Let's get this out of the way: I like Pokemon. A lot. I used to play competitively–like, the money earning competitively–and I keep up with it still. In that vein, I'm an editor at pokebeach.com. Check out this piece I edited on a Gyarados deck in the current TCG! The original text is featured here. After taking second place in August’s community blog competition and securing first place in August’s TCG Cup, I had selected Ancient Origins as my prize packs because I needed a few cards from that particular set. I was looking for the Full Art Hoopa-EX, the priciest card out of the set at the moment, a couple of Full Art Lugia-EX for my binder, and all of the gold Primals because…well…they’re shiny. While I pulled none of these cards, I did get a few goodies, like a Secret Rare Trainers' Mail and a Regular Art Lugia-EX (which I actually needed for my collection as well). I set aside the three Gyarados I pulled to the side, oblivious to its potential, to sleeve them because the artwork was nice. I had no idea it was going to be dubbed the “secret” deck for Orlando Regionals. And I had no idea it was going to see two Top 32 placings. How we feelin’ PokéBeach? John here to cover a card that’s made quite the splash this weekend: Gyarados. You read the title correctly, ladies and gentlemen. Your vision is fine, you don’t need to see your doctor – I didn’t see it coming either. Frankly, I was more excited for its reprint in Evolutions because of the nostalgic artwork. I only heard of the Gyarados deck’s existence on the Friday before Orlando Regs had began, and I quickly had to check what on Earth it did in the first place. But no worries! I’m here to break down what Gyarados does for you, why it’s actually very formidable, and run a decklist by you from someone that’s been playing the deck before it was cool to get you started on your testing. It’s a threat to look out for, no doubt about it, so let’s dive right in! Contents An Atrocity Why Now? Why Not Last Format? This Game is Crazy… Bring Out the Bulk – Building Gyarados Postulating the Pokémon Plays Whoaaa That’s a LOT of Trainers Talkin’ Techs Gyarados VS The Meta 1. DarkTinaGarb — I Hope You Have Pokémon Ranger Handy 2. M Mewtwo-EX — Keep Team Swagma’s Secret Base in Play 3. Vileplume Lock — Yuck 4. Rainbow Road — Non-EXs and non-EXs collide. What happens? 5. M Scizor-EX — Go First and Don’t Let Them Evolve 6. Yveltal Variants — Feels good, fam. Everybody Else Believing the Hype? An Atrocity Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokémon. It evolves from a pathetic fish but is known to wreck face when least expected. Can we be honest for a moment? When was the last time you saw a legitimately competitive Gyarados deck? For me, it’s been nearly eight years. That’s right, I’m talking about the Gyarados from Stormfront that could attack for no Energy and hit for 90 damage if you had three Magikarp in your discard pile. Stomachs dropped and hearts sunk when players opened with Magikarp in play, knowing that they were in for the long haul. And now, that exact feeling has returned. Gyarados is a 130-HP Stage-1 Pokémon with an Ancient Trait – θ Double. θ Double allows you to attach two Pokémon Tools to Gyarados, a trait that was made popular by the now far-less-prevalent Entei, also from Ancient Origins. In some builds, this can be shockingly useful, but in some others, it’s just there so Gyarados owns more of the card with its sick artwork. Being Water-type has its merits in the current meta. There aren’t many Lightning-type threats in the meta and you’re able to hit Volcanion-EX for Weakness if that pops up in your area. You have access to Dive Ball, grabbing you those key ‘Karps or ‘Doses with no drawback, and you can Rough Seas if that so happens to be around (but we’ll actually never want to use Rough Seas and that’ll make sense later). The three-Energy Retreat Cost isn’t much of an issue because we’re not going to be switching between Gyarados, like, ever, so we don’t care about that. Thrash is an attack that we’ll never use because it requires too much Energy. What we’re really here for is its first attack that sounds like it’s ready to kick some PokéBum – Full Retaliation. For a single Double Colorless Energy, you’re dealing 30 base damage and an additional 30 for each damage counter on your Benched Magikarp. “John, how in the world are you going to get damage on a 30-HP joke of a Pokémon?” First of all, don’t be mean to Magikarp. Second of all, there’s a pretty simple way of going about this. You remember those Double Crisis packs from like a year and a half ago? Those suddenly have relevance because that’s where you’re gonna find the key: Team Magma's Secret Base. While this card is in the Stadium slot, every Pokémon that gets set from the hand to the Bench are immediately penalized with two damage counters – no questions asked. If you can add one and one, you’ve already realized that you can drop all your Karps with the Secret Base on the field and max out on Full Retaliation damage. You’ll have three Magikarp that are about ready to kiss death from 10 HP away, but with just enough strength to channel their energies for their leader. Gyarados’s initial 30 is lackluster, but count 60 more (two damage counters on the Benched Magikarp) for each Benched Magikarp…and you have the potential to deal 210 damage on the second turn. That’s a Mega Mewtwo. That’s a Giratina-EX with a Fighting Fury Belt. That’s an Yveltal-EX with a Fighting Fury Belt. That’s so. Much. Damage. Okay, okay. We’re missing a few key KOs on M Scizor-EX and M Rayquaza-EX, but we can actually make this happen (and I’ll talk about it a little later). Stay with me now. Why Now? Why Not Last Format? This Game is Crazy… Lol, you’re not wrong. But let’s be real – this is what makes Pokémon so much fun. Things like this can just…happen. But back on topic – Gyarados is positioned to do some big things in today’s Standard, completely different from where it was just a few months ago. It was a different format with different threats entirely; think about the meta Gyarados was up against. Night March, with Joltik hitting for Weakness. Trevenant BREAK, Silent Fearing your entire army of fish. Greninja BREAK, sniping multiple Magikarp with shuriken, giant or not. It was a different ballgame, and Gyarados simply did not stand a chance. Fast forward to where we are now, where Mega Evolution Pokémon run rampant, big Basics triumph, and Shaymin-EX is a seventy-dollar card. You can afford to be one or two turns too slow to catch up and the coinflip isn’t as important (although we still prefer going first, eh?). Let’s look at why Gyarados was able to sneak in and take a couple of Top 32 slots in Orlando: Surprise factor. How many people saw this as a threat? Probably few. Unless it’s just me and everyone knew Gyarados was out there and took it seriously. Because I didn’t. In the case players didn’t, inexperience with the matchup could very well be your downfall. Not knowing when to make particular plays (like using Lysandre to go for damaged Magikarp over a fresh one) can be critical in the long run and are easier to pick up on when you actually have match experience. Not a lot of Bench-damaging attacks. Other than Galvantula, we don’t have Pokémon that really target the Bench much. People joke about Spinda‘s uprising, but who’s actually gonna commit a slot to Spinda. Greninja builds might get lucky if they setup faster than you, but Garbodor‘s place in the meta discourages its play…so we’re kinda safe there. A pretty solid meta call. Judging by what’s made Top 32, we’re seeing a lot of those big Basic and Mega decks that I was talking about earlier. We’re looking at a bunch of Darkrai-EX / Giratina-EX / Garbodor, (aka DarkTinaGarb), a chunk of Mega Mewtwo, and a few M Gardevoir-EX in there as well. Gyarados loves being able to trade one Prize with two, and playing Gyarados was a great meta call by the two players that made it through. A job well done indeed. Gyarados’s success here goes to show that the game involves more than just having the “best” deck – you’ve also gotta have the “right” deck, and that’s entirely dependent on where you’re playing and when. Some of the most critical decision-making occurs outside of the venue writing in your decklist, where your awareness of the area and the meta come into play. Preparing yourself in this regard will pay off handsomely in the long run – make sure you know the meta! Bring Out the Bulk – Building Gyarados If you were me, until like…yesterday, Gyarados was sitting in a bulk pile or in a binder far away from your playable stuff. Well, it’s time to build the deck that we’ve been hyping up this entire time, and to help out I have a good friend of mine: Evan Cole. Evan is actually only in his second year of competitive play and reached Top 128 with Night March at Nationals last year. He creatively included three Pokémon Catcher in his build, which was how his deck was eventually dubbed “Casino March”. In that same season, however, he notably piloted his own Gyarados build to a League Challenge win when nobody even considered it, and has kinda become the most knowledgeable on the deck simply based on experience alone. He may or may not go by “GyaraDad.” He’s also the proud owner of fifteen retro decks, so challenge him if you’ve got some decks from older formats! Anyways, here’s the version of the deck he’s been playing so far: Pokemon (11) 3x Gyarados (AOR #21)4x Magikarp (AOR #19)1x Octillery (BKT #33)1x Remoraid (BKT #32)1x Mr. Mime (GEN #52)1x Shaymin-EX (RSK #77) Trainers (45) 3x Professor Sycamore (BKP #107)3x N (FAC #105)2x Teammates (PRC #141)1x Giovanni's Scheme (BKT #138)1x Hex Maniac (AOR #75)1x Lysandre (AOR #78)4x Dive Ball (PRC #125)4x Puzzle of Time (BKP #109)4x Trainers' Mail (RSK #92)4x VS Seeker (PHF #109)3x Acro Bike (PRC #122)3x Ultra Ball (FAC #113)2x Super Rod (BKT #149)1x Buddy-Buddy Rescue (BKT #135)1x Escape Rope (PRC #127)1x Float Stone (BKT #137)1x Level Ball (AOR #76)1x Special Charge (STS #105)1x Town Map (BKT #150)4x Team Magma's Secret Base (DOC #32) Energy (4) 4x Double Colorless Energy (GEN #74) So we’ve got a lot going on here, with a lot of details that we need to cover. I’ve already explained the general strategy of getting Magikarp on the Bench with the Secret Base in play, so we don’t need to review that. What we do need to review are Evan’s tech picks and why he went with the T/S/S line he did. Let’s not waste time! Gyarados Postulating the Pokémon Plays A 4-3 Gyarados line? You got it. We obviously need the four Magikarp in order to maximize damage output in Full Retaliation, but the three Gyarados is an interesting play. For the same reason Mega Evolution decks run 4-3 lines in their builds, the 4-3 line in Gyarados is understandable – 4-4 is a little clunky and we usually end up having plenty of reasons to grab him when we need him. We play so much search support and a couple of Super Rod that we are rarely without our main attacker. And only 1-1 Octillery? Yup. Octillery isn’t essential to our setup seeing all the Item support we already have, but he’s great to have late game. Octillery’s Ability, Abyssal Hand, draws us cards until we have five in our hand once a turn. This is big; those Ns are devastating and we want to make sure that we aren’t subject to those kinds of shenanigans, so a 1-1 line is all we need. If we miss a piece of our Pokémon draw support, Town Map fills us in on exactly what we need to grab when we Knock Out our opponent’s Pokémon. (I personally love this inclusion as Here Comes Team Rocket! has always been one of my favorites.) What’s Ash’s mother’s housemaid doing here? We touched on those cheeky threats to Gyarados earlier, Galvantula and Spinda. Well, this is to make sure we are 100% in the clear now. Rainbow Road is still a closer matchup for this deck, so we want to protect our Karp and our odds of winning by having Mr. Mime around. His Ability, Bench Barrier, prevents all damage done to your Benched Pokémon, just what we need to keep those two at bay. Of course, there are others out there that might be able to dish out similar attacks, but these are the two, (really the one), that we’re concerned for. This is the one tech I think is most cuttable from the deck, and we’ll talk about those decisions in the next section. Just 1 Shaymin!? I mean this is good for the wallet but… Yeah. You’ll be fine! By trimming the number of Pokémon-EX to just one, your opponent is then forced to take down four Gyarados for the remaining four Prizes. How scary is that? You can argue a bump to two to quicken the pace of your first-turn setup, but usually you’ll be well-off with just the one. Actually, it’s discouraged to play more than one. Keeping this deck very non-EX is a part of why it’s so powerful in the first place, so it’s not a bad thing if Shaymin never sees the playing field. Whoaaa That’s a LOT of Trainers. No kidding. We can trim the amount of chatter I need to do by going over the basic stuff first. Four Dive Ball, four VS Seeker, four Trainers’ Mail, four Secret Base, yeah. Very self-explanatory. If the majority of your deck contains Water-type Pokémon, we’re gonna run Dive Ball. Are you not playing Vileplume? Then you play four VS Seeker. Do you want consistency? Play four Trainers’ Mail. Playing Gyarados? Hide in the Secret Base. Sound good? Let’s discuss the less obvious stuff now, starting with: 3 Sycamore? When was this a thing? Well, you can actually fluctuate between three and four. Evan’s build is definitely more Item-based, so I’m sure you can cut a card here, cut a card there, blah blah blah to find the room for the fourth Sycamore if you really need it. In my eyes, I’m seeing a reasoning that goes like, “Hey. I’m more than likely going to end up drawing into it with the sheer amount of draw and search support in those Items I have, so I’m good at three.” Of course, you can always make adjustments as needed. Teammates Two pairs of twins. Playing Teammates in non-EX builds is so good, as they provide an incredible card advantage to keep you rolling with the big boys. Teammates searches the deck for two of whatever card after one of your Pokémon gets Knocked Out, which is pretty busted. This kind of effect is incredible in a deck like this because when a Gyarados gets Knocked Out…you do need to chain a few cards together to make sure you can attack again the next turn. Those include another Gyarados, (because you’re usually not wanting to have more than the one you’re swinging with in play), a DCE, some sort of Item to get that Magikarp back into the deck or hand from the discard pile, and an Item to search it from the deck. Teammates can help with a lot of that. I’d rather opt for the consistency in Teammates than pray I draw the right cards off of a Sycamore. Additionally, you may even have one of the pieces of Puzzle of Time in your hand as well, so you can search for the other piece and go that route. Teammates opens up a lot of options for recovery, and playing two puts less stress on having to burn a VS Seeker for one. What’s Giovanni scheming in this deck? To help out with math. While its effects include drawing until you have five cards in your hand or dealing an additional 20, we’re usually going for the latter. As mentioned before, we max out at 210 if we have all three Magikarp in play and get two damage counters on each. In order to get those critical Knock Outs on Mega Ray and Mega Scizor, we’re gonna need a damage boost. Enter Giovanni's Scheme. We also like Giovanni’s if one of our Magikarp is Prized, lowering our damage output to 150. With his help, we bump that up to 170, just enough to take one-hit Knock Outs on baby Mewtwo-EX, Giratina, Yveltal, all those non-FFB’d EXs. (We’re out of range on those 180-HP Pokémon, but we’ll talk about how we can change that, too.) Giovanni’s Scheme is definitely a neat pick for the deck and can help early game to take down some bigger EXs without as much setup. 4 Puzzle of Time? Is this Night March? No siree. When we need to grab critical cards out of the discard every time a Gyarados goes down, it’s only natural that we run Puzzle of Time to recycle those resources. By playing one Puzzle, we get to rearrange the top three cards of our deck as we see fit. Play two, and you get to search your discard pile for two of whatever card you need and add them to your hand. This combines very well with Teammates (as we’ve seen in Night March) to make the most of every Knock Out on our side of the board, because we can get that swag second effect if we Teammates for the missing Puzzle piece. Even if we play just the one Puzzle of Time in a pinch, we can control our draw for the next turn or prioritize what we grab off of a smaller Abyssal Hand (say, drawing for one). Needless to say, this card promotes consistency. Stylin’ with 3 Acro Bike! If you remember decks like Vespiquen / Vileplume and Night March from last format, you’ll find that some variations of these turbo archetypes utilized Acro Bike to burn through the deck for key resources as quickly as possible. Because Gyarados is similar in that regard, we’re gonna toss in a few Bikes as well. We aren’t as concerned with discarding a card as a penalty for drawing one, because that is usually recycled with Puzzle of Time or one of the cards we’ll discuss in the next bullet. When all’s said and done, Acro Bike is more often than not a high-reward low-risk card for the deck. Note that not all decks can use Acro Bike in their lists because they simply can’t afford to discard resources that they can’t get back. The 2 Super Rod / 1 Buddy-Buddy Rescue Split. This is why Acro Bike has more swag. If we have to get rid of a Gyarados or a Magikarp or a piece of that 1-1 Octillery line, it’s not the end of the world. Super Rod picks up multiple fallen Gyarados at a time while Buddy-Buddy Rescue directs them right to your hand. The argument to opt out of Buddy-Buddy would be because its effect also adds Pokémon to your opponent’s hand as well, helping them get precious attackers and can pave a path back into the game. Personally, this split can be debated and/or Super Rod could be exempted from the list entirely. I don’t mind helping my opponent out with a Buddy-Buddy because I would rather have whatever got Knocked Out or in my discard pile be guaranteed in my hand when I play the Item rather than have to dig with a follow-up Dive Ball or Ultra Ball. But…this isn’t my list. Hah. Lastly, the singleton Items. The cards we have one-ofs (other than the Buddy-Buddy) include: Escape Rope, Float Stone, Level Ball, Special Charge, and Town Map. We like Escape Rope and Float Stone in case one of our Octillery or Shaymin get stuck active because they can switch em out without paying a Retreat Cost. I’m a big fan of Escape Rope as well because this could potentially move an undesirable Pokémon out of your opponent’s Active slot to something smaller or less threatening that Gyarados can put some damage on. Level Ball grabs us any Pokémon with 90 HP or less, meaning that’s a free Magikarp, Remoraid, or Octillery. That’s consistency that we like. In case we discard DCE from Acro Bike or from an unfortunate Sycamore or Ultra Ball, Special Charge gets us two of those back into the deck. If we avoid playing the Shaymin, we’re forcing our opponent to take six Prizes – six Gyarados. We’d like to power all of those up if we can, so by having Special Charge, we functionally have six Double Colorless Energy at our disposal. Finally, Town Map flips over our Prize Cards so we know exactly what we’re grabbing when we take Knock Outs. When we hit EX Pokémon, we’re taking two at a time, so we can pick Prizes that set up for combos. It’s good. The four DCE don’t need their own section. We’re only using Full Retaliation in this deck and it only requires one of these per Gyarados. Anything else is completely unnecessary and a waste of space. Four DCE is perfect. Talkin’ Techs What can help particular matchups depends on what you choose to tech in your deck, and Gyarados has some room to work with. I’m not saying it’s a whole lot, but there may be a few cards in Evan’s list you may disagree with or feel aren’t as important as some of the other cards I’m going to mention. There are three big ones on my radar right now – let’s talk. Bursting Balloon. You’ve got an Ancient Trait, why not give it a go? Now more often than not you’re not gonna have two Balloon attached to a Gyarados at a time…but it’s definitely possible. If you time your Puzzles or hold onto em at just the right moment, you can deal some serious residual damage from Bursting Balloon. Placing six damage counters on your opponent’s Active Pokémon after they deal damage to you, penalizes your opponent hard for laying hands on your Gyarados. Two Bursting Balloon? Yeah. They’re gonna dig for a Lysandre. Bursting Balloon can help when you don’t have the extra damage on a Magikarp or if one is Prized early game, and can make your opponent think twice about attacking and choose a sub-optimal play instead. This could be another turn to find Magikarp, or to Lysandre a smaller target to grab ‘Karp from the Prizes. What’s great about Bursting Balloon is that if your opponent Knocks themselves Out when attacking, you get the advantage of choosing your Prizes moving into your turn (potentially knowing what you need with Town Map) and doing whatever you need to get fully set up. Not a bad card to consider. Pokémon Ranger. We’re gonna talk about Giratina later, but it is a strong counter to the deck. Furthermore, Glaceon-EX can also cause problems in Vileplume lock decks, nullifying any damage done by Evolved Pokémon with its Crystal Ray attack. Pokémon Ranger remedies that issue by voiding those effects for a turn. This is all we need to potentially make a comeback. Against Giratina, cancelling the effects of Chaos Wheel gives us breathing room to play Double Colorless Energy and bring Magma’s Secret Base back into play if it was booted out. Doing so might give us the opening to OHKO the Giratina and worry about one less Chaos Wheel. Against Glaceon, well…we breeze through the Crystal Ray and (hopefully) take a Knock Out. With the rise of DarkTinaGarb from Orlando’s Regional results, this a one-of must-have in every Gyarados deck. Meowstic-EX. Popularized by Addison Powell, (who placed 16th at Orlando Regionals), Meowstic-EX might finally find herself out of the binder and into deck sleeves. After pulling two of my own out of Generations packs, I was getting pretty upset with my luck when cooler cards like Jolteon-EX were available. Now that I see her actually making moves, I’m excited to see if she’ll go places. Meowstic’s strength is in her Ability, Shadow Ear. If Meowstic’s in the Active slot, you get to move a damage counter from one of your Pokémon to one of your opponent’s Pokémon. This sounds underwhelming at first, but with a Float Stone attached and residual damage built on maybe a Shaymin drop or Octillery or whatever, you can promote Meowstic as your pivot Pokémon, fire off the Ability, and slowly heal your damaged Bench and help with the math on the bigger baddies like the aforementioned Mega Ray and Mega Scizor. In some matchups the 10 damage isn’t all that critical, but in a meta where those two are particularly big…we can commit the space. Gyarados VS The Meta What we define as “the meta” right now is pretty diverse. We haven’t seen one like this in a while, and it’s refreshing to say. I’ll cover the big five (promoted from the “big six” lol) and we’ll see how Gyarados fares against em. Sidenote: the numbers do not rank the deck in any form of tierlist or whatever haha.) 1. DarkTinaGarb — I Hope You Have Pokémon Ranger Handy Clearly the biggest deck and one of the most popular from the past weekend, DarkTinaGarb is making serious strides in the meta right now. As mentioned before, Chaos Wheel can shut you down entirely if you’re locked from playing Double Colorless Energy, so it can get very scary very fast. On the other hand, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. As long as you have a DCE attached somewhere, you might be able to forge a comeback by Lysandre-ing something on the Bench until you get the Ranger you need. If that Ranger is Prized, you’re gonna want that Town Map lol. Thankfully, Giratina doesn’t one-shot Gyarados, not even with Fighting Fury Belt, whiffing by 20 damage. This gives us time to dig with Acro Bike or Trainers’ Mail to find that critical Supporter to turn the tides on the game. In short, Gyarados users need to have a solid setup if they want success against this deck. As long as you can get three damaged Karp on the Bench by the second turn or however long it takes for the opponent to fire off the Chaos Wheel, you’re gonna be fine. Due to the sheer speed of DarkTinaGarb with Max Elixir involved, this is obviously a tricky matchup. I’m giving the edge to DarkTinaGarb as of right now, but the odds aren’t unwinnable. 2. M Mewtwo-EX — Keep Team Swagma’s Secret Base in Play Mega Mewtwo was also a popular deck in Orlando but also has been for the last couple of months. It finds strength in opponent’s needing multiple Energy to attack and in Damage Change, baby Mewtwo’s second attack. If you have two Psychic Energy and a whatever Energy, you can couple Shrine of Memories with your Mega Mewtwo to fire off a Damage Change attack which does exactly that – change damage. You swap the number of damage counters with your opponent’s Active Pokémon with Mewtwo, potentially moving all the damage you just received onto your opponent’s board while healing completely. Mega Mewtwo conveniently stands at the 210-HP mark, meaning that we can cook up just enough damage with three 10-HP-left Karp on the Bench. What we don’t wanna do is swing for anything less than this. If Shrine of Memories is in play and we use Full Retaliation for only 150, (with two Magikarp in play with two damage counters each), Damage Change heals off all that damage and slaps it right back onto our Gyarados, also dealing a Knock Out in return. If I’m the Gyarados player, I’m not attacking unless I know I’m taking a Knock Out. Bump the Shrine out of play for the Secret Base so your opponent doesn’t have this opportunity. After this is all said and done, the matchup lies in Gyarados’s favor for sure. Psychic Infinity indeed does take OHKOs on Gyarados if both Pokémon have just a DCE attached, but we end up winning because of the Prize trade. 3. Vileplume Lock — Yuck Items are so big in Gyarados. They’re the reason we can cycle through attackers, they’re the reason the deck is consistent. Vileplume shuts all of that down, and if they go first…ha. We gon’ lose. The Glaceon tech makes matters worse, meaning the pressure is on to find Pokémon Ranger and Hex Maniac, our only out to Irritating Pollen. There might be hope if we go first and get some heavenly setup that includes damaging three Magikarp and finding a Hex Maniac for the following turn. Glaceon requires two attachments to get Crystal Ray going, which gives us a little bit of time to either Hex for another turn of Item burning to search for the Ranger or find a Lysandre to pick up Prizes elsewhere while we keep looking. It’s helpful to keep Team Magma’s Secret Base in play too, because Glaceon that take two extra damage counters see an HP drop from 170 to 150 as soon as they hit the board. Thus, we only need two Magikarp in play, making it a little easier on us to find the Knock Out. I’m drawing this one up as a big fat “L” otherwise, because our reliance on Items is just too big. 4. Rainbow Road — Non-EXs and non-EXs collide. What happens here is that we more often win. Here’s why. Rainbow Road gets its name from Xerneas‘s Rainbow Force attack that does a base damage of 10 with an additional 30 for each different type of Pokémon you have on your Bench. Against a Gyarados, you’ll need four different types, which is actually very achievable. You’d probably see a Shaymin, a Volcanion-EX, and another Xerneas at bare minimum. What we like about this is that they have EX Pokémon we can take advantage of. By Lysandering around the Xerneas and hitting those two-Prizers, we not only get more out of those Knock Outs but bump down the number of damage Xerneas does as well. Of course, it’s not difficult to replace just a couple of types, but they continue to leave other Pokémon out in the open for the taking. Heads up though – Galvantula is a big problem. The moment you see a Joltik come down, that’s probably priority numero uno. Galvantula’s Double Thread attack hits two Benched Pokémon for 30 damage apiece, meaning your Magikarp become dinner for this guy. A well-timed Hex Maniac can go straight through your Mr. Mime, so it may be better to target the seemingly little guy before it evolves into a two-Prize-taking monster. Just putting that out there. 5. M Scizor-EX — Go First and Don’t Let Them Evolve If you learned anything from my last article, it’s that Mega Scizor disrupts like it’s nobody’s business. Whether it’s discarding Stadiums or Special Energy, Iron Crusher gets the job done. 220 HP gets us right out of reach for the OHKO, but Meowstic may be able to fix that…unless Scizor runs Garbodor. Which it often does. Get ahead on the damage-switching shenanigans if you can, and follow that up for the 210 swing if you can make it happen before Garbotoxin kicks in and gets rid of Abilities. Iron Crusher miraculously does not OHKO Gyarados, but it gets rid of the DCE which can make things kinda weird. All of a sudden, Puzzle of Time and Special Charge become a lot more important and managing these particular resources become crucial for the match outcome. This is a rough matchup. If you can hit the baby Scizor-EX to take Knock Outs and target Garbodor when there’s an opening, you may have a chance. You’ll need to manage the consistent DCE-discarding with what you choose to play early game and, and being careful with where you attach Energy. Crushing Hammer is not an uncommon card in Scizor builds, so seeing two of them go in one turn is a frightening sight. Don’t overcommit those Energy, and don’t burn Puzzle of Time when you don’t need to. Special Charge when there are actually two DCE in the discard pile. That sort of thing. 6. Yveltal Variants — Feels good, fam. I’ve been tinkering with Yveltal builds for Standard and I love going up against EX and Mega decks. Fright Night sizzles Spirit Links into nothing and hitting for 60 up front and another 60 to a Benched Pokémon-EX is insane. Unfortunately for the Yveltal player, we don’t play EXs for them to take advantage of. The biggest potential threat to this deck is Yveltal-EX, whose Evil Ball hits for 20 and another 20 for each Energy attached to both Yveltal-EX and the opponent’s Active. For Gyarados to get OHKO’d, it would need six Energy total (or five and a Fighting Fury Belt). Because we’re only gonna have one DCE attached at a time, this forces the Yveltal player to have four Energy attached to hit the 140. This isn’t impossible, but they’re gonna need to commit some Energy that they can’t quickly accelerate back. Meanwhile, we’re able to stream OHKOs on them, and Gyarados looks good doing it. This isn’t a matchup I’m seeing any trouble with. If the Fright Night Yveltal sniped non-EXs, we’d be hurting for sure…but that isn’t the case. I mean, If an Oblivion Wing Yveltal wants to take a free Knock Out on the first turn, we’re able to take a return Knock Out with only two Magikarp if we can’t find the resources to get the third one. The matchup is very much tilted into our favor, and we enjoy seeing our opponents wanting to flip the table losing to a few fish. Everybody Else Mega Ray. Volcanion. Greninja. There are so many other decks out there that we can go over, but those were the biggest six that have made the biggest dents so far. (Which is kinda surprising. Like. Ray. Where you at?) I would argue that the Mega Ray matchup is favorable with Meowstic’s Ability being a game-changer, but also due to the sheer amount of Shaymin or Hoopa we can take down for two Prizes without needing the 210 and Shadow Ear combo. Volcanion is a stronger matchup due to its Weakness to Water, and Greninja should kinda be obsolete without Tool removal against the heavily popular Garbodor. In addition, the Greninja from XY has rotated, meaning we won’t see sniping until it reaches its BREAK form. Have any other matchups you’d like to review? Drop a comment and we’ll chat. Believing the Hype? It’s good to see fresh ideas make it far in tournaments as big as these. Whether or not you think Gyarados is S-tier or A-tier or whatever-tier, it’s worth to test with and against in order to understand just how it functions at a deeper level. It’s a fun deck too – watching dinky Magikarp fuel the strength of a far more fearsome Gyarados has always brought a smile to my face. When I played with the Gyarados from Stormfront, the feeling was very similar to what it is today playing with this deck, and I can’t wait to bring it to League (or maybe a League Challenge!?) one of these days. Thank you all for reading another one of my articles! I’m so glad I was able to pump this particular one out this month (it’s been crazy, no lie) and I hope you’re able to take something away from it. Watching seeing this deck come to life was a sight to see, and I hope I carried that excitement in my article as well. As always, feel free to drop a comment or a critique on something you wished I had mentioned or something you liked about my writing. I’m all ears man. Much appreciated and take it easy, John / Serperior
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Another one on DcMetroTheaterArts! As always, big credit to Dr. Eger and his thorough, engaging writing. Check him out at www.dramaaroundtheglobe.com! You can find the article on DcMetro here, or view the full text below.
‘Look at Me!’ Meet the Cast of Media Theatre’s ‘The Bridges of Madison County’ by Henrik Eger The latest offering at the Media Theatre, the popular musical The Bridges of Madison County, based on Robert James Waller’s 1992 novel, with a book by Marsha Norman, music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, and directed by Jesse Cline, opened recently to standing ovations and excellent reviews. Cast members took time out to answer two questions about the production and what they bring to this show. Why should theatregoers come to see the musical The Bridges of Madison County? Elisa Matthews, who plays the lead role of Francesca, an Italian married to Bud, an American farmer: First and foremost the music is beautiful. It is an interesting mix of classical and folk style songs that tell the story and define each of the characters. The story is well-known from the popular book and movie but I think the musical does a good job of making Francesca’s character more three-dimensional focusing on her experience of the war in Naples, her escape to America and how she has navigated her new life in Iowa. Derek Basthemer, who plays the lead role of Robert Kincaid, a photographer in love with Francesca: The Bridges of Madison County and this production in particular create a beautiful snapshot of two souls encounter in Iowa. Some of the most stunning music of this decade will sweep you up in their lives and carry you through their love affair. Robert Stineman as Bud, a farmer in Iowa, married to Francesca, and the father of their two children: I think it’s the music that’s going to really sit with everyone. The inner lives and emotions of most of these characters aren’t in the text on the page, but in the lyrics of the songs. What I bring to this production, I hope, is enough humanity and life to Bud that the audience looks at this love story from another angle. Here’s a guy who loves his wife with all of his heart, but they are going through a rough patch. They’re getting older, their kids are growing up, and the love that they felt for one another has changed, perhaps gotten a little stale. From Bud’s perspective, he knows Francesca wants more from life, but doesn’t know how to give her that, as much as he wants to. There’s no time, there’s no money. And I think as the play continues he knows something is really wrong, that he is losing her somehow, and that scares the hell out of him. His best friend is keeping something from him, and he knows it, even if he doesn’t know what it is. Nicholas Saverine as Charlie, husband of Marge, and a friendly neighbor. The Bridges Of Madison County has one of the most beautiful scores in contemporary musical theater. Soaring songs that are each a story, not just a comment on what is happening. The songs impart what the characters are thinking and feeling at the most rudimentary, truthful level. The awesome orchestrations support perfectly the time of story, bringing you right into the scenes emotionally. The dialogue is simple and direct, very accessible to all, and easy to understand and follow. The story will strike a chord with anyone who ever had to make decisions of the heart, and choose between what the heart is telling you and what your sense of responsibility is demanding of you. Who hasn’t stood at that crossroad? Just hearing this beautiful music performed by a brilliant cast and orchestra in itself is not to be missed. Join us. You will be glad you did! Faith Kandel Yesner, as Marge, Charlie’s wife and well-meaning, but nosy neighbor. As the show opens and the music begins, you will quickly be swept away into a small town in Iowa, into Madison County, and into the lives of Francesca and Bud, their children and the townsfolk—into the world of impossible choices. Art reflects life. Life throws us many curveballs. Sometimes our choices will drastically alter our lives for better or worse. In TBOMC, Francesca has been thrown a huge curveball, one completely unexpected, yet alluring and life altering. Her inner turmoil is shared with us through Elisa Matthews’ portrayal, in such stunning voice and with such depth and emotion, one could not escape feeling her joy, pain, and angst. Your senses and your emotions will be taken on a journey you don’t want to miss! C.J. Celeiro, Ensemble Member: What I find most interesting about this show is the score, which features what I lovingly refer to as “Broadway Bluegrass,” peppered amongst sweeping Italian waltz and trademark Jason Robert Brown rhythmic ballads. This eclectic musical perspective gives The Bridges Of Madison County its own unique identity in the musical theatre cannon that is worth sharing with everyone Kaitlin Davis, Ensemble Member: The Bridges of Madison County is a beautifully sung show that is ultimately about how we make sacrifices for the people we love. Elisa and Derek are not to be missed—their voices transport you into their world and their story, night after night. Caroline Dooner as Marian: The singing and the music is absolutely beautiful. The story really makes you wonder “what would you do [if you were married and fell in love with someone else]?” Desiree Maira, Ensemble Member: Jason Robert Brown’s score is absolutely breathtaking. I especially love the instrumentation. The script is simple and relatable to anyone who has family, and especially someone who has had to choose between following her heart or commitment. Marissa Wolner, Ensemble Member: The voices that make up the cast are what makes this show truly special. What do you bring to your performance and to the production and how do you relate to your character? Elisa: The role of Francesca was written for Kelli O’Hara, so it is meant for a classically trained voice. My ancestry is Scots-Irish, but my husband is from Rome, so I have studied Italian and we travel there often. I think my experience of Italy through my husband and his family has helped deepen my performance of Francesca. I am also a mother of a toddler, which has changed my life in many ways and opened my heart. Francesca talks about her life choices in her beautiful final song, “Always Better.” I can relate to being torn between my love for art and my commitment and love for my family. I am lucky to have a handsome and supportive husband who helps me pursue my artistic dreams and still have a family life. Derek: The scale of this musical score really calls for a level of vocal athleticism that most musicals don’t require. Both Elisa and I trained as classical vocalists, and while [this musical is] not operatic, our training really allows our voices to soar and sing this incredible music. Robert: I want what I bring to this guy to show why Francesca loved him in the first place, and why staying with him and the kids was the right choice. Or maybe that’s a nice debate the audience can have with one another after it ends. Nicholas: I’m humbled as a member of this incredibly talented cast, and grateful to tell this story with them. I think my individual contribution, or I should say my character’s contribution to this story, is a settled maturity. Charlie and Marge are a more mature couple, together a long time, very simple and very honest in their relationship. They’re open and talk about anything and everything in their relationship. It may appear that they’re tip-toeing around a topic, but they go there—simply, honestly. I love them! In some ways they remind me of my parents. Faith: As Marge, I bring a touch of humor as a nosy neighbor, using binoculars to spy on my neighbors. I also bring into play the picture of a long and stable, loving marriage, not without a touch of boredom and some fantasies of an extra marital “crush”—but all done with just a hint of seriousness and a lot of lightheartedness. But that’s not where Marge stays: she is also the compassionate friend, who shows up in a time of great need, who protects the very neighbor (Francesca) she spied on. Marge sees and understands the dilemma, understands the importance of protecting Francesca’s secret, and remains a loyal friend to the end. Always there. Her last line to Francesca after all is said and done: “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Life goes on. And so does this friendship, no matter what happened. C.J: I have a strangely bright, high pitched voice for a guy, which has its advantages and disadvantages. In one number, the score requires a man to sing tight Andrews Sisters style harmonies with two women, and guess who got the job! I get to sing with my cast mates, Marissa Wolner and Kaitlin Davis, both of whom I have shared the stage with before and hope to again. Desiree: We [ensemble members] bring a sense of community to the story. Marissa: Every singer in this show is phenomenal, and paired with the beautiful score, the show is worth coming to for the music alone. A bit out of season, but here's an article I worked on for DcMetroTheaterArts! Catch the link here, or read the full text below.
Review: 2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: REV Theatre Company’s ‘Death is a Cabaret Ol’ Chum—A Graveyard Cabaret’ at the Laurel Hill Cemetery by Henrik Eger on September 27, 2016 Death is a Cabaret Ol’ Chum—A Graveyard Cabaret, or: When the dead come alive at the Laurel Hill Cemetery with REV Theatre Company Death, dying, and the supernatural have fascinated the public around the world, especially when visiting cemeteries. “How many years do we really have?” may be the question on many peoples’ minds when attending REV Theatre Company’s haunting show. Their Graveyard Cabaret presents more than melodrama and beautiful songs in a spectacular environment in the middle of the night. In the Middle Ages, people were reminded of death in many church yard plays. REV Theatre Company (REV) builds on this tradition with an entertaining musical program that also serves as a reminder of the brevity of life. Since 2012, REV has built a cult-like following over the years in their annual productions at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia’s most prestigious resting place for the rich, the famous, and the well connected, with “marble and granite funerary monuments.” Having seen some of their engaging productions, I drove up to the 74 acre Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia’s East Falls section, overlooking the Schuylkill River—one of America’s most talked about cemeteries, built between 1836 and 1839. Tourists are told that “Laurel Hill contains more than 33,000 monuments and more than 11,000 family lots.” The cemetery is so large and surrounded by high walls that I missed it at first. However, thanks to my trusted GPS, I eventually found the brightly lit entrance, reminiscent of a castle where, behind the moat and the drawbridge, all the knights, all the ladies, and most members of Philadelphia’s ruling class lie six feet underground—including famous Revolutionary War figures; a hero of the Battle of Princeton; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; business tycoons; U.S. Congressmen; mayors of Philadelphia—even Union Army and Confederate Army generals, resting peacefully, no longer killing each other. To cheer up the nightly visitors, all guests are greeted by Rosey Hay, REV’s Producing Artistic – co-director and director of the show – who offers you a wide range of complimentary cocktails. I guess, the more squeamish would need them. After all, there’s nobody at that famous graveyard at night but the actors, the theatre fans, and Emma Stern, Director of Programs at the cemetery which, as she confided, only takes 35 bodies a year as all the other plots are occupied. So you better hurry! I walked into the night, following the little solar lights, turned to the right, up the hill, passing hundreds of beautiful old gravestones, commemorating important women from Philadelphia, including journalist and magazine publisher Louisa Knapp Curtis; inventor Martha Coston; poet Sarah Josepha Hale; and plant chemist Helen Abbott Michael. Some of the biggest looking stones and obelisks were erected by powerbrokers: shipbuilders; directors of the U.S. Mint; financiers; U.S. Attorney Generals; and members of the richest families in the city of brotherly love. I failed to ask whether Laurel Hill Cemetery has a pauper section. Eventually, I stumbled onto a group of shadows and silhouettes, sitting quietly on their folding chairs or on their blankets between headstones, reminding us of those who contributed to the creativity of Philadelphia, including playwrights like George Henry Boker and Robert Montgomery Bird; opera singers; architects; inventors; photographers; philanthropists; publishers; poets; editors; and writers. Suddenly, we heard strange noises and saw figures moving around in the dark. Slowly, three ghosts, dressed in flamboyant outfits of mourning that only theatre people can create, came into focus. Michelle Pauls looked like Miss Havisham, the wealthy spinster from Great Expectations, who occupies her ruined mansion—”the witch of the place,” as Charles Dickens described her. The way Pauls moved around the gravestones, it looked as if she had just jumped from the grave of Great Expectations, wearing a most elaborate, extravagant, and over-the-top wedding dress. Apparently, this Havisham-like character was so upset about having been jilted on her wedding day that she dyed her spectacular wedding dress black. To top if all off, she wore a black hat the size of a large carriage wheel, bigger than any hat at Ascot, making it impossible for any gentleman or ruffian to kiss her cheeks. Emerging from a cloud of fog, the multi-talented Pauls moved around like a film star in one of the early melodramas—an exquisite treat for lovers of old films and the macabre. Soon her adopted daughter, Estella (played beautifully by the young Felicia Kalani Anderton, who can switch from the innocent voice of a little girl to an erotic, murderous seductress), came into view. Dressed with a gigantic vertical hat that looked like the embroidered silken mattress of a rich baby’s bassinet, on top of her virginal, white wedding dress—the pride of Miss Havisham—she enticed and lured the audience into her realm, while scaring them away at the same time. The star of the Graveyard Cabaret, Rudy Caporaso, conceived, created, choreographed, and costumed the whole show. He looked like Count Dracula in drag and acted like Mr. Jaggers, Miss Havisham’s ambiguous lawyer. His voice woke up the dead at Laurel Hill Cemetery—the corpses of the opulent, the powerful, and the beautiful of days gone by. I almost saw the skeletons rise from their graves to watch him jump up on a mausoleum and, like Freddie Mercury, whip all of us into a frenzy with an amazing graveyard voice. The Graveyard Cabaret team dug up as many old bones as they could find in the musical memorial park by selecting the 20 best out of hundreds of songs that deal with murder, death, and dying, including these great songs: “Cemetery Blues“ (their opening piece, here sung by Bessie Smith in 1923); “Miss Otis Regrets” (one of the most wickedly entertaining songs, sung with great elegance, here with Ella Fitzgerald); “Dance While The Sky Crashes Down“ (another example of songs that help listeners to let go of their angst and move forward, here sung by Jason Webley); “The Sailor’s Wife“ (going back to days when many men never returned from fishing or working on ships that sank, performed here by Birdeatsbaby, a British Dark Cabaret group); “St. James Infirmary“ (sung here by Louis Armstrong); and “Send Me To The ‘Lectric Chair“ (sung by Bessie Smith in 1927). Rob Borchert musically directed the Graveyard Cabaret with songs as old and as gruesome as Victorian ballads and as contemporary as “I can’t decide” by the Scissor Sisters, whose song came with a menacing undercurrent that sent chills down our spines: I can’t decide Whether you should live or die [. . .] My heart feels dead inside It’s cold and hard and petrified Lock the doors and close the blinds We’re going for a ride [. . .] Just when I thought that the funereal roller-coaster that made us wonder whether we were ghosts, skeletons, or spectators of an entertaining, bone-chilling show was over, Rudy Caporaso slowly walked into the audience like a stripper at a seedy night club and gave me a lap-dance so gruesome that I heard myself shriek, “Oh my God!” The more vulgar the lap dance with Death, the more I found myself yowling, “Oh my God! Oh my God!”—to the laughter of the audience. A year later, I am still nightmaring when I think of that hilarious scene at the cemetery. The show ended with all three theater artists bringing us back into reality with the most upbeat number after all the doomsday songs, “Enjoy Yourself” (here in the 1996 movie Everyone Says I Love You by Woody Allen)—a most uplifting tune, sung with great joy and with many of us humming along in the presence of over 30,000 dead at the Laurel Hill Cemetery: Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink The years go by, as quickly as a wink Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think I stumbled out of the Cemetery into the dark, still shocked, got into my car, and found myself whistling bits of “Circus Apocalypse,” one of the haunting songs of the Graveyard Cabaret (here performed by Vermillion Lies): Come down and join the circus/It’s the end of your world [. . .] There’s no audition To get into the show All that we ask for/Is your immortal soul. Graveyard Cabaret played through September 24, 2016, at Laurel Hill Cemetery – 3822 Ridge Avenue, in Philadelphia, PA. Check out an article Dr. Henrik Eger and I edited on DCMetroTheatreArts. It's about Nick Stuccio, a major figure in the Philadelphia theater scene. The article. Full text follows.
An Interview with FringeArts President and Producing Director Nick Stuccio by Henrik Eger on September 19, 2016 Henrik: What inspired you to create FringeArts, Philadelphia’s annual theater arts festival—“a city-wide celebration of innovation and creativity in contemporary performance”? Nick: We went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. And we were so excited by what we saw that we wanted to make a version of it for Philadelphia. Looking back at those first few years, what worked and what did not? We had to grow in order to get better. People who have been involved with the Festival for a long time, myself included, look back on those early years with a lot of fondness. There was an energy in the air, because you never knew what might happen. But that also meant that there were shows that no one showed up to, because they couldn’t find out when and where it was. In order to present the work we do, like Jérôme Bel [from France, Gala] or Romeo Castellucci [from Italy], we had to grow as an institution. With that comes things like salaries and benefits and finance committees—the things people don’t think about when they see the work we present. When do you usually start planning the next festival? It’s a moving target. We’ve got some shows locked in for 2017 and even for 2018, but I’m sure we’ll be adding up until the moment the 2017 guide goes to print. Being a performance curator is different than say, a visual art curator, because we have to deal with artists’ schedules, tours, and contracts. It often falls together at the last minute. We never take a break! We have year-round programming, too, and are working on how to build and market the Fall and Winter seasons right now—even in the midst of the Festival. What acts are you ultimately looking for to bring to Philadelphia? There are no set criteria. We’re looking for artists that are moving their craft forward, that are finding new edges to the cliff. We want to surprise people, to keep them off-balance. We look for high-quality work that takes risks. How do you and your team find out about those avant-garde performers and/or performances, without traveling around the globe all year round? We do travel the globe. My colleague and Co-Curator Sarah Bishop-Stone and I travel quite a bit to Festivals all over the world. I’m going to Paris as soon as the Festival is over. With the many Fringe festivals around the world, how do you manage to consistently get world class performers and cutting-edge ensembles to come all the way to Philadelphia? We pay them. These artists tour their work professionally. It’s what they do. We give them a prestigious platform on which to share their work, cover their airfare, put them up in hotels, and pay them their fee. Each September you present over 1,000 acts. Some of the leading theaters in Philadelphia open their doors to the performances that you have selected, including the FringeArts Theatre, while many other events “explode into every nook and cranny in neighborhoods across Philadelphia and online”—including performances in people’s homes. Take us behind the curtain on how you organize these myriad events and locations. It depends on the festival and on each show. Our staff balloons during the Festival, particularly in production. We hire virtually every stagehand in the city. The artists often have criteria that they would like the venue to meet, and we do our best to find the right spot. For instance, Romeo Castellucci needed a particular space for Julius Caesar. Spared Parts. It took a long time to find the right industrial space, but we found the perfect spot in the Navy Yard. PlayPenn receives over 700 applications from playwrights every year, but only six get accepted into the play development conference. How good are the chances for theater artists and groups to get their shows featured in the Philadelphia FringeFest? To be clear, there are two segments to the Festival. There are curated shows, which are composed of artists that we invite to perform on our platform, which are given the weight of our organization behind them. And then there are the independent shows, which make up the majority of the shows in the Festival. Anyone that has the passion and courage to mount their show can be a part of our Festival. There is no application process, and we encourage people to take that risk and dive in. Is there an application process for individual performers and groups? There is no application. We have a Festival coordinator who works with the independent artists. There is a registration fee, which gets them into our Festival guide and gets them PR and box office support. Again, anyone that wants to be in the Festival and pays the fee gets into the Festival. Philadelphia theaters offer a wide range of plays and performances all year round—from traditional dramas and musicals to new plays and avant-garde performances. From your perspective, what attracts local theater and music lovers to this year’s FringeArts? We present shows you won’t see anywhere else. Festival is the time for taking risks, for being bold, both as an audience member and as an artist. The goal is to be subsumed by it, to go to a show having no idea what is going to happen, and to just surrender yourself to the art. What makes us different is the enormous diversity of work happening in the Festival. You could see a show one night by a first-timer, and then the next night see one of the premier choreographers in the world. They feed each other. You see the breadth of human and artistic experience in that. Looking back, what changes have you made for this year’s Festival and what events have you planned for FringeArts after the 2016 Festival is over? We present work all year round at FringeArts, and we have events coming up very soon. Jérôme Bel, the artist behind Gala, is returning in November with one of his early works. He’s a very important artist to this organization, and we are committed to presenting his work in the future. Presenting local artists is also important to us, so we’ll be working with Kelly Bond & Melissa Krodman, Annie Wilson, and others on their world premieres. John Jarboe of the Bearded Ladies continues his late night raunchy Get Pegged Cabaret in La Peg, and Sam Tower and Jess Conda are teaming up to recreate the world 2015 Fringe show 901 Nowhere Street in a new cabaret they’re calling NOWHERE FAST. Do you also partner with other organizations? Yes, we have this growing partnership with Ars Nova Workshop, an experimental jazz presenter in Philadelphia, so we’re co-presenting composer George Louis only a few weeks after the Festival ends. We always want to be presenting, always activating our Arts Center on the waterfront. Nick, is there anything else you would like to share? Happy Fringe! |
AuthorDaniel Vagnoni writes, edits, and creates. Check back here for news. ArchivesTags
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