Contest April 2021 CaC: Trick ((Real) Results Are Up!)

ShaQuL

@KabutoKingTCG
Member
Simisear V - HP180 - Fire
Basic - Rapid Strike

Ability: Monkey Tricks
Once during your turn, you may switch this Pokémon with a Simipour V or Simisage V in your hand, then shuffle this Pokémon into your deck. Any attached cards, damage counters, Special Conditions, turns in play, and any other effects remain on the new Pokémon. If this Pokémon has a Pokémon Tool attached, you may heal 60 damage from it. You can’t use more than 1 Monkey Tricks Ability each turn.

[R][C][C] Fire Pledge 120+
You may discard a Simisage V or Simipour V from your hand. If you discard Simisage V, this attack also does 30 damage to all of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) If you discard Simipour V, this attack does 60 more damage and your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Burned.

Weakness: Water x2
Resistance:
Retreat: [C]

V rule: When your Pokémon V is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.

Ability:
Aegislash (Battle Styles 108)
Octillery (Battle Styles 037)
Skarmory (Darkness Ablaze 120)
Clefable (Vivid Voltage 064)

Attack:
Swanna (Darkness Ablaze 149)
Necrozma V (Battle Styles 063)
Centiskorch (Battle Styles 030)
Victini V (Battle Styles 021)

Stats:
Simisear (Darkness Ablaze 027, Burning Shadows 23; Weakness, Resistance and Retreat)

While I’m not a great fan of the three monkeys myself, I think the TCG has not done them justice at all: no Ultra Rare cards and no real interaction between them. The Pledge moves have not really been given a good representation either, as far as I’m aware (closest example I can see is Water’s Power on Simisear from Emerging Powers). Therefore, I combined the lack of those two to create this card, and as I often try to do with the CaCs, I attempted to translate a VGC mechanic into a TCG one.

In terms of HP, Simisear cards are usually on the lower end of HP for Stage 1’s, therefore I looked at all Stage 1 Pokémon that received a V card; they range from 170-280 (Wailord and Steelix are pretty beefy huh), so I set it’s HP to 180, in between Polteageist V’s 170 HP and Cursola V’s 190 HP.

I’ve tried my best to get the wording correct for SwSh Era, so I’m hoping it’s not too bad this time around ^^
 

Vracken

Just a Ghost of the Past
Put me in for text


Dusclops – Psychic – HP90
Stage 1 – Evolves from Duskull

NO. 356 Beckon Pokémon HT: 5’3” WT: 67.5 lbs.

Ability: Thieving Frisk
As long as this Pokémon is in the Active Spot, your opponent plays with the top card of their deck revealed. If it is a Pokémon Tool card, you may attach it to 1 of your Pokémon that doesn’t already have a Pokémon Tool attached to it.

[P][C] False Trick 10
Move a Pokémon Tool card from your opponent's Active Pokémon to 1 of your Pokémon that doesn’t already have a Pokémon Tool attached to it.

[P][C] Devastating Trick 30x
Discard all Pokémon Tools from all Pokémon (yours and your opponent's). This attack does 30 damage for each Pokémon Tool card discarded in this way.

Weakness: Dark (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-30)
Retreat: [C] [C] [C]
Its body is hollow. It is said that those who look into its body are sucked into the void.

Mr. Mime (Primal Clash PRC 101)
Mawile (Celestial Storm CES 91)
Empoleon V (Battle Styles BST 040)
Galarian Mr. Rime (Sword & Shield Promos SWSH079)
Venusaur VMAX (Sword & Shield Promos SWSH102)
Dusclops - All of them

I am unable to find a direct example of your opponent being forced to play with the top card of their deck revealed at all times, so I just went with the closest best sounding version of that. The example given in Mr. Mime (Primal Clash PRC 101) doesn't require a check for Tool cards to be attached to legal targets, so I omitted that on my card as well. Discarding tools from all Pokemon doesn't have a direct effect, so clarification was used.
 

Mr. Melon

Faking hard or flailing all around the yard.
Member
CAC06_Togedemaru.png

Celebi LOT: "Put each"
Tool Jammer BST: "Pokémon Tool"
Tower of Waters BST: "each ... in play"
Unown F GE: "Put ... next to your Active Pokémon"
Naganadel-GX FLI: "face down"
Ambipom TM: "then have your opponent shuffle ..."
Grimmsnarl VMAX SHF: "You can't ... more than ... in this way"

Togedemaru CEC: "This attack does ... damage to 1 of your opponent's Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)"
Aipom UF: "Then, discard all ... and ..."
Klefki STS: "... attach this card to that Pokémon as a Pokémon Tool."
Flapple V BST: "...'s attacks cost ... more."

This card is full of bad ideas, and even more full of bad wording. I wanted to do something absolutely bonkers, but I probably did it in about the worst way possible. The idea started out with the idea of Trick swapping items around. Ingame, it switches the user's and defender's items, but in this case I wanted to go further. I decided to shuffle all the Tools up and attach them at random. Now, this is an absolutely terrible idea in every single aspect. I hate Team Flare Hyper Gear, because it mixes your and your opponent's cards; however, fake cards live in an idealized universe, so I will assume that this will take effect online, where cards are never laid hands on by sticky-fingered toddler goblins.

For the second attack, I wanted something damaging, something Tool related, and something that fit in with Togedemaru's lore. I chose something based on the Sticky Barb item, which latches on to the opposing Pokémon and does passive damage. In this case, I chose 50 damage on impact, with an additional lasting pseudo-Paralysis effect.

There's not much else to say about this card. Finding wording was a pain, and I didn't put too much time making the card beautiful, so I don't expect a high score. I might revisit this concept later when I have more time, and when I'm more familiar with the more niche wordings of the game.

Omnium blanks by @CardPone
 

Nyan

She/They
Member
Zoroark_CaC.png
I swear I don't mess with blanks just to get more space for effects... I promise.

Anyways, yeah! I'm really happy with this one. It's heavily inspired by one of my favorite old-school YuGiOh cards, The Tricky. From an aesthetics standpoint, I immediately knew what I wanted to do... and then when I found the art it was absolute perfection. This is easily one of my favorites out of the cards I have made, with the black border, extended art, and holosheet/pattern work... it was just a ton of fun and I'm happy with how it turned out.
I don't have any references for the Benched Pokemon aspect of Tricky Shadow, I just went with what sounded best.

Card Trick:
Ninja Boy STS 103 - (A bulk of the effect is used for this part)
Marshadow UNB 81 - "... discard this Pokémon and all cards attached to it."
 

AlphaLad

Aspiring Trainer
Member
deic0ok-1710fbf4-9651-4f93-b808-0ccbaf221cd6.png

For this month's CaC, I chose a heavily soccer-inspired Cinderace. Hat Trick is a reference to the term of the same name, and Blazing Strike is meant to evoke the passing and shooting of a soccer ball. Once again, the blank is my own custom one and the wording is based on the current generation (though I had to take a few liberties when implementing new mechanics). The art is by Makoto Araki from Pixiv.

That's about it for my entry. Hope it does well!
 

47bennyg

Hmmmm
Member
Passimian-GX – Fighting – HP170
Basic Pokémon

Ability: Ball Carrier
You may attach an Item card with “Ball” in its name as if it were a Pokémon Tool card to any Passimian or Passimian-GX that doesn’t have a Pokémon Tool attached to it, with the effect “The attacks of the Pokémon this card is attached to do 20 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance).” You can’t have more than 1 Item card attached in this way. (If this Ability stops working, discard that Item card.)

[F][F] Option Attack 50
You may move a Pokémon Tool card attached to this Pokémon to 1 of your Benched Pokémon.

[F][F][C] Trick Play-GX
This attack does 120 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) Switch this Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon that has a Pokémon Tool attached to it. Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Confused. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)

Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C]

Pokémon-GX rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
 

Jabberwock

#Jovimohnaeliackvid
Forum Mod
Articles Staff
Member
Image-Based Results

Judge: @Jabberwock

Smh can’t believe you all missed the theme. As you should all know, “Trick” is a word in the language PMJ and I made up just for this contest that clearly outlines a comprehensive set of criteria that you all blatantly ignored! You’ve been Tricked! >:O

Ah well. Here’s some results, anyway.

~~Jabberwock


jr8XKmA.png


Starting things off strong with one of our very own judges forgetting what “Trick” means. For shame!

Wording errors:
- Standard DPPt conventions, which are always consistent and must never be broken for any reason, dictate that the name of this Pokémon should be “Fiery Toaster Rotom [Heat Phoarme]”. [-10 points]
- Looks like you’re using a hyphen rather than the correct em dash at 30% width. [-30 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Too consistent for DPPt. [-5 points]

Creativity/Originality: 2/15
(I guess it’s creative in that you looked at the theme, went “I know what this means”, and then went off in another direction entirely. What was all that work we put into designing that language for?!)
Believability/Playability: 5/15
(Dark-type Rotom? Everyone knows Delta Species is supposed to make a Pokémon Rayquaza-type.)
Wording: -30/10
(Don’t let those funky DPPt rules trip you up.)
Fonts and Placement: 0/5
(Too consistent.)
Aesthetics: 10/5
(DPPt blanks always a winner.)
Total: -13/50
dehzaob-c53bed0c-a0b9-42db-bce6-9188035316a8.png


Cool card. :D

Wording errors:
- “Porygon2” -> “Porygontwo”, as per Mewtwo BS. [-two points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Gill Sans isn’t cool enough for a card like this. Comic Sans all the way! [-5 points]

Creativity/Originality: 50/15
(It’s cool.)
Believability/Playability: 50/15
(It’s cool.)
Wording: (10 minus two)/10
(It’s pretty cool.)
Fonts and Placement: 0/5
(The cool begins to fail here.)
Aesthetics: 50/5
(But the aesthetics bring it back.)
Total: (160 minus two)/50
wh4wZBS.png


Neat art. Unfortunate that the single biggest component of the “Trick” rubric is cutting the corners of the card. :(

Wording errors:
- “Loud Reload”? Seems like a dangerous trait for a sniper Pokémon. [-10 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks perfect for a Generation 9 card, except that all the fonts are wrong! [-5 points]

Creativity/Originality: 0/15
(It’s an Inteleon that does a trick shot. Seems fair. Or it would be, if the theme was to include the word “trick” somewhere on the card!)
Believability/Playability: 0/15
(Not a lot of snipe damage for a sniper Pokémon. Not to mention the uncut corner. :( )
Wording: 0/10
(I find “Load Reload” unlikely.)
Fonts and Placement: 0/5
(Almost perfect for a Generation 9 card.)
Aesthetics: 50/5
(Neat art.)
Total: 50/50
Imposter-Electrode-Phase-1-with-corner-cutter-1-4-1-1-3-5-1-1-3-1.png


Kinda sus man

Wording errors:
- This is just a Confused Poké Ball with a face. Jokes on it, we know it’s a Poké Ball. [-60 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- “Imposter” font is an improvement over that Gill Sans nonsense. [+10 points]

Creativity/Originality: 0/15
(I think I played a game like this once.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Precedent for Imposter stuff.)
Wording: -50/10
(Confused Poké Balls don’t count as Pokémon.)
Fonts and Placement: 15/5
(Nice Imposter font.)
Aesthetics: 20/5
(I’m afraid the Poké Ball will murder me if I bump this score any lower. Don’t like that look in its eye.)
Total: 0/50
RZSrY2J.png


[obstructed]

Wording errors:
- [obstructed]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- [obstructed]

Creativity/Originality: [obstructed]
[obstructed]

Believability/Playability: [obstructed]
[obstructed]

Wording: [obstructed]
[obstructed]

Fonts and Placement: [obstructed]
[obstructed]

Aesthetics: [obstructed]
[obstructed]
Total: [obstructed]
lickilicky_vmax.png


Trickitricky to judge. Probably comes the closest to the actual criteria this month, but still off by a country mile.

Wording errors:
- Dunno about “Max Licks”. For three Energy I feel like it could probably fit a few more licks in that attack. [-140 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Too much text for a Sword & Shield card. Any kid would fall asleep halfway through that Ability. Who do you think plays this game, ages ten and up?! [-100 points]

Creativity/Originality: 30/15
(Slick card.)
Believability/Playability: 0/15
(Can’t play what you can’t read.)
Wording: -130/10
(Stretching the meaning of “Max” a lil bit there.)
Fonts and Placement: -95/5
(Way too much text.)
Aesthetics: 15/5
(Aesthetics more like ace-the-tricks lol)
Total: -180/50
CAC06_Togedemaru.png


That’s a funky-lookin’ Pikachu.

Wording errors:
- “Togedemaru” -> “Pikachu” (Reference: Pikachu) [-10 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Hey, that’s not a Base Set blank! [-5 points]

Creativity/Originality: 2/15
(I mean it’s certainly a new take on Pikachu.)
Believability/Playability: 0/15
(It makes no sense for a Pikachu!)
Wording: 0/10
(You put the wrong name on the card.)
Fonts and Placement: 0/5
(You also used the wrong blank.)
Aesthetics: 1/5
(I mean the art’s cool, even if it looks nothing like a Pikachu.)
Total: 3/50
Zoroark_CaC.png


Don’t know about the YuGiOh card, but I like the trick role. Also the fact that it’s a card with cards on it that does tricks with cards.

Wording errors:
- There actually is a reference for those effects, funnily enough — attacks that contain that word aren’t supposed to make the Pokémon just desert you like that. (Reference: Zoroark RIC) [-20 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Numerals should be in Futura, and I see a distinct lack of Futura on that 5 of diamonds. [-5 points]

Creativity/Originality: 50/15
(Tricky tricky.)
Believability/Playability: 0/15
(There’s precedent for 0.5 cards per unit card, but nothing like this!)
Wording: -10/10
(You know the rules and so do I.)
Fonts and Placement: 0/5
(Futura.)
Aesthetics: 10/5
(Lotsa cards. I like the 7 of spades in particular.)
Total: 50/50
deic0ok-1710fbf4-9651-4f93-b808-0ccbaf221cd6.png


GGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL

Wording errors:
- “Goal” -> “GGGGGOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL” [-3 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- If it scored a GGGGGOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL then something about the placement’s gotta be right. [+3 points]

Creativity/Originality: 16/15
(Gotta be creative to score a GGGGOOOOOOAAAAALLLL)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Idk man I’m no soccer coach.)
Wording: 7/10
(Check your spelling and capitalization.)
Fonts and Placement: 8/5
(Gotta place the ball just right to get a GGGOOOOAAALLLL)
Aesthetics: (5 minus penalty)/5
(That’s a red card lol)
Total: (51 minus penalty)/50

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PMJ

happy thoughts
Forum Head
Articles Head
Elite Member
Advanced Member
Member
Text-Based Results

I don't know if any of you guys paid any attention to the OP but none of you actually did what you were supposed to do. Still gotta name some winners, though, so let's get this over with.

Kadabra - Psychic - 90HP
Stage 1 - Evolves from Abra

NO. 064 Psi Pokémon HT: 4'3" WT: 124.6 lbs.

ABILITY: Spoonful Trick
If this Pokémon has any [P] attached, you pay [C] less to retreat your Active Pokémon. You can't apply more than 1 Spoonful Trick at a time.

[C][C][C] Super Psy Flash - 70
During your opponent's next turn, if the Defending Pokémon tries to attack, your opponent flips a coin. If tails, that attack doesn't happen.

Weakness: [D] x2
Resistance: [F] -30
Retreat:

Using its psychic power, Kadabra levitates as it sleeps. It uses its springy tail as a pillow.

Wow it's a Kadabra. Sure took Uri Geller long enough to get over himself already.

Wording errors:
General
- Kadabra uses one spoon. Do you think he also uses it to eat with? If you use a Kadabra's spoon, does he get mad about it? [+1 points]
Spoonful Trick
- Spoonful isn't an adjective, it's a noun. I think you mean "Spoonful of Trick", and either way it doesn't make sense. [-5 points]
Super Psy Flash
- It only does 70 damage. Doesn't seem very super to me. [-7 points]

Creativity/Originality: 5/20
(Correct number of spoons was your only saving grace here.)
Wording: 4/15
(What does Alakazam even need two spoons for, anyway? Come to think of it, what does anyone need two spoons for? Don't even get me started on Mega Alakazam using five spoons like an idiot.)
Believability/Playability: 0/15
(Kadabra cards are unbelievable so sorry but you get 0 here. Thank Uri Geller.)
Total: 9/50
Xane’s Flapple - [G] - HP: 100 - Stage 1: Evolves from Applin
#841 Apple Wing Pokémon - H: 1’00’’ - 2.2 lbs.
Ability: Dragon’s Trick: Whenever the Attacking Pokémon damages the Defending Pokémon, you may flip a coin. If heads, you may select one of these effects:

You may swap out the Defending Pokémon for this Pokémon, which receives half the damage (Min of 10 damage, round up.) Do not apply Weakness and Resistance. If this Pokémon is already the Defending Pokémon, you cannot use this effect.

You may flip a coin for every 10 damage dealt. For every heads, the Attacking Pokémon takes 10 damage. Do not apply Weakness and Resistance.

You may discard all of the Pokémon Tool cards attached to the Active Pokémon. If one or both of the Active Pokémon do not have a Pokémon Tool card attached, you cannot use this effect.

[G][G] Apple Toss - 20
Flip a coin. If tails, this attack does nothing.
Weakness: [R] x2 Resistance: N/A Retreat Cost: [C]
“Xane, formerly a Manakete, discarded his dragonstone. Maybe his new Flapple has something to do with it?”

You do know this is a Pokemon contest, right?

Wording errors:
General
- Xane doesn't have blue hair and isn't a swordsman. Doesn't even have hot waifu potential. [-3 points]
- I had to look up Fire Emblem stuff and I hated doing it. [-8.5 points]
Dragon's Trick
- Doesn't mention dragon activities such as pillaging, hoarding, or napping. Waste of potential if you ask me. [-0 points]
- You used the word "Pokemon" too many times for my liking. [-10 points]

Creativity/Originality: 10/20
(Why is Flapple a dragon anyway?)
Wording: -6.5/15
(whatever)
Believability/Playability: 1/15
(Fire Emblem in Pokemon? Real believable, chief.)
Total: 4.5/50
[Stage 2] Dragapult HP150 [P]
Evolves from Drakloak - Rapid Strike

NO. 887 Stealth Pokémon HT: 9'10'' WT: 110.2 lbs.

Ability: Rapid Strike Trickster
If Dreepy isn't anywhere under this Pokémon when you put it into play, you may draw 3 cards and put any number of your Dreepy in play or in your discard pile into your hand. (Discard all attached cards.) If this Pokémon is the last card in your hand or the only Rapid Strike Pokémon in your discard pile, you may put this Pokémon onto your Bench.

[P] Dreepy Roulette 30+
Reveal your hand and put any Trainer and Energy cards you find there into the Lost Zone until the beginning of your next turn. Then, reveal random cards from your hand until you reveal a card that doesn't have Dreepy in its name. Discard all revealed cards. This attack does 50 more damage for each Dreepy discarded in this way.

Weakness: [D] x2
Resistance: [F] -30
Retreat: -
Apparently the Dreepy inside Dragapult's horns eagerly look forward to being launched out at Mach speeds.

Dragapult is an awful Pokemon, the "fact" that they like being shot out of Dragapult's horns is fake news. DOWN WITH DREEPY ABUSE

Wording errors:
Rapid Strike Trickster
- I have never heard a better three words used to describe Dragapult apologists who think that Dreepy isn't abused by this monster. [+15 points]
Dreepy Roulette
- According to experts you should always bet on black but I didn't see an option to do that with this card. [-20 points]

Creativity/Originality: 0/20
(I will never give creativity points to someone clearly on board with abusing Dreepy by faking a Dragapult)
Wording: -5/15
(SAVE THE DREEPY)
Believability/Playability: 1/15
(I believe that Dragapult should be outlawed. You should be ashamed of yourself. Ashamed, I say!)
Total: -4/50
Tricky's Mr.Mime HP 130[P]
Basic Pokèmon

Property-Tricky's Pokèmon

[Ability]Circus Trick
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may discard all cards attached to one of your opponent's Benched Pokèmon and put it as a Stadium card into play(discard any Stadium card in play,discard it before using this effect)As long as your opponent that Pokèmon as a Stadium card in play, put 2 damage counters on both Active Pokèmon between turns. If another Stadium card comes into play or that Pokèmon is discarded by the effect of any attacks,Abilities or Trainer cards, your opponent put that Pokèmon in their discard pile.You can’t this ability again until the Pokèmon you chose gets discarded.
[P][C]Stop Sign Bash 80+
During your opponent’s next turn, they can’t play any Item cards from their hand.
If you played Tricky's Stop Sign from your hand during this turn, this attack does 60 more damage.

Weakness:[P]x2
Resistance:None
Retreat:[C]

"The broadness of its hands may be no coincidence—many scientists believe its palms became enlarged specifically for pantomiming."

sO5W7WX.jpg


Wording errors:
General
- Mr. Mime's whole shtick is building walls. Do you really think he'd go on the offensive, ever? [-50 points]

Creativity/Originality: 0/20
(Oh look, a killer clown, yawn)
Wording: -35/15
(I don't like Galarian Mr. Mime. Like, I'm glad he got some love in gen 8 but it's kinda disappointing the route they went)
Believability/Playability: 0/15
(No Run DMC references anywhere, smh)
Total: -35/50
Alakazam HP: 120 [P]
064.png
Stage 2: Evolves from Kadabra
alakazam.png

NO. 065 Psi Pokémon HT: 4'11" WT: 105.8 lbs.
Ability: Calculated Draw
Once during your turn, you may put a card from your hand face-up into your Prize cards. If you do, draw cards until you have 8 cards in your hand. You can't use more than 1 Calculated Draw Ability per turn.

[P][P] Card Trick
Put a card from your hand face-down in front of you. Your opponent guesses whether it is an Energy card, Trainer card, or Pokémon card. Then, reveal that card and discard it. If your opponent guessed right, discard all Energy from this Pokémon. If your opponent guessed wrong, put a different card from your hand face-down in front of you and have your opponent guess again. Your opponent discards the top 2 cards of their deck each time they guess wrong. This attack ends when your opponent guesses right or if you have no cards in your hand.

Weakness: [D] x2
Resistance: [F] -30
Retreat: [C][C]

Its superb memory lets it recall everything it has experienced from birth. Its IQ exceeds 5000.

This looks cool but with no Kadabra and no Abra there is no way to get this into play :(

Wording errors:
General
- What kind of idiot needs two spoons for anything? Imagine being like "hey babe I'm gonna eat some cereal" and then diving in with two spoons. Your girl is gonna laugh at you and then go cheat on you with your best friend and his girlfriend. [-115 points]

Creativity/Originality: 3/20
(I just picked this number arbitrarily tbh)
Wording: -100/15
(Alakazam is probably the dumbest smart Pokemon in the world)
Believability/Playability: 0/15
(Can't be played)
Total: -97/50
Gengar & Duskull Tag Team GX
Type: [P] – HP 240
Basic Pokémon (Tag Team GX)
TAG TEAM Rule: When your TAG TEAM is knocked out, your opponent takes 3 Prize Cards.


Ability: Spectral Trick
When this Pokémon would take damage from the Defending Pokémon (even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out), you may switch this Pokémon with a Pokémon from your deck (Any attached cards, damage counters, Special Conditions, turns in play, and any other effects remain on the new Pokémon) and put damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon equal to the damage done to this Pokémon.


[P][P] Spectral Cage 10
During your opponent’s next turn, whenever a player’s Active Pokémon moves to the Bench, put 10 damage counters on that Pokémon.


[P]+ Spectral Resonance
If any of your Pokémon is in the Active Spot and is damaged by an opponent’s attack (even if it is Knocked Out), put 2 damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon for each [P] energy card attached to that Pokémon. If this Pokémon has at least 1 extra [P] Energy attached to it (in addition to this attack's cost), put 10 damage counters on your opponent's Pokémon in any way you like. (You can't use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)


Weakness: [D] X 2
Resistance: [F] -20

Retreat: [C][C]

Neat fake! Very spectral.

Wording errors:
General
- Not spectral enough [-1 point]
Spectral Trick
- Duskull has one eye and not two [-2 points]
- I feel like Duskull isn't contributing to the attack enough [-20 points]

Creativity/Originality: 3/20
(I gave you a 3 because this fake is 3spoopy5me and it's still not spectral enough)
Wording: -8/15
(Duskull should pull his weight better)
Believability/Playability: 16/15
(Just the right amount of spectral)
Total: 8/50
Deoxys - Psychic - HP 110
Basic

NO. 386 DNA Pokémon HT: 5'07" WT: 134.0 lbs.

Ability: Tricky Technicolor Types
As long as this Pokémon has a Special Energy attached to it, it is a [L], [D], [M], and [C] Pokémon.

[L][D][M][C] Amazing Trick 10x
Search your deck for a card, reveal it, and shuffle it into your deck. Then, reveal cards from the top of your deck until you reveal that card. This attack does 10 damage for each card you revealed in this way. Shuffle the revealed cards back into your deck. You can't do more than 300 damage in this way.

Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C][C]
DNA from a space virus mutated and became a Pokémon. It appears where auroras are seen.

Psychic Pokemon take Psychic Energy to attack bro, I don't know what is going on here at all.

Wording errors:
Tricky Technicolor Types
- Nice try but Deoxys's formes are all the same type. I'm gonna take off one point for each one. [-4 points]
Amazing Trick
- What's actually amazing is you thinking I wouldn't notice this wack Energy cost. [-6 points]

Creativity/Originality: 4/20
(I'll give you one point for each of Deoxys' formes but they are all still Psychic so uhhhhhh yeah)
Wording: 5/15
(Imagine being a Pokemon so horrible that all your formes are better than you in every way)
Believability/Playability: 1/15
(I was on board until you tried turning this thing into every type under the sun. Pokemon don't just get cards that are just random types. What's next, a Grass-type Snorlax or something? LOL)
Total: 10/50
Simisear V - HP180 - Fire
Basic - Rapid Strike

Ability: Monkey Tricks
Once during your turn, you may switch this Pokémon with a Simipour V or Simisage V in your hand, then shuffle this Pokémon into your deck. Any attached cards, damage counters, Special Conditions, turns in play, and any other effects remain on the new Pokémon. If this Pokémon has a Pokémon Tool attached, you may heal 60 damage from it. You can’t use more than 1 Monkey Tricks Ability each turn.

[R][C][C] Fire Pledge 120+
You may discard a Simisage V or Simipour V from your hand. If you discard Simisage V, this attack also does 30 damage to all of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) If you discard Simipour V, this attack does 60 more damage and your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Burned.

Weakness: Water x2
Resistance:
Retreat: [C]

V rule: When your Pokémon V is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.

ZbSLgp6.png


nope I can't stand these stupid monkeys, I refuse to judge this on moral grounds
I said no.
Passimian-GX – Fighting – HP170
Basic Pokémon

Ability: Ball Carrier
You may attach an Item card with “Ball” in its name as if it were a Pokémon Tool card to any Passimian or Passimian-GX that doesn’t have a Pokémon Tool attached to it, with the effect “The attacks of the Pokémon this card is attached to do 20 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance).” You can’t have more than 1 Item card attached in this way. (If this Ability stops working, discard that Item card.)

[F][F] Option Attack 50
You may move a Pokémon Tool card attached to this Pokémon to 1 of your Benched Pokémon.

[F][F][C] Trick Play-GX
This attack does 120 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) Switch this Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon that has a Pokémon Tool attached to it. Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Confused. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)

Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C]

Pokémon-GX rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.

Oranguru is better

Wording errors:
General
- Oranguru is better [-15 points]

Creativity/Originality: 0/20
(Oranguru is better)
Wording: 0/15
(Oranguru is better)
Believability/Playability: -1000/15
(Should have went with Oranguru)
Total: -1000/50


figure it out yourselves
 

Charmaster:)

Collecting, playing, & making family memories.
Member
Basically another belated April Fools contest. Just thought I'd say it so all the people who got negative scores don't go to bed feeling depressed, though I'm sure everyone has already figured out.
 

ShaQuL

@KabutoKingTCG
Member
I would like to register a complaint, as the hate against the three wise monkeys of Unova is too widespread in this community. I have made a stand and was excluded, that is unacceptable, as the monkey is clearly the winner.
 

Kangaflora

Aspiring Trainer
Member
It sounds like, judging by the random scores, that we were all TRICKed into failing to meet the criteria.
 

Jabberwock

#Jovimohnaeliackvid
Forum Mod
Articles Staff
Member
Image-Based Results

Judge: @Jabberwock

What’s this? More results? :O

We saw some great creativity all around this month! It feels like those scores get higher every month, and I think that’s a testament to how seriously y’all take this contest. You all put in some excellent work, making some truly brilliant cards — not just shiny flashy ones, but really interesting, thought-provoking ones, too — and it’s truly a privilege to review your work like this.

Thanks for indulging one last April Fool’s joke, y’all. Here’s the ones you’ve been waiting for.

~~Jabberwock


jr8XKmA.png


These mid-month bursts of inspiration really seem to be working out for you! This Heat Rotom is a good tricky card if there ever was one.

I love the effects. It’s always cool when something seemingly innocuous, like switching out the top card of your opponent’s deck, can have a truckload of devious uses — and from your notes, you’ve obviously put a lot of thought into what those uses might be in the real-life DPPt era. Even without those notes, though, it’s the sort of card that makes you want to consider all the ways to play it, decks to tech it in, resources to help it be the biggest nuisance it can be. Mark of some real creativity.

I’ve got a bone to pick with the para-during-your-opponent’s-turn effect of Para-Trap, though. The technical rule for resolving Paralysis is that if you get Paralyzed in the middle of your turn, you have to wait until the end of your next turn to get un-Paralyzed. (See page 16 of this rulebook or page 15 of this one — couldn’t find any older references online, unfortunately, but you get the idea.) So Para-Trap would take their Active Pokémon out of commission for two attack phases, not one. Is this dumb? Yeah, absolutely, and it never comes up because real cards never have para-during-the-opponent’s-turn effects. But either way, I’d probably just do “can’t attack or retreat until the end of the turn” to achieve the same thing.

The delta species aesthetics are neat; I love Omega’s adaptation of the helix thing around the border, and the purple bar seems good even if purple’s a kinda arbitrary color for it. Little more hesitant about Autobot’s flat, minimally shaded, largely 2D Rotom art against a very 3D-looking whooshy background. There’s lots of free-use 2D-style backgrounds out there.

Wording errors:
- On point. For what it’s worth, on discarding, it’s technically “of” when it’s your own and “from” when it’s your opponent’s. What can I say, old wording is weird.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Seems good.

Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(Genuinely really impressed; you’ve been pulling some great creativity scores for a while now. I like the multiplicity of uses you’ve already thought about for Quick Trick — always cool when a simple effect gets a lot of uses like that. Para-Trap is also neat and getting into some under-explored design space.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Balancing seems fine in theory — it has the potential to be quite an annoying card, but it requires a ton of other cards to reach the point of being game-breaking. Only issue is related to how Paralysis resolves when it occurs during your opponent’s turn, which I’m assuming was unintentional.)
Wording: 10/10
(On point.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Seems good.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(The DPPt delta blanks are pretty, but the art feels kinda haphazard. I think it’s just a matter of choosing the background wisely.)
Total: 45/50
dehzaob-c53bed0c-a0b9-42db-bce6-9188035316a8.png


Hey hey, didn’t get a chance last month to welcome you to CaC! Glad you made it. :D

The card is cool. Not just because of the name, either — there’s just something inherently snazzy about a custom Neo card done well. I can’t remember seeing anybody doing stuff like this since CMP, either, which makes it all the more special. Huge credit for tackling a lesser-explored area of the custom card community.

The art choice is excellent; looks like a natural continuation of the original Cool Porygon card. A little glow or something around the edge might be worthwhile, just to drive home the connection even further, but it’s solid as it is.

I like that the effects go in like five different directions, just like a lot of real Neo effects, and I think it’s especially neat that there’s actually some light synergy between them. The attack is a great disruptive force, messing with your opponent’s board state in a format where that can be a big pain for a lot of decks to deal with. And then at some point, they have to fall back on (presumably) much lower-damage attacks, since their gameplan has been messed up by Cyberspace Trick, and that’s when the Pokémon Power’s heal effect takes over. It makes it into a sort of control/stall deck — maybe not consistent enough to be good, since it relies largely on coin flips, but definitely tricky, and almost certainly a blast to play.

Wording errors:
- “before you attack” -> “before your attack” [-1 point]
- “This power stops working while …” -> “This power can’t be used if …”. The difference here is that some Pokémon Powers are always active (usually ones that start with “As long as …” or “Whenever …”), while some need to be consciously activated by the player (usually ones that start with “Once during your turn …”). The ones that are always active are the ones that “stop working” while the Pokémon is Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed, because they’re always working while it’s not. Meanwhile, the ones that need to be activated don’t “stop working”, because they’re not working until they’re activated. See here for a list of cards that use wording like this. [-2 points]
- “one of his or her Benched Pokémon” -> “1 of his or her Benched Pokémon” [-1 point]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Excellent.

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Solid work. None of the effects by itself is really all that ground-breaking, but all together they make a card with an interesting disruptive niche.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(Playability is on point, and I can easily see the effects on a real-life Neo card. One minor ding here, which is that Resistance is -30 in this era.)
Wording: 6/10
(Just a couple minor errors, which can easily be patched up for next time. It’s obvious you’ve put a lot of work into correcting your wording, and it’s gone a long way!)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Excellent.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Top-notch. What takes it to another level is the visual connection to the original Cool Porygon.)
Total: 42/50
wh4wZBS.png


Woo, a lot going on here! First of all, welcome to CaC! It’s been cool to see your art in all sorts of stuff over on Discord, and a VMAX is quite the impressive showcase! You’ve got lots of the standard aesthetics boxes checked, from the windy whoosh effects in front to the chaotic background behind, and all together it makes for a stunning card.

That being said, I think there’s a couple ways to refine the aesthetics even further. Apart from the corner cutting you’ve already been told about, the chaoticness of the whooshes might be letting you down a bit — in particular, the whoosh going in front of Inteleon’s face obscures the main focus (Inteleon) more than it highlights it. You probably want that effect to be diverted slightly, going next to the Pokémon rather than over its face.

Also, on the technical side of things, VMAXs never have any part of the art, whooshes, Pokémon, or otherwise, going in front of the Weakness/Resistance bars or the “Evolves from” bar, so keep that in mind — it looks cool to have the Pokémon break the bars in that way, but conventions are important. :p And then finally, a minor detail — you’re missing this sort of colored glow (corresponding to the Pokémon’s type, so blue for [W]) that goes in the upper right and lower left corners of the card (examples [1], [2]).

All in all, though, the art looks outstanding — it’s especially impressive considering you made all(?) of it from scratch!

As for the attacks, I think they combine existing design spaces in some interesting ways. “Powering up” effects rarely work out in competitive play because they just leave your Pokémon there as a sitting duck on the opponent’s turn, but here you’ve given the card some tools to work around that. If you can get the opponent into the right kind of hand, you can lock a non-attacking Pokémon in the Active Spot and prevent them from drawing their way out of it, buying you that turn you need and letting you use Trick Shot on the following turn. Good stuff.

If there’s one thing I’d like to see more of, though, it’s the way you always break the mold with your effects! At the end of the day, Trick Shot is a pretty standard attack, but I know I’ve seen some really original stuff from you in the past. Don’t be afraid to push the boundaries a bit!

Wording errors:
- “at the beginning of their turn” -> “the beginning of the turn”. This is because you already referred to “your opponent’s next turn” at the beginning of the sentence. [-1 point]
- Needs to clarify that the 50 more damage is to the opponent’s Active Pokémon, since Trick Shot can also hit the Bench. Or maybe you meant it to do 50 more to both targets, but that would also need to be clarified. [-2 points]
- “(before applying Weakness and Resistance)” should be italicized. [-1 point]
- “(Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)” should be outside the period; it’s its own sentence. [-1 point]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Seems good.

Creativity/Originality: 11/15
(Creative blending of existing effects in a new way, and it’s easy to see some light synergy between the three effects of the first attack. Don’t be afraid to push the boundaries further, though!)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(It’s a lot of text for a SSH-era card, but it’d be lame if I docked you for that lol. The balancing all seems good — maybe a little tricky to use effectively since the first attack needs some disruptive partners to help it work, but I think that's a good thing.)
Wording: 5/10
(A few minor errors — watch out for the italics and punctuation in particular!)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Seems good.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Mad props for doing all your own art; it looks stunning as always, and truly impressive on a VMAX. The docked point here isn’t because I don’t love the art, because I do — there’s just a couple technical things to keep in mind. See above for those.)
Total: 40/50
Imposter-Electrode-Phase-1-with-corner-cutter-1-4-1-1-3-5-1-1-3-1.png


Solid concept! Putting your cards on your opponent’s side of the board is an under-explored mechanic in the Pokémon TCG, and while I’ve seen some takes on this in the fan community with Pokémon (as opposed to Tools like Head Ringer), I can’t remember seeing any that base a whole mechanic around it. Props for giving me something I haven’t seen before.

A couple things about the Imposter rule feel a little arbitrary. Why do you need to Knock Out a Pokémon in order to put an Imposter Pokémon into play? I guess for this one in particular you’d probably want to play it in a spread deck, so Knocking Out a Pokémon might actually be something of a steep cost in the early stages of the game, but I think there are other costs you could give it that balance the rule more effectively for all kinds of Imposter Pokémon. At the moment it just feels like it verges into “win-more” territory, which usually isn’t a great place for cards to be in. Also not sure why it doesn’t count toward a full Bench. You could shorten the rule quite a lot by going with something simpler like “If [conditional clause] and your opponent’s Bench isn’t full, you may put this Pokémon from your hand onto your opponent’s Bench. If this Pokémon is Knocked Out, neither player can take any Prize cards for it.”

Another (more subtle) issue with the way the card works right now is that you can play it onto your own field — though there’s very little reason to unless it’s the only Basic Pokémon in your hand — and that introduces ambiguity. If Electrode can be on its owner’s field or on its opponent’s field, who’s to say who the owner is? This might seem like a silly question, but it can’t be up to the players alone — “the game” has to be able to keep track of it too, in order to resolve any rulings disputes. Long story short, the card should ideally not be a Basic Pokémon (or playable onto its owner’s field at all).

Electrick Shock is two different effects that each feel solid individually. I tend not to be a fan of combining multiple effects like this into one Ability since real cards never do that, but there’s no doubt that fanmade cards do it all the time. If it were me I’d probably get rid of the second effect — the Energy attachment one will probably be more generically useful than the Paralysis one overall.

The attack doing a self-KO is a brilliant choice; I think Yaginku’s suggestion there was the right one. Your opponent having the option to play around it adds another layer of depth to the card, and makes for much better counterplay opportunities.

It was cool to watch you start to figure out Photopea this month, and I think you’ll agree that you’ve come a long way since the beginning of it. There’s still a few bumps to iron out, but everybody starts somewhere, and this is a pretty good place to start, as these things go. Keep it up, and hope to see you around CaC again soon! :)

Wording errors:
- Pokémon aren’t Knocked Out by Pokémon, they’re Knocked Out by damage from those Pokémon’s attacks (or the effects of their attacks, or their Abilities, or whatever). The optimal wording for the first clause of the Imposter rule would probably just be “When 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon is Knocked Out”. [-2 points]
- Missing a clause telling you what to do if the Pokémon is removed from your opponent’s field through means other than a Knock Out. See Head Ringer / Jamming Net for an example of what this should look like. Not actually docking for this here because there’s also a related Believability issue in that it can be removed from the opponent’s field or the owner’s field, so the dock is coming there.
- “cards” as in “Prize cards” shouldn’t be capitalized. [-1 point]
- “one” -> “1” [-1 point]
- “Pokéball” -> “Poké Ball” [-1 point]
- Lastly, I’m gonna dock [-1 point] for “Electrick”. I think you asked me earlier in the month if “Electrick” would be fair game since it contains “trick”, and I probably answered yes — it does, after all, contain “trick”. But that’s not blanket permission to take any old word that contains the same phonemes and change the spelling for the sake of making the card fit the theme. As an example, this is the sort of attack name that would have worked for what you were trying to do. Taking an Ability that would have made just as much sense being named “Electric Shock” and throwing a “k” on the end doesn’t do it.

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Placements are generally good, but almost all the fonts are off — it looks like Photopea changed them automatically and you didn’t go back through and correct them. Keep an eye out for that in the future, and don’t be afraid to ask if you can’t find what the original fonts should be. [-2 points]

Creativity/Originality: 13/15
(The design space of Imposter Pokémon is cool; there’s a lot of potential there. I think a couple things about it don’t make sense right now, but there’s definitely room to streamline the concept further.)
Believability/Playability: 8/15
(There’s a lot of things working against it here. Why a win-more condition for the Imposter rule? Why have it on the Bench and not counting toward the Bench at the same time? Why allow the owner to play it onto their own Bench? etc.)
Wording: 4/10
(Several errors — watch out for a few conventions like capitalization and numerals in particular.)
Fonts and Placement: 3/5
(Placements are good, fonts are wrong.)
Aesthetics: 3/5
(Not bad, especially considering you’d only picked up Photopea like twice before this month. Don’t be afraid to really glitz up the holosheet, especially for that holosheet. The Electrode art and background work well with the blank, though. Last note here is on the text — I think stroking it with the white outline is a mistake. You can just make the text itself white like it is on [D] Pokémon.)
Total: 31/50
RZSrY2J.png


Kavross! Welcome back to CaC, buddy! Always good to see your art around here. This one in particular looks like a new style, and it definitely works. Seems sort of Tomokazu Komiya-like, but with none of the proportions out of whack. It’s cool, I like it.

The effects make it occupy a good niche as a RS/SS-hate card, which I don’t think there are too many of yet. And if there were ever a Pokémon to see a new mechanic and just go out there and say “no! you don’t get to play any of those cards!” it would probably be Obstagoon. So I think it’s well-designed on a thematic front.

It’s probably slightly underpowered, since 150 HP is on the low end for an Obstagoon, 80 for [C][C][C] ain’t what it used to be, and the Ability’s on a flip. But it might just end up being meta-dependent — if RS/SS cards were to ever take over the metagame, then this obviously becomes a lot better, even with the slightly low numbers. So in the end, I guess that’s what it comes down to — the card’s not necessarily underpowered, but you could almost certainly get away with higher numbers.

Wording errors:
- TPCi hasn’t referred to “Pokémon cards” in card text since the ex era — it would just be “except for Pokémon” in the attack. [-2 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Looks good.

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Nothing too crazy, but has a solid niche and good thematic framework for the Pokémon.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Not necessarily underpowered because it can be effective enough in the right metagame, but two cautious points docked here nonetheless because the numbers feel slightly low. No Obstagoon has ever had less than 160 HP, for example.)
Wording: 8/10
(One minor error.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Looks good.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Fantastic art. The last point here would come from something like a holosheet, regular or reverse, to put it over the top.)
Total: 42/50
lickilicky_vmax.png


Absolutely stellar take on the theme.

Trickilicky is a really interesting Ability, exploring some design space I can’t say I’ve ever seen before. The first thing I did (obviously) was go look up all the Pokémon since BLW that would qualify as targets for it, and fortunately most of them aren’t anywhere near gamebreaking, so it would just be a kinda neat method of Energy acceleration for those. But then, as you noted in your post, there’s Lickilicky UNM.

It’s just such a silly card! It does have some real lock potential, and with cards like Reset Stamp it isn’t even that difficult to achieve it, but I think by far the funniest part is that Lickilicky VMAX lets you power it up in one turn with stuff like Triple Acceleration Energy and wreak havoc on your opponent out of nowhere. It seems like a great engine, and if Lickilicky UNM wasn’t broken before, I don’t think this’d be what breaks it. I’d imagine it’d be loads of fun to play and probably even amusing to play against.

The “14 or fewer cards” thing is also really interesting — a very creative limiting factor, forcing you to play with a relatively small board and play disruptive cards to keep your opponent’s board size down too. But there’ll be some decks where you’re just outta luck — decks that, through evolving or Energy acceleration or whatever, will be able to get the board state to 15 cards and keep it there, and there’s not much you can do. Is that enough to kill the card? Maybe; it all depends on how many decks can do that, and how consistently, and how effectively Lickilicky is able to play without the Ability. But regardless, I think the hard cap is unrealistic — it just puts too much of your central gameplan in the hands of the opponent.

Max Licks is solid; I like how removing Tools and Stadiums plays into the Ability by keeping the board size down. It’s not a perfect complement to the Ability, though; in fact I think it’s probably slightly redundant — there’s been at least some form of Item-based Tool removal in pretty much every format since the mid-BW era. It would probably be more effective if it got rid of stuff that’s harder to get rid of, like your opponent’s evolved Pokémon or Energy or something.

Still, the card is solid overall. I think this is the first month I’ve seen you bring a card without a strictly new mechanic, but you didn’t let the creativity slack at all. It’s clear you put a ton of thought into how this card would play out, different routes of gameplay, synergy with different targets — and even how it would work in translation! Very impressive work.

Wording errors:
- “words” should still just be “word”, even though there are two viable words, since there would only be one of those words on the target card — it’s an “or” situation, not an “and” situation. [-1 point]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Solid.

Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(Great building on existing mechanics. The synergy with Lickilicky UNM in particular feels very well thought out. I think there’s still room to refine the self-synergy around its own attack, though.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(As cool as the design space is, I have a hard time believing that TPCi would ever go for a hard cap like the “14 or fewer cards in play” thing. Might need a bit more work to ensure that the deck can still hold its own against opponents who can consistently keep 12-13 cards in play.)
Wording: 9/10
(One very minor error.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Solid.)
Aesthetics: 4.5/5
(Art looks great, and the chaotic VMAX background is all done very well and looks authentic. Cautious half-point docked here because I think part of the holosheet, going right over the main subject of the card like that, is doing you more harm than good.)
Total: 44.5/50
CAC06_Togedemaru.png


Ohman ohman ohman. Tech Trickery indeed.

Alright so let’s get the obvious out of the way. It’s true that TPCi rarely does anything that puts your cards on the opponent’s side of the field, but it’s much more of a thing on custom cards, so people have been thinking about ways to make it work for a long time. Basically, you can get away with it — there’s even precedent since they did the Team Flare Hyper Gears — but you gotta be careful about it. Apart from technical stuff like the clauses that tell you what to do if the card gets removed from play, you gotta decide stuff like “when is it beneficial for me to play this?” and “is there any way my opponent can take better advantage of it than I can?”

It seems like it would very rarely be advantageous to use Tech Trickery. It’s a cool gimmick, but leaving it all up to chance makes it nearly unplayable. You can play a bunch of not-good Tools and try and foist them off on your opponent’s Pokémon, but what if they all land on yours instead? Or what if you give your opponent all the good Tools you had on your board?

Thunder Burr is a much more obviously usable attack, though three Energy is quite a price to pay for it. I think if you were to lower the cost to [L] and damage to like 10 or 20, it’d be much more viable overall.

The design space of the gimmicks is neat, don’t get me wrong — I think there’s just some room left to refine them. :)

Wording errors:
I’ll assume you’re using SwSh-era wording since that’s the most recent wording you referenced in your notes.
- “next to your Active Pokémon face down” -> “face down next to your Active Pokémon” (Empoleon LV.X) [-1 point]
- You don’t need both players to shuffle the pile. One randomization is sufficient. [-2 points]
- Need a way to decide which Pokémon get the Tools if there are fewer Tools than there are Pokémon. [-3 points]
- Don’t need the last sentence of Tech Trickery — you already established that each Tool has to go to a different Pokémon. [-2 points]
- Pokémon Tools are only Pokémon Tools when they’re attached to a Pokémon. Otherwise they’re Pokémon Tool cards. [-1 point]
- Thunder Burr needs something to clarify that the Pokémon’s attacks only cost [C] more while Togedemaru is attached to it. [-3 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- It looks good enough. There might be some spacing stuff you can do around the attacks to make it feel less crowded, but that’s not an error.

Creativity/Originality: 12/15
(Some interesting design space, but I feel like it’s only scratching the surface. How can these effects be used? Are they fun to play with? What would make them more fun? That kind of thing.)
Believability/Playability: 8/15
(Needs some more fleshing out. Can’t imagine very many situations where Tech Trickery is the ideal attack to use, and Thunder Burr just seems generally hard to pull off with that attack cost. There’s also some believability issues around mixing up the two players’ Tools like that, since at some point you’re gonna have to figure out what belongs to whom.)
Wording: 0/10
(In fairness those are some wicked attacks to word.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Good enough.)
Aesthetics: 4/5
(Looks pretty good! Art’s kinda dark; could’ve done with a bit of brightening on Togedemaru itself, but the holosheet application is on point.)
Total: 29/50
Zoroark_CaC.png


Wow, Nyan, way to knock the aesthetics out of the park! You don’t see too many fakes that look like they’d fit right into a Radiant Collection-style miniset, but this one definitely does it. The art’s solid to begin with, but the combination of what I assume to be Neko’s holosheets elevates it to another level.

The effects are neat, too. You mention that you’ve taken inspiration from an old YuGiOh card for it — I’m not well-versed in YuGiOh, so I’m not sure of the context for the card you’re referencing, but I think it’s come out well in translation. In general, translating effects from other card games into Pokémon is an underrated source of inspiration — obviously it doesn’t always work, but when it does, it works well.

The extent to which the card might be game-breaking definitely depends a lot on the metagame, and what other cards exist in the format for it to abuse. It’s the sort of thing Gyarados SF would love to take advantage of, and it might even be enough to make Gyarados BUS viable in the first place. But these are fringe scenarios, and not too many other obvious partners come to mind — not in SM, anyway. Maybe Eeveelutions? That’s the sort of deck that wants to put Stage 1s into play without using too many Basics.

The main thing balancing it, apart from the discard on the Ability, is that it leaves the Pokémon in the Active Spot to take a hit after using the attack, and this is definitely the right era for that to be a big balancing factor. So there’s positives in that you get a Stage 1 out without having to use the Basic, but you have to weigh that against the discard, the turn of vulnerability, and the slots it takes up in the deck. It’s a decent support card without being a staple. Nice work — as far as I’m concerned, you’re certainly right to be proud of this one.

Wording errors:
- lol where’s the period at the end of the attack [-0.5 point]
- Also missing a comma after “If you do” in the Ability. Apart from that I think you worded it admirably. [-0.5 point]
- Don’t need the parentheses in the attack, per Nanu. [-1 point]
- The attack also needs to have the clauses in a different order. After the Zoroark is switched out, it doesn’t have any other cards attached to it, so what are you discarding? [-3 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- You got it.

Creativity/Originality: 14/15
(Taking inspiration from other games is usually solid, especially if it’s done with a new twist. The only thing holding it back from the 15 is that Ninja Boy-style effects are pretty prevalent both in real Pokémon and in faking already, so I’m not sure the design space is as new as it could be. That being said, the gameplay potential is stellar — would definitely be an exciting card to build decks around.)
Believability/Playability: 15/15
(Significant boon to certain decks — see Gyarados BUS and Eeveelutions discussed above. Balanced effectively by the discard, the turn of vulnerability, and the fact that it probably takes up 4 deck slots.)
Wording: 5/10
(Couple inaccuracies in the attack.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(You got it.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Outstanding.)
Total: 44/50
deic0ok-1710fbf4-9651-4f93-b808-0ccbaf221cd6.png


Ooh, Hat Trick! That’s an application of the theme I wasn’t expecting. This is actually a really fun card to read.

I think the flavor works well without sacrificing anything from a gameplay perspective. Cinderace can score a “goal” for [R][R], or complete an assist to let another (possibly higher-HP) Pokémon score a goal. Do this three times, and you get a Prize card. It’s a fun spin on alternate wincons that keeps the game interactive for both players — goals can be removed by Knocking Out the Pokémon that made them, after all, so your opponent has many more opportunities to do something about it than in a game versus, say, Unown HAND.

The other thing I like about it is that Cinderace can’t carry the game all by itself. A lot of people designing alternate wincons just design one card (like Unown HAND) that does it all when a condition is met. But this condition can’t be met through normal means — you need a whole bunch of goal-scoring Pokémon to pull off 18 goal-scoring attacks, and that’s assuming you don’t lose any of those Pokémon, so really the game becomes a team effort among the whole Pokémon line in your deck. Just as it should be, for this flavor. :p

Wording errors:
- “Counter” shouldn’t be capitalized — there’s precedent in the ex-era Imprison markers and Shock-wave markers and the Neo-era Char counters for the lowercase here. [-1 point]
- The “card” part of “Prize Card” shouldn’t be capitalized either. [-1 point]
- The [R] Energy symbol is noticeably not equidistant between the words to either side of it — maybe there’s an extra space before it? [-0.5 point]
- “Before this attack does damage” -> “Before doing damage” (Rookidee DAA and others) [-2 points]
- “that Pokémon can now use Blazing Strike and this attack does no damage” seems to introduce some ambiguity — does “this attack” refer to Cinderace’s Blazing Strike or “that Pokémon”s Blazing Strike? The way to resolve this would be to switch the order and say “this attack does no damage and that Pokémon can now use Blazing Strike”. [-2 points]

Fonts and Placement errors:
- Your blank, your rules.

Creativity/Originality: 15/15
(Love the creativity here. “Hat Trick” is a truly original take on the theme, and I think you executed it to perfection. It needs a wide assortment of partners to pull off its wincon, which is reflected somewhat in the B/P score, but on its own the concept is fantastic.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Cautious points docked because 18 attacks (while preventing any goal-scoring Pokémon from getting Knocked Out before Cinderace can take the Prize!) is a tall order. Certain effects would make this point moot — like a way to “score goals” through an Ability — but without that context I can’t give you the full 15 here.)
Wording: 3.5/10
(A few errors. Difficult effect to word.)
Fonts and Placement: 5/5
(Your blank, your rules.)
Aesthetics: 5/5
(Love that the art ties into the “hat trick” theme of the card. Even the flavor text is in on it!)
Total: 40.5/50

3rd Place: Nyan’s Zoroark, with 44/50 points.
2nd Place: Nemes’s Lickilicky VMAX, with 44.5/50 points.
1st Place: PMJ’s Heat Rotom, with 45/50 points.
 

PMJ

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The joke scores were my idea. If you guys honestly thought that we'd make you put serious effort into creating a card and not give it serious consideration, I apologize. We were always going to do real scores, but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to give out surprise meme scores that no one would expect in the one month where it would be allowed. With that said:

Wording, wording, wording. Overall I enjoyed judging these entries, but I think some of you are underestimating how important it is to make sure your wording is correct. I've said it before and I'll say it again - so many solid entries get their scores tanked by wording mistakes. It's the easiest place to lose points, so it's important that things are done the correct way.

There were some really cool ideas this month, a lot more than I thought there'd be with a theme that seemed pretty limited in its applications, but you all did admirably on that front. Which three of you did the most admirably this month? Read on...

Kadabra - Psychic - 90HP
Stage 1 - Evolves from Abra

NO. 064 Psi Pokémon HT: 4'3" WT: 124.6 lbs.

ABILITY: Spoonful Trick
If this Pokémon has any [P] attached, you pay [C] less to retreat your Active Pokémon. You can't apply more than 1 Spoonful Trick at a time.

[C][C][C] Super Psy Flash - 70
During your opponent's next turn, if the Defending Pokémon tries to attack, your opponent flips a coin. If tails, that attack doesn't happen.

Weakness: [D] x2
Resistance: [F] -30
Retreat:

Using its psychic power, Kadabra levitates as it sleeps. It uses its springy tail as a pillow.

Always nice to see Kadabra get some love. Looks like a solid Stage 1. Let's see if it holds up.

Spoonful Trick is kinda nice, essentially allowing you to pay part of your Pokémon's Retreat Cost with an Energy attached to Kadabra. Limiting it to 1 sounds good on paper but I honestly don't think you need to; any Alakazam printed in SWSH era wouldn't have a humongous Retreat Cost, and you'd need to dedicate multiple precious Bench spaces to Kadabra in order to ease the Retreat Costs of the biggest fatties. Fairly solid Ability all around though.

Super Psy Flash is a little strong. With two exceptions, Smokescreen-style attacks have always been 1) extremely weak (they all do 10 damage) and 2) on evolving Basics only. The two exceptions are Magmortar UNM and Eevee VMAX. Magmortar's is CC for 50 and that's a final Stage Pokémon. Eevee VMAX is, well, a VMAX, so that should tell you everything you need to know about the strength (generally speaking) of a 50% chance your opponent loses their attack, notwithstanding any retreat shenanigans.

Making the cost all Colorless is fine, but since Kadabra can evolve, the attack should be significantly weaker (and cheaper as a result). I'd probably go with CC for 30 or 40.

Lastly, Kadabra shouldn't have free retreat. I know it hasn't gotten a card since gen 2, but nothing about Kadabra as a Pokémon suggests it would have a card with free retreat. Additionally, only a handful of cards in the entirety of SWSH have free retreat, and Kadabra isn't anything like those Pokémon.

Wording errors:
General
- HP should be written as HP90, not 90 HP. (Any SWSH era card) [-1 point]
Spoonful Trick
- "If this Pokémon has any [P] Energy attached..." (Cacturne BST) [-1 point]
- "...the Retreat Cost of your Active Pokémon is [C] less." (Galar Mine) [-2 points]
- "You can't apply more than 1 Spoonful Trick Ability at a time." (Aegislash RCL) [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 13/20
(You met the requirement but, cool as Spoonful Trick's effect is, neither that nor Super Psy Flash is very interesting or unique. Both are standard effects that have been seen before.)
Wording: 10/15
(These are simple mistakes. pkmncards.com is a great resource to help keep your wording spot on.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(Kadabra shouldn't have free retreat. Super Psy Flash is too strong for the Pokémon it's on. It's difficult to judge Kadabra on its own merits without knowing how it would support an Alakazam (but I'm not docking you points for that).)
Total: 35/50
Xane’s Flapple - [G] - HP: 100 - Stage 1: Evolves from Applin
#841 Apple Wing Pokémon - H: 1’00’’ - 2.2 lbs.
Ability: Dragon’s Trick: Whenever the Attacking Pokémon damages the Defending Pokémon, you may flip a coin. If heads, you may select one of these effects:

You may swap out the Defending Pokémon for this Pokémon, which receives half the damage (Min of 10 damage, round up.) Do not apply Weakness and Resistance. If this Pokémon is already the Defending Pokémon, you cannot use this effect.

You may flip a coin for every 10 damage dealt. For every heads, the Attacking Pokémon takes 10 damage. Do not apply Weakness and Resistance.

You may discard all of the Pokémon Tool cards attached to the Active Pokémon. If one or both of the Active Pokémon do not have a Pokémon Tool card attached, you cannot use this effect.

[G][G] Apple Toss - 20
Flip a coin. If tails, this attack does nothing.
Weakness: [R] x2 Resistance: N/A Retreat Cost: [C]
“Xane, formerly a Manakete, discarded his dragonstone. Maybe his new Flapple has something to do with it?”

I'm gonna start by saying I don't understand any of the references you made, if any. I don't know who this guy is or what his shtick is, or why a Flapple of all things. Your effects could tie greatly into Fire Emblem lore but since I have never played the game this guy comes from they are completely lost on me; you lose out on any chance of having some leeway in terms of card strength for adhering to Xane's character. But let's see what we've got.

Google tells me this guy is a shapeshifter. Okay, cool, I get it. Next.

The Ability has three different effects that all trigger on damage. The one that lets Xane's Flapple take half the damage of the attack seems most useful, but there are things that need clearing up. It's unusable if Xane's Flapple is already defending, but what if you have two on the Bench? Can you have both of them take "half" the damage? If so, does the second Xane's Flapple take half the original attack's damage, or half of what damage remains after the first Xane's Flapple uses Dragon's Trick? Hell, why stop there? Just use four Xane's Flapple and some fatty up front to essentially eliminate all the damage you take. At best you can use them as shields to prevent it from taking damage for multiple turns; at worst it's degenerate stall that no one wants to deal with.

The damage payback effect is okay, you generally won't want to do this when the first effect is so good.

The third effect sounds like something you'd use if you had multiple Xane's Flapple and didn't need to use all of them to suck up damage. Cool effect, but outclassed by the other two.

Apple Toss is bad. Tails-fails attacks are more suited for evolving Basics in SWSH era. Evolved Pokémon typically have some sort of condition that needs to be met rather than just flipping heads, like Klinklang DAA requiring both Klink and Klang in play, or you having an odd number of Prize cards remaining in the case of Quagsire VIV. Though Eldgeoss SHF has a tails-fails effect, it's G for 50. In the case of Xane's Flapple, two colored Energy for maybe 20 damage is embarrassing. I'd personally redo the attack completely, but if you want to keep the tails-fails effect, I would increase the damage to 100.

Generally, I like the card idea as a whole, but it needs to be reined in a bit.

Wording errors:
General
- While Owner's Pokémon don't exist in SWSH, they do exist in previous eras, and every single instance of an Owner's Pokémon has been handled the same way. Thus, Xane's Flapple should evolve from Xane's Applin, not Applin. [-1 point]
- In SWSH, exactly one foot in length is written as 1', not 1'00". (Flapple RCL) [-1 point]
Dragon's Trick
- There are so many things wrong with how it's worded that I don't know where to begin in describing it. Even written out correctly, it takes up way too much space; forget having an attack, this Ability is taking up the entire card. My advice to you is to look at real cards that have similar effects to what you're looking for and go from there. [-5 points]

Creativity/Originality: 13/20
(I don't have the knowledge required to know if these effects also tie in with Xane's lore. I'll give you a bonus point because you incorporated a shapeshifting character. Pokémon hasn't done a lot of damage redirection, and for good reason; it is difficult to balance.)
Wording: 8/15
(Again, look at real effects and adapt that wording. Even if you're wrong, you'll at least be in the ballpark, and it's way better than guessing.)
Believability/Playability: 8/15
(The card as written has too much text, to say nothing of the essay this card would require if it was written with proper wording. Dragon's Trick is too powerful as written and needs to be toned down some.)
Total: 29/50
[Stage 2] Dragapult HP150 [P]
Evolves from Drakloak - Rapid Strike

NO. 887 Stealth Pokémon HT: 9'10'' WT: 110.2 lbs.

Ability: Rapid Strike Trickster
If Dreepy isn't anywhere under this Pokémon when you put it into play, you may draw 3 cards and put any number of your Dreepy in play or in your discard pile into your hand. (Discard all attached cards.) If this Pokémon is the last card in your hand or the only Rapid Strike Pokémon in your discard pile, you may put this Pokémon onto your Bench.

[P] Dreepy Roulette 30+
Reveal your hand and put any Trainer and Energy cards you find there into the Lost Zone until the beginning of your next turn. Then, reveal random cards from your hand until you reveal a card that doesn't have Dreepy in its name. Discard all revealed cards. This attack does 50 more damage for each Dreepy discarded in this way.

Weakness: [D] x2
Resistance: [F] -30
Retreat: -
Apparently the Dreepy inside Dragapult's horns eagerly look forward to being launched out at Mach speeds.

Wasting no time with incorporating the new mechanic, huh? All right, let's see what we've got.

Rapid Strike Trickster is one convoluted Ability. I understand the intent, but a random Junior might not. Generally, a card should not have multiple places the Ability can be activated from, just to prevent confusion. We'll get to that later, though.

It looks like you have a little bit of leeway in getting Dragapult into play, but you still need to be careful because multiple discarded Dragapult shuts off the Ability. A single bad discard or a surprise KO essentially neuters your deck's damage output until you can find a way to pull all but one Dragapult from the discard.

Speaking of damage output, Dreepy Roulette is also one convoluted beast. Essentially, you temporarily drop off some cards, dump four Dreepy for 230, and then pick up the cards you parked at the start of your next turn. And all I gotta say is... why? Why go through all this hassle when you can just discard the Dreepy from your hand, calculate damage, and be done with it? There's no point to revealing extra cards or temporarily Lost Zoning cards, which is a whole other sin I'll get to in a minute. It seems less like cool and unique and more like making the attack bloated and worthless.

Regarding the Lost Zone: you are not allowed to take cards out of the Lost Zone. The whole point of the Lost Zone is that once a card is there, it can't come out. You can reference them, or count them, but you can't take them out once they're in. If you want to keep cards off to the side, you can do that (I referenced Empoleon LV.X last month for another user's entry). But don't ever put them in the Lost Zone unless you mean for them to be gone forever.

I think that this card has potential, but it might be a little on the strong side. You only need two Dragapult in your deck as Prize insurance, which all but eliminates the chances that they will both be in the discard. The second you get both of them in play, you can keep recycling them one after the other and do some massive damage. Dreepy Roulette does 230 for P, fairly easily. It's a Stage 2 that doesn't need to evolve to get into play and it's painfully easy to get your Dreepy discarded. I would honestly give this a massive nerf, to the order of 30 damage per Dreepy instead of 50. That lets you swing for 150, which, while significantly less, brings it more in line with other Stage 2s. Even then, it's powerful, requiring only a single Energy and maybe two turns of setup for the whole game.

Wording errors:
Rapid Strike Trickster
- Needs rewriting. "Once during your turn, if this Pokémon is the last card in your hand or the only Rapid Strike Pokémon in your discard pile, you may play it onto your Bench. If you do, draw 3 cards and put any number of Dreepy from your Bench or from your discard pile into your hand." (Beedrill VIV, Cramorant VIV, Morpeko BST) [-3 points]
Dreepy Roulette
- Cards are put in the Lost Zone, not into. (Whimsicott CEC) [-1 point]
- You can't reveal random cards from your own hand. It's not random if it's your own hand. [-1 point]
- "...for each Dreepy you discarded in this way." (Cramorant VIV) [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(I enjoy the potential for this card, even if it needs a complete rewording and the damage needs to get brought in line. Decent use of the theme.)
Wording: 9/15
(There's a lot of fat that needs trimming, and nearly all your errors go away once you do.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(I can easily see this as a real card, though I am gonna ding you slightly for the huge damage output. Overall, nice work.)
Total: 39/50
Tricky's Mr.Mime HP 130[P]
Basic Pokèmon

Property-Tricky's Pokèmon

[Ability]Circus Trick
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may discard all cards attached to one of your opponent's Benched Pokèmon and put it as a Stadium card into play(discard any Stadium card in play,discard it before using this effect)As long as your opponent that Pokèmon as a Stadium card in play, put 2 damage counters on both Active Pokèmon between turns. If another Stadium card comes into play or that Pokèmon is discarded by the effect of any attacks,Abilities or Trainer cards, your opponent put that Pokèmon in their discard pile.You can’t this ability again until the Pokèmon you chose gets discarded.
[P][C]Stop Sign Bash 80+
During your opponent’s next turn, they can’t play any Item cards from their hand.
If you played Tricky's Stop Sign from your hand during this turn, this attack does 60 more damage.

Weakness:[P]x2
Resistance:None
Retreat:[C]

"The broadness of its hands may be no coincidence—many scientists believe its palms became enlarged specifically for pantomiming."

As a huge Mr. Mime fan, I'm always down to see more cards featuring him. Let's see what we've got.

Property Pokémon seem to be no different thematically than old Owner's Pokémon of the past, as you mentioned. I'll buy the argument that they are stronger because they've been trained, but you still need to consider balance; a fresh coat of paint doesn't give you an excuse to throw convention completely to the wind.

To that end: 130 HP is a lot. Given that the standard HP for Mr. Mime is 80, giving it an enormous 50-point boost is a bit much. Even going on the low, low end and giving it, say, 100 HP, you can show that this Pokémon is an example of a stronger version of a typical specimen of its kind. Never mind that Galarian Mr. Rime doesn't even reach that point. I think 110 or 120 would have been a more suitable number while still getting your point across that these are supposed to be stronger than normal.

Circus Trick is super busted because it essentially wipes out your opponent's Benched Pokémon. It becomes impossible to power anything up because Circus Trick will immediately turn them into a Stadium. And this isn't a coming-into-play power, either, it can be used at any time. And it's on a Basic. And your opponent doesn't even get the Pokémon back after it's done its duty as a Stadium. That's way, wayyyy too powerful. I'm glad you had the foresight to limit its usage so you can't simply wipe your opponent's board in one turn, but it's still far too strong. With two Tricky's Mr. Mime on the Bench, all you need is a Stadium card in your hand to erase two of your opponent's Benched Pokémon (Trick one into a stadium, replace it immediately, and then Trick the second one). And while the heavy self-damage might seem like a balancing factor, any deck that plays this card can easily build a deck around keeping that Pokémon alive, or by recycling the extremely broken Tricky's Stop Sign.

Stop Sign Bash is too strong, full stop. Eighty damage and guaranteed Item lock is bonkers. If Vikavolt V does it for 50, no reasonable person would assume that a Property Pokémon could vastly out-damage a Pokémon V's attack for the same cost and same effect. And that's just pretending that it doesn't also have a damage bonus. The cost should be at least three Energy, PPC.

Tricky's Stop Sign is outrageous and makes this card even more powerful (and that's not a good thing). Imagine the scenario. Your opponent is under Item lock, can't attach Energy cards to their Active, and anything that they try to power up on the Bench is immediately removed from play by Circus Trick. Limiting Tricky's Stop Sign to Energy coming from the hand is largely irrelevant because anything that could attach Energy with an attack or Ability won't be around long enough to do it.

The whole card in general needs to be balanced better. I like the idea behind Circus Trick, but maybe change the effect such that it only activates on a kill, and maybe don't put it on a Basic (Dusknoir LV.X was a "stage 3", after all). Maybe let them get their Pokémon back after it leaves play. I didn't mention Stop Sign Bash's 60-damage bonus but honestly it just makes a broken card even worse, so meh.

Wording errors:
General
- Your accents are backwards: Pokémon uses é. In my benevolence, I won't dock you for it, since you were consistent throughout, and I can understand your intent by accenting the e in the first place. [-0 points]
- I am also choosing not to split hairs by docking you for spacing errors in your sentences. There should be one space after commas in the middle of a sentence. [-0 points]
- Your Pokedex information is missing. While it is possible that it was meant to be replaced by "Property - Tricky's Pokémon" in the same vein as Pokémon SP, I can't judge based on assumptions. (Pokémon SP replaced it, but the newer Owner's Pokémon from Double Crisis did not.) Since this is a new mechanic in the SWSH era, anything that bucks convention like this has to be specifically mentioned. [-1 point]
- Mr. Mime's Weakness should either be Metal or Darkness in Sword & Shield, not Psychic. If Darkness, it also needs a -30 Fighting Resistance. [-1 point]
Circus Trick
- Needs rewriting. "Once during your turn, you may put 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokémon into play as a Stadium. (Discard all attached cards.) As long as your opponent has that Pokémon as a Stadium in play, put 2 damage counters on both Active Pokémon during Pokémon Checkup. You can't use this Ability if your opponent already has a Pokémon as a Stadium in play with the effect of this Ability." There are many deprecated phrases and general wording issues. [-5 points]

Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(Dusknoir LV.X was unique and I appreciate you giving its effect another try. Swing and a miss on the balance aspect, though.)
Wording: 8/15
(Entries are assumed to be for the current era unless otherwise noted.)
Believability/Playability: 4/15
(It has no counter-play. Evolved Pokémon become obsolete; Tricky's Stop Sign helps ensure they will never mount a comeback.)
Total: 26/50
Alakazam HP: 120 [P]
064.png
Stage 2: Evolves from Kadabra
alakazam.png

NO. 065 Psi Pokémon HT: 4'11" WT: 105.8 lbs.
Ability: Calculated Draw
Once during your turn, you may put a card from your hand face-up into your Prize cards. If you do, draw cards until you have 8 cards in your hand. You can't use more than 1 Calculated Draw Ability per turn.

[P][P] Card Trick
Put a card from your hand face-down in front of you. Your opponent guesses whether it is an Energy card, Trainer card, or Pokémon card. Then, reveal that card and discard it. If your opponent guessed right, discard all Energy from this Pokémon. If your opponent guessed wrong, put a different card from your hand face-down in front of you and have your opponent guess again. Your opponent discards the top 2 cards of their deck each time they guess wrong. This attack ends when your opponent guesses right or if you have no cards in your hand.

Weakness: [D] x2
Resistance: [F] -30
Retreat: [C][C]

Its superb memory lets it recall everything it has experienced from birth. Its IQ exceeds 5000.

Ooh, mill, my favorite! But can it pass muster in this format? Let's find out.

Calculated Draw is interesting enough. It's a good tool for replenishing your hand so you can keep the Card Tricks coming. The extra Prize penalty is probably not that big a deal considering seven-Prize games aren't uncommon, but I question whether it's worth setting up a Stage 2 just to put yourself down a Prize. Overall I don't have an issue with it.

Card Trick is a super fun move on paper, but it's just as devastating to you as it is to the opponent. Never mind that you're almost certainly going to get turned into a streak on the pavement with your baby-tier HP, but losing all your Energy is horrific. It means that even if in the perfect scenario your opponent is draw passing the turn after you use the attack, you still can't attack on the next turn. Being able to attack consistently is key when you are dying every turn, and that goes double if you're a Stage 2. It's hard enough to keep my Durant in play; I can't imagine this deck would be anything resembling consistent unless there was a way to stream them directly from some zone to the Bench.

On top of that, the cards you need to set up future Alakazam also happen to be the fodder you use for Card Trick. To help remedy that, I would just put the cards back into your hand after the attack is over. That way, you aren't gimping yourself and forcing yourself to recover using Calculated Draw. Again, it's already hard enough to get not only an Alakazam into play every turn, but also having to attach two Energy to it is needlessly difficult.

Despite this card's shortcomings, I'm still a huge fan. I love mill and I'm always excited to see what people can do with it.

Wording errors:
Calculated Draw
- "...add a card from your hand to your Prize cards face down. (Xurkitree-GX) "Face-down" is an adjective; "face down" is a card state. Galarian Mr. Rime DAA uses both. [-2 points]
- "You can't use more than 1 Calculated Draw Ability each turn." (Kricketune V BST) [-1 point]
Card Trick
- "Put a card from your hand face down in front of you." (Oranguru UNM) [0.5 point]
- "Your opponent guesses if that card is a Pokémon, Trainer card, or Energy card, and then you reveal and discard it." (Unown ? LA, Oranguru UNM) The order of which type of card to list first is debatable, but I'm dinging you for including the word 'whether', which hasn't been used since Neo Destiny, as well as not following the precedent set by Oranguru and making it all one sentence. [-2 points]
- "...put another card from your hand face down in front of you and your opponent guesses again." (Quick Ball SSH, Oranguru UNM) [-2.5 points]
- The sentence about the when the attack ends is unnecessary because it's clear that there are no more steps after you discard your Energy. You also can't put another card down if you don't have any cards to put down, so the attack would also automatically end at that point. It's like drawing cards up to a certain point but not having any cards left mid-draw; the card doesn't say "this effect ends if you have no cards in your deck" or anything to that effect. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(I think that adding to your own Prizes as payment for a powerful effect is pretty cool. Mill is cool and I love the guessing game aspect of Card Trick as well.)
Wording: 6/15
(While you were right that it's a pain to get right, you were wrong about the most recent references and it cost you a few points.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(As mentioned previously, it's fun, but it's too difficult to get into play consistently; too difficult to power up after an attack, let alone multiple Alakazam in a game; and too punishing for the player in a deck where your Prize cards may as well be the Lost Zone.)
Total: 36/50
Gengar & Duskull Tag Team GX
Type: [P] – HP 240
Basic Pokémon (Tag Team GX)
TAG TEAM Rule: When your TAG TEAM is knocked out, your opponent takes 3 Prize Cards.


Ability: Spectral Trick
When this Pokémon would take damage from the Defending Pokémon (even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out), you may switch this Pokémon with a Pokémon from your deck (Any attached cards, damage counters, Special Conditions, turns in play, and any other effects remain on the new Pokémon) and put damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon equal to the damage done to this Pokémon.


[P][P] Spectral Cage 10
During your opponent’s next turn, whenever a player’s Active Pokémon moves to the Bench, put 10 damage counters on that Pokémon.


[P]+ Spectral Resonance
If any of your Pokémon is in the Active Spot and is damaged by an opponent’s attack (even if it is Knocked Out), put 2 damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon for each [P] energy card attached to that Pokémon. If this Pokémon has at least 1 extra [P] Energy attached to it (in addition to this attack's cost), put 10 damage counters on your opponent's Pokémon in any way you like. (You can't use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)


Weakness: [D] X 2
Resistance: [F] -20

Retreat: [C][C]

>require dex info and flavor text for all text entries
>circumvent this by making a tag team
>okay.jpg

It looks like this card employs something of a revenge play style, where the opponent is punished for doing certain actions (in this case, hitting into you or retreating (sort of). I like the idea behind it, but there are some problems...

Spectral Trick is bigly busted because it gives you a guaranteed way to avoid giving up three Prizes when it dies. Not only that, but it also pays back the attack's damage, which allows for huge chances to get ahead on the Prize trade. I'd like to assume that the Ability only lets you swap in Basics but since you didn't specify that I have to assume you can get literally any Pokémon. Time to whip out Shedinja DRX or Celebi XY93.

Spectral Cage looks good on paper but it's missing a huge component: an incentive. Sure, they'll eat 100 damage if they retreat, but why would they when you're not a threat? They can easily put you at a disadvantage by peppering you with smaller attacks, and if you retreat to bring in a better attack, you take 100 damage.

Spectral Resonance is a weird attack, but I guess I understand it 'resonating' with their Psychic Energy. The spread seems fair enough.

I'm a little disappointed in seeing you use the word "spectral" for everything. Online thesauruses are a thing and a fantastic resource.

One way I'd improve this card is to make it focus on a single idea. Each of its powers and attacks does something completely different, and none of them synergize with each other. For example, Spectral Cage seems super underwhelming because there's no real risk involved. I'd move the 100-for-retreating bit to an Ability and give some devastating effect to the attack that applies at the end of the opponent's next turn so they have to choose between retreating and taking 100 or staying Active and suffering the mystery effect.

Wording errors:
General
- The name should be "Gengar & Duskull-GX". [-1 point]
- In the Tag Team rule, "Knocked Out" should be capitalized... [-1 point]
- ...but "cards" should not be. [-1 point]
Spectral Trick
- "If this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon and is damaged by an opponent’s attack (even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out)..." (Alolan Sandslash-GX) [-1 point]
- "...you may search your deck for a Pokémon and switch it with this Pokémon. Any attached cards, damage counters, Special Conditions, turns in play, and any other effects remain on the new Pokémon. (Ninja Boy) [-1 point]
- "If you do, put damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon equal to the damage done to this Pokémon." (Dustox LOT; example of two-part Ability where second part is only triggered by activating the first part) [-1 point]
Spectral Resonance GX
- "GX" is missing from the attack name. [-1 point]
- The attack is unclear how often it triggers. Just during the opponent's next turn? For the rest of the game? This is an important piece of information that's missing. [-3 points]
- "Active Spot" was not used until Sword & Shield. It should read, "If your Active Pokémon..." [-2 points]
- "Energy" is always, always capitalized, in every instance. [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 15/20
(It's a decent use of the theme, but Spectral Trick is broken in practice. I do like the idea of punishing your opponent for making certain plays, but the card as a whole needs to be more cohesive than this.)
Wording: 2/15
(It's absolutely important to check and double check your wording before submitting. Not only did you mix your eras (a consequence of using references from cards that came later and not from the era your fake is from), you had a number of simple capitalization or grammar errors and each one is worth a point off. It's a death sentence to do poorly in this category, and keep in mind that the reference you choose isn't always the best one!)
Believability/Playability: 11/15
(Spectral Trick is too powerful, Spectral Cage is too weak, and using the same word for all its attacks is boring. Try to mix it up a little.)
Total: 28/50
Deoxys - Psychic - HP 110
Basic

NO. 386 DNA Pokémon HT: 5'07" WT: 134.0 lbs.

Ability: Tricky Technicolor Types
As long as this Pokémon has a Special Energy attached to it, it is a [L], [D], [M], and [C] Pokémon.

[L][D][M][C] Amazing Trick 10x
Search your deck for a card, reveal it, and shuffle it into your deck. Then, reveal cards from the top of your deck until you reveal that card. This attack does 10 damage for each card you revealed in this way. Shuffle the revealed cards back into your deck. You can't do more than 300 damage in this way.

Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C][C]
DNA from a space virus mutated and became a Pokémon. It appears where auroras are seen.

Oh, cool, I wouldn't have expected anyone to mimic Amazing Rares. I was a bit skeptical of the attack cost, but seeing that it's an Amazing Rare, it all makes sense now. Let's see if the card is as amazing as its rarity.

At first, I was worried about the Ability, but in the end, I don't think it's as big a deal as it looks to be on paper, especially with it requiring a Special Energy to trigger in the first place. I don't like that it drops your Psychic typing, though.

Before I critique it too much, I'd like to say that I love the idea behind Amazing Trick. It's a neat little twist on the "reveal until you find X" mechanic and it's enough of a change to make the attack interesting. The damage output on this attack, of course, fluctuates wildly, but that's offset by the fact that you're four types at once (effectively three, though, since Colorless is basically irrelevant). Losing your Psychic typing is kind of odd, but also oddly fitting, given that Amazing Trick doesn't take Psychic Energy.

Overall I would say the card's strength is average. Ability is easy to deactivate and the attack will often not do as much damage as you think it's going to, unless you hit them for Weakness. Still, it's an expensive attack for essentially random damage - not a good sign.

Generally speaking, I can't find anything too ridiculous about this card. Well done.

Wording errors:
Tricky Technicolor Types
- The wording for this Ability is outdated. "If this Pokémon has any Special Energy attached, it is L, D, M, and C type." (Necrozma V BST, Blaziken DAA) [-2 points]

Creativity/Originality: 15/20
(I enjoyed the use of the theme, and appreciate the callback to all the Deoxys δ. The attack fits for an Amazing Rare.)
Wording: 13/15
(Your card is presumed to be submitted in the Sword & Shield era unless otherwise noted; your wording should reflect that era regardless of your references. With that said, it's fortunate that you only had the one error.)
Believability/Playability: 13/15
(Deoxys should have a Darkness Weakness and a -30 Fighting Resistance. Other than that, I could see this card existing pretty easily, although I personally don't think it would see much play due to the randomness of the damage and the difficulty in activating and maintaining Tricky Technicolor Types.)
Total: 41/50
Simisear V - HP180 - Fire
Basic - Rapid Strike

Ability: Monkey Tricks
Once during your turn, you may switch this Pokémon with a Simipour V or Simisage V in your hand, then shuffle this Pokémon into your deck. Any attached cards, damage counters, Special Conditions, turns in play, and any other effects remain on the new Pokémon. If this Pokémon has a Pokémon Tool attached, you may heal 60 damage from it. You can’t use more than 1 Monkey Tricks Ability each turn.

[R][C][C] Fire Pledge 120+
You may discard a Simisage V or Simipour V from your hand. If you discard Simisage V, this attack also does 30 damage to all of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) If you discard Simipour V, this attack does 60 more damage and your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Burned.

Weakness: Water x2
Resistance:
Retreat: [C]

V rule: When your Pokémon V is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.

Ugh, I hate these dumb monkeys. But while I don't like the monkeys, I do like memes, so let's see if there's something to this or if it's just a bunch of monkey business. After being pleasantly surprised by your Melmetal in January, I'm guessing it's the former. But we'll see.

Monkey Tricks sounds right up these guys' alley, so quite thematic. I think being forced to shuffle the first monkey away hurts this combo a lot since it drastically reduces your chances of being able to discard it for the new monkey's pledge. With three types and three different pledge combinations, this opens the door for a number of damage and effect options that the player could use to suit their situation, not to mention hitting three types for Weakness on top of it. The card is built to work with the two other monkeys, but trying to pull off the combo requires you to throw it back into your deck? I don't like it. I mean, yeah, Octillery can search them back out again, but putting your old monkey back in the deck seems meant for Octillery specifically to pull it back out, rather than putting it back in as a balancing factor that Octillery can help mitigate. This thing has 180 HP, it's not gonna be surviving very long in any case, and with such low HP, consistency is key.

I completely forgot this Ability heals you, too. That seems so random, like it has nothing to do with the rest of the card, it's just doing it just to do it.

The attack is cool. Nice relaxed Energy cost to facilitate use of all three monkeys. Damage isn't super crazy. I like being able to choose between a single powerful hit and Bench spread.

Your reasoning for giving it 180 HP is sound...ish. You don't have to adhere so strictly to existing cards when there's no precedent. There's honestly no formula or anything you can follow to determine what an "appropriate" number is; as long as you're not super egregious and going way out of range (like HP reserved for edge cases like Wailord or Steelix, like you mentioned), you can give it any number you like. I'm not gonna ding you for it, but it's something to remember. I personally would have given it 200 HP, maaaaaaaaaybe 210. It still wouldn't survive very long, but for such low HP you are gonna want to have a good reason for it.

Wording errors:
Monkey Tricks
- The only card that swaps a Pokémon with a card in your deck is Ninja Boy, so I would adhere to that for the structure of your Ability: "Once during your turn, you may switch this Pokémon with a Simipour V or Simisage V in your hand. Any attached cards, damage counters, Special Conditions, turns in play, and any other effects remain on the new Pokémon. If this Pokémon has a Pokémon Tool attached, you may heal 60 damage from it. Shuffle this Pokémon into your deck. You can't use..." (Ninja Boy) [-1 point]
- I'm also confident that Simisage V would be listed first because it's Grass, and Grass supersedes Water. You got it right in the attack, though. [-0 points]
Fire Pledge
- "...this attack also does 30 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon." (Galarian Darmanitan VMAX VIV) [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 16/20
(I'm down for anything that reminds me of doubles. The ability to adapt your monkeying around for whatever the situation calls for is super cool, but being forced to throw them out is pointless other than to give Octillery something to search out. I can't see any other reason to make it a Rapid Strike Pokémon.)
Wording: 13/15
(Excellent improvements over January! Nice work. Don't feel bad about what you got dinged for - sometimes small things slip under the radar.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(I'm going to ding you one point for the random Tool healing and the low HP; this has high playability (in a world where accompanying Simisage V and Simipour V exist), or at least the possibility of playability, so I believe they'd have a little more HP than this. The Tool healing seems so out of place that I can't think of a valid reason to keep it. It does give Simisear V a bit of survivability, but 180 HP gets wiped by a light breeze in this format.)
Total: 43/50
Dusclops – Psychic – HP90
Stage 1 – Evolves from Duskull

NO. 356 Beckon Pokémon HT: 5’3” WT: 67.5 lbs.

Ability: Thieving Frisk
As long as this Pokémon is in the Active Spot, your opponent plays with the top card of their deck revealed. If it is a Pokémon Tool card, you may attach it to 1 of your Pokémon that doesn’t already have a Pokémon Tool attached to it.

[P][C] False Trick 10
Move a Pokémon Tool card from your opponent's Active Pokémon to 1 of your Pokémon that doesn’t already have a Pokémon Tool attached to it.

[P][C] Devastating Trick 30x
Discard all Pokémon Tools from all Pokémon (yours and your opponent's). This attack does 30 damage for each Pokémon Tool card discarded in this way.

Weakness: Dark (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-30)
Retreat: [C] [C] [C]
Its body is hollow. It is said that those who look into its body are sucked into the void.

Interesting to submit an evolving Stage 1. Dusclops is a cool poke so I hope you did it justice.

Thieving Frisk is actually pretty neat. Knowing what your opponent's topdeck is going to be has all sorts of strategic implications. Needing to be Active is probably necessary, so no issues there. The problems start when you start attaching your opponent's cards to your own Pokémon. Per the Team Flare Hyper Gears, you need to specify that your opponent's cards go their owner's discard pile when they're removed from a Pokémon. That's going to double the text on this card, and there's just not enough room for it (the text size required to fit your text on a card is already too small, pre-wording changes). But we'll get to that later, let me talk about the actual effect.

Seems like it would trigger pretty rarely; I would have liked to see False Trick replaced with a move that reorders your opponent's top cards so you can immediately snatch any Tools you put on top. Messing with your opponent's deck is also thematic for a ghost like Dusclops.

Taking your opponent's Tools away with False Trick has use outside of setting up for a big Devastating Trick, but since Devastating Trick has the exact same cost and also removes multiple possibly problematic Tools, False Trick loses a lot of reason for using it in the first place, especially with such a low damage output. Oh, you could give this a pretty solid damage buff as a conditional to moving one of your opponent's Tools to your own guys. I'd go 10 + 50 or 60.

Devastating Trick is everything this card builds towards with the constant Tool theft. Since this is a Dusclops, I'm not super worried about the damage, although I will say that without a way to put Tools on your opponent's dudes, this isn't gonna be killing any two-Prizers ever, while Dusclops will get killed by getting sneezed on. As an evolving Stage 1, you need to give me a reason to evolve into this and not simply skip it over with Rare Candy. Devastating Trick could be that thing, but there should be an easier way to pile on that damage.

Overall, I like the concept. I'm a fan of attacks that require a little work to do big damage, but the execution here is flawed. Stealing your opponent's cards requires text you don't have room for, and it's also super easy for your opponent to kill your strategy by simply not playing Tools. It's not like they would need them when their opponent is a 90 HP Dusclops, you know?

Wording errors:
Thieving Frisk
- Being able to steal your opponent's top card is a choice that is actively made by the player. As such, it needs to be clarified when and how often it can be used. You can't just leave it nested inside the constant effect from the first part of the power. [-3 points]
- "attached to it" is written just as "attached" as of Sword & Shield. (Skarmory DAA; compare to Alolan Sandslash CEC) [-2 points]
- You need to clarify that your opponent's cards go back to their discard pile. I'm choosing to take this out of your believability score - it's better this way. [-0 points]
False Trick
- "attached to it" -> "attached" [-0.5 point]
Devastating Trick
- "Discard all Pokémon Tools from each Pokémon." (Skarmory SUM) [-1 point]
- "...for each card you discarded in this way." (Whimsicott VIV) [-2 points]

Creativity/Originality: 14/20
(It has a simple job, but won't live long enough to execute it with any sort of frequency. The way in which it does this job is pretty cool, though.)
Wording: 6.5/15
(Aside from the opponent's Tools thing, it just looks like some of your references were incorrect, that's all.)
Believability/Playability: 12/15
(You have too much text; even if your wording was perfect, it requires excessively small text to fit in the space.)
Total: 32.5/50
Passimian-GX – Fighting – HP170
Basic Pokémon

Ability: Ball Carrier
You may attach an Item card with “Ball” in its name as if it were a Pokémon Tool card to any Passimian or Passimian-GX that doesn’t have a Pokémon Tool attached to it, with the effect “The attacks of the Pokémon this card is attached to do 20 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance).” You can’t have more than 1 Item card attached in this way. (If this Ability stops working, discard that Item card.)

[F][F] Option Attack 50
You may move a Pokémon Tool card attached to this Pokémon to 1 of your Benched Pokémon.

[F][F][C] Trick Play-GX
This attack does 120 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) Switch this Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon that has a Pokémon Tool attached to it. Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Confused. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)

Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C]

Pokémon-GX rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.

Special shout out to you for making me take longer to judge >:[ nah I'm just playing let's see what we got.

Okay, neat, it gives you the power to turn balls into weapons. Makes sense for a Pokémon like Passimian. Good way to use up your extra Cherish Balls. I have no qualms with this Ability, it's balanced and gives further utility to other cards you'd already be using.

Option Attack is perfect. The damage is low but I think being able to pass your Tool is worth the 10 or 20 damage I'd have given this instead. Passing stuff to your teammates is literally what Passimian does and I'm all for this.

I kinda like Trick Play GX. although I don't know if I'd actually use it as my GX attack of choice.

Overall, I love it from a design standpoint. I don't want to sound like I'm just skimming over this, but there aren't a lot of moving pieces for me to critique. Complicated isn't always better and I think that this card shows that off beautifully. Great work.

Wording errors:
Ball Carrier
- There is no clarification as to how often Ball Carrier can be used, such as "once during your turn". [-3 points]
- There is no clarification as to where the Item card comes from. Hand? Discard pile? Deck? Opponent's collection? [-1 point]
- "..."Ball" in its name to 1 of your Passimian or Passimian-GX as a Pokémon Tool card..." (Shedinja LOT) [-2 points]
- The line about being allowed only 1 Item attached is either unclear (so I can only this power once, period, no matter how many eligible targets there are?) or unnecessary (one Tool per Pokémon is a meta rule that can't be broken without specifically mentioning it does so). I'm assuming it's the latter, so if it's the former, enjoy your point. [-0 points]
Option Attack
- "You may move a Pokémon Tool card from this Pokémon to 1 of your Benched Pokémon." (Gallade CEC, Kommo-o CEC) [-1 point]
Trick Play GX
- Whether or not to hyphenate GX attacks is disputed, even in official sources. It's because of this that I'm not docking you points for it, but it is my belief that GX attacks are not hyphenated (Trick Play GX, not Trick Play-GX). As an aside: names are always hyphenated (as you've done here). [-0 points]
- "...with 1 of your Benched Pokémon that has a Pokémon Tool card attached to it." (Doublade FLI) [-1 point]

Creativity/Originality: 17/20
(Excellent use of not only the "trick" theme, but also tying it into Passimian's shtick as a team player and a sportsball boi.)
Wording: 8/15
(The few mistakes you made were costly ones.)
Believability/Playability: 14/15
(The HP seems a smidgey bit low, but it's believable. Being able to fashion weapons out of your excess Poke Balls is cool, but limiting them strictly to Passimian or Passimian-GX drastically reduces the card's effectiveness. This is the one area I think it would have been worth it to not adhere so strictly to the lore in the interest of good gameplay mechanics.)
Total: 39/50


Text Scores
3rd Place: Vom's Dragapult and 47bennyg's Passimian-GX, with 39/50 points.
2nd Place: bbb888’s Deoxys, with 41/50 points.
1st Place: ShaQuL’s Simisear V, with 43/50 points.
 
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PMJ

happy thoughts
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Winning by half a point? We take those.

I will concede that I didn't consider the ramifications of getting Paralyzed during your own turn. I also didn't think to go find a background; ever since I learned how to do quick and easy backgrounds myself, I've been doing it for everything. I agree with the criticisms levied and I'll also say that the only reason the Delta Species bar is deep purple is because it's my favorite color. It stands out but isn't aesthetically garbage.

Some super cool image entries this month. I would not have been mad at all if Nemes had beat me because Lickilicky is an amazing Pokemon and that VMAX looks so good. Also Nyan using that Zoroark art on a Radiant Collection-style card was also a splendid idea. Also a reminder to everyone but especially @Xiu and @Kavross to always remember to cut your corners.

Well done to all competitors in both categories. Stay tuned for May's contest.
 

Alolan Teddiursa

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Whoa, ACTUAL results? Didn't expect that, got tricked twice this month. Anyway, thanks for the judging by Jabberwock & PMJ!
 

bbb888

Same user name as my Pokémon YouTube channel
Member
@Vom also got third place with 39 points. @Kangaflora got 35, not 39.

I actually looked at Necrozma V and thought about it, but Kecleon was the one that inspired the Ability originally... Dang, I should've changed it lol
As for Weakness and Resistance, it might be hard to say as there hasn't been an official Deoxys card in SwSh era yet, so we just have to go by other Psychic types.

Appreciate @PMJ for judging!
 
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PMJ

happy thoughts
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@Vom also got third place with 39 points. @Kangaflora got 35, not 39.

I actually looked at Necrozma V and thought about it, but Kecleon was the one that inspired the Ability originally... Dang, I should've changed it lol
As for Weakness and Resistance, it might be hard to say as there hasn't been an official Deoxys card in SwSh era yet, so we just have to go by other Psychic types.

Appreciate @PMJ for judging!

Whoops. Fixed that.

Weakness and Resistance is actually streamlined in swoosh era. Every Psychic-type has a Darkness Weakness and a -30 Fighting Resistance. Every single one. Fairies are masquerading as Psychic-types, and all of those have Metal Weakness and no Resistance. If Deoxys ever gets a card in this era, it will 100% follow this convention.
 
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