Contest PokéBeach Create-A-Card: May 2017 - Beginnermons - All Results Up!

I should've made my card earlier when I had time, because now everything's decided to come up all at once and time is no longer something I have the luxury of expending. I'm resigning from this contest.
 
So when I played Pokémon Sun earlier in the year I picked up a Cutiefly early in the run. Little did I know she would go on to become my mainstay and replace my starter as that one team member that lasts the entire game - Ribombee became my favourite Alolan mon. I did not expect that based on the pre-game hype around some of the other designs. Bug/Fairy typing is simply glorious and hits so many common Alolans for weakness. On the flipside, she can be equally frail against the wrong opponent. So for this competition my choice was obvious and easily had to be:

ZbAe07O.png

I find the new GX mechanic fascinating. To have an attack you can use just once means for these comps I will probably keep coming back to making GX cards. I think the move can be on the OP side, since you only get to fire it off one time. Preferably it should also be a move that can be utilised to different ends. For Ribombee here I gave her Winds of Change - i.e. Cassius on steroids (wording ref). This is aimed at slotting into the current Meta, before any of the leaked "scoop" cards are back in the game. In keeping with Fairy's healing designs, you could use it for the obvious clearing away a bench full of damaged Pokémon. Decidueye-style snipe decks will have to think about their targets and act fast. Equally you are returning cards to your deck, so perhaps you have a tool you need to recycle to elsewhere, or you've over-extended your energy and need it back in the deck to re-attach in different places. Maybe you are just about to deck out and need to fatten up your stack. I originally had this also doing a chunk of damage, then I toned it down a bit to make it do a smaller amount. When I started thinking about all the ways in which it is useful, I eventually removed the damage power altogether - it is powerful enough on it's own.

I pitched the attack cost at two colourless as a fair price to pay for a once off like this. This also opens up the option of using it early in the match - explode an opening hand with Lele & Shaymin and then return them to your deck for later use.

A powerful utility attack for sure, that can be used early, mid or late game to different ends. But as a GX attack, only once.

For her regular attacks, I wanted to focus on the unique Bug/Fairy typing, and make people try to build decks around that. Of course this is not unique in the TCG since Bug = Grass, and here they have tried to push a synergy between [G] and [Y] a few times - Florges in particular comes to mind. I imagine there would be a Bug version of Cutiefly to go with this card, meaning a T1 evolution via FoGP could be utilised.

Named for one of the VG abilities of Ribombee - also for the gathering of honey/energy cards - the first attack Honey Gather is nearly a word-for-word rethread of Mew Ex's Replace (wording ref, updated for SM "basic Energy cards" - see: Drampa, Rayqueza) - an attack that you'd rarely use considering Mew had every move in the game at his disposal. I have buffed it to add a moderate 30 damage, yet also limited it to move basic energies only - but we're here for the effect of the attack. Moving energy around can be very useful in many situations, as this is intended to slot into a mixed energy deck. It won't work on Rainbow energies which will make it a little trickier to utilise in this situation. But again, this is tying back to Fairy's healing strategies - clearing off attachments from a mon you want to Max Potion next turn, or in preparation for dropping the GX attack. Maybe you just need to power up another Ribombee to use it's second attack which has a tricky energy cost.

Pollen Count (cos you count all the [G] & [Y] mons geddit? :v ) is not an attack you'd want to build a deck around - Ribombee is definitely a support card for a more powerful attacker - but you are welcome to try. Grass decks tend to fill their benches which means this will slow down those opponents. Yet for yourself, you will be trying to flood your bench. Skyfield can't really work since you'll want FoGP in action. It should make for an interesting mirror. You might also want Fairy Garden as your stadia of choice - while Ribombee has free retreat, not many other Fairy types do. It's Cutiefly pre-evo would not have free retreat either. So you can hit for 110 which is decent, up to 170 on your own side with a full bench and before Tools or Kukui. Yet at the same time at just 190HP Ribombee is also quite frail, and you'd be hard pressed to get the right energies back in a hurry. I hope this is a good balance.

Lastly to comment on the standard things. At 190HP it is on the weaker side of GX cards. She is only a beginnermon after all, and a bit of a glass cannon in the vidya games. I gave her free retreat - which would be the first GX card to receive such a treatment. This could be huge, and the part of the card I am most worried is too much. I wanted to emulate that feel of being light and floating in on the wind and going where she pleases. Also to set up potential strategies like Honey Gathering energy to someone on the bench - including the one it cost to do that, and then bringing out that attacker on the next go.

Simply stunning Ribombee image used with kind permission from the wonderful and talented KitsuGuardian. If any of you are deviants swing by her page and give her a +watch. She has plenty of Pokémon art and there's bound to be something there you'll want to +fave. If I wasn't already sold on doing a Ribombee card before I stumbled across this beaut of an image, it would have made my mind up. The pose and the brightness of Ribombee here were just perfect for building a card around. While not a 3D render as seems to be the norm, the simplicity of the design makes it a moot point. To be able to have that transparency in the wings <3

As usual, template & symbols from the ever-resourceful @aschefield101 . He really has done all the hard or boring work which leaves us free to do all the fun stuff. ty as ever. I did make a few little edits to parts such as the type symbol & the copyright to bring them more in line with what seems to be current. Sylveon-GX referenced frequently.

I wanted to echo that "bursting out of the card" feel that all the GX cards are going for. With Ribombee it should be a swoosh of wind and petals and leaves. This Petal overlay from freepik was used for the burst (the leaves are actually the exact same petals with a green tint teehee). These lightburst swooshes from PSDbox were used for creating the wind effects, with reference from this tutorial if you want to learn how to do it yourself. There is a subtle dandelion overlay on there too which came from Obsidian Dawn (a great resource for brushes of literally anything you might ever need). BG is no-credit-needed stock photo of Cherry Blossom trees. Any of the other pollen, lights, glints and effects are self-created.

Good grief I could rabbit on all day here. Better submit it and edits be damned. This was a really fun process for me. Good luck to all.
 
Last edited:
Aaaaaand, that's not even the right image dangit. I will have to edit now, and take the docked points hit @bbninjas

(also, now is a good time to mention I dropped one month so I'm owed a points dock for that too)
 
Oh boy, those docked points are a shame because that is a genuinely gorgeous looking card @Yog, great job!
 
The attack description will now be justified. ARE YE HAPPY YET? ARE YE?

lotad__cac_may_2017__by_tylercomfyhat-db93sqs.png

I'll be honest, this month's theme didn't inspire me as much as last month's did. Quite frankly, I had a hard time chosing a 'mon to make a card of. I could've chose an actually really good Pokémon to make a card of (yet still viable for the theme) like Bellsprout (who is my bro and always a strong contender for the Grass-type spot on my team. But I figured that would kind of be cheating the idea of using crap-mons you catch at the beginning of the game and never use afterwards. But almost no 'mons that fit that exact description inspire me enough to want to make a card of them. So I chose a Pokémon that sort of fits in-between these two categories. A 'mon from probably my favorite gen that gives me an excuse to do a groovy dual-type no other line uses (to my knowledge).

I'm not entirely confident I'll get as good of a score as I did last month, but who knows? I don't.
 
Sorry for the double post, but I forgot to mention; Lotad cards usually have either a Fire weakness (when Grass type) or a Lightning weakness (when Water), and never a resistance. Since I figured the Water half-type would negate the [R]-Weakness, and the Grass half-type would negate the [L]-Weakness, my card has no W/R. I didn't forget to put them in; the choice was intentional.

Just pointing that out.
 
(also, now is a good time to mention I dropped one month so I'm owed a points dock for that too)
You don't lose points for dropping, although if you don't submit anything (or drop after the "drop" deadline), then you can't participate in the next month's competition (to free some space up for others). :)
 
Sign me up on image, please.

And here's the card:

lU_l78TY5jHkn6zf_lK4XvhxACUU4BkqL6E39gLXakztpmmcj_zz8HW5toIdxhGfCZAN2O4fpfCXS3SqJlyTQwmFie12Ma-VD5q5vppcvQhOUkUPqfpAIAXgSThJKM6AYPiRxD01EYIblko-3l2VIrQIZRUq--_xcJlIgzKskx31FMWrsFgY2NBx1tflY98PgWulIvVTYLAukPHvtROq30eKmW1DxxQBNElTlPac2ETde4Zk35UCaBSyeYWlQQA0jRyB_5I-8CbUZdr_TlXPIhqkAbUkSF9arkDuCUDls6-Z1VOYBVKKp5NvIfWxRjgwP9OoDbgW8cZgvm4eIxqbPeS-_m2mpdxqMquv30RMytnlzk4bF4_vBQ5adBUC-THjzNQDMNG4zQ_-l0r30yFo1cJb6R-k3SalENIKKWewm6yvTORX8HyZfcyhDyhnuTBKfP4nMjuE3jZ8F6QzXktDZzktG7EqCQ8z7oCpLbqf0Pdz7nhESJlV4QHF2mHDvphu5uzS00SqRMSjed87U9D78vdV0FNu27eyNAutMyeEyTNF-ZGu9hqDHyK2a2i44f5YH5O_tgr4qv5UOGrlQs8uSpYvMWkR587Q329jimbvTHDaizJ-sLiz-oQUbsBxV8CgEUPfsw2uVtJO6CnFgFLEEDzdHMiXxV4TkEQV9IVLhw=w675-h950-no

Honestly, the most difficult part was to pick a pokemon this time, since I had at least three already done, but, one always comes back to the beginning.

I started from what is pretty much the first power I ever designed for a card, that I had to scrap when doing Beaming Elegance for something more fitting of the theme; from there I tried to figure out what moves could benefit from it, and I was surprised that I didn't seem to find much, least of all officially done (I did find a hypno that does things to the opponent's hand, though, but knowing hte hand beforehand doesn't seem to have much use except for the strategic one). But even once I found something, I had to severely strip everything down for it to fit; I even had to slightly reduce the size because it still wouldn't fit. but I think I like it better in 22p than in 25p, anyway.

The overall idea, regardless of it it's well done or not, is that you can really annoy your opponent by messing with what they draw and hopefully what trainers they use and where they put energies; I realize, though, that I couldn't come up with a way so you get to use the power to make it so the next card they draw is a good supporter and get to use it yourself before they can (after all, they'll draw it in their turn). But I guess the attack is still useful to evolve the wrong pokemon, fill benches and give all the energies and tools to the active pokemon so you can knock it down. The original spoiler was much more effective for that strategy, but, space is a problem in image faking.


As for the illustration, I thought about using an old render I had done, but I didn't like how it looked, so I went with something new; I rarely do dynamic, action illustrations, because I'm horrible at them, but I like this one; it has a certain je nes se quoi of the old EX era and the Plasma cards, which I always hated, but this time for whatever reason, it works.
 
Uh... there's supposed to be a spoiler in there. Well, no editing.

Psychic Insight
Once during your turn (before your attack) you may choose between looking at the top 6 cards of your deck and rearranging them at will, looking at the top 6 cards of your opponent’s deck and rearranging them at will, or looking at your opponent’s hand.

[P][C] Glamour Burst 20+
This attack does 10 more damage for each Energy, 20 more damage for each Special Energy, and 30 more damage for each Pokémon Tool card attached to this Pokémon and the defending Pokemon.

[P][Y] Courtly Command
You may play a card from your opponent’s hand as if it was your own. (If you play a Trainer card, apply the effects to you and discard it in your opponent’s discard pile) (If you play a Pokémon or an Energy Card, play it in your opponent’s play area). This Pokémon can’t use Courtly Command during your next turn."]
 
My textures aren't working the way I like. Don't think I have a good one for the character. Anyone got something nice?
 
Can you withdraw me from the competition, I'm afraid I don't have enough time this month. :(
 
Fearow - (C) - 100Hp
Stage 1- Evolves from Spearow

Ability: Sniper Flight
All Pokemon in play on your opponent's bench with Tool Cards attached to them
have no effect (You may only use this ability once every three turns.)

(C)- Peck-30
This attack does 10 damage to one of your opponent's Benched Pokemon
(Don't apply Weakness and Resistance to Benched Pokemon.)

(L)(C)(C)-Hyper Wing -80+
You may do 80 more damage. If you do, discard a Special Energy card attached to this
Pokemon and put 9 damage counters on this Pokemon.

Weakness: (L) x2
Resistance: (F) -20
Retreat: (C)

With its huge and magnificent wings, it can keep aloft without
ever having to land for rest.

NO. 22 - Beak Pokemon -HT: 3'11"
- WT: 83.8 lbs

Also, can I please use this? Spearow is one of the most forgotten Pokes out there, and so is
Fearow.
 
Last edited:
Welp, here you go!
SvYNeOG.png

I actually had the artwork finished like a week ago but I procrastinated on finishing the card.

- I chose Liepard because it's a very forgotten Pokemon. It has a very sleek design and I really like the whole devious cat concept. My fondness for Liepard does stem from the fact that I found a shiny one who I named Shimmer. As a side note, I like the shiny color scheme way better than the normal form, I was tempted to use it in the art but decided against it.

- Liepard PRIME is based around the theme of being a dirty fighter. It steals extra prizes and is more likely to knock out your opponent's Pokemon when they're powered up.

- The art was a lot of fun to make, I combined the style of the official PRIME art with my own style, and I really like how it turned out.

- I could not for the life of me get the font right. I did install the recommended font pack, but for some reason my Gill Sans Condensed font would always be double condensed. I tried using different programs, redownloading the font from several places, and messing around with all kinds of settings, but nothing worked. It might be a problem with my computer, I don't know.

- I hope it's alright that I tweaked the 'set symbol' a bit, the blue and orange just looked really jarring on the card, so I made it greyscale.

- The rarity is messed up, I know. I didn't realize until after I was done and there was just no way to fix it, so I drew in a star and called it a day.

- I know little about the competitive scene, and I know basically nothing about competitive in the HGSS era, so I just looked at the other PRIME cards and made my attack and ability look like something from that era.

- It's important to note that the card's wording is not correct for the current era, I based the wording from the HGSS era. This is the main card I used for reference.
http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/thumb/b/b8/ScizorUndaunted84.jpg/200px-ScizorUndaunted84.jpg

Blank: http://fav.me/d5fm4lc
Energy icons: http://fav.me/d6wt4h9
Poke-Body: Cut out from an official card.
Artwork: Me
 
- I could not for the life of me get the font right. I did install the recommended font pack, but for some reason my Gill Sans Condensed font would always be double condensed. I tried using different programs, redownloading the font from several places, and messing around with all kinds of settings, but nothing worked. It might be a problem with my computer, I don't know.

What software are you using? If photoshop, it sounds like you might have the percentage settings for width/height of the text options set to something incorrect. Or the faux-bold option ticked.

Or if not, you can use these to jimmy the width to something of your liking.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top