Shiftry Potential (Flashfire)
- Thread starter I1lucky
- Start date
I think shiftry will be good and when paired right could be a very lethal deck.
If Shiftry included the ACTIVE pokemon too he'd see a lot of play. Yes, with full benches you are doing 200 damage without add ons, but because your opponent won't play down more then 2 if they see your deck you are most likely to hit numbers around 100-160, and maybe more with band and laser. I can still see him being very good. Shiftry does go well with things like Virizion EX or the 2 turn attach method with DCE and grass. It also can easily get damage add-ons from Band, Bangle, and LaserBank. Leaf draw isn't bad, but unlike Empoleon which needed only 1 water to attack this guy needs 1 grass 2 colorless. Sometimes the discard 1 grass may not be so helpful especially if you may need it to attack. It would be more of a mid to late game ability unless if you're desperate/need an extra 10 damage/need a supporter.
Shiftry's Ability is situational. The risk-reward payoff is pretty solid when you have a Grass in hand, which can open up lots of plays. I think Shiftry's problems come with requiring three Energy to attack, (or a Grass and DCE), and the inevitable Pyroar/Reshiram/Charizard in the meta right now. Cards like these are too prominent for Shiftry to find a niche in, especially as a Stage-2 Pokémon. One could try teching a Leavanny to solve the Weakness issue, but at this point it might get a bit clunky.
I don't think Virizion alone can accelerate Energy onto Shiftry, but with a few Milotic in there, as well as DCE of course, I don't think it's that hard to stream Shiftrys throughout the game. I think without Tropical Beach, the deck is a bit too slow and clunky, but I think it could have some potential. It's actually pretty difficult for some decks to keep their bench space lower than 3 or 4. With 5 on your bench, and 3 on theirs, you only need a Muscle Band/Silver Bangle to one shot EX's, or if there's 1 less bench Pokemon, Shiftry can deal 170 with a Bangle. You would have to run a lot of Grass Energy, Professor's Letters, and Super Rods to keep you using Leaf Draw every turn, but you don't need to use it every turn; it's just a nice thing to have along with Deranged Dance.
Besides the standard Shiftry/Virizion/Milotic decks, you could play basically just a Vir/Gen list, but with a few added Shiftry for draw support. Obviously you'd have to cut a fair bit of cards from a Vir/Gen list to do that, but it could be an interesting deck. Shiftry also doubles as a non EX attacker/Pyroar counter.
Besides the standard Shiftry/Virizion/Milotic decks, you could play basically just a Vir/Gen list, but with a few added Shiftry for draw support. Obviously you'd have to cut a fair bit of cards from a Vir/Gen list to do that, but it could be an interesting deck. Shiftry also doubles as a non EX attacker/Pyroar counter.
I am currently testing Shiftry as an answer for Pyroar in my VirGen deck.
Giving Shiftry a muscle band has usually resulted in me dealing with Pyroar before it becomes an issue. I have found that by the time I need to deal with Pyroar, I have at least managed to setup a Shiftry and a Genesect using Virizion.
Making room for the 2-0-2 line and a couple of rare candies was probably the hardest thing to do as the space in the VirGen deck is at a premium.
Giving Shiftry a muscle band has usually resulted in me dealing with Pyroar before it becomes an issue. I have found that by the time I need to deal with Pyroar, I have at least managed to setup a Shiftry and a Genesect using Virizion.
Making room for the 2-0-2 line and a couple of rare candies was probably the hardest thing to do as the space in the VirGen deck is at a premium.
I have thought about pairing shiftry with greninja and virizion to build bench and get a little extra damage. I also thought about pairing it milotic sableye and life dew for the energy acceleration and junk hunt for the life dew so you dont give up prizes. I also thought about pairing it with virizion ex and abomasnow. I havent been able to test any of these yet but im interested in seeing which way would be the best.
I was thinking something like:
- 4-2-4 Shiftry
- 2 Virizion EX
- 3-3 Milotic
- 1 Life Dew
- 2-3 DCE
- Lots of grass
- 2-3 Super Rod
- 2 Letter
I tried a Shiftry/Floette deck. It is just too slow to really work properly. Yes Shiftry can hit 200 hp and hit 200 damage. But the problem is powering it up and getting it on the field. Setting up and having enough energy is a problem. Usually a Lysandre would come down and knock out my shiftry before it fully evolve or get enough energy. As said above, what sets it apart from empoleon is the cheap energy cost. Empoleon may not hit as hard, but it makes up for it by being able to diving draw w/ exeggcute and attack for only 1 energy.
9Tailz said:
Milotic means Feebass has to come into play and can get sniped by Darkrai fairly easily. Plus Milotic gives up a free prize, can't be used for EX's and only 100 HP. Milotic also pays one more energy for retreat. I'll stick with Virizion over Milotic (even for acceleration) and one of the most useful abilities in the game.
If Milotic were a basic, or even had a decent basic to start from, I might have a different opinion. As to Shiftry, big potential damage and ability isn't bad either. Don't think it will be game-changing though.
Milotic is really incredible for evo decks, it keeps them moving full speed. While I agree Darkrai is an issue at present, once Dark Patch rotates out (not to long from now) the viability of powering up Darkrai in lieu of Yveltal will go down tremendously; Darkrai will be more support than damage I feel. It may still be a slight issue. However, my testing with Milotic thus far has been super favorable; she really keeps you kicking butt.
