Infercatty (TCG)
| Infercatty | ||||
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Infercatty is a Pokémon TCG deck archetype based around the cards Delcatty ex, Delcatty, and Infernape. It has been widely abused in Pokémon Organized Play due to its ability to get Infernape onto the field quickly, and then continuously lay heavy damage on an opposing Pokémon each turn. Delcatty provides drawing support, while Delcatty ex recycles Infernape's discarded energy and minimizing both players' hand size.
Cards
Key cards
- Delcatty is in the deck to sit on the bench and provide drawing support with its Energy Draw Poké-Power.
- Delcatty ex is a dual-purpose addition to the deck. First of all, its Constrain Poké-Power can be used to put energy in the discard pile for Infernape Lv.X's massive Flare Up attack, and it can recycle energy back into the deck that Infernape loses with its Flare Blitz attack.
- Infernape is the deck's main attacker, being able to attack quickly for large amounts of damage with Meteor Punch, and then dealing a lot of damage with Flare Blitz.
- Infernape Lv.X is the big finisher, dealing an amazing 150 damage for only two energies. The downside is that it only works if a player has eight Fire Energies in their discard pile, and then they are shuffled back into the deck. It also recycles energies lost with Flare Blitz and Energy Draw.
Other Pokémon
- Chimchar is only in the deck for the purpose of evolving into Infernape.
- Monferno, despite possessing cheap, fast attacks, is in the deck for the same purpose as Chimchar.
- Skitty cannot hold its own in battle and is only useful to evolve into either Delcatty ex or Delcatty.
- Budew quickly searches any needed Trainer card out of the deck. It is the deck's consistency crutch, and is primarily meant to fetch out key trainers, such as Holon Transceiver, Rare Candy, or Windstorm (in order to counter then-metagame threats Cursed Stone and Cessation Crystal).
Other Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums
- Rare Candy can skip the Monferno evolution in the Infernape line, speeding up the deck.
- Celio's Network can search out any Pokémon in the deck except Delcatty ex.
- PlusPower adds 10 extra damage to any attack, which can be just enough for a crucial K.O..
- Holon Mentor is used to search out any three basic Pokémon in the deck.
- Windstorm is kept in the deck to discard cards like Cessation Crystal, which can make this deck slow and hard to use.
- Castaway can root out one Supporter card (usually another Castaway), a Pokémon Tool, and a Basic Energy card. This is the key Trainer card in the deck, because a player can decide which supporter to use their next turn.
- Scott
- TV Reporter is used to draw extra cards. It is preferable to Holon Adventurer because, with TV Reporter, a player draws before they discard.
- Warp Point is to retreat a Pokémon with a special condition, because most Pokémon in the the deck have free retreat costs.
- Professor Elm's Training Method is for searching out Delcatty ex, because Celio's Network cannot search Pokémon EX.
- Strength Charm is like a PlusPower that is searchable by Castaway. The downside is that it takes up the Pokémon Tool slot.
Energy cards
- Double Rainbow Energy is for quickly attaching two energy of any type to a Pokémon; however, damage done by that Pokémon is reduced by 10. This card is critical to Infernape's ability to deal quick knockouts.
- Fire Energy is crucial to the deck's success. In fact, a lot of the deck revolves around discarding Fire Energy.
Typical deckist
The deck list appearing below is not official; it is meant to represent an average build of the archetype, not specifically constructed for any regional metagame. Being that this is merely an archetype, a player may wish to change any part of this deck when building his or her own version.
| Quantity | Card Name | Type | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4x | Chimchar |  |
|
| 2x | Monferno | |
|
| 3x | Infernape | |
 H
|
| 1x | Infernape Lv.X | |
H
|
| 4x | Skitty |  |
|
| 3x | Delcatty | |
H
|
| 1x | Delcatty ex | |
H
|
| 1x | Budew |  |
|
| 4x | Rare Candy | T |
|
| 4x | Celio's Network | T |
|
| 2x | PlusPower | T |
|
| 4x | Holon Transceiver | T |
|
| 2x | Holon Mentor | T |
|
| 1x | Holon Scientist | T |
|
| 1x | Holon Lass | T |
|
| 1x | Holon Adventurer | T |
|
| 2x | Windstorm | T |
|
| 2x | Warp Point | T |
|
| 1x | Professor Elm's Training Method | T |
|
| 1x | Strength Charm | T |
|
| 4x | Double Rainbow Energy | E |
|
| 12x | Fire Energy | E | H
|
Strategy
To maximize Budew's potential, it is the ideal starter. Then, a player can be setting up the rest of their strategy by searching out any crucial trainers, such as Castaway while your opponent is attaching energy to attack Budew. The best part is that Errand-Running, Budew's attack, is free, so a player may use it immediately! With Castaways, a player would want to search out a Fire Energy, another Castaway, and a Strength Charm. When the player is on their last Castaway, Scott should be searched. From then on, trainers and Supporters should be used as a player sees fit. It is good to get Chimchar and Skitty onto the bench as soon as possible and evolve them into their final forms. Infernape or Infernape Lv.X should be used for most of the deck's attacking, but, if needed, Delcatty ex could take a prize card or two. This is only effective if there are many energy cards in the discard pile, though. Delcatty should NOT be used to attack, only to provide drawing support from the bench for as long as possible.
History
Obviously, the deck was not possible to build before the release of Diamond & Pearl, because Infernape is a key card, and it is from that set. However, upon Diamond & Pearl's release, the deck rose in popularity when it saw great success during the 2007 Spring Battle Road season.
However, the deck saw a sharp decline in use after Nationals 2007, when that year's National Champion, Chris Fulop, dealt several top-ranked Inferncatty players major defeats, including John Kettler, a major deck theorist behind Inferncatty's success.
The reason behind the deck's decline is due to the increased number of counters in the Nationals and Worlds metagames, including Empoleon Diamond & Pearl, Cessation Crystal, Cursed Stone, and the Lunatone/Solrock combo from Legend Maker.
Restriction
Infercatty was restricted due to the rotation of all pre-Diamond & Pearl cards from the 2008-09 Modified format.
