XY11 Infernape Deck Help

[Jexulus]

So, I'm a really new player in the scene. As in, I only started to actually understand how everything worked within the past week. I understand the basics of what makes good and bad cards and the importance of maintaining your hand of cards and your discard pile according to what kind of deck you're playing. I get the concepts, but my execution isn't great.

I saw the Infernape coming in the next set and I became excited immediately. This deck is far from complete; it's more of a shell than anything else. But I know what I want to accomplish: set up Infernape as my primary attacker while efficiently balancing discarding Fire Energy and card draw. Beyond that? I don't know what to do.

So, naturally 4-4-4 of the Infernape line, for starters. 12 basic Fire Energies are the bare minimum, from what I can tell, since his trump card requires discarding at least 10 of these. I was thinking of adding 4 Burning Energy as well. Since his first attack discards both energies after use, in order to ensure that he can attack as often as possible without hassle, I think making it to where basically only 1 energy at a time is discarded is an optimal strategy. Easy to refuel next turn.

I also have some idea of what Trainer cards I'll use for sure. 4 Sycamores, 3-ish Lysandres, 3 Ultra Balls, 4 Vs. Seekers, 4 Battle Compressors, a couple of Scorching Earths. I'm fairly certain Blacksmiths aren't a good idea, since you're trying to keep basic Fire Energies in the discard pile.

Beyond that? I'm unsure of what to do. I don't know what Support Pokemon to add. My Trainer cards are not well rounded yet either. And I'm completely unsure if I have my Energy count correct. I don't know what to add in terms of tools, though I think removing my opponent's tools isn't a bad idea.

I'd love plenty of feedback, so here's the skeleton in list form:

Pokemon:
4 Infernape (primary attacker)
4 Monferno (evolution)
4 Chimchar (evolution)
?

Trainer:
4 Professor Sycamore (card draw/discard)
3 Lysandre (KO support)
3 Ultra Balls (Pokemon draw/energy discard)
4 Vs. Seekers (Support Retrieval)
4 Battle Compressors (energy/general discard)
2 Scorching Earth (stadium to draw/discard)
?

Energy:
12 Basic Fire Energy
4 Burning Energy

Total Cards: 48

Spoiler for Infernape:

Spoiler

Infernape – Fire – HP130
Stage 2 – Evolves from Monferno

[R][R] Flare Drive: 120 damage. Discard all [R] Energy attached to this Pokemon.

[R][R] Flare Up: 200 damage. You can only use this attack if your discard pile has 10 or more [R] Energy cards in it. Choose 10 [R] Energy in your discard pile and show them to your opponent. Shuffle them back into your deck.

Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 1

 

[bbninjas]

It seems like you have a great grasp of competitive play already, which is a great achievement for a new player! Here's some suggestions to start you off, and once you have a 60 card list, you should repost it in the Deck Garage for further feedback where more of the community will also see it.

I think that what you should focus on in the Infernape deck is trying to and take your six prize cards as soon as possible, probably by taking out one or two Shaymin-EX and finishing off with your 200 damage monster attack. I noticed that you have add Burning Energy. I personally don't think running many of these is a good option. This is because Burning Energy is not considered a [R] Energy while in the discard pile. I also think that it would be better for you to take a more rotational path with your attackers. Providing your Infernape does not get revenge KO-d, I'd actually recommend retreating into a healthy, powered up Infernape and then manually power up your other Infernape on the bench.

I also don't really think you need any support Pokemon. It's sorta risky, but space is a HUGE issue.

Otherwise, there is a few routes you could take with Infernape. You could aim at trying to hit 200 damage as much as possible, or you could aim at taking 1-hit KOs with your 120 damage attack by using various damage boosts. I'm going to focus on the second route, as I personally think it is more viable.

Your deck, at present, is nice, but it can be made more consistent. With large amounts of Energy, you will often get hands of lots of Energy. These are, in your hand, generally dead cards, so we need to find ways to make them a bit more useful. We also need to try and set up that Infernape as quickly as possible, since there are many Pokemon that could set up earlier than you. We also need to decide whether to be offensive or whether to be defensive. Do we want the KOs as quickly as possible, or do we want to be streaming Infernapes so you always have one ready after being revenge KO'd. Here are my recommendations:

-1 Professor Sycamore (I don't think you need three, especially with the Battle Compressor/VS Seeker combo.)
-4 Burning Energy (For reasons stated already. I think replacing these with basic Fire Energy would be better.)
-1 Lysandre (You shouldn't need three because of the VS Seekers.)
-1 Monferno (To free up a bit more space, and I don't think you need this many.)
-1 Infernape (Same with Monferno.)

+2 Shaymin-EX (These will boost your consistency tenfold. They are the most expensive card by a significant value in the current format, however. HOWEVER, I am not sure if Shaymin-EX will work in your deck due to the amount of Fire Energy that you can't play immediately. You will have to test out your deck without Shaymin-EX and see whether or not you often have small hands (i.e. 3 cards or less) or large hands (5 or 6 cards+).)
+4 Fire Energy (More Fire Energy is good for this deck.)
+1 N (A bit of back up draw, if you don't want to be discarding your entire hand for whatever reason.)
+1 Scorched Earth (With the amount of Energy you have, you are going to get a lot of Energy-full hands. Scorched Earth is necessary to play ASAP to get more useful cards in your hand, while also adding to your strategy.)
+1 Wally (This will be more of a fallback card, if all your Infernapes got wiped out quickly. Two copies could be used for consistency and more reliable use during earlygame setup, though there may only be space for one.)
+2 Rare Candy (More consistency + speedier evolving.)
+1 Blacksmith (Although it may seem opposite to your strategy, it actually helps it. This works in the situations where people will pull sneaky Lysandres to snipe all of your Energy from the board.)
+1 Sacred Ash (I think you may end up running out of Infernapes in your aggressive pushes, so this would be good.)
+2 Fiery Torch (More draw and discard consistency.)
+3 Acro Bike (Even more draw and discard consistency!)
+2 Bursting Balloon/Hard Charm/Assault Vest/Float Stone (Bursting Balloons might help in KOing your opponent if you miss out slightly. It also helps against Night March decks. Hard Charm and Assault Vest would be to increase longevity. I'm not too sure how well they would work though. Float Stone gives you maneuverability, which would be good for pivoting. You may like to run a combination of 5 of these, such as 3 Balloons and 2 Float Stone, but space is an issue. I'd add 2 Float Stone personally.)

You may like to take out 2 Shaymin-EX for Entei AOR, Lugia-EX or Miltank FLF which should be fairly solid supporting attackers.

 

[Jexulus]

It seems like you have a great grasp of competitive play already, which is a great achievement for a new player! Here's some suggestions to start you off, and once you have a 60 card list, you should repost it in the Deck Garage for further feedback where more of the community will also see it.

I think that what you should focus on in the Infernape deck is trying to and take your six prize cards as soon as possible, probably by taking out one or two Shaymin-EX and finishing off with your 200 damage monster attack. I noticed that you have add Burning Energy. I personally don't think running many of these is a good option. This is because Burning Energy is not considered a [R] Energy while in the discard pile. I also think that it would be better for you to take a more rotational path with your attackers. Providing your Infernape does not get revenge KO-d, I'd actually recommend retreating into a healthy, powered up Infernape and then manually power up your other Infernape on the bench.

I also don't really think you need any support Pokemon. It's sorta risky, but space is a HUGE issue.

Otherwise, there is a few routes you could take with Infernape. You could aim at trying to hit 200 damage as much as possible, or you could aim at taking 1-hit KOs with your 120 damage attack by using various damage boosts. I'm going to focus on the second route, as I personally think it is more viable.

Your deck, at present, is nice, but it can be made more consistent. With large amounts of Energy, you will often get hands of lots of Energy. These are, in your hand, generally dead cards, so we need to find ways to make them a bit more useful. We also need to try and set up that Infernape as quickly as possible, since there are many Pokemon that could set up earlier than you. We also need to decide whether to be offensive or whether to be defensive. Do we want the KOs as quickly as possible, or do we want to be streaming Infernapes so you always have one ready after being revenge KO'd. Here are my recommendations:

-1 Professor Sycamore (I don't think you need three, especially with the Battle Compressor/VS Seeker combo.)
-4 Burning Energy (For reasons stated already. I think replacing these with basic Fire Energy would be better.)
-1 Lysandre (You shouldn't need three because of the VS Seekers.)
-1 Monferno (To free up a bit more space, and I don't think you need this many.)
-1 Infernape (Same with Monferno.)

The suggestion of removing one of each Sycamore and Lysandre let me realize the actual value of the Vs. Seeker. It's not just for retrieval from the discard pile; it's like having an extra copy of the card, but gives you versatility by letting you bring out whatever you need. I'll do just that.
I realize now that 4 Burning Energies are overkill, but I still think having two of them will help. I think it would help alleviate situations where I don't have any way to get an extra Infernape ready to retreat to, whether they aren't evolved yet or I haven't had enough turns to equip the necessary Energy. With how energy heavy my hands will be and how often I'll be using Flare Drive, a Burning Energy ensures that the Infernape in play can attack next turn no matter what. I am aware of its status as a Special energy, but I think it's a viable risk for the trade-off. I'll try it out to see if it works in actual play.
With the suggestions of some cards below, I see the wisdom of removing 1 of each Stage Pokemon.

+2 Shaymin-EX (These will boost your consistency tenfold. They are the most expensive card by a significant value in the current format, however. HOWEVER, I am not sure if Shaymin-EX will work in your deck due to the amount of Fire Energy that you can't play immediately. You will have to test out your deck without Shaymin-EX and see whether or not you often have small hands (i.e. 3 cards or less) or large hands (5 or 6 cards+).)
+4 Fire Energy (More Fire Energy is good for this deck.)
+1 N (A bit of back up draw, if you don't want to be discarding your entire hand for whatever reason.)
+1 Scorched Earth (With the amount of Energy you have, you are going to get a lot of Energy-full hands. Scorched Earth is necessary to play ASAP to get more useful cards in your hand, while also adding to your strategy.)
+1 Wally (This will be more of a fallback card, if all your Infernapes got wiped out quickly. Two copies could be used for consistency and more reliable use during earlygame setup, though there may only be space for one.)
+2 Rare Candy (More consistency + speedier evolving.)
+1 Blacksmith (Although it may seem opposite to your strategy, it actually helps it. This works in the situations where people will pull sneaky Lysandres to snipe all of your Energy from the board.)
+1 Sacred Ash (I think you may end up running out of Infernapes in your aggressive pushes, so this would be good.)
+2 Fiery Torch (More draw and discard consistency.)
+3 Acro Bike (Even more draw and discard consistency!)
+2 Bursting Balloon/Hard Charm/Assault Vest/Float Stone (Bursting Balloons might help in KOing your opponent if you miss out slightly. It also helps against Night March decks. Hard Charm and Assault Vest would be to increase longevity. I'm not too sure how well they would work though. Float Stone gives you maneuverability, which would be good for pivoting. You may like to run a combination of 5 of these, such as 3 Balloons and 2 Float Stone, but space is an issue. I'd add 2 Float Stone personally.)

You may like to take out 2 Shaymin-EX for Entei AOR, Lugia-EX or Miltank FLF which should be fairly solid supporting attackers.

I'll try out 2 extra Fire Energy and just two Burning Energy for the reasons I stated above and see how it works.
I never realized that that's what Wally did. Nice way to accelerate into an Infernape, so definitely. Knowing my luck, Monferno will constantly be prized, so I'll stick with just one Wally and two Rare Candies for now.
Somehow completely forgot about Fiery Torch and Acro Bike.
Sacred Ash is a thing? Yes plz.
Using the Blacksmith for an emergency isn't a bad idea. I'll throw it in.
I think the use of Burning Energies might alleviate the need for 2 Float Stones, since Infernape's retreat cost is only one Energy. Of these, I'll try 1 Float Stone, 2 Bursting Balloons, and 2 Hard Stones.
I'll try out Entei since I already have him. Miltank is worth one insert as well.

Thank you very much! I'll be adding this deck to the Garage in the near future!

 

[bbninjas]

The suggestion of removing one of each Sycamore and Lysandre let me realize the actual value of the Vs. Seeker. It's not just for retrieval from the discard pile; it's like having an extra copy of the card, but gives you versatility by letting you bring out whatever you need. I'll do just that.
I realize now that 4 Burning Energies are overkill, but I still think having two of them will help. I think it would help alleviate situations where I don't have any way to get an extra Infernape ready to retreat to, whether they aren't evolved yet or I haven't had enough turns to equip the necessary Energy. With how energy heavy my hands will be and how often I'll be using Flare Drive, a Burning Energy ensures that the Infernape in play can attack next turn no matter what. I am aware of its status as a Special energy, but I think it's a viable risk for the trade-off. I'll try it out to see if it works in actual play.
With the suggestions of some cards below, I see the wisdom of removing 1 of each Stage Pokemon.

I personally think it is better to Blacksmith the Energy back on rather than manually attach a Burning Energy. I'm not sure if you know this, but there is multiple cards that like feeding off Special Energy - Enhanced Hammer, Xerosic, Jirachi Promo and the recent Barbaracle, which is one of the reasons I also recommend against it. Also, I think you must have 14 or 15 fire Energy, so make sure you don't take too many out unless you're testing this. This amount of fire Energy allows for you to consistently have 2 in your prizes, 2 attached, 10 in your discard and 1 floating around and your strategy should still be executed well.

I think the use of Burning Energies might alleviate the need for 2 Float Stones, since Infernape's retreat cost is only one Energy. Of these, I'll try 1 Float Stone, 2 Bursting Balloons, and 2 Hard Stones.

Burning Energy doesn't return from the discard pile on discarding from retreating (rather just discarding by attacking), so it's no better than a basic Fire Energy in this circumstance.

 

[Jexulus]

I am aware that Burning Energy only re-attaches if it's discarded through that Pokemon's attack. I wasn't planning on discarding the Burning Energy to retreat, either.

I'm determined to at least try it out as a tech option despite the risks. You bring up undeniable points, either way.