Rocket’s Mewtwo ex Deck List and Guide
Rocket’s Mewtwo ex is going to be an insanely popular deck. Fun, powerful, and themed around one of Pokemon’s most iconic duos, this deck will be seen everywhere from the Pokemon TCG Live ladder to your local game shop. But how exactly does it work? What makes this killer deck tick?
Below, we’ll break down every single card in Rocket’s Mewtwo ex and how it can help you dominate the playing field.
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Pokémon: 13
3 Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex SV10 39
3 Team Rocket's Spidops SV10 9
4 Team Rocket's Tarountula SV10 8
1 Team Rocket's Articuno SV10 22
1 Team Rocket's Mimikyu SV10 42
1 Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56
Trainer: 36
4 Ultra Ball PAF 91
2 Nest Ball PAF 84
3 Earthen Vessel PRE 106
3 Energy Switch SVI 173
4 Team Rocket's Receiver SV10 90
1 Unfair Stamp TWM 165
1 Counter Catcher PAR 160
1 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178
1 Bravery Charm PAL 173
1 Exp. Share SVI 174
3 Team Rocket's Ariana SV10 91
2 Team Rocket's Archer SV10 92
2 Team Rocket's Giovanni SV10 93
2 Team Rocket's Petrel SV10 94
2 Team Rocket's Proton SV10 95
3 Team Rocket's Factory SV10 97
Energy: 11
4 Team Rocket's Energy SV10 98
5 Psychic Energy SVE 5
2 Grass Energy SVE 1
Breaking down Rocket’s Mewtwo ex
Unlike most top tier Pokemon attackers in the game right now, Mewtwo ex’s ability is more of a hinderance than an advantage. Called “Power Saver,” this ability singlehandedly dictates what much of your deck is going to look like. I’ll give you a hint: you’re going to need a lot of Rocket’s Pokemon. In order to ensure you reliably hit that four cards on the field designation, you can’t be fooling around with a ton of non Rocket’s Pokemon on your bench.
Luckily, Destined Rivals comes chalk full of powerhouse Rocket’s Pokemon. We’ll see what some of those are in a moment. But until then, let’s look at what makes this Mewtwo ex really stand out: it’s combo of high HP, high attack power, and the fact it is a basic Pokemon ex.
High HP
There’s not a single meta relevant basic Pokemon ex right now with HP that remotely comes close to Mewtwo ex. That insane 280 puts it out of reach of many, many attacks. And the best part is you don’t need to evolve it to reach that high HP the way you do with most other equivalent Pokemon: it comes with that stat directly onto the bench.
Deletion Sphere
For everything that Mewtwo ex has going for it, it’s this attack that makes it a strong card. For just the cost of removing two energy, Deletion Sphere is hitting for 280. That’s enough to OHKO basic Pokemon ex, many stage 1 Pokemon, and can help you keep pace with strong stage 2 Pokemon ex.
Because Team Rocket’s special energy counts as two energy, you essentially just have to remove one energy to get this powerful attack off. However, you can’t get this special energy back after you use it, so it might make more sense to discard basic energies that can easily be accelerated from the discard via Rocket’s Spidops.
Not only can Spidops accelerate energy from the discard which can then be used in turn to power up Deletion Sphere, it also has a decent attack in its own right. Assuming you have six Rocket’s Pokemon in play, this attack is swinging for 180. This can be especially helpful when swinging into Pokemon with grass weakness.
Situational Pokemon give Rocket’s Mewtwo ex an edge
Interestingly enough, Rocket’s Mewtwo ex operates a bit like a toolbox deck. Sure, the primary strategy is aimed around Mewtwo ex but it’s far from your only option for attacking. Beyond Spidops’s very handy attack, you also have three additional Pokemon to help give you an edge.
Rocket’s Mimikyu
Tera Type Pokemon may have dominated the game for the past few sets. However, Rocket’s decks have a powerful tool to use against them. That tool is none other than Rocket’s Mimikyu, and this card very simply lets you use your opponent’s Tera Pokemon’s attack against them. This could be insanely helpful against the likes of Dragapult ex, letting you get a little damage spread.
Of course, given the limited nature of this attack you won’t use it all the time. But when you do it’s going to be quite strong.
Lillie’s Clefairy ex
This deck can also take advantage of Lillie’s Clefairy ex as another toolbox attacker, giving you a distinct edge against Dragon-type Pokemon like the massively popular Dragapult ex or Raging Bolt ex. Keep in mind that Rocket’s Energy won’t work on this Pokemon, but you can easily play Energy Switch to get the energy you need to get this Pokemon’s attack off.
Rocket’s Articuno
Rocket’s Pokemon also gain a fairly hefty buff against the current Pokemon TCG meta thanks to Articuno. Articuno’s Resistance Veil prevents your Pokemon from being targeted by effects from your opponent’s Pokemon. While this won’t stop them from getting hit by damage dealing attacks, it should stop them from being targeted by effects that enable your opponent to “place” damage counters, like in the case of Dragapult ex.
Rocket’s Mewtwo ex boasts a powerful lineup of supporters
So far, if you’re not excited for the potential of this deck I don’t know what to tell you. But what if I were to say it gets even better from here? Well, as it so happens, it does. Indeed one of the biggest advantages of playing a Rocket deck is the fact that it gets access to a powerful range of supporters that only work within their own walled-garden.
Rocket’s Ariana grants Rocket decks one of the strongest draw support effects in the game.
Team Rocket’s Archer unlocks powerful hand disruption.
Team Rocket’s Giovanni acts as an upgraded Boss’s Orders with both gust and switch built-in.
Petrel lets you add any trainer from your deck into your hand.
Proton lets you add any three Rocket’s Basic Pokemon to your hand and can be used going first.
To make it easier to find the right supporter when you need it most, you have Team Rocket’s Receiver: a card that lets you search for any Rocket supporter from your deck and add it to your hand.
As if all of that weren’t enough, Rocket’s decks have a built in draw support card specifically for them. It’s a stadium called Rocket’s factory and it essentially lets you draw an extra two cards whenever you play a Rocket’s supporter.
Rocket’s Mewtwo ex deck weaknesses
There’s an insane amount of native support for this exciting new deck coming out in Destined Rivals. But is it all power and no downside? In reality, this deck does have a few notable downsides to it. Will they be enough to knock this deck out of contention for being top tier?
I think not. But let’s look at what they are.
Locked into Rocket’s Pokemon
The biggest weakness is the fact that you are so heavily reliant on using Rocket’s Pokemon. While there are plenty of solid Rocket’s Pokemon (as you’ve seen), it makes it a little difficult to use any of the very powerful supporting Pokemon available to other decks.
For example, even running Fezandipiti ex or Mew ex in this lineup is a relative risk, making it less likely you’ll get Mewtwo ex’s attack off or leverage one of your supporters.
No bench snipe
Most of the top tier decks right now have a way to attack the bench with a few exceptions. This deck doesn’t have that as an option unless Mimikyu steals the effect from an opposing Pokemon.
Lack of damage modification for Mewtwo ex
While swinging for 280 is impressive for a basic Pokemon ex, you aren’t able to OHKO everything you face. Stage 2 Pokemon or the soon to be released three-prize Pokemon will be out of your reach. While you can tech in damage modifying cards to help, it’s going to be hard to ever reach those very hard numbers for this deck.
Ultimately, however, no single deck does everything, and sometimes the best way to play a Pokemon TCG deck is to just lean into its strengths and ignore the weaknesses. With that approach in mind, I think Mewtwo ex is going to be a very strong deck, and a welcome and refreshing strategy in the current metagame.
