Mewtwo EX & Celebi Prime

There is no stopping this little guy

Hey all The Deck Out followers!


Today’s the time for Mewtwo EX article once again. It has been a while and now Mewtwo EX  will be accompanied by probably the most familiar card for all of you – Celebi Prime. I revealed the Celebi Prime/Mewtwo EX decklist of mine in the first Eye on Japan – article and ever since Celebi Prime has been in the top3 of the best-selling cards in Troll&Toad’s card shop. I also played recently in the ECC my Celebi/Mewtwo deck, which gave me a top16 position for that tournament. If you haven’t checked out my list and report yet, check it out here! Also, the Tornadus variant of this deck won the whole tournament, so this is an article you DON'T want to miss.

I’ve done so much testing with this deck that I know it pretty much inside out. Thanks to that I can provide you a very competitive list of this deck and also explain very well what are the strength and weaknesses of this deck. This deck isn’t even a near unbeatable but nonetheless it’s one of the best pure Mewtwo EX variants, I’ve ever played.  

Let’s look at the skeleton.


Pokémon:

4x Celebi Prime
3x Mewtwo EX
=7

Trainer:

4x Professor Juniper
4x Dual Ball
2x Copycat
2x N
2x Professor Oak’s New Theory
2x Pokegear 3.0.
2x Skyarrow Bridge
4x Junk Arm
3x Pokémon Catcher
3x Switch
3x Eviolite
3x PlusPower
=34

Energy:

4x Double Colorless Energy
8x Grass Energy
=12

= 53

Strategy:

The strategy with this is pretty straightforward. Start attacking with Mewtwo in T1 and in bad situations in T2 and just steam roll through your opponent. This is the most fastest Mewtwo EX deck that there is and will always be. It’s T1 damage output can be somewhere between 40 and 80 but in my experience it usually does the average 60 in T1 as long as you open with Celebi Prime.

There isn’t much strategy to discuss about here. Just load Mewtwo EXs with Celebi Primes and start attacking. Catchers, Switches, PlusPowers and Skyarrow Bridge play a huge role here. With these you can put the pressure on your opponent and do very high amount of damages with Mewtwo EX in the early turns. The early pressure might be enough to win the game by itself. Many and many more Basic Pokémons in this format have 30-50 HP so you get T1 KOs very usually with this deck. Sometimes, you’re even able to donk your opponent. This deck Is like a Shuppet donk with all the time increasing firepower if not disrupted while attacking.

You use Switches and the free retreat cost of Celebi, which Skyarrow Bridge enables you to load Mewtwo EX multiple times during your turn and to attack enough on the opponent. Sometimes you can get from 0 damage to whopping 120 even if your opponent doesn’t have any energy attached to his/her active Pokémon. It takes a bit of thinking and you must count every Switch and retreat you do very carefully before you start using them. This is a very fast deck so you must be careful when making your moves because one false move might cost you the game.

Card Explanations

Celebi Prime

Celebi Prime was introduced in my very first Eye on Japan article. It’s a card that was almost unplayable before Next Destinies but then something changed. Skyarrow Bridge enabled Celebi to move more freely and now if you open with Celebi, you’ll get 2 energy (one Grass energy attachment) attachments each turn. That is huge when the best attacker in this format (Mewtwo EX) hits more for each energy it has attached to. Not to mention that Mewtwo attacks for Colorless so there is no drawback when it comes to attaching Grass energy with Celebi.

Celebi’s power can only work when it’s active so the free retreat is necessary in order to abuse Celebi well. These decks usually runs Switches as well so in some turns you are able use 2 Celebis powers and your manual energy attachment. That way you can easily power up a hard hitting Mewtwo EX in just one turn. Celebi’s only weakness is its HP, which is 60. 60 isn’t a lot and things like Zekrom, Tornadus and Mewtwo EX can easily OHKO it in the first turn so even though this decks favorite starter is Celebi – opening with a lone Celebi in an even faster format than this is very risky.




Mewtwo EX

Yeah, I should make an article about this like everyone does. Anyways, in this deck Mewtwo EX is the only attacker (however, this deck can have different attackers as well, as I will introduce later on in this article). You use Celebi’s powers to load X-Ball and hit hard with Mewtwo. Since you have limited resources you must be very careful not to attach too many energy to Mewtwo. Every energy attachment is equally important in this deck and it’s probably the only “strategic” thing in this deck. Mewtwo EX can usually come as early as T1 hitting for 60. This is the fastest Mewtwo EX variant thanks to Celebi Prime but at the same time it takes a bit of versatility away from this deck. The quicker, the simpler but it can work in a very fast format like this.

Pokegear 3.0. - Professor Juniper – Copycat  - Profesor Oak’s New Theory

This deck’s trainer engine is a beast. Copycat is a perfect card with only 7 basics because you mulligan occasionally. It’s also a great card against trainer locking decks which may have a big hand and it’s always a great card whenever your opponent KOs Mewtwo EX. There is a great difference when your opponent gets 2 cards from prizes to his/her hand instead of the normal 1 card.

The rest of this deck’s draw engine is same old. Pokegear is a turbo card here and since you have so many different supporters. The other option can be Random Receiver as well however, I think that in this deck Pokegear still does the job better than Random Receiver.

 

N

Rocket’s Admin was printed when EX era begin in 2004 and N is the same. N is a hugely important card when it comes to EX-races. Getting 2 prize cards increases the hand size of the opponent and decreases the prize amount dramatically at the same time. However, N turns the tables around very quickly. It decreases the hand size a lot when your opponent has just KOed your Pokémon EX and at the same time it can help you to draw something important. For those who didn’t play in the Rocket’s Admin era, remember this – N is THE card to play in EVERY DECK if you want to be successful in this format.  

Dual Ball

I had very hard time deciding which card to play in this deck – Dual Ball or Pokémon Collector. Even though I hate flips, I just couldn’t resist Dual Ball. Dual Ball is a broken card in this deck as long as you flip at least 1 heads from it. However, sometimes you double tails and… well you know. The reason why I prefer Dual Ball in this version is that you can’t waste your T1 supporter for Pokémon Collector. You want to be attacking in T1 because that’s the best way for this deck.

Junk Arm

Always a pleasure:http://www.thedeckout.com/2011/12/great-junk-arm.html

Pokémon Catcher

Pokémon Catcher is one of the most important cards in this deck. Thanks to Pokémon Catcher quick decks like this can really stand a chance in the metagame. If you are able to get Mewtwo EX attacking for 60 in your T1, you can get a complete control of the game in T2 with your Catcher. If you are able to get a 2-prize lead in first 2 turns, you’re in a very strong position to win the game because your opponent can’t beat you after that with a Mewtwo EX race. Also, a quick start with Catcher can completely cripple a deck that doesn’t run a Mewtwo EX and needs time for set-upping. Thanks to Catcher, this deck is able to destroy some decks 6-0.

Switch

Switch is usually a tech in decks but in this deck it serves for a higher purpose. You need Switch if you open with Mewtwo EX because you want to get Celebi attaching energy with its power. You also need Switch if you want to attach more than 2 energy per turn with Celebi’s ability. There are times, when you are able to attach 5 energy to Mewtwo in just one turn (3 Grass attachments with 3 different Celebis + a DCE). I have done that combo numerous times and it’s often a game winning move because your opponent just doesn’t see it coming.

Eviolite

Mewtwo EX has 170 HP so why not make the number a bit bigger? Eviolite has  no mathematical reason to be in this deck but since you’re running a high HP EX basic as your main attacker you might as well run Eviolite in this deck. It also makes countering your Mewtwo EX with another Mewtwo EX a bit more difficult but not necessarily that much more difficult. I think that in this deck, you might as well opt not to play Eviolite since you’re just OHKOing back and forth nevertheless.

PlusPower

When I first added put PlusPower to this deck, I added it just because I had space in the deck. However, the more I played with this deck, the more important PlusPower became for me. When this deck makes the game-winning move, it always includes at least 1 PlusPower in it. Thanks to PlusPowers, Switches and Junk Arms this deck has, this deck is able to get from 0 damage to a huge amounts of damage in just one turn. Your opponent doesn’t ever see it coming and that’s why you can win even the most tightest games.  

Skyarrow Bridge

I’m a huge fan of Stadium cards and for example the Worlds winning deck that Miska Saari played and I built in 2006 played a total of 5 Stadium cards. Playing 5 Stadium cards wasn’t even rare back then. However, in the previous formats Stadiums have been not that good and Lost World is one of the only ones that has been seen play. Even though Skyarrow Bridge once again makes only the Basic Pokémon better, I’m happy that there is at least one playable stadium in the format. Skyarrow Bridge decreases the retreat cost of each Basic Pokémon by one and makes e.g. Celebi Prime’s retreat cost free. That makes Celebi playable because that way you can attach a free extra energy whenever you are able to get the Celebi to the active position without worrying about paying the retreat cost.

Even though it’s only a one stadium card, it’s the reason why this deck can really work. Just like LBS had Power Tree back in 2006 and Miska’s Lunarock had Desert Ruins and Cursed Stone. Stadiums are only a small part of the deck but they are usually very closely connected to the core idea of the deck. This card and deck is no exception.

Energy

As all Mewtwo EX deck, you need 4 DCEs. And since you play Celebi Prime, you need Grass Energy. You can play a little bit around with Grass Energy but I suggest you play 7-10 Grass energy in this deck, that’s where you can find the balance.


THE LIST

I will now introduce 2 different lists of this deck. The other being plain Mewtwo EX/Celebi, and the other being the widely discussed Mewtwo EX/Tornadus/Celebi Prime. Let’s see how the real lists of these decks look like.

Mewtwo EX Version

Pokémon:

4x Celebi Prime
3x Mewtwo EX
=7

Trainer:

4x Professor Juniper
4x Dual Ball
2x Copycat
2x N
3x Professor Oak’s New Theory
3x Pokegear 3.0.
3x Skyarrow Bridge
4x Junk Arm
4x Pokémon Catcher
3x Switch
3x Eviolite
4x PlusPower
1x Revive
=40

Energy:

4x Double Colorless Energy
9x Grass Energy
=13

I’m in love with this deck – the reason being simply its strength and speed. A deck playing 40 trainer cards CAN’T be bad. Not to mention that since you have so many trainers, there are lots of things you can do during your turn and you feel like you control the game.

If we look how this list has changed from the skeleton, I have added some more draw cards. You want to have so many draw cards and hand-refreshments that the odds of drawing draw card from a one card N aren’t against you. I also added a 3rd Skyarrow Bridge and Catcher to increase the early game control and speed. The most notable card to mention is Revive. With Revive you’re able to keep up with the game if you happen to prize 1 or even 2 Mewtwo EXs. It’s needed in this deck if you want to do really well with this deck.

This version is fast, quick and mad consistent but when it doesn’t deliver the T2, it’s often screwed. If you enjoyed playing decks like Zap-Turn-Dos (What a name!) or ZPST(Ugh), this is a deck you’ll probably enjoy as well.

Tornadus version

As promised, here is the list of the most discussed Celebi Prime variant at the moment, which also won the ECC. This is my list of this version but of course, I'll show you the winner's list as well, if you haven't seen it yet.

Pokémon:

4x Celebi Prime
3x Tornadus
2x Mewtwo EX
=9

Trainer:

4x Professor Juniper
4x Dual Ball
3x N
4x Professor Oak’s New Theory
4x Pokegear 3.0.
3x Skyarrow Bridge
4x Junk Arm
4x Pokémon Catcher
3x Switch
3x Eviolite
1x PlusPower
1x Revive
=38

Energy:

4x Double Colorless Energy
9x Grass Energy
=13

This deck revolves mainly around T1 Tornadus. In a way this is just a ZPST variant but a better one. Why better? Because this deck has attacker that are both EX and non-EX. Decks that can use both, EX and non-ex attackers in their deck have always the edge over the deck that have either only EX or only non-ex attackers.

The game plan is pretty simple- take the early prizes with Tornadus + Catcher combo and answer their big attackers and Mewtwo EX with your Mewtwo EXs. Tornadus is a great card because it can keep some of your energy “alive” on the board or move energy to your Mewtwo EXs with Hurricane and this combined to Celebi Prime’s power you can easily have a lots of energy on the field at the same time. That’s why you could try teching a Shaymin in this deck and I’m pretty sure it will turn out to be very practical. There are also other things that can be teched in this deck but I will talk about different kind of techs for this format’s decks some other time.

And here is the winner David Booij's list. As you can see it's pretty similar to my list, there isn't a lot of variation to be done to this deck.
4 Celibi
4 Tornadus
2 Mewtwo EX
1 Shaymin UL
=11

4x Professor Juniper
4x PONT
4x N
3x PokeGear 3.0.
4x Pokémon Catcher
4x Junk Arm
4x Dual Ball
3x Skyarrow Bridge
2x Switch
2x Eviolite
2x PlusPower
=36

4x DCE
9x Grass
=13



Problems

Even though these both decks have proved to be very good in the testing, they still have certain problems. Straightforwardness is a very good thing in this format because the format is fast and the beginner of the game always has an upper hand into the game. This deck can take an advantage of beginning the game because it can easily get a T1 prize and it runs only Basics.

Straightforwardness also creates deck its own problems. When the deck is all about the speed, what happens if you don’t have a quick start? Well, here comes the answer – nothing. The deck’s max damage is decided by the amount of energy you are able to attach Mewtwo EX in the early game with Celebis. You can say that the amount of damage you deal is very closely bonded with the amount of Celebi’s Powers you use during the game. If you can get the deck rolling in T1 and the very least T2, you don’t have to worry about the prizes in the early turns but if you get only a T3 set-up and prize, you’ll probably be in huge problems.

The other problem, you’ll usually bump into with this deck is a late game. A late game N to 1-2 cards will usually kill you, if you haven’t used your resources wisely. A KO to your main attacker and a 1 card N in the same turn is just deadly for this deck. That’s the weak point of Celebi, it accelerates the energy to your attackers from your hand, not from your discard pile like the usual energy accelerators. Since you don’t have a hand, there isn’t any energy you can accelerate on to your Pokémon. The power of Celebi is a double-edged sword, it will give you the advantage in the early game because of its speed but it can cause you problems in the late game, if your opponent understands your weakness. It’s something you must prepare for the whole game through with wise resource management.    

The third problem is decks able to use 3 different Mewtwo EXs as attackers. If you get a fast KO with Mewtwo EX, and they will keep up with you in the Mewtwo EX race, you’ll be in problems. Not many decks can do that and for my experience NO deck did that against me. When I lost the game with my deck, it was my own fault, not the decks fault.

Conclusion

Celebi Prime was a card that did nothing until NDE was released. However, thanks to Mewtwo EX and Skyarrow Bridge, it’s finally playable. I hope you have bought your own Celebis because this is a deck you want to try out before Regionals. You thanks to the many possible basic attackers in this format, you can tweak the deck as you like and do your own variant of Celebi Prime/Mewtwo EX.

I hope this article helped you to understand what makes Celebi so good and how to take full advantage of it while building a deck with it in this format. It’s a real tier1 variant in this format and if you aren’t playing it, you must at least be prepared for it or it will steam roll over you in your next tournament. It’s time to take out your Mewtwo counters.

Thanks for reading, and any comments are more than welcome!