Below is the full audio recording of this article, recorded by Andy Hyun
Hello everyone, my name is Manuel Soto and I’m pleased to be sharing my thoughts on the Ditto Control deck I took to an 18th place finish at Orlando Regionals. This event was massive, having nearly 1500 Masters competing for that 1st place spot. I finished with a 10-2-3 record over both days of the event, and felt the deck worked exactly as intended. I feel like Control as a gameplay strategy gets stronger as the meta gets more defined. Leading up to San Diego Regionals, Lugia had continually taken up over 30% of the meta-share. Mew and Lost Box variants would follow after that around 15% and it seemed this would only increase going into Day 2. This landed me on the decision to play Control for San Diego.
As a player, I like to give myself the advantage of playing a deck that my opponent doesn’t have a predetermined game plan for. With that being said, Mewtwo was off the table. I remember seeing videos on PGO Ditto shenanigans and I began to cook. I ran through multiple Ditto videos and went to Limitless to see if there were any previous results. (Shoutout to Manuele Tartaglia from Italy for a Top 128 finish in Liverpool!) I began to encompass all the ideas I found into one monstrosity that I took to San Diego. I went 4-1-4 at that event, placing top 256. It was a bittersweet moment because my several misplays cost me in taking the ties and loss, but I saw the deck’s potential! I immediately knew I was taking it to Orlando. I knew it could carry me into Day 2, but I truly wasn’t sure how far.
For the next month leading up to Orlando, I continued to bounce ideas back and forth with my testing group. They weren’t quite sold on the deck, but still continued to theorize with me. I ended up changing three cards from my San Diego list to the list I took to Orlando, which had the newly included set: Crown Zenith. Let’s go over the 60 I played for the event.
The Orlando List
| Pokémon – 20 | Trainers – 31 | Energy – 9 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Snorlax VIV | 1 | Thorton | 4 | Quick Ball | 3 | Capture | ||
| 2-2 | Minccino BRS / Cinccino SSH | 1 | Sidney | 3 | Scoop Up Net | 2 | Double Turbo | ||
| 2 | Yveltal CEL | 1 | Team Yell’s Cheer | 2 | Level Ball | 2 | Twin | ||
| 2 | Ditto CRZ | 1 | Marnie | 2 | Yell Horn | 2 | Wash Water | ||
| 1 | Calyrex CRZ | 1 | Peonia | 1 | Echoing Horn | ||||
| 1 | Manaphy | 1 | Flannery | 1 | Rescue Carrier | ||||
| 1 | Miltank | 1 | Serena | 1 | Tool Scrapper | ||||
| 1 | Regieleki ASR 51 | 1 | Bird Keeper | 1 | Hisuian Heavy Ball | ||||
| 1 | Diancie ASR | 1 | Boss’s Orders | 1 | Pal Pad | ||||
| 1 | Jynx LOR | 1 | Roxanne | ||||||
| 1 | Sandile VIV | 1 | Cyllene | 3 | Galar Mine | ||||
| 1 | Morpeko RCL | 1 | Miss Fortune Sisters | ||||||
| 1 | Eiscue | ||||||||
Changes from San Diego to Orlando
The three cards I took out were a Path to the Peak, Radiant Jirachi, and a Pyukumuku. Then I added a Thorton, Miltank, and the new Calyrex from Crown Zenith.
Path was included in the original list to stop Lugia from being able to continuously loop an Eldegoss/Bird Keeper combo, but the situation never arose. I decided to cut it.
Including Thorton opened up the door where I could attach my second Wash Energy to Manaphy against Lost Zone Box, and if my opponent was able to deal with the first penguin, Thorton served as an easy way to a second Eiscue.
Radiant Jirachi is too easy for the opponent to play around, so it was cut for the Calyrex.
In hindsight of Orlando, Starly (DAA) is the optimal “Grab two cards” Pokémon since it’s easier to retreat, but I went with higher hit points on Calyrex for the event. Having a card that can grab you the Eiscue and Wash energy combo, with no fear of hand disruption from Lost Box, was nice.
Lastly, I cut the Pyukumuku for a Miltank. In testing, I kept finding myself in situations where a Miltank wall would serve well.
Matchups
I knew if I designed the deck to have a well cut-out game plan against the three most popular decks, I would be in a very good spot.
Lugia
The deck to beat! You have access to six Yveltal with the two copies, two Ditto, and a Rescue Carrier to grab the Ditto back. Since Lugia doesn’t play a lot of switch cards, Cry of Destruction in combination with Alluring Dance is too much for Lugia to handle. Things they can do are Amazing Raikou plays, Stoutland plays, and Lumineon loops. With this in mind, here’s what the Dit-Con pilot should do:
1. Get Manaphy on board before they have the Raikou option.
2. Refrain from using Ditto until three Powerful energies are out of the deck and not on Stoutland. If Lugia has two Powerful Energies in deck, they can Double Dip Fangs on a Ditto for the easy two prizes.
3. Lumineon Loops can be avoided by constant gust plays. Their using Aqua Return means Galar Mine is probably sticking. Aqua Return loops finally fall apart after constant gust pressure. They need to play around Echoing Horn, too.
Mew
This matchup has the same plan against both Mew builds. It always feels shaky because of Cyllene and Lost City, but there’s a few things Dit Con can do:
1. Yveltal in combination with Sidney works well. Sometimes when Mew doesn’t Genesect for many cards, they could be sitting on energies. That’s a great time to Sidney.
2. Constant gust pressure on Genesect. Mew plays two to four switch cards, so constant gust on Genesect works well.
3. If Genesect is ever trapped in the active, go for Dredge Up (Sandile) attacks. Sometimes you can mill the Cyllene.
Lost Zone Variants
Establish Eiscue and pressure them faster than they can get to Blockface outs, if they play any.
Here’s what to do:
1. I immediately attack with Calyrex/Starly and grab Eiscue and Wash energy. Never bench Eiscue without the Wash.
2. Don’t put Double Turbo Energy on Eiscue. You want to maintain one-shots on Comfey and two-shots on Cram.
3. Establish Manaphy with second Wash energy to open the Thorton play into another Eiscue.
4. Bench Diancie to avoid a Rope-Boss play on Eiscue.
MVP’s
I truly don’t think the deck works without Jynx, Morpeko and Yveltal. Those three in combination cause much more of a detriment than most decks are built for. Sandile was very good for me, too. You can Roxanne and use Jynx to gust in the same turn. Being able to follow that up with milling three cards for another DTE attachment was a great play throughout the tournament. Sandile also gives you a faster win condition, if a Game 3 occurs. An early Sidney against Lugia, before they set up Archeops, showed a lot of success for me as well.
Changes Going Forward
There isn’t much I would change, although I do think there’s so much more untapped potential in Dit Con.
Diancie is probably the first standout cut in this list. The original thought with Diancie was that it forces Lost Zone decks to play two Escape Ropes in combination with Boss’s Orders to get around Eiscue. There were moments in the tournament that I established the Blockface lock and my opponent played an Escape Rope. Now I’ll never know if they had the Boss’s Order to bring the now-vulnerable Eiscue back up, but having outs to multiple Eiscue made Diancie feel like overkill.
When they know or suspect you play it, Echoing Horn is very easy for the opponent to play around. Although if you can Horn a Charizard or Drapion, it likely seals the game for you.
Something worth checking out: there is a Manaphy promo that forces your opponent to bench two Basic Pokémon from their hand for a single Water-energy attack. That could be a more proactive replacement for Echoing Horn going forward.
Radiant Gardevoir can also fit nicely in this deck. It prevents Lumineon from taking an Aqua Return KO on Yveltal. It also prevents easy Double Dip Fangs KO’s from Stoutland.
Things to Note
There are some notable things about the list I took to Orlando. First was my choice to play Tool Scrapper over Lost Vacuum. Big Parasol can be a problem for this deck, so I went with the option that allowed me to remove two at once. Stadiums didn’t concern me much, but that pesky umbrella can really ruin your day.
Second, there is a 2-2 split between Twin Energies and Double Turbo Energies. Most times, Ditto isn’t taking prizes and wants to prevent breaking a “lock” by taking a knockout that would actually help your opponent. Double Turbo allows you to use Morpeko’s Torment for 0 damage while you continuously loop Cyllene, Team Yell’s Cheer and Pal Pad.
Now if you find yourself playing against Regis or Lost Zone Box decks, you want to establish Eiscue with a Twin energy. Double Turbo on Eiscue means “Bad Leki” can loop Electromagnetic Sonar plays far easier. It also means LZB can wall a hit with Comfey. When playing against these decks, it often feels like you’re racing to take six prizes before they find their way out of an Eiscue lock. Twin energy helps speed this up.
Conclusion
All in all, I’m very ecstatic to showcase just how strong this deck is. With another couple months left of this format, Ditto Control is a strong option to play. I look forward to testing more with the blob and seeing what else we can add as the meta continues to change!