We’re Back! — A Look at the First Regionals since 2020

By: Isaiah Cheville · Posted Posted onMar 16, 2022 at 9:18 PM · 0 Comments

Hello PokeBeach readers! Isaiah here with another article. In my last article, I took a look at some of the most impactful new cards in Brilliant Stars, and since then, the metagame has had some time to settle in the online tournament space. If I said I was surprised by its current state, I would be the biggest liar of all time — to absolutely no one’s surprise, [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] continues to find itself at the top of the meta thanks to the introduction of [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card], and most importantly, [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card]. Between the deck’s initial strength in the Fusion Strike format and its gaining pretty much every card it could ever want in Brilliant Stars, it seems to have attained a never-before-seen stranglehold on the Standard metagame, only rivaled by the infamous 2012 metagame, which saw [card name=”Darkrai-EX” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] as the centerpiece of 19 decks in the Top 32 of the World Championship, including seven Top 8 spots.

In the interest of countering Mew VMAX, many players have sought out Darkness-type decks, most of them centered around [card name=”Galarian Moltres” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card], but even those decks fail to consistently produce the win rate needed to hold Mew VMAX back from being the best deck in the format. Additionally, while these decks focus on taking down Mew VMAX, they have another massive roadblock to handle, and that’s the newly released [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card].

Pretty much everyone expected Arceus VSTAR to be good, but I’m not sure that I expected it to produce the results that it has. Perhaps that was because I was concerned for its Mew VMAX matchup. However, even with Mew’s presence, Arceus VSTAR has taken the metagame by storm, though not in a way that I would consider unfair. In a way, it reminds me of [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] in its ability to be partnered with almost everything while remaining incredibly powerful by itself. Even still, it has the ever-present barrier of Mew VMAX preventing it from taking the top spot in the metagame.

Amid these developments, we have, at long last, come to the point that we’ve all been waiting for since March 2020: Pokemon Regional Championships have returned! I can’t begin to state how happy this makes me, and I’m sure you feel the same way. This Saturday, for the first time since January 2020, there will be a Regional Championship in the United States, and preparing for the event has been a wonderful reminder of what makes me love this game, and while I’m unfortunately unable to attend myself, I’ve been enjoying helping several of my friends test for the event.

However, while the upcoming Salt Lake City Regional Championship is the first event on United States soil, it is not the first Regional Championship overall. Over this past weekend, we saw the first official live Pokemon tournament since 2020 take place in Brisbane, Australia. This tournament was significant in a multitude of ways, not just because it was the first event back in two years, but because it gave us our first live look at a new metagame.

Brisbane Regionals Metagame

Thanks to data gathered by PokeStats, we can look at the Top 16 of the Brisbane Regional Championship, but unfortunately, not much is known about the event’s deck distribution overall. In Brisbane, the 16th- through 9th-place decks consisted of:

  • 7 Mew VMAX
  • 2 Arceus VSTAR / [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”43″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 2 [card name=”Galarian Moltres” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] / Arceus VSTAR
  • 2 [card name=”Gengar VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Houndoom” set=”Battle Styles” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 1 Arceus VSTAR / [card name=”Duraludon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card]
  • 1 [card name=”Suicune V” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card] / Arceus VSTAR
  • 1 Arceus VSTAR / [card name=”Galarian Moltres V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card]

And from there, in order of final standings, the Top 8 included the following:

  1. Mew VMAX
  2. Arceus VSTAR / Duraludon VMAX
  3. Galarian Moltres / Arceus VSTAR
  4. Mew VMAX
  5. Mew VMAX
  6. Suicune V / Arceus VSTAR
  7. Arceus VSTAR / Inteleon
  8. Mew VMAX

To nobody’s surprise, Mew VMAX took down the competition pretty easily, with Natalie Millar, the first-place finisher, not even dropping a match the entire tournament. However, the list that took down the tournament is a somewhat unique take on Mew VMAX — with this list, Natalie was able to chain together attacks in a manner that has never been seen before in Mew VMAX. With that in mind, let’s break it down.

Natalie Millar’s Mew VMAX Deck

[cardimg name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Going into Brisbane, I talked with a few of my Australian friends, Natalie Millar included, and learned that almost all of them had the same plan: build a [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] list that was as perfect as possible, including optimization for the mirror. Most of them never even considered playing a deck other than Mew VMAX, simply because the deck is too absurd to consider other options. Between the deck’s consistency, its speed, and its sheer power, it has everything a deck could ever want. As such, I would feel reasonably confident in saying that Mew VMAX is the best deck of all time.

At this point, everyone should be familiar with Mew VMAX’s basic strategy: use Mew VMAX to copy attacks like [card name=”Genesect V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card]’s Techno Blast while using Genesect V’s Fusion Strike System to draw rapidly through your deck every turn. Most of the time, thanks to the amount of draw Genesect V provides, the deck has no need for conventional draw Supporters like [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card], focusing instead on “power Supporters” like [card name=”Elesa’s Sparkle” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”233″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card], which normally have to sacrifice card draw for their powerful effects. If that wasn’t enough, [card name=”Meloetta” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] also boasts an incredibly powerful attack in the form of Melodious Echo, which, with relatively average luck, can reasonably expect to do 210 damage as soon as the second turn of the game.

Now for the most important part: what makes Natalie Millar’s list different? One of the most notable choices is the lack of any [card name=”Fog Crystal” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card] or Psychic Energy, an unconventional choice prior to Brisbane, instead focusing on consistency cards and pumping the [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] count from the typical single copy up to three. In addition, Natalie used this newfound space to include an pivotal tech card, [card name=”Echoing Horn” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card], on which I’ll elaborate more later. Overall, between all the Mew VMAX lists I’ve seen since the release of Fusion Strike, Natalie’s probably takes the cake.

Deck List

[decklist name=”Natalie’s Mew VMAX” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″][pokemon amt=”14″]3x [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Mew V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Genesect V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Meloetta” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”124″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”42″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”39″]3x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Elesa’s Sparkle” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”233″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Battle VIP Pass” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”225″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cram-o-matic” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”229″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Power Tablet” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”236″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Rotom Phone” set=”Champion’s Path” no=”64″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”150″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Battle Styles” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Switch” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”183″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Echoing Horn” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Rose Tower” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”7″]4x [card name=”Fusion Strike Energy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”244″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/energy][/decklist]

Card Inclusions

Mew VMAX Line

The 4-3 VMAX line should come as no surprise, regardless of deck. It’s critical to find two copies of your main Pokemon V, in this case [card name=”Mew V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card], on the first turn to ensure that your only copy does not get Knocked Out. However, in this deck, it’s even more important that you find multiple copies because it also increases the number of cards you draw off of Fusion Strike System every time you use it. Mew V also has no Retreat Cost, so it makes an excellent pivot following a Knock Out, [card name=”Switch” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card], or [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Battle Styles” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card]. And if that wasn’t enough, Mew V also has one of the deck’s most important and underutilized attacks, being Psychic Leap. Now that Double Turbo Energy exists, allowing Mew VMAX to copy Psychic Leap in just one attachment, the attack might as well say, “If your opponent can’t do 310 damage in a single attack, you win the game.”

As for Mew VMAX, it’s the perfect card. Free retreat, a helpful Resistance, a Colorless attack that copies other attacks, and even a wallbreaking attack that does moderate damage. I don’t have much to say about this card, aside from the fact that it lets you use any attack in the deck for a Double Turbo Energy, which includes [card name=”Meloetta” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card]’s powerful Melodious Echo.

[premium]

Two Meloetta

Speaking of Melodious Echo, let’s address the card that took this deck from pretty good to absolutely absurd. It’s by no means rare for the online Pokemon community to want cards banned, but I think Meloetta is an uncommon example of these complaints being legitimate. Before Meloetta became an auto-include in Mew VMAX, the deck was pretty reasonable. Sure, it had a crazy high power level, but it was by no means unfair. However, as people discovered the power of Meloetta, the deck has gotten progressively less fair to the point that something may need to be done.

Meloetta offers a way to score a massive Knock Out on your first turn in a way that no other deck can match. In some cases, it can be advantageous to go second solely to Knock Out a Pokemon V and get a jump on the Prize trade. The potential for this jump is even more ridiculous because it means that whether you go first or second, you will win the Prize trade. If that was not enough, Melodious Echo can do up to 280 damage if the [card name=”Fusion Strike Energy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”244″ c=”name”][/card] are not quickly dealt with, meaning that you can get free Knock Outs even on Pokemon VMAX or Pokemon VSTAR if the opponent is not careful.

Oh, and I almost forgot! This is on a single-Prize Pokemon, making it even harder for other decks to keep up!

Oricorio

[cardimg name=”Oricorio” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”42″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Aside from Meloetta, [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”42″ c=”name”][/card] is one of the most powerful tools Mew VMAX has access to. While the 20 damage buffer may not seem particularly significant on its own, it actually has a ton of applications! Some of the most notable ones to me have been:

  • [card name=”Hoopa” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”111″ c=”name”][/card] can only hit Meloetta for 70 damage
  • Mew VMAX with a Double Turbo Energy cannot take a one-hit Knock Out on your Mew V or Genesect V without a modfier like [card name=”Power Tablet” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”236″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card]
  • Mew VMAX with a Double Turbo Energy and four modifiers fails to take a one-hit Knock Out on a Mew VMAX
  • Arceus VSTAR with a Double Turbo Energy and no Choice Belt fails to take a one-hit Knock Out on Mew V
  • [card name=”Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] with a [card name=”Leon” set=”Vivid Voltage” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] and Choice Belt cannot take a one-hit Knock Out on Mew VMAX

I could keep this list going for a while, but I think the point has been made. To put it simply, Oricorio earns its place in this deck.

Four Battle VIP Pass, Four Quick Ball, Four Ultra Ball

This list plays a relatively tame amount of Pokemon search, as opposed to the 15 or 16 cards seen in other lists. In general, I am a fan of this, as it opens up more space for cards with valuable purposes rather than filling your deck with burnable clutter.

As for the cards themselves, [card name=”Battle VIP Pass” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”225″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”name”][/card] are the only ones that survived from the Fusion Strike-era version of the deck. I had been skeptical about Battle VIP Pass’s importance going forward, but I’ve come to realize that it’s one of the deck’s most important setup cards, offering a low-investment way to build your board for high-value Fusion Strike Systems from the beginning of the game. Quick Ball and the newly re-released [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] offer ways to discard hand-clogging cards while also giving you more Pokemon outs, which in turn means more draw. Ultra Ball in particular has provided a hugely important consistency buff, letting you draw even more good cards while burning even more dead cards, and also finally giving the deck a reliable way to search for Mew VMAX, as opposed to banking on [card name=”Great Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Rotom Phone” set=”Champion’s Path” no=”64″ c=”name”][/card], or [card name=”Cram-o-matic” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”229″ c=”name”][/card].

Four Cram-o-Matic and Four Rotom Phone

Despite the deck’s newfound lower reliance on these cards, Natalie opted to max out the counts on both, which is a huge consistency boost where other lists might be cutting them. In my original Mew VMAX article, even with a relatively rough deck list, I had high praise for Cram-o-matic, and I maintain the same feelings to this day. In the more Item-heavy builds seeing play now, with more discard targets, Cram-o-matic is even stronger. In addition, most of the time, a single Cram-o-matic heads on turn one almost directly translates to a first-turn Melodious Echo, which is a truly massive reward for minimal investment. Rotom Phone can be another combo builder, but it’s a bit more reliable for providing some reward even if it’s not always the card we’re seeking.

Later in the game, Cram-o-matic and Rotom Phone both serve the purpose of more reliably finding Stadium cards, giving more options for dealing with [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card], which otherwise shuts us down almost entirely. As a tip, play a Rotom Phone to put a Stadium card on top of your deck, making you less vulnerable to the combo of Path to the Peak and [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card].

Two Escape Rope and Two Switch

The root purpose of [card name=”Switch” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Battle Styles” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] is pretty simple, as they both allow you to reset the drawback of [card name=”Genesect V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card]’s Techno Blast, as well as allowing you to get out of unfortunate Genesect V starts. However, the specific split is what’s more important. In particular, Escape Rope is huge for making sure Meloetta’s first-turn Melodious Echo gets a Knock Out on a Pokemon V, so we play the even split for the sake of having options. I’ve talked with multiple friends about reallocating the split in favor of Escape Rope, but we haven’t tested it much yet.

Echoing Horn

At last, we come to [card name=”Echoing Horn” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card]. By far one of the hotter techs in Natalie’s list, it fits a very specific purpose, and it fulfills that purpose well. On paper, Echoing Horn makes a lot of sense as a way to make sure you always have a Pokemon V to take a Knock Out on, offering new paths to victory in as few attacks as possible. However, this matters a lot in one matchup in particular, that being [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Duraludon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card]. In most games, [card name=”Arceus V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card] will use its Trinity Charge to power up a [card name=”Duraludon V” set=”Champion’s Path” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card] on the Bench. When this happens, you play an Escape Rope into Melodious Echo to take a Knock Out on some Pokemon V — ideally the Duraludon V, but any Pokemon V will suffice. Then, the following turn, you Knock Out the aforementioned Arceus V (or possibly Arceus VSTAR, if it evolved). Finally, you use the Echoing Horn to bring back the Arceus V and grab your final two Prize cards. There is a slightly different route that involves using Mew VMAX’s Max Miracle to take a two-hit Knock Out on Duraludon VMAX, but it’s a bit more complex. Regardless, it should be clear that Echoing Horn has a definite place in turning this matchup outright favorable.

Two Rose Tower

[card name=”Rose Tower” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] is not a particularly crazy inclusion, as it just offers another means of drawing cards, almost like a mini Fusion Strike System. However, playing just two is a little weirder. In general, such a low count tends to be fine when you have other methods of finding it like Cram-o-matic and Rotom Phone. In addition, Path to the Peak has declined somewhat in popularity recently, so the lower count is pretty reasonable.

Three Double Turbo Energy

Another big innovation in Natalie’s list was the inclusion of three [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] and the complete exclusion of basic Energy. Both are pretty straightforward decisions — after all, why would you not play more copies of an Energy card that fills your attack cost for just one attachment? With more Double Turbo Energy, you can be much more aggressive with your Fusion Strike Energy and make bolder Melodious Echo plays, because your risk is drastically reduced with Double Turbo Energy to fall back on. This aggression is the push that took Natalie’s list to the next level, giving her an edge in the mirror that allowed her to easily take down the tournament.

Conclusion

Going into the Brisbane Regional Championship, Natalie and other Australians focused on building the most potent [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] list they could, and their work paid off. With several strong finishes, including Natalie’s win, they likely changed Mew VMAX lists permanently, taking the deck to even greater heights of aggression than it had ever reached before. As we approach the Salt Lake City Regional Championship this weekend, I expect Natalie’s list to have set the new standard for Mew VMAX lists — a standard which will certainly be reflected in Salt Lake City’s metagame.

With that, this article comes to a close. I hope you enjoyed reading about this new take on the best deck in the format, and I hope it proves to be insightful going into Salt Lake City! As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out in the Subscriber’s Hideout, on Facebook (Zaya Lee), or on Twitter (@ICheville).

Until next time!

– Isaiah

[/premium]