Contest January 2023 CaC: New Year, New Type II (All Results Up!)

[Charmaster:)]

Spoiler: Onix (Designed for Base-Fossil, legal through Base-Neo.)

Basic — Onix — 90 HP — (W)

Rock Snake Pokémon. Length: 28’ 10”, Weight: 463 lbs.
(W) Prism Gaze
If your opponent has any Pokémon that have a Pokémon Power, choose 1 of them and this attack does 10 damage to it. Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for this attack. (Any other effects that would happen after applying Weakness and Resistance still happen.) That Pokémon’s power stops working until the end of your next turn.
(W)(C) Sharpen Facets — 10
All damage done by attacks to Onix during your opponent’s next turn is reduced by 20 (after applying Weakness and Resistance).
Weakness: (_)
Resistance: (L) -30
Retreat: (C)(C)
It’s body is composed of pure crystal. It has inspired many artists. LV. 28 #95

Spoiler: References

References:
Hitmonlee FO (Doesn’t need a clause saying “you can’t use this attack if,” because you can use Stretch Kick even if your opponent does not have any benched Pokémon, when stretch kick explicitly targets only Benched Pokémon.)
Gengar FO (If your opponent has any ___, choose one of them and this attack does 10 damage to it.)
Dark Arbok TR (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for this attack. (Any other effects that would happen after applying Weakness and Resistance still happen.) If that Pokémon has a Pokémon Power, that power stops working until the end of your (-opponent’s) next turn.)
Grimer FO (All damage done by attacks to ___ during your opponent’s next turn is reduced by 20 (after applying Weakness and Resistance).
I knew I needed to modify the Dark Arbok reference to not include the “if that Pokémon has a Pokémon Power” clause, since it was already required that the target Pokémon have a Pokémon Power. However, that left me unsure whether to say “that Pokémon’s Pokémon Power,” or “that Pokémon’s power.” I ended up making the executive decision to say “that Pokémon’s power” like in the original reference, since, for one thing, I had, like in the previous reference, already said “Pokémon Power,” which was, also in the original reference, followed by the concise “power,” but also because no reference I could find said “Pokémon Power” twice in the same effect.

Also, I know double-posting is generally discouraged, but I have a sneaking suspicion I forgot to say something for my design notes, so I'll be posting them in a second post. Otherwise, if I went to edit the design notes, I would be hit by a penalty for editing the submission itself. Fortunately, neither post is very long once they are compressed via spoilers.

 

[Charmaster:)]

Now for my design notes.

Spoiler: Design notes

EDIT: I realized I should add links to Jason Klaczynski’s blog, the source I reference when describing the meta of the Base-Fossil, Base-Rocket, and Prop 15/3 metas. It was the reading of his blog that inspired me to design my crystal Onix to support two of first generation’s most iconic evolution decks.

Spoiler: Links to Jason’s blog.

https://jklaczpokemon.com/
https://jklaczpokemon.com/1999-base-fossil/
https://jklaczpokemon.com/2000-base-team-rocket/
https://jklaczpokemon.com/prop-15-3/

For this entry, I decided to focus on PMJ’s emphasis on simplicity, saving deep thematic focus for another category. That being said, probably the best era for simplicity is the Classical Era.

If my memory serves me, the Crystal Onix was both the only off-type Pokémon in the anime, and the only off-type Pokémon in the combined Classical and Gym eras of the TCG. My best guess is that the Crystal Onix is an Ice type, since it resists the Water type and is weak to the Fire type. (Actually, it’s immune to Water attacks, which is the best argument for it being a unique type except for instances of immunity and resistance being mixed up, such as Rhydon being hit by thunderbolt or Kabutops remaining unaffected by the exact same attack.) However, this did not influence the Crystal Onix’s weakness and resistance, for reasons based on TCG tradition. I’ve found classical era Pokémon with weaknesses that are commonly printed on their type but that their video game types aren’t weak to (such as Gyarados and Dark Gyarados), and I’ve found classical era Pokémon that are printed with with no weaknesses, even though they have several in the games (such as Articuno), and I have even found classical era Pokémon printed with resistances they don’t normally have for flavor or thematic reasons (such as Flying Pikachu), but I cannot find Classical era Pokémon with weaknesses they don’t normally have for flavor or thematic reasons. (Flying Pikachu has a Fighting resistance but not Weakness.) And I have found no Classical era Water type with a Fire weakness.

Now, I would have given Onix a Water type Resistance, given how the Crystal Onix was immune to Water attacks, but I realized that, since the lack of a Weakness was based on TCG tradition, I couldn’t give Onix a resistance based on TCG percent. Then I remembered how Dratini and Dragonair have a Psychic resistance even though they are immune to neither Psychic nor Ghost in the video games, since many other Colorless types resisted Psychic. So I gave it a Lightning resistance, an actual TCG resistance, since other Onix are immune to Lightning.

A Retreat Cost of 2 is the lowest Retreat Cost ever printed on an Onix, and since the first instance of an Onix was a retreat cost of 2 was in Gym Heroes, I’m fairly comfortable using it on a card that would be printed two sets before.

This card was designed for the Base-Fossil era, but while it is hardly a dead card in its first format (Muk does see some play here and there), it’s greater potential (I will not say full potential, as Onix doesn't reach it's zenith until Prop 15/3), unlike would-be-fellow Promo Mewtwo, isn’t realized until Base-Rocket, when Muk’s meta usage goes up considerably and Vileplume threatens anything that can’t beat it in the setup race. Keep in mind that Crystal Gaze's effect doesn't fade until the end of your next turn, not your opponent's. That means a free turn of using Pokémon Powers and playing Trainers. Also, as Jason Klaczynski points out in his blog, bulky basics with cheap, useful attacks are a natural defense against poor starts in a format where the better part of your hand (or, in Base-Gym, the whole thing entirely) can be stripped away if you lose the coin flip, leaving you with few ways of developing your board. This card would be particularly useful for two decks: Blastoise and Venusaur. The first of these has obvious synergy with Blastoise; not only does it use Water Energy, but Blastoise, a fast-paced deck that aims to draw a large number of cards using Trainers (hence the struggle against Vileplume) and then use an Ability to flood the board with Energy (hence the problem with Muk). (Talk about Venusaur, and about Prop 15/3.)

Less obvious is how this card helps Venusaur. When designing this card to assist Venusaur, I had the format Prop 15/3 particularly in mind. Now, the impact of Super Energy Removal is considerably dampened in this format, and this would pose Venusaur for being a major contender in this format but for two Pokémon. Muk, which completely shuts it down, and Blaine’s Rapidash, which obliterates its chief attacker. Both of them are used in the same deck, Blaine’s Rapidash/Wigglytuff. The best deck in format. The deck three time world champion Jason Klaczynski used to win the Prop 15/3 Woodfield Mall tournament in the winter of 2021. Prism Gaze’s use against Muk is undeniable (though how Prism Gaze is to be paid for is still waiting to be addressed). But what about Sharpen Facet?

Now, before we talk about how this Pokémon can be slotted into a Venusaur deck, let’s consider the math of Sharpen Facet. This Pokémon can survive three hits even from Venusaur’s Solar Beam, and as for Blaine’s Rapidash, forget about it. Just use Wigglytuff. (Even then, Onix will take three hits to Knock Out with Do The Wave, if you have four or five benched Pokémon.) These magic numbers are more significant in Prop 15/3, where PlusPower is nonexistent and Gust of Wind is far harder to find. In non-modified formats, Onix is much easier to play around with such Trainers. I do not expect Sharpen Facets to be game changing in the Base-Fossil format or it’s successors. But we’re not talking about Base-Fossil anymore. We’re still talking about Prop 15/3.

In Prop 15/3, Jason Klaczynski’s Venusaur list runs three copies of Rainbow Energy, two copies of Mewtwo WOtC promo, and one copy of Mr. Mime Jungle. This tech package gives Venusaur the ability to recover from the few Super Energy Removal you will encounter using Absorption, as well as enabling you to stall your opponent with Mr. Mime (or take clutch Knock Outs with Medidate), but this deck has no problem accommodating Onix as well. In fact, I count on it accommodating it. The strong Fire meta presence is crippling enough for Venusaur that one attendee of the Woodfield Mall tournament used Misty’s Poliwhirl in an attempt to patch up this weakness, but to no avail, as this contender quickly fell to the bottom of the Swiss ladder. Onix, however, is not a stage 1 aiming to Knock Out Blaine’s Rapidash with an attack with awkward math, but a hefty basic with the ability to force your opponent to stop using Rapidash entirely, and can even answer the threat of Muk until you’re able to find your precious Gust of Wind. Onix might not be enough to make the matchup an auto-win, a favorable matchup, or even a 50-50 spread, but it’s a balanced and viable tech that gives Venusaur the fighting chance it needs to survive the meta.

Fun fact: the level of Onix was taken from the average of the level of Charmeleon Base Set (32) and Cloyster Fossil (25). Fittingly, Charmeleon’s level is the highest level of the three cards, reflecting Charmeleon’s victory over Onix where Cloyster failed. I promise this isn’t Charmander propaganda and I didn’t even remember I was talking about my mascot’s evolved form until I started writing this.
Another fun fact (and I hope this is what I forgot): the image I used for Crystal Onix is a piece of official Pokémon merchandise. Now that I think about it, it might even be serviceable for an image-fake, but the point was I needed a quick "sprite" or "stock image" "thumbnail," and didn't want to use the official Onix sprites, nor did I want to use a fan made sprite and risk getting points docked for using it without it's creator's permission.
P.S. turns out I was forgetting to point out how long Crystal Gaze lasts. Now I can finally relax!

 

[doofisconfused]

man, i'm later than usual this month ?

Spoiler: Leafeon-ex (Image)

Spoiler: Jellicent-ex (Text)

Jellicent-ex – R – HP100
Stage 1 – Evolves from Frillish
δ Delta Species - Special Pokémon

NO. 593 Floating Pokémon HT: 7’3” WT: 297.6 lbs.

Ability: Sunlight Soul
When your Active Pokémon attacks, you may choose 1 of your opponent's Pokémon. If you do, put 1 damage counter on that Pokémon for each R Energy attached to your Active Pokémon.

[R][R] Everlasting Sunne 40
The Defending Pokémon’s Weakness is now R until the end of your next turn. (The amount of Weakness doesn’t change.)

Pokémon-ex Rule: - When your Pokémon-ex has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize Cards
Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C]
It has defended its home from overfishing its entire life. Though it was stuck down, a wondrous power smiled upon it, bringing it back to life and filling it with light.

Spoiler: Design

This is probably my first time making matching cards for a CaC, but I'm proud of the execution! As you might have caught from the attacks and flavor text, these Pokemon have different types because Solgaleo and Lunala resurrected the two Pokemon on these cards because of their dedication to protecting their homes. They were imbued with the power of the sun (Fire-type) and the moon (Psychic-type), giving them newfound abilities and powerful attacks. Gameplay-wise, these cards draw a few parallels to each other! Both are pretty similar in structure, being Stage 1 ex cards with 100 HP, but the core theme of the cards are the exact opposite of each other. Leafeon focuses on healing your Active Pokemon and uses an attack which could be immediately powerful, while Jellicent focuses on bench damage and has a ramping attack that gets stronger the second time you use it. Leafeon's Ability provides an incentive for not attacking, and Jellicent's makes your attack have an extra effect.

these cards are made and balanced for Omnium!

 

[Alolan Teddiursa]

Not sure if I missed the deadline. If not, in for image.

 

[PMJ]

Not sure if I missed the deadline. If not, in for image.

We cut off signups a week or so into the month to prevent last-minute entries just like this one. Come back for March's competition!

 

[Nemes]

Spoiler: Tentacruel

Spoiler: Notes

Click here

 

[Charmaster:)]

Spoiler: Tentacruel

Spoiler: Notes

Click here

Thank you, Nemes! Crystal Pokémon are one of my favorite custom gimmicks, and I always wanted to make a custom one during my Pokémon TCG Fakers Community golden days, but there was never a template for these cards. This looks absolutely perfect! Are you considering making this template public? Even if you aren’t able to make the other background variations, it would still fill a significant hole in the community’s template collection.
P.S. I find it interesting how this card both changes the method by which the Pokémon changes type and buffs Pokémon with the previous and (historically) underpowered Ability, both by allowing you to play them from your hand as basics and by allowing you to conserve Energy in play, thus easing their complicated attack costs.

 

[Buddy2707]

This took MUCH longer than I thought.

Here are my entries!

Spoiler: SHINING SHADOW Gimmick

Before you read my entries, all of the Pokémon here are all different types based on their Shiny Forms.

Here is the lore behind them:
"Team Rocket has been stealing Pokémon from various professors around the world! They have used expiraments to look into pokemon types, and have found ways to change them up, altering how the Pokémon normally look. These alterations are very harmful to the Pokémon, and each one has been seen exhibiting traits of what most people call shadow Pokémon- including boosted health, damaging attacks, and a whole lot more pain."

I plan on turning this into a set, although I doubt that I will end up finishing it. On to all of the SHINING SHADOW Pokémon I have made.

Spoiler: Entry #1 - Image

Beautiful, isn't it?

Spoiler: Notes

The challenge with Blastoise was that its shiny was a completely different theme and color than the rest of his evolution line, so in order to make all of their types flow together, I decided to make his attack's cost completely colorless energy instead. Even though he is a completely different type than normal Blastoise, I still kept the capabilities of his previous type hidden between the names of his attacks and abilities, such as his defensive shell with his ability, and his surfing skills in his attack. The ability was a bit of a challenge to make, as it was technically 2 different abilities in one, but I think I managed to make it work. Design wise, the only thing that was tough was turning the picture frame and WRR bar to be a nice, shiny gold. I think Curves was the best option. Hope all you Blastoise fans enjoy!

Spoiler: References

- Zamazenta CRZ
- Will ???
- Zeraora VSTAR

Spoiler: Entry #2 - Text

Stage 2 - Delphox - 200 HP [D] (Ghost)
- Evolves from Braxien

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

[] Curse of Greed
Search your deck for up to 3 cards, and put them in your hand, then you may take another turn after this one. If you take any extra turns in this way, until the end of your next turn, you cannot attack, and at the end of your opponent's turn, they may take another turn. (Skip Pokémon Checkup when either player takes another turn.)

[D][D][C] Curse of Demise
The Defending Pokémon is now Poisoned. During Pokémon Checkup, put 15 damage counters on that Pokémon instead of 1.

Weakness - Grass ×2
Resistance -
Retreat - [C][C]

It gazes into the flame at the tip of its branch to achieve a focused state, which allows it to see into the future.


Out of the entire mini-set that I made, I think this is the card that I am the most proud of.

Spoiler: Notes

While it would be very unlikely to see an attack like Curse of Greed in the PTCGO, I took a shot at it because I think that this card could be used for very interesting scenarios- giving you the ability to setup, but also allowing your opponent to have 2 attacks. It would be interesting to see an attack like this be used well.

If you think that this is gimmicky, check out the rest of the SHINING SHADOW Pokémon that I spent weeks making.

Spoiler: References

- Galarian Slowking VMAX CHR
- Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR ASR

Spoiler: The Others - Text

Here is my gallery of SHINING SHADOW Cards:

DISCLAIMER: None of these cards are entries. Many of these cards may contain wording errors or incorrect Text Based Formatting.

Basic - Bulbasaur - 80 L
SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 10 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is G (instead of its existing type).

[C] Angry Growl - Flip a coin, if heads the Defending Pokémon is Parlyzed.

[L] Jolt - 20
W: F - R: - R: 1


Stage 1 - Ivysaur - 120 L
SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 20 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is G (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Blinding Bloom
When you play this card from your hand to evolve one of your Pokémon, you may put 1 damage counter on each Pokémon in play. (Both yours and your opponent's.)

[L][C] Shock - 60
W: F - R: - R: 2

Stage 2 - Venasaur - 210 L
SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is G (instead of its existing type).

[L][C] Toxic Shock - 80 - The Defending Pokémon is Poisoned. Heal the same amount of damage dealt to your opponent's Active Pokémon.

[L][L][L] Power Beam - This attack deals the same amount of damage as this Pokémon's remaining HP. Discard an energy from this Pokémon.

W: F - R: G - R: 4

Basic - Squirtle - 70 G
SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 10 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is W (instead of its existing type).

[C] Shell Retreat - Switch this Pokémon with one of your Benched Pokémon.

[G] Aromatic Bubble - 30 - Both Active Pokémon recover from all special conditions and effects from attacks, abilities and Trainer cards.
W: R - R: - R: 0
Stage 1 - Wartortle - 110 G
SHINING TYPE: This Pokémon's receives 20 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is W (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Suprise Attack
When you play this card from your hand to evolve one of your Pokémon, you may choose one of the attacks this Pokémon can use, and use it as the effect of this Ability.

[G][C] - Razor Spin - 90 - This Pokémon is Confused.
W: R - R: - R: 1

Stage 2 - Blastoise - 200 P
SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is W (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Fortified Mind
Prevent all effects of attacks, abilities and Trainer done to this Pokémon. This Pokémon takes 30 less damage from attacks.

[C][C][C][C] Psychic Surf - Chose 1 of your opponent's Pokémon 3 times. (You can chose the same Pokémon multiple times.) For each time you chose a Pokémon, deal 50 damage to it. (Apply weakness and resistance, even for Benched Pokémon.)
W: D - R: F - R: 3
IMAGE SUBMISSION!

Basic - Charmander - 70 F
SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 10 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

[F] Dig - Flip a coin, if heads during your opponent's next turn, prevent all damage done to this Pokémon.

[C] - Tail Smash - 40
This damage isn't affected by Weakness.

W:G - R: - R:1

Stage 1 - Charmeleon - 110 F

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 20 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Champion's Pose
When you play this card from your hand to evolve one of your Pokémon, or if this Pokémon knocks out one of your opponent's Pokémon, heal 30 damage from this Pokémon.

[F][C] - Power Punch - 150
During your next turn, all of your Pokémon cannot use Power Punch.

W - R: - R:1

Stage 2 - Charizard - 190 D

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Back to Roots
This Pokémon can use any attack or Ability of its previous evolutions.

[D][D][C] - Dark Temptations
Your opponent switches their Active Pokémon with one of their Benched Pokémon. This attack does 100 damage to the new Active Pokémon, the new Active Pokémon is Burned and during your opponent's next turn the new Active Pokémon cannot retreat.

W:F - R: - R:0

Basic - Treeko - 80 D

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 10 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is G (instead of its existing type).

[C] Poison Spray
The Defending Pokémon is now Poisoned.

W: D - R: - R: 1

Stage 1 - Grovyle - 100 D

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 20 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is G (instead of its existing type).

[C][C] Venom Strike - 90
The Defending Pokémon is Poisoned. Put 2 damage counters on it between turns.

[C][C] Shadow Pursuit - 90
If the Defending Pokémon is Poisoned, this attack does 60 more damage. This attack also does 60 damage to any of your opponent's Pokémon that have moved to the bench during your opponent's last turn.

W:F - R: - R:2

Stage 2 - Sceptile - 210 W

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is G (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Chilling Presence
When you play this card from your hand to evolve your Active Pokémon, if the Defending Pokémon is Poisoned, you may make the Defending Pokémon Parlyzed.

[W][W][C] Icicle Impale - 140
If you did any damage, this attack also does 70 damage to one of your opponent's Benched Pokémon.

W:M - R: - R:2

Basic - Mudkip - 70 P

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 10 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is W (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Echolocating Sonar
During your turn, when you play this Pokémon from your hand onto your bench, you may have your opponent reveal a random card from their hand.

[P] Perplexing Gaze
The Defending Pokémon is Confused.
W - R:F - R:1

Stage 1 - Marshtomp - 100

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 20 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is W (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Echolocating Senses
When you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve one of your Pokémon, you may have your opponent reveal their hand.

[P][P] Psychic Disruption - 60
You may have your opponent shuffle a random card from their hand into their deck.

W - R:F - R:2

Stage 2 - Swampert - 230 P

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is W (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Psychic Senses
Once during your turn, you may have your opponent reveal their hand.

[P][C] Brainwave - 10×
This attack does 10 damage for each card in your hand. Draw cards until you have the same amount of cards in your hand as your opponent.

W - R:F - R:4

Basic - Torchic - 60 L

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 10 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

[] Spark - 20

W:F - R: - R:0

Stage 1 - Combusken - 120 L

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 20 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

[L][C] - Lightning Strike - 90

[L][C] - Thunder Wave
Flip a coin, of heads The Defending Pokémon is Parlyzed.
W:F - R: - R:1

Stage 2 - Blaziken - 210 C

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Graceful Steps
Once during your turn, when this Pokémon moves from the bench to the Active Spot, you may draw 2 cards.


[C][C][C] - Focus Flying Fists - 150
At the end of your opponent's next turn, deal another 130 damage to the Defending Pokémon. This damage isn't affected by Weakness.
W:L - R:F - R:0
Basic - Chespin - 80 R

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 10 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is G (instead of its existing type).

[C] Singe - 30
This Pokémon deals 10 damage to itself.

[C] Counter Curl
During your next turn, if this Pokémon is damaged by an attack (even if it knocked out), put 4 damage counters on the attacking Pokémon.

W:W - R: - R:1

Stage 1 - Quilladin - 120 R

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 20 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is G (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Defensive Position
If you end your turn without attacking, during your opponent's next turn, this Pokémon cannot leave the active spot and if this Pokémon is damaged by an attack (even if it is knocked out), put 8 damage counters on the attacking Pokémon.

[C][C][C] Flaming Rollout - 140
Both Active Pokémon are burned.

W:W - R: - R:2

Stage 2 - Chesnaught - 230 F

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is G (instead of its existing type).

[F][C][C][C] Counter Rollout - 100
During your opponent's next turn, if this Pokémon is damaged by an attack (even if if is knocked out), put 16 damage counters on the attacking Pokémon.

[F][F][F][C] Iron Rollout - 180
During your opponent's next turn, this Pokémon receives 100 less damage from attacks.

W - R: - R:4


Basic - Froakie - 60 C

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 10 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is W (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Cloud Nine
Prevent all effects of Trainer cards (Both yours and your opponents) done to this Pokémon.

[C] Whimsy Tackle - 30
Flip a coin, if tails, this attack does nothing.
W:L - RF - R: 1

Stage 1 - Frogadier - 90 C

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 20 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is W (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Cloud Nine
Prevent all effects of Trainer cards (Both yours and your opponents) done to this Pokémon.

[C][C] Fly - 30
Flip a coin, if heads, prevent all effects of attacks, including damage, done to this Pokémon.

W:L - R:F - R:0

Stage 2 - Greninja - 190 D

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is W (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Shadow Slashes
Once during your turn, you put 3 damage counters on your opponent's Pokémon in any way you like.

[D][D][D] Midnight Shurkens - 120
Put 3 damage counters for each of your opponent's Pokémon in play on your opponent's Benched Pokémon's in any way you like.

W:F - R: - R:0


Basic - Fenniken - 70 D

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 10 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

[] Haunt
Put 1 damage counter one 1 of your opponent's Pokémon.

[D] Flaming Guidence
Search your deck for a card, and put it in your hand.

W - R:F - R:1


Stage 1 - Braixen - 100 D

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 20 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Altering Presence
When you play this card from your hand to evolve one of your Benched Pokémon, you may make both Active Pokémon Confused

[D] Doom Curse
At the end of your opponent's next turn, the Defending the is Knocked Out.

Stage 2 - Delphox - 200 HP [D] (Ghost)
- Evolves from Braxien

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

[] Curse of Greed
Search your deck for up to 3 cards, and put them in your hand, then you may take another turn after this one. If you take any extra turns in this way, until the end of your next turn, you cannot attack, and at the end of your opponent's turn, they may take another turn. (Skip Pokémon Checkup when either player takes another turn.)

[D][D][C] Curse of Demise
The Defending Pokémon is now Poisoned. During Pokémon Checkup, put 15 damage counters on that Pokémon instead of 1.

Weakness - Grass ×2
Resistance -
Retreat - [C][C]

It gazes into the flame at the tip of its branch to achieve a focused state, which allows it to see into the future.
TEXT SUBMISSION!

Basic - Grookey - 80 L

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 10 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is G (instead of its existing type).

[C] Electric Strike - 40
Discard an energy from this Pokémon.
W:F - R: - R:1

Stage 1 - Thwacky - 110

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 20 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is G (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Increasing Tempo
At the start of each players turn, they may draw 1 more card.

[C][C] Electric Beat - 70
If you and your opponent have the same number of cards in your hands, this attack also does 30 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon.

W:F - R: - R:1


Stage 2 - Rillaboom - 220 F

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is G (instead of its existing type).

[F][F][C] Drum Breakdown - 100
This attack also deals 30 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon (Apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon).

[F][F][F][F] Beatdown - 250
During your next turn, this Pokémon can't use Beatdown.

W - R: - R:2



Basic - Sobble - 70 P

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 10 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is W (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Piercing Cry
If you go second, during your first turn, if this Pokémon is in the Active Spot, you may make your opponent's Active Pokémon Parlyzed.

[C] Retreat
Switch this Pokémon with one of your Benched Pokémon.

W - R:F - R:1

Stage 1 - Drizzile - 110 P

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 20 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is W (instead of its existing type).

[P] Leer
Flip a coin, if heads, your opponent's Active Pokémon is Parlyzed.

[P][P][C] Mental Equilizer
Put damage counters on the Defending Pokémon equal to 2 times the amount of damage counters on this Pokémon.

W - R:F - R:1

Stage 2 - Inteleon - 200 P

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is W (instead of its existing type).

[P] Spreading Pain
Put damage counters on your Opponent's Pokémon in any way you like equal to the amount of Damage Counters on your opponent's Active Pokémon.

[P][P][P] Hidden Power - 200
Discard an energy from both Active Pokémon.

W - R:F - R:1

Basic - Scourbunny - 80 F

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 10 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

[C] Focus Energy
Search your deck for a Basic Energy Card and attach it to this Pokémon.

[F][C] Kick - 40

W - R: - R:1

Stage 1 - Raboot - 90 F

SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 20 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

Ability: Shifty Dealings
Once during your turn, you may draw a card. If you drew any cards in this way, choose to either discard a card from your hand or an energy from this Pokémon.

[F][C] Careless Kick - 60

W - R: - R:1

Stage 2 - Cinderace - 190 F

[F][C] Targeted Strike
This attack does 60 damage to one of your opponent's Pokémon.

[F][F][F][C] Finale Finisher - 120
If your Opponent's Pokémon is knocked out by damage from this attack, this attack also does 120 damage to one of your opponent's Benched Pokémon.

W - R: - R:0

 

[Kaleidophoenix]

I am short on deadline, so here's my image entry.

Spoiler: Amoonguss-GX

 

[PMJ]

I am short on deadline

Reminder that jabs is pretty good about looking the other way if you post past the deadline but before he officially ends the round.

 

[Kaleidophoenix]

Text Entry

Spoiler: Dark Altaria

Dark Altaria – Darkness – HP80
Stage 1 – Evolves from Swablu

Poké-Body: Black Cloud
Each R Energy attached to your Pokémon that has Dark or Rocket's in its name isn't discarded when your turn ends. At the end of your turn, put 2 damage counters on each of your Pokémon that has any R Energy attached to it.

[D][C] Screeching Aria 20
During your opponent's next turn, after the Defending Pokémon uses a Poké-Power, put 2 damage counters on that Pokémon.

Weakness: Colorless (x2)
Resistance: Grass Fighting (-20)
Retreat: [C] [C]

 

[Jabberwock]

That's a somewhat late wrap on this round of the CaC! We'll be back at the end of the month with results. Stay tuned!

 

[Jabberwock]

Image-Based Results

Judge: @Jabberwock


We saw several non-standard type-change justifications this month in addition to the Tera Pokémon and Delta Pokémon mainstays. Creativity is on the rise, and I see good attention being paid to balancing, too.

That said, don’t let your wording and placements drop off as a result! The upper few entries each month are usually up so high because they check and double-check these categories. Don’t be afraid to ask for help in the Custom Card Community Discord if you aren’t sure where to start!

The March round will go up tomorrow. See y’all there!

~~Jabberwock

Spoiler: PMJ’s Lucario V

Wow! You’re underselling the effect of that foil for sure. The rainbow sheen on PTCGO-derived foils can often be a kind of eyesore, but they blend with the art perfectly on this one. Granted, the illustration is doing a lot of heavy lifting, but hey: you chose it, you composed the card around it, blank and all, and that takes a lot more effort than people realize. Anybody can design a card, search up some art, and smack it onto the blank. Starting with the art and then designing the card is harder — but look at the results!

I’m not qualified to speak to the DBZ references, but I know you know that a well-done reference, at least on a Pokémon card, is one that you wouldn’t look at twice if you saw it in the wild. Even Further Beyond works well in a vacuum: it’s a phrase I can see as an Ability name, and it has an effect I’d expect from reading the name. Third Alignment … ehh, yeah, I guess if I don’t think about it too hard I wouldn’t notice it on the first pass. I’d probably prefer that it have an effect with the number 3 in it (as opposed to 2) to tie in some meaning without relying on DBZ lore. But that might introduce some balancing issues.

Which brings us to power levels! 3 for a conditional 200 sounds about right for a Pokémon V. The condition isn’t that hard to meet (compare Yanmega Prime, Yanmega STS for Tier 1 decks with similar conditions), but there have been real Pokémon V with 3-for-200 attacks and similar enough conditions that I feel comfortable with it. The ability to draw 2 cards both mitigates the condition and gives you an asset for your next turn, but drawing cards with an attack has historically not been as good an effect as it seems at first glance, since it invites a Judge or other disruption card from the opponent.

Overall, though? Yeah, I like it. Drawing 2 cards is usually nothing to write home about, but here it helps you fix your extra damage, even if the cards do get Judged away by the next turn. 100+100 is a nice symmetry that would have felt weird a couple formats ago, but is normal in the SwSh age, and it brings you to that 3-for-200 that makes the card competitive. Not to mention, the art/foil combo is stunning. Who wouldn’t want to see it in their Active Spot?

Wording errors:
- Looks good.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good here too.

Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(The effects are well designed, with an outward simplicity that’s the trademark of SwSh and an underlying nuance that’s the trademark of good CaC entries. The way it would play out in practice seems pretty linear — if your opponent has 6 cards in hand, you just need to make sure you have between 4 and 6 cards in hand before you attack, which isn’t a hugely skill-testing challenge — but the interplay between the attack and Ability is complex and interesting, and it does make you think at least a little bit more than “attach 3 Energy, declare an attack.”)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(I went back and forth over whether to dock a cautious point for the “third” part of Third Alignment being inspired by a Super Saiyan form without having any obvious tie-ins on the card. Eventually I decided that Psychic is sort of a “third” type here, after Fighting and Steel, and that’s good enough to justify the name. As a general word of caution to everyone about making cards with other-franchise references, though: they can hurt the card’s believability. If you can’t explain it from Creatures, Inc.’s perspective, you probably can’t explain it in a way that will get you 15 points here.)
Wording: 10/10
(Looks good.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good here too.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Awesome art/foil combo. My main suggestions for perfecting it are (a) foiling the border a little and (b) making the dividing line between the unfoiled “Lucario” part of the image and the foiled “background” part a little less sharp. This can be done using Select > Refine Edge after you’ve made the selection. Overall, though, it looks great — I don’t think anyone could argue with the full 5 here.)
Total: 48/50

Spoiler: aiurjordan’s Glaceon Tera

I like these blanks of haunt’s! They’re a little rough around the edges (see e.g. the illustration border), but they’re very pretty from a distance. The crystal effect with the shattered ice foil is on point. I’m not too sure about the art choice; ishmam’s art tends to be pretty monochromatic with a focus on the Pokémon’s main “element,” so to speak — this illustration shows Glaceon as, well, an Ice-type, and I have a hard time seeing any underlying Fighting, Rock, or Ground influence in there. (One downside to haunt’s blanks having the Rule Box in that place is there’s very little space for art — but don’t let this be a reason to let the art take a back seat!)

As for the effects, they strike me as a little gimmicky. Coin flips are rarely received enthusiastically during gameplay, especially for something as consequential as an Item or Supporter lock on the opponent. They’re two powerful effects, so I guess you could regard it as a kind of balancing tool — your opponent gets Item-locked some turns, Supporter-locked others — but it’s usually kinda unfun when you end every turn by rolling the dice.

I misread Shatter Smash at first — I thought the check happened at the end of your opponent’s next turn, so that they have the option to switch out, but if they leave a different Pokémon with 100 HP or less in the Active Spot, then that Pokémon will be Knocked Out. Like with Frosty Fusilier, its real power would depend on what your opponent can do to get out of it, but in this case, you would back them into a less traditional corner and it might be harder for them to find a way out. By contrast, having it all wrapped up by the end of your turn means it can’t really be played around, which might be better for the player in some ways — but on the other hand, we’ve seen it before.

It’s not a bad card by any means—you took a Pokémon, you swapped its type, you gave it a custom Tera mechanic, and here’s the result. That’s a plenty legitimate interpretation of the theme. But I think there’s room for improvement, too: maybe changing the conditions for the locks in Frosty Fusilier; maybe changing the timing on Shatter Smash; maybe reworking both effects so they tie into each other in interesting ways. There are a lot of options. But this was solid, especially for a second entry, and I look forward to seeing more from you in future rounds!

Wording errors:
- The only precedent for this, Samurott STS, is several years old at this point, but regardless, I think that “At the end of your turn (after your attack)” isn’t very realistic wording for an attack. You can’t have an effect of an attack take place after the attack — by definition, if the effect is taking place, the attack is still happening. For lack of a more recent reference, I would say it’s okay to default to the Samurott wording here. [-3 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- It looks like the attack names are in the same font as the Pokémon name, where they should be a slightly condensed version of it (i.e. Gill Sans Bold Condensed versus Gill Sans Bold). [-1 point]
- The flavor text should be in a variant of Optima, not Gill Sans. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(You’ve given Glaceon a new type and attacks with fighting-oriented names to match, so there’s some solid attention to the theme there. The attack effects have both been seen before, though (Vileplume LOR and Samurott STS), so while they’re rare in Pokémon TCG history, they’re not exactly unique.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(The power levels seem fine, even if the effects are a little gimmicky. You could probably buff the damage for both attacks a little bit without much of a worry, but it’s not noticeably weak as it is.)
Wording: 7/10
(“After your attack” seems incorrect, but Samurott STS’s wording would be fine.)
Fonts and Placement: 3/5
(A couple errors. Granted, I’m assuming an SM/SwSh-adjacent era for these, but they’re also true to a lesser extent for all modern eras if you replace Optima with Sanvito.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(I like the blank, but I’m not sure how well the art fits for a non-Ice-type Glaceon. Still, the crystal effects on haunt’s blank are pretty enough to help out here.)
Total: 38/50

Spoiler: doofisconfused’s Leafeon ex

It’s good to see you branching out into new mechanics with Omnium — the ease of trying different things is one of the best selling points of the blank. I would also encourage you to try new things from an aesthetic standpoint, though! Omnium lets you just check and uncheck boxes to build your card; it’s kinda like an automated card generator in that regard. But to get outside the formulaic confines of box-checking, you’ll want to do stuff like add holosheets on your own.

As for making Leafeon a Psychic-type, I can get behind the idea of box legendaries imbuing Pokémon with their power and changing their type as a result. The flavor text helps you sell it in terms of credibility. At that point, calling it “Delta Species” seems a little weird unless the box legendary in question is Rayquaza or something, though. The Pokémon TCG isn’t known for reusing the names of old mechanics purely for backward compatibility — you could call this one something like “Moone Species” or “Lunala-Touched” and that might be more believable.

I like the focus on healing over direct damage — even when it wants to do big damage, it needs to heal the opponent’s Pokémon first. Meanwhile, it can heal a lot of damage off your own Pokémon, but only if you hold off on attacking for a turn. That puts the player into a different kind of mindset, and forces them to think more critically about their sequencing and what they need to do multiple turns in advance. That’s a good thing in principle.

Balance-wise … well, I can read the attack in a couple of ways, and the power level depends pretty heavily on what you meant. If you have to heal damage from your opponent’s Benched Pokémon in order to deal damage to the Active, then it’s not great — you’re only netting 30–60 damage in total, and you need to have used a damage-spreading attack on the previous turn to set it up. But if you’re allowed to choose undamaged Pokémon and “heal” 0 damage from each of them, for a net 90 damage to the Active, then it becomes a lot better! Unfortunately, the downside to that effect is that the “heal from your opponent’s Benched Pokémon” part is spurious; you would never want to deal damage to the Bench in the first place, so the attack would basically become 30 damage for each of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon, to a maximum of 90 damage — a much less exciting effect.

My recommendation would be to require that Benched Pokémon be healed in order to deal the damage, but allow it to deal more damage. I think you could go up to 50x here, allowing the attack to do a net 90–120 damage after healing. This is pretty high for a 3-Energy attack on an Omnium Stage 1, but the condition for setting it up is significant and will probably require at least one prior attack for it to reach its full extent. Plus, it is a Pokémon ex.

The Ability is cool and encourages sources of passive damage like Chandelure NVI and Miasma Valley (both of which existed alongside HGSS-era sets, so are plausible balancing references for Omnium). That would also be a cool combo with the attack. I like the potential.

Wording errors:
- Per Latios-GX, SM-era wording holds that players don’t attack, they use attacks. For Starlight Soul, you could say “if you didn’t use an attack during your last turn” or “if none of your Pokémon attacked during your last turn.” [-2 points]
- I’m going to read Infinite Moone as written, which is to say that you do the damage to the Active regardless of whether the Benched Pokémon you choose has any damage to heal. For that effect, it’s written correctly. [-0 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- The “1” is too far from the “00” in the HP. This is a known problem with Photopea; in Photoshop, you can fix it by changing the kerning from Metric to Optical, but Photopea doesn’t have that option. The fix is to put the “1” on its own layer and just move it a couple pixels closer to the “00”. [-1 point]
- There’s a divider overlapping the Pokémon ex Rule Box which should be hidden. [-1 point]
- The “© 2021” text on the bottom has been modified, but ultimately this font isn’t too consequential, so I’ll chalk it up to an intentional modification. [-0 points]

Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(You’re exploring some great new design space by mixing healing and damage in this way. The Ability and attack tie into each other in interesting ways, encouraging offbeat strategies analogous to Miasma Valley or Chandelure NVI. It also forces players to think critically several turns in advance, which is awesome from a design perspective. I think there’s still a little room for refinement — perhaps in considering all the possible interactions between the Ability and attack, and whether you want to force healing before doing damage with Infinite Moone — but overall it’s a great idea.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(It’s noticeably underpowered, which I think prevents it from realizing the attack’s full potential. I would recommend requiring that the attack heal damage from the opponent’s Bench first, but then doing up to 50 damage per Pokémon healed. There are other ways you could go with this too, though.)
Wording: 8/10
(Player vs Pokémon attacking in the Ability.)
Fonts and Placement: 3/5
(A couple minor errors.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Pretty art; it goes well with the blank. It doesn’t have too much of a wow factor beyond that, though. Try branching out with holosheets!)
Total: 41/50

Spoiler: Nemes’s Tentacruel

Oh man, a Crystal Pokémon — the holy grail of impossible blanks. That’s one way to do this theme! They’re famously hard to get right, but your blank looks pretty darn good to me. The art is great, too; from the credit, I guess it’s a Pokémon Snap screenshot with some filters? It works perfectly with the holosheet and the blank as a whole.

Crystal Pokémon are challenging CaC submissions not only because of the aesthetics, but also because they’re hard to balance. How do you make an interesting Crystal Pokémon when all real Crystal Pokémon have been universally unplayable? You can go all out with fun effects, interactions with other Crystal Pokémon or other e-series mechanics, etc., but then is your card even believable anymore? It’s a fine line to walk.

I like Prismatic Glow because it kinda walks that line. What do Crystal Pokémon need to be good? Getting the Stage 2s like Charizard and Golem onto the Bench without having to evolve them is helpful. Accelerating Energy to help those awful costs would probably be even more so. I think you could probably extend a little bit further for a cost of [G][R][W]: accelerating Energy would be huge, and for a cost like that you could probably even get away with putting Evolution Pokémon down as Basics and also attaching an Energy to them. What it comes down to is, you’re stacking three different types of Energy on a Stage 1 Pokémon with 60 HP, and using an attack that does no damage. For five cards, an attack, and potentially even your opponent getting a Prize card, would you be happy with just getting your Golem onto the field? I think you would probably also want an Energy or two for your trouble.

Does Tentacue help with that to some extent? Maybe. The spirit is there, at least. But it only preserves one Energy total (not, for example, one per use), and it assumes you’re gonna be giving up that Prize card sooner or later anyway, so I’m not sure it helps so much in practice.

Crystal Symmetry is an improvement on Crystal Type in some ways, but it seems like an odd choice for this card in particular. It lets you fill your Bench with Crystal Pokémon, which by definition don’t trigger the Poké-Body. Furthermore, the main attack you’re probably trying to use with this thing, Prismatic Glow, doesn’t do any damage, or indeed benefit from Tentacruel being a different type whatsoever, so the fact that it can change type is largely superfluous to the goal of the card. (Interestingly, the only non-damaging attack on a Crystal Pokémon, Celebi’s Empathic Healing, still depends on its type in another way.)

I think there are a lot of good ideas here. Each part of the card is aimed in some way at fixing a problem with Crystal Pokémon. But I think as a unit, it probably wouldn’t quite work out in practice. Still, it’s a beautiful card, and it would look right at home in a lineup of Crystal Pokémon — props for pulling off a feat few in this community have attempted!

Wording errors:
- Looks like you have a misplaced capital “I” in “if” in Tentacue’s text. [-0.5 point]
- Even though the Illus credit runs long on this one, there should still be a set number — it’s important for cataloguing and so on, and I’m not aware of any Pokémon cards that are straight-up missing it. In CaC it’s not too important what the set number is, but it should be there. [-1 point]
- Otherwise, looks good! Pre-RS eras have few consistent wording conventions, but I did check several sources and your wordings seem supported.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good here, too! Apart from the missing set number, anyway.

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(The attacks show good ideas aimed at fixing particular problems with Crystal Pokémon. The Poké-Body change seems a little arbitrary, especially on this Pokémon, with Prismatic Glow’s effect and all.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(It would look right at home next to other Crystal Pokémon, in terms of power level as well as aesthetics — it’s unfortunate that Crystal Pokémon are generally so unplayable. One nitpick here is that all attacks on real Crystal Pokémon care about the type-change mechanic in some way, either in dealing damage or in Celebi’s non-damaging edge case. I find it a little unbelievable that Prismatic Glow wouldn’t do any damage.)
Wording: 8.5/10
(Misplaced capital and set number.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Beautiful!)
Total: 42.5/50

Spoiler: Buddy2707’s Blastoise

It’s certainly eye-catching! The red eyes and gold sparkles get you excited about the lore behind why it’s a different type now, and your rationale (Team Rocket up to their tricks again!) delivers. The blank edits are solid, though I think the colors could be a little softer around the “Stage 2” bar; the red is a little glaring.

Buffing a Pokémon and then making it take more damage isn’t that unusual, but it’s interesting that you can shut off the extra damage without shutting off the extra HP. It’s a little unfortunate that it shuts off the type change, though, since that’s the crux of the theme. If the goal is ultimately gonna be to shut off the Shining Shadow (since it’s hurting the Pokémon or for a similar flavor reason), maybe shutting it off could turn Blastoise [P]/[W] instead of just [W]? Not sure what the best route here would be. There’s multiple options open to you, though.

Fortified Mind is pretty powerful. A Pokémon that’s only touchable through damage is a pretty hard Pokémon to deal with. Ω Barrier was one of the stronger Ancient Traits when it existed, and this is like Ω Barrier on steroids. If you can reliably turn off your own Shining Shadow but leave the Ability active, you’re practically unstoppable.

Psychic Surfer is less bonkers, but still pretty strong — spreading 150 for [C][C][C] with no drawback, and hitting for Weakness, is unprecedented as far as I can tell. I would probably cap this at 2 Pokémon — not too many Pokémon can spread to 3 at once, and their damage tends not to be very high when they do.

It’s a cool idea for the theme, and I like the lore behind it. You’re playing into the flavor with the Ability and attack names, which is good to see. But taking 30 more damage from a Rule Box that can implicitly be shut off isn’t necessarily a reason to go overboard on the power levels! Don’t forget to check balancing references for effects like these.

Wording errors:
- The Shining Shadow should say something like “This Pokémon takes 30 more damage from attacks (after applying Weakness and Resistance). If it loses this SHINING SHADOW, it is [W] type." (ref. Toxicroak SIT, Honchkrow V, Hoopa V). “Stops working” was used once on Eternatus VMAX, but this is an isolated case, and I’m inclined to believe it was a mistranslation or quirk of early-block wording. I’ll dock fewer points than I normally would for it, since there is technically an existing reference, but don’t forget to check multiple sources if you can. (I also notice that your Shining Shadow wording isn’t consistent across the Shining Shadow Pokémon — this is why references are important!) [-3 points]
- You still need the “(Damage is not an effect.)” flavor text. [-2 points]
- “For each time you choose a Pokémon” → “For each time you chose a Pokémon” (ref. Hoopa-GX or Zeraora VSTAR). [-1 point]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- In modern eras, if you reduce the size of text on one attack or Ability, you must reduce it accordingly on all attacks and Abilities. [-1 point]
- Attack/Ability text should also be Justified, i.e. aligned on both the left and right sides. [-1 point]
- The Wartortle evocon is awfully big — it should be a little smaller than the frame, not fill it completely. In principle, Ken Sugimori art isn’t correct for modern evocons, either, but I usually look the other way on this if it’s been shadowed and recolored to resemble the correct evocons. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Good interpretation of the theme! Team Rocket and (Shining) Shadow Pokémon aren’t something I saw coming, at least not in an incarnation like this. The effects aren’t too out there, though.)
Believability/Playability: 8/15
(Unfortunately it veers pretty sharply into overpowered territory — immunity from everything but damage is nothing to sneeze at, and it’s got a strong attack to cover the rest of its bases.)
Wording: 4/10
(A few errors, especially in the Shining Shadow text.)
Fonts and Placement: 2/5
(A few smaller errors.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(You made some awesome edits, but I think there’s room for a little more refinement. The gradients could be touched up a little bit, and the red of the “Stage 2” text is pretty bright. I think the right holosheet could also work wonders.)
Total: 29/50

Spoiler: Kaleidophoenix’s Amoonguss-GX

Starting with the aesthetics: I know you were short on time this month, but I think there’s a lot of room for improvement. The red blank and green “Delta Species” bars stand out, but the art is pretty dim — while a lot of Autobot’s art is perfect for cards as-is, other pieces require some touching up for them to really pop on a blank. Apart from that, on the theme end, it’s a Delta Species card with a type change drawing inspiration from the art, and an attack and Ability name to match. It ticks the boxes.

Where I get more excited, for this card, is the effects. Abilities that activate from the deck remain a pretty underexplored area of the game, and on this one, the Ability and attack have great interplay. Between the base damage, the Burn, and the Poison, you can do a solid 140 a turn with most of your Energy acceleration taken care of for you. You just have to be careful not to deck yourself out.

I think that’s an interesting pro and con to balance for a player. It typifies the idea of “running hot” — everything goes right for you, your engine’s working perfectly, and you seem unstoppable … right up until something goes wrong, and then you’re out of resources and inches away from decking out. Resource management is a good skill to cultivate, and I like that this card is skill-testing in that sense.

The point of the GX attack isn’t immediately obvious to me. I guess if you’re happy doing ~140 damage a turn, you’re probably engaging in a pretty even 2HKO Prize trade, so the GX attack can fix some math for you if you don’t have access to other healing. It also gives you a one-time spread option, which can be valuable if your opponent forgets about it and only expects a linear 140 damage a turn. So, sure, I can see its utility. It just seems a little odd-one-out next to the clear synergy of the Ability and non-GX attack.

I like the card overall. It’s nothing too crazy, but it’s simple and elegant, with the potential to be expanded in various ways with other cards that discard from the deck. The Ability and non-GX attack are great together, and if the GX attack seems a little odd next to them, you can see its gameplay utility in other ways. Nice work!

Wording errors:
- Looks good.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- The Pokémon’s name should just be Gill Sans Bold, not Condensed — Condensed is reserved for Ability/attack names. [-1 point]
- Not sure I can get on board with the GX text being blue when the bar is green — in Ultra Beasts, there’s precedent for changing the color of the text as well. [-1 point]
- The Delta Species bar is very low on the illustration, compared to the Ultra Beast bar, which sits just below the bottom of the type texture. I guess this way, you make space for the Ultra Beast bar to fit as well, on Pokémon that are both Ultra Beasts and Delta Species? But I can’t imagine TPCi would do this when Delta Species and Ultra Beasts don’t intrinsically overlap — compare the Single/Rapid/Fusion Strike cards of the SwSh era, which all have the tag in the same place, and only get moved in the niche case that a card demands it. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Deck-activated Abilities remain an underexplored area of design space. The Ability and non-GX attack go together particularly well, with enough moving parts to make it fun to play while indirectly testing players’ Ability to manage resources. I might have liked to see a little more engagement with the theme beyond a [R]-type blank and a Delta Species bar, though — what’s the story behind the Delta phenomenon in the SM-era?)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Overall solid in concept and execution, though I’m docking a cautious point because I can’t see this Ability activating from anywhere in the deck on an actual Pokémon card. Given Creatures, Inc.’s proclivity for reprinting effects like Battle Compressor (or Professor Burnet), I find discarding from the top of the deck to be a more believable condition.)
Wording: 10/10
(Looks good.)
Fonts and Placement: 2/5
(A few errors.)
Aesthetics: 2/5
(The art is very dim; in principle the blank shouldn’t be the main thing drawing the eye. I like that it ties into the new [R] typing, but I just keep focusing on the text instead.)
Total: 41/50

Spoiler: Top 3

3rd Place: A tie between doofisconfused’s Leafeon ex and Kaleidophoenix’s Amoonguss-GX, each with 41/50 points.
2nd Place: Nemes’s Tentacruel, with 42.5/50 points.
1st Place: PMJ’s Lucario V, with 48/50 points.

 

[PMJ]

Text-Based Results

Nice turnout this month! I was a little worried that we wouldn't have very many submissions, but I was pleasantly surprised.

As I've said in some of your reviews, your job this month was to offer a Pokemon as a different type. It's one thing to just pick a type out of thin air, but if your type is grounded in some basis other than your ass, you stood a much better chance at getting a high creativity/originality score.

The cards themselves were, overall, pretty good. Lots of great ideas for the most part. You love to see it.

Spoiler: Hylaster's Porygon-Z

Porygon-Z - Lightning [L] - HP130
Stage 2 - Evolves from Porygon2

NO. 474 Virtual Pokémon HT: 2'11" WT: 75.0 lbs.

[Ability] Hyperdrive Virus
If this Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from an attack from your opponent's Pokémon, ignore all Energy in the attack costs of [L] Pokémon during your next turn. (This includes Pokémon that come into play on that turn.)

[L] Data Roundup 50
If Porygon is on your bench, this attack deals 20 more damage. If Porygon2 is on your bench, this attack deals 40 more damage.

[L][L][L][L] Long Short Circuit 150
This attack also does 150 damage to 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokémon (don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon). During your next turn, your Pokémon can't use Long Short Circuit. (This includes Pokémon that come into play on that turn.)

Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C][C]

My Thoughts

Show me on the doll where the Lugia touched you.

Nice callback to Electric Soldier Porygon. Lightning is a perfectly acceptable change, I can dig it.

It's clear you've put a lot of thought into this card, which is something I like to see. The biggest issue I have is that in SWSH, Pokemon with an Ability and two attacks don't exist. It's not so egregious that I can't rate the card as a whole, but your Believability score is going to take a hit for it.

I'm a little iffy on Data Roundup only costing one Energy, but it's probably okay given the requirement. Great attack name, too.

And speaking of great attack names, Long Short Circuit is also a cool name. Also, what an attack. I'm not particularly concerned with using Long Short Circuit for free in a format with Flaaffy in it. You could quite easily build a deck around this attack, even if you can't use it on consecutive turns. The fact that you can use it for free at all is pretty egregious, considering the damage you do. I don't really care about Amazing Raikou when popping this attack off even once can set me up for 6 prizes in 2 turns depending on the deck.

I understand having an anti-Lugia mindset when making the card, but I think that by doing so much general Bench damage, it becomes less "this Pokemon is good against Lugia specifically" and more "this Pokemon does 150 damage to any Benched Pokemon I want while setting up even Pokemon VMAX to get Boss + Sight KOed later." No question, it's Lugia's worst nightmare, but I think that even against this deck in particular, Porygon-Z is a little too good. Data Roundup is already excellent at slaughtering Lugia; if you really wanted to take a dump on Archeops, you could remove Long Short Circuit and replace Hyperdrive Virus with another Ability that said (all/your opponent's) Colorless Pokemon have no Abilities. This would give it some actual real utility, not only preventing Archeops from doing anything but shutting off Dunsparce's Mysterious Nest as well, allowing you to wash Lugia unimpeded. Aside from this, you also shut off some interesting Abilities like Bibarel's Industrious Incisors, Ditto's Sudden Transformation, Wyrdeer V's Frontier Road, and Regigigas's Ancient Wisdom. You also technnically shut off Arceus VSTAR's Starbirth and Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR's Phantom Star, but those will likely be used before you get Porygon-Z in play. That's just one way you could still fit Porygon-Z into the design space you've chosen without going the extreme damage route (and keep your Believability score intact).

Wording errors:
General
- When weight ends in .0, the .0 is omitted in SWSH era [-1 point]
- No flavor text [-1 point]
Hyperdrive Virus
- "During your next turn" should actually go in the middle of the sentence as opposed to the end like it is on Sunflora. Just because the effect exists in a previous era doesn't mean the wording is correct. (Reshiram V SIT, Machamp LOR) [-1 point]
Data Roundup
- Don't ever use "deals." Nothing wrong with just copying Reuniclus's text, it's correct for this attack also. [-1.5 points]
- Always capitalize "Bench." [-1.5 points]
Long Short Circuit
- The "don't apply Weakness" reminder text always goes after the sentence, not inside it. (Radiant Charjabug CRZ) [-1 point]
- If you want to prevent the player from using a specific attack consecutively, mimic the wording from something like Terrakion SIT. [-1 point]
- The correct wording for what you used is "during" that turn instead of "on" that turn like it is on Sunflora, but since your wording in general is wrong, I'm not going to dock you for it. Just bringing it to your attention. [-0 points]

Creativity/Originality: 18/20
(Great type chosen, excellent attack and Ability names chosen, the theming is fantastic. I think you've gone a little overboard with what you've set out to do, though.)
Wording: 7/15
(I have no explanation for how you managed some of these errors, given your references, but it always helps to take a break and do one last proofread after you finish but before you post. Have you joined our Discord? We're always glad to help!)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Pokemon with an Ability and two attacks don't exist in this era. Also, Long Short Circuit is absurdly powerful. There's a reason Amazing Shot's cost and damage is what it is - it can't even kill Dedenne-GX!)
Total: 37/50

Spoiler: Falling Skies's Radiant Mew

Radiant Mew HP: 60 [C]
Basic

Radiant Pokémon Rule: You can't have more than 1 Radiant Pokémon in your deck.
Ability: Prime DNA
This Pokémon gains the effect of any Special Energy card attached to it, even if the card says otherwise.

[C][C][C] Omnibarrier 60
If this Pokémon has 6 or more Special Energy cards with different names attached to it, prevent all effects of attacks, including damage, done to all of your Pokémon during your opponent's next turn.

Weakness: [F] x2
Resistance:
Retreat: [C]

This mythical Pokémon is said to be extinct, but sightings of it are still being reported to this day.

My Thoughts
I dunno if I agree that Mew could have ever been a Normal type, but I will say that it's the most fitting other than simply leaving it Psychic, given your reasons for changing it. Being able to gain the effects of all Special Energy cards is pretty cool. Fusion Strike Energy blocks Abilities. Aromatic Grass Energy stops all Special Conditions. Wash Water Energy blocks all attack effects (as if it needs the protection). That's really all you need on a Pokemon like this; the other Energy cards are pure filler.

Did you forget that Archeops was a thing, though? Getting six unique Special Energy cards onto this Pokemon is pathetically easy. All you need is to dodge Boss for one turn and you have immunity for the rest of the game. Escape Rope bothering you? Just promote Diancie ASR and now they can't Boss you to kill :^) Absurdly, disgustingly broken. I know you were short on time, but this one's gonna be a no from me, dawg.

Wording errors:
Prime DNA
- You can't possibly believe I'm gonna accept this wording as is. While I don't know what the actual wording would be, it certainly would not be this. [-1 point]
Omnibarrier
- This sort of wording was changed in SWSH. The proper way is, "prevent all damage from and effects of attacks done to" whatever it is. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(More thematic than it seems at first glance. Being able to utilize all Special Energy cards sounds like something Mew would be able to do, and the attack incentivizes you to attach many different Special Energy to it.)
Wording: 13/15
(I feel like you wouldn't have made these errors if you'd had more time.)
Believability/Playability: 3/15
(Lugia VSTAR and Archeops completely break this card. You only need to survive one turn in order to get ready to attack, and Diancie ensures that you don't come up before you're ready. Once you start attacking with Omnibarrier, it's over. Forcing your opponent to run some nonsense with Shred or 5-6 Boss + Serena is not an answer to this card.)
Total: 32/50

Spoiler: Cradilyfan1512's Slither Wing

Slither Wing-Dragon-120 HP-Basic



NO. 988 Paradox Pokémon HT: 10’06” WT: 202.8 lbs.



Ability: Hoard Gather

Once per turn if this Pokémon is in the active spot you may draw one extra card per turn.



[G][R][W] Draconic Build-up 20x

For every damage counter on this Pokémon this attack does two times damage.



Weakness:

Resistance:

Retreat: [C][C]

This Pokémon bears lots of resemblance to Volcarona, but seems more ancient.

My Thoughts
Slither Wing as a dragon? I guess there's worse types you could make it.

Anyway, there's not much going on here, which isn't bad on its face. Hoard Gather is aight, but Draconic Build-up is really bad. They have no synergy with each other, which doesn't really inspire me to put it in my deck. Even Hoard Gather, while interesting, is kinda hard to take advantage of thanks to Slither Wing's awkward Retreat Cost. If you want to lean into the hoarding aspect of it, you could have just given it an attack that does X damage times the number of cards in your hand. It still would have been pretty basic, but better than what you've got now.

I think that you've got some decent ideas here, but they could use some polish. We're always happy to help in the Discord - stop by and have a chat with us!

Wording errors:
Hoard Gather
- When are you allowed to draw an extra card? I think your intent was for it to be at the beginning of your turn, but you need to explicitly say that. [-1 point]
- Always capitalize Active Spot. [-2 points]
Draconic Build-up
- The proper wording here is, "This attack does 20 damage for each damage counter on this Pokémon." (Litten SIT) [-2 points]

Creativity/Originality: 13/20
(I'm having a hard time buying Slither Wing as a dragon, but like I said, there are worse types you could have chosen. Hoard Gather is the most interesting thing about this card but that design space was wasted on an expensive and weak attack that doesn't even fit the hoarding theme. Good job getting the Energy types in the correct order, though!)
Wording: 10/15
(Check real cards for proper wording. The Discord will always be glad to help you fix these simple mistakes to make your wording shine.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(While Draconic Build-up is an awful attack, I think Hoard Gather is decent enough that it could see play as something to promote after one of your Pokemon goes down so you get an extra card once your turn starts. Requiring Air Balloon so you don't end up as a sitting duck is super sketchy though.)
Total: 37/50

Spoiler: TheFlyingPidove's Noivern

Noivern δ DELTA SPECIES / 80 / Water

[Stage 1] Evolves from Noibat.

[Poké-Power] Beat Droplet
Once during your turn, when you play Noivern from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon, you may discard a [W] Energy card attached to Noivern. If you do, discard 3 cards from the top of your opponent's deck.

[W][C] Sinkronized Wave [30]
If Noivern and the Defending Pokémon have the same amount of Energy attached to them, put 1 damage counter on each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon.

Weakness: [L]
Resistance:
Retreat Cost: [C][C]

My Thoughts
I'm not sold on Noivern as a Water-type; attack name puns aren't really good enough. Still, making it Delta Species almost seems like a crutch to avoid having to put in any real though about how to sell your chosen type. I'm pretty sure this isn't the first card to use its delta typing in reference to its attack, so it kinda evens itself out.

As far as the card itself goes, Beat Droplet is kinda neat. Mill doesn't really exist in gen 3, so it's interesting to see what you can do with cards like Mr. Briney's Compassion and Super Scoop Up at your disposal. Needing to discard an Energy keeps it from being spammable, so not bad.

Sinkronized Wave ironically has no synergy with Beat Droplet, which is a shame because if you're going to go hard on the mill aspect, I would have liked to see the attack help out with that in some way. It probably would have ruined your pun, but I care more about the content of the card and how well you utilized the theme than a single pun that weakens your card overall simply by insisting on its inclusion. Beat Droplet is a way better name than Sinkronized Wave; I think you could have come up with a better attack that also referenced Noivern's strengths and linked to it being a Water-type as well.

Wording errors:
General
- "HP" is missing in the HP [-1 point]
- Unnecessary period after "Evolves from Noibat" [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 15/20
(Delta Species is kind of a cop out in my opinion, but you at least tried to make up for it with the names. Mill is, as you suspected, unheard of in gen 3, and I think you've got a way to incorporate it without being automatically busted due to the Trainers available in this era.)
Wording: 13/15
(Whoopsiedoodles)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(No issues.)
Total: 43/50

Spoiler: Charmaster:)'s Onix

Basic — Onix — 90 HP — (W)
View attachment 17170
Rock Snake Pokémon. Length: 28’ 10”, Weight: 463 lbs.
(W) Prism Gaze
If your opponent has any Pokémon that have a Pokémon Power, choose 1 of them and this attack does 10 damage to it. Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for this attack. (Any other effects that would happen after applying Weakness and Resistance still happen.) That Pokémon’s power stops working until the end of your next turn.
(W)(C) Sharpen Facets — 10
All damage done by attacks to Onix during your opponent’s next turn is reduced by 20 (after applying Weakness and Resistance).
Weakness: (_)
Resistance: (L) -30
Retreat: (C)(C)
It’s body is composed of pure crystal. It has inspired many artists. LV. 28 #95
My Thoughts
This is quite well thought out. Interesting to choose to make a card to support an ancient format, but you've certainly done your homework on the matter. Very cool to see the Crystal Onix get some love - it's a perfect candidate for a theme like this. It's also something I could see being printed to assist with meta-warping cards in the same vein as Drapion V in the current era. It's got utility and survivability, but isn't strong enough on its own to dominate.

Prism Gaze is best at doing what you've mentioned, shutting off Hay Fever and Toxic Gas to give you a reprieve in the early game. Having this attack on a Basic is pretty darn useful, although I question its efficacy past the first few turns.

Sharpen Facets is a great attack to help survive the early game, but it seems you haven't taken Rainbow Energy's damage into account when factoring in Onix's survivability in a Venusaur deck (it turns Solarbeam from a 3HKO to a 2HKO, which is notable). It's not strong enough to offensively threaten Fire-types, but turning Blaine's Rapidash from a possible 2-3HKO to like a 5HKO is pretty awesome if they have no way to get around it.

My only real gripe with this card is the fact that it doesn't have a Weakness. With a hefty damage-reducing attack and a nice chunk of HP, I think that giving it a Weakness would have given your opponent a way to counter it without brute forcing it with some absurd damage number. If you look at the cards with no Weakness, they are some combination of either weak, evolving Basics (Dratini, Gastly); Pokemon with only high-Energy attacks (Articuno, Zapdos); bad attacks (Dragonair, Dragonite, Moltres); or low HP (Gengar, Dark Dragonite). The best among these is Gengar, and even it has a weak, expensive attack. It's great that Onix is a good answer for some potent threats, but even as an off-type Pokemon you could have given it a Weakness. I would have accepted a Fire weakness, or even a Grass one to keep it in line with other Onix due to the ambiguity of its typing.

I don't know if this was coincidence or not, but it seems like Onix was the perfect Pokemon to use for this event. If your question was "what's a bulky Basic Pokemon that can feasibly reduce damage to itself?" then Onix is a great answer. Using the Crystal Onix for this was perfect. You set out to solve a problem, and used a Pokemon that not only mechanically but thematically could be the solution to it. Fantastic work.

Wording errors:
General
- "Pokemon" is missing from the stage name (in classic era, since the card says "Basic Pokemon," you need to as well) [-1 point]
- The Weakness and Resistance thing is throwing me off. While there is precedent for seemingly randomly handing out no Weakness, Resistance is handled fairly consistently in the classic era. Cards like Diglett and Sandshrew had fairly consistently had Lightning Resistances up through as far as gen 5. Onix, by comparison, has never had one, and while it is more meaningful to give it a Resistance if it doesn't have a Weakness, I believe that due to the Pokemon never having a Resistance, you should have kept it that way and given it a Weakness instead. I know there's Flying Pikachu to consider, but... it still rubs me the wrong way. I feel like that if it did have a Resistance, it wouldn't be Lightning. [-1 point]
- Wrong usage of "it's" in the flavor text [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 18/20
(I love it. You took a forgotten Pokemon of the day and put it to excellent use, both thematically and mechanically. It has little use outside of this specific format, but what it is meant to do, it does well.)
Wording: 12/15
(Given how lawless classic era is, the fact that your attacks themselves had perfect wording is impressive. Good work.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(I don't believe it would have no Weakness, given what it can do, or what it's supposed to do. Other than that I have no problems. An excellent fake all around.)
Total: 44/50

Spoiler: doofisconfused's Jellicent-ex

Jellicent-ex – R – HP100
Stage 1 – Evolves from Frillish
δ Delta Species - Special Pokémon
View attachment 17206
NO. 593 Floating Pokémon HT: 7’3” WT: 297.6 lbs.

Ability: Sunlight Soul
When your Active Pokémon attacks, you may choose 1 of your opponent's Pokémon. If you do, put 1 damage counter on that Pokémon for each R Energy attached to your Active Pokémon.

[R][R] Everlasting Sunne 40
The Defending Pokémon’s Weakness is now R until the end of your next turn. (The amount of Weakness doesn’t change.)

Pokémon-ex Rule: - When your Pokémon-ex has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize Cards
Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C]
It has defended its home from overfishing its entire life. Though it was stuck down, a wondrous power smiled upon it, bringing it back to life and filling it with light.

My Thoughts
Has the strength of a hundred sunnes. Given that this is meant to be balanced for HGSS, I don't think giving it a stackable Ability that lets you explode your opponent's Pokemon is a very good idea. If there's even just three Fire Energy on your Active Pokemon (not hard when combined with something like Typhlosion (Prime)), each Jellicent-ex adds 30 damage to your attack. With two Jellicent-ex on your Bench, Flare Destroy does 130 damage, which is enough to OHKO all but a handful of Pokemon in the tier. Add a fourth Energy or a third Jellicent-ex and you're one-shotting Pokemon LEGEND.

Everlasting Sunne is almost an afterthought with how good Sunlight Soul is. The effect could not even be there and this card would still be S tier. But it is there, and what a doozy of an effect it is. I wouldn't personally ever put this thing in harm's way, but if I had to attack with it, planting a bomb on the target is an attack I'd be comfortable doing.

I'd definitely make Sunlight Soul a single-use power. That is probably the least intrusive way to fix it. You may have even intended it to be once per turn, but I have to judge it based on how it's written, so...

Wording errors:
General
- In Omnium, Pokedex information goes between weakness and flavor text. [-1 point]
- Period missing at the end of the ex rule [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(Interesting take on Delta Species. With a mechanic that necessarily allows you to throw any type you'd like onto something, having a bit of lore behind your decision is always good for that extra point. Although I can't help but think that if you were going to claim that this Jellicent was revived because it impressed Solgaleo enough to do so... why not use a Pokemon that is actually known for being a protector? I can't see a reason to use Jellicent specifically for this. Not that using it is bad per se, but you can probably use a Pokemon more believable in the role, especially since Jellicent is known for doing some questionable things to anything that wanders into its territory.)
Wording: 13/15
(Wording itself was good, just Omnium-exclusive stuff that got you.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Needs to be hard limited to not ruin the format. Being a Special Pokemon doesn't balance it entirely.)
Total: 42/50

Spoiler: Buddy2707's Delphox

Stage 2 - Delphox - 200 HP [D] (Ghost)
- Evolves from Braxien
View attachment 17212
SHINING SHADOW: This Pokémon's receives 30 more damage from attacks. If this Pokémon loses its SHINING SHADOW, it's type is R (instead of its existing type).

[] Curse of Greed
Search your deck for up to 3 cards, and put them in your hand, then you may take another turn after this one. If you take any extra turns in this way, until the end of your next turn, you cannot attack, and at the end of your opponent's turn, they may take another turn. (Skip Pokémon Checkup when either player takes another turn.)

[D][D][C] Curse of Demise
The Defending Pokémon is now Poisoned. During Pokémon Checkup, put 15 damage counters on that Pokémon instead of 1.

Weakness - Grass ×2
Resistance -
Retreat - [C][C]

It gazes into the flame at the tip of its branch to achieve a focused state, which allows it to see into the future.

My Thoughts
It's sorta like V lite, I guess? The mechanic itself nets you an extra 20 HP on average, which still isn't enough to make a difference in most cases given how easily Pokemon can do 200 damage now. I also don't know how you would lose SHINING SHADOW since this is a custom mechanic and there is no way to shut off built-in mechanics like this, so I can't really comment on the type-changing potential.

Taking an extra turn after Curse of Greed is a great way to lose the game, as not only can you not attack on this free turn, your opponent is under no such restriction. I would never do this and neither would anyone else. I get the idea, but you lose far more than you would ever hope to gain.

Curse of Demise is a little on the powerful side, considering that a slightly weaker version of this attack is on a VMAX, of all things. I'd cut the damage down to 12 or 13 - this is still enough to 2HKO Pokemon V and gives a better point of reference to how powerful these Pokemon are.

I would have liked some information on how a Pokemon could lose its SHINING SHADOW so that its type would revert. Knowing that could open up some more combo plays, although changing types with this Pokemon in particular wouldn't mean much since it doesn't do direct damage.

Wording errors:
General
- Braixen misspelled [-1 point]
- SHINING SHADOW rule should be written as, "This Pokemon takes 30 more damage from attacks (after applying Weakness and Resistance). If it loses this SHINING SHADOW, it is R type." [-2 points]
Curse of Greed
- "Search your deck for up to 3 cards, put them into your hand, then shuffle your deck. You may take another turn after this one. If you take another turn in this way, during your next turn, you can't attack, and your opponent may take another turn after their next turn. (Skip Pokemon Checkup.)" [-3 points]

Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Would have liked to see more ways to interact with the SHINING SHADOW mechanic. It just looks like a glorified type change otherwise.)
Wording: 9/15
(It's worth mentioning that you have SHINING SHADOW worded differently on both your text and image entries. It should be the same no matter what.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Dark support is helpful in order to power up Curse of Demise quickly, but it's just a tad too strong for my liking. It's still the only reason to play this card, though.)
Total: 36/50

Spoiler: Kaleidophoenix's Dark Altaria

Dark Altaria – Darkness – HP80
Stage 1 – Evolves from Swablu

Poké-Body: Black Cloud
Each R Energy attached to your Pokémon that has Dark or Rocket's in its name isn't discarded when your turn ends. At the end of your turn, put 2 damage counters on each of your Pokémon that has any R Energy attached to it.

[D][C] Screeching Aria 20
During your opponent's next turn, after the Defending Pokémon uses a Poké-Power, put 2 damage counters on that Pokémon.

Weakness: Colorless (x2)
Resistance: Grass Fighting (-20)
Retreat: [C] [C]

My Thoughts
Before I get into the card itself, I just want to mention that I don't really see this as fitting the theme. Dark Pokemon are, by design, Darkness in type, so even though this is an off-typed Altaria, it really isn't. No one would see this card in this era and think anything was off. You're not making the argument of "What if Altaria was Dark-type?" which is the point of the theme. And yeah, I get that this was a buzzer beater entry and you busted it out in 11 minutes, but an entry is an entry and I have to judge it on its merits.

With all that said, I think this is a solid idea with flawed execution. I like the idea of being able to keep R Energy attached. It's designed to be thrown away, so suddenly being able to keep it around longer than intended can open up new possibilities for decks that can utilize it. I think losing 20 HP is a fair tradeoff for the suddenly permanent double Energy and increased damage.

The part I disagree with is making this penalty mandatory for Benched Pokemon as well. Black Cloud gives you all this new design space but also puts your Pokemon on a clock and prevents you from utilizing these new possibilities without worrying about their HP getting demolished by the time they can even make an impact. I feel that altering Black Cloud to only ping your Active Pokemon would be a simple yet highly effective change.

As far as the attack goes, I got excited when I read it because I thought it could have put a serious damper on decks that rely on their Poke-Powers. Ludicargo, Pidgeot, Dark Dragonite, Dark Electrode... the list goes on. Then I read it only affects the Pokemon you hit and all of that excitement went out the window. I don't think there's anything wrong with widening it to affect all of your opponent's Pokemon, especially since it costs your attack (and it's called Screeching Aria). And on the subject of the attack name, it's a little weird since arias aren't something one screeches, but I'll chalk it up to creative license/dark corruption/whatever. Nothing I'd take points off for, but it's still something to think about for the future.

Wording errors:
General
- In this era, HP should be written as "80 HP" instead of "HP80." [-1 point]
- Resistance is -30 in this era. [-1 point]
Black Cloud
- Since you are looking for a specific card being attached, you need to say "...put 2 damage counters on each of your Pokemon that has any R Energy cards attached to it." Cards that deal with React Energy are a good reference. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Only fits the theme if you squint real hard. Good idea mechanically, but the penalty is too great to explore any real design possibilities with R Energy.)
Wording: 12/15
(I'm willing to chalk these up to rushing this out. Still, not bad, considering that.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Essentially poisoning your Benched Pokemon means this probably wouldn't see too much play, but it's still very usable for Black Cloud even if Screeching Aria is a bit disappoitning.)
Total: 39/50

Spoiler: Standings

3rd Place: doofisconfused’s Jellicent-ex, with 42/50 points.
2nd Place: TheFlyingPidove’s Noivern, with 43/50 points.
1st Place: Charmaster’s Onix, with 44/50 points.

 

[qrorohill]

Noivern has been my only fake in ages, so I'm quite satisfied with the results. To think I could have shared first place if I didn't somehow forget HP in 80HP.. That does hurt a little lmaooo.

Thanks judges for a great first round of the year!

 

[Charmaster:)]

Wait… wait… did I just win a CaC?
@PMJ, I was enjoying reading your feedback, and it made me smile to see how excited you were about the game design involved. The comparison to Drapion V was especially encouraging, considering it’s one of my favorite cards, and not just for game design reasons. I internally conceded that my weakness/resistance choices were a risk from the start, and it warmed my heart to see how well you thought the Pokemon fit the role the card set out to accomplish. Then I saw my score, and thought “as someone who averaged about 35 points in image, 44 points my first text based entry is certainly growth! I’ll take it! Then I checked the podium, entertaining the possibility I might have made third place.
It was beyond my wildest expectations to make first place.
Thanks for rating my entry, PMJ. You just made my day. Hope everyone is doing well over on the Discord.

P.S. I would like to point out that, unless Energy Trans is already turned off (which wouldn’t be the case in the mirror match example above), you can attach Rainbow Energy to something expendable (like a Doduo) and move it onto Crystal Onix from there. That’s the reason why Mewtwo saw play as a tech in Venusaur when Rainbow Energy became legal. In matches where you’re up against Muk, using Prism Gaze is probably the first priority anyways, but it certainly impacts your ability to pivot into Sharpen Facets the next turn.

 

[PMJ]

as someone who averaged about 35 points in image, 44 points my first text based entry is certainly growth! I’ll take it!

It's a good thing your choice of Pokemon was so good. Getting an 18 from me in that category is tough. It made up for your wording mistakes. Congrats again.

To everyone else, let this be a reminder about how important wording is - all three of the top entries were within two points of each other. With perfect wording, either second or third could have pushed their way into first place.

Check your wording. Double check it. Ask us for help on the Discord, we will be glad to assist you. Simple, completely avoidable mistakes tank people's scores every month and I sound like a broken record at this point but please, people, check your wording before you post.