- The game already used Evolutions. They just aren't so hot as main attackers, and the ones that are are usually Stage 1 cards.
- The Evolutions that do the best are the fast ones. This has happened multiple times in the past; the game doesn't slow and may even speed up.
- We are also still getting many powerful Basic Pokémon, specifically stuff that seems to promote more speed.
- Even the higher HP scores, which might otherwise slow down the pace of the game, are iffy because of more potent combos effectively escalating damage output.
The
most important thing right now is that
we don't know what we'll have by then. I really hope you are correct, but the way TPC is, I'm scared to make a joke about them reprinting
Broken Time-Space because they really might. XP
(Which would mean Evolutions would see more play
but as part of horribly broken messes that are
even faster than the present >_<)
I'm less adamant about what I felt before based on the cards being printed now. While a large amount of the Sun and Moon cards are used because of what exist now, they seem to be falling into the speed trap again. This is part of the reason I didn't like the mixing of BW era cards with XYs. Nothing changed except evolved Pokemon could not exist as Basic Pokemon and this change isn't even mechanical but style related.
Sun and Moon is fundamentally different just from design standpoint from what BW/XY were. now two Prize card Pokemon can be Basic, Stage 1 and Stage 2 Pokemon, HP is higher to compete with EX (which is a problem) and more powerful attacked moved on to GX attacks, which is the only "new" mechanic added to the game, meaning we
shouldn't see things like Emerald Break, Psychic Infinity and Brilliant Arrow, this these would likely move to a once per game attack meaning things play out differently.
Early BW was Big basic with Stage 1 decks being strong. Mid BW went on to a solid 2HKO format, with Stage 1 decks still being strong but dark was powerful. Around the same time, Rayquaza EX did a thing and the game started to focus more on EX trades. Late BW Early XY was more of the same but with a larger focus on powerful Item cards and OHKOs. XY was more of the same but since XY existed so long with BW, the same card design carried over but just with Mega Evolution, but like normal, their start wasn't good. On paper it was good, but the game was too fast to give up a turn to Mega Evolve and now, XY just became a OHKO format. The problem here is at least three Sun and Moon sets will exist with the imbalance sets now, which could affect how cards are designed now. Just look at Aqua patch and what Dark Patch did and is still doing for dark decks.
We are even seeing the Pokemon-GX HP becoming EX level when they started much, much higher, just one set later. We even have a Pokemon-GX that does the things of three other Pokemon on one card so for the sake of balance, I want to see things change but it doesn't matter because they have to sell Sun and Moon cards in a format where BW and EX are much better and much more powerful (and sought after) versus a
new card that requires three or four cards to get going. Its going to be hard to sell to the competitive player (though I understand most just collect and buy cards because why not). As a game designer I know what I would do but Pokemon doesn't seem to care as it seems they are often three or four metas behind. Look at Karen and Field Blower, which were WAY too late to the game. Even the new Oricorio is almost a whole era late when it could have been much better off against Night March and Miss Queen Bee.
I watched a interview of the developers of Hearthstone and he said they had to carefully design their card because if they design something imbalance or broken (using Broken Time Space and Forest of Giant Plants as an example) they wouldn't have been able to design better and or more interesting because those two cards would have prevented them from making them (Decidueye-GX and Vileplume) for the sake if balance in the game. This is why I have the unpopular opinion that the meta will rotate to Evolutions-On, because it removes N, Professor Sycamore, Max Elixir, Lycandre, the busted megas like M Rayquaza-EX and M Mewtwo-EX as well as other things toxic about the game like Vileplume for the less powerful options we have now in Sun and Moon base like Llima over N, Pokemon Catcher over Lysandre which means you have a chance of setting up a Pokemon once you're behind a few Prize cards and how our new draw seven effect will be tied to your GX attack useage.
The thing is me and you are from completely different eras (well the same era) of the game from what new players are and many of my friends let me know this. My friends even said
if they do a rotation that deep, like they did before, they would likely quit the game because it would be too slow. When I tell them they did it before, they said it was because of Sableye, just one cards but I fail to understand what a block of cards in a new era of Pokemon won't do what one card did for a new era, since to me, BW/XY is just as incompatible with Sun and Moon as Sableye was to Heart Gold Soul Silver. To put this into prespective, HGSS wasn't even that bad going into BW because of how well it was designed.
I want to say SM can be good as a standalone but I fear that it existing with BW/XY cards (and the fact that Expanded is still a thing) SM will just end up being a BW/XY 2.0 block except you can evolve your "EX". SM has a chance to be good but I feel this won't happen by looking at cards like Aqua Patch being made and what Darkrai-GX will do for dark decks when Darkrai-EX is still in format with no real counter for the deck that has been a thing since Dark Explorers but we got to counter the birds with Zebstrika!
