art by Ryo Ueda
The skies are roaring loudly right now! It is a race to make sure that everything is set up just in time. If you are not ready then you may end up getting blown away. That is why this week on Featured Card we are going to spotlight a card that has changed the way we make decks. This card has flown from the skies with many things on it’s currents. All you need to do is play it down and a strong wind will come to help bring you that win. The skies are roaring and you want to make sure that you can handle these strong gusts of wind! This week we will be featuring, Shaymin EX from Roaring Skies!
Shaymin EX is an EX Pokemon from Roaring Skies. It is a Colorless type Pokemon with 110 HP with a single energy retreat cost. Shaymin EX only has one attack which cost two energy to use called Sky Return. This attack does 30 damage and has an effect where Shaymin EX and all cards attached are returned back to the player’s hand. Shaymin EX has an ability called Set Up which allows you to draw cards from your deck until you have six in your hand after you place Shaymin EX on the bench from your hand. Lastly, it has a resistance to Fighting type Pokemon and a weakness to the Lightning type.
The Pros
Shaymin EX doesn’t have a powerful attack but it does have one powerful ability. The Set Up ability is an ability which allows you to draw cards from your deck until you have six in your hand. This could mean you may only draw two cards from your deck after placing Shaymin EX on the bench. Though, there are times when you could draw up to six cards in your hand. That is amazing draw power.
What makes Shaymin EX even better is that you can use this ability as many times as you want as long as you have a Shaymin EX in your hand. You can do this by using cards like Super Scoop Up/Scoop Up Cyclone to retrieve a Shaymin EX on your bench and put it back in your hand. You can use Ultra Ball to search for a Shaymin EX and play it down. This method will also make your hand size smaller in order to help you draw even more cards from Shaymin EX’s Set Up. You could even chain Shaymin EX by top decking them from another Shaymin EX’s Set Up draw. Playing down a few Shaymin EX will surely help you run though your deck in order to find the card that you need.
Another plus for using Shaymin EX is that it allows you to play other Supporter during your turn. The majority of the Supporters in a deck are usually used as draw support. Most players tend to play a heavy line of Professor Juniper/Professor Sycamore, Corless, N, or other cards that help a person gain a new hand. This method of deck building has left little room to use other Supporters that have useful abilities to help gain an upper hand. Now that players can play Shaymin EX as their draw support, players can now use other Supporters that don’t focus on drawing cards such as Team Flare Grunt, Xerosic and AZ. If a player feels especially rushed then they can play Shaymin EX to draw more cards then use another draw Supporter to gain a new hand. Shaymin EX gives players a bit of flexibility and speed depending on the player’s situation.
The Cons
One of the cons to playing Shaymin EX is depending on it as draw support. Sometimes you can’t get your hand down to one of two cards because the cards in your hand aren’t disposable or highly needed. So you have to settle on drawing two cards. Maybe you can draw something big from those two cards but sometimes you may not.
In addition, you are relying on Shaymin EX to be your draw support for the turn. Set Up is an ability which means that it can be turned off by your opponent. You may find yourself against a Garbordor with an item attached or the stadium Silent Lab in play. If that happens then you can’t draw any cards using Shaymin EX’s Set Up.
The final drawback to using Shaymin EX and it’s ability is that it make you run though your deck quickly. This may not sound like a bad thing at first but you need to remember one important thing: Once you run out of cards to draw from your deck then you lose the game.
That means you need to manage your deck and ensure that you don’t deck yourself out. We saw that this was a problem at the 2015 Madison’s Regionals where people played their hand down to almost nothing to get several big Set Up draws from Shaymin EX. Players were able to save themselves by using Lysandre’s Trump Card but now that trump card has been banned. So players need to use some restraint when playing Shaymin EX in the future.
How to Play It
You want to start with Shaymin EX in your hand but not set it down. This is a card that you want to keep hidden in your opening hand but play it when your hand is down to only a few cards. You will do this by playing what cards you can and putting down whatever Pokemon you need on the bench. Then at the last minute place Shaymin EX on the bench to use Set Up and draw big from your deck. Then do it all again and play your Supporter or another Shaymin EX.
If you do not start with Shaymin EX in your hand then make sure you have ways to get it into your hand. Some of these ways include using Ultra Ball and Winona.
Ultra Ball will allow you to lower your hand size to get Shaymin in your hand then play it down to draw more cards from your deck. Meanwhile, Winona will allow you to search your deck for three Colorless type Pokemon from your deck and put them into your hand. That may make your hand bigger but the idea is to play the two other Pokemon on the bench and then put Shaymin down to use Set Up. Both methods are possible and worth doing it if you want to ensure that you have Shaymin EX in your hand as quickly as possible.
If you have to start with Shaymin EX then it isn’t the end of the world. You will most likely play at least two of them. So you can always search for another one. Though you will most likely want to get Shaymin EX out of the active and into your hand. You can do this a few ways such as: Super Scoop Up, Scoop Up Cyclone, or AZ. If worst comes to worst, you can attach two energy or a Double Colorless Energy on to Shaymin EX and use Sky Return to do thirty damage and return Shaymin EX and the attached DCE back to your hand.
The number of Shaymin EX you play depends on you but you may want to run at least two or three of them. It can be a one-of if you need a quick pick-me-up. Either way, you may want to play cards to help you pick up Shaymin EX from your bench to use it again. If anything, to get the card out of harm’s way. That draw for four cards can end up being a two prize win for your opponent who used Lysandre to pull Shaymin EX into the active. So in order to save your Shaymin EX and/or reuse it, then I suggest you use cards like Super Scoop Up, Scoop Up Cyclone, or AZ. That way you can save this Pokemon and maybe use it as a final gambit to draw the cards you need to pull a win.
Shaymin EX can fit into any deck. You will most likely see people replace their Jirachi EX (if they haven’t already) if the rotation is announced to be XY-on. Though, if you want to try to run a deck using Shaymin EX as an attacker then there is something. You can pair up Shaymin EX with Trevenant from XY.
The idea of this deck is to evolve Trevenant on turn one using Wally. That way you can use Trevenant’s Forest Curse ability to keep your opponent from using items. You can then place Shaymin EX to use Set Up to draw cards and attach a Double Colorless Energy to it. Lastly, attach a Float Stone on to Trevenant to retreat it and put Shaymin EX in the active to attack with Sky Return. This will put Shaymin EX back into your hand to use Sky Return in your next turn. Then promote Trevenant into the active and put your opponent in an item lock.
You will want to use items like HypnoToxic Laser and Muscle Band on Shaymin EX to do more damage to your opponent’s active Pokemon. Maybe some Enhanced Hammer and Crushing Hammer to slow your opponent down.
The only downside to this deck is that your run though your deck so quickly so you risk decking out. That is why you may want to not use Shaymin EX’s Set Up ability every time you play it to keep your deck at a decent size.
Shaymin EX is a powerful card that many players will be using. So keep an eye out for this card as there will be many people wanting to ride on on Shaymin EX’s winds towards a quick victory.
