Pok�mon of the Week

Mewtwo, The Genetic Pok�mon. A Pok�mon created by recombining Mew's genes. It's said to have the most savage heart among Pok�mon. Because its battle abilities were raised to the ultimate level, it thinks only of defeating its foes. It usually remains motionless to conserve energy, so that it may unleash its full power in battle.

Mewtwo became a powerhouse right off the bat, becoming the first Uber in competitive play. And when you look at it, it makes sense why. Sporting a monstrous base 154 Special Attack paired with base 130 Speed combine to make Mewtwo likely the best Special sweeper in all of Pokemon. Mewtwo isn't slacking in the defensive department either, with base 90 defenses and 106 HP, meaning that Mewtwo will require more than one blow (generally) to take down. The power it has added with the sheer versatility and coverage it gains from its movepool means that most of the time, teams will be revenge killing it after Mewtwo has claimed a victim. Although Mewtwo's solitary Psychic typing may not be beneficial resistance-wise, other capabilities that he has makes him a difficult Pokemon to get past and to actually try to avoid getting KO'd by. Mewtwo is one of the greatest threats in Ubers, and every team should be in someway prepared for its enormous destructive powers that make it one of the best Pokemon to have existed.

Pressure: Makes every move an opponent uses cost double the PP, a useful (albeit overused) ability that makes bulkier forms of Mewtwo dangerous to keep attacking, as you have to worry about your attacks no longer being usable.
Unnerve: The opponent cannot use its hold Berry while Mewtwo is in battle, although unreleased will likely be used on Mewtwo's offensive sets to deal with threats like Chople Berry Tyranitar and Wacan Berry Manaphy, allowing Mewtwo to bypass the resistances the berries would have given those Pokemon.

-Calm Mind
-Psystrike
-Ice Beam
-Fire Blast / Aura Sphere
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
EVs:4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

This set is relatively straightforward, and is extremely deadly even if you don't get the chance to set up. Calm Mind makes Mewtwo's already ridiculously higher Special Attack a behemoth to behold. Combine that with the extra Special bulk you get, and just after one boost you've got a monster. Psystrike was Gamefreak's blessing to Mewtwo this gen, being a 100 base power STAB move that hits Pokemon based on their defense stat, while still going off of Mewtwo's Special Attack, basically a more powerful version of Psyshock. This allows Mewtwo to finally get past some of its more annoying counters, namely Blissey and Chansey. As Mewtwo's powerful STAB move, it hits Pokemon like Kyogre, Palkia and Ho-oh hard (in addition to Blissey and Chansey). Ice Beam takes care of tthe abundance of annoying Dragon types in the tier, and is Mewtwo's best option against Pokemon like the Giratina forms and Lugia. The last slot is used to decimate whatever your team needs. Fire Blast takes care of annoying Jirachis and Bronzongs, while Aura Sphere smashes Dialga, Tyranitar, and Heatran. Aura Sphere also hits Dark Arceus hard, whose bulkier set may be one of the only real counters to Mewtwo.

-Taunt
-Will-O-Wisp / Toxic
-Recover
-Psystrike / Light Screen
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SDef / 176 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

Although Mewtwo is not exactly geared towards being a defensive Pokemon, it is a surprising set. It is mainly its movepool that makes this option viable, as Pokemon like Lugia and Giratina are far better at this role than Mewtwo as they have the blessing of amazing defensive stats. Taunt when paired with Mewtwo's high speed stat allows it to shut down other walls that would otherwise outwall it, or prevent sweepers from setting up on it. Will-O-Wisp helps Mewtwo defensively as it makes sure that physical attackers are kept at bay, while Toxic kills off bulkier Pokemon. Recover is for extra recovery and allows for Mewtwo to survive longer. Psystrike is a viable attacking option for defensive Mewtwo, while Light Screen ensures Mewtwo has more special bulk. The EVs are variable in the sense that you can change the proportion of the Special Defense and Speed EVs based upon what you need Mewtwo to do: whether you need it to be a fast Taunter or a more bulky special wall.

-Psystrike
-Fire Blast / Aura Sphere
-Calm Mind / Substitute
-Substitute / Recover / Ice Beam
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 204 HP / 52 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

This set is similar to the first set, but different in many ways. Psystrike is used because its awesome. Fire Blast and Aura Sphere are coverage, and if you read the first set you'll know the threats they respectively hit. The options for the last two slots are really either "Calm Mind and Substitute" or "Substitute and Whatever". The CM and Substitute set can be devastating as many people will try to either cripple Mewtwo with status or try to switch in a wall that will shortly do so, and Substitute derails that train of thought. With 204 HP EVs, Mewtwo gets 101 HP Substitutes, meaning that neither Seismic Toss or Night Shade can get rid of them in one hit. Once behind the Substitute, Mewtwo is pretty much free to start Calm Minding its life away, at least getting a +1 boost before the Sub goes down. The other option is just to use the Substitute as a shield, and use the last slot for either recovery in the form of Recover, or extra coverage in Ice Beam.

Amnesia, Barrier, Blizzard, Charge Beam, Disable, Energy Ball, Flamethrower, Focus Blast, Grass Knot, Hidden Power, Protect, Psychic, Reflect, Selfdestruct, Shadow Ball, Solarbeam, Thunder, Thunderbolt.
Amnesia is used to boost Mewtwo's Special Defense more, could be used on the bulkier set over Light Screen, or if you're using it in RBY which makes Mewtwo positively godlike (a little like Lucs) as it gives +2 to both Special stats (as it was one stat at the time).
Barrier can be used an a counterpart to Amnesia and can be used over Reflect
Blizzard is a more powerful version of Ice Beam, but you should only use it if you have a Hail Team (though very uncommon).
Charge Beam can be used as a means to boost Mewtwo's Special Attack more, but Calm Mind is more reliable.
Disable could be used very well on the bulky set or the Sub set, almost in the same way as Gengar.
Energy Ball can be used to hit Water/Grounds pretty hard, but that's about all it'll be hitting harder (other than maybe Kyogre).
Flamethrower can be used as a more accurate although less powerful form of Fire Blast, and having Sun up would be useful to help with its power.
Focus Blast can be used if you want more power than Aura Sphere, but the accuracy is going to make you feel like a masochist.
Grass Knot can be used if you really like OHKOing Groudon.
Hidden Power of any type can be used for additional coverage on certain Pokemon that you have particular enmity for.
Protect can be used to scout out what your opponent will be doing to Mewtwo, useful for the bulkier sets and in Doubles.
Psychic can be used as an alternative to Psystrike if you want to be able to take care of Defensive pokemon more easily, though Blissey and Chansey will have a hayday with you if you do.
Reflect can be used over Light Screen on the Sub set if you fear physical threats more.
Selfdestruct can be pretty deadly on a bulky Taunt set
Shadow Ball gets a lot of neutral coverage that can be useful, and hits the Giratina forms and some Arceus forms for good damage.
Solarbeam should only be used on a Sun team if you're using it at all, and hits Water and Ground types quite hard.
Thunder should be used on Rain teams over Fire Blast or Flamethrower as it takes care of opposing Kyogres and hits other threats for decent damage, with the added chance of paralysis thrown in.
Thunderbolt is the alternative to Thunder, and can be used for coverage on a different set of threats.

Ubers Doubles or Triples are not very commonly used, though it is more likely that the Substitute set would be used just because of the status that is rampant throughout this sort of gameplay, and it allows for you to scout out what your opponent had planned.

Good partners for Mewtwo is a hard topic as Mewtwo requires little to no support from its team for dealing with threats, but I guess physical Fighting types would help Mewtwo ward off things like Specially Defensive Dark Arceus, or a strong Ghost type like Giratina-O could help keep Psychic Arceus and other Giratina in check if Mewtwo doesn't have Shadow Ball.

There isn't really any way to counter Mewtwo, so this section is probably more appropriately labeled as "Checking Mewtwo". Despite this, some good checks for Mewtwo are Dark or Psychic Arceus (specially defensive), as they can take hits from Mewtwo, Dark Arceus KOing it in return with Payback. Arceus-P has to be wary though, as Fire Blast and Shadow Ball will do quite a bit of damage to it, while Arceus-D has to worry about the massive Aura Sphere damage. Specially defensive pokemon like Giratina, Bronzong and Jirachi all can take hits from Mewtwo, but can do little in return, while the two Steels have to worry about Fire Blast. Checking it mainly depends on figuring out which coverage moves it has or is not using, and using the appropriate checks. Scarf Pokemon such as Palkia generally can revenge kill Mewtwo, though Choice Scarf Mewtwo with Trick could cause major problems to this sort of strategy.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Trade from FireRed/LeafGreen.

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Cerulean Cave

Colosseum/XD:
Trade from FireRed/LeafGreen

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Transfer from FireRed/LeafGreen
Trade from HeartGold/SoulSilver

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
CeruleanCave

Black/White:
Transfer from Generation IV

Black 2/White 2:
Transfer from Generation IV