pokebeach.comHey guys, it’s Sam Liggett here with an article on Mewlock. Just to let you know who I am, where I come from, and what my accomplishments are, here you go. I started playing Pokémon right after EX Crystal Guardians was released back in 2007, but I didn’t start to play competitively until the following season right after Diamond and Pearl was released.
I am in the Masters division, and I live in Memphis, TN. I have won countless Battle Roads and City Championships, placed 1st at one State Championship, 3rd at two others, and 5th at two others. I have placed in the Top 16 of Regionals twice and Top 32 once. As far as Nationals goes, I have placed in the Top 128, Top 64, Top 32, and Top 8 four different years. I have competed in Worlds twice and placed in the top 32 one of the two times.
I may not have quite as impressive of a resume as Chris Fulop or Jay Hornung, but I at least know that you start with the card that says “Basic” on it.
Backtracking a little bit, when the early rotation was officially announced after Spring Battle Roads of last year, my friends and I went crazy trying to figure out what “The Deck” was. I played Magnezone/Yanmega for Nationals, making it to the top cut but having my journey end at the Top 64 table. Now, I had remained in the top 15 or so spots in the North American Rankings up until this point, but at nationals I got donked three times during Swiss.
This means having your only Pokémon Knocked Out on your opponent’s first turn, before you even get to draw. I lost 28 points for each of these losses, and won only about 8 for each win. When Nationals was over, I had dropped in the rankings down to 52nd place or so, missing the cut off for Worlds.
I competed in the LCQ in San Deigo, playing Magnezone/Yanmega once again, but didn’t make it to the top 8 tables that were granted admission into the main event. Come Fall Battle Roads, I was ready to snag some Championship Points with Mewlock.
I played Mewlock for every single Battle Road I played in this fall, a total of 5. For my three best finishes, I placed 1st, 3rd, and 4th with the following decklist:
|
Pokémon – 25 4 Yanma TM 1 Gloom UD 2 Muk UD 1 Cleffa HS/CL |
Trainers – 23 4 Twins 4 Judge 4 Copycat |
Energy – 12 4 Rainbow 5 P 3 G |
This list may look fairly standard. Well, that’s because it is. In my month with Mew, I rediscovered that playing a deck with as few techs as possible is the safest route, and many times the best route. I toyed around with many different techs, some that are more common than others. They included Jirachi UD, Aipom UL, Smoochum HS, Darkrai & Cresselia LEGEND, Entei & Raikou LEGEND, Noctowl HS, Weavile UD, Rescue Energy, and Tyranitar Prime.
pokebeach.comLong story short, none of these techs were worth adding to the deck if I was going to have to sacrifice playing the fourth Pokémon Communication or the Sunflora line. Some of these techs were really good assets to the deck, but the deck just did not set up well enough every time for my liking.
During a typical game, you want to start with Mew Prime and a P Energy to use “See Off” as soon as possible putting a Muk in your Lost Zone. It is also optimal to open with a Pokémon Collector in your hand, which you play to search out Oddish, Oddish, and Mew Prime.
Sunflora and Yanmega are usually your next priority in setting up, but the ultimate goal is to have Muk and Jumpluff in your Lost Zone, Vileplume out on your field, and Mew Primes and Yanmega Primes ready to attack.
Now that the decklist and strategy have each been introduced, allow me to elaborate on the uses of each of the cards in the deck.
Pokémon
4 Mew Prime: This is pretty standard, 60 HP Basic, free retreat, one of your main attackers. The idea is to “See Off” Muk or Jumpluff with Mew Prime early, and then have its attacks at your disposal for the rest of the game. You just have to be incredibly careful with how many Mews you let get Knocked Out; you only have four.
4 Yanmega Prime: 110 HP, Stage 1, ridiculous Poké-body, free retreat, above par attacks for no energy. Yanmega’s Poké-Body allows you to use its attacks for no energy cost if you have the same amount of cards in your hand as your opponent. There are many ways to match your opponents hand size. You can play Energy or Pokémon to lower your hand size, Pokémon Collector or Sunshine Grace off of Sunflora to increase it, and you have eight shuffle and draw Supporters to match it easily. You can snipe for 40 damage anywhere with Yanmega or swing for 70 straight up.
4 Yanma: Yanma is just here to evolve into Yanmega. Free retreat is great as well (Yanma’s Poké-body allows it to retreat for no energy cost). Yanma is always a solid starter if you don’t open with a Mew Prime in your hand.
2 Vileplume: This card makes the deck a threat to the rest of the field. Vileplume’s Poké-body states that while it is in play, neither player can play Trainer Cards. Mewlock only plays a total of seven Trainer Cards, and you can get the Trainer lock out when you chose to, but many decks play a lot more than seven trainers. I played against a straight Donphan deck in one Battle Road that played 42 total Trainer cards.
When Vileplume is out, you eliminate the chance for your opponent to play Catcher, PlusPower, or Switch, as well as hinder their setup by blocking cards like Rare Candy and Pokémon Communication. You need to set Vileplume up as soon as possible.
1 Gloom
3 Oddish: You play three because you absolutely must play two Oddish onto your bench at the same time if you want to have a chance at getting Vileplume out. Not only do you need to bench two Oddish at once, but you need to have a way to get Vileplume set up in the turn or two after playing Oddish because if not your opponent can play Catcher and Knock Out your Oddishes one after another, or snipe them with Yanmega one after another.
1 Sunkern
1 Sunflora: Without Pokémon Communication, having Sunflora provides you with a way to get out all of your Grass Pokémon. Sunflora is also great for using Sunshine Grace to search out a Grass Pokémon to help match your opponent’s hand.
2 Muk: Sludge Drag is the key. Many decks have Pokémon with a Retreat Cost of two or more. Sludge Drag lets you bring that Pokémon active and poison and confuse it. If your opponent can’t retreat, you can snipe over that Pokémon with Yanmega while allowing them to get Knocked Out by poison in however many turns it takes. Sludge Drag also prevents many Pokémon from using their Poké-powers. Two Muk are played because you need to have Muk in your Lost Zone, practically every game.
2 Jumpluff: After getting Jumpluff into your Lost Zone, you can use Mass Attack or Leaf Guard off Mew for just one Grass or Rainbow Energy. Mass attack can do up to 120 damage, great for knocking Pokémon out. Leaf Guard has many uses, but one notable use is using Leaf Guard against Tornadus, then following up with Mass Attack. Tornadus cannot Knock Out a 60 HP Mew with Hurricane after you use Leaf Guard. Two Jumpluff are played for consistency.
1 Cleffa: If you open with a terrible hand, but you have a Pokémon Communication and a Pokémon, a Pokémon Collector, or Cleffa itself, you still have a shot at winning the game. You don’t want to draw your first seven cards and lose because you can’t get a better hand, Cleffa offers you that way out of the bad hand and into a fresh start.
Trainers
4 Collector: Standard, you need to get your basics out. Your first Collector you should generally get a Mew Prime and two Oddish, depending on what you start with, but Sunflora and Yanmega Prime are not as important as the turn 1 “See Off” or the turn 2 Vileplume.
4 Twins: Twins is the best Supporter in the deck. As soon as one of your Pokémon is Knocked Out, you can play Twins and Search for whatever two cards you may need. Typically, you might get a Rare Candy and Vileplume or Energy for Mew Prime. Playing less than four of these would be ill-advised.
4 Judge: Great for disruption, shuffling in your bad hand and getting four new cards, or for matching your opponent’s hand size. I’d say that Judge is superior to Copycat.
4 Copycat: Good for matching your opponent’s hand size. Having hand refreshers is never a bad call either, you want plenty of shuffle and draw Supporters.
4 Pokémon Communication: Pokémon Communication is great for getting out your evolutions. After you set up Vileplume, these become obsolete, so use them while you can. It is also a great Cleffa search card if you have a bad hand. Every time I lowered these to a count of three, I wished that whatever card I had put in was the fourth Pokémon Communication instead.
3 Rare Candy: You’ll probably only use one of these in a game at most, but you need them in order to set up Vileplume as quickly as possible.
Energy
4 Rainbow: Mew Prime already has only 60 HP, 10 less is not that big of a deal. Playing four Rainbow is like playing 7 Grass and 9 Psychic in a way. You have more options for that turn 1 “See Off,” but will rarely be losing because you can’t get the Energy you need for Mass Attack. Versatility is a great concept to incorporate into a Pokémon deck.
5 Psychic: Provide Energy for Sludge Drag and are necessary for the quickest “See Off” possible.
3 Grass: Provide Energy for Mass Attack and Leaf Guard. They can fuel Yanmega Prime’s attacks too when necessary.
There you have it. When setting up, you typically want to get the quickest “See Off” possible for Muk, and then set up Vileplume as soon as possible as well. If your opponent takes a quick prize, that means that you can just play Twins and set up quick as a flash.
Now for an analysis of some of the major matchups.
Gothitelle/Reuniclus: 80/20 Mewlock’s Favor
In this matchup, Jumpluff is the key. You may still want to “See Off” a Muk as well, but definitely “See Off” Jumpluff. Mass Attack from Mew Prime on a Gothitelle will be a 1HKO even if they have no benched Pokémon. Their Trainer lock doesn’t really affect you all that much, but your Trainer lock will hurt them pretty bad.
At the end of the day, trading off a Mew Prime with one Energy for a Gothitelle with at least three is in your favor every time. This is a pretty easy matchup.
Typhlosion/Reshiram: 50/50 Even
pokebeach.comThis matchup is pretty even. If they play just one Quilava, you should have a pretty easy time winning, but if they play three, then it’s not easy at all. See Off a Muk early, and get out Vileplume ASAP. Sludge Drag on Typhlosion shuts off their power as well as forcing them to retreat. If they get out two Typhlosions, Sludge Drag a Reshiram with no energy instead to force them to either power it up and flip into confusion or attach two energy to retreat and then have to power up the other Reshiram to attack with.
If they get out three Tyhplosions, your best shot is to Mass Attack every Reshiram and Knock them Out. If you can run them out of Reshirams, you have a chance at Knocking Out Typhlosions with Yanmegas for your last Prize cards.
You can also Linear Attack Cyndaquils early if you have out Vileplume forcing them to evolve two Cyndaquil at once if they plan to get out Typhlosion, because you can Linear Attack a Quilava with 40 damage from a previous Linear Attack for 40 more damage and Knock it Out.
Magnezone/Yanmega: 60/40 Mewlock’s Favor
This all comes down to whether or not they know the matchup. If they get out a Magnezone at all, you can Sludge Drag it and be at a huge advantage. If they only set up Yanmegas, then you have to attack their Yanmegas with yours, and it just becomes a huge trade-off. You should have the advantage if you can get out Sunflora, because you can use Sunshine Grace to keep your Yanmegas coming.
Leaf Guard with Mew followed by Mass Attack can Knock Out a Yanmega most of the time, so you have 8 possible attackers as opposed to their 4. Matchup is in your favor.
ZPST: 20/80 ZPST’s Favor
This is by far the most difficult matchup. They have Shaymin to use Celebration Wind and retreat if you Sludge Drag, Zekrom with 40 damage 1-shots all of your attackers, and they are very fast. My best advice is just to keep Sludge Dragging and Judging until they run out of Energy, and then switch to Yanmega Prime and Snipe.
Mass attack on a Zekrom with 40 damage can usually Knock it Out, so keep that in mind, and a Leaf Guard on a Tornadus if you have no damage is also a good play.
Stage 1s: 50/50 Even
This matchup can be difficult or not so difficult depending on what Pokémon they play and what Pokémon they set up. If they set up Donphan, it is a great Sludge Drag target and can buy you some time to set up knock outs with Linear Attack. Zoroark is not really a threat.
Yanmega versus Yanmega is just a constant battle, but don’t forget about how good Mass Attack can be and always watch your opponent’s bench size. Vileplume is very important seeing as Stage 1s tends to play lots of Trainers.
Conclusion
There are the matchups that I have based off of my experience playing in Fall Battle Roads this year. All in all, I feel that Mew is a good deck with lots of tricks and would be a great play for Regionals in November. Just remember, if you take nothing else away from this article, my words of advice are “Consistency is the key.”
Thanks for reading, and I’ll take constructive criticism to heart. This is just my first article for SixPrizes, but I look forward to writing more articles in the future.
-Sam Liggett
Awesome article, Sam!
Thanks Josh!
Great article, however I think that ciccino is better than jumpluff for three reasons: You don’t need grass energies; You can use DCE what is perfect to retreat vileplume; And the most important your damage depends only on you, you don’t leave chance to your oponnent control your own damage.
JUmpluff > Cincinno because it only requires one energy which you can run more of (rainbow + grass) and you should always have a full bench with this deck…
also you really should only use jumpluff vs goth and Stage 1’s with low retreat other decks you lock active and snipe around with yanmega
I play Jumpluff because it’s more versatile and can cap out at more damage, but Cinccino could work too. I still would have to suggest Jumpluff over Cinccino mainly because it can attack for just one Energy over two.
jumpluff is superior because of leaf guard
where is aipom? he is the decks MVP!
dont forget spinarak to.
spinarak is over rated now anyone that actually falls for that lock you should be able to outplay and beat anyways…
Because you put your pokemon face down and Spinarak requires 1 energy and is a basic that isn’t true.
I definitely considered Spinarak at one point. If you can trap a Cleffa, you can win the game. It’s just not really my style.
Aipom is a great tech, the list that I went with was just the most consistent list I thought that I could play.
After having sniped your setup of Oddish/Sunkern early to obtain a comfortable lead as you progress to see off and construct a trainer lock, I don’t really see why PrimeTime is limited to JUST attacking with their Yanmega… After having taken 4 prizes (oddish, sunkern, mew, mew typically) with them, I would simply evolve my benched Magneton with X nrg attached and Lost Burn for the remaining prizes… You don’t have any method of OHKO’ing it, and should you prioritize sludge dragging it before I evolve, I’ll simply pay the one reatreat cost of magneton, and continue my Yanmega prizefest. Therefore I don’t really agree with your PrimeTime-Mewlock matchup analysis…
I feel like you might be overestimating the ability for PrimeTime to set up early without Magnezone and without Trainers after turn 3 or so. If you would wait to set up Magnezone for the last two prizes, then that means that for the early game you’re limited to Yanmegas, but Mew also has Yanmegas. I doubt that in a normal game you would be able to pull ahead four prize cards before Mew could get anything going at all, but then again I am just speaking from my experience. If you would like to play a game against me using this exact list, just send me a message on Facebook (Samuel Liggett) letting me know who you are and I would be happy to play against you one playtcg.me and we could see how the matchup plays out.
Sure, that’d be cool;) I’ll hit you up :)
Great to see more new Writers. I have a couple questions though.
“and you can get the Trainer lock out when you chose to, but many decks play a lot more than seven trainers.”
How true is that…But this brought up an idea I have – What if you have a Trainer in your hand that you want to play out, but Vileplume’s out? You could Seeker, but, of course, you’d need to Junk Arm for a Rare Candy if you don’t have one in your hand the next turn, which is utterly pointless, but it may be something you want to keep in mind (even though it doesn’t sound useful in the slightest.)
“3 Grass: Provide Energy for Mass Attack and Leaf Guard. They can fuel Yanmega Prime’s attacks too when necessary.”
Why would you want Grass energy on Yanmega? That seems like a waste to me. I would put it on a Vileplume (if you have it out and you’re only putting the Grass energy on Yanmega to match your Opponent’s hand). That way, if you’re running out of options, Vileplume can do 70 damage or confuse your opponent.
“1 Sunflora”
That seems dangerous to me…Of course, you don’t rely on Sunflora, but it’s really hard to find 1 Sunflora in a 60 card deck, and if you happen to Twins and see it’s in your Prizes – Not a good thing. You could really do something else instead of Sunkern/Sunflora, unless you’ve happened to have good luck on getting them out. You could always replace a Rare Candy with a Rotom in case they happen to be Prized, and Rotom works in your deck since you have Rainbow Energy.
“3 Rare Candy”
Even if you have 3 Rare Candy, it still may not show up in your hand, you could use two instead, but that’s just me.
I don’t mean to be harsh, these ideas just popped into my head, haha. Congrats on T4’ing.
The main reason for playing the only seven Trainers that I do is for setting up Vileplume. I was saying that although you can wait to set up Vileplume until you want to, many decks play lots of Trainers and it maximizes the usefulness of Vileplume’s Allergy Flower to set it up as soon as possible.
Attaching Energy to Yanmega is not something that I suggest doing every game, but rarely you may not be able to match your opponent’s hand and you would have to attack with the necessary Energy attached, or maybe you’re stuck in a Yanmega face off. You can attach Energy to your Yanmega, then alter your hand size however you can, and attack. That way, if your opponent can’t match your hand the next turn, you’ll be a turn ahead which can make a huge difference in some games. Those are the main two instances that I would think it would be appropriate to power up Yanmega.
Rotom is a cool idea that I hadn’t considered too much. Sunflora is just so helpful with setting up your Evolutions, but it’s not necessary that you set it up every game. Playing a 2-2 line of Sunflora is something that you could try, but I wouldn’t advise it. I think that the extra two spots wouldn’t be worth it.
I did test just playing 2 Rare Candy at one point, and it wasn’t bad. You tend to have to search it out with Twins though, because the chances of drawing into one are much slimmer. I didn’t like having to wait until one of my Pokemon was knocked out to get a Rare Candy every game, but playing 2 is a fine call. It’s just my preference to play three for the better chance of drawing into one early game.
There are my responses to your thoughts. I appreciate the deeper thinking.
Very true, now I see the reason for the Trainers, thanks.
Oh, that’s another idea, good thinking. All depends on the situation, really.
Oh, right, but you can take it out entirely when you start seeing either Sunkern or Sunflora prized in most games – It’s not helpful to anyone when you have one pokemon without its basic/evolution.
Right, I usually have to Twins to get my Rare Candys, but that’s true – You could get lucky and have an Oddish, Rare Candy AND Vileplume in your hand at one time if you use 3 Rare Candys.
Thank you, I’m glad you responded, I now have a better insight in your train of thought.
Nice article! Very well written and explained.
I’m a fan of the Tail Code Aipom, but that is not that big of a deal.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you!
1. ) Any suggestions for setting up Vileplume when you DONT get a Collector T1 or T2? I run thicker lines than you do for the flower, but found at my Battle Roads that if I did not get the Collector early, it was hard to get two Oddishes out at once and then actually get Vileplume up before they have already plowed through a lot of trainers to set up. I ran: 4-2-3, 4 Collector, 3 Rare Candy, 3 Communication, 2 Elm, 3 Twins, 4 Judge, 4 Copycat (running a Yanmega obviously). Perhaps Cleffa or Pichu?
2.) What are your thoughts on Rescue Energy with Mew Prime?
I would suggest that rather than up the Vileplume line that you add in more supporters that allow you to set up quicker. I feel that one Cleffa is a must in almost every deck right now, I am a strong advocate of playing one Cleffa. You may want to try slimming your Vileplume line down to a 3-1-2 and dropping both Elm. If you did that, you would have 5 extra spots which I might fill with another Communication, definitely another Twins, a Cleffa, and then either two Sage’s Training or a Pichu and another card. Pichu definitely sounds like it would be the best answer in your case though if getting out basics is the problem.
I feel like Rescue Energy is a great play, there have been times when I wished I had a 5th Mew, and it could be searched out with Twins, but I wouldn’t suggest playing any more than two. Your first priority is getting the necessary Energy to attack, and then you can attach the Rescue to one of the four Mews when you get that extra turn in which you don’t need energy to fuel an attack. I would play it as the 13th Energy or the 14th though, I wouldn’t cut any Psychic or Grass or Rainbow to make room for Rescue.
Very nice article with a consistent list, though personally I only feel safe with 2-2 Sunflora. One of the only additional things I would’ve mentioned here is that vs PrimeTime, while you have Sunflora for getting more Yanmegas, they sometimes play Rescue Energy.
This is true. Typically I haven’t come across a PrimeTime running more than 2 Rescue though, so they’ll only get back Yanmega twice and you can Sunshine Grace every turn. But, you’re right. It is something to keep in mind in the matchup.
unfortunately, a mew with a rainbow energy would still be one-shot fomr a tornadus even if you leaf guarded.
” and a Leaf Guard on a Tornadus if you have no damage is also a good play.”
He knows. That’s why he said the “if no damage” part.
Thanks man, I already ordered the cards, now I’m psyched!
While I know the above list is set up for consistency, have you experimented with either Roserade or Lilligant in the deck. Both have effects similar to Muk, but in different ways. The reason I bring this up is that most Stage 1/MegaZone players know to only build a single Donphan/Magnezone and get it active. With only free retreat Yanmegas on the bench to Sludge Drag you can’t really lock their heavy retreat Pokemon confused in the active spot like you normally would want. While Donphan isn’t as scary with Yanmega to counter it, an active Magnezone is not something you’d hope for with this. Just curious if you have run into this issue. I’m also curious as to what your strategy is for mirror (or other Mew based decks).
I hadn’t considered either of those cards, but I had been looking for an answer similar to them. I could definitely see testing them as a 1-1 line. It is difficult to deal with an active Magnezone, but personally I’d play one or two Blackbelt to combat it. As far as the mirror goes, I feel like I could go into a whole new article on it. Simply, do NOT set up Vileplume, make sure to get out Sunflora as soon as possible, and use your Rainbow and Grass Energies wisely. A Mew can 2-shot a Yanmega with Leaf Guard and Mass Attack respectively, and Mew is easier to set up than Yanmega. Also, if you can help it, do not be the first person to use See Off, let your opponent do that. If you let them see off as opposed to you, you should be a turn ahead and thus a prize card ahead the whole game. So attack with Yanmega until your opponent “See Offs” something usable with Mew. However, if they do set up Vileplume, See off a Muk and Sludge Drag the Vileplume every turn. You can run your opponent out of Energy and set up KOs with Linear Attack for later.
Good article Sam.
It was nice to play against you in the Top 4 at Hot Springs last month.
Yeah same, I learned a lot in those games.
I did too. MewLock was one of the decks that I had literally no testing against. I just knew that I had to take out the Oddish and Sunkerns.
DCL has won me a few games and gives me a better matchup against reuniclus based decks…
^ this guy is bad :P
This isn’t Mewlock
I found didn’t find Aipom very useful in the ZPST matchup. Typically they have plenty of Energy to keep up with Tail Code if they attack with Zekrom. If they attack with Tornadus, then Tail Code was pretty effective until the very next turn when they drop a Shaymin and undo your attack. I’m not saying that Aipom is a bad card, and it is very good in many situations, but just having to attach to it or spend a turn sending it to the Lost Zone usually granted ZPST too much of a lead.
I have never felt that a 1-1 Sunflora line was insufficient, but if you like the thicker lines, that is personal preference.
I have experimented with a thinner Yanmega line, but in my experience if you were to prize just one Pokemon in the Yanmega line playing a 3-3 or 4-3 that it could come back to bite you in the Yanmega vs Yanmega battle. Just my experience.
I’ve been playing this deck ever since you beat me at a Battle Roads with it. My list was a little off so I’m glad you shared your decklist. This is my first choice for Regionals now!
Liggett’s legit.
Really nice read man! I’ve been really curious about this deck and this article differently give me a solid blue-print on what it suppose to look like. But I must say, its going to be hard parting ways with Aipom, it has differenty save my behind against those ZPST match ups :(
I’m glad I could help. If you really want to play Aipom, you most certainly can. Just because it’s not in my list doesn’t mean that it can’t be in yours. I encourage everyone to use my list as a guideline or a starting point, but then to branch out and alter it to fit your playstyle.
Should I run 3 Mew and 2 Revive, or just 4 Mew?
He plays 4 Mew, which is probably preferable for several reasons:
-4 Mew gives a better chance of getting a T1 See Off
-Rescue Energy takes up an energy attachment for a turn, which could be used for another energy with which to attack (especially since Mew are frail)
-Mew are searchable, Rescue Energy are not
-4 Mew takes up 4 spots in the deck, 3 Mew and 2 Rescue takes up 5.
You also shouldn’t play Revive because you’ll be under your own trainer lock, so you won’t be able to use it.
I would suggest just playing 4 Mew. It increases your chances of starting with it, and you can’t play Revive with Vileplume in play.
Why, that depends. Are you rich?
hey are you going to Yeti?
if you are see you there.
just to make this on topic:
yeah mewlock is one of the most underrated decks right now. so is ZPST surprizingly.
I plan on competing in St. Louis for Regionals, yes.