Welcome to the image-based side of things, TLS!
Jumping from one category to another can be quite a leap, but it looks like you’ve taken to it pretty well! The custom art for Porygon-Z is solid work, and the fact that it’s upside-down and obviously Confused is a nice thematic touch. The forest background feels a little weird, though — something more digital or space-y might work better, both for the Pokémon and for the art style.
I like Improbable Calculations — I think there’s some great design space to be had in glass cannons that nerf themselves except under very specific conditions. Dimensional Analysis is more convoluted and messes a bit with the simplicity of the rest of the card — it’s like, you can do 210 damage,
except if you have a retreat cost,
except if you’re not Confused,
except if you have a way to just shut off the Ability. It’s readable and understandable, and there have definitely been more complicated effects in the TCG’s history, but there’s still a lot going on. It’s like two Abilities in one, and each one has multiple “if” or “as long as” clauses.
Now, is it worth it? Complex Abilities are fine if they add a lot to the card’s gameplay potential. The trouble here is that I’m not sure this one does.
If you want to attack, it can go in one of two ways. You can play the card as written — reduce its Retreat Cost, find a way to Confuse it, and then attack through Confusion — in which case we’re assuming that the Confusion flip is a valid way to balance an attack doing 210 for [P]. Or, as you noted, you can just find a way to shut off the Ability, through Garbodor DRX or a similar card, and then you’re doing 210 for [P] much more easily.
Either way, I think there’s a pretty significant design flaw. With the former, it’s always dangerous to balance a card with the mindset of “it’s flippy, so I can make it do a ton of damage.” Variance, including coin flips, is a valid balancing tool, but it’s only fun as long as the player has some level of control over it. With Super Scoop Up or Crushing Hammer, for example, you can play four of them to maximize your odds of hitting it when it matters. With lots of coin flip effects on attacks, you have options like Victini GRI or Trick Coin to turn the odds more in your favor. But attacking through Confusion, especially with a high-risk-high-reward attack like Improbable Calculations (210 for 1!), is no fun. Either you’ve done a huge amount of cheap damage, or you’ve thrown away your turn, and very few people are gonna be happy making that call.
Or there’s the latter option — just setting up a Garbodor (or similar way of shutting off Porygon-Z’s Ability), putting a Float Stone on Porygon-Z, and whaling away for 210 for [P]. That’s definitely the more effective way to use the attack, but then there’s very little point to the Ability in the first place. If you’re relying on that many additional cards, the Ability might as well have just said “This Pokémon can’t attack” and had the same impact. I guess the first sentence means you could forgo Garbodor and just slap a Float Stone on Porygon-Z and sit back, and then there’s not much your opponent can do without a free retreater themself? But then the attack becomes the moot point. Overall, I think the anti-synergy is working a little too hard against you here.
What might make the card more balanced and fun to play? As with balancing anything, there are lots of routes you could take here. But I think the first thing is to figure out what you want the card’s niche to be. Is it a glass cannon attacker, or a wall that can regulate what kinds of stuff it walls? Should it rely on another Pokémon (like Garbodor) to be good, or should it be self-containing? Are you committed to the Confusion angle — in which case it’ll need a way to mitigate the variance from Confusion — or is there another way to balance the other effects? Once you’ve figured out how you want the card to play, designing the details of the effects will be much more straightforward.
Wording errors:
- “cannot attack” -> “can’t attack” [-1 point]
- “retreat cost” should be capitalized. [-1 point]
- “changed in any way” has no precedent. You could probably get away with “changed” alone, based on Sudowoodo GRI, though a better wording there would be “If an effect changes this Pokémon’s Retreat Cost …”. Alternatively, based on Bronzor SF and other cards from back when they used the “after applying effects” reminder text, another good wording here might be “If this Pokémon’s Retreat Cost is affected by any effects, …”. [-2 points]
- You don’t need the W/R clause in the attack — reference Golem UNB. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- A lot of the fonts are just barely off for minute issues with kerning and the like. If Paint.net has a Character panel or some other window where you can mess with font settings, you might look into what’s causing this for the future. I’m not docking for kerning for now, cos it’s barely noticeable. [-0 points]
- The right-hand side of the Ability and attack text should line up with the right-hand side of the damage numerals. [-1 point]
- The flavor text should be lower, closer to vertically centered in the given space. [-1 point]
- The illus test is too bold. [-0.5 point]
- The Pokédex stats (directly below the image) should be a variant of Frutiger. (I believe Frutiger LT std gets you pretty close; you may have to mess with the width settings.) [-0.5 point]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Some good design space, especially in the self-limiting glass cannon attack, but feels needlessly convoluted in execution. Would recommend deciding what niche you want the card to fill, and then designing around that.)
Believability/Playability: 9/15
(The variance of Confusion would make it pretty unfun to play — variance can be a good balancing tool, but not in the all-or-nothing way it’s used here. Needs a balancing rework.)
Wording: 4/10
(Make sure to proofread to get the capitalization and stuff.)
Fonts and Placement: 2/5
(A few minor errors, but actually quite good overall, especially for your first image fake!)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(I like the custom Porygon-Z art, especially the nod to Confusion. The background feels like a weird choice, though.)
Edited: [-2 points]
Total: 29/50
For anyone interested here’s the maths behind the weight increase:
