Sander Does it Again — The Unstoppable Attacking Mewtwo V-UNION

Sander Wojcik made Top 8 at the Stuttgart Regional Championships, and of course, it was with a deck that is anything but normal. In fact, many cards in Sander’s deck had never seen competitive play, and probably never will outside of this deck. Sander is known for playing control decks, so when he tweeted about Stuttgart Regionals, saying that his deck was “The most fun I have ever played,” I wasn’t sure what to expect. As it turns out, the deck revolved around [card name=”Mewtwo V-UNION” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH160 ” c=”name”][/card], which instantly brought on flashbacks to the North America International Championships earlier this year. Sander, Mees, and some other players brought a surprising and revolutionary [card name=”Mewtwo V-UNION” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH159 ” c=”name”][/card] stall deck to the biggest tournament of all time. As I was playing [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card], I fell victim to Sander in Day 2 with no way to actually take out his Mewtwo V-UNION.

This time, however, was very different. Rather than using Mewtwo V-UNION to stall with its ridiculous Super Regeneration attack, making the game last dozens of turns of nothing happening, this version of the deck is more aggressive. In addition to Super Regeneration, Mewtwo V-UNION has two crazy-powerful offensive attacks. Final Burn does a flat 300 damage, and Psysplosion allows you to place s16 damage counters wherever you want on your opponent’s board, which can potentially KO multiple Pokemon at once.

The deck is build around [card name=”Gengar” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”85″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Radiant Tsareena” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”16″ c=”name”][/card], which keep Mewtwo V-UNION alive and healthy while it unloads kill shot after kill shot onto the opponent’s board. This is how the deck is able to deal with decks like [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card], which can deal more damage than Mewtwo V-UNION will be able to heal on its own. That said, against something like [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Duraludon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] with a lower damage cap, you can pivot into the stall strategy if needed. Super Regeneration is capable of beating some decks on its own.

The engine for this deck is extremely creative and absurdly good. Aside from the usual Gormandize [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Vivid Voltage” no=”131″ c=”name”][/card] that gets paired with Mewtwo V-UNION, the deck also focuses on [card name=”Kirlia” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card]. Kirlia is the perfect support Pokemon for the deck. Kirlia draws cards to help get to the bottom of the deck, discards Mewtwo V-UNION pieces and Basic Psychic Energy, and is a Psychic-type Pokemon to work with the Gengar. This deck wants to draw aggressively with Snorlax and Kirlia so it can quickly assemble the Mewtwo V-UNION pieces. Furthermore, you need to find Gengar and [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card], and the deck only plays one copy of each.

Basically, this deck plays like Mewtwo V-UNION stall when it comes to drawing tons of cards and manipulating the Prizes with [card name=”Peonia” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”149″ c=”name”][/card]. The main difference is that Mewtwo V-UNION can quickly sweep boards by being aggressive. I’ve changed only two cards from Sander’s list. Here’s what I have currently:

Mewtwo V-UNION Deck List

[decklist name=”mewgod” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Mewtwo V-UNION” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH159 “][pokemon amt=”24″]1x [card name=”Mewtwo V-UNION” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH159 ” c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mewtwo V-UNION” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH160 ” c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mewtwo V-UNION” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH161 ” c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mewtwo V-UNION” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH162 ” c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Vivid Voltage” no=”131″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Gardevoir” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”61″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Kirlia” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ralts” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Gengar” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”85″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Gastly” set=”Lost Origin” no=”64″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Radiant Tsareena” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”16″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Shadow Rider Calyrex V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”74″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Pyukumuku” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”77″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”31″]1x [card name=”Flannery” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”139″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Team Yell’s Cheer” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”149″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Bruno” set=”Battle Styles” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Cyllene” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”138″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Peonia” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”149″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Trekking Shoes” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Level Ball” set=”Battle Styles” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”150″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”172″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Fan of Waves” set=”Battle Styles” no=”127″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”180″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Fog Crystal” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”140″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”5″]1x [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”XY” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist][cardimg name=”Team Yell’s Cheer” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”149″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

From Sander’s list, I cut [card name=”Yell Horn” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”173″ c=”name”][/card] because I didn’t really understand why it was there (which might be a problem with me). I also cut a [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] because I’m pretty sure you only need one copy in the deck. I added [card name=”Team Yell’s Cheer” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”149″ c=”name”][/card] because it smooths things out with the deck, helps recover Pokemon when needed, and makes the infinite loop more reliable when you’re going with the stall strategy. I added a second copy of [card name=”Fan of Waves” set=”Battle Styles” no=”127″ c=”name”][/card] to help against [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card], especially the [card name=”Fusion Strike Energy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”244″ c=”name”][/card] version. One Fan of Waves might be a bit slow and unreliable against the blisteringly fast Mew VMAX deck, and you need to get the combo with [card name=”Shadow Rider Calyrex V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card]’s Shadow Mist as soon as possible.

Most of the list is fairly straightforward, with many of the spots dedicated to consistency cards. [card name=”Gardevoir” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] serves a few purposes. First of all, it provides an extra draw option, because you can use Kirlia’s Refinement and then evolve it to Gardevoir to draw even more cards. This effect compounds with Scoop Up Net. Gardevoir can also KO Meloetta if needed. Finally, it heals more damage when you use Scoop Up Net on it, than an extra use of Radiant Tsareena. If you wanted to, you could potentially try to build the deck in such a way that it can consistently get Basic Psychic Energy off Gardevoir’s Shining Arcana. This would allow you to start attacking with Mewtwo V-UNION immediately without needing to use Union Gain. This way, Mewtwo V-UNION would be able to get a devastating preemptive strike before taking damage and forcing you to heal. This would almost certainly involve [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card]’s Primate Wisdom for one Psychic Energy, along with one [card name=”Cyllene” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] heads for the other one.

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The Gengar line is so thin because you can get away with it. You need two [card name=”Gastly” set=”Lost Origin” no=”64″ c=”name”][/card], because otherwise, Lugia VSTAR will take out your only copy then threaten your Mewtwo V-UNION with a big attack. [card name=”Bruno” set=”Battle Styles” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] has a lot of synergy with this deck, aside from being a decent draw Supporter on its own. This deck wants to turbo draw to the bottom of the deck to set up Mewtwo V-UNION and Gengar. Once your board is established and your deck nearly gone, you can use Bruno to avoid decking out. It also prevents you from decking out when you are using Shadow Mist. That said, with Team Yell’s Cheer now in the deck, there is some overlap in that functionality. [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] is an easy addition, protecting Kirlia and Gengar from [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Raikou” set=”Vivid Voltage” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card]. When Manaphy is no longer needed, you can sacrifice it or use Scoop Up Net.

Overall, this strategy is consistent, powerful, and nearly foolproof. Its no wonder that Sander was able to make Top 8. However, there are a few ways it can lose in the current meta.

Threats and Countermeasures

Drapion V

Mewtwo V-UNION’s Weakness is to Darkness-type Pokemon. It is certainly not the worst Weakness to have, but it leaves Mewtwo V-UNION vulnerable to [card name=”Drapion V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”118″ c=”name”][/card]. If the opponent has a way to accelerate Energy cards onto Drapion V, such as using [card name=”Mirage Gate” set=”Lost Origin” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] or using [card name=”Thorton” set=”Lost Origin” no=”167″ c=”name”][/card] after you’ve attached Water Energy on a Water-type Pokemon using [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card]’s Star Portal VSTAR Power, you are finished. Fortunately, if they do not have a way to accelerate Energy to Drapion V, Mewtwo V-UNION can take it out before it starts attacking. Slow Drapion V is no problem. Fast Drapion V is the deck’s biggest weakness.

There are a few possible countermeasures, but they are a huge pain. [card name=”Mesprit” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] takes away your Weakness, but requires Azelf and Uxie to also be in play. Any one of these three can easily be sniped off by Sableye’s Lost Mine, or if your opponent has a [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] ready. However, you may be able to simply recover them with Team Yell’s Cheer, while also wrecking your opponent’s board with Psysplosion. [card name=”Chandelure” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] can also take away your Weakness. Chandelure is more difficult to take out, but also much more difficult to re-establish onto the board. Both of these options are high-maintenance and require several deck spots.

Finally, you could try using good ol’ combo of [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] plus [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card]. It’s quite unlikely that any opponent will be able to find the Drapion V combo after being with hit Roxanne and Path to the Peak, though Path may not be useful in some matchups. However, they do not have to draw out of it immediately. If they are able to find the Drapion V combo at any point before you win the game, they still win.

Amazing Rare Yveltal with Path to the Peak

Most [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] decks don’t play Path to the Peak, but if they do, you lose. If you want to counter it, simply add [card name=”Big Parasol” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card] to the deck to stop [card name=”Yveltal” set=”Shining Fates” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card]. Big Parasol would also be useful against [card name=”Regice” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”37″ c=”name”][/card] and some other decks with Path to the Peak. It also prevents Sableye from dropping damage counters onto your Bench, which is quite nice.

Vikavolt V

Apparently, Sander lost to [card name=”Vikavolt V” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] in Top 8. I haven’t given a lot of thought to this matchup, but I assume it was tough getting locked out of being able to use [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card]. However, Vikavolt V doesn’t do a lot of damage. The obvious counter-tech would be to play a [card name=”Haunter” set=”Lost Origin” no=”65″ c=”name”][/card] so that you can manually evolve into Gengar under Item lock. I would have to play the matchup to see if there are other ways to beat it, or if there’s a way to beat it without requiring changes in the current deck list.

Matchups

Lugia VSTAR – Favorable

[cardimg name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The [card name=”Mewtwo V-UNION” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH159 ” c=”name”][/card] deck is built to beat Lugia VSTAR, so this is the matchup where you execute your strategy as normal. Mewtwo V-UNION with [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] cannot be taken out in one hit, and we assume they don’t play Path to the Peak. On the turn you go in with Mewtwo V-UNION, bench double [card name=”Gastly” set=”Lost Origin” no=”64″ c=”name”][/card] with Rare Candy and [card name=”Gengar” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”85″ c=”name”][/card] ready to go in your hand. Mewtwo V-UNION takes out whatever is most threatening on your opponent’s side of the board, which is usually the Lugia VSTAR that is swinging, but can be [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Raikou” set=”Vivid Voltage” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card]. You only commit your Rare Candy when Mewtwo V-UNION has a ton of damage on it, and then you heal it all off. If they snipe one of two Gastly, you have two turns to recover it. It’s difficult for them to ignore an attacking Mewtwo V-UNION. [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] is good to prevent them from using Boss’s Orders plus Raikou on both Gastly. However, if you can immediately recover Gastly and also quickly KO Raikou, Manaphy isn’t required.

Mew VMAX – Favorable

The non-[card name=”Meloetta” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] version is much easier to defeat, because you win as soon as you announce [card name=”Shadow Rider Calyrex V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card]’s Shadow Mist. However, you need to combo this with [card name=”Fan of Waves” set=”Battle Styles” no=”127″ c=”name”][/card] and / or [card name=”Flannery” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card], depending on how much time they’ve had to attach Energy cards before you start using Shadow Mist. The Meloetta version has [card name=”Elesa’s Sparkle” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”233″ c=”name”][/card] to bypass Shadow Mist, but they still can’t attack on the same turn they use Elesa, so the Shadow Mist strategy still works. However, you need to aggressively find Fan of Waves, as well as recover Flannery with [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card]. They will run out of Elesa’s Sparkle cards eventually.

If you notice that they burn too many resources, such as [card name=”Power Tablet” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”236″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Cyllene” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card], or [card name=”Fusion Strike Energy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”244″ c=”name”][/card], you can pivot into Mewtwo V-UNION and checkmate them with Mewtwo. However, the Shadow Mist strategy is usually best.

Lost Zone Box – Favorable

Lost Zone Box can aggressively target your Bench, but many lists have no way to KO a Mewtwo V-UNION. Depending on their list, a lone Mewtwo V-UNION spamming Super Regeneration can win by itself. This is how you defeat the [card name=”Kyogre” set=”Celebrations” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card] version that I have been playing recently. Of course, you get destroyed if they have [card name=”Drapion V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”118″ c=”name”][/card].

Other Decks

The normal Mewtwo V-UNION strategy works quite well against any deck that cannot one-shot a Mewtwo. However, since you always have lots of Pokemon on your Bench, you cannot allow your opponent to take too many Prize cards while you set up. This is a key difference from Mewtwo V-UNION stall, which relied on the lone Mewtwo. Draw aggressively and set up Mewtwo V-UNION to start attacking as quickly as possible, before they take too many Prize cards.

Mewtwo V-UNION is a cool deck. It’s strong, consistent, and has good matchups. However, it’s extremely risky to play because of how easily it is countered. It is certainly worth exploring potential counters to Drapion V. With V Guard Energy, [card name=”Radiant Gardevoir” set=”Lost Origin” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Big Charm” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card], Mewtwo V-UNION can survive a hit. Unfortunately, Radiant Gardevoir replaces [card name=”Radiant Tsareena” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”16″ c=”name”][/card]. Maybe you could play cards like [card name=”Fresh Water Set” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Champions Festival” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM78″ c=”name”][/card] to mimic Radiant Tsareena, while Radiant Gardevoir counters Drapion V? However, even that setup loses if the Drapion V player has [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card].

The Current State of the Metagame

To be honest, that’s all I have to say about the Mewtwo V-UNION deck right now. Since this article would be way too short if I ended it here, let’s talk about the upcoming Arlington Regional Championships and the current state of the metagame.

The Latin America Regional Championships (LAIC) featured unprecedented dominance of [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card]. It was truly insane how thoroughly the deck dominated that tournament. Most of the top players played Lugia VSTAR for that tournament, which heavily contributed to its results. I think that if every player who played Lugia VSTAR played [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] instead, and vice versa, Mew VMAX would have been the deck to dominate. Regardless, with a 50% Lugia VSTAR showing in Day 2, 75% of Top 8, and 100% of finals, it was clear that this new archetype is absolutely nuts.

The following weekend featured three Regional Championships: one in North America, one in Europe, and one in Australia. Most of the players who were at LAIC ended up playing the same deck at their respective Regional Championships due to the short turnaround time. However, those who stayed home from LAIC had time to cook up some nasty surprises for the returning travelers. The results speak for themselves. That weekend was the weekend of anti-meta. I have never before in my life seen such a variety of anti-meta decks take not one, but three Regionals by storm at the same time. It was truly a marvel to behold.

In Europe, we have the aforementioned [card name=”Mewtwo V-UNION” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH159 ” c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Kirlia” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] deck in Top 8, and the [card name=”Vikavolt V” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] deck that beat it managed to win the event. Here in North America, we saw Mewtwo V-UNION stall win, [card name=”Duraludon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] get second, and multiple [card name=”Articuno” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”36″ c=”name”][/card] decks in Top 8. Australia had the wildest results: Articuno / [card name=”Frosmoth” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”64″ c=”name”][/card] got first place, [card name=”Flaaffy” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] at second, then followed by [card name=”Durant” set=”Battle Styles” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card] and multiple Control decks.

One thing was constant among the three Regional Championships that weekend: Lugia VSTAR did not dominate. It didn’t even do very well. We had one in Top 4 at Toronto, as it defeated a Lugia VSTAR mirror in Top 8. For the huge meta share that Lugia VSTAR took up (30% in Toronto), it was shocking how poorly it performed, especially compared to its insane dominance at LAIC. All of the strange decks that did well were clearly targeted at Lugia VSTAR. Mew VMAX and Lost Box did alright, but there’s nothing too noteworthy there.

This begs the question, what happens now? I fully expect Lugia VSTAR to maintain its stranglehold as the most-played deck in the format. Lugia VSTAR’s strongest trait is that it can tech for nearly any matchup or situation. Lugia VSTAR players can easily pick and choose which of the counters they wish to destroy, with options such as [card name=”Bird Keeper” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Virizion V” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card], or [card name=”Espeon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”65″ c=”name”][/card], just to name a few. This keeps the anti-meta players guessing, or even counter-teching for Lugia VSTAR’s potential counters. Mew VMAX and Lost Box remain solidly below Lugia VSTAR in terms of popularity. They are still fine to play, as all eyes are on Lugia VSTAR.

The meta seems to be Lugia VSTAR at the top, with a menagerie of various other decks below it. Mew VMAX, Lost Box, Regis, [card name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”131″ c=”name”][/card], Duraludon VMAX, Mewtwo V-UNION, Articuno, [card name=”Durant” set=”Battle Styles” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card], Control, Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR, [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card], Vikavolt V, etc., are all decks you could reasonably run into at a Regional Championships. Because of this, I expect the anti-meta decks to fall off. They can get their wins against Lugia VSTAR, but the unpredictability of the rest of your rounds makes it a huge gamble to play anti-meta.

The conclusion I’ve drawn is that you should play a strong and well-rounded deck that smashes Lugia VSTAR. You certainly want a favorable Lugia VSTAR matchup, and your deck should be inherently strong, which lets it naturally beat some other matchups. At this stage, it’s extremely difficult to predict which non-Lugia VSTAR decks you’ll run into. At Toronto, I faced Articuno with [card name=”Eiscue” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card], Duraludon, and Mewtwo V-UNION stall… twice! These are all decks that I did not expect at all, and it felt really bad because my deck was 100% incapable of beating any of them. I also faced nine Lugia VSTAR, and smashed all but one.

Conclusion

Play whatever you want as long as it beats [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card], and ideally it should be a functional deck. [card name=”Mewtwo V-UNION” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH159 ” c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Kirlia” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] certainly fits into these categories, and I would not be surprised to see it do well at an upcoming Regional Championships. I love the deck, but I might be too much of a coward to play it with its risk against [card name=”Drapion V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”118″ c=”name”][/card] plus some from of Energy acceleration. If you can find a way to reliably deal with that threat, the deck is undoubtedly broken.

I still love turbo [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card], which is a deck I wrote about a few articles ago. I’ve since switched [card name=”Hero’s Medal” set=”Vivid Voltage” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card] for [card name=”Big Parasol” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card], since Big Parasol is strong in most matchups. However, with Mewtwo V-UNION stall winning Toronto, Mew VMAX may be collateral damage if Drapion V’s stock goes up. Of course, the same applies to attacking Mewtwo V-UNION. Mew VMAX can beat Drapion V, but it certainly prefers metas without Drapion. Mew VMAX is so absurdly consistent, and it has ways to handle every matchup. It’s also very fun to play. Who doesn’t love drawing a million cards and doing whatever you want every turn?

Lugia VSTAR is still strong. Its well-rounded and you can tech it for any specific meta you want. However, the deck is clunky and will always have a target on its back. I don’t see myself ever playing Lugia VSTAR, but I certainly can’t fault anyone who chooses to do so. Lost Box is the deck I’ve been playing, but I am certainly scarred by running into several auto-losses at the last Regional Championships. It does not enjoy playing against Mewtwo V-UNION, Eiscue, [card name=”Duraludon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card], or [card name=”Espeon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”65″ c=”name”][/card], all of which I lost to at Toronto. That said, Lost Box absurdly strong and consistent, so it never seems like a bad pick.

That’s all I have for today. Thanks for reading!

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