Mewtwo EX & Gardevoir

Gardevoir is my 3rd favorite Pokémon

Hey all The Deck Out followers!


This entry is the second entry of Mewtwo EX based decks – in each entry there is a new Mewtwo EX based deck, which has been played in Japan. I’ll be posting these entries once a week and if I don’t have something more important as the 2^nd update of the week, both of my week’s entries will be about Mewtwo EX based decks.

Mewtwo EX is probably the most hyped card of all time before its release. When I released the Eye on Japan: Part 1 to SixPrizes, I didn’t expect the hype to get so high. I’m very sad that Troll&Toad take an advantage of my articles and hype it generated and it has been making me think of the future of Eye On Japan articles and their contents. I encourage everyone not to pre-order their Mewtwo EXs since the tides have already turned in Japan and as I said in my Pokegym post, Mewtwo EX is no longer the only good deck in the format. And I really hope that the get ratio of Mewtwo EX will be high/they will also make it as a promo card.

Mewtwo EX is obviously a good card but there are ways around it. However, as we all know – the best Mewtwo EX counter is Mewtwo EX itself so that’s one of the reasons it’s almost a must in every deck. Even if your strategy doesn’t fully rely on attacking with Mewtwo EX, you should still have it as a counter against your opponent’s Mewtwo EX.

Anyways, let’s start with a skeleton list of the first Mewtwo EX –based deck  – Gardevoir.

Pokémon:

3x Mewtwo EX
3x Ralts
1x Kirlia
3x Gardevoir
1x Cleffa
=11

Trainer:

4x Pokémon Collector
2x Pokegear 3.0.
4x Sage’s Training
4x Professor Oak’s New Theory
2x Pokémon Communication
4x Rare Candy
4x Junk Arm
3x Eviolite
3x Pokémon Catcher
2x Switch
=32

Energy:

4x Double Colorless Energy
9x Psychic Energy
=13

=56


Strategy:

As everyone who have read my Eye on Japan: Part1 know, this was the third placing deck in one of the Japanese tournaments where Mewtwo EX took all the top4 places. However, how does it exactly work? Well, the combo is pretty simple. Gardevoir’s ability makes every Psychic Energy attached to Psychic Pokémon count as two Psychic Energy. This means that every Psychic energy attached to Mewtwo EX counts as a DCE. However, it also means that Mewtwo can sometimes use its second attack as well. This is a huge difference because no other Mewtwo EX deck uses its second attack.

Since the deck’s only attacker is Mewtwo EX, you must make the most of it. Start attaching energy to Mewtwo EX in the first turn and attach the energy until you do enough damage. This deck can probably do enough damage with only 2 Psychic Energy so you can start attaching energy to the benched Mewtwo in the early game as well. This is very important because this deck has no kind of energy acceleration. You could try teching in a 1-1 Jirachi/Shaymin but I don't think it will make the deck that much better. Of course you can try it out nonethelss. If you aren't running these two it’s fully relied on manual attachments, which is why it probably only reached the 3rd place in the Japanese tournament.

As I’ll reveal in the final list of the deck, this is one of the most straight forward variants of Mewtwo EX decks and its main goal is just to kill the opponent before he/she has no chance of recovering. This is the reason why this deck did do ok in the tournament even though the idea first seems like a Theme deck idea (just like 6 corners).


Card Explanations

Mewtwo EX

Should I make an article about this card just like I did with Junk Arm? Yes, no? Yes. Mewtwo EX is one of the best cards in the format and it’s a staple in almost every deck – just like Junk Arm. Not only it’s a staple but it’s a main attacker in many decks. However, in this deck it’s the ONLY real attacker, which makes it super important for this deck.

In this deck, Mewtwo EX uses the attack which is more suitable for the situation. If you need to deal high damage quickly, you’ll want to use the second attack of Mewtwo but if you need to attack only for low damage or your opponent has a lot of energy attached to it, you can use X-Ball.

There is one great thing about Gardevoir and its effect. If played correctly, you can avoid oh so familiar counter KO by your opponent’s Mewtwo EX. If you have 2 energy attached to Mewtwo EX(which coutns as 4 energy thanks to Gardevoirs ability), and discard an energy with Mewtwo’s second attack, you only have 2 energy on Mewtwo meaning that they need 3 energy to OHKO you if you have Eviolite attached to yourself. There’s a huge difference with a simple DCE counter KO and 3 energy counter KO. However, as I’ll reveal later on the article, things can get even better when correctly played.

Gardevoir

Gardevoir is the companion of Mewtwo EX in this deck. 3-1-3 line is enough because all you do is sit on the bench while loading and attacking with your Mewtwos. In some rare occasions you might want to attack with Kirlia (a good Mewtwo EX counter sometimes) and in some even rarer occasions you want to attack with Gardevoir. However, most of the time Gardevoir just doubles the Psychic Energy on Mewtwo EX and that’s about it. Remember, Gardevoir’s ability don’t stack so you only need 1 Gardevoir at a time in play.

Cleffa

A great starter with free retreat cost. It also helps set-upping Gardevoir in a quick manner. Cleffa has been analyzed so many times that there is no reason for getting deeper with it.

Pokémon Collector – Pokegear 3.0.

Once again, this should be already a common knowledge. Pokémon Collector is a must in every deck and it’s THE trainer to get in T1. Japanese lists also like to play lots of Pokegears to increase the chance of T1 Collector and to increase consistency. I’ve always liked Pokegear very much and in my opinion it was one of the most underrated cards of the HGSS- on format in the early season. However, it seems that the consistency is in high value in the western nowadays as well.

Sage’s Training – Professor Oak’s New Theory

This is a pretty unorthodox combination of draw cards even in my opinion. Usually you see only Shuffle and draw and Juniper or only draw and discard engines. However, in this deck the decision not to run Juniper is justified. This deck resembles me of any stage2 deck like Ross, Gothitelle and etc. You want to get the Candy ASAP but at the same time you’re not willing to discard your every card. Sage’s gets you just the right cards and PONT gets you the right cards time to time. However, the real reason why PONT is here is for the mid and late game consistency. It’s a hand refresher like no other in this format and works very well in any of this format’s decks.

Pokémon Communication

I have hard time believing that 2 Communications is enough for getting the Gardevoirs but the original Japanese list of this deck run zero Communications and no balls. Communications only purpose is to get the Gardevoir from the deck as soon as possible.

Junk Arm

All hail The Great Junk Arm.

Eviolite

Eviolite is a very important card when it comes to Mewtwo EX mirrors. Mewtwo EX is a high HP Basic Pokémon so Eviolite works wonders with it as long as normal Pokémons hit it. However, usually the reality is different. Mewtwo EX is most easily countered by another Mewtwo EX and Mewtwo EX OHKOs another Mewtwo EX almost every time. Eviolite goes very often in vain on a Mewtwo EX but in this deck it might just do the work it’s ordered to do as I’ll explain later on.

Pokémon Catcher

Well, Pokémon Catcher is just broken as we all know. Mewtwo EX is a very good early sniper with Catchers and in this deck you can get an easy prize lead with a bit of disruption added to it thanks to Catcher. If your opponent is stupid enough to play a Mewtwo EX on the bench, you can also just Catcher it and thank him for 2 free prizes. You and your opponent don’t want to play a Mewtwo EX on the bench if you don’t attack with them.

Switch

Switch is a very important part of this deck because you want to start attacking with Mewtwo EX in T1. Your opponent may also try to disturb you by Catchering Gardevoir to the active Pokémon position. You don’t want to waste the manual attachment for retreating so Switch is your best and only bet in this case.

Energy

I won’t go too in-depth with these energy because I’ll so you the two different builds you can build from Gardevoir/Mewtwo EX and they are both running different kind of energy lines due their different strategies.


Three different approaches to the skeleton list

As promised, I’ll now reveal to different point of views to this deck. The first one is faithful original Japanese list and the second and third one are my own versions. Let’s take a look how these lists look like.

Aggro

Pokémon:

4x Mewtwo EX
3x Ralts
1x Kirlia
3x Gardevoir
1x Tyrogue
=12

Trainer:

4x Pokémon Collector
2x Pokegear 3.0.
4x Sage’s Training
4x Professor Oak’s New Theory
2x Pokémon Communication
4x Rare Candy
4x Junk Arm
2x Eviolite
3x Pokémon Catcher
2x Switch
4x PlusPower
=35

Energy:

4x Double Colorless Energy
9x Psychic Energy
=13

As you can see, not much of the change can be seen from the original list. This deck is just pure beat-up deck. Get a T1 Mewtwo EX and start X-Balling things. I dropped one Eviolite since in this deck it really doesn’t serve the purpose – Mewtwo will be OHKOed still by other Mewtwo and nothing else can’t really even OHKO it in this format. You either win by speed or don’t win – this was the philosophy of the original list.

I also added Tyrogue for the early KOs and possible donks. As you can see the list now has 4 PlusPowers, which are there to guarantee the OHKO of everything. As long as you are fully relying on Mewtwo EXs as the main attacker, you must be able to OHKO anything that comes into your way.
This deck is straightforward, effective and fast but it has problems if your opponent is able to keep up with your pace. That happens if they’re playing a fast deck like you or you’re having a slow set-up. As funny as it is, Durant is a horrible match-up for this deck. You can’t set-up Gardevoir because they will just drag it in the front and without Gardevoir your game plan is completely screwed. Lost Removers and Crushing Hammers take care of the little energy you attach to Mewtwo.


Conservative

Pokémon:

3x Mewtwo EX
3x Ralts
1x Kirlia
3x Gardevoir
1x Cleffa
1x Terrakion
=12

Trainer:

4x Pokémon Collector
2x Pokegear 3.0
4x Sage’s Training
4x Professor Oak’s New Theory
2x Pokémon Communication
4x Rare Candy
2x Defender
3x Eviolite
4x Junk Arm
2x Pokémon Catcher
2x Switch
1x Energy Retrieval
1x PlusPower
=35

Energy:

4x Double Colorless Energy
6x Psychic Energy
3x Fighting Energy
=13

There are some very interesting changes here. I added one Terrakion in a place of Mewtwo EX and added few Fighting Energy. Also, I took away things like 4 PlusPowers and added Eviolites and Defenders. So what’s the goal of this not that aggressive version? You still use your Mewtwo EX as the main attacker and Terrakion works as tech against Fighting Weak Pokémons. The reason for all this is that all these cards gives you an edge against Mewtwo EX mirrors. It’s pretty simple, they can’t OHKO you that easily but you can OHKO their Mewtwo EXs any time.

Psydrive is the winning attack here. Whenever you have fighting and psychic energy attached to Mewtwo, you can use Psydrive to discard the Psychic energy. Why Psychic? Since after that it only has 1 energy attached to it. Armed with Eviolite and Defender, your opponent’s Mewtwo EX would need total of 5 energy to OHKO you back. I can guarantee – that doesn’t happen every time. Letting Mewtwo EX live one more turn gives you an huge edge in the game and will win you games.

I couldn’t afford taking any DCEs off the list because they’re still broken with Mewtwo EX. As long as you need to attach energy manually to Mewtwo, you need to use DCEs to win any other Pokémon than Mewtwo EX.

Save Private Mewtwo EX

Pokémon:

3x Mewtwo EX
3x Ralts
1x Kirlia
3x Gardevoir
1x Cleffa
1x Pichu
2x Sewaddle
1x Swadloon
2x Leavanny
=17

Trainer:

4x Pokémon Collector
1x Pokegear 3.0.
2x Sage’s Training
3x Twins
2x N
4x Pokémon Communication
4x Rare Candy
3x Eviolite
4x Junk Arm
2x Pokémon Catcher
2x Switch
=31

Energy:

4x Double Colorless Energy
8x Psychic Energy
=12


As you can see this deck has the only card that can keep Mewtwo EX from being easily OHKOed by another Mewtwo EX – Leavanny. Leavanny takes away each of your Pokémon weakness when it’s in play, and if you are able to get it into play, Mewtwo EX becomes almost unstoppable. The weakness of Mewtwo EX is its biggest weakness and taking it away is a great asset. However, we must stay realistic, Leavanny is a stage2 Pokémon and getting two Stage2 Pokémons set-upped without a trainer lock is a very difficult job to do in this format.

The draw engine of this deck is pretty normal compared to the two previous version but I wanted to add Pichu and Twins here because they help a lot getting 2 stage2 Pokémons set-upped – with or without Trainer lock. If you’ll run into a direct Mewtwo EX mirror with this deck, you’re in a very good position and probably will win the game.



How good this variation really is?

So, is this THE Mewtwo EX deck that will win everything and be the tier1 deck? Probably not but it can challenge almost any deck in the format. Even though it has problems with some of the current format’s decks (e.g. Durant), it can very well challenge the new Mewtwo EX decks that will rise due the release of Next Destinies.

This deck has problems when having a slower start or if it’s disrupted too much. That’s the reason why Durant is an autoloss. The deck is very fragile when it comes to set-upping but once set-upped it can win any deck. Which version to play then? If your metagame is full of Mewtwo EXs, I would suggest the second version with Terrakion or the third list with Leavanny. If your metagame is still young or no one has gotten Mewtwo EXs yet, I would suggest running the first version. It’ll overpower most of the current metagame’s decks.


Conclusion

This variation won’t be the most dominating Mewtwo EX deck in the format but it will surely see at least a little bit of play. It has its weaknesses and strengths but is difficult to build correctly and to play correctly against the most difficult match-ups.

I hope you enjoyed the first part of the series and as promised, there will be a new Mewtwo EX article coming at least once a week. Feel free to ask any questions or comment on any matter of this article.

Thanks for reading!