Of all the decks that made top cut at the first Malaysia Regional League of the season, one stood out the most – the 151 Blastoise ex, used by Alex Chee. With Singapore’s first Regional League happening this weekend, we asked about what he calls a “meme”, and the key cards of the deck.
1. When did you start playing Pokemon TCG?
I started playing PTCG when I was 13, when Neo Destiny was released, influenced by my classmates.
2. How did the idea for this Blastoise ex deck come about?
After all the hype for Tera Charizard ex, I was looking for Pokemon that it couldn’t OHKO, even down to the last Prize. I stumbled upon LDF PTCG’s video on Youtube talking about Blastoise ex, that got my meme deck spirit boiling for action.
To be honest, without my homies’ help to refine the deck, I wouldn’t gotten so far.
3. Could you list some of the key cards and why did you include it?
Blastoise ex is the finisher, the main engine and attacker on early game is Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR. The main problem of the deck is card draw, as most of the Supporters are used for searching specific cards (such as Irida), hence Pidgeot’s Quick Search Ability is crucial for getting the key cards (can be a Supporter, Energy Retrieval, or even Rare candy).
Another issue of this deck is getting Energy out from the deck, unlike Chien-pao ex which can search for Energy cards from the deck. The Letter of Encouragement is a clutch card that enables the engine to start rolling with Radiant’s Greninja’s Concealed Cards, followed by Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR’s Star Portal to get the Energy engine rolling.
4. How did your tournament (the Malaysia Regional League) go? Any notable things happened?
Aside for me mistakenly starting my Top 16 with Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR (I thought it was Palkia V) under pressure after losing game 1 to the eventual Champion Rinesh John, all in all the tournament ran smooth and great, met some new friends. I even got to teach some new players how their deck should run!
Honestly, I love the reaction from my opponents when I bench a Squirtle as well as when they pick up and read my Blastoise ex (360 damage just to Knock it Out!?)
5. What is your general game plan against the other top meta decks?
The plan against Lugia VSTAR is simply attack with Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR and close the game with a cheeky 280 damage from Blastoise ex.
Tera Charizard ex on the other end, the ideal plan is to use Radiant Greninja to Moonlight Shuriken two Charmander as early as turn 2 (may need to use Palkia’s VSTAR Ability for this to happen). As long as I am able to take the first two Prize cards, and set up Blastoise ex to take the last two to four Prize cards.
The Southern Islands 