Contest June/July 2023 CaC: Special Energy Swap (All Results Up!)

Falling Skies · Jul 24, 2023

Allow me to present my entry.

Fossil Mix Energy - Special Energy

This card can only be attached to Pokémon that has a card with "Fossil" or "Old Amber" in its name under them.

This card provides [C] Energy. While this card is attached to a Pokémon, it provides [F] , [W], [G] , and [M] Energy but provides only 1 Energy at a time.

If the Pokémon this card is attached to is Knocked Out, you may put up to 2 card(s) with "Fossil" or "Old Amber" in their name(s) from your discard pile on the bench.

Tyrantrum HP: 170 [N]

Stage 2: Evolves from Tyrunt

NO. 697 Despot Pokémon HT: 8'02" WT: 595.2 lbs.
Ability: Law of the Jungle
You must Knock Out 1 of your Benched Pokémon in order to use this Ability. Once during your turn, you may switch in 1 of your opponent's Pokémon to the Active Spot.

[F][M][C] Royal Ascension 120x
Search your deck for up to 3 Pokémon that evolve from Item cards with "Fossil" or "Old Amber" in their names that are on your Bench and put them onto those Pokémon to evolve them. This attack does 120 damage for each card evolved in this way. Then, shuffle your deck.

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

Nothing could stop this Pokémon 100 million years ago, so it behaved like a king.

References:
- Meowscarada PAL (you must... in order to use this Ability)
- Boss's Orders (SCVI-era boss effect)
- Indeedee SCVI (attack interpolated from here, to my knowledge it's entirely new)

To be perfectly honest, I was hoping not to draw something that would require me to submit a fossil Pokemon, as I feel like it's impossible to find a good balance with them. Attempting to make a fossil that actually wants to attack feels like a surefire way to tank your playability score, and I didn't want to go the route of making this card all support on fossils since the current standard legal fossils are all awful as attackers. This is somewhat of a hamfisted compromise. The most interesting part of the energy is the revival effect post-knockout, which can reset you after your main attacker goes down, but also allows for some interesting possibilities post-setup. The idea behind this is to set up an Archeops, use it to accelerate a Reversal Energy to the active Tyrantrum and a Fossil Mix Energy to the benched Archeops, Knock out the Archeops, and use the attack to get back to the same gameplay loop the next turn. You would just need one additional fossil to Knock out anything in the game. It's probably still quite bad, as you'd need to get two different fossils set up, but it should be possibly self-sufficient enough after setup, since every turn you're trading a tyrantrum and archeops for a tyrunt and archen ready next turn, which will hopefully be enough to equalize the prizes you'll lose early game and the prizes you're willingly giving up.

GokuRaging · Jul 26, 2023

This For The PokéBeach Create A Card Contest

Mod edit: This card has been deleted for violation of our rules on illustrator credit. ~Jabberwock

PMJ · Jul 26, 2023

Cancel your entries, everyone, we have a winner.

LightningSpence836 · Jul 26, 2023

Miraidon – Dragon – HP 150
Basic

CdLeyniPqCTSDJTlnuz0vAwkUKhuxUiPFMllYHWJA_36oDgezjHahAcJ5aEVnG2yNtJqaAC-mdBTPuc05A5Bfix8szMeAqPwoulo3x7-C2F-AtrOLfowZT6ciz1-q7YOWfg6vb3DKyQ_Q8F0wNtbTfQ

NO. 1008 Paradox Pokémon HT: 11’06” WT: 529.1 lbs.

Ability: Hadron Engine
Once during your turn, you may move an Energy from 1 of your [N] Pokémon to another of your [N] Pokémon. You cannot use more than 1 Hadron Engine ability in a turn.

[L] [M] [C] Techno Claw 110+
If this Pokemon has any Basic Energy and any Special Energy attached to it, this attack does 110 more damage.

Weakness: None
Resistance: None
Retreat: [C] [C]
This seems to be the Iron Serpent mentioned in an old book. The Iron Serpent is said to have turned the land to ash with its lightning.

Cyclic Energy

As long as this card is attached to a Pokémon, it provides [C] Energy.

If this card is moved from one of your Pokémon to another one of your Pokémon, you may search your deck for a basic Energy card and attach it to that Pokémon. Then, shuffle your deck.

I got Falling Skies' Cyclic Energy for this part of the CaC, and when I first thought about it, I realized that dragon type Pokemon benefit a lot from this. As dragon types always have at least two different basic energy types in their attack costs, it's awkward and annoying to power dragons up with energy. That's why I chose to make a dragon type in the first place. I wanted this card to fit thematically though, and what better Pokemon to use than one that literally turns into a cycle?
The idea behind this card is that you get a couple Miraidons in play (or one Miraidon and another dragon), use Hadron Engine (Miraidon's actual ability from the games) to move a Cyclic Energy from one dragon to another to get the extra energy attachment provided. I think that the restrictions of only being able to move the energy from dragon to dragon, and only being able to use one ability per turn help to balance this effect, which would be broken if it was left unchecked.Techno Claw rewards you for moving a Cyclic to Miraidon, as then you are able to hit 220 damage, knocking out most relevant V's and basic ex's in the format. The awkward cost is softened by Cyclic Energy, and notably does NOT allow you to use Electric Generator on Miraidon, as you can only attach those energy to basic lighting Pokemon. I tried my best with the wording for Techno Claw, but there are not any cards (that I could find) that said something about having Basic and Special energy attached. All things considered, I think this card has an appropriate power level for the current Standard format, viable but not broken.

Hadron Engine: Blissey SVI, Toescruel SVI, Gengar SSH, Squakabilly ex PAL
Techno Claw: Cetitan PAL, Sprigatito PAL, Shelgon DRM

Diego_Brando · Jul 27, 2023

Synergy With: Recursive Energy
Straight from a different universe, traveling trough some quantum chicanery, we have a shiny Necrozma running around.
It interacts with special Energy as Necrozma often does (2/3 is often in my book), and uses only Colorless Energy as the cost of its attacks (1/3 is still often in my book.)
Why Lightning Delta then? Idk, ask Elica's scientists if they have something to do with its appearance, or with those bizarre wormholes appearing all around town; Delta mutations appear to have something to do with that.
The point is, this big is now converting all Energy it comes in touch with in pulsating, replicating, colorless sludge; not good for the ecosystem if I have to guess. Let's just hope it does not keep polluting our power line output in unusable alien plasma, have you hard of the blackouts? Yeah...

-Conformity Light's effect lets you search for a Recursive Energy if you have at least one in your hand, so you can attach them all to Necrozma for max damage, or distribute them around as you like. Only colorless sludge thou.
-Special discharge lets you use Necrozma offensively if you decide to invest Recursive Energy copies to power it up. It has a bad bad effect on the food in your refrigerator if you are not at home to switch the power back on.
Spacing ad distancing in the attacks done referencing Delta Charizard Star. Blank positioning done referencing Charizard Star and Raikou Star.
Wording done referencing this Mightyena for the search, and hoping it sticks to 'that have the same name'.

(Breaking the 'mark as spoiler' cycle) (It might be a requirement idk)

doofisconfused · Jul 30, 2023

the intended synergy here is pretty simple, i think: attach a few team star energy to your opponent's bench and do massive damage before recycling it with ominous eyes! it's a LOT of damage, but for a stage 2 that requires the use of a special energy that you can't primal turbo out, i think it makes a little more sense! this was my first sv card, and i'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

Shatter Energy - Special Energy

This card provides [C] Energy. When you attach this card from your hand to 1 of your Pokémon BREAK, devolve it by discarding the highest Stage Evolution card from it. (That Pokémon can't evolve this turn.) If you do, heal all damage from that Pokémon.

the synergy for this card is much less apparent than my image entry, so it would probably help to clarify my intent! this empoleon is meant to be paired with empoleon-BREAK! empoleon-BREAK's emperor's command attack does more damage for each pokémon your opponent has in play. however, if your opponent's caught onto your strategy, or you've used emperor's command to knock out a few of your opponent's pokémon, they'll have fewer pokémon left, and empoleon-BREAK will be left a stage 3 with a very very low-damage attack. this is where THIS empoleon comes in! turn the tides punishes your opponent for having an emptier field, and arctic summons can be used to bolster either attack. shatter energy serves as a seamless transition between the two attacks! once emperor's command isn't useful anymore, use shatter energy to heal back to full in exchange for losing 20 max HP and an attack you weren't using anyways!

Empoleon – Water – HP150
Stage 2 – Evolves from Prinplup

NO. 395 Emperor Pokémon HT: 5’07” WT: 186.3 lbs.

Ability: Arctic Summons
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may put a Basic Pokémon from either player's discard pile onto that player's Bench.

[W][W][C] Turn the Tides 30+
If you have more Pokémon in play than your opponent, this attack does 40 damage for each Pokémon fewer your opponent has in play.

Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C] [C]
It swims as fast as a jet boat. The edges of its wings are sharp and can slice apart drifting ice.

my CaC entry is IN! i couldn't have done it without the help of @zoxo_, @lordomegaone, @Nyora, and @PMJ on the discord! thank you all so much for your help, these entries would be way worse without your assistance!

Mr. Melon · Jul 30, 2023

Behold! My magnum opus that I came up with 3 weeks ago and didn't do anything with since on account of being sick for most of July. I was assigned @doofisconfused's Vile [D] Energy, which synergizes with poison support. There's plenty of cards that Poison your opponent, but I wanted something flavorful, something spicy, something shiny and sparkly. I decided to lean into the special energy theme, calling back to an era where both Metal and Dark were only found on special energy, and design a dark/metal pokémon that supported both special energy in general, as well as the specific case of Vile [D] Energy.

First, we have Corrosive Attachment. This ability is the most obvious synergy on the card—it allows you to inflict poison simply by attaching the Vile [D] Energy. However, I thought it might be a little dull, and potentially a little overpowered if this card could inflict both poison and burn when attaching to any pokémon, so I restricted it to attaching to itself. This might normally seem like an issue, since this Pokémon is meant to support dark decks, not be the entire deck, but that's where the attack comes in.

Void Magnet allows Dark Magneton to get extra value out of the energy attached to it. It deals a solid 100 damage to start, bolstered by 10 poison damage and 30 from Vile [D] Energy when attached. This allows it to hit for a clean 140 damage, which is nothing to scoff at, even in a high-power format like swsh. The real kicker is the effects. First, it allows you to move all special energy from Dark Magneton to your other Pokémon, letting the Vile [D] Energy stay in play on one of your stronger attackers. Second, and arguably just as cruically, it blocks the opponent from retreating, "sucking it into the void". This keeps the damaged Pokémon in the active spot, and more importantly, leaves the special conditions on that Pokémon. This means that you can clap back next turn with a massive attack from your bench, surely knocking out your opponent's Pokémon with the combined power of the special conditions and Vile [D] Energy.

First, let me reiterate that while this card is made using Omnium blanks, it is entirely balanced to function within the F block of the swsh era, as is Vile [D] Energy.

For the meta stuff, we have HP, Weakness, Resistance, and Retreat Cost. Magneton in this era has a standard hp of 90, but in line with the Dark Pokémon gimmic, I reduced the HP by 10, as can be seen in the original Dark Magneton being 70HP versus the common 80HP of the era. Weakness and Resistance are based on both Magneton ASR and Dark Steelix, which have a fire weakness and grass resistance. I chose a single retreat cost to improve the mobility of the card, allowing it to move back to the bench after attacking more easily, and it falls in line with both Magneton ASR and the original Dark Magneton.

"When you attach ...[a Special] Energy from your hand to this Pokémon during your turn, ...": Skiploom EVS
"Choose ... Burned ... or Poisoned. Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now affected by that Special Condition.": Vileplume UNB
- Note that Vileplume was chosen over the more closely worded Vivillon XY, since the "either" wording seemed to have been dropped in Vileplume's case. However, it is unclear if this is because "either" was dropped, or because it only appears when there are 2 choices.
"You may move all [Special] Energy from this Pokémon to ...": Ferrothorn SSH
"... move all Energy from this Pokémon to your Benched Pokémon in any way you like.": Honchkrow LOR
"If you do, during your opponent's next turn, ...": Corviknight SHF
"... during your opponent’s next turn, the Defending Pokémon can’t retreat.": Carnivnie CRZ

Credit to @CardPone for the blanks and google on DA for the art. Thanks to @PMJ for the help on wording and apostrophes.

Charmaster:) · Jul 31, 2023

Here is my image CaC entry! My text entry is coming next in half an hour!

Charmaster:) · Jul 31, 2023

Aaaand here's my text entry 15 minutes later instead.

Basic: Rowlet: HP50 (G)

NO. 722 Grass Quill Pokémon HT: 1'00" WT: 3.3 lbs.

Ability: Catalyst Cosplay
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may reveal a Decidueye or Decidueye-GX from your hand and put 2 damage counters on 1 of your opponent's Basic Pokémon. Then, unless this Pokémon has any Everstone Energy attached to it, put that card onto this Pokémon to evolve it. You can't use this Ability during your first turn or on the turn this Pokémon comes into play, and you can't use more than 1 Catalyst Cosplay Ability each turn.

(C) Bullet Grit or Seed 10x
Flip 3 coins. This attack does 10 damage for each heads. If this Pokémon has any Everstone Energy attached to it, you may choose 1 of them and attach it to 1 of your opponent's benched Pokémon. If you do, this attack does 60 damage to that Pokémon instead.

Weakness: (R)x2 Resistance: Retreat: (C)

This wary Pokémon uses photosynthesis to store up energy during the day, while becoming active at night.

This card is intended to be a Sun & Moon promo from 2019. It would be legal in the C, D, and E regulation mark formats.

Kaleidophoenix · Jul 31, 2023

Don't have time for notes tonight; will post those tomorrow.

Kaleidophoenix · Jul 31, 2023

Trubbish – [D] – HP70
Basic Pokémon

NO. 0568 Trash Bag Pokémon HT: 2’ WT: 68.3 lbs.

Ability: Rubbish Enhancer
If this Pokémon has a Pokémon Tool attached, it can evolve during your first turn or the turn you play it.

[C] Tool Swing 20×
Shuffle up to 2 Pokémon Tool cards from your discard pile into your deck. This attack does 20 damage for each Pokémon Tool card you shuffled into your deck in this way.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C] [C]
Its favorite places are unsanitary ones. If you leave trash lying around, you could even find one of these Pokémon living in your room.

Charmaster:) · Jul 31, 2023

As usual, Omnium is balanced for the HGSS era, worded for the Sun and Moon era, and uses Weakness and Resistance mechanics for the Diamond and Pearl/Platinum era, but this card is meant to fit into either the EX era or the Diamond and Pearl era. I immediately notice a typo which I will have to explain: the disclaimer at the end of the Ability should say "if this card is discarded or loses it's effect," not "if this card loses this ability." Why? Because once it is attached as a tool, it cannot lose it's ability. (source: https://compendium.pokegym.net/ruling/1166/) This month has been a rough one for image, as I have already incurred the editing penalty for my previous image entry, but I am glad to have made my Eleventh Hour Tackle successfully and hammered out one last Omnium card (I've never used @CardPone's Lightning type template, by the way, and it may be the most beautiful I've used yet), so I'm content to submit what I have even if I stand little chance of winning.

This card was inspired by Diego Brando's flavor text, "Those who don't read literature are doomed to repeat it, but Elica's and Holon's paths never crossed once. As the leaking Energy flows from the power lines through the fields and houses, it creates new friends and new foes. Will you choose to go with or against the tide, struggling across these Crowded Boundaries?" From this, I gathered that Overflow Energy was the result of the delta phenomenon spreading to some sort of ordinary neighborhood in a far-off neighborhood through the powerlines, and that the appliance company Elica had something to do with it. Who would be better qualified to respond to this phenomenon than the scientists who originally studied the Pokemon of Holon? This Rotom has been trained to help Pokemon affected by Overflow utilize multiple Pokemon Tool cards. Delta Species Pokemon such as those residing at the Holon Tower complex will benefit the most, it is true, but any Pokemon that joins the Holon experts in curbing the impact of this breakout of delta Energy will be able to utilize this boost as well. The plain holofoil pattern on the illustration and border is loosely based on the holo rares and reverse holos of the delta species sets.

What makes the Pokegym ruling shared above important is that you can use Holon's Rotom to stack a Cessation Crystal with other Pokemon Tool cards. Cessation Crystal was one of the most powerful Tools of the EX era, facilitating several powerful lock decks that frequently used Stantler from Unseen Forces to strip away trainers from your opponent's hand. Other decks used them, however. A few decks, such as the EX block format's "Scrambled Eggs"' (Exeggutor RG combined with Electrode ex) used it to maintain an advantage after using all their own powerful Poke-Powers. Not only could you stack Cessation Crystal with other Tools, however, but there were several Tools with overlapping niches, which you could now literally overlap on the same Pokemon.

The list of Pokemon Tool cards from the EX series and Diamond and Pearl series can be seen here. The Diamond and Pearl list is unimpressive, but is added for considering this card's impact in the 2007 or 2008 formats. We will, however, be focusing on the EX Block Format.

Some interesting interactions:
- Oran Berry is discarded to remove 2 damage counters when the Pokemon it is attached to has 2 or more damage counters on it. The stronger Sitrus Berry, which interposes "3" for "2," was only ignored because Oran Berry immediately wiped away chip attacks like Stantler's Push Away. With the ability to stack these Tools, however, you could remove 5 damage counters. Not to mention you could combine these cards with Energy Root, which increases a very exclusive group of Pokemon's HP by 20. On top of all this, you could add Protective Orb to nullify your Weakness, or Buffer Piece for increased durability, while Mysterious Shard can offer a turn's reprieve from Pokemon-ex.
- Strength Charm is the most vanilla damage modifier, essentially converting the traditional PlusPower into a Tool, but now you can combine modifiers by layering Strength Charm with Solid Rage for +30. You can throw in Crystal Shard to boot if you need to defy Resistance or hit Normal-weak Pokemon for double the damage.
- Suppose you attach Cessation Crystal to one of your benched Pokemon to discourage an untimely Pow! Hand Extension, but your opponent calls your bluff and gusts it up anyways? Now you can pop a Fluffy Berry on it to retreat.
- Whatever your strategy was, what if it would be just a little bit better with the ability to copy your ace's pre-evolved form's attack? Memory Berry may not have seen much play before, but with the ability to layer it with other effects, now it might just be worth it. Exp. All also becomes far more splashable, since you won't need to Windstorm away your own tool to attach something more useful.

A tool-stacking deck might be harder to build, but there are cards, such as Castaway and Quagsire Delta, which can take advantage of it. Dark Slowking might also appreciate a Holon's Castform on special occasions, as it already runs a medley of Pokemon Tools and slots in Slowking Unseen Forces to search them out.

This Rowlet is based on Ash's Rowlet, particularly in the (##) season of Pokémon the Series, where it cosplayed as a Decidueye to further it's aspirations of defeating ~~Hop's~~ Hau's Decidueye somebody. This is reflected in the ability. The question is, why did I pick Rowlet for an Everstone Energy card? Quite simply because Ash's Rowlet is already carrying an Everstone around in it's stomach, so I might as well make a card commemorating the fact.

Since the episode with Rowlet's costume didn't air until season 22, airing internationally on November 30th, 2019, this card arrived on the scene too late to partake in decks with Decidueye-GX (though the ability still references it, similar to how Hakomo-O from Cosmic Eclipse still references EX's), but it would later be useful in Decidueye/Obstagoon decks. This card and Everstone Energy start becoming critical late in the 2020 season, however, when you not only get to exploit the combo for extra pings in Obstagoon-Decidueye, but get to lock your opponent's V's as Basics, leaving them vulnerable to Obstruct. Not only could you now lower your Rare Candy counts, while more reliably getting your attack-sponge into play, but you could manipulate your opponent's ability to set up their "I win the coinflip, I win the game" aggressive attacks that would consistently land OHKOs by turn 2, which were a hallmark of this era of the Pokemon TCG.

The Ability was originally called "Sudden Cosplay." I changed it to "Cataclysmic Cosplay," briefly changed it back because it sounded a bit too dramatic, and then just as quickly changed it back when I realized it sounded like a Z-Move, ~~thus making it the sort of thing Ash would say to try to make a simple method-acting training technique sound like something hip and cool. ("Flashbacks to "the Froakie Draco Meteor Climb.")~~ Finally, I settled on "catalyst cosplay," because, while Rowlet pinging basics or sniping and/or evolocking critical Pokémon may be "cataclysmic" (i.e. disastrous), wearing the Decidueye costume to get itself hyped up was the catalyst (or something that precipitates an event) to Rowlet taking down an actual Decidueye, twice evolved from its own species, in battle. Is this Rowlet taking down a Decidueye (GX or otherwise)? Probably not, but it does some other fun cool stuff. Meanwhile, Bullet Grit or Seed is named for the act of Rowlet spitting its Everstone as a projectile when using Bullet Seed... before promptly swallowing it again. (*Sigh.*) (P.S. wouldn't getting hit in the side of the head by a fast flying rock have killed James? It's not like he orbits the stratosphere and falls back to earth like a meteor on a daily basis or anything. Oh, wait.)

I checked the Pokédex description of Rowlet from the Ash vs Team Rocket Deck Kit, and it's Pokédex description from Pokémon Sun, rather than something unique like with the Ash's Pikachu cards. I have followed the same pattern here, though I have used the Pokemon Sun entry instead of the Ultra Sun entry in reference to that Rowlet rather than the latest one.

P.S. @Kaleidophoenix, it's nice to see that you also made an Omnium card, and I appreciated how you built upon Protean Energy's effect. I could see this card being used in 2010 with Crobat G to control when your opponent's Active Pokemon faints (like Jason Klaczynski describes in his blog here), and perhaps also using Skuntank G to inflict poison remotely while a stronger attacker like Garchomp C Lv.X take a timely Knockout. It probably doesn't hurt that there was an excellent Drapion in Stormfront, and an equally synergistic Lv.X in Platinum (which unaccountably seems to be lacking a line to evolve from). Your illustration style is also coming along wonderfully! It looks like something out of the Sun and Moon or EX eras, and reminds me of the various iterations of Sumiyoshi Kizuki's artistic style.

Jabberwock · Aug 1, 2023

That's a wrap on this round! Stay tuned for results toward the end of the month!

PMJ · Aug 1, 2023

mfw I have to wait three months to find out how I did

Let's never do this again lol

But really I loved like all these

Jabberwock · Sep 2, 2023

Image-Based Results

Judge: @Jabberwock

Non-Pokémon rounds don’t come around too often, but I think if there were ever an interesting way to do a Special Energy round, this was it. We had a lot of fun with this round, and we hope you did, too.

On the straight-vs-curly-apostrophes thing — honestly, it’s not that big a deal. People get it wrong all the time, and I’ve flubbed it myself on a fair few cards. Issues arise when you type text fakes into text editors that don’t automate curly apostrophes and then copy-paste them into Photoshop. It happens. I take points off for it when it’s both wrong and noticeable, like when there’s a straight apostrophe in an modern-era attack name — in these cases, I believe it’s eminently catchable. But most of the time, in attack text and flavor text, you don’t have to worry about it. It’s good practice to get it right whenever you can, but ultimately it’s just not noticeable enough to matter.

I’m going to present scores this month in the order I received the entries, as usual. For your reference, here’s the Energy–Pokémon breakdown:

@Kaleidophoenix (Drapion) - @Charmaster:) (Protean Energy)

@doofisconfused (Annihilape) - @PMJ (Star Energy)

@Diego_Brando (Necrozma Star) - @Mr. Melon (Recursive Energy)

@NinJamezor (Heliolisk) - @bbninjas (δ Alien Energy)

@PMJ (Mewtwo-EX) - @NinJamezor (Unbreakable Bond Energy)

@Mr. Melon (Dark Magneton) - @doofisconfused (Vile [D] Energy)

@bbninjas (Aurorus) - @Kaleidophoenix (Resurrection Energy)

@Charmaster:) (Holon’s Rotom) - @Diego_Brando (Overflow Energy)

I'm listing the Top 3 in each part of this round (June and July), as well as an overall Top 3 with scores out of 100 at the bottom. Worth noting: no image-based card in either part of the round scored less than 40 points. That's pretty incredible! I don't know if this is the highest-average-scoring round we've ever had, but it's up there — I'm pretty sure it's the highest-average-scoring round we've had that wasn't just a few entrants. You guys are all awesome, and it's a pleasure as always to review your work.

~~Jabberwock

Some of the most interesting effects are open to you when you make your card provide just a single [C] Energy, and you took advantage of that design space here. It’s an extremely restrictive way to accelerate Energy — you can attach as many as you like, but it has to be all of them at once, and they all have to be Recursive Energy. In practice, it will rarely be more than a 2-card DCE.

The main things this effect suffers from are that you only get 4 of each Special Energy, in contrast to something like [W] Energy that can be attached with Rain Dance; and that Special Energy are notoriously difficult to find in your deck. These are the factors that hold this card back in most formats, and they’re the places I would start if I were designing a Pokémon that needs to make use of it. How can you get multiple Recursive Energy into your hand more easily? How can you reuse the multiple-Energy dump effect multiple times in a game? Those are the questions I would most likely want to see answered.

That said, I gotta commend you for the design — it’s simple, it’s elegant, and it makes me want there to be a cool way to play it even if one doesn’t immediately spring to mind. I look forward to seeing what comes of it in the second part of the round!

Wording errors:
- Well referenced!

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good.

Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(Simple, elegant, makes me want to find a way to play it. Great design!)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(It strikes me as underpowered without a specific way to take advantage of it like those mentioned above. Energy Loto and Energy Exchanger are the closest things I can think of, but without a reliable way to get Special Energy into your hand from both the deck and the discard pile, it’s almost always just going to be a more expensive DCE that you can use at most twice.)
Wording: 10/10
(Good references.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Art is on point — recoloring a recent Special Energy orb was a good idea, and the background is extraordinary.)
Total: 46/50

Far out! … ahem.

Delta Species Pokémon certainly get their fair share of Special Energy cards, but we never did see one that actually changed a Pokémon’s type. In retrospect it seems like an obvious niche to fill — the era was all about type changes! — but that just makes this card all the more fitting.

One thing that concerns me about the effect is it turns almost any mirror match into a slugfest between two decks that hit each other for Weakness, which can make games much swingier if the Pokémon in question do respectable damage. The saving grace is DPPt-era Weakness not being universally x2, but I still think I’d like to see this addressed. One idea might be to pair it with a card that can change your own Pokémon’s Weakness in some way — then the mirror match might turn out more like a chess game than an arms race.

The art is gorgeous; I’d love to see Creatures do more photorealistic Energy cards like this. Perhaps it could be an alternate-art thing in modern eras? Seems like a missed opportunity not to!

Wording errors:
- Nice references, and I think your interpretation of the two-Weaknesses / one-Weakness-two-types thing is sound.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good.

Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(I’m surprised at how natural it seems to have a δ Special Energy card change a Pokémon’s type, and yet it’s never been done. Using the Weakness as the type-changing metric seems a little out-of-left-field, but I think the design still works overall.)
Believability/Playability: 14.5/15
(Docking a cautious half point because of the overtly δ-related effect on a DPPt-era blank. I appreciated the reference to δ Pokémon in Lackey DPPt, and there is at least one example now of a mechanic showing up alone in the wrong real-life format, but unfortunately I still can’t award full marks in Believability for this unless/until it becomes a little more widespread.)
Wording: 10/10
(Looks good.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Aesthetics: 4.5/5
(Gorgeous art. Half point docked here because I think I can see part of the “Energy” texturing box peeking down into the illustration area.)
Total: 47/50

Mega Evolution is certainly territory ripe for picking with a Special Energy card, but man oh man do I pity the poor soul who receives this card in July. There are ways around the apparent requirement of making a M Pokémon-EX, but not that many.

First, what I like about it: the TCG’s Mega mechanic never really played up the bond-with-a-Trainer aspect emphasized in the games. That gives the mechanic a lot of underexplored design space, which I like that you’re tapping into. I’ve seen custom mechanics before which try and tie Pokémon and Supporter cards together, but I can’t remember seeing them specifically integrated in the real Mega mechanic.

Things I think could use some work, though: the big one is that I wish it mattered more which Supporter you attach. Having the effect of the Supporter do something would be good, like letting the Pokémon use the effect as an Ability once per turn. As it is, this is just a Rainbow Energy for Megas that (a) requires you to have a Supporter in hand when Mega Evolving and (b) provides immunity from your opponent’s Supporters. In some ways, I think this is a downgrade, since you would typically want to be able to use that Supporter rather than attaching it and effectively taking it out of the game. Straight-up adding the Supporter’s effect as a recurring Ability might require some further balancing work to keep from breaking the game, so it’s not a trivial fix, but I think it’s one worth exploring.

Wording errors:
- “that also has” bugs me a little since I can’t find a reference for it, but I also can’t find an era-accurate reference against it, so I’ll let it slide. [-0 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- There’s soooo much text, you can afford to compress it a good deal. It can look a little small, but it shouldn’t look crowded. To that end, I would also suggest a line break somewhere — probably between the second and third sentences. Here’s a list of real XY-era Special Energy cards; notice how all the ones with a lot of text tend to downsize it and add line breaks to make it more readable. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(I like the design space you’re exploring, but the idea feels a little underdeveloped. Why can your Mega Pokémon form an ‘unbreakable bond’ with just any old Supporter and get the same effects for all of them?)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(A little underpowered since you have to semi-permanently sacrifice a Supporter card to get a slightly boosted Rainbow Energy. I would be intrigued to see the Supporter’s effect come into play in some way, but that would probably require some rebalancing, too.)
Wording: 10/10
(Nothing major.)
Fonts and Placement: 4/5
(The text should be downsized a bit and potentially broken up into multiple paragraphs.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(The orb is alright and I like the wiggly lightning-like lines a lot, but I think the straight-line, mostly-solid-color background could be more complex overall. Adding Radial Blur can help a lot if you’re working in Photoshop, and you can get more complex colors using rendering effects like Clouds.)
Total: 41/50

Beautiful! There’s a lot of subtlety in the art that took me a couple of glances to find. The swirling clouds at the top and the pale rainbow swirl are nice touches, but I think my favorite part is the dark cell tower. It’s a fun callback to an era where a common art style was for Ken Sugimori to stick one of his official Pokémon drawings over a slightly blurred stock photo and call it a day. Everything looks right and proper with the blank and fonts, and of course I like the oldening effect as ever.

You’re right that it’s on the overpowered side, though. I don’t have much of an issue with the multiple Energy types; between Multi Energy, Double Rainbow Energy, Scramble Energy, and Rainbow Energy itself, this era gave you plenty of ways to get multi-colored Energy if you needed it. But giving every type to the Pokémon itself is where you run aground, imo — the issue is that you’re letting any Pokémon hit every other Pokémon for Weakness, which makes the game wildly swingy, and it’s worse in a format like this where all Weaknesses are x2.

You could maybe mitigate this if you introduced another card that made it very easy to remove all Pokémon’s Weaknesses, so you would let your Pokémon with Overflow Energy attached get type-specific benefits like access to Darkness or Metal Energy without also blowing up the game on the basis of Weakness. But then you’re removing a pretty crucial part of the game’s identity, so while it’s good food for thought, I’m not sure I could ever see PCL going for it.

I’m intrigued to see what comes of this card in July. When virtually any attacker can benefit from the card in spades, someone will have their work cut out for them designing a card with specific synergy. Should be interesting!

Wording errors:
- Your decision on the “has no effect other than providing Energy clause” makes sense despite Double Rainbow Energy; I would have done the same thing. However, I must dock for the lowercase “energy” — I know you were only referencing Dark Metal Energy’s text, but unfortunately TPCi makes mistakes from time to time too. For things as universal as the capitalization of “Energy”, I can’t take a one-off typo in lowercase as a valid reference to the contrary. [-1 point]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks great — nice attention to the Condensed-ness of the text!

Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(You’ve clearly thought about the lore, and I like the incorporation in the art! That said, while I know “overflow” is the theme here, I might like to see a somewhat less broadly applicable effect — one that encourages players to think harder about when to play the card, rather than just attaching it the first chance they get. You said you wanted the effect to be inherently good, but I think side effects can be what make cards most interesting!)
Believability/Playability: 11/15
(Veers into overpowered territory a little more strongly than I would like by allowing any δ Pokémon to hit virtually any other Pokémon for Weakness.)
Wording: 9/10
(One error, as much on TPCi’s part as yours.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Beautiful! I particularly like the cell tower in the background.)
Total: 43/50

OM!

Starting with aesthetics, it’s definitely one of the most striking custom Special Energy cards I’ve ever seen. Team Flare Hyper Gear was a criminally underused mechanic in its heyday — I can’t remember any other mechanics that only got two cards before being relegated to obscurity forever. I’d love to see PCL bring back the idea of villainous teams getting cards that go on the opponent’s side of the field and expand it in other eras to Team Star and other teams.

The illustration is great, huge props to Katsu. I love that it references all the Team Star bosses in their own ways. The non-3D style of the art is unusual, but it doesn’t look wildly out of place, and since the card is already so aesthetically vibrant I can chalk it up to being an as-yet-unseen example of an alt-art Special Energy. Unfortunately, though, I don’t get the “OM!” near Giacomo’s boombox. The rest mostly works in one way or another, but … I guess Katsu wrote “BOOM!” or something and you couldn’t make the whole thing fit? The art is great and works fantastically well with the modified blank, but this one part takes me out of it a little.

On the effect, making it so you can attach the card to either player’s Pokémon forces you to walk a delicate balancing line. How do you make it good enough to be worth attaching to your own Pokémon sometimes, but not so good that it’s never worth attaching to your opponent’s Pokémon ever?

I think this is a success here. Taking a 20-HP hit makes it just a little worse than Rainbow Energy, so still situationally useful to have on your own Pokémon (especially in an era without Rainbow Energy), but being able to dock your opponent’s Pokémon’s HP in the middle of your turn can also be extremely useful — as long as you’re careful not to give your opponent the chance to take too much advantage of the free Energy effect.

Worth noting that attaching it to an opponent’s Pokémon would, I imagine, still count as your Energy attachment for the turn. This is a cool additional balancing consideration, and helps keep it from turning into an instant staple.

Overall, it’s an inspired choice for this theme. I wasn’t expecting to be truly wowed in the first part of this CaC, since space is so limited on Special Energy cards and there’s only so much you can do with their effects. But man, this was a good one. It’s both unique and a fun throwback, it has a subtle effect that looks simple at first glance but has plenty of deeper layers, and there are a ton of skill-testing questions for a hypothetical player to answer in practice. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while.

Wording errors:
- I’m not sure about a simple “You may attach this card to 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon” for this effect — to somebody unused to wording quirks, it could imply “You may only attach this card to 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon.” I think in your shoes, I would err on the side of clarity, with something derived from Stadiums like “You may attach this card to either player’s Pokémon (yours or your opponent’s).” I’ll accept this one since it’s not strictly incorrect and you’ve referenced it with Treasure Energy, but in the absence of an obvious wording I would generally advocate the least ambiguous approach.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good.

Creativity/Originality: 15/15
(It really made me think. What are the consequences of an Energy card you can attach to either player’s Pokémon? What would that look like in a modern era? What kind of deck would like to use this, and how would it play out in a game? It’s a simple effect on the surface, but it masks many layers of depth. Well done!)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Balancing a card as unusual as this one is very difficult, but I think you kept it simple enough that it’s not any danger. It’s a worse Rainbow Energy on your own Pokémon, and it’s not game-breaking when you choose to attach it to your opponent’s Pokémon instead.)
Wording: 10/10
(Disagreement on the first sentence, but yours isn’t strictly incorrect.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(I love the look — the red is striking and the references in the art are awesome. The star holo is an unusual choice in the modern era, but I can hardly fault it on a Team Star card. The docked point here is because I don’t get the “OM!” in the art.)
Total: 49/50

Closing remark: Tying your own record! This one is really special, and the last point in Aesthetics is almost trivial to fix. I’m not sure whether it makes it more or less special that it’s a Special Energy round, but for what it’s worth, this card is definitely the closest I’ve ever gotten to scoring a 50.

On that Aesthetics point — I’m not opposed to people requesting or commissioning art specifically for a CaC round, but where possible, I might recommend officially teaming up with them and having as much dialogue as possible about the art direction. This worked extremely well for you back when Athena was around! Everybody making their own art this month has seen firsthand how valuable it is to be able to direct a Special Energy’s effect and art at the same time. I think a PMJ-&-Katsu entry, in which you iterate a few versions of the art together to see how it works on the card before submitting, could very well have taken the 50 here.

I like it! I’ve already seen Special Energy changing the type of the Pokémon they’re attached to twice in this contest, but it’s still new territory as far as the game is concerned. Taking inspiration from Protean is a nice idea, and I think it plays out well in practice.

Type changes have the potential to be quite powerful, letting you hit for Weakness with cards that normally couldn’t, which can be game-swinging. What holds it in check here is that in order to change a Pokémon’s type with this, you need to devote two off-type Energy cards to the same Pokémon just to change it to one other type — a Basic Energy card the Pokémon probably can’t use, plus a Protean Energy (which provides [C]). That means either you’re overloading a bunch of Energy on one Pokémon above and beyond its attack costs, or you’re fulfilling an attack cost with at least two Colorless Energy, in which case you could be using DCE instead.

To be clear, I think it’s a good thing that this holds the card back. You have to really want to change your Pokémon’s type — you can’t just slot Protean Energy into any old deck. It has interesting implications without being format-warping, which is a good place to be in your design.

I notice you didn’t mention Togekiss GE in your 2010-2011 analysis! That’s probably the card I would think about pairing this with first.

Wording errors:
- Looks good. Kecleon CRE is a good reference.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good.

Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(It’s simple, it’s neat, and it’s new. A lot of interesting gameplay implications come with changing types in this way, and I’d be curious to explore them. The last couple of points here would come from making the idea more fundamentally your own — it’s cool to pull from the main-series games for inspiration, but that’s been done before for plenty of other effects. If you saw a type-changing Energy like this and the Ability Protean never existed, what would you call it? What would you change about it? Just as food for thought.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(I think it’s well balanced and doesn’t run the risk of warping the whole format around itself. I’d be interested to see the types of decks that can make it work.)
Wording: 10/10
(Looks good.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(The post-edit version is a big improvement — the monocolor Energy orb looks much cleaner, not least because it’s not blurry at Omnium scale. I think there’s more you could do to it, though — adding to the shadows and highlights, maybe a glow around the edge. A common trick people employ with Special Energy is to put a stock photo of a bubble over the orb at some combination of blending modes that preserves the spherical lighting but lets the Energy shine through. I would recommend giving this a try!)
Edited: [-2 points]
Total: 44/50

Energy]

I love the colors! It’s a very unique look for a modern Special Energy, though the bold swatches in the background put me in mind of the BW-era Blend Energy. The scratched-metal texture adds a lot of depth to an image that might otherwise be overly saturated. I could also see it working on older Energy cards, like DPPt and before.

As compelling as the illustration is, a couple things hold it back in terms of accuracy when you put it on a SwSh-era blank. The Energy orb is very small — I know the background here is what you’re trying to emphasize, but modern Energy cards generally make the orb the focal point. Putting a glow around the orb and adding some more highlights and shadows probably wouldn’t go amiss, either. I find it useful to drag a scan of a real Energy card over the custom one and set it to 50% opacity to help make sure everything lines up right — this way you can easily check things like size and highlights while you work.

The effect seems fine for what you’re trying to do. I like that you’re leaning into the Poison-as-[D]-type thing for your type-specific Energy, especially since that’s new to the era you’re faking in. 30 damage is a big boost for a single Energy card, but Poison isn’t the easiest thing to induce, so it isn’t that scary. You would want to play it alongside something like Weepinbell BST, Galarian Slowbro V, Garbodor RCL — but even then, I don’t see it being gamebreaking. Perhaps it could finally put Poison back on the map in the modern era.

Wording errors:
- Using “your opponent’s Active Pokémon” twice in the same sentence is kinda cumbersome and generally doesn’t come up on real cards — you’d probably rather have something like “The attacks of the [D] Pokémon this card is attached to do 30 more damage to your opponent’s Poisoned Pokémon.” [-2 points]
- I don’t dock for this in effect text, but your apostrophes should be curly [’] rather than straight [']. [-0 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Your version of Gill Sans Italic (possibly just checking the Faux Italic box in PS/Photopea?) is missing the extension in the upper left of the “p”, and a couple other more minor quirks. People in the Discord should be able to get you the font you need for this. [-0.5 point]

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(We’ve seen a lot of type-specific Special Energy over the years, but it helps that this one focuses on Poison when others in the past haven’t. I also like that it’s a [D]-specific Special Energy in the era when Poison Pokémon first started being [D]-type.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(30 damage is a lot for one Energy, but Poison is relatively hard to induce, so I think it’s fine. Gone are the days of Hypnotoxic Laser!)
Wording: 8/10
(Using “your opponent’s Active Pokémon” twice.)
Fonts and Placement: 4.5/5
(Gill Sans Italic.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(The background is awesome and I love the scratched-metal texture, but the orb should generally be more prominent in the frame!)
Total: 42.5/50

Very eye-catching! The swirl in the background puts me in mind of Blend Energy and Unit Energy, but it’s a very nice touch to have put lineart of Fossils on the swirl sections instead. The gold blank and texture work is icing on the cake!

One of the worst parts of playing Fossils is having to figure out how to stream them consistently all game — any deck built all on the same Basic “Pokémon” without a good reliable way to recover them has to be extremely fragile by nature, and stopgap measures like Fossil Excavation Map can only do so much to help.

Straight-up keeping a Fossil around after it’s Knocked Out strikes me as a much more effective way to help the deck’s fragility. You’ve sussed out an important problem holding back one of the game’s longest-running mechanics, and I think this provides a great way to solve it.

My one balancing note is that I think it’s a little dangerous to let the Pokémon keep all cards attached to it. Saving a Stage 2 in play from being Knocked Out is strong enough — letting it keep doing powerful damage turn after turn with even a Knock Out not being enough to stop it, that edges on the absurd.

Wording errors:
- SM-era effects that reference a Pokémon multiple times tend not to go from “it” back to “that Pokémon”. I would swap the order here: “if that Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from an opponent’s attack, you may put it and all cards attached to it …” [-2 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good.

Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(Great Fossil-specific Special Energy effect. Making Fossils playable is never an easy feat, but I think this would go a long way in the right direction. It helps attacking Fossils, it helps support Fossils — strong all-around design.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(I’m concerned about being able to conserve your Pokémon and all its resources with just one Energy. The opponent shouldn’t have to run Special Energy removal just to be able to have a chance at a comeback.)
Wording: 8/10
(Order of “that Pokémon” and “it”.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Aesthetics: 4.5/5
(The art is awesome; I love the Blend Energy–like swirls with Fossil etchings on them. A gold Special Energy is certainly a way to spice things up this round! Just don’t forget to cut your corners.)
Total: 43.5/50

3rd Place: Mr. Melon’s Recursive Energy, with 46/50 points.
2nd Place: bbninjas’s δ Alien Energy, with 47/50 points.
1st Place: PMJ’s Star Energy, with 49/50 points.

Really pulling out the stops this month — first a snazzy edited Special Energy blank, now a Pokémon-EX? I’m impressed by the initiative. You’re showcasing lots of cool Photoshop effects here, and while I think there’s room for refinement (and maybe a few more effects in, say, the upper left), it’s a great start.

I like the Ability. I think it’s both extremely beneficial for a Mewtwo-EX and a good reference to the Special Energy theme. If your goal was to make a fifth Mewtwo-EX that wouldn’t just blend into the rest in this era, I think you succeeded.

Is it too good? Maybe. If Mewtwo X was the only M Mewtwo-EX, it would clearly be totally fine; necessary, even, to fix the attack cost. But Mewtwo Y saw a good amount of play even without a self-acceleration Ability, so I’m concerned the Ability to just nab an extra DCE might put it over the edge.

Psybarrier is fine; I like the thought you put into how to make the attack stand out without being dominant. I can be good with recycled effects in this contest if there’s a great reason behind them, and I think this is a good example.

One gripe: you went to the trouble of making a Pokémon-EX for this card, but it’s like you forgot about Unbreakable Bond Energy’s effect! You don’t have too much space on the card for getting tricky with Supporter effects, but some reference to the fact that Mewtwo will often have a Supporter attached would be cool to see.

Wording errors:
- Looks good. Oh, “shuffle your deck afterward,” how I’ve missed you.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good here too.

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Great thinking about how to make this fit into the existing BWXY meta — how to make it stand out against the other Mewtwo-EXs without making it too strong, etc. Though, I wish there were more references to the effect of Unbreakable Bond Energy, above and beyond “it’s a rainbow Energy.” It’s the theme, after all!)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Docking a cautious point because I could see it pushing Mewtwo-EX into dangerous territory, despite the Active requirement and the first-turn limitation.)
Wording: 10/10
(Looks good.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(It’s cool to see so many effects on display. My two recommendations are to fill the space within the illustration box as much as possible (see upper left) and check out PS’s Distort feature (Edit > Transform > Distort). The latter helps add depth to effects that otherwise look two-dimensional. Still, those being said, this card is an awesome effort and I encourage you to try out EXs again!)
Total: 44/50

Very pretty! Aurorus is a cool Pokémon, mark331’s art is always great, and I think the holosheet works well. I like that it’s more visible on the sky than the rocks, but it’s still there all over if you look for it.

To start things off, I’m not convinced by the anti-synergy in the Ability. Resurrection Energy gives Fossils a much-needed boon, but I think it’s more in the way that Fossils need every Resurrection Energy they can get, not that it’s so good they’ll have Resurrection Energy to spare. In this instance, I think the prospective archetype would feel more solid and exciting if Aurorus synergized with Resurrection Energy instead — maybe something like, if Aurorus has any Resurrection Energy attached to it, you may put a Stage 2 Fossil mon from your discard pile onto your Bench and move a Resurrection Energy from Aurorus to it.

Aurora Fall is amazing, though, and I love the idea. It’s a damaging effect that scales with Energy, but it’s totally unique and I’ve never seen it before. I’m not sure what numbers you’d normally expect to be hitting with it — you’re already at 120 with only 2 Energy attached to each of 2 Pokémon in play, and you’re one-shotting a lot of Basic Pokémon-GX if you can get a third Pokémon down, but I’m not sure how easy that is. Perhaps that’s what the other Fossil Stage 2s are for!

Wording errors:
- “attached to this Pokémon” becomes “from this Pokémon” in this era [-2 points].
- “each of your Pokémon” is singular, so should be “has” and not “have” after it [-1 point]. The better wording here might be “all of your Pokémon have,” though, using your Gothitelle GRI ref.
- “Energy attached” can only end a sentence in SwSh-on — in SM, it’s still “Energy attached to it/them” [-2 points].

Fonts and Placement errors:
- The “Illus” text should be bolder, comparing to SM-era scans. [-0.5 point]

Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(I love Aurora Fall; I think it’s a groundbreaking effect despite being fundamentally just damage that scales with Energy. I think the Ability is also solid — I like that it also ties into the resurrection theme — though I’m not convinced the anti-synergy angle is necessary here.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(One cautious point because I think discarding Resurrection Energy makes your gameplan too tenuous. Could it work? Maybe, since Aurorus can do huge damage even with so few Pokémon in play. But it seems too easy for something to go wrong, especially relying on Fossils and discarding your helper cards.)
Wording: 5/10
(A few era-specific things.)
Fonts and Placement: 4/5
(Bolding on “Illus” text.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Pretty art/blank combination with a well-applied holosheet. I particularly like that it’s more visible on the sky than the rocks!)
Total: 41/50

Aw man — it’s a minor detail in the grand scheme of things, but I’m a sucker for references in art. I love that there’s an Elgyem in here to pay homage to the δ Alien Energy it pairs with! And the desert is a great touch, too. The art is adorable and looks right at home on the ex-era blank, despite the Gen 5 and Gen 6 Pokémon that appear on it.

I like that you’re thinking about good types to have in the ex era and using them to inform your choice of Pokémon (and Weakness) for this card. That’s exactly the kind of thinking I’m looking for in this round!

Unfortunately, though, I could wish the creativity extended farther to the rest of the card. Conservation Bolt is interesting in that it gives you the option to do Lightning or Fighting damage depending on whether you move the δ Alien Energy or not, and that’s probably my favorite part of the text. But Solar Charge and the Poké-Body are both pretty run-of-the-mill effects (though I do love the name “Shielding Frill” paired with the art!).

Wording errors:
- Looks good.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- The “Evolves from” text looks like it might have something up with the kerning — or perhaps it’s Gill Sans Bold, not Condensed? It’s small enough to not be worth docking for, but it might be worth revisiting for future ex-era cards.

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(It’s great that you’re asking questions like “What are the best attacking types in the ex era?” — exactly the type of questions I want to see. The attention to detail in the art is awesome too, and tying the Poké-Body into it wins some Creativity credit. Where it falls a little flat, for me, are the effects of the Poké-Body and first attack, and the second attack isn’t quite enough to bring it up farther.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(No major issues — HP is hard to judge since Heliolisk didn’t exist in Gen 3, but it seems reasonable (though 70 would also be good on a Pokémon explicitly oriented toward more offensive types). Damage output seems believable.)
Wording: 10/10
(Looks good.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good enough.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Great art with great references to δ Alien Energy. Goes well with the blank, too!)
Total: 47/50

The visuals are stunning as always. Delta Species Pokémon Star, while gorgeous, are esoteric enough that you almost never see them in the faking scene. Armed with your own illustration skills and some great blank work, though, you really pulled this one off.

The effects are straightforward, but work wonderfully well when you consider Recursive Energy as the card it’s meant to pair with. You need a way to get several Recursive Energy into your hand to begin with, and then an attack that makes use of having a bunch of Special Energy attached. Check and check.

I particularly like that you went with the ex era for a few reasons. One, older eras are slower, so it’s more reasonable to devote an attack to searching out the Recursive Energy before you even get to attach it. Two, you’re not competing with DCE for space in the format. And three, even if you were competing with DCE, the ex era lets you say “number of Special Energy cards attached” rather than just “amount of Special Energy attached,” so you get to count Recursive Energy as multiple Energy cards while DCE only counts as one. It makes perfect sense as an era to find Recursive Energy in, and whether accidental or not, I think it was a great choice.

I also like that if you happen to have Necrozma and four Recursive Energy in your hand already (not impossible; hand sizes can get big in this era), you can just drop them all and swing for 80 damage out of nowhere. That seems very fitting for a Pokémon Star.

Wording errors:
- Looks good.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good.

Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Simple, but elegant. It pairs very well with Recursive Energy, and intentional or not, the ex-era placement was a good choice. Much of the strength here is in believability, but some great creativity shines through in the effects, too.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(What is there to say? Good choice of era; good, well-balanced effects that, with Recursive Energy, could become a real threat. Nice work.)
Wording: 10/10
(Looks good.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(You got it again. The Necrozma, the background, the blank: it all works together enormously well. My one comment here would be that I think you could go a little stronger on the holosheet — these ex-era foils can be tricky since they often just manifest as a sort of gradient across the Pokémon on a digital card, but I’m sure you could take it further if you tried. Regardless, the effect is outstanding: a stunning card as usual.)
Total: 48/50

It looks great! I like that you took PMJ’s Star Energy as an excuse to make another SV-era card. (That makes this only the second CaC entry ever to use the SV-era set symbol!) Full Art–ifying it as an illustration rare adds a level of pizazz, and though I could wish for a holosheet or something to give it another dimension, the overall effect is pretty good either way.

Starfall Smash is great; it’s true that it’s big damage, but you have to consider that each 100 damage you want to do requires an additional Energy attachment — so sniping for 100 really costs 3 Energy, 200 costs 4, etc. Ominous Eyes helps you keep it going once you have it set up (which I think is necessary, to make an attacking Stage 2 viable with such a large Energy commitment), but setting it up in the first place is the trick.

I think it’s skill-testing and no doubt viable gameplay-wise, though it might need some additional partners to shore up the fact that it’s a Stage 2 that needs some Energy commitment to begin with. I think that’s a good thing, and any game you play with this card is sure to be a challenge for both players.

Wording errors:
- “Star Energy,” not “Star Energy cards.” It’s okay when Wigglytuff does it with “Therapeutic Energy cards” because they aren’t attached yet, but once they are, they’re just Energy. This is done correctly in the attack but incorrectly in the Ability [-2 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good.

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(You attach the Star Energy to a Pokémon, you use it to help achieve a Knock Out, and then you move the Star Energy to a new Pokémon and rinse and repeat. Seems straightforward enough. For additional points here, I’d love to have seen an effect that cares about Star Energy attached to your own Pokémon — maybe allowing Ominous Eyes to move Star Energy to other Pokémon after either player’s Pokémon with Star Energy attached gets Knocked Out?)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(I think it’s well balanced by the need for additional Energy attachments to hit higher damage. Once you get the Energy in play, keeping them there isn’t too hard, which helps Annihilape keep pace, but the setup is the key.)
Wording: 8/10
(Minor error.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Great foray into SV-era faking! The last point here would come from a holosheet — especially helpful on a FA card with EdoNova’s artwork, since, while amazing, it can be relatively 2-dimensional otherwise.)
Total: 44/50

Man, there’s something about Autobot’s artwork on Omnium blanks. The colors on this piece work especially well with Pone’s Darkness and Metal type textures, and the result is eye-catching and certainly looks realistic. One nitpick I have, though, is that it’s hard to reconcile the “Dark Magneton” name with the Shiny Magneton in the art. Is it “Dark” because of the black magnets? Is it also a Shiny Magneton, or just a Dark Magneton? I’m not sure I can see PCL doing this, since I’m not sure how they would extend it to other Pokémon. On this card and this card alone, though, it’s certainly visually impressive.

Special Conditions get done to death in a lot of ways. Some fakers avoid them entirely since even PCL can’t decide how they want to do them most of the time. So you came into this month with a challenge.

I think you delivered, though! Making a Pokémon with a way to inflict Poison and benefit from the damage boost of Vile [D] Energy was a must, but I like that you also tie both effects to Special Energy in particular, furthering the card’s connections to the theme. [D][M][C] is a steep cost to meet, but it helps that you conserve your Energy after attacking, and being able to lock your opponent’s Pokémon in the Active Spot gives you an element of control (as well as ramping up the Poison/Burn damage). The effects seem like a bit of a hodgepodge at first, but they clearly work well together after some thought, as well as considering the Energy it’s meant to go with. Nicely done!

Wording errors:
- I can’t really get behind the idea of an automatic Ability like this — it just seems too much like a “you may” effect. Take this as a Believability dock if you wish, but either way it’s [-2 points].

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good.

Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(Nicely done! The effects seem a little cluttered at first glance, but everything on the card is there for a reason (well, perhaps except for the Burn, but nbd). Special Conditions can be tricky, but I think you delivered.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(The power levels seem fine. I’m docking a cautious point since, while the art works aesthetically, it feels like a mislabeling to use a Shiny Magneton on a Dark Magneton card with no other reference to the shininess. I just can’t see PCL doing it.)
Wording: 8/10
(Missing a “you may” in the Ability.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Great art/blank combination. Splitting the text color across the type divide shows some cool technical skill, too. Nice work!)
Total: 46/50

Ooh, nice — taking Diego’s established lore on Elica and swapping in Rotom to the real Holon’s Pokémon mechanic. I like it.

I also like the idea of giving a new effect to the Pokémon you attach your Holon’s Pokémon to. It’s a shame that the real Holon’s Pokémon never did anything more than provide Energy (and I guess bounce other Energy back to your hand in some cases), but it seems like a real opportunity for unexplored design space. (In a way, you’re kinda making a Special Energy card for both parts of this round here, haha.)

I like the gameplay implications of attaching as many Tools as you like to the same Pokémon, but limiting it by preventing you from attaching two with the same name. It forces players to run a wider variety of Tools than they otherwise would, though I wonder how high they could actually go without rapidly diminishing returns. In your analysis of ex-era Tools, it’s already clear that Cessation Crystal is the best, with Fluffy Berry and maybe Memory Berry coming in a distant second and third. It’s obviously very format-dependent.

I think on the whole, while this is cool design space to explore, I would have liked to see something more related to Overflow Energy’s second effect — the one giving the Pokémon in question every type — at least for gameplay reasons. Every type and every Tool? Maybe it’s cool as an idea, but it blows the door so wide open with possibilities that you have to do a lot of work to rein them all in. I’d just be interested in seeing a little more analysis of what a Pokémon could do with every type before we consider adding on even more variables.

Wording errors:
- You don’t need to say “the Pokémon this card is attached to” twice in the first sentence — “that Pokémon” suffices for the second. [-2 points]
- There are some quirks to the rest of the wording — like having the Ability remain on Holon’s Rotom rather than transfer ownership of the effect to the Pokémon it’s attached to — that make me read it twice, but I think it all checks out and it probably is the best way to do it. Nice work there.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- The “Ability: Metaphysics Tooling” text should be Condensed, not just Bold. [-0.5 point]
- I’m given to understand that in Omnium, when you have a Rule Box below the attacks, you remove the divider that otherwise separates the attacks from the W/R/R stats — otherwise it peeks out awkwardly and unnecessarily from behind the Rule Box. [-0.5 point]

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(The design space you’re in with the Holon’s Pokémon Abilities is ripe for exploring and you’ve got an interesting card on its own merits, but I think that considering the theme, from a gameplay potential standpoint I would have liked to see more attention to Overflow Energy’s effects. What are the implications of a Pokémon having every type? That kind of thing.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(No issues — an arbitrary number of Tools might seem threatening, but in practice I think most formats, ex included, rarely have more than a couple “good” ones to use.)
Wording: 8/10
(One minor conciseness issue.)
Fonts and Placement: 4/5
(A couple minor things.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(The blank is nice; I like the Energy orb marking it as a Holon’s Pokémon. The holosheet is solid, the Rotom goes well with the background, and I like the sunglasses.)
Total: 44/50

The art is neat and the colors go well together (as well as with the blank). Some more shading might help on the non-Drapion parts to differentiate what’s foreground and what’s background — especially since Drapion’s shadow seems to stop abruptly when it hits the darker-colored regions. Otherwise, a holosheet might also help to add depth (as well as showcase a different type of technical aesthetic skill).

Considering the effect of Protean Energy, I think Drapion’s Ability is great — a must-have, even. You need a way to accelerate your Basic Energy, but not so easily it becomes broken. A situational Poison Knock Out is hard to achieve, but Drapion’s attacks give it the tools to do it with some reliability.

The main thing hanging me up is that the attacks feel relatively safe, not really pushing the envelope too far. One of ‘em Poisons, which is a prerequisite for the Ability, and one of them hits the Bench for Weakness, which ties into the type-changing mechanic of Protean Energy. But both of those effects by themselves have been done plenty of times before. I think for a few more points in Creativity, I’d like to see effects that feel further from the box.

Wording errors:
- “between turns after your last turn” is awkward structuring. There’s not really a better way to word this without going to “Pokémon Checkup”, but I’ll suggest just redoing the effect entirely and making it trigger whenever your opponent’s Pokémon is Knocked Out by Poison. That would be much easier to word.
- You didn’t specify in your post, so I’ll assume the typical Omnium wording convention — SM-era. In this era, it’s “your opponent’s Active Pokémon” and not “the Defending Pokémon” for Special Conditions. [-2 points] I've been told Pone's Omnium convention is SM-era in all instances except this specific one, so dock revoked.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- It would be silly to dock for it, but since you’re specifically looking to fix your apostrophes, I’ll note the one in “opponent’s” in the Ability is the wrong font (though it is the correct apostrophe). Possibly a copy-pasting error?

Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(There’s good synergy with Protean Energy in the Ability and the second attack. I think you’re in the right place from a gameplay perspective — the effects just aren’t too out-there in terms of what’s been done before.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(The upside to hewing closely to effects that have been done in the past is that it’s typically pretty safe balance-wise.)
Wording: 10/10
(~~“Your opponent’s Active Pokémon” vs “the Defending Pokémon”.~~)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(A note, but no docks.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(I like the color palette! I’d suggest more shadows in the art, or perhaps some other way to help break up the background. Holosheets, too, rarely go amiss.)
Total: 44/50

3rd Place: Mr. Melon’s Dark Magneton, with 46/50 points.
2nd Place: NinJamezor’s Heliolisk, with 47/50 points.
1st Place: Diego Brando’s Necrozma Star, with 48/50 points.

3rd Place: Diego Brando’s Overflow Energy and Necrozma Star, with a combined 91/100 points.
2nd Place: Mr. Melon’s Recursive Energy and Dark Magneton, with a combined 92/100 points.
1st Place: PMJ’s Star Energy and Mewtwo-EX, with a combined 93/100 points.

Interestingly, while the individual scores cap out at 93/100, two synergistic pairs of cards each attained a combined 94/100! I’d like to give an honorable mention to these products of outstanding (albeit incidental) teamwork:

Mr. Melon’s Recursive Energy and Diego Brando’s Necrozma Star
bbninjas’s δ Alien Energy and NinJamezor’s Heliolisk

Congratulations, and see you in the next round!

PMJ · Sep 2, 2023

Jabberwock said:
man oh man do I pity the poor soul who receives this card in July.

re: Star Energy and Katsu's involvement: Though we didn't specifically sign up together, Katsu was still involved every step of the way as far as the artwork went. We talked for about 3 weeks hammering out the details, and the OM! thing is more my mistake than theirs. It wasn't really something I thought of as weird. Ironically, this is much more involved than I ever was with Athena; whereas I had an idea of what kind of artwork I wanted and guided Katsu along the way, with Athena I just told her to draw a Pokemon she wanted and then I made a card out of it.

Does not signing up with Katsu specifically detract from the amazing artwork they did? I hope it doesn't, because it's great stuff. Glory to Katsu.

re: Mewtwo-EX: My goal was to make a card that could utilize both the Rainbow Energy effect of Unbreakable Bond Energy as well as appreciate the inability to be gusted up thanks to having it attached. The whole reasoning behind Right to Rule is to pull Unbreakable Bond specifically from your deck, but is also not restricted to that one specific Energy so as to make the Mewtwo-EX more accessible. The Supporter attached doesn't matter, and attaching Supporters is not something you typically do, so having my card reference that particular aspect of Unbreakable Bond Energy seems a little unbelievable, even if we are assuming the Energy exists for the purposes of the card.

GGs to everyone, I am not surprised that I didn't even place for image, there was some seriously tough competition. Glory to Katsu for making me win anyway lel

Apologies to everyone who thought this was gonna be text scores, but I forgot all about this until like two days ago and then I ended up sleeping all day so I still have a few to finish up. Will post Soon (TM).

LightningSpence836 · Sep 2, 2023

PMJ said:
Apologies to everyone who thought this was gonna be text scores, but I forgot all about this until like two days ago and then I ended up sleeping all day so I still have a few to finish up. Will post Soon (TM).

You got me there, PMJ. :/

PMJ · Sep 3, 2023

Text-Based Results

A lot of these were really cool. I could tell you guys all took my advice about picking the best Pokemon for the situation to heart, because pretty much all of you did that and that's great to see.

For the Energy, one of the things I dinged you for was "No Energy type listed", which just means you forgot to put an Energy symbol in the upper right corner of your card. It would be akin to forgetting to include your Pokemon's type.

The long wait sucked, but making cards based on other people's entries was pretty cool. I know I complained but I might be down to do this again since turnout was overall very good. Maybe if the theme is excellent, but I wouldn't wanna do this on a regular basis.

Energy [V]
Vengeance Energy Special Energy

As long as this card is attached to a Pokémon, it provides every type of Energy but provides only 1 Energy at a time.

Once during your turn, if the Pokémon this card is attached to is in the Active spot, you may choose a Basic Pokémon from your discard pile and use it’s attack. Your turn ends. (You still need the necessary Energy to use this attack.)

(If this card’s effect has been used, discard this card.)
My Thoughts
In a world where Lugia VSTAR exists, you have to be careful with Special Energy since you can accelerate all four of them from the deck in a single turn. Given that the effect is limited to Basic Pokemon, it removes a lot of problematic Pokemon from the list. Cards like Radiant Greninja, Dedenne ex, Drifloon PAL, and maybe Stoutland V could be a problem, but it also makes United Wings better by giving it another single-Energy method of attack outside of Murkrow. Radiant Eternatus now becomes a potent attacker. Mew VMAX no longer has to stagger their own Mew V in order to access Psychic Leap. Lost Box can blast people with Kyogre without needing to put it in play. And you know what? All this stuff is fine, I think. Skuntank V might actually see some play with this card.

Limiting it to Basics was the right call. Aside from some niche use cases (which aren't that crazy, considering what Lugia VSTAR can do), I'd say this is perfectly fine. Nice job.

Oh, you discard it after you use it? I don't even think that's necessary but definitely helps keep certain cards from being a little too crazy.

Wording errors:
General
- What is this V after the word Energy? [-1 point]
- No Energy type listed [-1 point]
- Your wording is needlessly complex here. All you need to say is "The Pokemon this card is attached to can use the attacks of any Basic Pokemon in your discard pile. (You still need the necessary Energy to use each attack.)" (Ditto PGO) You can't normally attack from the Bench, so no need to specify that the Pokemon has to be Active, or your turn ends. I won't even ding you for not capitalizing "Spot" since you don't need it here anyway. [-2 points]
- As for the "discard this card" part, I am giving you this one for free. I know it's wrong, but don't know how I'd fix it. [-0 points]

Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(Being able to copy attacks always has me searching for ways to break it. It's a risky play but I don't think there is anything in Standard that would make this unbearable, especially since you have to discard them after you use them.)
Wording: 11/15
(No comment)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Easily playable. Fairly balanced and holds up to scrutiny.)
Total: 45/50

Xerneas VSTAR HP: 250 [P]

View attachment 17775 VSTAR - Evolves from Xerneas V
View attachment 17776
Ability: Bypass Boost
If this attack’s damage is not affected by any effects on the Defending Pokémon, this Pokémon’s attacks do 30 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon.

[P][C] Cross Horns 30x
Discard any amount of Energy from this Pokémon. This attack does 30 damage for each card you discarded in this way.

===================VSTAR Power===================
[P][P][C] Miracle Star 170
Is this Pokémon's Ability is in effect, this attack also does 100 damage to three of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon.

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

When your Pokémon VSTAR is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
My Thoughts
Charmaster's Energy is easy enough to transfer to future eras, so it could fit in the current era like a glove. With that said...

Pokemon don't have Ability + attack + VSTAR Power. They always have an attack and a VSTAR Power, which is sometimes an Ability, but never all three.

The Ability doesn't make sense. Bypass Boost isn't an attack. I get that it's supposed to trigger with Silph Scope Energy, but I have to base it on what you've written, not what your intent might be. This is why you shouldn't just toss your fake at me with no context whatsoever. At least then I can see where your thought process is.

Cross Horns is... odd. How are you supposed to load it with Energy?

Miracle Star is too strong. This whole card makes my head hurt.

Wording errors:
Bypass Boost
- "If Silph Scope Energy is attached," [-1 point]
- Missing "(before applying Weakness and Resistance)" reminder text [-1 point]
Miracle Star
- "If Silph Scope Energy is attached," [-1 point]
- Always use numerals (3 instead of three) [-1 point]
- Missing "(don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokemon)" reminder text [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(It works, but it's not very interesting.)
Wording: 10/15
(No further issues)
Believability/Playability: 8/15
(You lose believability points due to the impossibility of having an attack, an Ability, and a VSTAR Power. You lose playability points because Cross Horns is really bad on this card and Miracle Star is too strong.)
Total: 32/50

Grand Total: 77/100

Fossil Mix Energy - Special Energy

This card can only be attached to Pokémon that has a card with "Fossil" or "Old Amber" in its name under them.

This card provides [C] Energy. While this card is attached to a Pokémon, it provides [F] , [W], [G] , and [M] Energy but provides only 1 Energy at a time.

If the Pokémon this card is attached to is Knocked Out, you may put up to 2 card(s) with "Fossil" or "Old Amber" in their name(s) from your discard pile on the bench.
My Thoughts
Another day, another attempt at fixing Fossil Pokemon. I really hate this mechanic.

I mean, it works, I guess. It sucks that you gotta die in order to recycle the fossils (and you can't even take the one under the Pokemon that got killed), but it's a decent way to try and stay in the game after a couple dudes go down. I hope fossils get retconned out of existence.

The Blend Energy part is pretty cool. Makes it feel a bit more intentionally helpful to fossils, although if you can already only attach it to Fossil Pokemon then there's not much reason not to just make it Rainbow and extend the help to all of them, you know? Just because it helps future fossils doesn't mean it can't also help the OGs simultaneously.

Wording errors:
General
- No Energy type listed [-1 point]
- I am assuming that your intent is to only allow this card to be attached to Fossil Pokemon, so I'm going to simplify your first sentence by saying you can only attach it to Pokemon that "evolve from a card that has Fossil or Old Amber in its name." [-2 points]
- You are missing a clause that says if it is attached to anything other than the approved Pokemon, it gets discarded. [-1 point]
- Your symbols are listed out of order; it should be G, W, F, and then M. In all cases, Energy symbols are listed in the order GRWLPFDMYNC. [-1 point]
- Why say card(s) or name(s)? Saying "up to 2 cards" and "in their names" is correct. [-1.5 points]

Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(It's a nice way to recycle fossils. Limiting the Energy looks nice on paper but is needlessly specific given existing limitations of the card.)
Wording: 8.5/15
(Checking pkmncards for existing cards that deal with fossils could have saved you a few points.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(One point because fossils are irredeemable. But it's a good attempt nonetheless.)
Total: 39.5/50

Since Wolf Raider didn't submit a Pokemon, and I want everyone to at least have a Pokemon made from their entry, I took the liberty of making a card so NinJamezor doesn't feel left out.

Pidgeot LV.X - HP150 - C
Level-Up - Put onto Pidgeot

Poké-Power: Supportive Winds
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may switch your Active Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon.

CC - Strike and Run - 80
Switch Pidgeot with 1 of your Benched Pokémon.

WK: Lx2 RS: F-30 RC: 0

I like Pidgeot and it sucks in this era so I thought I'd give it some love. The power can help you swap around Remnant Energy, more if you get two in play. The attack also puts Pidgeot out of harm's way. Long live Pidgeot.

[ENERGY] Remnant Energy 40 HP [C]
Special Energy Card

8xu6YKLhETCCbzdYosNDY5ZPUgkPFjWPGagxw6tk9ZDr179LoujatFt_T7h_LLvG-kAcNKlT3aSUbOfLeXDn7OLrEG-F37JJsCZR8Zb97NJkB2aXo-twCePh_rylOhhMWsj4Cdi9qgx3gBdTJn1Nazw

illus. NinJamezor

Remnant Energy can be attached only to an Evolved Pokémon. Remnant Energy provides [C] Energy. If the Pokémon Remnant Energy is attached to isn’t an Evolved Pokémon, discard Remnant Energy. If the Pokémon Remnant Energy is attached to is Knocked Out, you may put Remnant Energy onto your Bench as if it were a Basic Pokémon. While in play and not attached to a Pokémon, Remnant Energy counts as a [C] Pokémon (as well as a Special Energy card). Remnant Energy has no attacks of its own, can’t retreat, and can’t be affected by Special Conditions. If Remnant Energy is Knocked Out, it doesn’t count as a Knocked Out Pokémon. (Discard it anyway.) At any time during your turn before your attack, you may discard Remnant Energy from play.

[Poké-POWER] Wail of the Fallen
Once during your turn (before your attack), if Remnant Energy is your Active Pokémon, you may put 1 damage counter on the Defending Pokémon.

[NJPR#02] (Pr)
My Thoughts
Actually? Pretty cool.

You can't put a card into play that doesn't have HP printed on it. This goes as far back as Clefairy Doll, so good call putting it on your Energy (but no bonus points for the drawing - this ain't image!).

In a world where HP maxes out at around 150 and overall damage values are significantly less, being able to get an extra 10-40 damage for free can be game-winning. And that's assuming you don't have any switching cards to move Remnant Energy out of the Active Spot to conserve it for future turns.

Fossils, notoriously, aren't Pokemon until you put them into play as one. They are still Trainers that turn into Pokemon even though they have no use beyond that, though I understand what you were getting at.

Anyway, I think it's pretty neat. Requiring you to sacrifice your Bench slots for the extra damage is aight. The extra damage, if timed well, can steal kills and win games, which is always good.

Wording errors:
General
- I'm going to allow your normally incorrect placement of the sentence that discards Remnant Energy if it's attached improperly because of everything else that comes after it. [-0 points]

Creativity/Originality: 18/20
(Yeah, I really like this. It's like a benchable PlusPower, reusable if you have the tools to do so. I don't know if it would be a staple in every deck, but it would certainly be worthy of consideration.)
Wording: 15/15
(Nice work.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(No issues.)
Total: 48/50

[STAGE1] Weavile HP100 [D]
Evolves from Sneasel

View attachment 17844illus. Ken Sugimori

NO. 461 Sharp Claw Pokémon HT: 3’7” WT: 75 lbs.

[ABILITY] Villainous Tactics
You must discard a Pokémon from your hand in order to use this ability. When you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon during your turn, you may attach an Energy card from your discard pile to it.

[D][C] Nasty Vengeance 40
Search your deck for a card and put it into your hand. If any of your Pokémon were Knocked Out during your opponent’s last turn, instead search for up to 3 cards and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.

Weakness: [G] x2
Resistance:
Retreat Cost: [C]
They attack their quarry in packs. Prey as large as Mamoswine easily fall to the teamwork of a group of Weavile.
[NJPR04] (Pr)
My Thoughts
I'm liking the ideas behind this fake. The theming behind Villainous Tactics is on point. I've used Weavile in my stories enough (coincidentally, in one in which a Weavile defeats a Mamoswine) that I can believe this power being on this Pokemon, never mind the Vilify reference. I like Nasty Vengeance as an attack but hate the name - I feel like you're trying just a bit too hard in that regard. Just because it's a mix of two attack effects doesn't mean the names sound good together. Plus, the attack is called Nasty Vengeance, but it's a support attack? Just doesn't sit well with me.

This is a good example of how the right Pokemon is going to be doing the heavy lifting - Vengeance Energy is so versatile that pretty much any Pokemon can use it. Coming up with a very Weaviley way to not only dump fodder but to recycle one of your precious four copies of Vengeance Energy is great.

My biggest gripes with the card are minor but in terms of playability they hurt it fairly noticeably. First, 100 HP means it's unsearchable with Level Ball. It's not unheard of to have a Weavile with 90 HP, and having that extra way to search it out of the deck would have been cool. In that same vein, its Retreat Cost means you can't search for it with Feather Ball, either. It's not unheard of to have a Weavile with free retreat, so you wouldn't have lost any points from making it free, and you'd have yet another way to search Weavile out. One hundred HP and a Retreat Cost of 1 is the worst of both worlds, a real shame.

Wording errors:
Villainous Tactics
- capitalize "Ability" [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 18/20
(Your entry both fuels Vengeance Energy and recycles it back from the discard, and does it in a way that fits thematically. Well done.)
Wording: 14/15
(So close...)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Slight difficulties in getting it into play that didn't have to be there, but otherwise a fine entry.)
Total: 46/50

Grand Total: 94/100

Cyclic Energy

As long as this card is attached to a Pokémon, it provides [C] Energy.

If this card is moved from one of your Pokémon to another one of your Pokémon, you may search your deck for a basic Energy card and attach it to that Pokémon. Then, shuffle your deck.
My Thoughts
I was going to point out that Dusknoir makes a single copy of this card pull out every other Energy from your deck, but then you pointed it out yourself and then still thought submitting this was a good idea. There's really nothing else to say - Dusknoir existing means it is already the best possible partner for this card as it can power up any other Pokemon in a single turn.

Wording errors:
General
- No Energy type listed [-1 point]
- Always use numerals (1 instead of one) [-1.5 points]
- It is unclear who you attach the new Energy to. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(With a more constrained way to move Special Energy around, this could have been really cool, but Dusknoir breaks it.)
Wording: 11.5/15
(The small errors here are the least of your worries)
Believability/Playability: 1/15
(It breaks the game, plain and simple. With no way to prevent Dusknoir's power from working once it hits the field, the game becomes a Dusknoir race worse than a Lost Box mirror.)
Total: 29.5/50

Tyrantrum HP: 170 [N]

Stage 2: Evolves from Tyrunt

NO. 697 Despot Pokémon HT: 8'02" WT: 595.2 lbs.
Ability: Law of the Jungle
You must Knock Out 1 of your Benched Pokémon in order to use this Ability. Once during your turn, you may switch in 1 of your opponent's Pokémon to the Active Spot.

[F][M][C] Royal Ascension 120x
Search your deck for up to 3 Pokémon that evolve from Item cards with "Fossil" or "Old Amber" in their names that are on your Bench and put them onto those Pokémon to evolve them. This attack does 120 damage for each card evolved in this way. Then, shuffle your deck.

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

Nothing could stop this Pokémon 100 million years ago, so it behaved like a king.
My Thoughts
Man, I will be the first to tell you that fossil Pokemon, as a mechanic, is complete dog water, but this is probably one of the coolest attempts at making them work that I've ever seen. Tyrantrum is the perfect choice when considering a fossil Pokemon that can do absurd amounts of damage. Law of the Jungle is an S-tier Ability that sets up literally anything to be killed (and also circumvents cards like Diancie CRZ and Leafy Camo Poncho!), making Tyrantrum worth considering based solely on that, and Royal Ascension does the king-sized damage that Tyrantrum is known for. The synergy with Fossil Mix Energy is clear, and increasing your damage by evolving is interesting and unique. Really, really cool stuff here.

However, as you've pointed out, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. It is a fossil, after all, and that means it has all the baggage associated with them. You run the risk of being unable to do any damage at all, and the convoluted way in which you've imagined having this pop off speaks volumes about how dumb the fossil mechanic is. The only thing I would change about this is to make Royal Ascension able to evolve anything on the Bench instead of the extremely limiting parameters given. Fossil Mix Energy is already getting your Fossils back; being able to instantly evolve them next turn is great, but what if you don't have anything else with Fossil Mix Energy attached? You are dead in the water. By loosening up the restriction on what Royal Ascension can evolve, you make Tyrantrum a little bit more consistent and can focus more resources on getting those Energy attached.

Law of the Jungle is a bonkers Ability, even with the kill requirement. If it were on anything other than a Stage 2 fossil, I would be crying foul, but... I think it works here. Especially with how it synergizes with Fossil Mix Energy. I also don't know if it was intentional, but I've just realized that the Ability is highly thematic, what with Tyrantrum being a literal despot, carelessly murdering his own ally and ordering the opponent to bring up a threat before slaughtering them. Literally, boss's orders. Fantastic stuff.

Wording errors:
General
- In SV era, Pokedex numbers have four digits (0697 instead of 697) [-1 point]
Law of the Jungle
- switch in 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokemon [-1 point]
Royal Ascension
- The attack effect is not new, in fact it is very old. In this instance you should be copying Pokemon Breeder's Nurturing. There are more errors with what you've written, but since much of the attack requires a rewrite I am going to give you a blanket reduction instead of nitpicking each one. [-3 points]
- 120 damage for each Pokemon you evolved in this way (Red & Blue) [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 20/20
(Congrats on a truly cool entry. From the Pokemon choice to the Ability to the attack, the theming throughout is stellar. Doing a metric buttload of damage feels powerful, especially when coming from a Pokemon like Tyrantrum. Increasing your damage by evolving is so cool and drastically improves consistency. It might not be the most competitive thing, even with that kingly Ability, but I love it anyway.)
Wording: 8/15
(Some simple errors that could have been avoided.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(I could 100% see this on a card. Law of the Jungle is so good that Tyrantrum could be used based on that metric alone.)
Total: 43/50

Grand Total: 72.5/100

[ENERGY] Everstone Energy [C]
Special Energy Card

As long as this card is attached to a Pokemon, it provides [C] [C] Energy.

You may attach Everstone Energy to any Pokemon (yours or your opponent’s), and the Pokemon this card is attached to can’t evolve.
My Thoughts
A man of good taste, I see (I also submitted a card that could be attached to the opponent's Pokemon).

This card has the potential to really mess up some decks, although you can get around it by using it to retreat. Definitely an interesting and unique disruption card. The DCE aspect of it isn't as bad as you'd think at first glance. They either discard the Everstone Energy and gain access to VSTAR/VMAX stuff, or they lose it and discard the Energy. Being able to stop Pokemon like Magnemite, Frigibax, or Sobble from evolving is definitely cool. Is it worth paying your Energy for the turn to potentially stuff your opponent's setup? That's the real question here.

I don't know if I would have called it "Everstone" Energy, even though I get the reference. It just seems a little bit too heavy-handed for my liking, and as someone whose Team Star-based Energy is called "Star Energy" I understand the irony of me saying that. No points off for it though, don't worry.

Wording errors:
General
- Accented é in Pokemon missing throughout [-2 points]
- "You can attach this card..." [-2 points]
- You have your sentences right, but in the wrong order. First, since your Energy breaks normal attachment rules, this is where you say you can attach to your opponent's Pokemon. Then you say what it counts as when attached. Then you say what the card does. You are also missing a sentence instructing the player to put the card in its owner's discard pile if it is removed for any reason. (Fusion Strike Energy, Jamming Net) [-2 points]

Creativity/Originality: 18/20
(I don't know if I'd use it, but it's a simple yet deceptively effective disruption card.)
Wording: 9/15
(Simple errors, easily fixed)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(It would definitely see some play somewhere.)
Total: 42/50

* Mod note: User was instructed to ignore Dusknoir BRS when making this fake *

Miraidon – Dragon – HP 150
Basic

NO. 1008 Paradox Pokémon HT: 11’06” WT: 529.1 lbs.

Ability: Hadron Engine
Once during your turn, you may move an Energy from 1 of your [N] Pokémon to another of your [N] Pokémon. You cannot use more than 1 Hadron Engine ability in a turn.

[L] [M] [C] Techno Claw 110+
If this Pokemon has any Basic Energy and any Special Energy attached to it, this attack does 110 more damage.

Weakness: None
Resistance: None
Retreat: [C] [C]
This seems to be the Iron Serpent mentioned in an old book. The Iron Serpent is said to have turned the land to ash with its lightning.
My Thoughts
While I'm sad that you pretty much necessarily had to make a Pokemon that moved Energy around for this, I'm pleased with the direction you went. I agree with making this Dragon instead of Lightning, and obviously hard limiting it to one use per turn.

The only thing I would change, besides bringing the HP down to be in line with actual Miraidon cards, is to make the attack slightly weaker. Hadron Engine is a stupidly good Ability, especially with Cyclic Energy. Because Hadron Engine is so good, you can stand to weaken the attack a bit. With Cyclic Energy existing, it becomes much easier to meet Techno Claw's requirement for bonus damage. I would reduce the damage to 180-200; this way you are still wiping out stuff like Squawkabilly ex, Genesect V, Mew V, Raikou V, and Regieleki V, depending on where your damage sits. This way the attack is still good and usable, but not strong enough to murder every relevant Basic in the game.

On the subject of Techno Claw, I like the unique damage requirement. Feels kinda fitting for a futuristic Pokemon.

Wording errors:
Hadron Engine
- You can't use more than 1 Hadron Engine Ability each turn. [-3 points]
Techno Claw
- You're right, there is nothing like this. I am not 100% on the wording for this, so I'm just going to give it to you. [-0 points]

Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(Giving you a pass for Hadron Engine, and I'll give you a bonus point for the creative damage requirement.)
Wording: 12/15
(Many minor errors cause major trouble.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(HP is too high and the attack is just a little bit too strong, but it definitely would still see play.)
Total: 42/50

Grand Total: 84/100

Equipment Energy -Special Energy [C]
As long as this card is attached to a Pokémon it provides [C] Energy.
When you attach this card from your hand to a Pokémon that doesn't have a Pokémon Tool attached to it, you may search your deck for a Pokémon Tool card and attach it to that Pokémon.Then, shuffle your deck.
Your turn ends.
My Thoughts
"Your turn ends."

Those three little words completely slaughtered this card's viability. Since Tools aren't Items anymore, we have very limited ways to search them out. Being able to instantly pull them from the deck with this Energy would have been insanely good and extremely welcome... but not if doing so ends your turn. It'd be an A+ card if not for that.

Wording errors:
General
- Need a comma after Pokemon in the first sentence [-1 point]
- Don't need the words "to it" in the second sentence (Luxio CRZ) [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 19/20
(With the changes to how Tools work, having an easy way to search them out directly is excellent and something the format definitely could benefit from. My only issue is that it's still a Special Energy card and is itself practically unsearchable.)
Wording: 13/15
(No problems here.)
Believability/Playability: 4/15
(The fact that using this effect ends your turn makes this card completely unplayable.)
Total: 36/50

Golisopod HP130 [G]

Stage 1-Evolves from Wimpod

[Ability] Tactical Escape

Whenever this Pokémon gets switched by the effect of Escape Energy, put that Energy card into your hand instead of the discard pile.

[C] [C] [C] Sneaky Slithering 90+

This Pokemon can use this attack even when it is on the Bench. If it is,this attack does 80 more damage and switch this Pokémon with your Active Pokémon.

Weakness: [R]X2
Resistance:None
Retreat Cost:[C] [C] [C]
My Thoughts
Cool.

Being able to recycle Escape Energy is kinda cute, but I think I would have liked it better if you just kept Escape Energy attached instead of putting it into your hand. Sneaky Slithering makes you want to be on the Bench, being able to consistently use Tactical Escape is a great way to circumvent Golisopod's fat Retreat Cost, and having to constantly reattach an Energy can get annoying.

Attacking from the Bench is an effect that I've used myself a couple times in the past, but now that we have an official card that can do it, we have a good power level to compare to. And I think that this card's overall power is okay. Its ability to attack from the Bench and synergy with Reversal Energy makes this a powerful Grass-type option for Zoroark decks, if Grass Weakness ever becomes super relevant.

Golisopod is a fine choice for a card like this, although I will say that an attack called "Sneaky Slithering" doesn't really fit with a Pokemon that is nearly 7 feet tall and who has a harder-than-diamond shell. No points off, but it's just something to think about. Attack names are important, too!

Lastly, I really wish this was an ex. There is a lot of synergy between Tactical Escape and Sneaky Slithering, but none of that matters if you just get OHKOed. Making this an ex would allow you to give this thing 300 HP, which definitely would let you tank a hit from just about anything and then retreat to the safety of the Bench until you're ready to ~~get bossed up next turn~~ strike again.

Wording errors:
General
- No Pokedex info [-1 point]
- No flavor text [-1 point]
Tactical Escape
- When this Pokemon moves to the Bench with the effect... [-2 points]
Sneaky Slithering
- Missing accent on Pokemon [-1 point]
- This attack can be used even if this Pokemon is on the Bench. [-1 point]
- This is a minor thing, but if you imagine Golisopod using this attack, it would switch in, then attack, right? So the way I've always worded this is to say switch in first and then say you do the extra damage. There is no official precedent for this and I'm not taking any points away for not wording it like me but it's something to think about I guess. [-0 points]

Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(Golisopod is the obvious choice for a card like this, and while that decision in itself is pretty generic, the synergy between Escape Energy and Sneaky Slithering makes me look past it. What better way to take advantage of moving to the Bench by being able to bust out all over at any time?)
Wording: 9/15
(Lots of unforced errors here. Make sure you're double checking things before you submit!)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Low HP makes procing Escape Energy's effect all but impossible - would be useful in Zoroark decks though.)
Total: 38/50

Grand Total: 74/100

[C] Energy

Silph Scope Energy Special Energy Card

If the Pokémon Silph Scope Energy is attached to attacks the Defending Pokémon, before doing damage, that attack's effects, including damage, aren't affected by Weakness, Resistance, Pokémon Powers, or any other effects on the Defending Pokémon.

Silph Scope Energy provides [C] energy. (Doesn't count as a basic Energy card.)
My Thoughts
~~My favorite Pokemon for over a decade gets one good card in his entire history and you come up with a card specifically designed to put a knife in his back? Zero points, get the hell outta here~~ Hey so it's Charmaster back with another classic era card, let's see how it stacks up.

I actually think it's pretty cool. Swiftlike attacks were pretty rare in the classic era, which is really the whole reason why Mr. Mime was such a problem. Being able to give this trait to anyone really goes a long way in stuffing stall decks. There weren't a whole lot of defensive Pokemon Powers back then, but being able to cut through things like Neutral Shield or Thick Skinned is definitely cool. This feels like an Energy card that could have existed back in the day, giving players an extra avenue of attack that they didn't have before. Neat stuff. Too bad you're not getting any points for this blasphemy against my (now second) favorite Pokemon.

The last thing I'll say is that I really dislike the name "Silph Scope Energy" but given the era this card is for, I'll accept it.

Wording errors:
General
- You don't need to say "before doing damage" here. Dark Machoke and cards like it use that wording because its attack is intended to hit the new Defending Pokemon (notice that Giovanni's Gyarados does not use this wording because its target is the current Active Pokemon while still permitting you to gust up another Pokemon). [-1 point]
- God bless classic era and its Wild West wording; I noticed that they didn't capitalize Energy at the end of Potion Energy and Full Heal Energy, then noticed that you didn't either. Just because they're wrong doesn't mean you get to be, but again, considering classic era was basically a free-for-all when it came to wording, and because I'm a sucker for attention to detail like that, I'm giving you the point. [-0 points]

Creativity/Originality: 19/20
(I wonder if this card is even too good, akin to how Drapion V basically wiped Mew VMAX off the map. Mew has adapted since then, even with the release of Spiritomb PAL, so perhaps it's not all doom and gloom for Mr. Mime. Still, Silph Scope Energy is an almost embarrassingly simple solution to a problem that persisted up until Base Set and Jungle rotated, so I have to give you high marks for simplicity's sake. My concerns about it potentially eradicating Mr. Mime as a playstyle altogether prevents me from giving you the full 20, but having been stalled out plenty of times by Murray and his cheating-ass Damage Swap deck, even I can appreciate a little trouble thrown Mr. Mime's way.)
Wording: 14/15
(Props for attention to detail here, classic era is a little difficult sometimes, but you nailed it again. Good work.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(It is 100% playable and would likely see heavy play in a format dominated by Mr. Mime. But is it too good? I don't know.)
Blasphemy: -100
HOW DARE YOU
Total: 47/50

Basic: Rowlet: HP50 (G)

NO. 722 Grass Quill Pokémon HT: 1'00" WT: 3.3 lbs.

Ability: Catalyst Cosplay
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may reveal a Decidueye or Decidueye-GX from your hand and put 2 damage counters on 1 of your opponent's Basic Pokémon. Then, unless this Pokémon has any Everstone Energy attached to it, put that card onto this Pokémon to evolve it. You can't use this Ability during your first turn or on the turn this Pokémon comes into play, and you can't use more than 1 Catalyst Cosplay Ability each turn.

(C) Bullet Grit or Seed 10x
Flip 3 coins. This attack does 10 damage for each heads. If this Pokémon has any Everstone Energy attached to it, you may choose 1 of them and attach it to 1 of your opponent's benched Pokémon. If you do, this attack does 60 damage to that Pokémon instead.

Weakness: (R)x2 Resistance: Retreat: (C)

This wary Pokémon uses photosynthesis to store up energy during the day, while becoming active at night.
My Thoughts
Well, it's thematic, I'll give you that. I'm not super familiar with the anime, but hearing that Ash's Rowlet swallowed an Everstone for some reason and dressed up like a Decidueye so he could use the power of plot armor to take down a Decidueye sounds pretty par for the course.

It's certainly the Rowlet of choice in Decidueye decks, with a stellar Ability and a potentially busted attack. I think Catalyst Cosplay is a fine name, although Bullet Grit or Seed is a little too literal for my liking. Also, doing a 60 snipe for a single Energy is still insanely powerful, even if you need Everstone Energy attached (consider Rowlet DAA who also has a 60 snipe attack for CCC).

Does Rowlet really spit its Everstone out when using Bullet Seed? Sounds really dumb but as someone who has made a couple joke anime cards I can appreciate the reference.

Wording errors:
Catalyst Cosplay
- First, reveal the Decidueye. If you do, then you put damage. [-1 point]
Bullet Grit or Seed
- Capitalize Benched [-1 point]
- (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokemon) [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 18/20
(A promo that references the anime seems like a good fit. Decidueye decks will greatly appreciate the ability to increase the amount of damage counters they can drop.)
Wording: 13/15
(No concerns)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Bullet Grit or Seed is a silly name.)
Total: 45/50

Grand Total: 92/100

Escape Energy

As long as this card is attached to a Pokémon, it provides [C] Energy.

If the Pokémon this card is attached to is in the Active Spot and is damaged by an attack from your opponent’s Pokémon, you may discard this card. If you do, switch your Active Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon.
My Thoughts
I was literally just looking at Misty's Tentacruel while judging Charmaster's entry, and thinking about how cool of a power Flee is. This Energy is a lot like that, allowing you to tank a hit and switch in a new Pokemon for free. In the modern era, I think this card has a little less utility, given how the format is focused on OHKOs and you can just switch in a new Pokemon after your Active goes down. Still, the ability to freely switch to a pivot like Mew (effectively retreating for 1 instead of paying something like Goodra VSTAR's monstrous Retreat Cost of 3) can't be understated. I can dig it.

Wording errors:
General
- No Energy type listed [-1 point]
- Missing "(even if it is Knocked Out)" reminder text [-1 point]
- What happens to the effects of attacks? Say the attack does damage and pushes you to the Bench. How would Escape Energy interact with that? [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(It's kinda like a reimagined Warp Energy. Having to take damage for it to do anything at all is unfortunate, especially since many decks just focus on one-shotting everything, but it has its uses.)
Wording: 12/15
(No major problems)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Definitely playable. Would it see play? That's a big maybe. Maybe in a deck that can make good use of it.)
Total: 41/50

View attachment 17877
Empoleon – Water – HP150
Stage 2 – Evolves from Prinplup

NO. 395 Emperor Pokémon HT: 5’07” WT: 186.3 lbs.

Ability: Arctic Summons
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may put a Basic Pokémon from either player's discard pile onto that player's Bench.

[W][W][C] Turn the Tides 30+
If you have more Pokémon in play than your opponent, this attack does 40 damage for each Pokémon fewer your opponent has in play.

Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C] [C]
It swims as fast as a jet boat. The edges of its wings are sharp and can slice apart drifting ice.
My Thoughts
Pretty cool. Arctic Summons is powerful; I see it used offensively to bring low-HP Pokemon like Shaymin-EX or Joltik back from the dead only to immediately Lysandre them for a quick and easy kill. On a Stage 2, having an Ability with the same effect as Target Whistle might be bordering on a little too strong, but I am willing to give it a pass just because I'm all for Shaymin hate and this would definitely see play, even as a Bench sitter in other decks.

I like the damage scaling on Turn the Tides. In a 5v3 scenario, you are doing 110 damage, which is pretty average strength for a Stage 2, but Sky Field throws the cap out the window. A surprise Shatter Energy + 8v3 attack yields 230 damage, enough to slaughter even the tankiest Megas. This strategy still jives with Empoleon BREAK, too, in case your opponent starts filling their Bench. Yeah, I like this a lot.

The synergy with Shatter Energy is clear. Arctic Summons not only assists your Bench manipulation game plan but also has utility outside of this specific deck. Empoleon BREAK is a disappointing card on its own and this card, along with Shatter Energy (conveniently paying the third Energy in Turn the Tides's cost, I notice), goes a long way in fixing its viability. Well done.

Wording errors:
General
- Artwork does not go above the name on a card! Remember, just because you are making a text entry does not mean you get to break the rules. You still have to adhere to the same structure that image fakers do. The only reason you are not losing points for this is because artwork is not a required element of a text fake. [-0 points]
Turn the Tides
- In the interest of being consistent with Fight Alone, if your damage conditional is "more pokemon than your opponent" then that should be the metric of damage done instead of suddenly changing it to "fewer Pokemon than your opponent". Either way is fine, just be consistent. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 19/20
(This plus Shatter Energy is just what the doctor ordered. Empoleon BREAK was held back by a frankly worthless base form, and this Empoleon not only keeps your damage consistent regardless of whether or not you're BREAK evolved, but Arctic Summons puts out a BOLO on Shaymin-EX, giving him nowhere to run and giving you an extra edge. Plus, it's Empoleon, one of the best Pokemon to come out of Sinnoh, that yawnfest of a region. What's not to love?)
Wording: 14/15
(No other issues)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(While this gives Empoleon BREAK a new lease on life... it's still a tall ask to get into play. It is still definitely playable though, just because of how strong Arctic Summons is.)
Total: 47/50

Grand Total: 88/100

Shatter Energy - Special Energy

This card provides [C] Energy. When you attach this card from your hand to 1 of your Pokémon BREAK, devolve it by discarding the highest Stage Evolution card from it. (That Pokémon can't evolve this turn.) If you do, heal all damage from that Pokémon.
My Thoughts
You're right, Pokemon BREAK got no support at all during their entire existence, probably because once they realized how much they goofed with Greninja BREAK, they were determined to dumpster this mechanic as fast as possible. Xerneas BREAK and Carbink BREAK were outliers but the overwhelming majority of the ones we got post-BKP were worthless.

Even your Energy doesn't support Pokemon BREAK so much as break them to give their prevo a new lease on life. Which, sure, let's see just how useful it is.

In order for this to be useful at all, the base Pokemon needs to be viable, because you're not going to run an awful Pokemon with a terrible BREAK for the sole purpose of healing said awful Pokemon. You need to take damage and survive the hit, then you need to evolve and attach, in that order. The fact that Shatter Energy triggers on attachment really hurts this card's viability, even though I understand (and actually like) the theming behind it.

A lot of Pokemon BREAK evolve from support Pokemon, like Bronzong, Talonflame, Crobat, and Carbink. I don't think those are worth considering since with the exception of Carbink, none of them are really worth evolving into, and even that's worth more evolved than not.

Out of the viable attackers, you obviously have Greninja at the top of the list. Xerneas is probably next in line after him. I personally used Delphox BREAK so I know that it is at least serviceable, and Zoroark BKT is also worthy of consideration at least. Is a one-time heal worth running a subpar attacker that you have to have specific sequencing to pull off anyway? I don't know. I see cards like Arcanine EVO, which could absolutely benefit from temporarily evolving to rid itself of Scorching Breath's effect, or Raichu BREAK who is at least bulky enough to survive a hit and let you smash something with Circle Circuit again, or Empoleon BREAK who has a good attack but a worthless base form (Dignified Fighter doesn't even help the BREAK!) but like I said, your Energy doesn't support Pokemon BREAK so much as the Pokemon that evolve into them, and those cards are, by and large, terrible.

Wording errors:
General
- No Energy type listed [-1 point]
- Devolving things "by" an action only started in Sun & Moon. In XY, you should devolve it "and discard the highest Stage Evolution card on it." [-1 point]
- The effect of Shatter Energy is mandatory, so saying "if you do" is not required. "Then, heal all damage..." [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 15/20
(Strictly as a means to support Pokemon BREAK, it falls flat, but it could have some saving grace with some lesser known attackers, and of course, it's possible that doof comes up with something to make using an existing Pokemon BREAK sound more appealing.)
Wording: 12/15
(Mostly good here)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Most BREAK Pokemon saw no play and that's because the cards they evolved from all sucked. I could see this improving their chances a slight amount, but people won't be clamoring to dust off their old Pokemon BREAKs even with this card in their arsenal.)
Total: 39/50

* Mod note: User was instructed to pretend Equipment Energy doesn't end your turn when making this fake *

Trubbish – [D] – HP70
Basic Pokémon

NO. 0568 Trash Bag Pokémon HT: 2’ WT: 68.3 lbs.

Ability: Rubbish Enhancer
If this Pokémon has a Pokémon Tool attached, it can evolve during your first turn or the turn you play it.

[C] Tool Swing 20×
Shuffle up to 2 Pokémon Tool cards from your discard pile into your deck. This attack does 20 damage for each Pokémon Tool card you shuffled into your deck in this way.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C] [C]
Its favorite places are unsanitary ones. If you leave trash lying around, you could even find one of these Pokémon living in your room.
My Thoughts
Some notes would have been cool. Otherwise this just looks like a normal Trubbish. The attack is underwhelming, the Ability is decent. And being able to evolve immediately kinda makes the attack even less interesting.

Wording errors:
- Looks good.

Creativity/Originality: 13/20
(Lacks a wow factor.)
Wording: 15/15
(At least you got that going for you)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(No issues.)
Total: 43/50

Grand Total: 82/100

Energy Top 3:

3rd Place: I Like Shorts’s Vengeance Energy, with 45/50 points.
2nd Place: Charmaster’s Silph Scope Energy, with 47/50 points.
1st Place: NinJamezor’s Remnant Energy, with 48/50 points.

Pokemon Top 3:

3rd Place: Charmaster’s Rowlet, with 45/50 points.
2nd Place: NinJamezor’s Weavile, with 46/50 points.
1st Place: doofisconfused’s Empoleon, with 47/50 points.

Overall Top 3:

3rd Place: doofisconfused’s Escape Energy and Empoleon, with 88/100 points.
2nd Place: Charmaster’s Silph Scope Energy and Rowlet, with 92/100 points.
1st Place: Ninjamezor’s Remnant Energy and Weavile, with 94/100 points.

doofisconfused · Sep 3, 2023

oh my gosh, first place??? thanks so much! all of this advice was super useful, and i'm def gonna do more faking in XY and SV! thanks for all of the advice, that must've been painful to write out.

Falling Skies · Sep 3, 2023

To be perfectly honest, the first part of this competition was so long ago that I forgot what I had even submitted for it. I do regret it in the sense that it was a very straightforward approach with a very obvious solution, but given that every single deck except Gardevoir ex currently is built around accelerating energy from the deck right now, I don't think it would be terribly broken, given that you'd need a minimum of four cards to get it set up and for Cramorant or Bench Snipe to not immediately set you back.

I'm glad you liked my Tyrantrum, though; I was quite proud of it. My critical mistake was only looking at scvi cards for wording, that won't happen again. It's unfortunate to have two perfect scores weighed down by wording, but earning my second perfect in creativity and a perfect in playability with a stage 2 fossil is something I can be happy about.

Contest June/July 2023 CaC: Special Energy Swap (All Results Up!)

The Traveler

Aspiring Trainer

Silhouette Gloom of the Sundown Lands

Aspiring Trainer

British Jockey

Attachments

aspiring doof

Faking hard or flailing all around the yard.

Collecting, playing, & making family memories.

Collecting, playing, & making family memories.

Reborn from the flames of glass and ash

Reborn from the flames of glass and ash

Collecting, playing, & making family memories.

#Jovimohnaeliackvid

Silhouette Gloom of the Sundown Lands

#Jovimohnaeliackvid

Silhouette Gloom of the Sundown Lands

Aspiring Trainer

Silhouette Gloom of the Sundown Lands

aspiring doof

The Traveler