Aiming for Perfection

Jon’s LAIC Report w/ Mew Box and Updates for Daytona Beach
“How can I forget what is perfect?”

What’s up guys, Jon here again. I recently got back from LAIC 🇧🇷 and I’m here today to talk about my event experience there with Mew Box, and go in depth on how I’d change the deck moving forward for Daytona Beach Regionals. LAIC was a special event for players as it was the first time we could use Cosmic Eclipse in Standard. This was clear in some players’ deck decisions and list choices. I personally decided to play Mew Box as it had proven to be a good deck in the past, winning both prior Standard Regionals this season. I placed in the Top 64, earning me my 4th Day 2 in a row at Internationals, and the Quarter Stipend to OCIC 🇦🇺 in February. With that being said, let’s get into the report.

LAIC Report

As said before, I played Mew Box due to it being a proven inherently-strong deck. This and the fact that it has a good matchup against ADP, one of the most hyped decks going into the event, meant to me that it was at least a reasonable call. This was my first time playing Mew Box ever in a sanctioned event, so I knew I’d have to be super careful with my plays.

The List

To start, here’s the list I played to the event:

Pokémon (20)

1 Naganadel-GX UNM

1 Reshiram & Charizard-GX

1 Magcargo-GX

1 Charizard-GX SM211

4 Dedenne-GX

2 Solgaleo-GX SM104

1 Espeon & Deoxys-GX

1 Jirachi-GX

1 Latios-GX UNM

1 Marshadow UNB

1 Mewtwo UNB

4 Mewtwo & Mew-GX

1 Greninja-GX SM197

Trainer (29)

4 Welder

1 Faba

 

4 Cherish Ball

4 Pokégear 3.0

3 Acro Bike

3 Mysterious Treasure

3 Switch

2 Great Catcher

1 Energy Recycle System

 

3 Giant Hearth

1 Viridian Forest

Energy (11)

8 R Energy

2 P Energy

1 W Energy

 

Copy List

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 20

* 1 Naganadel-GX UNM 160
* 1 Reshiram & Charizard-GX UNB 20
* 1 Magcargo-GX LOT 44
* 1 Charizard-GX PR-SM 211
* 4 Dedenne-GX UNB 57
* 2 Solgaleo-GX PR-SM 104
* 1 Espeon & Deoxys-GX UNM 72
* 1 Jirachi-GX UNM 79
* 1 Latios-GX UNM 78
* 1 Marshadow UNB 81
* 1 Mewtwo UNB 75
* 4 Mewtwo & Mew-GX UNM 222
* 1 Greninja-GX PR-SM 197

##Trainer Cards - 29

* 4 Cherish Ball UNM 191
* 3 Mysterious Treasure FLI 113
* 1 Viridian Forest TEU 156
* 3 Giant Hearth UNM 197
* 3 Acro Bike PRC 122
* 3 Switch SUM 132
* 4 Welder UNB 189
* 1 Energy Recycle System CES 128
* 1 Faba LOT 173
* 4 Pokégear 3.0 UNB 182
* 2 Great Catcher CEC 192

##Energy - 11

* 2 P Energy Energy 5
* 1 W Energy SMEnergy 12
* 8 R Energy Energy 2

Total Cards - 60

****** via SixPrizes: https://sixprizes.com/?p=78369 ******

Note: I’ll go into card decisions later when I talk about the updated list.

Match Recaps

The event for me was kind of a tale of ups and downs. I started off with a Round 1 win against an interesting Green’s Blastoise & Piplup-GX deck, followed by a loss to a mirror match that contained only Fire-type attackers and Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff-GX. That match was extremely close and came down to what I drew off of Reset Stamp, and sadly I dead-drew. I was then able to come back to 4-1, winning 3 matches in a row against Pidgey, TinaChomp/Mismagius, and Green’s ReshiZard. All of those games were pretty smooth, but unfortunately the next round was pretty rough.

In Round 6 I played against a mirror, this time the version with the TAG TEAM Supporters and Tag Call. I won Game 1 pretty convincingly, but Game 2 I literally drew then passed. Game 3 was alright, but some sloppy plays on my end led to my demise. I was quite tilted with myself, but I tried to not let it get to me that much. I was pleased to see my opponent flip over a PikaRom-GX the next round as it is probably Mew Box’s best matchup. I was able to beat that pretty handily, which meant I just needed to win my next round, then I could ID into Day 2.

In Round 8 I played against Malamar…my worst matchup. Well, that is if they play the new Mimikyu CEC 97. For a little backstory, I decided to entirely disregard Malamar for this tournament. I played no Stealthy Hoods, no Weakness Guard Energy, and no Mallow & Lana. I didn’t think the deck was very good, so I hoped others would agree and I wouldn’t play against it. My heart nearly dropped when my opponent flipped over Inkay at the start of Game 1. I immediately began to think that my run had ended and I’d have to shoot for Top 128 points by winning my next round. I was very surprised to win Game 1. I got the turn 2 board wipe with Cross Division-GX leaving him with no Inkays, but in Game 2 I missed it. He wasn’t drawing too stellarly, so I knew I wasn’t out of it entirely. I was still waiting to see the Mimikyu that had failed to make an appearance in Game 1.

As Game 2 began to conclude, I became very excited as I had him pretty much checkmated. As soon as he extended his hand to concede I let out a huge sigh of relief. This win meant that I could ID into Day 2, or, in the worst case, lose and still get Points, which locked up the OCIC Stipend for me. I asked my opponent if he had prized the Mimikyu both games, but to my surprise he said that he didn’t even play it! As expected, I ID’d my last round and got some rest for Day 2.

Going into Day 2 I knew I had to go 4-0-1 to make Top 8, so the road was steep to say the least. I started off with a loss in Round 10 to Matthew Burris who went on afterward to get Top 8, so props to him. I then played my first ADP of the weekend which I beat with ease. In Round 12 I played against Baby Blowns which pretty much ran through me. I then hit my 2nd ADP of the weekend, beat that, then ID’d into Top 64.

Updated Mew Box for Daytona

Pokémon (19)

1 Turtonator DRM

1 Naganadel-GX UNM

1 Reshiram & Charizard-GX

1 Magcargo-GX

1 Charizard-GX SM211

4 Dedenne-GX

1 Solgaleo-GX SM104

1 Espeon & Deoxys-GX

1 Jirachi-GX

1 Latios-GX UNM

1 Marshadow UNB

1 Mewtwo UNB

4 Mewtwo & Mew-GX

Trainer (30)

4 Welder

 

4 Cherish Ball

4 Pokégear 3.0

3 Acro Bike

3 Mysterious Treasure

3 Switch

2 Great Catcher

2 Reset Stamp

1 Energy Recycle System

 

3 Giant Hearth

1 Viridian Forest

Energy (11)

8 R Energy

3 P Energy

 

Copy List

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 19

* 1 Turtonator DRM 50
* 1 Naganadel-GX UNM 160
* 1 Reshiram & Charizard-GX UNB 20
* 1 Magcargo-GX LOT 44
* 1 Charizard-GX PR-SM 211
* 4 Dedenne-GX UNB 57
* 1 Solgaleo-GX PR-SM 104
* 1 Espeon & Deoxys-GX UNM 72
* 1 Jirachi-GX UNM 79
* 1 Latios-GX UNM 78
* 1 Marshadow UNB 81
* 1 Mewtwo UNB 75
* 4 Mewtwo & Mew-GX UNM 222

##Trainer Cards - 30

* 4 Cherish Ball UNM 191
* 3 Mysterious Treasure FLI 113
* 1 Viridian Forest TEU 156
* 3 Giant Hearth UNM 197
* 3 Acro Bike PRC 122
* 3 Switch SUM 132
* 4 Welder UNB 189
* 1 Energy Recycle System CES 128
* 4 Pokégear 3.0 UNB 182
* 2 Great Catcher CEC 192
* 2 Reset Stamp UNM 206

##Energy - 11

* 3 P Energy Energy 5
* 8 R Energy Energy 2

Total Cards - 60

****** via SixPrizes: https://sixprizes.com/?p=78369 ******

Changes from LAIC

I’m making these changes because I feel like they make the deck run a little bit more smoothly. Greninja-GX and W Energy were included to deal with Keldeo-GX, and Turtonator essentially does the same thing while also having the potential to dish out a big knockout against other decks. The 2nd Solgaleo-GX was good all weekend as I knew it was virtually impossible for me to not have access to it during a game. However, me wanting space for Reset Stamps meant that it had to go.

Faba was a neat tech for GardEon to get rid of pesky Fairy Charms. Since GardEon doesn’t put on a lot of pressure, your game plan against them was to use Faba to ditch a Tool, bounce Power Plant, and take a big knockout. You could also recycle this Faba to get rid of another Tool using Mewtwo. Once again, needing room for Reset Stamp meant that Faba also had to go. Lastly, I decided not to include Reset Stamp in my LAIC list because I wanted room for all of the cool tech cards mentioned before. In testing, I would always Dedenne-GX them away prematurely, so they seemed pretty useless. I didn’t necessarily miss Stamps during the event, but I acknowledged when they could’ve been useful and think that they should be in the list from here on out.

Other Card Choices

4 Dedenne-GX

Playing only 4 Supporters in your deck, you probably need some draw power outside of those 4 Welder. Having 4 of these guys means that you are less susceptible to stumbling when you discard one with another, or prize multiple. Also, having all the consistency you can get to draw out of Reset Stamps is always good. I couldn’t see myself ever going below 4 Dedenne-GX in this deck.

1 Reshiram & Charizard-GX

I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain this, but when discussing the deck with people, I noticed that some people didn’t play this card, which is wrong in my opinion. To start, Outrage is an extremely strong attack. I’ve used it a multitude of times when playing the deck. Secondly, it’s a great attacker against GardEon. Plant doesn’t affect it and there isn’t a single Fairy Charm type that can harm it. Lastly, the GX attack is a pretty good failsafe against Keldeo-GX should Turtonator not work.

1 Jirachi-GX

The only reason this guy is here is because you sometimes need it against mirror when they play the Weakness Guard Energy version. This is because you can’t allow your opponent to be the only one in the game without Weakness. Otherwise, this card is pretty useless because you already lose to Malamar regardless.

1 Marshadow UNB

This card is so good, and I really want a 2nd. Both Chaotic Swell and Power Plant are problematic Stadiums for this deck, and Marshadow is amazing against them.

1 Mewtwo UNB

Hitting Welder is crucial for this deck and sometimes this deck gets awkward hands, so having Mewtwo as an option for when you discard Welders early is huge. In combination with Pokégear 3.0 and Acro Bike, Mewtwo essentially says “Draw 1 Welder.”

3 Acro Bike, 4 Pokégear 3.0

The way Mewtwo loses games is by not drawing into Welder to streamline attackers, so consistency is really important to me when building this deck. I almost want a 4th Acro Bike just for that little boost in consistency.

3 Switch

Commonly, Mewtwo lists will play 2 Switch, but I’ve chosen to play 3 because it makes the deck run a lot more smoothly. You don’t really have that many optimal starters with this deck, so more often than not you should prepare to have to switch something out of the Active Spot. Getting the turn 1 Turbo Strike is really important in some matchups and 3 Switch allows you to do that a lot easier.

Matchups

Now that you’re up to date with the list, here are the deck’s matchups:

Ability Zard: 55/45

Hot off of an IC win last weekend, Ability Zard has reclaimed its prevalence in the format, and will be a concern for us in Standard moving forward. I’ve always found this matchup to be rather close, coming down to if they can get the huge 280-damage knockout with Victini p. Getting the early Turbo Strike is crucial here as you want to have 2 Mewtwo & Mew-GXs able to blow up a ReshiZard by copying Charizard GXs Flare Blitz-GX immediately. It is also important to remember to not play into Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff-GX early in the game. Later on, once you are equipped to deal with your opponent 1-shotting one of your Mewtwos, then you can be more aggressive with your GX benching.

Pidgey: 60/40

I don’t know how popular Pidgey will be going into Daytona 🇺🇸. Judging by LAIC and Knoxville, I’d say that it will see a fair amount of play, but not a lot per se. In testing and in tournament I have yet to lose this matchup which is quite surprising to me. Your goal here is to wipe your opponent’s board of birds by using Cross Division-GX with 6 Energies, but getting there can be a challenge. You’re going to want to let your Reset Hole Marshadow be a Bench-sitter in preparation for a Reset Stamp and Power Plant turn from your opponent. You’re also going to want to make sure that you bench your Espeon & Deoxys-GX rather than discard it as Girafarig LOT can remove it to the Lost Zone. If you are able to pull off the board wipe in combination with a Reset Stamp of your own, you should win.

Blacephalon/Pidgeotto: 35/65

This is probably one of your worst matchups as they have the ability to 1-shot your main attacker with ease. What you need to do is pretty cut and dry: survive. Just like the Pidgey matchup, a big Cross Division turn is always nice when paired with a Reset Stamp, but that is pretty hard to do when they can essentially wipe out a Mewtwo & Mew-GX on command. I’ve found success in this matchup by making my opponent take 8 Prize cards by forcing them to Knock Out a Mewtwo & Mew-GX, then a Latios GX, then another Mewtwo & Mew-GX. You need to rely on the natural inconsistency of their deck in order to win this matchup.

Mirror: 50/50 (Tag Call Version: 55/45)

This is probably my least favorite matchup to play against. This matchup is literally whoever can get the first big knockout with a stabilized board wins the game. You have a slight advantage against the Tag Call version as they are a little slower, but for the most part, the same thing applies. This is another matchup where you want to avoid playing into Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff-GX early, as if you do, it is easier for you opponent to take the first big knockout.

ADP/Keldeo: 65/35

There are a variety of ways that ADP can be built, but the strategy against the deck stays consistent throughout. You’re going to want to get a Flare Blitz-GX off on an ADP-GX as soon as possible. If you are able to do this on turn 2, then you can’t lose the game. If you get it on turn 3, it is a little harder, but you’re still in a really great spot. Turtonator can deal with the threat of Keldeo-GX should it arise, and after you execute those 2 knockouts, you just need to find 1 more Prize card.

Green’s Decks: 60/40 (GardEon: 40/60)

For the most part, these matchups are the same. They are very susceptible to a big knockout on their GX attacker early. Flare Blitz-GX is amazing in this matchup as you can set it up on turn 2, even with whiffing a Welder on one of the turns. Reset Stamp also does a number on them. Lastly, leave Marshadow as a Bench-sitter so you don’t get Power Planted and Stamped yourself. The reason GardEon is harder than the others is because I cut Faba from the list. If you expect a lot of GardEon you can put it back in and the matchup should go up to 60/40 just like the other Green’s decks.

Final Thoughts

That’s all for now. I hope I have offered some help when it comes to playing Mewtwo. Quarter 1 has been an absolute blast this season and I am extremely excited to keep up the pace for the rest of the year. I will be in Daytona and San Diego 🇺🇸, so if you see me, make sure to say “hi!” As for 2020, I’ll definitely be in Dallas 🇺🇸, and I am currently working on getting on Melbourne booked. If you have any questions, make sure to let me know, and good luck to anyone at future events!

-Jon


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