“Mega Brave” and “Mega Symphonia” TCG Sets Releasing in August, Mega Gengar ex and Mega Diancie ex Decks!

[taveryri]

Power creep been the norm since EX Ruby and Sapphire. Small increments every generation. The bigger issues are the disproportionate gap between single prizer’s HP and ex’s (Either normal or Mega) and the fact that ex’s already have efficient attacks and/or built in energy acceleration despite you needing to set up only half as many of them as you would single prizers to win a game. Hopefully all the basic ex’s require at least an evolution line for support, since Tag Team GX’s could often function with only 4-10 Pokémon, leaving tons of space free for item techs that made them even more consistent or hard to take down.
I wish Pokémon would reprint Double Rainbow Energy (Single prize evolved Pokémon deserve their own “Double Dragon Energy) more than ever with how efficient stage 2 ex attackers have become), but Feraligatr is one of the few Pokémon that could take advantage of it anyways, and the existence of three-prizers usually makes two-prizers the underdogs and the one-prizers unplayable unless those one-prizers are super-rampable glass cannon basics, so we might just be lucky to keep most of the top decks.
(You know, the fact that the first single-prize stage 2 attacker to top cut a major tournament since Galarian Obstagoon (https://www.ptcglegends.com/tournaments/2020_OCIC/masters/Tim Bartels-DE) in 2020 can effectively do 280 damage for two Energy, relies on a tool that turns it into a two-prizer, and is still considered rogue should be a sign that single prize stage 2’s need a major buff. Especially when you consider that Galarian Obstagoon was played for an attack that made it immune to basic Pokémon and an ability that synergizes with Sableye V- and Yveltal GX’s attacks.)
As for designing better cards and mechanics, hopefully Pokémon will create more original effects like the Lost Zone engine (yes, I know Sableye had lots of haters, but I enjoy the Comfey/Colress/Mirage Gate dynamic), but while Pokémon could start introducing mechanics like The Lost Zone again, I doubt they’d do it more than every couple of years at most in order to keep the game from becoming as complex as Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh.

I do slightly agree with you on just about everything except at the end of your statement. The other two competitor games complexities are two completely different in of themselves. MTG is complex because they try to squeeze in cards that will be effect in like 4 different formats at once and branding the sets as "standard". YGO is a completely different issue in complexity.

I think Pokemon has this identity issue where the path to destruction is paved with good intentions. While the game is completely targeted at children in theory. The reality is the game isn't a children's game, when 90% or more of the population or greater exists in adult age groups. They need more levels of complexity and I think the thing holding them back is thinking their target audience is children and wanting to keep the game too simple for that reason.