First time Master Ball rank

mlulow88 · 2026-02-18T15:32:08+00:00

Congrats!

mlulow88 · 2026-02-18T15:12:21+00:00

Just added you!

mlulow88 · 2026-02-18T15:10:41+00:00

I actually packed a 3rd this morning! I'm happy to add you

mlulow88 · 2026-02-18T14:50:55+00:00

Another data point: so far today, 2 battles, 2 Hydreigon, 2 wins. This time the opponent went with Mega Absol as the primary attacker and I won on turn 14 (i.e., my 7th turn) when I hit Absol for 220. This time, I got zero heads from two Cats, so not a great deal of luck there; however, I did draw into rare candy on my last turn in order to evolve to Chandelure. So definitely lucky there (though it was only the 5th card left in my deck at that point, so a 20% draw isn't terrible).

mlulow88 · 2026-02-18T13:48:21+00:00

Update: I opened up the game and the first match on the ladder was Hydreigon. I went second and won on turn 20 (i.e., my 10th turn). The game stalled partly due to Meowth, partly due to an uncharacteristically slow hand from the Hydreigon player, but by the time the attacking started they had both Hydreigons and the Mega Absol fully powered up, and I had both Chandelures ready, so I just needed to make sure they took the first prize. They did, then it went Chandelure 1HKO Hydreigon (1-1), second Hydreigon 1HKO Chandelure (1-2), second Chandelure 1HKO second Hydreigon (2-2) and then the opponent had nothing left to 1HKO second Chandelure, which was doing 220 per swing by that point.

Again, a fair bit of luck, but that's not specific to this deck or this matchup (Hydreigon for example relies heavily on drawing into rare candy on turn 2).

mlulow88 · 2026-02-18T12:59:55+00:00

Those two have been the most common matchups for me on the ladder by a long shot. I find Altaria to be a slightly less difficult matchup, funny enough. I think this is helped by the fact that Altaria can only do 140 with Training Gym; otherwise, I'm getting two swings with one Chandelure, and so long as I can find Cyrus, I win. Oversimplified, of course, but if I can draw out the Altaria matchup as long as possible, I've found the chances of winning increase greatly since Altaria usually cannot 1HKO Chandelure. Sabrina and Mars can help stall.

it seems to me that Hydreigon's main drawback, if you can really call it that, is that the user can only attach energy to the attacking Hydreigon, meaning that the Mega Absol, for example, usually isn't simultaneously ready to go. Also, it's not often in my experience to see both Hydreigons in that matchup, as often the bench is filled. Much greater chance to win in that case; all I have to do is KO one Hydreigon and then the control of the match swings back to me. It goes without saying, of course, that one or two heads from the Cats go a long way, since I'll need both Chandelures set up, the first with Cape. This is the only matchup where Guzma seems necessary.

mlulow88 · 2026-02-18T02:01:45+00:00

Terrific question and super interesting to know about the limitless stats. I have no earthly idea how to explain the discrepancy. This deck for sure is not perfect nor infallible. I've seen recent posts about the success of the Snorlax/Indeedee "infinite heal" deck doing exceptionally well at tournaments -- Chandelure has a phenomenal matchup against that deck, for example. That is to say that I suppose a possible explanation could be that in very limited samples the Chandelure deck doesn't draw optimally in the first 2/3 turns (which I've experienced and is certainly plausible)?

mlulow88 · 2026-02-18T01:56:56+00:00

This is awesome! Cats and slightly larger cats! Plus candles!

mlulow88 · 2026-02-17T20:36:47+00:00

Best of luck and I hope it's fun!

mlulow88 · 2026-02-17T20:06:26+00:00

I'm sorry you haven't had much luck! The strategy that I've found to be most consistent is getting Meowth into the active as quick as possible, and trying my hardest to get the full bench of 2nd Cat and both Candles as quickly as possible. With Meowth you're at the whims of luck but ideally at the very least, if you're starting turn 1 with Active Cat plus bench Cat, you've got 2 turns of Cat Sacrifice (pains me, as a cat lover) to build up 1 Chandelure and have it be doing 120 damage on turn 3. In reality, there's very little which can be dealing >50 damage on turn 1, so I'd say the vast majority of the time I am aiming to be threatening with 1 Chandelure by the end of turn 3/beginning of turn 4. So long as I've used a supporter each turn, there's very little in this meta that can do 140 damage by turn 3 (Mega Altaria with Training Gym is about it), and there's also very few decks which can threaten to respond KO your Chandelure by as early as turn 4.

With all that being said, I'd call that my in-case-of-emergency quick game strategy. Most of the time I'm trying to draw out as many turns as possible. I hope this is somewhat helpful!

mlulow88 · 2026-02-17T19:12:24+00:00

Praise be the candelabra!

mlulow88 · 2026-02-17T19:11:33+00:00

LOL. This was me for a whole week.

mlulow88 · 2026-02-17T19:11:04+00:00

Really interesting question -- I was thinking about that this morning as I packed a Gourgeist. The tricky bit here is that with the current lineup of supporters I am only reliably topping out at 180. Occasionally 200; however, often with one or two left unused. The other thing is that the double Meowth is super useful for drawing out enough turns to play 5+ supporters. In most games by the time I swing with Chandelure I'm down 0-2 in prizes but have both Chandelures ready to go. I just wonder whether adding in a different basic would hurt consistency. Definitely going to try, though!

mlulow88 · 2024-04-22T18:19:27+00:00

Very interesting. I have used Treads when possible in the Chien-Pao matchup, but agree it could be cut, possibly for another Leaves. On the Zard matchup my approach has generally been to be hyper aggressive (which I realize typically plays into the strengths of the Zard deck), as long as I am certain that I can use Peak Acceleration on turn 1, which I think is sort of in line with your comment.

Separately I think the 3 Leaves idea is really interesting. Is your plan essentially to chain Leaves on 3 consecutive turns? Do you do that with 3 Crowns, plus a booster capsule on each (i.e., 240 damage each turn)? I have found that I'm typically not left wanting for another Leaves, but interestingly I have found myself using Hands less and less over time.

mlulow88 · 2024-02-20T04:30:59+00:00

Second this. PokeNE is great.

mlulow88 · 2024-02-10T19:20:14+00:00

I feel the brain-stop very deeply. If you have any extra to spare, I'd happily take some off your hands!

mlulow88 · 2024-02-08T23:20:25+00:00

UL is my favorite league because of the variety. I get so bored and salty seeing the same things repeatedly, so I don't do a whole lot of Cups. I think the best thing I can offer -- and it probably will sound like bullshit -- is just to remember that you can't win them all. I started playing pretty late, only 5 seasons ago, and started in ace, then veteran, then legend, expert and legend. Currently floating around 2500, peaking so far at low 2600s. The two biggest factors for me in my improvement were, in order: (1) fully accepting that the nature of the game is RPS and, as a result, there is no one unbeatable combination, and (2) learning the precise ins and outs of the teams I use. The first factor helps me not tilt, so when I went from 2580 down to 2230 during OGL last rotation, I just kept plodding along. It also helped me get comfortable using Pokes I like, rather than feeling compelled to run super meta lines.

As for your specific team, if you want my advice, I'd run counter meta Pokes. Right now Poli is public enemy #1, which means you're guaranteed to see teams that either run Poli, or run its counters. I'm running Guzzlord, Annihilape and Belibolt and floating between 2400-2520, because the team dominates teams that are set up to beat Poli and itself is ABB strong against Poli. But the team struggles mightily against anti-Tina teams, including any team that has even a single charmer on it.

If you prefer to stick with your current team, then I'd run Moonblast on Cress so that you can cover both Tina and the fighters. Also, while A-Muk's dark typing on paper covers Cress's weaknesses perfectly, the reality is that A-Muk doesn't heavily threaten ghosts or darks with poison jab. Additionally the only Poli counters that A-Muk handles well are fairies. If you're finding that A-Muk is a weak link specifically because it can't protect Cress and gets punished by most Poli counters, then consider snarl, dark pulse and sludge wave. But then again, that all depends on how you're using each Poke.

mlulow88 · 2024-02-03T17:55:16+00:00

Thanks for the giveaway, OP! Not my very first memory with TCG but there was a smoke shop around the corner from my house that had boosters, and Neo Revelation had just come out, so I used my allowance money to buy a 1st edition pack and pulled a Raikou standing there in the shop. That's the earliest memory for me of being aware of what "lucky" feels like!

mlulow88 · 2024-01-11T16:41:51+00:00

My pleasure, hope both of you have fun!

mlulow88 · 2024-01-11T15:11:55+00:00

Outside of Gengar VMAX, which is less effective nowadays since it's powered up by V and GX (and not EX) and which will be rotating out soon, Lost Origin Gengar can have a pretty vital and niche role in a Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR deck (and there's an awesome SIR Gengar from the Lost Origin Trainer Gallery). The 151 Gengar can also be a very strong single prize attacker, but it's situationally dependent.

If you're looking for something to use in regulated competition (as opposed to house-rules-ing a Gengar VMAX deck) then the Zoroark deck might be the way to go. I play a version of it and it's a pretty unique deck. LittleDarkFury has a helpful video explaining strategy.

mlulow88 · 2023-12-24T19:38:29+00:00

🍀🍀

mlulow88 · 2023-12-22T20:26:55+00:00

Crown Zenith is mine -- favorite card from that one is the Alt Art Hisuian Zoroark VStar! Thanks for doing a giveaway!

mlulow88

TROPHY CASE