Contest March 2024 CaC: Kalos Pokédex (Stay Tuned for Results!)

I am 12 and have just been playing a he TCG for a year. I play Klawf but rotation kind of ruined my deck
 
"Let me speak to the people Sycamore! Let me speak! (No one's stopping you...) They need to hear this! (30) They need to hear this! (30)
I'm not a big fan of gen VI (30 on 30) I'm not a big fan of gen VI (30 on 30) I'm not a big fan of gen VI (30 30 30) I'm not a big fan of gen VI (30 30 30) Not a big fan (30 30 30) Not a big fan of gen VI, Not a big fan of gen VI, Not a big fan of gen VI (30 on 30 on 30) Not a big fan of gen VI,
Not a big fan-Not a big fan-Not a big fan-Not a big fan-Not a big fan of gen VI! and so on"

TEAMAQUAVolcanionCaC.png

This said, Team Aqua has now entered Kalos! What world ending shenanigans will they be pulling there?
I'll leave it to your imagination.
The only wording I'm iffy about is the 'at the end of the turn in which this happens' clearly lifted from EX pokemon tools. i din't find pokemon with this clause in this era so I figured I'd go with this.
The Aqua Geyser damage is balanced with Rayquaza in mind but with drawbacks added (put the Energy back in your hand). It synergies with the ability since if you moved them you won't lose them.
The Pokemon Power works even if affected by a special condition, some do some don't even if it's rare in this era but I went for don't since it's a sturdy focused legendary.
All special Energy still get discarded, geyser only works for basic Energy.
 
"Gonna be honest, I don't see myself adding these to Omnium."
- Pone — 6/10/2021 10:18 PM PST

I changed my mind :]

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You thought I was gonna choose Xerneas, didn't you?

Sandslash V-UNION - Fighting - HP180
V-UNION
Special Pokémon

How to play a Pokémon V-UNION
Once per game during your turn, combine 4 different Sandslash V-UNION from your discard pile and put them onto your Bench.

[C] Union Gain
Attach up to 2 [F] Energy cards from your discard pile to this Pokémon.

[F] Chuck, Chuck, Choose
Choose up to 4 cards from your opponent's discard pile and have your opponent choose 1 of them. Your opponent puts that card into their hand and puts the other cards in the Lost Zone.

Ability: Accelerated Excavation
When you play this Pokémon from your discard pile onto your Bench during your turn, you may search your deck for up to 4 Restored Pokémon and put them onto your Bench. Then, shuffle your deck.

[F][F][F] Vicious Resonance 50+
If 1 of your opponent's Pokémon in play has an attack that has the same base damage as an attack on 1 of your Pokémon in play, this attack does that much more damage.

Ability: Rapid Regrowth
Once during your turn (before your attack), if this Pokémon doesn't already have a Pokémon Tool attached to it, you may attach a Pokémon Tool card from your discard pile to this Pokémon.

[F][F][C][C] Deft Swipes 80
If you have the same number of cards in your discard pile as your opponent, this attack does 50 damage to 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokémon.

V-UNION rule
When your Pokémon V-UNION is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards.

Weakness: [G] x2
Resistance: [L] -20
Retreat: [C]
#28 Mouse Pokémon HT: 3’ 3” WT: 65 lbs.
It likes to hide deep in the Silent Caves, using its armor-like quills as camouflage. The precision and power with which it uses its claws has interested fossil excavators in the region.

Illus. Manex57 - ©2024 Pokémon/Pone - CaC 10 / CaC 11 / CaC 12 / CaC 13

This is another CaC in which I showcase some of the upcoming updates to the Omnium template. This time, V-Unions! And golly wally there is so much more but I'ma try to stay focused.

For this contest, there were 13 Pokémon I wanted to go with at first: Gogoat, Scrafty, Noivern, Weavile, Steelix, Golurk, Floatzel, Absol, Xerneas (you know me), Yveltal, Zygarde, and our guy Sandslash. The artist went with Sandslash when I gave them the choice between him and Noivern. And I'm glad she did! Sandslash still has no special cards. Alolan Sandslash got one within a generation, but Sandslash is still alone. :( Amusingly, this is the case in CaC, too. Sandslash has never been chosen, but Alolan Sandslash has. So hurrah! Now regular Sandslash gets some love, too!

Speaking of the artist, I am floored by how good Manex57 made this artwork look! The swipe and the shading and the post and aaahh man it's just so good! Not to mention the fact that the artwork is 2520x3520 to fit these huge blanks! One element I thought was really cool for the background that unfortunately got covered up by card elements was some eyes poking down from the ceiling to give the cave a little more life. Such a great touch, but alas. You can still see a Zubat silhouette on the left side underneath Union Gain, though!

Sandslash is found in the Terminus Cave in Kalos. Therefore, cave artwork! I also did work in a little bit of Sandslash's official lore in the card in the form of the Rapid Regrowth ability. Originally there was also an attack on this card called "Six-Pin Rollout" because of his Pokémon Stadium entry making it sound like he was bowling into other Pokémon. "Six pins" being the maximum of six Pokémon on the opponent's bench. But I digress. Let's talk about the attacks that did survive:

Union Gain appears on all V-UNION Pokémon. I had an idea for a more thematic energy acceleration that also would have synergized nicely with my previous CaC entry Medicham, but it felt really weird to have two energy acceleration attacks on the same Pokémon, so I scrapped it. I think it's better to follow the conventions if I'm going for believability here.

Chuck, Chuck, Choose is a fun little attack though. It gave me by far the most trouble when trying to figure out the wording (as you'll see in the Wording section), but the idea behind it is slightly tweaking the number of cards in your opponent's discard pile for when you're trying to get Deft Swipes going. It's not the most reliable, obviously, so it would likely be even better to use it for other strategies. And obviously the name is a play on the game Duck Duck Goose. You Choose 1 card and Chuck the others. I think of it like Sandslash is coming to wreck your stuff and you only have time to save one thing. :>

Accelerated Excavation is new lore I added to Sandslash as part of the Holon region! So while the artwork in the card could be interpreted as the Terminus Cave, it can also be interpreted as the Silent Caves, which is an area I added to Holon for my own sets. The Silent Caves was found to be rich in fossils, so when the Holon scientists discovered how strong yet delicate Sandslash could be with its claws, they wanted to see if they could use it to dig up those fossils without destroying them. That's why the dex entry on CaC 12 says the fossil excavators took an interest. And here, the attack goes with the lore because he excavates those fossils! Just like the scientists trained him to! :D I also was aware that this ability would be a one-of per game, since it's an on-play ability on a V-Union. That effectively makes it a Prism-Star ability, so I wanted it to be pretty strong. I think skipping the fossil mechanic on 4 fossils is pretty good, right? Not to mention this ability can provide some really cheeky help for the next attack. If nothing else, it would be super helpful in fossil decks!

Vicious Resonance, my favorite attack on the card. There's very few (if any) cards in the TCG that reference another card's base damage. Vastly unexplored territory here, and I really wanted to do something fun with it. This idea of Sandslash somehow gaining power from the potential for two Pokémon to hit each other for identical damage is really fun and I feel like it introduces a whole new kind of play style. You might be putting cards in your deck that have attacks you never want to use just to be able to match the damage of another card that's big in the meta. Or you might cause your opponent to choose not to evolve a Pokémon on the field because they know that would enable you to hit bigger damage that could put them in trouble. Or you might focus on trying to get the best coverage possible and emphasize Pokémon with more attacks on their card. So much really fun and unique design space that could be played with when these kinds of mechanics start to come in!

Rapid Regrowth is the aforementioned only surviving attack based on his lore. In the Pokédex, it says that any spikes or claws that snap off during battle will regrow within a day. This could have manifested as a health regen thing, but I like to think of his claws and spikes more as tools based on his dex entries. Plus reattaching tools from the discard pile is another way to manipulate the number of cards in your discard pile, even if not by much. If nothing else, it could be a nice work-around for Field Blower-style cards!

And finally, Deft Swipes. From the moment it was decided this was going to be a Sandslash card, I had the word "deft" in my mind and was trying to think of attacks that would go with that kind of description, but nothing really stuck, so for several iterations of the card, "deft" was not a part of it. But then, in the last minute, after scrapping two attacks that weren't working, I thought of something! Deft means skillful and quick, and I think the act of getting behind the main attacker to do some damage to the bench entails some skill and speed. So in the same vein as the resonance metaphor from Vicious Resonance, the concept of him gaining this extra speed when there's an element (the discard pile) that is the same between players is a fun and thematic way to do that.

There's a lot going on in this card, but each of its attacks and abilities work toward its own synergize while enabling some other playstyles as well. I do see this as a card that wants you to build your deck around it, as it definitely wants to be the attacker. But it is also a one-of, so it can't be your only hope in your deck. Gotta play carefully! Even as bulky as this card is, it can still be one-shot by a strong Grass Pokémon like Torterra LV.X or a Meganium Prime with an Expert Belt attached.

I also wanted to comment a little bit on the template! I always found it kind ugly looking for there to be text on the side edges, covering up all the broken border stuff, so when designing this template, I tried as much as I could to fit everything in the bottom or top, keeping as much as possible in the same spot it would normally be. I think I did a good job! On the bottom two cards, all the meta info is in the same spot as normal, and that space in between the symbols is the perfect size for the stage, name, and type to nestle right in between. I love the way that looks, haha. I unfortunately had to move the V-Union rules to the sides for space, but I think they take up very little space and are largely unintrusive, so I'm happy with their placement still. Other than that, most things are pretty similar, just adjusted for the Omnium aesthetic. And I still made a place for the Pokédex stuff :D

For the holo pattern, I decided cosmo looks the best here and that's the preferred pattern for Omnium promos anyway (acid wash is meant to be for main sets).

And as always, these are important to consider for this card:
  • The wording is SM or the latest syntax of a specific effect if no such effect exists in the SM era.
  • 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.
  • "Special Pokémon" is Omnium's way of accounting for all gimmicks that need to be called out. For now it's only been put on Pokémon which yield more than one prize, but it is more versatile as its own label and can therefore be put on other cards if needed. "Pokémon with a rulebox" is incredibly clunky and they managed to even make that confusing, so I don't want to go near that.

Union Gain

Chuck, Chuck, Choose
  • Riley LOR 166 - I wasn't able to find anything that was the exact effect I'm looking for, but this seemed to be the closest, and gives us the format of "You produce a set of cards and your opponent chooses a number of them. A player (in this Riley's case, you) puts the chosen cards in one place and the others go somewhere else." Two sentences. I considered using the wording from Chip-Chip Ice Axe or Hiker as well, and at first glance it seems like I should have because it's basically the same kind of effect but in SM, but there's two difference that made choose not to:
    • Ice Pick follows the format of "You produce a set of cards and your opponent chooses 1 of them. Your opponent sends the others to one place and you put the first one somewhere else." Very subtle, but in even simpler terms, it's Ice Pick's "You produce and you choose. Opponent handles extra. Then, you handle chosen card." versus Riley's "You produce and opponent chooses. You handle chosen and handle extra." In Sandslash's case, the latter is much closer. Just change the second sentence to be your opponent instead of you.
    • Chip-Chip Ice Axe and Hiker both separate the second sentences into two sentences because it is sending all cards to the same place (the deck), meaning it requires there to be a sequence, and therefore "Then" is needed.
    Hiker is almost the same and Ice Pick except either player might handle the extra. So despite Riley being from SwSh, I think he is the better card to reference here.
    Aaaaalll that being said, here's some references for the actual text:
  • Cinccino CIN 86 - "Choose [up to 4] cards from your [opponent's] discard pile."
  • Tsareena SUM 20 - "...have your opponent..."
  • Chip-Chip Ice Axe UNB 165 - "...choose 1 of them."
  • Cyrus Prism Star UPR 120 - "Your opponent chooses 2 Benched Pokémon and shuffles the others, and all cards attached to them, into their deck." (This one doesn't adapt specifically to my effect without major revisions, but I put it in here to show that the "your opponent does X and then Y" has precedent rather than splitting up the two clauses like "Your opponent puts 1 of them into their hand. Put the other cards in the Lost Zone.")
  • Sableye LOT 96 - "[your opponent] put[s that card] into [their] hand."
  • Colress's Experiment LOR 155 - "Put(s) the other cards in the Lost Zone." (Not quite SM but the next two cards should be enough evidence this wording hasn't changed.)
  • Heatran CES 98 - "...other cards..." (preferred wording over "others" like Cyrus Prism Star because Cyrus is the only card in which "others" is used, and that's because it's referring to Pokémon in play.)
  • Girafarig LOT 94 - "...in the Lost Zone."
  • Girafarig LOT 94 - "Get Lost" seems like a reasonable benchmark for how much this effect should cost. I had the number capped at 3 and the attack cost set to [F][F] until I saw this card. Your opponent also gets a free card, so this seems to be still about the same net power level.

Rapid Regrowth
  • Phione CEC 57 - "Once during your turn (before your attack), if this Pokémon..."
  • Delibird LOT 57 - "[doesn't] already have a Pokémon Tool attached to [it]..."
  • Naganadel LOT 108 - "you may attach a [Pokémon Tool] card from your discard pile to this Pokémon."

Vicious Resonance
  • Grumpig CES 60 - "If 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon in play has [an attack that has] the same [base damage] as [an attack on] 1 of your Pokémon in play,..."
  • Mimikyu TEU 112 - "An attack that" (This phrase is not at all common in the TCG. I don't know of any other cards that describe what an attack is or what it does outside of cards like Victini GRI 10, but I don't think that phrasing is applicable here. The alternative wording "attack with" does not appear anywhere in the TCG.)
  • "base damage" appears on 8 distinct cards in SM.
  • Z move cards - "...[an] attack on..." (Again, not much to go off of here. This is the best reference I could find.)
  • Cinderace VMAX RCL 36 - "...this attack does that much more damage." (As far as I know, this is the first instance of this kind of effect appearing on a card.)
  • Machamp DP31 - Rough power level sorta. Identical attack cost for 60 with a chance to do an extra 30+confusion. I think it's not that difficult to have matching attack damages on your bench and so I would expect Vicious Resonance will probably be doing the extra damage much of the time, especially with Accelerated Excavation providing free Pokémon upon play. I think the unique cost plus the fact that this is a 3-prizer with a really weird play condition makes this a decent power scaling.

Accelerated Excavation
  • Oricorio GRI 55 - "When you play this Pokémon from your [discard pile] onto your Bench during your turn, you may..."
  • Corsola SUM 36 - "Search your deck for up to [4] [Restored] Pokémon and put them onto your Bench. Then, shuffle your deck."
  • Carracosta GX SM239 - "Put any number of Pokémon that evolve from Unidentified Fossil from your discard pile onto your Bench." (This is how SM era normally does something like this with fossils, but Omnium prefers Restored Pokémon, so the syntax is different.)

Deft Swipes
  • Shiftry CES 14 - "If you have the same number of cards in your [discard pile] as your opponent,..."
  • Dartrix SUM 10 - "...this attack does [50] damage to 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)"
  • Empoleon DP 4 - Damage. I figure the extra energy cost and difficult to manage secondary prerequisite in addition to effectively being a Prism Star Pokémon with a weird play condition and extra prize yield merits a little more damage to both.
  • Machamp TM 95 - Another reference for power level.

HP
V-UNION Pokémon didn't have the highest possible HP for their generation, but they were very close. Zacian was the highest and came 10 HP from the highest in the SwSh era: Snorlax VMAX, Copperajah VMAX, and Eternatus VMAX. With that in mind, I checked the highest HPs in gen 4, the top 3 of which belonged to Wailord, and went with something close-ish to that. I think 180 HP makes sense. Pokémon LEGEND have up to 160 and it would be weird for a card that's even more difficult to play to have only 10 more HP. I imagine bulkier Pokémon than Sandslash might have 190 or even 200 HP as V-UNIONs in this era.

WRRC
Here's all the sandslash cards. In Omnium it's Grass Weakness and Lightning Resistance for Ground types, which I guess makes it kinda like the pre-gen 3 Sandslash cards. Weakness is x2 because that's just what happens with Special Pokémon in Omnium. And retreat cost of 1 is consistent with the others being 0-2.

V-UNIONs
  • I didn't see this mentioned on previous V-UNION entries, but even the big name is all supposed to fit on just the top left card as you need the full name present to be able to reference it on its own. "Sandslash V-UNION" is the perfect length to fit on one card. :D
  • As mentioned before, Union Gain is on all V-UNION cards. I see it as like Crystal Pokémon all have the Crystal Type Poké-BODY. They just gotta be there.
  • Every V-UNION card has exactly 4 attacks (and some additionally have abilities). The attacks follow the usual convention of ascending energy cost, but on V-UNIONs they go from top-left to top-right to bottom-left to bottom-right.
  • Abilities, however, go in the reverse order, starting on the final card in the group. It's hard to tell much because only two of them have abilities, but based on Greninja V-UNION, all I can discern is that they seem to be prioritize balancing out the number of lines of text on each card. My two abilities have the same number of lines, so that doesn't really make a difference there. I opted for putting them on the card with the attack that they worked best with.

  • I commissioned this Sandslash art just for this card. The artist is Manex57! And I'm so happy with this that I might be having them illustrate more cards in the future.
  • I've lost the source for who extracted the Cosmo holo pattern, but I think it was either Aschefield101 or icycatelf. It doesn't match the one in Aschefield's gallery though so idk. If someone knows, let me know.
  • Everything else, barring the fonts and the CaC symbol, was by me.
  • Special thanks to PMJ and especially Zoxo on discord for helping me with the wording on Chuck, Chuck, Choose! That one is a doozy!
I wish everyone the best of luck in this contest!

Thanks so much to the judges and PokéBeach for making this possible! I can't wait to do this again!
 
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"Gonna be honest, I don't see myself adding these to Omnium."
- Pone — 6/10/2021 10:18 PM PST

I changed my mind :]

dh40m3a-38d639b3-5a9e-41b1-965e-ccfd69a4f127.png
It's cool but the sidebars and everything are sun&moon style and a lot of the wording is wrong
 
Tyrantrum CAC (1).png

Firstly I want to thank Kaleidophoenix for the amazing blank. Now I come here with a rather simple entry, nothing more than a modest single prizer. The technicalities first: I want this to fit in gen 4 Power level, and use modern wording. It's both an accelerator for fossil decks, and with a rather quirky attack that was a wording nightmare. In fact, this attack isn't on the 100% of what I wanted it to be, which was like if you discarde a fossil Stage 2, it still adds 40 damage, but I couldn't get a nice wording to reflect that.

References: Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor GX for the Poké-Power, Tsareena V (kinda) for the attack.
 
A less strict contest for beginners and younger less experienced people
 
Here we are!

M-Gyarados.png
I made this using the mega template I made a bit before the marathon. I thought that for a Kalos theme, making a mega Pokémon would be quite fitting, even if the Pokémon itself doesn't come from gen 6. I also wanted to get some training with model rendering, and so this time the image comes from me, even tho its not an artowrk haha (for information, the other illustration credit is for the photographer of the background image; that's what the creative common license required). Gyarados was one of the megas I wanted to make for my possibly incoming set, and so here we are.

The card is balanced around the Lackey DPPt format.

Before everything else, I want to talk a little about my mega LV.X mechanic. It's different from both the official (and stupid) mechanic from XY and Pone's (not stupid) mechanic from Omnium. Even if I like the latter, trying to fuse it with LV.X is kinda redundant since you usually won't have more than one LV.X on the field anyways. My twist makes it so unlike normal LV.X, you can have 4 of both the base mon and the LV.X, since they do have different names now, but you can't have different megas in your deck; you're limited to playing with one single mega line. This makes megas more consistant than LV.Xs but also more restrictive in terms of deckbuilding, forcing the player to make a choice. For this reason, I try to give megas very singular effects that affect heavily the playstyle of the deck they're in.

First of all, I know 130 HP is a bit on the smaller side for a Gyarados LV.X, many DPP Gyarados having that same amount of HP. I might lose some points in belivability for that, but since it's gimmick is centered around the amount of HP it has, I wanted to limit it somehow to not make it too overbearing. There also isn't any Gyarados in the Lackey format currently, and in such a vacuum I don't think it's that unreasonable a number.

So this gimmick Gyarados has is a Poké-Body that transforms every attack into a stronger version of BW Zekrom/Reshiram Outrage. With this, Gyarados becomes a very risk/reward oriented attacker, being able to reach insane numbers but having to stay close to a dangerous HP zone to dish out this damage. This sort of ability pairs up well with low-cost smaller attacks, because since you're gonna be reaching big damage anyways you don't particularily need to invest in bigger but costlier attacks; at some point its just overkill. I imagine a base form with a simple one energy attack that hits for little damage and a bigger attack that inflicts recoil damage onto Gyarados, so you can better control the damage it receives.

But its true ace in the whole comes in the form of Harpoon Tail, allowing it to snipe targets off of a probable 80 (and up to 140!) damage, making set up mons like Raccaflame or Pidgeot bigger liabilities. One of the thing Ive felt playing a bit of Lackey is how difficult it is to remove support mons since we lack stuff like Luxray GL LV.X or Boss. Im not saying that's a bad thing, both of these are super infuriating because of how low-commitment their gust effect is to activate, but sometimes I see a Raccaflame played turn 2 that stays on the board the whole game and I just kinda want to squeeze it to death. Because of the Mega mechanic, you have to dedicate your Mega slot to that end over possibly good draw or energy acceleration, the same way choosing a Radiant Tsareena or Gardevoir makes it so you won't have access to Radiant Gren. I think that's a good compromise for such a sniping option.

And I mean, it is strong, but it also requires that you take some damage before waving that tail around, since you won't be doing much with 20 damage except for maybe stalling a turn. That's also where Gyarados' main weakness lies, as long as you don't interact with it too much, it's not gonna do much in return. This gives you the time to set up a strong electric attacker in response, or just set up your board in general, it's not like Garchomp C LV.X that can just start swinging left and right with a double colorless and a Team Galactic Energy Gain. It is also somewhat resource intensive, being a stage 1 LV.X means it takes at least 3 turns to set up, and Harpoon Tail taking more energies than is the norm for that type of effect (just look at LA Cradily). I think those aspect balance out it's undeniably strong board presence.

References:
Poké-Body:
- Delcatty (PL 4)
- Lucario (POP6 2)
- Deoxys-EX (PLF 53)

Attack
- Cradily (LA 21)
 
*forgot to say it in the notes but its also super shut down by delta Kartana which is fairly common! It's very reliant on it's Poké-Body being active.
 
Thanks for participating, @Pone! Although I must ask, why didn't you use the Classic style Energy placements and Ability "symbol?" You made me sad.

Also, I would love to see this card added to the Lackey Promos collection! If being three prizes isn't going to cut it during Lackey Review, you could always rebalance it as a "Union" instead of a "V-Union," just like your non-GX Tag Teams, which are worth two prize cards. This is a fascinating card and would be intriguing to deck build around. The only problem would be the lack of Restored Pokémon in Lackey and the absence of viable options within Frontiers Renewed or Lackey Promos (I'm trying to rationalize a Sandslash Union/Armaldo deck, but I just don't think the synergy is there).

One change I would personally consider making would be giving Sandslash V-Union multiple Weaknesses and Resistances, borrowing a design principle from bulkier ex's from third generation. 180 HP is a lot to muscle through, and while a second resistance would help the card tank hits, a second weakness would keep it in check if Grass types were at a lull in the meta. Then again, Regigigas Lv.X with Expert Belt was allowed to exist and falls just short of Sandslash V-Union's HP as an "2-prizer" (augmented 1-prizer), so that is probably the closest point of reference for whether this card's bulk is fair game.

Keep in mind that V-Unions (or Unions) could be set up far quicker in Omnium, where the spiritual successors of cards like Claydol and Bebe's Search discard cards rather than returning them to the deck (If you ever add it or some version of it to Lackey Promos, that is. Lackey's staples, of course, have no bearing on your score in a CaC).

Again, thanks for participating! It's always fun to see your creativity (and the fruits of your labors in bringing us Omnium) at work!
 
Thanks for participating, @Pone! Although I must ask, why didn't you use the Classic style Energy placements and Ability "symbol?" You made me sad.

Also, I would love to see this card added to the Lackey Promos collection! If being three prizes isn't going to cut it during Lackey Review, you could always rebalance it as a "Union" instead of a "V-Union," just like your non-GX Tag Teams, which are worth two prize cards. This is a fascinating card and would be intriguing to deck build around. The only problem would be the lack of Restored Pokémon in Lackey and the absence of viable options within Frontiers Renewed or Lackey Promos (I'm trying to rationalize a Sandslash Union/Armaldo deck, but I just don't think the synergy is there).

One change I would personally consider making would be giving Sandslash V-Union multiple Weaknesses and Resistances, borrowing a design principle from bulkier ex's from third generation. 180 HP is a lot to muscle through, and while a second resistance would help the card tank hits, a second weakness would keep it in check if Grass types were at a lull in the meta. Then again, Regigigas Lv.X with Expert Belt was allowed to exist and falls just short of Sandslash V-Union's HP as an "2-prizer" (augmented 1-prizer), so that is probably the closest point of reference for whether this card's bulk is fair game.

Keep in mind that V-Unions (or Unions) could be set up far quicker in Omnium, where the spiritual successors of cards like Claydol and Bebe's Search discard cards rather than returning them to the deck (If you ever add it or some version of it to Lackey Promos, that is. Lackey's staples, of course, have no bearing on your score in a CaC).

Again, thanks for participating! It's always fun to see your creativity (and the fruits of your labors in bringing us Omnium) at work!
Thanks for the input! I'm glad you like it!

I decided to star transitioning my Omnium blanks into the modern format because it's much easier to work with and I think it takes up less space overall. And after finally adding it to Omnium I also kinda think it looks better.

If I had more time to work on the blanks, I think I would try and figure out something other than multiprize stuff. I have already considered just making it a "Union" without the V as well. Maybe one day I'll work out how I think the 4-card gimmick could be improved. One day I do hope to add proper Fossils that this could work with. We'll see when they day comes.

Sandslash only has one type in the games - Ground type - so that's what guided the decision to give him what he has. I probably will leave it like it is for now because I really think I ought to focus on finishing my set again now that the blanks are released. I'm happy with how the card came out, regardless of what score I get. Sometimes I submit to CaC just to get some long-winded feedback about the blanks hehe.
 
quagsireBREAK.png
Basically, my thought process was "I WANT TO MAKE A QUAGSIRE BREAK CARD" as soon as I found out that Quagsire was in the Kalos Pokedex, as it's been one of my favorite Pokémon for as long as I can remember, and the expansion that introduced me to the TCG was Breakthrough, so the BREAK mechanic holds a special place in my heart. To my surprise, the only legal Quagsire card during the format when BREAKs were legal was Quagsire from Ancient Origins. To help you understand the context, let me quickly summarize the card:
-Fighting type
-110 HP
-First attack: [W] [C] for 30 damage, with no additional effect.
-Second attack: [W] [C] [C] for 80 damage, and the damage is not affected by Resistance.
We're talking about a card that could barely be considered "playable" compared to other Fighting Pokémon in the format. So I thought, "I'm screwed, BREAKs can only change three things about a Pokémon: its HP, its type, and an extra move or ability, maybe I should think about another Pokémon," but I preferred to take it as a challenge and think about how I could make a simple BREAK significantly improve the performance of Quagsire - Ancient Origins in the XY format.
-Fighting type
I decided not to change it due to the extensive support for Fighting in the XY format: Korrina, Strong Energy, Focus Sash, Fighting Stadium, Carbink BREAK, and Regirock EX. This allows Quagsire's mediocre attacks to reach enviable numbers.
-160 HP
A solid number in the XY format considering it's still a 1-prizer, and Focus Sash greatly aids the card's survivability.
-Ability: Amphibian Advantage
Something curious about this format is that there's the Delta Plus Ancient Trait, which is basically a much simpler version of this ability (If you get a KO, take an extra prize card), but there was never a Fighting type Pokémon with that Ancient Trait. Why? Well, because of what was mentioned earlier, the support for Fighting in this format is very good, and then this card fills that niche, and it also adds a condition to make this card a bit more "interactive." It's an acceleration of 1 Water or Fighting energy to your Benched Pokémon upon getting a KO, and if you accelerate it, take an extra prize card. With cards like Professor's Letter, you can easily access such cards, but it leaves you vulnerable to disruption cards. One of the niches mentioned to me during feedback is that this card would LOVE the matchup vs Night March, as you could probably trade 1 or 2 prize cards for 4 or more without much effort due to the low HP of those cards.
In summary, I am very satisfied with this card, and it's one of my favorites because the XY format is practically my childhood, and making a BREAK card for one of my favorite Pokémon? Count me in.

Clawitzer ex– [W] – HP260
Stage 1 – Evolves from Clauncher

Ability: Brigade Shooter

Attacks used by this Pokémon cost [C] less for each of your Benched Pokémon that has the Swim Freely attack.

[W][C][C][C] Slipstream Blast
You may put any amount of [W] Energy from your Pokémon that have the Swim Freely attack into your hand. Then, for each card you put in your hand in this way, choose 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon and do 50 damage to it. (You can choose the same Pokémon more than once.) This damage isn’t affected by Weakness or Resistance.

Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C] [C]
Pokémon ex rule: When your Pokémon ex is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really like it when Pokémon archetypes are based on the characteristics of the card itself rather than on a tagging system or whether it has a rule box or not. In this case, I really like the Swim Freely archetype currently because it's basically a "Chien Pao Baxcalibur at home," but I feel like it could have much more dedicated support. So I decided to give it a focus more similar to how archetypes work in YGO, and this card came to mind.

aguacate.png
Just a normal dimension-shattering avocado, as the ones you see in your farm's market.
 
Gogoat ex - HP 270 - W
Stage 1 - Evolves from Skiddoo TERA
As long as this Pokémon is on your Bench, prevent all damage done to this Pokémon by attacks (both yours and your opponent's).
1711918792697.png

Ability: Ride Support
You can only use this Ability if you played a Supporter card from your hand during this turn. Once during your turn, you may draw 3 cards. You can't use more than 1 Ride Support Ability during your turn.


[G][C] Meadow Surge 140
Look at the top 7 cards of your deck and attach any number of Basic Energy cards you find there to your Benched Pokémon in any way you like. Shuffle the other cards back into your deck. If there is a Stadium card in play, look at the top 10 cards of your deck instead.

Weakness:
[L] x2
Resistance:
Retreat:
[C][C]
Pokémon ex rule: When your Pokémon ex is knocked out, your opponent takes 2 prize cards.
 
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Allow me to present my entry. I was not particularly inspired this month, although that was partially a result of the idea I chose for myself, so I hope this will suffice.

Mega Medicham HP: 220 [F]
308.png
Mega Evolution: Mega Evolves from Medicham

medicham-mega.png

Bond Phenomena: This Pokémon can use any attack or Ability of the Pokémon it Mega Evolved from.

Ability: Sixth Sense Reaction
As long as this Pokémon is in the Active Spot, each time your opponent retreats or switches out their Active Pokémon, you may flip a coin. If heads, choose 1 of your opponent's new Active Pokémon's attacks. For the rest of your opponent's turn, that Pokémon can't use that attack.

[C][C][C] Pressure Point Strike 120
The Defending Pokémon is now Paralyzed. If this Pokémon has any damage counters on it, this attack does nothing.

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

Mega Evolution Rule: When you play a Supporter card from your hand during your turn, you may put this Pokémon from your hand or discard pile onto 1 of your Pokémon this card can Mega Evolve from. You can't have more than 1 Mega Evolution Pokémon in your deck.
 
Gogoat ex - HP 270 - W
T
ERA

Stage 1. Evolves from Skiddoo
View attachment 19080
NO. 0673 Mount Pokémon HT: 5'07'' WT: 200.6 lbs.

Ability: Ride Support
You can only use this Ability if you played a Supporter card from your hand during this turn. Once during your turn, you may draw 3 cards. You can't use more than 1 Ride Support Ability during your turn.


[G][C] Meadow Surge 140
Look at the top 7 cards of your deck and attach any number of Basic Energy cards you find there to your Benched Pokémon in any way you like. Shuffle the other cards back into your deck. If there is a Stadium card in play, look at the top 10 cards of your deck instead.

Weakness:
[L] x2
Resistance:
Retreat:
[C][C]
It can sense the feelings of others by touching them with its horns. This species has assisted people with their work since 5,000 years ago.
You I forgot the TERA rule. Would it be worth the two point penalty to fix it?
 
Was a little short on time this month, so probably not my best work. Here you go anyway!
Reuniclus – Psychic – HP 140
Stage 2 - Evolves from Duosion
-Gni6u4yeTFAmojtoi1901QD3tnVSm1pzSox5dH6BRCuMbskmGfssglsT13BgPPrf_a6LaT2Z03ixN7vY6nre76ewZiO4nBqTjC_8pSz4w9j9zuiI7awUrn95EVhhbl6dwcSHF-tGhp3rZQ_lh8UpQs


NO. 579 Multiplying Pokémon HT: 3’3” WT: 44.3 lbs.

Ability: Manipulative Power
Once during your turn, if this Pokémon is on your Bench, you may put 4 damage counters on this Pokémon and switch it with your Active Pokémon. If you do, switch 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon with their Active Pokémon. You can't use more than 1 Manipulative Power Ability in a turn.

[P][C] Psychic Slug 100+
If this Pokémon has at least 8 damage counters on it, this attack does 130 more damage.

Weakness: Dark (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-30)
Retreat: [C] [C]
It's said that drinking the liquid surrounding Reuniclus grants wisdom. Problem is, the liquid is highly toxic to anything besides Reuniclus itself.
Reuniclus is a really cool Pokemon that never has any good cards (at least that's what is seems like). So, this card exists now to bring this lesser known and lesser loved Pokemon into the spotlight (a bit). I tried to balance the ability a fair amount, since Guzma as an ability is obviously strong. This card should NEVER be in a format with float stone!! As this card is meant for the late SwSh era, its retreat cost and it being a Stage 2 should restrain it from being very overpowered.
Mawile Vstar SIT, Lucario BST, and Galarian Moltres V ASR, as well as previous wording critiques. :)
 
I would like to enter for Text-based. Here’s my entry:

Quilladin - HP 90
Stage 1 - Evolves from Chespin

[C] Hehe I'm In Danger 20

[R][W][F] Explosive Diarrhea 100

Weakness: [R] x2
Trying to achieve the world record for the lowest score in CaC history.
Happy April Fools everyone!
 
You I forgot the TERA rule. Would it be worth the two point penalty to fix it?
Not sure and I realized that right after I posted it, honestly this was super last minute and I posted it late at night and I was super tired. Honestly, been really busy lately so I'm not really in this CaC to win and mostly just to participate and post something, might end up editing it later today. Even if I lose 2 points I want to at least post something of good quality. So, my bad?. Thanks for the heads up by the way!
 
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