Review
too long? Skip straight to the scores and summary.
Name:
Shiftry ex
Set:
EX Power Keepers
Card#:
97/108
Rarity:
Pokémon-ex
Pokémon-ex Rule:
When Pokémon-ex has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2
Prize cards.
Type:
Darkness
Stage:
2 (Evolves from Nuzleaf)
HP:
140
Weakness:
Grass, Fighting
Resistance:
Psychic
Retreat:
(C)
Attack#1:
(D) Skill Hack
Look at your opponent’s hand and choose a Basic Pokémon or
Evolution card you find there. Choose 1 of that Pokémon’s
attacks. Skill Hack copies that attack except for its
Energy cost. (You must still do anything else required for
that attack.) (No matter what type that Pokémon is, Shiftry
ex’s type is still (D).) Shiftry ex performs that attack.
Attack#2:
(DCC) Dirge [60]
Does 60 damage to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon
that has the same name as the Defending Pokémon. (Don’t
apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon).
Name:
Nuzleaf
Set:
EX Power Keepers
Card#:
36/108
Rarity:
Uncommon
Type:
Darkness
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Seedot)
HP:
70
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
Psychic
Retreat:
(C)
Attack#1:
(C) Fake Out [10]
Flip a coin. If heads, the Defending Pokémon is now
Paralyzed.
Attack#2:
(DCC) Gentle Slap [40]
Name:
Seedot
Set:
EX Power Keepers
Card#:
60/108
Rarity:
Common
Type:
Grass
Stage:
Basic
HP:
40
Weakness:
Fire
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Nap
Remove 2 damage counters from Seedot.
Attack#2:
(GC) Double Spin [20x]
Flip two coins. This attack does 20 damage times the number
of heads.
Attributes:
Given that we had a Stage 2 Pokémon-ex yesterday, you probably
know the drill: Shiftry ex will need to be pretty potent
to compensate the increased difficulty of running a Stage 2
Pokémon over a Stage 1 or Basic, and to compensate for the
double Prize taken when it is KO’d, an inability to “use” many
Trainers and Special Energy, and vulnerability to certain
“anti-Pokémon-ex” cards. With that in mind, let’s start looking
at its attributes.
First,
let’s look at “where it comes from”. The new Nuzleaf is
a pretty solid Stage 1: 70 HP is as low as you want to risk,
even if you’re only playing a Stage 1 to Evolve into its Stage 2
counterpart. Fighting Weakness isn’t a surprise, but Psychic
Resistance is, and a most welcome one at that. The attacks are
also middle of the road for a Stage 1 (that is, they have a
slight price break), so I’d say it’s a solid Pokémon. However,
I can’t recommend it over the other Modified Legal Nuzleaf
as all are more or less just as good. As for Seedot, Nap won’t
keep a 40 HP Basic alive very long, and Double Spin is slightly
overpriced (you pay for 25 points of damage, but average only
20), so I’d go with the EX Deoxys version solely because if it
is my Active I am probably desperate and using Collect to draw a
card would be a good idea.
Now
that we have what to build Shiftry ex up from, let’s look
at what it is. As a Darkness Type Pokémon, it enjoys the damage
bonus Darkness Energy provides. Doing more damage is
good, because with only 140 HP, it’s like your opponent is
getting a damage bonus. Although only slightly on the low side
for a Stage 2 Pokémon-ex, it does mean that an attack average 70
damage can 2-hit KO Shiftry ex, and one wants to live
long enough with a Pokémon-ex to take at least two Prizes
(breaking even in terms of Prize count). I don’t know how bad
Fighting Weakness is, but it usually isn’t good. I don’t know
how the metagame will shape up exactly, but even if,
theoretically, no Fighting Type Pokémon were currently popular
I’d worry that someone would take the recently reprinted
Overzealous Machamp to a tournament just hoping to find
enough Pokémon-ex to take them to the top. And that’s not the
only Weakness: Grass is here too, so just due to there being a
double Weakness, Shiftry ex has to compensate a lot.
Psychic Resistance is a good start, though: this will really
hamper Psychic decks, and from what I have seen that is one
thing I can safely predict: Psychic Pokémon will see play this
format. Finally we see a Retreat Cost of one, which is nice and
low and easy to pay. Good thing too, since you are apt to use a
lot of Special Energy you wouldn’t want to have to discard on
Shiftry ex.
Abilities:
Skill Hack is an interesting derivation on the Metronome style
attacks. Instead of selecting a Pokémon in play, you get the
bonus of seeing your opponent’s hand and selecting a Pokémon
from there. If they have nothing, your attack does nothing
more. If they do have something, you can choose it, then an
attack printed on it, and Skill Hack duplicates the effect(s).
Energy cost is ignored but nothing else, so if you select
something that discards two Energy cards, you’ll have to have
two Energy cards to discard or it won’t do anything. It is a
bit of a risk, but the speed and fact you can usually benefit
from a slight damage bonus is nice.
The
second attack is Dirge. For (DCC), you score 60 points of
damage. Ignoring potential bonuses from Darkness Energy
use, that’s a bonus of 25 points. Not horrid for a Pokémon-ex
or a Stage 2 Pokémon, but for both it’s a bit weak. Thankfully,
the attack also hits all Pokémon with the same name as the one
you attacked for 60 as well.
Separately, these attacks are “alright”, but a smart player
could play around them pretty easily. Together, it becomes
trickier. Don’t want Skill Hack to hit anything? Play it right
away. Don’t want Dirge to score big damage? Keep multiples in
your hand and stagger your Evolutions. Both solutions feed the
other attack.
Uses
and
Combinations:
I think this card has a lot of potential, even with the double
Weakness. True, in many decks the “big Evolutions” won’t stay
in the hand long, as they’ll be searched out from the deck only
when Evolution is imminent. Still, that may be enough. Like
nearly every deck, you want to power up as fast as you can. I
haven’t had a chance to test this card, but if you can find the
right partner to help it set up quickly, or else to slow your
opponent down, I would think they’d be hard pressed to fight
back. It slammed me when I faced it at League because I wasn’t
familiar with it, so I didn’t expect it. It was my opponent’s
third turn, I’d used a Pokémon Fan Club the turn before
(since it was the only Supporter I had) and so I had two sets of
50 HP Basics. Needless to say, one set died. I managed to
Evolve on the next turn, but it still impressed me with how
powerful this can be with a quick opening set up.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5 – Sure, there are a lot of smaller Basics, but most of them
hit harder and faster than Shiftry ex can hope to without
an obscenely complex set up.
Modified:
3.75/5 – The double Weakness is the only reason I am scoring it
this low, as I feel that its potency early game can prevent
there from being a mid- or late game to worry about.
Limited:
1.75/5 – If you can pull it and a Darkness Energy, its
worth running. Otherwise, it isn’t. Both attacks need
something to provide (D), and its potency means even if it’s an
unlikely combo it is still worth the room, but only if it is
fully possible. Pokémon-ex do not make good “meat shields”.
Summary
Shiftry ex
is clearly meant to be run as a “speed” Pokémon, coming out
early and beating down the opponent. Whether this is
accomplished by Energy acceleration or Trainer denial, I don’t
know. I just honestly believe it could not only work, but work
quite well.
-Otaku
