Contest CaC September '18: Back to Basics! (All Results Up!)

bbninjas said:
duskull___september_cac__18_by_bbninjas-dcnqb6k.png

/in

I felt like making a card, so I made a card for once! The choice of Duskull was simply because I saw this fantastic 3D render by DillanMurillo on DeviantArt. I then manipulated one of the Guardians Rising official wallpapers, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. The flavour was inspired by an anime episode that I saw when was a young and dumb, which for whatever reason made a massive deal out of a Duskull's (or was it a Dusclops') eye? Vanish Trick is an attack that supports the Lose Eye Ability, by bringing any Duskull that have been Benched undesirably for whatever reason back to your hand, so that Lost Eye can be used. My eye says that placements are wonky but overlayed scans suggest otherwise, and SM-era placements are weird at best, so I have no clue if they're right or not. Whelp.

Main references: Volcanion-EX, Luxio FLF, Minior CES, AZ
Credits: Asche (for resources), DillanMurillo (for art), PTCG (for background), a friend (for inspiring my recent burst of productivity)
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You don’t happen to be judging this one, are you? :p
Well, nice to see you step in. It’s a nice change.
 
Jabberwock said:
Provided it's not exactly the same, yes. It's worth noting that you may lose some points for Creativity here anyway, as the card wasn't wholly created for the contest.
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That's fine. Here's my entry!

o7UwGsa.png


NOTE: In this format, Weakness and Resistance are understood to be x2 and -30.

mew__plus_by_icycatelf-d92khlp.png
 
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Hi!

Here's my entry for this month's CaC o/

It's my first fake TCG card and I'm very happy with the results, hope I can do better in the next CaC

nRqeCU

And I did something using Asche's gold Sun/Moon templates too, reminded me of BW secret rares hahah

h9y5mp

I used @aschefield101 templates/reference sheet and @icycatelf holosheets. The illustration was made by me.

Thanks!
 

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Taking the edit penalty. I noticed a small typo and decided to decrease the border width and add another attack to fill up some of that extra space while I was fixing it.

I fear that I may have made it OP though (even if it would have to be played in a Colorless deck). :I

(Now I'm thinking about removing the new attack, but I don't know if dropping it would be worth butchering my score...)

EDIT: Ah, heck it. I opted to remove the new attack. I also resized the Ability and attack text.
 
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HAPPY_FOX.png
HAPPY FOX HAPPY FOX
 
As of 40 minutes ago, submissions are now closed. Thanks for submitting, everyone!
 
Looking back, it would appear I never pressed 'Post Reply' Well then, I guess I take the 2pt penalty!
 
that ivy guy said:
Lots of cute cards this time around. Me 'n' lil' Cleffa are up for some tough competition!
Click to expand...

Personally, I loved your Cleffa card. I also loved the mechanic you gave it as well. I look forward to seeing the other 15 Baby Pokémon completed in the same way you done Cleffa.
 
I already made a card for it without realizing that submissions were closed. I put it in the spoiler (I tried).


Mimikyu – Fairy – HP90
Stage Basic

Ability: Disguise
Once while this Pokémon is on the field, prevent all effects of attacks, including damage, done to this Pokémon during your opponents turn.

[R] Shadow Sneak 40
If you go first, you can use this attack on your first turn. You can only use the second effect of this attack if you go second, and only if it is your first turn. Discard an energy attached to 1 of your opponents Pokémon.

Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: Normal (-20)
Retreat: [C]
This tricky Pokémon not only fools the opponent, stopping damage, but also strikes unpredictably.
 
Text-Based Results

Judge: @VioletValkyrie

I’m honoured to be a new judge being able to work so quickly on judging a competition. Being invested in CaC this past year has really helped me appreciate the work myself and others like you all have put into this competition. September’s theme was Basic Pokémon and it’s one that I originally wasn’t too fond of, but I think seeing some of the entries from this month really changed my view on that. I have a lot of varying things to say about each of your entries, so I’d rather say to check them out specifically rather than ask for general thoughts on this month besides that. I’ve done my best to include proper references for your wording errors, so you can find what you’re looking for easily.

Thanks for being patient with my judging! 

@Anime Psyclone
Creativity: (14/20)
Energy Bonding is an interesting idea for an ability to accelerate Energy, and while we’ve seen attacks that rely on the amount of Energy attached to a Pokémon for increased damage, there isn’t one I can think of where pairs of Energy are used for this purpose instead of single energy. It feels like the card gives a fresh take on already existing abilities by adding unique clauses to them, and I appreciate the creativity. However, I’m not sure what the “APZ” in the name is for, if that’s a mechanic such as Pokémon-GX or Prism Star, there’s no explanation given.
Wording: (4/15)
“Pokèmon” -> “Pokémon” (x4) -2 pts
“When you play this Pokèmon from your hand” -> “When you play this Pokémon from your hand onto your Bench during your turn” -1 pt (Rayquaza-GX CES, several + other references)
“if you have any cards named Cosmog, Cosmoem, Solgaleo, Lunala, or Deoxys in your hand or on the bench”, “per card.” -> “For each Pokémon named Cosmog, Cosmoem, Solgaleo, Lunala, or Deoxys in your hand or on your Bench” -2 pts (Dedenne, FLI 88)
“you may add any type of energy to this Pokèmon per card.” -> “You may attach an Energy card to this Pokémon.” -1 pt (Malamar, FLI 51)
“this attack does twice the damage it would have done with the last multiplier (50, 100, 200, ect.)” This doesn’t really have a multiplier to double initially, as the 50x in the attack cost would only be multiplied by a number in the attack description, which is only “double the previous number”. -3 pts
The area from which you attach Energy using the Ability isn’t stated. -3 pts (Reference not needed)
Believability: (2/15)
(I’ll say immediately that I believe stating in your inspiration that your card is “OP AF” is never a good lead into the believability category.)
Energy Bonding can get out of hand incredibly quickly seeing as cards like Solgaleo and Lunala aren’t necessary on the Bench to achieve the full effect of the Ability. By only needing the necessary cards in hand, you can easily attach a ridiculous amount of Energy from an unstated area (not sure if Deck, Discard or Hand) and that means you can simply place this Pokémon down and attach every single Energy you play in your deck to this Pokémon as long as you don’t have an awful hand or board position.
Another part I found confusing about the Ability is that you can rely on simply having the Pokémon in your hand, yet never state that you have to reveal those Pokémon to confirm they’re in your hand. This idea makes me think of cards like Birthday Pikachu which became stronger cards the more dishonest the player was.
Gamma Ray Burst is only unbalanced due to the incredibly unbalanced Energy acceleration of Energy Bonding. While you can potentially set up 200 damage for 3 [P] and 3 [Y] Energy, that’s still six Energy to deal 200 damage, which wouldn’t be unbalanced under normal circumstances.
While this is a Fakemon and I don’t fully understand it enough to have a basis on this wording, I will point out the Retreat Cost of 4 seems very strange and way too high. There doesn’t seem to be a reason for this card to have such a high cost, and no reason for this was explained in the Inspiration.
-1 pt for missing Dex Stats.
Final Thoughts:
Fakemon are always certainly interesting to see in CaC, though I find they usually must have some explanation of the reasoning behind them or their mechanics, as that’s something that isn’t as understood for Fakemon like it is with already existing Pokémon. I went into your personal fakes thread as you referenced it in your inspiration. However, even after reading previous Fakemon text-fakes you had made, as well as confusing wording throughout the card, I still had trouble understanding this card, unfortunately. It seemed like this entry was more made to show off the Pokémon than create a card itself.
Final Score: 20/50

@Lord Goomy
Creativity: (16/20)
While the concept for picking your own Special Condition on an attack isn’t new, I like the creativity taken with Legion of Worms. Besides the rather amusing name, the idea of teaming up with other Bug Pokémon to create a large powerhouse is very entertaining. I like it.
Wording: (11/15)
“This Pokémon has 30 more HP” -> “This Pokémon gets +30 HP” -1 pts (Wishiwashi DRM 31)
“this Pokémon’s attacks do 90 more damage.” -> “Its attacks do 90 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance).” -2 pts (Wishiwashi DRM 31)
“Your opponent’s Active Pokémon” -> “The Defending Pokémon” -1 pt (Amoonguss PLS 13)
Believability: (9/15)
While it’s obvious from looking at the card that it can become a 200HP behemoth of a worm that deals 100 damage per attack, choosing a Special Condition without a coin flip is dangerous because you can choose to instantly paralyze the Defending Pokémon, and that’s where things start becoming unbalanced. At that point, you have a Basic Pokémon attacking for 100 damage with a single [G] Energy that has a guaranteed paralysis lock while having 200HP (potentially more in the Expanded format with cards like Sky Field or Fighting Fury Belt) and giving up a single prize card upon being knocked out. I think the main issue with the believability here is the ability to deal a guaranteed paralysis lock with no drawbacks, which is one of the biggest things I believe should never be done when dealing with Special Conditions.
-1 pt for missing Dex Stats.
Final Thoughts:
I love the ideas and the creativity behind this one. The wording errors on this one are small, so I just suggest you check references to make sure everything’s okay for the future. I think the one thing that ruined believability was just the guaranteed paralysis off the ability, as every other card allowing the player to select a Special Condition has required a coin flip. To close, I’ll reiterate and just suggest checking references before finishing the final submission. Good work!
Final Score: 36/50
 
@Professor_jplap
Creativity: (7/20)
While it’s nice to see a TAG TEAM card being submitted (I was sure I’d have to look over one of these), sadly that’s all this card seems to have going for it. The attack effects are rather generic, and the card doesn’t seem to do anything unique or interesting with the TAG TEAM banner. While it uses the concept of the theme in a fairly interesting way, the card falls flat.
Wording: (6/15)
“you opponent’s active Pokémon” -> “your opponent’s Active Pokémon” -2 pts (Several)
“burned” -> “Burned” -1 pt (Reshiram-GX DRM, several + other references)
“is now burned and add 4 damage counters to this Special Condition (this affect can't be applied more than once)“ -> “is now Burned. Put 6 damage counters instead of 2 on that Pokémon between turns.” -2 pts (Toxapex-GX GRI, several)
“(this affect can't be applied more than once)” Unnecessary clause, included in previous deduction
“your opponent’s bench Pokémon” -> “your opponent’s Benched Pokémon” -1 pt (Several references)
“(You can't use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)” Necessary clause that’s missing from the card. -3 pts (Several references)
Believability: (14/15)
I don’t see a lot of issues besides the previously mentioned wording errors. The only issue I have other than that is just how plain of a TAG TEAM card this is.
Final Thoughts:
The wording for the card itself just seems like small issues that can be easily resolved by properly checking references before. Make sure to just have another look before submitting in the future. You seemed to understand and typed out things like the TAG TEAM clauses perfectly, but not those for the GX attack itself, and had some small mishaps here and there, specifically those in which you had “you” instead of “your” and not capitalizing letters. They just happened to be a lot of small things that added up. Make sure to double check the small things next time. Other than that, the card seemed incredibly plain and didn’t seem to do anything interesting besides just being a TAG TEAM card. I’d love to see you try new things with the mechanic, especially one that’s as recent as this one.
Final Score: 27/50
 
@FourteenAlmonds
Creativity: (13/20)
I love Prism Star cards because you can use mechanics or power up previously made mechanics that won’t fly (Pun intended!) with other cards such as vanilla basics. I like Meteor Shower since it’s one of those Abilities that allow both players to use the same base effect to accomplish very different goals. However, besides the Ability, there’s not a lot of creativity here. While Rock Blast has great synergy with Meteor Shower, I can name several cards that have the exact same effect, unfortunately.
Wording: (12/15)
“When you play this Pokémon from your hand to your bench during your turn” -> “When you play this Pokémon from your hand onto your Bench during your turn” -1 pt (Rayquaza-GX CES, several + other references)
“benched” -> “Benched” (x2) -2 pts (Reference previously listed)
Believability: (7/15)
Spread cards are honestly difficult to judge believability on because of often having to consider them in conjunction with other existing spread cards. And if there are any that are making waves and would be considered, a big contender would be Tapu Lele (Sun and Moon Ultra Prism 94/Promos SM45) for its ability to move damage counters on your opponent’s board however you like. At first I was scared the strength of this ability would get out of hand, but I think keeping the number at only 10 saves it from that. However, being able to return it to your hand with cards like Acerola, Super Scoop Up, etc. as well as the effect of potentially spreading 30 damage to all your opponent’s Pokémon for one energy is something that I think can get out of hand, and while it’s definitely not the most unbalanced it could be, I’d unfortunately have to err on the side of caution with this one.
On another note, 50HP seems incredibly small for a basic Prism Star, or a Minior. I’m unsure why that number was chosen but it feels incredibly out of place when looking at the card and it’s the first thing that stood out to me when I took a look at it. Minior GRI77 has 70HP, while Minior CES83 has 90.
-1 pt for Missing Dex Stats.
Final Thoughts:
I like this card as you don’t typically get to see a lot of spread effects out there, and Prism Star Pokémon with abilities that activate when played from the hand are always fun to see. However, I don’t think the numbers were quite right on this one. It feels like the amount of damage it can cause in a short amount of time for a single energy/merely playing it from your hand can cause problems. I’d also like to see a more creative way to spread damage with the attack, just as how you found a creative way to spread with the ability.
Final Score: 32/50
 
@Zero Umbreon
Creativity: (10/20)
First of all I’m glad the rules of your new mechanic are stated in your post, and there’s a rule for the Pokémon on your card. That makes understanding this mechanic easy and simple. Thank you!
The ability is a fantastic way to use a Pokémon on the Bench, as most abilities for Benched Pokémon are simply “Switch your Active” (Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX), “Your Pokémon’s attacks do more damage” (Diancie Prism Star) or “Prevent all damage done to this Pokémon” (Feebas DRM28) and it’s easily my favourite part of the card.
However unfortunately besides the ability and the rule for it (which just seems to be a combination of the GX and Prism Star rules) this doesn’t seem to be anything new. The concept of using one attack to power up another can be seen with Clawitzer FLI26 and Skorupi UPR54, and with Thunder not having an additional effect, it’s a boring attack that just does more damage if you wait a turn.
At the end of the day, all the new mechanic really does is just change weakness and resistance. I’m also not entirely sure on the changing of energy requirements, as this is exactly what I’d expect from a Dragon Pokémon.
Wording: (4.5/15)
“Pokemon” -> “Pokémon” (x5) -2.5 pts
“bench” -> “Bench” -1 pt
“active” -> “Active” -1 pt
“place two damage counters” -> “put 2 damage counters” -2 pts (Several)
“If this Pokemon is knocked out, your opponent draws two prize cards.” -> “When your IMAGINARY Pokémon is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.” -2 pts (Pokémon-GX)
“If this Pokemon is knocked out by damage from an attack, place it into the lost zone.” -> “If an IMAGINARY card would go to the discard pile, put it in the Lost Zone instead.” -2 pts (Pokémon Prism Star)
Believability: (2/15)
While I love the ability from a creative standpoint, it’s possible to just have four of these Pokémon on your Bench (Since the IMAGINARY Rule doesn’t limit the amount of these cards you can play in your deck), put 8 damage counters on your opponent’s Active Pokémon and heal the damage off your Active Pokémon by use of several cards, and just gain a free 80 damage without needing to attack every single turn.
I also have to address the possibility of this being played on the first turn of the game going first. As most common basics average at 60HP, there’s the possibility of simply being able to search your deck quickly with search cards to play 3 of these cards to your Bench and use their abilities to instantly win the game. With the rule change a while ago to prevent a turn 1 victory from happening in such a matter, this is something I can’t overlook for believability.
Another small thing is just that 140HP seems too small for a Basic Pokémon that give up 2 prizes when knocked out. Basic Pokémon-GX typically have around 170-190HP in the current format.
No Retreat Cost -1 pts
Final Thoughts:
Some small wording errors, however they’re quite plentiful, so I suggest just taking another look over your entry before submitting. Make sure Pokémon is spelled with the accent, and check references on the rules.
I love the creative ideas behind the new mechanic, but unfortunately the card falls flat just due to not doing anything with its mechanic (stating they have weird energy requirements, then making a Dragon Pokémon where we’d expect exactly that) and combining two rules to create a new one that doesn’t seem to be balance to the card correctly. The attacks are unfortunately not going anywhere, as it’s so hard to positively judge an attack that does straight damage and nothing else.
I believe you had a great creative foundation for this card but simply didn’t explore your ideas enough. Create something that uses these ideas in new and interesting ways and I’m sure you’ll have something fantastic.
Edit Penalty -2 pts
Final Score: 14.5/50
 
@The Last Shaymin
Creativity: (8/20)
…It’s sure interesting. However, I think the creativity goes beyond the walls of the game into just not making any sense whatsoever.
Wording: (1/15)
“When one of your GX get knocked out blah blah blah” -> “Pokémon-GX rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.” -3 pts (Several)
“is renamed to” -> “is now named” -0 pts (I can’t find a proper reference for this, but I’m almost certain this is how it would be worded, as “is now” is used for applying things like Special Conditions.)
“This coin flip cannot be affected by abilities or trainer cards. “ -> “Ignore all effects of this coin flip by Abilities or Trainer cards.” -2 pts (Trick Coin, PHF108)
“in it’s name” -> “in its name” -1 pt
“judge” -> “Judge” -1 pt
“and you have a Judge in your hand,” Unnecessary clause -2 pts
“you may discard judge from your hand, have both your opponent and yourself shuffle their hand into their deck and draw 4 cards” -> “You may discard that card from your hand. If you do, each player shuffles their hand into their deck and draws 4 cards” -2 pts (Judge FLI108, several others)
“This GX attack can only be used if you have Judge in your hand” -> “You can use this attack only if you have Judge in your hand” -2 pts (Ultra Necrozma-GX, several)
The previous wording change should be placed at the beginning of the attack description, not the end. -1 pt (Ultra Necrozma-GX, several)
Believability: (0/15)
For this card, I’m going to assume it’s a Basic Pokémon due to the theme, because the stage of the Pokémon isn’t listed. Even if it’s implied due to the theme, please don’t forget to add this!
From reading through the card it simply seems like you took a single idea and stretched it out to the point where it defies the rules of the game. Having any immediate effect to make a player win or lose the game is almost never used and is never created with an extremely tight clause. Simply having a specific Pokémon active is unheard of.
Renaming a Pokémon has its own set of things to deal with, though those issues don’t necessarily matter when the game immediately ends after the use of this attack.
I shouldn’t even have to talk about how it makes zero sense for a GX attack to cause the players to break the rules of the game to the point of banning someone.
Missing Evolution Stage -2 pts
Final Thoughts:
This was something interesting to see on my first month of judging…
This entry feels like it was written quickly and based off ideas that would be too absurd to see in an actual card. By writing “When one of your GX get knocked out blah blah blah” instead of the proper GX rule, you’ve shown me you don’t care about and have put no effort into your entry.
Edit penalty -2 pts
Final Score: 7/50
 
@SmiteKnight
Creativity: (12/20)
I think the big appeal of this card is its ability, which while is a nice twist on the usage of the Lost Zone, this seems to just be a twist on Mew Prime (TM97) and its Lost Link PokéBody. While opening the options to use Abilities instead of attacks makes things a lot more interesting, it feels like this card just adds some small twists onto existing cards. (Mew Prime, Tapu Fini-GX, though changing Tapu Fini’s GX attack to send to the lost zone instead of the deck.) I can also find an exact reference for Shadow Sneak.
Wording: (9/15)
“pokemon” -> “Pokémon” (x4) -2 pts
“abilities” -> “Abilities” -1 pt (Glaceon-GX UPR, several)
“lost zone” -> “Lost Zone” -1 pt (Several)
“It can only have and use one ability at a time.” -> “You can’t apply more than 1 Lost Traveler Ability at a time.” -2 pts (Venusaur SLG3)
Believability: (4/15)
For this card, I’m going to assume it’s a Basic Pokémon due to the theme, because the stage of the Pokémon isn’t listed. Even if it’s implied due to the theme, please don’t forget to add this!
First of all, the HP seems too high for a basic GX, as 230 is a number we see on cards like Gardevoir-GX, a heavily prominent Stage 2 Pokémon-GX.
However, I think the biggest issue with the card is its Ability. There are two different kinds of Abilities, those being Active and Passive. Active Abilities are those that you use at a certain time (And always include the “Once during your turn, (before your attack)” clause) while Passive Abilities are those which are always on unless they’re removed from a Pokémon due to another card’s effect. The issue here is it’s hard to balance an Ability like this because of the way it’s currently worded. Only limiting this Pokémon to “have and use one Ability at a time” really complicates things, as you can simply use one Active Ability, change it to another Active Ability, use that, and the cycle continues letting things get out of hand very quickly. Passive Abilities get very confusing as it’s incredibly hard to tell when this Pokémon would have that specific Ability. If you have two Pokémon with two different Passive Abilities, how are you supposed to tell for certain which one it has at what time, and when can you end the time one Ability is in use to use another?
Unfortunately, the thing is that all these logistics with the Ability could simply be fixed by adding a clause to fix all of that. Replacing “It can only have and use one Ability at a time.” with the clause of something along the lines of “Choose the Ability of 1 Pokémon in your Lost Zone. Until the end of your opponent’s turn, this Pokémon now has that Ability.” would fix all of the logistic problems as well as properly balance the card when using Active Abilities.
Missing GX Rule -2 pts
Missing Evolution Stage -2 pts
Final Thoughts:
Unfortunately taking an attack straight from another card, in this case Gale Slash from Kartana-GX (CIN, several), never bodes well for creativity judging. Besides that, I would just suggest thinking into things like when an Ability like this comes into effect, as well as how often it comes into effect in order to balance it properly.
Final Score: 25/50
 
@Nyora
Creativity: (17/20)
I’m loving the Ability of this one. Typically when we see “discard from deck” effects from Pokémon, they’re for attacks (such as a lot of the early Dragon-type Pokémon) as a backlash, or simply something like Rayquaza-GX’s Ability in order to accelerate energy for a risk. Using it as simply a “whenever you want” Ability instead of activating when playing it to the Bench makes for something unique, and discarding a specific card in order to use a reward that’s completely unrelated to that card and instead using another type of card from your discard is great.
The funny thing is, I could’ve sworn I saw a definitive reference for Water Masses, but I can’t seem to even find one for “Attach all [X] Energy” but I can’t. That and adding a wonderful “risk vs reward” twist to the energy acceleration makes the attack fun too.
Wording: (14/15)
“for each Energy you attached in this way” -> “for each card you attached in this way” -1 pt (Ultra Necrozma-GX, several)
That’s all I’m seeing!
Believability: (11/15)
The only thing that really strikes me as odd here is the ability to shuffle in Item cards. We’ve seen cards like Puzzle of Time become banned for becoming incredibly unbalanced with resource replenishing, and while this is by no means even close to how bad that card has been, with the right set up in your deck I see this card being quite strong, more so in the current Expanded format with cards allowing you to reorder your deck and Item cards simply just being stronger than what can be replenished this easily.
The “risk vs reward” concept of the entire card is absolutely wonderful, but when you’re only discarding Energy that you can simply shuffle back in with the Item cards you’re gaining back, you start to wonder if there’s ever a risk at all.
- 1pt for Missing Dex Stats
Final Thoughts:
(I’m not a fan of spiders but I do like the little bit of text art. That’s a nice touch, even if it doesn’t change the card’s creativity itself.)
While I’m concerned the ability to shuffle in Item cards at such a high frequency can get out of hand, the rest of the card is balanced beautifully and lets a lot of creative ideas run free with a really engaging “risk vs reward” system to the entire card. Your wording is nearly on point, too. I enjoyed judging this card, and it’s wonderful to get to see more of your work.
Final Score: 42/50
 
@GM DracLord
Creativity: (13/20)
I like the idea of going ex-Series. It’s something to set itself apart from the crowd and it’s nice to see. However, it seems like looking at it compared to either generation, both ex-Series and the current Sun and Moon format, this card is really nothing special. Even using an old format to base your card off, I dare say this one falls short of some expectations. It seems like while you picked an older format, you seemed to be playing things too safe. While I always enjoy seeing your work due to this interest you have in making cards for older formats, this card really doesn’t seem to use that older format in any interesting way. You could make this exact card, change the numbers around and it wouldn’t feel out of place in the current meta.
Wording: (12/15)
“ignore all effect of a Special Energy Cards” -> “ignore all effects of Special Energy cards” -2 pts
“weaknerss” -> “Weakness” -1 pt
Believability: (11/15)
My only big problem with this card’s believability is the fact that discarding cards was still a somewhat-prominent strategy in the meta at the time, and it wouldn’t be too difficult to get the necessary cards in the discard pile to alleviate the discard cost for Elemental Grudge. Lugia ex (UF 105) is the only card I can think to compare it to, as both cards have large “nuke” attacks for a 3 Energy cost. Lugia ex was seen with Blastoise ex (RG 104) for its ability to replenish Energy at the cost of dealing damage to the Pokémon you attached to. This gave a large drawback to attacking with Lugia ex and properly balancing the card in the meta, where as Elemental Grudge doesn’t have that if you can simply get to a position quickly in the game where you can just attach a single energy from your hand and attack for 150 damage every single turn with almost zero drawbacks.
Final Thoughts:
Just by the fact that this is an ex-Series card, it certainly didn’t feel easy to judge. You can tell this because it was incredibly hard for me to find exact reference to the wording errors. That isn’t to say it’s a bad card at all by any means, quite the contrary. This was well-made and is a wonderful unique contrast to the rest of the entries. However, the choice to make a different era fake and do nothing with it is easily where this card falls short. Find more creative ideas, whether it’s in that format or not, to implement into your cards! I look forward to seeing where you go from here.
Final Score: 37/50

3rd Place: Lord Goomy’s Wurmple, with 36/50 points.
2nd Place: GM DracLord’s Rocket's Lugia ex, with 37/50 points.
1st Place: Nyora’s Dewpider, with 42/50 points.
 
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Image-based results are still forthcoming. I'm really, really sorry it's taken so long –– I've been busy with several things IRL which have prevented me from doing virtually anything else this last week or so. The scores should be up by the end of the month.

Thanks for your patience, y'all. :)
 
Hi!

Do you know if the results of image-based will take much longer to be posted? I'm in the other CaC and I'd like to know what to improve before I make my entry :/

Thanks!
 
Gabs Kazumi said:
Hi!

Do you know if the results of image-based will take much longer to be posted? I'm in the other CaC and I'd like to know what to improve before I make my entry :/

Thanks!
Click to expand...
If I'm optimistic, after this weekend –– I've had to put it on the very back burner for a long time, and I'm really sorry about that. They'll be up for sure by the end of November, but in all honesty if they aren't after this weekend you may just want to start this round's entry. :/
 
Image-Based Results

Judge: @Jabberwock

Minutes after Gabs’s post above, I opened up my judging doc and plowed through the rest of the entries –– and, at long last, finished them. So, first things first: Please accept my sincerest apologies for the lateness of the image-based judging for this round. There are still three weeks left in the current round of the competition, so it’s my hope that it’s not too late for some of you to benefit from this judging.

That being said, though, this month I saw a huge step up in the quality of every card submitted –– y’all are really excellent fakers, and it’s my honor and privilege to be able to critique your submissions. (Not to say, of course, that there’s no more room for improvement.)

So, without further ado –– here’s the judging for September ‘18. Congratulations to you all!

sept-2018-cac-png.15641


I gotta say, Nick, I really love how your art style has progressed. Something about the sharp detail on the Pokémon but more simplistic background really works as card art. It vaguely reminds me of Tomokazu Komiya’s style, but anatomically correct. :p

That being said, your fonts and placements are all over the place. I think I’ve suggested DIY placements in the past, and if you’re not using PS then they’re absolutely the best option –– just take a scan of a card, drag it over your blank, set it to 50% Opacity, and use the text on the card as a guideline for placing your own fonts. (If you do have PS, then certain members of the community have made font guides in the form of .PSD files –– which are significantly less time-consuming.)

There’s not much to say about the text of the card –– the Ability has a chance to burn; the attack does damage. Seems fair. The Ability is mildly concerning, because it’s basically an auto-Burn due to the fact that it can be used once per Charmander, but considering you’d have to have multiple Charmander in play to get that kind of odds (and it’s only a Burn, after all), I reckon it’s balanced. Not gonna dock for it.

Wording errors:
- “(before your attack)” clause should be italicized. [-1 point]
- “If you flipped heads” -> “If heads”. [-2 points]
- “active Pokemon” -> “Active Pokémon”. [-2 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- I’m going to dock a blanket [-8 points] for fonts and placements that seem to be eyeballed. Would suggest looking into a font guide or the DIY placement method I mentioned above. ^.^

Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(It’s a card that does damage.)
Wording: 10/15
(A few errors.)
Fonts and Placement: 2/10
(Eyeballed.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Seems fine.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Nice art.)
Total: 29/50

oT1WSLt.png


Glad to see you back, Yog! Happy to hear you got your Photoshop working again. ^.^

The art’s unusual for sure. I don’t think there’s ever been a depiction of a dead Pokémon on a non-Fossil card –– though I do like the thematic aspect with “Fossil Fuel”.

The card is an interesting take on the theme because it’s a Basic that can evolve, but isn’t meant to evolve –– sort of like Joltik PHF, only far less powerful. Actually, I’d say it’s probably underpowered for today’s metagame, because you can only get to base 90 damage, and that’s only if you haven’t prized any of your Marowaks. 90 damage isn’t a lot these days.

Overall, though, it’s a solid card for your return to faking. Hope to see more from ya soon.

Wording errors:
- “Marowak or Alolan Marowak” -> “Marowak and Alolan Marowak”. [-1 point]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Pokémon name (“Cubone”) should be Gill Sans Bold, somewhat compressed horizontally. [-1 point]
- Attack numerals (“10”) should be in Futura std Heavy, and the + is a symbol that can be found on most symbolsheets. [-2 points]

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Interesting thematic elements.)
Wording: 14/15
(One minor thing.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(A couple errors.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Cautious point for underpoweredness.)
Aesthetics: 2/5
(Unprecedented for the art to depict no living Pokémon.)
Total: 39/50

P3t8JoB.png


Wow. That’s such a seamlessly integrated blank element! I’m genuinely very impressed. I could absolutely see Babies making their return like that, and I’d be very very pleased if they do.

Tele-Eeeeeek is a nice take on what Cleffa traditionally does in the TCG. It would be widely played without being overpowered, which I reckon constitutes a good balance for a card like this one.

What’s unusual is to see an attack like that on an evolving Basic Pokémon in the SM era. It rings far closer to the DP or HGSS eras –– I simply can’t believe PCL would be awesome enough to print a card like that. But if they did, this is how they would do it. Of course, I’m not going to dock any Believability points for that –– on the contrary, it’s unfortunate I can only give you 5. This is a very special card.

Wording errors:
- Nope.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Nothing here, either.

Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Somewhat derivative, but in a fun way.)
Wording: 15/15
(On point.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(On point.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(I wish I could give you more than 5 points.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Nice new blank element.)
Total: 45/50

pichu-png.15716


I like the idea of an evolving Basic Pokémon-GX –– and with the recent Eevee-GX, more of them are totally a possibility. I also agree that a supporting role is probably optimal for that sort of card. However, it’s also worth noting that this particular support card is very powerful.

Gathering Storm, for starters, is an Ability that we’ve seen plenty of recently –– on Vikavolt SUM –– but on Vikavolt, it’s balanced in that it’s on a Stage 2. Pichu-GX does cut the Ability in half, but it puts it on a Basic, meaning that you can drop 4 Pichu and accelerate 4 additional Energy to a Pokémon on the first turn. Add in a Max Elixir and you can pull off even a Tag Team-GX attack. That’s pretty crazy.

Mini-Bolt is comparatively okay, but it is still one-shotting a significant number of Basic Pokémon. Surprisingly strong for a support Pokémon. :p

Overload! GX is fine power-wise, and I actually think it’s a really interesting attack. I might expect to see it more on an Electrode, but flavor notwithstanding it’s got some intriguing gameplay implications.

Art is solid, but I’m a bit confused about why there are texture foils on a non-FA GX.

Wording errors:
- Need to clarify that it’s “this Pokémon” that does 180 damage to itself. [-2 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Fonts are all technically correct, but there’s something weird about the formatting. I think you might have the text style set to Sharp or Strong rather than Smooth? Also need more spacing between the lines on the GX attack (and probably a smaller font, too). Blanket [-2 points].

Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Overload has some neat design space.)
Wording: 13/15
(One clarification.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/10
(A couple things to fix.)
Believability/Playability: 2/5
(Broken.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Texture foils are an odd choice.)
Total: 37/50

mewtwotag.png


Still not a massive fan of the Tag Team cards, but I do like your take on it, R3, so there’s that. A bit unsure of the Psychic/Dark typing on what currently seems to be a single-type mechanic, but dual types have historically been fine in the CaC, so not docking for that.

The art’s interesting. I do applaud the custom rendering, but the two Mewtwo seem to be fighting each other, which I don’t think makes sense for a Tag Team GX. Would’ve liked to see them appear as a bit more of a team, whatever that means for a pair of Mewtwo. The color balance is nice, though –– I’d only suggest bringing out the sunlava holosheet a bit more. Don’t be afraid to use that thing! :p

The card is very clearly meant to be used for Malicious Assault. It’s powerful, but not absurdly so, and strikes a nice creative note as well. It’s a sort of Exodia maneuver that would devastate your opponent’s board if you could pull it off. Not much to say about the rest of the card, though.

Wording errors:
- “Assualt” -> “Assault” [-1 point]
- “energy”; “benched” should be capitalized. [-2 points]
- Need to clarify that you discard a random card from your opponent’s hand, as per Mars, Honchkrow UPR, etc. [-2 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- For the GX attack, there’s no need to compress the text horizontally. Just lower the text point size, a la Palossand-GX. [-1 point]
- Cautious [-1 point] because the card name looks a bit cluttered. Ik it’s a lot of text in a small area, but I think you can set it up so that it flows more naturally.

Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(Solid GX attack design.)
Wording: 10/15
(A few errors.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/10
(Squished text.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Powerful but balanced by costs.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Odd to have the “tag team” Pokémon fighting each other. Also, don’t forget to get rid of the part of the art that extends beyond the rounded corners of the card.)
Total: 36/50

duskull___september_cac__18_by_bbninjas-dcnqb6k.png


I think my favorite thing about the cards you do, bb, is that you put a ton of effort into making the art look as authentic as possible. Especially here, where you managed to make a credible imitation of 5ban Graphics’ art style without using a 3D rendering program. That’s p cool. :O

Lost Eye is a really neat mechanic; it reminds me of cards like Mesprit LA, where it’s a one-time power use that ends up being sort of like a Trainer card effect –– only it’s a Pokémon. It’s very well balanced, too –– an interesting niche effect that manages to be playable without being a staple.

Vanishing Trick is a good thing for the card to have, naturally, because the biggest reason not to play it would be the fear of starting it and nothing else in your opening hand. So that factors p heavily into its balancing.

You mentioned in your post that the placements look wonky to your eye but are correct according to an overlayed scan, and yeah –– that’s just a weird thing about the SM era; it follows just about none of the placement rules that have been in place (lol) since the beginning. The HP is most egregious, imo. But yes, your placements are on-point. It’s just SM-era stuff being bad again. :/

Wording errors:
- Vanishing Trick should be worded “Discard all cards attached to this Pokémon and return it to your hand”, as per Wishiwashi SUM. [-3 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Nothing wrong with placement, but Ability text does need to be red. Somewhere around #9c1818, but it varies a bit. Either way, definitely shouldn’t be black. :p [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(Really creative design.)
Wording: 12/15
(A slightly outdated reference.)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(Ability text.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Yeah, I could see this.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Love the art style.)
Total: 44/50

o7UwGsa.png


Hmm … I’ve long admired that Mew +PLUS card of yours as an incredible example of custom blanks done brilliantly, but I’m not so certain about this new one. The organization is really nice –– I can see it coming in really useful for cards with a lot of text in particular, since W/R are so conveniently squeezed out of the way –– but the aesthetics feel a little bit lacking. (I think it may be because there’s no gradient on the border?) Whatever the case, it feels very similar stylistically to S/M-era blanks, which I’m not sure is a good thing.

The art is beautiful, though. A very fitting update of your old art for the card.

From a creative standpoint, both the Ability and the attack feel very in line with what you’d expect a Mew to do, and yet I don’t think either has been done before. That shows some pretty impressive creativity –– and since the Ability is the only part derivative of the old card, I feel comfortable only docking a bit from Creativity. I’d love to see more effects like that appear in the actual TCG.

Wording errors:
- “their” -> “its” [-1 point]
- “basic Energy card” -> “basic Energy cards” [-1 point]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Your blank, your rules.

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Mad props for creativity -- only slightly lower because you’ve done something similar before.)
Wording: 13/15
(A slightly outdated reference.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Custom blank.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Cautious point because this card would single-handedly shake up a metagame.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Love the art, not so much the blank.)
Edited: [-2 points]
Total: 41/50

spiritomb-card-cac-september-png.15740


At first glance, apart from a slightly unusual reverse foil, it looks like a legit Pokémon card. Your art style is amazing and looks very genuine –– massive aesthetics props for that. The reverse foil isn’t quite what a S/M-era reverse looks like, but works nicely with the card.

Curse of 108 is a fascinating effect –– it’s difficult to pull off in many formats because there’s no easy reliable way to get your hand up to 8, but in the S/M era you actually could just Lillie your way up and get a donk on the first turn. Does that make it slightly overpowered? I actually don’t think it does; you need to have Spiritomb, an Energy, and the Lillie (or an out to all of that) in your opening hand before you even get to play a Supporter –– you certainly can’t play cards after the Lillie. So yeah, it’s probably fine in the way that all the ridiculous new Unown cards are fine. And it is a very creative effect.

Spite is fine as a moderately creative filler attack to round out the card.

The Weakness and Resistance feel a little weird to me. Sableye and Spiritomb cards just don’t, as a rule, have a Weakness –– even though the Pokémon did gain one in Gen VI, their cards still don’t have one. And [C] Resistance hasn’t been seen since the HGSS era. The way to go for the current era would just be to stick with whatever the most recent Spiritomb cards have done –– so no Weakness or Resistance.

Wording errors:
- Should include “to it” after “attached” for the “0” check in Curse of 108. [-1 point]
- The TCG uses the Oxford comma in a list, so there should be a comma after “has no Energy attached to it”. [-1 point]
- “send this card …” -> “discard this Pokémon and all cards attached to it. (This doesn’t count as a Knock Out.)” [-3 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- On point.

Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Curse of 108 is a particularly interesting effect.)
Wording: 10/15
(A few errors.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(On point.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Point for weird Weakness/Resistance.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Beautiful art. A single point docked for what is technically the wrong foil for the era.)
Total: 41/50

HAPPY_FOX.png


This turned out very nicely. You’re becoming quite good at BW-style secret rares, Nyan. :p

I think my favorite part of the card is the fact that there is a reason to hold off on evolving it –– which is really what the spirit of this month’s theme was all about. Acquired Fire has a neat effect that isn’t overpowered, but is actually a very cool new form of Energy acceleration.

I do wish that Torch had some effect that warranted attacking with Fennekin, even if only circumstantially. It’s still playable as it is, but it’d be fun to see it have a purpose other than evolving over and over.

Wording errors:
- Need “...during your turn” at the end of the “When you play …” clause. [-2 points]
- The current wording implies that since none of it actually counts as evolving Fennekin, you can use the Ability indefinitely, as many times as you draw into Braixen during your turn. I feel like that’s probably not what you intended (and it’d be overpowered if you did) so am docking [-2 points] for the missing clarification clause.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Solid.

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Very neat Ability, would like to see the attack do something.)
Wording: 11/15
(A couple things.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(On point.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Yeah, I actually could see this. It’d be very cool to play with.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Stunning card.)
Total: 43/50

3rd Place: Nyan’s Fennekin, with 43/50 points.
2nd Place: bbninjas’s Duskull, with 44/50 points.
1st Place: that ivy guy’s Cleffa, with 45/50 points.
 
Jabberwock said:
I gotta say, Nick, I really love how your art style has progressed. Something about the sharp detail on the Pokémon but more simplistic background really works as card art. It vaguely reminds me of Tomokazu Komiya’s style, but anatomically correct. :p
Click to expand...
Thanks, that's what I was going for. I can be very particular about how I draw Pokémon. That's what has taken me so long during the current contest. :)
 
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