Contest June 2021 CaC: Owner's Pokémon (Results Up!)

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Having just come off designing 350ish cards for our DP format in Lackey, I am still in the middle of a long break from faking. I hadn't planned on entering, but after realizing that I'd had been sitting on an unfinished SM set based on Pokemon Battle Revolution, and that all the Pokemon are going to be Owner's Pokemon, I could throw something together and get people's opinions on it.

Full disclosure: this set is still relatively early in planning, and only a handful of Trainers even have text spoilers at this point. While Sashay's Lopunny does appear in the set, the spoiler for it was created specifically for this contest.

My take on Owner's Pokemon is similar to the ones found in Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge. The owner is part of the Pokemon's name, which makes them not play nicely with existing versions of the cards (you could not evolve Sashay's Lopunny from a card named Buneary not that it matters because there's only one in the entire SM block).

As an incentive to play these cards, and to recognize their having been trained, these Pokemon feature a slight HP boost.

Sashay is a dancer, and her personality is reflected in her cards. She thinks very highly of herself and expects nothing less than perfection in everything; if the opponent is stumbling around like an idiot, Sashay's Lopunny will get a massive damage boost out of sheer anger.

Step in Time has a conditional confusion effect that not only incentivizes players to use other Owner's Pokemon (with the assumption this card comes from a set that is full of them and has viable cards), but also reflects Sashay's vainness; any untrained Pokemon clearly lacks the skill to keep up with Sashay's Lopunny, and gets Confused as a result, which only serves to make Sashay's Lopunny angry.

Since Sashay's Lopunny evolves from Sashay's Buneary, it is important to know what it does to give Sashay's Lopunny's power a better frame of reference. I haven't made the spoiler for one, but there is, however, a Supporter card that is meant to help Sashay decks that has some relevance for this card:

Sashay

Trainer - Supporter

Search your deck for 2 Pokémon with maximum HP of 60 or less, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck. Flip a coin for each Sashay's Pokémon you put into your hand in this way. If any of them are heads, your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Confused.
Click to expand...

Sashay's Buneary will be searchable with this card, which is the extent of its ability to affect the strength of Sashay's Lopunny.


Visually, the card is pretty simple, which is like 90% my preference and 10% my inability to do crazy visual effects like the rest of you. The old Owner's Pokemon looked nearly identical to other cards of the era; the only difference was the owner's portrait being featured on the card, which by necessity featured a redesigned bottom section to make room for it.

That's good enough for me, so I've opted for the more modern Platinum-style owner's portrait with a custom Sashay image drawn by Gamez n' Gainz#5930 in our Discord (a great place to find people to help you with all your faking needs, including CaC, in real time). If I'd known that SP portraits were mostly head shots, I might have had him draw her in a different pose, but if there's one thing I've learned from faking in the DP era, it's that it's consistently inconsistent; Argenta's arm is sticking out, Roark's hand is in sort of an awkward position, Byron's whole-ass neck is on display rather than just a headshot... there are no rules, the whole era is a lawless wasteland, so I'm not too concerned by having Sashay's arms visible (especially since it would look weirder for them not to be).

I also added in the Poketopia symbol to the center of the card to make the card stand out just a little bit while not being super obnoxious.

See you all in the winner's circle.
 
I present to you... my June CaC entry! This is probably the hardest I've ever worked on a card since my start in September 2020. I really gave it my all and hope that I can get at least top three!

Alains_Charizard_June_CaC_entry.png

References: Castform (Chilling Reign 121), Chandelure (Unified Minds 30), Tsareena-GX (SM56), Sharpedo-EX (Primal Clash 91), Guzma (Burning Shadows 115), Pidgeot (Team Up 124)

Resources: Omnium (CardPone), Charizard art and Alain picture (official Pokemon art), Galaxy-style holofoil (aschefield)

Special thanks to PMJ for his help in wording. I really appreciate him so much for triple-checking every word of my card, even though he is also a contestant!
 
IggyKoopa849 said:
I present to you... my June CaC entry! This is probably the hardest I've ever worked on a card since my start in September 2020. I really gave it my all and hope that I can get at least top three!

Alains_Charizard_June_CaC_entry.png

References: Castform (Chilling Reign 121), Chandelure (Unified Minds 30), Tsareena-GX (SM56), Sharpedo-EX (Primal Clash 91), Guzma (Burning Shadows 115), Pidgeot (Team Up 124)

Resources: Omnium (CardPone), Charizard art and Alain picture (official Pokemon art), Galaxy-style holofoil (aschefield)

Special thanks to PMJ for his help in wording. I really appreciate him so much for triple-checking every word of my card, even though he is also a contestant!
Click to expand...

Are you sure @PMJ triple checked your card? In my first reading I noticed the Ability says "discard pile, pile, " XD
Also, "shuffle your deck afterward" is pre-XY wording. Since you reference Sun&Moon and later era cards, this doesn't make sense to me.
But then again, I'm not a judge, so.... lol
 
IggyKoopa849 said:
I present to you... my June CaC entry! This is probably the hardest I've ever worked on a card since my start in September 2020. I really gave it my all and hope that I can get at least top three!
Click to expand...
Just wanted to point out that rank isn't necessarily the best indication of performance. I ranked second to last in my first CaC using a custom mechanic (https://www.pokebeach.com/forums/threads/april-2021-cac-trick-real-results-are-up.152191/page-3), but everyone still thought that it was a great card and I got plenty of good feedback!
Even in the worst case scenario, none of you will have to deal with scores like the meme scores that preceded the actual scores (hey, it was an APRIL CaC, was it not?). Here was my meme score for my Imposter Electrode:
Kinda sus man

Wording errors:
- This is just a Confused Poké Ball with a face. Jokes on it, we know it’s a Poké Ball. [-60 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- “Imposter” font is an improvement over that Gill Sans nonsense. [+10 points]

Creativity/Originality: 0/15
(I think I played a game like this once.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Precedent for Imposter stuff.)
Wording: -50/10
(Confused Poké Balls don’t count as Pokémon.)
Fonts and Placement: 15/5
(Nice Imposter font.)
Aesthetics: 20/5
(I’m afraid the Poké Ball will murder me if I bump this score any lower. Don’t like that look in its eye.)
Total: 0/50
Click to expand...
Fortunately Jabber recovered from his all-consuming fear of Electrodes in time for the following CaC and has continued to score image-based entries to this day, only slightly shaken by his electrifying encounter with the enraged Imposter Electrode.
At any rate, all these cards, yours included, look great, and I hope you are looking forward to the scoring of the day after tomorrow, not as proof of accomplishment, but for the constructive criticism, and I will smile while owning up to my guilt of using references to Ash on Red's Charmander and not rub in the fact that PMJ missed the aforementioned typo.
 
Sorry for entering so late, I wasn't going to submit my card but found a spare couple of hours to clean up the draft, so I hope that's okay!

Lance's Dragonite VMAX – HP300 - Dragon (Claw Mark)
VMAX - Evolves from Lance's Dragonite V - Dynamax

Ability: Young Drakes
When your [N] Pokémon in play get Knocked Out by damage from damage from an opponent’s attack, that player takes 1 fewer Prize card. You can’t apply more than 1 Young Drakes Ability at a time.

[W][L][C][C] Max Training 130+
You may search your deck for up to 2 Stage 1 [N] Pokémon or 1 Stage 2 [N] Pokémon and put them onto your Bench. If you do, this attack does 80 more damage, and this Pokémon has no Retreat Cost during your next turn.

Weakness:
Resistance:
Retreat: [C][C][C]

VMAX Rule: When your Pokémon VMAX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards.
Morpeko VMAX SSH80, Meowth VMAX SWSH Promo 5, Eevee VMAX SWSH Promo 87, etc. (HP)
Hero’s Medal VIV152, Black Market Prism Star TEU134, Shedinja LOT95, Passimian CRE88 (Ability)
Single Strike Mustard BST134, Tynamo VIV57, Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX CRE46, Galarian Sirfetch’d CRE79 (Attack)
New Dragon types for Claw Mark, Weakness and Resistance.
Retreat based on amalgamation of previous Dragonite cards.
I’m sure everyone is familiar with Lance and his famous illegal Dragonites! In RBY and FRLG, Lance’s Dragonites are fine… however, in GSC and HGSS, all 3 of his Dragonites are below the level that they evolve at! While it is now possible to achieve this legally now via Pokémon Go transfers, at the time this was impossible. Hence the theme for this Dragonite (and I wanted to do a Dragon type again, this time having seen the reveals!).

First of all, it is a bit unfair to beat a Pokémon that is clearly under-levelled; this is the initial idea I had. Therefore, you should not get as many prize cards for it! However, to balance this, I have put the ability on a relatively “weak” VMAX card. I based the HP on the lowest HP seen to date on VMAX’s; this refers to the fact that the Dragonite is below its usual level.

As I touched on the ability before, I’ll briefly explain why it is the way it is: only works on Dragons, as Lance had a few Dragons that were below their evolution level, and it restricts what kind of Pokémon you can play. I considered making it only work on non-Rule Box dragons but thought that would be too oppressive.

Next the attack: again, this links back to Lance having multiple Pokémon in his party which were illegal. Thus, the attack allows you to cheat in Stage 1 and Stage 2 Dragons, an effect which I think is underappreciated in the TCG; we recently got the Mustards, but personally I think the effect is so underwhelming due to the conditions which need to be met, therefore I created a better, thematic method. I combined the two usual traits of Dragonite cards in this effect: interacting with Pokémon outside of play and switching. However, I believe the old “Bust In” kind of effect would be too strong in this case, therefore I switched it to reduce the Retreat Cost instead.

I based the retreat cost on previous Dragonites; over the years, its Retreat Cost reduced significantly, from 4, to 3, with the most recent 2 released cards having a cost of just 2 (UNM). I decided on 3, partially based on the more ‘Support’ kinds of Dragonites and partially on the fact that the upcoming Dragonite V has the cost of 3. The typing of the attack cost is based on the V as well.

Well, I’m glad I decided to enter in the end. I had to stay up all night today, when I saw @Jabberwock post that there is just 32 hours left to submit, so I decided to grab the draft I created when the theme was initially announced and clean it up, balance it and check the wording… and here we are! Hopefully I won’t miss out on being joint top this time due to my UNREALISTIC DRAGON TYPES ;) Oh and I hope you like my text version of the CLAW MARK!
 
a4297f96428297a763ff88da995bada5bfdbc3f3.png


non-holo version here: [LINK]

So, first of all, what is a VPrime?
Look, if they can get away with VUnions without any consequence, I am free to do whatever I want, right?
To keep it simple, think of them as a way to shoehorn in the SwSh era the possibility to evolve a single-prize Pokémon into a multiprize.

I thought having V's as my default multiprize category for my custom blanks was the most logical solution, as the blanks design is based on the current era, with an influence, layout-wise, from the E-reader phase (which notably lacks any multiprize mechanic). Despite this, I wasn't happy with the tough of having all my multiprize as Basic Pokémon independent from their single-prize counterparts, so I decided to create a sub-category of PokémonV as Evolution from regular Pokémon cards to tie it all together, thus giving players another *actual* reason to include single-prize cards in their deck ^^".

Similarly to what happens to Vmax Pokémon, VPrimes are influenced by by all cards/effects targeting both PokémonVs/Rulebox Pokémon and Evolution Pokémon, but are to be considered neither as Stage 1 nor Stage 2 cards.

VPrime foolishness aside, this also counts as your regular Owner's Pokémon, meaning that you can't evolve it from any Snorunt you like. I still don't know if I want to keep VPrime as a Owner's Pokémon-only mechanic or extend it to all Pokémon instead (implying that I have enough time to create fake cards outside monthly contests lol).


As you can guess, the main point of this card is playing around with Hoarfrost counters, which (at least in my vision) are meant to interact mainly with Ice-types in various ways.

Since these counters do not have a standard effect, ideally other Ice types could benefit to have said markers on them (I can imagine, for example, a Glaceon/Avalugg/other tanky Pokémon healing between turns if it has any number of counters on it, or a more offensive-oriented card who can boost its damage output when said counters are placed on it). As for what happens to other non-standard counters/markers, you need to rely on a particular attack/ability/card to remove them (think of something like DF Tropius, for example)

Custom-type counters/markers are one of my favorite mechanic when it comes to custom cards, so I challenged myself to incorporate it in my entry. As other non-standard markers (such as the Imprison or the Shock-wave markers) were introduced during the Neo Era / Gen III also seemed like a good enough nod to design a Gen III 'mon/Trainer around that.

While stacking counters on a 'mon to get a KO with S:AZ! seems tempting, you can also go for a defensive approach instead, spreading counters on the opponent's side and having them rely on multiple coin flips to attack (Hoarfrost wall is worded specifically for its effect to last even if Glalie or the Defending Pokémon leaves the active spot).

As said before, since I imagined hoarfrost counters as a mechanic with a broad range of interactions, you might also want to use it to stack counters on your own Pokémon, at the risk of having yourself setting up for defeat in case of a Mirror Match or something else that punishes Pokémon with said counters on them.

Having the ability triggered by Item cards is a reference to the fact that Glacia seems to make use of items to assist her in battle - although you can't really tell from the game, given the overall lack of held items in her teams. The OHKO attack name was initially supposed to reference Glacia's Sync Move in Masters, but it didn't sound pompous enough, so I cam up with something that sounds like a believable finisher XD

Regarding the illustration, my main reference for Glalie's ice shell is this beautiful piece by So-taro. Glacia's appearance is based on her ORAS redesign, with some added frills and a Mega stone belt. The icy flowers in the background are supposed to be stylized Primroses, referencing her original name, Prim. The holofoil used is a blend between Nekoban Ryo's Ripple Holofoil and Aschefield's SM Holosheets. Finally, the V's were traced and vectorized over an enlarged scan, so I apologize if it is not 100% accurate to the existing cards.

This month's card was quite a challenge to design, both concept-wise and in regards to the layout/effects/illustration ^^"
Nevertheless, I'm quite happy with the result, so I hope you guys enjoy! :D
 
Oh, boy... I just lost a good chunk of points. Thanks, Char, for the good words. Best of luck to every contestant!
 
Mick-773 said:
a4297f96428297a763ff88da995bada5bfdbc3f3.png


non-holo version here: [LINK]

So, first of all, what is a VPrime?
Look, if they can get away with VUnions without any consequence, I am free to do whatever I want, right?
To keep it simple, think of them as a way to shoehorn in the SwSh era the possibility to evolve a single-prize Pokémon into a multiprize.

I thought having V's as my default multiprize category for my custom blanks was the most logical solution, as the blanks design is based on the current era, with an influence, layout-wise, from the E-reader phase (which notably lacks any multiprize mechanic). Despite this, I wasn't happy with the tough of having all my multiprize as Basic Pokémon independent from their single-prize counterparts, so I decided to create a sub-category of PokémonV as Evolution from regular Pokémon cards to tie it all together, thus giving players another *actual* reason to include single-prize cards in their deck ^^".

Similarly to what happens to Vmax Pokémon, VPrimes are influenced by by all cards/effects targeting both PokémonVs/Rulebox Pokémon and Evolution Pokémon, but are to be considered neither as Stage 1 nor Stage 2 cards.

VPrime foolishness aside, this also counts as your regular Owner's Pokémon, meaning that you can't evolve it from any Snorunt you like. I still don't know if I want to keep VPrime as a Owner's Pokémon-only mechanic or extend it to all Pokémon instead (implying that I have enough time to create fake cards outside monthly contests lol).


As you can guess, the main point of this card is playing around with Hoarfrost counters, which (at least in my vision) are meant to interact mainly with Ice-types in various ways.

Since these counters do not have a standard effect, ideally other Ice types could benefit to have said markers on them (I can imagine, for example, a Glaceon/Avalugg/other tanky Pokémon healing between turns if it has any number of counters on it, or a more offensive-oriented card who can boost its damage output when said counters are placed on it). As for what happens to other non-standard counters/markers, you need to rely on a particular attack/ability/card to remove them (think of something like DF Tropius, for example)

Custom-type counters/markers are one of my favorite mechanic when it comes to custom cards, so I challenged myself to incorporate it in my entry. As other non-standard markers (such as the Imprison or the Shock-wave markers) were introduced during the Neo Era / Gen III also seemed like a good enough nod to design a Gen III 'mon/Trainer around that.

While stacking counters on a 'mon to get a KO with S:AZ! seems tempting, you can also go for a defensive approach instead, spreading counters on the opponent's side and having them rely on multiple coin flips to attack (Hoarfrost wall is worded specifically for its effect to last even if Glalie or the Defending Pokémon leaves the active spot).

As said before, since I imagined hoarfrost counters as a mechanic with a broad range of interactions, you might also want to use it to stack counters on your own Pokémon, at the risk of having yourself setting up for defeat in case of a Mirror Match or something else that punishes Pokémon with said counters on them.

Having the ability triggered by Item cards is a reference to the fact that Glacia seems to make use of items to assist her in battle - although you can't really tell from the game, given the overall lack of held items in her teams. The OHKO attack name was initially supposed to reference Glacia's Sync Move in Masters, but it didn't sound pompous enough, so I cam up with something that sounds like a believable finisher XD

Regarding the illustration, my main reference for Glalie's ice shell is this beautiful piece by So-taro. Glacia's appearance is based on her ORAS redesign, with some added frills and a Mega stone belt. The icy flowers in the background are supposed to be stylized Primroses, referencing her original name, Prim. The holofoil used is a blend between Nekoban Ryo's Ripple Holofoil and Aschefield's SM Holosheets. Finally, the V's were traced and vectorized over an enlarged scan, so I apologize if it is not 100% accurate to the existing cards.

This month's card was quite a challenge to design, both concept-wise and in regards to the layout/effects/illustration ^^"
Nevertheless, I'm quite happy with the result, so I hope you guys enjoy! :D
Click to expand...
Cool idea, but do you want VPRIME to interact with VMAX? Because unless you explicitly want to prevent VPRIME, which are essentially V that evolve as normal, from evolving into VMAXs, you should probably consider methods of allowing them to evolve into VMAXs.
 
Enclosed you will find the labor of myself, @y0shin, and Cipher's R&D.
altariaxd_cac_1.png
One thing you may quickly notice is that there is no Owner to be seen on this card. The reason for that is simple; all Shadow Pokémon belong to a a certain Trainer, and as every species of Pokémon seen as a Shadow Pokémon only appears once each, it's clear this Altaria belongs to none other than Lovrina. This has further implications within the custom Shadow Pokémon mechanic @y0shin and I have devised. Shadow Pokémon would usually have a Purified counterpart represented as Evolution Pokémon that evolve from the Shadow Pokémon to represent the purification process. These Pokémon however, are only ever purified by the player after being snagged from the original trainer. This change in ownership would be a bit awkward to represent, so it is omitted entirely. As Shadow Pokémon were introduced in the 3rd Generation, there are some callbacks to the corresponding TCG era. Most notably, the presence of more than two effects at a time, similar to DRM Kangaskhan. Also featured is the mixed Energy type attack costs of Water and Lightning seen on Altaria cards of the era, as opposed to the modern Water and Metal attack costs. Much like Shadow-type attacks are super effective against all types but Shadow in Gale of Darkness, Shade type Pokémon would hit for double damage against any Pokémon with Weakness. As a result, the base damage is scaled back considerably, which happens to resemble the base damage of cards in the aforementioned era. Similarly, Shade type Pokémon resist Shade type Pokémon. Shadow Pokémon are certainly powerful, but they aren't without their shortcomings. When in the Active Spot, you can consider Shadow Pokémon to be in Reverse Mode, a state where Shadow Pokémon have no issue using Shadow-type attacks—normally, Shade type Pokémon would have a free cost attack in the form of Shadow Rush or some other attack, but Altaria has the more powerful variant, Shadow Break, hence the higher cost, though still easily usable—but deal damage to themselves every turn and can't use items. This is portrayed via the Shadow rule, which imposes a heavy restriction on these Pokémon. Without the ability to be affected by Trainer cards, Shadow Pokémon lose many healing and switching options, and are even barred from being returned to the hand by way of Scoop Up Net, making the self damage they recieve a kind of countdown. This can have its uses however, such as using Escape Rope as a more offensive gust. As another price for power, Shadow Pokémon are their own Stage that can still be played as Basic directly onto the Bench, but have no compatibility with many existing cards. As Shadow Stage Pokémon, they can't be searched by Items like the ever popular Quick Ball, nor by Supporters such as Sonia, nor by attacks like SSH Gossifleur's Call for Family. Shadow Pokémon would still have support, but these cards would come with their own costs. To avoid any confusion, the card has reminder text about how it can be played, just as early cards did, and would be phased out once it was an established mechanic. In short, Shadow Pokémon are glass cannons, characterized by their high strength and low vitality, which you might draw parallels to with Dark Pokémon. In much the same way, Purified Pokémon would be like Light Pokémon, with more health, and a focus on support. Shadow Altaria in particular does have support as is common for Altaria cards but leans much heavier into disruption and offense, in keeping with the aggressive nature of Shadow Pokémon. Shadow Altaria's Dark Mist Ability can allow you to strand an opponent's Pokémon in the Active Spot to buy time to power up its costly Draco Rave, or keep an unarmed Pokémon in place while you use Draco Rave to lay damage onto your opponent's Bench. On the aesthetic front, Shade type cards take some cues from the recently revealed Dragon type cards that have returned after their short absence, with a small flourish of color on the Weakness bar and the type symbol stamped onto the card. As Rule Box cards, Shade type cards also have a uniquely colored border with a holo in tow, like the Prism Star cards of Sun & Moon. The holosheet is also placed on the Pokémon itself rather than the background, as seen on Shining Pokémon of old, as a reference to the "black aura" around Shadow Pokémon that is invisible to the average observer. Lastly, the texture on Altaria is reminiscent of those on Shiny Pokémon, and has no particular significance, other than how it complements the artwork, provided by the ever-reliable ishmam.
CRE Flannery ("...discard a Stadium in play"), DAA Flygon ("If you discarded a...in this way,..."), SSH Rhyperior ("This attack also does..."), UNM Axew ("...[play] an Item or Supporter card from [your] hand, prevent all effects of that card...")
 
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first of all english is not my language so forgive the bad english if you see it although which my english is very decent so im told by my english friends

i got an artist i found on twitter to do the art for this card which is my favorite trainer and also my favorite pokemon i decided to make it very powerful because if i was red i would be very powerful and make my pokemon be as powerful as i am

at first i thought maybe its too powerfuyl and broken for the current metagame but the current metagame has urshifu and falinks which both destroy all dark type cards such as this one however still i gave it made it discard all energies so you only have once last chance as the only attack this pokemon has implies so that its your last option

i was at first thinking of making it a charizard or charmeleon card even though its weaker than cahrizard and theyre weakr than darkrai because charizard is red's ace but then i see that all entries in this torunament are actually also charizard cards so i decided to go against the current by making it darkrai
 
darkari47 said:
aa32c6a3-4c12-45c4-be30-f2459a70e82e.png
first of all english is not my language so forgive the bad english if you see it although which my english is very decent so im told by my english friends

i got an artist i found on twitter to do the art for this card which is my favorite trainer and also my favorite pokemon i decided to make it very powerful because if i was red i would be very powerful and make my pokemon be as powerful as i am

at first i thought maybe its too powerfuyl and broken for the current metagame but the current metagame has urshifu and falinks which both destroy all dark type cards such as this one however still i gave it made it discard all energies so you only have once last chance as the only attack this pokemon has implies so that its your last option

i was at first thinking of making it a charizard or charmeleon card even though its weaker than cahrizard and theyre weakr than darkrai because charizard is red's ace but then i see that all entries in this torunament are actually also charizard cards so i decided to go against the current by making it darkrai
Click to expand...
Hey there, welcome to CaC!

Unfortunately, while I respect the initiative behind signing up and submitting your entry all in the last two hours of the competition, the guidelines for this month's theme indicate that the Trainer of choice has to actually own the Pokémon in some official media. Since Red has never even been implicitly linked to a Darkrai (at least as far as I'm aware), we can't accept this entry for this round.

Furthermore, for future reference, entries must contain the Create-a-Card symbol, either as the set symbol or in some other conspicuous place.

Thanks for joining regardless, and feel free to re-submit if you can fix the above issues by the deadline (in ~1 hour). Either way, hope to see you around again sometime! :)
 
Image-Based Results

Judge: @The Ωmega One

Firstly I want to apologize for the late results. You guys really knocked it out of the park this round, although at this point it’s no surprise with this community. There’s a lot of high scores in this round. As usual, seeing the cards you guys come up with is always fun — especially with one of my favorite gimmicks in the TCG!
~~The Ωmega One

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Off the bat I really like the Link Pair gimmick; it feels like a fresh, albeit slightly different, take on the SP gimmick. The blank is interesting — it seems to blend the spacing of e-cards with a simple layout similar to Black & White templates. This works really well and doesn’t pull attention away from the artwork. That being said, the use of Pokkén art feels a tad bit off on this type of blank.

Mach Slice is pretty good on a card that already has a lot going for it — Dedenne-GX plus Cynthia plus draw for turn is already hitting 190. Raising the cost to [W][F][C], I feel, would balance that out a bit more.

Wording errors:
- Looks good.

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

Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(The effects combo together nicely. It’s able to use existing meta staples such as Dedenne-GX and Cynthia to create offensive pressure, while also playing to the strengths of its new mechanic.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(While I could see this card being printed from a believability standpoint, it does have the ability to hit high numbers a little too easily, which is a concern for playability.)
Wording: 10/10
(Looks good.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Your blank, your rules.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(The blank looks really nice, but the holosheet could use some work. The Pokkén Garchomp render seems out of place on this style of card.)
Total: 43/50

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I am not surprised that you, Charmaster, made a Charmander. The artwork is amazing for the classic era layout that Omnium uses. I am a little confused by the Mega Evolution symbol, though, since there isn’t much to connect this card to Mega Evolution.

I do like that you’ve opted to go for a non-traditional Resistance. The Retreat Cost should probably be [C], since almost every existing Charmander has a Retreat Cost of [C].

I like Red’s Intervention; it’s a simple way to take the theme a step further, from just an Owner’s/SP Pokémon to a Pokémon that interacts with its Owner.

Wording errors:
- Pokémon Checkup is the phase where players “check” for stuff like Special Conditions — an effect like this is probably better suited to “the end of your turn”. [-2 points]
- Don’t need to say “after discarding that Supporter card,” because post-Black-and-White, all Supporter cards get discarded immediately after being played. [-2 points]
- “Shuffle your deck afterwards” -> “Then, shuffle your deck” [-2 points]
- “trainer” should be capitalized in the flavor text, and “it’s” -> “its” there too. [-1 point]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- The attack damage looks like it’s been changed from Gill Sans to your program’s default font, which no official cards use. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 6/15
(Two attacks that we’ve seen before push this score quite a ways down. The Ability takes it out of “effectless Basic” territory, but not by much.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Cautious points docked because without knowing the full context behind the mechanic, whether it has Evolutions etc, it’s hard to gauge how it would play with them. In most situations you’ll be better off using cards like Tapu Lele-GX, unless the Evolutions make it significantly better.)
Wording: 3/10
(A few significant errors — don’t forget to check your references carefully.)
Fonts and Placement: 4/5
(A minor error.)
Aesthetics: 2/5
(The art is pretty cool looking. I like the watercolor, and it meshes well with the blank. The holosheets are okay, but two holosheets on the same card are always going to be weird. I don’t get the Mega symbol, and the red border/gold boxes/colorless type texture are a weird combo too.)
Total: 28/50

HjJ60mk.png


I like that you’ve made Sableye’s attacks themed around Nanu’s job as a cop; it really helps flesh out the subtle flavor of the card. The artwork style is perfect for the Full Art Pokémon we got in Cosmic Eclipse, such as the Gallade with Wally. The textures and holosheets are applied well — the only issue is the space on Sableye’s head where the textures seem to fade.

Wording errors:
- Confiscation should be optional (i.e. you may have your opponent reveal their hand). I can’t think of a single example of a mandatory on-drop Ability. [-2 points]
- The word “owner” seems weird, but it’s correct. I guess because it’s only used 4 times in all of the SM block. [-0 points]
- Still, the GX attack should be either “each Active Pokémon” and “its owner’s” or “both Active Pokémon” and “their owners’” (note the plural owners). Both Active Pokémon don’t have the same owner. [-1 point]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Everything looks good!

Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(Confiscation and Quota Hit have amazing synergy combined with Quittin’ Time. It makes for a formidable disruption card.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(This card fits well into the middle-to-end of the SM block, before the banning of most forms of hand disruption. There are a few different approaches the card can take to lay down offensive and defensive pressure.)
Wording: 7/10
(A couple semantic errors to watch out for.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Everything looks good.)
Aesthetics: 4.5/5
(The art is a perfect fit both for a special FA and for the Trainer/Pokémon combo cards we got in Cosmic Eclipse. The texture is nice, the .5 was taken for the way the texture seems to disappear from Sableye’s head.)
Total: 42.5/50

dellq8k-67ab1a85-fe80-4a25-a738-4ff91797b3aa.png


I’m really surprised to see a card done in the Classic/Gym era — let alone the fact that you have art that works perfectly for the era! The connection of Kangaskhan and the Cubone line is a cool nod to the fan theory that Cubone is a Kangaskhan baby, and tying the Cubone theory to Team Rocket’s evil doings is a really cool idea.

Wording errors:
- None, well done.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Everything is solid.

Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(I like the idea of discarding the Cubone line only for Kangaskhan to then be powered up by it. It’s a nice take on attacks like Night March.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(70 HP is on the high end for a Gym Leader’s Basic Pokémon, but the effects chain together nicely and I think the self-damage makes up for it.)
Wording: 10/10
(Wording is solid.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Everything looks good.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(The art is an amazing fit for the era. The holo sheet is good. The Giovanni head is a bit low-quality, but it seems to be the best quality one that’s available. )
Total: 49/50

m4CRSBb.png


I really like the subtle edit to the blank, adding the Pokétopia emblem to distinguish the Owner’s Pokémon from a regular Pokémon. At this point I think you’ve perfected adding gimmicks to Sun & Moon and making them feel official. Lopunny feels like the perfect Pokémon to use for Sashay and a dancing gimmick.

Wording errors:
- None, well done.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Everything is solid.

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Pretty straightforward card. Hits the tick box for a card with a gimmick that does something to non-gimmick Pokémon.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Lopunny could easily be slipped into a deck for an anti-regular Pokémon attacker.)
Wording: 10/10
(Wording is solid.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Everything looks good.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Nice art and holosheet.)
Total: 47/50

Alains_Charizard_June_CaC_entry.png


This is a really good use of the Dragon Majesty promotional artwork, and the background works really well with the holosheet. The theme of sacrificing other Pokémon to give yourself free attacks is interesting. I don’t think it’s been done before, which is surprising.

I did want to know why Charizard is [R][N] type without anything alluding to a type change like Delta Species.

Wording errors:
- "discard pile, pile," [-1 point]
- “Shuffle your deck afterward” > “Then, shuffle your deck.” [-2 points]
- “ignore all Energy in the attack cost of each of this Pokémon’s attacks” > “ignore all Energy in the attack cost of each of this Pokémon’s attacks.” Rotom (Forbidden Light FLI 40) [-2 points]
- “If your opponent’s new Active Pokémon” > “If the new Active Pokémon” Oricorio (Celestial Storm CES 30) [-2 points]
- “If you Knock Out a Pokémon in this way” > “If your opponent’s Pokémon is Knocked Out by this attack” Stoutland V (Battle Styles BST 117) [-2 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Everything is solid.

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(The effects are really cool and mesh well together. Flavorfully, it reminds me of the “Red Death” from How to Train Your Dragon.)
Believability/Playability: 8/15
(The main issue here is Draconic Typhoon. The attack being able to Knock Out a Pokémon without a serious drawback is a little worrying, since you could just attach 4 fire energy and quickly start taking prizes.)
Wording: 1/10
(A few minor errors; it seems they stem from mixing different eras of wording together. Custom blanks can make you want to do this, but it’s important to state your intentions if you’re not going to be consistent.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Everything looks good for Omnium.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(The background and holosheet work amazingly well together. The only issue I have is the missing wing from Charizard. Also, the recolor of the eyes could use some form of blending layer to make them look more natural.)
Total: 30/50

a4297f96428297a763ff88da995bada5bfdbc3f3.png


You’ve really nailed the aesthetics here — I really love that you did your own art for this card. The background and the glowballs really add to the overall beauty of the art piece. I like the modifications to Omnium, too; e-card seems to really work for Omnium.

The custom counter gimmick is one that we understandably don’t see overused in the official TCG, but I think it’s criminally underused in custom cards. I like your use of it here.

Wording errors:
- Everything is good.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Everything is solid.

Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(I like the idea of the Hoarfrost counters. Custom counters are a vastly unexplored area.)
Believability/Playability: 8/15
(The main issue I have is just how good the effects are for Hoarfrost counters. The ability to play 2-4 counters a turn makes it really easy to lock your opponent’s main attackers and stall until you can use Shine: Absolute Zero.)
Wording: 10/10
(Everything is perfect.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Everything looks good for Omnium.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(I really love the artwork along with the custom blank. The holosheet is really well done.)
Total: 42/50

altariaxd_cac_1.png


At first I was confused as to how Shadow Pokémon fit the theme, but as you pointed out, every single Shadow Pokémon is owned by a Trainer. I think this was a really clever take on the theme. The modifications to the Sword & Shield blank are simple while making Shadow Pokémon visually distinct enough from regular Pokémon.

Wording errors:
- Everything is good.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Ability name should align with attack names. Technically I don’t think we’ve seen any Pokémon with both an Ability and a 5-Energy attack cost in the Sword & Shield era yet, but based on cards like Regigigas CIN 84, the alignment should all stack up. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Shadow Mist is an interesting Ability. The whole Shadow gimmick is really well done and reflects its video game counterpart nicely. I hope to see more of it.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(The only issue I have with this card is I feel like Draco Rave’s Bench snipe could be lowered along with a lower attack cost, based off Eiscue (RCL 054). Otherwise it seems like you would mostly use Dark Mist and a different attacker)
Wording: 10/10
(Everything is good.)
Fonts and Placement: 4/5
(Alignment issue.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(The custom blank is amazing. The textures and holo sheet thematically darken Altaria nicely. )
Total: 44/50


3rd Place: EM-isthmus and y0shin’s Shadow Altaria, with 44/50 points.
2nd Place: PMJ’s Sashay’s Lopunny, with 47/50 points.
1st Place: Alolan Teddiursa’s Giovanni’s Kangaskhan, with 49/50 points.
 
The Ωmega One said:
0.1_-_Omnium_Base_4_1_3.png


I am not surprised that you, Charmaster, made a Charmander. The artwork is amazing for the classic era layout that Omnium uses. I am a little confused by the Mega Evolution symbol, though, since there isn’t much to connect this card to Mega Evolution.

I do like that you’ve opted to go for a non-traditional Resistance. The Retreat Cost should probably be [C], since almost every existing Charmander has a Retreat Cost of [C].

I like Red’s Intervention; it’s a simple way to take the theme a step further, from just an Owner’s/SP Pokémon to a Pokémon that interacts with its Owner.

Wording errors:
- Pokémon Checkup is the phase where players “check” for stuff like Special Conditions — an effect like this is probably better suited to “the end of your turn”. [-2 points]
- Don’t need to say “after discarding that Supporter card,” because post-Black-and-White, all Supporter cards get discarded immediately after being played. [-2 points]
- “Shuffle your deck afterwards” -> “Then, shuffle your deck” [-2 points]
- “trainer” should be capitalized in the flavor text, and “it’s” -> “its” there too. [-1 point]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- The attack damage looks like it’s been changed from Gill Sans to your program’s default font, which no official cards use. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 6/15
(Two attacks that we’ve seen before push this score quite a ways down. The Ability takes it out of “effectless Basic” territory, but not by much.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Cautious points docked because without knowing the full context behind the mechanic, whether it has Evolutions etc, it’s hard to gauge how it would play with them. In most situations you’ll be better off using cards like Tapu Lele-GX, unless the Evolutions make it significantly better.)
Wording: 3/10
(A few significant errors — don’t forget to check your references carefully.)
Fonts and Placement: 4/5
(A minor error.)
Aesthetics: 2/5
(The art is pretty cool looking. I like the watercolor, and it meshes well with the blank. The holosheets are okay, but two holosheets on the same card are always going to be weird. I don’t get the Mega symbol, and the red border/gold boxes/colorless type texture are a weird combo too.)
Total: 28/50
Click to expand...
Creativity: I understand and agree with my scoring in this category. I ended up sacrificing originality for references and accept the consequences.
Believability: perfectly understandable why you docked those two points.
Wording: ouch. Well, I have to accept full responsibility for this one. I made some pretty amateur mistakes here, and again I lost points for incorrect grammar in the flavor text.
Fonts and placements: a just score, fully understandable.
Aesthetics: glad you liked the artwork. Again, I'm sort of an odd bird when it comes to holosheets and other aesthetic touches; I just enjoy layering on multiple holosheets and adding other visual features such as special borders and symbols (as well as using the Tag Team logo on non-Tag Team cards). The mega evolution symbol was another reference that cost me a point.
Thanks for the feedback, Omega!
 
The Ωmega One said:
Wording errors:
- "discard pile, pile," [-1 point]
- “Shuffle your deck afterward” > “Then, shuffle your deck.” [-2 points]
- “ignore all Energy in the attack cost of each of this Pokémon’s attacks” > “ignore all Energy in the attack cost of each of this Pokémon’s attacks.” Rotom (Forbidden Light FLI 40) [-2 points]
- “If your opponent’s new Active Pokémon” > “If the new Active Pokémon” Oricorio (Celestial Storm CES 30) [-2 points]
- “If you Knock Out a Pokémon in this way” > “If your opponent’s Pokémon is Knocked Out by this attack” Stoutland V (Battle Styles BST 117) [-2 points]
Click to expand...
I wanted to point out some criticisms of @IggyKoopa849's card that I didn't really understand, specifically those highlighted in bold. The first "error" looks to be perfectly fine, and the correction posted looks exactly the same, unless I'm missing something. The second error is a bit strange to me, as the reference used refers to a different scenario. Stoutland V's Double Dip Fangs reads: "If your opponent’s Basic Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from this attack, take 1 more Prize card." However, Draconic Typhoon Knocks Out conditionally as part of its effect, much like CRE Spiritomb's Ghostly Cries places damage counters conditionally as part of its effect, and accordingly reads "If you placed any damage counters in this way, your opponent shuffles all Pokémon from their discard pile into their deck." when that condition is met, so to me, the original wording of Draconic Typhoon should be fine.

I won't argue my own score as I understand the criteria is subjective, but this felt like something I should address.
 
The Ωmega One said:
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(This card fits well into the middle-to-end of the SM block, before the banning of most forms of hand disruption. There are a few different approaches the card can take to lay down offensive and defensive pressure.)
Aesthetics: 4.5/5
(The art is a perfect fit both for a special FA and for the Trainer/Pokémon combo cards we got in Cosmic Eclipse. The texture is nice, the .5 was taken for the way the texture seems to disappear from Sableye’s head.)
Total: 42.5/50[/spoiler]
Click to expand...
Regarding "Believability/Playability", it would be nice to get feedback on why this card lost points!

Regarding "Aesthetics", this was a deliberate choice as it was meant to be animated:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1404651927074263043
and replicate the PTCGO foil effect. See the difference on Gladion's clothes at two different times:
Screen_Shot_2021-07-12_at_9.12.23_PM.png
Screen_Shot_2021-07-12_at_9.12.29_PM.png
 
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