Standard Deck Tech: Mewtwo V-Union + Arceus VStar Aggro

Hello everybody. I'm Rodrigo, and I'm here to bring you more ideas and deck possibilities for the Standard format on Pokémon TCG.

Today we will discuss the combination of two powerful cards in the current format: Arceus VStar and Mewtwo V-Union, considering their fast power up power and finally the Pokémon with very high damage, healing and indirect damage by counters.

Thanks to the arrival of the Arceus-VStar with its Trinity Nova attack, it can hit 200 damage and still charge 3 energies to your Pokémon in any way you want, being an "ace" in any deck of the current format, accelerating its game, and then the feared Mewtwo V-Union can enter, which wields tremendous versatile powers. Since it will attach energy from the discard pile to itself, it can deal 16 damage counters (indirect damage), which can bypass Pokémon that have immunity to direct damage like Manaphy BRS 41, and can still deal 300 damage.

It is a powerful card that deserves to be analyzed again

Deck Analysis

The deck consists of energizing Mewtwo V-Union as soon as possible and for that, its 4 parts need to be in the discard pile so that it can be played. So until then, Arceus VStar must be the striker in the early and mid-game until we meet these requirements.

1) Put at least two Arceus V BRS 122 to guarantee one as an Active Pokémon and the second on the bench, bluffing the opponent not to know your precise movement.

2) Given this, you will need to evolve your Arceus V BRS 122 to Arceus VSTAR BRS 123 and ensure you play these cards in these opportunities to speed up as soon as possible:

- If you have all of Mewtwo's parts in your hand and can use Arceus-VStar's Starbirth ability to search your deck for two cards and put them in your hand, you can choose to use Professor's Research (Professor Oak) CEL 23 to discard your entire hand and draw 7 new cards, discarding Mewtwo's parts.

- In case you have any part of it missing, use Starbirth to search for two Ultra Ball BRS 150 discarding two cards from your hand to perform the search and combine using a card like Professor's Research (Professor Oak) CEL 23 or even Professor Burnet PR-SW SWSH167 which discards two cards from your hand, speeding up the process.

3) And of course, getting into the deck's main attacker, which is the Mewtwo-VUnion with its parts (Mewtwo V-UNION PR-SW SWSH159, Mewtwo V-UNION PR-SW SWSH160, Mewtwo V-UNION PR-SW SWSH161 and Mewtwo V-UNION PR-SW SWSH162), which has generous health, 310 HP, one ability and four attacks, which are:

- Photon Barrier ability ensures that Mewtwo is not affected by any effects of attacks from the opponent's Pokémon, that is, attacks that place special conditions on it.

- The first attack, Union Gain (C) (just like any VUnion), allows you to take two psychic energies from the discard pile and attach to Mewtwo;

- His second attack, Super Regeneration (P)(P)(C) recovers 200 of his HP.

- The third attack, Psysplosion (P)(P)(C), allows Mewtwo to deal 16 damage counters between the opponent's Pokémon in any way you want, dealing what would be "indirect" damage, evading Pokémon that use abilities that protect your opponent's Bench from direct damage, such as Manaphy BRS 41, if you want to attack your opponent's Pokémon;

- And his fourth and final attack, Final Burn (P)(P)(P)(C), deals 300 damage, which is a very welcome damage (with no setback to energy discards like Charizard VMAX DAA 20 which has the same base damage, but at the cost of losing two energy — just as a quick example of a Pokémon with raw base damage like this).

Deck Mechanics

Having said the main ways of using Arceus's VStar attack, let's get into the mechanics so that the deck can rotate and engage this acceleration to assemble Mewtwo quickly. But for that, you need to understand the V-Union mechanics (there is also another article about Mewtwo here:

This type of Pokémon with this nomenclature (VUnion), must have the 4 parts, in the discard pile, so that it can be played. However, it has some caveats:

- It is not considered a "basic Pokémon", that is, you cannot use a Quick Ball FST 237 to look for it, the ideal being Ultra Ball BRS 150 since it doesn't have any restrictions.

Also, if this Pokémon is knocked out, it grants three prize cards to the opponent and cannot return to the game again, that is, it can only appear once per game.

- As said before about the Pokémon search, the Ultra Ball BRS 150 is essential to find Mewtwo parts, to speed up the discards, taking out "bad" cards at the moment, that are dead weight or even create combos, such as discarding some psychic energy, that you can reuse with the Stadium Training Court RCL 169 that during turns (yours and your opponent), you can take a basic energy from the discard pile and put it into your hand.

- The Trekking Shoes ASR 156 card allows you to look at the top card of your deck, being able to choose to take that card you saw and put it in your hand or discard it. In this case, assuming a great situation, let's say that one of the parts of the Mewtwo-VUnion is at this top, you can opt for the Trekking Shoes discard effect, thus accelerating its assembly.

If there is a card resource that can be used as a support, some kind of Trainer, instead of losing it, you put it in your hand, preserving the useful time of the deck. And even if you want to filter the deck with a psychic energy being discarded and ensuring that it will be recovered by the Stadium card Training Court RCL 169, it's a good option. And if you need to discard the Arceus cards, when they are already with their obligations in the game, they are great ways of filtering for your opponent to have no more target options for knockout.

- Finally, Peonia CRE 149 is practically mandatory for any deck that uses VUnion, as it grants you the draw of the 3 prize cards you have and replaces it with 3 cards from your hand instead, basically as a “exchange”, thus being able to guarantee to get some part of the Mewtwo-VUnion that is in the prizes. Peonia is practically an obligatory card to Greninja V-Union, Pikachu V-Union, Mewtwo V-Union, Zacian V-Union, Morpeko V-Union (this one only in Japan).

Trainer Cards

The trio of most prevalent and must-have Supporter-type cards that should be in most decks of the current format are present here: 1) Professor's Research, 2) Marnie and 3) Boss's Orders.

- Professor's Research (Professor Oak) CEL 23 is the best draw power available right now. It is useful to get rid of Pokémon that are "dead weight" in your hand such as Arceus V and Arceus VStar that will no longer be useful in the game and mainly having the possibility, in a utopian play, to be able to discard the 4 parts of Mewtwo at once just to speed up your in-game “summoning”.

- Marnie SSH 169 is works to control the opponent's hand, forcing them to put their hand into the bottom of the deck and draw four cards. It's useful to make them have fewer options at their disposal.

- Boss's Orders RCL 154 is precisely to pull that Pokémon-V, VMax, VStar or V-Union from the opponent that is on the bench to guarantee an accurate and crucial knockout, for example, giving Mewtwo's attack, the Final Burn (P)(P)(P)(C), which deals 300 damage, destroying almost any Pokémon in the current format.

- Professor Burnet PR-SW SWSH167 is only used to discard two cards from your hand. It is the gear to discard parts of the Mewtwo V-Union, to speed up its assembly.

- Adventurer's Discovery FST 224 is precisely to speed up Arceus-V in your game. The card has the effect where you can search for 3 Pokémon-V and put them into your hand.

- Cheren's Care BRS 134 is just the Acerola BUS 112 of the old generation of Sun/Moon, but Cheren's Care BRS 134 is only for healing your colorless type Pokémon, which in case is Arceus, rescuing everything attached to it in your hand and healing any damage it has - that is, taking that Pokémon off your opponent's target for a possible knockout.

- Hyper Potion SSH 166 is meant to be used for Mewtwo V-Union, as it combines with its attack Super Regeneration (P)(P)(C), which makes it recover 200 of its HP, and with the Hyper Potion combination, you heal 120 damage at the cost of discarding two energies attached to it, making a healing combo of 320 health!

- Pal Pad SSH 172 is precisely to recover Supporter cards that were spent in the deck, such as the “Boss's Orders” or even the “Professor Burnet” or some crucial card for your play that needs to return with them in match.

- The only stadium/Stadium card in the game, Training Court RCL 169 is basic energy recycling per turn in the discard, which benefits you and your opponent at the same time.

- Choice Belt BRS 135 is just the additional 30 more damage against V-Type Pokémon (VMax, VStar, VUnion, etc.), closing damage like Final Burn (P)(P)(P)(C), which deals 300 damage + 30 for a total of 330, practically knocking out 85% of the format.

- Big Charm SSH 158 is a tool that provides support and sustenance for Mewtwo V-Union to last longer with more HP, as it gives 30 more HP, leaving Mewtwo with 340 HP.

Special Energy

- The Double Turbo Energy BRS 151 ensures that whoever is equipped with it takes 20 less damage, in addition to providing two colorless energies, which must be equipped to Arceus V BRS 122 and Arceus VSTAR BRS 123 to speed up the power-up process in your game.

Advantages

Being a simple archetype with Arceus as an energy accelerator, it in addition to providing the preparation of Mewtwo (which is the most complicated part of the deck), is extremely useful as an attacker, in addition to its Starbirth ability, which is very useful and helps save your game on many occasions, until your Mewtwo-VUnion is ready.

It's a strong, aggressive, consistent and objective deck, the kind I'd like to play for its efficiency.

Disadvantages

Like all Psychic Pokémon, its weakness is to dark types, meaning Dark Box reigns supreme against it. Cards like Darkrai VSTAR ASR 99, Galarian Moltres V CRE 97, Crobat VMAX SHF 45, Hoopa V FST 253 and Galarian Moltres EVS 93 deals doubled damage to Mewtwo, having an increased ease against it.

Also, if the deck can respond with agility and hitting as fast as possible, with few energies with high damage that exceeds 300 and with zero retreat cost, such as Mew VMAX FST 114, there are possible situations that could cause problems for the deck. Mewtwo, that's because the assembly of the Mewtwo V-Union can take time if the 4 parts are not properly discarded, which is the deck's greatest dilemma.

It's a good, objective, direct deck that deals plenty of damage, in addition to having great responses to the format, since Arceus is the "wild card" of any deck that involves V cards. I highly recommend using it for experimentation and test that raw power in the TCG.