Heiji

Part time collector
Member
Did Saya Tsuruta stopped hiding pokéballs in her illustrations? I can't find it anymore... :(
 

Diego Lima

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Adding on to this point, in the most recent major Japanese tournament, the top 16 is mostly full of decks that are already huge in the meta (Lost Box, Lugia, Mew) and the only new deck to be found there is Gardevoir ex, which occupies 2 slots to Lost Box's 5/6 (depending on if Giratina counts as part of the archetype), Lugia's 4, and Mew's 4. Yes, a Gardevoir deck got 2nd place, but overall it looks like the meta might not be changing as much from rotation and Scarlet & Violet as people might've thought. Obviously, one tournament isn't absolutely defining or anything, but it's just an indication that we could find ourselves still in a meta mostly dominated by the same decks that have been dominating ever since Silver Tempest came out. So the fact that Paldea Evolved is not looking promising at all from a competitive perspective means we'll be stuck in a similar format for even longer! People are already getting tired of this meta and it's now looking like it won't be that massively different even when this year is halfway over!

Honestly, I'm borderline disgusted by how horrible a lot of these Pokemon are. I know it's nothing new for most single prizers to be pure bulk, but it's still very frustrating. I look at cards like Dugtrio, Pyroar, and Salazzle and I just think, "Why? Why couldn't they even try to make them the slightest bit interesting?" And the exes in this set are pretty bland and bad too!

The Special Energies are a big deal and Artazon Town looks like a really cool Stadium. But the lack of usable Pokemon makes it extremely unlikely new archetypes will emerge from this set. It seems more likely that existing archetypes will simply become stronger.

Again, though - nice art. But the TCG should be good for both collecting AND playing.

This. 100% this. This is what matters. We're potentially looking into a lot of staleness for the forseeable future. I still have PTSD from back when Darkness Ablaze unleashed upon us one of the worst standard formats in the game's history, only for the next 3 sets to do jackshit with it. It was only when Battle Styles came out, SEVEN MONTHS later that we saw any significant shake up in the format. God that was bad. Let's hope we don't have the same type of situation all over again at the beginning of yet another era of the TCG.
 

Gibleguy

Aspiring Trainer
Member
IMO these slightly weaker sets are much more bearable now because there's no concern that the worthless cards like Amoonguss and Salazzle will be rares in the English set.
Yoooo fellow shinx fan :) & why wont the bad ones be rares? Crzenith zeraora & wailord were no-text rares right?

Also rotating quick ball and evo is fine 1 i know atm it just makes lugia weaker and mew a teeeny bit worse, but those cards are kinda nuts and dont need to be in format 100% of the time. Damn I do wish they’d do something to cap lost box tho - giratina/goodra whatever variant they just see SO many cards!!
 

steffenka

Miss Vaanjie
Member
Yoooo fellow shinx fan :) & why wont the bad ones be rares? Crzenith zeraora & wailord were no-text rares right?

Also rotating quick ball and evo is fine 1 i know atm it just makes lugia weaker and mew a teeeny bit worse, but those cards are kinda nuts and dont need to be in format 100% of the time. Damn I do wish they’d do something to cap lost box tho - giratina/goodra whatever variant they just see SO many cards!!
As of Scarlet and Violet base set, the only rare cards will be holofoil, so all uncommon Japanese cards will be uncommon in English too
 

Clear

Birb is the Word
Member
This. 100% this. This is what matters. We're potentially looking into a lot of staleness for the forseeable future. I still have PTSD from back when Darkness Ablaze unleashed upon us one of the worst standard formats in the game's history, only for the next 3 sets to do jackshit with it. It was only when Battle Styles came out, SEVEN MONTHS later that we saw any significant shake up in the format. God that was bad. Let's hope we don't have the same type of situation all over again at the beginning of yet another era of the TCG.
It wasn't until BRS actually where we get to some good cards (back) the introduced stability, instead of "i guess I whiffed, I lose"

DAA format was so bad cause everything is so slow, to the point where a single hammer heads ruins the momentum, or whiffing a going first energy is just game ending.

I know people constantly complain about fast formats, but I rather lose to speed, then lose to a heads on a crushing hammer. It's NOT the same as Lugia going first. If you lose to Lugia, it's your fault for bringing the mirror! I don't play Lugia for this very reason (and also I really dislike the 25% brick ratio)
 

DrifBoi

child kidnapping balloon
Member
I think it is worse than dracozolt - as it is much less tanky.

& I'd have to agree with Ignoramus here, the set is bad. Something like buy singles of the trainers and maybe a magikarp art. We'll have to see how the other half of the set turns out though first :)

Something like just under half of the mon here are the new ones - but some of those are already seeing prints in scarvio base iirc...
unless we have a consistent way of reusing [F] energy (ik we have koraidon but that ends your turn), we can’t use cheryl and this card to the fullest. being more tanky is a factor here tho and i do agree with you on that.
 

Mimikeon

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I did, I'm sure you didn't read what I said. I said this happened last rotation, when we have to use cope like Great Ball to make sure we brick less, when they could have just gave us Ultra Ball earlier in the first place. Only now, we don't have enough good searchers other than nest and UB. Think about it, Mew gets to run the feather ball like a boss, while the rest of the new kids on the block has to play Great Ball and whiff it 60% of the time. How is this legal?


No one is going to play bad cards that can't OHKO when there are cards that does it better.
It's common sense. Just make good cards in your ex slots, it's not complicated!
You cannot pay me any amount of money, to open these waste of trees.
I don't know why last rotation is relevant. And how many searchers do you need?
 

Clear

Birb is the Word
Member
I don't know why last rotation is relevant. And how many searchers do you need?
Well, when floodgate cards are compatible generic searchers, we need access to 12 reliable ones in a 60-card deck to ensure smooth playing. This means we are missing 2 cards.
Last rotation is relevant. the days with only quick ball and evo incense is hell, because there is no hand fixing, or massive energy accel in the format.
The result is a bad format when you just brick cause you brick.
Bricks should not be in card games, they belong to making affordable housing, not in my hand in a children's card game. Bricking should be illegal.
 

ThatUnlimitedProf

I'm Shayne, also known as ThatUnlimitedProfessor!
Member
Well... at least it has a good stadium? And GLC will be better?

I dunno. this set is very underwelming so far....
 

Mimikeon

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Well, when floodgate cards are compatible generic searchers, we need access to 12 reliable ones in a 60-card deck to ensure smooth playing. This means we are missing 2 cards.
Last rotation is relevant. the days with only quick ball and evo incense is hell, because there is no hand fixing, or massive energy accel in the format.
The result is a bad format when you just brick cause you brick.
Bricks should not be in card games, they belong to making affordable housing, not in my hand in a children's card game. Bricking should be illegal.
Are Japanese decks all playing Great Ball now?
 

Clear

Birb is the Word
Member
well, winning decks that can't use nest and ultra and be enough are using great ball, so yes.
 
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