Tent of the month- The Alpine Peak 2! (By Swiss Army)

     Hello fellow campers and hikers! Today I am going to review a 2 person tent called the Alpine Peak 2!

The Alpine Peak 2
             

     Name: Alpine Peak 2
     Cost: $50-$70
     Max Capacity: 2 People
     Weight: ~6 lb.
     Time to set-up: ~2 min.

     This is a great tent. It is cheap, durable, only takes 2 minutes to set-up, and is great if you have a party of 2. The downside is the weight of the tent.

For Camping Purposes

     This is an amazing tent for standard camping. It is convenient to grab on the go, can survive being wet in the garage/closet/etc. for at least a month (It will be moldy but it can be removed, have learned that from past experiences.), and (again) durable. But this only holds 2 people tops, heavy, and the rain fly is honestly irritating to put on. I would still definitely recommend this tent, even with the downsides, to use if you and one other person were going camping.

Rating (Out of 10): 8.5/10

For Backpacking Purposes

     This tent is, without doubt, not meant for backpacking. It is way to heavy to backpack with, especially in the mountains. It also takes up a lot of pack space. Those are mainly the only two reasons this is not meant for backpacking, but usually if there is one reason to not take it and it will affect you, then you shouldn't bring it. Other than that if weight and space wasn't a problem, then this tent would've been perfect for backpacking.

Rating (Out of ten): 2/10

Overall, this tent is perfect for camping, not backpacking, and I guarantee you will enjoy using it for camp-outs! Thanks for reading, and until next time, camp/hike on!
   

"The Black Hole"- A Custom Trophy Base Review!

     Hello fellow Clashers! My name is Evan Smith and today, I am going to share my trophy base with you all, how it works, and my rating of it!

The "Black Hole"

    NOTE:This is not a war, farming, or hybrid base. 

     The trophy base I use is a somewhat of a troll base. You have one small spot in the base open and sometimes attackers use that spot to spawn in their troops and they get annihilated by 2 mortars, 2 Hidden Teslas, 2 Cannons, 2 Archer Towers, and 2 Air Defenses. If they don't fall for the trap then the many compartments should slow them down. Air defenses in the core to stop Baloonion from overpowering this base, gets rid of Healers, and helps against mass Dragons. The mortars in the near center would be hard to get to and gets rid of Archers, Barbarians, and Goblins easily.

     This base is Barch, BAM, Baloonion, and Giant Healer resistant, which are the usual armies used in multiplayer matches. 

     I would rate this base 4/5 because of resistance to many popular armies but vulnerable to some expensive armies.

     Thanks for reading, and clash on!

"Stop, Drop, and Play Calm"- Tips and Tricks on Staying Calm During Intense Games!

     Hello fellow Pokemon players! Evan here, and today I am going to talk about how being nervous can affect how you play, ways to stay calm, and ways to not show your expression.

Nervous? Well, You Just Lost
            
                                           You lost the game...And your nails.

     Being nervous happens in many cases, when the game is close, finals match, need to win the match to make top cut, etc.

     When you're nervous, you don't play right. You make mistakes, bad plays, wrong damage amount done, play more than one supporter in one turn, etc. Your opponent can also tell when you are nervous and take advantage of it.

     So... A short section with reasons on how nervousness happens AND what happens when you're nervous.

Stop, Drop, and Play Calm



                                                           Stop, and think.

     Okay, so here are some tips for staying calm, or bringing down how nervous you are:

Stop

-Use the restroom, if your opponent allows it

-Take your time, as long as you make a play within the next 15-20 seconds you are fine

-Do the hook up for 10 seconds, interlock your arms, cross your legs, put your tongue to the roof of your mouth, close your eyes, and take a deep breath

Drop

-Ask for an ID if you can afford a tie (Only if you are seriously nervous)

-Relax

Play Calm

-Slouch (Just don't tense up), stretch, make sure you've rested well before the tournament

-Have deep breaths without the hook up

-Try to have a short chat with your opponent to calm down (Only if opponent wants to chat, don't press on this that much)

Don't Show You're Nervous
                                               
                                                    This one says it all.

     Here are some good ways to not show your emotion if you ARE nervous:

-Don't admit you are nervous (Source)

-Maintain eye contact (Source)

-Ask a question (Source)

-Fake excitement (Source)

-Stay Still (Source)

Thanks for reading, and until next time, test on!









   

"Opinions, thoughts, comments?"- My Meta-Game Predictions and Thoughts for Cities!

     Hello fellow Pokemon players! Evan here and today, I'm going to give my predictions, thoughts, and what I believe will do well at cities.

What I Think the Meta will be and what to Play 
                          
                     Magnezone/Raikou might gain some popularity in the first week of cities.

     I think that since the first week of cities is always the one with the unpredictable decks, I believe that there will be a wide variety of decks being played in the first week. Some decks will be Tyrantrum, Lucario/Bats, Magnezone/Raikou, Vespiquen, Raichu, Mega Manectric, Mega Sceptile, and Mega Tyranitar. This is what I predict the general meta will be like on the first-second week of cities.

     For this type of cities (The first week cities), I recommend you play with what you are comfortable playing, seeing as the meta is undefined. After that for the second week of cities make sure that your deck is prepared for the decks you saw last time instead of rushing to play another deck.

     For the third-fourth week of cities the meta will vary depending on results from the last two cities. If the meta is Mega Manectric, Magnezone/Raikou, and Mega Tyranitar, then I suggest you play either Lucario/Bats, or Machamp.

     If it is Vespiquen, Mega Sceptile, Lucario/Bats, and Tyramtrum, then try to play something like Mega Manectric/Regice/AegislashEX.

    If you don't know what else to play, then play with your starting deck and make sure you have refined it enough to stand a chance at winning.

Thoughts about Cities
                            
                                        This is very confusing...

     This is going to be a very unpredictable cities, trust your instincts, and play hard. Also have many decks to play with for more options.

     Sorry this section isn't long, but that's really what my thoughts and how to combat the confusion for this cities.

What will most likely win?
                                       
                                                 Drum roll please!

     I believe that at least one good, consistent rogue will win at least one cities. That all the decks I mentioned will do well in a least 2 cities. And the most consistent deck will win the most.

Thanks for reading and until next time test on!

   

"Back in the game"- A 2nd place Tournament Report!

     Hello fellow Pokemon players! After a 3 month hiatus from Pokemon due to extreme involvement in Boy Scouts and after school activities... I'm back in the game! To make up for a lot of articles not done over the months, I am going to do at least 1 article up until Tuesday!

The Deck


                     Vespiquen can be very menacing if played right.

     Since I found out I was going to a Friday tournament that Friday, I had to make a Vespiquen deck on the fly (no pun intended). I managed to get a decent Vespiquen deck with what I had and this is the deck I played:

Pokemon-26

4 Combee AOR 9

4 Vespiquen AOR 10

3 Eevee FFI 80

3 Flareon AOR 13

1 Jolteon AOR 26

1 Vaporeon AOR 22

2 Spinarak AOR 5

2 Ariados AOR 6

4 Unown AOR 30

2 ShayminEX ROS 77

Trainers-27

3 Professor Sycamore

2 Lysandre

1 Professor Birch's Observations

1 Blacksmith

1 Xerosic

4 VS Seeker

4 Battle Compressor

4 Ultra Ball

3 Level Ball

2 Acro Bike

1 Trainers Mail

1 Jamming Net

Energy-7

4 Double Colorless

3 Fire
     Now for the explanations for a few weird deck choices:

3-3-1-1 Eevee, Flareon, Jolteon, Vaporeon Line

     I chose a 3-3-1-1 Eeveelution line for one fact: I need Blacksmith to recover lost energy but I also have to cover other weaknesses. Another reason that I chose to have a heavy Flareon count is the presence of Mega Sceptile.

2-1 Acro Bike, Trainers Mail

     The main reason I chose aggressiveness over conservation is because I need a way to discard Pokemon other than Ultra Ball and Battle Compressor. Another odd thing is that in total I only have 11 cards to discard Pokemon with. That is covered by Level Ball because I can easily search out an Unown with it, so I can still get Pokemon in the discard with Level Ball.

1 Jamming Net

     I ran Jamming Net over Head Ringer or other helpful consistency cards because of my Tyrantrum match-up. Since Tyrantrum usually starts off with Giratina/ Aegislash, I put in the Jamming Net just to counter those to where my Vespiquen will survive with 10 HP left.

The Tournament



          One of the biggest threats out there...

     Now for the 3 round report (As a side not this is a one round swiss)!

Round 1 ??? w/ Night March 0-0-0

     My Round one opponent thought that this was an expanded tournament so I let him change out his BW-LTR cards. Then we started the game. I went first and had an amazing start with approximately 11 Pokemon and 3 Combee's out on the field. He had a decent turn and got a few Night Marchers into the discard. After that I managed to get a turn 2 vespiquen and knocked out his Joltik. Finally, we went back and forth nocking out a Pokemon each turn (I used ShayminEX on the Joltiks) and I won with the prize count 0-2 (Lysandre for his benched ShayminEX).

Round 2 ??? w/ Lucario/Bats 1-0-0

     My round 2 oponent was my round 1 opponent's older brother. I went first again and had a decent 8 Pokemon-in-the-discard-pile start. Then he got his Lucario set up and couldn't use any bats the whole game due to bad bat draws. We kind of went back and forth of me taking the offensive side and him stalling. He almost succeeded, but I used a VS Seeker and grabbed Professor Birch's Observations and flipped a tails! That gave me four more turns to get the game done and I had 3 Prizes left. I won due to him not getting another Pokemon off of a Shauna.

Round 3 ??? w/ Tyrantrum/Giratina/Aegislash 2-0-0

     My round 3 opponent knew (at least he thought!) that he had the game in the bag because he ran 2 AegislashEX's. And even worse on my turn one I only had 20 Pokemon in the deck (And no Shaymins)! So I was getting worried because he had an Aegislash and Giratina start. Thankfully he drew dead for the rest of the game and I won.

     And the results came in! Jimmy got 1st Place with 3-0-0, I got 2nd with 3-0-0, and ??? got third with ?-?-?. As always thanks for reading!