There are a few things wrong here. The first is the cards adaptation from the game to the TCG. For those who don't know what the game version of this card does, it doubles the attack of a Pokemon, but makes it to where you can only use one attack on that Pokemon as long as it's in battle. Back in the day, there was a card called Mary's Request which said;
This was a great card... At least for my deck. I played Legendary Birds ex and didn't use any stage 2 Pokemon. To put this into perspective, Stage 2 Pokemon were everywhere and the draw support there was TV Reporter. For a deck like mine, I got a "draw 3" effect without the drawback of discarding a card. Life was great but it was balance. How does Choice Band fit into this? Well, they had an opportunity to make the card unique. The game is going to get slower ( I guess) but damage is as high as ever though the damage isn't the problem. The problem is the card can be used on anything with no real restriction. Like Mary's Request, it gave the game a unique card for those who played something other that 150HP Stage 2 ex Pokemon. What Choice Band should have done was give advantage to a player who didn't have EX or GX Pokemon in play. The effect should read as;
The card is instantly not that great anymore but still gives the deck that isn't using any 2-Prize Pokemon a bit of advantage since single Prize Pokemon are less powerful. We now have balance but this isn't the problem. The biggest problem here is the fact the card referenced Pokemon-EX. A card game, when introducing new mechanic should never older mechanic if it plans on phasing them out. This is worrying because S/M cards could be designed to interact with the poorly design B/W and XY cards, which means unhealthy effects could bleed over into the new format, which taints it should a harsh a rotation happen.
Part of the problem is the fact that the Expanded format exist. I know many of you know I hate this format at its simply because of the fact no new concepts are made and I can't see why it exist except for the sake of money. Saltiness aside, the Expanded format existing could cause some unhealthy cards to be made. I personally don't think S/M is compatible with Expanded simply because of how the set appears to be designed.
I'm worried that this kind of card design will carry over into the later sets of S/M. There isn't anything wrong with this, considering other card games do it but their mechanics don't change and if they do, it doesn't affect normal play like they do in Pokemon.
I want to know what you all think about this card. Clearly its a really good card, I just think its unhealthy.
Draw a card. If you don't have any Stage 2 Evolved Pokémon in play, draw 2 more cards.
This was a great card... At least for my deck. I played Legendary Birds ex and didn't use any stage 2 Pokemon. To put this into perspective, Stage 2 Pokemon were everywhere and the draw support there was TV Reporter. For a deck like mine, I got a "draw 3" effect without the drawback of discarding a card. Life was great but it was balance. How does Choice Band fit into this? Well, they had an opportunity to make the card unique. The game is going to get slower ( I guess) but damage is as high as ever though the damage isn't the problem. The problem is the card can be used on anything with no real restriction. Like Mary's Request, it gave the game a unique card for those who played something other that 150HP Stage 2 ex Pokemon. What Choice Band should have done was give advantage to a player who didn't have EX or GX Pokemon in play. The effect should read as;
Choice Band – Trainer
Item
Pokemon Tool: Attach a Pokemon Tool to 1 of your Pokemon that doesn’t already have a Pokemon Tool attached to it.
The Pokemon this card is attached to does 30 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokemon-EX or Active Pokemon-GX. If you have any Pokemon-EX or Pokemon-GX in play, you can't play this card. If this card is attached to a Pokemon and a Pokemon-EX or Pokemon-GX is put into play, discard this card.
You may play as many Item cards as you like during your turn (before your attack).
The card is instantly not that great anymore but still gives the deck that isn't using any 2-Prize Pokemon a bit of advantage since single Prize Pokemon are less powerful. We now have balance but this isn't the problem. The biggest problem here is the fact the card referenced Pokemon-EX. A card game, when introducing new mechanic should never older mechanic if it plans on phasing them out. This is worrying because S/M cards could be designed to interact with the poorly design B/W and XY cards, which means unhealthy effects could bleed over into the new format, which taints it should a harsh a rotation happen.
Part of the problem is the fact that the Expanded format exist. I know many of you know I hate this format at its simply because of the fact no new concepts are made and I can't see why it exist except for the sake of money. Saltiness aside, the Expanded format existing could cause some unhealthy cards to be made. I personally don't think S/M is compatible with Expanded simply because of how the set appears to be designed.
I'm worried that this kind of card design will carry over into the later sets of S/M. There isn't anything wrong with this, considering other card games do it but their mechanics don't change and if they do, it doesn't affect normal play like they do in Pokemon.
I want to know what you all think about this card. Clearly its a really good card, I just think its unhealthy.