EXCLUSIVE - The Meta Has SHIFTED and HERES PROOF!

[@NothingButBangersYT]

ONE CORRECTION I WANT TO MAKE SURE I PUT OUT THERE - PIKA AND ZEBSTRIKA! 98-93 - 191 games - 51.31% *** let me know if anything else pops up as you guys check my work and thanks for checking it out!

[@polpiantina]

The red card discussion should definitely include top cut conversion rates btw, it's what probably indicates its usefulness best. Knowing how many people in the tournament play with / without it and the % of people who get in for each group is key

[@luisg3369]

Not necessarily, everybody uses profesor research, so the conversion rate would be really low, does this mean profesor research is a bad card???

[@NothingButBangersYT]

my quota is is 1 red card discussion per week now lol, I don't think it'll ever end tbh.

[@polpiantina]

@@luisg3369 ok..? That doesn't change the fact that it's a good indication of whether you're better off with / without. You don't need to aim for 100%, you need to compare the decks that play it against the decks that don't. Saying "3 made the cut with, 1 without" isn't worth too much if you don't know how many people were from either group to begin with

[@NothingButBangersYT]

One of the reasons I point out which decks use Red Card and which don't is to show its presence in the tournament. Another reason is to show that some decks feel their strategy is more important than disrupting opponent (ex Raichu variant choosing to not play it vs more Zebstrika playing it) or even the fact Water Decks feel they have room for Red Card rather than extra potions/giovanni's.

[@artificialkid9008]

Another key point about the red card discussion is that most of the tournaments are open list, which is something that favours putting at least 1 copy just for the pressure it has. I would like to see a lot more data about red cars in closed list tournament, because that is more similar to how people actually play the game

[@ryangains151]

This tournament had the most diversity in decks it was awesome. Just glad to see mewtwo didn't win lol.

[@NothingButBangersYT]

Yeah on stream when I was casting I mentioned how we should enjoy moments like this. There's at least 4 really playable decks and all of them are really strong. In the future we may look back and wish we had formats like this

[@ryangains151]

@NothingButBangersYT true it was looking like only two decks were the best but really i think it's just beginning to shine on creativity

[@dhbroad]

Charcanine. CHARCANINE!

[@NothingButBangersYT]

Technically Charizard does fill more sports and therefore should be first in the name

[@_AmorFati_]

Well done man! We can see you really put so much thought and effort into your vids. Nobody else out there is giving us this top tier breakdown. Thank you 😊

[@NothingButBangersYT]

Thanks for checking it out! Yeah this one I had my calculator out for a few hours lol

[@daniloduarte6863]

I´ve got top61 last Ursi´s tournament and played red card at my Zard9 deck. It´s not about using it every game, but since you can view the enemy decklists the red card forces the player to play slowly to not be punished hard. When I played against someone that doesn´t use red card I could just play as fast as I could. Red card is about threaten your opp. Of course you can just give your opp all cards they need for evo or smth like sabrina, but the payoff to just fuck your opp tempo is too good

[@NothingButBangersYT]

Exactly, this is definitely a big part why Tournament Open Deck List vs Ladder Closed Deck List is so different in some ways.

[@danielcarlospereira8494]

The only question I have is if by forcing the opponent to respect it, it ends up being a blank more often when you draw it, cause the opponent is never playing in a way that give it value. But probably the fact it already gives you the value of this ceiling limiting, kinda like a semi-floodgate effect, drawing this card can feel like a self-correcting factor for the fact that its presence is already felt from the beginning of the game, and then it's actual written effect becomes a bonus.

[@thatjdsnider]

This is the type of tournament data breakdown I’ve been looking for. I appreciate your analysis and taking the time to dig deep in to all of the available data to find the most accurate picture of the metagame. Thanks and keep up the good work!

[@NothingButBangersYT]

Thank you! It was a lot of math and I do need to fix 1 of the details on Pika and Zeb for Ursi's tourney but outside that I'm really happy with what I put out!

[@fallguybuddy2654]

I’m looking forward to trying out starmie/ninja deck. I’ve felt articuno is just too slow sometimes.

[@NothingButBangersYT]

That's legitimately the same reasoning I have for why I like Starmie EX & Greninja the most. There's probably reason to include Misty & 1 Articuno EX but I do lean towards that build more than other water decks

[@danielcarlospereira8494]

@@NothingButBangersYT I think Misty + Articuno EX still gives the possibility of an auto-win some games, and that's a characteristic not many decks have in TCGP. It trivializes some games for you when lots of decks need to grind for every victory, and that's a pretty good thing for a top deck to have. I think the most optimal approach for the best water deck should include this strategy while making sure the deck can still grind for the same amount of victories other top decks can when the Articuno + Misty combo fails. My background from Yu-Gi-Oh! keeps telling me the most probable reason for why Water decks have high win percentages(even though they have less representation to justify it better like Arcazard does) is because some amount of games it will open Articuno EX + 2/3 energies first turn, which trivializes the rest of those games for them. Taking them out could make it more consistent, but at the same time could lower those decks' win rate in tournaments.

[@NothingButBangersYT]

Yeah I’m with you on like 99% of that. It’s hard to just pass on a card that gives you opportunities to just auto win because misty and staryu/froakie is definitely not doing that lol

[@mikeoandhisdoh]

Subbed quite awhile back but wanted to drop a comment to let you know you’re crushing it my dude, really good stuff

[@NothingButBangersYT]

Thanks a ton! Happy to keep delivering for you all

[@asphyxia5186]

Moltres and Friends

[@NothingButBangersYT]

see this is what I like

[@PrestonDLuffy]

hey NBB, just wanted to highlight my current Pika list bc I haven’t really seen anyone trying one similar, but I’ve been really happy with the results: 1x Pikachu 1x Raichu 2x Pikachu EX 2x Voltorb 2x Electrode 2x Zapdos 1x Potion 1x X Speed 2x Poké Ball 2x Professor’s Research 2x Giovanni 1x Sabrina 1x Lt. Surge I’ve found that having 7 Basics in the deck is the sweet spot for guaranteeing a full bench almost every time you need it for Pika EX. The singleton regular Pikachu, Raichu, Lt. Surge has come in clutch against the tankier matchups and closed out games for me with that surprise 140 dmg attack. In a pinch too, Lt. Surge is a respectable pivot for Electrode to start swinging in. I’ve been running this list for the past two and a half weeks with about a 70-80% win rate on ladder, and the only changes I made post this weekend was going up to 2 Giovanni’s (cutting my 2nd Sabrina) for the Arcanine/Charizard/Moltres matchup Would love to see anyone’s thoughts on this too!

[@Kelvin871005]

@@PrestonDLuffy i run a similar list too

[@NothingButBangersYT]

This really does remind me of some of the Raichu lists we saw a few weeks ago and I'm pretty sure I've played something very similar. The only issues I remember having was missing 1 of the combo pieces for Raichu/Surge so often. When you drew the combo, it was incredible though. I think that's what led to people playing multiple Pika & Raichus just to see it more often. It's a really strong deck though!

[@PrestonDLuffy]

@@NothingButBangersYT That is a good point as far as lacking the combo consistency of only having 1-of's for those. Most of the time tho, even if i end the game with a regular Pikachu just chilling on the bench, i consider it a success since it most likely contributed to the critical density of basics to enable Pika EX. Thanks for the input too, cheers!

[@Kitsunaiko]

Arcazard and not Charcanine? Dissapointed.

[@NothingButBangersYT]

lol poor little Moltres...

[@MoneyMowbes]

it's Arcazard.

[@revo5124]

@@MoneyMowbes charcanine sounds better

[@ChrrolloDI]

ZardCharNineTres name when

[@NothingButBangersYT]

ZardcharNineTres lol thats awesome

[@tatiz111]

Loving all the statistics that come with your video 👍

[@NothingButBangersYT]

Thanks! Hoping it helps put a bit of knowledge out there for people to make their best decision in the next week of tourneys.

[@xBUSYWORKSx]

it was all foretold by the great oracle know as Nothing But Bangers

[@NothingButBangersYT]

Some of the calls have been pretty sick, but it helps we have so many great resources of data to see where the meta may or may not go.

[@AE-qf2lq]

another banger as always! love this format right now, spice is still coming out and lists are being refined and explored.

[@NothingButBangersYT]

Exactly and we thought this meta was solved for a bit, then BOOM new fusion deck (Arcazard). Looking forward to the mini set to shake things up even more

[@VR_win]

Can someone give me a list of the Pika/Raichu and Articuno/Greninja lists? Tyia 😊

[@NothingButBangersYT]

head over to pokemonmeta.com and you can search up all the top lists by hitting top decks. REALLY good resource

[@SlashBurner]

Great thank you for combing through the useless data very helpful

[@NothingButBangersYT]

No problem!