Hello 6P readers! I’m back once again for one last article before Atlantic City Regionals this weekend. Today I’ll be dissecting a Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel build similar to Shintaro Ito’s that took 2nd at Worlds, and following that I’ll be discussing Jirachi-based Mew Box.

There hasn’t been much talk about Jirachi in Mew Box, so I figured I would dive into it myself and give you guys a rundown of how a successful list will look going forward. Fellow 6P writer Pablo Meza did talk about Jirachi in Mew Box earlier this month, so feel free to compare his thoughts to mine. Igor Costa won a League Cup here in Florida with Jirachi/Mew Box and I thought it was interesting as he was able to best my Ability ReshiZard in Top 4 that day. He also made Top 8 the following day, so I can tell you Jirachi makes the deck work for sure.

Right now I am sitting at a solid 313 CP and currently #1 in Masters in Florida, which is nice given our player base. I’m hoping to at least snag some more CP this weekend in Atlantic City.

Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel

Card Choices

1 Heatran-GX

This card allows you to take Prize cards without removing your Fire Energy from play, which makes Charging Up more efficient. Its Ability is nice in conjunction with both Beast Ring and Charging Up to take a 1HKO with Hot Burn-GX. Something to note is that Hot Burn-GX can take down a Jirachi TEU for a single Energy. This way, instead of using Burst-GX for a discarded Prize card, you can keep the Prize card rather than have to discard it. This is fine even if Heatran-GX gets taken down because then you will be on a Beast Ring turn.

1 Mew UNB

Decks like PikaRom and Mew Box like to do damage to the Bench, and their Bench damage is significant against us. Mew UNB can nullify that Bench damage, so it is highly recommended that you play it because you want to deny the opponent from getting around your Beast Ring turn.

3 Pokémon Communication, 0 Cherish Ball

In testing, I’ve been liking Pokémon Communication more than Cherish Ball because in the early game you can potentially get more Poipole out than you would otherwise. You can even search out Naganadel LOT if need be. Basically, I feel it gives the deck more options.

Pokémon Communication can also shuffle Naganadel back in should you need to Dedechange on the first turn, allowing you to preserve at least one.

Potential Inclusions

Ditto p

Ditto can act as a 5th Poipole, and because the list plays Pokémon Communication, you can even search it out.

Turtonator DRM

This is a great card against GardEon and Keldeo-GX, and you can take a 1HKO out of nowhere with it thanks to Beast Ring. (Turtonator’s attack only requires Fire Energy to be in play to boost its damage, so you can Beast Ring onto any Ultra Beast.)

Bill’s Analysis

This card can do wonders when you are in need of Custom Catcher or Beast Ring. However, most times you want to Welder, so I felt Bill’s Analysis was too situational.

Matchups

PikaRom: 55/45

In this matchup, Mew UNB will be very important, but make sure not to bench it too early or your opponent will just Custom Catcher it up and take it out as their first Prize card and deny your Beast Ring turn. What you want to do is take a Prize before your opponent takes a Prize, so if you are able to Hot Burn-GX for a KO or Burst-GX turn 1, then I recommend it. This way you are at 5 Prize cards, meaning your last 5 Prizes should be from a Venom Shot onto Dedenne-GX and finally a TAG TEAM KO (or vice versa). If the PikaRom player plays a Mew UNB of their own, then the matchup is more difficult, and that’s where preserving Custom Catchers becomes important.

GardEon: 70/30 w/ 1 Fairy Charm UB, 40/60 w/ 2 Fairy Charm UB

This matchup comes down to whether or not the opponent plays 1 or 2 copies of Fairy Charm UB. If they play just 1 copy, then you can 1HKO GardEon-GX #1 with Heatran-GX and take down GardEon-GX #2 with Blacephalon-GX. However, if they play 2 Fairy Charm UB, then the matchup becomes exponentially harder and you will likely lose. But most lists I believe play only 1 copy, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Sure, you can try attacking with Naganadel LOT, though it will get 1HKOed and the opponent can heal at the same time, so that strategy never works. Heatran-GX will likely get 2-shotted, so it’s really only good for the one-time use.

Mew Box: 60/40

This is a favorable matchup as Mew Box really only has a chance if they deny your Beast Ring turn and it’s difficult for them to pull that off. Welder is too powerful in Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel, so it’s not too hard to get a 1HKO on a Mewtwo & Mew-GX, even without using Beast Ring.

Ability ReshiZard: 60/40 GX Heavy, 40/60 1-Prizer Heavy

This matchup should be easier if the opponent’s build is more GX heavy, meaning they go straight for Reshiram & Charizard-GX or Heatran-GX. If they are focusing more on 1-Prizers, such as Blacephalon UNB, Turtonator DRM, and Victini p, then the matchup will be more difficult, especially if they also play Tapu Fini UNM.

What you want to do is not bench more than 1 Blacepahlon-GX and wait to see what your opponent is throwing at you (because, if possible to use, Naganadel-GX UNM is a great attacker to pick off Dedenne-GX and keep a Turtonator DRM stuck Active). The opponent will need a Reshiram & Charizard-GX with at least 1 Energy in play already to take down Naganadel-GX UNM with ease. If not, then they can struggle to take it down, and if they don’t take a Prize that turn, then you should be able to run away with the game.

Remember that you can be on the Turning Point turn for an extra 80 damage, which is huge against the 1-Prizer builds. And, if you hold onto Beast Energy {}, then Naganadel LOT can take down both Turtonator DRM and Victini {}, so keep that in mind, even if not on the 3-Prize turn.

Jirachi/Mew Box

This build is basically meant to take an early 1-Prize KO, a Venom Shot KO on a Dedenne-GX, and then a TAG TEAM KO (or vice versa) for your 6 Prizes.

Differences from Pablo’s List

• -1 Jirachi TEU
  -1 Jirachi-GX
  -1 Wobbuffet LOT
• +1 Dedenne-GX
  +1 Mewtwo UNB
  +1 Giratina LOT
• -1 Bill’s Analysis
  -4 Custom Catcher
  -3 Acro Bike
  -1 Fire Crystal
  -1 Escape Board
• +4 Pokégear 3.0
  +1 Switch
  +1 Pokémon Communication
  +1 Energy Recycle System
  +1 Pal Pad
• +2 Fire Energy

Card Choices

1 Mewtwo UNB

I like this card to be able to get back Welder. Granted, you would need to be able to Dedenne-GX or Pokégear 3.0 to immediately retrieve it given that the list doesn’t play Acro Bike, but that is okay.

1 Giratina LOT

I’m a fan of this card in the deck for a number of reasons:

1. It’s a counter to Keldeo-GX.
2. It sets up great math for when you are going 2nd against Malamar FLI. You can potentially still take down 2 Inkay on your first turn of the game because you use Distortion Door onto 2 Inkay then use Cross Division-GX for a total of 12 damage counters.
3. The Distortion Door math against Mew UNB is relevant as well. Distortion Door + a 20-damage counter Cross Division-GX can take out both Mew UNB and Dedenne-GX for a 3-Prize turn. The latter scenario can be important given that the list does not play Custom Catcher, so getting rid of Mew UNB to enable Venom Shot can be game-changing.

0 Acro Bike, 0 Custom Catcher, 0 Wobbuffet LOT, 0 Jirachi-GX

These cards are staples in a normal Mew Box build. However, this isn’t your normal build because Jirachi TEU makes the deck a lot different.

• Jirachi TEU will almost always net you a card, which is similar to what Acro Bike does anyway.
• Custom Catcher isn’t entirely needed because there are times where you may have to toss 1 or 2 away due to Dedenne-GX. If you are using them for the drawing aspect, then technically they are wasted anyway.
• Wobbuffet LOT has been omitted because Ability ReshiZard lists are starting to cut down to 12–14 Fire Energy, meaning that Victini p can’t 1HKO Mewtwo & Mew-GX anyway, and if they are 2HKOing you, at that point you don’t care and should be in a good position to win the game.
• As far as Jirachi-GX goes, decks like Malamar FLI are starting to play Power Plant, plus you can still beat them if you are able to utilize Distorition Door and Cross Division-GX to set up multiple KOs. In the mirror, the opponent will likely play theirs down for you anyway. Against Blacepahlon-GX/Naganadel, the matchup is unfavorable with or without Jirachi-GX.

Potential Inclusions

Muk & Alolan Muk-GX

Severe Poison can get around Spell Tag, and Poison Absorption can heal if your opponent’s Active is Poisoned. So if you were to Severe Poison something like a TAG TEAM attacker and it wasn’t able to retreat out, then it would take 160 from Poison going back into your opponent’s turn and another 120 from Poison Absorption while you heal 100 damage and snag a huge 3-Prize KO. However, this card is situational.

Turtonator DRM

Again, Turtonator is useful against Keldeo-GX and GardEon (against which it will likely win you the game). You can search it out with both Mysterious Treasure and Pokémon Communication, which is nice.

Matchups

PikaRom: 55/45

The MVP in this matchup will be Tag Purge because there aren’t many effective ways to get around it in PikaRom. Also, this list plays an above-average 4 Switch and 1 Escape Board to get around Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX’s Paralysis. Just be aware of what you bench because the opponent can Custom Catcher around you.

This matchup is pretty straightforward. Take an early 1-Prizer then take down PikaRom which now brings you to 2 Prize cards and finally Venom Shot a Dedenne-GX for the game. Though, as I said, Tag Purge is the MVP if the opponent doesn’t play any relevant threat to get around it.

GardEon: 70/30 w/ 1 Fairy Charm P, 40/60 w/ 2 Fairy Charm P

This is similar to interaction between Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel and Fairy Charm UB, though this time with Fairy Charm P. GardEon will want to shut off your P GX attackers (i.e., Mewtwo & Mew-GX and Latios-GX) from doing anything. They will play Fairy Charm P over Fairy Charm Ability against you because they need to be able to shut off Latios-GX, otherwise they fold to that card alone. You can attack with Giratina LOT, though that won’t do too much because they 1HKO it and heal at the same time.

What you have to do is bench Reshiram & Charizard-GX and use Mewtwo & Mew-GX to copy its GX attack to get around the first Fairy Charm P. If they play 2, then you have to transition into Reshiram & Charizard-GX and try to utilize it as best as possible, hitting as hard as you can with Outrage and Flare Strike, then maybe use Giratina LOT for cleanup.

Giratina can’t be powered up in one turn, so that can be troublesome, but just try your best to be honest.

Ability ReshiZard: 60/40 GX Heavy, 45/55 1-Prizer Heavy

This matchup comes down to how fast the opponent can get Energy on board to make Turtononator DRM and Heatran-GX useful. Namely, if they can get Flare Starter going with Volcanion UNB to fuel Energy. If they are struggling, then you can pick off their attackers with Venom Shot to slow then down even further. If you can take an early Prize then you should be in a fine spot because you can Venom Shot Dedenne-GX for 2 Prize cards then go from there. However, if the opponent pulls off a big KO with Blacephaon UNB, the game can be rough.

Conclusion

That will conclude this article on Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel and Mew Box with Jirachi. In order, my top four deck choices going into Atlantic City this weekend are:

1. Ability ReshiZard,
2. Jirachi/Mew Box,
3. PikaRom, and finally
4. Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel.

I’m most comfortable with Ability ReshiZard and it’s what I have been playing with the most. I love the idea of Jirachi in Mew Box and the many attacking options the deck has. PikaRom is PikaRom. It’s fast, consistent, and straight to the point. Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel I put last because Tapu Fini UNM, Fairy Charm UB, and QuagNag scare me. If you see me in Atlantic City this weekend, don’t be shy and come say hello.

As usual, I do full-time coaching, so if you are interested in taking lessons, feel free to message me either on Facebook or @Jose_MarreroTCG and we can go over the details.

If you have any questions, leave me a comment below or message me through social media. I’ll be sure to get to back to you as soon as possible.

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