2nd Indonesian Pokemon TCG League Challenge @ Toys City Puri Indah Mall

9 masters, 1 senior and 3 masters battle it out for top spot at today's LC!

Team Ascension's Alfred Benedict Matthews makes his competitive debut!

Dendy Santoso is all smiles as he shuffles up his deck to face Taufik Hidayat!

Christian Liu and Albert Tjong have full focus on their games as they fight to win 15 points!

Redemptus Elmar Rusli piloting his Yveltal Break deck for one last hurrah before it rotates in September!

Clash of the titans! 2 times Worlds competitor Dendy Santoso takes on one time Worlds top 8 competitor Tito Santoso!

Back to back, Auriel Abraham Karlam and Dendy Santoso attempt to defend home turf against two visiting players!

Junior competitor Jericho Wiyandy made his competitive debut a memorable one after coming 4th amongst way older competition!

1 time Worlds competitor Joel Andrew Suryadi looks to make his 2nd worlds invite with a solid start to the new season!

What’s up guys! My name is Christian and I am another member of Team Ascension. Today, I’m going to be discussing the deck that I took to win the 2nd Indonesia League Challenge for the 2018-2019 season. But before that, I’ll go over a few of the stats surrounding the tournament.

2nd Indonesian League Challenge Results

(10 Masters and 3 Juniors)

1st Place: Christian Liu (Baby Buzzwole - Lycanroc GX)

2nd Place: Redemptus Elmar Rusli (Yveltal Break AKA Oranguru Legends)

3rd Place: Tito Santoso (Necrozma GX - Malamar)

4th Place: Jericho Wiyandy (Zororark GX - Lycanroc GX)

Deck Breakdown:

Ultra Necrozma GX - Malamar: 3

Baby Buzzwole - Lycanroc GX: 1

Yveltal Break: 1

Necrozma GX - Malamar: 1

Zororark GX - Lycanroc GX: 1

Tapu Bulu GX - Vikavolt: 1

Zoroark-Garbodor: 1

Metagross GX: 1

Naganadel GX Beast Box: 1

Greninja Break: 1

Lycanrox GX - Lucario GX: 1

Here is how my rounds played out:

R1 Bye

R2 Taufik (Ultra Necrozma GX - Malamar)

R3 Tito Santoso (Necrozma GX - Malamar ft. Fighting Fury Belt)

R4 Edwin (Ultra Necrozma GX - Malamar)

As you can tell, not much has changed since the first League Challenge, and I wouldn't expect anything else considering there was only a one day gap between the two tournaments. Ultra Necrozma GX-Malamar continues to be the main deck in the format while the rest of the meta is still extremely diverse.

So, what made me decide to play Baby Buzz-Roc? Well let's get into the deck's strengths. One major strength of the Buzzwole deck is it’s ability to hit magic numbers with 1 prize attackers such as baby Buzzwole in a meta dominated by GX and EX Pokemon. Aside from being a powerful and energy efficient one prize attacker, baby Buzzwole sits at a solid 130 HP which puts it out of reach from attacks like Energy Drive and Riotous Beating. Another major advantage is that the deck can essentially 3 supporters in 1 turn with an actual supporter, Octillery’s Abbysal Hand and Lycanroc GX’s Bloodthirsty Eyes. This deck is a strong option for players who wish to mantain constant control over the game state no matter which stage of the game they are in. Cards such as Max Elixir, strong energy and Diancie Prism Star combined with baby Buzz’s 1 energy attack make the deck extremely efficient in the early game. In the mid game, the deck has access to tempo swinging plays such as Beast Ring and baby Buzz’s Sledgehammer. Towards the late stages, the deck can fall back on Octillery and Lycanroc GX to gain access to sufficient resources to close off the game.

However, the deck does have it’s fair share of weaknesses in the current meta game. The presence of one prize psychic attackers such as Transalanche Garbodor, Mew, both Mewtwos, Mimikyu and Hoopa is a major threat to Buzzwole’s dominance. The deck is also weak to late game Garbotoxin Garbodor as it shuts off access to the deck’s game ending mechanics.

One issue that many people have brought up after looking at this list is the 1-2 Octillery line. I believe it is essential to the deck as Octillery is seldom needed in the early game, but vital in the mid to late game. Thus, even if Octillery is prized in the beginning, I still bench Remoraid to divert my opponent’s attention and protect my main attackers. Having Remoraid standing by on my bench also allows me to open up more plays the moment I pull Octillery from my prizes.

Another thing some players mention is my decision to run 4 Strong Energy and 1 Beast Energy instead of a 3-1 line. I decided to play a 4-1 line as means of ensuring a 1HKO against Pokemon such as against Dawn Wings Necrozma GX, Ultra Necrozma GX and Zygarde GX in case my Diancie is prized.

Many people are surprised by the fact that I only play 1 copy of Buzzwole GX. This is because I have essentially switched the roles of bay Buzz and Buzwwole GX whereby baby Buzz is actually my main attacker while Buzzwole GX is more of a surprise attacker when combined with Beast Ring, a combo that often times catches my opponents of guard as they think that I’m playing pure baby Buzz and can’t hit high HP Pokemon such as Gardevoire GX and Golisopod GX.

This deck is a safe play for both Worlds 2018 and the Nashville Open assuming that you don’t play against the two major weaknesses of the deck, namely Zoroark GX Toolbox and GX less Psychic Malamar. I wouldn’t be too worried about playing against either of them however, considering that Zoroark GX Toolbox is a very skill reliant deck that few have mastered and that a Malamar deck reliant on only one prize attackers is weak to all other decks aside from Buzzwole and would be a very bad meta call.

That’s it for this time! Thanks so much for reading and see you in the next article!