1-shots early game. Briar is still a big issue, but luckily it doesn't seem to be that popular.
Night March's only bad marchup was Seismitoad EX/Crobat, but a lack of gatekeepers allowed Night March to tear through the meta. Like you said, Ancient Box is able to act like a bigger two-prize "beat stick" deck because of its incredibly high HP, especially with the added bulk from Ancient Booster. It's unfortunate that high HP Basics seem to be the only successful single prize decks, though...
the Venomoth Froslass in my back pocket:
though yeah you right
Froslass probably my favorite card rn, so definitely not a fan of dusknoir
Venomoth/Froslass is super annoying to go up against every time, but sometimes it just falls short of being disruptive enough. It also doesn't help that Dusknoir and Kyurem completely shred entire boards, though...
@@pikiptcg Dusknoir isn’t as big a problem as you may think if you’re able to Salvatore out Venomoth, or if you go first and attack turn 2. Rare Candy is an Item card, so they can’t get Dusknoir out right out the gate, plus of course no Item search cards. Hell, many lists don’t run any Dusclops at all so Item lock the whole game = no Dusknoir the whole game
I also feel like it’s disruptive enough if you run Dusknoir yourself. May be a bit weird, but you never know.
Currently, asking for a Salvatore turn 1 going second is a bit of a stretch though, but I genuinely believe that will change with Service Bell. I could be wrong, but we will have to see haha
14:58 just a clarification, Thwackey only relies on any card with the Festival Lead ability. Festival Grounds does not need to be in place for his ability to work.
This video is an awesome breakdown. New sub!
Thank you for the correction! I must've missed that when I was scriptwriting! I really appreciate you, mate! Thank you so much for your support! 😁🙏
the 14:08 baby analogy is some of the funniest youtube footage i have EVER seen
When I was editing that segment, at one point I just stopped and stared at my screen and wondered, "how the heck did I come up with this" 😅
I'm glad you liked it lol
BROOOOOOOOO! WHAT a video! I don't even Pokemans and I was entertained. Nice work.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!! The 34 hours it took to edit this definitely was time well spent!
Very insightful and well done video
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it! 😁🙏
Best video I’ve seen all month! Keep it up bro!
I really appreciate it, dude! I'm so glad you liked it, I spent 34 total hours on this project and I'm super happy that it's doing well! We'll have to do some brainstorming for the next big project at some time!! 💯
I love your videos, simple , easy to understand, and a good flow. Should def consider a mic upgrade with how high quality your productions are!
Thank you so much for the kind words! I currently have a Yeti Blue mic, I've been tinkering with it lately to improve the quality of my audio, but it's tough with my workspace being under my loft bed in my college dorm 😅
I'll keep on making these kinds of videos to the best of my ability! I've got tons of ideas for the future, and I hope they're able to hold up to the standard I set here!
I only play with single prize decks, currently i don’t like where the multi prize cards are headed. They are also too large of hp or damage to just evolve once or not at all, it makes the game unfun to play like this, i would recommend playing with your friends with only single prize cards and try it out there is more strategy and its more enjoyable.
It's definitely a lot more fun to play single prizers at locals for sure, but I also totally agree with you about your concern about power creep... I think it'll eventually either force a massive change or it'll slowly kill the game off. I'm hoping single prize decks make a comeback someday, but we'll have to wait for all the gatekeepers to rotate (and hope that no new ones are printed)... 🙁
I've actually seen some good success with my Mind Ruler Chandelure deck since it takes advantage of something that was always prevalent in the pokemon TCG and turns it against my opponent: DRAWING. Now, I'm aware that without Imposter Oak, the deck doesn't reach its full potential, but Lucius, Lure Module and Iono do the trick quite well.
On a different note, I've been scrolling through a bit of your comments and WOW! You're ability to reply to so many of them is astounding and respectable!
I really like gimmicky decks like Chandelure, I actually was trying to craft a build in my head the other day!
Also, thank you for the compliment! I try my best to stay 100% engaged with my community and make sure everyone's voices are heard! It definitely takes a while to get through them all, but I know it's more than worth it! 😁
Wow... Literally yesterday I thought I'd get back into the TCG and asked around for what the best single prize deck was at the moment (basically none), as that had always been my favourite play style, especially the gimmicky ones.
But then as if by fate I found this video this morning and 😳 hooboy.
I sincerely apologize that this was one of the first things that you saw when you were looking to try to play a single prize deck! I hope I haven't discouraged you from playing your favorite kind of deck... that wasn't my intention at all!
If you do decide to play a single prize deck (I especially encourage gimmicky ones!), just be aware of all the gatekeeper cards that I mentioned and do your best to telegraph how and when they're going to be used! I have full faith in you, mate! Play what you want to play, and I'm wishing you the best!
@@pikiptcg No no not at all, it was very informative! Not played for like half a year so good way to catch up on what's been going on haha.
I've always been a fan of 1 prize decks but doesn't mean it's all I've played :) so I'm sure I can find something I like haha
Just sad my boy Sandaconda (Battle Styles) rotated 😭
The comeback cards like iono and counter catcher also screw over single prizers, cuz you'll generally be slightly ahead in prize cards
I have needed this video more than anything else in my life
amazing video, this is the type of content this community needs
Appreciate the kind words, my friend!! It really means a lot to me! I'm glad that the 34 hours this project took were 100% worth it!
I love they brought back the legendary birds GX attack as a counter to lost box.
I really thought that was a super cool callback as well... until it started obliterating things other than Lost Box thanks to Regidrago lol 😅
My most recent challenge, 1st place went to a single prize item lock deck, venomoth and frolass
Awesome work mate!! I'm glad you're finding success with a single prize deck, that's amazing to hear! Keep it up!
@pikiptcg .... nope i played iron thorns i got 4th,
I think Spiritomb (ft. ditto) was the best ('recent') example of a fun 1 prize deck. Required set up, reasonable but not absurd damage, a game plan that wants their attackers KOd, consistent without being guaranteed...
Watching this made me want to play more single prize decks, especially united wings, ancient box, and maybe lost box variants.
Go for it!! I'm rooting for you, mate! Wishing you the best of luck! 💯
Me too akdjdksjskshs
Except I’m here revamping my Scolipede deck out of sheer stubbornness to make this bug horse work and become a spooky bug horse
Working with someone else who is actually well versed in and apparently well known for playing single prize decks on making my Scoliosis deck (yes, Scoliosis because i said so) work as well as it possibly can.
There's a pretty fun venomoth / froslass deck, check it out!
Ancient Box is really fun, I say this as an Ancient Box player. I run a slightly modded decklist bc Pokestop is a nightmare to find
I think the best way to make single prize decks better would be a card like “You can only use this card if you don’t have any multi-prize pokemon in play.
During this turn, if your opponents active pokemon is knocked out by an attack from one your active pokemon, take one more prize card.”
Obviously this could mean mirror matches would be disabled, but could at least do something. Defenitally would be a Supporter so one per turn, and could maybe be a Heath Card? Thoughts?
I like this concept of Prize boosting, but I also think it could be really dangerous. There are some big damage single prizers out there, like Conkeldurr, Klawf, and Roaring Moon, so that could be super bad for the game if you go after opposing support Pokémon like Squawkabilly. I think this would be a great ACE SPEC though, it could really give single prize decks a huge boost!
Briar but for single prizers instead of tera pokemon
there would need to be a caveat that you also must attack with a single prizer or else you could do it in LZB then bench like moon ex and gate
@@beuks4478 your unable to use the card if you have any multi-prize pokemon in play, wich means pokemkn on your bench and active, so you do have to have a single prize attacker or you can’t use the card
@@ChonkyToad I get that and I agree but with how its currently written you can think of it like briar where you can use it then mid-turn your opp takes a prize but the affect is still active.
The quality in this thumbnail... just wow man congrats on this video!
Thanks mate!! I worked really hard on this video (34 hours!) and I'm glad that you enjoyed the thumbnail! (I had to use a new software and everything for it... but I think I could do it again for the next high quality video!! 😁)
@pikiptcg hell yeah man, it looks like the views and everything are starting to reflect your hard work 🔥🔥
8:41 imagine forgetting about the ADP
Oh, I didn't forget! I actually made an entirely seperate documentary on ADP in a different video a few months ago!
Great video! I like the fast paced format 👍🏻
Thank you so much! And of course you would like the fast-paced format, Mr. Miraidon enjoyer!
More single prize cards should have ways of increasing damage output or nerfing opponents, such as each energy is extra damage, or energy in the discard etc. Maybe some abilities such as if you have no Rule Box pokemon in play, this attack does extra damage, or if your opponents active pokemon has a rule box, choose one of their attacks, and that attack cannot be used by any of their pokemon during their next turn (Yes this is aimed at Zard I hate it lmao)
This is a completely possible and reasonable buff/solution! All of the effects that you've mentioned have been implemented on tons of different Pokémon in the Standard format alone, but unfortunately most of them are on unplayable or practically useless Pokémon. I definitely think that if some "mainstream" single prizers were given these secondary effects/Abilities, they'd have a much better and more balanced shot at success! Great ideas, mate!! 😁💯
I got back into the game right before 2024 rotation and my clefairy deck got killed. Its slowly getting more support but the cards that beat it are still better than what makes it good.
I played Clefairy on my channel 2 years ago during the Lost Origin meta, and it felt great back in that format, even with the early Lost Box builds floating around. Nowadays, there's just so much counterplay and gatekeeping cards compared to protection cards, which makes playing fun decks like Clefairy super difficult. I'm hoping we get some more effective protection cards soon!
This is so well made!! 18 minutes of S-tier editing and recording. holy sh*t I hope you gain traction🫶🏻 so deserved
Thank you so much for the glowing compliments!! I poured my heart and soul into this project, and seeing your comment really made my day 🥰
Thank you for all the kind words, God bless you mate and thank you so much for watching!! 💚
For anyone wondering, it only took 11 minutes for Incineroar to show up in a video about the Pokemon TCG.
I knew it was only a matter of time before someone noticed the Incineroar reference 😅
Single-prize decks are non-existent in this meta, to the point that single-prize decks themselves need two-prized support cards like Fezandipiti ex. Bibarel alone cant keep up with consistency.
It's really unfortunate to see how heavily single prizers rely on ex support Pokemon... it just defeats the whole purpose of playing single prize decks to begin with. Single prizers definitely need more self-sufficient support
I didn't even know there were multiprize cards. When I played it was always 1 prize when you knocked out a pokemon.
In the past 5 years, there have been three different types of cards that give up THREE Prize cards when they get KO'd... power creep has been ridiculous since you played, my friend...
Klawf has actually been doing pretty well into the current meta, and I'd classify that as a single prize deck
Klawf popped back up on the competitive radar about 3 days after I finished the script and audio for the video, but I definitely would've put it into the "exceptions" category if I knew about its success earlier!
Laughs in Okidogi. My boy is killing it right now.
I absolutely LOVE Okidogi right now! It's on the list for potential upcoming deck profile videos!
found a girl that likes tcg on hinge but ghosted her cuz she was too far away from me and then this vid pops up and i regret everything
lots of girls like tcg, and lots of love is in your future. Humanity is built to love and also collect little cards
hold this regret close so you remember to love a bit more fully. I hope you stay well. It's gonna be alright
I'm really sorry to hear that, mate. I've felt that sort of regret before as well. You've got time, my friend, your perfect partner is out there somewhere! Keep your chin up high and keep on trying, you've got this! Take care of yourself, mate! 🫂
Don’t ghost people! At least tell her why you think things won’t work out (the distance) instead of leaving her wondering and possibly feeling insecure.
Great video, although I kinda wish you'd talked about decks like Ancient Box a bit.
I honestly don't know what could solve this situation that would still bring money; but the truth is, most people do enjoy playing fast-paced decks that can one-shot any Pokémon.
If I were to make this video again, I definitely would've had a more dedicated segment for the successful single prize decks like Klawf and Ancient Box! I think the best solution that would keep profits high would be to buff protection against gatekeepers and the single prizers themselves, to make things a bit more exciting and give a bit more incentive to play a single prize deck!
A single prizers worst enemy is a secondary attacker who's also a single prizer
would dragapult ex be a runner up for the 4 horsemen
oh i just got to that part
We, the birds Syndicate, will receive our hero in November: The Brillant Blender.
Every ONE will fall.
United Wings actually looks like a big donk threat with Brilliant Blender... the Syndicate will finally rise!
i remember when people were so scared of dragapult
and then it cooled off
and then it won a big tournament with a deck i haven't won against once
That's exactly the same experience I've had... I've luckily found out how to play against it, but it's really difficult to win now that it has Sparkling Crystal...
Shoutout to the Girratina lost zone deck im using in tcg live rn
What a pleasant video.
When I played Pokemon during the Night March era I had a Giratina EX deck with the "Chaos wheel" attack that prevents the usage of special energies with Reshiram to generate energy to attack on the first turn because of my annoyance with night march and because of how ubiquitous it was in the ladder I literally called it "The Last Day Of The Night March Players" good riddance haha
I'm glad you enjoyed the video, mate!
When I first started learning about the Pokémon TCG for the first time during the Night March era, I saw Giratina EX and thought it was the coolest card ever! The fact that it had immunity from Megas AND locked opponents out of playing a huge amount of cards is absolutely broken, I wish I could go back to those days to experience "The Last Day of Night March" in person rather than barely having 20 Pokémon cards in my possession
@pikiptcg too bad Giratina still lost to night march hahah
ua-cam.com/video/jU0PeR_EVhI/v-deo.htmlsi=koNaBgKv-mV5LhRl
@pikiptcg sadly night march still beat Giratina during the 2016 national championship it was a cool match though
The single prize cards aren't used as often because even though it's a safer option where your opponent can only take 1 prize card instead of 2 or 3, it is also that almost all of the single prize cards attacks do a lot less damage then the double or triple prize card
i really love the festival lead deck and still run it. i know it’s not “optimal” or whatever but it’s just so fun when it works. i hope they release some cards that make it stronger in the coming sets 😮💨
I love Festival Lead as well, it's so cool when you set it up properly! I also really hope that we get some good gatekeeper counters and more support in the future, Festival Lead could be a much bigger threat if it gets the right support!
This is one of the big reasons why I like how creatures designs their most recent floodgate cards. We've had a couple of really impactful stadium cards over the years that carve out a reason for someone to actually play a deck that is wholly unaffected by them. Honestly, would be kind of sick to see an ability version of Path to the Peak that isn't itself a 2 prize Pokemon
We 110% need a new floodgate card specifically for single prizers ASAP. I can tell that Creatures tried with Neutralization Center, but it's such a waste of an ACE SPEC... It needs to be something easier to play and something that can be recycled, an Ability like you said would actually be great!!
Tbh even after 5 mins i still got no idea what a single prize deck is vs a multi prize deck
A single prize deck is mostly comprised of weaker/lower HP Pokémon with no Rule Boxes. In exchange, they only give your opponent a singular Prize card. Multi prize decks focus on (in Standard) either V or ex Pokémon that give up 2 or 3 Prize cards when they get KO'd, giving them the nickname "multiprize" Pokémon. Hope this helps clear up some confusion! 😁
ironically i use Iron Hands on lost box and i specifically save 2 mirrage gate for it, ive won so many matches online with it, and some weekly in locals and i found it so satisfying seeing their face going from happy and excited to gasp and shocked after they see my iron hands getting 3 or prizes because i kept chipping them away with sableye and to rub salt on the wounds i used Ursaluna EX to finish the game (people in my locals have this weird grudge againts ursaluna so i just want to fuel the fire even more)
Lost Box is always super satisfying to play, and I think it's probably the best single prize deck at embracing multi-prize attackers. I'm glad you're having fun terrorizing your locals, though, I always love a good Ursaluna finish out of nowhere!
00:10 nice
Thank you for the footage, mate! Appreciate it! 😁
Of course! Thanks for crediting properly. Some people are pretty bad at that, lol.
As I see it now, Singles prizers are there for you to choose one or two and have them be support for your all powerful ex mons.
It really sucks to see that being the case, but you're right on about what single prizers have turned into... it's really unfortunate to see
11:23 exactly man, I wouldnt dislike the current powercreep as much if the current sp pokemon could keep up, but the fact we are still getting stuff like "3 energy for 100" with very few modifiers for damage (yeah mochi exisits but deck space) is what hurts for me the most.
(Especially disappointed in the likes of feraligatr, 280 for two basic waters felt like it should have been enough)
Feraligatr had so much potential, but like you said, most single prizers just have disappointing costs for disappointing effects/damage. Power creep would be fine if everything was boosted, but instead Creatures favors the flashy cards that'll make them money. It's overall just really unfortunate 😕
@@pikiptcgit is very disappointing :( still holding out some hope it gets better with next year's sets but feels unlikely rn
@@emberpowertcg7692it would be worse with Trainer's Pokemon. Because the Trainer's Pokemon we got rn as of Worlds are the one that can interact themselves, i.e: very restrictive not widely covered, like Marnie's Grimmsnarl. Accels D energy *ONLY* to Marnie's Pokemon. So what, do we use Thornton to make use of 5 Darkness energy? Hail no. Too much to ask.
@@naturalharmoniagropius4486 thats a really good point...
Atlest GLC exists as a small scene to play single decks as a comunity and I on top of that play regilar no multiprizer format with friends without the other glc restrictions (and few obious bans). Those formats have so much cool stuff that standart just skips past. @@pikiptcg
Oh. Prize like the weird life system that lets you win if you run out.
TPC: *Tries to lower power ceiling of Rulebox Pokemon and make the game more balanced*
Also TPC: *Does the complete fucking opposite*
For that many extra prize cards, they should really create a card that redução the number of prizes toked, or a card that let you pick-up a prize when your opponent KO your mon.
I don’t even play the card game but this was super interesting and sparked my interest in playing somedayv
I'm super glad that you enjoyed the video! If you want to get into competitive PTCG, now is a really great time to! Most decks are super affordable and there's plenty of resources out there to help you start your journey! It would be awesome to see you get involved in the TCG!
Kyurem also has canonical reasons to hate the colress
That's very true! I wouldn't be very happy if I were experimented on by someone with a goofy haircut in a lab coat either! 😅
Kyurem only seen play in Regidrago, not as a tech in an on itself. I don't even see Kyurem teched in smth like Gardevoir. It is because Kyurem is *too restrictive* , it needs someone play Colress cards to make it work, which is rare outside Lost Box, which is not common rn.
The song at the very beginning of the video sounds so familiar, what is it?? :0
It's the Lobby theme from Pokémon Unite! 😁
man back in the day i was clearing house with my alolan exeggutor rogue deck
We've gone so far since then... in a bad way
I miss the days when decks like your Exeggutor deck were able to perform to shocking success 😞
Great video! A new smoother mic would really take it to the next level
Thank you so much! My mic is a pretty standard grade Yeti Blue, it used to sound way better but I think I messed up a setting when I moved into college... I'll keep tinkering with it and see if I can improve the mic quality, thank you for bringing that to my attention! 😁
On the online, I have a deck with just four Safeguard Mimikyu.
It got me just two ranks under Master before the ladder reset since I started late, but the one master rank I matched with conceded after 3 turns because he can't deal with it.
The entire meta is just rulebox cards and about 80% of the decks are comically useless against Mimikyu and aren't prepared to see any more than 1.
Quad Mimikyu seems like a super risky deck to play with all the Dusknoir floating around right now, but that's super impressive that you got to Master rank with it! Just be careful when going up against the unliving bomb decks and keep it up!
@@pikiptcg Lux cape is how I deal with Dusknoirs, as it makes their HP higher than they can instantly KO, making the trade in my favor, not theirs. It prevents me from using my other tool cards though which is a pain. I don't use the ace spec +100HP tool because I run Deluxe Bomb to help keep non-rulebox off the board and keep pressure.
I also run the deevolution TM to knock out HP walls, which helps stop Dusknoir from time to time by eliminating rare candy or the final evo.
As much as possible i often lessen the use of double prizer. Its not that the single prize are getting out of hand, most players wanted to start with a meta decks rather than to start with the weaker ones.
Massive respect there mate! We definitely could use some more single prize (and less beat stick meta deck) representation out there! You bring up a great point about newer players, it's tough to get started with single prize decks right now because of all the resources for new players having meta decks involved. Plus, playing with a weaker deck is definitely not an incentive to play. That's a great aspect of the situation that I didn't consider, thank you for pointing that out!
no klawf mention? it got 3rd at joinville regionals
I scripted/recorded this video a few days before Joinville, so that's why Klawf wasn't mentioned. I definitely think it deserves an exception from a lot of the single prize flaws that I talked about though!!
@@pikiptcg do you think that with Klawf having exceptions to a lot of the flaws of single prize decks that it's possible for many strong single prize Pokémon decks to be made with clear but less impactful flaws (e.g. Klawf needing multiple combo pieces so hand distruption becomes much more effective, ancient box relying on Sada to reliably set up, Snorlax having an extremely skewed matchup spread, etc.) through designing the single prizers around the counterplay instead of just boosting stats? Or adding more support for single prizers that helps them compete?
Just spitballing, something like a Stadium that prevents the effects of attacks and abilities on non-rulebox Pokémon could be a strong form of counterplay that is still interactive for both sided and fits multiple archetypes
It's an interesting conversation to have for sure and i do wonder if we'll see more strong meta decks that play around forcing good trades by way of having fewer to no multi prize Pokémon
@@carsthatdrive1891 Klawf honestly sets a good example and a solid standard for what I wish single prize decks could be right now (High HP, big damage, at the cost of having multiple combo pieces). I think the best solution has to include higher stats to keep up with power creep, but I would love to see more direct counters to popular meta decks to keep the single prizers alive in matchups with stuff like Dusknoir. A counterstadium similar to something like Neutralization Center seems like a really good idea, especially since the Stadiums in the format are mostly healthy and allow for decent/healthy counterplay.
I'm hoping that as time goes on, single prize decks can feel more comfortable and "settled in" to Standard. And while it might take a while (ex. waiting for the current gatekeepers to rotate), I definitely think it's possible!
My first deck was “baby” Dragapult. It was so much fun. The first game I won with it we went into time and my opponent observes the difference in prize cards between us and asked the judge “How do I win?😭” I hope it somehow gets back in rotation
Baby Dragapult was one of the most annoying decks to play against, but so much fun to play... It would be nice to see more Pokémon like it in Standard I definitely think there's a place for something like Baby Pult in the meta right now! (Also I absolutely love the story about your first win, I can assure you that your opponent was 't the only one who said "how do I win" against Pult... I said that a lot too haha 😅)
Thwackey doesn't require Festival Grounds, only Festival Lead.
Yep, you're right! I missed that while I was scriptwriting, thank you for the correction! 😁
I’ve been trying to make one with Kofu and Crabominable, but the rotation in March is going to ruin the deck, so I am trying to find alternatives
My absolute favorite deck is Chien Pao ex, but at the moment it has the exact same problem as all of the single price decks, because 1, 220hp is just to low in the current meta for 2 prices and 2, your opponent can just swipe you Baxcalibur und Frigibax out of play with Dusknoir on Frigi plus like any attack on Bax. And then with Briar, it doesn’t even help when you are ahead on prices against Zard, cause it doesnt help anything.
If not CPao, my second choice would be Dipplin, but i think you made that point clear… I mean, just look at it: Zard has 330hp, which is the same as Mew VMAX, but instead of 3 prices, it gives up only 2… and yes, those two decks we‘re in the same meta about a year ago!!!
Chien Pao essentially acts like a single prize deck when you break it down to the essentials. Like you said, it completely relies on Baxcalibur and there are now so many ways to get OHKO'd by other meta decks... Dusknoir really was a huge mistake
U forgot rapid strike malamar, what a great solitaire deck that was
Malamar was so much fun... I hope we get a deck like it again someday, because it was so cool and satisfying to manage all your resources and hit huge damage...
I get that people don't like slow games but the ease at wich current meta decks can knock out one-prizers is insane. Having three of my ralts get sniped by a combination of dusknoir and prime catcher terapagos before I can take my second turn feels rough lol
I honestly would take it a step further, watching 3 Ralts get obliterated Turn 2 is actually just disgusting... there's not really anything you can do to protect yourself, and it's a really bad issue.
Medicham, Ribombee, Crobat with Crispin and Reversal Energy. Does that count as a single prize card deck?
Medicham sets a pokemon's HP to 50, Rib deals 30 and your next attack gives 2 more prize cards, Crobat gives his attack 2 more prize cards. So you take like 5 to 6 cards at once but it requires you to be losing generally for it to work, along with 3 turns to set up if you don't pull an evolution and also evolve a medicham. (Assuming 1 Reversal for Crobat, 1 Crispin and 1 Energy pulled). I'm surprised it isn't used since all energy needed is generic, but it's about to be out of rotation.
I really like the idea for this combo! While it definitely seems super fragile, it's incredibly innovative and I'm definitely a sucker for gimmicky combos! I think that deciding whether it's a single prize deck or not is ultimately up to personal opinion, since it does require the use of an ex Pokémon. But I feel like this combo is a perfect representation of what a healthy "hybrid" deck would look like, and I'm really a big fan of it! I might have to tinker with it and see if I can pull it off!
11:34 that's the issue. 90% of the cardpool is worthless. powercreep and rarity disparity are insane in pokemon.
for the people arguing if set rotation would fix games like yugioh, no, it doesn't. all that matters is if the company behind the game cares about that disparity to begin with.
It's really sad to see so many neatly designed and cool gimmicky Pokémon that will never see the light of day... power creep is 110% ruining the game more and more over time. And there's no sign of stopping anytime soon either... I think we'll get to a point eventually where the game will need more than just a rotation to get things back on track again, but I would love to see some more appreciation for the underrated Pokémon from Creatures asap!
No Baby Blacephalon in the video, big sad...
But really now, I remember the format where Baby Blacephalon was the biggest damage dealer around, being able to k.o. TAG TEAM GX pokemon
Baby Blowns was awesome and was actually on the list of considered decks to talk about! (Unfortunately, it didn't make the final cut, my apologies )
Blacephlon was such a cool deck right until ADP came along and ruined everything
@@pikiptcg I actually stopped playing during the Zacian ADP era because of how dumb of a deck it was
As a United wings enjoyer, i very much relate to this video. Those gatekeepers are the stuff of my nightmares 😅 was honestly surprised at the list that was shown though since mine is fairly different
Cool to see diversity like that, really
You would think their functional abandonment of the Expanded Format would allow them to reduce the power level until these problem cards got rotated out (because who cares if cards get weaker for the sake of less powercreep), but instead cards KEEP getting stronger even though ⅓ if your options rotate out every year.
It's all about marketing to keep competitive appeal. If we started getting more weaker cards, they'd be eaten alive in the competitive scene and then nobody would buy the sets that they came from. TPCI basically has created probably one of the worst examples of power creep in any TCG...
@pikiptcg I guess it's just way too difficult to make incomparables (that being cards that are "Weaker" in some way, but can make up for it with a gimmick that makes them unique). I think Rulebox 'Mons filling the roles of both attack AND support is one of the main reasons powercreep is so darn severe. 'Mons are just hitting way too hard way too fast, and you don't have to earn it because they're just that strong out-the-gate. Alternatively, Support 'Mon have to struggle with the push and pull of 2 Prize Cards (meaning a huge penalty for failure) versus Low HP (less punishing, but also easier to get KO'ed).
I miss my Rapid Strike Malamar so much. Best single prize deck ever
I had tons of fun with Malamar, it was super succesful and a blast to play... I miss it too, mate 🥲
Wow this is such a lovely video. Your voice reminds me of my roommate.
Thank you!!
Me and my Electivire/Kingambit deck ain't worried 😂
Oh yeah!! Those two have higher HP, so they don't really have to worry about gatekeepers! That's pretty sweet!
One prize decks definitely still have a place in the Meta right now. It’s just different then it used to be. Instead of gimmick reliant strategies like united wings or festival plaza it’s ancient box and Snorlax stall. I don’t think you can just completely disregard them for the sake of argument and just show off gimmick decks. Klawf isn’t bad either and there’s also some single prize mill deck in the format. All in all they make up about 12,5% of decks which is a good chunk considering the top 1 deck Regidrago V-Star makes up 12,3%.
I totally agree with you! Nowadays, the only truly successful single prize decks are ones that have big HP Basics that can do big damage, like Klawf and Okidogi (both decks that popped up on the radar almost immediately after this video was published), or Snorlax because it's designed to stall out meta decks. It's nice to see a resurgence in single prize usage again, there's still quite a bit of improvement that needs to be made to protect the archetype further, but I definitely agree with you! Well said, mate!
TPCI makes silver bullets on purpose for single prize decks because they hate them. Multi prize decks usually have more expensive cards, and halfway through a generation they will just decide they don’t want you play these.
ADP to Malamar, Kyurem to Lost Box, etc
I agree with the "silver bullet" philosophy, but I'm not sure if it's because TPCI hates single prize decks specifically. I personally think it's more of a marketing situation, they want to make cooler and flashier cards that have absurd effects to say, "hey, look at what this stupidly overpowered card can do!" The two examples you gave are perfect representations of a deep hatred for single prize decks, though, so you might be right 😅
I like playing non meta decks and I will say the gatekeepers effecting the single prize decks make playing non meta decks impossible too
I saw ForTheWinTCG talking about this too in his more recent videos, and I think it's really unfortunate. Gatekeepers are a major reason why I don't try playing as many rouge or non meta decks on my channel at the moment. I hope things improve for the future so that us off meta deck enjoyers can succeed again!
@@pikiptcg I play them anyways, but PTCG live loves to give me disadvantages on top of the inherent ones:
Sorry, you can't grab your Bibarel with that ultraball you just played...it's bugged out.
Yeah, I'm just gonna prize all the most important cards for you.
So you Iono'd your opponent down to one card...well, let's give them the that one copy of research they play as their top-deck (no, that will never happen for you, don't even ask for it).
Ah-ha! I see you expected me to mulligan you twice and still give you a bad hand so you play Carmine....well, jokes on you. Go ahead and throw away boss, counter catcher, rod, your ace spec, and the evolution you need for next turn (don't worry, the other 2 are prized...with your other boss).
Heads? For you? Silly rabbit, heads is for your opponent.
The only match I could find for you was a perfect counter to your deck...for the last 4 matches!
Vikavolt is a fun one
And on previous Meta (tag team Pokémon) this ADP GX-attack completely kill single price decks this period. Now was at least playable, but not great.
I made an entire documentary about how ADP terrorized the game for a long time, and it was ridiculous to see how much the meta warped around Altered Creation GX...
could someone explain to me (I am new to the TCG) why ancient box and snorlax doesn't just completely contradict his argument? he just mentions them and then throws them out and I don't quite understand why.
Ancient Box and Blocklax are exempt from the gatekeeper argument because they have a few qualities that protect them.
For Ancient Box, it's high HP, easy "beat stick" Basic Pokémon that can whittle away at opponent's HP. Only Briar is ultimately effective against it in an immediate sense. It essentially acts like a 2-prize deck but with single prize attackers.
Blocklax is a control deck, which basically is purely designed to keep your opponent from playing the game naturally. This strategy locks opponents out of using gatekeeper cards effectively, which allows it to avoid the pitfalls that smaller HP and traditional single prize decks like United Wings fall into.
I hope this helps you understand a bit more! I do have a different video on my channel from about a year ago explaining Snorlax control in more detail if that might help a bit more!
Wishing you the best as you start your Pokémon TCG journey!
Dammm this video is pure gold
Glad you enjoyed it!! Thank you for watching! 😁
I like playing single prize deck, I played lots of Festival Decks recently, but I have to agree. Especially Kyurem + Dragapult ex is super annoying and you can't really protect yourself.
Rabsca is too hard to get into play imo; Manaphy is a must-have, but its effect is too weak.
Imo they should just print a stronger version of it that offers better protection.. And maybe also something that protects against effects that take additional price cards
If I were to give single prize decks an immediate fix right now, I'd definitely prioritize better protection against gatekeepers. I like the idea of Prize card control, maybe an effect that only benefits single prizers just to give more on an incentive to play them? I like your thinking process here!
As an avid United Wings enjoyer, this is sad to realize.
That being said, I'm having fun trying to figure out how to make the deck work in my local scene. Having the 1 of Rowlet for Charizard is always funny. I want to make use of the Kilowattrel eventually (unlikely but who knows)
It's really unfortunate to see just how oppressed single prize decks are right now, because all the crazy gatekeepers make the playing experience nearly impossible. But, I also love seeing the innovation that creative and truly passionate players such as yourself truly shine! I do like seeing the decks playing 1 Rowlet to OHKO Zards and I think it's super cheeky but also a very smart call! And I really like the idea of sniping with Kilowattrel too, I honestly forgot that card existed! Wishing you the best on your United Wings endeavors, mate!
If you can somehow trap a pokemon in the active and then get Kilowattrel into the active you can easily force a checkmate. I run a single copy, and so far that's been working well enough. It's niche but a nice option. Also can't waif for Perfect Mixer ACE spec!
OK is not very competitive, but is very fun (when works) in casual mode.
Why exempt ancient box? It’s literally THE single prize deck at the moment? Plus festival lead but that one is a little slow
Ancient Box is relatively less affected by the major gatekeepers that hold every other single prize deck back. Plus, it can get aggressive and go turbo just like any multi prize deck relatively quickly, so that's why I decided to keep it exempt from the rest of the video (since the rest of the video was mainly talking about the aforementioned gatekeepers). Festival Lead is really good on paper, but it's really held back at this point in time by both itself (super fragile, sometimes a bit lackluster) and basically every gatekeeper in the format at the moment.
Nothing about night March was healthy is the funny thing lol. I agree that single prize decks aren't very good right now but that deck was broken back in the day. The biggest issue with them is balancing everything. It is easier to balance the game around bigger damage higher health cards I'd think than having it be low health single prize Pokémon.
To be honest, I didn't play competitively during the time Night March was legal, so my analysis in the video might be a bit skewed compared to reality 😅
I agree with your comment about balancing, it's really tough (especially in the modern game) to balance cards nowadays thanks to power creep. And, like you said, it's easier to spend resources around meta cards rather than smaller cards with less impact. I wish I was able to play during the Night March era to see how broken it was...🥲
@pikiptcg be happy you didn't tbh. Night march was a feast or famine deck that either dumped its whole deck turn 1 or lost on the spot to the funny toad. It frequently had to play like a two prize deck due to its reliance on dce which is hilarious as well.
@@pikiptcg you not playing for very long is pretty obvious. The 1st Gen meta was all haymakers. Huge damage cards have almost always been the main meta of Pokemon, and there was no really consistent counter to the Hitmonchan haymaker in 1st Gen or fossil. If you don't like that short of play, you simply don't like the game. It's like complaining about doom being in first person.
I feel like a big premise of the video is defeated by the fact that ancient box and stalllax are a thing. It’s hard to take “single prize decks are dead” seriously when there are 2 very strong and consistent ones in this very format. Regardless good discussion video
Ancient Box, Blocklax, and even newcomer decks like Klawf and Okidogi have all been super successful lately, but that's because they all are big HP Basics that either resist/are relatively unaffected by gatekeepers. That's sort of what the main premise of the video was about (smaller HP evolution decks getting wrecked by gatekeepers), but I agree that the single prize archetype is still alive and kicking, especially in the past two Regionals. I'm glad you enjoyed the video, mate!
I do hate prize manipulation everywhere, even when playing 2-Prizers. If I could remove any card from the meta i think it would be dusknoir, since it can force your opponent to take prize cards while setting up ANY pokemon to be KOd with a countercatcher + Briar combo.
I totally agree with you! I actually made an entire Twitter thread explaining why Dusknoir is such a bad card for the health of the game, and I also think that Dusk+Catcher+Briar is so disgusting right now lol
despite it being single prize, kofu as been doing pretty well for me
I'm glad you're finding success with it!! Crabominable is a deck I've wanted to look into for a while now!! 😁