I have crept from my comfort zone. I have become accustomed to extremely consistent decks over the last two years, protesting that they are the only way to go. “Consistency is king,” “All winning Worlds decks are consistent,” etc. But recently, my mindset has changed to a degree. Calling my Vespiquen list for Anaheim consistent would be a stretch, and the Mega Mewtwo list that I used recently was even further from the consistency level that I am used to. Playing these decks has brought me to a new realization:

The raw power of certain archetypes is worth giving up some consistency.

Mega Mewtwo was fairly inconsistent before I decided to add Wobbuffet. Cutting two more spots was tough, but well worth it. Through the nine rounds that I played at my League Cup last Sunday, there were at least three games where opening with Wobbuffet caused my opponent to dead-draw. Wobb also helps with an issue that did not occur to me until the event: Fright Night is actually very hard for Mega Mewtwo to deal with. The Wobbuffet, in my opinion, is the whole reason why I was able to beat Yveltal/Garbodor.

Espeon came in handy as well. Psybeam actually won me one game that may have been a loss otherwise. I like the secondary attacker because it provides insurance in case you prize too many of Mewtwo EX or the Mega.

Garbodor handed me games against Volcanion, and continues the lock that Wobbuffet starts. Wobbuffet and Garbodor combine really well because they can present an all-game lock, and both benefit from a higher count of Float Stone. These two together are sort of like playing Ghetsis in a Seismitoad deck; both cards do very similar things, but together they create a harder lock. Ghetsis on Turn 1, and then Punch. Bide Barricade on Turn 1, and then Garbotoxin Turn 2 or 3.

While fitting all of these Pokemon is tough, they all served strong and necessary purposes. I would be lying if I said I did not run into any consistency issues. In my Top 4 match, I Sycamore’d away all four of my Mega Turbo! Honestly I was just impressed that it happened.

However, dropping every copy of this precious resource made no difference because of Wobbuffet. My opponent was dead-drawing due to Bide Barricade, which allowed me to forgo my energy acceleration in favor of more immediate needs. In the end it worked out, and I won the game. This is why I am forced to give the argument that some decks can give up consistency for power. The combination of Wobbuffet early game and Garbodor in the later game is what won me the game without any energy recovery.

I realized after this event that consistency is most important in the draw aspect of a list. My Bees and Mega Mewtwo lists may not be the most consistent with the Pokemon lineup, or some of the items, but they both have a very strong draw engine. I don’t believe I actually dead-drew at all at Anaheim, and I only dead drew on one occasion at the Clovis League Cup. In fact, you can watch it on stream here! (My list is going to be behind the paywall, so if you want to attempt to find my sixty from the stream, go right ahead.)

I actually think that the dead drawing was in part my fault. The Mega Turbo in my hand should have already been played. I had the opportunity to use it before I was N’d, and I did not, out of Evil Ball fear. In hindsight, the extra damage made no significant difference, and I definitely should have played it.

My point with this is that while I did make an inconsistent deck even more inconsistent, the cuts I made gave the more control over the increased variance, and only lead me to dead-draw when I played the deck incorrectly. The cuts one makes to a list to add any new card are crucial. It is not so much about what you add, but what you are cutting for it. I had many people sending me their Darkrai lists a couple months back, showing me their ideas for techs, or their different approach. My issue with many of the lists were not the cards they added, but the cards they cut for those additions. I felt very strongly (and I still feel) that Darkrai needs exactly thirteen Darkness energy. Almost every list that I saw had cut the thirteenth Dark; even now, most Darkrai lists only play twelve.

You should never become complacent with a cut that you are not sure of. In general, it seems players like to netdeck a list and then make their own adjustments. The issue is that much of the time – actually the majority of the time – the list is simply made worse. Be careful what you cut, and take extra precautions when toying with a list that already may have consistency problems.

This is the list showing what I decided to drop for the Wobbuffet.

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