I asked my followers on Twitter if they wanted an article about Mewtwo or a piece on options for Arlington. The response was about 50/50 so Cut or Tap is going to cover both bases. The Toronto Regional Champion Piper Lepine will write about Mewtwo and we will be posting an article from her next week. I am very excited about this because Cut or Tap has not had someone other than myself post an article in years. I do cover Mewtwo in the intro of this article, but the majority of this piece is focused on options for Arlington. There is a section on what decks not to play for Arlington, which I follow by covering Lugia, Arceus Duraludon, Regis, and Lost Box Kygore.

Mewtwo at Toronto

I played Mewtwo V-Union at Toronto Regionals and finished with a record of 9-2-4, earning me 26th out of 1055 masters players. Piper Lepine won the event with the same deck, although our lists were fairly different. This is the 60 I played:

This list was posted on Cut or Tap the Thursday before the event, but with one card changed. I did not play the third Crushing Hammer that I originally had in the deck, in order to fit a Marnie.

Potentially dropping Crushing Hammers

I felt this list was very good and there are only a couple changes I would have made to the deck in hindsight. I never tried the deck without Crushing Hammers, but in my testing I had the inclination that the card may actually be entirely cuttable. Extra consistency would have helped me throughout the event, with ensuring I did not brick after winning Game 1. I won every Game 1 I played, with the exception of two of the rounds where I faced opponents who had Drapion in their deck; I actually did win one round against an opponent who had Drapion in their deck as well. The reason I had four ties is that in Game 2 of some of these matches I either bricked or did not set up properly. What I wanted in those matches was Pokegear 3.0 and Galarian Meowth. Pokegear would have helped me to dig for Research, to avoid bricking, and Meowth would have helped with getting Mewtwo pieces discarded in order to set up the lock more quickly. The nice thing about Pokegear in this build of Mewtwo is that Pokestop can find Pokegear, whereas other lists with Galar Mine cannot do so. I believe I would have placed better at Toronto if I had a Pokegear and a Galarian Meowth rather than two Crushing.

Changes going into Arlington

For Arlington, Mewtwo needs a strong answer to Drapion. In order to counter Drapion we have to consider how decks are able to get four Energy on it. The more common way is Mirage Gate. Any Lost Box deck can easily fit in Drapion and most Lost Box decks are playing Mirage Gates. One answer is to get rid of Mirage Gates before your opponent can use them, through using Miss Fortune Sisters. I did play one copy at Toronto, but that will not be enough to deal with a potential four Mirage Gates. Playing two or three copies is a good way help with this issue. Another option would be to take an entirely different strategy when facing Lost Box, in other words, come to a lock that does not involve Mewtwo V-Union. Eiscue with a Wash Energy attached could do so. It is possible to fit those cards in Mewtwo, so it may be correct to add them going into Arlington. The deck already has Twin Energy to attach to Eiscue as well.

The other significant threat that can accelerate Energy to Drapion is Palkia VStar.  I faced Jake Gearhart in Day 2 of Toronto. He used Thorton into his Drapion and then used Star Portal to it, followed by an attachment to knock out my Mewtwo and win. A quick and easy answer to this is to play a Path. On the same turn when Mewtwo V-Union comes into play, you can Roxanne and play Path to the Peak, hopefully stopping Star Portal. It’s not the most reliable route because Shady Dealings can find a counter Stadium, but it at least gives Mewtwo a way to potentially stop the Star Portal to Drapion. At least one Path is likely warranted for this reason. Path to the Peak will also function as a way to slow opponents down in general and stop any Empoleon V from shutting down Snorlax’s Gormandize.

Sander’s new Mewtwo build

If you have not already seen Sander’s Top 8 Mewtwo list, he played Gengar, Radiant Tsareena and Gardevoir in it. The idea here is to use Gengar’s Life Shaker Ability to move damage off of Mewtwo to Kirlias, Gengar, and Gardevoirs in play, and then use Radiant Tsareena to heal that damage off. It is a fantastic idea that required a brilliant mind. Although, it has the same problem that other lists have, which is Drapion V. It also is somewhat vulnerable to Boss, because your opponent can simply knock out the Gengar. I have not tested this list yet, but the synergy between Kirlia and Gardevoir’s Refinement Ability is perfect with the strategy of getting Mewtwo pieces and Psychic Energy discarded.

Best options for Arlington

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