Hello. I cover the card reveals of Shuppet and Banette from Pokemon Japan's Battle Partners set.
Shuppet
Shuppet is a Basic Psychic Pokemon with 60 HP, one retreat cost and Dark Weakness. In the video game Shuppet & Banette are Ghost types but in the TCG they are Psychic types.
For one Psychic Energy the Spooky Shot attack does 20 damage. A Basic Pokemon with a one Energy cost that does 20 damage is a good Basic Pokemon in the early game and sometimes later in the game.
Shuppet's face here is kind of scary and cute at the same time. Well done. 😛
Banette Card
Banette from Battle Partners is a Stage 1 Evolution Pokemon with 90 HP. It evolves from Shuppet. Like Shuppet, Banette has one retreat cost and Dark weakness. The second attack of Spooky Shot is okay as it does 70 damage for one Psychic Energy and one Colourless Energy.
What makes this Banette stand out and scary for opponents is the first attack. Cursed Speech for one Psychic Energy does not do attack damage but it has powerful hand disruption. Your opponent chooses 3 cards from their hand and shuffles them into their deck. If the opponent has a low hand count then Banette's Cursed Speech attack leaves the opponent in topdeck mode with potentially no hand.
Card Combos
The Banette card alone is scary but think of the combos that can be used with this new Banette card.
Xerosic's Machinations
One of the most obvious combo cards with Banette is Xerosic's Machinations. This card is mostly used in Snorlax Stall decks and in control decks. The card effect is simple. The opponent discards cards until his/her hand count is down to 3.
After the opponent goes down to 3 cards, use the Banette attack to shuffle away the 3 card hand to the deck. The opponent has no cards in hand before the draw phase. Very disgusting and scary.
Iono In Late Game
If the opponent has taken 3 or more Prize cards in the game then you can use Iono to reduce their hand size. Then come in with Banette to shuffle their hand away. Although Xerosic's Machinations is more devastating, using Iono is a bit better to recycle your own hand too.
Judge
Judge is not used as much as Iono but in some cases Judge is a little better than Iono. It is still hand disruption regardless. Judge gets both players shuffle their hand into their deck (Iono puts the cards in hand to the bottom of respective decks). Then both players draw 4 cards each.
Then come in with Banette to shuffle 3 of 4 cards in the opponent's hand. One obvious con with this combo is that the opponent could save the 1 card that can let them draw more cards. Examples include Judge, Iono, Professor's Research, Mew ex.
Hand Trimmer Item Card
Hand Trimmer is not seen much but that could change with Banette. As it is an Item card you don't use that one Supporter spot per turn. Both players reduce their hand count down to 5. (You can choose what to discard.)
Come in with Banette and shuffle 3 cards from their hand into their deck.
Salvatore
Salvatore is not a hand disruption card. It is a Supporter dedicated to evolving Pokemon into a evolution Pokemon with no abilities. What makes Salvatore stand out is that you can evolve something that was put into play the same turn. (Normally evolving takes one more turn but not with Salvatore.)
Place one Shuppet down on the Bench or have Shuppet in the Active Spot turn 1 going second. Then use Salavtore to evolve from Shuppet to Banette on the same turn. Given that the attack cost requirements are met then you can shuffle 3 cards from the opponent's hand into their deck.
Salvatore in the Surging Sparks metagame is not seen too much. It was seen with Banette ex and some Dialga VStar decks sometimes. Maybe Salvatore would seen some more play.
Mew ex As A Counter
How do you counter extreme hand disruption combos that feature Banette? One obvious counter to hand disruption is Mew ex. Mew ex is a Basic 180 HP Psychic Pokemon from the 151 set. The Restart ability allows the player once during their turn draw cards until they have 3 in hand.
Having draw support Pokemon like Dudunsparce and Fezandipiti ex can help but Mew ex would be the fastest option. (I exclude Bibarel as it has the F regulation mark and Battle Partners release means the end of the F marked card.) Simply use Nest Ball to bring out Mew ex to the Bench.
Banette Control Meta Deck?
There are cards to be revealed from the Battle Partners set and future Pokemon TCG sets. As the F cards go away like the Block Snorlax, control players would look for a new disruptive style deck. Banette Control seems to be an obvious choice. Frustrate opponents by limiting their hand size. When the hand size is limited the gameplay is limited.
Banette ex can also be added to Item lock the opponent. Item Lock means that the player cannot play Item Cards. Disrupt the hand and then Item lock. Pretty annoying for the opponent.
I would think that there would be counter cards with powerful effects that activate if you a low hand count. Time will tell. For now I think the future metagame may be weird. I don't mind facing control decks (except Snorlax Stall as it takes long) every once in a while. However if people are going to be disrespectful and be sore winners if they beat you with control decks then the game could be bad. Bad as in not being able to do much and it becomes RNG dependent on the cards you draw.
What do you think of Banette? Too crazy? Should it be shuffle two cards instead of three into the opponent's deck?