Mew to the Pale Moon – Mewtwo Strikes Back for Players Cup IV

Hey everyone, Isaiah back with yet another Standard format article! Not a lot has happened in the Pokemon TCG world since my last article, barring Japan’s announcement of the contents of their upcoming sets, both of which will be featured in June’s Chilling Reign outside of Japan. However, next week (April 26th) marks the start of everyone’s favorite quarterly event, the Players Cup! With that in mind, let’s take a look at how the meta is shaping up going into the fourth Players Cup.

A Look Toward Players Cup IV

I covered a lot of my thoughts on how to approach a Players Cup in an earlier article, Looking Forward, so in the interest of simplicity, here is a quick picture of how I would approach phase one, Tournament Keys.

Approaching Your Tournament Keys

I think the best way to approach your Tournament Keys is to play a deck that scores quick and easy wins while having few bad matchups — such as [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Zacian V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card]. I also value consistency quite a bit for the Best-of-1 and Single Elimination structure of phase one, so I recommend minimizing techs, aside from things that may turn auto-losses into playable matchups, such as teching an [card name=”Aegislash V” set=”Vivid Voltage” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card] into Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / Zacian V to make the [card name=”Decidueye” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”13″ c=”name”][/card] matchup playable.

With this philosophy in mind, the next part of our approach is to take a look at what decks in the format fill this criteria the best. In order to do that, let’s take a look at the meta itself.

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

In my previous article, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place,” I spoke briefly about how the Battle Styles meta was shaping up, but this time around I intend to go a bit more in-depth. To start things off, here is an abridged unordered tier list, omitting a lot of the more obscure and/or fringe decks in the format:

Tier One:

• [card name=”Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card]
• [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Zacian V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card]
• [card name=”Eternatus VMAX” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card]
• [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card]

Tier Two:

• [card name=”Victini VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card]
• [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card]
• [card name=”Lucario and Melmetal-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Zacian V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card]

As you can see, I think the pool of Tier One decks is rather large right now — it’s made up of four whole decks! The first of these is Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, which draws a lot of strength from being a Fighting-type Pokemon in a format that not only houses the likes of Eternatus VMAX and Pikachu and Zekrom-GX, but also relies heavily on [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Crobat V” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card], making way for a lot of easy and cheap Knock Outs for the Rapid Strike Urshifu player.

Alongside Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, we also find the aforementioned Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / Zacian V archetype. Being a dominant force since Zacian V’s release last February, it should come as no surprise that this deck is in my Tier One. In fact, if I was ordering that tier list, I probably would give Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / Zacian V the number one spot, due to the deck’s inherent strength, its ability to “break” the rules of the game, and its lack of unfavorable matchups. Lately, while discussing deck matchups with friends, I’ve made frequent note of one thing: all the matchups for Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / Zacian V are about 50-50; regardless of opponent, it can either win easily or lose just as hard, depending on how both players draw and play.

Next we have Eternatus VMAX and Pikachu and Zekrom-GX, two decks that were expected to completely fall off with the release of Battle Styles, but instead, both have managed to keep their place at the top of the format. Eternatus VMAX did partially live up to expectations, however, despite taking a near auto-loss to Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX. The deck makes up for it by having strong matchups against most of the decks that can take down Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, especially with the help of [card name=”Phoebe” set=”Battle Styles” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] to allow Dread End to damage [card name=”Zamazenta V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card]. On the other hand, Pikachu and Zekrom-GX is able to maintain relevance with the help of [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] and its ability to hit many of the format’s most popular Fighting-types for Weakness. However, more importantly, it itself does not have Fighting-type Weakness, giving it a little extra leverage in the Fighting-type matchups.

In Tier Two, we find [card name=”Victini VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card], another emerging threat from Battle Styles. Victini VMAX easily takes advantage of the vast number of Pokemon V being used in Standard as the Sword & Shield block continues, and it’s also able to take advantage of the plethora of Fire-type tools in the Standard format, including [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card]. In a similar vein, we also see [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card]. Blacephalon plays nearly identically to Victini VMAX when it comes to a lot of its partners, but instead of trying to take easy one-hit Knock Outs with Max Victory, Blacephalon takes advantage of the vast number of Tag Team Pokemon-GX and Pokemon VMAX with more resource-intensive, yet amazingly favorable Prize trades.

Lastly in Tier Two, there is the tried-and-true [card name=”Lucario and Melmetal-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card] / Zacian V. As usual, Lucario and Melmetal-GX proves to be a powerful threat due to the high amount of “perfect math” that can easily be offset by Full Metal Wall GX and [card name=”Metal Goggles” set=”Team Up” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card]. In addition, Zamazenta V and its Dauntless Shield continues to be an annoyance to all of the VMAX decks of Standard, claiming plenty of easy victories if the opponent fails to properly prepare.

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What does this mean?

Now that we have looked at some of the top decks in Standard, we can think about the strongest plays for Players Cup IV. Personally, I’m leaning toward the trusty [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Zacian V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] again, simply because, like I said, every matchup feels 50-50, which is a better average than most decks take against the format. Another one of my top picks is [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card]. This pick has a lot to do with comfort, a trait that I value immensely, but I also think Pikachu and Zekrom-GX benefits from having one of the most powerful game plans in the format right now, with a variety of options to fulfill any purpose at any time. You also get to make use of [card name=”Crushing Hammer” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card], a massive annoyance in the current format since so many decks rely on multiple Energy attachments. Finally, Pikachu and Zekrom-GX is can exploit one of the most powerful combos the game has to offer, being [card name=”Raichu and Alolan Raichu-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”54″ c=”name”][/card]’s Tandem Shock paired with a late-game [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”name”][/card].

I think that all of the decks in Tier One are really solid and safe plays for Players Cup IV, and I don’t see myself considering many decks outside of that realm. I recommend you do the same. All four of those decks are very good at consistently executing their game plan and have the sheer power to boast alongside their game plan.

But I lied! There is one other deck, a more offbeat choice, that I’m considering for Players Cup IV, and that deck happens to be the focal point of today’s article: [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] Toolbox.

Mewtwo and Mew-GX Toolbox

[cardimg name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Since its debut in Unified Minds, Mewtwo and Mew-GX has had dozens of partners. Everything from [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card] in Standard, the variant that won a World Championship and an International Championship, to [card name=”Dimension Valley” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] in Expanded, all with [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] , [card name=”Rillaboom” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”14″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Hydreigon” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”110″ c=”name”][/card], and more along the way. Even my first article, “Aquatic Ambience,” was about a then-up-and-coming Mewtwo and Mew-GX variant: Water-type variants.

This latest variant of Mewtwo and Mew-GX popped up very recently, though — as of writing this, it’s only a week or two old! It doesn’t boast any special forms of major Energy acceleration, instead opting to use a variety of powerful attacks such as [card name=”Gengar and Mimikyu-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card]’s Horror House GX, [card name=”Vileplume-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”4″ c=”name”][/card]’s Massive Bloom, and of course [card name=”Trevenant and Dusknoir-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM217″ c=”name”][/card]’s powerful Night Watch attack to slow down the opponent while applying pressure and building up one or two Mewtwo and Mew-GX to carry you though the game.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at a list for this powerful deck!

Deck List

[decklist name=”JitTwo” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″][pokemon amt=”17″]3x [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Jirachi-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”79″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Gengar and Mimikyu-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”53″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Trevenant and Dusknoir-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM217″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Vileplume-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”4″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Garchomp and Giratina-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”146″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Incineroar-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”97″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Solgaleo and Lunala-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”75″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Crobat V” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”104″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Eldegoss V” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”19″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”33″]4x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Shining Fates” no=”58″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Guzma and Hala” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”193″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mallow and Lana” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”198″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cherish Ball” set=”Unified Minds” no=”191″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Switch” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”183″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Tag Call” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”206″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Stealthy Hood” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”186″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Air Balloon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Big Charm” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”158″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Tag Switch” set=”Unified Minds” no=”209″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Chaotic Swell” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”187″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”10″]4x [card name=”Aurora Energy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”186″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Horror P Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”172″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

Card Inclusions

Three Mewtwo and Mew-GX

Deviating from my typical “consistency is key” motto, we opt for only three copies of our main attacker for a simple reason: space.

It’s typical for Mewtwo and Mew-GX decks to need to fit a lot of different cards, with a variety of powerful attackers, ways to find those attackers, Supporter cards, and Energy cards all needed to execute your variety of strategies. The cuts have to come from somewhere. Conveniently, since Mewtwo and Mew-GX is worth three Prize cards, you can only use two full Mewtwo and Mew-GX per game, so you don’t technically even need three, let alone four. (With that being said, since consistency remains critical, I would probably consider the fourth Mewtwo and Mew-GX to be the “61st card” and I wouldn’t hate to find a space for it down the road.)

Two Jirachi-GX

[card name=”Jirachi-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card] happens to have two purposes in this deck, as opposed to the typical one-and-done. The first is the most obvious: you remove your Mewtwo and Mew-GX’s Psychic-type Weakness, allowing a little extra space to work against opposing Mewtwo and Mew-GX as well as other less common Psychic-type attackers such as [card name=”Dragapult VMAX” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card]. On the Mewtwo and Mew-GX side of things, you unfortunately remove your opponent’s Mewtwo and Mew-GX’s Weakness as well, but we make up for that by having generally more powerful attacks, so we can Knock them Out in two hits (or even one hit) a bit easier than they can us.

In addition to the removal of Weakness, though, Jirachi also provides some surprisingly solid acceleration with Star Search. Star Search is the only form of Energy acceleration available to a build like this, but it happens to work thanks to the generally slow format we find ourselves in. If we go second, we can Star Search on our first turn while our opponent is stuck setting up, allowing us to set up for a three-Energy play the following turn and giving us what often ends up being a massive Energy advantage. Star Search also provides a nice way around a pesky [card name=”Crushing Hammer” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card] by putting an extra Energy on the board, essentially requiring your opponent to hit two heads flips instead of one to have any substantial effect.

In addition to those two purposes, Star Shield GX provides a decent form of protection while dealing a moderate amount of damage in the process. Star Shield GX allows you to set up plays against VMAX Pokemon where you do 100 with Star Shield GX followed by a harder-hitting attack to clean up the Knock Out. It’s also a nice attack against single-Prize decks like [card name=”Polteageist” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”83″ c=”custom”]Mad Party[/card]  or [card name=”Spiritomb” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card], typically buying you a turn and taking a Knock Out at the same time.

The Disruptors: One Gengar and Mimikyu-GX and One Trevenant and Dusknoir-GX

[cardimg name=”Gengar and Mimikyu-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”53″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

[card name=”Gengar and Mimikyu-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Trevenant and Dusknoir-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM217″ c=”name”][/card] are arguably the two most important Pokemon in this deck when it comes to copying targets for Mewtwo and Mew-GX.

Gengar and Mimikyu-GX in particular is critical for its Horror House GX attack, buying you a free turn to attach an Energy while you slightly stunt your opponent’s setup. As if that slow-down effect was not enough, though, you can also attach a second Energy to Mewtwo and Mew-GX when copying Horror House GX to have both players draw until they have seven cards in their hand, providing you with a little extra draw and your opponent with (hopefully) quite a few Trainer cards to fuel Gengar and Mimikyu-GX’s second attack, Poltergeist. While it’s not always ideal, Poltergeist is frequently a strong play in the early phases of the game, especially after a Horror House GX, as it’s the cheapest way that this deck can take a one-hit Knock Out on a Pokemon with more than 180 HP. From time to time, you may even get lucky enough to take a massive one-hit Knock Out on an [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] before or just after they use Altered Creation GX, scoring you a massive lead.

In addition to the disruptive power of Gengar and Mimikyu-GX, Trevenant and Dusknoir-GX boasts one of the most powerful disruption attacks ever produced, Night Watch. Enough to strike fear into those (un)fortunate enough to play in Collinsville Regionals before the 2020 season was cut short, Night Watch paired with [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] proves to be just as strong in Standard as [card name=”Ace Trainer” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card] was in the Expanded format, if not even stronger thanks to the greater lack of consistency options in Standard. Night Watch is easily the most-used attack in this deck, and half of your games are decided by this single attack locking your opponent out of the game.

As if Night Watch was not enough, Pale Moon GX is yet another aspect of Trevenant and Dusknoir-GX that is incredible. Although it does not come up frequently, a Pale Moon GX following a Night Watch that leaves your opponent with a dead hand is often a great way to score a Knock Out on a Pokemon, regardless of its HP. However, even if you don’t get to take the Knock Out, you still can discard all of your opponent’s active Pokemon’s Energy cards, pushing you one step ahead of your opponent.

The Offensive Attackers: One Vileplume-GX, One Garchomp and Giratina-GX, and One Solgaleo and Lunala-GX

When I first saw translations of the cards in Cosmic Eclispe, I never thought [card name=”Vileplume-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”4″ c=”name”][/card] would end up being one of the most successful Pokemon-GX in the set. At this point, however, it has grown to be one of the most commonly included attackers in Mewtwo and Mew-GX decks, thanks to its ability to consistently hit for 180 on the second turn. This level of aggression is rarely seen on anything, let alone on something that will easily be able to follow up with a different attack after taking a hit that reduces the power of Massive Bloom. Massive Bloom hitting for specifically 180 ends up being very important thanks to our good friends [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Crobat V” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card], both of which are Knocked Out in one hit by a 180-damage attack.

Alongside Vileplume-GX, [card name=”Garchomp and Giratina-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Solgaleo and Lunala-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”75″ c=”name”][/card] both find their way into the deck as ways of dealing massive damage to take Knock Outs on bigger Pokemon. Starting with the former, Calamitous Slash has an amazingly high damage output for a three-Energy attack, and it’s surprisingly easy to set up thanks to [card name=”Horror P Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”172″ c=”name”][/card] placing damage counters for you. In addition to Calamitous Slash, however, Garchomp and Giratina-GX also has Linear Attack, a solid one-Energy attack with a surprisingly wide number of uses, from setting up a Calamitous Slash Knock Out on a Tag Team to the more unique usage of placing damage on an opposing Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX deck’s Jirachi-GX, making it so they can’t lock you with [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] without bringing back their own Weakness.

Solgaleo and Lunala-GX has a less unique purpose — it just hits hard with no extra requirement. We use this most frequently against [card name=”Zacian V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card], especially if they have to take a turn off to use Intrepid Sword instead of attacking into your Mewtwo and Mew-GX.

The Defensive Attackers: One Incineroar-GX and One Reshiram and Charizard-GX

Both [card name=”Incineroar-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] serve the purpose of being “counterattack” cards. In the case of Incineraor-GX, Darkest Tornado GX can do massive amounts of damage with even a small amount of damage on a Mewtwo and Mew-GX, so it acts as a constant threat of “don’t attack me unless you want to be Knocked Out.” Similarly, Reshiram and Charizard-GX has a much weaker version of Darkest Tornado GX in Outrage, allowing you to take advantage on a whiffed Knock Out by taking your own Knock Out right back at them.

Unfortunately, Reshiram and Charizard-GX’s other attacks don’t see much use, as fulfilling their Energy requirements usually gives you better options than either of those attacks. Incineroar-GX could not be more of an opposite to this. Its Crushing Punch attack deals a solid 130 damage, setting up a two-hit Knock Out on quite a bit of the format, and in addition to the damage output, Crushing Punch also removes an Energy from your opponent’s Active Pokemon, potentially disrupting their strategy.

One Tag Switch

One of the more interesting Trainer cards in this deck, [card name=”Tag Switch” set=”Unified Minds” no=”209″ c=”name”][/card] provides an opportunity to efficiently move Energy off of a heavily damaged Mewtwo and Mew-GX and onto a fresh one. It also sets up unique plays, like being able to drop an attacker that you would normally discard, Tag Switch to it, and then swing with it out of nowhere.

The Energy Lineup

A fairly basic Energy lineup for this style of Mewtwo and Mew-GX deck. We opt for four [card name=”Aurora Energy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card] to fulfill the variety of non-Psychic Energy costs. Unfortunately, we can’t play eight copies of this card in this deck — the discarding effect proves to be extremely useful! — but four copies is usually enough to get the job done. In addition to the four Aurora Energy, we play four Horror P Energy and two basic Psychic Energy, since there are no other multi-colored Energy cards in the Standard format. We opt for four Horror P and two Psychic because Jirachi-GX can grab either, so you may as well play the one with a solid effect.

Conclusion

With that, I bring this article to a close. I hope my brief metagame analysis at the beginning of the article helps you decide on your deck for Players Cup IV, as I think the hardest part is usually deciding what to play for qualifiers. In addition, I hope you give this unique Mewtwo and Mew-GX toolbox deck a try, as I think it is one of the most interesting and entertaining decks in the format. As always, if you have questions about anything I covered in this article, feel free to reach out to me in the Subscriber’s Hideout, on Twitter (@ICheville), or on Facebook (Zaya Lee). Until next time!

– Isaiah

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