States Championships have just began with some like Texas hosting theirs this weekend. There are going to be plenty of new decks hitting the battlefield thanks to the rule changes and the new cards introduced in the XY set. There will also be plenty of old decks fighting to keep their dominance within the metagame with new tricks up their sleeve. What all these decks need though is draw power which can be provide with a happy face. This card may remind veteran players of an old face but she is straight out from XY and brand new. This week we are going to look at the new girl on the TCG, Shauna!
Shauna is a Supporter card introduced in the XY TCG set. It allows the player to shuffle their hand into their deck and then draw five new cards. This is a new form of hand replenishing that many players have been looking forward to. Five cards may not be much compare to the draw power of other cards but it can really help put a person in a better position.
This card’s effect may sound familiar to another card that has been out of format for long while, Professor Oak’s New Theory. Both cards makes the player shuffle their hand into their deck and draw a new hand. The only differences is that PONT would give you a hand of six while Shauna only does five. That doesn’t mean that five is a bad hand size. It is actually a great size if you need to get a few things. Shuffling your hand into your deck allows you to put cards that you don’t want back into your deck while getting a new hand that could be better used.
This new supporter is the newest and one of the strongest draw support to come out from XY. It is reliable and constant compare to cards like Colress and N. It is a good card to have no matter where you are in the game. Colress is great late game to get seven plus hand size but it isn’t great to have early game with a two Pokemon bench. N is nice to refresh your hand but it also helps your opponent if they are stuck in a bad spot. Shauna is a card that helps only you and gives you a respectable hand size. It may be overlooked by other draw cards like Professor Juniper when that card is in your hand but well worth using if you wish to put yourself in a better spot.
Will Shauna be used in every deck? Replace all those N and Colress with a full playset of Shauna?
The answer to that is no. Shauna is a great card but it doesn’t have strong draw support. Five cards is a great thing to have but Corless and N can do much more depending on the board. N can be used to put your opponent who is ahead on prizes into a bad situation by giving them a smaller hand size. Colress can be used to gain massive hand sizes and dig deep into your deck. Shauna can only help you refresh your hand and can be used no matter what is happening in the game. That consistency could be the thing that makes this card better then the other two that were mentioned who are good in certain situations. Juniper can help get you more cards but it also risk discarding cards that could be used later in the game. Shauna can be used to save those cards while getting a new hand.
What will most likely happen is that people will play less N and Colress to make room for Shauna. Maybe instead of running four N and two Corless, people will play three N, one Corless and two Shauna for that reliable draw support. Some decks may not play it at all because they do not need that kind of draw support like Darkrai EX/Yveltal EX variants that have several kinds of draw support like Bicycle and doesn’t mind discard cards using Juniper.
So if you are looking for a good card with reliable draw support then Shauna is your girl. Best of luck at States!
