(2) ALL 'Emerging Powers' Scans, Scrafty Distribution at Worlds [8/14]
- Thread starter Water Pokémon Master
- Start date
Frost said:Okay, seriously... I love this set. The female Unfezant, the summer Deerling/Sawsbuck, using the alternate artwork from the Patrat/Pidove BW-P Promos, and also using Minccino/Zorua/Pansage as the blister promos... as a collector I just love that TPCi actually has been giving us almost every card that Japan has gotten so far. It's great. And the set in general has awesome artwork. I'm sorry for the players who get a set that isn't very playable, but I'm loving the set as a fan of the pretty pictures.
Same with me. The illustrations never disappoint. It's what sets this apart from most other trading card games. Magic is the only other one I know of with great illustrations--everything else either uses stock images of the franchise it's based on (Naruto, Bleach, DBZ--all four of them), uses the same art style for everything (Star Wars, Legend of the Five Rings), or uses some unusually boring artwork (Yu-Gi-Oh! is a major offender).
We could definitely use some original artwork from Ken Sugimori though. I would've liekd for him to draw Cheren again and to draw Bianca again, instead of just copying and pasting his already existing artwork onto a pre-made background.
OU Pokemon said:
It seems that this set is primarily based around Timmy players. The large majority of you guys at PokéBeach are Spike players, so it's not going to appeal to you. I'd say I'm about 70% Johnny, 30% Timmy, so it appeals to me.
Ophie, what do you mean by Johnny player, Timmy player, and Spike player?
I am referring to Mark Rosewater's terminology to refer to the three types of players for card games. (They can actually apply to anything played competitively, like chess or even tennis). Here is the article:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr11b
In short:
A Timmy player plays to see cool stuff happen. Whether a Timmy wins or loses, it doesn't matter, as long as the match was fun.
A Spike player plays to win, also called the "tournament player." Spikes wants to achieve victory at any cost.
A Johnny player plays to invent something new. Johnnies are inherently nonconformists and wish to win in ways Spike doesn't.
Emerging Powers is a primarily Timmy set because its purpose is to introduce Unova Pokémon. New Pokémon counts as cool Pokémon. Notice that a lot of Pokémon in this set, also, can do high damage, but have high Energy requirements. This suits the Timmy quite well, as he plays casually, where he has enough time to meet those large Energy requirements and unleash that Icicle Crash or Sacred Sword.
Magic sets seem to like to appeal to all three groups about equally, but I noticed Pokémon sets tend to heavily favor one group each time a set comes out. An example of a Spike set is Platinum, which introduced the cost-effective and quick Pokémon-SP. The following sets were Johnny sets, especially Supreme Victors, as they contained cards designed to go against Spike players at that time, and contained a lot of cards with weird effects.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr11b
In short:
A Timmy player plays to see cool stuff happen. Whether a Timmy wins or loses, it doesn't matter, as long as the match was fun.
A Spike player plays to win, also called the "tournament player." Spikes wants to achieve victory at any cost.
A Johnny player plays to invent something new. Johnnies are inherently nonconformists and wish to win in ways Spike doesn't.
Emerging Powers is a primarily Timmy set because its purpose is to introduce Unova Pokémon. New Pokémon counts as cool Pokémon. Notice that a lot of Pokémon in this set, also, can do high damage, but have high Energy requirements. This suits the Timmy quite well, as he plays casually, where he has enough time to meet those large Energy requirements and unleash that Icicle Crash or Sacred Sword.
Magic sets seem to like to appeal to all three groups about equally, but I noticed Pokémon sets tend to heavily favor one group each time a set comes out. An example of a Spike set is Platinum, which introduced the cost-effective and quick Pokémon-SP. The following sets were Johnny sets, especially Supreme Victors, as they contained cards designed to go against Spike players at that time, and contained a lot of cards with weird effects.
Ophie said:
I often wonder if Ken Sugimori has anything to do with the vast majority of the cards credited to him in the TCG, or if they simply take his stock art and put it on a generic background. The only times I can remember non-stock art by him were some of the cards in the Gym sets.
Thanks for the info on player types Ophie. This reminds me of when I learned what a "Spade" was (which would be closest to a Johnny+Timmy).
I would say I'm mainly a 60% Timmy, 25% Spike, and 15% Johnny. haha. I have a small card pool, which forces me to be original; but really though, I just wanna see what different combinations of cards can do against various decks.
---
Even as a beginner (started with BLACK & WHITE preview tin!), I can recognize that this set, as with BW1, isn't very strong (especially when compared to the vast majority of older, pre-format cards that are being ran down at my local League).
As a new player, and BW starter, it's been difficult for me to compete against a lot of kids who have been building decks around SP's, Primes, and LV.X's for many years. ReshiBoar is strong though, and I've been able to tech Zekrom to an abusive level. haha!
Back on topic -- EMERGING POWERS will be another fun set to collect, with boxes, tins, and such. I'll even buy a silly 90-sleeve binder to put them in. XD
Luckily for me, there's a small group of "newbies" that are also down with building BW-on decks just for fun, and for competition. I feel EP, while not the strongest (where are the abilities??? :headbang), will still vary our decks here to a moderate degree.
Basically, having seen the full scan has not made me any less excited about the new set. Actually, I've even MORE excited that our next set should (will) leave this one in the dust!
Happy collecting!
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PS. I even all the fun the Japanese must have collecting these crazy promos to begin with!
I would say I'm mainly a 60% Timmy, 25% Spike, and 15% Johnny. haha. I have a small card pool, which forces me to be original; but really though, I just wanna see what different combinations of cards can do against various decks.
---
Even as a beginner (started with BLACK & WHITE preview tin!), I can recognize that this set, as with BW1, isn't very strong (especially when compared to the vast majority of older, pre-format cards that are being ran down at my local League).
As a new player, and BW starter, it's been difficult for me to compete against a lot of kids who have been building decks around SP's, Primes, and LV.X's for many years. ReshiBoar is strong though, and I've been able to tech Zekrom to an abusive level. haha!
Back on topic -- EMERGING POWERS will be another fun set to collect, with boxes, tins, and such. I'll even buy a silly 90-sleeve binder to put them in. XD
Luckily for me, there's a small group of "newbies" that are also down with building BW-on decks just for fun, and for competition. I feel EP, while not the strongest (where are the abilities??? :headbang), will still vary our decks here to a moderate degree.
Basically, having seen the full scan has not made me any less excited about the new set. Actually, I've even MORE excited that our next set should (will) leave this one in the dust!
Happy collecting!
---
PS. I even all the fun the Japanese must have collecting these crazy promos to begin with!
Which cards are the ones that haven't been released in Japan yet?
Also, the new RH's are AH-MAY-ZING!
Sorry, I forgot to share that.
Sorry, I forgot to share that.
Frost said:
You know what? I never even thought of that, that someone other than Sugimori would put the elements together and give Sugimori the credit. Sometimes though, the background is CGI, which obviously has to have been made by somebody. I don't think I've ever seen CGI work from Sugimori except in "Omedeto," which was limited to floating holographic text, so it could be someone else.
He did illustrate a Rotom card though. It was completely original and didn't look like anything else he had ever done prior. He also sometimes makes original character design for Trainer and Supporter cards, like for Pokémon Fan Club (the second one) and Pokémon Nurse, which...are usually done in that exact same style of the characters superimposed on a photograph or CGi background. He must hate backgrounds--which makes sense as he's a manga artist.
Ty_Sylicus said:Thanks for the info on player types Ophie. This reminds me of when I learned what a "Spade" was (which would be closest to a Johnny+Timmy).
I would say I'm mainly a 60% Timmy, 25% Spike, and 15% Johnny. haha. I have a small card pool, which forces me to be original; but really though, I just wanna see what different combinations of cards can do against various decks.
---
Even as a beginner (started with BLACK & WHITE preview tin!), I can recognize that this set, as with BW1, isn't very strong (especially when compared to the vast majority of older, pre-format cards that are being ran down at my local League).
As a new player, and BW starter, it's been difficult for me to compete against a lot of kids who have been building decks around SP's, Primes, and LV.X's for many years. ReshiBoar is strong though, and I've been able to tech Zekrom to an abusive level. haha!
This happens each time a generation begins--until all of the non-promotional Pokémon have received a card, the sets will be predominantly Timmy-based, as the sets can sustain sales simply from the novelty value of getting cards for Pokémon for the first time. Once everybody's gotten their favorites, the sets then become Johnny and Spike material. Take a look at the Ruby/Sapphire and Sandstorm sets, or the Diamond/Pearl and Mysterious Treasure sets--the second set starts getting competitive cards, but the first set is junk to a Spike player.
By contrast, the last set in a generation features Pokémon every Pokémon player is already familiar with. They're not going to get sales from novelty value, nor can they get that much from kids who just want a card of their favorite Pokémon because chances are they already got one. On top of that, some people would get bored of Pokémon by that point, so Nintendo needs to design cards competitively--if a set has sufficiently many strong cards, Spikes will buy them en masse, which sustains sales all on its own.
Why do they not go straight to the Spikes? Because there are more Timmies than Spikes in Pokémon. Look around your local Pokémon League, or visit any elementary school. Timmies bring in more money than Spikes, and it's hard to design cards that please both a Timmy and a Spike, so Nintendo will sell to Timmies first. (Not that it doesn't happen--the Blastoise that was popular some time ago, paired up with Delcatty, is a hybrid Timmy/Spike card.) As for Johnny, those players will buy a bit from every set, though a bit more from Spike sets. Generally, it seems Nintendo classifies Johnnies and Spikes as the same in their spending--the general pattern is that Spikes follow Johnnies and incorporate any good ideas they see Johnnies make, and if Johnnies buy a lot from a set, the Spikes will too. In a way, this means all Spike sets are predominantly Johnny sets at first.
This creates that unfortunate situation you described where the previous generation will totally outclass the current generation. It will change, though, once sales die down and Nintendo has to turn to Johnnies and Spikes for sales.
when hgss gets rotated out and if junk arm isnt reprinted then people will be scrambling for recycle.
great ball can be an asset in consistent decks.
bianca will be helpful late game when your hand is down to less than 4 cards.
cheren is an upgrade over emcee's chatter, cheerleader's cheer and bill. but to be honest wont see play in my decks unless PONT gets rotated out.
well we all agree that catcher and max potion are hot.
to me the most useless trainer in this set is crush hammer.
pokemon-wise
cubchoo 28/98 plus beartic 30/98 and even beartic 31/98 will make water decks interesting. ability samurott + feraligatr prime + beartic will be interesting because this three have different weaknesses. in fact beartic 31/98 can be used as an early game tank while your trying to set up feraligatr prime and ability samurott. with zekroms still in play, beartic 31/98 will be a lot better than red gyarados. you use feraligatr prime to power up your ability samurotts with a lot of water energy so it can hit heavy on your opponent's pokemon. prolly id use 3-3 or 4-4 beartic, 3-2-3 ability samurott, 2-1-2 feraligatr prime
great ball can be an asset in consistent decks.
bianca will be helpful late game when your hand is down to less than 4 cards.
cheren is an upgrade over emcee's chatter, cheerleader's cheer and bill. but to be honest wont see play in my decks unless PONT gets rotated out.
well we all agree that catcher and max potion are hot.
to me the most useless trainer in this set is crush hammer.
pokemon-wise
cubchoo 28/98 plus beartic 30/98 and even beartic 31/98 will make water decks interesting. ability samurott + feraligatr prime + beartic will be interesting because this three have different weaknesses. in fact beartic 31/98 can be used as an early game tank while your trying to set up feraligatr prime and ability samurott. with zekroms still in play, beartic 31/98 will be a lot better than red gyarados. you use feraligatr prime to power up your ability samurotts with a lot of water energy so it can hit heavy on your opponent's pokemon. prolly id use 3-3 or 4-4 beartic, 3-2-3 ability samurott, 2-1-2 feraligatr prime
Ophie said:
He doesn't hate backgrounds. If he did he wouldn't pull off such beautiful things like:
(one example, and a more simplistic one compared to some of his other artworks in the Pokemon franchise)
The main thing is, the Sugimori cards with the generic photos-with-photoshop-effects cards are usually filler cards. Given those filter cards could be up to 5-10+ a set, could you imagine drawing that many cards in a few months to a month? Everyone powers through things at a different pace.
You're right; there are plenty of Sugimori pieces outside of the card game (or even what we normally see in the video games) that have very nice backgrounds.
I remember a lot of the Ken Sugimori cards are Pokémon and Supporter cards. With the Pokémon, while many of them pop up in filler sets like Call of Legends and Power Keepers, there are a number of them that are original. And Supporter cards are anything but filler; Celio's Network, for instance, is one such card with that illustration pattern and was THE staple card in the entire 3rd generation.
That being said, it seems Kanako Eo and Kouki Saitou do a lot of the Supporter card illustrations now, so perhaps filler is Ken Sugimori's present role in the TCG. Still, Eo is a pretty hard worker--she does a lot of the promotional artwork too, most recently the Worlds 2011 logo.
I remember a lot of the Ken Sugimori cards are Pokémon and Supporter cards. With the Pokémon, while many of them pop up in filler sets like Call of Legends and Power Keepers, there are a number of them that are original. And Supporter cards are anything but filler; Celio's Network, for instance, is one such card with that illustration pattern and was THE staple card in the entire 3rd generation.
That being said, it seems Kanako Eo and Kouki Saitou do a lot of the Supporter card illustrations now, so perhaps filler is Ken Sugimori's present role in the TCG. Still, Eo is a pretty hard worker--she does a lot of the promotional artwork too, most recently the Worlds 2011 logo.
Well, after reading that I guess I classify as a Johhny. But still this set isn't only a turn off for Spike's only. In realty, the set as a whole is only valuable to collectors. There isn't any one single juggernaut to grab Timmy's fancy. There's nothing Johnny can use to aid him in his rogues because nothing is in this set that isn't outclassed, and the same goes for Spike, because there's nothing in here that does anything to the meta (except Beartic, Gothitelle, and Catcher, but those all came out in Japan's B/W and have been talked about for ages, and even then Catcher is the only one to make it into tier 1 decks.)Ophie said:
Thanks, WPM! It's great to be able to see these, plus scans of several reverses. If there's ever a project of getting every reverse scan, too, I'd be happy to help. ;D
Set looks good for several reasons. Most obvious being that we get Beartic, Gothitelle and Catcher. I'm also looking forward to Cheren, better pre-evolutions, full-arts, the reverse style and the code cards with every pack (which isn't that amazing, but still an added bonus). Can't wait for my prerelease!
Set looks good for several reasons. Most obvious being that we get Beartic, Gothitelle and Catcher. I'm also looking forward to Cheren, better pre-evolutions, full-arts, the reverse style and the code cards with every pack (which isn't that amazing, but still an added bonus). Can't wait for my prerelease!
Ophie said:
Dang it, looks like you've figured out TPCi's marketing plan, and it sounds flawless. I just hate that they put the ONE essential Spike card in an otherwise completely Timmy set. It's going to ensure Spikes buy some too.