Breaking Down Brazil’s IC — What Happened and Why

By: Caleb Gedemer · Posted Posted onNov 20, 2019 at 10:33 PM · 0 Comments

[cardimg name=”Naganadel and Guzzlord-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”224″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

I went 2/4/0, horrible. I put my two year streak of making Top Eight at the event with [card name=”Naganadel and Guzzlord-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card], a deck I felt confident in. The deck had, and still, has a major flaw: a loss to [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card]. I played against four and lost all four! I find this stroke of luck to be insanity, to be completely honest, but it was hard to avoid after losing the first round and spiralling into a “bracket” of decks that would be more forgiving to a deck such as Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX. I don’t consider that deck great and I am almost always fine taking a loss to it at events. It does not perform well in Day 2 of most events and it’s also not very popular if you can escape the first few rounds. I hate excusing tournament results but this one takes the cake, I feel I have a valid excuse and I’m sticking to it. My testing mates, Igor Costa and Jimmy Pendarvis, both made day two with the deck, but the rest of our squad did not fair as well.

  • Azul Garcia Griego 4/4/1
  • Caleb Gedemer 2/4/0
  • Daniel Altavilla 5/4/0
  • Grant Manley 5/3/1
  • Igor Costa 10/4/0
  • Jimmy Pendarvis 9/3/2
  • Michael Pramawat 3/3/2

Do these results make the deck bad? This was a rogue deck of sorts and perhaps it was not as great as we all thought. I do think it was a solid choice and don’t regret playing it. You have a great spread against everything but non-GX decks like [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Pidgeotto” set=”Team Up” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card], the “Doll Stall” ([card name=”Florges” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Lillie’s Poké Doll” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”197″ c=”name”][/card] Control) deck, and Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX. Admittedly, we underestimated the popularity of Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX, giving it only a four on our “ten-point scale” of popularity. Naganadel and Guzzlord-GX would certainly have slid a bit on our spreadsheet predictor had we rated its nemesis higher. Anyway, let’s look at what did well and what was played to begin with:

LAIC Metagame

Day One Meta

  • 112 “Other” Decks
  • 95 [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 94 [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 72 Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX
  • 70 [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Giratina” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 48 Pidgeotto Control
  • 39 [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 36 [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Naganadel” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 32 [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 25 [card name=”Charizard and Braixen-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 23 Blacephalon Non-GX
  • 21 Reshiram and Charizard-GX / [card name=”Ninetales” set=”Team Up” no=”16″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 17 Darkness Toolbox
  • 16 Florges / Lillie’s Poke Doll
  • 15 Naganadel / [card name=”Quagsire” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 13 [card name=”Reshiram and Zekrom-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 8 [card name=”Naganadel and Guzzlord-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card]

Day Two Meta

  • 26% Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX
  • 20% Mewtwo and Mew-GX
  • 10% Pidgeotto Control
  • 7% Reshiram and Charizard-GX / Ninetales
  • 5% Malamar / Giratina
  • 5% [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 5% Blacephalon Non-GX
  • 5% “Other” Decks
  • 3% Pikachu and Zekrom-GX
  • 3% Naganadel and Guzzlord-GX
  • 3% Florges / [card name=”Lillie’s Poké Doll” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”197″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 2% Reshiram and Charizard-GX / Green’s Exploration
  • 2% Naganadel / Quagsire
  • 2% Charizard and Braixen-GX
  • 2% Blacephalon-GX / Naganadel

Top Eight Final Standings

  • 1. Reshiram and Charizard-GX / Ninetales
  • 2. Mewtwo and Mew-GX
  • 3. Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX
  • 4. Blacephalon-GX / Naganadel
  • 5. [card name=”Florges” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] / Lillie’s Poke Doll
  • 6. [card name=”Garchomp and Giratina-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card] Toolbox
  • 7. Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX
  • 8. Mewtwo and Mew-GX

Discussion and Thoughts

[premium]

[cardimg name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

[card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] had one of the best Day 2 conversion rates in this tournament, about a 25% percent clip; [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] was shortly behind that in its own conversion rate. Thirteen percent of the total metagame was composed of Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX decks, so that’s significant. The deck is strong, but lists could improve. It’s two spots in the Top Eight are perfect testiment to this and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of it in the future—it’s early success is very reminiscent to Pikachu and Zekrom-GX debuting in Australia last year—the deck is similar to Pikachu and Zekrom-GX in many ways. One of the most compelling narratives is that of the differing Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX lists in Top Eight: one with the Green’s Exploration engine, the other with Ability power in [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card].

Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX and Mewtwo and Mew-GX were the two big decks of the event, but [card name=”Pidgeotto” set=”Team Up” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] Control had a great conversation rate at roughly 18% percent. In the past, control decks were seen as more challenging and decks for a select few players and it’s great to see Pidgeotto Control in the hands of a wider crowd, coming in at over five percent of the overall metagame in Day 1. Without capturing a Top 8 spot, though, I wonder if its widespread play will continue. I feel that many decks teched specificially for it at this event and that could certainly change as the deck falls further out of the metagame,  opening the door wider for higher placements. To the same tune of control decks, the Florges build went in with only a two percent day one metagame share but converted nearly 17% into Day 2—that’s really strong! That’s indicative that the deck was underplayed, with only 16 Day 1 pilots, more could have ran it into day two if more players were playing it.

Another amazing statistic is the conversion rate of [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Ninetales” set=”Team Up” no=”16″ c=”name”][/card]. My thoughts towards the deck are even further biased by Robin Schulz winning the entire event, but the deck did great regardless. At only about three percent of Day 1, the deck took a 29% conversion rate into Day 2. The win is just icing on the cake; I think this deck is back, and likely to stay this time. We all saw at the end of the pre-Cosmic Eclipse format that the archetype fell off big time, but with the new option of [card name=”Mega Lopunny and Jigglypuff-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card], you can boost your Mewtwo and Mew-GX to better compete with the entire field.

Surprises

These surprises are my group and I’s own, not necessarily surprises to the community as a whole. Our ten-point scale predictions before the event:

  • Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX :9
  • Blacepahlon :2
  • [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Naganadel” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card] :3
  • [card name=”Charizard and Braixen-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card] :5
  • Darkness Toolbox :1
  • Florges Control :3
  • [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] :1
  • [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Giratina” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] :7
  • Mewtwo and Mew-GX :6
  • [card name=”Naganadel and Guzzlord-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card] :1
  • Pidgeotto Control :5
  • [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] :3
  • [card name=”Quagsire” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card] Toolbox :2
  • Reshiram and Charizard-GX / [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] :3
  • [card name=”Reshiram and Zekrom-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card] :1

Clearly, we underestimated Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX, Mewtwo and Mew-GX, and overrated Charizard and Braixen-GX/ Giratina. The huge oversight was completely disregarding the Reshiram and Charizard-GX build with Ninetales, the eventual winner of the event. This is frankly kind of sad to completely skip over, but for some reason we thought it fine to ignore it. We hadn’t heard much about the deck before the event and never tried it ourselves; perhaps we would have played it ourselves had we tested it. Moving forward, I think the format is a bit more simple than we originally made it out to be—looking something like this:

S Tier

  • Mewtwo and Mew-GX

Yep, Mewtwo and Mew-GX is back on top and this time it’s more because it can just adapt to any metagame. I somewhat regret not putting more time into testing the archetype because I could have landed on something creatively placed to beat anything. The deck still has the high roll factor of playing [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card], but you can mitigate that in a variety of ways. The deck performed better than I expected this past weekend, and while it didn’t win, it nearly did at second place. I’m excited to grind the deck out again and maybe get back to playing it for almost everything in Standard like I did to open the season.

A Tier

  • [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card]
  • Pidgeotto Control
  • Reshiram and Charizard-GX / Ninetales

Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX has solidly placed itself in the format. Not only was it played a ton, but it did very well so that success will continue. It’s what I would consider a superbly solid deck, not one that will take anyone by surprise anymore, but one that will continually perform well. It can be teched to beat a variety of matchups and things such as [card name=”Cryogonal” set=”Unified Minds” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Drampa” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Phione” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] will likely not be the end of the cool Pokemon additions. [card name=”Pidgeotto” set=”Team Up” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] Control seems to have found its floor, it will remain in contention at events, but most decks have an answer for it if they want to play it. That said, it might have a hard time getting to the Top 8 of tournaments to come, but it will consistently perform decent or better. Reshiram and Charizard-GX / Ninetales, perhaps a “newcomer” after its short hiatus from top tier contention, should remain a fan favorite and pull many plays from those that have now played the deck extensively over the course of the past few months.

B Tier

[cardimg name=”Lillie’s Poké Doll” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”267″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

  • [card name=”Florges” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Lillie’s Poké Doll” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”197″ c=”name”][/card]
  • Malamar / Giratina
  • Naganadel and Guzzlord-GX

Doll Stall has been awarded a place as the format’s boogeyman, a deck you never want to face, but one that can hold its own against pretty much anything unless they have a dedicated tech. The lock of feeding Lillie’s Poke Doll to your opponent over and over is fairly foolproof and you can eventually deck them out with [card name=”Bellelba and Brycen-Man” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card]. Malamar has yet again been awarded with a weird, mediocre place in the format. It’s here nor there, with decent matchups, and perhaps a chance to beat anything, but oddly rewarded with its fair share of inconsistencies and losses against many of the decks out there—especially Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX. Naganadel and Guzzlord-GX, my pick for the event, didn’t show up as dominantly as I would have liked, but the concept is still there and it’s a powerful deck especially with the power of a quick [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”name”][/card] to a low hand size followed by a powerful attack for lots of damage. Stay tuned on this one, I’m not sure myself—try out the deck though.

C Tier

  • [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card]
  • [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Naganadel” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card]
  • [card name=”Charizard and Braixen-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card]
  • [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card]

I think Blacephalon / Pidgeotto has the greatest chance to rise a tier or two, it’s nice to see a non-GX deck exist in a polarized format dominated by Tag Team Pokemon-GX like this one. Blacephalon has the power to one-shot any such Pokemon, and because of that, it can be a knot in the road for many popular decks. It’s risky because of its poor [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] matchup as well as an awful [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] pairing. The big Blacephalon-GX is alright itself; it actually got Top 4 at this event which is surprising to me. It doesn’t have that great of a matchup spread, but I figure that the Psychic [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card] might have carried the player in question. That card might be extremely good in the deck, I haven’t tried it yet. He had it, though, so it must be solid at worst. Charizard and Braixen-GX was underplayed I think, the hand lock option with [card name=”Jessie and James” set=”Hidden Fates” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] with [card name=”Weezing” set=”Hidden Fates” no=”29″ c=”name”][/card] is really nice and might be super strong. It was one of our options, but we weren’t as confident in it as [card name=”Naganadel and Guzzlord-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card] with [card name=”Mismagius” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card]. As for the generic Reshiram and Charizard-GX / Green’s Exploration deck, it’s as mediocre as anything else. It’s outclassed by its [card name=”Ninetales” set=”Team Up” no=”16″ c=”name”][/card] counterpart and I would reccomend the latter of the two if you’re looking to play a Reshiram and Charizard-GX deck.

D Tier

  • [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card]
  • Naganadel / [card name=”Quagsire” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card]
  • [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card]

Oh man, don’t get me started on my distaste for Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX. It has been the bane of my existence this season; I am 0/9/1 against it in major events. I think at this point I’m so fed up losing to it that I’m going to be playing options to beat it moving forward. I think the deck is terrible, honestly, losing to so much of the format. It’s matchup against Reshiram and Charizard-GX with anything is miserable, as is it’s matchup with Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX when they have either four [card name=”Chaotic Swell” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”187″ c=”name”][/card] with two [card name=”Keldeo-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card] or a [card name=”Lucario and Melmetal-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card]. Its matchups with control decks are losses as well; I don’t think anyone actively looking to win an event should ever be playing this deck. Quagsire decks of any kind seem destined for the same fate as usual: a place amongst the bottom of the barrel with the potential to rise higher up depending on matchups. It’s a terribly clunky deck that can lose many games to itself! Pikachu and Zekrom-GX is completely outclassed by newcomer Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX, and that’s that. It already struggled to one-shot Tag Team Pokemon-GX like Mewtwo and Mew-GX, but the 280 HP ones are even harder, impossible in fact, with Full Blitz (even with four [card name=”Electropower” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”172″ c=”name”][/card] played.)

Where to Next

Mewtwo and Mew-GX seems really good. This is the list I’m going to start testing as soon as I get home from Brazil.

[decklist name=”.” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″][pokemon amt=”17″]4x [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Solgaleo-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM104″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Naganadel-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”160″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mega Lopunny and Jigglypuff-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Magcargo-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”44″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Latios-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”78″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Greninja-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM197″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Espeon and Deoxys-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”72″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Charizard-GX” set=”Hidden Fates” no=”9″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Charizard and Braixen-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”22″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”29″]4x [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Mallow and Lana” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”198″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Guzma and Hala” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”193″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Tag Call” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”206″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cherish Ball” set=”Unified Minds” no=”191″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Switch” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”147″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Great Catcher” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”192″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Stealthy Hood” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”186″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Giant Hearth” set=”Unified Minds” no=”197″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Viridian Forest” set=”Team Up” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”14″]8x [card name=”Fire Energy” set=”Evolutions” no=”92″ c=”deck2″ amt=”8″][/card]3x [card name=”Rainbow Energy” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Weakness Guard Energy” set=”Unified Minds” no=”213″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Water Energy” set=”Evolutions” no=”93″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”Evolutions” no=”95″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist]

Explainations

[cardimg name=”Mega Lopunny and Jigglypuff-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”165″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

I’m going to go over the cards in narrative form, focusing on those that are more unorthodox, or new. [card name=”Mega Lopunny and Jigglypuff-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card] is a must in this deck, it’s great in the mirror match, against [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card], and really anything. It can be your main attacker when faced with Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX, as can the next notable Pokemon, [card name=”Charizard and Braixen-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card]. Brilliant Flare is lovely to find yourself Stadium cards, [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card], and more. It goes well in this deck for a vanilla damage smack and you can search out cards that will complement your next turn like healing with [card name=”Mallow and Lana” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”198″ c=”name”][/card], and more. [card name=”Greninja-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM197″ c=”name”][/card] is a must in this deck now that Keldeo-GX is in a lot more decks. You need to have it to get around its Ability. That means you’re going to need a mess of some new Energy; I’ll jump to those.

Eight Fire Energy is standard, but three [card name=”Rainbow Energy” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card], not so much. You need this for your off-type attackers and Greninja-GX especially. The [card name=”Weakness Guard Energy” set=”Unified Minds” no=”213″ c=”name”][/card] is a better [card name=”Jirachi-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card] since you can search it out with [card name=”Guzma and Hala” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”193″ c=”name”][/card] and it doesn’t take up an annoyingly bad Bench space. I have a single Water Energy and Psychic Energy for Turbo Strike options so you can recover the type you need in certain situations. [card name=”Viridian Forest” set=”Team Up” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] is still good in this deck for finding these! Speaking of Guzma and Hala, it can find you your Energy for the turn and a Stadium, often times all you want. [card name=”Stealthy Hood” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card] is in this deck to counter [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] and it can also search that out. This deck can afford to take a foot off the gas a bit to be more resourceful with so many threats out there now, Keldeo-GX and that aforementioned Mimikyu, just to name a few.

Mallow and Lana is perfect in this deck to win “healing battles” with a variety of other decks. This deck will almost always win those fights because it has one-shot potential in [card name=”Charizard-GX” set=”Hidden Fates” no=”9″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Magcargo-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”44″ c=”name”][/card]. You can one-shot your opponent and they can’t do the same; sometimes playing a Mallow and Lana is just better than a Welder for turn because you’ll be perserving your attacker and not having to build another one with Energy to follow up. [card name=”Great Catcher” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”192″ c=”name”][/card] is amazing in this deck to not only get Pokemon in the discard pile, but serve a better purpose than Custom Catcher in just immediately getting the big target you want. It’s common for this deck to just take two Tag Team Pokemon-GX Knock Outs to win the game and that card helps you do just that. Finally, [card name=”Tag Call” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”206″ c=”name”][/card] ties this build together by finding your tech Supporter cards and your main attacker, of course: [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card].

M2 Afterward

This deck can still be teched to beat anything and one of the most attractive qualities are the addition of both Charizard and Braixen-GX and Mega Lopunny and Jigglypuff-GX in the deck give you a doable matchup with [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], something in the past you would have to go above and beyond to beat. Without [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] is a lot worse and Guzma and Hala kind of fills the void. You can play around [card name=”Power Plant” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] with a single Tag Call, finding you that very Supporter and a Stadium card to bump that Pokemon-GX Ability-stopping Stadium. Your matchups are about the same as they have been in the past and I like your chances against any of the new Tag Team Pokemon-GX because you can one-shot them with Charizard-GX or Magcargo-GX.

Conclusion

I’m pretty excited to get back to playing Mewtwo and Mew-GX. I’d say that [card name=”Naganadel and Guzzlord-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card] was a bit of a refreshing switch, but for me, it wasn’t. I got that awful pairing against four Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX—what can I say. I recognize there are other decks in the format too, and I’ll be back next time with a look at one of those (not Mewtwo and Mew-GX.) To send you off, I’ll leave you with a friendly reminder to hit me up in the Subscribers’ Hideout if you have any questions! Take care everybody, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read this and support me in doing so.

Peace,

–Caleb

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