Discussion 2015-2016 Season Rotation

On another note, I really hope the next format has plenty of good stage 1 and 2 decks.
Kind of getting sick of seeing EX Pokemon everywhere.

I think since PUF they have actually made regular EXs quite a bit weaker than they have been in the earlier part of XY and B&W. Even the better straight EXs, like Manectric and Gengar, are nothing like Toad, VirGen, Landorus et al. The power is in the Megas and Primals, which is good.

Now we need to see strong stage 1s and 2s where the earlier versions have playable attacks or good traits/abilities. The game needs more cards like Crobat/Golbat and Garchomp/Gabite where the evolution line isn't just risky dead weight clunking up your deck before it is finished.
 
@Talkingcat

I think there are a lot of good stage 2's Ludicolo, Sceptile, Swampert (Ancient Trait). What I would like to see happen is stage 2 acceleration for those energy types lacking Dive Ball, Archie's, and Maxie's. I think one of the most underrated cards is Phantom Forces Pyroar. You can actually kill using a Lysandre card. I also like Hydreigon <-- Man if you get that card going with Sharpedo, you can really mess some decks up. But I do got to admit my favorite stage 2 Empoleon might be leaving. On the flipside of that, I don't mind it. Empoleon has overstayed it's welcome. I really can't stand that it can hit for a possible 150 on a Silver Bangle with a single energy. I think that it's broken. And Primal Clash has made it more broken with Archie's and Dive Ball. Still, I use him in almost every deck I have.

Every once in a while I like seeing a baby like Dendenne take out an EX, but honestly I like it when big Megas are doing most the damage, versus the babies.

Anyways, I know I didn't spell all the names right. But I agree that some evolutions are riskier than others.
 
poke4trade said:
@Talkingcat

I think there are a lot of good stage 2's Ludicolo, Sceptile, Swampert (Ancient Trait). What I would like to see happen is stage 2 acceleration for those energy types lacking Dive Ball, Archie's, and Maxie's. I think one of the most underrated cards is Phantom Forces Pyroar. You can actually kill using a Lysandre card. I also like Hydreigon <-- Man if you get that card going with Sharpedo, you can really mess some decks up. But I do got to admit my favorite stage 2 Empoleon might be leaving. On the flipside of that, I don't mind it. Empoleon has overstayed it's welcome. I really can't stand that it can hit for a possible 150 on a Silver Bangle with a single energy. I think that it's broken. And Primal Clash has made it more broken with Archie's and Dive Ball. Still, I use him in almost every deck I have.

Every once in a while I like seeing a baby like Dendenne take out an EX, but honestly I like it when big Megas are doing most the damage, versus the babies.

Anyways, I know I didn't spell all the names right. But I agree that some evolutions are riskier than others.

Oh, for sure. There are some powerful stage 2s around. Swampert from the new set, for example. It has three amazing things about it- the attack, the ability and the primal trait.

It' just a) the space- to have a good chance of getting 2 into play you need 7 cards (a 3-1-3 line), b) the slowness and clunkiness, c) the fact that the basic and stage 1 are usually a liability. It's a lot of downside to overcome.
 
Plasma Lugia may or may not be leaving in September, but it appears its Overflow effect, if only under a different name and category, is not going away: The effects of Overflow are the same as that of a new trait coming in Roaring Skies, a trait called Delta Plus, and unlike abilities, which include Overflow, as of now, traits cannot be blocked by Garbotoxin or any other means, so you could say Delta Plus is a improved version of Overflow...

^ The only catch? No EXes released so far have that trait. In fact, a select few babies, with only one of them worth using, one whose name is called Articuno, have that trait, and yet, I believe that Articuno's typing combined with the trait goes great w/ SeismiBats: Post-rotation, if you put Articuno in such a deck, it could find use as counter to P-Groudon-EX when combined w/ Bat damage, maybe some lucky flips, and most of all, with a 2 retreat cost, Mega Manectric-EX, to get those 2 discarded energy from retreating back onto Articuno... Just make sure that P-Groudon-EX is not fully charged. If he is, and a stadium is up and/or 2 Strong Energies are attached to P-Groudon-EX, you have likely lost the match post-Gaia Volcano...

^ Don't you think SeismiBats will get the above welcome addition in a post-rotation world? Or do you think Articuno is too weak for its trait to work good enough for it to be a suitable sub for Plasma Lugia come post-rotation?
 
I think the two biggest threats to come up from the rotation are MegaMan variants, and Primal Groudon. With no more Landorus EX, Mega Manectric should come up in popularity (yes, there's still a lot of good fighting types, but MegaMan has a bigger chance now). Primal Groudon loses in worst match-ups in the rotation, Flareon and VirGen. With these two decks gone, Primal Groudon is going to be reeking havoc on everyone, because it has no reliable counter. If Primal Groudon does go up in use, prepare to stack up on Head Ringers.
 
The question I find most striking is whether or not it will be KSS-on or XY-on will probably impact whether or not I will continue trying to play at a greater level than I do now, as Crushing Hammer is printed in the KSS, not XY.
 
I would imagine KSS-on, as it sticks to the XY theme. Also, XY-on would remove the traditional Potion, as well as the Catcher. It'll also remove the Switch... but that got reprinted.
 
bbninjas said:
I would imagine KSS-on, as it sticks to the XY theme. Also, XY-on would remove the traditional Potion, as well as the Catcher. It'll also remove the Switch... but that got reprinted.

Also, XY-On would remove Crushing Hammer, as it was printed in KSS, and because KSS came out at approximately, but not exactly, the same time as LTR, not to mention that KSS could be called "Euro-LTR", KSS is dubbed the official replacement for LTR for the European continent, because LTR itself did not make it to Europe officially. Sure, LTR is still legal in tourneys held in their territory due to loose "foreign cards" rules that only takes language, not local/regional availability, into account when determining what cards are legal in the tourney's location.

^ You see, part of Europe speaks the same language as the US, and since the English language is the primary language in the UK, Ireland, among other official English-language countries, players who reside in such countries are still able to use LTR cards due to local language rules, but getting them is a different story than those whose expansions have been released in their jurisdiction if the cards did not have an official release in their continent of residence: in order to get them to the UK, since they weren't officially released in Europe, they are forced to either import them from the US, and/or mom-and-pop shops that sell imported cards, because there's no official European-centric outlet that carries any packs of cards in that expansion, and since KSS is a replacement for the would-have-been LTR theme decks, plus the fact that you can buy KSS cards in Europe officially, unlike LTR, I hate to burst your bubble, KSS-On wishers, but the only logical possibilities for the next rotation would be:

1. LTR-On for the North American market, with XY-On for Europe and other regions outside NA, due to the Concept Pack idea that is the true classification of KSS-On: KSS-On is technically a sub-set within LTR, so officially, I previously thought KSS-On was an expansion released a couple days after LTR, but I was wrong: Concept Packs are not main expansions, and since rotations only consider main expansions, and pulls every card printed before the cut-off expansion from rotation outside of the reprint factor, aka the "Base Expansion of Format", or BEoF for short, so cutting LTR would mean cutting KSS too. And when an expansion is not released in one major territory...

2. XY-On for all territories. If Europe is to get XY-On with KSS being not a main expansion, but still has the first Kalos cards, and since almost all of them are reprinted later as promos anyway, almost all the KSS is legal under reprints anyway, so why extend the lifespan of KSS itself in Standard format? Since Crushing Hammer is not reprinted past KSS, XY-On means the only hammers remaining in standard are Enhanced Hammer, and that's it for the hammers, but let's chill: Perhaps crushing hammer could be in the Hoopa-themed set in the post-Worlds period of the play! pokemon season, or it could be forgotten and rotated out, then reactivated in a future unnamed set... Decisions, decisions, decisions, all that have to be made by the TPCi regarding Crushing Hammer's future in XY-On...

3. No rotation at all. Lasers can still be used, especially on Rays, as a counter to Emerald Break that works by stopping it if it stays asleep, unless Keldeo rescues it by Rush In, but as that possibility can be nullified by Silent Lab, that rescue has a chance of failure before it is even attempted, unless the SL stadium is replaced prior to the attempt to rescue Ray from Laserville, and Emerald Break's user can be switched back in to put it to good use...

^ Apologies, long post, but I hope you understand my two cents...
 
They could just reprint plasma energy.
But then they would have to print something new that could use it. If they didn't once Plasma as a whole is rotated we would be stuck with a useless Plasma. And anyways Plasma just wouldn't make any sense in a new set.
 
But then they would have to print something new that could use it. If they didn't once Plasma as a whole is rotated we would be stuck with a useless Plasma. And anyways Plasma just wouldn't make any sense in a new set.
What I meant was they could make plasma energy BW promo 102 so that way it goes with the plasma theme and in the 2016 - 2017 rotation it would go with all of the other BW cards.
 
What I meant was they could make plasma energy BW promo 102 so that way it goes with the plasma theme and in the 2016 - 2017 rotation it would go with all of the other BW cards.

One problem: The BW Promo era has already ended when the XY expansion was introduced:

Bulbapedia said:
The XY Black Star Promos are a series of promotional cards tied in with the XY Series of cards, which started with the release of the Collector's Pin Three Pack Blisters the same day as Pokémon X and Y. With the introduction of this Series, the BW prefix for promotional cards was changed to XY.

^ That means any promos we will ever get nowadays will be XY promos... So, if you want plasma energy reprinted, I'm sorry, but you'll have to deal with the XY prefix. Don't like it? Tough.
 
Okay I do believe that I will be XY on but I'm also testing both options of XY and LTR so I've re added N and Darkrai EX but I also have back up cards to replace them such as an extra Teammates 1 more Shauna and 2 Professor Birch's Observations
 
After the reveal of the new Lugia-EX coming in Bandit Ring, I'm pretty sure we can all say that the next format will be KSS-on or XY1-on. (for those of you who don't know what the Lugia-EX does, it's basically a colorless Mewtwo-EX). There's also Ace Trainer, which seems to be a replacement for N.
 
But then they would have to print something new that could use it. If they didn't once Plasma as a whole is rotated we would be stuck with a useless Plasma. And anyways Plasma just wouldn't make any sense in a new set.

Quick note: We've had dead cards in the format before and having (a hypothetically reprinted) Plasma Energy sticking around and doing nothing later on is far less... odd... than when we've had incomplete Evolution lines.
 
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