PokéBeach Create-A-Card: Nov. 2014 - Team M's/A's Pokemon — Congratulations to the winners!
- Thread starter Ice Arceus
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RE: PokéBeach Create-A-Card: Nov. 2014 - Team M's/A's Pokemon
Ho ho ho, merry Newtonmas!
Again, apologies for the late results. I’ve had a surprisingly busy month, and the reviews took longer than usual, I’m not sure why. The overall quality was better than last time, though, so that can’t be it.
Except for some specific criticisms, I’ve received mostly favourable opinions of my harsh review style, which means my reign of terror continues. Scores will again be pretty low when compared to those of Luis, and I will use your tears to feed my doomsday machine.
So for the record: higher than 30 is decent, higher than 40 is good, higher than 45 is excellent.
Image-based results:
96creative:
That’s certainly a very flashy card. The “Team Magma” text seems a bit hard to read, but that might have more to do with the resolution than anything else. Placement seems correct enough. The Energy Symbols seem a bit weird, but that’s certainly acceptable.
The wording of the Ability should be “If your opponent's Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from an attack of this Pokémon, […]” (see Lugia LTR). You also forgot the “(Don't apply Weakness or Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)” clause.
Moxie feels very powerful, though since this doesn’t seem like such a heavy hitter it’s probably fine. It requires some tactical planning, which is certainly nice. Dark Pulse feel appropriately weak, though with the right planning and with enough potential support cards it might become pretty devastating.
Free retreat is an odd choice. Mightyena is not a Pokémon which consistently gets free retreat (only 4 out of 14 have it), and only 1 non-Mega Pokémon-EX has been given free retreat – Emolga – and it certainly seems to fit it way better.
Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(The Moxie ability is pretty clever.)
Wording: 11/15
(Wrong wording, missing clause.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Seems fine.)
Believability/Playability: 4.5/5
(Free retreat.)
Total: 41.5/50
Auride:
You forgot a comma after (before your attack), and “opponent” shouldn’t be capitalised. I’d have also added a clause which states that Jellicent has to be on your Bench to avoid possible confusion and rule complications.
The text of both the attack and ability is too far to the left compared to the Energy symbols, otherwise placement seems roughly correct.
The power is fun, like a weird combination of Swoop! Teleporter and Archie. It seems like a fun way of cheating in a strong Pokémon. I think it might be a bit hard to pull off, but there could be a Pokémon in the hypothetical format for which it’s worth trying to pull it off.
I like the idea of multiple Jellicant working in combination, though I’m not sure that strategy would hold up long enough. 3C feels like a rather big commitment for an attack which you’d hope would only occasionally deal 60 damage. Sacrificing 2 Jellicent won’t even be enough to take out your average EX, which means this attack will usually leave you at a net disadvantage. I assume this Pokémon isn’t meant as a standalone attacker, but in that case I think a lower Energy cost might’ve justified.
Also, about the art: I was honestly surprised it wasn’t Sugimori art. If that was what you were going for, you certainly did an amazing job in my opinion. Though Sugimori-style art is a bit boring on most cards, so you might want to try and add a bit more action.
Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(Fun reanimation, creative attack.)
Wording: 13/15
(Forgot a comma, potential rule complications.)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(Text too far to the left.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Perhaps too weird and circumstantial.)
Total: 43/50
BigfootAUS:
I love the idea of these kinds of cards coming in to rid the format of EX and start over. I’m not sure if that’s what you intended, but an Ability like that would certainly be a step in that direction.
Hydro Dart is pretty basic, though I guess it fulfils a necessary role on the card. Command of the Sea works pretty well with Primordial Power, and will seriously damage non-EX cards in EX-heavy decks. It’s certainly a nice self-balancing card, since it can only really be popular when it itself isn’t the dominant card. I’ve been seeing a lot of auto-balance in the text-based portion, but it’s interesting to see it not only focus on the Team Aqua vs. Team Magma conflict, especially when the temptation is so high.
Having 2 different Aqua mechanics seems a bit much, considering Team Rocket picked one or the other (Dark and Team Rocket’s). Even so, I’d have moved the Aqua-rule to the bottom right and moved the Team Aqua stuff to below the HP, like with Team Plasma cards. The Energy Symbols seem to be a bit too far to the left, other than that placement seems roughly correct.
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Good, consistent design overall.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems fine.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/10
(Energies too far to the left, weird rules placements.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Very believable concepts.)
Total: 42/50
Blui:
Placement seems to be roughly correct, except that the Ability and the attack seem to be a few pixels too far to the left. Everything within them lines up correctly, unlike the other cards here where only the text was too far to the left, so that a bit odd…
The Weakness and Resistance symbols also seem to be roughly a pixel too far to the left. The font also seems a bit too bold.
The wording seems fine, though it’s not Immediately clear whether the 2 damage counters can or should go on the same Benched Pokémon. I’m assuming you can pick a new target for every heads, but it might be confusing.
I’m not sure what the Ability has to do with Mat Block, but it certainly sounds fun. It seems like a nice safeguard against unwanted surprised, and could be used to switch out a fragile attacker each turn. It’s not quite giving your Active Pokémon a hit-and-run attack, since you have to switch in Greninja and not, say, Robo Substitute, but it’s certainly a nice twist on that concept.
Shining Shuriken is a nice 1-Energy spread move. I like that it on average deals more damage to the Bench than to the Active Pokémon, while still putting a bitof pressure on the Active. It’s weak enough to put the focus of this card on the Ability, which is definitely a nice way of keeping it balanced.
Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(Nice twist on hit-and-run, good overall balancing.)
Wording: 14/15
(Potential confusion.)
Fonts and Placement: 8.5/10
(Stuff too far to the left.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Nothing too bizarre or extraordinary.)
Total: 44.5/50
myoKun345:
I’m not sure I’m a fan of the blank. Using large white frames for everything seems like a cheap cop-out and feels very papery. I’d at the very least give them some colour. I do like some of the placements and design elements, especially the EX rule. The blank isn’t part of what’s being judged, though, so all is fine and dandy.
Steam is as basic as it gets, so no comments there. Targeted Surf sounds like a very weird name. But what’s even more weird is the wording. Damage is always done before applying Weakness and Resistance, so that clarification is pointless. What I think you were looking for is “(Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.).” “If any of your Pokémon are Knocked Out by this attack, your opponent takes a Prize card as usual” is also pretty superfluous, since that’s what usually happens, as you so rightly point out.
I’m also not sure the + should be there, since the wording would usually include the word “more” if it’s there. The 40 if the Active is not Team Aqua seems more like it’s part of a different part of the attack. Hmmm.
Targeted surf might be too good of a spread damage move. usually doing 80 to the Active Pokémon and easily doing around 200 damage total, with a maximum of 280 damage, all for just 3 energies. That seems like an awful lot.
Resistance to Fire is pretty rare, only appearing on the Bronzong line and on the Salamance line when it has double resistance. I’ll let it slide since it might be a Team Aqua thing, though it would shift the balance between the 2 teams even more in Team Aqua’s favour.
Creativity/Originality: 12/20
(It’s all pretty basic.)
Wording: 9/15
(Some weird and unnecessary rules clarifications.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Custom blanks: the ultimate loophole.)
Believability/Playability: 2/5
(Far too strong.)
Total: 33/50
PMJ & Athena:
Placement seems largely correct. The only noticeable problem is that the text of the attack and Ability is is a few pixels too far to the right. The text should begin roughly where the symbol within the 1st Energy symbol begins.
Having “Team Aqua’s Pokémon” in the stats bar is a bit hard to find, and the actual text would mostly likely be located in the same spot as “Team Plasma” is now. I understand that this would require blank editing, which might be hard to do, but I think a better solution would’ve just been to add an indication somewhere in the name, like Auride and Bigfootaus did.
Wording for the Ability should be “If this Pokémon [is your Active Pokémon and] is damaged by an opponent's attack (even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out), discard an Energy card attached to the Attacking Pokémon.” Your text could be roughly correct if you’re assuming Team Magma gets something like neo Elekid (dealing damage through something other than an attack), but even then you still failed to include whether or not the Ability activates when when Goodra is Knocked Out.
Team hate is always an easy way of balancing the 2 teams in any given metagame, and the Ability seems like it would do that quite efficiently. Energy removal is always hard to balance, especially when you’re not adding a coin flip, but I guess on a Stage 2 an Energy Removal or 2 could be justified, especially since it only targets Team Magma Pokémon.
That being said, I do believe the card is broken, or at least not something the official TCG would print. I’ve run into the same problem before when designing cards: consistent recurring healing is something you should be very careful with, or it might completely shut down a large portion of the metagame, especially for casual players (who are the main target for the TCG). The best you can usually get in the TCG is healing your Active ‘mon for 30 consistently while still being able to do damage. There’s a few exceptions: Ludicolo heals 40, and Palkia EX a maximum of 80 (though the investment required for this is huge). Volcorona and Hydreigon heal as much damage as they do (50 and 40 respectively), which could receive a consistent boost to something like 70 or 80 without it being too hard to pull off. None of that compares to Goodra here. For the 3 Energies require to do its attack, it heals itself for 60 (already more than everything but 3-Plasma-Energy Palkia EX), for 5 it heals for more than most Pokémon can do damage, and for 6 it heals itself almost completely each turn. And that’s just Goodra. Combine this with it being almost impossible to chip away at this beast with a Team Magma Pokémon since you’d lose an Energy each time you try, and you’ve got yourself a card which shuts down a large potion of the decks it would likely face in its imaginary format, especially amongst casual players.
The art is cute, though.
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Very efficient team hate, nice conditional team healing.)
Wording: 11/15
(Wrong wording, missing a necessary rule clarification.)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(Stuff too far to the right.)
Believability/Playability: 2/5
(More healing than normally acceptable, combined with way too good of an anti-chipping Ability.)
Total: 36/50
Zygarde:
That is one beautiful blank, I have to say.
Combing some super radical old skool elements with the lame new wording is a bit odd, but I think I can manage.
The wording for the Ability is weird, though I guess it’s acceptable if you want to include non-damaging attacks and include when Ninetales is on the Bench. We haven’t had wording specifically like that before, so I guess it’s acceptable. You’re missing a rules clarification for if Ninetales is Knocked Out or not, which I normally consider an egregious mistake (-3), but I guess the wording seems to indicate that it happens before the actual attack. Still, you’ll lose a point for this. Wording for the Attack seems fine, though.
I was going to point out how horribly broken Magma Spirit could be, but considering Ninetales can usually do at most 250 without absolutely destroying its owner I think it might actually be balanced. Millenar Drought is a great move to pair with the Ability because not only does it put a limit on how much you can attack with any Ninetales, it also eventually gives your opponent the opportunity to take it down with a weaker attacker while still charging its big water-energy-dependant attack. The point of it would be to keep mono-water decks at bay while charging the Bench, which would make it a very, very good cards against water decks, but only somewhat decent to perhaps even pretty bad against other decks. It’s very metagame-dependant, which is always a good way of keeping it balanced. If the body were paired with any other attack it would’ve been quite a devastating card, but you’ve managed to combine a very destructive body with a very self-destructive attack. It’s always awesome when a card which seems horrible overpowered at first turns out to be pretty well-behaved after further inspection, and it takes some good insight and creative thinking to pull this off. Good job!
Creativity/Originality: 18/20
(Very nice and creative internal balancing. Awesome card design does not necessarily need new mechanics.)
Wording: 14/15
(Weird wording, and you missed a potential rules clarification.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Awesome blank.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(A bit too anti-water for the full 5.)
Total: 46/50
A top 3 without the Dynamic Duo is pretty weird, but it’s nice to see so many of you do well enough to compensate. I know my judging style is different from CMP’s, and I hope you weren’t focussing on his style specifically. I hope you can all accept the results and that if you didn’t do as well as expected you see this as a challenge to do better next round rather than as the affront it really is.
3rd Place: Auride’s Jellicent, with 43/50 points.
2nd Place: Blui’ Greninja, with 44.5/50 points.
1st Place: Zygarde’s awesome Ninetales, with 46/50 points.
Ho ho ho, merry Newtonmas!
Again, apologies for the late results. I’ve had a surprisingly busy month, and the reviews took longer than usual, I’m not sure why. The overall quality was better than last time, though, so that can’t be it.
Except for some specific criticisms, I’ve received mostly favourable opinions of my harsh review style, which means my reign of terror continues. Scores will again be pretty low when compared to those of Luis, and I will use your tears to feed my doomsday machine.
So for the record: higher than 30 is decent, higher than 40 is good, higher than 45 is excellent.
Image-based results:
96creative:
That’s certainly a very flashy card. The “Team Magma” text seems a bit hard to read, but that might have more to do with the resolution than anything else. Placement seems correct enough. The Energy Symbols seem a bit weird, but that’s certainly acceptable.
The wording of the Ability should be “If your opponent's Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from an attack of this Pokémon, […]” (see Lugia LTR). You also forgot the “(Don't apply Weakness or Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)” clause.
Moxie feels very powerful, though since this doesn’t seem like such a heavy hitter it’s probably fine. It requires some tactical planning, which is certainly nice. Dark Pulse feel appropriately weak, though with the right planning and with enough potential support cards it might become pretty devastating.
Free retreat is an odd choice. Mightyena is not a Pokémon which consistently gets free retreat (only 4 out of 14 have it), and only 1 non-Mega Pokémon-EX has been given free retreat – Emolga – and it certainly seems to fit it way better.
Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(The Moxie ability is pretty clever.)
Wording: 11/15
(Wrong wording, missing clause.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Seems fine.)
Believability/Playability: 4.5/5
(Free retreat.)
Total: 41.5/50
Auride:
You forgot a comma after (before your attack), and “opponent” shouldn’t be capitalised. I’d have also added a clause which states that Jellicent has to be on your Bench to avoid possible confusion and rule complications.
The text of both the attack and ability is too far to the left compared to the Energy symbols, otherwise placement seems roughly correct.
The power is fun, like a weird combination of Swoop! Teleporter and Archie. It seems like a fun way of cheating in a strong Pokémon. I think it might be a bit hard to pull off, but there could be a Pokémon in the hypothetical format for which it’s worth trying to pull it off.
I like the idea of multiple Jellicant working in combination, though I’m not sure that strategy would hold up long enough. 3C feels like a rather big commitment for an attack which you’d hope would only occasionally deal 60 damage. Sacrificing 2 Jellicent won’t even be enough to take out your average EX, which means this attack will usually leave you at a net disadvantage. I assume this Pokémon isn’t meant as a standalone attacker, but in that case I think a lower Energy cost might’ve justified.
Also, about the art: I was honestly surprised it wasn’t Sugimori art. If that was what you were going for, you certainly did an amazing job in my opinion. Though Sugimori-style art is a bit boring on most cards, so you might want to try and add a bit more action.
Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(Fun reanimation, creative attack.)
Wording: 13/15
(Forgot a comma, potential rule complications.)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(Text too far to the left.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Perhaps too weird and circumstantial.)
Total: 43/50
BigfootAUS:
I love the idea of these kinds of cards coming in to rid the format of EX and start over. I’m not sure if that’s what you intended, but an Ability like that would certainly be a step in that direction.
Hydro Dart is pretty basic, though I guess it fulfils a necessary role on the card. Command of the Sea works pretty well with Primordial Power, and will seriously damage non-EX cards in EX-heavy decks. It’s certainly a nice self-balancing card, since it can only really be popular when it itself isn’t the dominant card. I’ve been seeing a lot of auto-balance in the text-based portion, but it’s interesting to see it not only focus on the Team Aqua vs. Team Magma conflict, especially when the temptation is so high.
Having 2 different Aqua mechanics seems a bit much, considering Team Rocket picked one or the other (Dark and Team Rocket’s). Even so, I’d have moved the Aqua-rule to the bottom right and moved the Team Aqua stuff to below the HP, like with Team Plasma cards. The Energy Symbols seem to be a bit too far to the left, other than that placement seems roughly correct.
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Good, consistent design overall.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems fine.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/10
(Energies too far to the left, weird rules placements.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Very believable concepts.)
Total: 42/50
Blui:
Placement seems to be roughly correct, except that the Ability and the attack seem to be a few pixels too far to the left. Everything within them lines up correctly, unlike the other cards here where only the text was too far to the left, so that a bit odd…
The Weakness and Resistance symbols also seem to be roughly a pixel too far to the left. The font also seems a bit too bold.
The wording seems fine, though it’s not Immediately clear whether the 2 damage counters can or should go on the same Benched Pokémon. I’m assuming you can pick a new target for every heads, but it might be confusing.
I’m not sure what the Ability has to do with Mat Block, but it certainly sounds fun. It seems like a nice safeguard against unwanted surprised, and could be used to switch out a fragile attacker each turn. It’s not quite giving your Active Pokémon a hit-and-run attack, since you have to switch in Greninja and not, say, Robo Substitute, but it’s certainly a nice twist on that concept.
Shining Shuriken is a nice 1-Energy spread move. I like that it on average deals more damage to the Bench than to the Active Pokémon, while still putting a bitof pressure on the Active. It’s weak enough to put the focus of this card on the Ability, which is definitely a nice way of keeping it balanced.
Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(Nice twist on hit-and-run, good overall balancing.)
Wording: 14/15
(Potential confusion.)
Fonts and Placement: 8.5/10
(Stuff too far to the left.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Nothing too bizarre or extraordinary.)
Total: 44.5/50
myoKun345:
I’m not sure I’m a fan of the blank. Using large white frames for everything seems like a cheap cop-out and feels very papery. I’d at the very least give them some colour. I do like some of the placements and design elements, especially the EX rule. The blank isn’t part of what’s being judged, though, so all is fine and dandy.
Steam is as basic as it gets, so no comments there. Targeted Surf sounds like a very weird name. But what’s even more weird is the wording. Damage is always done before applying Weakness and Resistance, so that clarification is pointless. What I think you were looking for is “(Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.).” “If any of your Pokémon are Knocked Out by this attack, your opponent takes a Prize card as usual” is also pretty superfluous, since that’s what usually happens, as you so rightly point out.
I’m also not sure the + should be there, since the wording would usually include the word “more” if it’s there. The 40 if the Active is not Team Aqua seems more like it’s part of a different part of the attack. Hmmm.
Targeted surf might be too good of a spread damage move. usually doing 80 to the Active Pokémon and easily doing around 200 damage total, with a maximum of 280 damage, all for just 3 energies. That seems like an awful lot.
Resistance to Fire is pretty rare, only appearing on the Bronzong line and on the Salamance line when it has double resistance. I’ll let it slide since it might be a Team Aqua thing, though it would shift the balance between the 2 teams even more in Team Aqua’s favour.
Creativity/Originality: 12/20
(It’s all pretty basic.)
Wording: 9/15
(Some weird and unnecessary rules clarifications.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Custom blanks: the ultimate loophole.)
Believability/Playability: 2/5
(Far too strong.)
Total: 33/50
PMJ & Athena:
Placement seems largely correct. The only noticeable problem is that the text of the attack and Ability is is a few pixels too far to the right. The text should begin roughly where the symbol within the 1st Energy symbol begins.
Having “Team Aqua’s Pokémon” in the stats bar is a bit hard to find, and the actual text would mostly likely be located in the same spot as “Team Plasma” is now. I understand that this would require blank editing, which might be hard to do, but I think a better solution would’ve just been to add an indication somewhere in the name, like Auride and Bigfootaus did.
Wording for the Ability should be “If this Pokémon [is your Active Pokémon and] is damaged by an opponent's attack (even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out), discard an Energy card attached to the Attacking Pokémon.” Your text could be roughly correct if you’re assuming Team Magma gets something like neo Elekid (dealing damage through something other than an attack), but even then you still failed to include whether or not the Ability activates when when Goodra is Knocked Out.
Team hate is always an easy way of balancing the 2 teams in any given metagame, and the Ability seems like it would do that quite efficiently. Energy removal is always hard to balance, especially when you’re not adding a coin flip, but I guess on a Stage 2 an Energy Removal or 2 could be justified, especially since it only targets Team Magma Pokémon.
That being said, I do believe the card is broken, or at least not something the official TCG would print. I’ve run into the same problem before when designing cards: consistent recurring healing is something you should be very careful with, or it might completely shut down a large portion of the metagame, especially for casual players (who are the main target for the TCG). The best you can usually get in the TCG is healing your Active ‘mon for 30 consistently while still being able to do damage. There’s a few exceptions: Ludicolo heals 40, and Palkia EX a maximum of 80 (though the investment required for this is huge). Volcorona and Hydreigon heal as much damage as they do (50 and 40 respectively), which could receive a consistent boost to something like 70 or 80 without it being too hard to pull off. None of that compares to Goodra here. For the 3 Energies require to do its attack, it heals itself for 60 (already more than everything but 3-Plasma-Energy Palkia EX), for 5 it heals for more than most Pokémon can do damage, and for 6 it heals itself almost completely each turn. And that’s just Goodra. Combine this with it being almost impossible to chip away at this beast with a Team Magma Pokémon since you’d lose an Energy each time you try, and you’ve got yourself a card which shuts down a large potion of the decks it would likely face in its imaginary format, especially amongst casual players.
The art is cute, though.
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Very efficient team hate, nice conditional team healing.)
Wording: 11/15
(Wrong wording, missing a necessary rule clarification.)
Fonts and Placement: 9/10
(Stuff too far to the right.)
Believability/Playability: 2/5
(More healing than normally acceptable, combined with way too good of an anti-chipping Ability.)
Total: 36/50
Zygarde:
That is one beautiful blank, I have to say.
Combing some super radical old skool elements with the lame new wording is a bit odd, but I think I can manage.
The wording for the Ability is weird, though I guess it’s acceptable if you want to include non-damaging attacks and include when Ninetales is on the Bench. We haven’t had wording specifically like that before, so I guess it’s acceptable. You’re missing a rules clarification for if Ninetales is Knocked Out or not, which I normally consider an egregious mistake (-3), but I guess the wording seems to indicate that it happens before the actual attack. Still, you’ll lose a point for this. Wording for the Attack seems fine, though.
I was going to point out how horribly broken Magma Spirit could be, but considering Ninetales can usually do at most 250 without absolutely destroying its owner I think it might actually be balanced. Millenar Drought is a great move to pair with the Ability because not only does it put a limit on how much you can attack with any Ninetales, it also eventually gives your opponent the opportunity to take it down with a weaker attacker while still charging its big water-energy-dependant attack. The point of it would be to keep mono-water decks at bay while charging the Bench, which would make it a very, very good cards against water decks, but only somewhat decent to perhaps even pretty bad against other decks. It’s very metagame-dependant, which is always a good way of keeping it balanced. If the body were paired with any other attack it would’ve been quite a devastating card, but you’ve managed to combine a very destructive body with a very self-destructive attack. It’s always awesome when a card which seems horrible overpowered at first turns out to be pretty well-behaved after further inspection, and it takes some good insight and creative thinking to pull this off. Good job!
Creativity/Originality: 18/20
(Very nice and creative internal balancing. Awesome card design does not necessarily need new mechanics.)
Wording: 14/15
(Weird wording, and you missed a potential rules clarification.)
Fonts and Placement: 10/10
(Awesome blank.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(A bit too anti-water for the full 5.)
Total: 46/50
A top 3 without the Dynamic Duo is pretty weird, but it’s nice to see so many of you do well enough to compensate. I know my judging style is different from CMP’s, and I hope you weren’t focussing on his style specifically. I hope you can all accept the results and that if you didn’t do as well as expected you see this as a challenge to do better next round rather than as the affront it really is.
3rd Place: Auride’s Jellicent, with 43/50 points.
2nd Place: Blui’ Greninja, with 44.5/50 points.
1st Place: Zygarde’s awesome Ninetales, with 46/50 points.
RE: PokéBeach Create-A-Card: Nov. 2014 - Team M's/A's Pokemon
Text-based results:
9Tailz:
That image really fits the team-ambiguous nature of this card.
This isn’t the first Ground/Water Pokémon which is able to switch teams this round (though you are first alphabetically, scroll down for SeventhPrize’s Swampert). I guess this is different enough since Quagsire here doesn’t switch teams so much as join both.
It’s weird seeing a Pokémon be part of both rival teams, though I guess if a deck combines both teams anyway it doesn’t really matter. What I feel is really missing is for this card to be useful outside of a 2-team deck. 40 and a spread of 20 is decent, but just 40 for 3 energies isn’t worth it. The Ability almost feels like a technicality, since you’ll probably be playing this with Team Aqua cards anyway.
Outside of the 2-teams thing the card itself isn’t very creative. Spread damage based on an attached Energy is hardly the pinnacle of creative brilliance. I like where you’re going with it, but it doesn’t really do the concept of the card justice.
Also, don’t just use names of attacks from the games without checking what these effects do in the TCG. Muddy Water appears on a lot of cards, and it always does X damage and Y damage to 1 Benched Pokémon, always. Using that name for a completely different attack therefore hurts believability.
The only wording mistake I can find is the non-italicisation of “(Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)”, which I’ve been deducing points for because I’m a miserable excuse for a human being. When you don’t have a lot of words, it’s hard to screw up, I guess.
Creativity/Originality: 12/20
(Team ambivalence is nice, but that’s about it.)
Wording: 14/15
(No italicisation.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Muddy Water is already clearly defined within the TCG.)
Total: 40/50
AlexanderTheAwesome:
If a common Burmy used to have pretty much the same Ability, I’m not sure I can call it very creative. The attack is pretty fun, though. I like how it gets progressively weaker and will start harming you in the long run. I’m not sure whether it promotes or discourages team devotion. Presumably you wouldn’t want to rid yourself of all your Pokémon. The synergy with the Ability seems like it should be there, but it seems more of a case of allowing another Walrein EX to come in and pick up the pieces.
Not much else to say, really. Definitely a solid card.
Creativity/Originality: 15/20
(Nice autobalancing attack.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems fine.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Seems fine.)
Total: 45/50
bbninjas:
Wording seems fine enough, The wording for if a [W] Energy is the current stadium feels iffy, but since the wording is novel I’m not confident enough to deduce points for it.
The Ability seems nice and oddly balanced, maybe even a bit underpowered. It’s definitely very creative, having it literally rain all over the stage. You might’ve made it overly complicated, though, using only 1 [W] as the Stadium or turning it into an attack would’ve fit the simpler era a lot better.
Nasty Weather seems fun, and helps prevent a format in which Special Energies run rampant. The placement of the can’t-use-again-next-turn clause is pretty creative, though I’m not sure how often you’d want to repeat the attack anyway if you’re not doing any damage. I guess you could be stalling to get more [W] attached to Castform, which does add some nice synergy.
Creativity/Originality: 18/20
(Very creative attack, some very nice synergy.)
Wording: 15/15
(New wording loophole.)
Believability/Playability: 12.5/15
(Some odd decisions, perhaps too needlessly complicated for the format.)
Total: 45.5/50
Camoclone:
The problem with Mega Evolutions is that they leave little room for creativity, being limited to a single attack/Ability and I guess an Ancient Trait. You’ve certainly presented a very convincing Team Aqua’s Mega Sharpedo, and I would not at all be surprised if a similar Sharpedo appears in an upcoming set. That being said, Rough Skin on Mega Sharpedo is a bit odd, no?
The overall power seems fair for a Mega, it’s always hard to judge how overpowered these things are allowed to get.
I’m not sure what else to say. I do have to subtract 1.5 points because you didn’t italicise “(Even if M Sharpedo is Knocked Out)” and “(both yours and your opponent’s)”. I do this solely because I’m a horrible person.
Creativity/Originality: 12/20
(Everything’s pretty basic.)
Wording: 13.5/15
(Me being absolutely despicable.)
Believability/Playability: 14.5/15
(Yeah, sure. -0.5 for Rough Skin on M Sharpedo.)
Total: 40/50
Cypher333:
“Before your attack” should always be between brackets and italicised. The wording for the rest of the Ability should be “choose an item card you find there […].” You should also include a ruling for what happens if the trainer comes into play, like Robo Substitute. I guess something like Sabrina’s Psychic Control’s “that isn’t put into play” would do.
Also, the TCG doesn’t use “have” for the past tense.
Thievery is very nice thematically, but can easily become pretty broken. Murkrow is a Basic Pokémon which not only forces your opponent to immediately use their item cards, if you start the game it also enables you to set up during your first turn while also denying your opponent one of their items on their first turn. Heck, even just looking at your opponent’s hand each turn is pretty darn handy. You used to need a Pokémon ex on your Bench to do just that.
Unless your opponent blocks Abilities, I see no reason why you wouldn’t use Thievery, and thereby increase Feint Attack’s base power. I think there might’ve been better ways of deciding when to add 30, because at this point the attack is basically 50 for DC.
Creativity/Originality: 12/20
(Thematically pretty nice, but very standard otherwise.)
Wording: 8/15
(Some errors, and a rulings omission (which is -3))
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Thievery is way too useful.)
Total: 32/50
GadgetJax:
Discarding a limited and hard-to-fetch resource to disrupt an opponent seems like a fun mechanic. I agree that it’s definitely strong, but a card being usable or even dominant in a format wouldn’t necessarily make it unbelievable. Punishing heavy item use is a very nice balancing effect which doesn’t necessarily make or break a card on its own. It seems roughly on point for the era, and is a nice card for keeping the format in check. Oddly enough, it itself would suffer in a format where it is popular, which is a pretty nice twist.
Wording seems fine as well. Great job!
Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(Fun power, nice attack.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems good.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Good, but not necessarily broken.)
Total: 46/50
GM DracLord:
Stunkfish ex, that’s scarping a barrel.
It’s a bit weird that you would use pre-BW wording for this, but I don’t mind. It does make it a lot easier for me to judge the impact on the format and what not.
I like the idea of using Team Aqua as an excuse to give Stunfisk water as a type. The Body seems like a decent addition to this, and forces some dedication when wishing to abuse Darkness Energy. This also plays well with the Energy requirements of the 2 attacks.
Underground Voltage seems nice thematically, but it’s perhaps a bit on the weak side considering how avoidable the damage is and considering it doesn’t get boosted by Darkness Energy. That being said, 1-energy Basic ex attacks were never that strong, so it’s definitely believable.
Dry up Land seem fair as well, it probably won’t do even 80 often, so it’s not really overpowered, but it does add a nice bluffing element. The slightly-higher-than-normal power here seems compensated by Underground Voltage being a tad underwhelming.
Wording seems fine.
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Thematically nice, good structure overall, but a bit bland.)
Wording: 15/15
(Good.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Very well balanced.)
Total: 44/50
Ice Espeon:
Can’t think of a relevant Hitler joke this time…
The wording of the second attack should be “This attack does 40 more damage for each …”, You only use “times” when the attack is of the X0x variety. Other than that wording seems fine. The “you may” in Quick Search is a bit odd, but I’ll let it slide.
I can’t say this is the most creative card. Quick Search seems rather standard (and the name has been used before), searching for cards which belong to the Pokémon’s team isn’t new in any way, Team Rocket’s Meowth, for example, did just that. Turnaround is fun, since the randomness of prize cards forces you to be quite dedicated to the Team if you hope to do some decent damage with it. It’s a nice way of forcing team dedication and it also has the upside of revealing your Prize cards. It’s a fun take on the reveal-prize-cards effect, but still not too creative.
Creativity/Originality: 13/20
(Fun take on Prize cards, but that’s really it.)
Wording: 13/15
(Mistake in the 2nd attack.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Seems like it could easily be an official cards, it’s definitely unimpressive enough.)
Total: 41/50
Keeper of Night:
The wording for the Ability should be “isn’t affected by Weakness” and Lava Plume’s wording should be “Does 10 more damage for each damage counter on each of your Benched Pokémon.” Other than that everything seems fine.
The Ability is nice since it sort of levels the playing field between Aqua and Magma, and not having Magcargo be one of the Pokémon which would normally have a problem with Aqua Pokémon is a nice nuance. Lava Plume is kind of boring, but adds some necessary direct damage which would otherwise not be available. Ancient Buster is pretty cool, and I do like attacks which automatically balance the metagame. If Ancient Traits run rampant, so would Magcargo. I also like the synergy with Lava Plume, which can add up to quite a lot if use correctly. That being said, Lava Plume is a stronger version of an attack which already exists on a Stage 2 Pokémon at a higher Energy cost, which suggests to me that it might be too good. A single damaged EX on the bench might be enough to turn Magcargo into a low-energy killing machine. I also think the HP’s too high for a Stage 1. The only BW-on Magcargo we’ve seen has 110 HP, which seems a lot fairer.
Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(Nice auto-balance, good synergy, fun nuances.)
Wording: 12/15
(2 wording mistakes.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Very strong, high HP.)
Total: 41/50
Luispipe8:
I have a problem with α Aqua Radiance. I think these effects are meant to be Pokémon-specific. If something affects all Pokémon, it should be an ability. It’s why these things are often portrayed as shields and stuff. This does not at all feel like it should be an ancient trait thingy.
I also have a problem with the Ability, which seems to imply that you can have more than 1 Active Pokémon. While this would be a fun and welcome return, this does not at all seem to be the case for the current format, and indeed a lot of attacks and abilities specifically mention the Active Pokémon.
Other than that everything seems fine. I like team hate since it’s a decent balancing mechanic (if 1 team is too prevalent, it makes the other team better as an anti-format deck), so that’s always nice. Multi-Poison is Crobat’s modus operandi, and the attack certainly feels like an interesting and novel twist on that. It’s pretty weird that we haven’t seen anything like it before, which is always a good sign for creativity.
Creativity/Originality: 16.5/20
(Fun twist on multi-Poison.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems in order.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(-2 for the Ancient Trait, -1 for so jarringly bringing back doubles.)
Total: 43.5/50
Machamp The Champion:
There shouldn’t be a comma before “or,” other than that wording seems fine.
I’m not sure what you’re trying to accomplish with the Ability. This seems like an anti-set-up anti-big-Pokémon Ability, which feels like an odd direction for the TCG to go in. Even in donk-heavy metagames of yore there wasn’t an active push against bulky Pokémon with high Energy requirements. This Ability feels like it would be very unfun for most casual players.
Claw of Allegiance seems very powerful, and not too difficult to accommodate for. It’s a nice way of brute-forcing team allegiance, but might be a bit too powerful in that respect. It takes only 2 cards a turn and a single Energy to have a beast which can deal with most non-EX in 2 hits and most Pokémon-EX in 3, and seriously cripple most after a single hit. This card not only feels like an auto-include in whatever Team Magma metagame would arise, but also feels like it would severely shift the balance in Team Magma’s favour. I’m not sure what kind of card would make Team Aqua just as potent.
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Nice Team-allegiance mechanic, somewhat creative disruption.)
Wording: 14/15
(A comma too many.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Feels very powerful, but most importantly very unfun.)
Total: 40/50
My Little Keldeo:
No “é” in “Pokémon”. All the other wording of the first attack hasn’t been used since BW, so might as well be correct.
Yeah, I don’t watch Sailor Moon, so Submarine Reflection just strikes me as a bit of a complicated attack name, though it does suit the flavour of the attack. Conditional spread damage seems nice, I’m not sure how powerful it would be, but it’s probably fine. Coalition Sword seems pretty standard team-devotion attack, though I do like the name. I’m afraid I don’t have much else to say.
Creativity/Originality: 13/20
(Fun reflecting, thematically solid.)
Wording: 14/15
(No é.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Everything seems fine)
Total: 42/50
NameBlank:
If you include new kinds of cards, be sure to add some ruling informations so I can better gauge the strength of a card. How many of these in combination with other Shiftry can go into your deck? Does ascending count as evolving? Stuff like that. Stuff which would and should be included in a separate box on the card. Pokémon-EX, Pokémon lv.X, Shining Pokémon, Pokémon-ex, etc. all have rule text, I don’t see why this shouldn’t.
Also, be sure to mention a similar era when doing something like this.
For a functional Stage 3 in a format I don’t know about, this seems awfully weak. 60 for 1 seems nice, but Magma Energy, assuming it’s still the same Energy, is such a fragile and powerful weapon, wasting it on this seems silly. The second attack is pretty weak as well. An average of 80 for a 3-Energy attack (with different types as well) on a Stage 3 seems rather silly. Most run-off-the-mill Stage 2 Shiftry seem better. Also, “Rapid Spin” has been used quite a few times in the TCG and has a pretty well-defined effect (damage + forcing the opponent to switch). Try to be a bit more creative with naming next time.
Wording on the power should be “If [Shiftry/this Pokémon] has any Magma Energy attached to it…”, and you forgot “damage” after “more” in the attack.
Creativity/Originality: 8/20
(Meh.)
Wording: 11/15
(2 non-minor mistakes.)
Believability/Playability: 8/15
(Seems weak, no rules clarifications.)
Total: 27/50
rev3rsor:
Yeah, water resistance is fairly rare, and is usually limited to grass-only typed Pokémon (as well as the occasional grass dual type and dragon). Free retreat in the ex era is practically unheard of, except for a misprint Marill SS. So yes, you will lose some believability points. I think creativity points was what you should’ve been worried about, though.
Creativity/Originality: 3/20
(Fun attack name…)
Wording: 15/15
(Perfect.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Weird resistance and free retreat on a Pokémon where it doesn’t really fit thematically.)
Total: 30/50
Reggie McGigas:
I was going to complain about using “Frustration” when it already has a pretty well-defined effect within the TCG, but then I realised you wrote “Fustration”, which I can only assume is a combination of being frustrated and making a fuss. *Ahem* Yeah, you’re going to lose wording points for that. I’d also have liked a different name, something which a) reflected the effect better and b) hasn’t been used extensively in the TCG before. Team hate is nice, though, and would help a bit with balancing if one team proved overly dominant in a particular metagame.
Shell Shock seems boring. Not sure what else to say about that. The point is to be more creative than the official TCG, not continuing their boring little antics.
Creativity/Originality: 11.5/20
(Team hate is fun.)
Wording: 14/15
(Misspelt “Frustration”.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Seems boring enough to be believable. Frustration already exists, though, and doesn’t really fit.)
Total: 39.5/50
SeventhPrize:
Wording mistakes: No comma after “Once during your turn” (x2), you forgot a full stop after “with that Pokémon,” and you’re mixing “in their name” and “in its name” for plural cards, even though I prefer “their” by a long shot, most cards seem to favour “its” and even so you should be consistent within a card. If you do go with “their”, you need to pluralise “name” as well.
In terms if believability, there a few things which irk me. 2 Abilities is generally a no-no, since the BW-on era focusses heavily on staying faithful to the games. Switching any Pokémon with a stage 2 seems rather extreme, and would probably require some additional qualifiers. I also don’t think you meant that the Betrayal Ability goes away completely, but if you did that makes it rather hard to remember and causes some rule complications.
I must say this is all pretty creative, though you may be pushing the whole team switcheroo a bit much. Having only the 2nd Ability and the attack would’ve been more than sufficient to get the point across without over-complicating the card. Disguises aren’t something you’d usually find in the Pokémon word outside of things like Zoroark, Ditto or perhaps Koga shenanigans, and feel like an ill fit for Swampert. Changing sides is a neat idea, but you’re taking it way too far. Less is more when it comes to flavour.
I like that you’re trying to be creative, but remember that everything has to fit thematically as well. It’s not enough to just come up with creative concepts, they all have to fit within a nice and simple package. I usually give the most points to creative stuff which seems so obvious once you see it, you wonder why it’s never been done before. While what you did certainly is unique, it’s also a bit too weird and eccentric to be considered very believable.
Creativity/Originality: 17.5/20
(Fun concepts, but you’re doing perhaps a bit too much.)
Wording: 11.5/15
(Some punctuation errors and its/their)
Believability/Playability: 7.5/15
(2 abilities, and both are unwieldy and introduce a lot of rule complications. Execution could’ve been a lot better.)
Total: 36.5/50
Squirtle Squad:
This is definitely an interesting concept. I’m thinking 80 might still be a bit too good, considering an 80HP Basic even without access to EX-power would still be somewhat decent. The card can also be used to sacrifice an already doomed EX. Then again, starting with this as your only basic would be problematic. I’d have included some more checks and balances, but overall it’s quite a fun take on Ditto.
Wording errors: no comma after (before your attack), and “(this does not count as evolving that Pokémon)” and “(you still need the necessary Energy to use each attack” should be separate sentences. There’s some iffiness, but I can’t quite correct you on any of it since there are no real precedents (hoorah for loopholes!).
Creativity/Originality: 18/20
(Very creative take on Ditto, fun mechanic.)
Wording: 12.5/15
(Minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Might be too useful and good.)
Total: 42.5/50
steffenka:
Yup, that’s definitely a card.
Wording seems fine, but the card in general feels very bland and standard. I’m not sure what to say…
Creativity/Originality: 7/20
(About what you’d expect from an actual TCG card.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems good.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Yup.)
Total: 37/50
Tails:
Apparently you didn’t do quite enough research… Right off the bat I can see you did not put (before your attack) between brackets, you did not italicise it and it should be “your attack” and not “you attack”. you forgot a “you may”, which make this an obligatory Ability which activates right before you attack. “non-[R] Energies” sounds iffy, and superfluous since you might as well turn all Energies into [R] Energies. The change does not end, which may or may not be what you intended. It’s worth noting that this basically copies the oldest of Pokémon Powers: Base Set Charizard’s Energy Burn, except your Ability has quite a few pointless restrictions and needless complications.
As the first attack: “Opponent” shouldn’t be capitalised, “Flip a coin” should be before” for each Benched Pokémon your opponent has in play” and you therefore don’t need a semicolon (which doesn’t usually appear on Pokémon cards). The wording after that should probably be “If that coin flip is heads, this attack does 20 damage to that Pokémon.” (like with Rampardos GL). The part after that should just italicised, between brackets and read “(Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)”. Probably worst of all is that you have “60x” next to the attack without indicating how this is calculated or where it comes from.
For the second attack: You forgot a comma after “If heads” in the second attack, and you should only include a mathematical operator if you’re actually adding or subtracting something, not when changing the base power. Either you should’ve written “If tails, this attack does 60 less damage” (in which case you should’ve just used 60+ instead) or “If tails, this attack's base damage is 60 instead of 120.” and dropped the minus sign (but that’s not really done anymore nowadays).
This is definitely better than last time, but still pretty bad I have to say. I get that you make mistakes with some of the more obscure stuff, since it might be quite hard to find a reference, but for simple stuff like “(before your attack)” there really shouldn’t be a valid excuse for getting it wrong. Be sure always to try and find cards with similar effects so you can just copy what they say, especially for pretty general stuff like that.
I’m not sure what kind of weakness “” is, I’m going to assume you mean [W]?
Now for the card itself. As I’ve said, the Ability is the oldest Ability in the book, so I can’t really give your creativity points for that. Cascading Eruption feels very similar to Rampardos GL, but seems quite fun nevertheless. Peléan Eruption is about as boring as it gets, so not a lot of points there. Also, you used Eruption in both attack names…
The card in general is very flippy and pretty weak considering the modern format, unless of course Cascading Eruptions was supposed to do 60 for each heads.
Creativity/Originality: 9/20
(Very basic stuff.)
Wording: 0/15
(Better than last time, but still.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Bit weak.)
Total: 23/50
Vom:
The Ability is a bit puzzling, since Magma Energies get discarded at the end of the turn. I’m going to assume you’re introducing a new Magma Energy (with the same name?) in the same vein as Plasma Energy, but in the future please mention doing so. I will dock a believability point for this, though.
The final line is terribly weird, and can break other Abilities quite easily. I’d change it to either “this ability” or even just use “Discard” instead of “Knock Out” like Ditto TM, Tree Stump and the likes (though I understand that would mess up the attack’s wording, though really, how often would you Knock Out a Team Magma Pokémon during your own turn without using the Ability, so you could just changed “Knock Out” to “Discard” there as well). The entire thing is iffy, really. In an era where cards are meant to be simple and easily understandable, the way you wrote it would give it some weird and obscure side-effects which are bound to confuse most players. The wording for the last line of the attack does a lot better in this regard.
The wording of the attack is perhaps more problematic, though, but for a different reason. It apparently allows you to Knock Out one of your opponent’s Team Magma Pokémon to then Knock Out their Active Pokémon, which seems overkill. This might be a wording error, but I’m going to have to dock believability points for this.
The wording “if your opponent has taken more Prize Cards than you” doesn’t appear on any other card. The effect itself predates BW, and uses “if you have more/fewer Prize cards left than your opponent,” since no later wording exists I’m going to assume that this wording is functionally unchanged, but will only deduce 1 point instead of the usual 2 because of the uncertainty. Also, “cards” shouldn’t be capitalised (x3).
You also didn’t italicise “(before your attack)”, which forces the horrible, horrible monster that I am to dock a point.
The Ability itself is pretty interesting, though it doesn’t seem that hard to abuse. Being able to get rid of unnecessary or damaged Benched Pokémon is always a good thing to have, and taking out whatever your opponent was building up is very, very powerful. I feel it might be possible to force a win without having to actually draw all your Prize cards (preferably as few as possible) with this, depending on how Team Plasma Energies work.
The attack seems kind of fair in comparison considering the cost, but the ability to take down an additional opponent’s (Team Magma) Pokémon is pretty big.
Overall it seems like a fun card, but some of the decisions you’ve made seem quite odd.
Creativity/Originality: 15/20
(Fun concepts.)
Wording: 11/15
(Ability wording, “Cards”, italicisation.)
Believability/Playability: 7/15
(Seems very powerful and abusable, and has some weird interactions.)
Total: 33/50
No one entry really stood out, but a lot of participants did a very decent job. All I can really do in that case is add up the points and see who won the narrow race last month:
3rd Place: AlexanderTheAwesome’s Walrein EX, with 45/50 points. (last time this was only 41/50!)
2nd Place: bbninjas’ Castform, with 45.5/50 points.
1st Place: GadgetJax’d Metagross, with 46/50 points. Only a single point ahead of 3rd place, a very close finish!
Text-based results:
9Tailz:
Quagsire M // HP120 [F]
Stage 1- Evolves from Wooper
NO. 195 Water Fish Pokémon HT: 4'07'' WT: 165.3
Ability / Go With The Flow
As long as you have any Pokémon A in play, this Pokémon is both a Pokémon M and a Pokémon A.
[F][C][C] Muddy Water 40
If this Pokémon has any [W] Energy attached to it, this attack does 20 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)
weakness [G] resistance [L] retreat cost [C][C][C]
Quagsire hunts for food by leaving its mouth wide open in water and waiting for its prey to blunder in unaware. Because the Pokémon does not move, it does not get very hungry.
That image really fits the team-ambiguous nature of this card.
This isn’t the first Ground/Water Pokémon which is able to switch teams this round (though you are first alphabetically, scroll down for SeventhPrize’s Swampert). I guess this is different enough since Quagsire here doesn’t switch teams so much as join both.
It’s weird seeing a Pokémon be part of both rival teams, though I guess if a deck combines both teams anyway it doesn’t really matter. What I feel is really missing is for this card to be useful outside of a 2-team deck. 40 and a spread of 20 is decent, but just 40 for 3 energies isn’t worth it. The Ability almost feels like a technicality, since you’ll probably be playing this with Team Aqua cards anyway.
Outside of the 2-teams thing the card itself isn’t very creative. Spread damage based on an attached Energy is hardly the pinnacle of creative brilliance. I like where you’re going with it, but it doesn’t really do the concept of the card justice.
Also, don’t just use names of attacks from the games without checking what these effects do in the TCG. Muddy Water appears on a lot of cards, and it always does X damage and Y damage to 1 Benched Pokémon, always. Using that name for a completely different attack therefore hurts believability.
The only wording mistake I can find is the non-italicisation of “(Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)”, which I’ve been deducing points for because I’m a miserable excuse for a human being. When you don’t have a lot of words, it’s hard to screw up, I guess.
Creativity/Originality: 12/20
(Team ambivalence is nice, but that’s about it.)
Wording: 14/15
(No italicisation.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Muddy Water is already clearly defined within the TCG.)
Total: 40/50
AlexanderTheAwesome:
[Basic] - Walrein EX - HP180
(Team Aqua)
[Ability]: Ice Body
Once during your turn (before your attack), if this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon, you may attach aEnergy card from your discard pile to this Pokémon.
Rain of Terror 60+
You may discard the top 5 cards of your deck. If you do, this attack does 10 more damage for each Team Aqua Pokémon andEnergy card you discarded. Shuffle the other cards back into your deck.
weakness
resistance __
retreat
Pokémon-EX Rule
When a Pokémon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize Cards.
If a common Burmy used to have pretty much the same Ability, I’m not sure I can call it very creative. The attack is pretty fun, though. I like how it gets progressively weaker and will start harming you in the long run. I’m not sure whether it promotes or discourages team devotion. Presumably you wouldn’t want to rid yourself of all your Pokémon. The synergy with the Ability seems like it should be there, but it seems more of a case of allowing another Walrein EX to come in and pick up the pieces.
Not much else to say, really. Definitely a solid card.
Creativity/Originality: 15/20
(Nice autobalancing attack.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems fine.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Seems fine.)
Total: 45/50
bbninjas:
Basic Castform HP70
Team Aqua
NO. 351 Weather Pokémon HT: 1'00" WT: 1.8 lbs.
This Pokémon istype.
Aqua Dance
Once during your turn (before your attack), if this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon and has anyEnergy attached to it, you may discard any Stadium card in play. Then, put all
Energy attached to this Pokémon as a Stadium card into play. As long as you haveEnergy as the Stadium card, your Team Aqua Pokémon's attacks do 10 more damage to your opponent's Active Pokémon for eachEnergy you have as the Stadium card. Discard those cards if another Stadium card comes into play.
Nasty Weather -40
This attack does 40 damage minus 10 damage for eachPokémon in play (both yours and your opponent's). If this attack did damage, discard all Special Energy attached to each Pokémon in play (both yours and your opponent's) and this Pokémon can't use Nasty Weather during your next turn.
weaknessx2 resistance
-20
retreat
Its appearance changes with the weather. Recently, its molecules were found to be just like water.
Wording seems fine enough, The wording for if a [W] Energy is the current stadium feels iffy, but since the wording is novel I’m not confident enough to deduce points for it.
The Ability seems nice and oddly balanced, maybe even a bit underpowered. It’s definitely very creative, having it literally rain all over the stage. You might’ve made it overly complicated, though, using only 1 [W] as the Stadium or turning it into an attack would’ve fit the simpler era a lot better.
Nasty Weather seems fun, and helps prevent a format in which Special Energies run rampant. The placement of the can’t-use-again-next-turn clause is pretty creative, though I’m not sure how often you’d want to repeat the attack anyway if you’re not doing any damage. I guess you could be stalling to get more [W] attached to Castform, which does add some nice synergy.
Creativity/Originality: 18/20
(Very creative attack, some very nice synergy.)
Wording: 15/15
(New wording loophole.)
Believability/Playability: 12.5/15
(Some odd decisions, perhaps too needlessly complicated for the format.)
Total: 45.5/50
Camoclone:
[Mega] M Sharpedo EX [Team Aqua] HP: 200 [W]
Mega evolves from Sharpedo EX
δ Rough Skin: If M Sharpedo is damaged by an opponent's attack (even if M Sharpedo is Knocked Out), put 3 damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon.
[W] [C] Aqua Rush 20x
This attack does 20 damage times the number of Team Aqua and Team Magma Pokemon in play (both yours and your opponent's).
Weakness: [L] x2
Resistance:
Retreat Cost: [C]
The problem with Mega Evolutions is that they leave little room for creativity, being limited to a single attack/Ability and I guess an Ancient Trait. You’ve certainly presented a very convincing Team Aqua’s Mega Sharpedo, and I would not at all be surprised if a similar Sharpedo appears in an upcoming set. That being said, Rough Skin on Mega Sharpedo is a bit odd, no?
The overall power seems fair for a Mega, it’s always hard to judge how overpowered these things are allowed to get.
I’m not sure what else to say. I do have to subtract 1.5 points because you didn’t italicise “(Even if M Sharpedo is Knocked Out)” and “(both yours and your opponent’s)”. I do this solely because I’m a horrible person.
Creativity/Originality: 12/20
(Everything’s pretty basic.)
Wording: 13.5/15
(Me being absolutely despicable.)
Believability/Playability: 14.5/15
(Yeah, sure. -0.5 for Rough Skin on M Sharpedo.)
Total: 40/50
Cypher333:
Murkrow A / / HP 70 [D]
Basic Pokemon
NO. 195 Darkness Pokemon Height: 1'08" Weight: 4.6 lbs.
________
/ Ability / Thievery
Once during your turn, before your attack, you may look at your opponents hand. Choose an item card, if any, and use its effect. Then, discard that card. You may only use one Thievery ability per turn.
[D][C] Feint Attack 20+
If you have used Thievery this turn, this attack does 30 more damage.
weakness [L] resistance [/color][/color][F] -20 retreat cost [C]
It hides any shiny object it finds in a secret location. Murkrow and Meowth loot one another's stashes.
“Before your attack” should always be between brackets and italicised. The wording for the rest of the Ability should be “choose an item card you find there […].” You should also include a ruling for what happens if the trainer comes into play, like Robo Substitute. I guess something like Sabrina’s Psychic Control’s “that isn’t put into play” would do.
Also, the TCG doesn’t use “have” for the past tense.
Thievery is very nice thematically, but can easily become pretty broken. Murkrow is a Basic Pokémon which not only forces your opponent to immediately use their item cards, if you start the game it also enables you to set up during your first turn while also denying your opponent one of their items on their first turn. Heck, even just looking at your opponent’s hand each turn is pretty darn handy. You used to need a Pokémon ex on your Bench to do just that.
Unless your opponent blocks Abilities, I see no reason why you wouldn’t use Thievery, and thereby increase Feint Attack’s base power. I think there might’ve been better ways of deciding when to add 30, because at this point the attack is basically 50 for DC.
Creativity/Originality: 12/20
(Thematically pretty nice, but very standard otherwise.)
Wording: 8/15
(Some errors, and a rulings omission (which is -3))
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Thievery is way too useful.)
Total: 32/50
GadgetJax:
Stage 2 / Metagross / HP140 [M] (Team Magma)
Evolves from Metang
_________________________________________
No. 376 Iron Leg Pokémon HT: 5' 3" WT: 1212.5 lbs.
_________________________________________
(Ability) Red Hacking
Once during your turn (before your attack), if this Pokemon is your Active Pokémon, you may discard a Magma Energy card from your hand. If you do, move an Energy attached to 1 of your opponent's Pokémon to another of his or her Pokémon.
[M] [M] [C] [C] Scope Bazooka 80+
Discard the top card of your opponent's deck. If that card is an Item card, this attack does 40 more damage and your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Confused. If it is not an Item card, this Pokemon does 40 damage to itself.
Weakness: [R] x2 Resistance: [P] -20
Retreat [C] [C] [C] [C]
This Pokémon is assembled from the body of 2 Metang. It can use it's super-powered brains to easily manipulate the coding in electronical devices.
Discarding a limited and hard-to-fetch resource to disrupt an opponent seems like a fun mechanic. I agree that it’s definitely strong, but a card being usable or even dominant in a format wouldn’t necessarily make it unbelievable. Punishing heavy item use is a very nice balancing effect which doesn’t necessarily make or break a card on its own. It seems roughly on point for the era, and is a nice card for keeping the format in check. Oddly enough, it itself would suffer in a format where it is popular, which is a pretty nice twist.
Wording seems fine as well. Great job!
Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(Fun power, nice attack.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems good.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Good, but not necessarily broken.)
Total: 46/50
GM DracLord:
Stunkfish ex, that’s scarping a barrel.
It’s a bit weird that you would use pre-BW wording for this, but I don’t mind. It does make it a lot easier for me to judge the impact on the format and what not.
I like the idea of using Team Aqua as an excuse to give Stunfisk water as a type. The Body seems like a decent addition to this, and forces some dedication when wishing to abuse Darkness Energy. This also plays well with the Energy requirements of the 2 attacks.
Underground Voltage seems nice thematically, but it’s perhaps a bit on the weak side considering how avoidable the damage is and considering it doesn’t get boosted by Darkness Energy. That being said, 1-energy Basic ex attacks were never that strong, so it’s definitely believable.
Dry up Land seem fair as well, it probably won’t do even 80 often, so it’s not really overpowered, but it does add a nice bluffing element. The slightly-higher-than-normal power here seems compensated by Underground Voltage being a tad underwhelming.
Wording seems fine.
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Thematically nice, good structure overall, but a bit bland.)
Wording: 15/15
(Good.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Very well balanced.)
Total: 44/50
Ice Espeon:
Basic Zangoose HP90
TEAM MAGMA
NO. 335 Cat Ferret Pokémon HT: 4'03" WT: 88.8 lbs.
Quick Search
Flip 2 coins. For each heads, you may search your deck or your discard pile for a Team Magma card and put it into your hand. Shuffle your deck afterward.
Turnaround 10+
Turn all of your Prize cards face up. (Those Prize cards remain face up for the rest of the game.) This attack does 40 more damage times the number Team Magma cards in your Prize cards.
weaknessx2 resistance
retreat
Zangoose usually stays on all fours, but when angered, it gets up on its hind legs and extends its claws. This Pokémon shares a bitter rivalry with Seviper that dates back over generations.
Can’t think of a relevant Hitler joke this time…
The wording of the second attack should be “This attack does 40 more damage for each …”, You only use “times” when the attack is of the X0x variety. Other than that wording seems fine. The “you may” in Quick Search is a bit odd, but I’ll let it slide.
I can’t say this is the most creative card. Quick Search seems rather standard (and the name has been used before), searching for cards which belong to the Pokémon’s team isn’t new in any way, Team Rocket’s Meowth, for example, did just that. Turnaround is fun, since the randomness of prize cards forces you to be quite dedicated to the Team if you hope to do some decent damage with it. It’s a nice way of forcing team dedication and it also has the upside of revealing your Prize cards. It’s a fun take on the reveal-prize-cards effect, but still not too creative.
Creativity/Originality: 13/20
(Fun take on Prize cards, but that’s really it.)
Wording: 13/15
(Mistake in the 2nd attack.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Seems like it could easily be an official cards, it’s definitely unimpressive enough.)
Total: 41/50
Keeper of Night:
[F] - Magcargo -- 130 HP
Team Magma's Pokémon
Stage 1 (evolves from Slugma)
Ability: Water Evaporation
Any damage done to any of your Team Magma's Pokémon in play by your opponent's Team Aqua's Pokémon is unaffected by Weakness.
[R][C] Lava Plume 20+
Does 10 more damage for each damage counter on your Benched Pokémon.
[C][C][C] Ancient Buster
Put 5 damage counters on each Pokémon in play with an Ancient Trait (both yours and your opponents). If your opponent's Active Pokémon has an Ancient Trait, that Pokémon is now Burned.
Weakness: [F] Resistance: ___ Retreat: [C][C][C]
Magcargo's body temperature is approximately 18,000 degrees F. Water is vaporized on contact. If this Pokémon is caught in the rain, the raindrops instantly turn into steam, cloaking the area in a thick fog.
The wording for the Ability should be “isn’t affected by Weakness” and Lava Plume’s wording should be “Does 10 more damage for each damage counter on each of your Benched Pokémon.” Other than that everything seems fine.
The Ability is nice since it sort of levels the playing field between Aqua and Magma, and not having Magcargo be one of the Pokémon which would normally have a problem with Aqua Pokémon is a nice nuance. Lava Plume is kind of boring, but adds some necessary direct damage which would otherwise not be available. Ancient Buster is pretty cool, and I do like attacks which automatically balance the metagame. If Ancient Traits run rampant, so would Magcargo. I also like the synergy with Lava Plume, which can add up to quite a lot if use correctly. That being said, Lava Plume is a stronger version of an attack which already exists on a Stage 2 Pokémon at a higher Energy cost, which suggests to me that it might be too good. A single damaged EX on the bench might be enough to turn Magcargo into a low-energy killing machine. I also think the HP’s too high for a Stage 1. The only BW-on Magcargo we’ve seen has 110 HP, which seems a lot fairer.
Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(Nice auto-balance, good synergy, fun nuances.)
Wording: 12/15
(2 wording mistakes.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Very strong, high HP.)
Total: 41/50
Luispipe8:
Stage 2/ Crobat /// HP130
Evolves from Golbat (Team Aqua)
/α Aqua Radiance/ Each of your Team Aqua Pokémon's Resistance is now -40.
NO. 169/Bat Pokémon/HT: 5'11"/WT: 165.3 lbs
Menacing Power
The attacks of each of your opponent's Pokémon do 10 less damage to all Defending Pokémon for each Team Aqua Pokémon you have in play. The attacks of each of your Pokémon do 10 more damage to your opponent's Active Pokémon for each of your opponent's Team Magma Pokémon in play. You can't apply more than 1 Menacing Power Ability at a time.
Unraveling Poison 20
Your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Poisoned. Flip 5 coins. For each heads, place 1 more damage counter on that Pokémon between turns.
Weakness:
x2
Resistance:
-20
Retreat:
It flies so silently through the dark on its four wings that it may not be noticed even when nearby.
AW05
I have a problem with α Aqua Radiance. I think these effects are meant to be Pokémon-specific. If something affects all Pokémon, it should be an ability. It’s why these things are often portrayed as shields and stuff. This does not at all feel like it should be an ancient trait thingy.
I also have a problem with the Ability, which seems to imply that you can have more than 1 Active Pokémon. While this would be a fun and welcome return, this does not at all seem to be the case for the current format, and indeed a lot of attacks and abilities specifically mention the Active Pokémon.
Other than that everything seems fine. I like team hate since it’s a decent balancing mechanic (if 1 team is too prevalent, it makes the other team better as an anti-format deck), so that’s always nice. Multi-Poison is Crobat’s modus operandi, and the attack certainly feels like an interesting and novel twist on that. It’s pretty weird that we haven’t seen anything like it before, which is always a good sign for creativity.
Creativity/Originality: 16.5/20
(Fun twist on multi-Poison.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems in order.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(-2 for the Ancient Trait, -1 for so jarringly bringing back doubles.)
Total: 43.5/50
Machamp The Champion:
STAGE 1 / Pyroar // HP110 [R]
Evolves from Litleo (Team Magma)
NO. 668 Royal Pokémon HT: 4'11'' WT: 179.7lbs.
[Ability] Bursting Roar
At the end of your turn, if this Pokémon is your Active Pokemon, discard Energy cards attached to your opponent's Active Pokémon until it has 2 Energy cards attached to it.
[R] Claw of Allegiance 20+
If you have no Pokémon in play, or in your discard pile (excluding Team Magma Pokémon), this attack does 50 more damage.
weakness [W] x 2
resistance
retreat [C][C]
With fiery breath of more than 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, they viciously
threaten any challenger. The females protect the pride’s cubs.
There shouldn’t be a comma before “or,” other than that wording seems fine.
I’m not sure what you’re trying to accomplish with the Ability. This seems like an anti-set-up anti-big-Pokémon Ability, which feels like an odd direction for the TCG to go in. Even in donk-heavy metagames of yore there wasn’t an active push against bulky Pokémon with high Energy requirements. This Ability feels like it would be very unfun for most casual players.
Claw of Allegiance seems very powerful, and not too difficult to accommodate for. It’s a nice way of brute-forcing team allegiance, but might be a bit too powerful in that respect. It takes only 2 cards a turn and a single Energy to have a beast which can deal with most non-EX in 2 hits and most Pokémon-EX in 3, and seriously cripple most after a single hit. This card not only feels like an auto-include in whatever Team Magma metagame would arise, but also feels like it would severely shift the balance in Team Magma’s favour. I’m not sure what kind of card would make Team Aqua just as potent.
Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Nice Team-allegiance mechanic, somewhat creative disruption.)
Wording: 14/15
(A comma too many.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Feels very powerful, but most importantly very unfun.)
Total: 40/50
My Little Keldeo:
/ / / / HP 110
Keldeo / / / / /[Team Aqua]
[ NO. 647 Colt Pokemon HT:4'07''' WT: 106.9 lbs ]
Submarine Reflection 30
If an attack damages your Active Pokemon during your opponent's next turn (even if your Active Pokemon or this Pokemon is Knocked Out), put 1 damage counter on each of your opponent's Pokemon.
Coalition Sword 30x
Does 30 damage times the number of Team Aqua Pokemon you have in play.
weaknessx2 resistance
retreat
[ Experimentation robbed this once noble Pokemon of its morals and memories. Its loyalty now lies solely with Team Aqua and their misguided ideals. ]
(C) 2014 Pokemon / My Little Keldeo Illus. Someone Awesome xx/xx
No “é” in “Pokémon”. All the other wording of the first attack hasn’t been used since BW, so might as well be correct.
Yeah, I don’t watch Sailor Moon, so Submarine Reflection just strikes me as a bit of a complicated attack name, though it does suit the flavour of the attack. Conditional spread damage seems nice, I’m not sure how powerful it would be, but it’s probably fine. Coalition Sword seems pretty standard team-devotion attack, though I do like the name. I’m afraid I don’t have much else to say.
Creativity/Originality: 13/20
(Fun reflecting, thematically solid.)
Wording: 14/15
(No é.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Everything seems fine)
Total: 42/50
NameBlank:
[Stage +] Team Magma's Shiftry + HP140
Ascends from Shiftry
NO. 275, Wicked Pokémon, Height: 4'03", Weight: 131.4 lbs.
Badge of Flames
If you have any Magma Energy attached to Shiftry, Swoop's base damage is now 60.
Swoop 20
Rapid Spin 50+
Flip a coin until you get tails. This attack does 50 damage plus 30 more for each heads.
Weakness+40
Resistance-30
RetreatA Pokémon that was feared as a forest guardian. It can read the foe's mind and take preemptive action. LV. 49
If you include new kinds of cards, be sure to add some ruling informations so I can better gauge the strength of a card. How many of these in combination with other Shiftry can go into your deck? Does ascending count as evolving? Stuff like that. Stuff which would and should be included in a separate box on the card. Pokémon-EX, Pokémon lv.X, Shining Pokémon, Pokémon-ex, etc. all have rule text, I don’t see why this shouldn’t.
Also, be sure to mention a similar era when doing something like this.
For a functional Stage 3 in a format I don’t know about, this seems awfully weak. 60 for 1 seems nice, but Magma Energy, assuming it’s still the same Energy, is such a fragile and powerful weapon, wasting it on this seems silly. The second attack is pretty weak as well. An average of 80 for a 3-Energy attack (with different types as well) on a Stage 3 seems rather silly. Most run-off-the-mill Stage 2 Shiftry seem better. Also, “Rapid Spin” has been used quite a few times in the TCG and has a pretty well-defined effect (damage + forcing the opponent to switch). Try to be a bit more creative with naming next time.
Wording on the power should be “If [Shiftry/this Pokémon] has any Magma Energy attached to it…”, and you forgot “damage” after “more” in the attack.
Creativity/Originality: 8/20
(Meh.)
Wording: 11/15
(2 non-minor mistakes.)
Believability/Playability: 8/15
(Seems weak, no rules clarifications.)
Total: 27/50
rev3rsor:
Yeah, water resistance is fairly rare, and is usually limited to grass-only typed Pokémon (as well as the occasional grass dual type and dragon). Free retreat in the ex era is practically unheard of, except for a misprint Marill SS. So yes, you will lose some believability points. I think creativity points was what you should’ve been worried about, though.
Creativity/Originality: 3/20
(Fun attack name…)
Wording: 15/15
(Perfect.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Weird resistance and free retreat on a Pokémon where it doesn’t really fit thematically.)
Total: 30/50
Reggie McGigas:
[Stage 2] Blastoise HP 120 [W]
Evolves from Wartortle // Team Aqua
[W] Fustration 40
If your opponent doesn't have any Team Magma Pokemon in play, this attack does nothing.
[W][C][C] Shell Shock 80
Flip a coin. If heads, during your opponent's next turn, any damage done by attacks from the Defending Pokémon is reduced by 80 (before applying Weakness and Resistance).
Weakness: [L] x2
Resistance: [R] -20
Retreat: [C][C][C]
I was going to complain about using “Frustration” when it already has a pretty well-defined effect within the TCG, but then I realised you wrote “Fustration”, which I can only assume is a combination of being frustrated and making a fuss. *Ahem* Yeah, you’re going to lose wording points for that. I’d also have liked a different name, something which a) reflected the effect better and b) hasn’t been used extensively in the TCG before. Team hate is nice, though, and would help a bit with balancing if one team proved overly dominant in a particular metagame.
Shell Shock seems boring. Not sure what else to say about that. The point is to be more creative than the official TCG, not continuing their boring little antics.
Creativity/Originality: 11.5/20
(Team hate is fun.)
Wording: 14/15
(Misspelt “Frustration”.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Seems boring enough to be believable. Frustration already exists, though, and doesn’t really fit.)
Total: 39.5/50
SeventhPrize:
Wording mistakes: No comma after “Once during your turn” (x2), you forgot a full stop after “with that Pokémon,” and you’re mixing “in their name” and “in its name” for plural cards, even though I prefer “their” by a long shot, most cards seem to favour “its” and even so you should be consistent within a card. If you do go with “their”, you need to pluralise “name” as well.
In terms if believability, there a few things which irk me. 2 Abilities is generally a no-no, since the BW-on era focusses heavily on staying faithful to the games. Switching any Pokémon with a stage 2 seems rather extreme, and would probably require some additional qualifiers. I also don’t think you meant that the Betrayal Ability goes away completely, but if you did that makes it rather hard to remember and causes some rule complications.
I must say this is all pretty creative, though you may be pushing the whole team switcheroo a bit much. Having only the 2nd Ability and the attack would’ve been more than sufficient to get the point across without over-complicating the card. Disguises aren’t something you’d usually find in the Pokémon word outside of things like Zoroark, Ditto or perhaps Koga shenanigans, and feel like an ill fit for Swampert. Changing sides is a neat idea, but you’re taking it way too far. Less is more when it comes to flavour.
I like that you’re trying to be creative, but remember that everything has to fit thematically as well. It’s not enough to just come up with creative concepts, they all have to fit within a nice and simple package. I usually give the most points to creative stuff which seems so obvious once you see it, you wonder why it’s never been done before. While what you did certainly is unique, it’s also a bit too weird and eccentric to be considered very believable.
Creativity/Originality: 17.5/20
(Fun concepts, but you’re doing perhaps a bit too much.)
Wording: 11.5/15
(Some punctuation errors and its/their)
Believability/Playability: 7.5/15
(2 abilities, and both are unwieldy and introduce a lot of rule complications. Execution could’ve been a lot better.)
Total: 36.5/50
Squirtle Squad:
Basic Ditto HP80 [C]
Team Magma
NO.132 Transform Pokémon HT: 1'00" WT: 8.8 lbs.
Ability Imposter
Once during your turn (before your attack) you may put this Pokémon from your hand onto one of your Pokémon-EX in play (this does not count as evolving that Pokémon). That Pokémon is now this Pokémon. (Any cards attached to that Pokémon, damage counters, Special Conditions, turns in play and any other effects remain on this Pokémon). This Pokémon can use all the attacks of the Pokémon attached to this Pokémon (you still need the necessary Energy to use each attack).
Weakness [F]x2 Resistance
Retreat [C]
Capable of copying an enemy's genetic code to instantly transform itself into a duplicate of the enemy.
This is definitely an interesting concept. I’m thinking 80 might still be a bit too good, considering an 80HP Basic even without access to EX-power would still be somewhat decent. The card can also be used to sacrifice an already doomed EX. Then again, starting with this as your only basic would be problematic. I’d have included some more checks and balances, but overall it’s quite a fun take on Ditto.
Wording errors: no comma after (before your attack), and “(this does not count as evolving that Pokémon)” and “(you still need the necessary Energy to use each attack” should be separate sentences. There’s some iffiness, but I can’t quite correct you on any of it since there are no real precedents (hoorah for loopholes!).
Creativity/Originality: 18/20
(Very creative take on Ditto, fun mechanic.)
Wording: 12.5/15
(Minor errors.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Might be too useful and good.)
Total: 42.5/50
steffenka:
[Stage 2] Eelektross HP120 [L] (Team Aqua)
Evolves from Eelektrik
[L][C] Static Swim 40
Flip a coin. If heads, your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Paralyzed.
[L][W][C] Aqua March 50x
Flip a coin for each (Team Aqua) Pokémon you have in play. This attack does 50 damage times the number of heads.
Weakness: [F] x2
Resistance:
Retreat: [C][C][C]
They crawl out of the ocean using their arms. They will attack prey on shore and immediately drag it into the ocean.
Yup, that’s definitely a card.
Wording seems fine, but the card in general feels very bland and standard. I’m not sure what to say…
Creativity/Originality: 7/20
(About what you’d expect from an actual TCG card.)
Wording: 15/15
(Seems good.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Yup.)
Total: 37/50
Tails:
[Stage 1] Team Magma's Camerupt HP: 100 [R]
Evolves from Numel
[Team Magma]
No. 323. Eruption Pokemon. HT: 6'03" | WT: 485lbs.
Ability: Magma Conversion
Once during your turn before you attack, all non-[R] Energies attached to Team Magma's Camerupt become [R] Energies. This Ability cannot be used if Team Magma's Camerupt is affected by a Special Condition or if Team Magma's Camerupt has no non-[R] Energies attached to it.
[R] [R] [R] Cascading Eruption 60x
For each Benched Pokemon your Opponent has in play; flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 20 damage to it. Do not apply Weakness and Resistance for this effect.
[R] [R] [R] [C] Peléan Eruption 120-
Flip a coin. If heads this attack does 120 damage. If tails, this attack does 60 damage.
Weakness- [B] x2
Resistance- [M] -20
Retreat Cost- [C] [C] [C]
The volcanoes on its back have a major eruption every 10 years--or whenever it becomes really angry.
Apparently you didn’t do quite enough research… Right off the bat I can see you did not put (before your attack) between brackets, you did not italicise it and it should be “your attack” and not “you attack”. you forgot a “you may”, which make this an obligatory Ability which activates right before you attack. “non-[R] Energies” sounds iffy, and superfluous since you might as well turn all Energies into [R] Energies. The change does not end, which may or may not be what you intended. It’s worth noting that this basically copies the oldest of Pokémon Powers: Base Set Charizard’s Energy Burn, except your Ability has quite a few pointless restrictions and needless complications.
As the first attack: “Opponent” shouldn’t be capitalised, “Flip a coin” should be before” for each Benched Pokémon your opponent has in play” and you therefore don’t need a semicolon (which doesn’t usually appear on Pokémon cards). The wording after that should probably be “If that coin flip is heads, this attack does 20 damage to that Pokémon.” (like with Rampardos GL). The part after that should just italicised, between brackets and read “(Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)”. Probably worst of all is that you have “60x” next to the attack without indicating how this is calculated or where it comes from.
For the second attack: You forgot a comma after “If heads” in the second attack, and you should only include a mathematical operator if you’re actually adding or subtracting something, not when changing the base power. Either you should’ve written “If tails, this attack does 60 less damage” (in which case you should’ve just used 60+ instead) or “If tails, this attack's base damage is 60 instead of 120.” and dropped the minus sign (but that’s not really done anymore nowadays).
This is definitely better than last time, but still pretty bad I have to say. I get that you make mistakes with some of the more obscure stuff, since it might be quite hard to find a reference, but for simple stuff like “(before your attack)” there really shouldn’t be a valid excuse for getting it wrong. Be sure always to try and find cards with similar effects so you can just copy what they say, especially for pretty general stuff like that.
I’m not sure what kind of weakness “” is, I’m going to assume you mean [W]?
Now for the card itself. As I’ve said, the Ability is the oldest Ability in the book, so I can’t really give your creativity points for that. Cascading Eruption feels very similar to Rampardos GL, but seems quite fun nevertheless. Peléan Eruption is about as boring as it gets, so not a lot of points there. Also, you used Eruption in both attack names…
The card in general is very flippy and pretty weak considering the modern format, unless of course Cascading Eruptions was supposed to do 60 for each heads.
Creativity/Originality: 9/20
(Very basic stuff.)
Wording: 0/15
(Better than last time, but still.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Bit weak.)
Total: 23/50
Vom:
[Stage 2] Hydreigon HP160 [D][F]
Evolves from Zweilous
[Team Magma]
NO.635 Brutal Pokémon HT:5'11'' WT:352.7 lbs
This Pokémon is both [D] and [F]
Hydra's Trident
Once during your turn (before your attack), if your opponent has taken more Prize Cards than you, you may Knock Out up to 3 of your Benched Team Magma Pokémon. Then, for each Magma Energy attached to those Pokémon, Knock Out one of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. Neither player takes Prize Cards for Pokémon Knocked Out by your Team Magma's Pokémon Abilities.
[D][D][D][F] Draco Meteor 60x
This attack does 60 damage times the number of Team Magma Pokémon Knocked Out this turn. If your opponent's Active Pokémon is a Basic Pokémon and is not Knocked Out by this attack, you may Knock Out a Team Magma Pokémon in play, and if you do, Knock Out that Pokémon. (Neither player takes any Prize Cards if you Knock Out a Pokémon this way)
Weakness: [F][W] x2
Resistance: [P]-20
Retreat: [C][C][C]
It responds to movement by attacking. This scary, three-headed Pokémon devours everything in its path!
The Ability is a bit puzzling, since Magma Energies get discarded at the end of the turn. I’m going to assume you’re introducing a new Magma Energy (with the same name?) in the same vein as Plasma Energy, but in the future please mention doing so. I will dock a believability point for this, though.
The final line is terribly weird, and can break other Abilities quite easily. I’d change it to either “this ability” or even just use “Discard” instead of “Knock Out” like Ditto TM, Tree Stump and the likes (though I understand that would mess up the attack’s wording, though really, how often would you Knock Out a Team Magma Pokémon during your own turn without using the Ability, so you could just changed “Knock Out” to “Discard” there as well). The entire thing is iffy, really. In an era where cards are meant to be simple and easily understandable, the way you wrote it would give it some weird and obscure side-effects which are bound to confuse most players. The wording for the last line of the attack does a lot better in this regard.
The wording of the attack is perhaps more problematic, though, but for a different reason. It apparently allows you to Knock Out one of your opponent’s Team Magma Pokémon to then Knock Out their Active Pokémon, which seems overkill. This might be a wording error, but I’m going to have to dock believability points for this.
The wording “if your opponent has taken more Prize Cards than you” doesn’t appear on any other card. The effect itself predates BW, and uses “if you have more/fewer Prize cards left than your opponent,” since no later wording exists I’m going to assume that this wording is functionally unchanged, but will only deduce 1 point instead of the usual 2 because of the uncertainty. Also, “cards” shouldn’t be capitalised (x3).
You also didn’t italicise “(before your attack)”, which forces the horrible, horrible monster that I am to dock a point.
The Ability itself is pretty interesting, though it doesn’t seem that hard to abuse. Being able to get rid of unnecessary or damaged Benched Pokémon is always a good thing to have, and taking out whatever your opponent was building up is very, very powerful. I feel it might be possible to force a win without having to actually draw all your Prize cards (preferably as few as possible) with this, depending on how Team Plasma Energies work.
The attack seems kind of fair in comparison considering the cost, but the ability to take down an additional opponent’s (Team Magma) Pokémon is pretty big.
Overall it seems like a fun card, but some of the decisions you’ve made seem quite odd.
Creativity/Originality: 15/20
(Fun concepts.)
Wording: 11/15
(Ability wording, “Cards”, italicisation.)
Believability/Playability: 7/15
(Seems very powerful and abusable, and has some weird interactions.)
Total: 33/50
No one entry really stood out, but a lot of participants did a very decent job. All I can really do in that case is add up the points and see who won the narrow race last month:
3rd Place: AlexanderTheAwesome’s Walrein EX, with 45/50 points. (last time this was only 41/50!)
2nd Place: bbninjas’ Castform, with 45.5/50 points.
1st Place: GadgetJax’d Metagross, with 46/50 points. Only a single point ahead of 3rd place, a very close finish!
Huh, that's actually a very nice point in the Ancient Trait. However, I kinda disagree on the Ability. I never hinted at Double Battles. Dx You can look at Fighting Stadium and see the wording is pretty similar.
Anyways, congrats to the winners, and hope to see you in January!
Anyways, congrats to the winners, and hope to see you in January!
That's a Stadium, though, those always refer to more than 1 relevant Active Pokémon since they influence both Active Pokémon.Luispipe8 said:
Cheer up, it's only half a point difference! You did great, all you really need to do now is kill GadgetJax.bbninjas said:
PS: Please don't kill GadgetJax, that'd be mean.
Sweet, 42/50 on my very first submission! I'm proud of myself.
It's nice to finally see the results from last month's contest, though I absolutely understand the trouble you went through to get them done at all. I appreciate it!
And I appreciate the advice on my art. I'll try using more dynamic poses in the future, and perhaps more interesting backgrounds (I usually just use some fancy gradients and canned effects).
Lastly, yeah, perhaps Spirit Pulse was a bit under-powered. I was mostly considering it was an emergency option. Suppose your opponent KO'd one of your EXs last turn, and you didn't really have anything to respond with, but you did have 3 energy of any type available. Just Mortify Jellicent into the active and you're hitting for the magic 180. I see you're point, though. 2 Energy may have been a more suitable cost.
I sure do wonder what January's contest will be...
And I appreciate the advice on my art. I'll try using more dynamic poses in the future, and perhaps more interesting backgrounds (I usually just use some fancy gradients and canned effects).
Lastly, yeah, perhaps Spirit Pulse was a bit under-powered. I was mostly considering it was an emergency option. Suppose your opponent KO'd one of your EXs last turn, and you didn't really have anything to respond with, but you did have 3 energy of any type available. Just Mortify Jellicent into the active and you're hitting for the magic 180. I see you're point, though. 2 Energy may have been a more suitable cost.
I sure do wonder what January's contest will be...
Yay, results are finally up! I'm glad you found the time to do both contests, HS.
My card certainly wasn't the best this month. The ability is good against a few current big basic/beatdown decks, such as Yveltal and Vir/Gen (although this card already rips Vir/Gen to shreds by itself), and some other equally powerful decks right now, such as Donphan and Metal. However, I don't think the attack is that broken. If you're going to devote enough space in your deck to a Stage 1, you want it to do something pretty strong. 70 for 1 is certainly strong, but the card can never do anything more than that.
Congrats to Jax and Zygarde for winning this month, as well as everyone else for entering! Tons of solid entries this month.
My card certainly wasn't the best this month. The ability is good against a few current big basic/beatdown decks, such as Yveltal and Vir/Gen (although this card already rips Vir/Gen to shreds by itself), and some other equally powerful decks right now, such as Donphan and Metal. However, I don't think the attack is that broken. If you're going to devote enough space in your deck to a Stage 1, you want it to do something pretty strong. 70 for 1 is certainly strong, but the card can never do anything more than that.
Congrats to Jax and Zygarde for winning this month, as well as everyone else for entering! Tons of solid entries this month.
Tell me about it ^
Good job winners!
Good job winners!
GadgetJax
Traveling Storyteller and Card Faker
Anyone have an idea for January? I know I mentioned before Megas, and that got struck down quickly, but I still think that there is a lot of room for creativity! I came up with a new idea for Megas.
-You can't have more than 1 different kind of Mega Pokemon in your deck. For example, you could have 3 M Blastoise, or 2 M Absol, but not 1 M Tyranitar and 4 M Latios in the same deck.
-It keeps attack/ability from a previous evolution, but only the highest evolution. For example, M Gardevoir can use any attack or Ability from the Gardevoir it is attached to.
-It is put onto a Pokemon instead of a direct evolution, meaning that you can play one during the first turn or the turn that Pokemon was put into play, similar to LVL X's.
-You can't have more than 1 different kind of Mega Pokemon in your deck. For example, you could have 3 M Blastoise, or 2 M Absol, but not 1 M Tyranitar and 4 M Latios in the same deck.
-It keeps attack/ability from a previous evolution, but only the highest evolution. For example, M Gardevoir can use any attack or Ability from the Gardevoir it is attached to.
-It is put onto a Pokemon instead of a direct evolution, meaning that you can play one during the first turn or the turn that Pokemon was put into play, similar to LVL X's.
Mega - M. Ampharos - HP160 - [N]
Put onto Ampharos
M Breaker - Each of this Pokemon's attacks aren't affected by any effects on your opponent's Pokemon. e.g. isn't stopped by Mr. Mime Plasma Freeze or Hard Charm XY
You can't have more than 1 different Mega Evolution Pokemon in your deck.
[L] [C] Electrobullet 60
This attack does 20 damage to 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokemon (don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokemon)
[L] [P] [C] Bolt Pulse 90+
You may discard 2 cards from your hand. If you do, this attack does 60 more damage.
Weakness: [N]
Resistance:
Retreat: [C] [C]
Put this card onto 1 of your Ampharos. This Pokemon can use any Attacks or Abilities from it's previous evolution.
Put onto Ampharos
M Breaker - Each of this Pokemon's attacks aren't affected by any effects on your opponent's Pokemon. e.g. isn't stopped by Mr. Mime Plasma Freeze or Hard Charm XY
You can't have more than 1 different Mega Evolution Pokemon in your deck.
[L] [C] Electrobullet 60
This attack does 20 damage to 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokemon (don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokemon)
[L] [P] [C] Bolt Pulse 90+
You may discard 2 cards from your hand. If you do, this attack does 60 more damage.
Weakness: [N]
Resistance:
Retreat: [C] [C]
Put this card onto 1 of your Ampharos. This Pokemon can use any Attacks or Abilities from it's previous evolution.
Mega - M. Metagross - HP180 - [M]
Put onto Metagross
M Claws - Each of this Pokemon's attacks do 30 more damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon that has any damage counters on it. (before applying Weakness and Resistance)
You can't have more than 1 different Mega Evolution Pokemon in your deck.
[C] [C] Magnetic Disruptor 30
During your opponent's next turn, any damage done to this Pokemon by attacks is reduced by 30 (after applying Weakness and Resistance)
[M] [M] [M] Titanium Press 80+
If your opponent's Active Pokemon has any Abilities, this attack does 60 more damage.
Weakness: [R]
Resistance: [P]
Retreat: [C] [C] [C]
Put this card onto 1 of your Metagross. This Pokemon can use any Attacks or Abilities from it's previous evolution.
Put onto Metagross
M Claws - Each of this Pokemon's attacks do 30 more damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon that has any damage counters on it. (before applying Weakness and Resistance)
You can't have more than 1 different Mega Evolution Pokemon in your deck.
[C] [C] Magnetic Disruptor 30
During your opponent's next turn, any damage done to this Pokemon by attacks is reduced by 30 (after applying Weakness and Resistance)
[M] [M] [M] Titanium Press 80+
If your opponent's Active Pokemon has any Abilities, this attack does 60 more damage.
Weakness: [R]
Resistance: [P]
Retreat: [C] [C] [C]
Put this card onto 1 of your Metagross. This Pokemon can use any Attacks or Abilities from it's previous evolution.
Heavenly Spoon said:
I do see how this could be confusing: on my blanks in this style I use two different colors of plus symbols to denote different types of additional effects. Green plusses are the standard "add damage" effects while red plusses are any ambiguous additional effects that aren't always add or multiply damage (like simply inflicting Special Conditions or more complex effects like in this card).
Heavenly Spoon said:
Yes, I should have increased the cost... whoops.
Heavenly Spoon said:
This is another quirk I keep generally constant in this style of blanks, in that I give every Pokemon a resistance to make it more like the video games. Granted it does make it more unbalanced in favor of Aqua, that's kind of Nintendo's fault for making them typed as such... I could have easily made the weakness Psychic though since it is part Dark. Oh well.