Blog Steamy Surprises: An In-Depth Look at Steam Siege and Worlds

[Jexulus]

I'm not sure of the viability of Infernape on a tournament level. It requires constant Blacksmith use to even use his first move.

It's too bad the Stoke Charizard-EX is getting rotated; he would make a good partner for this deck, sucking up tons of Energy to use as fuel for Flare Up.

I would also add one or two Burning Energy. It may not contribute to Flare Up's requirement, but it helps you consistently pump out 120s.

You'd have to have multiple Infernape at the ready on the bench for successive uses of Flare Drive. And up until my most recent version of the list, it did have two Burning Energies. I determined at some point that having a couple of Miltanks in the deck hitting for 80 would make up for the lack of Burning Energy. The deck is open to adjustment, certainly; a Karen to replace the Sacred Ash if it gets released here because it fulfills the same purpose as SA while also denting Night March, for example.

There's also the fact that with the amount of discard the deck has, Infernape doesn't necessarily have to use Flare Drive consecutively. Battle Compressor + Scorching Earth + Flare Drive = six energy discarded in one turn. Considering that this deck wants to cycle through cards really fast, I don't think it's unreasonable to think that, more often than not, the end of your turn alternates between Flare Drive and Flare Up pretty consistently. If not, Miltank fills in the gap and finishes off anything that Flare Drive couldn't OHKO.

Again, it's really up in the air whether or not an Infernape deck is competitively viable. But the realization that a Flare Drive/Flare Up pattern is feasible helps its chances.

 

[girazard]

Infernape from this set seems really similar to Infernape Lv.X (obviously) and also LA Kingdra and Neo Genesis Feraligatr. As far as I know Kingdra was mostly used for its Dragon Pump attack and its Aqua Stream attack was barely used if ever. Feraligatr was successful but the game was so different then it's hard to make any comparison. And I have no idea about Infernape Lv.X. My gut feeling is that Infernape will be best in a slower format than the current one (which fingers crossed, rotation will gift us) with less Trainer lock and explosive high damage attacks like Night March.

 

[PMJ]

If Infernape had free retreat I would like the idea of Miltank more. It just doesn't feel consistent enough.

 

[Jexulus]

I personally think the 1 retreat cost helps a little bit, due to discarding energy being a good thing in this deck. If it's a bother, Float Stone is always a thing, but Muscle Band is probably a better fit for the deck. Muscle Band lets Flare Up knock out all but a handful of the Mega Pokemon, namely the Weather Trio, Mewtwo X, Gyarados, and Tyranitar. Oh, Flashfire Charizard X, too.

The consistency aspect is something that's pretty hard to gauge at this point without actually using the deck. The discrepancies between paper and practice are always a pain.

 

[Otaku]

I'm not sure of the viability of Infernape on a tournament level. It requires constant Blacksmith use to even use his first move.

Both of the attacks on Infernape requires [RR], so one Blacksmith covers the entire cost. Unless you whiff on it or the opponent can sabotage it, that means you should have an extra Energy each turn you use Blacksmith. As has been mentioned, at least until it rotates out Miltank (XY: Flashfire 83/106) can be an alternate attacker, but if you can Blacksmith while attaching an [R] Energy, then the next turn you ought to be able to manually attach another to cover the costs. If you attack with nothing but Infernape then you'll need to use Blacksmith every other turn. That isn't easy but it isn't especially difficult, either.

It's too bad the Stoke Charizard-EX is getting rotated; he would make a good partner for this deck, sucking up tons of Energy to use as fuel for Flare Up.

Stoke requires a coin flip and Flare Up requires Energy in the discard pile. You can just use Charizard-EX to attack so that its Energy hits the discard pile when it is KO'd or retreat to discard some of its Energy, but either way you've ensure the deck has a (or another) Pokémon-EX. The coin flip on Stoke seems like a deal breaker. Even for an opener, I am thinking there ought to be something better. Especially with Ninja Boy also arriving in the same set, right?

I would also add one or two Burning Energy. It may not contribute to Flare Up's requirement, but it helps you consistently pump out 120s.

If Infernape had free retreat I would like the idea of Miltank more. It just doesn't feel consistent enough.

Are we assuming Infernape survives most of the time? With 130 HP I'd guesstimate about a 60/40 split in favor of surviving, but that is before we know the rest of the meta (so just based on general trends). If say Greninja BREAK became the top deck, it will be much lower, while if Water is totally absent, it doesn't get much higher. So Burning Energy not only has all the usual Special Energy risks, but has too much of a chance of doing nothing, I think. I suspect this deck will have to stream Infernape, with supporting attackers like Entei (either version from AOR) and/or Miltank picking up the slack. This does not invalidate your concern, but it might mean it isn't as big of one as it looks at first.

 

[PMJ]

What do you guys think about Toxicroak?

Toxicroak – Fighting – HP90
Stage 1 – Evolves from Croagunk

Ability: Poisonous Enzyme
If your opponent’s Active Pokemon is Poisoned, this Pokemon can’t be affected by damage from attacks.

[F][C] Poison Jab: 50 damage. Flip a coin. If heads, your opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Poisoned.

Weakness: Grass (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2

People are talking about using Ariados with it but I don't know if I like the idea of poisoning yourself when they can simply retreat or Hex or evolve or Lysandre to get around his Ability. It's still pretty powerful, barring any of that, though.

 

[bbninjas]

I don't feel like Toxicroak is very viable. Once you KO something, you are completely open to be attacked back, as there is no way to get poison on the new Active Pokemon between turns. So, if you ever fall behind on the prize trade, you'll probably lose.

 

[Otaku]

Dragalge (FLF) could block retreating but yeah, thinking Toxicroak has an interesting Ability and decent attack... if it were a Basic.

 

[mordacazir]

Wait, Karen isn't coming in this set! Right?

 

[RealSlim]

I just can't feel all of this Ninja Boy hype. Ninja Boy talks the talk, but can he walk the walk? Mmh.

 

[bbninjas]

I just can't feel all of this Ninja Boy hype. Ninja Boy talks the talk, but can he walk the walk? Mmh.

I think the main reason for the hype is that opens up many new creative opportunities for unique combos and strategies. I don't think it's necessarily hype in the form that Ninja Boy is going to become super competitive.

 

[PMJ]

Wait, Karen isn't coming in this set! Right?

It's a possibility. There is room in the set list for either Karen or the full art Professor Sycamore, but not both. Based on the fact that TPCi is changing the rules on set legality to specifically make Steam Siege legal for Worlds, I'm inclined to believe we're getting Karen.

 

[The Light Music Club]

I don't feel like Toxicroak is very viable. Once you KO something, you are completely open to be attacked back, as there is no way to get poison on the new Active Pokemon between turns. So, if you ever fall behind on the prize trade, you'll probably lose.

I think if paired with Machamp EX and Ariados they could make for an interesting combo. The main issue I think, are Pokemon like Greninja who can do damage from the bench.