Contest PokéBeach Create-A-Card: June 2017 - Randommons - All Results Up!
- Thread starter bbninjas
- Start date
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2JN5YZN ~ Text-based
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2QL2H7T ~ Image-based
Fan-voting is here! This time we're not using the terrible Opavote software and are sticking to the ever-trustworthy Surveymonkey instead. Here's how to vote using this software:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2QL2H7T ~ Image-based
Fan-voting is here! This time we're not using the terrible Opavote software and are sticking to the ever-trustworthy Surveymonkey instead. Here's how to vote using this software:
- If you don't want to vote for every entry, please use numbers instead of dragging entries within the software. Should you drag an entry to try and order it, it automatically fills in the number for the entries in question based on the order in which the cards were submitted. Instead, leave the numbers blank, and I will do manual ballot completion.
- Manual ballot completion is where all entries that have not been ranked will be awarded the same number of points, and this number will be one below those awarded to the last entry that a voter has ranked. For example, in the text-based voting where there are 17 entries, 1st place is awarded 17 points, 2nd place 16, etc. etc.. If someone only ranks a top 5 cards, then all cards beneath that top 5 will be given 12 points. This leads to more accurate results than simply leaving those entries with 0 points.
- If you do want to vote for every entry, you can drag and drop entries in your order of preference. I personally prefer this method, as it's a better visual aid of your preferences, and lets you critique your own submissions better.
- Please do not rank your own submission. This means that it will be privy to ballot completion. This will lead to a very very small difference in terms of points depending on how many cards each participant in question ranks, but if the results come down to a wire where it is relevant, it will be taken into account and results will be modified accordingly. As such, it's advised that you save a copy of your answer if you participated in the event. This situation is incredibly unlikely, but failsafes are nice to have.
- Only vote once. I have ways of checking.
- As per last month, more entries' scores will be posted in each category -- up to the point of there being a clear cutoff.
- Deadline is in roughly 3 days as of the time of this post (2nd July GMT). The time of this post is, however, 1:23 AM in merry ol' England, so if my life becomes less dysfunctional by deadline (don't count on it) results may end up a little delayed. :U
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Realised the hard way how much of an impact flavor text actually does artistically. I really disliked my own card I uploaded for this contest for some reason. I was very proud of the artwork I produced, and also the game effect- but something was totally off. It seemed as the blank and the art did not match. Now I added a real flavor text and i suddenly like the card a lot. Always a lesson to be learned.
The first card version is of course still the one to be judged for this contest. I just felt the urge to leave the updated version here. Also, good luck to everyone!
The first card version is of course still the one to be judged for this contest. I just felt the urge to leave the updated version here. Also, good luck to everyone!
Fan-Voting Results
Image-Based:
1st: @Edwin Santander ~ Salamence-Mega ~ 146 Points
2nd: @Kavross ~ Aurorus-GX ~ 141 Points
3rd: @Blui ~ Shining Golduck ~ 135 Points
4th: @professorlight ~ Primarina ~ 132 Points
5th: @TylerRVG ~ Unfezant ~ 131 Points | @WastedSkyPirate ~ Victreebel-GX ~ 131 Points
Text-Based:
1st: @SneaselGenesis ~ Swalot ~ 80 Points
2nd: @Professor Palutena ~ Sewaddle ~ 74 Points
3rd: @double o squirtle ~ Duskull ~ 73 Points
4th: @NinjaPenguin ~ Meowstic-GX ~ 67 Points
5th: @GrandPanacea ~ Smeargle ~ 65 Points
6th: @Jadethepokemontrainer ~ Tyrogue-BX ~ 64 Points
Congratulations to our Top 6s! They weren't meant to be 6 both times, but it just turned out that way conveniently. The one note I want to make is that this was still a trial month, and as such, these results aren't necessarily in line with what they will be in the future. One major edit will be made to how voting takes place next time in accordance with how it was this time, which I think will be fairer overall. However, these victors still definitely earned it!
Furthermore, do you have an idea for a Create-A-Card theme? Well now you have a place you can submit it to! This form is completely anonymous, and any response suggested will be discussed within Create-A-Card staff. The more detail the better, though we reserve the right to edit themes in any way we see fit. Thank you for your time if you choose to partake in the survey
Judge voting should be coming up soon.
Image-Based Results
Judge: @Jabberwock
‘ey, welcome to the image-based part of the CaC, tgk! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you around image-faking, and it’s great to see your return. Hope you decide to stick around.
Sunkern was an interesting decision. It’s cool to see that you went with the most basic form––the one many people would say is the one hardest to be creative with. In that vein, I would have liked to see a first attack that was … well, creative. [C] for 10 isn’t particularly new. Blaine’s Growlithe G1 and Arcanine SK both do indeed have the attack Shake––but it also has an effect. Namely, it’s a Pokémon Reversal in addition to damage. I guess Summer Bloom is cool.
Wording errors:
- Need a full stop after the “lbs” in the ‘dex bar. [-1 point]
- “Basic” is only capitalized when it precedes “Pokémon”––”Basic Energy” should be “basic Energy”. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Bottom of attack text should align with the bottom of attack name. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 8/15
(Doesn’t bring anything particularly new.)
Wording: 13/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(A single point docked for Shake being an existing attack with a different effect.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Cool art.)
Total: 37/50
*flashes back to Blui’s Falkner’s Pidgeot* Well, lookee ‘ere, who’s the most popular Gym Leader of ‘em all?
I think Gender Dimorphism has a genuinely very interesting effect that works very well flavorfully––it’s the only time I can recall gender differences ever being directly addressed in a TCG card, fake or otherwise. The only thing is that if an effect persists over the course of multiple turns in the TCG, it’ll always have a counter/marker linked to it. I actually mentioned in Blui’s entry from last month that I’m not a huge fan of counters/markers in more modern eras, but I can’t really dock any points from yours because they really were a thing in that era. Or, well, I couldn’t, if you had made it a counter/marker. Why didn’t you make it a counter/marker? :U
Now, Aerial Swipe is cool but is missing a clarification. Where it says “If one is heads”, you need to clarify whether that’s exactly one or at least one. The difference is reducing damage by 30 or reducing it by 50 for two heads.
Wording errors:
- Looks like you have a weird stray space between “heads,” and “you”. That or you’ve got a variation of Gill Sans with some really funky kerning. [-0.5 point]
- “Two” -> “2”; “one” -> “1”. [-1.5 points]
- Aerial Swipe missing clarification. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- The last line of Aerial Swipe’s text looks to close to the bottom of the allotted space. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Gender Dimorphism is a very cool take on … well, gender dimorphism.)
Wording: 11/15
(Some logistical things and a clarification.)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Why no counters? Dx)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Nice use of Neko’s blank.)
Edited: -2 points
Total: 39/50
Can’t remember if I’ve already said this to ya, but I really love your use of custom holosheets. They really bring a different sort of feel to the card, and in a lot of ways add to the realism of it. The choice of artwork is likewise very nice, but the texturing on the background doesn’t seem quite right for a FA GX card. Will also note as an aside (though I won’t dock points for it) that as a consistency thing in aesthetics, you might want to put the “Mega Evolution rule” over the Pokémon’s art, not under––the same way the bar for the name of the GX attack goes over and not under.
Now, Sky Skin is really interesting but kind of weird from a believability standpoint. I’m wracking my brain and the only ways even in Expanded I can come up with to have [C]-type Energy on a Pokémon are Double Colorless Energy, Plasma Energy, and Prism Energy while attached to a non-Basic Pokémon. Of those three, DCE is probably the one you’d be using, alongside Double Dragon Energy or Rainbow Energy or whatever else works to achieve those attack costs. Considering the card is effectively a Stage 3 Pokémon that ends your turn when you evolve it and is completely reliant on Special Energy, it’s not overpowered at all. A little under, if anything.
Curiously I actually don’t have much of a problem with it being a M-Pokémon-GX. Megas have to return somehow, and they’re really defined by the “M” more than the “EX” anyway.
Wording errors:
- The “You can’t apply more than 1 Sky Skin Ability” clause is unnecessary. [-2 points]
- Should have “you” before “discarded in this way. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- HP and “GX” icon should each be quite a few pixels lower. [-2 points]
- Put a white stroke around the Illus. text and other text in the bottom-left corner. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(I quite like Sky Skin.)
Wording: 12/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(Fonts all right, placements and other miscellanea a bit off.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(As cool as it is, I can’t see Sky Skin ever being printed.)
Aesthetics: 4.5/5
(Some awesome holosheeting you’ve got there. Cautious half-point docked because of the texture on the background.)
Edited: -2
Total: 37.5/50
You rolled into two legendaries and a Magmortar, and I gotta say, I’m glad you picked the Magmortar.
Volcanic Overdrive is like a less-good version of Volcanion-EX’s Steam Up, but it isn’t strictly worse because Steam Up is solely for Basics. I like that both it and Inferno Bazooka have a mild synergy with Flame Charge, but I think it might’ve been a bit better to make Flame Charge the Ability––it just isn’t quite good enough to have to use an attack that accelerates one Energy at a time. Note, however, that Flame Charge is an existing attack with a different effect than the one you’ve given it. [Reference: Talonflame GRI]
Inferno Bazooka’s power levels are probably fine. It’s easily cycle-able, but has a hefty enough cost that it’s okay.
Now, something’s up with the text on your card. It looks as though the text has been … for lack of a better term, anti-anti-aliased. Aliased, I guess? Every pixel in all the text (save the first line of the ‘dex entry, the text of the ‘dex bar, and the “evolves from” text) is either completely solid or completely transparent, which isn’t how text normally looks. Compare the first line of the ‘dex entry to the second line.
Wording errors:
- “from your Pokémon” should be “attached to your Pokémon”. [-1 point]
- “each Energy you discarded” should, as per one of your own references (Golduck SUM), be “each card you discarded in this way”. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- The aforementioned issue with aliased(?) text. [-3 points]
- [R] symbols in the text are much too big. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(Some nice synergy between Flame Charge and Ability/other attack.)
Wording: 12/15
(Both of your wording errors could have been fixed by referencing cards that, for other things, you did reference––respectively, Camerupt-EX and Golduck SUM. Pay closer attention to those next time!)
Fonts and Placement: 5/10
(Weird text stuff and very big text-symbols.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(That isn’t what canon Flame Charge does.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Interesting choice of holosheet.)
Edited: -2
Total: 32/50
Hey, a Shining Pokémon! Gonna nitpick aesthetics a bit before moving on. The circular holosheet for the background and the texture-like holosheet for the Pokémon shouldn’t be used on the same card, afaik. Shining Magikarp and Shining Gyarados both used a circular holosheet for the background and no holosheet at all for the Pokémon, while each of the other Shining Pokémon used a holosheet for the Pokémon and a different one for the background. Additionally, on a largely-unrelated-but-still-aesthetics note, make sure you get rid of the little bits of background extending all the way out to the corners! Real cards aren’t perfect rectangles (unless they’re misprints); they have rounded corners.
Now, as for the text of the card: None of the ten printed Shining Pokémon had a Pokémon Power. Though, I guess it’s not too big a stretch to assume that one would’ve, had they continued to be printed, so I won’t dock points for it.
Soothe and Mischievous Song seem fine, I guess. Mischievous Song actually is very appropriate for a Shining Pokémon, considering things like Shining Kabutops’s Lightning Cut. Would that the Energy cost for Mischievous Song was a little more … shall we say, extravagant. The only Shining Pokémon to require a [C] Energy in its cost was Noctowl, and even there it had two other Energy in its cost as well.
Wording errors:
- Comma after “before your attack”. [-1 point]
- One of the rare WoTC instances of an attached Energy needing to be “Energy card”, not “Energy”. Reference Shining Tyranitar. [-1 point]
- Extra space between “counter” and “from”. [-0.5 point]
- Capitalize “Asleep”. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- The font for the numerals is subtly off. [1 point]
- Too much space between the first and second line of the ‘dex entry. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(Some Creativity evident in Mischievous Song.)
Wording: 11.5/15
(A bunch of minor things.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Should have a second Energy type in the cost of Mischievous Song.)
Aesthetics: 2/5
(Mixing holosheets, corners should be removed.)
Total: 35.5/50
Nice work in making an Evolving Pokémon have an effect other than [C] for 20. Despite that, though, I’m concerned about the power level. Not Tail Sweep, so much (though imo it should end your turn immediately, as well), but rather Check-Slap. 90 for a DCE on the first turn is pretty darn good for a Basic Evolving Pokémon.
Additionally, I don’t really see the connection between Tail Sweep’s name and its effect. There’s just … not a whole lot sweeping has in common with the prevention of an action. I can see Check-Slap, though, and it does make quite a bit more sense.
Wording errors:
- Italicize “(before your attack)”. [-1 point]
- You don’t really skip turns, you end them early. Dialga LV.X is probably the best example of a way to go about doing this such that your opponent can’t do anything on their turn. [-2 points]
- Capitalize “Ability”. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Attack icons are too far apart. [-1 point]
- “+” is too high up. [-1 point]
- Weakness icon is very off-center. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Very creative for an Evolving Basic.)
Wording: 11/15
(Difficulty wording the Ability.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(A few minor placement things.)
Believability/Playability: 3/5
(Quite a powerful attack.)
Aesthetics: 2/5
(Nothing overly special.)
Total: 35/50
I agree that this is quite a bit better at being a showcase of your dual-type blank than the Gardevoir of last month, but I also maintain a few of the points I had then. For one, I still believe the [Y] Energy icon in the upper-right is nearly unnoticeable if you aren’t looking for it. If I were to see this card fresh out of a pack with no knowledge of it beforehand, I would have thought it was just [W] type with a neat dual-type gradient effect.
Admittedly, the name Bubbly Aria makes me think of a singer who has perhaps just drunk rather a lot of ginger ale or seltzer water. Likely not the angle you were going for. It works well as an obvious complement to the attack, though.
And Prima Cadenza: A rather beautiful attack name for one of the most complicated effects I’ve ever seen on a card. I guess that’s a cadenza for ya. I get what you’re going for with the attack/defend/heal aspect of the three choices, but two options for the attack choice are … weird. If you hadn’t explained what it was meant to be, I’d be scratching my head trying to figure out why they aren’t just two separate bullet points in the list. The attack cost is also a little much, in my opinion; it could’ve been [W][W][C] or [W][Y][C], but as it is it’s just too specific. Nonetheless I think it’s a very good concept that ties in nicely to the musical theme.
Wording errors:
- Missing “before your attack” clause. [-2 points]
- Capitalize “Defending”. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Custom blank.
Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Nice tie-in to a musical theme.)
Wording: 12/15
(A couple universal things.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Free pass.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Not certain about putting an “or” in a bullet point.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Beautiful art and pretty blank––I still disagree with the placement of the second icon in the upper-right.)
Total: 43/50
Good call there, mate––Venipede was definitely the most interesting choice out of the three.
The Ability seems very reminiscent of other Venipede cards through the years––particularly the BCR one with Poison Point. It could serve a similar function to Hypnotoxic Laser, but it’s just different enough to be unique and creative as well. There’s even some minor links to be drawn between the Ability and the attack––you can wall behind Tough Chitin while the poison slowly racks up. It’s not game-changing, but it works very nicely for an Evolving Basic Pokémon.
What I like most, perhaps, is that it’s both self-contained in that it would be good on its own, but also has potential for synergy with a possible Scolipede. That’s a good mark of a creative Evolving Basic.
Wording errors:
- Looks fine.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Pokémon name font should be bolder. [-1 point]
- HP numeral font is off and looks misplaced. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Both self-contained and potential for synergy.)
Wording: 15/15
(Looks fine.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(A couple fonts are off.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Could see this.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Nice reverse holosheet.)
Total: 42/50
Ooh, that’s some beautiful art right there. Have to admit I’m personally not much of a fan of the Ultra Beasts, but I can’t deny you’ve done a pretty excellent job at making Pheromosa look, well, cool. Props.
In terms of what the card does, a few things worry me. For one, there’s a logistical issue in that the card is called “Pheromosa UB”, but has a “GX rule”. You could call it something like “UB Pheromosa GX”, but without it having “GX” in the name it just causes something of a wording nightmare.
250 HP is quite a lot for a Basic Pokémon-GX. At the moment there are only five Pokémon-GX with HP that high, and all of them are Stage 2s. What you’ve got here is something like a strictly better version of Wailord-EX, which saw play in its own right for a time. The Ability is also a bit weird in conjunction with the Weakness––plus, I don’t get why Pheromosa would be immune to [R]-type Pokémon, or, if it was, why it being UB02 would be the reason for it.
Last, the GX attack is … not very good. If I already have three (multicolored!) Energy in play to use that attack, I probably have a reliable enough way to get more Energy without having to use this once-per-game thing. Part of the reason why Solgaleo’s GX attack sees any play is because it’s a bunch of Energy acceleration for just one Energy. Yes it’s on a Stage 2, but nine cases out of ten it’s easier to get to Stage 2 than to load up that Energy cost on Pheromosa.
Wording errors:
- Reference Araquanid SUM 46 for proper wording of the Ability. [-3 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- HP numerals are a few pixels too high. [-1 point]
- Placement of Ability text is off, and it should be stroked, not just glowing. [-2 points]
- Name of GX attack is a bit too thick. It shouldn’t take up the entire bar. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(Similar to Solgaleo-GX and Araquanid.)
Wording: 12/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 1/5
(Very high HP, Ability in conjunction with Weakness, strange GX attack.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Beautiful art.)
Total: 30/50
It’s … wow. Everything about the card screams cute. Not least the art, of course, but also the holosheet and even the attack names. It reminds me a lot of Radiant Collection Full Arts, like Emolga or Reshiram.
Cuddle Puff is good, but it’s also only 10 more damage toward Fluffy Armada, and it’s on a somewhat frail Stage 1 Pokémon. I definitely don’t think it would be unreasonable to see this in the current era, with such Pokémon as Araquanid and Vikavolt SUM––for me the question is, could it also exist in BWXY?
Cautiously, I think it could. Xerneas BREAK and Aromatisse would make it very good if not broken, so I’m going to dock a point for a potential game-breaking combination. As a standalone card, though, it works nicely.
Wording errors:
- You don’t need to specify “basic [Y] Energy”, because Special Energy only have a type when they’re attached. [-2 points]
- Whimsicott evolves from Cottonee, not Cottone. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- On point.
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Good concept with nice synergy.)
Wording: 12/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Could be game-breaking with the right combination.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Cute art, nice choice of holosheet––good execution of a Radiant FA.)
Total: 42/50
I like the alt-type thing you went with. The Rock-type part of Fossils tends to be forgotten for some of them, beside their other type, and none moreso, I think, than Aurorus.
The Ability is interesting and makes sense flavorfully. I could also see it having some neat little synergy with attacks like Earthquake, which several [F]-type Pokémon have.
Landslide is an attack that already exists, on Quagsire AOR. It has a different effect on Quagsire than it does here, which unfortunately hurts your Believability slightly.
Fossil Force is … a little underpowered. Consider Ho-Oh-GX and compare the attack costs Nonetheless it’s a cool spin on Fossils.
Wording errors:
- Blizzard Conditions’s wording is somewhat awkward, because you have to specify “both yours and your opponent’s” not only for the Pokémon, but also for the attacks. The thing to do would be to just put the clause at the end of the sentence. [-2 points]
- “Yours or your opponent’s” should be italicized. [-1 point]
- “You can’t use more than 1 GX attack …” should be italicized. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- There shouldn’t be a “+” sign next to the 40––you’re not adding any damage. [-1 point]
- GX attack text should be in blue. [-2 points]
- Should have the “GX” symbol instead of the letters where it says “You can only use 1 GX attack …”. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Cool take on a little-used fossil ‘mon.)
Wording: 11/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 6/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Landslide does something different.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Nice custom art––evo icon of Amaura is off, though.)
Total: 37/50
And WSP comes up with another GX! Woo! \o/
One of the interesting things about GXs as opposed to EXs is that you can do a whole lot more with them, based solely off the fact that you can have a Stage 2 GX. Like, that sort of Ability/attack/GX attack combination would be nearly broken on a Basic Pokémon-EX, but it works for a Stage 2 GX. Funny how evolution works, innit?
Acid Suppression is probably my favorite part of the card. A vicious auto-90-and-possibly-more, but largely ineffective on walls and other Pokémon you wouldn’t normally attach Energy to. It can also whittle away at those Pokémon with Gradual Digestion, increasing its otherwise lackluster damage output.
It bothers me slightly that this card Burns, just like the most recent Victreebel from GRI, but they aren’t really similar in any other way, so I guess I can let it slide. It’s also a bit more nuanced than that.
Digest … ugh, I’m undecided how to feel about that attack. It’s good without being overpowered, which I like. I think my only problem is it doesn’t really serve to take down a huge wall like Wailord-EX or Metagross-GX, which are the main threats Victreebel would otherwise have a problem with. I guess it’s all right? It just doesn’t seem to serve a purpose that the rest of the card can’t already handle.
Wording errors:
- Would have gone with Flygon BCR instead of Victreebel RS as a wording source. Faded Town is a more recent source for the general structure as well. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Something is up with the italic font for the name of the GX attack. Note the difference in the “t” between “Digest” and a scan of Toxapex’s “Total Shelter”. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Love the Ability and attack. Not as sure about the GX attack.)
Wording: 13/15
(Minor sentence-structuring thing.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(On-point.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(In a nice not-overpowered, not-underpowered range.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Looking good once again.)
Total: 45/50
It reminds me a lot of other Manaphy cards from the past––the Ability and attack, at least, are the same support-oriented effects, rather than flat-out offense. The GX attack, admittedly not so much. I’d actually go so far as to say the GX attack is overpowered. It’s a straight-up nuke, capable of taking down … well, pretty much anything in one hit. Previously that’s been a power reserved for Stage 2 Pokémon––Kommo-o, Lunala, etc. To have it on a Basic is … well, concerning.
Another thing strikes me as out of the ordinary for a Manaphy––the HP is high, considering Manaphy-EX only has 120. I’d maybe go as high as 150? Even that’s a stretch.
Super Deep Dive and Aqua Punch are interesting, though. I like the theme of returning stuff from the discard; it fits Manaphy well. “Super Deep Dive” hurts your Believability somewhat, though, as the name has been seen before cards in the past, where it had a different effect (most recently Dewgong EVO, most famously Wailord ex).
Wording errors:
- “Basic” in the context of “Energy” should not be capitalized. [-1 point]
- Neptune’s Reach should be worded something along the lines of “This attack does 20 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon times the amount of Energy attached to all of your Pokémon and all of your opponent’s Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)” [References: Tapu Koko-GX, Xerneas BREAK, Manectric ROS.] [-3 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Energy icons in attack cost are too far apart. [-1 point]
- Attack text is aligned incorrectly on both sides. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Nice inspiration drawn from the support aspect of Manaphy.)
Wording: 11/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 2/5
(Very high HP, very good GX attack, “Super Deep Dive”.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Nice effort at a Rainbow Rare! Unfortunately, it looks a little too dark––try playing around with blending modes.)
Total: 34/50
The blank is quite pretty; I like the subtle sparkle effects at the top and base. My only complaint might be the middle bar where it reads “You can’t have more than 1 Shining Pokémon in your deck”––I can’t remember if it was also on the ∂ Latios, but it just kinda sticks out here. Also not sure if you meant it to say “Shining Pokémon” or just “Shining Golduck”, as the latter is how it worked when Shining Pokémon existed in the Neo era.
Chance Encounter is a very cool effect. I particularly like how it ties into the lore of Shining Pokémon as Pokémon that find you moreso than you finding them. Skulking Strike likewise represents the fleeting existence of Shining Pokémon in a creative way. Together, they make a brilliantly tied card.
Wording errors:
- I don’t want to mess with the wording for Chance Encounter too much, because I think you worded it excellently given that it’s an effect we’ve never seen anything like before. There are a couple things I personally would change, but I don’t feel justified docking points for them. The only thing I do feel justified doing is docking a point for not including a comma after an “if” clause, which is something that, while not grammatically incorrect, is something TPCi always does. So, uh, yeah. [-1 point]
- Otherwise looks fine.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Perfect as per usual.
Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(Chance Encounter is awesome.)
Wording: 14/15
(Tricky wording and I can’t come up with anything better, so props to you for Chance Encounter. One point off for a grammar thing.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Looks good.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Seems legit. Not overpowered.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Beautiful blank. I personally don’t love the middle bar.)
Total: 47/50
‘ey, Met! Welcome back! Quite the art you have there.Even though it should totally be Machamp and Hariyama, based on the ‘dex.
The card is interesting from a references standpoint, but it’s unfortunately quite overpowered for what it is. You’re effectively putting 120 damage on the field and getting a free gust effect for an Energy cost that is inconsequential given the Ability. For reference, Pokémon like the old Kyogre-EX and Magnezone-EX require three non-[C] Energy just to put two sets of 50 damage on the field. The fact that this non-EX can do it as long as you have a DCE, basic Energy, and Level Ball in hand is slightly scary.
Wording errors:
- “This Pokémon”, not “Hawlucha”, in BWXY. x2 [-3 points]
- “any number of Energy cards” -> “as many Energy cards as you like”. [-2 points]
- Capitalize “Benched”. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Justify attack text. [-1 point]
- There are a couple cards from the second Radiant Collection with one-line flavor text, and as a reference it should simply be centered in the box, not enlarged. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(An interesting concept.)
Wording: 9/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 0/5
(Quite overpowered, and too many references to make it believable.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Nice custom art.)
Total: 31/50
3rd Place: ProfessorLight’s pulchritudinous Primarina, with 43/50 points.
2nd Place: WastedSkyPirate’s venturous Victreebel-GX, with 45/50 points.
1st Place: Blui’s grand Golduck, with 47/50 points.
Judge: @Jabberwock
‘ey, welcome to the image-based part of the CaC, tgk! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you around image-faking, and it’s great to see your return. Hope you decide to stick around.
Sunkern was an interesting decision. It’s cool to see that you went with the most basic form––the one many people would say is the one hardest to be creative with. In that vein, I would have liked to see a first attack that was … well, creative. [C] for 10 isn’t particularly new. Blaine’s Growlithe G1 and Arcanine SK both do indeed have the attack Shake––but it also has an effect. Namely, it’s a Pokémon Reversal in addition to damage. I guess Summer Bloom is cool.
Wording errors:
- Need a full stop after the “lbs” in the ‘dex bar. [-1 point]
- “Basic” is only capitalized when it precedes “Pokémon”––”Basic Energy” should be “basic Energy”. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Bottom of attack text should align with the bottom of attack name. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 8/15
(Doesn’t bring anything particularly new.)
Wording: 13/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(A single point docked for Shake being an existing attack with a different effect.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Cool art.)
Total: 37/50
*flashes back to Blui’s Falkner’s Pidgeot* Well, lookee ‘ere, who’s the most popular Gym Leader of ‘em all?
I think Gender Dimorphism has a genuinely very interesting effect that works very well flavorfully––it’s the only time I can recall gender differences ever being directly addressed in a TCG card, fake or otherwise. The only thing is that if an effect persists over the course of multiple turns in the TCG, it’ll always have a counter/marker linked to it. I actually mentioned in Blui’s entry from last month that I’m not a huge fan of counters/markers in more modern eras, but I can’t really dock any points from yours because they really were a thing in that era. Or, well, I couldn’t, if you had made it a counter/marker. Why didn’t you make it a counter/marker? :U
Now, Aerial Swipe is cool but is missing a clarification. Where it says “If one is heads”, you need to clarify whether that’s exactly one or at least one. The difference is reducing damage by 30 or reducing it by 50 for two heads.
Wording errors:
- Looks like you have a weird stray space between “heads,” and “you”. That or you’ve got a variation of Gill Sans with some really funky kerning. [-0.5 point]
- “Two” -> “2”; “one” -> “1”. [-1.5 points]
- Aerial Swipe missing clarification. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- The last line of Aerial Swipe’s text looks to close to the bottom of the allotted space. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Gender Dimorphism is a very cool take on … well, gender dimorphism.)
Wording: 11/15
(Some logistical things and a clarification.)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Why no counters? Dx)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Nice use of Neko’s blank.)
Edited: -2 points
Total: 39/50
Can’t remember if I’ve already said this to ya, but I really love your use of custom holosheets. They really bring a different sort of feel to the card, and in a lot of ways add to the realism of it. The choice of artwork is likewise very nice, but the texturing on the background doesn’t seem quite right for a FA GX card. Will also note as an aside (though I won’t dock points for it) that as a consistency thing in aesthetics, you might want to put the “Mega Evolution rule” over the Pokémon’s art, not under––the same way the bar for the name of the GX attack goes over and not under.
Now, Sky Skin is really interesting but kind of weird from a believability standpoint. I’m wracking my brain and the only ways even in Expanded I can come up with to have [C]-type Energy on a Pokémon are Double Colorless Energy, Plasma Energy, and Prism Energy while attached to a non-Basic Pokémon. Of those three, DCE is probably the one you’d be using, alongside Double Dragon Energy or Rainbow Energy or whatever else works to achieve those attack costs. Considering the card is effectively a Stage 3 Pokémon that ends your turn when you evolve it and is completely reliant on Special Energy, it’s not overpowered at all. A little under, if anything.
Curiously I actually don’t have much of a problem with it being a M-Pokémon-GX. Megas have to return somehow, and they’re really defined by the “M” more than the “EX” anyway.
Wording errors:
- The “You can’t apply more than 1 Sky Skin Ability” clause is unnecessary. [-2 points]
- Should have “you” before “discarded in this way. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- HP and “GX” icon should each be quite a few pixels lower. [-2 points]
- Put a white stroke around the Illus. text and other text in the bottom-left corner. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(I quite like Sky Skin.)
Wording: 12/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(Fonts all right, placements and other miscellanea a bit off.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(As cool as it is, I can’t see Sky Skin ever being printed.)
Aesthetics: 4.5/5
(Some awesome holosheeting you’ve got there. Cautious half-point docked because of the texture on the background.)
Edited: -2
Total: 37.5/50
You rolled into two legendaries and a Magmortar, and I gotta say, I’m glad you picked the Magmortar.
Volcanic Overdrive is like a less-good version of Volcanion-EX’s Steam Up, but it isn’t strictly worse because Steam Up is solely for Basics. I like that both it and Inferno Bazooka have a mild synergy with Flame Charge, but I think it might’ve been a bit better to make Flame Charge the Ability––it just isn’t quite good enough to have to use an attack that accelerates one Energy at a time. Note, however, that Flame Charge is an existing attack with a different effect than the one you’ve given it. [Reference: Talonflame GRI]
Inferno Bazooka’s power levels are probably fine. It’s easily cycle-able, but has a hefty enough cost that it’s okay.
Now, something’s up with the text on your card. It looks as though the text has been … for lack of a better term, anti-anti-aliased. Aliased, I guess? Every pixel in all the text (save the first line of the ‘dex entry, the text of the ‘dex bar, and the “evolves from” text) is either completely solid or completely transparent, which isn’t how text normally looks. Compare the first line of the ‘dex entry to the second line.
Wording errors:
- “from your Pokémon” should be “attached to your Pokémon”. [-1 point]
- “each Energy you discarded” should, as per one of your own references (Golduck SUM), be “each card you discarded in this way”. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- The aforementioned issue with aliased(?) text. [-3 points]
- [R] symbols in the text are much too big. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(Some nice synergy between Flame Charge and Ability/other attack.)
Wording: 12/15
(Both of your wording errors could have been fixed by referencing cards that, for other things, you did reference––respectively, Camerupt-EX and Golduck SUM. Pay closer attention to those next time!
)Fonts and Placement: 5/10
(Weird text stuff and very big text-symbols.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(That isn’t what canon Flame Charge does.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Interesting choice of holosheet.)
Edited: -2
Total: 32/50
Hey, a Shining Pokémon! Gonna nitpick aesthetics a bit before moving on. The circular holosheet for the background and the texture-like holosheet for the Pokémon shouldn’t be used on the same card, afaik. Shining Magikarp and Shining Gyarados both used a circular holosheet for the background and no holosheet at all for the Pokémon, while each of the other Shining Pokémon used a holosheet for the Pokémon and a different one for the background. Additionally, on a largely-unrelated-but-still-aesthetics note, make sure you get rid of the little bits of background extending all the way out to the corners! Real cards aren’t perfect rectangles (unless they’re misprints); they have rounded corners.
Now, as for the text of the card: None of the ten printed Shining Pokémon had a Pokémon Power. Though, I guess it’s not too big a stretch to assume that one would’ve, had they continued to be printed, so I won’t dock points for it.
Soothe and Mischievous Song seem fine, I guess. Mischievous Song actually is very appropriate for a Shining Pokémon, considering things like Shining Kabutops’s Lightning Cut. Would that the Energy cost for Mischievous Song was a little more … shall we say, extravagant. The only Shining Pokémon to require a [C] Energy in its cost was Noctowl, and even there it had two other Energy in its cost as well.
Wording errors:
- Comma after “before your attack”. [-1 point]
- One of the rare WoTC instances of an attached Energy needing to be “Energy card”, not “Energy”. Reference Shining Tyranitar. [-1 point]
- Extra space between “counter” and “from”. [-0.5 point]
- Capitalize “Asleep”. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- The font for the numerals is subtly off. [1 point]
- Too much space between the first and second line of the ‘dex entry. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 10/15
(Some Creativity evident in Mischievous Song.)
Wording: 11.5/15
(A bunch of minor things.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Should have a second Energy type in the cost of Mischievous Song.)
Aesthetics: 2/5
(Mixing holosheets, corners should be removed.)
Total: 35.5/50
Nice work in making an Evolving Pokémon have an effect other than [C] for 20. Despite that, though, I’m concerned about the power level. Not Tail Sweep, so much (though imo it should end your turn immediately, as well), but rather Check-Slap. 90 for a DCE on the first turn is pretty darn good for a Basic Evolving Pokémon.
Additionally, I don’t really see the connection between Tail Sweep’s name and its effect. There’s just … not a whole lot sweeping has in common with the prevention of an action. I can see Check-Slap, though, and it does make quite a bit more sense.
Wording errors:
- Italicize “(before your attack)”. [-1 point]
- You don’t really skip turns, you end them early. Dialga LV.X is probably the best example of a way to go about doing this such that your opponent can’t do anything on their turn. [-2 points]
- Capitalize “Ability”. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Attack icons are too far apart. [-1 point]
- “+” is too high up. [-1 point]
- Weakness icon is very off-center. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Very creative for an Evolving Basic.)
Wording: 11/15
(Difficulty wording the Ability.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(A few minor placement things.)
Believability/Playability: 3/5
(Quite a powerful attack.)
Aesthetics: 2/5
(Nothing overly special.)
Total: 35/50
I agree that this is quite a bit better at being a showcase of your dual-type blank than the Gardevoir of last month, but I also maintain a few of the points I had then. For one, I still believe the [Y] Energy icon in the upper-right is nearly unnoticeable if you aren’t looking for it. If I were to see this card fresh out of a pack with no knowledge of it beforehand, I would have thought it was just [W] type with a neat dual-type gradient effect.
Admittedly, the name Bubbly Aria makes me think of a singer who has perhaps just drunk rather a lot of ginger ale or seltzer water. Likely not the angle you were going for. It works well as an obvious complement to the attack, though.
And Prima Cadenza: A rather beautiful attack name for one of the most complicated effects I’ve ever seen on a card. I guess that’s a cadenza for ya. I get what you’re going for with the attack/defend/heal aspect of the three choices, but two options for the attack choice are … weird. If you hadn’t explained what it was meant to be, I’d be scratching my head trying to figure out why they aren’t just two separate bullet points in the list. The attack cost is also a little much, in my opinion; it could’ve been [W][W][C] or [W][Y][C], but as it is it’s just too specific. Nonetheless I think it’s a very good concept that ties in nicely to the musical theme.
Wording errors:
- Missing “before your attack” clause. [-2 points]
- Capitalize “Defending”. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Custom blank.
Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(Nice tie-in to a musical theme.)
Wording: 12/15
(A couple universal things.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Free pass.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Not certain about putting an “or” in a bullet point.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Beautiful art and pretty blank––I still disagree with the placement of the second icon in the upper-right.)
Total: 43/50
Good call there, mate––Venipede was definitely the most interesting choice out of the three.
The Ability seems very reminiscent of other Venipede cards through the years––particularly the BCR one with Poison Point. It could serve a similar function to Hypnotoxic Laser, but it’s just different enough to be unique and creative as well. There’s even some minor links to be drawn between the Ability and the attack––you can wall behind Tough Chitin while the poison slowly racks up. It’s not game-changing, but it works very nicely for an Evolving Basic Pokémon.
What I like most, perhaps, is that it’s both self-contained in that it would be good on its own, but also has potential for synergy with a possible Scolipede. That’s a good mark of a creative Evolving Basic.
Wording errors:
- Looks fine.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Pokémon name font should be bolder. [-1 point]
- HP numeral font is off and looks misplaced. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Both self-contained and potential for synergy.)
Wording: 15/15
(Looks fine.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(A couple fonts are off.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Could see this.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Nice reverse holosheet.)
Total: 42/50
Ooh, that’s some beautiful art right there. Have to admit I’m personally not much of a fan of the Ultra Beasts, but I can’t deny you’ve done a pretty excellent job at making Pheromosa look, well, cool. Props.
In terms of what the card does, a few things worry me. For one, there’s a logistical issue in that the card is called “Pheromosa UB”, but has a “GX rule”. You could call it something like “UB Pheromosa GX”, but without it having “GX” in the name it just causes something of a wording nightmare.
250 HP is quite a lot for a Basic Pokémon-GX. At the moment there are only five Pokémon-GX with HP that high, and all of them are Stage 2s. What you’ve got here is something like a strictly better version of Wailord-EX, which saw play in its own right for a time. The Ability is also a bit weird in conjunction with the Weakness––plus, I don’t get why Pheromosa would be immune to [R]-type Pokémon, or, if it was, why it being UB02 would be the reason for it.
Last, the GX attack is … not very good. If I already have three (multicolored!) Energy in play to use that attack, I probably have a reliable enough way to get more Energy without having to use this once-per-game thing. Part of the reason why Solgaleo’s GX attack sees any play is because it’s a bunch of Energy acceleration for just one Energy. Yes it’s on a Stage 2, but nine cases out of ten it’s easier to get to Stage 2 than to load up that Energy cost on Pheromosa.
Wording errors:
- Reference Araquanid SUM 46 for proper wording of the Ability. [-3 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- HP numerals are a few pixels too high. [-1 point]
- Placement of Ability text is off, and it should be stroked, not just glowing. [-2 points]
- Name of GX attack is a bit too thick. It shouldn’t take up the entire bar. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(Similar to Solgaleo-GX and Araquanid.)
Wording: 12/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 1/5
(Very high HP, Ability in conjunction with Weakness, strange GX attack.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Beautiful art.)
Total: 30/50
It’s … wow. Everything about the card screams cute. Not least the art, of course, but also the holosheet and even the attack names. It reminds me a lot of Radiant Collection Full Arts, like Emolga or Reshiram.
Cuddle Puff is good, but it’s also only 10 more damage toward Fluffy Armada, and it’s on a somewhat frail Stage 1 Pokémon. I definitely don’t think it would be unreasonable to see this in the current era, with such Pokémon as Araquanid and Vikavolt SUM––for me the question is, could it also exist in BWXY?
Cautiously, I think it could. Xerneas BREAK and Aromatisse would make it very good if not broken, so I’m going to dock a point for a potential game-breaking combination. As a standalone card, though, it works nicely.
Wording errors:
- You don’t need to specify “basic [Y] Energy”, because Special Energy only have a type when they’re attached. [-2 points]
- Whimsicott evolves from Cottonee, not Cottone. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- On point.
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Good concept with nice synergy.)
Wording: 12/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Could be game-breaking with the right combination.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Cute art, nice choice of holosheet––good execution of a Radiant FA.)
Total: 42/50
I like the alt-type thing you went with. The Rock-type part of Fossils tends to be forgotten for some of them, beside their other type, and none moreso, I think, than Aurorus.
The Ability is interesting and makes sense flavorfully. I could also see it having some neat little synergy with attacks like Earthquake, which several [F]-type Pokémon have.
Landslide is an attack that already exists, on Quagsire AOR. It has a different effect on Quagsire than it does here, which unfortunately hurts your Believability slightly.
Fossil Force is … a little underpowered. Consider Ho-Oh-GX and compare the attack costs Nonetheless it’s a cool spin on Fossils.
Wording errors:
- Blizzard Conditions’s wording is somewhat awkward, because you have to specify “both yours and your opponent’s” not only for the Pokémon, but also for the attacks. The thing to do would be to just put the clause at the end of the sentence. [-2 points]
- “Yours or your opponent’s” should be italicized. [-1 point]
- “You can’t use more than 1 GX attack …” should be italicized. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- There shouldn’t be a “+” sign next to the 40––you’re not adding any damage. [-1 point]
- GX attack text should be in blue. [-2 points]
- Should have the “GX” symbol instead of the letters where it says “You can only use 1 GX attack …”. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Cool take on a little-used fossil ‘mon.)
Wording: 11/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 6/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Landslide does something different.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Nice custom art––evo icon of Amaura is off, though.)
Total: 37/50
And WSP comes up with another GX! Woo! \o/
One of the interesting things about GXs as opposed to EXs is that you can do a whole lot more with them, based solely off the fact that you can have a Stage 2 GX. Like, that sort of Ability/attack/GX attack combination would be nearly broken on a Basic Pokémon-EX, but it works for a Stage 2 GX. Funny how evolution works, innit?
Acid Suppression is probably my favorite part of the card. A vicious auto-90-and-possibly-more, but largely ineffective on walls and other Pokémon you wouldn’t normally attach Energy to. It can also whittle away at those Pokémon with Gradual Digestion, increasing its otherwise lackluster damage output.
It bothers me slightly that this card Burns, just like the most recent Victreebel from GRI, but they aren’t really similar in any other way, so I guess I can let it slide. It’s also a bit more nuanced than that.
Digest … ugh, I’m undecided how to feel about that attack. It’s good without being overpowered, which I like. I think my only problem is it doesn’t really serve to take down a huge wall like Wailord-EX or Metagross-GX, which are the main threats Victreebel would otherwise have a problem with. I guess it’s all right? It just doesn’t seem to serve a purpose that the rest of the card can’t already handle.
Wording errors:
- Would have gone with Flygon BCR instead of Victreebel RS as a wording source. Faded Town is a more recent source for the general structure as well. [-2 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Something is up with the italic font for the name of the GX attack. Note the difference in the “t” between “Digest” and a scan of Toxapex’s “Total Shelter”. [-1 point]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Love the Ability and attack. Not as sure about the GX attack.)
Wording: 13/15
(Minor sentence-structuring thing.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(On-point.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(In a nice not-overpowered, not-underpowered range.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Looking good once again.)
Total: 45/50
It reminds me a lot of other Manaphy cards from the past––the Ability and attack, at least, are the same support-oriented effects, rather than flat-out offense. The GX attack, admittedly not so much. I’d actually go so far as to say the GX attack is overpowered. It’s a straight-up nuke, capable of taking down … well, pretty much anything in one hit. Previously that’s been a power reserved for Stage 2 Pokémon––Kommo-o, Lunala, etc. To have it on a Basic is … well, concerning.
Another thing strikes me as out of the ordinary for a Manaphy––the HP is high, considering Manaphy-EX only has 120. I’d maybe go as high as 150? Even that’s a stretch.
Super Deep Dive and Aqua Punch are interesting, though. I like the theme of returning stuff from the discard; it fits Manaphy well. “Super Deep Dive” hurts your Believability somewhat, though, as the name has been seen before cards in the past, where it had a different effect (most recently Dewgong EVO, most famously Wailord ex).
Wording errors:
- “Basic” in the context of “Energy” should not be capitalized. [-1 point]
- Neptune’s Reach should be worded something along the lines of “This attack does 20 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon times the amount of Energy attached to all of your Pokémon and all of your opponent’s Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)” [References: Tapu Koko-GX, Xerneas BREAK, Manectric ROS.] [-3 points]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Energy icons in attack cost are too far apart. [-1 point]
- Attack text is aligned incorrectly on both sides. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Nice inspiration drawn from the support aspect of Manaphy.)
Wording: 11/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 2/5
(Very high HP, very good GX attack, “Super Deep Dive”.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Nice effort at a Rainbow Rare! Unfortunately, it looks a little too dark––try playing around with blending modes.)
Total: 34/50
The blank is quite pretty; I like the subtle sparkle effects at the top and base. My only complaint might be the middle bar where it reads “You can’t have more than 1 Shining Pokémon in your deck”––I can’t remember if it was also on the ∂ Latios, but it just kinda sticks out here. Also not sure if you meant it to say “Shining Pokémon” or just “Shining Golduck”, as the latter is how it worked when Shining Pokémon existed in the Neo era.
Chance Encounter is a very cool effect. I particularly like how it ties into the lore of Shining Pokémon as Pokémon that find you moreso than you finding them. Skulking Strike likewise represents the fleeting existence of Shining Pokémon in a creative way. Together, they make a brilliantly tied card.
Wording errors:
- I don’t want to mess with the wording for Chance Encounter too much, because I think you worded it excellently given that it’s an effect we’ve never seen anything like before. There are a couple things I personally would change, but I don’t feel justified docking points for them. The only thing I do feel justified doing is docking a point for not including a comma after an “if” clause, which is something that, while not grammatically incorrect, is something TPCi always does. So, uh, yeah. [-1 point]
- Otherwise looks fine.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Perfect as per usual.
Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(Chance Encounter is awesome.)
Wording: 14/15
(Tricky wording and I can’t come up with anything better, so props to you for Chance Encounter. One point off for a grammar thing.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Looks good.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Seems legit. Not overpowered.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Beautiful blank. I personally don’t love the middle bar.)
Total: 47/50
‘ey, Met! Welcome back! Quite the art you have there.
The card is interesting from a references standpoint, but it’s unfortunately quite overpowered for what it is. You’re effectively putting 120 damage on the field and getting a free gust effect for an Energy cost that is inconsequential given the Ability. For reference, Pokémon like the old Kyogre-EX and Magnezone-EX require three non-[C] Energy just to put two sets of 50 damage on the field. The fact that this non-EX can do it as long as you have a DCE, basic Energy, and Level Ball in hand is slightly scary.
Wording errors:
- “This Pokémon”, not “Hawlucha”, in BWXY. x2 [-3 points]
- “any number of Energy cards” -> “as many Energy cards as you like”. [-2 points]
- Capitalize “Benched”. [-1 point]
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Justify attack text. [-1 point]
- There are a couple cards from the second Radiant Collection with one-line flavor text, and as a reference it should simply be centered in the box, not enlarged. [-2 points]
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(An interesting concept.)
Wording: 9/15
(See above.)
Fonts and Placement: 7/10
(See above.)
Believability/Playability: 0/5
(Quite overpowered, and too many references to make it believable.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Nice custom art.)
Total: 31/50
3rd Place: ProfessorLight’s pulchritudinous Primarina, with 43/50 points.
2nd Place: WastedSkyPirate’s venturous Victreebel-GX, with 45/50 points.
1st Place: Blui’s grand Golduck, with 47/50 points.
Text-Based Results
Judge: @bbninjas
Judge's Note: There were some very creative entries, this month, however a lot of entries lost a few precious points for things like balancing or believability. Make sure you check not only whether the effect itself is balanced, but also if the power levels for both attacks and Abilities (as well as other elements of the card, such as W/R/R and HP) are consistent with the official levels for the same Pokemon. For example, Caterpie rarely hits above 20, and while an attack with 40 as the base damage is not overpowered, that's probably getting too high for a Caterpie. Ensuring that these small errors are not the case can make the difference!
SneaselGenesis:
Neat, a Swalot in the classic era! I think the [G] typing looks much prettier than the [P] typing, to be honest.
Slow Digestion is neat cross of flavour and unique effects. It makes sense, and has nice synergy with the attack effect, as to power it up. The combination itself doesn’t ‘wow’ me in particular - I’m sure I’ve seen it before - but it’s still neat regardless.
The attack is too powerful, as you’re already doing 40 damage from the Energy and the Gulpin attached for just three Energy, plus any attached Trainers, such as Defender and Brock’s Protection, which can boost that figure further with ease. Then, as you begin KOing Pokemon, that output increases even further. You could be hitting 90 damage relatively easily, which is insane for the era that you chose - most three-Energy attacks from Stage 1s cap at 40; with significant drawbacks for outputs further than that.
I’d also say that the HP is a tad too high. Swalot are already 80HP in the RS-era, and thus would likely have been 60 or 70 HP in the Classic-era, which can be supported further by HP of other cards.
Wording errors:
- “card” should be “cards” (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(Great synergy and flavour to construct a creative effect.)
Wording: 14/15
(A slight error.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(An overpowered attack for the era, and too high HP.)
Total: 42/50
Awesome going, Sneasel! You pretty much nailed that wording, and you’ve set that bar high.
GrandPanacea:
Ink Spill is very fun on the flavour side of things, and it’s a fresh way to accelerate Energy - I quite like it. I’m probably a bit cautious of the balancing, however. Multiple Smeargle can be accelerating at a time, and it’s not too difficult to get many Energy cards in your hand at a time in the current era. Furthermore, Smeargle’s very splashable and has a very usable attack, and thus it would be game-changingly overpowered if printed.
Art Theft is another fun attack, although we’ve seen it many times on Smeargle, Ditto and Mega Gengar-EXs already.
Wording errors:
- “(before your attack)” should be italicised. (-1pt)
- There should be a comma after “(before your attack)”. (-1pt)
- ‘one’ and ‘three’ should be in numerical form, as ‘1’ and ‘3’. x2 (-1.5pts)
- The correct wording for “you may attach one” is “you may attach one of them”. (-2pt)
- The correct wording for “a Benched Pokemon” is “1 of your Benched Pokemon”. (-2pt)
- The correct wording for “attack next turn.” is “attack during your next turn.” (-2pt)
- You need to specifically state that the Energy cards must be in your hand. Thus, it should be written something like “...or more Basic Energy cards in it”. (-2pts)
- Whenever you have a “...you may <do something>” clause, the clause proceeding should begin with “If you do,”. (-2pts)
References: Ink Spill - Team Skull Grunt, Watchog GRI
Creativity/Originality: 15.5/20
(Very fun and flavourful, and a fresh and unique Ability.)
Wording: 1.5/15
(A number of major errors.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Printing this card would be game-changing.)
Total: 29/50
Unfortunately the wording really hit you this month, GP. However, a lot of the errors were relatively easy to fix in future, providing you use references for your effects! If you can do that, you’ll definitely be a top contender.
Professor Palutena:
Ahaha, Dress Up is funny, if not a little creepy. It’s definitely a creative, flavourful way to go about an effect. I’m not fully understanding the link between extra [C] cost, however; are you also dressing up the opponent? ‘Cause it looks like Sewaddle is the only one dressing up from the effect itself.
The Ability itself is overpowered, however. Imagine having four Sewaddle on your Bench each with a [G] Energy attached! You’re adding a whopping [C][C][C][C] to your opponent’s attack costs!! The only defense would be Garbodor. Honestly, if you’d made the effect activate only when Sewaddle is the Active Pokemon, this card would be perfectly balanced.
Sticky Web is nothing special, but it ties the card design together. It’s synergetic with the Ability, only if to be a form of Energy disruption.
Wording errors:
- “Pokémon Tool”s should be referred to as “Pokémon Tool cards”. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 15.5/20
(Nice flavour and synergy, with a creative Ability.)
Wording: 14/15
(Just one oversight.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Overpowered.)
Edit penalty: -2pts
Total: 39.5/50
Nice going, Prof! Just watch those power levels in future, and keep on with that fun, out-there flavour.
Lunarwork:
You’ve got a lot going on here, Lunar, but nothing’s really grabbing me. Venomous Sacrifice is more a mash of a number of known effects (Item searchers, a semi-Hypnotoxic Laser), which I think you’ve gone overboard on. Realistically, a card really won’t be having this much going on in a single effect. That said, there is some creativity definitely shining through. The effect itself is probably a little underpowered in that you have to be damaged first before using it, which in this era, is very unlikely, as Golbat is generally going to be 1HKO’d. Also, I’m assuming that the “Then, discard this Pokemon” clause is related to the Poison effect, as otherwise the heads-flip counterpart is a bit useless.
High Hazard is also okay - a bit of a reskin of Night March-style effects. It’s also notably underpowered with that Energy discard, since the attack itself isn’t actually doing that much in the first place. I see the synergy you’re trying to get there with the self-damage, however.
Wording errors:
- ‘Pokemon’ should be accented as ‘Pokémon’. x5 (-3pts)
- When referring to Trainers, you always refer to them as a card. Thus, ‘Venom Boost’ should be ‘Venom Boost card’. (-1pt)
- ‘Place down’ should be ‘Put’. (-1pt)
- ‘every turn’ should be ‘between turns’ (-1pt)
- The second use of ‘your opponent’s Active Pokemon” for the tails effect should be ‘that Pokemon’. (-1pt)
- ‘one’ should be ‘1’ (-1pt)
- ‘every’ should be ‘each’ (-1pt)
- ‘High Hazard’ should be ‘the High Hazard attack’ (-1pt)
- Adding damage to attacks like in High Hazard shouldn’t be optional. Hence, ‘you may’ should be ‘This attack does’ (-1pt)
- You don’t ‘add 10 damage’, you ‘do 10 more damage’. (-1pt)
- The ‘instead of 1’ section of the tails effect should be between “3 damage counters” and “on that Pokemon”. (-2pts)
- The order of the clauses in the High Hazard effect should be: “This attack does 10 more damage for each Golbat on your Bench…” (-2pts)
- When referring to “If heads” or “If tails” or “If you do” clauses for effects, all elements of that effect that relate to that ‘if’ statement must be in the same sentence, otherwise it gets confusing. Thus “...this Pokemon.” and “...shuffle your deck afterwards.” should be joined and “...is now Poisoned.” and “...discard this Pokemon and all cards attached to it.” should be joined. x2 (-4.5pts)
References: Venomous Sacrifice - Foongus STS, Toxapex-GX; High Hazard - Joltik PHF
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(It’s getting there.)
Wording: 0/15
(A lot of errors, minor and major.)
Believability/Playability: 13.5/15
(Somewhat underpowered; a bit too much going on.)
Total: 27.5/50
There’s noticeable improvement this month in wording, Lunar, even if the point score doesn’t necessarily show it. Keep on working on it and make sure you use references.
lord o da rings:
Unfortunately, none of the effects here seem to be particularly special. Sands of Ash is a fairly standard form of Energy denial, and Haunted Reward is a style of effect that has been commonly explored. The flavour’s really nice, though, so kudos there.
Sands of Ash is overpowered. Being able to discard all the attached Energy is nothing to scoff at, and it’s very easy to pull off as well. Furthermore, the effect can activate even while Palossand is on your Bench, which is weird. You can just tank up Palossand to eventually run your opponent’s deck dry of Energy, simply through your opponent attacking it. That or your opponent has to Lysandre around it constantly, which is not fun, and having a deck beatable by only a specific counter is not indication of good balancing. For reference, there is not even a GX attack that can discard all attached Energy of an opponent’s Pokemon; you need to be extremely cautious with any form of Energy denial.
I’m not sure if you intended Sands of Ash to activate even if the attack doesn’t damage Palossand, as currently that is how it is worded. I’m assuming that the Ability only activates upon Palossand being damaged, as you’d otherwise lose Believability points over it, as only being damaged triggers these sorts of effects in the current era.
Wording errors:
- “When this Pokémon is attacked, flip a coin.” should be “If this Pokémon is damaged by an attack…”. (-2pts)
- You need the necessary clarification clause “(even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out)” after the “...is attacked” part of the Ability. (-2pts)
References: Sands of Ash - Absol XY Promo 178
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Nothing especially out-of-the-box, but flavourful.)
Wording: 11/15
(A couple of major errors.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(An unbalanced Ability.)
Total: 38/50
Unfortunately this wasn’t your best month, lorde. Just watch out on that balancing, and try to get those creative juices flowing more in future!
ZygardeChronicles:
I like how you’ve translated the in-game Ability into an effect like you have. However, it doesn’t strike me as anything particularly new - we’ve seen that effect multiple times before; see Suicune BKP, Magearna-EX and Bent Spoon for recent examples.
Solar Shred also doesn’t really excite me; it’s cool in flavour, but it’s really just a discard effect if you have a [R] Energy attached. I actually feel like it’s quite underpowered for a Stage 2 Solgaleo, as you’re doing a vanilla 60 damage if you don’t have any [R] Energy attached, which is already quite low. Then, the effect for having a [R] Energy attached isn’t playable at all - you’re effectively having to discard a [R] Energy to discard one card. Trick Shovel does that for free!
Everything else looks pretty solid!
Wording errors:
- Looks fine to me!
Creativity/Originality: 12/20
(There’s flavour, but we’ve seen the effects before.)
Wording: 15/15
(All good!)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Underpowered attack.)
Total: 40/50
Not bad, Zygarde! Just try to think more out-of-the-box when it comes to those effects, in future.
DashKing:
I agree, Kabutops should have a GX form! You chose a good HP for him, too. Also, in future you should definitely remove those extra spaces between the lines; it doesn’t affect your score, but it certainly makes it easier to read.
I really like how you’ve derived your ideas from the flavour, as the effects are actually quite neat! You’ve definitely tried to show that Restored Pokemon can be viable, which is cool. Prehistoric Rage is anything new, being reminiscent of the Plasma Lugia-EX with a slight tweak, but that tweak is cool.
The GX attack, Ancient Call, is neat as well - it reminds me a lot of Lifesplosion Cradilly, however. I do like the synergy you’ve got going on between the two attacks, and I think this is also a nice way to boost the viability of the fossils.
Primal Pierce, however, is a tad overpowered. Using the GX attack to setup, you’re doing 150 damage, which is pretty insane for a single [F] Energy. Compare that to Metagross-EX, which does 150 damage for three Energy plus with a drawback. Primal Pierce should probably be [F][C] for 40x, if it was to better balanced.
Wording errors:
- ‘bench’ should be ‘Bench’. x4 (-2pts)
- ‘knocked out’ should be ‘Knocked Out’. (-1pt)
- ‘prize’ should be ‘Prize’ (-1pt)
- ‘an extra’ should be ‘1 more’. (-1pt)
- there should be periods (.) at the end of sentences. x2 (-1.5pts)
- In the SM era, ‘Shuffle your deck afterwards.’ should be ‘Then, shuffle your deck.’ (-1pt)
- there should be an ‘on it’ after ‘damage counters’. (-2pts)
- there should be ‘by damage’ after ‘Knocked Out’. (-2pts)
- ‘50 times’ should be ‘50 damage times’. (-2pts)
References: Prehistoric Rage - Glalie GRI, Lugia-EX PLS; Ancient Call - Sliggoo GRI
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Nice synergy and flavour, with creativity starting to come out.)
Wording: 1.5/15
(A number of major and minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Primal Pierce is too powerful.)
Total: 29.5/50
Nice shot, DashKing! Make sure that you reference your effects in future, so that you have less wording errors!
rainyman123:
Scorpion Sense is interesting, both flavourfully and mechanically. It’s probably fine in the power department; the greatest concern that I would have is it’s ability to donk, although realistically placing the maximum output of 8 damages counters on your first turn is low (plus the extra chances using the appropriate Trainer cards).
Hazard Stinger is a nice touch, although we’ve seen the effect before on Amoonguss PLS.
Skorupincher is an interesting way to get around evolutions, as Skorupi-GX can’t evolve into a Drapion or Drapion-GX normally. Regardless, I’d say the attack is much too powerful for a Skorupi - even a GX - doing up to 120 damage, plus evolving, plus inflicting a couple of powerful Special Conditions. That’s the power of an effect that you’d see on a particularly powerful evolved GX.
Wording errors:
- “you may draw” should be “choose” (-1pts)
- ‘drew’ should be ‘chose’ (-1pts)
- There should be a period (.) after the right paranthesis ‘)’ in the GX attack. (-1pt)
- When referring to the Pokemon in the Active position in Abilities, they are referred to as “your opponent’s Active Pokemon” (as they are not Defending from an attack at that instant). (-2pts)
- There should be a ‘(before your attack)’ clause after ‘during your turn’. (-2pts)
- The “Then, shuffle…” wording is not correct for XY, but is for SM, and since GX cards should be of SM wording, then this is fine. ^.^
References: Scorpion Sense - Togekiss AT
Creativity/Originality: 15/20
(Exploring some new design space flavourfully.)
Wording: 8/15
(Some minor and major errors.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Skorupi would never have a GX form.)
Total: 36/50
Not bad, rainy! Just make sure you look up those references for the wording, else you’ll be doing great!
TheR3DX:
I definitely like the direction you’re going here - there’s some fun ideas in both effects that really relate with the types, which is cool.
Plentiful Harvest is quite flavourful, and adding the Energy element is a nice twist on the effects that we’ve only seen somewhat explored before. However, the two effects are vastly different - they feel like two Abilities mashed into one, which makes the Ability itself a bit weird. I also find the immunity effect for the [R] Energy a little odd with the flavour. I get where you’re going, I just feel like it could have been executed a bit better.
Soak Up doesn’t seem to be breaking the box, however it is really quite wrapped up in flavour, which is neat. However, it does seem to also be overly punishing towards [W] types - it does 80 + 80, than doubled from Weakness - it’s just a bit overkill. 80 damage is also a very high healing return from an attack, and that’s not including the Tool cards that can add an ever higher damage output - and thus healing return; and the dual type meaning it’s hitting multiple types for x2. To put it in context, Meganium BKP, Kabutops FCO and Snorlax FCO have the same effect with a base damage of 50 for two or four Energy.
I think there’s too many different effects going on here - sometimes simpler is better.
Wording errors:
- There should be a period (.) after ‘...attached to it’. (-1pt)
- ‘ignore’ should be ‘prevent’ (-1pt)
- ‘Attacks’ should be decapitalised as ‘attacks’ (-1pt)
- ‘defending’ should be ‘Defending’ (-1pt)
- ‘by your opponent’s Pokémon’ should be replaced by ‘your opponent’s’ in between ‘of’ and ‘attacks’. (-2pts)
- Currently, the [R] Energy effect prevents all effects - including damage! I’m sure you didn’t mean that - you really need to have the necessary “, excluding damage,” clause after “Abilities”, else your effect is majorly different and overbalanced. (-3pts)
Creativity/Originality: 1520
(Nice flavour and exploring some design space.)
Wording: 6/15
(Mostly minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 11/15
(A bit unbalanced and weird.)
Total: 32/50
Unfortunately there was just a few things off here, R3DX. Make sure you check those references, and try sticking with a single design space and expanding that, rather than combining multiple design spaces!
Tails:
Ahaha, nice flavour you’ve got going on here! ‘Moai Interceptor Missiles’ gave me a chuckle. It’s great to see you’re continuing those strange names, considering the Probopass of Primal Clash...
However… none of the effects themselves are anything special beyond flavour. We’ve seen Magnetic Attraction on cards before, and the two attacks are quite literally the same as Probopass PRC. Even the Energy costs are the same, plus the HP and Retreat Cost!
Wording errors:
- ‘Pokemon’ should be accented as ‘Pokémon’. x3 (-2pts)
- Pokemon Tools are always referred to as “Pokemon Tool cards’. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 11/20
(There’s flavour.)
Wording: 12/15
(XXX)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(No problems here!)
Total: 38/50
A very solid score, Tails! However, try to get those creative juices flowing next time - perhaps use that flavour that to explore new effects, rather than just applying them to existing effects.
Jadethepokemontrainer:
It’s very cool to see you trying a new mechanic, Jade, but it feels underdeveloped, as there’s a few design choices that either don’t make sense or seem pointless. There’s no Resistance/Weakness, yet you’ve included a Retreat Cost? How is the BX different to the Baby Pokemon of the previous eras, beside more HP and ‘more powerful’ effects? Why does your opponent get to search for more cards on defeating a BX? (This is a neat idea for weaker mechanics similar to EXs and GXs, but I don’t see a link flavourfully.) It also has the 1 Pokemon BX in deck effect, meaning you’ve got two effects trying to nerf this mechanic simultaneously - also weird.
From its generic name, Baby Boost seems to be an effect that’d you’d use on all BX Pokemon. It’s interesting, and seems to work, although it isn’t particularly new design space. I can’t tell whether or not BX Pokemon that can evolve into two more Pokemon (e.g. Pichu) will have an effect that can bring the higher stage into play with evolving (e.g. Raichu), but you’d have to be careful with that.
Early Learning is very powerful. Any Pokemon able to use any Pokemon’s effect for free is insane, even if you can run only a single Tyrogue - remember, their are many effects that can recycle this Pokemon easily! This effect means that Tyrogue can use Hitmonchan EVO’s 90-damage attack for free, with the assist of Hitmontop FFI’s attacks, which will make this card a potent threat.
100 HP also seems fairly high, even for a more powerful version of the Pokemon. Keep in mind that most EXs or GXs have about 1.5 to 2 times the amount of extra HP. Assuming Tyrogue would have 30 or 40 HP in this era, you’ve got over 2 to 3 times the extra HP. Of course, that is a lower base HP and so a higher multiplication is more reasonable, I think that 90 HP would make more sense than 100.
Wording errors:
- ‘Pokémon BX’ should be stylised as ‘Pokémon-BX’, much like -EXs and -GXs. x3 (-2pts)
- ‘before you attack’ should be ‘before your attack’. (-1pt)
- ‘knocked out’ should be ‘Knocked Out’. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 15/20
There’s ideas and flavour, but they need finetuning.)
Wording: 11/15
(Some minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 11/15
(The mechanic could do with some work, and a powerful attack.)
Total: 37/50
Good job, Jade! In future, make sure that your ideas and mechanics are meaningful, and are not just there for the sake of their being a new mechanic.
NinjaPenguin:
Eerie Eyes is neat - it’s design space that hasn’t really been explored in the official game, and it makes sense, although I wouldn’t say that Meowstic is the best Pokemon to showcase it. Telepathic Standstill seems somewhat counterproductive, as if you use the attack (and you probably will) and deal damage, the Pokemon will have damage counters on them during your opponent’s next turn, meaning that they can’t retreat. Thus the Ability can’t activate on your opponent’s turn, when the effect normally activates. It means that the Ability only works if you don’t attack. I see what you’re trying to do with the damage counters activating the attack, however.
Cursed Discard is an interesting and synergetic with the Ability, although not with the attack, which is a bit weird. It’s also a tad powerful, as any form of damage spread can make this potent - another Pokemon’s attack, a Pokemon with an Ability like Foretress FLF, or Stadiums like Team Magma’s Secret Base. Compare that to Umbreon-GX, who has a GX attack discarding a maximum of two Energy, whereas Cursed Discard can discard more for the same cost.
That said, I generally like the strategy and exploration of design space that you’ve got going on here.
Wording errors:
- ‘Retreat’, when a verb, should be decapitalised as ‘retreat’. x2 (-1.5pts)
- In the SM-era, ‘his or her’ should be ‘their’. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 15.5/20
(Exploration of design space, with some weird synergy.)
Wording: 12.5/15
(A few minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 12.5/15
(Weird combination of attacks; a cautious -0.5 for the GX attack.)
Total: 40.5/50
Nice going, NP! Just watch those minor errors and make sure you consider all situations when it comes to how the effects relate!
double o squirtle:
Oooo! I’m really liking that Ability! It reinvents those ‘reveal your hand’ effects by incorporating the risk in revealing an element of your own hand. That said, you generally have a card that you can afford to show your opponent (generally because you’ll show them later in your turn anyway). Interestingly, you can’t expect to use multiple Indecisive Eyes as to see multiple cards, as your opponent can just keep showing the same card. It’s a very interesting effect to think about, great job!
Kidnap is a fun effect on a measly Duskull in the flavour realm - imagine a Duskull whisking away a powered-up monster! That said, it’s too powerful - the repercussions of shuffling away your Duskull is nothing compared to shuffling away a Pokemon your opponent spent turns building up, and using this attack consecutively means that you can effectively lock your opponent out of powered-up mons! To manage this ‘lock’, your opponent would have to play no Benched Pokemon (else they risk a Lysandre), meaning that you could eventually power up a 1HKO, and end up winning simply because your opponent has no Pokemon remaining. Comparatively, this sort of effect is only found on Bewear-GX and Staraptor PLF, both with huge Energy costs, and on higher stage Pokemon, and they are restricting only to the Defending Pokemon.
Wording errors:
- In the SM-era, ‘afterwards’ is replaced by a ‘Then,’ at the beginning of the sentence. (-1pt)
- ‘if this is’ should be ‘if this Pokemon is’. (-1pt)
- There should be a comma (,) after ‘...your Active Pokemon’. (-1pt)
- ‘his or her’ is ‘their’ in the SM-era. x2 (-1.5pt)
References: Indecisive Eye - Ho-Oh-EX
Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(Very flavorful and a creative Ability.)
Wording: 11.5/15
(A few minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(A very powerful second attack.)
Edit penalty: -2pts
Total: 37.5/50
A really nice card, double o! Just watch that balancing side of things and those minor wording errors.
mirdo:
That Ability with a really long name has a name that is just too long. ‘Electromagnetic Rock Wrecker’ (Alolan Golem) is probably the longest attack name, which barely fits on the card, and that’s just 28 characters. Yours is 40, and has a lot of words, too. >.<’ The effect itself has been seen before, and is a bit weird flavourfully. Typically Retreat Costs are increased by gooey/slow flavour; I’m not following the link here.
Hire a Samurai is also cool when it comes to flavour, but it’s also an effect that we’ve seen quite a bit before.
Wording errors:
- Attack names should be correctly capitalised as described last month. x2 (-1.5pts)
- As the Retreat Cost is of the Pokemon, ‘Active Pokemon’ should be ‘Active Pokemon’s’. (-1pt)
- ‘benched’ should be ‘Benched’. (-1pt)
- In the SM-era, ‘Shuffle your deck afterwards.’ should be ‘Then, shuffle your deck.’ (-1pt)
- ‘difrent’ should be ‘different’. (-1pt)
- In effects that increase the Retreat Cost, said cost is referred to first; the correct wording is ‘The Retreat Cost of…’. (-2pts)
- ‘your benched Dewott's can evolve into’ should be written as ‘that evolve from that Pokemon’. (When incorporating the below change.) (-2pt)
- ‘for up to 2 cards’ should be ‘for a card’, as the ‘2’ part shouldn’t be referring to the evolutions (Dewott only has 1 evolution). (-2pts) Rather, there should be a “Choose 2 of your Benched Dewott.’ clause at the beginning of the effect, then followed by the “Search your deck…’ part of the effect. (-2pt)
- You don’t actually need the “You can use this attack on a turn…” clause, as that is already implied. (-2pts)
Creativity/Originality: 13/20
(It’s very flavourful!)
Wording: 0/15
(A number of major and minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(A long Ability name.)
Total: 27/50
Unfortunately the wording side of things took it's toll, mirdo. Keep working on it!
Adam Ryder:
Iron Fang is a pretty boring attack, with no effect whatsoever. Pound and Take is a bit better, but we’ve seen effects like it before, such as in Hypno SM. The accumulation of damage would probably make the attack a bit too powerful for a Sharpedo also; hitting 200+ damage would be very common, as you’d only need 6 damage counters to do that.
Wording errors:
- ‘and’ should be decapitalised in ‘Pound and Take’. (-1pt)
- ‘This damage’ should be ‘This attack’. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 11/20
(Pretty filler attacks.)
Wording: 13/15
(A couple of minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(The second attack is a bit too powerful.)
Total: 38/50
Nice attempt, Adam! Try to get those creative juices running next month, however!
Blakers:
Unfortunately, there’s really not much going on here. You’ve got a fairly standard Rough Skin effect for the Ability, and the attack is sorta like Axe Sluggger from Haxorus DRV. There’s really not much to say beyond that.
Wording errors:
‘your opponent’s Active Pokemon’ should be ‘the Attacking Pokemon’. (-1pt)
‘type’ should be ‘Pokemon’. (-1pt)
You’re missing the necessary ‘(even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out)’ clause. (-2pts)
‘an attack’ should be ‘an opponent’s attack’. (-2pts)
References: Relentless Defender - Sharpedo SUM, Terrifying Tusks - Haxorus DRV
Creativity/Originality: 12/20
(Some nice flavour.)
Wording: 9/15
(A few minor and major errors.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Pretty standard.)
Total: 36/50
Try to leave a bit more time before the deadline, Blakers, next time!
Celever:
Shell Repellent doesn’t get me particularly interested, as it’s a sort of an effect that we’ve seen explored quite a bit in official cards. A very similar effect can be found in the Greninja XY Promo XY24.
Magnetic Captivation does have an interesting twist, however! You’ve got a fairly standard attack based off Forretress’ retreat cost, but then has a recoil based on your opponent’s, which is new.
Belligerent Outburst is an effect that we’ve also seen quite a bit of, both on official cards (e.g. Bewear-GX, Exploud FCO) and in this month’s competition! You’ve tried to have a drawback in discarding Forretress, which I see where you’re coming from, but it isn’t a great balancer pratically, as you can ultimately build your deck around it, yet your opponent can’t. That said, the large attack cost is largely effective in preventing this card from becoming too powerful, bar popular Energy acceleration (e.g. Bronzong PHF).
Grass resistance is a bit weird for a Forretress, which normally has Psychic resistance instead. 90HP also seems a bit low, as the only Forretress in BW/XY had 100, and HP levels creeped even higher in SM. That said, nice call on the retreat cost - the SM-era has seemed to have an increase in Retreat Cost standards, with slower Pokemon now often having a cost of four.
Wording errors:
- You’ve used a mix of ‘Forretress’ (pre-BW wording) and ‘this Pokémon’ (BW-onwards wording) - ‘Forretress’ should be ‘this Pokémon’ in the era you’re faking. x4 (-2.5pts)
- In the modern era, when referring to Retreat Costs, ‘[C] Energy’ would be just ‘[C]’. x2 (-1.5pt)
- In the modern era, ‘Defending Pokémon's Retreat Cost’ should be ‘your opponent’s Active Pokémon's Retreat Cost’. Yup, it got clunkier. (-1pt)
- The ‘but not the Defending Pokémon's’ clause is weird, because there’s nothing in that sentence that suggests this. Pretty much, you don’t need this. (-2pts)
References: Magnetic Captivation - Sharpedo SUM
Creativity/Originality: 15/20
(Some nice flavour with creativity beginning to show.)
Wording: 8/15
(A few minor and major errors.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Weird HP, weird resistance.)
Total: 36/50
Unfortunately, this just hasn’t been your month, Celever. In particular, make sure you get the most recent references for your effects, as you risk them having old wording otherwise!
3rd Place: ZygardeChronicles’s sharp Solgaleo, with 40/50 points.
2nd Place: NinjaPenguin’s mysterious Meowstic, with 40.5/50 points.
1st Place: SneaselGenesis’s shifty Swalot, with 42/50 points.
Good luck all for July! You better all treat NinjaPenguin nicely... or not!
Judge: @bbninjas
Judge's Note: There were some very creative entries, this month, however a lot of entries lost a few precious points for things like balancing or believability. Make sure you check not only whether the effect itself is balanced, but also if the power levels for both attacks and Abilities (as well as other elements of the card, such as W/R/R and HP) are consistent with the official levels for the same Pokemon. For example, Caterpie rarely hits above 20, and while an attack with 40 as the base damage is not overpowered, that's probably getting too high for a Caterpie. Ensuring that these small errors are not the case can make the difference!
SneaselGenesis:
Swalot – HP80 – Grass
Stage 1 Pokémon – Evolves from Gulpin
NO. 317 Poison Bag Pokémon HT: 5' 7" WT: 176 lbs.
Pokémon Power: Slow Digestion
Whenever Swalot Knocks Out the Defending Pokémon, attach that Pokémon and all cards attached to it to Swalot instead of discarding it. This power stops working while Swalot is Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed.
[G][G][G] Crushing Tackle 10x
This attack does 10 damage times the number of card attached to Swalot.
Weakness - Psychic
Resistance - N/A
Retreat Cost - [C][C][C]
Swalot has no teeth, so what it eats, it swallows whole, no matter what. Its cavernous mouth yawns widely. An automobile tire could easily fit inside this Pokémon's mouth.
Neat, a Swalot in the classic era! I think the [G] typing looks much prettier than the [P] typing, to be honest.
Slow Digestion is neat cross of flavour and unique effects. It makes sense, and has nice synergy with the attack effect, as to power it up. The combination itself doesn’t ‘wow’ me in particular - I’m sure I’ve seen it before - but it’s still neat regardless.
The attack is too powerful, as you’re already doing 40 damage from the Energy and the Gulpin attached for just three Energy, plus any attached Trainers, such as Defender and Brock’s Protection, which can boost that figure further with ease. Then, as you begin KOing Pokemon, that output increases even further. You could be hitting 90 damage relatively easily, which is insane for the era that you chose - most three-Energy attacks from Stage 1s cap at 40; with significant drawbacks for outputs further than that.
I’d also say that the HP is a tad too high. Swalot are already 80HP in the RS-era, and thus would likely have been 60 or 70 HP in the Classic-era, which can be supported further by HP of other cards.
Wording errors:
- “card” should be “cards” (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(Great synergy and flavour to construct a creative effect.)
Wording: 14/15
(A slight error.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(An overpowered attack for the era, and too high HP.)
Total: 42/50
Awesome going, Sneasel! You pretty much nailed that wording, and you’ve set that bar high.
GrandPanacea:
It’s great to see you here, Panacea! You’ve definitely gotten creative!
Ink Spill is very fun on the flavour side of things, and it’s a fresh way to accelerate Energy - I quite like it. I’m probably a bit cautious of the balancing, however. Multiple Smeargle can be accelerating at a time, and it’s not too difficult to get many Energy cards in your hand at a time in the current era. Furthermore, Smeargle’s very splashable and has a very usable attack, and thus it would be game-changingly overpowered if printed.
Art Theft is another fun attack, although we’ve seen it many times on Smeargle, Ditto and Mega Gengar-EXs already.
Wording errors:
- “(before your attack)” should be italicised. (-1pt)
- There should be a comma after “(before your attack)”. (-1pt)
- ‘one’ and ‘three’ should be in numerical form, as ‘1’ and ‘3’. x2 (-1.5pts)
- The correct wording for “you may attach one” is “you may attach one of them”. (-2pt)
- The correct wording for “a Benched Pokemon” is “1 of your Benched Pokemon”. (-2pt)
- The correct wording for “attack next turn.” is “attack during your next turn.” (-2pt)
- You need to specifically state that the Energy cards must be in your hand. Thus, it should be written something like “...or more Basic Energy cards in it”. (-2pts)
- Whenever you have a “...you may <do something>” clause, the clause proceeding should begin with “If you do,”. (-2pts)
References: Ink Spill - Team Skull Grunt, Watchog GRI
Creativity/Originality: 15.5/20
(Very fun and flavourful, and a fresh and unique Ability.)
Wording: 1.5/15
(A number of major errors.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Printing this card would be game-changing.)
Total: 29/50
Unfortunately the wording really hit you this month, GP. However, a lot of the errors were relatively easy to fix in future, providing you use references for your effects! If you can do that, you’ll definitely be a top contender.
Professor Palutena:
Ahaha, Dress Up is funny, if not a little creepy. It’s definitely a creative, flavourful way to go about an effect. I’m not fully understanding the link between extra [C] cost, however; are you also dressing up the opponent? ‘Cause it looks like Sewaddle is the only one dressing up from the effect itself.
The Ability itself is overpowered, however. Imagine having four Sewaddle on your Bench each with a [G] Energy attached! You’re adding a whopping [C][C][C][C] to your opponent’s attack costs!! The only defense would be Garbodor. Honestly, if you’d made the effect activate only when Sewaddle is the Active Pokemon, this card would be perfectly balanced.
Sticky Web is nothing special, but it ties the card design together. It’s synergetic with the Ability, only if to be a form of Energy disruption.
Wording errors:
- “Pokémon Tool”s should be referred to as “Pokémon Tool cards”. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 15.5/20
(Nice flavour and synergy, with a creative Ability.)
Wording: 14/15
(Just one oversight.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Overpowered.)
Edit penalty: -2pts
Total: 39.5/50
Nice going, Prof! Just watch those power levels in future, and keep on with that fun, out-there flavour.
Lunarwork:
You’ve got a lot going on here, Lunar, but nothing’s really grabbing me. Venomous Sacrifice is more a mash of a number of known effects (Item searchers, a semi-Hypnotoxic Laser), which I think you’ve gone overboard on. Realistically, a card really won’t be having this much going on in a single effect. That said, there is some creativity definitely shining through. The effect itself is probably a little underpowered in that you have to be damaged first before using it, which in this era, is very unlikely, as Golbat is generally going to be 1HKO’d. Also, I’m assuming that the “Then, discard this Pokemon” clause is related to the Poison effect, as otherwise the heads-flip counterpart is a bit useless.
High Hazard is also okay - a bit of a reskin of Night March-style effects. It’s also notably underpowered with that Energy discard, since the attack itself isn’t actually doing that much in the first place. I see the synergy you’re trying to get there with the self-damage, however.
Wording errors:
- ‘Pokemon’ should be accented as ‘Pokémon’. x5 (-3pts)
- When referring to Trainers, you always refer to them as a card. Thus, ‘Venom Boost’ should be ‘Venom Boost card’. (-1pt)
- ‘Place down’ should be ‘Put’. (-1pt)
- ‘every turn’ should be ‘between turns’ (-1pt)
- The second use of ‘your opponent’s Active Pokemon” for the tails effect should be ‘that Pokemon’. (-1pt)
- ‘one’ should be ‘1’ (-1pt)
- ‘every’ should be ‘each’ (-1pt)
- ‘High Hazard’ should be ‘the High Hazard attack’ (-1pt)
- Adding damage to attacks like in High Hazard shouldn’t be optional. Hence, ‘you may’ should be ‘This attack does’ (-1pt)
- You don’t ‘add 10 damage’, you ‘do 10 more damage’. (-1pt)
- The ‘instead of 1’ section of the tails effect should be between “3 damage counters” and “on that Pokemon”. (-2pts)
- The order of the clauses in the High Hazard effect should be: “This attack does 10 more damage for each Golbat on your Bench…” (-2pts)
- When referring to “If heads” or “If tails” or “If you do” clauses for effects, all elements of that effect that relate to that ‘if’ statement must be in the same sentence, otherwise it gets confusing. Thus “...this Pokemon.” and “...shuffle your deck afterwards.” should be joined and “...is now Poisoned.” and “...discard this Pokemon and all cards attached to it.” should be joined. x2 (-4.5pts)
References: Venomous Sacrifice - Foongus STS, Toxapex-GX; High Hazard - Joltik PHF
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(It’s getting there.)
Wording: 0/15
(A lot of errors, minor and major.)
Believability/Playability: 13.5/15
(Somewhat underpowered; a bit too much going on.)
Total: 27.5/50
There’s noticeable improvement this month in wording, Lunar, even if the point score doesn’t necessarily show it. Keep on working on it and make sure you use references.
lord o da rings:
Palossand HP: 130 - Psychic
Stage 1 - Evolves from Sandygast
NO. 770 Sand Castle Pokémon HT: 4'03" WT: 551.2 lbs.
Ability - Sands of Ash
When this Pokémon is attacked, flip a coin. If heads, discard all Energy attached to your opponent's Active Pokémon.
[P][C] Haunted Reward 30+
This attack does 30 more damage for each Prize card your opponent has taken. Your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Confused.
Weakness: [P] x 2
Resistance: None
Retreat: [C][C][C]
Pokédex: Possessed people controlled by this Pokémon transformed its sand mound into a castle. As it evolved, its power to curse grew ever stronger.
Unfortunately, none of the effects here seem to be particularly special. Sands of Ash is a fairly standard form of Energy denial, and Haunted Reward is a style of effect that has been commonly explored. The flavour’s really nice, though, so kudos there.
Sands of Ash is overpowered. Being able to discard all the attached Energy is nothing to scoff at, and it’s very easy to pull off as well. Furthermore, the effect can activate even while Palossand is on your Bench, which is weird. You can just tank up Palossand to eventually run your opponent’s deck dry of Energy, simply through your opponent attacking it. That or your opponent has to Lysandre around it constantly, which is not fun, and having a deck beatable by only a specific counter is not indication of good balancing. For reference, there is not even a GX attack that can discard all attached Energy of an opponent’s Pokemon; you need to be extremely cautious with any form of Energy denial.
I’m not sure if you intended Sands of Ash to activate even if the attack doesn’t damage Palossand, as currently that is how it is worded. I’m assuming that the Ability only activates upon Palossand being damaged, as you’d otherwise lose Believability points over it, as only being damaged triggers these sorts of effects in the current era.
Wording errors:
- “When this Pokémon is attacked, flip a coin.” should be “If this Pokémon is damaged by an attack…”. (-2pts)
- You need the necessary clarification clause “(even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out)” after the “...is attacked” part of the Ability. (-2pts)
References: Sands of Ash - Absol XY Promo 178
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Nothing especially out-of-the-box, but flavourful.)
Wording: 11/15
(A couple of major errors.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(An unbalanced Ability.)
Total: 38/50
Unfortunately this wasn’t your best month, lorde. Just watch out on that balancing, and try to get those creative juices flowing more in future!
ZygardeChronicles:
I like how you’ve translated the in-game Ability into an effect like you have. However, it doesn’t strike me as anything particularly new - we’ve seen that effect multiple times before; see Suicune BKP, Magearna-EX and Bent Spoon for recent examples.
Solar Shred also doesn’t really excite me; it’s cool in flavour, but it’s really just a discard effect if you have a [R] Energy attached. I actually feel like it’s quite underpowered for a Stage 2 Solgaleo, as you’re doing a vanilla 60 damage if you don’t have any [R] Energy attached, which is already quite low. Then, the effect for having a [R] Energy attached isn’t playable at all - you’re effectively having to discard a [R] Energy to discard one card. Trick Shovel does that for free!
Everything else looks pretty solid!
Wording errors:
- Looks fine to me!
Creativity/Originality: 12/20
(There’s flavour, but we’ve seen the effects before.)
Wording: 15/15
(All good!)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Underpowered attack.)
Total: 40/50
Not bad, Zygarde! Just try to think more out-of-the-box when it comes to those effects, in future.
DashKing:
I agree, Kabutops should have a GX form! You chose a good HP for him, too. Also, in future you should definitely remove those extra spaces between the lines; it doesn’t affect your score, but it certainly makes it easier to read.
I really like how you’ve derived your ideas from the flavour, as the effects are actually quite neat! You’ve definitely tried to show that Restored Pokemon can be viable, which is cool. Prehistoric Rage is anything new, being reminiscent of the Plasma Lugia-EX with a slight tweak, but that tweak is cool.
The GX attack, Ancient Call, is neat as well - it reminds me a lot of Lifesplosion Cradilly, however. I do like the synergy you’ve got going on between the two attacks, and I think this is also a nice way to boost the viability of the fossils.
Primal Pierce, however, is a tad overpowered. Using the GX attack to setup, you’re doing 150 damage, which is pretty insane for a single [F] Energy. Compare that to Metagross-EX, which does 150 damage for three Energy plus with a drawback. Primal Pierce should probably be [F][C] for 40x, if it was to better balanced.
Wording errors:
- ‘bench’ should be ‘Bench’. x4 (-2pts)
- ‘knocked out’ should be ‘Knocked Out’. (-1pt)
- ‘prize’ should be ‘Prize’ (-1pt)
- ‘an extra’ should be ‘1 more’. (-1pt)
- there should be periods (.) at the end of sentences. x2 (-1.5pts)
- In the SM era, ‘Shuffle your deck afterwards.’ should be ‘Then, shuffle your deck.’ (-1pt)
- there should be an ‘on it’ after ‘damage counters’. (-2pts)
- there should be ‘by damage’ after ‘Knocked Out’. (-2pts)
- ‘50 times’ should be ‘50 damage times’. (-2pts)
References: Prehistoric Rage - Glalie GRI, Lugia-EX PLS; Ancient Call - Sliggoo GRI
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Nice synergy and flavour, with creativity starting to come out.)
Wording: 1.5/15
(A number of major and minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Primal Pierce is too powerful.)
Total: 29.5/50
Nice shot, DashKing! Make sure that you reference your effects in future, so that you have less wording errors!
rainyman123:
I like how you’re experimenting with the GX effect here, but realistically, there will never be an unevolved Pokemon being a GX. Maybe you’d see a Pikachu or some other popular Pokemon, but definitely not a lowly Skorupi. Also, you can’t have XY-era wording on a SM-era effect - that’s not realistic at all… but it looks like you used SM-era wording anyway.
Scorpion Sense is interesting, both flavourfully and mechanically. It’s probably fine in the power department; the greatest concern that I would have is it’s ability to donk, although realistically placing the maximum output of 8 damages counters on your first turn is low (plus the extra chances using the appropriate Trainer cards).
Hazard Stinger is a nice touch, although we’ve seen the effect before on Amoonguss PLS.
Skorupincher is an interesting way to get around evolutions, as Skorupi-GX can’t evolve into a Drapion or Drapion-GX normally. Regardless, I’d say the attack is much too powerful for a Skorupi - even a GX - doing up to 120 damage, plus evolving, plus inflicting a couple of powerful Special Conditions. That’s the power of an effect that you’d see on a particularly powerful evolved GX.
Wording errors:
- “you may draw” should be “choose” (-1pts)
- ‘drew’ should be ‘chose’ (-1pts)
- There should be a period (.) after the right paranthesis ‘)’ in the GX attack. (-1pt)
- When referring to the Pokemon in the Active position in Abilities, they are referred to as “your opponent’s Active Pokemon” (as they are not Defending from an attack at that instant). (-2pts)
- There should be a ‘(before your attack)’ clause after ‘during your turn’. (-2pts)
- The “Then, shuffle…” wording is not correct for XY, but is for SM, and since GX cards should be of SM wording, then this is fine. ^.^
References: Scorpion Sense - Togekiss AT
Creativity/Originality: 15/20
(Exploring some new design space flavourfully.)
Wording: 8/15
(Some minor and major errors.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Skorupi would never have a GX form.)
Total: 36/50
Not bad, rainy! Just make sure you look up those references for the wording, else you’ll be doing great!
TheR3DX:
I definitely like the direction you’re going here - there’s some fun ideas in both effects that really relate with the types, which is cool.
Plentiful Harvest is quite flavourful, and adding the Energy element is a nice twist on the effects that we’ve only seen somewhat explored before. However, the two effects are vastly different - they feel like two Abilities mashed into one, which makes the Ability itself a bit weird. I also find the immunity effect for the [R] Energy a little odd with the flavour. I get where you’re going, I just feel like it could have been executed a bit better.
Soak Up doesn’t seem to be breaking the box, however it is really quite wrapped up in flavour, which is neat. However, it does seem to also be overly punishing towards [W] types - it does 80 + 80, than doubled from Weakness - it’s just a bit overkill. 80 damage is also a very high healing return from an attack, and that’s not including the Tool cards that can add an ever higher damage output - and thus healing return; and the dual type meaning it’s hitting multiple types for x2. To put it in context, Meganium BKP, Kabutops FCO and Snorlax FCO have the same effect with a base damage of 50 for two or four Energy.
I think there’s too many different effects going on here - sometimes simpler is better.
Wording errors:
- There should be a period (.) after ‘...attached to it’. (-1pt)
- ‘ignore’ should be ‘prevent’ (-1pt)
- ‘Attacks’ should be decapitalised as ‘attacks’ (-1pt)
- ‘defending’ should be ‘Defending’ (-1pt)
- ‘by your opponent’s Pokémon’ should be replaced by ‘your opponent’s’ in between ‘of’ and ‘attacks’. (-2pts)
- Currently, the [R] Energy effect prevents all effects - including damage! I’m sure you didn’t mean that - you really need to have the necessary “, excluding damage,” clause after “Abilities”, else your effect is majorly different and overbalanced. (-3pts)
Creativity/Originality: 1520
(Nice flavour and exploring some design space.)
Wording: 6/15
(Mostly minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 11/15
(A bit unbalanced and weird.)
Total: 32/50
Unfortunately there was just a few things off here, R3DX. Make sure you check those references, and try sticking with a single design space and expanding that, rather than combining multiple design spaces!
Tails:
Probopass - Stage 1 - {M} HP: 110
Evolves from Nosepass
Ability: Magnetic Attraction
Once during your turn (before you attack), you may attach a [M] Energy card from your discard pile to this Pokemon.
[M] Moai Interceptor Missiles 30x
Flip 3 coins. This attack does 30 damage times the number of heads.
[M] [M] [C] Metallic Headbutt 50+
If this Pokemon has a Pokemon Tool attached to it, this attack does 50 more damage.
Weakness - [R] x2
Resistance - [P] -20
Retreat Cost - [C] [C] [C
Ahaha, nice flavour you’ve got going on here! ‘Moai Interceptor Missiles’ gave me a chuckle. It’s great to see you’re continuing those strange names, considering the Probopass of Primal Clash...
However… none of the effects themselves are anything special beyond flavour. We’ve seen Magnetic Attraction on cards before, and the two attacks are quite literally the same as Probopass PRC. Even the Energy costs are the same, plus the HP and Retreat Cost!
Wording errors:
- ‘Pokemon’ should be accented as ‘Pokémon’. x3 (-2pts)
- Pokemon Tools are always referred to as “Pokemon Tool cards’. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 11/20
(There’s flavour.)
Wording: 12/15
(XXX)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(No problems here!)
Total: 38/50
A very solid score, Tails! However, try to get those creative juices flowing next time - perhaps use that flavour that to explore new effects, rather than just applying them to existing effects.
Jadethepokemontrainer:
Tyrogue BX//Fighting//HP 100
Basic
You can't have more than 1 Pokémon BX in your deck.
Ability: Baby Boost
Once during your turn (before you attack), you may search your deck for a Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, or Hitmontop and put it onto your Bench. Then, shuffle your deck.
[-] Early Learning
Choose 1 of your Benched Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, or Hitmontop's attack's and use it as this attack.
Weakness - 0
Resistance - 0
Retreat - [C
Pokémon BX Rule: When your Pokémon BX is knocked out, your opponent may search their deck for 2 cards and put them into their hand.
It’s very cool to see you trying a new mechanic, Jade, but it feels underdeveloped, as there’s a few design choices that either don’t make sense or seem pointless. There’s no Resistance/Weakness, yet you’ve included a Retreat Cost? How is the BX different to the Baby Pokemon of the previous eras, beside more HP and ‘more powerful’ effects? Why does your opponent get to search for more cards on defeating a BX? (This is a neat idea for weaker mechanics similar to EXs and GXs, but I don’t see a link flavourfully.) It also has the 1 Pokemon BX in deck effect, meaning you’ve got two effects trying to nerf this mechanic simultaneously - also weird.
From its generic name, Baby Boost seems to be an effect that’d you’d use on all BX Pokemon. It’s interesting, and seems to work, although it isn’t particularly new design space. I can’t tell whether or not BX Pokemon that can evolve into two more Pokemon (e.g. Pichu) will have an effect that can bring the higher stage into play with evolving (e.g. Raichu), but you’d have to be careful with that.
Early Learning is very powerful. Any Pokemon able to use any Pokemon’s effect for free is insane, even if you can run only a single Tyrogue - remember, their are many effects that can recycle this Pokemon easily! This effect means that Tyrogue can use Hitmonchan EVO’s 90-damage attack for free, with the assist of Hitmontop FFI’s attacks, which will make this card a potent threat.
100 HP also seems fairly high, even for a more powerful version of the Pokemon. Keep in mind that most EXs or GXs have about 1.5 to 2 times the amount of extra HP. Assuming Tyrogue would have 30 or 40 HP in this era, you’ve got over 2 to 3 times the extra HP. Of course, that is a lower base HP and so a higher multiplication is more reasonable, I think that 90 HP would make more sense than 100.
Wording errors:
- ‘Pokémon BX’ should be stylised as ‘Pokémon-BX’, much like -EXs and -GXs. x3 (-2pts)
- ‘before you attack’ should be ‘before your attack’. (-1pt)
- ‘knocked out’ should be ‘Knocked Out’. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 15/20
There’s ideas and flavour, but they need finetuning.)
Wording: 11/15
(Some minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 11/15
(The mechanic could do with some work, and a powerful attack.)
Total: 37/50
Good job, Jade! In future, make sure that your ideas and mechanics are meaningful, and are not just there for the sake of their being a new mechanic.
NinjaPenguin:
Stage 1~ Evolves from Espurr\Meowstic GX\HP 190\Psychic
Ability: Eerie Eyes
If this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon and your opponent Retreats his or her Active Pokémon, put 3 damage counters on the new Active Pokémon.
[P][P] Telepathic Standstill 50
During your opponent’s next turn, Pokémon with damage counters on them can't Retreat.
[P][C] Cursed Discard GX
Discard an Energy attached to each of your opponent's Pokémon with damage counters on them. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [D] x2 Resistance:
Retreat Cost: [C]
When your Pokémon GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Eerie Eyes is neat - it’s design space that hasn’t really been explored in the official game, and it makes sense, although I wouldn’t say that Meowstic is the best Pokemon to showcase it. Telepathic Standstill seems somewhat counterproductive, as if you use the attack (and you probably will) and deal damage, the Pokemon will have damage counters on them during your opponent’s next turn, meaning that they can’t retreat. Thus the Ability can’t activate on your opponent’s turn, when the effect normally activates. It means that the Ability only works if you don’t attack. I see what you’re trying to do with the damage counters activating the attack, however.
Cursed Discard is an interesting and synergetic with the Ability, although not with the attack, which is a bit weird. It’s also a tad powerful, as any form of damage spread can make this potent - another Pokemon’s attack, a Pokemon with an Ability like Foretress FLF, or Stadiums like Team Magma’s Secret Base. Compare that to Umbreon-GX, who has a GX attack discarding a maximum of two Energy, whereas Cursed Discard can discard more for the same cost.
That said, I generally like the strategy and exploration of design space that you’ve got going on here.
Wording errors:
- ‘Retreat’, when a verb, should be decapitalised as ‘retreat’. x2 (-1.5pts)
- In the SM-era, ‘his or her’ should be ‘their’. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 15.5/20
(Exploration of design space, with some weird synergy.)
Wording: 12.5/15
(A few minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 12.5/15
(Weird combination of attacks; a cautious -0.5 for the GX attack.)
Total: 40.5/50
Nice going, NP! Just watch those minor errors and make sure you consider all situations when it comes to how the effects relate!
double o squirtle:
Oooo! I’m really liking that Ability! It reinvents those ‘reveal your hand’ effects by incorporating the risk in revealing an element of your own hand. That said, you generally have a card that you can afford to show your opponent (generally because you’ll show them later in your turn anyway). Interestingly, you can’t expect to use multiple Indecisive Eyes as to see multiple cards, as your opponent can just keep showing the same card. It’s a very interesting effect to think about, great job!
Kidnap is a fun effect on a measly Duskull in the flavour realm - imagine a Duskull whisking away a powered-up monster! That said, it’s too powerful - the repercussions of shuffling away your Duskull is nothing compared to shuffling away a Pokemon your opponent spent turns building up, and using this attack consecutively means that you can effectively lock your opponent out of powered-up mons! To manage this ‘lock’, your opponent would have to play no Benched Pokemon (else they risk a Lysandre), meaning that you could eventually power up a 1HKO, and end up winning simply because your opponent has no Pokemon remaining. Comparatively, this sort of effect is only found on Bewear-GX and Staraptor PLF, both with huge Energy costs, and on higher stage Pokemon, and they are restricting only to the Defending Pokemon.
Wording errors:
- In the SM-era, ‘afterwards’ is replaced by a ‘Then,’ at the beginning of the sentence. (-1pt)
- ‘if this is’ should be ‘if this Pokemon is’. (-1pt)
- There should be a comma (,) after ‘...your Active Pokemon’. (-1pt)
- ‘his or her’ is ‘their’ in the SM-era. x2 (-1.5pt)
References: Indecisive Eye - Ho-Oh-EX
Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(Very flavorful and a creative Ability.)
Wording: 11.5/15
(A few minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(A very powerful second attack.)
Edit penalty: -2pts
Total: 37.5/50
A really nice card, double o! Just watch that balancing side of things and those minor wording errors.
mirdo:
I really like the humour that shines through your card designs, mirdo! It’s very cool.
That Ability with a really long name has a name that is just too long. ‘Electromagnetic Rock Wrecker’ (Alolan Golem) is probably the longest attack name, which barely fits on the card, and that’s just 28 characters. Yours is 40, and has a lot of words, too. >.<’ The effect itself has been seen before, and is a bit weird flavourfully. Typically Retreat Costs are increased by gooey/slow flavour; I’m not following the link here.
Hire a Samurai is also cool when it comes to flavour, but it’s also an effect that we’ve seen quite a bit before.
Wording errors:
- Attack names should be correctly capitalised as described last month. x2 (-1.5pts)
- As the Retreat Cost is of the Pokemon, ‘Active Pokemon’ should be ‘Active Pokemon’s’. (-1pt)
- ‘benched’ should be ‘Benched’. (-1pt)
- In the SM-era, ‘Shuffle your deck afterwards.’ should be ‘Then, shuffle your deck.’ (-1pt)
- ‘difrent’ should be ‘different’. (-1pt)
- In effects that increase the Retreat Cost, said cost is referred to first; the correct wording is ‘The Retreat Cost of…’. (-2pts)
- ‘your benched Dewott's can evolve into’ should be written as ‘that evolve from that Pokemon’. (When incorporating the below change.) (-2pt)
- ‘for up to 2 cards’ should be ‘for a card’, as the ‘2’ part shouldn’t be referring to the evolutions (Dewott only has 1 evolution). (-2pts) Rather, there should be a “Choose 2 of your Benched Dewott.’ clause at the beginning of the effect, then followed by the “Search your deck…’ part of the effect. (-2pt)
- You don’t actually need the “You can use this attack on a turn…” clause, as that is already implied. (-2pts)
Creativity/Originality: 13/20
(It’s very flavourful!)
Wording: 0/15
(A number of major and minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(A long Ability name.)
Total: 27/50
Unfortunately the wording side of things took it's toll, mirdo. Keep working on it!
Adam Ryder:
It looks like you might’ve rushed this one; it isn’t up to your normal standard.
Iron Fang is a pretty boring attack, with no effect whatsoever. Pound and Take is a bit better, but we’ve seen effects like it before, such as in Hypno SM. The accumulation of damage would probably make the attack a bit too powerful for a Sharpedo also; hitting 200+ damage would be very common, as you’d only need 6 damage counters to do that.
Wording errors:
- ‘and’ should be decapitalised in ‘Pound and Take’. (-1pt)
- ‘This damage’ should be ‘This attack’. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 11/20
(Pretty filler attacks.)
Wording: 13/15
(A couple of minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(The second attack is a bit too powerful.)
Total: 38/50
Nice attempt, Adam! Try to get those creative juices running next month, however!
Blakers:
Haxorus – Dragon – HP160
Stage 2 – Evolves from Fraxure
NO. 612 Axe Jaw Pokémon HT: 5’11” WT: 232.6 lbs.
Ability: Relentless Defender
If this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon and is damaged by an attack, put 5 damage counters on your opponent’s Active Pokémon.
[F][M][C] Terrifying Tusks: 70 damage. If the Defending Pokémon is a [M] type, this attack does 60 more damage.
Weakness: Fairy (x2)
Resistance: Metal (-20)
Retreat: [C][C]
They are kind but can be relentless when defending territory. They challenge foes with tusks that can cut steel.
Unfortunately, there’s really not much going on here. You’ve got a fairly standard Rough Skin effect for the Ability, and the attack is sorta like Axe Sluggger from Haxorus DRV. There’s really not much to say beyond that.
Wording errors:
‘your opponent’s Active Pokemon’ should be ‘the Attacking Pokemon’. (-1pt)
‘type’ should be ‘Pokemon’. (-1pt)
You’re missing the necessary ‘(even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out)’ clause. (-2pts)
‘an attack’ should be ‘an opponent’s attack’. (-2pts)
References: Relentless Defender - Sharpedo SUM, Terrifying Tusks - Haxorus DRV
Creativity/Originality: 12/20
(Some nice flavour.)
Wording: 9/15
(A few minor and major errors.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Pretty standard.)
Total: 36/50
Try to leave a bit more time before the deadline, Blakers, next time!
Celever:
Forretress HP90 Metal
Stage 1
Ability: Shell Repellent
When you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon, prevent all damage done to Forretress by attacks during your opponent's next turn.
[M][M] Magnetic Captivation 30+
This attack does 20 more damage for each [C] Energy in Forretress' Retreat Cost but not the Defending Pokémon's. Put a damage counter on Forretress for each [C] Energy in the Defending Pokémon's Retreat Cost.
[C][C][M][M] Belligerent Outburst
Discard your opponent's Active Pokémon and all cards attached to it. Then, discard Forretress and all cards attached to it.
Weakness: [R]x2
Resistance: [G]-20
Retreat: [C][C][C][C]
It remains immovably rooted to its tree. It scatters pieces of its hard shell to drive its enemies away.
NO.205 Bagworm Pokémon HT: 3'11" WT: 277.3 lbs
Shell Repellent doesn’t get me particularly interested, as it’s a sort of an effect that we’ve seen explored quite a bit in official cards. A very similar effect can be found in the Greninja XY Promo XY24.
Magnetic Captivation does have an interesting twist, however! You’ve got a fairly standard attack based off Forretress’ retreat cost, but then has a recoil based on your opponent’s, which is new.
Belligerent Outburst is an effect that we’ve also seen quite a bit of, both on official cards (e.g. Bewear-GX, Exploud FCO) and in this month’s competition! You’ve tried to have a drawback in discarding Forretress, which I see where you’re coming from, but it isn’t a great balancer pratically, as you can ultimately build your deck around it, yet your opponent can’t. That said, the large attack cost is largely effective in preventing this card from becoming too powerful, bar popular Energy acceleration (e.g. Bronzong PHF).
Grass resistance is a bit weird for a Forretress, which normally has Psychic resistance instead. 90HP also seems a bit low, as the only Forretress in BW/XY had 100, and HP levels creeped even higher in SM. That said, nice call on the retreat cost - the SM-era has seemed to have an increase in Retreat Cost standards, with slower Pokemon now often having a cost of four.
Wording errors:
- You’ve used a mix of ‘Forretress’ (pre-BW wording) and ‘this Pokémon’ (BW-onwards wording) - ‘Forretress’ should be ‘this Pokémon’ in the era you’re faking. x4 (-2.5pts)
- In the modern era, when referring to Retreat Costs, ‘[C] Energy’ would be just ‘[C]’. x2 (-1.5pt)
- In the modern era, ‘Defending Pokémon's Retreat Cost’ should be ‘your opponent’s Active Pokémon's Retreat Cost’. Yup, it got clunkier. (-1pt)
- The ‘but not the Defending Pokémon's’ clause is weird, because there’s nothing in that sentence that suggests this. Pretty much, you don’t need this. (-2pts)
References: Magnetic Captivation - Sharpedo SUM
Creativity/Originality: 15/20
(Some nice flavour with creativity beginning to show.)
Wording: 8/15
(A few minor and major errors.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Weird HP, weird resistance.)
Total: 36/50
Unfortunately, this just hasn’t been your month, Celever. In particular, make sure you get the most recent references for your effects, as you risk them having old wording otherwise!
3rd Place: ZygardeChronicles’s sharp Solgaleo, with 40/50 points.
2nd Place: NinjaPenguin’s mysterious Meowstic, with 40.5/50 points.
1st Place: SneaselGenesis’s shifty Swalot, with 42/50 points.
Good luck all for July! You better all treat NinjaPenguin nicely... or not!
I can't say that I was particularly proud or satisfied with my entry this month. I think it was pretty obvious that it was rushed out the door at a busy time, with little wiggle room that could have been spent ironing out the details, but the judgement was good.
Congrats to everyone who got a score they're happy with!
Congrats to everyone who got a score they're happy with!
Fan-Voting Results
Image-Based:
1st: @Edwin Santander ~ Salamence-Mega ~ 146 Points
2nd: @Kavross ~ Aurorus-GX ~ 141 Points
3rd: @Blui ~ Shining Golduck ~ 135 Points
4th: @professorlight ~ Primarina ~ 132 Points
5th: @TylerRVG ~ Unfezant ~ 131 Points | @WastedSkyPirate ~ Victreebel-GX ~ 131 Points
Text-Based:
1st: @SneaselGenesis ~ Swalot ~ 80 Points
2nd: @Professor Palutena ~ Sewaddle ~ 74 Points
3rd: @double o squirtle ~ Duskull ~ 73 Points
4th: @NinjaPenguin ~ Meowstic-GX ~ 67 Points
5th: @GrandPanacea ~ Smeargle ~ 65 Points
6th: @Jadethepokemontrainer ~ Tyrogue-BX ~ 64 Points
Congratulations to our Top 6s! They weren't meant to be 6 both times, but it just turned out that way conveniently. The one note I want to make is that this was still a trial month, and as such, these results aren't necessarily in line with what they will be in the future. One major edit will be made to how voting takes place next time in accordance with how it was this time, which I think will be fairer overall. However, these victors still definitely earned it!
Furthermore, do you have an idea for a Create-A-Card theme? Well now you have a place you can submit it to! This form is completely anonymous, and any response suggested will be discussed within Create-A-Card staff. The more detail the better, though we reserve the right to edit themes in any way we see fit. Thank you for your time if you choose to partake in the survey
Judge voting should be coming up soon.
Very happy with the community choose me, that's why i participated in this contest for peolpe to know me, now i have much more experience than before, and i'll do my best in july CAC applying all my new skills
I satisfied with the results (expected less points) and agree with the judge un everything, looking at my template have mistakes that the judge dont pointed, but now, i can see what i need to change
And congrats to the winners, i really liked the victreebel gx by the way!
oops lol. That's what happens when I tell my self to not look at the card after submitting. Was supposed to be (You still need the necessary energy to use this attack) or whatever the wording is, to tired to actually think about it. Anyways, thanks for all the feedback! Kinda had to rush my entry as I was nearing the deadline and was leaving for camp. congrats everyone!
Yeah, the wording is not my forté, but I did have fun with it. I'll definitely participate again. Thanks for the kind words!
I thought that a more rebellious Smeargle would be a cute idea. :3c
I always get something wrong in the wording, huh? It's remarkable, with how often I proofread them.
I can't really do much about the icon on the upper corner, as I said before; even then, it's mostly there as decoration, because, do you really need the little energy icon to tell you the card type? I mean, you have normally two things that tell you a pokemon's type; the icon and the blank's color. In this case, you have the icon (which might be a little covered up), the blank (which, although it has two sections showing the full color of each type, could be misunderstood, like in the P/Y blank), and to make sure there's no doubt, the little two-type rule in the lower corner of the illustration; that's mostly why I haven't changed it; the icon will be covered, and the way I divided the color might be confusing, but I feel all of that doesn't matter as long as I spell the dual-type clause out loud.
I don't know about you, but to me, "Bubbly" is "happy, enthusiastic". Which, granted, is what alcohol can do to you, but my primarina is a professional, thankyouverymuch.
But yes, I kept both effects on a single bullet point because I didn't know which one was better; after hearing what you think, maybe I should cut the direct damage effect; spreading does that on its own if you place the counters on the defending pokemon. But it could also hurt your own pokemon if you're setting them up for a heal; that's part of why I used both, so you don't hurt your own or make primarina unable to do damage when your pokemon need healing. Maybe I could have it hit any pokemon in the field with 20 damage times the amount of counters in play.
It's funny you point out the cost as too much, though, since I did it that way because I thought you'd tell me it was too little to use [W][Y][C], or even [W][Y] for an attack with so many potential uses (and even power, with enough counters in play).
But hey, third place, that's the best I've ever gotten, and I certainly was bested by blui, who is one of the best (and I still want to know about that sparkle holosheet) and your successor in judging, so it's not like I ever had a better chance, even with my beautiful primarina.
No man, it's captalize the correct things..
http://www.pokebeach.com/forums/threads/the-common-wording-errors-compilation.128701/
Read here, i dont good at text based faking but i read sometimes that post xd
Been pretty busy with life the last few days. Awesome! My first victory. Awesome entries guys and thank you to the judges for the wonderful feedback they provide.
Awesome entries guys and thank you to the judges for the wonderful feedback they provide.