Discussion What mechanics are you hoping for in Gen 8 TCG

SupStar

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I personally have wanted weaknesses to be removed for quite some time. I think the different play styles of each type are enough to distinguish them, and weaknesses just put certain decks out of business. For example, if there's a good fighting deck and a good dark deck in the current meta, the dark deck is immediately ruled out because it's almost a guaranteed loss if it goes against another popular good deck.

The Zamazenta and Zacian V cards have no weakness so this might be the case at least for V cards, but the starters still have weaknesses...
 

Wolfe_XD

Metagross :)
Member
They have no weakness to prevent spoiling their typings.... its the same reason that the attacks have "no" energy costs.

But I'd like to see dual types or delta species come back, they were really interesting mechanics.
 

SupStar

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Oh I thought the V gimmick was that they had no weakness or energy cost lol. Is that how they revealed Solgaleo and Lunala GX when the SM TCG cards were first revealed?
 

Vom

livin' in a lonely world
Forum Mod
Member
At this point I'd just be happy with them rolling back on the 300HP Basics lol.
 

SupStar

Aspiring Trainer
Member
At this point I'd just be happy with them rolling back on the 300HP Basics lol.
As would I. Would love for OP fire supports like Welder to go out of rotation as well... but it'll probably be the usual 2 years for them to cycle that stuff out...
 

ScrawnyMeowth1

The Maker of Pokemon Lists
Member
I really want them to do something like LEGEND cards again. LEGENDs are definitely my favorite TCG mechanic, because they combine all the things that I love about other mechanics:
  • Stunning artwork
  • Really outside-the-box mechanic
  • Not too OP (i.e. not 300 HP)
  • Multiple Pokémon on a card
  • Dual type
Aside from that, like Frost said, I really hope they cut down on the amount of secret rares per set, because at this point they aren't even cool anymore.
 

Oddish22

Aspiring Trainer
Member
- Change resistance from -30 to -50 or -60, as damage and HP just have increased, but resistance stayed the same. Resistance should be a good portion of the HP. How much is it in the video games?
- Change attacks - energy requirements/damage output for basic unevolved Pokémon; 10 for 1 Energy or 20 for 2 etc. made sense, when basics had 30-50 HP and most stage 1s and 2s 50-90 HP, but now it does not even matter. It should always be at least 20 for one energy and 50 for 2.
But as we already have seen some cards, they did not do this.
- Have more effects on the small basics. Not just attacks with insignificant damage. Then they have more purpose than just sitting on the bench.
 

Frost

Ice/Fairy Stan Account
Member
In the video games resistance halves damage. But for the most part Pokemon in the TCG only "resist" types that they're immune to in the video games. Fairy is the main outlier I can think of in that it should really resist Dragon and not Dark, but I guess they didn't want to nerf Dragon too much when they had just added that type a couple years prior to Fairy's addition.
 

Yaginku

H-on Will Save Pokemon
Member
One, don't ever do TTs again. GXs are bad enough, though still an improvement over EXs, but TTs just made the game unbearably boring. Only two KOs to win (so games can take literally minutes), 200hp+ (so you have to put 200+ damage attacks on non-GX Pokemon to even compete), you can literally lose two prizes "for free"? It's a failed experiment.

I want them to stop pushing mono decks with ridiculous cards like Welder. The joy of Pokemon TCG is planning ahead - you cannot really "bluff", so the game is more like chess than poker(mon). But if decks are extremely streamlined and monotype, there's no planning, just having cards or not. Give me more boxes and make them two-three types for interesting weakness plays.

Give us interesting Stage 1 Pokemon from Two-stage lines. Mid-evolution Pokemon are probably one of the most unloved in the TCG. They could easily hold interesting abilities that the Stage 2 can build off of and use. Using Rare Candy should be a conscious decision, not an auto-include.
 

K_la

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I'd like to see a mechanic that makes no GX's relevant again. I truly enjoyed the breaks for this reason. It feels that this meta is heavy on the big, bad boys. The sneaky little guys need a little love too :p
 

Mysticvulpix

Just be chill
Member
One, don't ever do TTs again. GXs are bad enough, though still an improvement over EXs, but TTs just made the game unbearably boring. Only two KOs to win (so games can take literally minutes), 200hp+ (so you have to put 200+ damage attacks on non-GX Pokemon to even compete), you can literally lose two prizes "for free"? It's a failed experiment.

I want them to stop pushing mono decks with ridiculous cards like Welder. The joy of Pokemon TCG is planning ahead - you cannot really "bluff", so the game is more like chess than poker(mon). But if decks are extremely streamlined and monotype, there's no planning, just having cards or not. Give me more boxes and make them two-three types for interesting weakness plays.

Give us interesting Stage 1 Pokemon from Two-stage lines. Mid-evolution Pokemon are probably one of the most unloved in the TCG. They could easily hold interesting abilities that the Stage 2 can build off of and use. Using Rare Candy should be a conscious decision, not an auto-include.
Agreed. That’s why I’m interested In these V mechanics. If V max is like breaks, but say, for only 3 turns, it creates a much more interesting format. Yes, you have 300+ mons, but only for a short time. You may need to plan whether to play it early or late.
 

Kangaflora

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I would love for Dual-typing to return, but I would also love to see the return of two Weaknesses (x2) and two Resistances (-30) (but only if they exclude the Colorless-type in both Weakness and Resistance; I hated the Colorless resistance).
 
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GM DracLord

Shadow of Death
Member
Is "no more 30 secret rares per set" a mechanic?

Have to agree, I'm also seeing no point of the full art cards, if they planned to make card like that ever again, just kept the rainbow rare and skip the ugly full arts

- Change resistance from -30 to -50 or -60, as damage and HP just have increased, but resistance stayed the same. Resistance should be a good portion of the HP. How much is it in the video games?
- Change attacks - energy requirements/damage output for basic unevolved Pokémon; 10 for 1 Energy or 20 for 2 etc. made sense, when basics had 30-50 HP and most stage 1s and 2s 50-90 HP, but now it does not even matter. It should always be at least 20 for one energy and 50 for 2.
But as we already have seen some cards, they did not do this.
- Have more effects on the small basics. Not just attacks with insignificant damage. Then they have more purpose than just sitting on the bench.

The different value of resistance would make the gameplay interesting

Agree, the small basic need to be a bit more useful, they are printing too much of this cannon fodder per set nowadays.

Hope they continue the usage of Yellow A cards and not include 2 different are of the same card in the same set (I'm talking to you litwick) or different sets (unless you planned to reset the legality of that particular card)
 

SableyeGuy

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Honestly I just agree with what the people here already said. They should remove tag teams, all of the good ones are just turbo agro decks with 200+ hp, very few tag team decks can be actually creative ideas, and I think they make the game not fun. A cool mechanic could be the v-max pokemon taking up 2-3 spots on the field, since they represent dynamax/gigantamax and are supposed to be very big.
 
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Yaginku

H-on Will Save Pokemon
Member
A coop mechanic could be the v-max pokemon taking up 2-3 spots on the field, since they represent dynamax/gigantamax and are supposed to be very big.
I really like this idea for the X-grade Pokemon in general - instead of degenerating the prize structure to force 7-prize games, it would increase the depth of play by limiting bench space.
However, I don't think such mechanic would be very child-friendly. Yes, it literally takes 2 minutes to explain it, but that's two minutes too many for PTCG.
 

Otaku

The wise fool?
Member
Most of what I'd like is for certain mechanics to be removed, not more added. Short version is I think a big problem with the game is the powers-that-be spend too much time on gimmicks instead of nailing down the fundamentals of the game. That doesn't seem very on topic, let alone plausible, so...

  • Weakness becomes +20 instead of x2
  • Evolving Pokémon are more than just stepping stones
  • Higher HP scores across the board
  • Redistribute the video game-to-TCG Types
  • Maybe go all out and finish splitting the Types entirely
A lot of this stems from a simple fact:

The Pokémon TCG is NOT the video game.

The TCG can't be the video game because of the innate differences between the two, so even if a mechanic works in the video games it doesn't translate well to the TCG. A 2-Player video game match doesn't involve players trying to catch and Evolve Pokémon into the final forms they need while still battling each other. Or at least, they didn't when I still played the video games. XD

More detailed explanations in the Spoiler:

In the TCG, Weakness began as x2, Resistance as -30. This was when damage output and HP scores were lower as well. HP and damage began creeping up, Weakness and Resistance shifted to +/- 10 to 40, but x2 Weakness eventually returned, and soon the norm became x2 Weakness and -20 Resistance. Weakness is far more potent in the TCG than Resistance and I think that is a problem, but I do not want Resistance to become stronger, I want Weakness to itself become weaker. Giving an attacker a "free" Muscle Band in a particular match up seems like a good enough bonus to me.

Part of the balance issue between the Stages is that Evolving Pokémon tend to either be useless, or so oddly strong they don't need their Evolutions (see Night March). Every now and then, though, we get Evolving Basics and/or Stage 1 Pokémon that work together. Another is the HP scores. People complain they're too high now... but it is the opposite problem. I did say that the video games are not the TCG and vice versa, but in this case, the differences make having higher HP scores more important to the TCG, not less. The video games currently have scores that range from what, 1 to over 700? The TCG has 30 ranging to 300 except it doesn't.

The TCG handles everything in units of 10, so when it comes to game design, it is really more like a range of 3 to 30! HP in the TCG isn't just HP from the video games, either; there are no Defense or Special Defense stats. Certain Abilities and even abundant Resistance are likely all factored into HP scores. Further exacerbating these differences is the single or multiplayer video game experience versus the purely multiplayer TCG. In the video games, you're expected to grind your way through the single player game, and even in multiplayer, you're only going to send a Level 5 whatever up against a Level 100 Pokémon because you're goofing off, have a weird strategy, etc. Because Evolving Basics and Stage 1 Pokémon have to dance with non-Evolving Basics right away, and pretty quickly with fully Evolved Stage 1 and 2 Pokémon, Evolution lines need their HP "front loaded". Using current HP scores, the Basic of an Evolution line that ends with a 150 HP Stage 2 should have more like 100 HP, and the Stage 1 120 or even 130.

They've shuffled around what video game Types the TCG Types represent before and they've added new Types before. I wouldn't mind seeing a Type crunch simplifying the game's Types but that probably ain't happening. The opposite extreme, finally making a 1-to-1 Type conversion from video games to the TCG's also seems unlikely; sets struggle with having so many Types in them as is, though that might justify the size of modern sets. Let us assume no video game-only Types are being spun off and no wholly new Types are being added. Even then, we're long overdue for Type redistribution.

I understand why certain Types are paired up in the TCG but that's just it... they need to be pairs, not triples. Before the Fairy Type released, somewhere I worked out on some spread sheets what Type combinations would result in the most faithful preservation of Weakness/Resistance interactions, also adjusted for how the TCG handles Weakness and Resistance. Sadly, I cannot find that file anymore, and I haven't been able to start from scratch to do it again. The main principle I discovered was "No more than 2 Types in a group!" So, just guessing, but here is how I'd split things out with what we currently have:

  • Colorless = Flying and Normal (No Change)
  • Darkness = Dark and Poison
  • Dragon = Dragon (No Change)
  • Fairy = Fairy (No Change)
  • Fighting = Fighting and Ground
  • Fire = Fire (No Change)
  • Grass = Grass and Bug (No Change)
  • Lightning = Electric
  • Metal = Steel and Rock
  • Psychic = Ghost and Psychic
  • Water = Water and Ice (No Change)
A few of the singles could even be paired up, if we actually did need to reduce how many TCG Types there were: Dragon + Fairy could become a "Mystic Type", while Fire and Lightning could become an "Energy" Type. Except that name is confusing, and I doubt the powers-that-be think we need to reduced Types. XD

So, my proposed changes are Poison migrating to the Darkness Type and Rock falling under the Metal Type. It may seem odd, but at least before the Fairy Type came along, these had good overlap in Weakness/Resistance relationships and flavor. Especially in a fair fight, Poison is seen as "underhanded" or even "evil", so it works well enough with the Darkness theme, and better than it does with Psychic. Rock thematically works out okay with Metal, so the surprise is that mechanically they make a decent pair. I worried about splitting Rock and Ground from each other because they have so much overlap as well, but I was surprised at how much Fighting and Ground overlapped, and appreciated that it might be nice that anything Rock/Ground could be represented as Fighting or Metal under this system.

Whew! Yeah, that was a lot. Thanks for reading!
 
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taigercub

Aspiring Trainer
Member
not sure if its a mechanic but I wanna see something that balances out the energy acceleration for all types. Some types are just not viable even with good Pokemon just because they are too slow think grass or water (at least until blastoise and piplup comes out)
 
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