This has got to be an all-time high GX to overall submission ratio.
Contest Finished: PokéBeach Create-A-Card: August 2018 - Team Rocket
- Thread starter Brave Vesperia
- Start date
Hey everyone. Just a reminder that tomorrow, Aug. 27th at 12:00 PM EST is the deadline! 
Will got to ex era for me
Rocket's Gyarados * 90HP [D]
(BASIC) [You can't have more than 1 Pokémon Star in your deck.]
Poké-BODY : Darkness Rampage
As long as Rocket's Gyardos * has any [D] Energy attached to it, all you Rocket's Pokémon in play pay [C] less to use it's attack.
[C][C] Tactical Retreat 10
Switch Rocket's Gyarados with one of your Benched Pokémon.
[W][C][C] Hydro Fang 40
weakness - [L]
resistence - [-]
retreat cost - [C][C]
(BASIC) [You can't have more than 1 Pokémon Star in your deck.]
Poké-BODY : Darkness Rampage
As long as Rocket's Gyardos * has any [D] Energy attached to it, all you Rocket's Pokémon in play pay [C] less to use it's attack.
[C][C] Tactical Retreat 10
Switch Rocket's Gyarados with one of your Benched Pokémon.
[W][C][C] Hydro Fang 40
weakness - [L]
resistence - [-]
retreat cost - [C][C]
Withdrawing from competition. Couldn't think of any decent ideas.
Don't known if it's too late to enter but I enter for text entry. Here's my entry:
Absol R - HP - 130 - Dark Type
Basic Pokémon
Ability: Midnight Gaze: Once during your turn (before you attack) you may switch your Active Pokémon with this Pokémon.
[D][D] Lost Slash - 80
If your opponent's active Pokémon is knocked out by damage from this attack, put that Pokémon and all cards attached to it in the Lost Zone.
Weakness - [F] x2
Resistance - [P] -20
Retreat - [C]
Pokémon R Rule - When this Pokémon is knocked out, put 3 damage counters on your opponent's active Pokémon.
Basic Pokémon
Ability: Midnight Gaze: Once during your turn (before you attack) you may switch your Active Pokémon with this Pokémon.
[D][D] Lost Slash - 80
If your opponent's active Pokémon is knocked out by damage from this attack, put that Pokémon and all cards attached to it in the Lost Zone.
Weakness - [F] x2
Resistance - [P] -20
Retreat - [C]
Pokémon R Rule - When this Pokémon is knocked out, put 3 damage counters on your opponent's active Pokémon.
Sorry I completely forgot about the contest, I've been so busy with other stuff this month! (also couldn't get much inspiration this time around..) I'll have to take the penalty points for dropping if there are any.
I'll have to take the penalty points for dropping if there are any.
This should've been closed a while back; sorry about that.
Vrack and I are working on the judging, and it'll be up soon –– and, sooner, the September CaC.
Vrack and I are working on the judging, and it'll be up soon –– and, sooner, the September CaC.
^Any idea on the theme for September's CaC if you don't mind me asking?
The thread'll be going up sometime tomorrow –– and I'm afraid you'll just have to wait. :x
Image-Based Results
Judge: @Jabberwock
Judge's note:
Scores are a bit lower this month than many of you may be used to getting –– largely because the quality of entries has slipped somewhat from what I've come to expect from many of you. Ik different school situations make this difficult (hell, it prolonged judging for me almost two weeks), and so the rest of the staff and I are looking at other ways we can make CaC more doable for everybody time-wise. Expect to see something about that in the next few days.
You’ve certainly gotten a solid toehold in the S/M era lately, steff. Prism Stars are kinda lesser-seen in the image-based scene than GXs, so it’s also cool to see you go for one of those. Fortunately, you’ve executed it really well –– the art and background fit well with the holosheet to make a really aesthetically pleasing card.
In terms of power and balancing, it’s actually somewhat underwhelming. You only get one of these in a deck, after all, and so one would expect it to do something really exceptional. Neither of the attacks is particularly exceptional; there are plenty of other cards that have similar (or even better) effects, and you get to play more than one of them.
Wording errors:
- On-point.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Justify attack text. I know this is virtually impossible to do on the software you use, but it’s an error and I have to dock points for it all the same. :/ [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(Nothing particularly new.)
Wording: 15/15
(Looks good!)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(Justify text.)
Believability/Playability: 3/5
(Underwhelming.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Art works really well with holosheet.)
Total: 41/50
Ohhey, a newer face! We’ve interacted a bit around Discord, but it’s neat to see you put in an appearance around the CaC –– and boasting such an impressive card, to boot. Rainbow GXs are hard to get right, but you’ve done pretty well here. ^.^
The way you executed it being a “Pokémon-R” is interesting –– and I do love me some SP –– but I actually reckon you could’ve gotten away without including the “R” in the name at all, by virtue of the little “Rainbow Rocket’s Pokémon” bar below the name. Plasma cards included the bar and didn’t differentiate the name, which seems a fine precedent. That being said, I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you wanted to differentiate between Dialga-GX and Dialga-R-GX, for 4-of purposes and whatnot. So no points docked here.
I spent a while trying to make sense of the balancing here –– on the one hand, you can do a significant amount of damage for just one Energy, but on the other, you’re taking 40 damage between turns, and you’re basically locked into playing a lackluster Supporter card every turn if you want the optimal effect. I think in the end, it is slightly underpowered because you can’t control the damage from Frenzy –– which is especially a problem because you wouldn’t want to have more than one in play at a time.
Nonetheless, it’s a neat effect, and earns you quite a bit in Creativity. With a bit of tweaking it could be brilliant. ^.^
Wording errors:
- “Pokémon-GX” comes before “Pokémon-EX”, according to cards like Choice Band. [-1 point]
- “this turn” -> “during this turn” [-1 point]
- In the GX attack, “put” -> “add”, and “into” -> “to”. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Commanding Strike is much closer to the GX attack bar than Frenzy is to Commanding Strike. [-2 points]
- GX attack name should be italicized. [-1 point]
- The “1” in “120” should actually be its own layer, moved slightly closer to the “20” than it would be given the automatic kerning. [-0.5 point]
Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Some exciting concepts.)
Wording: 11.5/15
(Looks good!)
Fonts and Placement: 6.5/10
(A few errors.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Slightly underpowered.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Would like to see a holosheet, but you’ve still managed to pull off a really nice-looking rainbow GX.)
Total: 39.5/50
Hmm, it’s unusual to see a GX on anything other than S/M-era blanks –– maybe just because they’re so new –– but I’m not convinced that this particular cross-era blending particularly works. The fact that its status as a GX is only referenced on the card with regular text, as opposed to including a GX symbol, GX attack bar, etc, frankly makes it look like a Pokémon-ex. Not that I have anything against Pokémon-ex, but it’s p clearly not what you were going for. :/
I do like that you made your own art, and it’s quite a good drawing, too. I’d recommend looking at ways to digitally manipulate it so as to make it look less like traditional art (which is just about never used on cards) –– even a simple Smart Blur can work wonders in that regard. ^.^
In terms of power levels and balance, I’m always concerned when a Pokémon can place damage counters with regularity without using an attack. Being able to spread 20 damage every turn, per Dusknoir, whilst still being able to attack, is very very very good –– particularly in this era, where the highest non-ex HP was 120.
Lost Balance’s power levels (of being able to remove virtually your opponent’s entire hand, and put it in a place where they can’t get it back from) is mitigated slightly by the fact that basic [D] Energy don’t exist in this era, but I’d still be worried about it. (It’s also worth mentioning that the Lost Zone didn’t exist in this era, but I’m not docking any points for it being a GX, so I won’t dock for that either.)
Phantom’s Call is fine, actually. Given the power of the other attack and Poké-Power (and absurd HP), however, it remains a broken card.
Wording errors:
- “Pokemon” -> “Pokémon” x3 [-2 points]
- “(before your attack)” clause should be italicized. [-1 point]
- Missing apostrophe in “opponent’s”. [-0.5 point]
- “Benched” should be capitalized. [-0.5 point]
- Missing the clause that prevents you from using the Poké-Power if Dusknoir is affected by a Special Condition. [-3 points]
- As lame as it is, Pokémon cards only started using gender-neutral pronouns in the S/M bloc. So “they”, “their” -> “he or she”, “his or her”. [-2 points]
- “as you do” -> “as you have in your hand”, as per Luvdisc HL. [-2 points]
- “sent to” -> “put in” [-2 points]
- “your opponent’s Active Pokémon” -> “the Defending Pokémon,” in this era. [-2 points]
- “Knocked Out” should be capitalized. [-0.5 point]
- Missing end parenthesis for GX attack clause; whole clause should be italicized. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Fonts across the entire card are off; as a general rule of thumb, most text including name, attack names, attack text, etc. is in one variant or another of Gill Sans, whilst numerals are in Futura (Heavy). [-5 points]
- Placements seem more or less eyeballed; you can try downloading an actual card scan, putting it in front of the blank and setting its opacity to 50%, and using its placements as a guide for your own. (And obviously delete it when you’re done.) [-3 points]
Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Some interesting design space with the attack.)
Wording: 0/15
(Would recommend taking a closer look at differences in wording between eras.)
Fonts and Placement: 2/10
(Justify text.)
Believability/Playability: 1/5
(Broken for its time.)
Aesthetics: 2/5
(Props for using your own art, but there are some shoddily cut bits around the entire card that bring it down aesthetically.)
Total: 16/50
This generator of yours has definitely done noticeably better than other generators, so definite props for being able to pull that off. In brutal honesty, a generator by simple fact of being a generator is more limited in terms of versatility than programs like PS or GIMP –– but it’s nonetheless impressive what you’ve managed to do with it. I only wonder what you’d be able to do given a full image manipulation program.
In terms of aesthetics, I really like the Rocket modifications you’ve made to the blanks. One faker to another, here are my suggestions (not docking any points for these; just suggesting them as areas you could change if you feel inclined):
The border feels a bit too unsaturated. Would suggest making it more red and less grey. Ditto the “Rocket” icon in the upper-right.
The “R” in the middle of the blank should probably be a similar color to the border. You’ve got the red theme going already; the blue R is a bit jarring.
You might consider applying a slight bevel and/or gradient to the “Rocket” icon, to make it more 3D-looking. PCL was a big fan of bevels and gradients in the BWXY eras.
The card is simple and sweet, but unfortunately –– even though it’s reminiscent of other Sableye with a single boring attack –– you lose a few Creativity points for the inclusion of a basic [C] - 10. Lost Is Found is a neat concept gameplay-wise, but it violates the primary rule of the Lost Zone (that nothing can ever come back from it).
Lastly –– the picture (and CaC symbol in the bottom-right) is slightly but noticeably pixelated. Not sure if that’s a quirk of your generator or just the image you’re using.
Wording errors:
- Need to clarify that you can only take back one of your cards from the Lost Zone, and not one of your opponent’s (since it’s a shared gameplay area, like the Stadium spot). [-3 points]
- Comma after “Then”. [-0.5 point]
- “into” -> “in” [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- The font for the name should be more condensed, and a higher font size. It should also be positioned slightly higher on the card (the “y” shouldn’t touch the bottom bar) [-2 points]
- HP placement is slightly off. [-1 point]
- “10” damage should align with attack text. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(Second attack is interesting, but points lost for effectless Claw Slap.)
Wording: 10.5/15
(Would recommend taking a closer look at differences in wording between eras.)
Fonts and Placement: 6/10
(Justify text.)
Believability/Playability: 3/5
(Points lost for unbelievable Lost Zone effect.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Neat blank modifications.)
Total: 31.5/50
Your holosheets are impressive as always, Nyan! The art’s a bit untraditional for a GX, but possibly justified by it being a Prism Star card –– plus, we’ve now seen Tag Team GXs to indicate that GX art doesn’t always need to be 3D-rendered. I’d also definitely downsize the text a fair bit; we aren’t seeing enough of the card as it is rn.
I’m not against combining mechanics (like GXs and Prism Stars) on principle, but you gotta think through how they work together. For example, as shown by Solgaleo and Lunala Prism Star, all Prism Stars (whether an evolved Pokémon or not) are Basic Pokémon. Therefore, a ◊ GX should be Basic. Some Believability lost for that, unfortunately.
Malicious Connections feels really unnecessary considering the only reusable attack on the card already does more than enough damage to one-shot any existing Eeveelution card. The balancing for both Bitter Ballista and Wrath of Dusk is probably fine, though.
Wording errors:
- “Evolve” shouldn’t be capitalized. [-1 point]
- “Your opponent’s active Pokémon” should actually be “the Defending Pokémon” here. [-2 points]
- “attached to” -> “from” [-1 point]
- “Active” should be capitalized in the GX attack. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Energy symbols for GX attack should align with Energy symbols for regular attack. [-1 point]
- Text should be more condensed. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(Solid design but nothing overly unique.)
Wording: 10/15
(Careful with wording there.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(A couple minor things.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Awkward combining of mechanics.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(On point.)
Total: 36/50
I like these blanks –– they’re an interesting update to the Classic style –– but they’re very very dark. For this card, I would definitely say to make the text white, particularly to more closely match the “R” symbol.
I can’t really give you many points in the way of Believability, as the card is basically Dark Blastoise as a Basic with slightly different numbers and a new Energy accel Ability. I’m also not convinced that the Ability isn’t overpowered even as it is –– on a Basic, any form of Energy accel is very good. 2 damage counters is probably optimal.
That said, the rest of the card is fine –– and if a bit dark, very aesthetically appealing, too. The Rocket blank mod is also nice. Props. ^.^
Wording errors:
- Seems fine.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Your blank, your rules.
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(It’s Dark Blastoise.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems fine.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Your blank, your rules.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(I’m slightly worried about the power level of the Ability.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Very dark.)
Total: 42/50
3rd Place: that ivy guy’s Dialga-R-GX, with 39.5/50 points.
2nd Place: steffenka’s Rocket’s Entei ◊, with 41/50 points.
1st Place: TheR3DX’s Blastoise R, with 42/50 points.
Judge: @Jabberwock
Judge's note:
Scores are a bit lower this month than many of you may be used to getting –– largely because the quality of entries has slipped somewhat from what I've come to expect from many of you. Ik different school situations make this difficult (hell, it prolonged judging for me almost two weeks), and so the rest of the staff and I are looking at other ways we can make CaC more doable for everybody time-wise. Expect to see something about that in the next few days.
You’ve certainly gotten a solid toehold in the S/M era lately, steff. Prism Stars are kinda lesser-seen in the image-based scene than GXs, so it’s also cool to see you go for one of those. Fortunately, you’ve executed it really well –– the art and background fit well with the holosheet to make a really aesthetically pleasing card.
In terms of power and balancing, it’s actually somewhat underwhelming. You only get one of these in a deck, after all, and so one would expect it to do something really exceptional. Neither of the attacks is particularly exceptional; there are plenty of other cards that have similar (or even better) effects, and you get to play more than one of them.
Wording errors:
- On-point.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Justify attack text. I know this is virtually impossible to do on the software you use, but it’s an error and I have to dock points for it all the same. :/ [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(Nothing particularly new.)
Wording: 15/15
(Looks good!)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(Justify text.)
Believability/Playability: 3/5
(Underwhelming.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Art works really well with holosheet.)
Total: 41/50
Ohhey, a newer face! We’ve interacted a bit around Discord, but it’s neat to see you put in an appearance around the CaC –– and boasting such an impressive card, to boot. Rainbow GXs are hard to get right, but you’ve done pretty well here. ^.^
The way you executed it being a “Pokémon-R” is interesting –– and I do love me some SP –– but I actually reckon you could’ve gotten away without including the “R” in the name at all, by virtue of the little “Rainbow Rocket’s Pokémon” bar below the name. Plasma cards included the bar and didn’t differentiate the name, which seems a fine precedent. That being said, I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you wanted to differentiate between Dialga-GX and Dialga-R-GX, for 4-of purposes and whatnot. So no points docked here.
I spent a while trying to make sense of the balancing here –– on the one hand, you can do a significant amount of damage for just one Energy, but on the other, you’re taking 40 damage between turns, and you’re basically locked into playing a lackluster Supporter card every turn if you want the optimal effect. I think in the end, it is slightly underpowered because you can’t control the damage from Frenzy –– which is especially a problem because you wouldn’t want to have more than one in play at a time.
Nonetheless, it’s a neat effect, and earns you quite a bit in Creativity. With a bit of tweaking it could be brilliant. ^.^
Wording errors:
- “Pokémon-GX” comes before “Pokémon-EX”, according to cards like Choice Band. [-1 point]
- “this turn” -> “during this turn” [-1 point]
- In the GX attack, “put” -> “add”, and “into” -> “to”. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Commanding Strike is much closer to the GX attack bar than Frenzy is to Commanding Strike. [-2 points]
- GX attack name should be italicized. [-1 point]
- The “1” in “120” should actually be its own layer, moved slightly closer to the “20” than it would be given the automatic kerning. [-0.5 point]
Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Some exciting concepts.)
Wording: 11.5/15
(Looks good!)
Fonts and Placement: 6.5/10
(A few errors.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Slightly underpowered.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Would like to see a holosheet, but you’ve still managed to pull off a really nice-looking rainbow GX.)
Total: 39.5/50
Hmm, it’s unusual to see a GX on anything other than S/M-era blanks –– maybe just because they’re so new –– but I’m not convinced that this particular cross-era blending particularly works. The fact that its status as a GX is only referenced on the card with regular text, as opposed to including a GX symbol, GX attack bar, etc, frankly makes it look like a Pokémon-ex. Not that I have anything against Pokémon-ex, but it’s p clearly not what you were going for. :/
I do like that you made your own art, and it’s quite a good drawing, too. I’d recommend looking at ways to digitally manipulate it so as to make it look less like traditional art (which is just about never used on cards) –– even a simple Smart Blur can work wonders in that regard. ^.^
In terms of power levels and balance, I’m always concerned when a Pokémon can place damage counters with regularity without using an attack. Being able to spread 20 damage every turn, per Dusknoir, whilst still being able to attack, is very very very good –– particularly in this era, where the highest non-ex HP was 120.
Lost Balance’s power levels (of being able to remove virtually your opponent’s entire hand, and put it in a place where they can’t get it back from) is mitigated slightly by the fact that basic [D] Energy don’t exist in this era, but I’d still be worried about it. (It’s also worth mentioning that the Lost Zone didn’t exist in this era, but I’m not docking any points for it being a GX, so I won’t dock for that either.)
Phantom’s Call is fine, actually. Given the power of the other attack and Poké-Power (and absurd HP), however, it remains a broken card.
Wording errors:
- “Pokemon” -> “Pokémon” x3 [-2 points]
- “(before your attack)” clause should be italicized. [-1 point]
- Missing apostrophe in “opponent’s”. [-0.5 point]
- “Benched” should be capitalized. [-0.5 point]
- Missing the clause that prevents you from using the Poké-Power if Dusknoir is affected by a Special Condition. [-3 points]
- As lame as it is, Pokémon cards only started using gender-neutral pronouns in the S/M bloc. So “they”, “their” -> “he or she”, “his or her”. [-2 points]
- “as you do” -> “as you have in your hand”, as per Luvdisc HL. [-2 points]
- “sent to” -> “put in” [-2 points]
- “your opponent’s Active Pokémon” -> “the Defending Pokémon,” in this era. [-2 points]
- “Knocked Out” should be capitalized. [-0.5 point]
- Missing end parenthesis for GX attack clause; whole clause should be italicized. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Fonts across the entire card are off; as a general rule of thumb, most text including name, attack names, attack text, etc. is in one variant or another of Gill Sans, whilst numerals are in Futura (Heavy). [-5 points]
- Placements seem more or less eyeballed; you can try downloading an actual card scan, putting it in front of the blank and setting its opacity to 50%, and using its placements as a guide for your own. (And obviously delete it when you’re done.) [-3 points]
Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Some interesting design space with the attack.)
Wording: 0/15
(Would recommend taking a closer look at differences in wording between eras.)
Fonts and Placement: 2/10
(Justify text.)
Believability/Playability: 1/5
(Broken for its time.)
Aesthetics: 2/5
(Props for using your own art, but there are some shoddily cut bits around the entire card that bring it down aesthetically.)
Total: 16/50
This generator of yours has definitely done noticeably better than other generators, so definite props for being able to pull that off. In brutal honesty, a generator by simple fact of being a generator is more limited in terms of versatility than programs like PS or GIMP –– but it’s nonetheless impressive what you’ve managed to do with it. I only wonder what you’d be able to do given a full image manipulation program.
In terms of aesthetics, I really like the Rocket modifications you’ve made to the blanks. One faker to another, here are my suggestions (not docking any points for these; just suggesting them as areas you could change if you feel inclined):
The border feels a bit too unsaturated. Would suggest making it more red and less grey. Ditto the “Rocket” icon in the upper-right.
The “R” in the middle of the blank should probably be a similar color to the border. You’ve got the red theme going already; the blue R is a bit jarring.
You might consider applying a slight bevel and/or gradient to the “Rocket” icon, to make it more 3D-looking. PCL was a big fan of bevels and gradients in the BWXY eras.
The card is simple and sweet, but unfortunately –– even though it’s reminiscent of other Sableye with a single boring attack –– you lose a few Creativity points for the inclusion of a basic [C] - 10. Lost Is Found is a neat concept gameplay-wise, but it violates the primary rule of the Lost Zone (that nothing can ever come back from it).
Lastly –– the picture (and CaC symbol in the bottom-right) is slightly but noticeably pixelated. Not sure if that’s a quirk of your generator or just the image you’re using.
Wording errors:
- Need to clarify that you can only take back one of your cards from the Lost Zone, and not one of your opponent’s (since it’s a shared gameplay area, like the Stadium spot). [-3 points]
- Comma after “Then”. [-0.5 point]
- “into” -> “in” [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- The font for the name should be more condensed, and a higher font size. It should also be positioned slightly higher on the card (the “y” shouldn’t touch the bottom bar) [-2 points]
- HP placement is slightly off. [-1 point]
- “10” damage should align with attack text. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(Second attack is interesting, but points lost for effectless Claw Slap.)
Wording: 10.5/15
(Would recommend taking a closer look at differences in wording between eras.)
Fonts and Placement: 6/10
(Justify text.)
Believability/Playability: 3/5
(Points lost for unbelievable Lost Zone effect.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Neat blank modifications.)
Total: 31.5/50
Your holosheets are impressive as always, Nyan! The art’s a bit untraditional for a GX, but possibly justified by it being a Prism Star card –– plus, we’ve now seen Tag Team GXs to indicate that GX art doesn’t always need to be 3D-rendered. I’d also definitely downsize the text a fair bit; we aren’t seeing enough of the card as it is rn.
I’m not against combining mechanics (like GXs and Prism Stars) on principle, but you gotta think through how they work together. For example, as shown by Solgaleo and Lunala Prism Star, all Prism Stars (whether an evolved Pokémon or not) are Basic Pokémon. Therefore, a ◊ GX should be Basic. Some Believability lost for that, unfortunately.
Malicious Connections feels really unnecessary considering the only reusable attack on the card already does more than enough damage to one-shot any existing Eeveelution card. The balancing for both Bitter Ballista and Wrath of Dusk is probably fine, though.
Wording errors:
- “Evolve” shouldn’t be capitalized. [-1 point]
- “Your opponent’s active Pokémon” should actually be “the Defending Pokémon” here. [-2 points]
- “attached to” -> “from” [-1 point]
- “Active” should be capitalized in the GX attack. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Energy symbols for GX attack should align with Energy symbols for regular attack. [-1 point]
- Text should be more condensed. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(Solid design but nothing overly unique.)
Wording: 10/15
(Careful with wording there.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(A couple minor things.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Awkward combining of mechanics.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(On point.)
Total: 36/50
I like these blanks –– they’re an interesting update to the Classic style –– but they’re very very dark. For this card, I would definitely say to make the text white, particularly to more closely match the “R” symbol.
I can’t really give you many points in the way of Believability, as the card is basically Dark Blastoise as a Basic with slightly different numbers and a new Energy accel Ability. I’m also not convinced that the Ability isn’t overpowered even as it is –– on a Basic, any form of Energy accel is very good. 2 damage counters is probably optimal.
That said, the rest of the card is fine –– and if a bit dark, very aesthetically appealing, too. The Rocket blank mod is also nice. Props. ^.^
Wording errors:
- Seems fine.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Your blank, your rules.
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(It’s Dark Blastoise.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems fine.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Your blank, your rules.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(I’m slightly worried about the power level of the Ability.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Very dark.)
Total: 42/50
3rd Place: that ivy guy’s Dialga-R-GX, with 39.5/50 points.
2nd Place: steffenka’s Rocket’s Entei ◊, with 41/50 points.
1st Place: TheR3DX’s Blastoise R, with 42/50 points.
Last edited:
Text-Based Results
Judge: @Vracken
Anime Psyclone
Lord Goomy
GamePhoenix
Nyora
FourteenAlmonds
PrimePokeDaddy
VioletValkyrie
GMDraclord
MiniMads
3rd Place: GM DracLord’s Rocket's Gyarados * and MiniMads's Absol R, each with 39/50 points.
2nd Place: Lord Goomy’s Rocket’s Chandelure, with 40/50 points.
1st Place: Nyora’s Team Rocket's Yveltal ◊, with 42/50 points.
Judge: @Vracken
Anime Psyclone
Team RR’s Dark Lucario GX / Stage 1: Evolves from Riolu./ HP:150 /Fighting
ABILITY: Corrupted Aura
At the beginning of your turn, you may flip a coin. If heads, the opposing Pokèmon’s weakness is [F]. If tails, the opposing Pokèmon’s resistance is [F].
[D][F][F] Dark Aura Sphere: 60+
If this move is Resisted, then this attack does 70 more damage.
[D][D][F][F][F] Aura Blackout GX
Discard all energy from both Pokèmon. For every energy discarded in this way, flip a coin. For every heads, this attack does 80 damage.
Weakness: Fairy x2
Resistance: Dark -40
Retreat Cost: [F]
ABILITY: Corrupted Aura
At the beginning of your turn, you may flip a coin. If heads, the opposing Pokèmon’s weakness is [F]. If tails, the opposing Pokèmon’s resistance is [F].
[D][F][F] Dark Aura Sphere: 60+
If this move is Resisted, then this attack does 70 more damage.
[D][D][F][F][F] Aura Blackout GX
Discard all energy from both Pokèmon. For every energy discarded in this way, flip a coin. For every heads, this attack does 80 damage.
Weakness: Fairy x2
Resistance: Dark -40
Retreat Cost: [F]
Wording
Ability lacks specification for how much damage is reduced due to gained resistance, nor whether that resistance stacks with multiple “Team RR’s Dark Lucario GX” -2
“Weakness” and “Resistance” should be capitalized -0.5
“Move” should be replaced by “attack” as “move” is not a defined term with in the PTCG vocabulary -0.5
“For every Energy …” should be replaced with “For each Energy …”. -0.5
“Energy” should also be capitalized x2 -0.5
“For every heads, …” should be replaced with “for each heads.” -0.5
“from both Pokèmon.” should be “from both Active Pokèmon.” -1
Missing the “(You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)” reminder text -1
8.5/15
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Creativity/Originality
I like the name, I have some concern that it wouldn’t fit on the Title of an actual card, but I have opted not to subtract points (believability) for that as I do think you could squeeze it in. Hp seems a little low for a GX to me, however I assume that is a part of the risk reward you were going for. Otherwise, the ability is interesting, but immediately undercut by the first attack meaning as long as this Pokémon is attacking, there is no difference between resistance or weakness. I also like the “At the beginning of your turn” part, though I feel that this isn’t really the kind of effect that would require such wording, and would have been better served by sticking to the standard “Once during your turn (before your attack)”. I opted not to remove points for it because I do not think it is technically wrong, though perhaps a little less elegant and of course abnormal. It also lacks an explanation for what would happen should the defending Pokémon already have weakness/resistance. I only bring this up because I cannot actively recall any Pokémon cards having more than one of either, furthermore, it doesn’t specify an amount for its resistance to become. Ordinarily one would expect the standard -20, but the fact this card itself has “-40” it is a little unsure. The GX attack is fine, nothing jumps out as being particularly interesting, at the least, you are denying energy, at best you are making a knockout, though the wording error obviously renders the attack potentially broken. The two attacks don’t interact interact with each other either, which isn’t abnormal, but it removes a potential area of synergy for the card. The fact you also deny Lucario’s energy which when coupled with the high costs of these attacks, significantly reduces the usability of this card to nearing unplayable. My main disappointment from the card would be that there is nothing tying the Theme to the card other than the fact the name includes “Team RR’s”. As such nothing about this Pokémon is no different than any other Pokémon, justifying the theme, only literally, in name.
14/20
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Believability/Playability
I have deducted a point here as I do not believe the retreat cost of [F] to be believable, even though I have no personal issue with playing around with these kinds of things. Otherwise there is nothing here that breaks the card.
14/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
This card is a solid attempt at something interesting. It is definitely playing around with some cool space, even if I don’t personally like that space it is working with. Some of the issues however prevent Team RR’s Dark Lucario GX from achieving higher scores. I would like to see a run back to the wording basics, and then something a little less finicky rules wise for next time, to help figure out where is best to expand, and then of course, not only meeting the theme, but expanding into it, finding flavour, synergy, that kind of thing.
Final score
36.5/50
Ability lacks specification for how much damage is reduced due to gained resistance, nor whether that resistance stacks with multiple “Team RR’s Dark Lucario GX” -2
“Weakness” and “Resistance” should be capitalized -0.5
“Move” should be replaced by “attack” as “move” is not a defined term with in the PTCG vocabulary -0.5
“For every Energy …” should be replaced with “For each Energy …”. -0.5
“Energy” should also be capitalized x2 -0.5
“For every heads, …” should be replaced with “for each heads.” -0.5
“from both Pokèmon.” should be “from both Active Pokèmon.” -1
Missing the “(You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)” reminder text -1
8.5/15
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Creativity/Originality
I like the name, I have some concern that it wouldn’t fit on the Title of an actual card, but I have opted not to subtract points (believability) for that as I do think you could squeeze it in. Hp seems a little low for a GX to me, however I assume that is a part of the risk reward you were going for. Otherwise, the ability is interesting, but immediately undercut by the first attack meaning as long as this Pokémon is attacking, there is no difference between resistance or weakness. I also like the “At the beginning of your turn” part, though I feel that this isn’t really the kind of effect that would require such wording, and would have been better served by sticking to the standard “Once during your turn (before your attack)”. I opted not to remove points for it because I do not think it is technically wrong, though perhaps a little less elegant and of course abnormal. It also lacks an explanation for what would happen should the defending Pokémon already have weakness/resistance. I only bring this up because I cannot actively recall any Pokémon cards having more than one of either, furthermore, it doesn’t specify an amount for its resistance to become. Ordinarily one would expect the standard -20, but the fact this card itself has “-40” it is a little unsure. The GX attack is fine, nothing jumps out as being particularly interesting, at the least, you are denying energy, at best you are making a knockout, though the wording error obviously renders the attack potentially broken. The two attacks don’t interact interact with each other either, which isn’t abnormal, but it removes a potential area of synergy for the card. The fact you also deny Lucario’s energy which when coupled with the high costs of these attacks, significantly reduces the usability of this card to nearing unplayable. My main disappointment from the card would be that there is nothing tying the Theme to the card other than the fact the name includes “Team RR’s”. As such nothing about this Pokémon is no different than any other Pokémon, justifying the theme, only literally, in name.
14/20
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Believability/Playability
I have deducted a point here as I do not believe the retreat cost of [F] to be believable, even though I have no personal issue with playing around with these kinds of things. Otherwise there is nothing here that breaks the card.
14/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
This card is a solid attempt at something interesting. It is definitely playing around with some cool space, even if I don’t personally like that space it is working with. Some of the issues however prevent Team RR’s Dark Lucario GX from achieving higher scores. I would like to see a run back to the wording basics, and then something a little less finicky rules wise for next time, to help figure out where is best to expand, and then of course, not only meeting the theme, but expanding into it, finding flavour, synergy, that kind of thing.
Final score
36.5/50
Lord Goomy
Stage 2: Rocket’s Chandelure 160 HP [P]
Evolves from Rocket’s Lampent
[D][D] Rocket Soul 30x
This attack does 30 damage times the amount of Rocket’s Pokémon you have in play.
[D][D][P][C] Rocket Lantern
You may send a Pokémon that is not a Pokémon GX on your Bench to the Lost Zone. If you do, this attack does damage equal to the max HP of the Pokémon you sent to the Lost Zone.
Weakness: [P] x2
Resistance:
Retreat:
Evolves from Rocket’s Lampent
[D][D] Rocket Soul 30x
This attack does 30 damage times the amount of Rocket’s Pokémon you have in play.
[D][D][P][C] Rocket Lantern
You may send a Pokémon that is not a Pokémon GX on your Bench to the Lost Zone. If you do, this attack does damage equal to the max HP of the Pokémon you sent to the Lost Zone.
Weakness: [P] x2
Resistance:
Retreat:
Wording
Missing the Pokédex entry, as well as the Pokédex Number, the stats and the category -2
“Max” should be “Maximum” -0.5
12.5/15
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Creativity/Originality
I think “Rocket Soul” is well named, since it references “Rocket Pokémon”, which it then cares about. Always a positive as far as I am concerned. However, “Rocket Lantern” does not, and it is a shame that the naming scheme, and synergy was not kept up. “Rocket Soul” is otherwise stock standard for an attack, and “Rocket Lantern” is interesting, forces gameplay decisions, which I like, and interacts with the Lost Zone, which I believe to be underutilised.
14/20
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Believability/Playability
I have wanted to remove a point due to the Hp of this Chandelure. This is due to it being rather high, and my general distaste for power creep like this, but I am going to let it slide as a consequence of being a Rocket’s Pokémon. Similarly, the free retreat cost is also concerning, and hasn’t been seen on a Chandelure thus far, all having [C] [C] except for the most recent one, so to have a free retreat cost seems a little too pushed to me.
13.5/15
This Pokémon is functional, albeit on the weaker side. The attacks are harder to pull off, particularly Rocket Lantern, though it’s power has the potential to be high, it does come with a massive drawback. Rocket Soul is more flavourful, making some distinction for Rockets Pokémon that allows for some unique gameplay to separate a Rocket Pokémon from any regular Pokémon, though perhaps I would like to have seen that kind of synergy extent to Rocket Lantern as well.
Vracken Notes for Next Time
I think this card is a little standard all in all. I like the interaction with an underutilized zone, as I think there is a lot of interesting design space there. In the future, I would like to see a little more of a creative push, as I think there is something here worth expanding upon, especially if you expand upon the theme even further next time.
Final score
40/50
Missing the Pokédex entry, as well as the Pokédex Number, the stats and the category -2
“Max” should be “Maximum” -0.5
12.5/15
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Creativity/Originality
I think “Rocket Soul” is well named, since it references “Rocket Pokémon”, which it then cares about. Always a positive as far as I am concerned. However, “Rocket Lantern” does not, and it is a shame that the naming scheme, and synergy was not kept up. “Rocket Soul” is otherwise stock standard for an attack, and “Rocket Lantern” is interesting, forces gameplay decisions, which I like, and interacts with the Lost Zone, which I believe to be underutilised.
14/20
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Believability/Playability
I have wanted to remove a point due to the Hp of this Chandelure. This is due to it being rather high, and my general distaste for power creep like this, but I am going to let it slide as a consequence of being a Rocket’s Pokémon. Similarly, the free retreat cost is also concerning, and hasn’t been seen on a Chandelure thus far, all having [C] [C] except for the most recent one, so to have a free retreat cost seems a little too pushed to me.
13.5/15
This Pokémon is functional, albeit on the weaker side. The attacks are harder to pull off, particularly Rocket Lantern, though it’s power has the potential to be high, it does come with a massive drawback. Rocket Soul is more flavourful, making some distinction for Rockets Pokémon that allows for some unique gameplay to separate a Rocket Pokémon from any regular Pokémon, though perhaps I would like to have seen that kind of synergy extent to Rocket Lantern as well.
Vracken Notes for Next Time
I think this card is a little standard all in all. I like the interaction with an underutilized zone, as I think there is a lot of interesting design space there. In the future, I would like to see a little more of a creative push, as I think there is something here worth expanding upon, especially if you expand upon the theme even further next time.
Final score
40/50
GamePhoenix
Basic: Rocket's Wobuffet 110 HP [P]
Ability: Rocket Block: If your Active Pokemon with Dark or Rocket's in their name, you may switch this Pokemon with that Pokemon. The damage is done to the new active Pokemon. All damage done to this Pokemon is halved.
Mirror Coat: If this Pokemon is damaged by an attack during your opponent's next turn, do that much damage to your opponent's active Pokemon.
Weakness: [P] Resistance: N/A
If two or more Wobbuffet meet, they will turn competitive and try to outdo each other's endurance. However, they may try to see which one can endure the longest without food. Trainers need to beware of this habit.
Ability: Rocket Block: If your Active Pokemon with Dark or Rocket's in their name, you may switch this Pokemon with that Pokemon. The damage is done to the new active Pokemon. All damage done to this Pokemon is halved.
Mirror Coat: If this Pokemon is damaged by an attack during your opponent's next turn, do that much damage to your opponent's active Pokemon.
Weakness: [P] Resistance: N/A
If two or more Wobbuffet meet, they will turn competitive and try to outdo each other's endurance. However, they may try to see which one can endure the longest without food. Trainers need to beware of this habit.
Wording
Wobuffet should be Wobbuffet -1
Missing the Pokedex Number, the stats and the category -1
Unclear intention in ability. Should either be “If your Active Pokemon has ...” or a condition should be met that would trigger the ability (such as being attacked). I am assuming it is the first option rather than the second. -1
“All damage done to this Pokemon is halved” should have a rounding clause -2
No energy cost associated with the attack -2
“Pokemon” should be “Pokémon” x7 -2
“Active” should be capitalized x2 -0.5
5.5/15
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Creativity/Originality
Defensive Wobbuffet is fairly standard, though having two separate conditions on one ability is strange, I don’t personally see an issue with it. Mirror Coat is already a preexisting attack, and the ability to switch your active with another Pokémon is common. There is potentially synergy, though also negative synergy between the attack and the ability depending on how much damage would be dealt. There is some distinction between “Rocket’s”, “Dark” and just any other standard Pokémon though, which is good.
10/20
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Believability/Playability
The Dex Entry is too long to fit on a card, and the abilities wording is a little wonky, and the interaction with Mirror Coat is unspecified, though rules would indicate that the opponent's active Pokémon would take half the damage it would otherwise deal. Otherwise I see no issues with this card, fairly standard affair really.
13.5/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
I feel that this card was close to something more flavourful originally. The weird synergy between the attack and the ability could have been pushed a little more. I also would have liked to have seen even more of an expansion into the theme of this card, though all things considered, it was good. Just, make sure to work a little more on wording next time ^w^.
Final score
29/50
Wobuffet should be Wobbuffet -1
Missing the Pokedex Number, the stats and the category -1
Unclear intention in ability. Should either be “If your Active Pokemon has ...” or a condition should be met that would trigger the ability (such as being attacked). I am assuming it is the first option rather than the second. -1
“All damage done to this Pokemon is halved” should have a rounding clause -2
No energy cost associated with the attack -2
“Pokemon” should be “Pokémon” x7 -2
“Active” should be capitalized x2 -0.5
5.5/15
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Creativity/Originality
Defensive Wobbuffet is fairly standard, though having two separate conditions on one ability is strange, I don’t personally see an issue with it. Mirror Coat is already a preexisting attack, and the ability to switch your active with another Pokémon is common. There is potentially synergy, though also negative synergy between the attack and the ability depending on how much damage would be dealt. There is some distinction between “Rocket’s”, “Dark” and just any other standard Pokémon though, which is good.
10/20
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Believability/Playability
The Dex Entry is too long to fit on a card, and the abilities wording is a little wonky, and the interaction with Mirror Coat is unspecified, though rules would indicate that the opponent's active Pokémon would take half the damage it would otherwise deal. Otherwise I see no issues with this card, fairly standard affair really.
13.5/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
I feel that this card was close to something more flavourful originally. The weird synergy between the attack and the ability could have been pushed a little more. I also would have liked to have seen even more of an expansion into the theme of this card, though all things considered, it was good. Just, make sure to work a little more on wording next time ^w^.
Final score
29/50
Nyora
Team Rocket's Yveltal ◇ HP 160 Darkness
Basic Pokémon
(Prism Star) rule ~ You can't have more than 1 ◇ card with the same name in your deck. If a ◇ card would go to the discard pile, put it in the Lost Zone instead.
/Ability/ ~ Doomed Wings
As long as this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon, your opponent reveals the card they draw at the beginning of their turn when they draw it. If that card is a Pokémon-EX or Pokémon-GX, discard it.
[D][D][D] Dread Rocket 160-
Your opponent may search their deck for as many Energy cards as they like and discard them. This attack does 50 less damage for each card discarded.
Weakness: Lightning x2
Resistance: Fighting -20
Retreat: 2
Basic Pokémon
(Prism Star) rule ~ You can't have more than 1 ◇ card with the same name in your deck. If a ◇ card would go to the discard pile, put it in the Lost Zone instead.
/Ability/ ~ Doomed Wings
As long as this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon, your opponent reveals the card they draw at the beginning of their turn when they draw it. If that card is a Pokémon-EX or Pokémon-GX, discard it.
[D][D][D] Dread Rocket 160-
Your opponent may search their deck for as many Energy cards as they like and discard them. This attack does 50 less damage for each card discarded.
Weakness: Lightning x2
Resistance: Fighting -20
Retreat: 2
Wording
Missing the Pokédex entry -1
14/15
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Creativity/Originality
Fairly standard affair with this card over all. Some cool effects that have some concern, though also synergistic effects in the terms of resource denial. Disappointing though that once again, nothing sets this apart from a non-Rocket Pokémon, making it only fit the theme in name.
15/20
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Believability/Playability
Doomed wings is quite problematic, potentially locking players out of the game, forcing them to miss draws, etc, and with a strong denial set up, could allow you to lock the game down. This is mitigated by the fact requirement of building a deck around such things, but a concern nonetheless.
13.5/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
I like that the core identity of the card is intact, particularly having synergy, since I am a sucker for it. However, I am disappointed in the lack of theming of the card to the theme of this months CaC, and would like to see more of an exploration of that next time.
Final score
42.5/50
Missing the Pokédex entry -1
14/15
---
Creativity/Originality
Fairly standard affair with this card over all. Some cool effects that have some concern, though also synergistic effects in the terms of resource denial. Disappointing though that once again, nothing sets this apart from a non-Rocket Pokémon, making it only fit the theme in name.
15/20
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Believability/Playability
Doomed wings is quite problematic, potentially locking players out of the game, forcing them to miss draws, etc, and with a strong denial set up, could allow you to lock the game down. This is mitigated by the fact requirement of building a deck around such things, but a concern nonetheless.
13.5/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
I like that the core identity of the card is intact, particularly having synergy, since I am a sucker for it. However, I am disappointed in the lack of theming of the card to the theme of this months CaC, and would like to see more of an exploration of that next time.
Final score
42.5/50
FourteenAlmonds
Rocket's Alolan Persian – [D] – HP70
Stage 1 – Evolves from Rocket's Alolan Meowth
Ability: Dark Rebellion
When you play Nanu from your hand during your turn, you may attach as many [D] energy from your discard pile to your basic [D] Pokemon as you like.
[None] Attack 20+
Discard one of your evolved Pokemon in play, excluding Rocket's Alolan Persian. If you do, this attack does 90 more damage to your opponent's Pokemon.
Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: N/A
Retreat: None
Stage 1 – Evolves from Rocket's Alolan Meowth
Ability: Dark Rebellion
When you play Nanu from your hand during your turn, you may attach as many [D] energy from your discard pile to your basic [D] Pokemon as you like.
[None] Attack 20+
Discard one of your evolved Pokemon in play, excluding Rocket's Alolan Persian. If you do, this attack does 90 more damage to your opponent's Pokemon.
Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: N/A
Retreat: None
Wording
“Pokemon” should be “Pokémon” x3 -1
“Energy” should be “Energy Cards” and should be capitalised. -0.5
Attack is called “Attack”. I hope you missed naming it and that it wasn’t intentional, cause otherwise you would have lost more points for it. -1
Missing the Pokédex entry, as well as the Pokedex Number, the stats and the category -2
10.5/15
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Creativity/Originality
I am, really not sure what the interaction with Nanu is. I did a quick search to see if there was any relation, and the only thing I could see was from the anime, which has dubious cannoninity to the TCG. I have opted not to remove any points for that reason, but I am definitely unsure as to what the interaction there is meant to be. The ability is certainly powerful, and while energy acceleration has been done before, not to this scale, or tied to the usage of another card (as far as I can tell). Attack is unfortunately very stock standard effect, though tied to something a little more unique, albeit, not a brand new effect. The free retreat cost is ok as there is precedent due to Dark Persian, though that is nebulous at best. The lack of synergy of this card is fine, despite my normal love for it, considering this is presumably supposed to be a support Pokémon, rather than a core attacker. Finally, like several other cards, nothing about this card expands upon the theme, merely meeting it, but including the designated name.
13/20
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Believability/Playability
As there is no Nanu card out, and none was provided to work with, I am going to tentatively label “Dark Rebellion” as broken, potentially allowing extreme levels of energy acceleration, to the point that I believe Nanu would have be detrimental to the user to justify this power level. Additionally, 110 damage for no energy, is incredibly high. I know it is limited by a requirement, but that is not a difficult effect to get going in many games, the only concern really being how many resources you have to give up to keep it going. However that concern is reduced significantly, as this appears to be a support Pokémon rather than a stand alone due to the lack of necessity of [Dark] Energy in a deck with no retreat cost and no energy costing attacks, that its ability would otherwise be agnostic to.
9/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
Unfortunately this card has some issues, and I would most advise that looking into balancing for future CaC’s that I judge would be useful. I am a huge fan of tying an ability to a different card. At the point in which I judged this card, this is my favourite interaction within this months CaC.
Final score
32.5/50
“Pokemon” should be “Pokémon” x3 -1
“Energy” should be “Energy Cards” and should be capitalised. -0.5
Attack is called “Attack”. I hope you missed naming it and that it wasn’t intentional, cause otherwise you would have lost more points for it. -1
Missing the Pokédex entry, as well as the Pokedex Number, the stats and the category -2
10.5/15
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Creativity/Originality
I am, really not sure what the interaction with Nanu is. I did a quick search to see if there was any relation, and the only thing I could see was from the anime, which has dubious cannoninity to the TCG. I have opted not to remove any points for that reason, but I am definitely unsure as to what the interaction there is meant to be. The ability is certainly powerful, and while energy acceleration has been done before, not to this scale, or tied to the usage of another card (as far as I can tell). Attack is unfortunately very stock standard effect, though tied to something a little more unique, albeit, not a brand new effect. The free retreat cost is ok as there is precedent due to Dark Persian, though that is nebulous at best. The lack of synergy of this card is fine, despite my normal love for it, considering this is presumably supposed to be a support Pokémon, rather than a core attacker. Finally, like several other cards, nothing about this card expands upon the theme, merely meeting it, but including the designated name.
13/20
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Believability/Playability
As there is no Nanu card out, and none was provided to work with, I am going to tentatively label “Dark Rebellion” as broken, potentially allowing extreme levels of energy acceleration, to the point that I believe Nanu would have be detrimental to the user to justify this power level. Additionally, 110 damage for no energy, is incredibly high. I know it is limited by a requirement, but that is not a difficult effect to get going in many games, the only concern really being how many resources you have to give up to keep it going. However that concern is reduced significantly, as this appears to be a support Pokémon rather than a stand alone due to the lack of necessity of [Dark] Energy in a deck with no retreat cost and no energy costing attacks, that its ability would otherwise be agnostic to.
9/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
Unfortunately this card has some issues, and I would most advise that looking into balancing for future CaC’s that I judge would be useful. I am a huge fan of tying an ability to a different card. At the point in which I judged this card, this is my favourite interaction within this months CaC.
Final score
32.5/50
PrimePokeDaddy
Rocket’s Meowth – Darkness – HP70
Basic
No. 052 Scratch Cat Pokémon HT: 1’04” WT: 9.3 lbs.
Ability: Fast Talker
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may search your opponent’s deck for a [L] Pokémon, or a Pokémon that evolves from Pikachu and put it on your opponent’s bench. Then, your opponent shuffles his or her deck. This ability can’t be used if your opponent does not have a bench space available.
[C] Fury Swipes 50
If your opponent’s Active Pokémon has Malamar in the name, this attack does 40 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon and this Pokémon does 40 damage to itself.
[D] Blast Off 200
This attack may only be used if this Pokémon used the ability Fast Talker to put a Pokémon on your opponent’s bench during this turn. At the end of this turn, this Pokémon is knocked out.
Weakness: [L] (x2)
Resistance: [F] (-20)
Retreat: [C]
Though rare and powerful, this Pokémon’s mischievous nature always gets it into more trouble than it bargained for.
Basic
No. 052 Scratch Cat Pokémon HT: 1’04” WT: 9.3 lbs.
Ability: Fast Talker
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may search your opponent’s deck for a [L] Pokémon, or a Pokémon that evolves from Pikachu and put it on your opponent’s bench. Then, your opponent shuffles his or her deck. This ability can’t be used if your opponent does not have a bench space available.
[C] Fury Swipes 50
If your opponent’s Active Pokémon has Malamar in the name, this attack does 40 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon and this Pokémon does 40 damage to itself.
[D] Blast Off 200
This attack may only be used if this Pokémon used the ability Fast Talker to put a Pokémon on your opponent’s bench during this turn. At the end of this turn, this Pokémon is knocked out.
Weakness: [L] (x2)
Resistance: [F] (-20)
Retreat: [C]
Though rare and powerful, this Pokémon’s mischievous nature always gets it into more trouble than it bargained for.
Wording
“knocked out” should be capitalized -0.5
“Bench” should be capitalized x3 -1
“Ability” should be capitalized -0.5
13/15
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Creativity/Originality
I really like the concept behind “Fast Talker”. I think it is cool, and has a lot of potential design space for similar effects, and has a decent risk reward (though that is completely screwy with this particular card). I also like the synergy between “Blast Off” and “Fast Talker” even if the former is completely broken. I assume the flavour has to do with the anime for Fury Swipes, which is fine, I don’t mind that kind of thing, even if the anime and TCG are dubious to each others cannoninity.
15/20
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Believability/Playability
First thing that stuck out about this card is that it is clearly broken beyond belief. 50 damage for a single colourless is insane on a basic, with a decent Hp, cheap retreat cost and a resistance. Coupled with a second attack which is even more powerful, though restricted, and an ability that is potentially really strong for denying bench space to your opponent, though usually it will be more of a benefit for them. However, like several other cards, nothing about this card expands upon the theme, merely meeting it, by including the designated name.
6/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
I am having a hard time coming up with anything other than for future CaC’s, looking at power balancing is a good idea, as well as looking to expand better upon the theme, though I found the flavour of this card difficult to really delve into as I believe it is somewhat anime based, which I haven’t watched since the Diamond and Pearl era.
Final score
34/50
“knocked out” should be capitalized -0.5
“Bench” should be capitalized x3 -1
“Ability” should be capitalized -0.5
13/15
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Creativity/Originality
I really like the concept behind “Fast Talker”. I think it is cool, and has a lot of potential design space for similar effects, and has a decent risk reward (though that is completely screwy with this particular card). I also like the synergy between “Blast Off” and “Fast Talker” even if the former is completely broken. I assume the flavour has to do with the anime for Fury Swipes, which is fine, I don’t mind that kind of thing, even if the anime and TCG are dubious to each others cannoninity.
15/20
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Believability/Playability
First thing that stuck out about this card is that it is clearly broken beyond belief. 50 damage for a single colourless is insane on a basic, with a decent Hp, cheap retreat cost and a resistance. Coupled with a second attack which is even more powerful, though restricted, and an ability that is potentially really strong for denying bench space to your opponent, though usually it will be more of a benefit for them. However, like several other cards, nothing about this card expands upon the theme, merely meeting it, by including the designated name.
6/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
I am having a hard time coming up with anything other than for future CaC’s, looking at power balancing is a good idea, as well as looking to expand better upon the theme, though I found the flavour of this card difficult to really delve into as I believe it is somewhat anime based, which I haven’t watched since the Diamond and Pearl era.
Final score
34/50
VioletValkyrie
Rocket's Tyranitar-GX - Darkness – HP250
Stage 2 Pokémon - Evolves from Pupitar
【 Ability: Level The Game 】
When you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon during your turn, you may Knock Out one of your Benched Pokémon. If you do, your opponent chooses one of their Benched Pokémon. That Pokémon is now Knocked Out.
[D][D][C] End The War 120+
Discard as many cards attached to your Benched Pokémon as you like. Then, your opponent may discard as many cards attached to their Benched Pokemon as they like. This attack does 40 more damage for each card discarded in this way.
[D][D] Curtains Closed GX 150
Your opponent discards their hand. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [F] x2
Resistance: [P] -20
Retreat: 4
Pokémon-GX Rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Stage 2 Pokémon - Evolves from Pupitar
【 Ability: Level The Game 】
When you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon during your turn, you may Knock Out one of your Benched Pokémon. If you do, your opponent chooses one of their Benched Pokémon. That Pokémon is now Knocked Out.
[D][D][C] End The War 120+
Discard as many cards attached to your Benched Pokémon as you like. Then, your opponent may discard as many cards attached to their Benched Pokemon as they like. This attack does 40 more damage for each card discarded in this way.
[D][D] Curtains Closed GX 150
Your opponent discards their hand. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [F] x2
Resistance: [P] -20
Retreat: 4
Pokémon-GX Rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Wording
Pokemon should be accented -0.5
14.5/15
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Creativity/Originality
Level the Game is a cool name for this ability, though clearly meaning level in the sense of raise to the ground. It is an effect that kind of exists, though usually it puts damage counters instead of flat knocking out, and hitting your own benched Pokémon is different as well. End the War is fine, though has a confusing clause about your opponent being able to increase the damage of your attack. I can think of a scenario in which you might want them to knock out your active, but I think it reduces the elegance of the card in favour of that very specific scenario. Curtains Closed is unique, but I think it hasn’t been done for a reason. I do like the synergy between Level the Game and Curtains Closed however, with Level making you not want to play your two Prize Pokémon, and Curtains closed making you want to play out your entire hand. Again though like many cards this month, this card only meets the theme in name, and not mechanically, or flavourfully.
15/20
---
Believability/Playability
This card is unequivocally broken. Too many scenarios will resolve in you simply evolving two of these in one turn when your opponent only has two Prize card Pokémon or only two benched Pokémon, then taking a knock out with a End the War discarding a few tools. Curtains Closed is also an extremely potent denial tool which could lock people out of the game as early as turn 2. Furthermore, I believe it is severely undercosted. Most GX attacks that deal more than 100 damage cost 3 energy, with the exceptions being those that have other costs, such as requiring damage counters, or discarding energy, An unconditional hand discard for 2, and 150 damage is too high from what I can see is the norm
9/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
Next time I would like to see an expansion upon the theme, and some look into balancing.
Final score
38.5/50
Pokemon should be accented -0.5
14.5/15
---
Creativity/Originality
Level the Game is a cool name for this ability, though clearly meaning level in the sense of raise to the ground. It is an effect that kind of exists, though usually it puts damage counters instead of flat knocking out, and hitting your own benched Pokémon is different as well. End the War is fine, though has a confusing clause about your opponent being able to increase the damage of your attack. I can think of a scenario in which you might want them to knock out your active, but I think it reduces the elegance of the card in favour of that very specific scenario. Curtains Closed is unique, but I think it hasn’t been done for a reason. I do like the synergy between Level the Game and Curtains Closed however, with Level making you not want to play your two Prize Pokémon, and Curtains closed making you want to play out your entire hand. Again though like many cards this month, this card only meets the theme in name, and not mechanically, or flavourfully.
15/20
---
Believability/Playability
This card is unequivocally broken. Too many scenarios will resolve in you simply evolving two of these in one turn when your opponent only has two Prize card Pokémon or only two benched Pokémon, then taking a knock out with a End the War discarding a few tools. Curtains Closed is also an extremely potent denial tool which could lock people out of the game as early as turn 2. Furthermore, I believe it is severely undercosted. Most GX attacks that deal more than 100 damage cost 3 energy, with the exceptions being those that have other costs, such as requiring damage counters, or discarding energy, An unconditional hand discard for 2, and 150 damage is too high from what I can see is the norm
9/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
Next time I would like to see an expansion upon the theme, and some look into balancing.
Final score
38.5/50
GMDraclord
Rocket's Gyarados * 90HP [D]
(BASIC) [You can't have more than 1 Pokémon Star in your deck.]
Poké-BODY : Darkness Rampage
As long as Rocket's Gyardos * has any [D] Energy attached to it, all you Rocket's Pokémon in play pay [C] less to use it's attack.
[C][C] Tactical Retreat 10
Switch Rocket's Gyarados with one of your Benched Pokémon.
[W][C][C] Hydro Fang 40
weakness - [L]
resistence - [-]
retreat cost - [C][C]
(BASIC) [You can't have more than 1 Pokémon Star in your deck.]
Poké-BODY : Darkness Rampage
As long as Rocket's Gyardos * has any [D] Energy attached to it, all you Rocket's Pokémon in play pay [C] less to use it's attack.
[C][C] Tactical Retreat 10
Switch Rocket's Gyarados with one of your Benched Pokémon.
[W][C][C] Hydro Fang 40
weakness - [L]
resistence - [-]
retreat cost - [C][C]
Wording
“Gyarados” is misspelled -1
“Resistance” is misspelled -0.5
“You” should be “your” -0.5
13/15
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Creativity/Originality
This card has actual real synergy not only with itself, but also Rocket Pokémon which is awesome, cause I actually really love what it does. It changes what looks like really weak attacks into far lower costed versions of themselves, while also being still costed, which I think is awesome. Not to mention, the being a Star Card, meaning you can only have one of these, reduces the chances of abuse. However, as much as I love that, these attacks are about as mundane as it gets, one of them is just a flat attack which is frankly disappointing, while the other is a very stock standard one.
11/20
---
Believability/Playability
Seems perfectly playable to me, though I am erring a little on the side of caution in terms of costings and damage output since I am unfamiliar with the era. Looking across other cards from this period it doesn’t seem too overpowered or underpowered to me.
15/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
It is always hard for me to talk about your cards GM Drac, since I didn’t play during that era, and only own a handful of cards from back then. Cards in general seem to be less splashy, and a little more, mundane, far lower powered and just more, boring. So I get that. However, one of the cornerstones of CaC is not creating cards with no effects. I assume you are more interested in the making proper cards that would have been made back then, which I can fully understand and commend you on, but I feel like I needed to point out that in choosing to do that, you are sacrificing a lot of creative space you could otherwise work with.
Final score
39/50
“Gyarados” is misspelled -1
“Resistance” is misspelled -0.5
“You” should be “your” -0.5
13/15
---
Creativity/Originality
This card has actual real synergy not only with itself, but also Rocket Pokémon which is awesome, cause I actually really love what it does. It changes what looks like really weak attacks into far lower costed versions of themselves, while also being still costed, which I think is awesome. Not to mention, the being a Star Card, meaning you can only have one of these, reduces the chances of abuse. However, as much as I love that, these attacks are about as mundane as it gets, one of them is just a flat attack which is frankly disappointing, while the other is a very stock standard one.
11/20
---
Believability/Playability
Seems perfectly playable to me, though I am erring a little on the side of caution in terms of costings and damage output since I am unfamiliar with the era. Looking across other cards from this period it doesn’t seem too overpowered or underpowered to me.
15/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
It is always hard for me to talk about your cards GM Drac, since I didn’t play during that era, and only own a handful of cards from back then. Cards in general seem to be less splashy, and a little more, mundane, far lower powered and just more, boring. So I get that. However, one of the cornerstones of CaC is not creating cards with no effects. I assume you are more interested in the making proper cards that would have been made back then, which I can fully understand and commend you on, but I feel like I needed to point out that in choosing to do that, you are sacrificing a lot of creative space you could otherwise work with.
Final score
39/50
MiniMads
Absol R - HP - 130 - Dark Type
Basic Pokémon
Ability: Midnight Gaze: Once during your turn (before you attack) you may switch your Active Pokémon with this Pokémon.
[D][D] Lost Slash - 80
If your opponent's active Pokémon is knocked out by damage from this attack, put that Pokémon and all cards attached to it in the Lost Zone.
Weakness - [F] x2
Resistance - [P] -20
Retreat - [C]
Pokémon R Rule - When this Pokémon is knocked out, put 3 damage counters on your opponent's active Pokémon.
Basic Pokémon
Ability: Midnight Gaze: Once during your turn (before you attack) you may switch your Active Pokémon with this Pokémon.
[D][D] Lost Slash - 80
If your opponent's active Pokémon is knocked out by damage from this attack, put that Pokémon and all cards attached to it in the Lost Zone.
Weakness - [F] x2
Resistance - [P] -20
Retreat - [C]
Pokémon R Rule - When this Pokémon is knocked out, put 3 damage counters on your opponent's active Pokémon.
Wording
Midnight Gaze should be worded as such “Once during your turn (before your attack), if this Pokémon is on your Bench, you may switch this Pokémon with your Active Pokémon.” -2
“Active” should be capitalized x2 -0.5
“Knocked Out” should be capitalized x2 -0.5
12/15
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Creativity/Originality
Switch effects are pretty common, and as I could copy paste the correct wording from an existing card, offers no creativity. Lost Slash is fine, more of an enabler than the interesting effect I like to see from Lost Zone interaction, though it is resource denial which I always like. The Rocket Rule is another ability recycled as a rule, though it has some synergy with Midnight Gaze which I do like, and does a little more to meet the rule than most entries this month.
12/20
---
Believability/Playability
I want to remove a point due to the Hp being quite high for this Pokémon, but similarly to Lord Goomy’s entry, I am going to chalk it up to being a Rocket’s Pokémon makes it healthier, but in general I dislike this kind of power creep. Otherwise, the card seems pretty balanced to me.
15/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
This card feels very safe, which ironically is why it missed as many points as it did. Next time I would like to see something a little more risky, unique that kind of thing. It is a solid first entry though, nice job ^w^.
Final score
39/50
Midnight Gaze should be worded as such “Once during your turn (before your attack), if this Pokémon is on your Bench, you may switch this Pokémon with your Active Pokémon.” -2
“Active” should be capitalized x2 -0.5
“Knocked Out” should be capitalized x2 -0.5
12/15
---
Creativity/Originality
Switch effects are pretty common, and as I could copy paste the correct wording from an existing card, offers no creativity. Lost Slash is fine, more of an enabler than the interesting effect I like to see from Lost Zone interaction, though it is resource denial which I always like. The Rocket Rule is another ability recycled as a rule, though it has some synergy with Midnight Gaze which I do like, and does a little more to meet the rule than most entries this month.
12/20
---
Believability/Playability
I want to remove a point due to the Hp being quite high for this Pokémon, but similarly to Lord Goomy’s entry, I am going to chalk it up to being a Rocket’s Pokémon makes it healthier, but in general I dislike this kind of power creep. Otherwise, the card seems pretty balanced to me.
15/15
Vracken Notes for Next Time
This card feels very safe, which ironically is why it missed as many points as it did. Next time I would like to see something a little more risky, unique that kind of thing. It is a solid first entry though, nice job ^w^.
Final score
39/50
3rd Place: GM DracLord’s Rocket's Gyarados * and MiniMads's Absol R, each with 39/50 points.
2nd Place: Lord Goomy’s Rocket’s Chandelure, with 40/50 points.
1st Place: Nyora’s Team Rocket's Yveltal ◊, with 42/50 points.
You messed up, the Rocket's Dusknoir GX was mine not jPlap'sImage-Based Results
Judge: @Jabberwock
Judge's note:
Scores are a bit lower this month than many of you may be used to getting –– largely because the quality of entries has slipped somewhat from what I've come to expect from many of you. Ik different school situations make this difficult (hell, it prolonged judging for me almost two weeks), and so the rest of the staff and I are looking at other ways we can make CaC more doable for everybody time-wise. Expect to see something about that in the next few days.
You’ve certainly gotten a solid toehold in the S/M era lately, steff. Prism Stars are kinda lesser-seen in the image-based scene than GXs, so it’s also cool to see you go for one of those. Fortunately, you’ve executed it really well –– the art and background fit well with the holosheet to make a really aesthetically pleasing card.
In terms of power and balancing, it’s actually somewhat underwhelming. You only get one of these in a deck, after all, and so one would expect it to do something really exceptional. Neither of the attacks is particularly exceptional; there are plenty of other cards that have similar (or even better) effects, and you get to play more than one of them.
Wording errors:
- On-point.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Justify attack text. I know this is virtually impossible to do on the software you use, but it’s an error and I have to dock points for it all the same. :/ [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(Nothing particularly new.)
Wording: 15/15
(Looks good!)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(Justify text.)
Believability/Playability: 3/5
(Underwhelming.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Art works really well with holosheet.)
Total: 41/50
Ohhey, a newer face! We’ve interacted a bit around Discord, but it’s neat to see you put in an appearance around the CaC –– and boasting such an impressive card, to boot. Rainbow GXs are hard to get right, but you’ve done pretty well here. ^.^
The way you executed it being a “Pokémon-R” is interesting –– and I do love me some SP –– but I actually reckon you could’ve gotten away without including the “R” in the name at all, by virtue of the little “Rainbow Rocket’s Pokémon” bar below the name. Plasma cards included the bar and didn’t differentiate the name, which seems a fine precedent. That being said, I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you wanted to differentiate between Dialga-GX and Dialga-R-GX, for 4-of purposes and whatnot. So no points docked here.
I spent a while trying to make sense of the balancing here –– on the one hand, you can do a significant amount of damage for just one Energy, but on the other, you’re taking 40 damage between turns, and you’re basically locked into playing a lackluster Supporter card every turn if you want the optimal effect. I think in the end, it is slightly underpowered because you can’t control the damage from Frenzy –– which is especially a problem because you wouldn’t want to have more than one in play at a time.
Nonetheless, it’s a neat effect, and earns you quite a bit in Creativity. With a bit of tweaking it could be brilliant. ^.^
Wording errors:
- “Pokémon-GX” comes before “Pokémon-EX”, according to cards like Choice Band. [-1 point]
- “this turn” -> “during this turn” [-1 point]
- In the GX attack, “put” -> “add”, and “into” -> “to”. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Commanding Strike is much closer to the GX attack bar than Frenzy is to Commanding Strike. [-2 points]
- GX attack name should be italicized. [-1 point]
- The “1” in “120” should actually be its own layer, moved slightly closer to the “20” than it would be given the automatic kerning. [-0.5 point]
Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Some exciting concepts.)
Wording: 11.5/15
(Looks good!)
Fonts and Placement: 6.5/10
(A few errors.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Slightly underpowered.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Would like to see a holosheet, but you’ve still managed to pull off a really nice-looking rainbow GX.)
Total: 39.5/50
Hmm, it’s unusual to see a GX on anything other than S/M-era blanks –– maybe just because they’re so new –– but I’m not convinced that this particular cross-era blending particularly works. The fact that its status as a GX is only referenced on the card with regular text, as opposed to including a GX symbol, GX attack bar, etc, frankly makes it look like a Pokémon-ex. Not that I have anything against Pokémon-ex, but it’s p clearly not what you were going for. :/
I do like that you made your own art, and it’s quite a good drawing, too. I’d recommend looking at ways to digitally manipulate it so as to make it look less like traditional art (which is just about never used on cards) –– even a simple Smart Blur can work wonders in that regard. ^.^
In terms of power levels and balance, I’m always concerned when a Pokémon can place damage counters with regularity without using an attack. Being able to spread 20 damage every turn, per Dusknoir, whilst still being able to attack, is very very very good –– particularly in this era, where the highest non-ex HP was 120.
Lost Balance’s power levels (of being able to remove virtually your opponent’s entire hand, and put it in a place where they can’t get it back from) is mitigated slightly by the fact that basic [D] Energy don’t exist in this era, but I’d still be worried about it. (It’s also worth mentioning that the Lost Zone didn’t exist in this era, but I’m not docking any points for it being a GX, so I won’t dock for that either.)
Phantom’s Call is fine, actually. Given the power of the other attack and Poké-Power (and absurd HP), however, it remains a broken card.
Wording errors:
- “Pokemon” -> “Pokémon” x3 [-2 points]
- “(before your attack)” clause should be italicized. [-1 point]
- Missing apostrophe in “opponent’s”. [-0.5 point]
- “Benched” should be capitalized. [-0.5 point]
- Missing the clause that prevents you from using the Poké-Power if Dusknoir is affected by a Special Condition. [-3 points]
- As lame as it is, Pokémon cards only started using gender-neutral pronouns in the S/M bloc. So “they”, “their” -> “he or she”, “his or her”. [-2 points]
- “as you do” -> “as you have in your hand”, as per Luvdisc HL. [-2 points]
- “sent to” -> “put in” [-2 points]
- “your opponent’s Active Pokémon” -> “the Defending Pokémon,” in this era. [-2 points]
- “Knocked Out” should be capitalized. [-0.5 point]
- Missing end parenthesis for GX attack clause; whole clause should be italicized. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Fonts across the entire card are off; as a general rule of thumb, most text including name, attack names, attack text, etc. is in one variant or another of Gill Sans, whilst numerals are in Futura (Heavy). [-5 points]
- Placements seem more or less eyeballed; you can try downloading an actual card scan, putting it in front of the blank and setting its opacity to 50%, and using its placements as a guide for your own. (And obviously delete it when you’re done.) [-3 points]
Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Some interesting design space with the attack.)
Wording: 0/15
(Would recommend taking a closer look at differences in wording between eras.)
Fonts and Placement: 2/10
(Justify text.)
Believability/Playability: 1/5
(Broken for its time.)
Aesthetics: 2/5
(Props for using your own art, but there are some shoddily cut bits around the entire card that bring it down aesthetically.)
Total: 16/50
This generator of yours has definitely done noticeably better than other generators, so definite props for being able to pull that off. In brutal honesty, a generator by simple fact of being a generator is more limited in terms of versatility than programs like PS or GIMP –– but it’s nonetheless impressive what you’ve managed to do with it. I only wonder what you’d be able to do given a full image manipulation program.
In terms of aesthetics, I really like the Rocket modifications you’ve made to the blanks. One faker to another, here are my suggestions (not docking any points for these; just suggesting them as areas you could change if you feel inclined):
The border feels a bit too unsaturated. Would suggest making it more red and less grey. Ditto the “Rocket” icon in the upper-right.
The “R” in the middle of the blank should probably be a similar color to the border. You’ve got the red theme going already; the blue R is a bit jarring.
You might consider applying a slight bevel and/or gradient to the “Rocket” icon, to make it more 3D-looking. PCL was a big fan of bevels and gradients in the BWXY eras.
The card is simple and sweet, but unfortunately –– even though it’s reminiscent of other Sableye with a single boring attack –– you lose a few Creativity points for the inclusion of a basic [C] - 10. Lost Is Found is a neat concept gameplay-wise, but it violates the primary rule of the Lost Zone (that nothing can ever come back from it).
Lastly –– the picture (and CaC symbol in the bottom-right) is slightly but noticeably pixelated. Not sure if that’s a quirk of your generator or just the image you’re using.
Wording errors:
- Need to clarify that you can only take back one of your cards from the Lost Zone, and not one of your opponent’s (since it’s a shared gameplay area, like the Stadium spot). [-3 points]
- Comma after “Then”. [-0.5 point]
- “into” -> “in” [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- The font for the name should be more condensed, and a higher font size. It should also be positioned slightly higher on the card (the “y” shouldn’t touch the bottom bar) [-2 points]
- HP placement is slightly off. [-1 point]
- “10” damage should align with attack text. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(Second attack is interesting, but points lost for effectless Claw Slap.)
Wording: 10.5/15
(Would recommend taking a closer look at differences in wording between eras.)
Fonts and Placement: 6/10
(Justify text.)
Believability/Playability: 3/5
(Points lost for unbelievable Lost Zone effect.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Neat blank modifications.)
Total: 31.5/50
Your holosheets are impressive as always, Nyan! The art’s a bit untraditional for a GX, but possibly justified by it being a Prism Star card –– plus, we’ve now seen Tag Team GXs to indicate that GX art doesn’t always need to be 3D-rendered. I’d also definitely downsize the text a fair bit; we aren’t seeing enough of the card as it is rn.
I’m not against combining mechanics (like GXs and Prism Stars) on principle, but you gotta think through how they work together. For example, as shown by Solgaleo and Lunala Prism Star, all Prism Stars (whether an evolved Pokémon or not) are Basic Pokémon. Therefore, a ◊ GX should be Basic. Some Believability lost for that, unfortunately.
Malicious Connections feels really unnecessary considering the only reusable attack on the card already does more than enough damage to one-shot any existing Eeveelution card. The balancing for both Bitter Ballista and Wrath of Dusk is probably fine, though.
Wording errors:
- “Evolve” shouldn’t be capitalized. [-1 point]
- “Your opponent’s active Pokémon” should actually be “the Defending Pokémon” here. [-2 points]
- “attached to” -> “from” [-1 point]
- “Active” should be capitalized in the GX attack. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Energy symbols for GX attack should align with Energy symbols for regular attack. [-1 point]
- Text should be more condensed. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(Solid design but nothing overly unique.)
Wording: 10/15
(Careful with wording there.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(A couple minor things.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Awkward combining of mechanics.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(On point.)
Total: 36/50
I like these blanks –– they’re an interesting update to the Classic style –– but they’re very very dark. For this card, I would definitely say to make the text white, particularly to more closely match the “R” symbol.
I can’t really give you many points in the way of Believability, as the card is basically Dark Blastoise as a Basic with slightly different numbers and a new Energy accel Ability. I’m also not convinced that the Ability isn’t overpowered even as it is –– on a Basic, any form of Energy accel is very good. 2 damage counters is probably optimal.
That said, the rest of the card is fine –– and if a bit dark, very aesthetically appealing, too. The Rocket blank mod is also nice. Props. ^.^
Wording errors:
- Seems fine.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Your blank, your rules.
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(It’s Dark Blastoise.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems fine.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Your blank, your rules.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(I’m slightly worried about the power level of the Ability.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Very dark.)
Total: 42/50
3rd Place: that ivy guy’s Dialga-R-GX, with 39.5/50 points.
2nd Place: steffenka’s Rocket’s Entei ◊, with 41/50 points.
1st Place: TheR3DX’s Blastoise R, with 42/50 points.
I don't think I've ever done image based lol.
Fixed; sorry about that. ^.^
Fair enough. I should have specified that it was the Nanu from SM8 Explosive Impact (Not released yet, but has been announced).