The Middleman — Mega Mewtwo for Virginia Regionals

Hello PokeBeach fans and subscribers! I’m here again to tell you about a deck that I enjoy playing and I think has solid and unique place in the current Standard format. I also think it would be a solid choice for the upcoming Roanoke Regionals in Virginia. In this article, we’ll explore M Mewtwo-EX’s strengths and weaknesses, how it pairs up against the best decks in the format, and why it is a good play for Roanoke, but first I’ll briefly tell you about my past experiences with Mega Mewtwo and why I took it to the last three tournaments I attended.

From Last Season to Now

M Mewtwo-EX has been an incredibly strong card since it came out, but last season it had a huge hurdle in the form of a Miniature Pumpkin. Pumpkaboo really held Mega Mewtwo back last season because it was so easy to get a few Marchers in the discard and OHKO three Mewtwo in a row for an easy win. Back then you had to hope to dodge Night March which was hard because it was a highly popular deck, but if you did, you had even to good matchups against the rest of the meta. Your other option was to play a less optimal version of the deck with Dark Energy, Zoroark, Yveltal, and Druddigon. You played these to give you a solid chance against Night March and Vespiquen. I played this version for a Standard and Expanded City Championship last season getting Top 8 and Top 4.

After Battle Compressor and Night March rotated, it was a no brainer that the Garbodor version with Psychic Energy, Mewtwo-EX with Damage Change, and Shrine of Memories was the optimal way to play it. It was one of the first decks I tested after rotation and it seemed strong and promising, although it got put on the back burner because I tested so many decks and I just enjoyed playing other ones more at the time. It wasn’t until Espeon-GX came out that it caught my eye again. I decided to take Mega Mewtwo to a League Cup not long after I noticed that Decidueye-GX  / Vileplume was highly popular at the League Cups in my area and it had just done incredibly well at Oceania Internationals, as well as Volcanion-EX winning the whole tournament. I also noticed that Lapras-GX was getting a lot of hype and doing well so it seemed like the meta was good for Mega Mewtwo. I ended up winning that League Cup going 7-0-1 overall and throughout the tournament I played against different Lapras-GX variants, a Zoroark / Galvantula deck, Gyarados, and a few mirror matches. The next League Cup I took it to I went 5-0-1 in swiss playing against M Rayquaza-EX, Waterbox, Quad Lapras-GX, Carbink BREAK / Lycanroc-GX, and I can’t remember what else. I lost in Top 8 to the Carbink / Lycanroc I beat in swiss. Game three I drew completely dead and lost because they were ahead on Prizes.

After cutting two League Cups back to back I felt comfortable with Mega Mewtwo and it was the deck I currently enjoyed most in Standard besides Vespiquen, so I knew that I was going to play it for Salt Lake City Regionals. I would have considered Vespiquen more, but Deicdueye / Vileplume is too big of a problem for it and I wasn’t willing to risk having a horrendous matchup versus one of the best decks in the format. I wasn’t prepared for the high amount of Darkrai-EX  / Yveltal and Darkrai-EX  / Giratina-EX  at Utah. It made sense since Mega Mewtwo had been highly played and was the deck in the format keeping Mega Ray, Volcanion, and Decidueye / Vileplume in check. I unfortunately didn’t predict that and hadn’t really tested against either Darkrai variant for this tournament. I ended up going 1-3-1 and dropping the tournament. My three losses were to two Turbo Darks and a Dark Dragons. If I had known 5-3-1 could still make Top 64, I would have kept playing, but I’ve been used to the bigger Regionals where even 5-2-2 can miss Top 64. Now Turbo Dark and Dark Dragons aren’t entirely bad matchups, but Mega Mewtwo needs to draw considerably well to beat them, but I’ll tell you more about that later. Here is the list I took to both Cups and Utah.

Although I didn’t do great at Utah, my friend Chris Clemens was able to make Top 8 with Mega Mewtwo. He was part of the travel group I was with and the night before the tournament we were talking about our lists. Chris had been testing a list that had no Trainers' Mail in it and to me that was odd. My friend Austin Bentheimer and I told him that we didn’t think you could afford to do that, the added consistency is needed and it helps to get your Spirit Links, Mega Turbo, Float Stone, and generally is all around good. He trusted in our judgement and added in two to his list. I also convinced them that I thought two Parallel City would be good and six Psychic Energy was enough. Seven is definitely better, but I assumed Mega Ray would be bigger and having four Stadiums is also really nice against decks like Lapras, Decidueye / Vilplume, and Volcanion.

Austin and I ended up playing the same list, but Chris still wanted to play Hex Maniac, which he cut the fourth Spirit link for, and he liked three N and two Trainers' Mail over three Mail and two N. I didn’t agree with cutting the Spirit link, but he was worried about Decidueye / Vileplume so it made sense. I wish I had agreed with the N and Mail counts because I found myself struggling to find an N in a couple of games where it really mattered. In testing it hadn’t been a problem, I never struggle to find N and three Mail was generally better because it helped me get Spirit Link and Mega Turbo easier. I even turned one of the Mail upside down in testing to see if it had been an N instead if it would be the better choice and each game I just wanted it to be a Mail. So overall I would say those two are interchangeable, but I would say that more Mail is better for League Cups for consistency in a best of one format and more N is better overall to guarantee that card accomplishes something and you have another draw card if you’re under Item-lock.

Why is Mega Mewtwo the Middleman?

M Mewtwo-EX is one of the decks that this format is centered around and I say this for a few reasons. It is the 50 / 50 deck of the format, meaning it does well or at least is even with most of the higher played decks in the format. It has a lot going for it (Energy acceleration, high HP, Ability-lock, a GX attack, OHKO potential) and has the options to deal with just about every deck in the format. It keeps certain decks in check like Volcanion, M Rayquaza-EX, and Decidueye-GX / Vileplume. Now I know there are other decks that can deal with those, but they can’t do it as well and as effectively as Mega Mewtwo does. So, when one deck can have positive matchups against a good chunk of the best and most played decks, it’s clearly a force that the format is to an extent shaped around.

Which Version is Better?

Now there’s a lot of ways you can build Mega Mewtwo, but I’m just going to focus on two different versions. There’s the more popular version with Garbodor, Espeon-GX, and Wobbuffet and the straight Wobbuffet version with no Garbodor and no Espeon. Each version has its merits and what decks you expect to face will determine which version is better.

The Standard Version

This version is much more versatile than the straight Wobbuffet version. You have a more permanent Ability-lock because of Garbodor. Your Garbodor still have Wobbuffet to help against Decidueye-GX / Vileplume in case they get Vileplume up before you get a Tool down. You also have Espeon-GX which gives the deck some added attacks that can really help it out. Psybeam will help you in a pinch, it can really slow your opponent down because having to attack under Confusion is risky and really punishes your opponent if they flip tails. Psychic is a balanced attack overall, not quite as strong as Mega Mewtwo’s Psychic Infinity, but still useful. It’s best against opposing Mega Mewtwo decks and anything weak to Psychic. If a Mewtwo-EX is not yet evolved into a Mega, all it needs is one Energy on it and Espeon can take it down with Psychic, and if it is a Mega Mewtwo, Psychic KOs it with only two Energy on it. Divide-GX is an amazing attack and having a GX attack in general is something that just about every deck should have if possible. Divide-GX can finish off a Pokemon on the Bench when most of its HP is gone, it can spread damage to help you take easier Knock Outs with Psychic Infinity, especially against Pokemon that are hard to take a OHKO on like a Darkrai-EX with a Fighting Fury Belt on it, and it’s a monster of an attack early game against Vespiquen because you can Knock Out either two Combee or any two low HP Pokemon before they evolve. Let’s not forget that it can almost auto win you the Gyarados matchup because you can just Knock Out three Magikarp at once and take three Prizes.

An attack in this deck that is more useful than it would seem is Trubbish’s Acid Spray. Now it does require you to flip heads to do anything significant, but it can be a game changer and a life saver. I have saved myself a few times when I was behind and needed time to build up my board and Acid Spray can do just that. It’s also good against Turbo Dark if you can knock off the only Energy from a Darkrai with an Exp. Share or a Fighting Fury Belt on it. If they don’t hit a switching card they could be stranded Active and waste a turn.

I like this version best because it has more options and having Garbodor helps immensely in a few matchups. Against Volcanion getting it to stick forces them to either waste a turn to Lysandre and Knock Out a one Prize Pokemon or it gives you an incredible advantage over them and almost guarantees you winning because you can OHKO their Pokemon while they take a couple of attacks to Knock Out your Mega Mewtwo. It really helps a ton in the M Rayquaza-EX matchup, without it they can typically find a way to refill their Bench, even after being hit with a Parallel City. Garb paired with Parallel almost shuts them down entirely, and when you can also take OHKOs on their Pokemon, it ends up being a very good matchup. Garb can really swing the Decidueye / Vileplume matchup if you can manage to get it up with a Tool attached. If they don’t play Beedrill-EX (which I think most players don’t include in their lists) or find a way to Knock Out Garb, the matchup becomes heavily favorable. You can also play Hex Maniac as insurance in case Garb doesn’t come out or gets Knocked Out. The biggest problem with this version is it can be less consistent because it has a 1-1 Espeon, a 3-3 Mega Mewtwo line, and a 2-1 Garb line. That’s partially why there’s the straight Wobbuffet option.

This concludes the public portion of this article.

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