Cyrus – Space-Time Smackdown
Date Reviewed: February 6, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
The best Trainer in Space-Time Smackdown is Cyrus (A2 150, 190)! He’s a Trainer-Supporter that lets you move one of your opponent’s damaged Pokémon, from their Bench into the Active spot. Cyrus is available at the ♦♦ and ★★ rarities. Pretty confident about this one, though there’s room for debate and discussion. We haven’t had Space-Time Smackdown long, and yet Cyrus already impresses.
Being a Supporter means Cyrus can be blocked1, but the anti-Supporter decks haven’t proven competitive. The real drawback of being a Supporter is you can’t use Cyrus the same turn you use another Supporter. Yes, that applies to all Supporters, but I’ve absolutely had turns where I had to pick between Cyrus and another Supporter, when I wanted (even needed) to use both.
In case my paraphrase and/or the actual wording of Cyrus are unclear, like Sabrina (and a few other cards), you can use Cyrus to make your opponent switch out their Active Pokémon for one of their Benched Pokémon. All damage, attached cards, etc. go with their Pokémon; its just a matter of something on the Bench becoming the new Active, while the former Active winds up on the Bench. The crucial difference is that, unlike Sabrina, Cyrus lets you, the player using Cyrus, pick which Benched Pokémon is forced to become the new Active.
Well, if the desired Pokémon is damaged. Whether they’re down 10 HP, down to their last 10 HP, or anything in between, Cyrus lets you select a damaged Pokémon. You can’t even play Cyrus if nothing on your opponent’s Bench is damaged. There will definitely be times when the Pokémon you want to promote won’t be injured. In general, odds are decent your opponent will have something injured on their Bench at some point during a game. This is because retreating something injured to the Bench to deny your opponent the KO is a common tactic.
There are many ways to get damage onto some or all of your opponent’s Pokémon. There are attacks and Abilities that damage that can damage Benched Pokémon tend to be:
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Snipers that just damage one Benched Pokémon.
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Spreaders that hit multiple Pokémon in play.
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Variations on the above.
“Sniper” and “spreader” are not official Pokémon TCG Pocket terms, but like “Bench-hitters”, they’re an example of player jargon. The specifics of sniping or spreading can vary as well. Some snipers can only hit something on the Bench, while others can choose to strike a Pokémon on the Bench or in the Active spot. Some spreaders hit all your opponent’s Pokémon equally, may hit one harder, may only hit two, etc. I don’t recall any Abilities that spread damage, but Greninja (A1 089, Promo-A 019) is well known for its Ability letting you snipe for 20 damage.
These methods of damaging the Bench usually don’t do a lot of damage… but that’s where Cyrus comes in (again). It’s good for chasing down former Actives who are hiding on the Bench. The reverse approach is also valid: use Cyrus after damaging something on the Bench, because once you force it Active, you can go for the KO. At the very least, you’ll usually be able to hit it harder than when it was hiding on the Bench. Now, what about our other gusting card, Sabrina?
Glancing through some of the higher performing lists, there’s actually variety. Some decks run two Cyrus and no Sabrina. I didn’t notice any running two of each; I’m assuming it was due to lack of space. That’s the probably same reason a few decks ran neither. Well, that and being really good at OHKOs, usually while not being easy OHKOs themselves. Double Cyrus decks seemed better at spreading damage. Double Sabrina decks not so much.
Effects like that of Cyrus have been winning games since the days of Base Set. Oldheads like me refer to them as “gusting” effects, because the first one was named “Gust of Wind”… and nicknamed “Gust of Win”. Various permutations of the effect would reappear over the decades. A quick glance at well performing deck lists for the full TCG shows Boss’s Orders is still going strong. If you don’t care to click the link, Boss’s Orders is a Trainer-Supporter that lets you move one of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon into their Active position, while the now former Active gets forced to the Bench.
Yes, this is just Cyrus without the Benched Pokémon needing to be injured. Which is why Cyrus is badly under-powered for the full TCG. Boss’s Orders (SWSH – Brilliant Stars 132/172; SWSH Black Star Promos SWSH251) the regular and full art printings of Boss’s Orders feature Cyrus2 in their card art. There are no cards named “Cyrus” in the full Pokémon TCG, but there are a few Trainer cards that not only feature him in the art, but do contain “Cyrus” in their names, as well a series of Pokémon denoted to belong to Cyrus via a portrait of him in the lower right corner of the artwork.3
Rating: 4.5/5
Hiding injured Pokémon on the Bench has been a strategy since I first began playing Pocket, and almost certainly predates me getting into Pocket. Damage spread and sniper decks were already a major part of the metagame, and Space-Time Smackdown added more. More without removing many (if any) of the old. He’s not for every deck, but at least for now, he’s really great. Could get get something better? Yes. Could that be next set? For all I know. I thought Sabrina would reign longer than she did…
1Gengar (A1 122) and Psyduck (A1) prevent the opposing player from using Supporters via their attacks; Gengar ex (A2 123, 261, 277) does as well but through its Ability.
2There is also a Giovanni versions, Lysandre versions, and Ghetsis versions of Boss’s Orders.
3Too many even for me to list, but check them out here on Bulbapedia.
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