Main ‘IFDS’ Set Translations and Scans Up, Commentary, Combos

Bangiras has finished translating all of the cards in the main Intense Fight in the Destroyed Sky set. We still do not have any of the theme deck scans or translations, so you can look forward to those either tomorrow or another day.

In my opinion, this is the best set we have had in a loooong time. There are so many awesome cards that will give birth to new decks and combos – it doesn’t seem like any one deck can dominate with so many potential options, as Gardevoir and Gallade did this season. What made the Base Set days so much fun was the availability of good decks. It wasn’t just that there was one evil deck to beat. The game was more versatile and enjoyable, and this set will definitely introduce more “fun” into the game, especially with the creativity of many of these new cards. The new Charizard isn’t too shabby for collecting purposes either. Perhaps this set is meant to re-introduce people to the card game, as hinted by Charizard? I know I’ll be making every effort to play next season!

So why was this season stale? The rise of Gardevoir and Gallade is a perfect example of how constantly rotating our format and keeping it down to so few sets is problematic. The game probably isn’t designed to have such a small “focus” or “window” of sets, especially since Japan has formats that go as far back as EX FireRed and LeafGreen. Threats can arise in such a limited range of sets that could probably be countered with cards in older sets, but of course, we don’t have many options open with what Pokemon Organized Play has granted us. Hopefully next season (after DP-on in September, 2009), POP will be brave and keep it DP-on for another year. Japan had EX Ruby and Sapphire-on for the longest time, perhaps as late as last season, so maybe POP should learn from their example and keep us with the first of the fourth generation sets for a while. Don’t count on it, though!

For those of you who do not know, Japan’s DP5: Temple of Anger / Cry from the Mysterious should be our next set, Legends Awakened, which will be released in August. Then in November, we should get Intense Fight in the Destroyed Sky, though cards like Shaymin, Giratina, and Dialga will probably be pushed into the February set for the English release of the 11th movie. This is all if history holds true, that is.

As for this set, these are some of the combos we have thought of so far:

• Shaymin LV.X + Leafeon LV.X + Scepile IFDS + Sceptile GE (170 HP Leafeon, lots of attack damage with Shaymin or Leafeon, Sceptile doubles and moves energy)
• Machamp IFDS + Machamp LV.X + Lumineon IFDS (Drag down a Basic, retreat Lumineon for free, Machamp K.O.’s it automatically. Throw in Switch and Warp Point to get Lumineon back out, or simply let Machamp get damaged so that you can do up to 200 damage to their big guys.)
• Lumineon IFDS + Cresselia LV.X (Drag down a Basic, retreat Lumineon for free, K.O. it with Cresselia for 2 prizes.)
• Empoleon MD + Bronzong IFDS + Claydol GE (Bronzong and Empoleon attack the Bench. Use Claydol for consistency.)
• Kingdra LA + Bronzong IFDS + Claydol GE (Use Bronzong’s power to get Energy for Kingdra. Discard them with Kingdra, Claydol, and Supporters for Kingdra’s attack. Claydol also helps with consistency. You can even use Dusknoir to discard Energy.)
• Feraligatr MT + Bronzong IFDS (Use Bronzong’s power to get Energy into the hand for Feraligatr’s attack. The more in your hand, the more damage you do, though Team Galactic’s Wager will shutdown this deck if you wait too long to attack.)
• Tyranitar IFDS + Weavile SW (Use Weavile to power up Tyranitar, then BOOM! Darkrai LV.X might be used to change Basic Darkness into Special Darkness Energy.)
• Tyranitar IFDS + Togekiss GE + Darkrai LV.X (Use Togekiss to get basic Darkness energy on Tyranitar, then use Darkrai LV.X to change them to Special Darkness Energy.)
• Regigigas LV.X + Regis (The Hoenn trio lowers Regigigas’ attack cost and can be sacrificed when they are severely damaged to ensure their king lives.)
• Other notable IFDS Pokemon: Gengar (do lots of damage, 50% chance of K.O.ing them immediately), Sableye (starter card), Drifblim (perhaps a Furret replacement), Salamence (big damage), Raichu LV.X (big damage), Torterra (evolve your Grass Pokemon, do lots of damage), Infernape (do lots of damage), Steelix (do TONS of damage)