Infestation Pandemic — The Latest Developments for Mew VMAX

Hello PokeBeach readers! Isaiah here, and I am happy to be writing another article for you. Last time, I talked about the [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Articuno” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”36″ c=”name”][/card] deck that has been seeing a fair amount of success lately as an anti-[card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] strategy. When it comes to beating Mew VMAX, the Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR / Articuno deck has continued to be extremely successful, placing in the Top 8 of the Knoxville Regional Championships in the hands of two-time Regional Champion, Piper Lepine. However, for the first time this season, Piper was finally stopped in the Top 8 of the tournament by Nicholas Moffitt, who was aiming for a his first Regional Championships title. For the third time this season, Nicholas was stopped in Top 4 once again. Just like in Orlando, his tournament run came to an end by the hands of Andrew Hedrick. Throughout the weekend, one of the hot questions in the community was if Andrew would be able to pull off the back-to-back Regional Championships win, and the community certainly was not disappointed. With an incredible 9-0 start in the first day of competition, it was looking extremely likely that Andrew was going to be able to pull off the big win. As Day 2 progressed, a new question entered the minds of many, would Andrew be the game’s first 15-0? Ultimately, Andrew’s dream run was cut short by Brandon Salazar and his [card name=”Eternatus VMAX” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Galarian Weezing” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card] deck. Andrew would get his revenge in the Finals though, becoming the Pokemon TCG’s sixth ever back-to-back Regional Champion, once again with Lugia VSTAR.

At this point, the dominance of Lugia VSTAR is very well documented, and Knoxville was no exception to this fact. The deck made up six spots in the Top 16 of the tournament (including yours truly), which is actually lower than it has been, but it is still a higher percentage of the Top 16 than it was in the entire tournament. As always, the question remains — will anything ever come to properly challenge Lugia VSTAR? In all likelihood, the answer to this question is almost definitely a resounding “no,” as Lugia VSTAR is not just the best deck in this format, but it might even be one of the best decks in the history of the game. Unexpectedly, however, there might finally be a deck that is close to the level of Lugia VSTAR, but it is definitely not all the way there, and that is [card name=”Regigigas” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card].

When Astral Radiance was released, Regis was definitely considered to be a bit of a joke archetype, as it was not very great right out of the (Regi) Gate. Things changed with the release of Lost Origin though, as with that set we got [card name=”Gift Energy” set=”Lost Origin” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card]. All of a sudden, the Regis deck was finally able to chain together attacks reasonably efficiently, presenting itself as a much bigger threat in the meta than it was initially perceived to be. Fast forward to the present day, and Regis has started to really make a name for itself as one of the top decks in the format, seeing success in the hands of many top players such as Rahul Reddy, Justin Bokhari, and Sam Chen. This success largely stems from the fact that Lugia VSTAR does not really have good tools to beat it, with no great way to take an advantage in a Prize card exchange that is typically unfavorable. The biggest issue with Regis is that it is not exactly a hyper-consistent deck. In my opinion, Regis is the second best deck in this current Standard format.

[cardimg name=”Dreepy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”128″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Interestingly, Knoxville also had one of the most diverse Top 8s that we have seen since the debut of Lugia VSTAR, with an astounding seven unique decks in Top 8. Notably, one deck was missing from the Top 8, and that was [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card]. Mew VMAX not placing among the Top 8 is extremely bizarre, as the deck is quite far from being bad right now, in fact, I would argue that the deck remains a Top 5 deck in the Standard format, with a strong case for being even Top 3. So, what happened to Mew VMAX? Well, it’s not like the deck did terrible either, with two placed among the Top 16 and two more in the bottom half of Top 32. The question has to simply be was the meta was just not favorable for it? Aside from the deck’s troubling Lugia VSTAR matchup (which is a massive issue, to be fair), the deck did not really have too many atrocious matchups either, and in the case of Andrew Mahone’s build, he played a [card name=”Flying Pikachu VMAX” set=”Celebrations” no=”7″ c=”name”][/card] to help out with the more troubling matches. In all honesty, there really is not a great explanation for why Mew VMAX did not make it into the Top 8, as, again, the deck is far from terrible right now and has done well at other tournaments, so really it was probably not its weekend at Knoxville.

Less than perfect finishes did not stop Mew VMAX from being the talk of the weekend, though, as Xander Pero’s Mew VMAX deck list certainly did not disappoint when it comes to innovation. Since the San Diego Regional Championships, Xander has been putting a lot of effort into innovating the Mew VMAX deck, coming up with techs such as [card name=”Aerodactyl VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] to give it an edge in the Lugia VSTAR matchup or [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] to help with a troubling [card name=”Kyogre” set=”Celebrations” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card] Lost Box matchup. In Knoxville, he showed up with what I believe may have been the best innovation so far, and that is [card name=”Dreepy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card]. Not [card name=”Dragapult” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] or even [card name=”Drakloak” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card]. Just, Dreepy.

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Xander Pero’s Mew VMAX Deck

When it comes to Mew VMAX deck lists, Xander’s version was, by all means, relatively standard, at least until you looked at the Pokemon line. The general strategy of Mew VMAX decks at this point is also very well understood, as the deck is well over a year old now. Just set up a huge board of Fusion Strike Pokemon and then turbo through your deck with [card name=”Genesect V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card]’s Fusion Strike System. This strategy is the epitome of the phrase “tried and true” and will more than likely be good for the remainder of the cards’ legality in the Standard format. At the Knoxville Regional Championships, Xander opted to play the [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Judge” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”235″ c=”name”][/card] focused build of the archetype rather than the [card name=”Fusion Strike Energy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”244″ c=”name”][/card] variant, largely due to the fact that the Path to the Peak focused variant is far more consistent and has a slightly more reliable matchup into Lugia VSTAR, even if the strategy is entirely reliant on a Path to the Peak sticking. However, Xander made up for this unreliable strategy by adding in some new technology, being the combination of [card name=”Dreepy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Pidgeot V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card], which is a combo that I will explain in a bit more detail following the deck list.

Xander’s Mew VMAX Deck List

[decklist name=”mew dreepy” 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]1x [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”42″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Pidgeot V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Dreepy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”128″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”42″]3x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”132″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Judge” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”235″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/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]3x [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Switch Cart” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Echoing Horn” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Hisuian Heavy Ball” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”146″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Lost City” set=”Lost Origin” no=”161″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Collapsed Stadium” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”4″]4x [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist]

Card Inclusions

Oricorio

In the current format [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”42″ c=”name”][/card] is honestly not very good. The card does not make a super meaningful difference against Lugia VSTAR, as all it realistically does is to force your opponent to attach an extra [card name=”Powerful Colorless Energy” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”176″ c=”name”][/card] to reach for the Knock Out against Mew VMAX, which is minimal extra effort. In exchange for this, they now have a free Prize card to take with [card name=”Raikou” set=”Vivid Voltage” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card] while putting damage on a Mew VMAX to make it easier to Knock Out. But Oricorio still finds a place in Xander’s Mew VMAX deck list, solely because of the Dreepy combo.

Pidgeot V and Dreepy

[cardimg name=”Pidgeot V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”188″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The big highlight of the deck is this Pidgeot V and Dreepy combo. In order to understand why it is so powerful to use both of these cards together in a Mew VMAX deck, it is important to begin by considering what this deck is generally trying to do against Lugia VSTAR decks. In a hypothetical game, let’s say we go second against a Lugia VSTAR player. They will do their typical plays to set up their discard pile for the following turn and will get at least one [card name=”Lugia V” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] in play. Playing Mew VMAX, on our turn, we will have a pretty standard set of plays, preparing multiple Fusion Strike Pokemon on the Bench, and then pulling together the Path to the Peak plus Judge combo to try and slow them down. In the event that they whiff an out to Path to the Peak, we now have a chance to pull ahead in the game and proceed to win from there. Alternatively, the opponent does manage to find an out to remove Path to the Peak from play, and they get out their [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] and take a massive Knock Out. However, stepping back, we must consider the two ways that the average Lugia VSTAR list is able to get out of the Path to the Peak. One option is [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card], which, while it is a good answer, is extremely unlikely to be found off of after their hand is disrupted with Judge, as it is a one-of Item card that is, at most, able to be searched with an [card name=”Irida” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] if they happen to play it.

Alternatively, the more reliable option is for them to use [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”name”][/card] to search for [card name=”Pumpkaboo” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card] and use its Pumpkin Pit Ability to discard the Stadium. In the case of the latter, this wins us the game almost instantly if they do not play [card name=”Bird Keeper” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Battle Styles” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card]. On our next turn, we establish a [card name=”Dreepy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card] on our board alongside an [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”42″ c=”name”][/card], then we play [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] to bring up the Pumpkaboo and use Mew VMAX to copy Infestation. Now that we have done this, the opponent is locked out of being able to Retreat their Pumpkaboo, at least until it is Knocked Out, right? Well, that’s the issue, Pumpkaboo will never be Knocked Out! Thanks to the effect of [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card], Infestation now does 0 damage to Pumpkaboo, meaning that it is trapped permanently. Naturally, the response to this as the Lugia VSTAR player is to power up Stampede to slowly Knock Out the opposing Pokemon, but thanks to Oricorio, Stampede also does 0 damage, meaning that there is no reliable way to escape this lock without explicitly teching for it. With this, however, a new issue emerges, being that we will more than likely run out of cards in our deck before our opponent does, but that’s where [card name=”Pidgeot V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] comes in. Thanks to its Vanishing Wings Ability, it is able to constantly refresh our deck so that we never run out of cards before our opponent. In theory, this strategy is the perfect win condition against an unsuspecting Lugia VSTAR player. As long as they are not properly prepared against this Pidgeot V and Dreepy combo, the strategy is nearly 100 percent effective.

Aside from the strategy itself, it is also very convenient that Dreepy is a Fusion Strike Pokemon and Pidgeot V removes itself from the board, meaning that they never hurt the power of your Fusion Strike System (unless you specifically have Pidgeot V in the Active Spot), which is much nicer than having to deal with only drawing to five cards with [card name=”Aerodactyl VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] in play, or something along those lines.

Three Judge

Lately, Mew VMAX players have been shifting to playing pure [card name=”Judge” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”235″ c=”name”][/card] instead of playing any copies of [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card]. This is largely because of [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card], as it allows the opponent to prepare for a Marnie. But with Judge completely randomizing the deck, you make it significantly less likely for the opponent to ever find an out to a card that allows them to play the game under Path to the Peak, or simply play the game at all in the case of Lost Zone decks.

Three Lost Vacuum and Three Path to the Peak

If you told me this time last year that Mew VMAX decks would be playing three [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card], I would have laughed at you and asked if you were out of your mind. Despite this, Mew VMAX has found a way to surprise me once again. Reminiscent of the old and dominant [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] deck from the past, Mew VMAX decks are able to take advantage of Path to the Peak in such a way that it is effectively a one-sided Ability lock. When people first started doing this towards the back end of the Lost Origin format, the strategy was more used as a late game [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] win condition, but as time has gone on, players have realized that making Path to the Peak a core part of the deck’s strategy is exceptionally strong. Despite the strength of this normally, the power of Path to the Peak increases even further when Lugia VSTAR is consistently 30 percent of the meta or more. The best part about the Path to the Peak strategy is also that, once again, you can play it as a one sided Ability lock, but this lock is made even better by [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card]. One of the rules of the Pokemon TCG that is infrequently relevant is that you are only allowed to play one Stadium card from your hand per turn, but in this deck it matters because you cannot remove a Path to the Peak with, say, a [card name=”Lost City” set=”Lost Origin” no=”161″ c=”name”][/card] and then later put Path to the Peak back into play. Lost Vacuum gets around this, though, as it allows you to send Path to the Peak to the Lost Zone, meaning that it is off the board without you having to play a Stadium card from your hand. This the perfect workaround to allow you to play a new Path to the Peak at the end of the turn.

Three Switch Cart

One of the only aspects of this list that I am not super fond of is the three copies of [card name=”Switch Cart” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card]. Don’t get me wrong, I think playing three Switch effects is a good idea, but I think that excluding [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Battle Styles” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] in particular may be a mistake. The card works as a pseudo [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] in certain board states, which is always an incredibly powerful option, and in deck that has the power to dig for it when it’s needed, it does not really disrupt your deck’s consistency either. With that said, there is a lot of value to the healing that is provided by Switch Cart, as it messes up a lot of math that Lost Box typically relies on, which is highly valuable.

Hisuian Heavy Ball

One of the weirder inclusions in Xander’s deck list was the one-of copy of [card name=”Hisuian Heavy Ball” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card]. Historically, this card has only ever been played in decks with a lot of critical one-of Pokemon, such as Lost Zone toolboxes, in decks with a single critical one-of Pokemon, like [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card], or in Regis. Normally, Mew VMAX decks are none of these things, really only seeing benefit from the card if you somehow find many copies of Genesect V or Mew V stuck among your Prize cards, but even then, it is quite mediocre. However, when you play an alternate win condition for 30 percent of the metagame that requires three unique Basic Pokemon, the card offers a lot more value in addition to the usefulness it already provides.

Collapsed Stadium

[cardimg name=”Collapsed Stadium” set=”Lost Origin” no=”215″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

At first glance, this card probably seems a bit counterintuitive, but it is actually surprisingly good in Mew VMAX decks right now. In a lot of cases in a lot of matchups, the opponent simply will be unable to take a one-hit Knock Out on Mew VMAX, as it is a 310 HP body after all. In these situations, Mew VMAX would typically just copy Psychic Leap, heal itself up, and move on, but in the current format, 50 damage, or maybe a bit more with [card name=”Power Tablet” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”236″ c=”name”][/card](s), just is not enough damage to be meaningful, as doing the full Techno Blast damage is critical in most cases. [card name=”Collapsed Stadium” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] is able to perfectly bridge this gap by offering a way to remove a damaged Mew VMAX from the board while still allowing you to maintain tempo by continuing to deal big damage where it matters. Additionally, the combination of playing Collapsed Stadium followed by a [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card] opens up a Bench space on the opponent’s board to give you access to an [card name=”Echoing Horn” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] play to win the game. As if that was not enough justification, the combination of [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Collapsed Stadium” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] against Regis can be a death sentence on its own and almost singlehandedly makes the card worth playing.

Conclusion

With the Vancouver Regional Championships coming up soon, the question remains as to whether or not anything will be able to adequately challenge Lugia VSTAR. At the beginning of this article, I touched on a couple strategies that I felt were up to the challenge, despite them not being the focus of this article, and while I think those decks are quite good, I do think that they have their fair share of personal challenges. One deck that has significantly less of these challenges, however, is [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card], which is a deck that has proven time and time again that it has what it takes to be a top tier deck. With the addition of [card name=”Dreepy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card], I think there is a good chance that Mew VMAX may finally have the pieces it needs to be a Regional Championships winning deck in the Silver Tempest format.

With that, this article draws to a close. I hope you enjoyed reading about this unique strategy, as it was a lot of fun to discuss it. As always, if you have any questions, please reach out in the Subscriber’s Hideout, on Twitter (@ICheville), or on Facebook (Zaya Lee).

Until next time!

– Isaiah

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