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As one might expect, my premature return means I have
need to promote something; in this case, I am trying to
raise funds for something a bit odd;
an injured pet.
Enough has nearly been raised to pay treatment other
than euthanization, so if you can please consider
donating or at least sharing the link.
Today we look at Shiftry (XY: Flashfire
7/106). I was not able to take the time to watch
Nationals live nor have I found a good report over the
event from a trusted source to draw any conclusions
relevant to the metagame based on the results; if the
results of Nationals proves me wrong about something (or
dare I dream it, proves me right) then I wouldn’t have
known at the time of writing.
Stats
Type
Shiftry
is a Grass-Type; there are a few pieces of true
Grass-Type support, and even at least one Grass-Type
“counter”... okay, that last is just Weedle (XY
3/146), which has a single attack for (G) that does 10
points of base damage plus 20 if the opponent’s Active
Pokémon is a Grass-Type. Actually, the Grass-Type
support isn’t much more significant; often there are
little things like searching out Grass-Type Pokémon via
an attack. The one exception that may or may not prove
significant is Floette (XY: Flashfire
64/106), which is a small Stage 1 Fairy-Type that
possesses an Ability that grants +20 HP to Grass-Types
(and it stacks).
Grass Resistance disappeared when the “Poison-Type”
shifted from being part of the TCG Grass-Type to part of
the TCG Psychic-Type, so barring some more recent combo
I don’t know or ancient combos you don’t need to worry
about, you’ll never encounter it. Grass-Weakness on the
other hand is useful; while no TCG Type is universally
Grass-Weak, it is one of the three potential Weaknesses
seen on Fighting-Type and Water-Type Pokémon.
Stage
As a Stage 2 Pokémon, Shiftry eats up a lot of
space in your deck and takes extra effort over Basic
Pokémon to get into play. This is hardly an automatic
disqualification, but there are many Stage 2 Pokémon
that fail solely because they do great things, but not
after factoring in the overall cost of running an
Evolution. There is a nice combo partner available for
any and all Stage 2 Pokémon right now, and Shiftry
is no exception: Miltank (XY: Flashfire
83/106) provides a 100 HP, Colorless-Type Basic Pokémon
that hits for 80 points of damage with a cost of just
(C)... so long as you have a Stage 2 in play. We’ll
examine its lower Stages later, to see if they are a
help or a hindrance.
Hit Points
140 is roughly “average” for a Stage 2 Pokémon, and is
not an easy OHKO for many decks but for most it is a
potential OHKO; usually with a slightly less potent
attack being boosted via combos, including pseudo-OHKOs
that don’t technically score a OHKO but are taking
advantage of Poison damage or spread damage from an
earlier attack. Without any boosts (including
Weakness), a lot of decks will find it tricky or
impossible to deliver 140 points of damage (before
Weakness) all at once.
Weakness
I find Fire Weakness to be a very scary thing; XY:
Flashfire not only gave Fire-Type Pokémon more
support, but because it was (and to some degree, still
is) “the new thing”, it has given all of us an excuse to
try out said support. We are at last seeing some
competitive decks actually attacking with Fire-Types as
opposed to only using them for support, and especially
in early rounds of a competition you’re more likely to
see someone attempting to go rogue (and perhaps
carefully metagame) with what would normally be a than
successful Fire-Type deck.
The slight upside is that Fire-Types hit so hard that
the “good ones” will often find themselves failing to
benefit much, possibly at all. For example
Charizard-EX (XY: Flashfire 12/106) hits for
150 points of damage, OHKOing a Shiftry even
without applying Weakness via its second attack,
Combustion Blast, and Combustion Blast has an effect
that prevents it from being twice in a row (though there
are combos around this). It does improve the results of
Slash; its 60 points of damage doubles to 120, making it
an easy 2HKO and probable OHKO after “boosting”, but
even then Slash just needed a Muscle Band for one
of its two attacks to be a 2HKO anyway.
Resistance
As is usually the case, this card lacks Resistance
entirely. As “no Resistance” is still the norm, this is
less a drawback and more a “missed opportunity”; at 140
HP Resistance is likely enough to matter, though not
greatly (Weakness is far overpowered because it is a
multiplier, unlike the flat -20 points to damage caused
by Resistance. As in the video games Shiftry are
Grass-Type/Dark-Type hybrids, they are Resistant to six
video game Types and immune to one video game Type,
however all but two forms of Resistance translate poorly
to the TCG because one of the seven Types to which
Shiftry are Weak are also paired up with each of those.
The two that do work would have been great;
Lightning-Type or Darkness-Type Resistance can throw
damage tallies off for two popular attacking Types right
now.
Retreat Cost
A Retreat Cost of two is currently the worst right now,
mitigated a bit because there are several commonly
played cards and combos to completely zero out a card’s
Retreat Cost or bypass the retreating mechanic entirely
(even repeatedly). As the game focuses on OHKOs and
2HKOs right now, there are also very few opportunities
for which retreating is useful. It should still be
self-explanatory why lower Retreat Costs are better
(even if seldom needed), and if you are aware of
Heavy Ball you know why a score of three or more
could have potentially been beneficial. Once Heavy
Ball and the aforementioned “tricks” leave the
format (unless another card effect influences things
abnormally), then a two Retreat Cost will simply be the
functional “average”, neither especially easy nor
crippling to pay should it be needed.
Effects
Ability
Leaf Draw allows you to discard a Grass-Type Energy from
hand to draw three cards. It does not specify “basic
Energy” so should we receive a Special Energy card that
counts as the Grass-Type while in hand, it would be a
legal discard option. Normally that’s just something I
include to be thorough, but based on its Japanese
counterpart, we may be receiving such a card in XY:
Furious Fists: we just need a ruling to be sure
because the card’s template indicates one thing while
the text suggests another.
Three cards drawn at the cost of a single Energy card
discard from hand is very good, though perhaps not quite
“great”... at least on its own. Fortunately the Ability
does stack, and unlike some other forms of Ability-based
draw power, discarding an Energy card is relatively easy
to do each turn if you build your deck correctly, as
opposed to say repeatedly lowering your hand
significantly below six cards in order to use the
Ability of Delphox (XY 26/146) - Mystical
Fire - multiple times.
Attack
Deranged Dance does 20 points of damage times the number
of Benched Pokémon in play (counts both players), at a
cost of (GCC). Three Energy is pretty steep without
Energy acceleration, but fortunately the specific
requirements are are mostly Colorless which opens up
several options, including the simple-but-effective
Double Colorless Energy. The lone (G) Energy
requirement makes for slightly increased synergy with
Virizion-EX than Shiftry would have without
it.
The attack’s output can vary from 0 (when neither player
has a Bench) to 200 (both players have a full Bench).
Between the difficulty of having to fill (and keep
full) your own Bench, your opponent potentially using
cards that reward them/punish you for having a full
bench, and how for most decks, your opponent will have
at least some difficulty in keeping a small Bench, I
would expect a fairly easy 80 to 120 points of damage
per attack; for the effort going into it (Stage 2 and
three Energy) that’s still pretty good, and overall I
guess the extremes balance out.
Internal Synergy
Unlike a Basic Pokémon, setting up multiple copies of
even the same Stage 2 Pokémon can be a challenge, as can
repeatedly getting three Energy onto Shiftry to
attack, however the Ability should offset most of this.
With the right deck to support it, it should even swing
to an obvious net gain, allowing you to enjoy a strong
attacker and effective Ability, even if you’re going to
see plenty of painful OHKOs against your Stage 2
Pokémon. As such, the Ability and attack compliment
each other quite well without being obviously tied
together, with the further bonus of not being so
painfully co-dependent that interfering with one
cripples the other.
Related Cards
As a Stage 2, Shiftry will need at least two
other cards to get into play. Its Basic form is
Seedot, for which there are currently two
candidates: BW: Next Destinies 2/99 and XY:
Flashfire 5/106. Both are Basic, Grass-Type Pokémon
with Fire-Type Weakness, single Energy Retreat Costs and
one attack that costs (C) to use. BW: Next Destinies
2/99 has just 40 HP but enjoys Water-Type Resistance,
and its attack does 10 or 20 points of damage, depending
on if you can flip “heads” for the attack. XY:
Flashfire 5/106 has 50 HP but no Resistance, and
instead of doing damage its attack allows you to search
your deck for a Basic Pokémon and play it directly to
your Bench. 40 HP is rarely worse than 50 HP as both
are almost guaranteed OHKOs (only slightly safer on the
overall second turn of the game), but the Water
Resistance isn’t going to matter very often at this
size, either; in the end the attacks decide it and while
both attacks are bad, getting a Basic Pokémon from the
deck should ultimately serve you better.
There are two options for Nuzleaf as well, in
addition to just skipping it entirely via Rare Candy:
BW: Next Destinies 71/99 and XY: Flashfire
6/106. Both are Stage 1 Pokémon with 80 HP and single
Energy Retreat costs: I would have preferred 90 as that
is just a bit sturdier while still being a legal
Level Ball target and if we remove Level Ball
from the equation, 100 to 120 (I believe that “front
loading” an Evolution line’s HP, while contrary to the
video games, is necessary given the TCG’s mechanics).
I’ll cover XY: Flashfire 6/106 first because of
formatting concerns: like Shiftry it is a
Grass-Type with Fire Weakness and no Resistance, and it
has two attacks. For (C) it can hit for 20 points of
damage while for (GCC) it can do 40, both of which are
below competitive rates but at least the Energy
requirements are in line with Shiftry.
BW: Next Destinies is a Darkness-Type with Fighting Weakness, Psychic Resistance and
a single attack for (DC) that does 20 points of damage
while moving an Energy from the Defending Pokémon to
something on the opponent’s Bench. The Type could allow
you to make use of Darkness-Type support for the
otherwise Grass-Type Evolutionary line, though that will
complicate the deck more and require running basic
Darkness Energy cards in addition to Grass Energy
(for Dark Patch and Leaf Draw, respectively).
Fighting Weakness has historically been dangerous and
the next set is focused around the Type, providing them
both many new Pokémon but also Type support; another
reason not to mix the two. The Resistance and the
attack are both nice, though on an 80 HP Pokémon not
good enough to justify running it. In the end, use as
many Rare Candy as you can, and then XY:
Flashfire 6/106 (I always prefer to use at least one
of the actual Stage 1).
There is also another Shiftry still in the format
as well as an upcoming Japanese promo; either could
present a rival to crowd out an identically named card
from decks, or a complimentary combo partner. Shiftry
(BW: Next Destinies 72/99) is a Stage 2
Darkness-Type Pokémon with 130 HP, Fighting-Type
Weakness, Psychic-Type Resistance, and single Energy
Retreat Cost. It has an Ability, Giant Fan, that
triggers when you play Shiftry from your hand to
Evolve one of your Pokémon; you flip a coin and if
“heads” you get to choose one of your opponent’s Pokémon
and shuffle it and all cards attached to it back into
his or her deck. Its Whirlwind attack requires (DDC)
and does 60 points of damage, while also forcing the
Defending Pokémon to the Bench (your opponent chooses
the new Active). While access to Darkness-Type support
is nice and speeds up the attack, said attack is badly
overpriced and the Ability - while awesomely potent - is
painfully unreliable and difficult to re-use. Some
“fun” decks were built around this, but they weren’t
anywhere near reliable enough to be competitive.
The Japanese promo (which came out back in May and I
assume we will eventually get) has the same stats as
today’s card, but with two attacks. For (G) it can hit
for 30 points of damage while giving you a look at your
opponent’s hand: if you find a Pokémon there you can
bottom deck it, which causes the attack to do another 30
points of damage. That is a reasonably competent mix of
disruption and damage. The second attack has the same
cost as Deranged Dance, but does base damage of 60 with
two coin flips that add 30 points of damage per “heads”.
Honestly, this isn’t bad, just not “good”: you’re
looking at a 60/90/90/120 split, so half of the outcomes
are “fair” damage while one-in-four is “good”, but the
60 point hits can cost you as can the better results
happening when they are overkill. That last bit is
important; if I hit for 60 one turn and 120 the next,
I’ve only averaged 90 points of damage per turn if the
Pokémon I am hitting has sufficient HP: if I hit two 60
HP Pokémon, for example, I have still only inflicted an
effective 120 points of damage over two turns, or 60
points of damage on average.
Neither of these are better than today’s Shiftry,
though the promo is almost tempting to run alongside it
as a single copy; as well as giving you an attacker that
can use most (if not all) of whatever support you’re
throwing behind today’s version but still be effective
if Bench-sizes are small. I can’t recommend it,
however, because today’s version is just that much
better and you can fill those needs with other cards.
Usage
Shiftry
needs to be the main focus of whatever deck runs it;
even if you intend to use it primarily for the Ability,
that will affect your Energy choices. There is a very
similar card to Shiftry that was one of the few
Evolutions to see some competitive play as a main
attacker even before the change to the current First
Turn rules and errata of Pokémon Catcher:
Empoleon (BW: Dark Explorers 29/108; BW:
Plasma Freeze 117/116).
They can be played in a similar manner, but there are
some important key differences other than Type:
Empoleon requires just a single (W) Energy to attack
and counts all Pokémon (Active and Benched, yours and
your opponent’s) but only for damage damage per
resulting in a range of 20 to 120 points of damage, and
its Diving Draw Ability allows you to discard any one
card from your hand to draw two. This means Empoleon
needs a lot of help to score OHKOs, and perhaps the most
successful strategy seen with it recently (and not so
recently) is to partner it with Dusknoir (BW:
Boundaries Crossed 63/149; BW: Plasma Blast
104/101): this does not make OHKOs any easier, but
instead prevents overkill while streamlining 2HKOs,
sometimes to the point of creating an effective OHKO
later.
Shiftry
draws 50% more cards with its Ability and hits twice as
hard with its attack, but needs more resources in that
it must discard only Grass Energy for its Ability and
the bulkier cost of its attack; many Empoleon
tactics like Max Potion usage or running lower
utility cards because you can use them as discard fodder
don’t work. You benefit less from Dusknoir as
well; if you successfully fill your Bench, your opponent
has to keep his or her Bench down to one or zero Pokémon
to prevent Shiftry from getting into OHKO range
of many Pokémon and with common damage boosting tactics
Shiftry can still OHKO all but the biggest
Evolutions or Pokémon-EX even with such resource
management.
Miltank
(XY: Flashfire 83/106) is a natural inclusion
regardless and is also an Empoleon (and pretty
much every other Stage 2 Pokémon) partner. It provides
a low Energy, Basic Pokémon attacker that can sometimes
take a hit and with a little help, score 2HKOs. Leaf
Draw should make relying on Muscle Band,
Silver Bangle, and/or the Hypnotoxic Laser/Virbank
City Gym combo a reasonable tactic, and even without
that it still buys time for Shiftry to set-up
while still providing an offense the opponent can’t just
ignore. Miltank also is only hurt by losing some
of its support in the event Abilities are shut down;
Shiftry can still attack just fine without its
Ability, but Miltank (other than needing a
Benched Stage 2) requires so little that the loss of
expected draw power isn’t as much of an issue.
Milotic
(XY: Flashfire 23/106) can use its Ability to KO
itself while attaching up to three Basic Energy to
Shiftry (or any other non-Pokémon-EX in the deck),
providing additional Energy acceleration (running
Double Colorless Energy should pretty much be a
given). You might also be able to attack with it if you
don’t mind running a source of (W) Energy, but as it
doesn’t hit that hard it would really only have a hope
of being useful against Pyroar (XY: Flashfire
20/106) as it would score a OHKO and any Basic attackers
you have in the deck couldn’t touch it.
Something I have heard suggested but have zero data on
its actual implementation and success (or lack thereof)
is backing Shiftry with the Floette
mentioned earlier; just two on the Bench bumps
Shiftry to 180, the biggest you see on Basic
Pokémon-EX. If you could actually maintain four
Floette, Shiftry would rise to 220 HP, Mega
Evolution levels! Would I personally try this? Well if
I had the cards you bet I would, but I have often
enjoyed decks that were less than the most competitive
options, so that doesn’t mean much. This build is even
more vulnerable to loss of Abilities, another important
difference.
For Limited play, Shiftry is a card you have to
“disqualify” yourself from running. If you failed to
pull even a single Seedot or Nuzleaf
alongside it, you obviously shouldn’t run it. If you
manage to pull a big, Basic Pokémon that would be better
off backed by 39 non-Basic Pokémon cards (guaranteeing
you open with it), that too is a good reason not to run
Shiftry. If you cannot pull enough other Pokémon
capable of making use of Grass Energy (as you’ll
want to run no less than half of your Energy as Grass
Energy for Leaf Draw), you probably shouldn’t run
it. Otherwise, yes include it; everything about
Shiftry is better here, though remember than the
Weakness is still a concern as this set contains many
potent Fire-Type Pokémon and support for them.
Ratings
Modified:
3.75/5 - Shiftry has to worry about its Weakness
and isn’t as easy to run as Empoleon, but it
draws more and hits harder; a bit surprised we aren’t
seeing more of it.
Limited:
4/5 - As outlined above, you run this card unless you
have a good reason to not run it.
Summary
Shiftry
already has enough going for it to justify at least
getting a playset for experimentation. Just a little
more going for it (including perhaps some of its rivals
rotating out or losing support due to rotation) and it
should become a more significant presence, though
perhaps the Energy demands (both for the Ability and
attack) are more of a problem than I realize.
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