History of Shiftry in the TCG Pokemon Trading Card Game Overview!

Seedot cards in the ex series (2003-2007)

Yo, what’s going on everybody, SaberWolf94 and welcome to the Pokemon TCG Overview where, we’re covering Shiftry and his neat lower evolution line. I actually did use this pokemon in my original play-through of Ruby, though it was mostly Nuzleaf until I got a leaf stone to evolve it. I really thought this pokemon was cool, and thought he was pretty strong too back when I didn’t know the stats of any pokemon. These days while I still kind of like Shiftry I don’t dig it as much as I used to and I like Seedot and Nuzleaf better anyway.

Speaking of which, the little acorn has never had any poke-power, poke-body or ability and even the newest prints never had it hit 60 HP. Every Seedot in the ex series had 40 HP and while the Diamond and Pearl print finally got at least 50; they gave it 40 HP all the way after in Rising Rivals. The poor little nut pokemon! It resisted water at least in the 4th and 5th generation but it’s only 3 cards.

Nuzleaf never got any abilities either but since it’s also a dark pokemon he’s seen a lot of dark type prints; always making him weak to fighting and resisting psychic. It’s too bad they never did anything with energy attacks like other pokemon with two types. Since I know some Cacnea and Cacturne cards utilize both types in their attacks I thought for sure at least Nuzleaf would do this too on some cards but I was wrong. However, Nuzleaf from Rising Rivals is the only dark type Nuzleaf to be weak to fire instead of fighting so at least it gets some varying weakness. Nuzleaf also gets a Japanese Movie promo from the 6th movie and as far as I know both him and Seedot don’t have any other promos or special cards.

Unsurprisingly Shiftry gets its most prints in its debuting generation; a good 7 with following gens getting sparse in all fairness. Just like both his pre-evolutions he gets 2 cards in ex sandstorm where he debuts; a decent holo one and a regular rare crappy one. When you look at the first and holo Shiftry you’ll see an 80 for 4 attack; very impressive damage for a non ex pokemon. It’s going to do 10 less for each energy the defending pokemon has and unlike the D/P era Shiftry really got short-changed here with the ex series being possibly the slowest most set up oriented eras of the pokemon tcg. His power is sort of supposed to help you letting you flip a coin and if heads you get to return an energy from the defending pokemon to the hand. Not a useless power for sure, in fact with Energy Removal 2 and a couple of Shiftrys you may have an energy disruption strategy going here, but obviously the coin flip is in the way.

Speaking of which, the lesser Shiftry does straight up 60 for 4 and that’s just pretty average. Now “Wolf” you might say, doesn’t Salamence from ex Dragon do 60 for 4 too? So why is this card crap? That Salamence had a solid power and a double resistance getting it to slide as passable at least. This card has the same stats as the holo Shiftry but a 40 snipe for 3 isn’t that amazing. I suppose average is more fitting than straight crap but the best part about this card for me is the iconic art.

Not long after Sandstorm Shiftry got to be dark type in ex Hidden Legends giving it the common fighting weakness and psychic resistance dark pokemon have. It’s got 10 less HP than the previous ones but its attacks are much more workable. Push Aside does a solid 2 for 30 with some hand disruption letting you put a pokemon from your opponent’s hand at the bottom of the deck. You always get to look at your opponent’s hand and that effect was more neat in that era. It could also help with Supernatural Power, an attack that can do a very good 80 for 3 if you have the same number of cards in hand as your opponent. This is a much easier way to try and do 80 compared to Sandstorm’s Shiftry and it works with 1 less energy; hell with any energy type too. Since it’s a dark type we also can’t forget the benefit of special dark energy so no doubt this card hit harder than the other two.

Legend Maker Shiftry is the last non ex Shiftry, switches things back to dark again and it might be the most well rounded non ex Shiftry too from this era. Not that surprising coming from Legend Maker, but what makes this card so good is the ability to pull off a familiar but powerful strategy; the pick up your crap and put it to the hand crap. When you evolve to this card Evolutionary Fan lets you pick up any of your evolved pokemon besides any Shiftry and put it back in your hand along with all attached cards. Not being able to pick itself up is understandable, but it sucks you can’t pick up any other Shiftry period. It may have been too broken I suppose. Nevertheless if you use this power right with other pokemon it’s going to be strong. It’s not a bad attacker either. Reactive Beating does 2 for 30 and auto confuse if you have a React Energy attached.

ex Deoxys Shiftry went back to grass type and it’s actually the last grass Shiftry from this era and the best one for sure. 10 less HP compared to the Sandstorm guys once again but it has one less retreat cost and better tricks. Fan Action is a Warp Point for your opponent and while not the most special exclusive effect, it is simple to use and can prove effective. Stadium Power will always do 70 damage for 3 if there’s a stadium card in play which is great if you ask me. Having a stadium card in play isn’t that big of a condition especially since it works with your opponent’s one as well. There isn’t much else to say, it’s a pretty simple but good card; if you want to use a grass Shiftry in that era go with this one.

The last 2 Shiftry cards from this era are the two exs this guy gets. I always thought it was unfair for Ludicolo, which got no ex in that era while Shiftry got 2! Well, Shiftry was used by Sidney too but still. The first one comes in Crystal Guardians and is the most reliable and consistent to use out of the two. 140 HP while still above the limit of non ex pokemon is a little low seeing as other ex pokemon got 150 or even 160 HP. Free retreat is great but that double weakness is f***ed up. For some of you the grass weakness might seem weird, but prior to 4th gen poison pokemon were grass type in the tcg; so this is Shiftry being weak to Poison or Bug and Fighting. The Dark Eyes poke-body is fantastic though. Every time your opponent’s pokemon use a power they get 2 damage counters. This is powerful because it can stack, and because even with one it can work unlimited times in a turn.

Shiftry ex from Power Keepers is a more random card when it comes to effectiveness. I suppose this card was here as part of the Elite 4 theme in ex Power Keepers. It has the same stats as the Crystal Guardians ex minus the free retreat so it already has a disadvantage over that one. Both of its attacks are either going to be crazy good or just terrible. Skill Hack lets you look at your opponent’s hand and choose any pokemon you find there. You can then use that pokemon’s attack without meeting the energy requirements but you must still meet any costs or conditions. This can range from copying something terrible, doing nothing at all to doing 200 damage copying a Charizard ex or some crap for 1 energy. The rulings can be funky with an attack like this too so I’m not sure of everything but I don’t really dig it.

Shiftry got a print in the original Diamond and Pearl set so between Legend Maker, Crystal Guardians and Power Keepers it was at a pace where it got a card almost every set. I mean, D/P was just right after ex Power Keepers. This was gonna be the start of stepping backwards because while not a terrible card it didn’t have the new gen flare for the time. While not the max cap any more 120 HP was still kind of okay but that 2 retreat cost wasn’t. Darkness Fan could be powerful but since it required a coin flip wasn’t always a guarantee. Basically you can devolve an opponent’s pokemon every turn if you flip heads and put it back in hand. Its attack Spirt Dance did 50 for 3 with the chance of doing 70 or 90 based on coin flips. Overall, this card isn’t trash but it wasn’t a real step up from the best non ex Shiftrys in 3rd gen.

After this card Shiftry took a long but fair break from getting cards with the second and only other Shiftry card to appear in Rising Rivals for the D/P era; all the way to the end. It’s so freaking sad because this card is all positives but sadly got released at the wrong time. With 130 HP and only 1 retreat this guy’s stats were respectable and everything else it does is neat. With the Unlucky Wind poke-body, you would pretty much force your opponent to not try using almost all coin gamble cards since they would always be tails with this effect; and as you know most positive effects on coin flip cards require heads. A pretty unique but useful ability to have. Conform is a decent for a 2 energy attack doing 40 and auto confuse if you have the same cards in hand as your opponent.

Black and White saw only one Shiftry in Next Destinies and here’s a fun fact; this is one of the few cards that actually got banned. All because of the ability and nothing else. Its stats aren’t anything special as you guys can see; in fact it could be said 130 HP was underwhelming at the time. The attack is terrible too. You would only play 4 of this card and try to get a cheap win easily. Giant Fan is a coin flip to choose any opponent’s pokemon and shuffle it along with all attached cards back into the deck when you evolve Shiftry from the hand. Despite being a luck based effect with no guarantee, the effect was very powerful if you managed to do it. Perhaps this alone would end up being enough to ban this card but without a doubt the biggest problem is on a terrible design choice. This effect can work even if your opponent only has one pokemon left.

Nowadays the Pokemon Company is more careful with these types of effects stating that they can’t be used if your opponent has only one pokemon out. Tapu Fini GX is a good example. You can imagine what the idea behind Shiftry would be. Use a bunch of scoop ups, AZs and other pick up cards, play this guy as many times as you can and hopefully cheap beat your opponent to victory. I mean with the right random luck you could lose just with 1 or 2 straight heads from this guy. This card didn’t get banned while it was legal in standard, perhaps because there wasn’t a lot of pick up cards around or people didn’t really attempt to make it work enough. Tactics like this are bull-crap so I’m sure many people are with me in that we won’t miss this card.

6th gen is the last era Shiftry got prints so far, nothing for Sun and Moon yet but it got 4 cards. Weirdly enough, despite 6th gen including the ORAS trilogy with Primal Clash, Roaring Skies and Ancient Origins none of these sets have a Shiftry card. It got a card in Flashfire, Breakpoint and Steam Siege. It’s weird since this is Ludicolo’s line equivalent in Ruby. Ludicolo was in Primal Clash getting an ancient trait card too yet Shiftry got left out. Maybe they thought this would make things even with Shiftry getting 2 ex cards but it’s not quite right anyway.

That’s it guys! All the Shiftry cards we got so far. Most Shiftry cards have always been about a powerful ability that’s usually gonna spin a card in some way and a lot of them have the “same cards in hand for more damage” combo. No matter what though they always have some sort of trick meant to disrupt of some sorts. The best cards are easily in its debiting era of the 3rd generation but it’s also one of the few pokemon that have managed to produce a card that got banned. If there’s a stage 2 pokemon you want to get creative with disruption and make it work Shiftry is definitely one of the better candidates. Thank you guys for reading and I’ll see you on the next article. Wassup!!!

Originally Written in 2018

Its stats are solid with 120 HP being the bets you could ask for on a non ex stage 2 pokemon during that time. A decent start but the attack isn’t very good. You have to aim for 70 damage at least to be able to say you’re taking advantage of it since 60 for 4 isn’t special.

This was a thing in Legend Maker with React Energy being a special energy released in that set, but either way it doesn’t affect Cross-Cut. This is the real attack you want to use. It is also a 3 for 70 attack but only if the defending pokemon is evolved. It’s debatable if this is a better attack than the one ex Deoxys Shiftry uses. I think I like that one better but this one has its advantages too. Evolved pokemon were usually more threatening back then so your opponent would likely be using them. Which means more often than not you’ll likely have the effect of extra damage active. You don’t have to bother with extra cards like stadiums and this attack can get stronger with special dark energy. On the flip side though Stadium Power will hit basic for 70 too and without the effect it’s a 3 for 50 attack as opposed to 3 for 40. Either way both are great Shiftry cards.

If your opponent had a couple of pokemon using powers per turn the self damage would really add up. This effect goes perfectly with Target Attack. A snipe for 30 needing 2 energy but if that pokemon is hurt you’re doing 50 for 2 and that’s great. Blade Arms is your solid 3 for 70 attack when you want to do straight high damage. It might seem crap when compared to the non-ex Shiftrys doing 3 for 70 but it’s fair. It doesn’t have any conditions like the non-ex ones and with the benefit of special darks too it’s more than enough for 3 energies. You won’t see many ex pokemon doing high damage like this for 3 energy unless they have hefty costs. With the double weakness being standard for many ex pokemon I can’t really complain about this card minus the 140 HP. This card is easy to use and powerful having the power to screw with your opponent without even attacking and just sitting on the bench with Dark Eyes.

Dirge isn’t as random but can still end up being bad. It does 60 for 3 but will do 60 more for any benched pokemon with the same name. If your opponent just has one pokemon with the same name you’re doing a whopping total 120 damage for 3 and anything beyond that is just crazy f**k damage. The scenario isn’t entirely unlikely since we usually run multiple copies of our main pokemon but if there aren’t any on the bench then it’s just 60 for 3. This card requires more specific situations and partners to be good so I don’t think I like it more than the previous one but it no doubt has potential. So that’s the ex era and it wasn’t really all that bad.

The attack with great potential though was Seal Off; doing 60 for 3 wasn’t great at all but you also blocked powers and bodies on the defending pokemon, a similar but not quite identical effect from Gardevoir’s attack in Secret Wonders, one of the strongest cards of all time. See, the problem is that its limited to the active pokemon not everybody so its possible to play around or just missing the mark with a defending pokemon that doesn’t care. A real shame, as you guys can see this card has a lot of tricks but unfortunately ended up as a come close card but miss the mark.

Shiftry from Flashfire is definitely my favourite from this bunch. I actually used this card quite a bit in the Sky Field days. When everyone was using Rayquaza and Raichu to kick ass I was using this guy. Its stats are decent having 140 HP but the 2 retreat cost an unnecessary annoyance. The ability and attack are great though. Leaf Draw lets you discard a grass energy and draw 3 cards. Needing a grass energy is specific, so it wasn’t as simple as Empoleon or Zoroark GX now but you can draw 3 instead of 2. Still a great effect if you build your deck right. You don’t even have to take into account and only use it in certain situations since this guy is a real power attacker. Deranged Dance will do 20x the number of all benched pokemon in play. It’s not impossible to put a grass and dce on this guy and it’s really possible to get OHKOs on EX pokemon a few years ago.

I’ve toyed with this card recently too and KOing GX pokemon isn’t out of the question either with the right set up. No doubt the bets one in this era and one of the best Shiftry cards period.

The Shiftry in Breakpoint goes back to being dark and tries to do a bunch of things you really don’t want to do on a stage 2 pokemon. Conventionally anyway. Roll Up tries to discard cards from the opponent’s hand; you don’t really want to do that on a card like this and Otherworldly Return will give you any trainer from your discard pile but does ass damage for 3 energy. It’s a pretty hard to use card trying to do a few things but is average or worse at all of them.

Steam Siege Shiftry isn’t as bad but it’s still probably weaker than the one in Flashfire. It functions differently at least. It is the only dual type Shiftry card combining dark and grass, a concept Steam Siege brought back but then dropped it again for some reason. Kicked Wind will do 40 for one and negate your opponent’s tools and stadiums until the end of their next turn. It’s an alright effect but on a stage 2 pokemon you would want to do more damage. Extrasensory fixes that a little bit doing 60 for 2 but will do 120 if you have the same cards in hand as your opponent. A few things here and there would have helped this card a lot. If you put a dce on Shiftry you can’t use Wicked Wind if you want to so that’s a waste of flexibility. A better retreat and more HP would help too. It looks decent when you view it but cards like this, these days just can’t compete with crap like Metagross GX, Golisopod etc.

Shiftry also gets a blister promo too that can’t do anything but Whisk Away is better than the crap Breakpoint Shiftry wants to do with discarding cards. The verdict is still terrible though.