The second week of States has come and gone for the United States and Canada, with State Championships still on going in Australia, Brazil, and Europe. From a quick glance, Galactic decks are still going strong, as is Machamp. But what is the breakdown? How well did the best decks do compared to the first week?

Around the US and Canada, 42 States (22 from the first weekend and 20 from the second) have been fully reported. The statistics are reproduced below in both “Quick” and “Detailed” views using information from the Masters (15+) age division. But first, a brief review about these particular decks.

Review of Individual Decks | Quick View | Detailed View | Nuts and Bolts – 1st place – 2nd place

Review of Individual Decks

    The following are the most significant decks for this tournament series:

  • Dialga G – This deck focuses on the ability to tank Dialga G with Special Metal Energies in conjunction with Dialga G’s Trainer locking attack, Deafen. Whenever the Dialga G player is threatened by a possible KO, they can use Pokéturn/Bronzong G to return Dialga G to their hand but keep the energy attached to it in play, preventing Dialga G from being Knocked Out while still being able to maintain a Trainer lock on the opponent.

  • Palkia G – This version of the Galactic-themed decks focuses on Palkia G’s ability to spread damage quickly with Pearl Breath. Also of note is the deck’s ability to use coming into play powers like Uxie LA, and Mesprit LA, and Spiritomb SF without them taking up bench space by using Palkia G LV.X’s Lost Cyclone to send them to the lost Zone instead. This also prevents the pixies from being targets for your opponent. Palkia G’s Hydro Shot finishes off what Pearl Breath started, hitting any of your opponent’s Pokémon for 80 damage.

  • Dialga G/Palkia G – Essentially the two decks above put together. Focusing primarily on Palkia’s damage spreading abilities, Dialga G plays the role of ensuring a counter for Mewtwo LV.X, as well as a means of countering other Galactic decks by shutting off the opponent’s Trainer cards, or their Team Galactic’s Inventions more precisely. Dialga G LV.X’s Remove Lost is very helpful in this match, as it can potentially stop an opposing Palkia G LV.X from using Hydro Shot.

  • Toxicroak G/Skuntank G – Yet another Galactic-themed deck, this version relies on Skuntank’s Poison Structure to Poison the Defending Pokémon, allowing Toxicroak’s Deep Poison to do 60 damage. This version should play Houndoom G if it wants to have a chance against Dialga G, seeing as Dialga G can’t be Poisoned by Skuntank and resists Psychic, too.

  • Machamp – For having Psychic Weakness, this deck was considered an auto-win for Toxicroak G/Skuntank G. With this came the assumption by most players that Unown G was no longer needed. Machamp’s Take Out, an attack that Knocks Out the Defending Pokémon if it is a Basic Pokémon, allowed it to take away several victories. Aside from this one attack, Machamp’s Hurricane Punch makes the player flip 4 coins, doing 30 damage for each heads. Not surprisingly, getting 3 or 4 heads several times usually meant a win for Machamp.

  • Kingdra – Kingdra’s power lies in its ability to set up fast, consistently do damage, and still have options late game. By doing 60 damage – and 20 damage to 1 Benched Pokémon – Kingdra pays only the price of discarding two cards. This “cost” is more often than not a benefit, as this lowers the Kingdra player’s hand and serves as a means to put several Water Energy in the discard pile. Claydol is especially useful here, given the normally lower hand sizes. Once Kingdra has about eight or more water Energy in the discard pile, it should be able to take another prize, hopefully winning the game in the process.

  • Regigigas – A 150HP Basic Pokémon, this card was a lot more popular during the City Championship series. Unfortunately, the use of Power Spray and Mesprit’s Psychic Bind prevent Regigigas from using Sacrifice to get 4 energy on it – in which case it would use Giga Blaster, discarding a card from the opponent’s hand and from the top of their deck while also doing 100 damage. Palkia LV.X helps Regigigas to pick off Benched Pokémon building up, as well as allow Regigigas to use Giga Blaster more than every other turn.

  • Gengar – This deck relies on two things: Your opponent to keep Trainers in their hand and your opponent to be unlucky. While Gengar’s Shadow Room usually is helpful, such a player may use Poltergeist if the opponent’s hand is considerably large. When this tactic fails, the Gengar player can always hope Gengar’s Fainting Spell will take with it whatever Pokémon that Knocked it Out.

  • Abomasnow – Abomasnow mainly relies on its Snow Play attack to do 20 damage to each of your opponent’s Pokémon early game, provided they aren’t Water of Grass-type. Abomasnow also comes with a nifty Poké-Body, Snow Veil, which reduces all damage done to your Pokémon by 20. While Kingdra may appear to find no Bench damage difficult to do deal with, Abomasnow can’t harm Kingdra with Snow Play. After discarding enough Water Energy, Kingdra can go right through Snow Veil. Dialga G LV.X also nullifies the effect of Abomasnow’s Poké-Body.

  • Azelf/Mesprit/Uxie – By getting all three Level X versions of Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie in play, this deck can do 200 damage for only 2 Psychic Energy! Aided by Uxie LV.X’s Zen Blade, which does 60 for only 2 Energy as well, this deck is able to switch off between Uxie and Mesprit attacking. Based on the results below, Mesprit’s requirement to do 200 damage is apparently fast enough to win.

  • Gardevoir – Energy manipulation is huge in this format, and Gardevoir is a welcome addition. This card has been used alongside Giratina LV.X, making for a fast deck that can hit all of your opponent’s Pokémon for 30 damage. The power of this deck lies in Gardevoir’s ability to move multiple energy off heavily damaged Pokémon, making itself much more efficient than Bronzong G.

  • Tyranitar – It’s rather surprising that this deck is still around. Relying on your opponent’s use of Poké-Powers, Tyranitar is able to set itself up after discarding several Basic Dark Energies with cards like Lunatone GE and Felicity’s Drawing. Based on the information below, the use of Powers seems to be a thing some players can’t function without. Like Dialga G, Tyranitar resists Psychic, although Tyranitar does not “resist” Skuntank G’s Poison Structure.

  • Ampharos/Manectric – While not the most popular deck, the deck works by using Manectric to power up everything else, while also serving as an inferior Dugtrio CG against bench damaging Pokémon like Abomasnow, Kingdra, Blastoise, and Palkia G. However, this body is almost unnecessary (and also not very helpful; Gengar SF can still attack with Shadow Room and Manectric’s Poké-Body doesn’t prevent itself from being damaged). With Kingdra, Blastoise, and Palkia G all having Lightning Weakness, this deck serves its purpose of scaring these decks, and really nothing more. While Ampharos is capable of shutting off the opponent’s Poké-Powers, they will likely have all the cards they need before Ampharos can pull off this combo.

  • Blastoise/Delcatty – One of the most hyped decks, yet one of the least played. This deck can be, however, quite deadly against opposing Water decks. Aqua Press does more damage for each Water Energy in play, meaning an opposing Palkia G or Abomasnow deck will likely help in giving Blastoise an edge. Double Launcher is also useful, but with it only doing 60 damage, Blastoise won’t Knock Out many Pokémon with it – common Benched Pokémon like Uxie LA have 70HP.

    • Quick View of the 2009 State Championships

      Type Week 1 Wins Week 2 Wins Total Wins
      Galactic-based deck 41 (47%) 38 (48%) 79 (47%)
      Non-G Stage 2 deck 33 (38%) 33 (40%) 66 (40%)
      Non-G Stage 1 deck 6 (6.5%) 5 (7%) 11 (6%)
      Non-G Basic deck 8 (8.5%) 4 (5%) 12 (7%)

    Detailed View of the 2009 State Championships (Semifinalists)

      Deck Week 1 Wins Week 2 Wins Total Wins
      Dialga G variant 16 (19%) 12 (15%) 28 (16%)
      Dialga G/Palkia G variant 6 (7%) 16 (21%) 23 (12%)
      Kingdra 8 (9%) 6 (8%) 15 (8%)
      Toxicroak G/Skuntank G variant 7 (8%) 7 (9%) 15 (8%)
      Machamp 2 (2%) 12 (15%) 15 (8%)
      Palkia G variant 11 (13%) 2 (3%) 13 (7%)
      Abomasnow variant 4 (5%) 3 (4%) 7 (4%)
      Gengar variant 3 (3%) 4 (4%) 7 (4%)
      Azelf/Mesprit/Uxie 4 (5%) 2 (3%) 6 (3%)
      Gardevoir variant 3 (3%) 3 (4%) 6 (3%)
      Regigigas 4 (5%) 2 (3%) 6 (3%)
      Tyranitar 4 (5%) 2 (3%) 6 (3%)
      Ampharos/Manectic 3 (3%) 1 (1%) 4 (2%)
      Blastoise/Delcatty 3 (3%) 1 (1%) 4 (2%)
      Rampardos 3 (3%) 1 (1%) 4 (2%)
      Dusknoir variant 2 (2%) 1 (1%) 3 (1%)
      Blaziken – 1 (1%) 1 (1%)
      Butterfree 1 (1%) – 1 (1%)
      Electivire – 1 (1%) 1 (1%)
      Gengar/Machamp – 1 (1%) 1 (1%)
      Honchkrow G/Houndoom G – 1 (1%) 1 (1%)
      Leafeon/Giratina Lv.X 1 (1%) – 1 (1%)
      Leafeon/Magmortar Lv.X 1 (1%) – 1 (1%)
      Leafeon/Shaymin Lv.X – 1 (1%) 1 (1%)
      Magnezone/Electivire 1 (1%) – 1 (1%)
      Uxie/Crobat G 1 (1%) – 1 (1%)

    The nuts & bolts of the 2009 State Championships

    2nd place

      Deck Total Wins
      Dialga G variant 18 (21%)
      Dialga G/Palkia G variant 12 (15%)
      Machamp 9 (11%)
      Palkia G variant 8 (10%)
      Toxicroak G/Skuntank G variant 8 (10%)
      Azelf/Mesprit/Uxie 5 (7%)
      Kingdra 5 (7%)
      Abomasnow variant 3 (3%)
      Gengar variant 3 (3%)
      Gardevoir variant 2 (2%)
      Regigigas 2 (2%)
      Tyranitar 2 (2%)
      Ampharos/Manectic 1 (1%)
      Blastoise/Delcatty 1 (1%)
      Blaziken 1 (1%)
      Electivire 1 (1%)
      Gengar/Machamp 1 (1%)
      Leafeon/Shaymin Lv.X 1 (1%)
      Magnezone/Electivire 1 (1%)

    1st place

      Deck Total Wins
      Dialga G variant 11 (25%)
      Toxicroak G/Skuntank G variant 6 (15%)
      Dialga G/Palkia G variant 5 (13%)
      Machamp 5 (13%)
      Palkia G variant 4 (10%)
      Azelf/Mesprit/Uxie 3 (7%)
      Kingdra 2 (5%)
      Abomasnow variant 1 (2%)
      Gardevoir variant 1 (2%)
      Gengar variant 1 (2%)
      Gengar/Machamp 1 (2%)
      Regigigas 1 (2%)
      Tyranitar 1 (2%)

    Amazingly, during the second week, Machamp made a comeback. The Galactic-themed decks still placed more than anything else combined, however. Based upon this data, Galactic themed decks, as well as Machamp, Kingdra, Abomasnow, Azelf/Mesprit/Uxie, Gengar, Regigigas and Tyranitar will all be forces to be reckoned with at any Regional championship.

    Credits

    • Written by HolyStar (Bela).
    • Numbers compiled by THEFapster (Jason).
    • Input from PokéDaddy (Steve).
    • Thanks goes to the folks at the PokéGym for submitting information in the What Won States thread.
    • Thanks also goes to all of the players who participated in the State Championships, as well as the Tournament Organizers, Pokémon Professors, and Judges who made the States Championships possible for everyone to participate in.
    • Thanks for reading this article! Don’t forget to visit our forums to discuss this and more!