M Rayquaza EX / Shiftry

[fidget2000]

[attachment=7791]
This is my first post!
This Deck involves cards coming out in the Next TCG set: Roaring Skies which comes out May 4, 2015.
Here is the Deck List!

Pokemon: 20

• 
  3-2-3 Shiftry FLF
  2-2 M Rayquaza-EX RSK
  3-3 Ninetales PRC
  1 Virizion-EX
  1 Jirachi-EX

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: 29

• 
  1 Wally
  4 Sycamore
  2 N
  3 Colress
  1 Lysandre's Trump Card
  2 Pokemon Fan Club
  2 Ultra Ball
  1 Teammates
  1 Skyla
  1 Lysandre
  2 Rare Candy
  1 Professor's Letter
  2 VS Seeker
  2 M Rayquaza Spirit Link
  3 Skyfield

Energy: 11

• 
  4 Double Colorless Energy
  7 Grass Energy

So Lets Start with some pros and cons
Pros:
1. Non-Ex Main attacker means giving up one prize
2. Leaf Draw brings added draw support
3. With Skyfield max damage output for Shiftry is 320
4. Virizion blocks Laser with Verdant Wind to Pokemon with Grass Energy
5. M Rayquaza-EX can serve as a bigger and faster attacker when Shiftry is being set up . Its max damage output with Skyfield is 240
6. Hits for weakness on Seisimitoad-EX
7. Punishes Opponent for benching pokemon.
Cons:
1. Shiftry is a stage 2 which means slow set up
2. Leaf Draw is somewhat risky because running out of energy is a possibility.
3. When Skyfield is discarded, you are forced to discard pokemon and all cards attached to it off of your bench until you are at 5 bench pokemon.
4. Ninetales' stadium block is a necessity but it only has 90HP

With that aside lets move onto strategy.

The goal is to bench as many pokemon as possible and deal massive damage with shiftry but how do we do that? Well to start, Shiftry obviously set up quickly with rare candy, skipping the stage 1. In addition we have the usual draw supporters like; N, Sycamore, and Colress. Also, the yet to be released set Roaring Skies contains a supporter, Wally, that is basically a turn 1 evosoda. This can be especially helpful against seismitoad when they quaking punch away the rare candy option. In addition, after setting up 1 shiftry, leaf draw can help draw more cards that can help with more set up. Shiftry only requires 1 DCE and 1 Grass energy to attack making it a little quicker to use. If shiftry is not able to set up in time, you can use mega rayquaza with a similar attack to shiftry. Rayquaza also can be set up quickly and it can evolve first turn with its Ancient Trait, Delta Evolution. Another important piece to this puzzle is Skyfield. Skyfeild will be released in Roaring Skies. Basically, Skyfield allows both players to have up to 8 bench pokemon. Rayquaza's and Shiftry's attack do more damage when there are more benched pokemon. See the synergy? For Shiftry, it can do 180 (knocking out most regular ex pokemon) with a total of 9 bench pokemon and can knock out megas with 240 when a total of 12 pokemon are benched. It also helps that the bulkiest megas, Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, are both weak to grass. Pokemon Fan Club really helps with getting benched pokemon out fast! To wrap the strategy up, we have the typical every deck techs like Lysandre, Teammates, and more.

Now Some Reasoning behind certain cards:
1. Virizion-Verdant wind blocks hypnotoxic laser and all special conditions done to pokemon with grass energy on it.
2. Jirachi-Its just amazing. Stellar Guidance allows you to search you deck for any supporter which you can never go wrong with.
3. More Colress, Less N- Colress Draws so many cards with skyfield (Up to 16!) and most of the time N will not be as good.
4. Ninetales-When Skyfield is discarded it has a nasty drawback. Ninetale's barrier shrine basically locks the stadium in place and your opponent has to knockout Ninetales to play his or her own stadium.

Other Options:
This deck can also utilize the power of raichu from XY becuase it also does damage based on bench pokemon and hits for super effective damage on yveltal-EX and M Rayquaza EX. You can also make room for muscleband/silverbangle to increase damage output. Another possibility is to completely take out the shiftry and make a sraight M Rayquaza EX deck. I mainly did not make an article on that because I wanted to showcase some creativity on my first post. Lastly, you can consider running xerosic/startling megaphone for that pesky garbodor.

Feel free to leave suggestions, questions, and ideas! This is my first post so bear with me if I make some errors and stuff like that.

Thanks For Reading and Have a Fantastic Day!

 

[asdjklghty]

RE: Shiftry/Skyfield

Jirachi EX is great for consistency but... anyone can just Lysandre the poor thing and KO it for the easiest 2 prizes. Use Jirachi at your own risk. Also, with Seismitoad EX around, I would focus on more Wally cause it can work under the Item lock.
"What about a Pokemon to defend while setup?"
Perhaps Suicune or something to soak up damage.

 

[ejorange]

RE: Shiftry/Skyfield

Colress is so powerful!!! Also, to help with the energy problems with discarding, superior energy retrieval may be a quick solution, almost garunteeing (spelling I think is right?) two energy attachments and two leaf draws over this turn and the next. Skyla is not that powerful as a one-of so that could come out maybe. Also, I think you might do better if you run a third ultra ball instead of Jirachi or even perhaps Wally. Jirachi is an easy two prizes and is not useful in every game, and wally cannot search out basics. All just thoughts and there could be something I'm missing, but these are my suggestions.

 

[asdjklghty]

RE: Shiftry/Skyfield

Colress is so powerful!!! Also, to help with the energy problems with discarding, superior energy retrieval may be a quick solution, almost garunteeing (spelling I think is right?) two energy attachments and two leaf draws over this turn and the next. Skyla is not that powerful as a one-of so that could come out maybe. Also, I think you might do better if you run a third ultra ball instead of Jirachi or even perhaps Wally. Jirachi is an easy two prizes and is not useful in every game, and wally cannot search out basics. All just thoughts and there could be something I'm missing, but these are my suggestions.

Wally cannot search out basics because that's not his purpose. His purpose is to speed up evolution and help consistency under Item lock.

 

[cardgjammer]

Unless you're seeking to use this deck in the last weekend of Spring Regionals, or even June National/US National/Non-sanctioned event, if you want to use this deck outside of a casual League/Challenge setting, you have no choice but to focus on next season, when Colress will likely be out of Standard format, and N has a chance to follow Colress out the door. There may be no way to draw 16 cards at once when Colress leaves, but Shauna is a close replacement to N, and when I say close replacement, I mean not exact replacement: Sure, you get 1 card less than you would if you have 6 prizes at the time N is used, which is close to N at full power. The catch? Your opponent does not do the same if Shauna is used, and the number of cards you draw upon Shauna use stays constant, unlike N in which the number of cards you draw depends on the prizes you have left. Perfect if each player has 1 prize left, and you lack the cards in your hand to get the game-winning KO to pry that last prize to win. While Birch's observations can be seen as a substitute Colress in a non-Skyfield play area if the flip is heads, it does not take bench into account, and the number of cards you draw varies on the flip, but that same number has only 2 possible values: 7 if heads, 4 if tails: a far cry from Colress...

I have some suggestions to deal w/ the time Colress and N leave Standard, with italics for cards that are leaving:

Removals:

-1/-1 Ninetales
-1 Virizion-EX
-1 Jirachi-EX
-3 Colress
-2 N
-1 Skyla

Additions:

+1 Wally
+3 Shauna/Birch
+2 Charizard-EX(CB version)(more bench pokemon=greater damage for Shiftry's attack)
+3 fire energy(just in case ninetales is poisoned and Dragalged, or blocked from retreating by a similar scenario, and has to attack or get KO'd)
+1 Lysandre(If you have 1 Lysandre in deck, and it's prized, and your pokemon need it in order to avoid the slaughter, then you lost by unluckiness that could've been limited by having 1 more of the same card)

^ Are the above changes OK with you?

 

[RideLith]

First off, I really like your idea. Pairing Shiftry with Colorless M Ray might work despite the current limitations of Stage 2s in this format, since you can run through your whole deck really quickly with Shaymin EX (wich is lacking in your list but we can get to that later).

My first advice is to completely cut the Ninetales line and add 3 to 4 Shaymin EX. Shaymin will be the cornerstone of your drawing power, and it is desirable to discard it when Skyfield is put down, hence why Ninetales is counter-productive. Also add 1 more Skyfield to ensure that you're able to consistently rotate between your Skyfields and the opponent's counter stadium.
Since cutting a 3-3 line leaves a lot of space open, I'd also run a 1-1 Altaria line to tech against MegaMan matchups.

I'd also cut the 2 Fan Clubs and add 2 Ultra Ball. You want this deck to be ultra fast, Fan Club takes your supporter for that turn and can't grab you your evolutions, wich you are running many.

You can also try to fit in 2 extra VS Seeker and 2 or 3 Mega Turbos. A 4 line of VS Seeker is important when running 1-of-supporters like you're doing with Wally, Teammates and Lysandre, and it can work even better if you're able to fit in some Battle Compressors to close up the engine. Mega Turbos will help you with the energy problem without the need of an early Trump Card.

Also... where is your Ace Spec? If you can't find a place for one, at least cut one Ultra Ball to place a Computer Search.

 

[fidget2000]

Unless you're seeking to use this deck in the last weekend of Spring Regionals, or even June National/US National/Non-sanctioned event, if you want to use this deck outside of a casual League/Challenge setting, you have no choice but to focus on next season, when Colress will likely be out of Standard format, and N has a chance to follow Colress out the door. There may be no way to draw 16 cards at once when Colress leaves, but Shauna is a close replacement to N, and when I say close replacement, I mean not exact replacement: Sure, you get 1 card less than you would if you have 6 prizes at the time N is used, which is close to N at full power. The catch? Your opponent does not do the same if Shauna is used, and the number of cards you draw upon Shauna use stays constant, unlike N in which the number of cards you draw depends on the prizes you have left. Perfect if each player has 1 prize left, and you lack the cards in your hand to get the game-winning KO to pry that last prize to win. While Birch's observations can be seen as a substitute Colress in a non-Skyfield play area if the flip is heads, it does not take bench into account, and the number of cards you draw varies on the flip, but that same number has only 2 possible values: 7 if heads, 4 if tails: a far cry from Colress...

I have some suggestions to deal w/ the time Colress and N leave Standard, with italics for cards that are leaving:

Removals:

-1/-1 Ninetales
-1 Virizion-EX
-1 Jirachi-EX
-3 Colress
-2 N
-1 Skyla

Additions:

+1 Wally
+3 Shauna/Birch
+2 Charizard-EX(CB version)(more bench pokemon=greater damage for Shiftry's attack)
+3 fire energy(just in case ninetales is poisoned and Dragalged, or blocked from retreating by a similar scenario, and has to attack or get KO'd)
+1 Lysandre(If you have 1 Lysandre in deck, and it's prized, and your pokemon need it in order to avoid the slaughter, then you lost by unluckiness that could've been limited by having 1 more of the same card)

^ Are the above changes OK with you?

I think you have very good points. I will most likely revisit this deck upon the start of the 2015-2016 format. It is hard to start thinking about next year right now because there is still one more set coming to kick of the next year's format (Most likely in August).

---

First off, I really like your idea. Pairing Shiftry with Colorless M Ray might work despite the current limitations of Stage 2s in this format, since you can run through your whole deck really quickly with Shaymin EX (wich is lacking in your list but we can get to that later).

My first advice is to completely cut the Ninetales line and add 3 to 4 Shaymin EX. Shaymin will be the cornerstone of your drawing power, and it is desirable to discard it when Skyfield is put down, hence why Ninetales is counter-productive. Also add 1 more Skyfield to ensure that you're able to consistently rotate between your Skyfields and the opponent's counter stadium.
Since cutting a 3-3 line leaves a lot of space open, I'd also run a 1-1 Altaria line to tech against MegaMan matchups.

I'd also cut the 2 Fan Clubs and add 2 Ultra Ball. You want this deck to be ultra fast, Fan Club takes your supporter for that turn and can't grab you your evolutions, wich you are running many.

You can also try to fit in 2 extra VS Seeker and 2 or 3 Mega Turbos. A 4 line of VS Seeker is important when running 1-of-supporters like you're doing with Wally, Teammates and Lysandre, and it can work even better if you're able to fit in some Battle Compressors to close up the engine. Mega Turbos will help you with the energy problem without the need of an early Trump Card.

Also... where is your Ace Spec? If you can't find a place for one, at least cut one Ultra Ball to place a Computer Search.

I really like your points. In regards to the Ace Spec, I completely forgot and Computer Search would be the best option. I don't know exactly about cutting Ninetales completely because it really does help in the whole stadium war preventing any Fairy Gardens or Virbanks. I descided in this deck to stay away from the colorless engine with Shaymin but it by no means is a bad option. If this was a straight M Rayquaza-EX deck it should certainly run Shaymin-EX, Altaria, and Mega Turbo.

---

Jirachi EX is great for consistency but... anyone can just Lysandre the poor thing and KO it for the easiest 2 prizes. Use Jirachi at your own risk. Also, with Seismitoad EX around, I would focus on more Wally cause it can work under the Item lock.
"What about a Pokemon to defend while setup?"
Perhaps Suicune or something to soak up damage.

I understand your concern with Jirachi, but it is still very powerful despite the drawback of an easy two prizes. I also really like your idea for a wall to hide behind. Personally I thought that Rayquaza should fix that but Suicune is a great option too!

 

[bbninjas]

I question why you are using Shiftry. That thing takes way too long to set up, and I'd think it'd be much quicker to set up an Empoleon, Slurpuff or Electrode instead. Piling 3 energy on it is also pretty difficult, and generally not worth the time, even if damage can make out to huge numbers.

 

[fidget2000]

I question why you are using Shiftry. That thing takes way too long to set up, and I'd think it'd be much quicker to set up an Empoleon, Slurpuff or Electrode instead. Piling 3 energy on it is also pretty difficult, and generally not worth the time, even if damage can make out to huge numbers.

I understand your concern, but Shiftry has huge potential with the very fast damage output. It only takes two energy attachments to be fully powered up and it gives itself draw support. I know it can be slow, but I wanted to show case a little creativity. As for empoleon, its max damage output is 180 with band and skyfield which is good but very hard to pull off even with a lower energy cost. I see your point and I actually think this deck can benefit from Electrode and Slurpuff so thank you for that suggestion. In addition, I feel as if this meta is transistioning into a direction where mega pokemon are becoming more and more powerful. Their high hp makes it hard to knockout. Shiftry delivers that damage even though its a little slow. Also with added support to evolutions through Wally will really help shiftry out.

 

[cardgjammer]

Don't mean to bump when I didn't create it, but to add to the discussion, the deck's blueprint, given by the topic's OP, gave me an idea for a Shiftry/Ray deck of my own:

Pokemon: 21
3-2-3 Shiftry FLF
2-2 M-Ray ROS
2-2 Ninetales PCL
3 Shaymin-EX ROS
2 Skarmory ROS

Trainers: 29
2 Wally
4 Sycamore
2 Shauna
2 Lysandre
1 Lysandre's TC
1 AZ
1 Xerosic
3 VS Seeker

3 Ultra Ball
2 Mega Turbo
2 Rare Candy
2 M-Ray SL
1 Professor's Letter

3 Skyfield

Energy: 10
6 Grass
4 DCE

^ And Stage 2s will be easier to set up when ROS comes around: Put in play on turn 1, wait, then on turn 2, evolve it to stage 1 from hand before using your supporter for turn by Wallying it to Stage 2. Alternatively, you can Wally turn 1, then evolve by hand on turn 2. The catch? Since Wally's a supporter, once you use Wally, you can't use another one, let alone any other Supporter card, until your next turn comes around...

You may be thinking, "Why Mega Turbo?" The answer: A countermeasure to CC Raichu. On turn 1, to limit the damage done by it, if I go first, I will try to start w/ Seedot, attach a grass energy to it, put another Seedot down, put a Vulpix down, but holding off on Wallying to Ninetales, keeping it a Vulpix for the purpose of keeping the bench cap at 5 and keeping the stadium slot open for post-Raichu putdown of Skyfield as a result, then if I can, put Rayquaza down, and Mega Evolve it, and wait. If the opposing full bench comes out to bite me, as well as Seedot, I will attach a DCE to M-Ray if it is out, then after I fill my bench, Skyfield or no, Mega Turbo it to scoop the discarded grass energy for auto-attaching to M-Ray, which should allow it to get the necessary three energy for use of Emerald Break, hopefully KO'ing Raichu...

^ Again, the above, within this post, is my idea based on the OP's blueprint, NOT suggestions to make his deck better. Although he could take my deck idea and mirror it if he so wishes... But overall, again, the idea mentioned above is my idea based on his given blueprint...

edit@20:39: Deduced that 9 basics or less are 3 basics too small for a deck themed on ROS, so subtracted a grass energy and some supporters to ensure that at least 12 basics are in deck...