Where Are They Now? (Space-Time Smackdown edition)

Space-Time Smackdown has had a larger impact on the metagame than previously foreseen. Usually, a good strategy into an unknown metagame is to bring an established top-tier deck from the previous set and farm wins off unoptimized garbage until the dust settles. However, the new cards from Space-Time Smackdown have proven powerful enough that at least two archetypes – Darkrai EX + Magnezone (AKA “Darkzone”) and Palkia EX – are dictating the meta less than a week in!

Mythical Island was dominated by 5 primary archetypes: Moltres EX Ramp, Mewtwo EX, Pikachu EX, Exeggutor EX+Celebi, and Gyarados EX + Druddigon. What I want to do is explore where each deck fares after a week of tournament results, and where each of them can go from here.

Of the five major archetypes, Moltres EX Ramp is doing the best. The single most notable change is the shift from Arcanine EX to Charizard EX as the ramp payoff. The biggest reason for this is a theme that will be repeating itself as we go down the list: Giant Cape has made the metagame bulkier.

Arcanine EX was doing well in Mythical Island when its primary targets were Mew EX, Celebi EX, and Pikachu EX. Likewise, it did significantly worse into Mewtwo EX and Gyarados EX, which didn’t get one-shot by Inferno Onrush. Thanks to Giant Cape, even its primary targets now go just out of reach. The Darkzone matchup is particularly awful, as:

• Both Darkrai EX and Magnezone don’t die in one to Inferno Onrush, meaning Sabrina lines don’t even help you make progress;
• Inferno Onrush brings Arcanine EX to 130 HP – 110 HP if the target was Druddigon – putting it squarely in range of Nightmare Aura + Thunder Blast.

Charizard EX’s niche of destroying anything in front of it in one shot is incredibly valuable in a bulky metagame. The previous weakness of Charizard EX lists – the inconsistency in evolving to your Stage 2 Win Condition – has also been alleviated thanks to Pokemon Communication. Giant Cape also works in the Charizard EX variant’s favor, as you can easily buy an extra turn of Moltres EX to Heat Blast or Inferno Dance as the situation allows.

The biggest point in Moltres EX Ramp’s favor as of this article is its dominant matchup against Darkzone. This does require losing points in other matchups to fit in extra healing, but this particular list piloted to third in Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #14 by kytheon shows a way forward:

Shaymin helps nullify the extra damage done by Nightmare Aura in order to keep our Moltres from simply getting Cyrus’d in and converted into 2 points for the Darkzone deck. In conjunction with Giant Cape, Moltres EX can simply stay in longer and work us towards inevitability. The inclusion of Dawn also opens up sneaky lines where Charizard EX can be promoted to Active with 4 energy attached, swing with Crimson Storm, and then Dawn moves an energy from the Moltres EX to give us a total of 4 energy again. Alternatively, Dawn can be used to enable a surprise Heat Blast against a slower start from the opponent, turning our Moltres EX into a genuine attacking threat. Notably, this list and the other top 16 lists piloted by Giorfio and kinkakuj went an incredible 9-1-1 against Darkzone variants. Gyarados EX and Palkia EX will remain a problem for the archetype going forward, but if we end up in a Darkzone-dominated meta, Moltres EX ramp will be a premier choice regardless.

Well, egg on my face! Pikachu EX has fallen off a bridge. It’s even more surprising because Pachirisu EX looks like a natural fit for the archetype, but so far the deck has failed to show any meaningful results. We can, again, trace this to Giant Cape and the Darkzone matchup in particular. Giant Cape pushes Druddigon out of Circle Circuit + Giovanni range, meaning Pikachu EX has to attack twice into its Rough Skin to make progress. Even with a cape of its own, this puts Pikachu EX in clean range of both Darkrai EX and Magnezone revenge killing it and taking a 2-to-1 point lead.

I had to do some digging for optimistic news for the archetype, and it’s going to rely primarily on how the deck is teched going forward. SumBoo piloted a Pachirisu EX variant to a 1st place finish at Dark League Friday Flash with a list featuring a surprising inclusion as the 7th Basic:

Rotom is an incredible inclusion. Palkia EX decks are relying on Giant Cape to allow Manaphy to ramp energy multiple times in a row. A “hidden” Rotom in hand going second is a backbreaking counter; lead any of your other basics, and then play and X-speed in Rotom to do a clean 70 damage to Manaphy, nuking it through a Giant Cape. Rotom will also cleanly two-shot Druddigon with a Giant Cape, enabling a 1-for-1 point trade instead of the aforementioned 1-for-2. Zapdos EX is looking like a mandatory 2-of going forward in order to enable risky one-shots against Darkrai EX, Palkia EX, and Magnezone, aided in part by Dawn. SumBoo went through a top 64 chock-full of Palkia EX Vaporeons and won five straight. I believe Pikachu EX will still have a spot in the metagame, but the tech options are going to have to adjust pretty substantially to whatever the flavor of the week ends up becoming.

Mewtwo EX is the biggest loser of the Space-Time Smackdown metagame. This is partially due to it receiving next to no support, as the only cards really worth considering would be Pokemon Communication to find the Gardevoir line more consistently or Giant Cape to push Mewtwo EX itself out of range of 150 damage retaliation. Giant Cape, of course, does much more harm than good to Mewtwo EX decks; the point of Mewtwo EX is that you set up a chain of one-shots with Psydrive, and Giant Cape directly stops you from doing so. This is most evident in Mewtwo EX’s laughably abysmal matchup into Darkzone, as both of the primary attackers dodge the one-shot with a Giant Cape. This leads to a simple winning plan for the Darkzone:

• Make Mewtwo EX swing into a Drudd (Mewtwo EX HP 130)
• Attach an energy to Darkrai EX (Mewtwo EX HP 110)
• Thunder Blast and take 2 points.

Giant Cape can make step one a complete no-win proposition for the Mewtwo EX player. If you don’t swing into the Drudd and try to get the one-shot with Psydrive, Darkrai EX pings Mewtwo forever and later uses Cyrus to bag the 2 points. If you do swing into the Drudd and try to get to the Darkrai EX/Magnezone KOs faster, Giant Cape can force Mewtwo EX to use Psychic Sphere three times for the KO, shredding its HP into the range where Darkrai itself can pick up the KO. Potion doesn’t even really solve the problem at hand, as you would need a Giant Cape and two Potions to not immediately lose on the backswing to Magnezone. Combine that with its equally bad matchups into Gyarados EX and Palkia EX?

The bigger issue at hand is I can’t find good news going forward. The other decks in the metagame are either too bulky to get KO’d in one by Mewtwo EX, or too fast and kill you while you’re setting up. Unless some incredible tech is found, I would not recommend Mewtwo EX until further notice.

Gyarados EX looks fairly solid at the moment. Darkzone has risen up to challenge Gyarados EX’s spot as the best Druddigon deck, but there is significantly less anti-bench damage being played at the moment, which can only help the giant serpent. The absolute collapse of Pikachu EX is the biggest boon; Gyarados EX still gets demolished by Pikachu EX lists, and in fact Pikachu EX was the main stopgap against Gyarados EX in the Mythical Island metagame. This spells fairly good news for Gyarados EX as we progress through Space-Time Smackdown.

Unsurprisingly, very few changes have been done to the main list. 12 of your slots are devoted to the core of 2x Greninja Line, 2x Gyarados EX line, and 2x Druddigon, leaving only 8 for trainers. 2 Research and 2 Pokeball are mandatory, leaving a slim 4 slots to tech anything in. The main tech option at the moment seems to be a single copy of Cyrus, replacing either 1x Leaf or 1x Misty depending on the pilot. Cyrus is equally unsurprising, as Greninja does a great job of enabling Cyrus in one turn for Gyarados EX to pick up easy points. werr elected to move to 1x Leaf in their 1st place finish at Ursiiday’s Pocket Weekly #14:

The main problem I see for Gyarados EX is the sheer linearity of the deck. At the moment, it’s arguably the best deck at punishing unoptimized experiments, but any amount of bench sniping being added to the metagame is pretty scary. Palkia EX lists are also a predator to the archetype, as Manaphy punishes the Gyarados EX lists hard for durdling behind a Druddigon while setting up. That being said, Water Shuriken + Rampaging Whirlpool killing 140HP Pokemon with a Cape attached means we’re pretty likely to see Gyarados EX continue to succeed for the time being.

Of the five archetypes I’m discussing, Exeggutor EX is the one I’m least sure about. The complete disappearance of Mewtwo EX is the best news this deck could have gotten, as this was a horrible matchup. On the other hand, Pikachu EX was arguably the best reason to play Exeggutor lists in the Mythical Island format, and that deck has also vanished. Meanwhile, Gyarados EX is still abysmal to deal with, Moltres Ramp’s move to Charizard EX has not exactly made things better, and it’s looking at the moment like Darkzone and Palkia EX are both fairly solid into the palm tree and its friends.

The biggest question facing Exeggutor EX? What is our best finisher? Celebi EX+Serperior is still fairly popular, but the addition of Yanmega EX is an intriguing option to hit Darkrai EX for weakness. Yanmega EX also has the advantages of representing consistent high damage, which Celebi EX builds were notably lacking due to the extra reliance on coin flips. That being said, Celebi EX still has the theoretical highest output, which is extra important in a metagame that’s warping around Giant Cape.

The biggest positive I can imagine for Exeggutor EX is the sheer access to healing that we have. Erika’s value has only gone up with the addition of Cyrus in order to stave off attempts to snipe our backline through an Exeggutor EX. Shaymin is a potential option that can even attack for us in a pinch. TheSuperTNT ran both, in addition to opting into Yanmega EX as the finisher, finishing in top 16 at the Hooglandia & Spragels Open:

Notably, the rest of the support shell is fairly open-ended. Both Giant Cape and Rocky Helmet look like solid options to staple onto our Exeggutor EX for different reasons. Cyrus vs Sabrina will also be an intriguing discussion, as we’re lacking in ways to directly enable Cyrus. That being said, Exeggutor swinging for large numbers as early as our first attacking turn can force pivots to indirectly mark an opposing Pokemon for a future Cyrus play. Keep an eye on Exeggutor EX going forward.