Contest November 2019 CaC: Ancient Pokémon! (All Results Up!)

Here is my entry! It is from SM era. Enjoy!

Omastar – Fighting – HP160
Stage 2 – Evolves from Omanyte

Ability: Spiral Helix
Once during your turn, you may flip a coin. If it is heads, you may draw a card. Repeat this until you get tails.

[F][F][F] Apex Evolution 20+
This attack does 20 more damage for each time you have used Apex Evolution in this match.
You can’t add more than 220 damage in this way. Then, if you have used Apex Evolution 20 times, you win the game.

Weakness: [Y] (x2)
Resistance: [G] (-20)
Retreat: [C] [C] [C] [C]
Government records show that people had once created an entire religion worshiping this Pokémon, calling it the “Lord Helix”.
In recent years, their ornate fossils have become a sought-after collectors item.

Process
Ability: Omastar is based off of ammonites and modern-day nautilus, whose shells contain a naturally occurring Fibonacci Spiral (look it up), which can go on infinitely. So, for “Spiral Helix”, I wanted to create something that could, theoretically, go on infinitely. The first draft of the ability couldn’t be affected by trainer cards, because I had misread the new “Will” from cosmic eclipse, thinking that it affected all coin flips. Also, “Spiral Helix” sounds cool, even if it makes very little sense.
Attack: This is less about Omastar and more about fossil Pokemon + Darwinian evolution as a whole. Over billions of years, animals have evolved and adapted to their surroundings, which has always fascinated me. Apex Evolution starts out small like unicellular organisms, and slowly grows bigger, as if it were evolving into a more complex and powerful organism. If I were to design this and put it into a set, I would probably have multiple Pokemon with this attack and Trainers which buff cards that have this attack, to make it into a cool archetype. The Win-con represents a species reaching a point where it becomes the dominant species, and could competitively stop stall/mill decks.
Pokedex: The Ornate fossil part is talking about some of the stunning gallery-level fossil Ammonites that have been found. Some will turn into pyrite, while others crystalize. It is worth looking up.
 
Here’s my text-based entry, Sun and Moon era. Had a lot of fun making this.

Omastar & Kabutops GX - [F] Pokémon - HP280
Basic

Ability: Ancient Restoration
Once during your turn, before your attack, you may heal 30 damage from one of your Pokémon.

[W][F] Pain Split 10 damage.
For each Prism Star card on your Bench, you may move three damage counters from one of your Pokémon to another Pokémon (yours or your opponent’s). For each [W] attached to this Pokémon, put one damage counter on your opponent’s active Pokémon.

[C][C]+ Rock Drain GX 130 damage. If this Pokémon has at least 1 Extra [W] and [F] Energy attached to it, heal 130 damage from this Pokémon.

Weakness: Grass X2
Resistance: None
Retreat Cost: [C] [C] [C]
 
Sign me on for text for now. Figure that'd be safe since I'll only do image if I have the time (and guts) to return to my origins.
 
Would anyone like to team up? I'd love to do some card art but I cant keep scamming photoshop from Adobe anymore haha so would need a partner for the card part
 
Welp, here goes nothing! Wanted to try out a new era, so decided on XY-era FA :D

ddk69qy-d984de08-5ec4-4ce2-b70d-655ec56643e8.png

How does it fit the theme you may ask?
In the beginning, there was only a churning turmoil of chaos.
At the heart of chaos, where all things became one, appeared an Egg.
Having tumbled from the vortex, the Egg gave rise to the Original One.
From itself, two beings the Original One did make.
Time started to spin. Space began to expand.
From itself again, three living things the Original One did make.
The two beings wished, and from them, matter came to be.
The three living things wished, and from them, spirit came to be.
The world created, the Original One took to unyielding sleep...
Or to summarize: Arceus created Dialga/Palkia, then it created Uxie/Mesprit/Azelf. The myth describes how the world was created, so I think that qualifies as ancient haha :p

Blanks by Snoops
Numbers/Symbols by Asche and Snoops
Foils by Nekoban Ryo
Art by me
Placement and text size: Ho-Oh EX (BREAKpoint 121/122)
Being of Knowledge: Mew-EX (XY126)
Memory Control: Whiscash (Primal Clash 40/160)

Good luck to everyone! :D
 
Here's my fun little Golurk card. It never got a good card so here I am hoping I can do it justice!

Golurk - [P] Pokemon - 130 HP
Stage 1 - Evolves from Golett

Ability: Ancient Upkeep
At the beginning of your turn, before you draw a card, if this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon, you may put 2 cards from your Discard Pile into your hand. You do not draw a card at the beginning of your turn if you used this Ability.

[P][C][C][C]: Wrecking Rage 100
Discard the top 4 cards of your deck.

Weakness: Darkness x2
Resistance: Fighting -20
Retreat: [C][C][C]
 
ANCIENT NINETALES

uc


I almost did an Arcanine but I'd rather make a gift to @Nyora!

Since it's an "ancient" card, it has very little text. I've used a font that looks good enough like a form of ancient Japanese.

Name: FOX
HP (L from "life"): 9(0)
Flame: 6(0)
"Eternal curse"
"weak" to Water
"less" from Grass
"free" by 3
 
Sorry it’s so close to the deadline! I had exams up until Wednesday so I haven’t been focusing on this… at all, really. It’s a little rushed but hopefully it does alright.
Wartortle [W] HP80
Stage 1 - Evolves from Squirtle

NO. 008 Turtle Pokémon HT: 3’03” WT: 49.6 lbs

Ability - Slow Growth
As long as this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon, put 1 Age counter on each of your Wartortle in play between turns.

[W][W] Withdrawing Draw
Flip a coin. If heads, prevent all damage done to this Pokémon by attacks during your opponent’s next turn. If tails, draw 2 cards.

[W][W][W] Ten Thousand Years
If there are 100 or more Age counters on all of your Pokémon, you win this game. If not, move any number of Age counters on your Pokémon to your other Pokémon in any way you like.

Weakness: [G] x2
Resistance:
Retreat Cost: [C][C]

It is said to live for over 10,000 years. Its furry tail is a popular symbol of longevity.


Wartortle UNB
Weezing UNB
Houndour LOT
Alolan Sandshrew GRI
Emcee’s Chatter (Surprised I actually get to say this!!!)
Unown DAMAGE LOT
Tapu Lele UPR
 
Speaking of which, there's 29 hours remaining from the timestamp of this post! Good luck!
 
This time around I did a collab with @Kavross! He did the artwork, put together the prevocon, and pushed me to get better names for the attacks, and I did everything else. And we're just barely on time! I almost waited until tomorrow to post, and that would have been disastrous because apparently 10pm EST is well before I awake in the morning.

If you like the blanks, check out my thread for them here! You will need Photoshop, preferably CS6


CaC_04_-_Armaldo_1.png


Armaldo – Fighting/Grass – HP120
Stage 2 - Evolves from Anorith
This Pokémon is both [F][G] type.

Ability: Apex Armor
As long as there are no [G] Energy cards in your discard pile, this Pokémon gets +50 HP.

[G] Reclaim
Put a [G] Energy card from your discard pile on top of your deck.

[G][G][G][G] Compound Jab 100
During your opponent's next turn, this Pokémon takes 10 less damage from attacks for each [G] Energy attached to this Pokémon (after applying Weakness and Resistance).

Weakness: Water +30
Resistance: None
Retreat: [C][C]
#348 Plate Pokémon HT: 4' 11" WT: 150.4 lbs.
FireRed & LeafGreen: Protected by a hard shell, its body is very sturdy. It skewers prey with its claws to feed.

Illus. Kavross - ©2019 Pokémon/CardPone - CaC 04


I had a bit of a debate about what mon I wanted to use this time around. On one hand, I really wanted to do Kabutops, but on the other hand, Armaldo is also a fossil favorite of mine and I reckon it's not exactly common to be able to do Pokémon from the same evolution line back to back like this, so I thought it fitting to follow up on my Anorith card.

Just like any other entry I make with the Omnium Template, I've got my trademark bulleted list of things to keep in mind:
  • 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.
  • Restored Pokémon in Omnium are treated the same as regular Stage 1 Fossil Pokémon from blocks like Base Set and Sun & Moon. They are Stage 1 Pokémon in all but name and still evolve into Stage 2 Pokémon.
As a note on last month's entry since I've managed to procrastinate so long on typing up a response, I have come to agree that Dream World artwork isn't really making the cut for prevocons. I stuck with them for a while and maintained that that's just how it was done with Omnium, but while I was making a Charizard card and realizing how saturated Charmeleon's color is in the Dream World artwork, I realized that it wasn't going to work out, so I've switched to using Sugimori artwork for it (though for this one, Kavross actually did the prevocon and he seems to have the whole prevocon thing down). I did want to mention about the text placements, though, as I'm not really seeing the issues that were pointed out on last contest's entry. The text area on attacks is a bit wider compared to the look of classic-style cards, which was intentional as a way to ensure more can fit on the card before the text needs to be scaled down. I asked a few people about the spacing of things and no one had mentioned the attack width or the Pokédex entry spacing until the last CaC contest. For this month, I left it the same as last month (mainly because I'll have to redo a lot of cards if and when I do make that change), so if the judgment is still firm on that front, I'm prepared to take the deduction again.

Most of the card carries over from what was started with my entry for the previous CaC. It has the dual Grass/Fighting typing and is weak to water (because it doesn't make sense for Armaldo to be weak to Grass like they normally do in the TCG). No resistance, and the retreat cost is fairly standard for Armaldo, who usually has a retreat cost of 2 or 3. I would personally agree if anyone said the HP is a bit low for a Stage 2 Pokémon, but if you can keep the Ability activated, then that shouldn't really be a problem.

Speaking of the Ability, let's talk about Apex Armor. I was pretty happy with the way Anorith's interactions with Grass energy turned out, and this time around I wanted to do more with it. Since Anorith worked around keeping Grass energy out of the discard pile, Armaldo's gig is to reward you for it, and it rewards you big time if you can keep it up. It takes you to 170HP if you're finding ways to waste zero Energy, which is particularly bulky for a DPPt/HGSS era card - there were only 4 cards across the two blocks that had 170 HP or more, and they were Rhyperior LV.X LA 145, Wailord SV 47, Wailord GE 30, and Wailord TM 31. What's the justification for such a high HP cap here? Well, the caveat of this ability is that, in most situations, it only really matters on your opponent's turn, and if they have a means of sending Energy attached to your Pokémon to the discard pile, then it means it's more or less up to them whether you get to keep the ability or not. Plus, once a fully-energized Armaldo is Knocked Out, it may become pretty difficult to get all those Energy cards back out of the discard pile, making Armaldo a fairly early-game card, just like his previous evolution. As for the name of the ability, Armaldo and Anorith are based on Anomalocaris, which was the apex predator of its time in no small part because of its hard shell.

The second attack was one I wasn't sure if I was going to leave on, but ultimately I decided that it could be worth it to have a little bit of forgiveness built in to the card itself. Instead of just putting it back into your hand, though, I thought I'd work it out so it needed to have a little strategy involved instead, so when you use this attack, you're all but guaranteed to be sacrificing drawing into other cards that you might be trying to top-deck into. This certainly isn't something you'd want to use to try and recover from a losing a fully-energized Armaldo by any means.

And finally, there's Compound Jab, which again follows the theme for interacting with Grass energy. Specifically, you're getting big rewards for stacking your energy on Armaldo, which could be helped by Anorith's Thrive in Entropy. It can present a bit of risk, though, because the more you stack on to the one Armaldo, the less hope you will ever have for clearing the energy out of the discard pile to get the best mileage out of any other Armaldos. The damage is as high as it is because although Anorith technically has a way of collecting the energy needed to power it before evolving up to Armaldo, Thrive in Entropy doesn't actually accelerate your energy; it just keeps you from losing it if you're in a bind. So unless you have another source that actually can accelerate energy onto Armaldo, you're looking at something that can take quite some preparation in order to get it going. In most cases, when I see a four-energy attack cost that can't be paid in part with Double Colorless Energy, I expect it to be a good attack or it's just not worth the effort.

As a side note, the damage reduction for Compound Jab is calculated when your opponent attacks Armaldo on their turn. I think there is precedent in the official TCG that this would be the case, so clarification probably isn't needed, but I thought I'd drop that bit in there just in case the question did pop up. I did double check with my professor and he confirms that that's the ruling for these kinds of effects.

I've been trying to shy away from three-attack (or ability-and-two-attack) cards when I make fakes, but in some cases I have ideas I really want to fit all on one card and this is one of those cards. There are 109 cards in DPPt that use all three slots, though, so it shouldn't be a problem, especially on a Stage 2.

Basically, looked at as a whole, I see this card as a sort of early-game wall with some potential for good damage as a reward for not getting knocked out and being efficient, but also a more or less intrinsic mechanic that it's really hard for another of the same card to be nearly as good a wall once the first one comes down, assuming you took the time to attach energy to the first one.


General:
  • Armaldo LA 18 (2 retreat cost and kinda sorta for the damage, since it does get stronger after the first use. And also kinda sorta as a loose reference for the damage reduction on the second attack.)
Apex Armor:
  • Bodybuilding Dumbbells BUS 113 ("...gets +X HP")
  • It was hard to find references for this kind of effect. From what I can tell, most cases of "As long as" show up before a check to see if the pokemon is active or on your bench, with the exceptions in SM being Omastar TEU 76, the Unit Energy Kecleons, and Tyrantrum FLI 69, but I still went with "As long as" as opposed to "If" because to me it seems like an effect that's continuous as long as your discard pile is free of Grass Energy whereas, from what I can tell, anytime "If" is used in an ability, it's a one-time check to see if the conditions of the ability are checked when you activate it. Exceptions being Squirtle TEU 22, Alolan Vulpix LOT 53, Mesprit FLI 42, Lunatone BUS 68, and maybe some others I might have missed. Either way, I don't think it's a hard rule that this kind of effect is always one wording or the other. "As long as" just sounds more right to me.
Reclaim:
  • Florges FLI 86 ("put a ... from your discard pile on top of your deck.")
Compound Jab
  • Cloyster SUM 34 ("During your opponent's next turn, this Pokémon takes 20 less damage from attacks (after applying Weakness and Resistance).")
  • Alolan Golem GRI 42 ("...for each [X] Energy attached to this Pokémon." This was the best reference I could find for this kind of effect.)


  • The Armaldo artwork is a custom piece made just for this card by @Kavross , and it was a pleasure to work with him!
  • Everything else, except for the fonts, Create-a-Card symbol, and the Anorith prevocon, are by me.
Special thanks to the PTCG Faking Community Discord Server and friends from my Pokémon League for all the input they provided as I made this card!

I really hope this card does my Anorith entry from the previous CaC justice! I really gotta extend a super extra special thanks to @Kavross for collaborating with me on this one, though! The artwork he made for this card is absolutely stellar! I couldn't have asked for a better artwork to be made for this card.

Thanks so much to the judges and PokéBeach for making this possible! And to everyone else that entered, I wish you the best of luck!
 
Dracovish HP 130 Dragon
Stage 1 - Evolves from Unidentified Fossil
NO. 882 Fossil Pokémon HT: 7’7” WT: 474.0 lbs.

/Ability/ ~ Hybrid Body
All basic [L] Energy attached to this Pokémon are [W][W] Energy of their usual type. Whenever you attach a basic [W] Energy card from your hand to this Pokémon, you may put an Arctozolt from your discard pile onto your Bench.

[W][W][C][C] Fishious Rend 100+
If this Pokémon has more Energy attached to it than the Defending Pokémon, this attack does 100 more damage.

Powerful legs and jaws made it the apex predator of its time. Its own overhunting of its prey was what drove it to extinction.

Weakness: Fairy x2
Resistance: Fire -30
Retreat: 3
Arctozolt HP 130 Dragon
Stage 1 - Evolves from Unidentified Fossil
NO. 881 Fossil Pokémon HT: 7’7” WT: 330.7 lbs

/Ability/ ~ Hybrid Storm
Once during your turn, you may attach a [L] Energy card from your discard pile to 1 of your Benched Pokémon. If you do, move all basic [W] Energy cards from your other Pokémon to this Pokémon.

[W][L][C] Charged Blizzard 50+
This attack does 20 more damage for each [W] Energy attached to each of your Pokémon. Until the end of your next turn, prevent all damage done to your Benched Pokémon by attacks.

This Pokémon lived on prehistoric seashores and was able to preserve food with the ice on its body. It went extinct because it moved so slowly.

Weakness: Fairy x2
Resistance: Fire -30
Retreat: 3

Think it is quite obvious they work together. Maybe a little weak for SS era stuff, but it’s what I got. Arctozolt’s Charged Blizzard seems to work against Hybrid Storm at first, but Dracovish’s Hybrid Body turns all those Lightning Energy to 2x Water, so it actually works really well. It also works good with Fishiour Rend, helping ensure you always have more Energy attached.

Decided to give them Fire Resist because it’s SS era and they’re frickin’ with Weakness and Resistance anyways, so why can’t I.
 
Tyrantrum-GX – Dragon – HP250
Stage 2 – Evolves from Tyrunt

Ability: Rule of Despotism
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may discard a basic Energy card from your hand. If you do, all basic Energy cards in play provide every Energy type, but only provide 1 Energy at a time until the end of your turn.

[F][F][M][M] Megaton Bite 160+
If your opponent’s Active Pokémon is a Basic Pokémon, this attack does 90 more damage. If your opponent’s Active Pokémon is Stage 1 Pokémon, your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Paralyzed. If your opponent’s Active Pokémon is Stage 2 Pokémon, during your opponent’s next turn, this Pokémon takes 50 less damage from attacks.

[F][M][C] Apex Predator-GX 210
You may search your deck for up to 3 in any combination of Tyrantrum and Aurorus, including Pokémon-GX, and put them onto your bench. Shuffle your deck afterwards. If your opponent’s Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from this attack, heal all damage from this Pokémon.

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

Fossil Pokémon usually have some sort of gimmick, but in this case the gimmick is to take advantage of the current meta, being Welder and Tag Team dominated. The ability allows the player to use Welder in order to power up this Pokémon, still at a cost; you need at least 3 energy in hand to use it combined with Welder to full effect in a turn.

Megaton Bite is made to be a multi-tool, allowing relatively big damage against Tag Teams (being able to knock out low-HP ones such as Pikarom in one hit), giving opportunity to knock out supporter Stage 1’s in two hits (such as the new Silvally-GX; paralyzing it makes it hard to retreat and save it). Finally, it allows Tyrantrum to be a bit more resilient against other Stage 2’s without handicapping them even more.

Finally, the GX attack: allows you to “cheat” in more Stage 2’s to give yourself a fighting chance to keep up with the Tag Teams, and heal the current Tyrantrum in case it survived a hit or two.

So overall, I think the card is balanced enough, I took extra care with wording and tried to make it as much a gimmicky fossil as previous ones, but actually make it playable and able to compete with Tag Teams.

Type of Energy and Weakness: Tyrantrum-EX XY70
Retreat cost: Tyrantrum-EX XY70, Tyrantrum FUF62, Tyrantrum FOL69
HP: The only other Stage 2 Fossil: Carracosta-GX 356/SM-P
Rule of Despotism: Rainbow Energy CES151 (every type), Typhlosion LOT42 (end of turn)
Megaton Bite: Huntail CES42 (basic Pokémon), Kricketune CEC14 (multiple clauses), Pikachu-GX SM232 (Stage 1), Palossand CEC127 (Stage 2).
Apex Predator-GX: Dusk Stone (including Pokemon-GX), Greninja & Zoroark-GX UNB107 (any combination), Guzzlord CEC136 (if Knocked Out), Eevee-GX SM233 (heal all damage).

Also, omg the art by @Kavross on @CardPone 's card is beautiful! Looks like it should be on a real card!
 
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