I had expected more or less that Generation 8 would be the theme of this month's CaC as I had heard some talk about it and... why wouldn't there be a Generation 8 CaC? I had come up with this idea for an ability way back in January's CaC while I was thinking of more ways prizes could be interacted with. Sadly I had to choose just one such ability for Sawsbuck, so this time around I'm using the other idea I came up with! I think this one is much more interesting, and with Dragapult being a Ghost type, it's so much more thematic than it would have been for Sawsbuck. Therefore, Dragapult had to be the choice here.
Just like any other entry I make with the Omnium Template, the following should be known for this entry:
- The wording is SM or the latest syntax of a specific effect if no such effect exists in the SM era.
- The layout for the attack area is based off of the classic/Neo era. Following that, "Ability" is written in the same red text as the ability name.
- All Omnium cards are meant to be balanced for the 2010-2011 Standard Rotation, or slightly more broadly any set from Diamond & Pearl base set to Noble Victories.
- Fonts and placements should be pixel-perfect as they were made using my templates, which places all the fonts exactly where they should be.
Originally I started this card thinking it would be another regular art card, and there was going to be a little scene of Dragapult resting with head on the ground with a bunch of Dreepy playing on his face. Unfortunately, my artist got a sudden influx of work and wouldn't have been able to finish it in time. This being a full art, I'm inclined to still use the normal-art concept in one of my main sets.
At this point it's obligatory that I make a dual-type card of any Pokémon I use that has two types, so it shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone that this card is Dragon/Psychic type. It's inclusion is sporadic and underutilized in the core game, so I'm gonna use it as much as I can in my own fakes.
Weakness and resistance are again a combination of the two types. The Darkness weakness comes from the Ghost typing and the Fairy weakness comes from the Dragon typing. He gets +30 because his HP is over 100 and he's a Stage 2 and this is a DPPt-balanced set. The Fighting resistance comes from the Ghost typing. Free retreat because he has the highest base speed of all pseudolegendary Pokémon by quite a large margin and I think his cards should reflect that. Surely TPCi will print at least one Dragapult card with free retreat in the future. The 130 HP is taken straight off of Garchomp from Supreme Victors.
As noted above, I actually came up with the idea for Stealth Approach during January's CaC, but I suspected I would be able to use it on a Dragapult for this CaC is it's more appropriate on a Ghost type, so I tucked it away until its time came. Ordinarily abilities don't activate from your prizes because they're private knowledge, but since both players see any face-up Prize cards, why not use that as a new way to use abilities? It's public knowledge and as far as I know there's no other card that's taken advantage of that. In this particular case, you're rewarded for prizing this Pokémon by getting a fast-track to a Stage 2 Pokémon, which is pretty rare (from memory, I only know
Talonflame STS 96 as the only other Pokémon with such a fast-track, or
Cradily PLB 4, who can provide fast-tracks to many Stage 2 Pokémon). But if you do it this way, it comes with the drawback that his attack will do no damage unless you've found a way to get some Dreepy in your discard pile or to get the context Dreepy I made above onto your Bench. As for viability, this effect goes hand-in-hand with mine and Kavross' Sawsbuck entry from last CaC, lending more viability to both of them. Additionally, if ever a Town Map or Team Rocket's Secret Mission card ever made it into the same format as this card, it would make it a lot easier to take full advantage of.
As for Ghost Missile, this turned out to be a bit of a pain to figure out the wording for. The goal is for it to count 40 damage for the Dreepy it evolved from, if any, as well as 40 damage for each Dreepy that was attached to it either by this attack or by the ability of a Dreepy. I really didn't want to have two damage clauses, so I ended up going way back to DPPt cards that interacted with baby forms and went with that. Dreepy that are attached to Dragapult are "anywhere under" that Dragapult and so is the Dreepy it evolved from. Also, for clarification, I specifically avoided that Dreepy attaches to Dragapult as a Tool or Special Energy card. Dreepy providing energy is definitely not the goal of the effects and a damage cap of 80 (or 90 if you count Dreepy's ability) is way too low for that cost and for a Stage 2 Pokémon. They're sort of their own thing in this case. If everything goes to plan - no Dreepy prized, Dragapult is prized (or brought in with Cradily PLB), and you draw all your Dreepy, this has potential to be a devastating attack, with a damage output of 160 if you don't use my Dreepy or 200 if you do use my Dreepy.
For once I've made a card that's not just effective in the early game, but can continue to be a good card throughout the game. I should do that more often.