I have a few problems with how Ultra Beasts were handled in the TCG if I'm honest, and I'm gonna break them down.
I'm not one to shy away from criticizing the powers-that-be when they do something wrong. I'll share my thoughts, and I apologize if my wording sounds harsh; I'm not skilled enough at communication to make things sound softer without making what I say three times as long... and with a bunch of annoying emoticons.
So I'll just preface it all by saying if I sound "angry", I'm not. I might be worried or irked if there is something I really disagree with, but I'm not frothing at the mouth or anything. XP
1. Introduced in SM4
Honestly, I thought that was a bad move, they could've made SM5 the Ultra Beast set and had them star alongside Necrozma, or at least had the set to themselves, instead of the messy way they were shoved at the end of the SM base era.
This is a solid position, but not an unassailable one. There are two opposing dilemmas; introducing too many new mechanics at once, and the failure to establish a new, firm foundation for the latest generation.
Unfortunately, we've got so many new gimmicks, one per set might not be fast enough and all added to a single set would be overwhelming. Even something that might make sense, like alternating one new then, two new things, one new thing, two new things, etc. may have been a problem because marketing (or the like) may have insisted [insert gimmick] was released to coincide with [insert non-TCG but Pokémon thing].
2. GX
No no no. Not GX's, they should been special UB cards. Like instead of a UB with a GX move and a red skin thing, they could've just been Kartana (UB), Guzzlord (UB) and so on.
Giving them a new mechanic would've given them more potential I think.
They probably wouldn't function without GX moves, but they would definitely work with...
Ultra Beasts
did get their own designation; it is just that they can be either regular Pokémon or Pokémon-GX. Giving them a full-on new mechanic needlessly complicates the game and makes it that much more difficult for the designers to balance things out.
Frankly, there are too many unnecessary mechanics as is. I mean, I'd
love to scrap Pokémon-GX and Mega Evolutions and just go back to Pokémon-EX being used to represent Legendary and Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon.
Or
better still, do away with all of that for the time being, and the designers learn how to properly balance "regular" Pokémon even if it means our Legendaries are a bit less epic than we'd like.
3. Ultra Moves that cost Ultra Energy
Ultra Energy, required for Ultra Moves (UB'S GX moves sort of), discard them after use.
An Ultra Move would cost 2 Ultra Energy, and as they'd be a Special Energy you could only have 4. If Ultra Moves are as good as GX moves, then make it so the Ultra Energies are sent into the Lost Zone.
Why? Is this something based on the video games? Something you came up with on your own? Seems too complicated, and too vulnerable to many contemporary strategies to prove viable. I'm all in favor of power
crunch to get the game where I think it ought to be, and I'm even willing to have to wait for a rotation (maybe even two) for it to really prove good,
but I'm just seeing more unnecessary clutter, at least at this point. The TCG is inspired by the video games, but it is
not the video games, and it suffers whenever the powers-that-be forget this.
4. Ultra Space instead of Lost Zone
They renamed LvX to BREAK, so why not rename the Lost Zone to Ultra Space? Maybe even use an Ultra Wormhole card (probably named Ultra Grabber or something) to get cards back from there.
Same =/= Similar
BREAK Evolutions are likely a revision of the Level-Up mechanic, but they work differently, much like how Pokémon-ex, Pokémon-EX, and Pokémon-GX all have a lot in common but are not only distinct mechanics because the rules say they are, but because there truly are differences between them. This is an issue because you're using it as the foundation for your argument.
There is a better example of what you are saying. Abilities are the successors to Poké-Bodies and Poké-Powers, which in turn succeeded Pokémon Powers. According to the game's rules, Poké-Bodies plus Poké-Powers equal Pokémon Powers. When cards of the two eras interact, something that affects Pokémon Powers affects both Poké-Bodies and Poké-Powers, and something that states it affects both Poké-Bodies and Poké-Powers also applies to Pokémon Powers;
however, something that only affects Poké-Powers
or Poké-Bodies won't affect Pokémon Powers. Abilities would just be Pokémon Powers by another name
except it has been ruled they aren't.
The other issue is that the entire point of the Lost Zone is that no cards return from there. Other TCG's I've played have set up an equivalent mechanic for their games and it doesn't tend to end well when that "removed from play" area suddenly interacts with a lot of other cards, including those that can reclaim cards from the "removed from play" area. This
also reminds me of how
frustrating I find the Fossil mechanics we've had over the years. The original concept never really worked well, which is why they kept trying to tweak it and tweak it and then game up and
replaced it...
twice. At this point, I'd think the logical next step (whether it is truly the right step or not), is to just say "Screw it!". Just make them like everything else.
Maybe include a small designator like has been done with Ultra Beasts so that there can be
some cards that support and/or counter them, but no built-in specialty mechanics for the Pokémon themselves.
