The first thing I wanted to note was the influence over U.S Nationals and how that may or may not improve certain matchups for different decks. Mewtwo is an easily exploitable card in most decks. If the meta doesn't run too many, say 0-1, then bumping your Mewtwo count to 2-3 will give you a huge advantage over other decks in terms of Mewtwo wars. This means that Zekrom/Eels decks now run 2-3 Mewtwo, with some decklists dropping the Zekrom count to 1 or none in favour of more Mewtwo. Previously, CMT had a very bad matchup against ZekEels because ZekEels hit for weakness against Tornadus and Tornadus EX in CMT advanced for an easy two prizes while only giving up one prize. Removing Tornadus from Mewtwo you only slightly improved the matchup because one of the main attackers of this deck was only giving up one prize. The main reason it had a bad matchup against ZekEels because you weren't using Mewtwo efficiently enough, Mewtwo was designed to take two prizes every turn and it just couldn't do that when ZekEels ran 0-1 Mewtwo and a heavy Zekrom line.
Because of U.S Nationals influencing Mewtwo counts from 0-1 to 2-3 CM now has a great matchup against Eels. Once you reveal Celebi, the Zekrom player will try their hardest to get out their now buffed Mewtwo count for the premature Mewtwo wars. The CM player can now use their Mewtwos efficiently because they can catcher KO benched Mewtwos for an easy two prizes. CM is a great contender for worlds because of this one fact. The reason it's not an autoloss for ZekEels with a heavy Mewtwo line is because of this: If the Zekrom player can take the first two prizes and then continue to trade prizes like that, even if it is Mewtwo vs. Mewtwo, the CM player is in the prize loss and the constant trading makes it impossible for them to win. Celebi Mewtwo has always had a great matchup against Darkrai because of the two shotting + one shotting potential. Again, as long as the Darkrai player does not take an immediate two prizes the CM player has a great chance of defeating the Darkrai player. If the Darkrai player runs Mewtwo, the situation turns into ZekEels w/ heavy Mewtwo line all over again. It is however very difficult for a Darkrai player to get a Shaymin + Mewtwo combo out of the blue, which gives CMT and ZekEels a better matchup against Darkrai/Mewtwo already, because it has no energy acceleration, besides Shaymin, and that energy is not very easily replaceable once it dies, Mewtwo only lasts a turn in Mewtwo wars.
Anti-meta decks are a dead play for worlds, though. It's very difficult for fighting decks to keep up with the actual meta. The worlds meta is easier to predict than the meta in the Netherlands because it is localised across players of the entire pokemon community. Since heavy Mewtwo lines will be popular in most top tier decks at the moment, Terrakion will suffer from a similar problem to Darkrai in that it requires Shaymin to get energy onto Mewtwo, and unlike Darkrai, it takes a particularly long time to get energy on the field with the lack of a "Fighting Patch" once it dies. Terrakion is better used as a tech than in an actual deck for this reason. Any bench + dynamotor + attach from the hand, switch and retaliate combo or Dark Patch + Shaymin + Attach, switch is a much more potent combo for Terrakion, because it is a surprise tech and card in general.
Rogue decks are a difficult one to cover. We can immediately see that Mew Prime / Accelgor variants won't do well at all because of increased Mewtwo counts. Vileplume and Vanilluxe variants might perform well with fewer matches, but somewhere at worlds you will not set up until T5, as it is comparable to running a Vanilluxe deck at Nationals, somewhere in those 7 rounds + top cut you will flip heads/tails; whatever isn't good for the Vanilluxe deck. Klinklang may or may not be played, already it suffers a huge disadvantage because of increased Mewtwo counts, and it is a slow deck. Klinklang troll is very similar to vileplume decks, because you have to set up two stage twos. That might work in some matches, you might find times when you get a T2 Klinklang or Vileplume, but in other matches, that can be delayed. I would think that people who have been admitted to Worlds will not have that follower mentality like the children on PlayTCG, that place is filled with little kiddies and their Klinklang EX.
Mewtwo is discussed a lot in this thread, and that's because most decklists will increase their Mewtwo counts from little to none to near maximum allowed. This fact has a large impact on the current format and metagame, therefore finding ways to exploit these deckbuilding factors is priority number one.
I've pretty much burned out all my ideas since I started writing, I definitely forgot to cover a few more things and I apologise.
tl;dr
Buffed Mewtwo counts have a major influence in the direction of the format. In decks like ZekEels running fewer Mewtwo is acceptable because of Celebi/Mewtwo matchups, though decks like Dakrai and Terrakion will have to run increased Mewtwo and Shaymin counts, which isn't too difficult to find space for when you acknowledge the fact those decks run very little Pokemon counts.
/thoughts?
Roronoa, hit me up with a message if you want to keep our discussion private. I gathered we might need to get a few more opinions on the matter.
Because of U.S Nationals influencing Mewtwo counts from 0-1 to 2-3 CM now has a great matchup against Eels. Once you reveal Celebi, the Zekrom player will try their hardest to get out their now buffed Mewtwo count for the premature Mewtwo wars. The CM player can now use their Mewtwos efficiently because they can catcher KO benched Mewtwos for an easy two prizes. CM is a great contender for worlds because of this one fact. The reason it's not an autoloss for ZekEels with a heavy Mewtwo line is because of this: If the Zekrom player can take the first two prizes and then continue to trade prizes like that, even if it is Mewtwo vs. Mewtwo, the CM player is in the prize loss and the constant trading makes it impossible for them to win. Celebi Mewtwo has always had a great matchup against Darkrai because of the two shotting + one shotting potential. Again, as long as the Darkrai player does not take an immediate two prizes the CM player has a great chance of defeating the Darkrai player. If the Darkrai player runs Mewtwo, the situation turns into ZekEels w/ heavy Mewtwo line all over again. It is however very difficult for a Darkrai player to get a Shaymin + Mewtwo combo out of the blue, which gives CMT and ZekEels a better matchup against Darkrai/Mewtwo already, because it has no energy acceleration, besides Shaymin, and that energy is not very easily replaceable once it dies, Mewtwo only lasts a turn in Mewtwo wars.
Anti-meta decks are a dead play for worlds, though. It's very difficult for fighting decks to keep up with the actual meta. The worlds meta is easier to predict than the meta in the Netherlands because it is localised across players of the entire pokemon community. Since heavy Mewtwo lines will be popular in most top tier decks at the moment, Terrakion will suffer from a similar problem to Darkrai in that it requires Shaymin to get energy onto Mewtwo, and unlike Darkrai, it takes a particularly long time to get energy on the field with the lack of a "Fighting Patch" once it dies. Terrakion is better used as a tech than in an actual deck for this reason. Any bench + dynamotor + attach from the hand, switch and retaliate combo or Dark Patch + Shaymin + Attach, switch is a much more potent combo for Terrakion, because it is a surprise tech and card in general.
Rogue decks are a difficult one to cover. We can immediately see that Mew Prime / Accelgor variants won't do well at all because of increased Mewtwo counts. Vileplume and Vanilluxe variants might perform well with fewer matches, but somewhere at worlds you will not set up until T5, as it is comparable to running a Vanilluxe deck at Nationals, somewhere in those 7 rounds + top cut you will flip heads/tails; whatever isn't good for the Vanilluxe deck. Klinklang may or may not be played, already it suffers a huge disadvantage because of increased Mewtwo counts, and it is a slow deck. Klinklang troll is very similar to vileplume decks, because you have to set up two stage twos. That might work in some matches, you might find times when you get a T2 Klinklang or Vileplume, but in other matches, that can be delayed. I would think that people who have been admitted to Worlds will not have that follower mentality like the children on PlayTCG, that place is filled with little kiddies and their Klinklang EX.
Mewtwo is discussed a lot in this thread, and that's because most decklists will increase their Mewtwo counts from little to none to near maximum allowed. This fact has a large impact on the current format and metagame, therefore finding ways to exploit these deckbuilding factors is priority number one.
I've pretty much burned out all my ideas since I started writing, I definitely forgot to cover a few more things and I apologise.
tl;dr
Buffed Mewtwo counts have a major influence in the direction of the format. In decks like ZekEels running fewer Mewtwo is acceptable because of Celebi/Mewtwo matchups, though decks like Dakrai and Terrakion will have to run increased Mewtwo and Shaymin counts, which isn't too difficult to find space for when you acknowledge the fact those decks run very little Pokemon counts.
/thoughts?
I think you're absolutely right. CM is a very good contender. It has so much space for consistency, that it is a very powerful deck. Also, not many people are expecting that. I agree about Zekrom/Eelektrik. They had advantage because the Tornadus was weak to them. If you just use Mewtwo, especially netting you those Tynamo KOs, can be very devastating. However, against Darkrai/Mewtwo variants, I think it has a slightly disadvantage because Darkrai does resist Mewtwo, whether it's very important or not, and with Eviolite it becomes -40. Not to mention Darkrai 2HKOs Celebi with his snipe, unless you run Potion or drop an Eviolite on it. Then, Darkrai can always use Mewtwo. Against trainer lock it's very easy to win if you get T1 Mewtwo with DCE. Also, the deck is super fast, so they probably lose.
As for Zekrom/Eelektrik, I feel the deck is now Mewtwo/Eelektrik w/Zekrom. It doesn't have a single autoloss, and it is good VS Darkrai variants. However, VS CM it isn't that great; if they go for Zekrom they can just KO it with Mewtwo. This deck has a good matchup against most Vileplume decks because it has access to Mewtwo which is always a plus. Klinklang isn't hard for this deck at all; it's just so easy to get 6~7 Energies onto your Mewtwo that it isn't even funny.
About Darkrai variants, I can talk a lot, since I've experienced many versions of the deck.
Darkrai/Tornadus is good, but it's not able to win vs many of those decks. Tornadus just doesn't give anything else to the deck it doesn't has already. Just the T1 60, but, you won't get it that often.
Darkrai/Terrakion is good vs other Darkrai variants, but it lacks a good matchup VS CMT/CM, so I feel it's a week choice.
Straight Darkrai is very good but I feel like a surprise Terrakion kill just screws the deck. It also doesn't get the T1 THAT often.
Darkrai/Mewtwo is the best choice IMO and it is the deck I'm probably taking to Worlds. I think it has a good matchup against CM/CMT and VS Zekrom/Mewtwo/Eelektrik depends on the list. Against Trainer lock just start going with Mewtwo T1 (not hard, believe me) and vs Klinklang it depends on the list.
Trainer lock isn't viable IMO. Vanilluxe just completely falls to Mewtwo. A consistent Mew/Accelgor/Chandelure/Vileplume is the only one I see that can be good, but I'm sure that there will be 1 or 2 games where it can't keep streaming Mews with DCEs. Sure, Musharna helps, but it has to whiff the combo sometimes.
Well, that's it for now.
Mewtwo is, in fact, a huge change for the meta and I think that will cause many Darkrai players to forget about Terrakion. I might be wrong tho, because Worlds is a different level.
I'm personally considering taking either Zekrom/Mewtwo/Eels or my Darkrai/Mewtwo list for Worlds. I love CM and CMT, but I don't know why, that onion with wings (Celebi xD) must hate me, I always get bad luck.
Also, as a side note: I don't know if I'm getting just extremely lucky, but in 9 games, I got T1 Darkrai in 4 with my Darkrai/Mewtwo and whiffed on another because both Shaymins were prized. Am I just extremely lucky? xD
Nope. T1 Dakrai is normal for Darkrai/Mewtwo as long as you run the principal cards that Speed Darkrai uses. Darkrai Mewtwo is essentially just Speed Darkrai with additional Mewtwo + Shaymin and a lower darkness energy count. And yes, T1 Mewtwo isnt very hard at all, just disregard any energy you have in your starting hand, play a supporter and get the DCE.
Sorry that I completely forgot about your deck, and from the profile comment you left me I was under the impression you were going to run Darkrai/Mewtwo/Terrakion. Meh, even then, Darkrai/Mewtwo and ZekEels are legit choices for worlds too. I think the analysis on them is fairly self explanatory.
There is a common misconception that straight Darkrai is speed Darkrai. Speed Darkrai focuses on getting the T1 Night Spear while Straight Darkrai is essentially prize denial with Shaymin onto a fresh Darkrai, max potion and using super scoop up in clutch situations.
Haha, the onion with wings XD. I personally have extreme luck with CM, let's imagine the opponent is down to 4, I have a damaged Mewtwo in the active and a Mewtwo with nothing on it on the bench, he kills Mewtwo and we're down at an equal two prizes. Celebi to the active, forest breath attach DCE revenge KO. That pretty much sums up all my matches with CM :3
As for Zekrom/Eelektrik, I feel the deck is now Mewtwo/Eelektrik w/Zekrom. It doesn't have a single autoloss, and it is good VS Darkrai variants. However, VS CM it isn't that great; if they go for Zekrom they can just KO it with Mewtwo. This deck has a good matchup against most Vileplume decks because it has access to Mewtwo which is always a plus. Klinklang isn't hard for this deck at all; it's just so easy to get 6~7 Energies onto your Mewtwo that it isn't even funny.
About Darkrai variants, I can talk a lot, since I've experienced many versions of the deck.
Darkrai/Tornadus is good, but it's not able to win vs many of those decks. Tornadus just doesn't give anything else to the deck it doesn't has already. Just the T1 60, but, you won't get it that often.
Darkrai/Terrakion is good vs other Darkrai variants, but it lacks a good matchup VS CMT/CM, so I feel it's a week choice.
Straight Darkrai is very good but I feel like a surprise Terrakion kill just screws the deck. It also doesn't get the T1 THAT often.
Darkrai/Mewtwo is the best choice IMO and it is the deck I'm probably taking to Worlds. I think it has a good matchup against CM/CMT and VS Zekrom/Mewtwo/Eelektrik depends on the list. Against Trainer lock just start going with Mewtwo T1 (not hard, believe me) and vs Klinklang it depends on the list.
Trainer lock isn't viable IMO. Vanilluxe just completely falls to Mewtwo. A consistent Mew/Accelgor/Chandelure/Vileplume is the only one I see that can be good, but I'm sure that there will be 1 or 2 games where it can't keep streaming Mews with DCEs. Sure, Musharna helps, but it has to whiff the combo sometimes.
Well, that's it for now.
Mewtwo is, in fact, a huge change for the meta and I think that will cause many Darkrai players to forget about Terrakion. I might be wrong tho, because Worlds is a different level.
I'm personally considering taking either Zekrom/Mewtwo/Eels or my Darkrai/Mewtwo list for Worlds. I love CM and CMT, but I don't know why, that onion with wings (Celebi xD) must hate me, I always get bad luck.
Also, as a side note: I don't know if I'm getting just extremely lucky, but in 9 games, I got T1 Darkrai in 4 with my Darkrai/Mewtwo and whiffed on another because both Shaymins were prized. Am I just extremely lucky? xD
Nope. T1 Dakrai is normal for Darkrai/Mewtwo as long as you run the principal cards that Speed Darkrai uses. Darkrai Mewtwo is essentially just Speed Darkrai with additional Mewtwo + Shaymin and a lower darkness energy count. And yes, T1 Mewtwo isnt very hard at all, just disregard any energy you have in your starting hand, play a supporter and get the DCE.
Sorry that I completely forgot about your deck, and from the profile comment you left me I was under the impression you were going to run Darkrai/Mewtwo/Terrakion. Meh, even then, Darkrai/Mewtwo and ZekEels are legit choices for worlds too. I think the analysis on them is fairly self explanatory.
There is a common misconception that straight Darkrai is speed Darkrai. Speed Darkrai focuses on getting the T1 Night Spear while Straight Darkrai is essentially prize denial with Shaymin onto a fresh Darkrai, max potion and using super scoop up in clutch situations.
Haha, the onion with wings XD. I personally have extreme luck with CM, let's imagine the opponent is down to 4, I have a damaged Mewtwo in the active and a Mewtwo with nothing on it on the bench, he kills Mewtwo and we're down at an equal two prizes. Celebi to the active, forest breath attach DCE revenge KO. That pretty much sums up all my matches with CM :3
Roronoa, hit me up with a message if you want to keep our discussion private. I gathered we might need to get a few more opinions on the matter.
