R
RattataJoey
Today I'll be writing my second Readers Choice article, this time I'm reviewing Mewtwo EX.
Mewtwo EX – Psychic – HP170
Basic Pokemon
[C][C] EX Ball: Does 20 damage times the number of Energy attached to each player’s Active Pokemon.
[P][P][C] Psycho Drive: 120 damage. Choose 1 Energy attached to this Pokemon and discard it.
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon EX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
As standard Mewtwo's a Basic Psychic type, but what's less standard are his Hitpoints: With an astounding 170Hp he makes the Black/White dragons look tame in comparison, next are his attacks for {C}{C} Mewtwo can use EX ball which will do 20 damage for each energy attached to Mewtwo and the defending Pokémon and for {P}{P}{C} he can use the sets titular attack Psycho Drive which deals 120 damage and then Mewtwo discards an energy. Add to this his Psychic weakness and you notice that Mewtwo EX is a pretty good card, except for 1 crucial factor and the balancing point for all EX Pokémon, the EX rule, this simply states that when an EX Pokémon in knocked out the opposing player gets to take an extra prize which, means your opponent only need to knockout 3 EX Pokémon to win a game.
So how would Mewtwo be played? There seem to be 2 views on how Mewtwo EX should be played, the first view is to run Mewtwo in his own deck, the second is to run him as a tech. Both views hold there own merit and should be looked into carefully before definitively choosing which is better.
With that said how do me run Mewtwo EX as a deck? Before Psycho Drive and Hail Blizzard where revealed Mewtwo didn't have much in the form of energy acceleration, the best option being an engine running Jirachi and either Shaymin or Mismagius, but after the reveal we where given Gardevoir from Hail Blizzard which I reviewed in my last article.
Gardevoir – Psychic – HP110
Stage 1 – Evolves from Kirlia
Ability: Psycho Mirage
As long as this Pokemon is in play, each Basic Psychic Energy card attached to your Psychic-type Pokemon provides 2 units of Psychic energy. This effect can’t be stacked, regardless of how many Pokemon with this ability you have in play.
[P][P][C][C] Mind Shock: 60 damage. Don’t apply Weakness or Resistance for this attack’s damage.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
With Gardevoir in play any {P} energy attached to any of your Psychic Pokémon would provide {P}{P}, with this Mewtwo EX can attack with 1 attachment without relying DCE or an engine that requires coin tosses, pair this with the fact that being a basic gives Mewtwo access to cards like Eviolite which further adds to Mewtwos staying power, but how does he fair against todays main competitors? I'll compare the numbers for 3 major decks and see if Mewtwo can KO them before they KO him;
First I'll start with Zekrom as he's putting on the best show at the current Battle Roads, we'll assume that Zekrom has 3 energy attached and that Mewtwo has 1 {P} attached with Gardevoir on the bench and both having Eviolite, with Zekrom attacking first with Bolt Strike Mewtwo is left with 70 Hp Zekrom goes down to 110Hp due to recoil, next turn Mewtwo uses EX Ball doing 80 damage leaving Zekrom with 30HP, next turn Zekrom can attack with either Bolt Strike or Outrage for the Knockout claiming 2 prizes(it may be worth noting that with an additional energy attachment or by removing Eviolite from the equation that Mewtwo will win the exchange, but I felt it better to not pepper the results by adding a factor half way).
Next there's Gothitelle, well assume that she has 3 {P} energy attached and Mewtwo has the same setup as before, Gothitelle attacks first dealing 160 damage leaving Mewtwo with 10Hp left, next Mewtwo attacks with 5 energy between him and Gothitelle and with Gothitelle's weakness Mewtwo deals 200 damage enough for a One Hit Knock Out (Mewtwo should be able to score a One Hit against a Gothitelle that only has 2 energy attached).
Lastly there's Reshiram, whether its ReshiPhlosion or ReshiBoar we'll assume that you can Blue Flare repeatedly, we'll give Mewtwo the same set up as the last 2 examples and include Eviolite on Reshiram, Reshiram attacks first and deals 100 damage to Mewtwo leaving Mewtwo with 70 Hp then Reshiram discards 2 energys, next Mewtwo attacks with EX Ball dealing 40 damage Leaving Reshiram with 90Hp, next turn Reshiram attacks with Blue Flare and claims 2 prizes.
As you can see from the above examples Mewtwos Match-ups can be pretty varied, with the right timing Gothitelle can be easily taken care of, and you'll force your opponent to setup on there bench to claim 1 KO against you when you can easily counter KO with just DCE, the Zekrom matchup all depends on the setup with Eviolite being a big factor on whether to play that extra energy or to invest it on the next Mewtwo, but by far his least favourable matchup has to be Reshiram due to Reshiram dropping its energy after it attacks taking away Mewtwos key source of damage output. Of course there is 1 matchup that I didn't list that does need addressing and that's the mirror match as with all mirror matches the winner will be decided by who-ever plays the deck better and whether you can gain an advantage in the prize exchange.
After looking at how Mewtwo matches up on his own how does he measure up as a tech? He seems to be playable as a powerful counter to anything with a psychic weakness such as Gothitelle or requires a high amount of energy to attack such as Zekrom, I feel the best place to tech him would be in a Gothitelle list as Gothitelle's biggest problem is overcoming the mirror match as the deck is designed to lock the opponent while keeping its own trainers accessible, put simply the first Gothitelle to setup should be the 1 that wins with Mewtwo a Gothitelle that sets-up slightly slower can still mount a comeback, Mewtwo can also attack for {C}{C} which can mean a simple 1 turn setup for a counter KO, Mewtwo's high Hitpoints also mean that a Gothitelle players field can hold more damage without having to worry about when to use Blissey Prime or which ever healing engine they choose to run.
Overall I prefer Mewtwo EX as Tech in Gothitelle over it being a deck on its own, Gothitelle has shown that it has no terrible match-ups and Mewtwo just helps improve the mirror match beyond the point of 'Did you get a good hand?' or 'Did you go first?', whereas playing Mewtwo as a deck does award the advantage of being able to stop Gothitelle it falls short of beating Reshiram, and the Zekrom matchup comes down to a prize by prize series of situations which only the best players could guarantee consistent victory's, but don't let that put you off if your dead set on making that Mewtwo EX deck then give it a go with effective testing and the right techs it might be able to push those slightly more difficult matchups towards effective wins.
So what are your thoughts on Mewtwo EX does he deserve the hype he received or was it all hot air, feel free to comment below.
Special Thanks go to Pokemonjoe for requesting the card, if you would like a card reviewing just let me know either on here or through my profile.
Signing off for now
RattataJoey
Mewtwo EX – Psychic – HP170
Basic Pokemon
[C][C] EX Ball: Does 20 damage times the number of Energy attached to each player’s Active Pokemon.
[P][P][C] Psycho Drive: 120 damage. Choose 1 Energy attached to this Pokemon and discard it.
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon EX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
As standard Mewtwo's a Basic Psychic type, but what's less standard are his Hitpoints: With an astounding 170Hp he makes the Black/White dragons look tame in comparison, next are his attacks for {C}{C} Mewtwo can use EX ball which will do 20 damage for each energy attached to Mewtwo and the defending Pokémon and for {P}{P}{C} he can use the sets titular attack Psycho Drive which deals 120 damage and then Mewtwo discards an energy. Add to this his Psychic weakness and you notice that Mewtwo EX is a pretty good card, except for 1 crucial factor and the balancing point for all EX Pokémon, the EX rule, this simply states that when an EX Pokémon in knocked out the opposing player gets to take an extra prize which, means your opponent only need to knockout 3 EX Pokémon to win a game.
So how would Mewtwo be played? There seem to be 2 views on how Mewtwo EX should be played, the first view is to run Mewtwo in his own deck, the second is to run him as a tech. Both views hold there own merit and should be looked into carefully before definitively choosing which is better.
With that said how do me run Mewtwo EX as a deck? Before Psycho Drive and Hail Blizzard where revealed Mewtwo didn't have much in the form of energy acceleration, the best option being an engine running Jirachi and either Shaymin or Mismagius, but after the reveal we where given Gardevoir from Hail Blizzard which I reviewed in my last article.
Gardevoir – Psychic – HP110
Stage 1 – Evolves from Kirlia
Ability: Psycho Mirage
As long as this Pokemon is in play, each Basic Psychic Energy card attached to your Psychic-type Pokemon provides 2 units of Psychic energy. This effect can’t be stacked, regardless of how many Pokemon with this ability you have in play.
[P][P][C][C] Mind Shock: 60 damage. Don’t apply Weakness or Resistance for this attack’s damage.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
With Gardevoir in play any {P} energy attached to any of your Psychic Pokémon would provide {P}{P}, with this Mewtwo EX can attack with 1 attachment without relying DCE or an engine that requires coin tosses, pair this with the fact that being a basic gives Mewtwo access to cards like Eviolite which further adds to Mewtwos staying power, but how does he fair against todays main competitors? I'll compare the numbers for 3 major decks and see if Mewtwo can KO them before they KO him;
First I'll start with Zekrom as he's putting on the best show at the current Battle Roads, we'll assume that Zekrom has 3 energy attached and that Mewtwo has 1 {P} attached with Gardevoir on the bench and both having Eviolite, with Zekrom attacking first with Bolt Strike Mewtwo is left with 70 Hp Zekrom goes down to 110Hp due to recoil, next turn Mewtwo uses EX Ball doing 80 damage leaving Zekrom with 30HP, next turn Zekrom can attack with either Bolt Strike or Outrage for the Knockout claiming 2 prizes(it may be worth noting that with an additional energy attachment or by removing Eviolite from the equation that Mewtwo will win the exchange, but I felt it better to not pepper the results by adding a factor half way).
Next there's Gothitelle, well assume that she has 3 {P} energy attached and Mewtwo has the same setup as before, Gothitelle attacks first dealing 160 damage leaving Mewtwo with 10Hp left, next Mewtwo attacks with 5 energy between him and Gothitelle and with Gothitelle's weakness Mewtwo deals 200 damage enough for a One Hit Knock Out (Mewtwo should be able to score a One Hit against a Gothitelle that only has 2 energy attached).
Lastly there's Reshiram, whether its ReshiPhlosion or ReshiBoar we'll assume that you can Blue Flare repeatedly, we'll give Mewtwo the same set up as the last 2 examples and include Eviolite on Reshiram, Reshiram attacks first and deals 100 damage to Mewtwo leaving Mewtwo with 70 Hp then Reshiram discards 2 energys, next Mewtwo attacks with EX Ball dealing 40 damage Leaving Reshiram with 90Hp, next turn Reshiram attacks with Blue Flare and claims 2 prizes.
As you can see from the above examples Mewtwos Match-ups can be pretty varied, with the right timing Gothitelle can be easily taken care of, and you'll force your opponent to setup on there bench to claim 1 KO against you when you can easily counter KO with just DCE, the Zekrom matchup all depends on the setup with Eviolite being a big factor on whether to play that extra energy or to invest it on the next Mewtwo, but by far his least favourable matchup has to be Reshiram due to Reshiram dropping its energy after it attacks taking away Mewtwos key source of damage output. Of course there is 1 matchup that I didn't list that does need addressing and that's the mirror match as with all mirror matches the winner will be decided by who-ever plays the deck better and whether you can gain an advantage in the prize exchange.
After looking at how Mewtwo matches up on his own how does he measure up as a tech? He seems to be playable as a powerful counter to anything with a psychic weakness such as Gothitelle or requires a high amount of energy to attack such as Zekrom, I feel the best place to tech him would be in a Gothitelle list as Gothitelle's biggest problem is overcoming the mirror match as the deck is designed to lock the opponent while keeping its own trainers accessible, put simply the first Gothitelle to setup should be the 1 that wins with Mewtwo a Gothitelle that sets-up slightly slower can still mount a comeback, Mewtwo can also attack for {C}{C} which can mean a simple 1 turn setup for a counter KO, Mewtwo's high Hitpoints also mean that a Gothitelle players field can hold more damage without having to worry about when to use Blissey Prime or which ever healing engine they choose to run.
Overall I prefer Mewtwo EX as Tech in Gothitelle over it being a deck on its own, Gothitelle has shown that it has no terrible match-ups and Mewtwo just helps improve the mirror match beyond the point of 'Did you get a good hand?' or 'Did you go first?', whereas playing Mewtwo as a deck does award the advantage of being able to stop Gothitelle it falls short of beating Reshiram, and the Zekrom matchup comes down to a prize by prize series of situations which only the best players could guarantee consistent victory's, but don't let that put you off if your dead set on making that Mewtwo EX deck then give it a go with effective testing and the right techs it might be able to push those slightly more difficult matchups towards effective wins.
So what are your thoughts on Mewtwo EX does he deserve the hype he received or was it all hot air, feel free to comment below.
Special Thanks go to Pokemonjoe for requesting the card, if you would like a card reviewing just let me know either on here or through my profile.
Signing off for now
RattataJoey
