Put me in for text this time. I may switch to image if I have the time.
Contest March 2019 CaC: Attack & Defense! (Results Are Up!)
- Thread starter Jabberwock
- Start date
Cheers Vi, but it should be fine. I've put you down for text. ^.^
Thanks Jabs, luck with finding a judge for this one, and when you do find one tell them to go easy on me, yeah? ♡
... :x
Noticed that my Wigglytuff wasn't notice, so here it is again. 
https://www.pokebeach.com/forums/th...ck-defense-sign-ups-open.149512/#post-2982540
https://www.pokebeach.com/forums/th...ck-defense-sign-ups-open.149512/#post-2982540
I'm unbelievably happy with how this turned out! The art is a model from Smash 4 rendered in Unity with some colour adjusments and extra bits and bobs (i.e. highlights on the eyes) to help make the model pop. I probably should have smoothed out the edges so it isn't as polygonial, but ah well.
Although the card doesn't fit the mold of a typical glass cannon, I do think it meets the theme requirements in its own rights. Equity Saber has the potential to retaliate with massive numbers upon withstanding or being KO'd by boosted damage from your opponent, which is the power and fraility of a glass cannon in essence. The attack would affect how your opponent plays, naturally forcing them to either forgo that extra damage, causing Keldeo to be indirectly defensive, or force your opponent into 'glass-cannon' 1-hit KO playstyle if your opponent is up for the challenge. I had initially meant for the Poke-Body to be a Bust-In style effect, but realised much too late that Lv.Xs can only be placed on Active Pokemon, hence the lame and a bit weak Poke-Body. xD
The effects themselves were a nightmare to word; Equity Saber is the third version of a mish-mash of references and the other two versions were just not as succinct. Attack references: Bastiodon MT, Shaymin LV.X, Dusknoir LV.X, Blaziken LV.X, Mr. Mime SV, mostly used to decide how to construct / piece together the effect.
Credits: @AwesomeEevee for the blanks and @aschefield101 for the holosheet!
Here's my entry (and another wall of text known as the Explanation)!
Good luck everyone!
Kartana & Stakataka-GX – Metal – HP240
Basic - TAG TEAM– Ultra Beast
[M][M] Ultra Fortification 10+
This attack does 10 more damage for each damage counter on this Pokémon. You can't add more than 110 damage in this way. You may attach a basic [M] Energy card from your discard pile to this Pokémon. If you do, this Pokémon takes 40 less damage during your opponent’s next turn (before applying Weakness and Resistance).
[M][M][M][C] Revealing Slash 100+
Your opponent reveals their hand. This attack does 20 more damage for each Energy card you find there. Discard 1 of those cards. This Pokémon takes 30 more damage during your opponent’s next turn (after applying Weakness and Resistance).
[M][M][M]+ Slash and Stomp-GX 120+
Choose 1:
Weakness: Fire (x2)
Resistance: Psychic (-20)
Retreat: [C][C][C]
TAG TEAM Rule: When your TAG TEAM is knocked out, your opponent takes 3 Prizes.
Basic - TAG TEAM– Ultra Beast
[M][M] Ultra Fortification 10+
This attack does 10 more damage for each damage counter on this Pokémon. You can't add more than 110 damage in this way. You may attach a basic [M] Energy card from your discard pile to this Pokémon. If you do, this Pokémon takes 40 less damage during your opponent’s next turn (before applying Weakness and Resistance).
[M][M][M][C] Revealing Slash 100+
Your opponent reveals their hand. This attack does 20 more damage for each Energy card you find there. Discard 1 of those cards. This Pokémon takes 30 more damage during your opponent’s next turn (after applying Weakness and Resistance).
[M][M][M]+ Slash and Stomp-GX 120+
Choose 1:
- Remove an Energy attached to your opponent’s Active Pokémon and add it to their Prize cards face down. If you do, this attack does 40 more damage.
- Do 10 damage for every Prize card your opponent has taken to all Benched Pokémon (both yours and your opponent’s). (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) This Pokémon takes 80 less damage during your opponent’s next turn (before applying Weakness and Resistance).
Weakness: Fire (x2)
Resistance: Psychic (-20)
Retreat: [C][C][C]
TAG TEAM Rule: When your TAG TEAM is knocked out, your opponent takes 3 Prizes.
Like some other participants, I decided to go for both Attack and Defence. And what better than two Ultra Beasts which represent those and happen to be the same type? Kartana, the deadly, but frail Beast stands at 1’ tall by the hulking 18’ wall of bricks, Stakataka, who’s prepared to protect its tiny friend. Like I said before, unlike most, I love the idea of Ultra Beasts, which is why I decided to focus on them. After seeing the Buzzwole & Pheromosa Team, I knew I had to do another Beast Team!
Let’s start with its 240 HP. I went with the lower end of HP for Tag Teams for 2 reasons: (1) Kartana is involved, known for being frail and (2) surprisingly, Stakataka cards generally have mid-HP for Ultra Beasts (180HP for the GX and only 120 for the regular, if Ability is not active). Since that was the case and the card itself can reduce incoming damage (and all the Metal support in recent sets), I decided on 240. I’ve given it 3 [C] as the retreat cost because that’s what Stakataka-GX had. I know the regular Stakataka has 4 [C], but given the fact that Kartana is also involved, I decided on 3, which is still quite significant.
“Ultra Fortification” went through many revisions before I was happy with it. At first, it did no damage, cost [M][C] and reduced damage by 50. Then I reduced the defensive effect, and added damage based on amount of [M] energy attached to the card (to directly link it with one of the effects of the attack). However, then I imagined that the Stakataka shakes off debris created by damage to its body from battle and thought that it makes more sense for the damage to be based on damage counters. However, I realised that if that is uncapped, K&S would be capable of dealing 230 damage for just 2 [M]. Therefore, I added the 120 HP cap (half of the total HP representing Stakataka being half of this card). While for the majority of the game “Ultra Fortification” will be used more as a defensive, energy accelerating attack, it can also deal a lot of damage later on if you are unsure if the opponent has any energy in their hand.
“Revealing Slash” represents Kartana’s contribution to the card. It has modest damage for such an expensive attack but has potential for a lot more. It also allows you to remove an energy from your opponent’s hand which has many benefits but also a drawback: next turn, this attack will most likely be weaker, since there is one less energy in your opponent’s hand. All of this comes at a cost however; the following turn, this Pokémon takes more damage, since Kartana is out from under Stakataka’s protective body. The name has a double meaning too; it’s revealing because the opponent reveals their hand, but also the card’s weakness is revealed, hence why it takes more damage. I decided on 30 more damage, to mirror a Choice Band, or to nullify something like Metal Frying Pan or Metal Goggles. As it is easy to see, this attack was aimed to be the offensive attack of this Team.
Finally, the GX attack! Another one which went through many changes. While the card’s first attack focussed on Stakataka and the second one focussed on Kartana, I decided to make the Slash & Stomp-GX attack a combination of both; if you don’t have the extra energy attached, you decide whether Kartana or Stakataka take the lead, but if you have the extra energy, you can unleash both Beasts at once! I decided on 120 damage, since it is quite decent for 3 Energy, but the secondary effects make up for its lack of primary damage output.
The first effect represents Kartana; the GX from Crimson Invasion had an ability which removed an opponent’s special energy when it was played down. This is similar as it still involves removing an energy. However, it links back to the Ultra Beast gimmick of having attacks interact with Prizes. The “If you do” clause was added to balance the attack a bit; if the Defending Pokémon did not have an Energy attached (therefore not as dangerous as ones with Energy), then the attack would not do the extra damage. This effect is what represents the “Attack” part of the card.
The second effect represents Stakataka; its hulking, heavy body causing the ground to tremor and damage Benched Pokémon but providing defence. Its initial version did 20 damage flat to all Benched Pokémon and only reduced incoming damage by 60. However, I altered the damage to be dependent on prizes (to link it to the UB gimmick) and make it potentially worth choosing over the first effect in certain situations. The damage reduction was increased to 80 because for a GX attack, 60 didn’t seem enough; especially if the move was used without 5 [M] Energy attached. At the time, “Ultra Fortification” reduced damage by 50, so 60 being only 10 more, definitely did not look like enough. This effect represents the “Defence” part of this card.
Finally, the extra energy clause necessary for Tag Teams; at first, it said “If this Pokémon has at least 2 extra [M] Energy attached (in addition to this attack’s cost), choose both.”, but that felt wrong because it would be forcing the player to harm their Benched Pokemon; which sometimes may not be ideal, especially if there is another, damaged K&S TTGX sat on there. This is why I added the “you may” clause. As you can see, I also altered the extra energy cost; this is to represent the fact that you may count these as two separate attacks, therefore doubling the cost in any type of energy seemed fairer than just adding 2 [M] (or 1 if you already had 4 for “Revealing Slash”). By being any energy, this also opens possibilities of using DCE or the upcoming Triple Boost Energy card to get the additional effect.
Let’s start with its 240 HP. I went with the lower end of HP for Tag Teams for 2 reasons: (1) Kartana is involved, known for being frail and (2) surprisingly, Stakataka cards generally have mid-HP for Ultra Beasts (180HP for the GX and only 120 for the regular, if Ability is not active). Since that was the case and the card itself can reduce incoming damage (and all the Metal support in recent sets), I decided on 240. I’ve given it 3 [C] as the retreat cost because that’s what Stakataka-GX had. I know the regular Stakataka has 4 [C], but given the fact that Kartana is also involved, I decided on 3, which is still quite significant.
“Ultra Fortification” went through many revisions before I was happy with it. At first, it did no damage, cost [M][C] and reduced damage by 50. Then I reduced the defensive effect, and added damage based on amount of [M] energy attached to the card (to directly link it with one of the effects of the attack). However, then I imagined that the Stakataka shakes off debris created by damage to its body from battle and thought that it makes more sense for the damage to be based on damage counters. However, I realised that if that is uncapped, K&S would be capable of dealing 230 damage for just 2 [M]. Therefore, I added the 120 HP cap (half of the total HP representing Stakataka being half of this card). While for the majority of the game “Ultra Fortification” will be used more as a defensive, energy accelerating attack, it can also deal a lot of damage later on if you are unsure if the opponent has any energy in their hand.
“Revealing Slash” represents Kartana’s contribution to the card. It has modest damage for such an expensive attack but has potential for a lot more. It also allows you to remove an energy from your opponent’s hand which has many benefits but also a drawback: next turn, this attack will most likely be weaker, since there is one less energy in your opponent’s hand. All of this comes at a cost however; the following turn, this Pokémon takes more damage, since Kartana is out from under Stakataka’s protective body. The name has a double meaning too; it’s revealing because the opponent reveals their hand, but also the card’s weakness is revealed, hence why it takes more damage. I decided on 30 more damage, to mirror a Choice Band, or to nullify something like Metal Frying Pan or Metal Goggles. As it is easy to see, this attack was aimed to be the offensive attack of this Team.
Finally, the GX attack! Another one which went through many changes. While the card’s first attack focussed on Stakataka and the second one focussed on Kartana, I decided to make the Slash & Stomp-GX attack a combination of both; if you don’t have the extra energy attached, you decide whether Kartana or Stakataka take the lead, but if you have the extra energy, you can unleash both Beasts at once! I decided on 120 damage, since it is quite decent for 3 Energy, but the secondary effects make up for its lack of primary damage output.
The first effect represents Kartana; the GX from Crimson Invasion had an ability which removed an opponent’s special energy when it was played down. This is similar as it still involves removing an energy. However, it links back to the Ultra Beast gimmick of having attacks interact with Prizes. The “If you do” clause was added to balance the attack a bit; if the Defending Pokémon did not have an Energy attached (therefore not as dangerous as ones with Energy), then the attack would not do the extra damage. This effect is what represents the “Attack” part of the card.
The second effect represents Stakataka; its hulking, heavy body causing the ground to tremor and damage Benched Pokémon but providing defence. Its initial version did 20 damage flat to all Benched Pokémon and only reduced incoming damage by 60. However, I altered the damage to be dependent on prizes (to link it to the UB gimmick) and make it potentially worth choosing over the first effect in certain situations. The damage reduction was increased to 80 because for a GX attack, 60 didn’t seem enough; especially if the move was used without 5 [M] Energy attached. At the time, “Ultra Fortification” reduced damage by 50, so 60 being only 10 more, definitely did not look like enough. This effect represents the “Defence” part of this card.
Finally, the extra energy clause necessary for Tag Teams; at first, it said “If this Pokémon has at least 2 extra [M] Energy attached (in addition to this attack’s cost), choose both.”, but that felt wrong because it would be forcing the player to harm their Benched Pokemon; which sometimes may not be ideal, especially if there is another, damaged K&S TTGX sat on there. This is why I added the “you may” clause. As you can see, I also altered the extra energy cost; this is to represent the fact that you may count these as two separate attacks, therefore doubling the cost in any type of energy seemed fairer than just adding 2 [M] (or 1 if you already had 4 for “Revealing Slash”). By being any energy, this also opens possibilities of using DCE or the upcoming Triple Boost Energy card to get the additional effect.
Good luck everyone!
Ferrothorn-GX - Metal/Grass - HP210
Stage 1 - Evolves from Ferroseed
Ability: Iron Barbs
If this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon and is damaged by an opponent's attack (even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out), put 4 damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon.
(M)(M)(C) Iron Bash 80+
This attack does 30 more damage for each (M) Energy attached to this Pokémon.
(M)(M)(G)(G) Vine Snare-GX 150
This attack does 50 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) (You can't use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: Fire (×2)
Resistance: Psychic (-20)
Retreat: [C][C][C]
Pokémon-GX rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Stage 1 - Evolves from Ferroseed
Ability: Iron Barbs
If this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon and is damaged by an opponent's attack (even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out), put 4 damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon.
(M)(M)(C) Iron Bash 80+
This attack does 30 more damage for each (M) Energy attached to this Pokémon.
(M)(M)(G)(G) Vine Snare-GX 150
This attack does 50 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) (You can't use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: Fire (×2)
Resistance: Psychic (-20)
Retreat: [C][C][C]
Pokémon-GX rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Last edited:
Twas my entryFerrothorn-GX - Metal/Grass - HP210
Stage 1 - Evolves from Ferroseed
Ability: Iron Barbs
If this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon and is damaged by an opponent's attack (even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out), put 4 damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon.
(M)(M)(C) Iron Bash 80+
This attack does 30 more damage for each (M) Energy attached to this Pokémon.
(M)(M)(G)(G) Vine Snare-GX 150
This attack does 50 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) (You can't use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: Fire (×2)
Resistance: Psychic (-20)
Retreat: [C][C][C]
There are just over four days remaining to get your entries in!
In for text
Basically count me in for image. It's been 73 months since my last (and first) CaC...
design notes:
The Lunatone text-fake below is intended to be a card that complements Solrock and takes the latter's viability to the next level:
Card references: White Kyurem (LOT 63), Aegislash (TEU 109), Yveltal (TEU 95), Alolan Marowak (CIN 12), Latios (SM136). I would list a reference for healing for each specific Benched Pokemon, but I'm afraid no such precedent of it exists. It's a mishmash of a) heal x damage from this Pokémon [Vaporeon-GX (SM172)]; amd b) for each Benched [Plusle (CES 53)]. Apologies if some references seemed pointless. Also, Ferrothorn (TEU 103) for the fonts; some cards use a slightly smaller font to fit in more text (with the exception of a few cards like Yveltal TEU listed above, which uses it for no apparent reason).
Credits to:
Best of luck to all others competing, and I'm so glad to be back here!
design notes:
- Synergy with Wela Volcano Park (DRM 63) for trapping Burned Pokemon is the basis of this card.
- Fairly standard basic info for Solrock: 90 HP is the higher end for it, [G] weakness is par for most [F] type Solrock, retreat cost is a fairly standard 2.
- Its key niche (and in my opinion, the creative calling card): its Ability, which (1) mimics the effects of burns in the video games, which no TCG cards I've found actually do so, and (2) possesses defensive synergy with a Lunatone (I have a text-based Lunatone fake at the end of this post).
- The attack does a weak 40 damage, but comes with some useful defensive effects, including a conditional one. This is the synergistic link between the attack and the Ability, allowing it to set up a decent Burn trap.
- After contemplating between [F][C] and [F][C][C], I found the latter too clunky to make it decently viable as a defensive Pokémon. As a card that effectively requires 2 different types of Basic energy to achieve its full effect, including a discard clause, I believed that a lower energy cost was justified.
- The card is not invulnerable, as it is OHKOed by even a Burned Pikarom-GX due to its low HP total. Top tier decks play around its Burn trapping strategy by using cards for switching, like Switch and Guzma, as well as switching Abilities such as Tapu Koko-GX.
The Lunatone text-fake below is intended to be a card that complements Solrock and takes the latter's viability to the next level:
Lunatone - Fighting - HP90
Basic Pokémon
NO. 337 | Meteorite Pokémon | HT: 3'03 | WT: 370.4 lbs
(Ability) Cosmic Power
Your Solrock in play get +20 HP.
[P][C] Eclipse 30
If you have any Solrock on your Bench, you may discard a Stadium card in play. If you do, search your deck for a Stadium card and put it into play. Shuffle your deck afterward.
Weakness: [G] x2
Resistance:
Retreat Cost: 2
Because it turns active on nights of the full moon, it is said to have some link to the lunar phases.
Basic Pokémon
NO. 337 | Meteorite Pokémon | HT: 3'03 | WT: 370.4 lbs
(Ability) Cosmic Power
Your Solrock in play get +20 HP.
[P][C] Eclipse 30
If you have any Solrock on your Bench, you may discard a Stadium card in play. If you do, search your deck for a Stadium card and put it into play. Shuffle your deck afterward.
Weakness: [G] x2
Resistance:
Retreat Cost: 2
Because it turns active on nights of the full moon, it is said to have some link to the lunar phases.
Card references: White Kyurem (LOT 63), Aegislash (TEU 109), Yveltal (TEU 95), Alolan Marowak (CIN 12), Latios (SM136). I would list a reference for healing for each specific Benched Pokemon, but I'm afraid no such precedent of it exists. It's a mishmash of a) heal x damage from this Pokémon [Vaporeon-GX (SM172)]; amd b) for each Benched [Plusle (CES 53)]. Apologies if some references seemed pointless. Also, Ferrothorn (TEU 103) for the fonts; some cards use a slightly smaller font to fit in more text (with the exception of a few cards like Yveltal TEU listed above, which uses it for no apparent reason).
Credits to:
- bogeymankurt for the awesome Solrock render!
- Flo Maderebner for this high quality, royalty-free background (so good it deserved a credit!)! The bird in the image is covered by Solrock.
- @aschefield101 for the amazing suite of blanks and holosheets!
Best of luck to all others competing, and I'm so glad to be back here!
Okay guys grab your sword and shield here comes my entry for this contest:
Attack or Defense, Confused or Paralyzed
reference:
Attack or Defense, Confused or Paralyzed
Deoxys HP: 110 [P]
Basic
[Ability] ATGC Changer
Once during your turn (before you attack), if this Pokémon is your active you may leave this Pokémon Confused, asleep Paralyzed or Paralyzed (this Pokémon is Paralyzed this status condition is not removed when either player end their turn). If this Pokémon is Confused its attacks do 50 more damage. If this Pokémon is paralyzed its HP is now 200. If this Pokémon is asleep draw once during your turn 2 cards.
[P][C] Double helix strike 80-
If you used this Pokémon’s ATGC Changer ability during your turn, this Pokémon can attack if it’s Paralyzed or Asleep. If this Pokémon is confused and you flip a coin if it is tails put 3 damage counter on your opponents active Pokémon instead of this Pokémon (this attack does not fail). If this Pokémon is Paralyzed its attacks do 20 less damage
Weakness: -
Resistance: -
Retreat: [C][C]
Basic
[Ability] ATGC Changer
Once during your turn (before you attack), if this Pokémon is your active you may leave this Pokémon Confused, asleep Paralyzed or Paralyzed (this Pokémon is Paralyzed this status condition is not removed when either player end their turn). If this Pokémon is Confused its attacks do 50 more damage. If this Pokémon is paralyzed its HP is now 200. If this Pokémon is asleep draw once during your turn 2 cards.
[P][C] Double helix strike 80-
If you used this Pokémon’s ATGC Changer ability during your turn, this Pokémon can attack if it’s Paralyzed or Asleep. If this Pokémon is confused and you flip a coin if it is tails put 3 damage counter on your opponents active Pokémon instead of this Pokémon (this attack does not fail). If this Pokémon is Paralyzed its attacks do 20 less damage
Weakness: -
Resistance: -
Retreat: [C][C]
About this card and how I came up with it. well first of all the theme of this contest (Attack & Defense) there were 2 Pokémon that came immediately to my mind with this theme, Aegislash (quite an easy one) and Deoxys (especially the kanto forms if your red the manga). with these 2 Pokémon in mind I stated thinking about fun attacks/abilitys that could be intresting in todays format. After some time I decided to go with Deoxys (mainly because todays biology lesson was about DNA).
let me first explain the ability name and attack. both names are references to DNA. the nitrogen-containing nucleobases (cytosine [C], guanine [G], adenine [A] or thymine [T]) for the ability and the Double helix for the attack.
For the abillity I took inspiration from Yu-Gi-Oh with its defence and attack position mechanic. For this I used the status conditions to define the different forms of Deoxys( no status= normal form, Confused = attack form, Paralyzed= Defense form and Asleep for its speed form. while Confused you get a nice bonus on your attack and if you are lucky with you coin flip you get an additional 30 on your opponent active instead of yours. when Paralized you get a whopping 90 HP more and you can still attack but you have to sacrifice 20 damage from your attack If you are Asleep you can draw 2 card from your deck to give your hand a nice speed boost.
Well then thats all for now I hope you all liked my card.
let me first explain the ability name and attack. both names are references to DNA. the nitrogen-containing nucleobases (cytosine [C], guanine [G], adenine [A] or thymine [T]) for the ability and the Double helix for the attack.
For the abillity I took inspiration from Yu-Gi-Oh with its defence and attack position mechanic. For this I used the status conditions to define the different forms of Deoxys( no status= normal form, Confused = attack form, Paralyzed= Defense form and Asleep for its speed form. while Confused you get a nice bonus on your attack and if you are lucky with you coin flip you get an additional 30 on your opponent active instead of yours. when Paralized you get a whopping 90 HP more and you can still attack but you have to sacrifice 20 damage from your attack If you are Asleep you can draw 2 card from your deck to give your hand a nice speed boost.
Well then thats all for now I hope you all liked my card.
Good afternoon!
I had already made the card but I couldn't post it yesterday because of reasons but HERE'S MY ENTRY.
We have a lot of entries this month, I'm happy to see the CaC growing
Thanks and until next time o/
I had already made the card but I couldn't post it yesterday because of reasons but HERE'S MY ENTRY.
I'm usually a defensive kind of player so, to change things a little bit, I chose to ATTACK in this Contest!
My Pokémon of choice is Haxorus, because I love Unova and until two days ago (?), we didn't have a Haxorus card since XY Breakthrough (!). Looks like the energy types used by it changed in SM but my card was already made and, well, I hope this isn't a problem.
By choosing to attack, we were supposed to do a glass cannon archetype, so nothing better than a giant axe to reflect that: it gives your a very strong attack, but leaves you vulnerable if you miss. With Guillotine Tusks, Haxorus has the option to go all-out and intantly defeat the Defending Pokémon, at the cost of taking no actions in the next turn, or wait two turns to do it, at the risk of being Knocked Out and miss the second shot.
Theoretically, Haxorus is the ideal wallbreaker with its Ability and attack. Stall cards with lots of HP would be defeated more easily, and since they have a high Retreat Cost, if the opponent isn't prepared with mechanisms to switch their Pokémon (almost?) every turn they'll face a Living Axe shattering their defenses!
The only reference I remember using is Beautifly from Lost Thunder (in the attack). I've consulted others but I don't remember them, sorry >.>
My Pokémon of choice is Haxorus, because I love Unova and until two days ago (?), we didn't have a Haxorus card since XY Breakthrough (!). Looks like the energy types used by it changed in SM but my card was already made and, well, I hope this isn't a problem.
By choosing to attack, we were supposed to do a glass cannon archetype, so nothing better than a giant axe to reflect that: it gives your a very strong attack, but leaves you vulnerable if you miss. With Guillotine Tusks, Haxorus has the option to go all-out and intantly defeat the Defending Pokémon, at the cost of taking no actions in the next turn, or wait two turns to do it, at the risk of being Knocked Out and miss the second shot.
Theoretically, Haxorus is the ideal wallbreaker with its Ability and attack. Stall cards with lots of HP would be defeated more easily, and since they have a high Retreat Cost, if the opponent isn't prepared with mechanisms to switch their Pokémon (almost?) every turn they'll face a Living Axe shattering their defenses!
The only reference I remember using is Beautifly from Lost Thunder (in the attack). I've consulted others but I don't remember them, sorry >.>
We have a lot of entries this month, I'm happy to see the CaC growing
Thanks and until next time o/
My entry! My entry is the Escavalier.
Escavalier-GX – Metal – HP240
Stage 1 – Evolves from Karrablast
NO. 589 Cavalry Pokémon HT: 3'03" WT: 72.8 lbs.
Ability: Iron Heart
Once during your turn (before you attack) you may use this ability. During your opponent’s next turn, your Pokémon take 30 less damage from attacks. If you do, put 4 damage counters on this Pokémon (after applying Weakness and Resistance).
[M][M][M] Jousts of the Kings: 140 damage. Choose 1:
• Attach 2 [M] Energy from your discard pile to your Pokémon in any way you like.
• Switch this Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon. If you do, attach a [M] Energy card from your discard pile to the new active Pokémon.
[M][M][M] Shield of Nobility GX: 170 damage. You may discard 2 Energy from this Pokémon. If you do, prevent all damage done to this Pokémon by attacks during your opponent’s next turn. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [R] x2
Resistance: [P] -20
Retreat: [C][C][C]
These Pokémon evolve by wearing the shell covering of a Shelmet. The steel armor protects their whole body.
Stage 1 – Evolves from Karrablast
NO. 589 Cavalry Pokémon HT: 3'03" WT: 72.8 lbs.
Ability: Iron Heart
Once during your turn (before you attack) you may use this ability. During your opponent’s next turn, your Pokémon take 30 less damage from attacks. If you do, put 4 damage counters on this Pokémon (after applying Weakness and Resistance).
[M][M][M] Jousts of the Kings: 140 damage. Choose 1:
• Attach 2 [M] Energy from your discard pile to your Pokémon in any way you like.
• Switch this Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon. If you do, attach a [M] Energy card from your discard pile to the new active Pokémon.
[M][M][M] Shield of Nobility GX: 170 damage. You may discard 2 Energy from this Pokémon. If you do, prevent all damage done to this Pokémon by attacks during your opponent’s next turn. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [R] x2
Resistance: [P] -20
Retreat: [C][C][C]
These Pokémon evolve by wearing the shell covering of a Shelmet. The steel armor protects their whole body.
Accelgor-GX – Grass – HP190
Stage 1 – Evolves from Shelmet
NO. 617 Shell Out Pokémon HT: 2'07" WT: 55.8 lbs.
Ability: Sacrifice of the Noble
Once during your turn (before you attack) you may use this ability. During this turn, your Pokémon’s attacks do 80 more damage to your opponent’s active Pokémon. If you do, at the end of your opponent’s next turn, this Pokémon is knocked out. You cannot use more than one ‘Sacrifice of the Noble’ ability during your turn.
[G][C] Illusions of the Ninja: 50 damage. If this Pokémon used the ability ‘Sacrifice of the Noble’ during this turn, you may shuffle this Pokémon and all cards attached to it into your deck.
[G][C] Final Fight GX: If your opponent’s active Pokémon’s maximum HP is higher than this Pokémon’s maximum HP, this attack does 50 damage to each of your opponent’s Pokémon (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon). If not, this attack does 30 damage to each of your opponent’s Pokémon (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon). (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [R] x2
Resistance:
Retreat:
When its body dries out, it weakens. So, to prevent dehydration, it wraps itself in many layers of thin membrane.
Stage 1 – Evolves from Shelmet
NO. 617 Shell Out Pokémon HT: 2'07" WT: 55.8 lbs.
Ability: Sacrifice of the Noble
Once during your turn (before you attack) you may use this ability. During this turn, your Pokémon’s attacks do 80 more damage to your opponent’s active Pokémon. If you do, at the end of your opponent’s next turn, this Pokémon is knocked out. You cannot use more than one ‘Sacrifice of the Noble’ ability during your turn.
[G][C] Illusions of the Ninja: 50 damage. If this Pokémon used the ability ‘Sacrifice of the Noble’ during this turn, you may shuffle this Pokémon and all cards attached to it into your deck.
[G][C] Final Fight GX: If your opponent’s active Pokémon’s maximum HP is higher than this Pokémon’s maximum HP, this attack does 50 damage to each of your opponent’s Pokémon (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon). If not, this attack does 30 damage to each of your opponent’s Pokémon (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon). (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [R] x2
Resistance:
Retreat:
When its body dries out, it weakens. So, to prevent dehydration, it wraps itself in many layers of thin membrane.
So, as soon as I saw the theme I knew I had to do Accelgor and Escavalier. I mean, it's a match made in heaven. It took some time for me to find what I wanted to do, but I think they turned out OK. I really like the ability, and the 'choose 1' attack is quite unique. The Accelgor was just for fun to go along with it. Enjoy!
None for Accelgor as it was just for fun
Escavalier: Ability: Aegislash TEU, Incineroar-GX TEU
Attack: Tate and Liza CES, Lunala <> UPR, Malamar FLI
GX Attack: Alolan Sandshrew GRI, Tapu Bulu-GX SMPR
Escavalier: Ability: Aegislash TEU, Incineroar-GX TEU
Attack: Tate and Liza CES, Lunala <> UPR, Malamar FLI
GX Attack: Alolan Sandshrew GRI, Tapu Bulu-GX SMPR
Deadline was 5 hours ago, but I was out of the house Dx
Stay tuned for results at the end of April!
Per our precedent, we'll still take this entry despite it being after the deadline since you managed to get it up before any of us noted the deadline passing. ^.^
Stay tuned for results at the end of April!
Thanks for allowing the entry Jabber. I just realised that this card is extremely overpowered as I forgot to put 'You cannot use more than 1 Iron Heart ability during your turn'. I know it'll be marked as it is, but to anyone reading it otherwise that's what it's meant to read.
Sorry if this seems impatient but, any word on the progress of judging?
Image-Based Results
Judge: @Jabberwock
This round had so many excellent entries; it was a pleasure to judge. 1st and 2nd were particularly close. It amused me in particular that we had a nearly even split of DPPt to SUM in this competition. It’s good to see y’all branching out with your faking expertise into other areas, and to new design space within areas of more comfort.
Keep it up.
~~Jabberwock
Howdy KoD! It’s been a little while; nice to see ya back. A LV.X is an interesting place to start off with. Seems like there’s been quite a lot of DPPt love in the faking community lately –– which is a p good thing, imo. It’s an era with a lot of fun mechanics and room for creativity.
This one has some interesting design space whilst being thematically very clearly a Wobbuffet. That’s not an easy balance to strike! It’s got the whole not-directly-attacking thing that so evokes the Pokémon (and, might I add, the theme for the month), but in a way that TPCi hasn’t done before with Wobb. And yet, it also ties in, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to Wobbuffet DP, the card it’d presumably Level-Up from. I’d suggest in the future looking at entirely new ways to “endure” an attack, since Endure has absolutely been seen before plenty of times in the TCG, but overall nice creativity there.
As an aside about power levels, the amount of damage Dummy prevents could probably be increased a bit, given (as a reference) Scizor SF. It’s just that there isn’t much of a difference between reducing 20 damage and reducing 30, when the Pokémon is already 40 HP away from being Knocked Out. I also wouldn’t increase it by more than 10, though, so you get plausible deniability or something for this.
Love the art. The highlights and shadows could potentially be exaggerated a bit more, but in general it’s very in keeping with LV.X style.
One note about Weakness –– no LV.X has ever had less than +30 Weakness. This makes it a bit unusual to go for +20, even if the Pokémon has an unusual Defense mechanic like Wobbuffet. Cautious point from Believability for this.
Wording errors:
- Need to clarify “damage done to Wobbuffet by attacks”, as per cards like Kakuna RR. [-2 points]
- Reference Scizor SF for the second part of the Poké-Body. The “instead” part is correct, though; that part should be kept. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- There’s a weird kerning thing with the Futura std Heavy font that puts consecutive 1s farther apart than they appear on Pokémon cards. As such, when doing HP or damage in the 100s, especially 110, the first 1 needs to be on a separate layer and manually nudged closer to the other numerals. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(Neat design space, but Endure has been seen too often before.)
Wording: 11/15
(A couple errors in the Poké-Body.)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(One minor error.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(+20 Weakness.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(I like it!)
Total: 39/50
I like the slight variations you take on SUM-era mechanics to fit in all your different wallpapers, steff.
This one basically feels like a LV.X except (I guess) differently named so as to let you run 4 of each in a deck. Or, in other words, a vertical BREAK with multiple attacks. It’s not out of the question that PCL would do this; in fact, I’d consider it very likely, given their penchant for reusing mechanics. It’s just not overly exciting, I suppose.
Diamond Defense is interesting in that it’s got the conditional boosted effect thing, but I wish there was more of a connection to the theme with the attack. I know the idea behind it is that the Ability allows you to wall very effectively while you set something up, but that’s not really Defense so much as stalling for a bit while you set up an attacker.
What I do really like is the deliberate connection to other cards. The makings of a combo are all right there, with the references to Carbink, Diancie, and Fairy Dust. That’s a neat idea.
A note about the Aesthetics –– the Outer Glow thing in lieu of a Stroke could potentially work out, but it’s weird when most of the things on the card have the glow but the attack damage and attack cost icons have a stroke. Think that was probably an oversight.
Wording errors:
- Should have an “instead” for the second part of the Ability to clarify that it reduces by only 60, and not 90 (60 plus the other 30 that’s always there). [-2 point]
- You actually shouldn’t need the quote marks around “Fairy Dust”. The reason they’re on Tapu Lele LOT is because it says “with ‘Fairy Charm’ in its name”, because that’s a variety of cards that aren’t simply called “Fairy Charm”. Same goes for Apricorn Maker. On the other hand, for a card that references another card explicitly, you just use the name of that card, sans quotes. See Garchomp ULP and Metagross CES for reference. [-1 point]
- Don’t need to specify “basic [Y] Energy” on account of the fact that Special Energy can’t be [Y] unless they’re already attached to a Pokémon. Since they’re in your deck, the only [Y] Energy you can search for are basic by definition. [-2 points]
- I’m not docking for this, mainly because I made the same mistake the last time you submitted a Mega Pokémon, but the second sentence of the “Mega rule” uses “this Pokémon” twice where SUM-era wording indicates you would replace the second with “it”. Keep it in mind for next time, though. ^.^
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Placements look fairly eyeballed –– not egregiously so, but noticeably. I did a quick check against an official scan at 50% opacity and noticed that a) the attack names are too far to the right and b) the attack text is a bit too low relative to the cost icons and name. Docking a blanket [-3 points] for this and for lack of Justified text.
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(I like the references to other cards, but there’s little else that’s exciting about the effects.)
Wording: 10/15
(A few errors.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(Eyeballing.)
Believability/Playability: 3/5
(Damage reduction in combination with 180 HP makes this effectively a 240-HP Stage 1 that gives up 1 Prize and can easily accelerate its partners. Defense taken a bit to extreme here, given that 110 damage (with Fairy Dust, plus the accel) ain’t too shabby by itself.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Weird split between glow and stroke for text and icons.)
Total: 33/50
Ohman. I feel like I gotta address the aesthetics first, cos you definitely weren’t kidding when you said they were wild. I’ve actually never seen anything done quite like this on a fake before, so I wish I was able to give you some sort of “creative aesthetics” points for it. The closest thing I can compare it to is like, a glitchy Missingno. card (y’know the sort of thing I’m talking about, plenty of fakers have made them), but this isn’t quite that because it’s not just wanton visual vomit. The whole schematic of the thing, the colors especially, works really well. It does remind me of the SLG secret rare Mewtwo, but in its own right. I especially like the red/blue dichotomy; dunno if that was intentional or not but it’s a nice reference.
There’s one thing about the aesthetics I’m less of a fan of, and that’s that it’s very bright, in a glare-y sort of way. Like, the sheer contrast between the lights and darks makes it a little hard to look at. I think this could be mitigated somewhat with careful texturing, though.
Gather Psyche is interesting from a design standpoint. I can imagine it being a great attack for the very early game just to get an Alpha Ray off on Turn 2 against slower decks. Think it’d have less utility beyond that, but I guess it does help the card function as a repeated nuke against stall decks.
Alpha Ray and Calamity Blaster aren’t terribly creative by themselves; the effects are nothing particularly new. Calamity Blaster is just Tauros’s GX attack with a less efficient cost. Still like the close consideration of the theme.
Wording errors:
- In SUM, you discard Energy “from” a Pokémon, not “attached to” a Pokémon. [-2 points]
- As was discussed in-thread last month, cards that hit themselves for Weakness need a clarification if they are not meant to do so. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks fine.
Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(Some nice design space, but am concerned by the latter two attacks not having much in the way of original effects.)
Wording: 11/15
(A couple things to watch.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(On point.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Balancing seems fine. I could see it.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Cautious point for the stark dark/light contrast. Still, astounding aesthetics.)
Total: 40/50
Huh. This card’s a weird one. The aesthetics strike me first; the holosheet, on the one hand, is well executed, but the art feels like it could use a fair bit more fine-tuning. I know this was from a while ago and you can do a lot more with rendering now, but one of my main concerns about it is just that it’s trying to do too much. There are five Pokémon in the frame, and they all appear as roughly the same size, so that the only clue you have as to which Pokémon the card is actually of is the fact that Machamp is in the center. Think the art could be better off without the other four Pokémon in it.
However, I love the text of the card. Superplex is a great take on a never-before-used part of a Pokémon card, and works as a nice tie-in to the wrestling sport and culture that Machamp is based on. I wouldn’t call it overpowered, either, as Machamp SF was able to take Knock Outs pretty easily and this isn’t particularly better.
Second Wind is also pretty cool, and lets you abuse Expert Belt (more thematic tie-ins lol). It’s neat in that you can choose to sacrifice the two Prizes, or not, on your own terms based on the state of the game. I like that mechanic a lot.
The adherence to the theme isn’t quite as devout as I’d like it to be, seeing as it’s got a fair amount of defensive capability as well as clearly being an attacker, but I guess the Poké-Body coupled with the Paralysis aspect of the attack outweighs the potential for a fringe Knock Out on Pokémon-SP and LV.Xs, and makes it a defensive card.
Wording errors:
- Second Wind should actually be a Poké-Power, not a Body, and start with "Once during your opponent's turn ...". Take a look at cards like Jirachi RR or Shedinja LA. [-4 points]
- “Knocked Out”. Both words capitalized. I’m amused by the fact that the capitalization doesn’t appear the same way twice on this card despite the phrase appearing three times. [-2 points]
- Need "instead" after "becomes 10". [-1 point]
- In Superplex, wherever it refers to "the Defending Pokémon" twice in a sentence, the second usage should be "that Pokémon". [-2 points]
- If it was me, I’d probably reword Superplex to refer to “the Defending Pokémon’s weight” rather than to check if “the Defending Pokémon weighs”, but there’s barely any precedent to say which is correct, so not docking here.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Spacing is weird on Superplex. There’s vastly more space between it and the Poké-Body than between it and the Illustrator credit bar. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Love Superplex.)
Wording: 6/15
(Quite a few errors.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/10
(A spacing thing.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(I don’t see anything wrong with this.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Unsure about the art, but nice holosheet.)
Total: 35/50
How crazy that I ended up judging this and the card it Levels-Up from in the reverse order of their creation. xD
Aight, now. I really like this card for a number of reasons. In terms of Aesthetics, it’s just beautiful. The lighting and shadows are such that it really gives off a LV.X vibe, and the background in particular meshes with the color palette of the whole thing really well. I do have a slight concern (which you touched on in your OP) with the “polygon-ness” of the hooves, but it’s not such a problem that I’d dock for it here. Full marks for Aesthetics.
Impromptu I love in theory, but it seems like it’s not being taken full advantage of here. It’s only helpful in that it makes it more convenient to Level-Up Keldeo, but you still want Keldeo in the Active position at some point (it’s an attacker, after all), so even that ends up doing very little. I reckon you could absolutely get away with a Bust In-type thing, either something along the lines of Arcanine EVO’s Burning Road, or just Bust In coupled with the effect you’ve already got for Impromptu. That being said, I do quite like the idea behind creating an exception to the mechanic rule, as it were.
Equity Saber is a great retaliatory attack with some great design behind its clauses. It would have been easy to go for a basic “If 1 of your Pokémon was Knocked Out during your opponent’s last turn”, but I like that you didn’t. The creativity here is real.
Wording errors:
- Okay, so looking at the wording for Equity Saber: I see that you’re getting the list part of the clause from Dusknoir LV.X, but I don’t think that’s quite the right source for what the attack is trying to do. Like, Dusknoir excludes Stadium cards because it’s meant to, but there doesn’t seem to be any particular reason to exclude Stadium cards from Equity Saber. Additionally, it’s a bit odd to include attacks here, but not, for example, Weakness. I think that the optimal wording for the effect would be “... increased by any effects on the Defending Pokémon …” or something of the sort. [-3 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks fine to me.
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(I like it in general, but Impromptu feels somewhat unintegrated.)
Wording: 12/15
(Concerns over the list in Equity Saber.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(On point.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Seems a fine balance.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Beautiful.)
Total: 44/50
First of all, welcome back! ^.^
The interesting design space that jumps out at me immediately is the use of Burn. It’s long been one of the most neglected parts of the TCG, given that it was absent for the entire XY bloc and even when it returned, was different than it was before. What you’ve done with it here intrigues me; it’s often enough that I see attempts to repurpose aspects of the game into TCG effects, but this one is done better than most I’ve seen in that it’s not just a straight-up translation of a move or an Ability but rather an interpretation of a mechanic. Props.
Indeed, there are a number of parts to this card that combine to make it fascinating. Solar Vortex puts me in mind of the move Fire Spin from the games, though it isn’t strictly speaking the same thing (and also isn’t named as such). The synergy with Lunatone is a whole separate facet that I really like.
From an aesthetics standpoint, I like the integration of the render with the background, but question the holosheets. I think the circle/galaxy foil would work well on its own, or the diagonal refractor foil, but not both. It’d make for quite a thick card were it actually to be printed, and on a fake just has a mildly disorienting effect.
Wording errors:
- Abilities never combine passive and active effects. That is, it’s weird to have one part of the Ability (the defense part) passively working all the time, and the other part (the healing part) needing to be activated every turn. Even though there’s no precedent in the SUM era for multiple Abilities, I would rather see this one split into multiple Abilities than have the confusing dichotomy in one Ability. The precedent comes from when passive/active effects used to be split into Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies. [-3 points]
- In SUM, you discard Energy “from”, not “attached to”, a Pokémon. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good.
Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Interesting take on an in-game mechanic.)
Wording: 10/15
(A couple mistakes.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Looks good.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Nice way to make Burn more viable.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Not sold on the holosheets.)
Total: 39/50
Alright, that’s a brilliant take on the theme, and nobody can dispute which side of it you chose to focus on. I like the idea behind wallbreakers in the TCG as they’re designed to do one thing and do it very well before their usefulness expires. It’s not quite the same thing as a typical glass cannon, either. PCL’s typical way to do wallbreakers is just to slap “300” on an attack and call it a day. This way is much more interesting. It reminds me to some extent of Raticate BCR and (later) Raticate BREAK.
The synergy between the attack and Ability is obvious, and in practice it ends up working out fairly balanced by virtue of being a Stage 2 and having a multi-colored Energy cost. Even still, for balance’s sake you might drop the HP by 10 or 20 despite where Haxorus tends to be these days, just because it’s so clearly attack-oriented. There’s not much else to say about the design. It’s wonderfully simplistic but very effective. I love it.
The art’s very nice too; it’s clear you put a lot of effort into it. I might suggest, as an area of expansion for the future, experimenting further with blending modes for holosheets! They look a tad dull now but could be brightened up pretty easily with darker Multiply and brighter Color Dodge. ^.^
Wording errors:
- The use of “in a row” in the Ability is setting off some warning bells in my head, but there’s literally no official precedent for this, so I’m willing to give you a pass.
- However, the second “the Defending Pokémon” should instead be “that Pokémon”. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- On point.
Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(Brilliant design space working from the theme.)
Wording: 13/15
(One thing.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(On point.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Slight concern over HP.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Nice art. Consider brushing up holosheets for the future!)
Total: 45/50
3rd Place: Nyan’s Mewtwo-GX, with 40/50 points.
2nd Place: bbninjas’s Keldeo LV.X, with 44/50 points.
1st Place: Gabs Kazumi’s Haxorus, with 45/50 points.
Judge: @Jabberwock
This round had so many excellent entries; it was a pleasure to judge. 1st and 2nd were particularly close. It amused me in particular that we had a nearly even split of DPPt to SUM in this competition. It’s good to see y’all branching out with your faking expertise into other areas, and to new design space within areas of more comfort.
Keep it up.
~~Jabberwock
Howdy KoD! It’s been a little while; nice to see ya back. A LV.X is an interesting place to start off with. Seems like there’s been quite a lot of DPPt love in the faking community lately –– which is a p good thing, imo. It’s an era with a lot of fun mechanics and room for creativity.
This one has some interesting design space whilst being thematically very clearly a Wobbuffet. That’s not an easy balance to strike! It’s got the whole not-directly-attacking thing that so evokes the Pokémon (and, might I add, the theme for the month), but in a way that TPCi hasn’t done before with Wobb. And yet, it also ties in, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to Wobbuffet DP, the card it’d presumably Level-Up from. I’d suggest in the future looking at entirely new ways to “endure” an attack, since Endure has absolutely been seen before plenty of times in the TCG, but overall nice creativity there.
As an aside about power levels, the amount of damage Dummy prevents could probably be increased a bit, given (as a reference) Scizor SF. It’s just that there isn’t much of a difference between reducing 20 damage and reducing 30, when the Pokémon is already 40 HP away from being Knocked Out. I also wouldn’t increase it by more than 10, though, so you get plausible deniability or something for this.
Love the art. The highlights and shadows could potentially be exaggerated a bit more, but in general it’s very in keeping with LV.X style.
One note about Weakness –– no LV.X has ever had less than +30 Weakness. This makes it a bit unusual to go for +20, even if the Pokémon has an unusual Defense mechanic like Wobbuffet. Cautious point from Believability for this.
Wording errors:
- Need to clarify “damage done to Wobbuffet by attacks”, as per cards like Kakuna RR. [-2 points]
- Reference Scizor SF for the second part of the Poké-Body. The “instead” part is correct, though; that part should be kept. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- There’s a weird kerning thing with the Futura std Heavy font that puts consecutive 1s farther apart than they appear on Pokémon cards. As such, when doing HP or damage in the 100s, especially 110, the first 1 needs to be on a separate layer and manually nudged closer to the other numerals. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(Neat design space, but Endure has been seen too often before.)
Wording: 11/15
(A couple errors in the Poké-Body.)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(One minor error.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(+20 Weakness.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(I like it!)
Total: 39/50
I like the slight variations you take on SUM-era mechanics to fit in all your different wallpapers, steff.
This one basically feels like a LV.X except (I guess) differently named so as to let you run 4 of each in a deck. Or, in other words, a vertical BREAK with multiple attacks. It’s not out of the question that PCL would do this; in fact, I’d consider it very likely, given their penchant for reusing mechanics. It’s just not overly exciting, I suppose.
Diamond Defense is interesting in that it’s got the conditional boosted effect thing, but I wish there was more of a connection to the theme with the attack. I know the idea behind it is that the Ability allows you to wall very effectively while you set something up, but that’s not really Defense so much as stalling for a bit while you set up an attacker.
What I do really like is the deliberate connection to other cards. The makings of a combo are all right there, with the references to Carbink, Diancie, and Fairy Dust. That’s a neat idea.
A note about the Aesthetics –– the Outer Glow thing in lieu of a Stroke could potentially work out, but it’s weird when most of the things on the card have the glow but the attack damage and attack cost icons have a stroke. Think that was probably an oversight.
Wording errors:
- Should have an “instead” for the second part of the Ability to clarify that it reduces by only 60, and not 90 (60 plus the other 30 that’s always there). [-2 point]
- You actually shouldn’t need the quote marks around “Fairy Dust”. The reason they’re on Tapu Lele LOT is because it says “with ‘Fairy Charm’ in its name”, because that’s a variety of cards that aren’t simply called “Fairy Charm”. Same goes for Apricorn Maker. On the other hand, for a card that references another card explicitly, you just use the name of that card, sans quotes. See Garchomp ULP and Metagross CES for reference. [-1 point]
- Don’t need to specify “basic [Y] Energy” on account of the fact that Special Energy can’t be [Y] unless they’re already attached to a Pokémon. Since they’re in your deck, the only [Y] Energy you can search for are basic by definition. [-2 points]
- I’m not docking for this, mainly because I made the same mistake the last time you submitted a Mega Pokémon, but the second sentence of the “Mega rule” uses “this Pokémon” twice where SUM-era wording indicates you would replace the second with “it”. Keep it in mind for next time, though. ^.^
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Placements look fairly eyeballed –– not egregiously so, but noticeably. I did a quick check against an official scan at 50% opacity and noticed that a) the attack names are too far to the right and b) the attack text is a bit too low relative to the cost icons and name. Docking a blanket [-3 points] for this and for lack of Justified text.
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(I like the references to other cards, but there’s little else that’s exciting about the effects.)
Wording: 10/15
(A few errors.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(Eyeballing.)
Believability/Playability: 3/5
(Damage reduction in combination with 180 HP makes this effectively a 240-HP Stage 1 that gives up 1 Prize and can easily accelerate its partners. Defense taken a bit to extreme here, given that 110 damage (with Fairy Dust, plus the accel) ain’t too shabby by itself.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Weird split between glow and stroke for text and icons.)
Total: 33/50
Ohman. I feel like I gotta address the aesthetics first, cos you definitely weren’t kidding when you said they were wild. I’ve actually never seen anything done quite like this on a fake before, so I wish I was able to give you some sort of “creative aesthetics” points for it. The closest thing I can compare it to is like, a glitchy Missingno. card (y’know the sort of thing I’m talking about, plenty of fakers have made them), but this isn’t quite that because it’s not just wanton visual vomit. The whole schematic of the thing, the colors especially, works really well. It does remind me of the SLG secret rare Mewtwo, but in its own right. I especially like the red/blue dichotomy; dunno if that was intentional or not but it’s a nice reference.
There’s one thing about the aesthetics I’m less of a fan of, and that’s that it’s very bright, in a glare-y sort of way. Like, the sheer contrast between the lights and darks makes it a little hard to look at. I think this could be mitigated somewhat with careful texturing, though.
Gather Psyche is interesting from a design standpoint. I can imagine it being a great attack for the very early game just to get an Alpha Ray off on Turn 2 against slower decks. Think it’d have less utility beyond that, but I guess it does help the card function as a repeated nuke against stall decks.
Alpha Ray and Calamity Blaster aren’t terribly creative by themselves; the effects are nothing particularly new. Calamity Blaster is just Tauros’s GX attack with a less efficient cost. Still like the close consideration of the theme.
Wording errors:
- In SUM, you discard Energy “from” a Pokémon, not “attached to” a Pokémon. [-2 points]
- As was discussed in-thread last month, cards that hit themselves for Weakness need a clarification if they are not meant to do so. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks fine.
Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(Some nice design space, but am concerned by the latter two attacks not having much in the way of original effects.)
Wording: 11/15
(A couple things to watch.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(On point.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Balancing seems fine. I could see it.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Cautious point for the stark dark/light contrast. Still, astounding aesthetics.)
Total: 40/50
Huh. This card’s a weird one. The aesthetics strike me first; the holosheet, on the one hand, is well executed, but the art feels like it could use a fair bit more fine-tuning. I know this was from a while ago and you can do a lot more with rendering now, but one of my main concerns about it is just that it’s trying to do too much. There are five Pokémon in the frame, and they all appear as roughly the same size, so that the only clue you have as to which Pokémon the card is actually of is the fact that Machamp is in the center. Think the art could be better off without the other four Pokémon in it.
However, I love the text of the card. Superplex is a great take on a never-before-used part of a Pokémon card, and works as a nice tie-in to the wrestling sport and culture that Machamp is based on. I wouldn’t call it overpowered, either, as Machamp SF was able to take Knock Outs pretty easily and this isn’t particularly better.
Second Wind is also pretty cool, and lets you abuse Expert Belt (more thematic tie-ins lol). It’s neat in that you can choose to sacrifice the two Prizes, or not, on your own terms based on the state of the game. I like that mechanic a lot.
The adherence to the theme isn’t quite as devout as I’d like it to be, seeing as it’s got a fair amount of defensive capability as well as clearly being an attacker, but I guess the Poké-Body coupled with the Paralysis aspect of the attack outweighs the potential for a fringe Knock Out on Pokémon-SP and LV.Xs, and makes it a defensive card.
Wording errors:
- Second Wind should actually be a Poké-Power, not a Body, and start with "Once during your opponent's turn ...". Take a look at cards like Jirachi RR or Shedinja LA. [-4 points]
- “Knocked Out”. Both words capitalized. I’m amused by the fact that the capitalization doesn’t appear the same way twice on this card despite the phrase appearing three times. [-2 points]
- Need "instead" after "becomes 10". [-1 point]
- In Superplex, wherever it refers to "the Defending Pokémon" twice in a sentence, the second usage should be "that Pokémon". [-2 points]
- If it was me, I’d probably reword Superplex to refer to “the Defending Pokémon’s weight” rather than to check if “the Defending Pokémon weighs”, but there’s barely any precedent to say which is correct, so not docking here.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Spacing is weird on Superplex. There’s vastly more space between it and the Poké-Body than between it and the Illustrator credit bar. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Love Superplex.)
Wording: 6/15
(Quite a few errors.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/10
(A spacing thing.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(I don’t see anything wrong with this.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Unsure about the art, but nice holosheet.)
Total: 35/50
How crazy that I ended up judging this and the card it Levels-Up from in the reverse order of their creation. xD
Aight, now. I really like this card for a number of reasons. In terms of Aesthetics, it’s just beautiful. The lighting and shadows are such that it really gives off a LV.X vibe, and the background in particular meshes with the color palette of the whole thing really well. I do have a slight concern (which you touched on in your OP) with the “polygon-ness” of the hooves, but it’s not such a problem that I’d dock for it here. Full marks for Aesthetics.
Impromptu I love in theory, but it seems like it’s not being taken full advantage of here. It’s only helpful in that it makes it more convenient to Level-Up Keldeo, but you still want Keldeo in the Active position at some point (it’s an attacker, after all), so even that ends up doing very little. I reckon you could absolutely get away with a Bust In-type thing, either something along the lines of Arcanine EVO’s Burning Road, or just Bust In coupled with the effect you’ve already got for Impromptu. That being said, I do quite like the idea behind creating an exception to the mechanic rule, as it were.
Equity Saber is a great retaliatory attack with some great design behind its clauses. It would have been easy to go for a basic “If 1 of your Pokémon was Knocked Out during your opponent’s last turn”, but I like that you didn’t. The creativity here is real.
Wording errors:
- Okay, so looking at the wording for Equity Saber: I see that you’re getting the list part of the clause from Dusknoir LV.X, but I don’t think that’s quite the right source for what the attack is trying to do. Like, Dusknoir excludes Stadium cards because it’s meant to, but there doesn’t seem to be any particular reason to exclude Stadium cards from Equity Saber. Additionally, it’s a bit odd to include attacks here, but not, for example, Weakness. I think that the optimal wording for the effect would be “... increased by any effects on the Defending Pokémon …” or something of the sort. [-3 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks fine to me.
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(I like it in general, but Impromptu feels somewhat unintegrated.)
Wording: 12/15
(Concerns over the list in Equity Saber.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(On point.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Seems a fine balance.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Beautiful.)
Total: 44/50
First of all, welcome back! ^.^
The interesting design space that jumps out at me immediately is the use of Burn. It’s long been one of the most neglected parts of the TCG, given that it was absent for the entire XY bloc and even when it returned, was different than it was before. What you’ve done with it here intrigues me; it’s often enough that I see attempts to repurpose aspects of the game into TCG effects, but this one is done better than most I’ve seen in that it’s not just a straight-up translation of a move or an Ability but rather an interpretation of a mechanic. Props.
Indeed, there are a number of parts to this card that combine to make it fascinating. Solar Vortex puts me in mind of the move Fire Spin from the games, though it isn’t strictly speaking the same thing (and also isn’t named as such). The synergy with Lunatone is a whole separate facet that I really like.
From an aesthetics standpoint, I like the integration of the render with the background, but question the holosheets. I think the circle/galaxy foil would work well on its own, or the diagonal refractor foil, but not both. It’d make for quite a thick card were it actually to be printed, and on a fake just has a mildly disorienting effect.
Wording errors:
- Abilities never combine passive and active effects. That is, it’s weird to have one part of the Ability (the defense part) passively working all the time, and the other part (the healing part) needing to be activated every turn. Even though there’s no precedent in the SUM era for multiple Abilities, I would rather see this one split into multiple Abilities than have the confusing dichotomy in one Ability. The precedent comes from when passive/active effects used to be split into Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies. [-3 points]
- In SUM, you discard Energy “from”, not “attached to”, a Pokémon. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good.
Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Interesting take on an in-game mechanic.)
Wording: 10/15
(A couple mistakes.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Looks good.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Nice way to make Burn more viable.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Not sold on the holosheets.)
Total: 39/50
Alright, that’s a brilliant take on the theme, and nobody can dispute which side of it you chose to focus on. I like the idea behind wallbreakers in the TCG as they’re designed to do one thing and do it very well before their usefulness expires. It’s not quite the same thing as a typical glass cannon, either. PCL’s typical way to do wallbreakers is just to slap “300” on an attack and call it a day. This way is much more interesting. It reminds me to some extent of Raticate BCR and (later) Raticate BREAK.
The synergy between the attack and Ability is obvious, and in practice it ends up working out fairly balanced by virtue of being a Stage 2 and having a multi-colored Energy cost. Even still, for balance’s sake you might drop the HP by 10 or 20 despite where Haxorus tends to be these days, just because it’s so clearly attack-oriented. There’s not much else to say about the design. It’s wonderfully simplistic but very effective. I love it.
The art’s very nice too; it’s clear you put a lot of effort into it. I might suggest, as an area of expansion for the future, experimenting further with blending modes for holosheets! They look a tad dull now but could be brightened up pretty easily with darker Multiply and brighter Color Dodge. ^.^
Wording errors:
- The use of “in a row” in the Ability is setting off some warning bells in my head, but there’s literally no official precedent for this, so I’m willing to give you a pass.
- However, the second “the Defending Pokémon” should instead be “that Pokémon”. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- On point.
Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(Brilliant design space working from the theme.)
Wording: 13/15
(One thing.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(On point.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Slight concern over HP.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Nice art. Consider brushing up holosheets for the future!)
Total: 45/50
3rd Place: Nyan’s Mewtwo-GX, with 40/50 points.
2nd Place: bbninjas’s Keldeo LV.X, with 44/50 points.
1st Place: Gabs Kazumi’s Haxorus, with 45/50 points.
Text-Based Results
Judge: @NinjaPenguin
Judge’s Note: This was a really great batch of cards this month! I could see a lot of people took the time to base their wording off of strong, correct references this month, along with refining their cards to have proper balance, which was very nice to see. My one overarching note for everybody this month is that you need to use the theme. A lot of people this month tried to skirt the theme by making a card that couldn’t be particularly focused on either attack or defense, and thus they lost points this round. The theme is something to inspire you, not something to dodge, so for the next time there’s a theme that affects your card design rather than the Pokémon you choose, try to incorporate it more fully into your card.
@Nyora
@Vom
@Kangaflora
@SneaselGenesis
@Luplayz
@ScrawnyMeowth1
@A Dragon of Destiny
@ShaQuL
@FourteenAlmonds
@MegaAbsol10
@VioletValkyrie
@Lord Goomy
@TeamAqua4Life #HEYNICK
@DrakenNinja
3rd Place: A tie between Vom’s Tyrantrum-GX and Kangaflora's Masquerain, each with 40/50 points.
2nd Place: VioletValkyrie’s Aegislash, with 41/50 points.
1st Place: Lord Goomy’s Froslass, with 42/50 points.
Judge: @NinjaPenguin
Judge’s Note: This was a really great batch of cards this month! I could see a lot of people took the time to base their wording off of strong, correct references this month, along with refining their cards to have proper balance, which was very nice to see. My one overarching note for everybody this month is that you need to use the theme. A lot of people this month tried to skirt the theme by making a card that couldn’t be particularly focused on either attack or defense, and thus they lost points this round. The theme is something to inspire you, not something to dodge, so for the next time there’s a theme that affects your card design rather than the Pokémon you choose, try to incorporate it more fully into your card.
@Nyora
Creativity: 18/20
I love the way you’ve worked here to make the effects work well for both a defensive or offensive route! Echo Coat is an ingenious way to power down the attack while gaining defensive capacity, while the doubling nature of Echoed Voice creates a fun way to quickly ratchet up the damage and go into attack mode, though it doesn’t feel completely unique in essence from what has been seen before in this type of effect. The two effects not only synergize, but do so in a way that fully utilizes the theme, which is great to see.
Wording: 6/15
Echo Coat (References Alolan Marowak-GX, Metal Core Barrier, Tag Team GX attacks, Marowak BKT):
-Replace "any damage is done...attacks" with "is damaged by an opponent's attack" [-1 Point]
-Add "you may use this Ability" after the first clause, as the full effect is quite complicated. [-1 Point]
-Replace "you may choose to reduce all damage done by" with "this Pokémon takes less damage from" [-1 Point]
-Replace "by any additional" with "equal to the extra" [-1 Point]
-Delete "by the effect...Echoed Voice Attack" [-1 Point]
-Changing the amount of damage taken would occur after Weakness and Resistance, not before [-1 Point]
-Replace "additional damage...during your next turn" with "existing effects of that attack" [-1 Point]
Echoed Voice:
-Move "before applying ... Resistance" to the inside of the first full stop. [-1 Point]
-Replace the second "this attack" with "it". [-1 Point]
-I have a hunch the order of the sentences should be reversed (i.e. "Discard" before "This attack does") but I'm not certain about that one and can't find a reference. [-0 Points]
Believability: 15/15
To ever access the extra damage on Echoed Voice, you need to survive your opponent’s attacks with a mere 90 HP and not need to spend your accrued damage protecting Cinccino, which allows the card to have powerful capabilities but never get too out of control, especially with the mandatory energy discard. Great job!
Final Score: 39/50
I love the way you’ve worked here to make the effects work well for both a defensive or offensive route! Echo Coat is an ingenious way to power down the attack while gaining defensive capacity, while the doubling nature of Echoed Voice creates a fun way to quickly ratchet up the damage and go into attack mode, though it doesn’t feel completely unique in essence from what has been seen before in this type of effect. The two effects not only synergize, but do so in a way that fully utilizes the theme, which is great to see.
Wording: 6/15
Echo Coat (References Alolan Marowak-GX, Metal Core Barrier, Tag Team GX attacks, Marowak BKT):
-Replace "any damage is done...attacks" with "is damaged by an opponent's attack" [-1 Point]
-Add "you may use this Ability" after the first clause, as the full effect is quite complicated. [-1 Point]
-Replace "you may choose to reduce all damage done by" with "this Pokémon takes less damage from" [-1 Point]
-Replace "by any additional" with "equal to the extra" [-1 Point]
-Delete "by the effect...Echoed Voice Attack" [-1 Point]
-Changing the amount of damage taken would occur after Weakness and Resistance, not before [-1 Point]
-Replace "additional damage...during your next turn" with "existing effects of that attack" [-1 Point]
Echoed Voice:
-Move "before applying ... Resistance" to the inside of the first full stop. [-1 Point]
-Replace the second "this attack" with "it". [-1 Point]
-I have a hunch the order of the sentences should be reversed (i.e. "Discard" before "This attack does") but I'm not certain about that one and can't find a reference. [-0 Points]
Believability: 15/15
To ever access the extra damage on Echoed Voice, you need to survive your opponent’s attacks with a mere 90 HP and not need to spend your accrued damage protecting Cinccino, which allows the card to have powerful capabilities but never get too out of control, especially with the mandatory energy discard. Great job!
Final Score: 39/50
@Vom
Creativity: 19/20
I’m absolutely in love with the effects on this card. Megaton Bite found a way to turn a common looking effect and flip it in a completely way that your opponent can try their best to avoid, but crucially you’ve added the fact that if you play a Guzma or similar gust effect, the opponent’s Pokémon qualifies too, adding a lot of depth. Borrowed Time utilizes a very interesting system of Unidentified Fossils being the key to both Tyrantrum’s survival and power, making it a strong but still a type of glass cannon. Roar of the King is bit less exciting than the other effects, but has an unique new system of placing as many cards on the Bench as possible but then adding others to the hand, which is really interesting. The tiny details you’ve added to give these effects extra depth put it over the top. Amazing job!
Wording: 11/15
Borrowed Time:
-Add “during your turn” after the second “Pokémon” [-1 Point]
-You need a clause to shuffle your deck if you searched through it (or regardless of if you did if you want) [-2 Points]
Roar of the King GX:
-Add “in this way” after the second Pokémon [-1 Point]
Believability: 10/15
The attacks are both perfectly fine on their own, but when combined with the ability, they can end up doing far too much damage for too little cost. The fact that you both increase by 30 damage and lose energy creates crazy effects like 220 damage for [F] with potential boosts if you have all three possible Unidentified Fossils on your bench. The format has counters like Alolan Muk and the last of deck bench space hurts with a bulky Stage 2 line that needs acceleration, but it’s still far too strong. Perhaps if you don’t have the built in acceleration and keep the drawback of a KO without an Unidentified Fossil on the bench, the drawback can provide enough contrast with the reward, but as is, this is far too powerful.
Final Score: 40/50
The ideas you’ve created are really nice here, Vom! In the future, take a bit more time to check that your card can’t become easily broken, as I’ve found that you tend to lose a fair amount of believability points from your balance levels being off.
I’m absolutely in love with the effects on this card. Megaton Bite found a way to turn a common looking effect and flip it in a completely way that your opponent can try their best to avoid, but crucially you’ve added the fact that if you play a Guzma or similar gust effect, the opponent’s Pokémon qualifies too, adding a lot of depth. Borrowed Time utilizes a very interesting system of Unidentified Fossils being the key to both Tyrantrum’s survival and power, making it a strong but still a type of glass cannon. Roar of the King is bit less exciting than the other effects, but has an unique new system of placing as many cards on the Bench as possible but then adding others to the hand, which is really interesting. The tiny details you’ve added to give these effects extra depth put it over the top. Amazing job!
Wording: 11/15
Borrowed Time:
-Add “during your turn” after the second “Pokémon” [-1 Point]
-You need a clause to shuffle your deck if you searched through it (or regardless of if you did if you want) [-2 Points]
Roar of the King GX:
-Add “in this way” after the second Pokémon [-1 Point]
Believability: 10/15
The attacks are both perfectly fine on their own, but when combined with the ability, they can end up doing far too much damage for too little cost. The fact that you both increase by 30 damage and lose energy creates crazy effects like 220 damage for [F] with potential boosts if you have all three possible Unidentified Fossils on your bench. The format has counters like Alolan Muk and the last of deck bench space hurts with a bulky Stage 2 line that needs acceleration, but it’s still far too strong. Perhaps if you don’t have the built in acceleration and keep the drawback of a KO without an Unidentified Fossil on the bench, the drawback can provide enough contrast with the reward, but as is, this is far too powerful.
Final Score: 40/50
The ideas you’ve created are really nice here, Vom! In the future, take a bit more time to check that your card can’t become easily broken, as I’ve found that you tend to lose a fair amount of believability points from your balance levels being off.
@Kangaflora
Creativity: 11/20
Aqua Protection and Scald, while both technically unique, are just tiny modifications from effects that have been seen a plethora of times in the TCG, which makes this card fairly uninteresting. Additionally, this card seems focused on neither attack or defense aspects, with the attack still being useful and powerful as offense and the ability used for defense.
Wording: 14/15
Aqua Protection:
-Specify that this damage is done by your opponent’s [R] Pokémon’s “attacks”. [-1 Point]
Believability: 15/15
The attack is a bit powerful, able to do 90+ burn for [W][C][C], but it’s within the realm of believability for the SuMo era. Aqua Protection is situational enough that it’s definitely at the power level for the era. Good work!
Final Score: 40/50
The card is really good as a Pokémon card, but it doesn’t feel like a CaC card to me. It’s only tangentially fitting the theme at best and the effects are vanilla, perfect for being a set filler but not truly special. You have the fundamentals of faking down really well, Kanga, but now you need to start introducing some more creative aspects to give your cards more of a wow factor.
Aqua Protection and Scald, while both technically unique, are just tiny modifications from effects that have been seen a plethora of times in the TCG, which makes this card fairly uninteresting. Additionally, this card seems focused on neither attack or defense aspects, with the attack still being useful and powerful as offense and the ability used for defense.
Wording: 14/15
Aqua Protection:
-Specify that this damage is done by your opponent’s [R] Pokémon’s “attacks”. [-1 Point]
Believability: 15/15
The attack is a bit powerful, able to do 90+ burn for [W][C][C], but it’s within the realm of believability for the SuMo era. Aqua Protection is situational enough that it’s definitely at the power level for the era. Good work!
Final Score: 40/50
The card is really good as a Pokémon card, but it doesn’t feel like a CaC card to me. It’s only tangentially fitting the theme at best and the effects are vanilla, perfect for being a set filler but not truly special. You have the fundamentals of faking down really well, Kanga, but now you need to start introducing some more creative aspects to give your cards more of a wow factor.
@SneaselGenesis
Creativity: 13/20
I really like the effect of Inflation here! The idea of requiring an opponent to damage you more the more that you have been damaged is really neat and presents a way to make a wall work without needing a billion HP. Careless Tackle’s effect, however, has been seen plenty of times before, which damages this score a lot.
Wording: 15/15
Everything looks good. Nice job!
Believability: 9/15
Inflation requires the opponent to do 80+ damage in one shot (since you’re blocking the equivalent of all the damage Wigglytuff has taken) or disable the Power (via conditions/Muk) in order to ever have a chance of KOing Wigglytuff. In this era, that amount of damage is extremely above the power curve, requiring either the opponent to have a fighting deck, play a card like Surge’s Raichu/Moltres/Chansey/Arcanine Base Set and manage to charge it up without energy getting discarded with Energy Removal, or play multiple Plus Powers (which isn’t sustainable) to ever have a shot at knocking it out. This singlehandedly eliminates a large portion of the existing decks (though notably most existing Tier 1/2 decks would have some out) or forces them to build their deck around countering this single card, which is too overpowering. Additionally, this card has no type. -1 Point for missing ‘Dex stats.
Final Score: 37/50
You’ve nailed the technical wording aspect here, but the card feels a bit unpolished compared to what I’m used to seeing from you, Sneasel. Inflation is a really great idea, but in this format, it comes with some unintended consequences which need to be addressed. Additionally, Careless Tackle feels a bit plain and there are some essential card elements simply missing here. Try to look over the card just a bit longer next time so you don’t miss these things.
I really like the effect of Inflation here! The idea of requiring an opponent to damage you more the more that you have been damaged is really neat and presents a way to make a wall work without needing a billion HP. Careless Tackle’s effect, however, has been seen plenty of times before, which damages this score a lot.
Wording: 15/15
Everything looks good. Nice job!
Believability: 9/15
Inflation requires the opponent to do 80+ damage in one shot (since you’re blocking the equivalent of all the damage Wigglytuff has taken) or disable the Power (via conditions/Muk) in order to ever have a chance of KOing Wigglytuff. In this era, that amount of damage is extremely above the power curve, requiring either the opponent to have a fighting deck, play a card like Surge’s Raichu/Moltres/Chansey/Arcanine Base Set and manage to charge it up without energy getting discarded with Energy Removal, or play multiple Plus Powers (which isn’t sustainable) to ever have a shot at knocking it out. This singlehandedly eliminates a large portion of the existing decks (though notably most existing Tier 1/2 decks would have some out) or forces them to build their deck around countering this single card, which is too overpowering. Additionally, this card has no type. -1 Point for missing ‘Dex stats.
Final Score: 37/50
You’ve nailed the technical wording aspect here, but the card feels a bit unpolished compared to what I’m used to seeing from you, Sneasel. Inflation is a really great idea, but in this format, it comes with some unintended consequences which need to be addressed. Additionally, Careless Tackle feels a bit plain and there are some essential card elements simply missing here. Try to look over the card just a bit longer next time so you don’t miss these things.
@Luplayz
Creativity: 13/20
Cosmic Power GX and Astral Blast have some interesting ideas in terms of synergizing around a theme of getting cards into your hand (and other bonuses alongside them), but both of them just seem like more powerful versions of effects that have been seen before. Star Power is also just a modification of any effects that’s been seen plenty of times before. It also doesn’t feel like this card is either built at all for attack or defense, as it has tons of HP but also a very powerful attack.
Wording: 3/15
Star Power:
-Replace “many times” with “often” [-1 Point]
-Add “(before your attack),” after “during your turn” [-1 Point]
-Replace “Energy” with “Energy card” as the card is not yet attached at the time of the effect [-1 Point]
Astral Blast:
-Capitalize Trainer [-1 Point]
-In the SuMo era, it’s “Then, shuffle your deck.” not “Shuffle your deck afterwards.” [-2 Points]
-Replace “attacks” with “attack’s” [-1 Point]
-Add a comma after “cost)” and decapitalize you [-1 Point]
-Replace “into” with “in” [-1 Point]
Other:
-In the TAG TEAM rule, delete “1 of” [-1 Point]
-In the TAG TEAM rule, add a comma after “Knocked Out” [-1 Point]
-In the TAG TEAM rule, decapitalize cards [-1 Point]
Believability: 6/15
Astral Blast is most definitely overpowered, as it can do 230 damage and gain two cards, while Latias & Latios GX for example does 240 for the same cost, but instead has to discard 3 Energy, a major drawback. Cosmic Power is very strong, but also well enough in line with TAG TEAM GX attacks from cards like Latias & Latios. Star Power is absolutely broken, as it gives a boost to a category of cards that already had plenty of power without this free acceleration, and is particularly lethal because of the fact that it can attach the extra energy needed to activate some of the most broken effects in the GX attacks and can’t even be shut down, making this card a must have in basically any deck and elevating TAG TEAM decks to the only viable tier of cards. Also, this card would push the power creep to the highest ever non-Wailord HP.
Final Score: 22/50
There’s some good ideas here, Luplayz, but there’s a lack of attention to detail here. Most of the wording mistakes could be solved by double-checking you copied over your references correctly, and the believability errors are pretty readily apparent when the meta is considered. Take a bit more time to consider your references and how your card works in the format you’re building it for next time.
Cosmic Power GX and Astral Blast have some interesting ideas in terms of synergizing around a theme of getting cards into your hand (and other bonuses alongside them), but both of them just seem like more powerful versions of effects that have been seen before. Star Power is also just a modification of any effects that’s been seen plenty of times before. It also doesn’t feel like this card is either built at all for attack or defense, as it has tons of HP but also a very powerful attack.
Wording: 3/15
Star Power:
-Replace “many times” with “often” [-1 Point]
-Add “(before your attack),” after “during your turn” [-1 Point]
-Replace “Energy” with “Energy card” as the card is not yet attached at the time of the effect [-1 Point]
Astral Blast:
-Capitalize Trainer [-1 Point]
-In the SuMo era, it’s “Then, shuffle your deck.” not “Shuffle your deck afterwards.” [-2 Points]
-Replace “attacks” with “attack’s” [-1 Point]
-Add a comma after “cost)” and decapitalize you [-1 Point]
-Replace “into” with “in” [-1 Point]
Other:
-In the TAG TEAM rule, delete “1 of” [-1 Point]
-In the TAG TEAM rule, add a comma after “Knocked Out” [-1 Point]
-In the TAG TEAM rule, decapitalize cards [-1 Point]
Believability: 6/15
Astral Blast is most definitely overpowered, as it can do 230 damage and gain two cards, while Latias & Latios GX for example does 240 for the same cost, but instead has to discard 3 Energy, a major drawback. Cosmic Power is very strong, but also well enough in line with TAG TEAM GX attacks from cards like Latias & Latios. Star Power is absolutely broken, as it gives a boost to a category of cards that already had plenty of power without this free acceleration, and is particularly lethal because of the fact that it can attach the extra energy needed to activate some of the most broken effects in the GX attacks and can’t even be shut down, making this card a must have in basically any deck and elevating TAG TEAM decks to the only viable tier of cards. Also, this card would push the power creep to the highest ever non-Wailord HP.
Final Score: 22/50
There’s some good ideas here, Luplayz, but there’s a lack of attention to detail here. Most of the wording mistakes could be solved by double-checking you copied over your references correctly, and the believability errors are pretty readily apparent when the meta is considered. Take a bit more time to consider your references and how your card works in the format you’re building it for next time.
@ScrawnyMeowth1
Creativity: 10/20
First Blood and No-Guard strike are both effects that are pretty cool compared to your typical card, but have both been exactly seen before which makes them lose any of the shine that they would otherwise have and the card as a whole fairly unoriginal.
Wording: 15/15
Everything looks good! Nice job!
Believability: 12/15
The fact that First Blood does 50 damage plus potentially 100 more for [M][C] on a 110 HP Pokémon, while Kartana CES did 40 damage plus potentially 90 more with the same effect for [M][M] on a 60 HP Pokémon, which makes this effect very clearly a notch above the power level. Even with the drawback, No-Guard Strike is also a slight bit above the power level at 160 damage.
Final Score: 37/50
This is really good for your first ever CaC, Meowth! You’ve got the basics down in terms of wording and believability, so now I want you to go out and create some cool and truly original effects next time while still keeping the polish you have here. If you do, you’ll be a contender in no time!
First Blood and No-Guard strike are both effects that are pretty cool compared to your typical card, but have both been exactly seen before which makes them lose any of the shine that they would otherwise have and the card as a whole fairly unoriginal.
Wording: 15/15
Everything looks good! Nice job!
Believability: 12/15
The fact that First Blood does 50 damage plus potentially 100 more for [M][C] on a 110 HP Pokémon, while Kartana CES did 40 damage plus potentially 90 more with the same effect for [M][M] on a 60 HP Pokémon, which makes this effect very clearly a notch above the power level. Even with the drawback, No-Guard Strike is also a slight bit above the power level at 160 damage.
Final Score: 37/50
This is really good for your first ever CaC, Meowth! You’ve got the basics down in terms of wording and believability, so now I want you to go out and create some cool and truly original effects next time while still keeping the polish you have here. If you do, you’ll be a contender in no time!
@A Dragon of Destiny
Creativity: 16/20
I really love the ideas you’re working with here! Clanging Scales has a really interesting drawback to it and Counter has some interesting and smart tweaks from typical effects like this in that Kommo-o must still survive the incoming attack to reap the benefits. Close Combat is also well modeled after the effect in the games, which I like. That being said, this card doesn’t seem to be focused on the glass cannon attacker model, as Counter is such a strong defensive ability with the 240 HP that this card is a powerhouse in both the attack and defense aspects.
Wording: 11/15
Close Combat:
-When effects increase/decrease the amount of damage that your Pokémon takes, they apply after Weakness and Resistance, not before. [-1 Point]
Clanging Scales:
-Capitalize Weakness. [-1 Point]
-Place a comma before “and”. [-1 Point]
-Add “type” after “[C]”. [-1 Point]
Believability: 10/15
Considering that this card is a Stage 2 and requires multiple different types of energy to make Clanging Scales work, along with its huge drawback, it should be well balanced enough. The same effects serve to mostly balance Close Combat, but the fact that its drawback is relatively small and there’s still a 50% chance of doing 240 damage, it’s a slight bit over the power level. Counter, however, is overpowered. Even with Kommo-o needing to not be KO’d, the fact that providing simple chip damage or launching a fully powered but not quite powerful enough attack can do double the damage back (in most cases knocking an opponent out) is ridiculous. If you just keep healing Kommo-o with Max Potion and similar cards, decks won’t be able to more than once (via a GX attack) to get the one hit KO on this 240 HP behemoth and thus will just be Knocked Out in return for attacking, which is ridiculous, or be forced to play Alolan Muk to shut it down, which makes this too strong, even as a Stage 2 GX.
Final Score: 37/50
This card has some really intelligent ideas behind it and you’ve clearly put some good thoughts into it, Dragon. You’ve referenced well, but there’s still just a couple of tiny wording details which could be corrected by just a slightly closer look at copying down and merging your references and a believability mistake which with a bit more consideration you could have found. In the future, I suggest you take just one more glance over your card to make sure everything is exactly how it should be to make your great ideas shine.
I really love the ideas you’re working with here! Clanging Scales has a really interesting drawback to it and Counter has some interesting and smart tweaks from typical effects like this in that Kommo-o must still survive the incoming attack to reap the benefits. Close Combat is also well modeled after the effect in the games, which I like. That being said, this card doesn’t seem to be focused on the glass cannon attacker model, as Counter is such a strong defensive ability with the 240 HP that this card is a powerhouse in both the attack and defense aspects.
Wording: 11/15
Close Combat:
-When effects increase/decrease the amount of damage that your Pokémon takes, they apply after Weakness and Resistance, not before. [-1 Point]
Clanging Scales:
-Capitalize Weakness. [-1 Point]
-Place a comma before “and”. [-1 Point]
-Add “type” after “[C]”. [-1 Point]
Believability: 10/15
Considering that this card is a Stage 2 and requires multiple different types of energy to make Clanging Scales work, along with its huge drawback, it should be well balanced enough. The same effects serve to mostly balance Close Combat, but the fact that its drawback is relatively small and there’s still a 50% chance of doing 240 damage, it’s a slight bit over the power level. Counter, however, is overpowered. Even with Kommo-o needing to not be KO’d, the fact that providing simple chip damage or launching a fully powered but not quite powerful enough attack can do double the damage back (in most cases knocking an opponent out) is ridiculous. If you just keep healing Kommo-o with Max Potion and similar cards, decks won’t be able to more than once (via a GX attack) to get the one hit KO on this 240 HP behemoth and thus will just be Knocked Out in return for attacking, which is ridiculous, or be forced to play Alolan Muk to shut it down, which makes this too strong, even as a Stage 2 GX.
Final Score: 37/50
This card has some really intelligent ideas behind it and you’ve clearly put some good thoughts into it, Dragon. You’ve referenced well, but there’s still just a couple of tiny wording details which could be corrected by just a slightly closer look at copying down and merging your references and a believability mistake which with a bit more consideration you could have found. In the future, I suggest you take just one more glance over your card to make sure everything is exactly how it should be to make your great ideas shine.
@ShaQuL
Creativity: 14/20
I absolutely love that you’ve used the extra energy section of the TAG TEAM attack to give you the ability to pick both of the effects, which demonstrates a perfect way to use that section of an effect for a new purpose. That being said, everything else within the card just feels like combinations of effects that have been seen time and time again (every effect feels like it does three seperate things), which aren’t new or creative as much as lengthy and overly complex. Additionally, it’s not clear whether this card is built for attack or defense, as certain effects seem to lightly be pushing for one side but other effects lightly push for the other (it seems from your explanation you interpreted the theme in that way, but it doesn’t fit what we described, so it may be a reading error).
Wording: 5.5/15
Ultra Fortification:
-Specify it takes less damage “from attacks” [-1 Point]
-When a Pokémon is taking less damage, it’s after Weakness and Resistance x2 [-1.5 Points]
Revealing Slash:
-Specify specifically you can discard the Energy cards [-1 Point]
Slash and Stomp GX:
-Replace “add” with “put” [-1 Point]
-Move “face down” to after “it” [-1 Point]
-Replace “do” with “this attack does” [-1 Point]
-Replace “every” with “each” [-1 Point]
Other:
-Capitalize “Knocked Out” in the TAG TEAM rule [-1 Point]
-Replace “Prizes” with “Prize cards” in the TAG TEAM rule [-1 Point]
Believability: 12/15
Since this card has 240 HP, it can be expected that it will soak up at least one attack. And when it does, being able to deal back 140 damage in return along with protect itself for future turns and accelerate its energy feels like way too much help in a two energy attack here. Slash and Stomp’s first effect adding 40 damage to the attack feels like too much when combined with also adding a prize card and hurting your opponent’s energy supply, but TAG TEAM GX attacks tend to be quite OP so I can see it existing.
Final Score: 31.5/50
I feel like you got caught up with a bit of overambition in this card, ShaQuL. The effects are lengthy and likely to trip you up somewhere in wording with the sheer amount of differing clauses without adding anything truly new to the table (either in terms of new effects or synergy) besides extra length, which makes the card feel more convoluted than unique and creative.
I absolutely love that you’ve used the extra energy section of the TAG TEAM attack to give you the ability to pick both of the effects, which demonstrates a perfect way to use that section of an effect for a new purpose. That being said, everything else within the card just feels like combinations of effects that have been seen time and time again (every effect feels like it does three seperate things), which aren’t new or creative as much as lengthy and overly complex. Additionally, it’s not clear whether this card is built for attack or defense, as certain effects seem to lightly be pushing for one side but other effects lightly push for the other (it seems from your explanation you interpreted the theme in that way, but it doesn’t fit what we described, so it may be a reading error).
Wording: 5.5/15
Ultra Fortification:
-Specify it takes less damage “from attacks” [-1 Point]
-When a Pokémon is taking less damage, it’s after Weakness and Resistance x2 [-1.5 Points]
Revealing Slash:
-Specify specifically you can discard the Energy cards [-1 Point]
Slash and Stomp GX:
-Replace “add” with “put” [-1 Point]
-Move “face down” to after “it” [-1 Point]
-Replace “do” with “this attack does” [-1 Point]
-Replace “every” with “each” [-1 Point]
Other:
-Capitalize “Knocked Out” in the TAG TEAM rule [-1 Point]
-Replace “Prizes” with “Prize cards” in the TAG TEAM rule [-1 Point]
Believability: 12/15
Since this card has 240 HP, it can be expected that it will soak up at least one attack. And when it does, being able to deal back 140 damage in return along with protect itself for future turns and accelerate its energy feels like way too much help in a two energy attack here. Slash and Stomp’s first effect adding 40 damage to the attack feels like too much when combined with also adding a prize card and hurting your opponent’s energy supply, but TAG TEAM GX attacks tend to be quite OP so I can see it existing.
Final Score: 31.5/50
I feel like you got caught up with a bit of overambition in this card, ShaQuL. The effects are lengthy and likely to trip you up somewhere in wording with the sheer amount of differing clauses without adding anything truly new to the table (either in terms of new effects or synergy) besides extra length, which makes the card feel more convoluted than unique and creative.
@FourteenAlmonds
Creativity: 17/20
Cannibal Fish is a really interesting effect, with a surprisingly high amount of uses considering the drawback it gives you and good synergy with Smell of Blood. Smell of Blood itself takes a fairly common effect but spins it in a way that’s somewhat different considering its restrictions and requirement that the Pokémon in question must be Benched, but I’d still like to see something a tad more unique there.
Wording: 11/15
Cannibal Fish:
-It would be correct to move “between turns” to the end of the effect based on Weezing UNB, but since the card had not yet been released in English at the time that you had submitted the entry, Shrine of Punishment was an acceptable reference. [-0 Point]
-Replace “if” with “As long as”. [-1 Point]
Smell of Blood:
-Replace “one” with “1”. [-1 Point]
-Capitalize Benched. [-1 Point]
-Swap “Pokémon-EX” and “Pokémon GX” [-1 Point]
Believability: 8/15
Cannibal Fish is a perfectly fine effect by itself and can assist that Sharpedo you added for context with powering up without making it too easy to do so. Smell of Blood, however, is vastly overpowered for only one energy on an NFE Basic. With only one damage counter on a Benched Pokémon provided by a Carvanha, you’re suddenly doing 30 damage to your opponent for one energy, and with two or more you get to 50+, which is wayyyy too strong for a Pokémon that hasn’t fully evolved. And this isn’t even mentioning the fact that you can just get damage on a Benched Pokémon without this effect, which could shoot your damage over 100 for a single energy, which is absolutely insane.
Edited: -2 Points
Final Score: 34/50
I love the creativity you’ve packed into this small Glass Cannon package here, Almonds! Unfortunately, this card is just way too powerful as is. In the future, you need to be sure that you’ve adjusted your effects to fit NFEs, which are balanced extremely differently than fully evolved Pokémon.
Cannibal Fish is a really interesting effect, with a surprisingly high amount of uses considering the drawback it gives you and good synergy with Smell of Blood. Smell of Blood itself takes a fairly common effect but spins it in a way that’s somewhat different considering its restrictions and requirement that the Pokémon in question must be Benched, but I’d still like to see something a tad more unique there.
Wording: 11/15
Cannibal Fish:
-It would be correct to move “between turns” to the end of the effect based on Weezing UNB, but since the card had not yet been released in English at the time that you had submitted the entry, Shrine of Punishment was an acceptable reference. [-0 Point]
-Replace “if” with “As long as”. [-1 Point]
Smell of Blood:
-Replace “one” with “1”. [-1 Point]
-Capitalize Benched. [-1 Point]
-Swap “Pokémon-EX” and “Pokémon GX” [-1 Point]
Believability: 8/15
Cannibal Fish is a perfectly fine effect by itself and can assist that Sharpedo you added for context with powering up without making it too easy to do so. Smell of Blood, however, is vastly overpowered for only one energy on an NFE Basic. With only one damage counter on a Benched Pokémon provided by a Carvanha, you’re suddenly doing 30 damage to your opponent for one energy, and with two or more you get to 50+, which is wayyyy too strong for a Pokémon that hasn’t fully evolved. And this isn’t even mentioning the fact that you can just get damage on a Benched Pokémon without this effect, which could shoot your damage over 100 for a single energy, which is absolutely insane.
Edited: -2 Points
Final Score: 34/50
I love the creativity you’ve packed into this small Glass Cannon package here, Almonds! Unfortunately, this card is just way too powerful as is. In the future, you need to be sure that you’ve adjusted your effects to fit NFEs, which are balanced extremely differently than fully evolved Pokémon.
@MegaAbsol10
Creativity: 15/20
Iron Heart is a brilliant combination of protecting your team defensively while weakening yourself, which creates a cool dichotomy between using the defense-oriented nature of the card for yourself or your team. The first effects of Jousts of the King and Shield of Nobility are typical and relatively uninteresting, but the second Jousts of the King effect also creates a unique idea of switching out but powering up the thing that will come in your place in a way that’s never been seen before and I enjoy.
Wording: 9/15
Iron Heart:
-Replace the first “you” with “your” [-1 Point]
-Italicize “(before your attack)” [-1 Point]
-Add a comma after “(before your attack)” [-1 Point]
Swap the “If you do...on this Pokémon” clause and “During your opponent’s...damage from attacks” clause. [-1 Point]
-You would want to use “all” before “your Pokémon” based on Arcanine DET 6, but since the card had not yet been released in English at the time that you had submitted the entry, you’re fine here. [-0 Points]
Jousts of the King:
-Since they aren’t attached, the cards are “Energy cards” not “Energy” [-1 Point]
-Capitalize Active [-1 Point]
Believability: 13/15
You noted yourself that Iron Heart can be used too many times in a turn, to the point where as 240 HP beasts Escavalier can soak up repeated attacks and allow the Active Pokémon to survive attacks which it really shouldn’t (and turn 2-shots into 3-shot, etc.). It’s hard to set up and has a significant consequence of damaging itself and taking up bench spaces which keeps it in check, but is still a bit over the appropriate power level. At Joust of the King’s cost, the ability to attach not one but two energy from the discard pile while still dealing 140 damage is a bit much. On gut, it feels unlikely an Escavalier of all Pokémon would get 240 HP, but it’s technically possible. -2 Point for a ‘Dex stats and a ‘Dex entry on a GX.
Final Score: 37/50
This is a pretty solid card all around, Absol! For the future, try to be sure you copy down your references exactly correctly, as your mistakes aren’t structural here as much as tiny typos, but this was a really nice effort!
Iron Heart is a brilliant combination of protecting your team defensively while weakening yourself, which creates a cool dichotomy between using the defense-oriented nature of the card for yourself or your team. The first effects of Jousts of the King and Shield of Nobility are typical and relatively uninteresting, but the second Jousts of the King effect also creates a unique idea of switching out but powering up the thing that will come in your place in a way that’s never been seen before and I enjoy.
Wording: 9/15
Iron Heart:
-Replace the first “you” with “your” [-1 Point]
-Italicize “(before your attack)” [-1 Point]
-Add a comma after “(before your attack)” [-1 Point]
Swap the “If you do...on this Pokémon” clause and “During your opponent’s...damage from attacks” clause. [-1 Point]
-You would want to use “all” before “your Pokémon” based on Arcanine DET 6, but since the card had not yet been released in English at the time that you had submitted the entry, you’re fine here. [-0 Points]
Jousts of the King:
-Since they aren’t attached, the cards are “Energy cards” not “Energy” [-1 Point]
-Capitalize Active [-1 Point]
Believability: 13/15
You noted yourself that Iron Heart can be used too many times in a turn, to the point where as 240 HP beasts Escavalier can soak up repeated attacks and allow the Active Pokémon to survive attacks which it really shouldn’t (and turn 2-shots into 3-shot, etc.). It’s hard to set up and has a significant consequence of damaging itself and taking up bench spaces which keeps it in check, but is still a bit over the appropriate power level. At Joust of the King’s cost, the ability to attach not one but two energy from the discard pile while still dealing 140 damage is a bit much. On gut, it feels unlikely an Escavalier of all Pokémon would get 240 HP, but it’s technically possible. -2 Point for a ‘Dex stats and a ‘Dex entry on a GX.
Final Score: 37/50
This is a pretty solid card all around, Absol! For the future, try to be sure you copy down your references exactly correctly, as your mistakes aren’t structural here as much as tiny typos, but this was a really nice effort!
@VioletValkyrie
Creativity: 18/20
I really love the combinations of effects you’ve made here, Vi! The concept of a reflexive choice based on being attacked is something totally new, and the way you’ve used it to pick between the card being useful for attack or defense spins the theme in a very intelligent and creative fashion, though the choices themselves are a bit simple. The fact that the Blade counter, only able to be acquired from surviving an attack, is what is then needed to power up Aegislash’s attack is a very clever way of using the counter and creates another nice effect that has never been seen before.
Wording: 10/15
Crowned Shield:
-“Whenever” is used either reflexively or in application with something that can happen from multiple sources (e.g. energy attachment). Replace it with “If”. [-1 Point]
-Move “(after applying Weakness and Resistance)” to the end of the sentence. [-1 Point]
-The effect happens at the end of your opponent’s turn and thus would automatically expire, so to make it actually work, specify it’s “your opponent’s next turn”. [-1 Point]
-Decapitalize counter. (Also in Last Stand Sword x2.) [-2 Points]
Believability: 15/15
The fact that a relatively frail 140 HP Pokémon needs to survive an opponent’s attack limits any possible broken combinations with Aegislash, while the quite high 180 damage as a draw allows it to be within the power level that could conceivably be printed. Great job!
Edited: -2 Points
Final Score: 41/50
This is a wonderful card as always, Vi! You mentioned in your post that the website you normally use for wording was down at the time you made this, so the errors that you did make in this card are likely just an effect of that and thus should be easily fixable now that the site is back up. Keep up the nice work!
I really love the combinations of effects you’ve made here, Vi! The concept of a reflexive choice based on being attacked is something totally new, and the way you’ve used it to pick between the card being useful for attack or defense spins the theme in a very intelligent and creative fashion, though the choices themselves are a bit simple. The fact that the Blade counter, only able to be acquired from surviving an attack, is what is then needed to power up Aegislash’s attack is a very clever way of using the counter and creates another nice effect that has never been seen before.
Wording: 10/15
Crowned Shield:
-“Whenever” is used either reflexively or in application with something that can happen from multiple sources (e.g. energy attachment). Replace it with “If”. [-1 Point]
-Move “(after applying Weakness and Resistance)” to the end of the sentence. [-1 Point]
-The effect happens at the end of your opponent’s turn and thus would automatically expire, so to make it actually work, specify it’s “your opponent’s next turn”. [-1 Point]
-Decapitalize counter. (Also in Last Stand Sword x2.) [-2 Points]
Believability: 15/15
The fact that a relatively frail 140 HP Pokémon needs to survive an opponent’s attack limits any possible broken combinations with Aegislash, while the quite high 180 damage as a draw allows it to be within the power level that could conceivably be printed. Great job!
Edited: -2 Points
Final Score: 41/50
This is a wonderful card as always, Vi! You mentioned in your post that the website you normally use for wording was down at the time you made this, so the errors that you did make in this card are likely just an effect of that and thus should be easily fixable now that the site is back up. Keep up the nice work!
@Lord Goomy
Creativity: 19/20
I absolutely love the synergy going on here, Goomy! Howling Wind serves really well to both hinder the opponent and power up your attack in a pretty unique fashion (dealing spread damage based on energy attachment is pretty new as an idea) and Snap Freeze helps it perfectly perform the role of a glass cannon and fit the theme, along with being incredibly unique from the damage doubling and tool discards itself. I can immediately think of what I would pair with this card, which is also something great to see. Amazing work!
Wording: 11/15
Howling Wind:
-Add “(before your attack)” after “during your turn” [-1 Point]
Snap Freeze:
-Replace the first “attached to” with “on” [-1 Point]
-Replace the second “amount of” with “number” [-1 Point]
-Since the tools cards were not the subject/direct object of the previous sentence, “those” doesn’t make sense and should be replaced with a more specific reference to all the tools cards attached to all your opponent’s Pokémon or those on the damaged Pokémon. [-1 Point]
Believability: 12/15
The amount of commitment which winning the game from Howling Wind requires leads the opponent to still likely be able to avoid or counter that strategy and not be damaged too much by even 4 Froslass. Considering the difficulty of setting those four up and fact you are damaging yourself, it’s not really above the power level. That being said, having 4 Froslass in play and using Howling Wind with 2 energy attached to one can also get Froslass to 8 damage counters, which makes Snap Freeze deal 240 damage (notably having 3 Froslass deals 180 damage, enough to KO most Pokémon that were also damaged by the ability with sizable amount of energy on them), too powerful even with being impossible to chain from knocking itself out being a consequence (especially since KOing itself gains you a bonus of tool discards and damage). There are still plenty of possible checks on it to make Froslass not too broken, but it’s definitely above the power level.
Final Score: 42/50
This is a really great card, Goomy! I love the ideas and synergy behind it and it’s pretty well polished too. For next time, check the available references a bit more, as most of your wording errors are situational things based on how specific words are used in a specific context.
I absolutely love the synergy going on here, Goomy! Howling Wind serves really well to both hinder the opponent and power up your attack in a pretty unique fashion (dealing spread damage based on energy attachment is pretty new as an idea) and Snap Freeze helps it perfectly perform the role of a glass cannon and fit the theme, along with being incredibly unique from the damage doubling and tool discards itself. I can immediately think of what I would pair with this card, which is also something great to see. Amazing work!
Wording: 11/15
Howling Wind:
-Add “(before your attack)” after “during your turn” [-1 Point]
Snap Freeze:
-Replace the first “attached to” with “on” [-1 Point]
-Replace the second “amount of” with “number” [-1 Point]
-Since the tools cards were not the subject/direct object of the previous sentence, “those” doesn’t make sense and should be replaced with a more specific reference to all the tools cards attached to all your opponent’s Pokémon or those on the damaged Pokémon. [-1 Point]
Believability: 12/15
The amount of commitment which winning the game from Howling Wind requires leads the opponent to still likely be able to avoid or counter that strategy and not be damaged too much by even 4 Froslass. Considering the difficulty of setting those four up and fact you are damaging yourself, it’s not really above the power level. That being said, having 4 Froslass in play and using Howling Wind with 2 energy attached to one can also get Froslass to 8 damage counters, which makes Snap Freeze deal 240 damage (notably having 3 Froslass deals 180 damage, enough to KO most Pokémon that were also damaged by the ability with sizable amount of energy on them), too powerful even with being impossible to chain from knocking itself out being a consequence (especially since KOing itself gains you a bonus of tool discards and damage). There are still plenty of possible checks on it to make Froslass not too broken, but it’s definitely above the power level.
Final Score: 42/50
This is a really great card, Goomy! I love the ideas and synergy behind it and it’s pretty well polished too. For next time, check the available references a bit more, as most of your wording errors are situational things based on how specific words are used in a specific context.
@TeamAqua4Life #HEYNICK
Creativity: 10/20
Iron Bash is an interesting enough effect that’s been seen surprisingly rarely in the TCG, but Iron Barbs and Vine Snare GX are both things that have been printed a million times and aren’t that exciting at all, nor does anything work together to make the effects slightly more interesting. Finally, the card doesn’t really seem geared for either attack or defense, with the attacks feeling strong but having a defensive ability.
Wording: 15/15
Everything looks good. Nice work!
Believability: 12/15
Vine Snare GX and Iron Barbs are a bit powerful, but still perfectly realistic in terms of balance. Iron Bash, however, automatically is doing 140 damage for three energy by simply powering it up, which increase to 170 if the third energy is metal as would be the case in a typical deck built around this card. Doing that much damage without any form of drawback is above the typical power level for SuMo.
Edited: -2 Points
Final Score: 35/50
You’ve done a really good job polishing up the technical aspects of your cards which have plagued you in the past, Nick, but I want to see you innovate things with your cards and create something truly new. Use your referencing skills with the creativity I know you have and make a card with this amount of polish but more interesting effects.
Iron Bash is an interesting enough effect that’s been seen surprisingly rarely in the TCG, but Iron Barbs and Vine Snare GX are both things that have been printed a million times and aren’t that exciting at all, nor does anything work together to make the effects slightly more interesting. Finally, the card doesn’t really seem geared for either attack or defense, with the attacks feeling strong but having a defensive ability.
Wording: 15/15
Everything looks good. Nice work!
Believability: 12/15
Vine Snare GX and Iron Barbs are a bit powerful, but still perfectly realistic in terms of balance. Iron Bash, however, automatically is doing 140 damage for three energy by simply powering it up, which increase to 170 if the third energy is metal as would be the case in a typical deck built around this card. Doing that much damage without any form of drawback is above the typical power level for SuMo.
Edited: -2 Points
Final Score: 35/50
You’ve done a really good job polishing up the technical aspects of your cards which have plagued you in the past, Nick, but I want to see you innovate things with your cards and create something truly new. Use your referencing skills with the creativity I know you have and make a card with this amount of polish but more interesting effects.
@DrakenNinja
Creativity: 17/20
I really love the way you’ve used a choice of Special Conditions to represent the different Deoxys forms here! You’ve made it so that this card is able to morph into attack or defense (or speed) forms by choice in a unique way (though the individual components on the effects aren’t really), and the attack and ability work well together, though I feel like there might be a better way to link something to different forms than Special Conditions. I also quite enjoy the way Confused deals damage to your opponent instead of you for a tails flip, which is something never seen before in the TCG.
Wording: 0/15
ATGC Changer:
-Replace the first “you” with “your” [-1 Point]
-Italicize “(before your attack)” [-1 Point]
-Capitalize Active X2 [-1.5 Points]
-Add “Pokémon,” after Active [-1 Point]
-Capitalize the names of special conditions (Asleep, Paralyzed, Confused, etc.) x4 (also in Double Helix Strike) [-2.5 Points]
-Add a comma after Asleep, as it is in a list [-1 Point]
-Delete the first “Paralyzed” [-1 Point]
-Move the clause in parentheses so that it is part of the “If this Pokémon is Paralyzed” sentence (...its HP is now 200 and this Special Condition) [-1 Point]
-Replace “status” with “Special” [-1 Point]
-Capitalize Special Condition [-1 Point]
-Replace “end” with “ends” [-1 Point]
-Add a comma after “Confused”, “Paralyzed”, and “Asleep” in the last three sentences. x3 [-2 Points]
-Add “maximum” before “HP” [-1 Point]
-Delete “now” [-1 Point]
-Once during your turn on the Asleep clause doesn’t really work because it appears to be non-optional. Instead, do it at the beginning of your turn. [-1 Point]
Double Helix Strike (Since you’ve already lost all possible points, I’m not going to be nearly as thorough here and just say the things that quickly stand out to me):
-Capitalize attack names [-1 Point]
-Capitalize Ability. [-1 Point]
-Instead of the Pokémon being able to attack, you reword to say that this attack can be used. [-1 Points]
-Replace “counter” with “counters” [-1 Point]
-Replace “opponents” with “opponent’s” [-1 Point]
-Replace “its attacks do” with “this attack does” [-1 Point]
-Add a period at the end of the effect. [-1 Point]
Believability: 8/15
The 80 base damage on Double Helix Strike is way too high, especially when you combine it with the Confused form, which gets to an absolutely insane 130 damage (plus possibly 30 more) for two energy. Additionally, the Paralyzed form gets to 200 HP while still only being a one-prize Pokémon, making this card too strong as a wall compared to the other options available in the format. -2 points for no ‘Dex stats/entry.
Final Score: 25/50
You have some really nice ideas going on here, but the wording on this card is completely unreferenced, dragging it down a ton. In the future, check out Common Wording Errors guide we have on the site and use existing cards to check the punctuation, capitalization, and word choice of your cards so that you don’t lose so many points again.
I really love the way you’ve used a choice of Special Conditions to represent the different Deoxys forms here! You’ve made it so that this card is able to morph into attack or defense (or speed) forms by choice in a unique way (though the individual components on the effects aren’t really), and the attack and ability work well together, though I feel like there might be a better way to link something to different forms than Special Conditions. I also quite enjoy the way Confused deals damage to your opponent instead of you for a tails flip, which is something never seen before in the TCG.
Wording: 0/15
ATGC Changer:
-Replace the first “you” with “your” [-1 Point]
-Italicize “(before your attack)” [-1 Point]
-Capitalize Active X2 [-1.5 Points]
-Add “Pokémon,” after Active [-1 Point]
-Capitalize the names of special conditions (Asleep, Paralyzed, Confused, etc.) x4 (also in Double Helix Strike) [-2.5 Points]
-Add a comma after Asleep, as it is in a list [-1 Point]
-Delete the first “Paralyzed” [-1 Point]
-Move the clause in parentheses so that it is part of the “If this Pokémon is Paralyzed” sentence (...its HP is now 200 and this Special Condition) [-1 Point]
-Replace “status” with “Special” [-1 Point]
-Capitalize Special Condition [-1 Point]
-Replace “end” with “ends” [-1 Point]
-Add a comma after “Confused”, “Paralyzed”, and “Asleep” in the last three sentences. x3 [-2 Points]
-Add “maximum” before “HP” [-1 Point]
-Delete “now” [-1 Point]
-Once during your turn on the Asleep clause doesn’t really work because it appears to be non-optional. Instead, do it at the beginning of your turn. [-1 Point]
Double Helix Strike (Since you’ve already lost all possible points, I’m not going to be nearly as thorough here and just say the things that quickly stand out to me):
-Capitalize attack names [-1 Point]
-Capitalize Ability. [-1 Point]
-Instead of the Pokémon being able to attack, you reword to say that this attack can be used. [-1 Points]
-Replace “counter” with “counters” [-1 Point]
-Replace “opponents” with “opponent’s” [-1 Point]
-Replace “its attacks do” with “this attack does” [-1 Point]
-Add a period at the end of the effect. [-1 Point]
Believability: 8/15
The 80 base damage on Double Helix Strike is way too high, especially when you combine it with the Confused form, which gets to an absolutely insane 130 damage (plus possibly 30 more) for two energy. Additionally, the Paralyzed form gets to 200 HP while still only being a one-prize Pokémon, making this card too strong as a wall compared to the other options available in the format. -2 points for no ‘Dex stats/entry.
Final Score: 25/50
You have some really nice ideas going on here, but the wording on this card is completely unreferenced, dragging it down a ton. In the future, check out Common Wording Errors guide we have on the site and use existing cards to check the punctuation, capitalization, and word choice of your cards so that you don’t lose so many points again.
3rd Place: A tie between Vom’s Tyrantrum-GX and Kangaflora's Masquerain, each with 40/50 points.
2nd Place: VioletValkyrie’s Aegislash, with 41/50 points.
1st Place: Lord Goomy’s Froslass, with 42/50 points.