Contest September 2019 CaC: Bug Pokémon! (All Results Up!)
- Thread starter Jabberwock
- Start date
I've put you down. Note that you don't necessarily have to wait for me to do that before submitting, if you know that signups aren't full.
First fake card made; I hope it's not too bad. Fingers crossed!
Galvantula-GX - Grass - HP190
Stage 1 - Evolves from Joltik
Ability: Static Silk
If this Pokémon has any [L] energy attached to it, this Pokémon’s type is both [G] and [L].
[G][C] Swarming Bite
On each of your opponent’s benched Pokémon, place damage counters equal to the amount of Joltik in your discard pile.
[G] Web Stunner GX 10x
This attack does 10 damage times the number of damage counters on your opponent’s benched Pokémon. The Defending Pokemon is now Paralyzed. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [R] x2
Resistance:
Retreat: [C]
When attacked, they create an electric barrier by spitting out many electrically charged threads.
Stage 1 - Evolves from Joltik
Ability: Static Silk
If this Pokémon has any [L] energy attached to it, this Pokémon’s type is both [G] and [L].
[G][C] Swarming Bite
On each of your opponent’s benched Pokémon, place damage counters equal to the amount of Joltik in your discard pile.
[G] Web Stunner GX 10x
This attack does 10 damage times the number of damage counters on your opponent’s benched Pokémon. The Defending Pokemon is now Paralyzed. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [R] x2
Resistance:
Retreat: [C]
When attacked, they create an electric barrier by spitting out many electrically charged threads.
If you think it’s going to cost you a lot, you can edit for a -2 penalty... and I just found a few mistakes.
My card for text-based has been done for ages, but I’ve been trying to finish turning it into an image fake. I’m nearly done with that, but I don’t think I’ll be able to finish by the end of tomorrow so I’ll most likely just put in the transcript. I’ll still post what I’ve done of the image version, but it won’t be for judging or anything like that — maybe just some tips and suggestions if anyone has any. The card feels... “off” to me anyway so text is the safer bet.
[Basic] Accelgor & Escavalier-GX HP250 [G]
[Tag Team]
[G][G][M] Shell Buster 150
Discard the top card of your opponent's deck. This Pokémon does 40 damage to itself.
[C]+ Sinister Toxin-GX 50
Your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Poisoned. Put 5 damage counters instead of 1 on that Pokémon between turns. If this Pokémon has at least 4 extra [G] on it, this attack does 50 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon and their active Pokémon is also Paralyzed.
Weakness: [R]x2
Resistance:
Retreat: [C][C]
TAG TEAM - When your TAG TEAM is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards.
[Tag Team]
[G][G][M] Shell Buster 150
Discard the top card of your opponent's deck. This Pokémon does 40 damage to itself.
[C]+ Sinister Toxin-GX 50
Your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Poisoned. Put 5 damage counters instead of 1 on that Pokémon between turns. If this Pokémon has at least 4 extra [G] on it, this attack does 50 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon and their active Pokémon is also Paralyzed.
Weakness: [R]x2
Resistance:
Retreat: [C][C]
TAG TEAM - When your TAG TEAM is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards.
Ok so I didn't end up finishing my image fake so I'll stick with text.
I might post what I've done of it here so people can see and give feedback if they want, but I won't ask for a complete judging of it bc I know that's a hell of a lot of work. It just feels really off to me but I can't put my finger on it. I suspect it's probably small things like placements and sizing errors but they do add up.
I might post what I've done of it here so people can see and give feedback if they want, but I won't ask for a complete judging of it bc I know that's a hell of a lot of work. It just feels really off to me but I can't put my finger on it. I suspect it's probably small things like placements and sizing errors but they do add up.
Parasect-GX [G] HP200
Stage 1 – Evolves from Paras
Ability: Sporadic Spores
If this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon and is damaged by an opponent’s attack (even if it is Knocked Out) put 1 Spore counter on each of your opponent’s Pokémon.
[G][G][G] Fungal Fever
This attack does 20 damage to each of your opponent’s Pokémon for each Spore counter on that Pokémon. If your opponent’s Active Pokémon was damaged in this way, that Pokémon is now Burned, Confused and Poisoned.
[G] Mushroom Mayhem-GX 30x
This attack does 30 damage for each Spore counter on all of your opponent’s Pokémon. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Pokémon-GX rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: [R] x2
Resistance: N/A
Retreat: [C][C]
Stage 1 – Evolves from Paras
Ability: Sporadic Spores
If this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon and is damaged by an opponent’s attack (even if it is Knocked Out) put 1 Spore counter on each of your opponent’s Pokémon.
[G][G][G] Fungal Fever
This attack does 20 damage to each of your opponent’s Pokémon for each Spore counter on that Pokémon. If your opponent’s Active Pokémon was damaged in this way, that Pokémon is now Burned, Confused and Poisoned.
[G] Mushroom Mayhem-GX 30x
This attack does 30 damage for each Spore counter on all of your opponent’s Pokémon. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Pokémon-GX rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: [R] x2
Resistance: N/A
Retreat: [C][C]
References:
- Lycanroc-GX [Guardians Rising]
- Venomoth-GX [Unbroken Bonds]
- Salazzle [Ultra Prism]
- Rocky Helmet [Boundaries Crossed]
- Lycanroc-GX [Guardians Rising]
- Venomoth-GX [Unbroken Bonds]
- Salazzle [Ultra Prism]
- Rocky Helmet [Boundaries Crossed]
Uh I actually did finish the image after all
Any feedback would be appreciated
(Also yes I know the text should be justified but I merged a bunch of layers and moved on before I realised)
Any feedback would be appreciated
(Also yes I know the text should be justified but I merged a bunch of layers and moved on before I realised)
Thanks for letting me use the photo btw @Nekoban RyoUh I actually did finish the image after all
Any feedback would be appreciated
(Also yes I know the text should be justified but I merged a bunch of layers and moved on before I realised)
Fashionably late or just plain late? neither because (hopefully) I'm still barely on time
[Stage 1] Accelgor-GX HP200 [G]
Evolves from Shelmet
Ability: Forbidden Arts
Once during your turn (before your attack), when you play Escavalier or Escavalier-GX from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon, you may put this Pokémon from your hand onto your Bench. If you do, you may search your deck for a card and put into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck. You can't use more than 1 Forbidden Arts Ability each turn.
[*] Deck and Cover
Your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Paralyzed and Poisoned. Shuffle this Pokémon and all cards attached to it into your deck. If you don't have Shelmet and Karrablast in play, this attack does nothing.
[G] Turncoat GX
If your opponent's Bench isn't full, put this Pokémon and all cards attached to it onto your opponent's Bench. (When this Pokémon leaves play for any reason, put it in its owner's discard pile). If you have Shelmet, Karrablast, and Escavalier or Escavalier-GX in play, you may use 1 more GX attack this game. (You can't use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [R]x2
Resistance: -
Retreat: -
GX Rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Evolves from Shelmet
Ability: Forbidden Arts
Once during your turn (before your attack), when you play Escavalier or Escavalier-GX from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon, you may put this Pokémon from your hand onto your Bench. If you do, you may search your deck for a card and put into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck. You can't use more than 1 Forbidden Arts Ability each turn.
[*] Deck and Cover
Your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Paralyzed and Poisoned. Shuffle this Pokémon and all cards attached to it into your deck. If you don't have Shelmet and Karrablast in play, this attack does nothing.
[G] Turncoat GX
If your opponent's Bench isn't full, put this Pokémon and all cards attached to it onto your opponent's Bench. (When this Pokémon leaves play for any reason, put it in its owner's discard pile). If you have Shelmet, Karrablast, and Escavalier or Escavalier-GX in play, you may use 1 more GX attack this game. (You can't use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [R]x2
Resistance: -
Retreat: -
GX Rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Tapu Koko GX for coming into play Ability (close enough)
Fliptini (hard OPT clause)
Deck and Cover Accelgor from like 25 years ago
Head Ringer (behaviour of control-switching cards)
Fliptini (hard OPT clause)
Deck and Cover Accelgor from like 25 years ago
Head Ringer (behaviour of control-switching cards)
Ngl, it took a surprising amount of time to figure out what exactly I would do with the Accelgor part of the line. Escavalier GX (last month's entry) was meant to be the main attacker, so at least I knew this card was meant to have a more supporting role. Supportive how, I didn't know yet, but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.
If I wanted this thing's attack to be worth using over just swinging with Escavalier, it had to be either super good or super fast. And while the attack is definitely not bad, I opted to go the fast route with the Ability while giving it some great synergy with the (kinda?) existing cards. Turbo out an Escavalier, you get this bad boy too if you have it in your hand; it even gets you a free search once per turn.
Originally it was gonna be kind of like Tapu Koko in the sense that it made itself the Active Pokémon, but I figured this was way better since there is no good way of searching React Energy. Besides, you can also get a switching card if you want to use the attack, or really anything else you need.
Shoutout to anyone who recognized the attack. It's basically a reprint of another Accelgor's attack from way back when, but with a few key differences. First off, no Energy cost but no direct damage. The original attack needed a DCE to be used, but this gives up an extra Prize and is not nearly as abusable since the attack can't be copied.
The other difference is that you need both Shelmet and Karrablast in play or the attack does nothing, which is the best way I could think of to prevent the attack from being exploited like the original one was. It's not a hard 'this attack cannot be copied' clause, but it should be good enough to prevent decks based entirely around copying the attack.
Obviously you can still try to chain the attack by searching for itself, but it would not neat a good enough reward since you would need too many resources to keep them coming every turn. The attack is meant as a buy one turn to charge up Escavalier, two turns at most, and I think it is good at that.
The GX attack is another nuisance, the opponent has to give up either a bench space or their GX attack (unless it's a mirror match), both of which are good scenarios for a theoretical Accelgor/Escavalier deck. The bench spot taken isn't only detrimental to the opponent, it also helps Escavalier's GX attack as it will be one more spot taken. You can use one more GX in its native deck clause is there so there is still reason to use this attack (since you'd want to use Escavalier's attack in prettty much any game) and so using it doesn't hurt you as much as it does your opponent.
All in all, the card does exactly what I wanted it to: it has a pitiful 10 damage in between turns as its entire damage output, but it has a lot of utility that earns it its place in its deck.
If I wanted this thing's attack to be worth using over just swinging with Escavalier, it had to be either super good or super fast. And while the attack is definitely not bad, I opted to go the fast route with the Ability while giving it some great synergy with the (kinda?) existing cards. Turbo out an Escavalier, you get this bad boy too if you have it in your hand; it even gets you a free search once per turn.
Originally it was gonna be kind of like Tapu Koko in the sense that it made itself the Active Pokémon, but I figured this was way better since there is no good way of searching React Energy. Besides, you can also get a switching card if you want to use the attack, or really anything else you need.
Shoutout to anyone who recognized the attack. It's basically a reprint of another Accelgor's attack from way back when, but with a few key differences. First off, no Energy cost but no direct damage. The original attack needed a DCE to be used, but this gives up an extra Prize and is not nearly as abusable since the attack can't be copied.
The other difference is that you need both Shelmet and Karrablast in play or the attack does nothing, which is the best way I could think of to prevent the attack from being exploited like the original one was. It's not a hard 'this attack cannot be copied' clause, but it should be good enough to prevent decks based entirely around copying the attack.
Obviously you can still try to chain the attack by searching for itself, but it would not neat a good enough reward since you would need too many resources to keep them coming every turn. The attack is meant as a buy one turn to charge up Escavalier, two turns at most, and I think it is good at that.
The GX attack is another nuisance, the opponent has to give up either a bench space or their GX attack (unless it's a mirror match), both of which are good scenarios for a theoretical Accelgor/Escavalier deck. The bench spot taken isn't only detrimental to the opponent, it also helps Escavalier's GX attack as it will be one more spot taken. You can use one more GX in its native deck clause is there so there is still reason to use this attack (since you'd want to use Escavalier's attack in prettty much any game) and so using it doesn't hurt you as much as it does your opponent.
All in all, the card does exactly what I wanted it to: it has a pitiful 10 damage in between turns as its entire damage output, but it has a lot of utility that earns it its place in its deck.
Aaaaaand that's a wrap, everyone! Stay tuned for results at the end of the month!
I'm here with a quick update on judging:
As y'all know if you read the first few posts or so of this thread, I've taken this round of CaC off for IRL reasons, and bb has agreed to fill in for me. So you've got his judging to look forward to! However, image-based judging will be delayed slightly for IRL reasons of bb's own. We both apologize for the inconvenience, but there's simply no way around it. Y'all know we're a small team.
Text-based judging is still likely to be posted at the end of this month, and the November contest is on schedule.
Thanks for your patience, y'all.
As y'all know if you read the first few posts or so of this thread, I've taken this round of CaC off for IRL reasons, and bb has agreed to fill in for me. So you've got his judging to look forward to! However, image-based judging will be delayed slightly for IRL reasons of bb's own. We both apologize for the inconvenience, but there's simply no way around it. Y'all know we're a small team.
Text-based judging is still likely to be posted at the end of this month, and the November contest is on schedule.
Thanks for your patience, y'all.
Image-Based Results
Judge: @bbninjas
It's great to be back judging the Create-A-Card again! I enjoyed all the different entries and was very impressed by individual creativity of each card, whether it be in the effects, flavour, synergy, custom blanks or the original artwork. Everyone brought something unique to the table. The results were very, very close -- all entries scored within 5 points of one another. All six of you have left your mark on the faking community, and that's very clear from this month's competition! Fantastic work. Points were mostly lost this month due to odd placing or weird design choices. See ya all next month.
~~bbninjas
The Ωmega One:
You’ve really nailed the DPPt-era aesthetic in both design and art, Omega! Fantastic work. It’s nice to see a Psychic-type Beedrill considering -- and I can’t believe that I’m saying this -- we have NEVER had a non-Grass-type Beedrill before (what.). Art looks crisp and you’ve tuned the contrast and saturation very well. Attack seems balanced, and although its a bit plain, I like how three head flips is just enough for Beedrill to KO itself in a mirror match. That’s a nice little touch.
Wording errors:
- Looks fine.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- There is too much space between the numerals in the HP. (-1pt)
- HP font should be a few pixels higher. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(Fun Psychic typing and attack.)
Wording: 15/15
(All good.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/10
(A few errors with the HP text.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(I think this card already exists!)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Feels very DPPt-era. (+1) Bonus for own artwork.)
Total: 42/50
PMJ:
It feels like AGES since I last judged a CAC entry from you PMJ! Glad to see that you entered.
I think the art is very fitting for a SM-era card. Background choice (I think you chose the background?) is great too. The holosheet strikes the right balance between standing out and being too subtle, nice work. Parasitism is nice both in the creativity and the flavour department. It feels reminiscent of the old Team Flare Gear which has plenty of untapped design potential. The Knock Out clause balances the effect nicely, while still making it useful against GX and Tag Team Pokemon by effectively cutting the HP ceiling in half (clever!). Silver Wind is vanilla, but expected alongside a complex effect. Unfortunately 90 HP is sky-high for a Ribombee, which makes it less believable. I’d settle with 80 HP at the VERY most.
Wording errors
- The clause describing what the Tool actually does is a bit clunky. Currently it sounds like Ribombee’s Weakness becomes [G]-type! It should be worded: “The Weakness of the Pokemon this card is attached to is now [G].” We forego the “While this card is attached to a Pokemon…” clause because the Ribombee card is not inherently changing, unlike Electrode EVO which is changed into Energy. (-2pts)
- We also apparently don’t need the “When this card is removed from play…” clause in the SM-era. [Ref: Shedninja LOT] (-2pts)
Fonts and Placement errors:
- WRR symbols are a few pixels too high. (-2pts)
- The Pokedex information (NO, Wt, Ht, etc) font should either be smaller or squashed vertically, or both. (-1pts)
- Same with the Evolves from text. (-0.5pts)
- Pokedex entry font is too different from what it’s supposed to be (actual font: Optima). I’m not sure if the actual font is floating around in the community right now, but there is an acceptable replacement (though you’ll have to ask a SM-era faker what that is). (-0.5pt)
Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(A fun and clever solution to GX / Tag Team powercreep.)
Wording: 11/15
(Some outdated / ambiguous wording.)
Fonts and Placement: 6/10
(A few repeated errors.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(HP too high.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Would give more points for more dynamic / flavourful artwork.)
Total: 38/50
chico:
Ooh! This is very interesting Chico, I like the creativity already!
Delele Swoop is a fun little effect and is well-balanced power-wise. I’m not making the connection between ‘delele’ (Urban dictionary reckons its a “kick ass guitar solo”??) and shuffling Tool cards around. I like the synergy between Shattering Screech and Delele Swoop, by keeping those Pokemon Tool cards in play… except it seems a bit redundant. If your win condition is to deck your opponent out, then you aren’t KOing any Pokemon and those Pokemon Tool cards will stay play in anyway. An effect that forced your opponent to attach Tools from their discard would have made more sense. Shattering Screech is also a bit broken, since just by attaching Tools to YOUR Pokemon, you’re milling an expected 3 cards per turn already! A bit high for mill.
I’m not sure where you got that holosheet from, but it looks fantastic -- nearly as if the background is submerged underwater! Art is very nice as well, you did good Chico.
A like the creativity that you’ve invested in the blank! It departs quite a bit from the norm, which is nice to see. That said, there are few things that feel a bit odd for me (which I’ll discuss below).
Wording errors:
- Perfecto!
Fonts and Placementerrors design choices:
- I don’t like the right-aligned icons. It puts the icons and the attack names far too close, which impacts both readability and makes this section feel cramped. (-1pt)
- The energy orb thing behind the pre-evolution portrait feels out-of-place for me. I think this is because the orb is not enclosed, unlike the other elements on the blank. It is also too bright, meaning it draws the eye away from the art and attack effects -- the key parts of the card. (-1pt)
- As a general graphic design rule, you should only use a few different fonts (I can count at least 7 here). I’d recommend changing the “Evolves from” font, the Pokemon name font and the attack damage font as they all seem a bit out of place. (-1pt)
- I had to search the card for the HP, which is not a good sign. It’s a bit hard to see due to its position and due to the heavy italics. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(I see the potential for very creative and fun synergy, but the current design just doesn’t fit the mill playstyle.)
Wording: 15/15
(Looks good!)
Fonts and Placement: 6/10
(Custom blank feels a bit unpolished.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Shattering Screech mills too many cards too easily.)
Aesthetics: 6/5
(Absolutely stunning. (+1) For own art.)
Total: 43/50
CardPone:
This card is BRILLIANT! Although probably not intentional, the brown-green-blue colour palette just works. Both effects feel inspired, and kudos for picking an unevolved Pokemon, I like.
Thrive in Entropy is brilliant. I can’t think of any card, official or original, that explores retreating design space in this way. You get the classic Toxic Spikes / Stealth Rock ideas, but this is very removed from that. And wait, it get’s better! There’s this synergy that I just did not expect! Maybe I’m getting rusty. I like both the uniqueness of Claw Anomaly, and how its an effect that only works in the early-game, yet you didn’t need to tack on a “You can only use this effect during your first turn” clause to achieve that. I like how the Ability helps prolong the attack effect somewhat as well. To top it all off, the flavour is perfect! Everything else looks good.
I have to admit: when I first saw this card, I glossed over it and immediately categorised it as basic and vanilla in my head. How wrong was I! I’m kicking myself now that I’ve looked at it properly…
Wording errors:
- “discards any basic [G] Energy” not “discards a basic [G] Energy”, since you are talking about multiple Energies. Alternatively, forego the “a” entirely. [Ref: Dashing Pouch] (-1pt)
- You attach “Energy”, not “Energy cards”. [Ref: Dashing Pouch] (-1pt)
- Claw Anomaly should read “If this Pokemon has more [G] Energy attached to it than…” [Ref: Mudkip SV + Stunfisk UNM] (-2pts)
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Dream Claw Fossil art is fun, but is technically incorrect. (-1pt)
- I really like these blanks, but do have a few nitpicks:
--- The attack effect section takes up a bit too much space width-ways in my opinion. There’s not really a margin, between the left and right sides of the effects, which makes the section feel cramped. (-1pt)
-- Similarly, the Pokedex description needs some space between it and the sides of its container, because currently it has hard to read because it spans the entire box. (-0.5pt)
Creativity/Originality: 15/15
(FINE, have a 15. This card is fun, full of flavour, simple yet entirely original, humbly ambitious and subtly complex, without seeming as such at first glance. I’ve been agonising over what point value to give this, but can’t find anything that I can fault. I want to steal this design for my own!!)
Wording: 11/15
(A few minor slips.)
Fonts and Placement: 7.5/10
(Recommend adding some space between borders and text.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Perfecto.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Art could be more dynamic (sorry steff! Dx), but attention to colour theme makes up for it.)
Total: 42.5/50
Nyan:
Immediate thoughts are that either this card is very broken, or SM-era has creeped quite a lot over the past year since I last looked an official card…
… and I think it’s broken, for a couple of reasons. First being that, in a consistent deck, you’ll probably have about 3 Scizor-GX in play at any one time. That’s 150 damage for three Energy, which is about as hard as Stage 2 GXs, or better. Stage 1s fluctuate around 120. The “this attack damage is boring”P) clause on Bullet Punch balances the Ability for that attack, but it doesn’t fix the issues if Scizor borrows attacks from elsewhere. This is particularly scary in the theoretical if a Pokemon Tool card could give Scizor a new attack (or GX attack!), or if Scizor can inherit attacks from the Scyther underneath (ala Memory Energy). Notable Scyther include: CES (Agility), LOT (Fury Cutter), DEX (Air Slash). Otherwise, synergy and flavour is nice, and everything else looks good.
Wording errors:
- “additional” is not a word we see on official cards. I’d say “1 more time” would be more fitting. (-1pt)
- I actually think the Omega Barrage precedent works fine if you change a few words: “If 1 of the attacks Knocks Out your opponent’s Active Pokémon, you may continue attacking after your opponent chooses a new Active Pokémon.)” But it’s ambiguous and think your wording is neat, so I’ll give a pass on this. (-0pts)
Fonts and Placement errors:
- The GX in the card name is too many pixels to the right. (-1pt)
- The attack effects (especially for the GX attack) start too far to the right and finish too far to the left. See red lines for bounds. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Some fun synergy and effects.)
Wording: 14/15
(Hard wording to word.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/10
(Some minor errors)
Believability/Playability: 3/5
(Broken.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(I know that the art is paying homage to an anime, but it feels to cartoony on a GX imo, so I can’t give full points here.)
Total: 40/50
Farisk7:
This card feels really old-school for some reason! It must be all the glowballs. xD I really like the contrast and light effects that you’ve applied to the art Faris, nice work. The holosheet / card seems a bit too saturated, but that’s a personal preference.
I don’t understand the point of restricting Gale Wing’s effect to [C][C] and higher to be honest. All you’re doing is reducing the damage output by 10, and if that’s your goal, then you could just reduce the base damage to 20. It feels like there’s a unique effect for the sake of having a unique effect. I like the vivid flavour informing the effect in Infuriated Buzz, and it has some nice obvious synergy. I’m not sure how fun it would be to flip all those coins though. Damage output seems fine on doing the math - you need 16 damage counters to be doing an average of 160 damage, and 8 damage counters to be doing anything significant… in which case you’ll be KO’d next turn anyway. Seems fine. Linear Dive is cool, but I think the drawback should be a bit more significant (8 damage counters?) for that damage output.
Wording errors:
- “Pokemon has a Retreat Cost” should be “Pokemon’s Retreat Cost is”. (-1pt)
- “Retreat Cost higher than [C]” should be “Retreat Cost is [C][C] or more” (-1pt)
Fonts and Placement errors:
- HP and the attack font sizes, and the base damage numerals, are all a few pixels too large. (-2pts)
- The fouth Energy orb on Linear Dive is a pixel or two too far to the right (unlike the spacing on the other three orbs). (-1pt)
- The font for the attack effects is much to thin. It should be bolder, or larger, or both. (-2pts)
Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Fun flavour and effect ideas.)
Wording: 13/15
(A few slips)
Fonts and Placement: 5/10
(A few elements a bit too large.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(The effect designs seem a bit wonky, for lack of a better word.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Total: 38/50
3rd Place: The Ωmega One’s Beedrill, with 42/50 points.
2nd Place: CardPone’s Anorith, with 42.5/50 points.
1st Place: chico’s Kricketune with 43/50 points
Judge: @bbninjas
It's great to be back judging the Create-A-Card again! I enjoyed all the different entries and was very impressed by individual creativity of each card, whether it be in the effects, flavour, synergy, custom blanks or the original artwork. Everyone brought something unique to the table. The results were very, very close -- all entries scored within 5 points of one another. All six of you have left your mark on the faking community, and that's very clear from this month's competition! Fantastic work. Points were mostly lost this month due to odd placing or weird design choices. See ya all next month.
~~bbninjas
The Ωmega One:
You’ve really nailed the DPPt-era aesthetic in both design and art, Omega! Fantastic work. It’s nice to see a Psychic-type Beedrill considering -- and I can’t believe that I’m saying this -- we have NEVER had a non-Grass-type Beedrill before (what.). Art looks crisp and you’ve tuned the contrast and saturation very well. Attack seems balanced, and although its a bit plain, I like how three head flips is just enough for Beedrill to KO itself in a mirror match. That’s a nice little touch.
Wording errors:
- Looks fine.
Fonts and Placement errors:
- There is too much space between the numerals in the HP. (-1pt)
- HP font should be a few pixels higher. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 9/15
(Fun Psychic typing and attack.)
Wording: 15/15
(All good.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/10
(A few errors with the HP text.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(I think this card already exists!)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Feels very DPPt-era. (+1) Bonus for own artwork.)
Total: 42/50
PMJ:
It feels like AGES since I last judged a CAC entry from you PMJ! Glad to see that you entered.
I think the art is very fitting for a SM-era card. Background choice (I think you chose the background?) is great too. The holosheet strikes the right balance between standing out and being too subtle, nice work. Parasitism is nice both in the creativity and the flavour department. It feels reminiscent of the old Team Flare Gear which has plenty of untapped design potential. The Knock Out clause balances the effect nicely, while still making it useful against GX and Tag Team Pokemon by effectively cutting the HP ceiling in half (clever!). Silver Wind is vanilla, but expected alongside a complex effect. Unfortunately 90 HP is sky-high for a Ribombee, which makes it less believable. I’d settle with 80 HP at the VERY most.
Wording errors
- The clause describing what the Tool actually does is a bit clunky. Currently it sounds like Ribombee’s Weakness becomes [G]-type! It should be worded: “The Weakness of the Pokemon this card is attached to is now [G].” We forego the “While this card is attached to a Pokemon…” clause because the Ribombee card is not inherently changing, unlike Electrode EVO which is changed into Energy. (-2pts)
- We also apparently don’t need the “When this card is removed from play…” clause in the SM-era. [Ref: Shedninja LOT] (-2pts)
Fonts and Placement errors:
- WRR symbols are a few pixels too high. (-2pts)
- The Pokedex information (NO, Wt, Ht, etc) font should either be smaller or squashed vertically, or both. (-1pts)
- Same with the Evolves from text. (-0.5pts)
- Pokedex entry font is too different from what it’s supposed to be (actual font: Optima). I’m not sure if the actual font is floating around in the community right now, but there is an acceptable replacement (though you’ll have to ask a SM-era faker what that is). (-0.5pt)
Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(A fun and clever solution to GX / Tag Team powercreep.)
Wording: 11/15
(Some outdated / ambiguous wording.)
Fonts and Placement: 6/10
(A few repeated errors.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(HP too high.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Would give more points for more dynamic / flavourful artwork.)
Total: 38/50
chico:
Ooh! This is very interesting Chico, I like the creativity already!
Delele Swoop is a fun little effect and is well-balanced power-wise. I’m not making the connection between ‘delele’ (Urban dictionary reckons its a “kick ass guitar solo”??) and shuffling Tool cards around. I like the synergy between Shattering Screech and Delele Swoop, by keeping those Pokemon Tool cards in play… except it seems a bit redundant. If your win condition is to deck your opponent out, then you aren’t KOing any Pokemon and those Pokemon Tool cards will stay play in anyway. An effect that forced your opponent to attach Tools from their discard would have made more sense. Shattering Screech is also a bit broken, since just by attaching Tools to YOUR Pokemon, you’re milling an expected 3 cards per turn already! A bit high for mill.
I’m not sure where you got that holosheet from, but it looks fantastic -- nearly as if the background is submerged underwater! Art is very nice as well, you did good Chico.
A like the creativity that you’ve invested in the blank! It departs quite a bit from the norm, which is nice to see. That said, there are few things that feel a bit odd for me (which I’ll discuss below).
Wording errors:
- Perfecto!
Fonts and Placement
- I don’t like the right-aligned icons. It puts the icons and the attack names far too close, which impacts both readability and makes this section feel cramped. (-1pt)
- The energy orb thing behind the pre-evolution portrait feels out-of-place for me. I think this is because the orb is not enclosed, unlike the other elements on the blank. It is also too bright, meaning it draws the eye away from the art and attack effects -- the key parts of the card. (-1pt)
- As a general graphic design rule, you should only use a few different fonts (I can count at least 7 here). I’d recommend changing the “Evolves from” font, the Pokemon name font and the attack damage font as they all seem a bit out of place. (-1pt)
- I had to search the card for the HP, which is not a good sign. It’s a bit hard to see due to its position and due to the heavy italics. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(I see the potential for very creative and fun synergy, but the current design just doesn’t fit the mill playstyle.)
Wording: 15/15
(Looks good!)
Fonts and Placement: 6/10
(Custom blank feels a bit unpolished.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(Shattering Screech mills too many cards too easily.)
Aesthetics: 6/5
(Absolutely stunning. (+1) For own art.)
Total: 43/50
CardPone:
This card is BRILLIANT! Although probably not intentional, the brown-green-blue colour palette just works. Both effects feel inspired, and kudos for picking an unevolved Pokemon, I like.
Thrive in Entropy is brilliant. I can’t think of any card, official or original, that explores retreating design space in this way. You get the classic Toxic Spikes / Stealth Rock ideas, but this is very removed from that. And wait, it get’s better! There’s this synergy that I just did not expect! Maybe I’m getting rusty. I like both the uniqueness of Claw Anomaly, and how its an effect that only works in the early-game, yet you didn’t need to tack on a “You can only use this effect during your first turn” clause to achieve that. I like how the Ability helps prolong the attack effect somewhat as well. To top it all off, the flavour is perfect! Everything else looks good.
I have to admit: when I first saw this card, I glossed over it and immediately categorised it as basic and vanilla in my head. How wrong was I! I’m kicking myself now that I’ve looked at it properly…
Wording errors:
- “discards any basic [G] Energy” not “discards a basic [G] Energy”, since you are talking about multiple Energies. Alternatively, forego the “a” entirely. [Ref: Dashing Pouch] (-1pt)
- You attach “Energy”, not “Energy cards”. [Ref: Dashing Pouch] (-1pt)
- Claw Anomaly should read “If this Pokemon has more [G] Energy attached to it than…” [Ref: Mudkip SV + Stunfisk UNM] (-2pts)
Fonts and Placement errors:
- Dream Claw Fossil art is fun, but is technically incorrect. (-1pt)
- I really like these blanks, but do have a few nitpicks:
--- The attack effect section takes up a bit too much space width-ways in my opinion. There’s not really a margin, between the left and right sides of the effects, which makes the section feel cramped. (-1pt)
-- Similarly, the Pokedex description needs some space between it and the sides of its container, because currently it has hard to read because it spans the entire box. (-0.5pt)
Creativity/Originality: 15/15
(FINE, have a 15. This card is fun, full of flavour, simple yet entirely original, humbly ambitious and subtly complex, without seeming as such at first glance. I’ve been agonising over what point value to give this, but can’t find anything that I can fault. I want to steal this design for my own!!)
Wording: 11/15
(A few minor slips.)
Fonts and Placement: 7.5/10
(Recommend adding some space between borders and text.)
Believability/Playability: 5/5
(Perfecto.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Art could be more dynamic (sorry steff! Dx), but attention to colour theme makes up for it.)
Total: 42.5/50
Nyan:
Immediate thoughts are that either this card is very broken, or SM-era has creeped quite a lot over the past year since I last looked an official card…
… and I think it’s broken, for a couple of reasons. First being that, in a consistent deck, you’ll probably have about 3 Scizor-GX in play at any one time. That’s 150 damage for three Energy, which is about as hard as Stage 2 GXs, or better. Stage 1s fluctuate around 120. The “this attack damage is boring”
P) clause on Bullet Punch balances the Ability for that attack, but it doesn’t fix the issues if Scizor borrows attacks from elsewhere. This is particularly scary in the theoretical if a Pokemon Tool card could give Scizor a new attack (or GX attack!), or if Scizor can inherit attacks from the Scyther underneath (ala Memory Energy). Notable Scyther include: CES (Agility), LOT (Fury Cutter), DEX (Air Slash). Otherwise, synergy and flavour is nice, and everything else looks good.Wording errors:
- “additional” is not a word we see on official cards. I’d say “1 more time” would be more fitting. (-1pt)
- I actually think the Omega Barrage precedent works fine if you change a few words: “If 1 of the attacks Knocks Out your opponent’s Active Pokémon, you may continue attacking after your opponent chooses a new Active Pokémon.)” But it’s ambiguous and think your wording is neat, so I’ll give a pass on this. (-0pts)
Fonts and Placement errors:
- The GX in the card name is too many pixels to the right. (-1pt)
- The attack effects (especially for the GX attack) start too far to the right and finish too far to the left. See red lines for bounds. (-1pt)
Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Some fun synergy and effects.)
Wording: 14/15
(Hard wording to word.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/10
(Some minor errors)
Believability/Playability: 3/5
(Broken.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(I know that the art is paying homage to an anime, but it feels to cartoony on a GX imo, so I can’t give full points here.)
Total: 40/50
Farisk7:
This card feels really old-school for some reason! It must be all the glowballs. xD I really like the contrast and light effects that you’ve applied to the art Faris, nice work. The holosheet / card seems a bit too saturated, but that’s a personal preference.
I don’t understand the point of restricting Gale Wing’s effect to [C][C] and higher to be honest. All you’re doing is reducing the damage output by 10, and if that’s your goal, then you could just reduce the base damage to 20. It feels like there’s a unique effect for the sake of having a unique effect. I like the vivid flavour informing the effect in Infuriated Buzz, and it has some nice obvious synergy. I’m not sure how fun it would be to flip all those coins though. Damage output seems fine on doing the math - you need 16 damage counters to be doing an average of 160 damage, and 8 damage counters to be doing anything significant… in which case you’ll be KO’d next turn anyway. Seems fine. Linear Dive is cool, but I think the drawback should be a bit more significant (8 damage counters?) for that damage output.
Wording errors:
- “Pokemon has a Retreat Cost” should be “Pokemon’s Retreat Cost is”. (-1pt)
- “Retreat Cost higher than [C]” should be “Retreat Cost is [C][C] or more” (-1pt)
Fonts and Placement errors:
- HP and the attack font sizes, and the base damage numerals, are all a few pixels too large. (-2pts)
- The fouth Energy orb on Linear Dive is a pixel or two too far to the right (unlike the spacing on the other three orbs). (-1pt)
- The font for the attack effects is much to thin. It should be bolder, or larger, or both. (-2pts)
Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Fun flavour and effect ideas.)
Wording: 13/15
(A few slips)
Fonts and Placement: 5/10
(A few elements a bit too large.)
Believability/Playability: 4/5
(The effect designs seem a bit wonky, for lack of a better word.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Total: 38/50
3rd Place: The Ωmega One’s Beedrill, with 42/50 points.
2nd Place: CardPone’s Anorith, with 42.5/50 points.
1st Place: chico’s Kricketune with 43/50 points
PMJ
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Tfw dead last
Shedinja isn't attached to your opponent's Pokemon, so that's why it doesn't have that text. There haven't been any cards you attach to your opponent's cards since the Flare cards, so I went with that wording.
I wish I knew what the correct placement for the bottom stats were, jabber said they were too low and now you're saying they're too high. I only moved them up a couple pixels.
I also didn't know that the community had figured out what the correct font was for the flavor text. I'll have to get my hands on it.
Other criticisms I agree with. I'll do my best to take home the W next time, grats to all who took part.
Shedinja isn't attached to your opponent's Pokemon, so that's why it doesn't have that text. There haven't been any cards you attach to your opponent's cards since the Flare cards, so I went with that wording.
I wish I knew what the correct placement for the bottom stats were, jabber said they were too low and now you're saying they're too high. I only moved them up a couple pixels.
I also didn't know that the community had figured out what the correct font was for the flavor text. I'll have to get my hands on it.
Other criticisms I agree with. I'll do my best to take home the W next time, grats to all who took part.