Since its release, Destined Rivals has shaken up the format in significant but weirdly unexpected ways! Rocket’s Mewtwo ex was supposed to be one of the predominant decks in the format. Unfortunately, this deck succumbs to late-game hand disruption unlike any other in the format. Due to its relative inability to play any kind of engine and instead relying on its own Team Rocket’s Transceiver package to gain consistency, an Iono played late in the game to 1 or 2 cards will usually mean you have no options left and no way to win. To achieve a lock on the game, the deck must establish a great board presence that cannot be disrupted in tandem with hand disruption. With the list I have here, I’m aiming to be as consistent as possible, and I have been winning even through late-game Iono disruptions and Unfair Stamps. The main concern you should be aware of is that the deck can be inconsistent- it is likely better suited to best-of-three tournaments than best of one events.

Pokémon:   4 Team Rocket’s Tarountula 4 Team Rocket’s Spidops 2 Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex 1 Team Rocket’s Articuno 1 Team Rocket’s Mimikyu 1 Team Rocket’s Wobbuffet 1 Fezandipiti ex

Trainers:   4 Team Rocket’s Ariana 3 Team Rocket’s Giovanni 2 Team Rocket’s Proton 1 Team Rocket’s Archer 1 Iono 4 Earthen Vessel 4 Team Rocket’s Transceiver 4 Ultra Ball 3 Team Rocket’s Great Ball 2 Energy Switch 1 Prime Catcher 1 Super Rod 1 Switch 2 Bravery Charm 4 Team Rocket’s Factory

Energy:   4 Team Rocket’s Energy 3 Grass Energy 2 Psychic Energy

 

     The one thing I love about this deck is its ability to pivot to single-prize attackers to either maintain tempo or switch into the Mewtwo to deal with big threats in a single hit. Sporting a monstrous 280 HP, adding a Bravery Charm on Mewtwo will ensure its combined 330 HP will tank hits from most Pokémon. One question I was always asked when testing the deck is: Is this deck actually any good? And the answer is—kind of. The deck has lots of strengths, but its tendency to draw dead later in the game is certainly a problem. I do believe the problem of bricking late-game is mitigated by simply choosing to play Prime Catcher instead of any other Ace Spec. This serves as a gust option while also allowing you to draw a bunch of cards with Ariana, so you can actually set up an effective board while not having to use Giovanni as your supporter for turn.

     The other problem that is present is the weakness Mewtwo has to Dark types. However, every relevant Dark type Pokémon also conveniently has weakness to Grass which makes great use of Spidops! Spidops actually pulls a ton of weight in this deck, being able to go toe-to-toe with other decks that can utilize one-prize attackers such as Gardevoir ex decks. The Grimmsnarl ex matchup is somewhat rough if you open the Mewtwo ex, however, Spidops can get going quickly and knocks out the little guys easily with very little resource dedication. The same is true into Charizard ex decks. Another strength the deck has is being able to deal with other two-prize attacking decks such as the ever-present Joltik box deck. The neat trick to pull off in this matchup is if they ever swing with Pikachu ex into your Charmed Mewtwo, you can then move all 300 damage to the Pikachu ex using Team Rocket’s Wobbuffet! This will also bypass Pikachu ex’s Ability, allowing you to take a one-hit knockout where it would normally be impossible to do.

This deck normally does not want to play any non-Team Rocket’s Pokémon as it does not synergize with any of the Supporter cards that are played in the deck; Archer cares if one of your Team Rocket’s Pokémon was knocked out during your opponent’s last turn, Ariana only draws up to 5 cards if any of your Pokémon in play are not Team Rocket, and Giovanni only allows you to switch your Active Team Rocket’s Pokémon with one of your Benched Team Rocket’s Pokémon. However, since this deck does suffer frequently from Iono/Unfair Stamp, I’ve chosen to include one copy of Fezandipiti ex. The chance of starting it and limiting your draw for the rest of the game does not escape my thought process, however the amount it can save you in the late game just being able to find that last Transceiver for Giovanni cannot be overlooked. The odds to opening it and bricking your setup is very low, and best-of-3 matches do reduce the likelihood you will open Fezandipiti more often than you’d like—it gives you more chances to open better hands. I’ve found that the Fezandipiti has helped mitigate the late game punish frequently enough that it is worth the risk of opening it in a very small percentage of games.

Team Rocket’s Great Ball is a debatable inclusion in the list over more consistent options. On the one hand, it can improve your setup, provided the coin flips go in your favour. However, they can often fail and get the wrong result. Their strength does come from being able to play them at any point in the game. This allows you to burn them if you need to draw more cards of Ariana. On the flip side, I have found Nest Ball to be more consistent overall, since you always know what you will be able to grab with Nest Ball and can plan your turn in advance based on that guaranteed result, whereas Great Ball cannot always guarantee the same plan every time. Nest Ball can also search for Fezandipiti, which can be invaluable, but Nest Ball can also brick your hand if your Bench is full, drawing less cards with Ariana. My current list simply plays 3 Great Ball, but I am considering switching them all to Nest Ball again or attempting some combination of the 2 of them in the same 3 card slots.

Buddy-Buddy Poffin is another card I would like to fit in the deck, but I do not think there is room, and I am trimming a lot of the fat off this list so it can be as consistent as possible. If you get your ideal Proton turn 1 going first, you will be setup just as well as finding Buddy-Buddy Poffin, except you can also establish your Mewtwo ex.

Getting your attachments for the turn will be important in this deck, though, with Energy Switch, it is not always necessary. There is currently no way to search for the Team Rocket’s Energy in the list now, and I have considered Colress’s Tenacity, however, using Colress doesn’t really accomplish anything. It doesn’t draw you cards, it searches the Stadium, too, but you won’t be able to draw any cards with it either because you used Colress for your turn. It isn’t really synergistic as much as searching the special energy would be great, it just cannot find its way in the list. One of the other glaring problems with the deck is that you are simultaneously trying to get energy into play and in the discard. Finding this middle ground can be a challenge, which makes the deck not very easy to play and can be hard to navigate at times.

The key I’ve found with this deck is that you don’t necessarily want to try to aggressively set up and attack with Mewtwo. Doing this can actually put you at a disadvantage in the late game. Obviously, if the pieces are conveniently there, it may be worth going after, but going slower and steady and swinging with Spidops early, setting up tricky plays with Mimikyu (if your opponent is playing a Tera deck) or sculpting your hand to be able to take big KOs with Giovanni uses less resources in the long run and then they will have to deal with a Mewtwo later. There are a lot of fun plays you can make with this deck. Give it a try, and see for yourself how fun the deck can be!

 

Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex

Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex received some praise before Destined Rivals’ release. However, once the set released and more people put serious testing into the deck, it has quickly became one of the most dominant forces of the metagame. This deck is incredibly well positioned into the meta and has lots of strategic plays you can make to win even in disadvantageous board states. Coupled with disruptive attackers such as Maractus and Budew, Froslass puts in work to silently tick up damage on your board to lead to multiple knockouts in a single turn. Since Grimmsnarl naturally needs Dark Energy to attack, this pairs extremely well with Munkidori and is one of the most streamlined, synergistic decks we’ve seen in a long time. The deck does sometimes struggle with the same issues every other stage 2 deck struggles with, however, Spikemuth Gym and the Secret Box ACE SPEC mitigate these problems more so than other Stage 2 decks in the format.

Pokémon:   4 Marnie’s Impidimp 2 Marnie’s Morgrem 3 Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex 2 Snorunt 2 Froslass 3 Munkidori 1 Budew 1 Maractus 1 Shaymin

Trainers:   4 Arven 4 Iono 3 Professor’s Research 2 Boss’s Orders 3 Night Stretcher 2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin 2 Counter Catcher 2 Rare Candy 1 Secret Box 1 Super Rod 1 Ultra Ball 1 Defiance Band 1 Rescue Board 1 Technical Machine: Devolution 1 Technical Machine: Evolution 2 Artazon 2 Spikemuth Gym

Energy:   8 Darkness Energy

 

There are tons of lists for this deck online. Some lists play 4 Munkidori, some lists play an Energy Switch, and some lists are on the full 4 Grimmsnarl ex. I feel that this list rides the line of increasing consistency as much as possible and really streamlining getting Grimmsnarl in play while also allowing for big-brain plays that can put your opponent in an awkward position.

Three Grimmsnarl ex is basically all you need, with a Super Rod and 3 Night Stretcher, you are never really squeezed into a position of running out of them consistently. Your ideal setup will be to  get 3 Impidimp on the Bench, at least one Snorunt, and one Munkidori with an Energy attached. The last bench slot can be used for your tech attacker such as Budew, Maractus, or even a second Snorunt. It’s pertinent to get your energy attachments onto Munkidori quickly. The synergy with this deck is that you can certainly dedicate your attachment to Munkidori and feel safe about it since Grimmsnarl accelerates the energy to itself.

Once you have your little guys in play, your second turn will consist of setting up your board. I generally like taking the slower approach to setting up, making sure you have all your ducks in a row, your Froslass setup, your Munkidori with energy attached, and then finally getting Grimmsnarl set up and attacking. However, there can be times where it is convenient and correct to setup your Grimmsnarl in one swoop then worry about the rest later. If you can assure the matchup you’re playing cannot surprise a one-hit knockout with the likes of Leafeon ex, Teal Mask Ogerpon ex, Iron Leaves ex, etc., you can attempt to pressure early with Grimmsnarl. The great thing about this deck is that Secret Box will almost always guarantee a Grimmsnarl setup perfectly. You will grab whichever Supporter you need for that turn or the next, a Rare Candy, Spikemuth Gym, and whichever tool you need at the moment. The tool you grab will often be Rescue Board to get your Active Pokémon moved so Grimmsnarl can start swinging. This ability for one card to be searched with Arven and set up an effective board presence can be too overwhelming for your opponent to deal with and is one of the reasons this deck saw so much play at NAIC. It will certainly represent a decent portion of the meta going forward and for good reason.

It's important to remember that Maractus and Budew can be a huge part of your winning strategy. With Froslass constantly ticking damage on your opponent’s Pokémon with Abilities, you can lock your opponent Active or without Items so they cannot effectively answer your strategy. It’s also important to remember that while you’re damaging the Active, you will need to utilize Munkidori to hit the Bench faster and more aggressively so you can take multi-prize turns. Maractus can be very effective against decks that rely on Latias ex for maneuverability, or decks that do not generally play Professor Turo’s Scenario or Prime Catcher. However, decks that play Prime Catcher can still be punished by a Maractus lock if that player does not realize the potential for a Maractus win.

Overall, I like the Rocket deck as-is, but I do not think it will be a top contender for winning events right now. However, it will have a role to play in this metagame where it can take people by surprise if they failed to test against it because they thought it wouldn’t be represented enough.

I do like Grimmsnarl’s positioning in the current metagame, and it is not completely off the table as an option to play at Cups once they’re back in July. It has fairly solid matchups and can answer most anything, provided you are skilled enough to do lots of math! That is the one downside of the deck, is that if you do not do mental math quickly and efficiently enough, the deck will be a struggle to play. The calculations you need to do will be constant, and even for things that aren’t even on the board. Such things like, “If my opponent Turo’s this Pokémon, how far does this set me back on Froslass ticks?” or, “If they play this one tech, how does that answer my numbers I’m putting on their board turn-over-turn?” If you like a challenge or are very confident in your ability to apply mental math constantly throughout a game, I think Grimmsnarl will be a great deck for you to pick up and try. The good news is that there are Marnie’s Grimmsnarl League Battle decks available in-store only at Dark Fox TCG! These decks come with most things you will need right out of the box, but the Secret Box may be a little hard to find. I do find that the Secret Box is a necessary addition and the deck should not be played without it.

I hope you all enjoyed this little reading! Best of luck to everyone looking forward to the return of Cups and Challenges in July, and the start of a new competitive season. Have a great day!

• Share on:
• WhatsApp
• Facebook
• X
• Pin it
• Messenger
• Email

---