Thousands of players, including over 1,100 in the Masters Division, convened in Columbus, Ohio, for the 2016 Pokémon TCG US National Championships to battle for incredible prizes and a chance to be crowned National Champion. And for the first time ever, the event featured four different live streams for fans at home to watch all the action at Pokemon.com/Live. The result was an exciting weekend with plenty of interesting things to discuss.
A Variety of Styles
The major story coming out of US Nationals this year was the incredibly diverse metagame that developed. A total of 64 players advanced to the second day of competition, playing more than 15 different kinds of decks. We haven’t seen this kind of variety in years, and it created a truly unpredictable and thrilling environment. From Bronzong BREAK to Zygarde-EX, you never knew what deck was going to pop up next.
The atypical atmosphere created incredible matches for fans
to watch on the live stream. Whether it was Sorina
Radu’s incredible journey from 64th place to 11th place, Paul
Johnston’s bizarre win by only playing Lysandre against a Vileplume, or Nick
Robinson’s barrage of Enhanced Hammer and Xerosic to run his opponent out of Energy cards, there was an incredible amount
of action to follow. But as exciting and fresh as the event was, a familiar foe
ended up on top.
Night March Leads the Parade
Throughout the 2016 season, the Night March deck has reigned supreme in the Standard format. With the debut of XY—Fates Collide and various results from international events, it seemed like the duo of Joltik and Pumpkaboo was loosening its stranglehold on competitive play. New strategies were popping up, and the return of N made the Night March strategy a little vulnerable in the later stages of games. But at the end of the day, the staggering numbers told the story: over one-third of the Masters Division players who finished in the Top 64 used a Night March deck.
This year’s champion, Nick Robinson, made a great metagame call by adding a heavy line of Vespiquen to his Night March deck. Seismitoad-EX was gaining a lot of momentum heading into US Nationals, and that’s typically a difficult card for Night March decks to deal with. As a Grass type that can hit Seismitoad-EX for Weakness, Vespiquen provided an easy solution to that problem, taking a quick two-Prize-card KO against any opponent who dared to use the Quaking Punch attack. The skill of Robinson and the sheer power of Night March were on full display as he fought through several difficult matchups on his path to becoming National Champion.
Disrupt and Destroy
Hand disruption and Energy destruction were major themes in
the other successful decks at this year’s event. The success of Seismitoad-EX is well documented at this point, but
some may be surprised at the number of Giratina-EX that made their way to the top tables. The Chaos
Wheel attack was crucial for locking down the Double Colorless Energy in several strategies, sometimes winning a matchup on its own. In fact, Marcos
Garcia used both of these disruptive Pokémon en route to a 2nd place
result. And if locking down Item or Special Energy cards wasn’t enough, Crushing Hammer added even more frustration to the mix to disable
opponents completely.
Trevenant with the Forest’s Curse Ability was another popular way to disrupt opponents—two players used it to reach the Top 8. Vileplume’s Irritating Pollen Ability has a similar effect, proving just how potent shutting down Item cards can be. Most Masters Division players seemed to come to the same conclusion: either you use a Night March deck, or you use something designed to beat it. Both strategies proved to be valid at US Nationals, whether that meant shutting down Item cards or Special Energy cards.
Full Steam Ahead
The US National Championships are behind us, and that means the 2016 Pokémon TCG World Championships are just around the corner. If you missed the announcement, XY—Steam Siege will be legal for play at Worlds, which is sure to shake things up. Will the Night March deck continue to dominate the Standard format, or will another strategy come out on top? Which player will earn the top prize of $25,000 and be crowned World Champion? Be sure to follow Pokemon.com/Strategy for updates leading to the most prestigious event of the season!
