Standard Deck Tech: Control Box (Mimikyu V + Calyrex V) - International London

A few weeks ago, the International took place in London, England, and I came to bring the deck of the illustrious player Sander Wojcik, focused on control.

Although he was in thirty-first place in the competition, it is interesting to analyze these exotic decks, as the strategy has great versatility and creativity in the assembly, and I will unravel the main objectives of the list.

Decklist

Miltank: anti-Pokémon V striker

Miltank comes in as a "counter" for Pokémon V, which slows down the opponent's side to deal with Lugia VStar, Giratina VStar, Regieleki VMax, Mewtwo VUnion, for example.

Yveltal: special energy remover striker

Yveltal counters Lugia VStar due to the use of too many special energies in the deck, and this first attack breaks the strategy of linking the deck's energies with Archeops SIT 147 and taking away the resources of Single-type special energies Strike, Rapid Strike and Fusion Strike of these archetypes.

Mawile: attacker who traps the opponent

The point here is to trap some Pokémon that are heavy to hit or that have a recursive setup that are in active position, like a Lumineon V, for example.

Thus, you use the combo of the first attack to lock retreat costs (only leaving with Escape Rope or Switch); and on the next turn, use its second attack (if you have the energy to do so) for 180 damage.

Regieleki: Trainer Recycler

The goal here is clear: retrieve Trainers from the discard pile.

Mimikyu V: the prize card damage counters

It serves as an "effect" Pokémon with "lock damage" looping using the combination with Penny sv1 183. You put Mimikyu V as active, ping the damage counters, abusing the ability of the turn of a Pokémon that is immune to damage from the opponent (and even going over decks that use Manaphy BRS 41) and repeat the process.

Assuming your opponent has taken 4 Prize cards, for example, Mimikyu V can put twelve damage counters on your opponent's Active Pokémon and leave unharmed, and when it leaves play, replace it with Miltank ASR 126, if your opponent has a Pokémon V, locking the opponent; and with three copies of Penny sv1 183, you can repeat this process 36 times!

Ursaluna V: Tanker Pokémon to stall the opponent

Ursaluna is used to gain time to assemble the Miltank ASR 126 and the Mimikyu V BRS 68. And if you feel like it's going to be knocked out, even if his set-up isn't ready, use the card Penny sv1 183 to rescue it, but the ideal is to let it be knocked out, so the opponent can take two prize cards and "snort" Mimikyu V's attack to be able to put six damage counters on its attack.

Rotom V: Card Draw

Rotom V has a recursive role of drawing cards, just like its other partner, Ursaluna V SIT 102, which serves only to be sacrificed and "power up" Mimikyu V.

Crabominable V: Topdeck Disruption

Once again, another Pokémon that only serves to stall the game, since in the deck the list has only one water energy, that is, there is no way to make the second attack; however, the first attack can be made as it has the function of discarding the top of the opponent's deck, slowing them down.

And when Crabominable is KO'd, it also "buffs" Mimikyu V's attack.

Shadow Rider Calyrex V: stadium and special energy lock

This is a complementary attacker along with Mimikyu V in terms of damage counters and, on top of that, it has the control function of blocking the use of special energies and stadiums.

Recursive Pokémon

- Radiant Greninja ASR 46 has Concealed Cards, which allows discarding an Energy card from your hand to draw 2 cards from the top of your deck.

- Pyukumuku FST 77 has the ability Pitch a Pyukumuku: if it's in your hand, you reveal it and put it on the bottom of the deck as the last card, and draws the top card of the deck, but you cannot use this ability effect more than once on your turn.

- Manaphy PR-SW SWSH275 has its first attack, Pulling Currents, which forces the opponent to put their active Pokémon into their hand, and benches up to two Basic Pokémon.

- Ditto CRZ 107 has Sudden Transformation, copying a basic Pokémon from the discard pile that doesn't have a Rule Box, meaning it can copy the attacks of Pokémon like Miltank, Yveltal, and Mawile .

- Ralts SIT 67 has Memory Skip: You choose an attack from your opponent's Active Pokémon, and they can't use that attack during their next turn.

- Kirlia SIT 68 has the ability Refinement: you can discard a card from your hand and draw two.

Trainer Cards

- Colress's Experiment LOR 155 is used to look at the top 5 cards of the deck. You take 3 cards to your hand and the other 2 are discarded to the Lost Zone.

The function here is to filter the deck to avoid drawing cards that are dead weight during the “draw” phases, or even with Kirlia drawing cards.

- Zinnia's Resolve EVS 164 can only be used if it fulfills the requirement of discarding two cards from hand. If you do, you draw a card for each opponent's Pokémon on the field.

- Acerola's Premonition BRS 129 serves to look at the opponent's hand and draw cards for the same proportion of Trainer cards you find there.

- Boss's Orders BRS 132 serves to pull an opponent's benched Pokémon to close a specific knockout.

- Penny sv1 183 is used to rescue a basic Pokémon and all cards attached to it back to your hand.

- Team Yell's Cheer BRS 149 is a recycler that takes a combination of up to 3 Supporter-type Pokémon and Trainer cards from the discard pile into the deck.

- Flannery CRE 139 is used to discard a Stadium in play and an opponent's special energy.

- Cyllene ASR 138 serves to recycle any cards from the discard, flipping two coins in the process. If those coins come up heads, you can take a card from the discard pile and place it on top of your deck.

- Forest Seal Stone SIT 156 serves to search for any card in the deck, but it is considered a VPower/VStar skill, that is, it can only be used once during the game. And this tool can only be equipped on basic V-type Pokémon.

- Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146 is used to search for any basic Pokémon that are on the prize cards. And if you find it, catch that Pokémon and replace it with that card.

- Nest Ball sv1 181 is used to search for a basic Pokémon from the deck and put it directly on the Bench.

- Level Ball BST 129 is used to search for a Pokémon with 90 HP or less from your deck and put it in your hand.

- Crushing Hammer sv1 168 serves to remove an energy from the opponent by throwing a coin, to sabotage them.

- Trekking Shoes CRZ 145 serves to look at the top card of the deck. You can choose whether you want to take this card and put it in your hand; otherwise, you may discard that top card, and if you do, you draw a card.

- Pot Helmet BRS 146 can only be equipped on Pokémon that don't have a Rule Box. It helps in damage reduction with 30 points of damage (after applying weakness and resistance).

- Pal Pad sv1 182 serves as a recycling of two Supporters cards from the discard pile into the deck.

Stadium

Stormy Mountains EVS 161 serves, between turns (yours and the opponent's), to fetch a Dragon-type or Electric-type Pokémon from your deck and put it on your Bench.

Special Energies

This energy serves as damage reduction to the Pokémon it's attached to, with 30 reduced damage from attacks from the opponent's Pokémon V.

This energy has the function of "Double Colorless Energy", but has the downside of losing 20 points of damage to your attacks.

Advantages

It's a deck that depends on the flow of how to prevent the opponent from getting out of control of your deck, so for Pokémon V, this deck is excellent for being able to sabotage resources.

Disadvantages

- Decks that have a balance between Pokémon ex and V, as Miltank only prevents damage from Pokémon V, it does not prevent attacks from Pokémon ex.

- If your opponent is using the stadium Lost City LOR 161 against you, because if one of your Pokémon is knocked out, you won't be able to recycle it with Ordinary Rod SSH 171, since every Pokémon that is defeated within this stadium goes to the Lost Zone.

- Deck that has Temple of Sinnoh ASR 155 to sabotage special energies and Path to the Peak CRE 148 to counter Mimikyu V, which is the heart of the deck.

- Single prize deck like Dondozo sv1 61.

- Lost Box Decks

- Deck that has Duraludon VMAX CRZ 104 as one of the main attackers.

It's a very interesting and complex deck to deal with, being quite detailed and very difficult to make the right combo at the right time. It is not as direct and aggressive as most decks, as it needs time and knowledge to predict the opponent's movements to make accurate decisions possible in the next turns, but we cannot help noticing its brilliance.

Until next time!