TCG Fakes ReapThaWhirlwind's Graphic Underworld [Text Based Designs]

ReapThaWhirlwind · Jul 15, 2016

ψ Corrupt Cofagrigus

Cofagrigus 110HP

ψ Corrupt [When you play this card from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon, flip a coin. If heads, your opponent reveals 3 cards at random from his or her hand. Then, you may discard 1 of those cards.]

Curse [40] Choose an Item or Special Energy card in your opponent's discard pile. Your opponent can't play that card during his or her next turn.

Destiny Bond [

] During your opponent's next turn, if this Pokémon would be Knocked Out by an opponent's attack, the Defending Pokémon is also Knocked Out (even if it's not the Active Pokémon).

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

When considering the Pokémon to use for the ψ Corrupt Ancient Trait, Cofagrigus was an immediate desire of mine to make a card for with this ability. Pharaohs are legendarily linked to the corruption of slavery—and all kinds of other unwholesome things. So naturally, that evil nature makes the concept of a Pharaoh's coffin the perfect pair for Psi Corrupt.

Suggestively, this is also intended to tie into the concept of Psychic corruption. Encompassing the theory that the Pharaohs we're in-fact psychic, and abused their telekinetic potential to rule in tyranny.

The course of design for this pair of Pokémon went from the top down of the evolution chain down—with Cofagrigus being the first card I designed—and Yamask being the follow up. I don't find that the order for Pokémon designs has to be particular, since each embody their own general dynamics (regarding what they need to do to survive—and be of decent use) so they can be designed in any order(so long as you embody those attributes as they're needed).

Now, since the nature of ψ Corrupt possesses such a distinct measure of potential, the rest of this design would need to be carefully contoured around that. It was actually in this development process that I came to re-design the function of ψ Corrupt, by adding a coin flip, and restricting the selection of cards down to three at random even when for good measure of balance. It was something I had been meaning to do for a while by this time, but just hadn't got around to it yet (naturally seizing this opportunity to do so). Obviously, the effect as it stood (even embodying the evolutionary challenge) was still too aggressive—so that play options incorporating could have easily abused the disruption effect to create very unfair conditions.

With the Ancient Trait dialed down some, I still only considered it a trivial adjustment to the power curve of this design, and for this reason had decided to design the first attack in the style of something light and tactical. Light referring to low offensive potential—and tactical referring to the use of disruptive effects (whose effects I wanted to act as a compliment to the ψ Corrupt Ancient Trait). This decision was intended to further balance between power and tech for this card. You see, cards need distinct attributes to win you the game. They need sheer offensive power; sheer defensive power; or they need to be able to bridge the gap between the absence of one or more of those things through the power of their technical effects.

And that is the logic here. I had intended for Cofagrigus to lack sheer offensive and defensive power, in order create a pure technical design, which aimed to win games by the prowess of its technical effects.

That is how I came to design the first attack—Curse—which is an attack that's been used before in the TCG, yet with poor technique in the form it's taken if you'd ask me. Akin to this, I aimed to take the prominent Ghost attack, and assign it a much more reasonable effect to match what it does in the game (and perfect the standard of the attack's effect overall).

Of course, what I came up with is not exact (since it doesn't deal with Pokémon's attacks), but I do think it's unique enough to more than make up for that; by effectively doing the one thing you need an effect to do when it doesn't specifically match what it does in the game. That being—existing as explicitly useful or interactive—so that it's strongly akin to the most prominent fun factors of the game. With this, the appeal created by catering to these fun factors takes what you've done with it and makes it instantly acceptable.

And it is an interesting adaptation on the PP reducing effect of Curse, in the sense that it potentially reduces the number of uses they'll get out of their Item and Special Energy cards. It's a really good effect, that compliments other disruptive effects, and should lead to some extraordinary deck structure potential. So I felt like the uniqueness made it a little better than if I had modeled it exactly along the game's effect.

This can add more unique flare to the TCG outlet, which is one of the most prominent fun factors of that itself, and makes for one of the greatest potentials to tap into when designing your attacks and effects based on real game aspects. You have the potential to take something and make it even more realistic or interesting to the TCG game than it originally was in the digital game. However, the proper technique for this does involve some strict guidelines, that suggest staying as true to the original game as you can (and as often as possible), and only seizing this opportunity when some extraordinary potential presents itself.

I often find myself taking effects they've done, and molding them closer to what they do in the game, than I do adapting things from the game to unique effects that don't match the game when they could. And this is the same scenario that anyone else should get if they're doing it right.

The next attack I wanted to provide a power alternative option to your offensive/defensive potential. Say you won't be able to make any significant use of the first attack, you certainly don't want the card to become useless, and that is naturally the greatest potential of having two or more attacks to work with in development. It provides you the space to create alternative options, so that the card's potential can diversify, and enable players to switch up their style when needed. This diversity breeds fun for the game, because it encourages interactivity, and helps to give players more of a fighting chance overall.

As for what the attack would be, the best thing I could come up with was Destiny Bond, as an emergency sacrificial defensive. There's all kinds of alternative potential in this, and the form I craft it in can't be played around either, to ensure that it forces players into a true standstill when they attempt to avert the effect by natural means (such as retreat). This assigns to it some absolute defensive potential, that itself can encourage more diverse deck structure developments for players it might regularly put in technical situations (For example, due to them running too many double prize Pokémon).

This is a very advanced technique of TCG development, that embodies the implementation of specific dynamics, effects, and card attributes, so that it encourages more diverse styles of play (and styles of deck structure development) for players to survive in the format environment. I would strongly suggest this isn't really something that you need worry about—unless the talent for it comes natural for you. Because doing it right, requires very strict technique, that many people don't have the intellectual perception to gauge properly.

There are often very specific dimensions (and boundaries) that you need to stay within—and often various other attributes of the card might need to be tactically aligned—in order to provide a sense of overall balance to it. If every aspect is properly considered, you'll just end up throwing things out of whack further—requiring another adaptation card or effect check the uneven odds or hostile conditions that your card creates. It can't simply check or balance a card. It—itself needs to have utter balance to it. This is provided through the encompassment of challenging aspect (the absence of offensive or defensive power; the resource of time needed; or the factors of low HP, high energy costs).

Yanmask 60HP

{Ability} Magic Amulet [When you attach a Pokémon Tool card from your hand to this Pokémon, you may search your deck for a card that evolves from this Pokémon, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your deck afterwards.]

Ghost Form [

] During your opponent's next turn, prevent all effects of attack, including damage, that would be done to this Pokémon by attacks requiring less than 3 Energy.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

Now, moving along to the development of Yanmask to complete the pair, the challenge involved creating a Basic Pokémon that would have a fair chance to evolution. One thing that pains me, are those evolutionary Basic Pokémon that are like little sea turtles, scrambling their way on the beach to the water. Sometimes they get lucky and make it to evolution, but more often they're scooped up by some greater predator.

Akin to this, I like to enable the potential for decks to critically rely on their Stage 1 or Stage 2 Pokémon. And to do this, I strive to design my evolution line Basics with evasive abilities, technical bonuses, or other survival-based effects that heavily support the potential for Stage 1 and Stage 2 deck development. And so, that is where I started here—conceiving to design an evasive effect for Yanmask—given the Ghost-type attribute it presents. Evasiveness fits the nature of ghosts perfectly, so naturally it makes a really great concept to revolve around for Yanmask's survival effect.

Thinking over some options, I decided to adapt a function I had used in the past to a more defensive nature, given the nice touch of disruptive potential it provides to stall for time.

And that is how Ghost Form came to be as it stands.

To balance the evasive effect, I adjusted the number of Energy required in the attack to three. Of course, this doesn't save you from most Double Colorless Energy utilizing attacks, but it should still save a player from a decent enough measure of attacks to still be significant and useful. I considered it a balance measure, in the form of soft lock, so that card wasn't entirely restrictive (when it doesn't necessarily need to be).

The reason for this lies in the potential of its {Magic Amulet}, which secretly links to the concept of the Pharaohs, and suggests the possession (and use of) advanced technology.

The ability itself enables a lot of dynamic potential and support for Stage 1 building, especially when you get to play first (where the [Ghost Form] attack won't be of any use). For this reason, the [Ghost Form] attack is only intended to provide some fair chance for survival in the event you play second, and have to throw Yamask out as your Active. Together, they make a synergistic pair of effects, that would help to accelerate a game pace that's naturally stacked against Stage 1 and Stage 2 evolution chain based decks. It was with this potential I felt like the development process was through and the designs as they stood were perfected.

ReapThaWhirlwind · Jul 15, 2016

ψ Link Steelix & Zero-High Gravity Zone

Steelix 140HP

ψ Link [Once during your turn (before your attack), you may choose an Ability of 1 of your Pokémon and use it for this Pokémon (in place of this ability) as long as this Pokémon remains in play.]

Heavy Spike [40] During your opponent's next turn, any damage done to this Pokémon by attacks from the Defending Pokémon is reduced by 10 for each

in this Pokémon's Retreat Cost greater than the Defending Pokémon's Retreat Cost(before applying Weakness and Resistance).

Metal Burst [+80] If this Pokémon was dealt damage by an opponent's attack during his or her last turn, this attack does 20 more damage and is not affected by any effects on your opponent's Active Pokémon.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

Given the era I grew up in—I was one of the people that got to experience the full excitement of the Second Generation release (making me a Second Generation person by some consideration). It was really big. I mean—it's hard to explain just how exciting it was with the all the new additions they added to Gold & Silver: Gender, Day & Night, the Time Clock, the Days of the Week interaction—just all these amazingly exciting additions that made the Second Generation experience so much more interactive than the first.

For this reason, many of the Second Generation Pokémon still hold sentimental value for me. For those who had familiarized themselves with the original 151, the introduction of new Pokémon for the first time had somewhat of a traumatic effect on you. I mean—the Second Generation Pokémon are still new to me in ways. And I will always relate them (and other new generations) as this kind of new and unfamiliar expedition.

Given the sentimentality of this, some of the new Pokémon really stood out as amazingly interesting compared to their original counterparts—and Steelix was one of them—so I was looking to capture that dynamic character through the medium of a half-art Ancient Trait card. However, given the nature of a Stage 1 Pokémon, you have some limited conditions to work within to suite the boundaries of power. I personally find the best style to do this being Stage 1 designs with technical finesse. They aren't obviously cheap or underwhelming in any way, but appear as cards that you could make explicit use of.

Now, don't get me wrong, I admire some of the tactical Stage 1's that do amazing things as 2-2 tech cards. But the nature of that potential doesn't really suite the attributes of offense and defense—that is the style of design for tech cards—not for cards that are intended to exemplify offensive or defensive potential. Steelix is just that kind of Pokémon, so naturally I would be looking to design a Steelix card with such offensive or defensive potential, that it obviously appears as though you could make explicit use of as a 4-4.

What I didn't want to do here was an offensive power card though, especially not something whose offensive potential was carelessly overclocked. It's generally bad style—and doesn't fit Steelix's nature at all. Steelix has always been a very powerful defensive Pokémon. It was probably the single greatest tank in the Second Generations. I remember sending Steelix out and watching Sandstorm literally wipe every Pokémon out while Steelix tanks all their shots like a boss.

That was the essence I was looking re-capture here—but not necessarily in the same style. After all, Flygon already did this, and I already had a really cool set of effects in mind—revolving around the core attributes of a heavy defensive Pokémon—that I felt would make for a really interesting and interactive card. These effects could further get a boost from the ψ Link Ancient Trait, potentially increasing the card's defensive potential for some explicit deck structure potential.

This is where we begin with the ψ Link Ancient Trait—and the first attack—[Heavy Spike]. [Heavy Spike] was (even from the first thought) intended to be a quick offensive attack for a single energy. It would boast defensive damage reducing power, that aimed to provide that tank effect to Steelix, thus successfully capturing the essence of his Second Generation potential in the game. However, the effect of [Heavy Spike] is not definite, and I never intended for it to be either. It's a soft control effect, that only effects the Pokémon hit by the attack (an aspect that's intended to bring the whole [Heavy Spike] attack concept to life).

It's powerful—but it has a play around—which strongly encourages balance. In this case, the effect of [Heavy Spike] can be so powerful, that it needs a play around to prevent it from getting out of control. That's how I feel about it anyways, and despite the variance of potential to the effect itself (and vulnerability that the play around can create) I still don't think any of that detracts from the potential of the card by too much (given just how much its Ancient Trait can make up for either short-coming). In turn, the combination of effects enables players to establish a solid-state defensive, which caters to the play value of the card, and helps to perfect it as a whole.

I teetered on the power of [Heavy Spike] for a moment, and ultimately decided to increase it up by 10 from the standard of 30. Steelix is a really big,and powerful Pokémon, so it should boast a little elevated damage from the standard. It helps to emulate the physics of weight, and force, and how the even the slowed or softened impact of such a thing naturally carries more force.

The second attack I had in mind was to be something with a tactical edge, that for the color heavy cost, would extend Steelix's potential to something of a one-man-army. I wasn't looking to make this effect blatant in any way either. I had conceived from the start to make it conditional, so that the conditional effect would promote the balance of the power, and cater to one of the game's most prominent fun factors—interactivity.

As for the effect itself, I had preconceived that the ability would simply bypass all effects on the opponent's Pokémon. Unstoppable force was the concept here. It adds even more realism to the character of the giant (and mighty) Steelix, while the function itself acts as a check and balance against other Ancient Trait Pokémon.

You might not notice it off hand, but an effect like this would enable Steelix to bypass the Ξ Intensity Ancient Trait. This hopes to provide some significance, seeing as how the Ξ Intensity Ancient Trait would naturally bypass all of Steelix's mighty defenses. It's a nice kind of exchange between the two mediums, while offering Steelix that unstoppable force (potential that's naturally aspired—if you'd hope for players to be able to focus an entire deck structures around it).

That was the finishing touch for me here. I am still a little uneasy on the power of [Metal Burst], but I didn't want it to get overboard, given the immense defensive potential boasted overall. There needs to be honest scales, and despite the potentially underwhelming measure of 100 damage (in regards to one-hit KO'ing fresh 130HP Pokémon) I consider it just apart of the balance in a good development. If you're developing a defense-based Pokémon, you need to give on the offensive potential some. That's the principal of honest scales. Now, 100 damage isn't exactly skimpy, so I honestly think that I can make peace with it as it is.

Onix 90HP

{Ability} Mineralize [Whenever you attach a

or

Energy to this Pokémon, any damage done to this Pokémon by attacks and Abilities is reduced by 20 (before applying Weakness and Resistance) until your next turn.]

Rage [+20] If this Pokémon used Rage during your last turn, this attack does 20 more damage for each consecutive turn this Pokémon has used Rage.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:
Retreat:

Moving onto the development of the Onix card, I wanted to something short, sweet, and to the point. I wasn't trying to overcomplicate things too much, I feel like Basic Pokémon should have beauty in simplicity. It's naturally within their greatest potential, so that's what I was looking to do between the attributes of its survival effect and its primary attack.

What I first came up with—was an Ability that boasted some early defensive potential in the style of a light application effect. Onix already has some very sizable HP for a standard basic Pokémon, so a simple effect helps to both compliment and balance out that attribute. One of the more interesting things about this Ability, was that Steelix could copy it with ψ Link in the closed format (thus providing some instant stand-alone potential to Steelix's Ancient Trait ability).

As for its attack, the [Rage] attack aimed to take Onix, and make him his very own one-man-army. Rage was probably the most prominent Onix attack from the first generation. It was the equivalent of Sandstorm in Gen 1. You could tank with Onix, and Rage would continue to stack up epic damage. For the TCG, this attack can be awesome, because it ultimately enables players to turn Onix into a Swarmer, and get some edge on the damage stack while they build up Steelix from the bench.

This is really adept potential to provide to players in your designs, and is a really great technique to pick up talent for, because it helps to encourage diverse strategic play options in the game's naturally diverse play environment. This combination of effects between Onix's Ability and attack makes it great for draft play, and also extends some potential for Onix to be run in pure Fighting-type decks to some decent success as the opening Swarmer Pokémon. Considering all this, it came as obvious to me that the design was perfected, as I was naturally really satisfied with the final product.

Zero-High Gravity Zone [Stadium Card]

Choose which way this card faces before you play it.
The Retreat Cost of this ↑ player's Active Pokémon is reduced by

and its HP is reduced by 20.

Choose which way this card faces before you play it.
The Retreat Cost of this ↓ player's Active Pokémon is increased by

and its HP is increased by 40.

As I was designing the ψ Link Steelix, I began thinking of some kind of Stadium card that might be able to boost its power in some interesting way. The first concept that came to mind for this, was a Stadium card with an effect that would boost the [Heavy Spike] attack—by adding to the defensive potential it boasts for Steelix.

[Heavy Spike]'s effect by itself can be pretty unreliable with how conditional it is. Pokémon with two energy Retreat costs and up are pretty common content—the presence of such reducing the general potential of [Heavy Spike] pretty effectively. It's more common than not that [Heavy Spike] may only be able to prevent 20 damage, which isn't exactly a decent enough bonus for a Stage 1 Pokémon, that faces the condition of time, that naturally sets it against the damage stack.

You'd really want 30 or 40 damage prevent to be ideal for a Stage 1, but I figured this could all balance out with the use of other supportive content, and ultimately make the [Heavy Spike] effect more interestingly powerful.

As the concept came to mind, I began to ferociously brainstorm all these creative ideas on how to center such a design. At first thought, I wanted to make it super interactive, and even potentially benefit both sides of card. And from there, that the design kind of instantly came together and found itself before me.

What I had was a Stadium card that increased the Retreat Cost of Pokémon on one side—then decreased the Retreat Cost of Pokémon on the otherside.

Now, since Team Aqua's Secret Base already tread these waters, by adding just a single energy to both sides, in order to make this card interesting, I decided to double the value added and subtracted to the Pokémon's Retreat Cost. This way, the Stadium would add some dynamic potential to [Heavy Spike]—dramatically varying the total between sides—yet would also boast a really interesting benefit for the opponent (and potentially enable their Pokémon to Retreat for free and possibly to evade the effect of [Heavy Spike] entirely).

It immediately began to feel perfect to me, a card that both players might smile at when played, that doesn't throw the game into any uncomfortable tension.

However, one thing that appeared obviously unbalanced to me, was the side the provided the decreased Retreat Cost. When playing this side for yourself, it can be dramatically too beneficial for the sake of fair balance. I had immediately thought to then add a clause that would also increase and decrease the HP of Pokémon on both respective sides, furthering the balance of power between both sides and their effects.

This would become a contrast bonus for both sides—with each side offering a unique bonus effects in contrast to its drawback effect.

At this point, the design began looking so beautiful to me. I truly felt like I had something really interesting in the works here, and that all it needed from here was a stylish name, related to a stylish concept to totally perfect the design. It didn't take too long after that (as I had thoughts of Sonic the Hedgehog going through my head) that I got the idea of a Zero Gravity/High Gravity area.

For some reason, the alternating sides of the card makes me think of some kind of dynamic loop de loop in Sonic the Hedgehog. And with that, comes the thought of Static-electric bubble power-ups, electromagnetism, gravity—and with the card's alternating effect on Retreat Costs—the name just kind of rolled off my tongue and onto the design so perfectly.

This was truly a perfect design in my eyes. So interesting, and stylish, and interactive. Even the HP effect would relate perfectly the concept. As a high gravity environment would naturally ground an individual—and reinforce them against the impact of things that might stagger them otherwise. While under the effects of zero gravity—this condition would significantly impact an individual's mobility and detract from their defensive potential in the face of impact.

In a recent edit, I changed up the wording with a slight brush up, so that the effect would only apply to the Active Pokémon. The main reason for this was to prevent the card from being immensely broken in contrast to very low HP Pokémon with 40HP or less. If the effect applied to the Bench as well, this condition would surely offset the balance of power, and enable all kinds of unfair tipping of the scale that a good design should never do.

ReapThaWhirlwind · Jul 19, 2016

Ancient Trait Tyranitar Pair

Tyranitar 160HP

Ξ Intensity [Ignore all reducing effects to the damage this Pokémon would deal and all increasing effects (excluding Weakness) to the damage this Pokémon would take.]

Thrash [+70] This attack does 10 more damage for each damage counter on Tyranitar. This Pokémon is now Confused.

Kingdom Crusher [100x] This attack does 100 damage times the number of Energy attached to this Pokémon greater than the Defending Pokémon.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

Tyranitar 160HP

ψ Corrupt [When you play this card from your hand to the Bench, your opponent reveals 3 cards at random from his or her hand. Then, you may discard 1 of those cards.]

Payback [+70] If your Active Pokémon was Knocked Out during your opponent's last turn, this attack does 100 more damage.

Knockdown Monster [

] If this Pokémon has more Energy attached to it then the number of

in the Defending Pokémon's Retreat Cost, the Defending Pokémon is Knocked Out.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

The inspiration for these two cards draws from the Syrian Civil War.

You have two war powers—the Intensity ground fighter—and the Corrupt underground dominator. Each the contra to the other, and designed with the intention for their attributes to play out in a dynamic exchange when war is waged against one another. Between their attacks (which can't entirely be used directly due to their effects), aim to force tactical maneuvers and operations in the exchange between sides.

The technicality of each attack is intended to make it significantly separate from the another. In the sense that, a deck structure will likely have to choose one attack or the other, and then focus its deck structure around supporting the best potential of that attack. The energy requirement is the primary aspect defining this. Their quickest attack (at two energy) is restrictive, and revolve around requirements that have to be met for the attacks to boast any significant power. Their second attack is potentially fatal, yet requires heavy amounts of energy, which by nature generally involve a concentrated energy acceleration strategy to unlock the full potential of such an attack within the limits of the game pace.

Their quickest attacks further involve the demand of quick retaliation by the cards themselves, considerably revoking the ability to reliably stack energy on them and make effective use of the most powerful attack (as the card is likely to take retaliation damage from the opposition—and potentially waste any extra energy that was attached to it before all else).

Furthering the hostility of the environment between them, there are a number of technical factors considering certain attributes and effects that increase the difficulty of easily championing one another. The first aspect in this is lies on the Fighting-type Tyranitar's side, considering the Weakness factor possessed by the side, and the technicality of the Ξ Intensity Ancient Trait, and how it plays against the potential the Dark-type Tyranitar by nature.

Weakness gives the Fighting-type Tyranitar a distinct advantage over its Dark-type counterpart, yet by itself, the power of [Thrash] isn't enough to topple the massive 160HP Dark-type Tyranitar in a single hit. Respectively, attempting to swiftly move in for this attack could leave the Fighting-type Tyranitar vulnerable for a turn, and possibly enable the opposing side to enact a tactical retreat of the Dark-type Tyranitar and one-hit KO the Fighting-type Tyranitar. So [Thrash] can be underwhelming, thus creating an aspect of challenge against the Weakness factor possessed by the greater side.

On the other side, we have the effect of the Ξ Intensity Ancient Trait, which prevents the damaging increasing effect of ψ Corrupt Tyranitar's [Payback] attack. Akin to this, an attack that might devastating success against the typical adversary becomes far too liable for the Dark-type Tyranitar to use with explicit success against its Fighting-type counterpart. This forces Dark-type's side to attempt a clench for victory through a [Knockdown Monster] advance. If properly set up, a consecutive play with [Knockdown Monster] could quickly eradicate the opposing forces before the momentum of ψ Corrupt Tyranitar could be stopped.

This would naturally stack alongside cards such as [Dark Wing] Yveltal and Dark Patch—to aid the Dark-type Tyranitar with the energy acceleration that could further the threat of an unstoppable [Knockdown Monster] advance.

From there, the addition of Zero-High Gravity Zone takes the power of [Knockdown Monster] to the ultimate level—potentially enabling a sure Knock Out against any Pokémon in the face of its advance. This was the reason why I felt the need for an absolute 4 energy (in the least) to balance out the power of [Knockdown Monster]. It's such a powerful and technical attack, that can already bypass the conditions of damage referencing attacks, that the time-lapse of this energy climb was the least measure of challenge needed to make it as fair as possible.

[Kingdom Crusher] on the other hand—is a considerably much more restrictive attack—thus requiring (and suggestively demanding) less energy to balance it out. If simply both Active Pokémon have the same amount of energy of them, the attack does nothing. The attack is still considerably very powerful though, especially given all the energy acceleration in the Fighting-type suite with cards like [Shout of Power] Landorus and [Diamond Gift] Carbink. So there's definitely still a good chance to level opposing Pokémon with crushing amounts of damage.

Contrast to this, there is a very technical reason behind the form that [Kingdom Crusher] takes. The usage of a multiplication factor is actually very important to the attack—as the use of this function classifies it as a damage designating effect rather than a damage increasing effect. If not for this function, [Kingdom Crusher] would be entirely useless against other Ξ Intensity Pokémon. And in terms of war, that would definitely be very unrealistic, so despite the restriction that this function could place on the attack, I decided there was no better option to go with.

The Fighting-type Tyranitar would traditionally have [Thrash], a considerably reliable attack all by itself, that itself can be immensely supported by levels of HP increasing effects to further the range of survival and retaliation power overall. However, there was some technicality to this attack itself that had to be considered to prevent the attack from becoming potentially more underwhelming than anything else.

You see, attacks like [Thrash] have an "after the fact of" type of effect, whose major potential lies after the fact that damage is dealt. And this placement at the latter end of the damage stack can set effects like this at a significant disadvantage (given how they can't prominently be used to swing out and deliver a Knock Out if needed). This restrictive potential enabled the utility of a Double Colorless energy cost to suite a greater measure of balance to the card—and help to even out its overall potential—with its most reliable attack being placed at the latter end of the damage stack.

[Payback] on the other boasts far too much potential damage. So once again for this card, the time-lapse factor of a color heavy cost was essential to balance out the power of [Payback]. It helps to lessen the potential of being able to use [Payback] too consistently, which would be very important given how powerful a form this version of the attack takes, while also considering Tyranitar's immense 160HP.

As a finishing touch to the designs, a little breaking the cycle was done to assign the Fighting-type Tyranitar with a proper Resistance designation. Designers may have worked themselves in a technical corner with this, given how prominent they use the same designations, but I make it a priority to knuckle down, and make the changes needed to the Weakness and Resistance of certain Pokémon, that make the design more true to the game. Tyranitar is immune to Psychic, and resistant to Poison and Ghost-types, so that despite the Fighting-type, I feel that resistance to the Psychic-type should remain at all costs to stay true to the original concept.

Pupitar 90HP

{Ability} Bulk Up [If you attached a Special Energy to this Pokémon during this turn, this Pokémon's attacks do 30 more damage to your opponent's Active Pokémon.]

Skull Bash [60] This Pokémon can't use Skull Bash during your next turn.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

Larvitar 70HP

Bite [20]

Rock Smash [20] Flip a coin. If heads, discard a Pokémon Tool card attached to the Defending Pokémon.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

This collection of pre-evolution designs was intended to add a Slugger-style to the Ancient Trait Tyranitar suite. The effects of these cards focus on raw power and physical based conditions to best embody this style. Now, considering the difference between the two Ancient Trait Tyranitar, the prevolutions considerably lean in favor of the Fighting-type Tyranitar. The reason for this being that the Dark-type Tyranitar is majorly an Out-Fighter-style card. However, my conditions here were to create a Slugger style that could potentially be adapted between both Tyranitar.

If sending Larvitar out as your opening Pokémon, players on the side of Corrupt Tyranitar have the potential to disrupt the opponent with Larvitar and hit them hard with a quick evolution to Pupitar. From there, the card can be left out there to Swarm, enabling a set-up for a Dark-type Tyranitar to swing in and hit typical opponents with a heavy [Payback] attack.

As the Armor Pokémon, these two cards possess some elevated HP, ensuring that Pupitar should have the chance to hit the opponent one good time with [Skull Bash]. Even if just a single attack, 90 damage can be an immense amount. Enough to topple any given Pokémon-EX, GX, BREAK, or Mega Evolution with the 170 damage [Payback] to follow. So for more discerning players, it sets up for a punch they'll have to take, while suggestively deterring them from being able to rush out into the fray on an advance.

For the Intensity Tyranitar, this Slugger-style of battle boasts tremendous power for the Fighting-type side. Fighting energy unlocks Larvitar's the more prominent attack, and the potential of cards like Strong Energy greatly further the progress on the damage stack. While the Stand Your Ground strategy perfectly compliments the empowerment of [Thrash]. This all aims to amount to a crushing offensive for the Fighting-type side, that can quickly sets the game pace in its favor through a consecutive, and heavy, offensive barrage.

Both sides have their own distinct utility to the cards, which I believe perfects them as they stand, with their potential for either side.

Quick update on this one. I adjusted the effect for Stage 2 Psi Corrupt down to revealing 3 cards at random instead of 5. A minor adjustment. It's not really that I felt 5 cards was too powerful, just that I want the ability itself to be more graceful and challenging.

As a fun-fact, in case you didn't notice, I designed the Psi Corrupt to have a variance effect based on where it's implemented on the evolution scale. As the evolution sequence increases, the effect gets slightly more powerful to compliment.

ReapThaWhirlwind · Jul 31, 2016

Electrode EX

Electrode EX 160HP

{Ability} Spiteful Blast [If this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon and is Knocked Out by damage from an opponent's attack, put 6 damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon.]

Aggravated Volt [+40] This attack does 10 more damage for each damage counter on this Pokémon. If this Pokémon has less than 70 HP remaining, the Defending Pokémon is now Paralyzed.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

The idea for this design simply came from the thought of making an EX card for Electrode. Electrode is somewhat of an obscure and overlooked Pokémon, yet has so much nostalgic appeal relative to the beginning generations of the game. At one time, it was the fastest Pokémon in the game, and it had held a lot of esteem for that attribute back then. Thinking back to those golden days, and also of how humorous Electrode's grin would look among the glamor of an EX card, I just had to see what I could come up with for it (for the sake of redemption alone).

As for the design, I really didn't have any leads or clues as to what I would do here. The only attribute that was assured to me from the start was Electrode's Retreat Cost, which was pre-decided to be set at 0, as a tribute to the legendary speed that once made Electrode the greatest in its tier. Thankfully, that one attribute was more than enough for me to run with and begin to conceive an entire design around.

At first thought, I had envisioned a group of Electrode EX that you could circulate between and launch some kind of complex offensive together. This was a style of play that I in-fact have I've had experience with in the past, as it was the central strategy of one of my first returning decks (Thunderstorm Warning) that utilized a Slugger/Swarmer strategy between the array of [Dragon Pulse] Rayquaza, [Outrage] Zekrom, and [Outrage] Reshiram. It was a really fun deck to play, so I felt any design that could mimic its style would be able to bring the fun of it out in open for everyone.

From there, I decided to start the development of this design with an Ability, having already decided that this card's primary attack would be done in the style of [Outrage], and so to accent this, I thought to include an Ability that would provide a jump-start to the conclusion of a single-feature [Outrage]-style attack.

You see there is a big liability in this—in the sense that it's an "after the fact of" type of attack—that doesn't enable you to strongly jump the damage stack in any way, but strongly relies on building its momentum from the after-side of the damage stack instead. This is very liable, as such a Pokémon can easily get one-hit KO'd waiting on such an opportunity.

Considering this, I had decided that an Ability would be a perfect medium to provide some kind of consolation damage in the event of this, while providing a stylish accent the design's finish. Naturally, an Ability would enable me to artistically capture the legendary Explosion/Self-destruct concept that was Electrode's spiteful signature in the final moments in battle.

However, I had a strong urge to keep this design as simple and clean as possible, leading to the demand of not overcomplicating this Ability any. I just wanted something simple, that provided some extended amount of damage, and then to let that amount of damage act as its own extravagance. That is why the effect of {Spiteful Blast} is basically just a slightly amped up version of XY set Voltorb's {Destiny Burst}.

That card pretty much captured the concept perfectly. It's a card that I really admire for the beauty of its intricacy of design. To me, there really was no way of perfecting upon the effect of that design in any way. And I feel that attempting to take that concept and just blatantly overdo it by tacking on some additional effect would have simply been dishonorable to the original design. So the only thing there was for me to do, was to take the effect as it was, and adjust it to the suite of an EX card's personal conditions.

This was done by simply increasing the amount damage a little and then removing the restriction of a coin flip, in order to make the Abilities' effect as unrestricted and universal as it needs to be to compliment the restrictions and liabilities that naturally come with an EX card.

For example, we'd be losing two Prizes for this card, so we can't really afford to have any limitations attached to such a simple effect with only an average range of damage potential (with 60 damage being simply an average amount of damage). This would underwhelm the design, and greatly detract from its competitive potential. When already by design, this card would be facing an significant challenge given the fact that its potential bridges on the after-side of the damage stack.

Keeping the Ability simple and clean, I then took the potential bonus effect I had thought about, and I added it to the card's attack instead. From this, [Aggravated Volt] would represent Electrode's anger—embodied by the concept of a steadily increasing voltage—as the number of damage counters on Electrode elevate the severity.

At the climax of a concept like this, the voltage would get so intense that it would be seriously overwhelming. And so that's where I added the Paralyzed Special Condition at the end of this attack—intended to stylishly accent the concept as a whole—with an HP condition that would provide some further balance to both sides of the table.

Naturally, preventing the abuse of Paralyzed is explicitly important, since excessive Paralyzed conditions would create a hard lock that doesn't leave any room for interactivity (and thus take out all the fun). However, ensuring the presence of this Special Condition would also be very important to Electrode's design overall—as it adds some very crucial, last moment desperate potential to the suite of Electrode's exchanging offensives—style of battle.

Akin to this, Paralyzed becomes a kill switch in ways, that aims to help balance the exchange of battle against decks and other cards that would be able to hyper-accelerate their power, and thus put an Electrode based deck at a very miserable disadvantage (so that there's no fun of a fighting chance).

It's enough disadvantage to have a deck whose potential relies on the after-side of the damage stack, let alone one with a below-average amount of HP, that will cost you two Prize cards when Knocked Out. This design would need as much tactical support as possible to support its competitive potential, and the provision of this Special Condition is just another one of those important attributes. It at least attempts to balance the turn of power, and keep the exchange of offensive movements as close to the edge together as possible.

The energy assignment was another aspect of this, which I had contemplated on making a Double Colorless Energy cost for mobility sake, but later decided that the two solid energy was an essential challenging factor to compliment the card's free Retreat Cost.

You have the luxury to Retreat for free and easily buy yourself the turns you might need to attach two solid energy, so configuring the energy cost at two solid helps to provide another factor of challenge needed to breed interactivity with other cards (and ultimately make the final product more fun to design around and ultimately play with).

ReapThaWhirlwind · Aug 16, 2016

Ξ Purity Bellossom

Bellossom 130HP

Ξ Purity [Whenever this Pokémon becomes affected by the effects of an opponent's attack, Ability, or Trainer card (excluding damage), your opponent's Active Pokémon becomes affected by the same effect.]

{Ability} Miracle Flower [You may play Supporter cards ignoring any restrictions they have for being played. (You can still play only 1 Supporter each turn.)(Any effects that can't be fulfilled simply don't happen.)]

Enchanting Aroma [60] The Defending Pokémon is now Confused. If your opponent switches his or her Active Pokémon during his or her next turn, the new Active Pokémon is now Confused.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

The basis for this design began with the Ancient Trait, which I had paired with the card based on a small contrast table I have put together for my collection of Ancient Trait designs. For diversity sake, I'm striving to cover the broadest spectrum of available Types for these Ancient Traits I have. This means Basic, Stage 1, and Stage 2—all the Element types—and all the Generation of Pokémon as well (to include an equal assortment of each). Diversity is a general fun factor in fantasy game development, and akin to that, the diversity here helps to intensify the volume of creativity and style that envelops the project.

Checking over the table, I needed a Stage 2, and given the presence of Forest of Giant Plants, I had decided when I got around to this that it would be best to make the next Stage 2 a Grass-type to bridge on the interactive potential there. The Psi Corrupt Ancient Trait in its Stage 2 form was something I had said I would not be assigning to the Grass-type out of power level concerns with Forest of Giant Plants. Ironically, the development team did the exact opposite, and later released [Queenly Majesty] Tsareena; a card that treads ground I had decisively sworn not cross to preserve the balance of power in my designs.

The discard for [Queenly Majesty] is entirely unlimited, which although has been placed at Stage 2, is still far over-the-top with Forest of Giant Plants and Devolution Spray; and is blatantly uncreative to seize this opportunity and implement a more interactive effect (not only to make it more fair—but to make it more fun—and make the big score with the discard effect far more rewarding akin to the factor of challenge involved with some restriction on it).

So yeah, Psi Corrupt was definitely out of the question, while the Purity Ancient Trait I felt would be a great choice for the Grass-type, because it boasts a lot of natural flavor as a compliment of beauty to the Grass-type Pokémon I had in mind, and the effect could serve as an aspect of balance against the challenging factor of HP that this Pokémon would possess. Considering this, Xi Purity would definitely make for an extremely cute and vibrant card, especially as a compliment to the beauty of Bellossom, which was the Pokémon I had in mind as the perfect pair with Xi Purity.

From there, I began brainstorming for a really power and unique Ability effect. I wanted something that would make this Bellossom card really amazing, so that the Pokémon (and its brilliant half-art style) could really shine in the greatest light. I always felt Bellossom was an under-powered/under-glorified Pokémon—so this was a redemption of sorts to me.

After a bit of creative brainstorming, I got the idea of an effect that could take a card like Teammates and unlock its greatest potential by removing the play restriction from it. The power of this effect as a big "Wow" factor to it, and interestingly compliments the overlying concept here; as Teammates isn't traditionally a card you can play in a Forest of Giant Plants deck; because you have to establish a very strong flow of the cards, that needs unrestricted draw potential to support it (given how much the deck is likely to suffer—if held up for even a single turn).

An effect like this however, that removes the restrictions of play, could definitely be worth the risk and challenge factors involved with running cards like Ace Trainer and Teammates in heavy resource dependent (and time-sensitive) Stage 2 Forest of Giant Plants decks. It offers some bonus to the challenging factor to it, and is so unique, it would add the exact type of style and flare I was looking for to bring this Bellossom card to life in a dynamic form.

The next thing that I decided would be needed here was a powerful effect attack. Something that boasted disruption of some kind, and could help to offset the considerably low amount of HP that Bellossom would have (even as a Stage 2 Pokémon).

Bellossom not being a very durable Pokémon by nature is a concept that I don't find too unsettling. Flowers are delicate—so this makes perfect sense to me. I find this aspect of challenge to be good style personally, and would just seek to balance it with more dynamic defensive mechanisms (which many delicate things in nature naturally possess to defend themselves).

One very poor development choice that I would expect to see here if developed by anyone else, would be underwhelming this design with a bland, empty, underpowered attack (blindly thinking this to be an aspect of balance to the power of the card's Ability). Not saying this is always true, but 9 out of 10 times, underwhelming a design like this will not provide an aspect of balance.

What this actually does—is end up creating giant empty holes in the strategies and deck structures that include these cards. So that decks that include them can suffer dramatically when they play out—as they are deprived of various fun factors in the game omitted blindly to "balance" a design. Players can come to a dead end, left with no interactivity, and no fighting chance to enjoy the game to a dynamic end (forced to fade away in a helpless, boring defeat).

In regards to the Pokémon TCG, even despite the power of most Abilities, the HP and evolution factors can be significant aspects of balance by themselves. So especially with this kind of content, there should be an emphasis to make sure the card's attack costs easily accessible (unlike how was done with {Abyssal Hand} Octillery); as well as possessing some type of effects that add some considerable measure of offensive or defensive potential to the card.

This breeds combative game pacing, interactivity, and supplements various fun factors in the game—and helps game to come to a more exciting, dynamic, fighting end.

So considering this, I decided to include an attack boasting some disruptive potential in the form of Confusion. To secure this condition, I expanded on the attack's effects to make it impossible to evade through retreat or Switch-style effects. This would breed interactivity by creating a complex obstacle, and heavily supplement the creative flavor of the card with a dynamic effect.

This effect still takes a form of soft control, since it can be ace'd by environmental neutralizing effects (such as Virizion's {Verdant Wind} or Magearna's {Mystic Heart} )—as well as direct neutralizing effects (such as Big Malasada and Pokémon Center Lady); so there is plenty of checks and balances left available to prevent the effect from being overpowered (even as it stands); and with that considered I polished this card off as perfected.

Gloom 70HP

Tumble Away [

] If the Defending Pokémon tries to attack during his or her next turn, flip a coin. If heads, that attack does nothing. Then, switch this Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon.

Petal Dance [60x] Flip a coin for each Energy attached to this Pokémon. This attack does 60 damage times the number of heads. This Pokémon is now Confused.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:
Retreat:

For the Stage 1 entry I had decided the focus would be on something evasive. I've played Forest of Giant Plants Stage 2 decks a number of times, and one of the most unfortunate events is getting caught up on the Stage 1 Pokémon. Most decks really can't afford to lose this much resourcing, so I decided something evasive should be in the works here as a potential safety net for players. The concept I ended up coming up with is based on the Tumble Weed, and a cute visual I thought of with Gloom tumbling away in an awkward nature away from harm. I decided to make the effect of [Tumble Away] dependent on the flip of a coin, to provide a challenging factor to it, that makes the design a little more interactive and fun.

Typically, I would say this invalidates the need for evasive options (which by intention suggested some absolute potential for this). Yet again, there is a distinct need to provide as much balance as possible to prevent it from being too easy to put a player at some absolute disadvantage, so that's where the coin flip effect and clause sought to provide some well-developed sense of restriction.

The second concept that I had in mind was for this Stage 1 card to provide some alternative offensive potential with its primary attack. The idea here was to enabling this Bellossom line to have some alternative potential with Shrine of Memories. As I've said, diversity is a very big fun factor of any fantasy game, so when developing fantasy game content, I always strive to create as many diverse play options as possible. This stems from my personal experience with fantasy card games, where one of the most interesting facets of the product, was the diverse array of options I had to shake things up and keep the game interesting and new.

This is where I came up with the idea for [Petal Dance], which I decided would be some relatively powerful attack (borderline rare potential) to open up even more diverse potential for this Stage 2 evolution line with other game content and among various game scenarios.[Petal Dance] is effectively presented in the same style as Malamar-EX's [MAXamar] attack. I feel this style is much more relative to the concept of a [Petal Dance] attack, given the energy dependency, and exponential attack power that can be achieved.

Petal Dance in the game is one of the most powerful Grass-type attacks, so this is the kind roof that I'd say is essential to present this attack as authentically as possible. The self-Confusion evoking effects tops off the realism, and helps to provide some much-needed balance to the power of the attack presented in the package of a Stage 1 Uncommon card.

Oddish 50HP

{Ability} Kawaii Roots [You may attach up to 1 Energy card from your hand to this Pokémon, even if you already played an Energy card this turn.]

Sap Seed [10] At the end of your opponent's next turn, heal 20 damage from this Pokémon.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

For the entry-level Basic, I had thought to provide something that could accelerate the game pace. For evolution lines, there is a time-lapse challenge involved with resourcing the needed cards, and being able to play them as well. Considering this, the development process for content that is apart of evolution lines should always strive to compensate heavily against this, in order to give content such as this a fair chance against the game-pace.

Although you might not directly recognize it, this kind of content is very high maintenance, and needs to be developed in respects to this, provided with heavy support to make the content as viable as possible (even for less intelligible players).

This means supporting the high maintenance needs with effects you'd generally think to preserve for rarer content (such as energy acceleration, damage prevention, immunity effects, evolution acceleration, etc.). Evolution content needs effects like this by nature, due to the challenging factors they face in the way the evolution process takes form in the Pokémon TCG, and the strong (unfair) disadvantage they pose against evolution content.

Now, the development team does reinforce evolution content like this sometimes. There is a lot of content out there with disruptive effects and whatnot to provide some cushion, but I would say there isn't as strict an understanding (or emphasis) on the specs of this factor, and how important it really is. I would say the stance they take is too relaxed, and would encourage everyone to take a heightened awareness to all this.

So first aspect I considered for this entry-level Basic was some reinforcement for its high maintenance nature—this I had kind of autonomously decided would be an energy acceleration effect. One natural disadvantage to running evolution lines when it comes to energy is the resource dependency is high, and you can't generally compensate for both ends. I had thought of a simple effect that would compensate for this some, by providing an additional energy play for this card.

And that's how {Kawaii Roots} came to life. Oddish has always been a cute Pokémon, so I thought to the bridge off the character potential there and give the Ability a cute name to boost the flavor of it as much as possible. The concept sort of relates to giving your young children some spare money to spend. A very cute concept, that I think brings the concept to life even more vibrantly.

The [Sap Seed] attack then bridges on this some, relative to when children develop a habit of asking for money all the time, or asking to buy them things all the time. It might get a little imposing, but it's good psychological nurturing for a child, and aims to heal them mentally/emotionally (representative of the healing effect—which is also a small throwback to the Sap Seed attack's effect in the actual game).

ReapThaWhirlwind · Aug 18, 2016

Inverted World Twilight Zone

Inverted World / Twilight Zone [Stadium Card]

Choose which way this card faces before you play it.
Prevent all damage from the opponent's Pokémon that would be done to ↑ player's Active Pokémon that are Confused.

Choose which way this card faces before you play it.
Prevent all damage from the opponent's Pokémon that would be done to ↓ player's Active Pokémon that are Asleep.

This is a simple, graceful concept for a Stadium card that intended to take the likes of the Parallel City, duality effect, and put it to creative use. A unique twist on this card in specific involves that this card actually has two names for the fantasy of it. However, both cards and sides of the card are still active in the same way it would traditionally be for a card with this effect. The two names simply seeks to create a stronger sense of fantasy and realism, in contrast with the specific effects that they have. It's not that I couldn't boil it down to one name or the other, but simply, 'why not both?'. It adds something unique and doesn't take away anything at all.

Inverted World prevents damage that would be done to Active Pokémon that are confused. This includes damage that Confused Pokémon would do to themselves.

Twilight Zone prevents damage that would done to Pokémon that are Asleep. This includes damage from Abilities, but not from effects that place damage counters on Pokémon (such as Rainbow Energy).

ReapThaWhirlwind · Sep 22, 2016

ψ Corrupt Victini

Victini 70HP

ψ Corrupt [When you play this card from your hand to the Bench, your opponent reveals a card at random from his or her hand. Then, you may discard that card if it's not a Supporter or Special Energy.]

Energy Assist [

] Flip a coin. If heads, attach 2 basic Energy cards from your discard pile to 1 of your Benched Pokémon.

Victory Blaze [70] Flip a coin. If tails, this Pokémon does 70 damage to itself.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:
Retreat:

Basically, thought that the recent Generations Victini was subject to some bad design choices, so I decided to improve upon the design so I could elaborate upon the greater qualities I feel are needed for a low HP card such as this. I do understand that the XY117 Promo Victini does have some potential as it exists (with say M Aggron), but from a development perspective, still should have saw its setup effect [Energy Assist] accelerated to compliment the factor of its low HP and it's Legendary Pokémon status.

As I've talked about before, low HP is an aspect of challenge, that should be well complimented in order to provide fair potential to a design (functionality-wise). As a 70HP Pokémon, Victini could get KO'd in a single turn before you're even able to use it. So potentially, if you're only going to get a single use out of a card, you want to make sure that its effect can be effectively significant for the player using it. And that is where the idea comes from to make sure [Energy Assist] would provide 2 Energy instead of 1 for this card specifically. With this design, it becomes a throwback to the big Victini EX from Plasma Storm, and also works wonder to compliment the power of a "Legendary Pokémon" (as it should be recognized—despite size).

I decided to tack on the Ancient Trait here to make for a cute joke—and this choice also adds to the collection of Starter Ancient Trait Pokémon that would be in my full development—thus further broadening the spectrum of diverse play options they would provide to the format. The Ancient Trait also aims to add some flare to the middle-game, endgame scenario—where conventionally Pokémon of such low HP can't be made any use of (generally due to having lost too many prizes). So the Ancient Trait helps to boost that potential a little, and adds a little extra appeal to the card overall (as a neat bonus).

The second attack is intended to act as the finishing touch to the card, providing some significant offensive potential—while complimenting the use of cards such as Trick Coin—and expanding upon the diversity of potential such cards could provide to the deck running this card. Now, the damage for this attack was originally arranged to be 100 (which I thought would be very flashy—and the least amount of damage needed to be significant in the endgame). It was soon after dialed down to 70 damage however for good measure. 100 damage seemed a little over-the-top to me after some careful consideration, and I enjoy the symmetry of 70 damage on both ends, so this amount seems like a much more stylish way to finish off the design and ensure some balance to its power.

ReapThaWhirlwind · Sep 23, 2016

Porygon-Z GX

Porygon-Z GX 210HP [Stage 2]

{Ability} Vector Disruption [Ignore all counters on Pokémon for the effects of attacks, Abilities, and Trainer cards.]

Power Circuit [30x] This attack does 30 damage times the number of EX, GX, and Evolution Pokémon you have in play.

Electro-Magnetic Pulse GX [

] Each Pokémon your opponent has in play can't attack during your opponent's next 2 turns. (Any Pokémon your opponent puts into play after is unaffected by this effect.)

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

This design original came from a unique ability I had the idea for that involved ignoring damage counters. It's something that I've seen a lot of experience with in the game since I got back into it in the XY/Flashfire era (with [Outrage] Dragons becoming my signature cards at the time.) Odd that I would think of something that aces them, but the individuality of the effect seemed to alluring to pass up.

It seemed like an interesting tech, that would find a unique place in the game. Wasn't exactly sure how to channel this effect, and at first thought of putting it on a basic Unown. Then I thought about pairing it with an Ancient Trait, but the current development progress on that would have demanded the card be a Stage 1 (which I felt this effect would be too underwhelming to properly suite that).

It's a rather simple effect, that I think needs to be on a Basic for good functionality. It was then, I thought of trying my hand at designing a GX Pokémon. I haven't done any yet, and felt this ability could be a good match for that. It's a basic, yet it's demandingly restrictive (with the liability giving up 2 prize cards—and the likely arisial of many anti-devices to check them). So a Pokémon GX seemed to have the perfect balance I would be looking for to suite this—and that's where this began.

The main reason I choose Porygon-Z, was because it's a colorless Pokémon, which enables the universal potential that I felt was important for this effect as a tech. This was reinforced by the fact of how well such a reality bending ability could fits into the power of Porygon-Z as a "digital Pokémon." A display kernel hack in ways—a distortion of perception—of reality in ways. And so naturally, that is the concept I modeled the name of the effect around.

It's function by intention would only work for effects that reference damage counters that are already on Pokémon. It has to actually reference the damage as a counter. So this effect does not stop healing effects that do not reference damage as counters—nor does it prevent damage counter placing effects that would place damage counters on Pokémon. Examples of effects this shuts down would be damage counter moving effects—as well as attacks that reference the number of damage counters on a Pokémon.

Moving onto the attacks, I was drawing a solid blank for a moment. I almost wanted to use the [Tri-Attack] move I came up with for the Porygon-Z EX that I designed, which utilizes a new Special Condition—Frozen.

However, that would have been too redundant, and would have detracted from the appeal of uniqueness between the cards. It can be very important to ensure that each card is there own, specifically when uniqueness was a concept in the initial idea of the design. Thinking it over for a moment, I got the idea of an attack that is potentially power, but at first suggests a deck structure that might embody a wide-range vulnerability (such as the exclusive use of Pokémon EX/GX).

The next thing that came to mind was the concept of digital hardware—such as the motherboard or the circuit paths contained within digital hardware. That was when I looked up [Circle Circuit] Raichu thinking do some effect like that. Obviously copying the attack as it is would have been far too over the top, so I quickly put the two concepts together and started to etch out a "circuit" attack with a Type-restriction to it.

As I etched it out, I cancelled out the additional restriction of referencing only "Benched Pokémon" for the attack, since I felt like the single restriction it would have would be enough with the moderate damage range of a 20x multiplier. Polishing this off, I adjusted to the name to a stylish alternative, that suggests just that. An empowered, or alternative style of the original [Circle Circuit] attack. This is a classic staple in their design etiquette, so naturally everything felt perfect to me as the design stood.

Moving on to the GX attack, I was again drawing a blank, and the attack as it stands might be a little obvious to that. It's not exactly flashy or unique in any way, but I thought to balance this out with the sense of it being very interactive with other cards. And that's about the sum of its potential. I strongly believe it can be rather underwhelming for a GX attack, yet possesses enough power so that it's still something that would over the top for other premium powered cards (such as Pokémon EX and BREAK).

To further the potential for expansionism, I decided to enable the application of Weakness and Resistance. This opens up some design space for effects that would change attributes such as Weakness, Resistance, and Type—as well effects that might enable certain Pokémon to share attacks. In this, Porygon-Z GX would be a great pair for other cards I've designed—such as Rainbow Wing—and the [Download] Porygon-Z EX previously mentioned.

One of the more interesting attributes to the design of this card lies in the selection of Weakness and Resistance types. To me, the weakness to Fighting-type seems entirely unrealistic for a Digital Pokémon. If anything, it should have special attributes that provide their evolution line with resistance to physical attacks. And special weakness attributes to types such as Dark—and possibly Psychic (which was the other selection I had in mind for this card's decided Weakness).

Discerning between them, Dark-type seemed a lot better suited, given the problematic nature of corruption when it comes to digital systems, logical controllers, and computer programming. Darkness would obviously be the natural Weakness over Psychic, and considering this, the choice made itself.

I polished off the design with a 2 Energy retreat cost for good measure. [Power Circuit] is already very powerful, and enables some power deck structure options. 170HP helps to place it in the more commonly reachable range for one-hit KOs (that extra 10 HP really makes up for a lot)—and so the 2 Energy retreat cost helps to compliment that by making mobility more of an expense.

Having to discard your Double Colorless Energy is very inconvenient compared to an easily expendable basic Energy—and having to tech cards like Special Charge is also very inconvenient—so it adds some unique challenging aspects to the design over all. Cards like Float Stone could always be an option, but the nature of Porygon-Z GX's attacks strongly suggest players to run amplifier or bracers to its shortcomings—such as power and HP.

So although a little uneasy with the simple nature of the GX attack, I felt like the design was majorly perfected with this final adjustment.

As a fun fact, I had initially thought to assign the GX attack 5 energy for good measure, but due to the simple nature, dialed it down to 4 so that it wouldn't be an over-expense in additionally underwhelming cases. You can only use one, and that aspect of challenge should embody the responsibility to make sure it's either decently effective or decently affordable (striving to embody a little of both here).

Quick update on this one. I dialed the power down to 30x for [Power Circuit]. Kind of the obvious. Nothing too special to see here.

bbninjas · Sep 23, 2016

I really like the Vector Distortion Ability! A very neat concept, though it might be a little too easy to activate, considering that many decks that use counters will generally rely on them to execute the deck strategy. You may like to add a way for the opponent to somewhat easily turn the Ability off.

Power Circuit is a great name and flavour for the attack effect, so great job there! I also really enjoy reading your regular design notes, and in general the idea behind the design.

I think something you could consider in your future cards is creating a bit of synergy (or counter-synergy) between the various effects, where the first attack/Ability can be used to the advantage (or a slight disadvantage, if you'd like a challenge!) of the second. I always like these type of cards, especially those that have synergy that is not obvious.

ReapThaWhirlwind · Sep 23, 2016

That's great to hear. Typically, people aren't akin to reading the musings of others. I actually didn't get a chance to proof read that entry yet, because I finally got so hungry, that I decided to just post it at finish, and come back after to brush up the text. I have been intending to catch up on the one's I've missed too, so be on the look out for those in the near future.

This is traditionally my style of design. I like to share the experience of my development process, in hopes it might provide insight to others, towards the issues they might face, while developing their own cards. This is very helpful for people who design alone, since there aren't ever any other people to turn to for speculation. I have to figure everything out for myself, and I must say that it's definitely not something that's suited for everyone.

I hope that my design notes provide some understanding of what makes a card good—what makes it appealing—and what kind of effects are essential to the scope of a full project development. There are a number of fundamental things you always need to provide in order to diversify the styles of play available—and broaden the range of support for deck structure development. I've strived to explain some of these aspects in the array of cards I've presented thus far, but I wouldn't be surprised if anyone could use a summary or some cliff notes (which I'll probably never get around to).

As for what you're suggesting (with that arrangements of effects), it's generally counter-intuitive to your project development (and the whole of the game) to create cards that function in that way. If at all, it does make an interesting challenge, that might be good for a single card in a blue moon. However, it's definitely not something you want to make a standard of, because the nature of the game itself (and how aggressive the environment can get), ensure that the most intelligent developer knows the greater importance of providing measure of potential to their cards with good measures, wide-ranges, and the diversity of alternate options.

Traditionally, providing this potential falls into a few main categories.

You have a card that aims to do one thing—and does it well. This might be a tactical card (such as Bench Barrier) that acts as a technical card with no considerable offensive or defensive otherwise.

Then, you have a card that serves a technical purpose, but also possess some general potential as well (such as a card with a tech ability that can double as a combative offensive or defensive resource).

Then, you have cards that possess distinct challenging factors to them (such as low HP—or Stage 2 Evolution status) and then are provided with a wide-range of diverse potential between their other attributes to compensate for this, so that they are still very good, playable cards.

And then, you have cards that aim to serve one of the two main purposes (technical, offensive, or defensive), yet also possess the attributes or effects that enable them to switch up to alternative styles of play at any time.

Having a set of counter-intuitive effects acts as its own challenging factor, that will likely degenerate its potential to survive in more technical/hostile situations. It's something you're likely to curse yourself for later, so you should be really careful when considering an aspect like this to design around. It's only suited for a small array of very technical effects, making it a rarity at most in any case.

At least, that is if you want to do something interesting enough to call a significant design. You could always throw together a bunch of generic effects that are slightly counter-intuitive to one another, but that greatly detracts from the unique appeal you'd want to capture with a concept like this. And that is why I say it's something you should only consider as a rarity, when you can come up with something really interesting, unique, or interactive to center it around.

I'll give it some thought and see if I can come up with something. My next design will be another Ancient Trait, that hosts another interesting Ability I thought up recently. I just have to etch out the details yet, which includes the type of Pokémon to use, and how to design around the effect.

ReapThaWhirlwind · Sep 26, 2016

Houndoom BREAK

Houndoom BREAK 150HP

{Ability} Dread Fang [If the effect of an attack, Ability, or Trainer card causes any Energy to be discarded from an opponent's Pokémon, put 2 damage counters on that Pokémon.]

Aside from what is described below in the Update Notice, the intention for this design was to create a BREAK that could transverse between both Dark-type and Fire-type Houndoom equally. This tamed down version of the original effect (which discarded an additional Energy), provides a more graceful boost to an already powerful, core game aspect. The way it intends to work couples all energy discarded from a card at once. It doesn't put 2 damage counters on per energy discarded. However, if energy are discarded from a card in multiple instances (once from an item—and another from an attack) it will put 2 damage counters on for both instances.

The concept intends to emulate the locking jaws of a vicious bite. And respectfully, the effect counts energy that are discarded from Pokémon in order to attack. So if the attack of an opponent's Pokémon requires energy to be discarded from it, {Dread Fang} will put 2 damage counters on that Pokémon in the end.

Houndoom 120HP

Delirium Fang [30] If the Defending Pokémon tries to attack during your opponent's next turn, your opponent flips a coin. If tails, your opponent switches that Pokémon with 1 of his or her Benched Pokémon instead.

Mega Crunch [70] Flip 2 coins. For each heads, discard an Energy attached to your opponent's Active Pokémon.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

_______________

Houndour 70HP

{Ability} Midnight Call [Whenever you attach an Energy to this Pokémon, if it's your Active Pokémon, you may search your deck for up to 2 Houndour cards and put them onto your Bench. Shuffle your deck afterwards.]

Fearless Instinct [20] If you go first, you may use this attack on your first turn. This Pokémon has no Weakness during your opponent's next turn.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

All killer no filler designs here. My intention was to make a pair of cards that would embody the coolness and awesomeness that enraptured these two Pokémon when they were first released. I think the TCG made a solid effort in doing exactly this in the Neo set, by making both cards holofoil. Yet this awesomeness came with a tragic counterbalance in the fact that the cards didn't have nearly as much playability as they needed to be competitive. No matter what the reasons or intentions were back then—it's all deeply in the past now.

This is like a redemption of sorts. Seeking to relive and reignite the fantasy and flare from those now nostalgic days.

This starts with Houndour. An Ability basic with the capabilities to bench build, and allow the deck structure to focus on other capabilities that support the card's shortcomings (such as average HP and Weakness). Some people are kind of blindly frightened by implementing self-sufficiency into designs, because they autonomously think that it's what other content is supposed to be for. There is some truth to this—but it's actually very subjective.

What you're looking to create as a developer is a support system. You have so many points of interest/capability/utility/function. It doesn't matter where you put these points, so long as you spread them out. When it comes to general game content (such as Pokéballs)—their existence doesn't have to take full precedence in the game. Not every card needs to rely on them. Cards that are self-reliant provide for themselves, and then rely on other general content for what they are missing. It all balances out. So one shouldn't be afraid that a card is 'doing too much' or is 'too self-sufficient'. All you're going to do with that style of thinking is limit your creative potential, and limit the overall play value/fun/interactivity of the content that you create.

{Midnight Call} is a fun, interactive, self-sufficient Ability—that the average power-curve (hosted by Stage 1 content) can effectively make great use of to reach more proficient levels of competitive play. It's not over the top here. It's right at home. Stage 1 content needs support like this to draft the game pace in a fun measure. It's been seen before, but this is another great example of it.

The call of hunger, or the taste of blood calls the pack. Setting up for another artistic effect in the [Fearless Instinct] attack. The wild dog is fearless. It's undaunted. It's madly driven by the Instinct of Survival. This attack and its effect seeks to capture that essence perfectly. It enables the Stage 1 build to get a jump on the offensive, while creating an artistic resistance against the crippling effects of Weakness. Fighting-type tend to be very powerful and quick. The levels are unbalanced for Stage 1 content to compete. An effect like this provides a fair, fighting chance. Preserving the elements of fun and interactivity. It couples with the realism of an assault by a wild dog. Whose vicious locking bites, and adrenaline rush, easily shakes off the initial blows.

This sets the foundation for the Houndoom design—a straight-forward one-two concept whose potential was intended to enable the card to hit the ground running at any time in the game. Some may argue this isn't what's best for Stage 1 content (they need bigger attacks with power). But once again—this is very subjective. Typically, what's most fun for Stage 1 cards in my experience is something cheap and effective. It's light, versatile, and tactile. These attributes make an incredibly attractive Stage 1 design.

The first attack [Delirium Fang] is a quick, disruption attack that's supportive for both swarmer and out-fighter strategies. The effect naturally takes inspiration from Houndoom's Pokédex entry from Crystal version, "The pungent-smelling flame that shoots from its mouth results from toxins burning in its body.". It's a toxic bite, that induces delirium, and potentially disrupts the opposing Pokémon from being able to attack, and forces it to flee in terror instead. This unique twist offers an element of challenge for the attack.

It's as effective as 'attacks do nothing instead' effects, while offering a more graceful medium in the HP cache between Pokémon being switched in-an-out. It doesn't enable any of them to be knocked out easily, while the switching engagement can also set-up for an effective play with the second attack, [Mega Crunch]. This is a very powerful attack with a powerful effect that intends to give the Stage 1 card some strongly formidable, competitive potential.

Malamar BREAK

Malamar BREAK 130HP

{Ability} Endbringer [Whenever an opponent flips a tails for 1 of his or her Pokémon, put 3 damage counters on that Pokémon (even if those coins we're flipped again).]

As described in the Update Notice, this Ability was originally designed and intended for this design. The name and its concept seeks to paint a vivid illustrative of just what kind of dark and powerful character Malamar actually is. The effect is very simple and straight-forward. It's intended as punisher for coin flips—boasting immense synergy with Special Conditions such as Confused, Asleep, and Burned—as well as the failure of missing moves or executing effects of attacks, Abilities, or other efforts. Coupling with the {Shadow Game} Ability—the scenario of a strict game of Chess is painted out here. Where every move is critical—and every failed step means imminent doom. There is no room for error. And I believe that is perfectly illustrated here by the name of the Ability and its effect.

The way this Ability is intended to work is based on each full instance of coin flips, and not based on every coin flipped. However, if a player is flipping coins for a Pokémon multiple times a turn, it will trigger for each instance, and put 3 damage counters on that Pokémon if a tails was flipped at least once at any time during that instance.

Malamar 100HP

{Ability} Shadow Games [As long as this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon, each player plays with his or her hand revealed, and whenever a player draws a card at the beginning of his or her turn, that player discards a card of the same type from his or her hand or that he or she has in play (excluding the card drawn).]

Psychic Trance [50] The Defending Pokémon can't Retreat during your opponent's next turn.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

_____________

Inkay 50HP

Fear [

] The Defending Pokémon can't attack during your opponent's next turn.

Bite [30]

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

The initial concept for Inkay began centered around simplicity. I understand as well as anyone that you can't do something incredibly intricate for every design. But I also understand that for the integrity of artisan style (and to best playability in your development) every design should consider having some noticeable level of self-sufficiency to them. No matter what you think—or to whatever the level of your attention deficit is—every design really, really, really wants to be able to do something dynamic or interactive.

With simplicity in mind, I choose a quick, tactical combat disruption effect. The inspiration from this effect draws from a classic Magic the Gathering card named Fear. The art for this card depicts a small creature, with sharp fangs, lifting its arms over its head and chasing away a group of individuals in terror. And therein. this design seeks to play on that, placing Inkay as that creature. It just instantly seemed like such a cute analogy. I love the fantasy and life it gives to the design. It's so cute to imagine Inkay doing that. Such realism too—it gives so much to the imagination.

Moving into the Malamar design, this is one I had big plans for. This was a rise-to-the-occasion design. That intended to do something really dynamic, so that it-itself could become the foundation to an entire deck structure/strategy based around it. Not that this isn't (or shouldn't) always be the intention, but it was especially intended here, and in doing something incredibly unique to boot. The original concept began with devising a way to create a 'Shadow Game' between the players. As a Psychic/Dark-type Malamar is exactly this type of character, so I thought it would be incredibly dynamic to fantasy and realism of the design.

The effect of the Shadow Game wanted to be disruptive, but also needed to be indiscriminate between the two players. I had thought over a few concepts, but was able to quickly decide this effect was going to be the most fun out of all of them. It's potentially very disruptive, very powerful, and by its dynamics, sees that the player with the most solid development in their deck structure is going to reign supreme as sole survivor. Cheap under-thought builds, with poor schematics, that attempt to monger certain mediums (Items/Supporters)—thinking they cut corners on other core aspects (Energy/Consistency) will naturally find themselves getting picked apart in the darkness.

From here, the [Psychic Trance] attack seeks to add some gravity to the card and its magnetism. It represents the dark power of Malamar keeping the opponent locked in the Shadow Game through the effects of its psychic trance. A very simple effect, that prevents Retreating, and pairs nicely in the family of other Malamar cards that create Special Conditions.

Finally got around to finalizing these two designs. I know they're kind of old by now, but what happened was, I got caught up between the between the two abilities for the BREAK designs. {Endbringer} was originally created for the Malamar concept. But then I got the idea of switching it to Houndoom, which would boost the effects of the Burn Special Condition (this was before they changed the functionality of how Burned works).

I wasn't really happy with the choice. But I got caught up inbetween the two designs. A rock and a hard place. {Dread Fang} originally caused an additional energy to be discarded. I felt uncomfortable stacking this with an already powerful [Mega Crunch] attack that the Stage 1 Houndoom has. It would put the energy removal WAY over the top.

I originally thought that it could be neat to give them effects that cater to contrastive effects. Nothing they do directly, but effects that can be supported/provided by other outside content. I didn't like how this ruined the self-sufficiency of the designs however. These effects were originally intended to provide synergy with previous content in the suite (such as [Entangling Control] Malamar).

Coming back to this, I decided to switch it back to how it originally was. Then saw the potential to exchange the additional energy discarding effect in {Dread Fang} for a damage counter effect instead. This numbs the power-level to where it needs to be, while still being incredibly dynamic to support the fantasy and flare of the BREAK concept.

Nyora · Oct 3, 2016

Just kinda scanning, but ANY card that says that a Pokémon of yours can't be knocked out is OP. Especially with no setback.

ReapThaWhirlwind · Oct 9, 2016

You must be referring to Bruno's Indomitable Will. I would image that it does need some kind of restrictions to it in order to bring it up to a greater level of balance. What I originally had in mind was to extend the potential to less fortunate, underpowered content, in addition to helping out a balance against the widely popular Psychic-type vulnerability. Weakness to Psychic tends to reduce many Fighting-type cards to a great disadvantage. They all do high amounts of damage, and very quickly, and so Fighting-types with weakness to Psychic tend to get picked apart. This was one of major aspects I was looking to balance with Bruno's Indomitable Will. I just haven't got around to brushing it up yet.

I will try to look into it for you, and see what I can do to bring it up to code.

ReapThaWhirlwind · Oct 12, 2016

Bruno's Indomitable Will [Reprise]

Bruno's Indomitable Will [Supporter]

During your turn and your opponent's next turn, your Active Fighting-type Pokémon have no Weakness, can't be affected by any Special Conditions, and damage from their attacks aren't affected by any effects on your opponent's Pokémon.

Okay, so here's the revision of Bruno's Indomitable Will.

It replaces the can't be Knocked Out condition with a small collection of effects that aim to accomplish the primary objectives I mentioned, and perfectly embody the raging indomitable will that the fighting spirit of a true warrior would exemplify.

Nyora · Oct 12, 2016

Ah, that seems awesome. Really great card for fighting types. And also mor balanced than a knockout.

ReapThaWhirlwind · Oct 28, 2016

Energizing Gel

Energizing Gel

[Attach a Pokémon Tool to 1 of your Pokémon that doesn't already have a Pokémon Tool attached to it.]

If this card is attached to 1 of your Pokémon, you may discard it at any time.

While in play, this card provides every type of Energy but provides only 1 Energy at a time. When you attach this card from your hand to 1 of your Pokémon, put 3 damage counters on that Pokémon.

Not expecting this to be anything new really. It's just a small concept that I thought I'd present to debate the utility of. This card would most likely want to be run in the same style as Bursting Balloon—with a 4-2 split between it and Eco Arm.

I originally thought to have this design provide just a colorless energy. A lite application like that would obviously make a clean and simple design that averages the power level of the card out well, but I would questioned just how lack luster that could actually turn out to be in the end. It has utility—boasts some exciting enough power—but ultimately becomes shut off from a great measure of content with color-heavy attacks. This is a very important aspect to be wary about, I believe. So I decided to switch it up to a Rainbow Energy-styled function. The versatility of being able to provide any type of energy opens it up to all the content in the game, and the damage counters helps to balance it in the same way it does for Rainbow Energy itself.

Given the unrestricted use of Item cards, the amount of damage would have to be upped from the amount that Rainbow Energy puts down. By how much exactly is still a bit in question to me. I hate to overwhelm the design as much as I hate to underwhelm it. And so that's why the amount of damage counters is set at an elevated three.

For the power it could provide, quickly bridging the gap to a Pokémon's strongest attack and hyper-accelerating the damage stack, I honestly think that 3 damage counters might be the very least amount needed for fair measure. Two sounds good, and feel really comfortable from the user-end. But when you consider that you could just be getting a quick knockout from this—it seems only fair to provide some elevated sense of a fighting chance to your opponent in exchange.

The concept behind this design revolves mostly around anabolics, which in the modern age have taken the form of topical gels. As always, these anabolic gels can provide the same boosted energy and strength, yet are by no means any less dangerous than their intravenous or pill forms.

Typically, the first aspect you have to consider is the third-party supply of these bio-chemicals, which the body identifies as so, and is likely to down-regulate its own production of. This sends the body into a shut-down, that can take an extended amount of time to up-regulate (after third-party exposure has ceased).

The second damaging aspect is the invocation of the immunity system. When it comes to bio-chemicals and receptor activity, the body is by design akin to immense sensitivity. The smallest variances in a particular chemical can mean a different signal entirely. And so overexposure to signaling (or bio-chemical flooding) threatens to deaden the receptors—narrowing their available room to recept the volume of a signal (or various signals at once).

To combat against the threat of excessive bio-chemical exposure, the body has its immunity system, which can begin deploying anti-gens and anti-bodies to quell the surplus. In the course of heavy exposure to bio-chemical flooding, this is sure to invoke an immunity presence. This immunity presence aggressively quells the substances they were created to target, which when it comes to naturally important chemicals (such as androgens and hormones) threaten the potency of the biological system and its performance—especially in the aftermath where the biological flooding has ceased.

The surplus will cease, the body becomes deregulated, and the immunity presence remains. All amounting to serious biological famine—thus being the natural source of damage such energizing gels bring.

As a secondary threat, all through the 80's and into the modern age, there was a dark pop-culture for poisoning such supplements (mostly intravenous forms) with other substances that invoked very nasty side-effects upon initial use—or as the technique matured—involved less obvious forms of poisoning. These techniques primarily involved heavy estrogen lacing alongside testosterone, which covertly stacked heavy alternative estrogen presence, alongside the natural estrogen uptake invoked by the elevated presence of testosterone (creating all kinds severe mental, emotional, and physical instabilities).

This dark pop-culture became immensely popular among heartless individuals and criminal distributors—thus taking the natural danger of these substances and making them entirely deadly.

In our cyber age, which unfortunately has developed to be so unsecure age by much consideration, the threat of such poisoning may not even be discernable through the use of typical technology. Display kernel hacks and other hardware based manipulations can terrifyingly be used to hinder computer systems from discerning the presence of such things.

For all these reasons, it's immensely important to be extra wary of such substances—and the damage presented in this card intends to reflect the seriousness of this all.

Quick update for this design. I removed the forced discard at the end of turn. It was intended to make it graceful, but it was over-the-top, and easily unnecessary for the 3 damage counters it costs you. To preserve the gracefulness of the design, the card enables you to discard it at your will (if say you want to shift to another Tool card).

ReapThaWhirlwind · Mar 7, 2017

Ash Pikachu GX

Ash Pikachu GX 130HP

{Ability} Improvised Attack [This Pokémon can use the attacks of any Pokémon in play (both yours and your opponent's) that require only

and/or

Energy to use. (You still need the necessary Energy to use each attack.)]

Agility [40] Flip a coin. If heads, prevent all effects of attacks, including damage, that would be done to this Pokémon during your opponent's next turn.

Volt Tackle GX [60x] This attack deals 60 damage times the number of

Energy attached to this Pokémon. If this attack Knocks Out the Defending Pokémon, you may use this attack an additional time this turn.

Weakness:

2x
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

Some inspiration behind this design.

Agility is definitely one of Ash Pikachu's most prominent moves. Feels very befitting to have it as the primary attack. The disruption effect helps to brace the vulnerable HP tier as a nice bonus. Volt Tackle is probably one of Pikachu's more powerful moves. The added effect to it is intended to support the flavor of momentum, in the sense that so much momentum can't be so simply stopped, but instead may breakthrough until met with an equal or greater opposing force. Ash also tends to call for Volt Tackle back-to-back, which is another nice flavor bonus to add to this concept. The Versatile style effect is especially artisan to Ash's Pikachu I would say, given the immense amount of experience it's gained, and the legendary reputation to use improvised attacks. It would make a really nice counterpart to Mew, and a very interested card by itself. The Type-restriction is intended to set this design apart from Mew—and represents the simpler nature of Pikachu's improvisational potential—compared to Mew's legendary potential as the first Pokémon.

ReapThaWhirlwind · Mar 18, 2017

Team Rocket's Mimikyu

Team Rocket's Mimikyu 130HP

{Ability} Shadow Sneak [Once during your turn, when you play Mimikyu from your hand to your Bench, you may move as many Energy cards attached to your Pokémon as you like to any of your other Pokémon.]

Deviant/Devilish Claw [50] Your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Confused. Mimikyu may use this attack from the Bench in place of your Active Pokémon. If it does, shuffle Mimikyu and all cards attached to it into your deck.

Play Rough GX [90] Evolved Pokémon in each player's hand, discard pile, and in play have no Abilities for the rest of the game.

Weakness:

x2
Resistance:

-20
Retreat:

Inspiration for this design came after seeing the new Ash Vs. Team Rocket product featuring a card amptly titled, Ash's Pikachu GX. I had just designed the card above around the same concept some time before the official spoiler, and was somewhat disappointed by the product's news, as I don't expect the card to be nearly as good as the one I designed. Well, I decided I mine as well complete the cycle and take a crack at designing a Mimikyu-GX to compliment the Ash Pikachu-GX I came up with previously.

The first idea I had was to recycle the effect of Shaymin's {Celebration Wind} Ability, from the Heart Gold Soul Silver Unleashed set. It's a really strong Ability, with all kinds of natural potential for combination plays, so I figured this could give the Mimikyu card some equal to the {Improvided Attack} Ability that I came up with for Ash Pikachu (whose power would be very challenging to match).

The second concept I came up with was slightly inspired by the art on the Mimikyu-GX card. Well, I actually thought up the unique effect first, and then thinking of the art it kinda clicked in relativity. This is a unique attack that Mimikyu can use from the Bench in place of the Active Pokémon's attack. To balance this kind of powerful effect out, I figured it would have to either shuffle Mimikyu from the bench into the deck or discard Mimikyu from the bench. This effect would have a nice bonus to it in the sense that it enables an extension play on Mimikyu's Ability, but I was undecided as to which form to channel here, so that's why they're still both listed there as an either/or. Both have equal combo potential available to them. The shuffle effect with cards like Ultra Ball and Olivia—and the discard effect cards like Max Revive and the new Pokémon Stretcher card coming out.

My intuition tells me to go with the discard effect over the shuffle effect, because it's a little more resource dependent by nature, and that helps to better balance the power of the effect out, while also helping to make it more interactive (for a bonus to the fun factor of interactivity). If going with the shuffle effect, it's less resource dependent, as Mimikyu is resourceable on a single card across a wide array of different card types. You have direct retrieval Ball effects (which are common content)—and you have a direct retrieval Supporters (also common content) that can put the card directly into your hand. With the discard effect you need to tech uncommon, specialty Items (such as the Stretcher card); or you will need to jump through additional hoops with Supporters—as the typical Supporter doesn't put Mimikyu directly into your hand—it would shuffle it into your deck where you need to use additional card to resource it back into your hand.

So you see, the resource dependency and the interactivity factor make the discard option a little better I think.

The concept for the GX attack is a throwback to how I've previously re-envisioned the TCG Play Rough attack in my TM50 card. It's also relevant to a monstrous Mimikyu Play Rough sweep strategy, that can enable Mimikyu to take out an entire team of Pokémon by itself. I think the effect is very intuitive a low HP GX Pokémon to have, as it can help to protect it immensely. It is adjusted so that it doesn't disable its own Ability, which is naturally important of course. The need for protection can give a lot of incentive to use the GX attack right away, and so for fair measure, I've set the energy cost at a slightly challenging amount with the intention to enable just that. I think at this amount it's fairly reachable—yet slightly challenging—and the damage between the its two attacks doesn't enable Mimikyu to Breech 170HP Knock Outs or greater by itself (which is another considerable balance factor I put into this).

ReapThaWhirlwind · Apr 1, 2017

Sun Contaminates & Moon Antidote

Sun Contaminates [Pokémon Tool Card]

Attach this Pokémon Tool to any 1 Pokémon in play (yours or your opponent's) that doesn't already have a Pokémon Tool card attached to it.

The Pokémon this card is attached to has no Abilities and all effects from its attacks, excluding damage, that would be done to your Pokémon are prevented.

Moon Antidote [Pokémon Tool Card]

Attach this Pokémon Tool to 1 of your Pokémon in play that doesn't already have a Pokémon Tool card attached to it.

The Pokémon this card is attached to can't have the effects of its attacks or Abilities, including damage, ignored or prevented.

These are two designs I came up with at the launch of Sun and Moon as an embodiment of the series.

They are equal opposites of one another. That is the main concept here.

I think the power-level of both are fine. Sun Contaminates would have fit in perfectly amongst the Flash Fire set, with the anti-EX gear we saw in there. Moon Antidote is a bit strong, but no stronger than any other powerful Tool card (such as G-Booster).

ReapThaWhirlwind · May 22, 2017

Nerve Booster

Nerve Booster [Item Card]

Each of your Pokémon's attacks this turn have "Flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 30 more damage to your opponent's Pokémon."

Had this idea for a new meta-type of Item cards that add bonus effects to your Pokémon's next attack that turn. The concept seems really fun, has a ton of universal potential, and opens up all kinds of design space for the development team to implement a band of Item card retrieval (and Item recycle) effects to hyper-accelerate interactivity and flow of the cards throughout the season.

TCG Fakes ReapThaWhirlwind's Graphic Underworld [Text Based Designs]

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer

Ready or Not!

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer

A Cat

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer

A Cat

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer

Aspiring Trainer