Ancient Origins [8/15, aka Bandit Ring]

HA559 said:
Where are our other special energies like Water, fire, and electric/lightning type? I hope the next set is based around Suicune EX and that it includes special water energy. That would also benefit Swampert EX.

Then you will have Fire and Electric special energies left for the set after that one.
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Well, using past trends, I would assume the next set would revolve around Zygarde. So far it hasn't been featured in any set at all. That seems odd, unless they are saving it for it's own set. If there is an "X2Y2" or "Z" game (and I'm betting on the former) then it will likely come out in tandem. I will admit, however, that the timing seems off for a new game. It is possible we could see a filler set with the special energy cards you are hoping for. I don't know what the focus of the overall set would be though. We have already had sets focused on fire (XY: Flashfire) as well as electric and water (XY: Primal Clash).
 
Im so pumped for this set!!! 26 years old and i still giggle in excitement for new tcg products!! Haha nothing better than waking up , drinking a hot cup of coffee and cracking open a 100 packs of the newest set!! Best feeling ever!! Hahahahahaha
 
Materious17 said:
The artwork is great, I love how happy Oddish and Gloom are, makes them look adorable.

But what TheStrictNein said, these cards are just here for stepping stones for the ultimate goal of Vileplume and I really wish that Basic and Stage 1 Pokemon that can evolve would have niches of their own (like Eelektric NVI did). It would make the evolving up to stage 2 more interesting than just a Rare Candy away, skipping 1/3 of the line.
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It would be nice to see some unevolved guys get some Ancient Traits that would make them viable plays without their evolved forms. It would be interesting to how they are utilized. Eelektric was a fun card, and relatively easy to get a hold of. As a League Leader who was relatively teaching new players, it was great. Eelektric allowed people to come up with some fun combos for low level play without having to extend their wallet too much. Basically, it got them hooked on the strategy that is involved in deck building. Of course, you will still need to use higher tier cards with them if you wanted to compete in tournaments, but having good lower level cards was a good stepping stone to getting people to think competitively and move from theme decks toward making high level competitive decks.
 
Materious17 said:
The artwork is great, I love how happy Oddish and Gloom are, makes them look adorable.

But what TheStrictNein said, these cards are just here for stepping stones for the ultimate goal of Vileplume and I really wish that Basic and Stage 1 Pokemon that can evolve would have niches of their own (like Eelektric NVI did). It would make the evolving up to stage 2 more interesting than just a Rare Candy away, skipping 1/3 of the line.
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It is only the opinion of this ol' otaku, based on guesswork and the few exceptions from over the years, but a major issue of balance for the "Basic versus Evolutions" side of things is having said lower Stages do something so that they can carry some of the weight (the other is to stop making Basic Pokémon that can basically hit the ground running, leaving no time for "set-up" by either player).
 
Materious17 said:
But what TheStrictNein said, these cards are just here for stepping stones for the ultimate goal of Vileplume and I really wish that Basic and Stage 1 Pokemon that can evolve would have niches of their own (like Eelektric NVI did). It would make the evolving up to stage 2 more interesting than just a Rare Candy away, skipping 1/3 of the line.
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Yeah I agree. If we could get some more viable stage 1's, the disadvantages of running stage 2 decks might be a tad lighter.

The last stage 1 I remember playing around with (outside of Golbat) was Luxio in Flashfire, for his Shaymin-EX-esque attack of 40x prize cards. It worked fairly well when Yveltal-EX was everywhere. But yeah, the current format pretty much encourages using rare candies in like 4-1-4 lines (at best), which is too bad.
 
I think it is disappointing that both of the cards have effectless attacks (Oddish is basically effectless), and only one attack each. Like, couldn't they've done at least something do with poison like they normally do?
 
i think most of the disappointment I (and others) feel is that these were revealed by themselves with no other interesting cards xD Most commons and uncommons are just boring - and honestly that's just the way the cards are deal with sets.

had they been revealed in a batch of 4 or 5 other more interesting cards, I don't think anyone would have given these a second look.
 
I have to admit I think the best cards to reveal early, the most anticipated ones, are going to be EX Pokémon, the really unique Pokémon regardless of whether they evolve or not though of course special thought goes into EX Pokémon and secret rares, special energy and good trainers.
 
arulz said:
Most commons and uncommons are just boring - and honestly that's just the way the cards are deal with sets.
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The thing is that there is no reason for lower rarity cards to be "boring". I mean some collectors care but do enough that rarity should be the determining factor for this? I can see having rarity act as a bit of a buffer for "complexity", just so that the more complex cards are less frequent at Pre-Releases, let alone actual events (more time for the correct rulings to filter down). That is even less relevant than it used to be now that cards aren't OP legal until three weeks after the official release date.

So yeah... I think we get filler Evolution lines because we don't make it known that it is unacceptable. I mean I'm not stating that every card needs to be brilliant but I'd rather have some better cards that weren't just placeholders and get stuck with a lot more reprints in sets (or whatever cost cutting measure is required to offset the extra creative effort) than what we've been seeing.
 
whirlpoolm51 said:
Im so pumped for this set!!! 26 years old and i still giggle in excitement for new tcg products!! Haha nothing better than waking up , drinking a hot cup of coffee and cracking open a 100 packs of the newest set!! Best feeling ever!! Hahahahahaha
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This comment made me really happy :p I really love the artwork for this set, I can't wait to see more Ultra Rares!
 
Otaku said:
The thing is that there is no reason for lower rarity cards to be "boring". I mean some collectors care but do enough that rarity should be the determining factor for this? I can see having rarity act as a bit of a buffer for "complexity", just so that the more complex cards are less frequent at Pre-Releases, let alone actual events (more time for the correct rulings to filter down). That is even less relevant than it used to be now that cards aren't OP legal until three weeks after the official release date.

So yeah... I think we get filler Evolution lines because we don't make it known that it is unacceptable. I mean I'm not stating that every card needs to be brilliant but I'd rather have some better cards that weren't just placeholders and get stuck with a lot more reprints in sets (or whatever cost cutting measure is required to offset the extra creative effort) than what we've been seeing.
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How did I know this was coming xD

I think the reason is pretty clear - so when you pull a good card, it feels special. Yes, I agree, I would love to see cards not to be boring. And I'd love to see more staple reprints instead of filler evolution lines, that would be awesome. As a business though, they will likely make more money by making good and complex cards rare, because people have to buy more packs to obtain the good cards.

That being said, I've always felt buying packs is a bit of a rip-off (save buying in bulk). The odds of pulling something even remotely exciting are too low to make it worth it. But how awesome is it when you pull something good!!! So awesome. (at least that's what I assume they're going for when they make most cards filler).


TL;DR: Good/complex cards are rare so they're special so you'll buy more packs. BUT I agree I'd like to see the overall quality/usefulness of cards go up.
 
Materious17 said:
Artwork: Its blurry so I can't give it a complete rating but it looks promising so far. Jagged Saber is a super awesome attack name and is so far the best part of the artwork. ?/10

Card text: Cheap energy cost, good damage, energy acceleration, and large heals all in one. M-Sceptile EX is a force to be reckon with. If only we knew what M-Sceptile's ancient trait did, if it is Theta-Stop or a new one entirely. The video makes it seem like he has a 2 star retreat cost however which is heavier than I expected M-Sceptile EX to have. I was expecting either free retreat or a 1 star cost at most. But so far it looks fairly good, and without knowing that ancient trait it can only get better from here. 8/10

Overall: ??/10. I need this card regardless.
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Assuming that the translation is correct, it looks as though the Ancient Trait prevents the effects of all Abilities done to him. Since they phrased it as "done to this pokemon" I'm assuming that it doesn't counter abilities that reduce or prevent damage from him, like those that Sigilyph or Bouffalant have. However, I do believe that it does counter certain reflex Abilities (those that poison, confuse, or KO your pokemon when attacked) or other Abilities that affect your pokemon under certain triggers, like when energy is attached to/discarded from them (like Pyroar's Lysander-like effect or Weepinbell's Ability to poison and confuse your pokemon.) The implications of a Mega EX having this trait are huge, and even though he doesn't do that much damage for a Mega (100 unboosted), if it's combined with the right cards (Mega Turbo & Sceptile's Spirit Link) it's still pretty impressive for an opening attack.
 
Rhesis said:
OMG is freaking OP MSceptile it seems a Fake Card. Two Energies, 100 Damage, attach 2 [G] Energies to 1 (or 2!!!) of your Pokémon and....HEAL ALL THE DAMAGE!!!!!

Are they crazy or it is only me???
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I don't think it
Dappers said:
If the effect is partially from Sceptile's AT that means that trait either fully heals when energy is placed or allows you to place energy from your hand after you attack.. Either way that's god like lol.

At first I was super worried about the new Vileplume and BTS stadium for grass types, but we have so many more cards to be seen as well as at least one whole new ancient trait. They have to know by now item lock has always been unbalanced, and we've seen improvements in the ways in can be dealt with (Shaymin EX, Supporter based heal/catchers, etc) Hopefully some new grass types will tell Seismitoad EX to sit down for a bit and other cards will keep Vileplume in check..
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From what I read, the secondary effect of M Sceptile EX's atack allows you to take 2 grass energy from your hand and attach them to your benched pokemon any way you like, & if you do then you remove all damage from those pokemon. & if you factor in his Theta Stop Ancient Trait (preventing him from being catchered by Pyroar, poisoned by Vileplume, or hurt by Sharpedo's Rough Skin) then yeah, pretty god-like, especially if you evolve him quickly (with a combination of Evosoda, the Giant Plant stadium & his Spirit Link) and power him up with the Mega Turbo trainer card. We'd just have to be careful about burning through our decks too quickly, now that Lysandre's Trump Card has been banned from tournament play.
 
zorinjarkraiveltal said:
Did you have a look at the confirmed decks for Ancient Origins, I can't find a reason why they would make a Regirock solely for Ancient Origins and not Bandit Ring. Unless you mean something else...
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I could be wrong, but it's likely that Ancient Origins is the name of Bandit Ring's Western equivalent (at least that's how it appears, due to Hoopla Unbound being used for the artwork of Aincent Origin's Elite Trainer Box.) As for why it's (apparently) not featured in Bandit Ring, that's likely due to it being having been released in a previous Japanese expansion.

As those of us who follow both ends of the TCG action (mostly hoping to get a sneak peek at these new cards), the Japanese market generally sees far more expansion releases than those of us in the States do, with those expansions often being smaller than ours. As a result, most of those US expansions often combine two of those Japanese expansions, sometimes throwing in cards from a Japanese promo set for good measure. Hope that explains thins a little better for you.
 
@sonicking2004

Hey, welcome to Pokebeach forums! Since the posts that you are responding to are quite old (in internet terms) there has been a lot of discusison in regards to exactly what you are posting about a little later. To prevent something like this from happening, I would advise you read through the entire thread to see where conversations have been taken.
 
They should have revealed Oddish/Gloom first so people would speculate about the incoming Vileplume. Unless they did it this way because Oddish/Gloom had some incredible ability/attack, but I couldn't imagine Vileplume getting even more support in its debut.

So now we know. Bare-boned pre-evo cards just as they should be.
 
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