Pokemon has decided to ban Shiftry from Next Destinies from the Expanded Format. This ban is in effect as of September 1, 2015 for all sanctioned Play! Pokémon tournaments that uses the Expanded format. Shiftry is currently out of rotation and will not affect the 2015-2016 Standard Format.
The reasons for banning Shiftry from Next Destinies are listed below:
- Creates a strategy that frequently wins on the first turn of the game
- Creates a non-interactive play environment where the opponent has little impact on the outcome of the match
Shiftry has an ability call Giant Fan. This ability is activated when you play Shiftry from your hand to evolve a Nuzleaf. When you use this ability, you are able to flip a coin and if you get a head then you can return one of your opponent’s benched Pokemon into your opponent’s deck.
Forest of Giant Plants, aggressive draw support, and cards that allow you to retrieve Shiftry from your bench to evolve once again have raised the probability of getting enough heads to force all of your opponent’s Pokemon back to their deck on your first turn. Shaymin EX and Bicycle can allow you to draw though your deck to retrieve Forest of Giant Plants and the Shiftry line. You can use Super Scoop Up, Scoop Up Cyclone, AZ, Devolution Spray and Recycle to pick up Shiftry from your bench and set the line back down to use Giant Fan again and again. Because of the early game having a few Pokemon on the bench then with a enough flips from Giant Fan then you will eventually shuffle all of your opponent’s Pokemon back into their deck. That means the game can end without your opponent even making a single move.
There are ways to prevent this from happening. Wobbuffet from Phantom Forces can turn off any abilities from non-Psychic Pokemon. There is also Baltoy with the Theta Stop ability which prevents Pokemon abilities from effecting it. The only problem is that the other player needs to start with these cards in their opening field due to how quickly the Shiftry deck can start using Giant Fan.
The timing of this ban is quite interesting. Today will be the day that new cards will be entering the Expanded format with the new rotation to Kalos Starter/XY-on sets. Tomorrow will be when cards from Ancient Origins such as Forest of Giant Plants will be legal for tournament play. The announcement to ban Next Destinies Shiftry was made right before the card would even have the chance to be used at League Challenges and Regional competitions. Though many players have brought up the concern of this “one-turn win” deck. This means that Pokemon have been watching the conversations from around the internet and realize that the potential for Shiftry to cause an unhealthy tournament environment was quite high.
The last time a card was banned was in June which removed Lysandre’s Trump Card from the format.
Pokemon has started that they will continue to monitor the format as more cards enter the Expanded and Standard format. So this could mean that there could be more cards banned from the format.
