Thursday, February 23, 2012

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!







28 comments:

  1. Great article Esa! I am always reading your posts or waiting for a new post, but this article is one I have been waiting for a while for you to do! I love this deck (mine currently has tornadus) and hope to play it for cities on Saturday. Wish me luck!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I actually play the tornadus variant, but I also included 1 shaymin EX and regigigas EX, why?

    well simple, ZPST decks are T1 and deciding our metagame so I included Regigigas since it can take a few hits an almost certainly revenge kill everything.

    Tornadus is good early in the game against ZPST but mid-game it sawks...

    also I don't play revive, but I'm considering putting one in though ^^

    ReplyDelete
  3. It looks like this is going to be the defining deck of the format for a while. Its ability to get T1-T2 Skyarrow is surprising, and a counter-Stadium isn't likely to help much as they can simply draw into another one. The deck just puts out PHENOMENAL pressure. My testing results do show it has some bad matchups, though:

    1) Typhlosion decks that DON'T run heavy Reshiram EX counts but DO run 2 Mewtwo beat it cold unless they start badly. As long as they can keep attacking (the most straightforward and consistent builds are the way to go now) they will grind you down. They can pivot off of their own Mewtwo EX if they get bumped down to one Typhlosion at any point, or they can even run your deck out of energy. The only times I've beaten this with any straight Mewtwo variant is if they start dead. 70/30 against very straightforward variants, 60/40 against the typical metagame. How much of a problem this is has to be seen: Typhlosion's Zekrom/Eel matchup isn't perfect, and I find it still loses to Thunderdome.

    2) Durant. It's still huge against this deck, but thankfully it's bad against zek/eels. I honestly expect a revolving dominance between Mewtwo decks, Zek/Eels, and Durant.

    3) The Truth at least gives it a 50/50 as you have no reliable way to kill it IF it gets to set up. It's not as much of a loss as it was for ZPST because you have a higher chance of a donk and a higher chance of killing their setup, but it's still definitely not disadvantaged...really against ANYTHING in the format. I don't get why it's flying under the radar right now, but of course scoops to Durant.

    Yay ro-sham-bo meta.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The truth doesn't win against Mewtwo EX decks. It's sad but true. I'm a huge fan of the truth but there's a huge wall to pass here.

      Truth decks rely on not being 1 HKO'd. Mewtwo EX decks can load their attacker with enough energy to 1HKO anything. Truth decks also can't abuse catcher so Mewtwo can just sit there getting set up for 2-3 turns and come out and kill your main attacker (who you so lovingly set up with energy). And from there, Mewtwo just steamrolls.

      I tried making a Mewtwo EX/Reshi EX deck, and that was the unclimbable wall I ran into :\ It's sad to say, but Truth is dead, even before Raikou is out.

      Delete
  4. Great article Esa.

    Also, CM-EX is weak at bad starting hands. Just 1 Celebi in play and you're in trouble against Chandelure/Vileplume, by not being able to use mewtwo-EX, and Celebi's low HP while trainer locked (for dual balls). Also Chandelure NDE or even Lampent NDE or an opposing Mewtwo-EX can donk it if you have no answer.
    Chandelure can be teched with Black Belt and other stuff to help against the deck and/or other decks (terrakion/boufalant, etc).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great article, but i don't think that Eviolite is really necesary at this deck, the only things that can OHKO mewtwo easily are gonna OHKO anyway, whit eviolite or not, and the pokemons who can 2HKO mewtwo, gonna 2HKO anyway, so i think to run other things on that pleaces.

    Again srry for my english. I know its terrible xD

    ReplyDelete
  6. Raichu: Thanks a lot! Good luck for the tournament!

    Espeonage: I have neer liked Regigigas EX because, well, it's just bad IMO. However, I encourage you to find space for Revive, it's a really good card in tough spots.

    Anonymous1: I think the Durant match-up revolves 100% around the Crushing Hammer flips. If Durant hits all tails, it loses, if it hits all heads, it wins, if 50/50, the match-up is 50-50. The match-up is nothing but coin flipping through the whole game. The Truth is not good in this format IMO because Mewtwo EX can OHKO anything if it has enough energy attached to it. All EX Pokémon need a lot energy attached to them in order to set-up so they're easy targets for Mewtwo EX. I think this decks' match-up is something like 80-20 against the Truth because of the speed of this deck.

    Elias: Chandelure is a bit slow for my taste in this format. This deck's speed is deadly but I to be honest I haven't tested it enough against Trainer lock decks - mainly because they have problems against Zekrom variants of this format.

    Anonymous2: Thanks a lot! I thought that Eviolite was unnecessary as well before the tournament and thought that I could put Exp Share isntead of Eviolite. However, Eviolite won me several games in the tournament so I won't be taking them away any more, lol :D But I guess you should try playing without Eviolite.

    Thanks a lot for the comments, and keep em' coming!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chandelure isn't dead yet. It definitely has problems, but it's still getting 50/50 matchups where before it got 70/30. It's nowhere near it's prime but Chandelure's burn and confuse combined with luring light (on evolved pokemon or high retreat costs) are just very difficult for some decks to surpass. In particular, the high-hitting EX's aren't even that bad. I know a game where my Chandelure SNIPED a mewtwo to death, simply because I N'd their hand back and just got to snipe 60/turn without any energy attached to my chandies :)

      Delete
  7. Esa if you say Eviolite won you many games how did they help? The only two scenerios I can think of are these:

    1. 4 energy total Mewtwo EXs with a PlusPower will not KO an Eviolite Mewtwo EX.
    2. Zekrom EX double PlusPower won't KO an Eviolite Mewtwo EX.

    Those are both pretty obscure situations. I find they take up too much space and make the deck too inconsistent.

    Another question is what do you think the match up vs. Zekrom/Zekrom EX/Mewtwo EX/Eelektrik is if you play Celebi/Mewtwo EX/Tornadus? I find it is about 50-50 which is not good so I think teching in Terrakion is a good idea. Though teching Terrakion makes the deck slightly more inconsistent as all techs do the deck plays a heavy switch count so it does not matter too much if you start with it. Your thoughts?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for the good read! Will scoop-up cards like SSU and Seeker be useful in this deck to deny your opponent of 2 prizes? Also, is it okay to run 3 tornadus and 3 mewtwo instead of 4-2 split like David's list? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Both pretty valid. Use at own discretion.

      Delete
  9. @ anonymous: he probably had some damage on the mewtwo. notice how he didn't mention ohko?

    ReplyDelete
  10. here's something funny: my durant deck beats david's exct list 9/10 times.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Maybe not if you play against David himself;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the guy i test against knows how to play exct perfectly. i think my durant deck is just plain better.

      Delete
  12. Crawdaunt: The scenario you introduced about Chandelure sniping a Mewtwo only shows bad decision making by the Mewtwo player. I'm a huge fan of Chandelure but sometimes I must face the truth, it's not a deck I would play if I was going to a very important tournament and would like to win. However, I'm not saying it's a bad deck. Probably it's 2 tier2 deck at the moment.

    Anonymous: The Eviolite was useful in surprising situations. In the top32 match, I would have lost the game in T2 if I hadn't had the Eviolite on the Celebi. Eviolite is also good on Mewtwo EX in cases when they don't use Mewtwo EX as the counter but cards like Cobalion. Eviolite is at its best against anything non-EX. It's not that useful in the usual Mewtwo EX race but it's the better the more versatile the metagame is and I can promise you that the metagame will be versatile in the future tournaments as well.

    888: I think 3-3 is a very good option. At the moment I'm thinking about 3-1 Mewtwo EX-Tornadus line. And I don't like SSU in this deck because Mewtwo EX is usually OHKOed. If it isn't OHKOed. You'll probably win anyways.

    Anonymous2: I believe that Durant may defeat the list 9/10 but there's a little thing called a donk that has to be taken into account. David donked many many games during the tournament and winning 9/10 doesn't really matter if you just get donked in the only tournament game, you play. Durant can't donk after all.

    Thanks for comments and sorry for the late replies!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Love the top deck built
    Question 1:
    Why not swap out 4 Grass Energy for 4 Prism Energy?
    Question 2:
    Kind of a Rigged question. With Stadium in play, Can I retreat Celebi, to send out a new Celebi to use Forest breath again?
    Question 3:
    Time Circle "During your opponent's next turn" does this mean after I finish this turn after attacking and finish?
    Question 4:
    Why not have 4x Mewtwo Ex?
    Question 5:
    Pokemon Collector 1x any good?
    Question 6:
    How bout 4x Catchers? Considering the fact those are probably our OHKO factors?
    Question 7:
    I don't think pluspowers are necessary considering it does do plus 10... wait a sec... yea... nvm I see that it's faster since it takes away a restriction for added energy...
    Question 8
    N is wayyy to hairy...right?

    Not here to criticize, just would like to hear feedback and opinion, Thank you Very much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1) You can't use Forest Breaths on Prism Energy and you don't want to attack with Celebi in this deck.
      2) Yes you can.
      3) After attacking and finish.
      4) If I wanted to add something, it would be 1 Tornadus. There is always 1 Revive for the "4th" Mewtwo EX.
      5) Depending on situation, it may be.
      6)4x Catchers is a must play in this deck.
      8) N was usually against me more than it was anu use for me. I would drop the N count to 1-2.

      Hope that helped!

      Delete
  14. I already changed 1 N to a PONT (so now its 1 N and 4 PONT)
    and theres a mew deck running around out here so I would like to add 1 Tornadus. For that should I take out 1 plus power or should I take out 1 eviolite?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SlyFox: I suggest you take out 1 Skyarrow Bridge or 1 Eviolite for that change. Skyarrow Bridge is rarely needed.

      Delete
    2. Thank you, I will try that.

      I just encountered a situation where N would have helped tremendously on the final turn of the game, where my opponent would have had to shuffle his remaining mewtwo ex back into his deck. How often does that happen, where the prize exchange is very very close and using an N might turn the tides?

      Delete
  15. Okey, I play a variant of this deck, with Terrakion, Shaymin UL, Shaymin Ex, Tornadus, and Smeargle ( this last one REALLY help me), anyway, my problem is DURANT, its is really difficult to kill it, and if the Durant have 1 or 2 Battle city is worst, I won against that deck a Few Times, but in the end, Durant always beat the sh** out of me, I tought that I could use Reggigas to kill Durant, I know you don't like it, but its something, what do you think? ( Sorry for the grammar mistake, english isn't my mother languaje)

    ReplyDelete
  16. SlyFox: The scenario, you described is the reason why I don't take N's off the list. It's a must card in very sinlge deck of this format (excluding ReshiBoar) because whenever you get a very slow start, N can save your game. However, the deck only needs 2 because it's usually the one that will be N'd to one card, not the other way around. But yes, N is such a great card in this deck as well.

    Facundo Conde: Haha, true, I don't like Gigas in this and in any other deck either. Anyways, what kind of problems do you have against Durant? The optimal strategy agaisnt Durant is just to get 2 Celebi and 1 Mewtwo EX into play or just play with 1 Mewtwo EX, if you get to open with it. After that just use draw cards only if you don't have energy in your hand. Grass Energy are far more important in that match-up because DCE is so eays to just Lost Remover away. If you're still having difficulties to deal with the match-up after these advice, try putting in one Enenrgy Retrieval. After that you don't need to worry about energy drought anymore and Junk Arm is worth 2 Grass Energy. If you still have problems afer those changes, I'm surprised. I hope that helped!


    Thanks for questions guys!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, I will try to use Energy Retrieval and I will see how that go, if you have a Email I would like to send you my list and if you can, say what do you think about it, okey thanks for all! Cya!

      Delete
  17. Hi Esa - what is your response to Cobalion? I've found consistent Cobalion can be quite detrimental to Mewtwo. I'd assume it's as simple as dropping a switch, and Mewtwo is lighter on resources than Cobalion so if you manage to KO one, it's great - however that's not always possible. So, how do you manage?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cobalion is only a theorymonical threat to Mewtwo EX. It isn't a decent Mewtwo EX counter for one simple reason - it doesn't OHKO you. If it uses its second attack, as you suggested, it 3HKOs Mewtwo EX. Not to mention that if they use Iron Breaker, they already have 3 energy attached to them, which makes it too easy for Mewtwo EX to OHKO them. This deck runs 3-4 Switches and 4 Junk Arms. If you play carefully, there isn't a turn, when you can't Switch your Mewtwo EX if Cobalion Iron Breakers your Mewtwo EX.

      It's also good to remember that consistent Cobalion is very difficult to energy accelerate. The only way to energy accelerate enough Cobalion is Electrode Prime and you really can't sacrifice prizes against this deck with Electrode since you don't always hit 7 energy with Energymite. When you can't OHKO Cobalion, you can easily just Cathcer something and OHKO that instead. Cobalion 2HKOs, sometimes 3HKOs Mewtwo EX so in fact it's even worse card than Zekrom or Reshiram against Mewtwo EX. Don't be fooled by its Psychic weakness and Special Metal Energy possibilites, in the end a proper Mewtwo EX counter needs to OHKO Mewtwo EX.

      Hope that helped!

      Delete
    2. Thank you very much! I had thought that, but Cobalion is a matchup I haven't tested against, which I hope to do this week. Extra knowledge is good knowledge!

      Delete
    3. No problem, you can contact me: thedeckout@gmail.com. Maybe I should put it somewhere visible on my blog so everyone can see it.

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.