Excadrill [F] HP120
Stage 1 – Evolves from Drilbur
[F][C] Final Excavation
Discard the top 3 cards of your deck. If you discarded less than 3 cards in this way, you win this game.
[F][C][C] Explore the Tunnels
Search your deck for up to 4 cards, shuffle your deck, then put those cards on top of it in any order. If this Pokémon used Final Excavation during your last turn, put 3 cards from your discard pile into your hand.
Weakness: [W] x2
Resistance: [L] -20
Retreat: [C][C][C][C] More than 300 feet below the surface, they build mazelike nests. Their activity can be destructive to subway tunnels.
Granbull LOT
Unown HAND LOT
Mamoswine CIN
Rayquaza-GX CES
Mallow GRI
Excadrill DEX
I know it looks pretty simple, and I would have preferred that Final Excavation was an Ability, but the wording would have been really hard to figure out with pkmncards getting paywalled. That is perfectly respectable, but as an unemployed 15 year old it isn't easy for me to buy subscriptions.
The intention with Final Excavation is to discard the last card of your deck. Cards like Hau never reference what happens if you can’t draw 3, for example, so I didn’t mention “draw all of them” in the text. Essentially, you must discard 3 cards from your deck. If you have less than 3, you win.
Nihilego – Psychic – HP100
Basic Pokémon – Ultra Beast
NO. 793 Parasite Pokémon HT: 3’11” WT: 122.4 lbs.
Ability: Ultra Invader
This Pokémon can’t attack unless Ultra Space is in play, you have 3, 4 or 5 prize cards remaining, and you don’t have any Pokémon-GX or Pokémon-EX on your Bench. This Ability can’t be disabled with attacks, other Abilities or Trainer cards.
[P][P][P] Beast Takeover
If your opponent has 3 or less prize cards remaining, you have 6 or more Ultra Beasts in play and have played a Supporter with “Lusamine” in its name from your hand this turn, your opponent’s Active Pokémon is Knocked Out and all Pokémon on your opponent’s Bench and all cards attached to them (excluding Ultra Beasts) are put in the Lost Zone.
It appeared in this world from an Ultra Wormhole. Nihilego appears to be a parasite that lives by feeding on people and Pokémon.
Unlike most, I actually love the idea of Ultra Beasts and the phenomenon of invasive species as a whole (I’m looking at you grey squirrels and cane toads). However, I feel like in the TCG, they were not given proper justice, in terms of their “invasive” nature. Crimson Invasion, for example, even has “invasion” in the name, but the GX Beasts had nothing invasive about them. So, I decided to take the theme of invasion, partially mix it up with Lusamine’s story from the video games and create this Beast. I thought Lusamine and Nihilego have a special relationship, and we have seen one of those before in the SM era (Garchomp and Cynthia) and Nihilego appears to be the most invasive of the Beasts, so I decided to go with that. Apart from that, Nihilego isn’t the most popular Beast in the TCG (a relatively weak GX and a forgotten baby), so that’s where my design started.
When I first started making concepts in my head for this victory condition, I made up multiple cards, since the Round 2 post was a little bit unclear (“create cards” not “card”), however, Nihilego would be the main part, with the other 3 initial cards only supporting it. The strategy of this card would basically be to set up 6 UBs into play, ensure you have both Lusamine and Ultra Space in your hand and keep the fragile Nihilego in play and powered up in order to (potentially) get an instant win. The only counter (apart from eliminating Nihilego) for this card is to have an Ultra Beast in play on your side, in order to set yourself up again.
In order to not make this potential insta-win too easy to achieve, I came up with the “Ultra Invader” Ability. Let’s break this Ability down:
-Ultra Space being in play makes a thematic sense for this strategy; after all, Ultra Wormholes are needed for Beasts to invade Alola. This is a liability, because it can be discarded with other Stadiums or Field Blower but can also be used to help set up your Ultra Beasts.
-3, 4 or 5 prize cards remaining was added since all UBs interact with prize cards in some way. 3,4 and 5 were chosen because it means that before you can use the potential win move, you need to Knock Out at least 1 Pokémon (regular, GX or TTGX). This requirement also limits the amount of attempts you can have at using “Beast Takeover”; in case it fails once, can still use it once or twice more, depending on what Pokémon was Knocked Out.
-No Pokémon-GX or EX is kind of self-explanatory; if you were allowed GX or EX, nothing is stopping you from using one of them as a wall to protect your Pokémon while you set up Nihilego (for example the unreleased Buzzwole and Pheromosa).
-The reason I added the unable to disable clause, is because it stops the person using Nihilego from abusing something like Alolan Muk or Garbodor along with Sky Field from removing the restriction designed to make Nihilego balanced.
Now, let’s break down the attack, “Beast Takeover”:
-Again, prizes were included since all UBs interact with them in some way. This time, it was done to add risk to using this move. Your opponent needs to be (relatively) close to winning in order to use the move. This also makes it harder to get 6 UBs in play, since you have to allow your opponent to take some Knock Outs.
-6 or more Ultra Beasts is again thematically relevant as well as self-explanatory. The whole strategy is to “invade” the field with Beasts to overpower Pokémon.
-Finally, the link to Lusamine; her fusion with Nihilego is what completes the invasion. The reason it says ‘card with “Lusamine” in its name’ rather than just ‘Lusamine’ is because there are currently 2 Lusamine cards in the standard (Lusamine and Lusamine ♢), but also since I thought we could create multiple cards, I created a new Lusamine card which would be used to support this card in a pinch.
Finally, if all requirements are met, the attack Knocks Out the Active Pokémon and puts the rest of your opponent’s Pokémon on Bench into the Lost Zone (apart from Ultra Beasts). Therefore, it is an alternate victory condition, because if your opponent doesn’t have any UBs on their side of the field, they have no Pokémon in play, thus you win, even if you have more prize cards remaining than your opponent. In the initial draft of this card, I simply put ‘you win this game’ like the LOT Unowns do, but I decided against that since it wouldn’t make sense for invading Ultra Beasts to flat out eliminate other Ultra Beasts, even if they were on the opponent’s team. Therefore, I decided on the Knock Out (to potentially disable this attack from being used again next turn by taking prizes) and the removal of all other Pokémon into the Lost Zone. This meant that you could still achieve an alternate victory, as long as the opponent did not have any Ultra Beasts in play; even if they did, they would have a hard time catching up with most of their field decimated.
Again, even with all the effects in place, it was hard to balance this card, in order to make it hard enough to achieve an alternate victory, but still make it possible and thematically sound. This is why I gave it just 100 HP (where I gave it 110 at first, since that’s how many the other Nihilego card had). While it is still a substantial amount for a basic, it is not out of range for a lot of attackers for 1 or 2 hit KOs. While the baby Nihilego card has 1 retreat cost, I went with the GX’s 2 retreat cost, since it can be a powerful card. At first, I made “Beast Takeover” only cost 1 [P] due to the other requirements. However, that made me realise that a player could just hold onto Nihilego, set up the board and the play down Nihilego, attach for turn, Switch/retreat and still use the attack. That’s why I made the cost be 3 [P] instead, meaning apart from setting up the necessary cards, you also have to take care to protect Nihilego from attacks.
At first, I wanted to make multiple Ultra Beast cards using types not used in TCG before (e.g. Fighting for Pheromosa and Nihilego) because I wanted them to be different than the ones that exist already. I’m not sure if a lot of people know, Nihilego’s in-game type is actually Rock/Poison, meaning it could be a Fighting type in the TCG. However, Rock in the TCG is usually weak to Grass which isn’t that popular (at least not right now; it may make a comeback with Buzzwole & Pheromosa GX), which could make this card stronger than intended. Due to this, I stuck with Psychic, as it makes more sense in terms of balance and thematically.
The PokéDex entry was chosen because it’s the one that fits the most thematically; Beasts coming out of Ultra Wormholes, taking over.
Here’s the other initial cards I thought of (they are all WIP and I have more; after this contest I may release them as a fake set focusing on the UB invasion):
Pheromosa – Fighting – HP110
Basic Pokémon – Ultra Beast
NO. 795 Lissome Pokémon HT: 5’11” WT: 55.1 lbs.
[F] Ultra Queen
Search your deck for a Supporter with “Lusamine” in its name. Shuffle your deck and put that card on top of it.
[F][F] High-Speed Kick 50
If you have more prize cards remaining than your opponent, your opponent must discard cards from their hand until they have 3 cards remaining.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C]
One of the dangerous Ultra Beasts, it has been spotted running across the land at terrific speeds.
Explanation
Allows you to draw a necessary Lusamine card in a pinch.
Stakataka – Metal – HP130
Basic Pokémon – Ultra Beast
NO. 805 Rampart Pokémon HT: 18’01” WT: 1807.8 lbs.
Ability: Ultra Assembly
When you play this Pokémon from your hand onto your Bench, you may search your deck for up to 2 Stadium cards and discard them. Shuffle your deck afterwards.
[M][C][C] Metallic Intuition 70+
If you have more prize cards remaining than your opponent, you may put a Stadium card from your discard pile into play. If you do, this attack does 50 extra damage.
Weakness: Fire (x2)
Resistance: Psychic (-20)
Retreat: [C][C][C]
When stone walls started moving and attacking, the brute’s true identity was this mysterious life-form, which brings to mind an Ultra Beast.
Explanation
Helps set up a Lusamine and Ultra Space combo.
Lusamine’s Infestation – Trainer
Supporter
You can only play this card if your opponent has 1 prize card remaining and if you have Nihilego or Nihilego-GX in play.
Search your deck for up to 4 Ultra Beasts, reveal them and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.
You may only play 1 Supporter card during your turn (before your attack).
Explanation
Kind of self-explanatory; if you have everything set up, but you're just missing enough Ultra Beasts, this card can save you just before your opponent wins!
[Stage 1] Lycanroc-GX HP210 [F] Evolves from Rockruff Ability: Beginning of the End
If you have at least 2 other Lycanroc-GX in play and each of your Lycanroc-GX in play have a GX attack with a different name, ignore all Energy in the attack cost of each of your Lycanroc-GX's attacks. This Pokémon takes 20 less damage for each card attached to it.
[F][C][C] Devour 130
You may discard 2 cards from your hand. If you do, choose one of your opponent's Pokémon that has no cards attached to it and attach it to this Pokémon. (If you choose an Evolution Pokémon, only attach the highest Stage Evolution card on it and discard the rest.) (If a Pokémon attached to this Pokémon in this way would be removed from this Pokémon for any reason, put it in the Lost Zone instead.)
[F][C][C] Ragnarok GX 200
If this Pokémon has 6 or more Pokémon attached to it, and if your opponent's Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from this attack, you win this game. (You can't use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [G]x2
Resistance: -
Retreat: [C][C] GX Rule: When your Pokémon GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Rotom (Roto Motor)
Counter Energy
Alright, it took quite a bit of modifications (I got ninja'd to make a discard pile based card :L) but I got my card now. If you know anything about Norse mythology, you know the wolf Fenrir is part of Ragnarok (the apocalypse) and that's exactly what I wanted this card to be.
Beginning of the End – The conditions for this Ability mimic the conditions for Ragnarok: Fenrir's sons, Skoll and Hati, take down the Sun and the Moon which leads to Fenrir's chains being broken, marking the beginning of the end. The GX attack name restriction was the only way you could make sure you have different Lycanroc GX in play, and I thought it was a nice way to incorporate lore in the card. Ignores the Energy cost because the deck would be way too slow otherwise, and gives you some recovery options. The damage reduction is there because this thing absolutely has to last you 6+ turns or you basically get restarted, and it also makes sense that as the wolf charges and feeds it becomes harder to stop.
Devour – Fenrir devours everything in his path to fight Odin, the Zeus of Norse mythology. Attaching Pokémon seemed the best way to reflect this, and it hasn't been done in years (looking at you Holon region) so that was a bonus. Discards to balance it out a bit, also reflecting the wounds Fenrir would get in his path to find the gods.
Ragnarok GX – The actual win condition. The apocalypse only happens once, so it had to be either a Prism Star or a GX, I ended up going GX because of the extra slot. Anyways, you have only one turn to win, and it also locks you out of free Dangerous Rogue or the other Lycanroc's attacks.
Giratina ◇ – Dragon – HP150
Basic Pokémon
◇ (Prism Star) Rule: You can’t have more than 1 ◇ card with the same name in your deck. If a ◇ card would go to the discard pile, put it in the Lost Zone instead.
Ability: Violent Rampage
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may put the top 3 cards of your opponent’s deck in the Lost Zone. If you do, your turn ends.
[P][G] Shadow Drag: 20 damage. You may switch 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon with their Active Pokémon.
Weakness: Fairy (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
It was banished for its violence. It silently gazed upon the old world from the Distortion World.
@Nyora @FlashRayquaza @The Last Shaymin
There are less than two hours remaining to submit your entry for this round! Now's the time to post them while you still can.
[M][G][G] Catastrophe Control
Choose 1 of your opponent's Active Pokémon's attacks. If that Pokémon has the necessary Energy to use that attack, your opponent's Active Pokemon uses that attack to your opponent as if it was your Active Pokémon. However, you make all decisions for that attack. If the attack does any damage, do that damage to your opponent's Benched Pokémon instead of their Active Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)
[M][M][G][G]+ Dark Light GX
Put your opponent’s Active Pokémon and all cards attached to it in the Lost Zone. If this Pokémon has at least 1 extra [M] Energy attached to it, your opponent's Pokémon can't attack during your opponent's next turn. If this Pokémon has at least 1 extra [P] Energy attached to it, put 6 damage counters on each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
When your TAG TEAM is knocked out, your opponent takes 3 Prize Cards.
Weakness: Fairy x2
Resistance: None
Retreat: 3
Thoughts & references coming later because well I got this in only like 1 minute before the due date sooooo!
So yeah, I only even got this idea 30 minutes before it was due, thanks to Blakers' submission actually. I noticed it was a reference (I think), and this immediately popped to mind. Why copy attacks when you can just throw around the saying "Why are you hitting yourself?". I don't actually know how balanced this effect is. It's obviously got some very similar effects to copying attacks, however a lot different as well. For one, you can hit the bench. Actually before I get to that, lemme just say I was super confused as to how I word this. I think I could've done something better than "your opponent's Active Pokemon uses that attack to your opponent as if it was your Active Pokémon." but it was just what I had at the time y'know? The GX attack is super lame, I know, but that's also because I had like 8 minutes to finish the card when I got to it. Though I guess it's kinda creative in that it has 2 extra effects as opposed to one.
Celebi & Venusaur-GX (TTGX Stuff) Clefairy (1st bit of Catastrophe Control) Golduck (Bench hitting with Catastrophe Control) Kecleon (Checking if they have the right energy to use the attack for Catastrope Control) Hypno (Your opponent playing a card but you making decisions) Lugia-GX (Dark Light GX effect #1) Cobalion (Dark Light GX effect #2) Gengar (Dark Light GX effect #3)
Ability: Prediction of Desaster
Whenever a Pokémon (both yours or your opponent's) gets Knocked Out, you may draw a card. You can't use more than 1 Prediction of Desaster Ability each turn.
(D)(C)(C) Ambush 80+
If your opponent's Active Pokémon has no damage counters on it, this attack does 80 more damage.
(D)(D) Absolute Perish Song-GX
You can use this attack only if the total of both players’ Prize cards is 6 or less. Put a Perish Song marker on your opponent's Active Pokémon. If a Perish Song marker stays 3 turns or more in play, you win this game. (You can't use more than 1 GX attack in a game).
The deadline for this round has passed 22 hours ago but who's counting. Since The Last Shaymin did not submit an entry, he has been eliminated and his opponent, Blakers, has automatically advanced (though Blakers will still get judging as feedback for next time). For the rest of you, the judging will be revealed in just over 6 days. Good luck!
♢ (Prism Star) Rule: You may only have 1 ♢ card with the same name in your deck. If a ♢ card would go to the discard pile, put it in the Lost Zone instead.
Ability: Prism Star
If this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon, and you have 6 ♢(Prism Star) Pokémon in play of different types, each player shuffles their Prize cards into their deck. When either player Knocks Out their opponent’s Pokémon, that player puts a card from the top of their deck face-down as a Prize card. Either player wins if they have 6 Prize cards.
[P][C][C] Rainbow Blaster 30x
This attack does 30 damage for each ♢ (Prism Star) Pokémon you have in play.
Light is the source of its energy. If it isn't devouring light, impurities build up in it and on it, and Necrozma darkens and stops moving.
Weakness: [P] x2
Resistance:
Retreat: [C][C]
Wording
-1 Prism star rule should read “You can’t have more than 1 Prism Star card with the same name in your deck. If a Prism Star card would go to the discard pile, put it in the Lost Zone instead.”
-3 Prism Star (Ability) is missing an activation trigger.
-1 Prism Star (Ability) should say “wins the game”
10/15
--- Creativity/Originality
Prism Star is certainly quite unique, no question there. I love caring about specific card types, and having synergy with those card types. This card has a little of each in both the attack and the ability, which is good, it really makes you want to build a prism star deck. However Rainbow Blaster is a fairly stock standard attack, only difference that it cares about a card type that hasn’t had an effect like this before.
15/20
--- Believability/Playability
The crux of the problem with this card is that it has a static triggered ability. Without requiring an activation, I honestly am not sure what to think of it. Since there is a condition, but no trigger, I am not sure the ability actually works as written. I have chosen to make this a wording error, since I believe the true issue is the missing trigger. However, even beyond that, there is something that makes this card incredibly unbelieveable. The amount of time that games could very easily go to with this card. Even if your opponent only takes a prize or two before you meet the condition, you are essentially making the game an 8 prize game. It wouldn’t be hard to believe that games would absolutely go to time even on game 1 fairly reliably by waiting for an opponent to take 4 or even 5 prizes, then activating this ability, returning the game to turn 1.
10/15
-- Vracken Notes for Next Time
I like the concept of the card, but I am not sure how much thought went into external factors to card design. I personally have no problem with an ability changing game rules, though other judges were less enthused with that kind of effect. I don’t think there is a way you could have made this ability to fix this issue other than to kind of break the point of the ability in the first place.
Excadrill [F] HP120
Stage 1 – Evolves from Drilbur
[F][C] Final Excavation
Discard the top 3 cards of your deck. If you discarded less than 3 cards in this way, you win this game.
[F][C][C] Explore the Tunnels
Search your deck for up to 4 cards, shuffle your deck, then put those cards on top of it in any order. If this Pokémon used Final Excavation during your last turn, put 3 cards from your discard pile into your hand.
Weakness: [W] x2
Resistance: [L] -20
Retreat: [C][C][C][C]
More than 300 feet below the surface, they build mazelike nests. Their activity can be destructive to subway tunnels.
Wording
-1 Missing Statline (dex number, category, stats)
14/15
--- Creativity/Originality
No damaging attacks, no disruption, it only exists to enable the wincon, which is mostly a positive in my book. Interesting choice in trying to play somewhat similar to old Junk Hunt Sableye I encountered, and used, so much back in the day. You can try to run Excadrill as just a wincon, only bringing it out when you are about ready to win, or you can try to use him exclusively to slow down your opponent using what you bring back from discard and mill yourself out via other means. It is a cool interaction that I love so good job there. It also does touch on unexplored design space, at least as far as I can remember. Which is obviously a massive pro.
20/20
--- Believability/Playability
This card is obviously a little bit on the weaker side. It has no offense of its own, have a relatively low Hp, huge retreat cost, and higher than easy to use attack costs. However, I don’t see this as particularly unplayable, and nothing about it screams that it would never be made.
15/15
-- Vracken Notes for Next Time
Unfortunate that you missed the statline cause otherwise this would have been a perfect card as far as I can see it.
Final Score: 49/50
100 Match 2: Nyora vs FlashRayquaza
Judge: @NinjaPenguin
[M][G][G] Catastrophe Control
Choose 1 of your opponent's Active Pokémon's attacks. If that Pokémon has the necessary Energy to use that attack, your opponent's Active Pokemon uses that attack to your opponent as if it was your Active Pokémon. However, you make all decisions for that attack. If the attack does any damage, do that damage to your opponent's Benched Pokémon instead of their Active Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)
[M][M][G][G]+ Dark Light GX
Put your opponent’s Active Pokémon and all cards attached to it in the Lost Zone. If this Pokémon has at least 1 extra [M] Energy attached to it, your opponent's Pokémon can't attack during your opponent's next turn. If this Pokémon has at least 1 extra [P] Energy attached to it, put 6 damage counters on each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
When your TAG TEAM is knocked out, your opponent takes 3 Prize Cards.
Weakness: Fairy x2
Resistance: None
Retreat: 3
Creativity: 15/20
Catastrophe Control is an absolutely brilliant effect. I can see a ton of uses for it immediately and it’s not like anything before seen in the TCG, which makes it very clever as an idea. Dark Light is just a combination of a set of effects seen before, which are fine but nothing really exciting. It does adequately check off the box for fitting the theme I guess, since it rids you of a Pokémon without a KO and starts spread damage, but I wish you could do more with that.
Wording: 9.5/15
Catastrophe Control:
-“To your opponent” is unnecessary because of the fact you specify it is as if it is your Pokémon. [-1 Point]
-Replace “was” with “is” [-1 Point]
-Italicize “(Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)” [-1 Point]
Dark Light GX:
-Add “(in addition to this attack’s cost)” after “attached to it” x2 [-1.5 Points]
Other:
-Decapitalize cards in the Tag Team Rule. [-1 Point]
Believability: 13/15
Catastrophe Control requires your opponent to power up their own Pokémon and a lot of commitment of multiple energy types from you for it to work, which keeps it mostly in check. Dark Light is similarly limited by the cost and requirements of extra energy to work. However, there’s no use preventing your opponent’s Active Pokémon from attacking when it was just put into the Lost Zone except for niche uses with a potential effect that prevents a card only from going into the Lost Zone (this could have been fixed by specifying that you opponent immediately chooses a new Active Pokémon) which I don’t think a card would be made just to counter.
Final Score: 37.5/50
Catastrophe Control is still an absolutely amazing effect, but the fact that you rushed Dark Light GX is readily apparent, as the attack qualifies your card for meeting the theme but is neither very creative nor makes much sense. Try to get started on your card a bit earlier next time, so that you can appropriately check your wording and make all of your effects great.
Ability: Prediction of Desaster
Whenever a Pokémon (both yours or your opponent's) gets Knocked Out, you may draw a card. You can't use more than 1 Prediction of Desaster Ability each turn.
(D)(C)(C) Ambush 80+
If your opponent's Active Pokémon has no damage counters on it, this attack does 80 more damage.
(D)(D) Absolute Perish Song-GX
You can use this attack only if the total of both players’ Prize cards is 6 or less. Put a Perish Song marker on your opponent's Active Pokémon. If a Perish Song marker stays 3 turns or more in play, you win this game. (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.
Creativity: 15/20
Absolute Perish Song is a really fun and unique implementation of how the effect actually works in the games and I quite enjoy the idea of making a completely new win condition based on it. Prediction of Disaster is also fairly new and interesting, but Ambush has simply been seen before.
Wording: 7.5/15
Prediction of Disaster:
-The word is spelled “Disaster” not “Desaster” x2 [-1.5 Points]
-Replace “or” with “and” [-1 Point]
-Replace “gets” with “is” [-1 Point]
Ambush:
-Add “before this attack does damage” after “no damage counters on it” (Reference: Gliscor GUR) [-1 Point]
Absolute Perish Song GX:
-The convention is to delete the dash in the attack name, but I can see pretty easily how based on the fact there is a dash in Pokémon-GX, the attack name could be represented that way. [-0 Point]
-Delete “or more,” since you’ve won the game once it’s been in play three turns. [-1 Point]
-Move “in play” before “3 turns” [-1 Point]
-Move the period after the last parenthesis inside the parentheses. [-1 Point]
Believability: 9/15
Ambush feels just a slight bit over the power level. Absolute Perish Song, however, is definitely broken. If you just avoid KOing the Pokémon with the marker for three turns and bring up some wall that’s able to take a couple of hits, you usually could just grab a win for a low attack cost. Maybe it can work with 4 or less total prizes left or something, but as it stands, it’s too easy to use it and stall your opponent for a cheap win (also maybe have it be able to also hurt you, like it does in the games?). Additionally, you have no system to keep track of the number of turns the marker has been on there, which since it’s spread over a fairly long amount of time, would be necessary if it was a real card.
Final Score: 31.5/50
This card was pretty obviously rushed, Flash, and simply doesn’t meet your usual quality of cards. You need to take the time to fully review your card and give it completely unique effects while still checking every word with references to maintain good wording and balance. There’s really not much feedback I can give here besides simply put your usual effort and precision into the card.
Nihilego – Psychic – HP100
Basic Pokémon – Ultra Beast
NO. 793 Parasite Pokémon HT: 3’11” WT: 122.4 lbs.
Ability: Ultra Invader
This Pokémon can’t attack unless Ultra Space is in play, you have 3, 4 or 5 prize cards remaining, and you don’t have any Pokémon-GX or Pokémon-EX on your Bench. This Ability can’t be disabled with attacks, other Abilities or Trainer cards.
[P][P][P] Beast Takeover
If your opponent has 3 or less prize cards remaining, you have 6 or more Ultra Beasts in play and have played a Supporter with “Lusamine” in its name from your hand this turn, your opponent’s Active Pokémon is Knocked Out and all Pokémon on your opponent’s Bench and all cards attached to them (excluding Ultra Beasts) are put in the Lost Zone.
It appeared in this world from an Ultra Wormhole. Nihilego appears to be a parasite that lives by feeding on people and Pokémon.
Creativity: (14/20)
I’m liking this, even though everything is a bit complex. The sheer number of different clauses here along with an Ability that works as a self-limiter is great, and while I’m not sure how likely of an effect it is to be on a real card, the idea of not being able to shut that self-limiter off makes it different from cards such as Regigigas CRI 84.
Alternate Win Conditions is a fun theme to have, especially for a tournament, but the win condition from this card doesn’t seem like it’s all that different than just knocking out all your opponent’s Pokémon in play. Sure, it puts all of them in the Lost Zone, but is it really that different from simply knocking out your opponent’s Active Pokémon, and then knocking out their bench with spread damage? The idea of putting them in the Lost Zone changes nothing when the game ends at that point anyways. If the opponent happens to have Ultra Beasts that will survive the attack, then the attack no longer counts as a win condition, just a strong attack, and therefore this card doesn’t fit the theme at all.
Wording: (9/15)
Ultra Invader:
“you have 3, 4 or 5 prize cards remaining” -> “you have exactly 3, 4, or 5 prize cards remaining” -2 pts, “Exactly” is necessary in effects such as these (see Buzzwole FLI 77), and a comma is needed after 4.
“This Ability can’t be disabled with attacks, other Abilities or Trainer cards.” -> "This Ability isn't affected by attacks, Abilities or Trainer cards.” -2 pts, Abilities are never disabled, they’re always outright removed from the cards with “has no abilities” (see Alolan Muk SUM 58 or Hex Maniac AOR 75) so the wording should be “affected” to prevent the effects of those cards done to this Pokémon. The “other” before Abilities is also unnecessary.
Beast Takeover:
“your opponent’s Active Pokémon is Knocked Out and all Pokémon on your opponent’s Bench and all cards attached to them (excluding Ultra Beasts) are put in the Lost Zone.” -> “your opponent’s Active Pokémon is Knocked Out and put all Pokémon on your opponent’s Bench and all cards attached to them (excluding Ultra Beasts) into the Lost Zone.” -2 pts, this is a little tricky to explain but you’ll see on Prism Card Pokémon especially that the wording is “put x into the Lost Zone” and not “x is put into the Lost Zone”.
Believability: (10/15)
I kind of think you tried to balance this card too much. Sure, wiping everything off your opponent’s field is an incredibly strong effect and needs to be balanced accordingly, but it seems like what you’ve done to balance it is add all of these clauses for when you can actually attack with this Pokémon to make it actually seem near-impossible to get a real game into this game state where you’ll be able to fire off this attack, making the card one that people will look at and think that it’s not worth the risk of ever playing (see Unown LOT 92 with its Lost Zone ability, that has one clause and is deemed almost impossible to play) because I’m counting six different clauses (Ultra Space, your prizes, EX/GX, your opponent’s prizes, your amount of UBs, and Lusamine) to simply make any use at all with this card.
Final Thoughts:
I don’t think this Pokémon’s ability needs to exist. The clauses in it could certainly just be put together with the attack, however then I think it becomes apparent just how grating the six necessary clauses could be on the card itself. The only reason I say this is because you can drop the ability, manage the rest of the clauses and balance the card accordingly, and then you have a second spot on the card to include another attack or something, so that the card isn’t virtually unplayable if the stars don’t align perfectly.
While I’m inclined to agree that Ultra Beasts weren’t given proper justice in the TCG, the ability to completely wipe the field from anything that isn’t a UB really isn’t the proper way to go about it.
Good luck in your future faking endeavors!
[Stage 1] Lycanroc-GX HP210 [F] Evolves from Rockruff
Ability: Beginning of the End
If you have at least 2 other Lycanroc-GX in play and each of your Lycanroc-GX in play have a GX attack with a different name, ignore all Energy in the attack cost of each of your Lycanroc-GX's attacks. This Pokémon takes 20 less damage for each card attached to it.
[F][C][C] Devour 130
You may discard 2 cards from your hand. If you do, choose one of your opponent's Pokémon that has no cards attached to it and attach it to this Pokémon. (If you choose an Evolution Pokémon, only attach the highest Stage Evolution card on it and discard the rest.) (If a Pokémon attached to this Pokémon in this way would be removed from this Pokémon for any reason, put it in the Lost Zone instead.)
[F][C][C] Ragnarok GX 200
If this Pokémon has 6 or more Pokémon attached to it, and if your opponent's Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from this attack, you win this game. (You can't use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)
Weakness: [G]x2
Resistance: -
Retreat: [C][C] GX Rule: When your Pokémon GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Creativity: (19/20)
Pokémon being attached to other Pokémon is always a fun and interesting idea and while I think other cards make use of the idea better (Klefki STS 80) it’s a cool idea to take your opponent’s Pokémon in order to power yourself up for a large attack. It’s sort of a “put your eggs in one basket” idea where you’ve gotta keep this card around for a while and let it build up power before using your GX attack, which makes it not only an interesting but a believable win condition. Balancing the different types of Lycanroc-GX and which ones you want to have out on the field is also a nice idea with having Pokémon that evolves in different forms that isn’t expressed enough by the actual game itself. In terms of creativity I think this card is fantastic and I actually spent a little bit of time wondering if it’s worth the 20/20.
Wording: (15/15)
Everything seems fine, no wording errors here! Congrats!
Believability: (2/15)
I think the most apparent thing is that this card is too powerful numbers-wise. By taking 20 less damage for each card attached to it, it seems fairly easy to get this Pokémon up to a point where it takes minimal or completely zero damage, leading it to be very difficult to knock out. Attaching a single energy and a tool already causes the Pokémon to take 40 less damage, a strong number when you consider most tools prevent up to 30, and that only keeps growing every turn. Devour can completely destroy any other deck’s set up or midgame by simply stealing a Pokémon they had in play and with Devour taking 2 turns at minimum to set up, on Turn 2 you can be completely destroying your opponent’s set up which only further powers you up, making it nearly impossible to be knocked out by anything your opponent can manage to set up in that short amount of time.
We already know that Lycanroc-GX GRI is a very strong card with its Bloodthirsty Eyes ability so being able to pair it incredibly well with a card like this and allow it to synergize incredibly is something that I fear just can’t work in any well-balanced matter. The kicker here is the instant win condition, which while it’s a beautiful idea, pushes the Pokémon to the point where it not only has an incredibly powerful ability and incredible synergy with an already powerful card, but now has the ability to instantly win the game, one of the biggest things in a game that must be balanced accordingly.
From a glance it seems like you had amazing ideas but couldn’t put the thought into balancing them, as the only attempt I see at withdrawing this thing’s power is by only picking the highest stage Evolution card, and not every card under that Pokémon.
Final Thoughts:
Unrelated to judging, but nice inspiration for the card! Pokémon designs can be based off mythology so seeing it adapted in cards is super cool. People need to make more of these!
Related to judging though I’m pretty sure that’s the highest creativity score I’ve ever given a card that I’ve judged, this card is fantastic and everything you’ve chosen to include in the card has some kind of interesting or unique effect that really made me enjoy reading it. However, either those abilities were very difficult to put into balancing, or that no effort was made to balance them at all.
I’m not sure what else to say besides… Very well done, Vom!
Giratina ◇ – Dragon – HP150
Basic Pokémon
◇ (Prism Star) Rule: You can’t have more than 1 ◇ card with the same name in your deck. If a ◇ card would go to the discard pile, put it in the Lost Zone instead.
Ability: Violent Rampage
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may put the top 3 cards of your opponent’s deck in the Lost Zone. If you do, your turn ends.
[P][G] Shadow Drag: 20 damage. You may switch 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon with their Active Pokémon.
Weakness: Fairy (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
It was banished for its violence. It silently gazed upon the old world from the Distortion World.
Creativity: (11/20)
Violent Rampage hacks away at your opponent’s deck, and if Giratina sits there on the bench long enough it can do some serious damage to their deck. Definitely fits the theme of an alternative wincon, and for that kudos! But aside from that, it’s not a very out there idea (especially considering it was an example named when describing the round), and the attack’s effect acts like a one-sided Guzma. It works interestingly enough, but not much there is brand new.
Wording: (15/15)
Wording looks perfect, great job!
Believability: (12/15)
I have to dock a couple points for Giratina’s ability not requiring it to be active, or sending cards straight to the Lost Zone as opposed to the discard pile. Not making a clause that requires this Pokémon to be active allows it to bench sit while allowing this ability to still be in-use every turn, and letting that go on for just a few turns is enough to throw some serious wrenches into your opponent’s gameplay. That’s a little too powerful if you ask me.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, this is a well polished card that showcases your ideas and thought process well, though for future rounds it might not be a bad idea to ensure that everything’s roughly balanced. Congratulations on moving on to the next round!
Excadrill [F] HP120
Stage 1 – Evolves from Drilbur
[F][C] Final Excavation
Discard the top 3 cards of your deck. If you discarded less than 3 cards in this way, you win this game.
[F][C][C] Explore the Tunnels
Search your deck for up to 4 cards, shuffle your deck, then put those cards on top of it in any order. If this Pokémon used Final Excavation during your last turn, put 3 cards from your discard pile into your hand.
Weakness: [W] x2
Resistance: [L] -20
Retreat: [C][C][C][C]
More than 300 feet below the surface, they build mazelike nests. Their activity can be destructive to subway tunnels.
Wording
-1 Missing Statline (dex number, category, stats)
14/15
--- Creativity/Originality
No damaging attacks, no disruption, it only exists to enable the wincon, which is mostly a positive in my book. Interesting choice in trying to play somewhat similar to old Junk Hunt Sableye I encountered, and used, so much back in the day. You can try to run Excadrill as just a wincon, only bringing it out when you are about ready to win, or you can try to use him exclusively to slow down your opponent using what you bring back from discard and mill yourself out via other means. It is a cool interaction that I love so good job there. It also does touch on unexplored design space, at least as far as I can remember. Which is obviously a massive pro.
20/20
--- Believability/Playability
This card is obviously a little bit on the weaker side. It has no offense of its own, have a relatively low Hp, huge retreat cost, and higher than easy to use attack costs. However, I don’t see this as particularly unplayable, and nothing about it screams that it would never be made.
15/15
-- Vracken Notes for Next Time
Unfortunate that you missed the statline cause otherwise this would have been a perfect card as far as I can see it.
The theme for the third round is Not Fully Evolved! For this round, you may choose any Pokémon which is still capable of evolving as the subject of your card. (This must actually be evolving, not Mega Evolution or any other form change which does not change the Pokédex number.) As always, be creative!
Half my CaCs are NFEs anyway, so I’m probably going to struggle to think of a unique effect, but I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!.
Ability: Popcorn
Once during your turn (before your attack), if you have 4 Sunkern on your bench and your Active Pokémon is a [R] Pokémon, you may use this Ability. If you do, Knock Out all Benched Pokémon in play (both yours and your opponent’s). Your turn now ends. If both players would take their last Prize cards as a result of this Ability, your opponent wins this game.
[G] Sunny Day
Search your deck for a [R] Pokémon and put it onto your bench. Shuffle your deck afterwards.
Weakness: [R] x2
Resistance:
Retreat: [C] It suddenly falls out of the sky in the morning. A year after a cold summer, their population explodes.
I'm feeling a bit dubious about this one, but I'll be away for the next week so I need to get it in now or else...
Edited: -2pts
I’m back from being away... Good luck everyone!
[Stage 1] Duosion HP90 [P] Evolves from Solosis NO. 578 Mitosis Pokémon HT: 2'00'' WT: 17.6 lbs. Ability: Mitochondria Are the Powerhouse of the Cell
Once during your turn (before your attack), if this Pokémon is on your Bench, you may use this Ability. During this turn, your Evolution Pokémon may attack twice in a row. (If the first attack Knocks Out your opponent's Active Pokémon, you may attack again after your opponent chooses a new Active Pokémon.) If you do, this Pokémon is Knocked Out.
[P][P][P] Memory of an Adversary
If a Pokémon in your opponent's discard pile has the same name as your opponent's Active Pokémon, both Active Pokémon are Knocked Out.
Weakness: [P]x2
Resistance: -
Retreat: [C] When their brains, now divided in two, are thinking the same thoughts, these Pokémon exhibit their maximum power.
Electrode GX (you may Knock Out this Pokémon vs this Pokémon is Knocked Out)
First off I'd just like to say the mitochondria meme is wrong because mitochondria is actually the plural form of mitochondrion
Oof, NFE is definitely the hardest kind of card to make for me, balancing so it's not just a stepping stone but it doesn't completely overshadow its evolution is tough. I went from chess, to mourning, to ferocity, to cells.
Ability - Well, we all know where the name comes from. I couldn't make a cell-themed card and not use this name. As for the effect itself, mitochondria drastically increase the energy output of a cell and provides it with much more energy than it would otherwise have, hence the double attacking. It's pretty generic so this being a Stage 1 and getting Knocked Out means it's not completely splashable like something like Ditto Prism Star.
Memory of an Adversary - White blood cells keep records of previous pathogens, so when they find it again they can quickly get rid of it. However, if they do, a large portion of them die off, and so this attack was born.
Also yes I know every single Duosion card ever has 60HP but the last of those came out 3 years ago so powercreep. :L
Phantump HP 50 Psychic
Basic Pokémon NO. 708 Stump Pokémon HT: 1'04" WT: 15.4 lbs.
/Ability/ ~ Found a Friend
If this Pokémon is in your deck whenever you are playing a Supporter card that looks through your deck during your turn, you may reveal it and put it into your hand. You can't use more than 1 Found a Friend Ability each turn.
[C] Spiritual Summoning
Shuffle a Supporter card from your discard pile into your deck. Reveal the card you draw at the beginning of your turn. If that card is the Supporter card you shuffled into your deck, search your deck for Trevenant and put it onto your Bench, and attach up to 2 Energy cards from your hand to it. Then, shuffle your deck.
By imitating the voice of a child, it causes people to get hopelessly lost deep in the forest. It’s trying to make friends with them.
Weakness: Fire x2
Resistance: None
Retreat: 1
Believe it or not, the card Ninja Boy actually inspired this card. It can both look through your deck, giving activation to the Ability, and well, Ninja Boy is probably like 7, which is perfect age for a kid Phantump wants to make friends with. Ninja Boy itself even works perfectly with it, being able to Ninja Boy the Phantump into the deck, and immediately grab it out again while you choose the Pokémon to use Ninja Boy with.
Anyways, this was a very fun card to make. Found a Friend is an awesome Ability, allowing you to retrieve it from the deck by the effect of any Supporter card that looks through your deck. It’s not exactly a huge boost, but being able to freely grab an evolving basic while searching the deck for whatever is an amazing Tool. It has only 50 HP, which for a Phantump is pretty low, but it’s a decent balancing effect due to how good the card is for an evolving basic.
Also, why don’t we have any Abilties activating in the deck like this Phantump? It would be cool to see more like this. After all, we’ve started getting Abilities from the Prize cards (Jirachi Prism Star), so why not from the deck?
I honestly couldn't really find anything except Luvdisc FLF for the beginning of turn wording. However, I will give reasoning behind wording.
Phantump's Ability doesn't shuffle the deck because every Supporter card that searches the deck requires you to shuffle it afterwards, and since Phantump's Ability activates in the middle of that effect happening, there is really no reason to have it shuffled again. It also says looks instead of searches because some Supporter cards like Bill’s Analysis only look through a part of the deck unlike a card like Mallow, Steven’s Resolve, or Skyla that searches the deck.
