Two-Time — Looking at Another Win for MewMew in Knoxville

By: Caleb Gedemer · Posted Posted onOct 18, 2019 at 3:00 PM · 0 Comments

I played Mewtwo and Mew-GX for Regionals again and this time it went better for me. I went into Friday night wanting to play some tech cards to “beat every matchup”, but eventually caved to the extra consistency of Acro Bike. The techs were one Giratina, one Reshiram and Charizard-GX, and one Lysandre Labs. Jimmy Pendarvis and Michael Pramawat decided to use these, but Azul Garcia Griego, Daniel Altavilla, and I went for the smoother approach. We opted to drop the fourth Pokégear 3.0 for a fourth Acro Bike as well, valuing the guaranteed card drawn off the latter more than the chance to get a Welder. Overall I liked this change, as did I the dropping of Wobbuffet from the Atlantic City, New Jersey, list for a Marshadow to protect yourself more against Power Plant. The metagame had shifted a little bit towards denying the Abilities of Pokemon-GX, so this change was a good one and well worth it.

The deck ran very smoothly for me with the exception of rounds nine and eleven, but other than in those two losses I couldn’t ask for much more. I unfortunately faced two Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX decks again and without the techs I was helpless. I managed to pull a tie out of the first due to some unfortunate draws from my opponent and I tried my best to pull of a Latios-GX Tag Purge lock into Magcargo-GX to Burning Magma GX for deck out — but to no avail. This strategy is valid, but it requires an opponent to opt not to play Xerneas-GX or prize it — making it very difficult to accomplish in most cases. Here is my round-by-round:

  • Round One versus Pikachu and Zekrom-GX WLW 1/0/0
  • Round Two versus Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX WL 1/0/1
  • Round Three versus Greninja and Zoroark-GX WW 2/0/1
  • Round Four versus Spiritomb / Shedinja WW 3/0/1
  • Round Five versus Pikachu and Zekrom-GX WW 4/0/1
  • Round Six versus Pidgeotto Control L 4/1/1
  • Round Seven versus Pidgeotto Control WLW 5/1/1
  • Round Eight versus Pikachu and Zekrom-GX LWW 6/1/1
  • Round Nine versus Pikachu and Zekrom-GX LWL 6/2/1
  • Round Ten versus Pikachu and Zekrom-GX LWW 7/2/1
  • Round Eleven versus Malamar LL 7/3/1
  • Round Twelve versus Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX LL 7/4/1
  • Round Thirteen versus Malamar WW 8/4/1
  • Round Fourteen versus Welder Toolbox WW 9/4/1
  • Round Fifteen versus Pidgeotto Control LWW 10/4/1

As you may know, Daniel Altavilla took this one home and Azul Garcia Griego was not far behind with a Top 4 finish. With these results I still firmly believe that Mewtwo and Mew-GX is the best deck in the Standard format and will likely continue to be until the release of Cosmic Eclipse. In this article I will analyze the day two metagame from the Regionals, talk about the top-performing decks and gaze a bit into the future of the Standard format with a short introduction to some of the changes with the release of Cosmic Eclipse. All decks and their lists at this Regionals were made public here. Let’s begin!

Day 2 Decks

Final Top Eight Decks

  • Mewtwo and Mew-GX
  • Pikachu and Zekrom-GX
  • Pikachu and Zekrom-GX
  • Mewtwo and Mew-GX
  • Pikachu and Zekrom-GX
  • Blacephalon-GX
  • Pidgeotto Control
  • Pidgeotto Control

Mewtwo and Mew-GX proved to nearly be the most popular deck — it was on Day 2 by a hair — but Day 1 had Pikachu and Zekrom-GX slightly more popular. The event shaped up much like I expected it to, although I did not see Pidgeotto Control being quite as popular as it was — it was truly everywhere, mirror matches, the whole bit. Pikachu and Zekrom-GX again outperformed itself again, I still don’t think the deck is quite as good as it shows in its performances. A few surprise rogues cropped up like the Lucario and Melmetal-GX deck and the baby Blacephalon build. While Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX was probably the most hyped deck going into the weekend, it still finished without a single Top Eight slot; likely because so many lists were teched out to beat it.

Missing in Action

Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX

  • Seven people played it in Day 2 with abysmal results: three Top 32 and four placements below that
    • The reason I call it “missing in action” is because it again missed Top 8 and for a largely represented deck that’s not a good sign — people running techs usually just beat it so I presume as the Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX marched up the tables they would fall right back down again after running into prepared players; its Pidgeotto Control matchup is also nearly unwinnable, so those playing that were just farming up this Fairy type deck
  • The deck is so linear that it really can’t do much against matchups where it’s not favored or if your opponent has a tech
    • Some Malamar lists played Lunala Prism Star to two-shot it and avoid a one-hit Knock Out in return with 160 HP
  • This was the hype deck going into the weekend, but things were drastically changed because of the techs in Pikachu and Zekrom-GX decks
    • People played multiple Lysandre Labs, Pachirisu, and even Farfetch'd to counter Fairy Charm L; some of these techs were applied to other decks, like Mewtwo and Mew-GX, as well
  • Outlook: Negative, I don’t see anyone looking at this past weekend’s results and being like “Wow I really want to play GardEon!” — it does what it does and it does it well, but its linearity is unavoidable and it will run into situations where it lacks an option to respond

Malamar

  • I’ll admit that Malamar is better than I’d expected in this format, but that’s not saying much; I still don’t think I’d play it myself with its consistency and slow-paced nature
  • One of the deck’s main struggles is bricking one of the three games in a set and then struggling to finish the series — even if it looks projected to be a win; the attackers are strong enough and with the lists people are running lately it’s decently consistent, just falls slightly short of the “next level” of decks
  • Ten people played it in Day 2 with honestly bad results: a few Top 32 and then the rest finishing far below that
    • Like Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX, it proved it has a hard time competing with the format’s best decks and couldn’t crack the Top 8, or even Top 16, as a result
  • Outlook: Neutral, the deck will remain the same for the most part, still dealing 130 with Shadow Impact and taking really close matchups with most of the field — it’s hard to get too creative with the deck without compromising consistency, so the deck will likely remain mostly the same until Cosmic Eclipse drops

Quagsire / Naganadel

  • Still super inconsistent and while many innovations have been made (especially in the two identical lists from this past weekend) like Alolan Ninetales and Rainbow Energy, the deck still suffers from the same problems
  • Two people played it in Day 2 and did alright: one got Top 32 and the other was just shy of it
  • While not quite as hyped as Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX going into the weekend, it was said to be “disrespected” in New Jersey
    • Sure this might be true, but it was right to be disrespected if you ask me
  • Outlook: Neutral/slightly negative, I can’t see the deck picking up at all after this weekend, it should remain about the same — or worse; players may see its results being a drop off from Atlantic City and decide to skip over it in the future

Welder Toolbox

  • Most people have designated this deck as a high roll play by now and that’s what got most people off it; it seems to fare well Day 1 and then completely bottom out Day 2 mostly due to playing better players and decks that have adjusted around the original format-dominating Welder Toolbox decks
  • Reset Stamp counts going up have really hurt these decks; the Blacephalon addition was originally very strong, but with the addition of more Reset Stamp to most lists, it’s almost unplayable
  • Twelve people played it in Day 2 with solid to poor results: for this, it’s really any Fire-based deck (Green's Exploration lists were the best-performing), there were some in the Top 17, Top 32, but amongst some of the worst-faring players were Welder Toolbox people at the very bottom of Day 2
  • Outlook: Negative, people will continue to play the deck because ithas that appeal and does have a lot of unique attacking options, but it’s not positioned well and moving forward I don’t think it will get much better — Charizard and Braixen-GX coming out should help it some, so look out for that in the future

Looking at the Top

Blacephalon-GX

  • Bit of an outlier deck that was less expected for this event
  • Both Naganadel-GX sleeved up for Reset Stamp protection and the Stinger GX option against TAG TEAM Pokemon-GX decks as well as against decks that specifically aim to deny you your Beast Ring turns
  • Lists have finally synched up and almost all are playing four Welder as they should be
    • Older lists neglected the four Welder and were terribly disadvantaged against the likes of decks like Mewtwo and Mew-GX
  • Reset Stamp was included in the top-performing list, a welcome inclusion to balance the deck’s late game
  • Six people played it in Day 2 with mild results: one Top 8, couple Top 32 or near it
  • Outlook: Neutral/slightly positive, the deck was played more than in the past and the results show how it is still a strong build, in the future it could be played about the same or slightly more, perhaps landing it the same or better results; some of its success depends on how readily other players sleeve up Tapu Fini to counter it, so it will likely be kept in a similar holding pattern moving forward of those that are confident enough to play it.

This concludes the public portion of this article.

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