Introduction

Hello Flipside readers! Andrew here bringing you an article about my favorite deck to play in the TEU-DAA format. While this format can be a bit bleak at times, especially when playing against ADPZ, there has been an influx of new deck ideas that have been fun to try out. Although this idea in particular is not my own creation, I have had a lot of fun with it. I’ve been refining the list over some time so without time to waste, let’s get into the article!

About the list

The initial list was based on one that Azul posted on his Twitter with a few tweaks. The deck aims to go second and load up a Mewtwo and Mew TTGX on turn 1 using Rotom’s energy assist attack. From there you can pivot into Mewtwo and start attacking with multitudes of attacks at your disposal. Normally the deck takes advantage of hand distribution by playing Marnie to lower your opponent’s hand to 4. The deck also uses Trevant and Dusknoir TTGX’s Night Watch attack to put on pressure as well as shuffle two cards from your opponent’s hand into their deck, leaving them at 3 cards when they start their turn. Night Watch also plays well off any of the other attackers in your deck. Ultimately, you are looking to disrupt your opponent's hand and then chip away their board using your tool box of attackers.

Pokemon

Rotom 

Rotom is the ideal starter for this deck. You’re going to be trying to get this Pokemon into the active zone on your first turn. Ideally you are going to dig through your deck with Professor’s Research and Dedenne-GX to get two energies in the discard and one on Rotom to use Energy Assist on turn 1. While this might seem like a lot to do on paper, cards like Viridian Forest make this fairly achievable. Cycle Draw can also be a legitimate out if you can afford to spend the turn not attacking with Mewtwo. My favorite part of using this card early on in the game is that it forces your opponent to take 7 prizes instead of 6. This is more relevant when you use reset stamp because if they KO your first Mewtwo and Mew TTGX, you can then play reset stamp to lower your opponent’s hand to two and then use Night Watch to leave them solely dependent on their top decks to win the game. Overall, I really like using Rotom in this deck and it makes for a lot of fun. 

Mewtwo and Mew GX

This is the obvious main attacker of the deck. Mewtwo’s “Perfection” ability allows it to use the attacks of any GX Pokemon in play or in your discard so that gives you an insane amount of options to navigate each match up. While this card only has one attack - Miraculous Duo GX  - it should not be underlooked because it can be devastating to your opponent if used at the right time. Miraculous Duo does 200 damage, but if it has an extra energy attached to it then it will heal all damage from all your Pokemon. This means you can follow up a Night Watch attack with this GX attack to KO your opponent’s damaged Pokemon and render their previous turn completely useless as you heal any damage they did. You can also preserve a fully loaded up Mewtwo to attack with on the following turn. So many times you can stop your opponent from taking knock outs with this GX attack and make it so you can use another big attack the following turn while setting up another Mewtwo on the bench.

Gengar and Mimikyu GX

Gengar and Mimikyu TTGX might have one of the most broken GX attacks, except for Alter Creation on ADP of course. Horror House GX prevents your opponent from playing any cards from their hand on their turn and this can be devastating if used on the first turn of the game. Since this deck naturally opts to go second, there are games where your opponent will just attach to their active and pass since they cannot play any supporters turn 1. By using Horror house on turn 1, you can stop your opponent from benching any more Pokemon on their next turn and potentially win the game on the following turn using Poltergeist which does 50 damage for each trainer card in their hand. While I do not advise always going for this play, it is crazy to see a game locked up by the first turn just because your opponent couldn’t bench another basic.

Its main attack, Poltergeist, can also be extremely devastating if your opponent has a big hand. With how many trainer cards decks like ADPZ play, you can sometimes take huge KO’s by rolling the dice and seeing how many trainers cards your opponent has in their hand. This attack is also the only attack you can use for two energy in the deck and can be a good if you need to make a “Hail Mary” play to try to close out a game while you are behind. I will say that most experienced players will do their best to play around this attack but it definitely does leave an option to punish players who choose not to.  

Trevenant and Dusknoir GX

This is the card we are primarily trying to take advantage of in the deck. Night Watch is a powerful attack, especially coupled with Marnie, and can put a ton of pressure on your opponent. Being able to cut your opponent’s hand to only a couple cards can be crippling and set your opponent back several turns. In this format, missing even one turn can be a big deal so using this attack early on in the game could turn momentum into your favor. 

Pale Moon GX is another crazy strong GX attack that we want to utilize whenever the opportunity presents itself. Being able to threaten a knockout going into your turn is ideal and it can be a cheesy way to get through larger VMAX Pokemon that are hard to knock out. I also find the bonus effect of this attack to be more devastating than anything else. By having the option of wiping all energy from your opponent’s active Pokemon, you can combo this with Reset Stamp to strand their most threatening Pokemon in the active position, remove its energy, and even KO it if they cannot find a switch card. Now I will say from experience that your opponent can sometimes play around this, but even still it's a great option to have and should not be overlooked.

Solgaleo and Lunala GX

We play this card exclusively for the first attack, Cosmic Burn. This is mainly so we have a way to one shot Zacian, and other V’s by proxy. While the attack is costly, it does transition well to and from other attacks in the deck. I’ve found it to be a really solid follow up to Night Watch when trying to deal with a large Pokemon like Eternatus VMAX or ADP. You can also use this attack to OHKO a GX or V Pokemon and then use Vemonshot from Nagandel GX to finish off a Dedenne GX on the bench. 

Incineroar GX

Incineroar GX’s Darkest Tornado GX makes it really easy to blow up any Pokemon that tries to two shot Mewtwo. This can be useful if Eternatus VMAX cannot either bench enough Pokemon or get through Big Charm to take the knock out. The other nice thing about the attack is that it only takes three energies so you can use this GX attack to one shot something if your mewtwo takes damage and commits your energy for the turn to another mewtwo to use later on. The first attack does have some niche use whenever your opponent has special energy attached and you want to slow them down. While it is not always an attack I go for, it is a nice option to have when necessary.

Trainers

Professor’s Research

This is uncontested the best draw supporter in the standard format can help the deck get all the necessary Pokemon in the discard. This card is great for deck thinning and finding all the pieces we need to actually play the game. 

Marnie

While 4 Marnie is an obvious inclusion in most decks for the hand disruption, this deck can take it a step further and use Night Watch to drop your opponent's hand down to three cards when they start their turn. This card is also nice because we can use it in lieu of Professor’s Research to conserve resources like Reset Stamp and Boss’s Orders. However, it is sometimes a terrible supporter to open with because it does not help with putting Pokemon in the discard. All in all, the Night Watch combo is really strong so we can justify playing high counts of this supporter.

Boss’s Orders

There is not much I can say about this card besides Gust effects are always very strong in the Pokemon TCG. This card allows us to target certain Pokemon on the bench and either knock them out or use GX attacks like Pale Moon or Horror House to strand them in active. I also have found that sometimes you can get away with stranding a Pokemon with no energy on it in the active and venom shot on your opponent’s bench Pokemon to get ahead in the prize trade.

Cynthia & Caitlin

While this is nowhere close to the best supporter in the deck, and arguably could be redundant with Eldegoss V in the deck, it turns Tag Call into an out to a draw supporter. While this might not seem like a big deal, having two extra outs to a turn 1 supporter is inherently useful and can keep the deck from bricking early on. I’ve also found this card to be useful when you want to stack your hand with Boss or Marnie for the following turn while not discarding all your resources to find it. 

Viridian Forest

This is one of the cards that can make the turn 1 Energy Assist for two energies possible. This card is great for not only finding you energy from the deck, but also thinning your deck of dead cards or energies you want in the discard to use with Rotom.

Big Charm

This card is a must have when trying to deal with Eternatus VMAX. While they sometimes play answers, more often than not you will be able to get value out of it - especially after disrupting their hand with Night Watch. This card also forces Centiskorch into needing a 7th energy to KO Mewtwo, which is relevant since it is normally possible for them to KO you on turn 2 with 6 energy. This card can also be great for keeping your benched dedenne GX safe from Ultimate Ray from ADP or Spit Shot by Cramorant. Ultimately, the extra 30 hp comes up in a lot of different match ups so this card is very much worth playing. 

Conclusion

That's about it for this article. If you are looking for a different way to play Mewtwo than the welder variant, I recommend giving this build a try. It has many different lines of play and at times you can find the strangest routes to win the game. I know I personally have had a lot of fun with it on the ladder and hopefully you will get some exciting games with it. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you want to get updated on whenever I post new articles, you can follow me on Twitter @theskypillar. Vivage Voltage is just around the corner so get ready to see more content covering the new set! In the meantime, I encourage you to check out Flipside Gaming for all your Vivage Voltage singles and sealed product needs. Are there any cards that you are particularly excited about? Let me know in the comments! Until next time, stay safe out there