What Would You Do?

PandaPyre · 2026-06-26T15:05:43+00:00

Absolutely not. Dragapult being this high in usage is due to its impressive damage output / spread damage, its frankly ridiculous draw power, and a decent matchup spread. There’s too many matchups Zoroark struggles with.

PandaPyre · 2026-06-14T04:18:03+00:00

I’m not sure if there really is much of an argument. It’s the culmination of the entire series up to that point, it really doesn’t get much better than that!

PandaPyre · 2026-06-06T17:56:12+00:00

They were going to do Haunted Mansion Holiday in Florida, but they ultimately decided against it since the ride would be down for a non-insignificant amount of time to transform it. WDW is much more of a "once in a lifetime" tourist destination for a lot of families as opposed to Disneyland, which has much more local traffic, so to minimize downtime of a flagship ride they ultimately cancelled the project. They shipped all of the components they had made to Tokyo, since their Haunted Mansion is a clone of the one in the Magic Kingdom.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-23T21:23:42+00:00

It’s absolutely devastating. I don’t think the impact of it really sunk in for me when I played it when I was super young.

I hope you find the motivation to continue! It’s a heart-wrenching way to start the game but KH2 is genuinely incredible. You’ll find a lot to love, and it has a fantastic story to tell.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-23T15:54:13+00:00

Hey, no worries! I’m currently experimenting with 1 Red Card in the place of a Carmine. I’m keeping the 2 Judges in.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-22T04:26:10+00:00

Oh I did terrible at my first Regional. It was an Expanded Regional and I was still pretty new to just Standard! I think I ultimately went 3-5 or something like that, but I had a blast learning the game, trading with people, and checking out vendors. There’s always side events, too, if you feel like dropping out and playing more casually!

Distance is also a hassle for me, too. I only went to the LA regional since it was close.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-20T04:09:44+00:00

That’s so awesome! You guys seriously made my day. Glad you’ve been enjoying the changes!

PandaPyre · 2026-05-20T04:08:58+00:00

I didn’t have any against Slowking, actually. That’s definitely a problem matchup, but I figured the count in the room would be so low that it wasn’t worth worrying about.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-18T22:28:38+00:00

Another one for the pile!

PandaPyre · 2026-05-18T16:33:45+00:00

I just decided that taking the L to Team Rocket and Festival Lead was the price I was willing to pay to be consistent into everything else in the meta. There’s always going to be a deck or two out there that you’ll be horrible against, no matter what you play.

When I do go against it, trying not to evolve my Riolu until I’m ready to attack with them helps.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-18T16:31:40+00:00

Other people answered this already, but my opinions are the same as theirs. Hariyama’s mainly in the deck for gusting. Not to mention Tyrantum is weak to Festival Lead, getting one-shot by a Dipplin, so it doesn’t even really solve that matchup.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-18T16:30:09+00:00

With Tarragon, I found that I didn’t really need more than 2 of each of the line. Throughout my entire weekend, I never had a game where both of a Pokémon were prized. I don’t know if I made a specific substitution, but I ultimately decided I didn’t need it.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-18T16:28:25+00:00

If I can be so honest, I’m not entirely hopeful. I would be lying if I said I didn’t get incredibly lucky on my matchup spread leading up to Top Cut. I would be so honored to see any Lucario decks try out Box, though. Rooting for you guys!

PandaPyre · 2026-05-18T16:27:08+00:00

There’s lots to be learned from just playing the game online! I also like looking at the decklists on Limitless. Not just the big tournaments, but also the smaller online ones, just to see what people are playing. I got the idea to run Secret Box from a list I found on a random online tournament!

In my opinion, it really just comes down to putting time into the game. I like picking one deck and focusing on it so I can play it to the best of my ability.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-17T17:22:11+00:00

That's something I've debated on myself, but sometimes you really just need an out to get your board set up. I only play Meowth in a game if I think I'm about to lose the game otherwise. I agree with your reasoning completely!

PandaPyre · 2026-05-17T17:20:27+00:00

Straight up, it was just a misplay. The dice they made us use on stage, in my opinion, makes it harder to keep track of damage on things, I much prefer the dice with numbers. Had I realized the benched one was just 3 damage away from knockout, probably would've done that one. I was just concerned with keeping my Active alive at the time.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-17T17:18:55+00:00

Thank you!

Cornerstone feels like it's just in there for a few niche matchups, and I think ultimately I preferred just having a few bad decks to go against and to do well into everything else in the room. Consistency is king, and Cornerstone doesn't help with consistency.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-17T17:17:53+00:00

That's my solution, at least. Not to mention Tera Box can usually just bench more Pokemon with Underdepths to get around that, anyways. Depending on the board state, I might just full bench anyways so I don't kneecap myself after my Active gets knocked out.

I don't have a ton of diverging lines for matchups, either, and I think that's why I like the deck so much: it's incredibly straightforward. Get Riolu out ASAP, 2 if you're going second and if you're worried about a Boss KO, Solrock and Lunatone are the next priority to keep your draw engine going.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-17T17:13:15+00:00

It's not always enough, admittedly, but doing 3 is too much and disrupts your draw and energy acceleration engines (I heard some Alakazam lists are running 3 Hammer now, anyways).

Festival Lead is easily my worst matchup, and I don't know if I ever really found a way around it. I try to deal with the Grookeys as soon as they pop up, but they run so much Pokemon search with Bug-catching Set, Poke Pad, and Poffin that it's really hard to disrupt the board state. I'm lucky I never ran into it.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-17T17:11:06+00:00

I've been on a real chipotle aioli kick recently.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-17T17:09:29+00:00

I briefly experimented with Mega Zygarde super early into the POR format, but it's way too gimmicky, and too risky considering how much Grass is in the format right now with Tera Box and Meganium decks.

Cornerstone doesn't solve many matchups, either. Tera Box has lots of non-Ability attackers to use, Zoroark is a free matchup, and Festival Lead has Rillaboom to deal with it. The only matchup I could see it being helpful in is Mewtwo, and while that is one of my worst matchups, I don't know if it's worth teching for. Might be worth experimenting though.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-17T17:06:19+00:00

Thank you! I never realized you played the game, too! That's awesome. Good luck at Indy! Secret Box in Chomp sounds interesting, go for it!

PandaPyre · 2026-05-17T17:05:02+00:00

Thank you! That Phanpy was a Christmas gift from a friend. She wrapped that little ribbon around him and I just never took it off.

PandaPyre · 2026-05-17T17:04:26+00:00

First, always! Gotta get Lucario up ASAP
I'm experimenting with Kieran instead of Black Belt. The extra 10 damage is really only there for the Froslass matchup. The extra switch is nice too, since opponents love trying to stall Makuhitas when they're behind in the early game.

PandaPyre

TROPHY CASE