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Today its short and sweet; we are covering Steel Shelter (XY:
Plasma Steel 105/119), a card that actually did make
one of the reviewer's Top 10 lists, if I’m not mistaken,
but low enough we decided we could review it later than
the honorary mentions/runner-up week that often follows
said lists. Well… its later!
Steel Shelter is a Stadium
card, which is a mixed blessing; this is a niche most
decks will want to have something occupy, but any other
Stadium can send it to the discard pile, spare copies
are dead in hand if that Stadium is already in play and
while I don’t believe we have any current, universally
acclaimed Stadium that is a must run in and of itself
for every deck, things like Virbank City Gym are
a must for any deck that can Poison (like all those
decks still running Hypnotoxic Laser) or are a
staple for a particular deck (Fairy Garden in
Fairy Transfer decks). The actual effect of Steel
Shelter is that Metal-Type Pokémon are immune to
Special Conditions; they can’t be inflicted on your
Metal-Type Pokémon and if any were present when you
played Steel Shelter, they are removed at that
time. This is simple, solid effect for a Stadium though
a bit less useful than my earlier example of Fairy
Garden. The reason is that it is harder to generate
an instant return with Steel Shelter plus some
decks just don’t use Special Conditions, while its rare
for a Fairy Transfer deck to avoid not need to retreat.
So should Metal-Type decks run it? The short answer is the most
unsatisfying “Maybe.”. To give you an idea, the main
Metal-Type deck right now is Bronzong (XY:
Phantom Forces 61/119). The exact attackers can
vary but it's fueled by Bronzong or rather its
Ability. If you’re using Metal-Type attackers, it can
come in handy due to timing. You can’t play two
Stadiums in the same turn but you can (for example)
protect your own Metal-Types from Special Conditions
with Steel Shelter before dropping a Virbank
City Gym to boost a Hypnotoxic Laser. Of
course, maybe none of the good lists try that trick. My
first hand experience is limited to mixed results with a
PTCGO Bronzong deck; I didn’t quite have the
cards for what I understand to be the traditional build,
so I improvised a bit. With just one Dialga-EX (BW:
Phantom Forces 62/119, 119/116) I found myself
running a Cobalion-EX (only had one of it as
well) and then relying more on Cobalion (BW:
Noble Victories 84/101, 101/101; BW: Legendary
Treasures 91/113) and Heatran (XY: Phantom
Forces 63/119). So for me, it was useful to
alternate between Steel Shelter and Virbank
City Gym; in some match-ups only one was really
useful and in others as long as I could play down both,
I was doing good. Note that the Heatran listed
has a Stadium enhanced attack, so my deck did run two a
piece of Steel Shelter and Virbank City Gym;
a build just worried about getting big hits off of
Dialga-EX might prefer those slots went to
additional retreat alternatives.
The catch is, my testing also had me wondering if I should drop it
for Mountain Ring, to protect my Bench. In many
ways, Mountain Ring and Steel Shelter have
the same problem; incomplete protection. Mountain
Ring is bypassed by damage counter placement and
Abilities while Steel Shelter doesn’t protect
against everything other than damage. Both changes
would likely make these Stadiums too good, but such is
the format we are in: most successful cards are at least
a bit over potent.
Ratings
Note: Scores assume you are running a deck with most or all Metal-Type
attackers.
Standard: 3.15/5 - An
average score for a Type specific card should make the
situation fairly clear; it is by no means bad but its
not a must run where by all rights it should come close.
Expanded: 3/5 - There are
other options here, though most aren’t going to make a
major difference.
Limited: 5/5 - The usual drill; there are two Stadium cards in this set so
at least one of each is a must if you pull them. Yes,
even when neither benefit you directly, its about
sabotaging the opponent that is trying to rely on said
Stadium. Even if you have no Metal-Types, even if your
deck can’t inflict Special Conditions, you need Steel
Shelter just to take out Dimension Valley.
Summary: One of many cards that feels like a bit of a throwback; I’m not
sure if it could be made much better without it becoming
a bit too good, but what makes it nostalgic is that in
some past formats, it was the vulnerability to Special
Conditions that was a real problem for Metal-Types. If
you aren’t going to try to boost your own damage with
Hypnotoxic Laser or worry about Bench hits, then its
probably the best default Stadium.
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