Discussion Viability of PRC Sceptile (Non-AT)

Ms Hugo

Ms Hugo

Aspiring Trainer
Member
180px-SceptilePrimalClash8.jpg

Thought I'd start a discussion about this Sceptile, as I'm quite intrigued by its ability. It's a free Energy attachment with some healing, which may or may not come in handy in a OHKO-based format.

So, this card is a Stage 2 which, under Giant Plant Forest, can evolve within one turn. There's no type restriction on its ability, so you can attach the Grass energy to any Pokemon and, unlike Bronzong, the Pokemon can be Active so you don't need to Rush In/Retreat to power up.

I guess I'm wondering- what kind of deck would this card be useful in? I believe I saw a Sceptile/Trevenant-EX deck going around once, which is the obvious pairing, but maybe the new set could lead to some less obvious combinations. For example, could you use Sceptile with M-Mewtwo X, and pile Energy on your attacker for Psychic Infinity? Could Fisherman help Sceptile in recovering Energy from the discard, ready to Nurture again? Could a Sceptile/Smeargle toolbox deck be possible?

I've compared this card against a few other energy accelerators;

Sceptile
- Stage 2 but has access to Giant Plant Forest
- Accelerates 1 Grass energy
- Attaches from hand to any Pokemon
- Slight healing
- Limited Grass-type attackers?

Magnezone (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Magnezone_(Red_Flash_25))
- Stage 2, no way to swiftly get it in play beside Rare Candy. Slow?
- Accelerates as much Lightning energy as you like
- Attaches from hand to any Pokemon
- Decent Lightning-type attackers to pick from, especially the new Raikou

Bronzong
- Stage 1, easy to get into play
- Accelerates 1 Metal energy
- Attaches from discard, easy combo with Battle Compressor
- Does not attach to Active, must be worked around
- Lots of Metal attackers available
 
I think the main thing that hurts Sceptile is the fact that you need to have the energy in your hand to attach it, which makes the card difficult. It also requires multiple setups and a bit of bench space for it to do much decency, which isn't exactly a good thing with Parallel City in the upcoming set ready to cut bench space more than ever before. I also haven't really seen any particularly good partners. Trevenant is possible, although struggles to hit high numbers until it's too late. Smeargle feels insanely clunky, while Mewtwo could possibly far better with Bronzong, which is less clunky and perhaps more consistent.

I find that grass types are very good at having low energy costing attacks that hit for decent numbers. It appears that M-Venusaur-EX and Shiftry FLF are the only grass types in XY-on that are powerful enough to KO bulky exs fairly easily, but have the drawback of large energy costs. M-Venusaur is difficult to stream, while Shiftry is another Stage 2, making a Sceptile/Shiftry deck even more clunky.
 
I haven't really reviewed much of the new set in depth yet but what comes to mind is more expanded play with Virizion EX. A turn one Sceptile and Virizion EX would mean you could pull off a Emerald slash really quickly.

Another idea I had was with Venusaur-EX with Sceptile, healing a possible 60 + damage a turn on Venusaur. Though this may not be a possible tier deck, I still feel like this could be a viable way to abuse it's healing ability on top of acceleration. If you could get even more on the bench, the more it would heal. Thing's like Herbal Energy I feel like would be a good addition to this kind of deck as well.
 
SilverSilent said:
I haven't really reviewed much of the new set in depth yet but what comes to mind is more expanded play with Virizion EX. A turn one Sceptile and Virizion EX would mean you could pull off a Emerald slash really quickly.

Another idea I had was with Venusaur-EX with Sceptile, healing a possible 60 + damage a turn on Venusaur. Though this may not be a possible tier deck, I still feel like this could be a viable way to abuse it's healing ability on top of acceleration. If you could get even more on the bench, the more it would heal. Thing's like Herbal Energy I feel like would be a good addition to this kind of deck as well.
Click to expand...

Not to mention that one of Venusaur's attacks heals as well. I wish there was a good deck that could tank and heal well in format.
 
All good comments so far. I agree that Sceptile seems to me to be the worst out of Magnezone-Sceptile-Bronzong for energy acceleration. I think these three are the best ability-related accel Pokemon in Standard, am I right?

Mewtwo-Bronzong is definitely a deck I want to try out- Mega Ray seems to be taking a bit of a hit with Parallel City and I don't like being reliant on Skyfield anyway. Anyway, Sceptile does seem to suffer from a lack of decent Grass-type partners that aren't too clunky or only require one or two attachments anyway.

Perhaps Wailord would be a good partner for Sceptile? He's the only tank I can see doing the job well...though he can't use the [G] energy to attack.
 
Ms Hugo said:
Perhaps Wailord would be a good partner for Sceptile? He's the only tank I can see doing the job well...though he can't use the [G] energy to attack.
Click to expand...

You get destroyed by Lysandres with the Wailord option, unfortunately.
 
I didn't think of this until now but, Florges EX and Sceptile may work too as well, the biggest issue though would most definitely be the lack of HP Florges has.

I'm not sure how it'd work with M. Heracross, that may be an option as well.
 
If only Heracross had a Spirit Link. It wasn't that bad once it got set up (which was definitely a problem before Giant Plant Forest). Only now, 180 isn't the number you really want to hit. Muscle Band and Ariados could get the damage output up to 210. Or maybe Bats instead of Ariados, but then that's really straining Bench space.

Just thinking aloud here.
 
Mora said:
If only Heracross had a Spirit Link. It wasn't that bad once it got set up (which was definitely a problem before Giant Plant Forest). Only now, 180 isn't the number you really want to hit. Muscle Band and Ariados could get the damage output up to 210. Or maybe Bats instead of Ariados, but then that's really straining Bench space.

Just thinking aloud here.
Click to expand...

Feel like Ariados would be a great set up for M. Heracross as it would help get that extra 20 damage in between turns before it mega evolved and ended your turn. Compared to bats, I think it'd be better simply because you'd just AZ it back to your hand and restart the process all over again and would have more chances slapping it down on one turn due to running things like Giant Plant Forest. Of course, losing a turn to attack is rough.
 
I tried out Sceptile. At first it was with Trevnant EX but changed to a Lugia EX focused deck. It functions and is fun to play, but it's missing that hard hitting non EX attacker. Virizion is too unreliable. Maybe the new Pinsir will work well. The issue is that the healing rarely means anything. I thought it would be cool to run Healing Scarf to heal 50 with an attachment, but it hasn't worked.

Maybe a new Mega grass EX can make use of it. Mega Sceptile is redundant, and Venusaur/Heracross are without links.
 
SilverSilent said:
Feel like Ariados would be a great set up for M. Heracross as it would help get that extra 20 damage in between turns before it mega evolved and ended your turn. Compared to bats, I think it'd be better simply because you'd just AZ it back to your hand and restart the process all over again and would have more chances slapping it down on one turn due to running things like Giant Plant Forest. Of course, losing a turn to attack is rough.
Click to expand...

Want to point out that Ariados's Ability can be triggered once per turn and not just when you evolve it.
 
Mora said:
Want to point out that Ariados's Ability can be triggered once per turn and not just when you evolve it.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, I was kind of thinking along the lines of AZ cause of needing to set up possibly another Heracross EX if Parallel City was played.
 
When I was an amateur player in the Primal Clash era, I created a Sceptile deck that used both Trevenant-EX and BCR Tangrowth (One Hundred Furious Lashes). Those days, it only did good enough to face Seismitoad decks. I used Hard Charm for it as a way to prevent KO's, and Training Center for Tangrowth. (Giant Plant Forest never existed at the time.)

Right now, though... It's so difficult to utilize Sceptile's healing power, even with Plant Forest, as for the most part, there are so many speed decks designed for instant knockouts that you literally don't have a chance to heal back your Pokemon. This is indeed the sad part of the game: When your opponent can deal 100-250 damage instantly during their first turn, healing ends up becoming an obsolete strategy to begin with... >_>

As for the Nurture part, The issue ends up being the ability to get at least 1 Sceptile out directly on turn one - and whether or not that single grass energy can really make the difference in the game on that turn. I still wonder what that could potentially be right now.... Otherwise, I'm finding Togekiss to be quite good for energy acceleration in comparison, despite the inconsistencies it has.
 
I think Heracross would definitely be a great partner if it had a Spirit Link. But yeah, building a competitive deck seems to boil down to "can it do 240 damage or disrupt the opponent?" And in the light of that, Sceptile seems less reliable.
 
HELLO! Is anyone looking at Mega heracross? I mean come on! A Heal grass deck would be awesome! PRC non ac sceptile, Ariados, M-Heracross, M-sceptile, Trev EX, The possibilities are limitless. You may be able to bring M-Venusaur into viability!
 
Pokemon: 20
  • 3 M Heracross EX
  • 3 Heracross EX
  • 3 Shaymin EX
  • 3 Sceptile
  • 3 Grovyle
  • 3 Treecko
  • 1 Ariados
  • 1 Spinarak
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: 30
  • 4 Professor Sycamore
  • 3 Professor Birch's Observations
  • 2 Lysandre
  • 4 Ultra Ball
  • 3 Level Ball
  • 3 Trainers' Mail
  • 3 VS Seeker
  • 2 Muscle Band
  • 1 Energy Retrieval
  • 1 Professor's Letter
  • 1 Sacred Ash
  • 3 Forest of Giant Plants
Energy: 10
  • 8 Grass Energy
  • 2 Herbal Energy
I just threw this list together on tcogne, and I'm surprised how well it worked. Played against Vespiquen / Raichu. Game 1, I went second and KO'd a Pikachu turn one with Guard Press and Muscle Band. Never was able to get out M Heracross, but since I could KO everything with Heracross and Sceptile, I didn't even want / need one on the field. We both got down to one prize, but I lost because of Flare Effect Flareon. Game 2, I go first and get M Heracross turn one, and start swinging turn two. My opponent didn't have the best set up that game though.

It's hard to keep M Heracross from getting OHKO'd, but Sceptile's Energy acceleration helps to try to stream them to some extent. Robo Substitutes might be nice for when you need to Mega evolve or you just aren't ready to swing yet. A Mega Turbo might have come in handy at some point. I'm surprised that it was able to set up at all, but I still wouldn't go so far as to say it was competitive.
 
Eight Herbal Energy? o____o

Would Hex Maniac be a worthwhile addition to the deck? I could've stopped that Flareon, for an example.
 
bbninjas said:
Eight Herbal Energy? o____o

Would Hex Maniac be a worthwhile addition to the deck? I could've stopped that Flareon, for an example.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I play 8 Herbal Energies; deal with it. *Fixed.

Hex Maniac belongs in a lot of lists, but it's just usually not something I include in the first draft of a list. Most likely I'd ultimately wind up with a Hex Maniac in the list as well as a few other small changes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top