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Swampert, Sceptile, Torchic Promo with 'Ancient Traits' [11/13]
- Thread starter Water Pokémon Master
- Start date
Please don't break Ω Multi Strike, please don't break Ω Multi Strike *cross Fingers*
Well, calling them "Half Arts" seems kind of lame to me. And I'm not too keen on hearing "fart" whenever someone says "Half Art". I vote on calling them either full arts (let's face it, there is art all over that card save for the borders) or Ancient Pokemon.
"Whoa! I just pulled a frakin Ancient Swampert!"
"Nice! A Swampert Full Art!"
"Mother of Arceus, it's an Ancient Swampert Full Art!"
"Look look look! A Half Art Swampert!"
The second one sounds best to me.
"Whoa! I just pulled a frakin Ancient Swampert!"
"Nice! A Swampert Full Art!"
"Mother of Arceus, it's an Ancient Swampert Full Art!"
"Look look look! A Half Art Swampert!"
The second one sounds best to me.
Torchic should see a lot of play in Blaziken decks since Flare Bonus synergizes nicely with the Blacksmith engine. Swampert has a lot of potential however x2 Grass weakness isn't that great in a format where VirGen and Leafeon PLF are still legal. Sceptile on the other hand isn't that great although I'm still curious as to what Acro Bike does.
Is anybody willing to offer an educated guess as to how many of the 160 cards in the new set will have Ancient Traits?
I think I said this on another thread, but I really hope there's a way to circumvent, or completely turn off, these new abilities.
I think I said this on another thread, but I really hope there's a way to circumvent, or completely turn off, these new abilities.
I want to reiterate what I've been saying before Phantom Forces. The TCG will keep getting congested because they have to cater for EX, EX full art, Mega EX, 'Golden' Mega EX, Full art Supporter and now we have 3/4 full art cards. You can't call them half art, that's what regular cards are called.
GadgetJax
Traveling Storyteller and Card Faker
I was right! Haha!
The new concept is interesting. That said, it honestly is just Pokemon with Primal Traits. Still, these are pretty cool!
-Torchic is cool, but it's attacks are a mixed bag. Flare Bonus is actually a decent setup attack, as you can get rid of Fire Energy, draw, then restore that Energy later with Blacksmith. Claw is just impossibly bad, though.
-Sceptile is cool, as it has the same function as Primal Groudon. It's attacks aren't awful, but they DO leave a lot to be desired. The first one can only do a maximum of 60, which is alright for a Stage 2. GGC for 120 isn't actually that bad, and the discard isn't a huge threat. Sceptile/Dragalge could see at least a minor amount of play.
-Swampert is REALLY good. The Ability may seem limiting (and actually reminds me of my fake Pokemon on the Fan Fakes thread), but works tremendously with Slurpuff. Hydro Pump is 'meh', though. You can attach several Energy at a time with Alpha Growth, which is helpful, but it still will only do about 130 for WWWW. Not a very decent amount, but I guess it works.
As for the new Abilities, I totally called it. Everyone has to now give me a Maple Bismark. See?
The new concept is interesting. That said, it honestly is just Pokemon with Primal Traits. Still, these are pretty cool!
-Torchic is cool, but it's attacks are a mixed bag. Flare Bonus is actually a decent setup attack, as you can get rid of Fire Energy, draw, then restore that Energy later with Blacksmith. Claw is just impossibly bad, though.
-Sceptile is cool, as it has the same function as Primal Groudon. It's attacks aren't awful, but they DO leave a lot to be desired. The first one can only do a maximum of 60, which is alright for a Stage 2. GGC for 120 isn't actually that bad, and the discard isn't a huge threat. Sceptile/Dragalge could see at least a minor amount of play.
-Swampert is REALLY good. The Ability may seem limiting (and actually reminds me of my fake Pokemon on the Fan Fakes thread), but works tremendously with Slurpuff. Hydro Pump is 'meh', though. You can attach several Energy at a time with Alpha Growth, which is helpful, but it still will only do about 130 for WWWW. Not a very decent amount, but I guess it works.
As for the new Abilities, I totally called it. Everyone has to now give me a Maple Bismark. See?
Jax said:
Finally, stage 2's are getting a buff. That Swampert looks AMAZING. Everything about it is great, I'll definitely be making a deck with it (also, the art for that Swampert is great).
5ban did a much better job with Swampert's bordered fullart. It would've been nice if they had the same artist do all the bordered fullart's, but seeing the 3D models used in the Torchic and Sceptile card aren't as fascinating as good old lineart and paint. Sceptile's pose is blech, but I have a warm and fuzzy feeling when looking at the Torchic card, with the hot embers in the lightly snowed mountains.
And "Omega Multi Strike". If Blaziken gets this trait with any move that does 100+ damage... I'm out. I'm soooo out.
What I'm really wondering is how rare it'll be to get these cards, seeing that the other Swampert, Sceptile and Blaziken listed earlier... http://pokebeach.com/news/1014/xy5-starters.jpg ... are completely different. I don't want to go EX' like hunting when there's already 16 ex's (not including fullarts/superrares).
And "Omega Multi Strike". If Blaziken gets this trait with any move that does 100+ damage... I'm out. I'm soooo out.
What I'm really wondering is how rare it'll be to get these cards, seeing that the other Swampert, Sceptile and Blaziken listed earlier... http://pokebeach.com/news/1014/xy5-starters.jpg ... are completely different. I don't want to go EX' like hunting when there's already 16 ex's (not including fullarts/superrares).
RE: I was right! Haha!
Just wanted to point out your Math is off. If we are just covering the attack cost with 3 [W], 3 x 30=90 + the base damage of 40 = 130. If Swampert had 4 [W] as you mentioned, he'd actually be hitting for 160.
In general I'm very excited for this new set. Swampert looks amazing, built in acceleration, search ability that indeed probably pairs best with the newest Slurpuff, and a pretty solid attack. The only downside is of course being a Stage 2, but these are all things that previously would probably be on an EX.
Sceptile I don't see being as good, but its solid nonetheless. That omega barrier is really nice to shut down many things. Add in a muscle band and a virbank and 170 for 3. Or maybe a rock guard that can't be megaphoned off.
Nothing too great about Torchic, though it does show Anciect Traits go beyond just alpha growth and omega barrier. I wonder what crazy things Ancient Blaziken will do if they're only willing to show Torchic, assuming there is one of course.
GadgetJax said:
Just wanted to point out your Math is off. If we are just covering the attack cost with 3 [W], 3 x 30=90 + the base damage of 40 = 130. If Swampert had 4 [W] as you mentioned, he'd actually be hitting for 160.
In general I'm very excited for this new set. Swampert looks amazing, built in acceleration, search ability that indeed probably pairs best with the newest Slurpuff, and a pretty solid attack. The only downside is of course being a Stage 2, but these are all things that previously would probably be on an EX.
Sceptile I don't see being as good, but its solid nonetheless. That omega barrier is really nice to shut down many things. Add in a muscle band and a virbank and 170 for 3. Or maybe a rock guard that can't be megaphoned off.
Nothing too great about Torchic, though it does show Anciect Traits go beyond just alpha growth and omega barrier. I wonder what crazy things Ancient Blaziken will do if they're only willing to show Torchic, assuming there is one of course.
DevinTheWelf said:
Exactly what I was thinking. They need to justify the time/resources you spend on a stage 2 to make them playable.
I see why Sceptile and Swampert have the same Ancient Traits as P-Groudon and P-Kyogre but since Torchic has a third one, couldn't they give them different traits?
Also, I wonder what this means for Rayquaza. Mega Rayquaza will most likely be a normal Mega card, but since it is supposed to be a special Mega to tie with Groudon and Kyogre, maybe they will also give an Ancient Trait. Thinking even further, if they do, will they give it a trait that with Omega or Alpha in its name or will it get a trait with Delta instead?
Nonetheless I prefer to call these pokémon Ancient Swampert/Sceptile and so on... sounds coller than half arts and they're not true full arts...
Also, I wonder what this means for Rayquaza. Mega Rayquaza will most likely be a normal Mega card, but since it is supposed to be a special Mega to tie with Groudon and Kyogre, maybe they will also give an Ancient Trait. Thinking even further, if they do, will they give it a trait that with Omega or Alpha in its name or will it get a trait with Delta instead?
Nonetheless I prefer to call these pokémon Ancient Swampert/Sceptile and so on... sounds coller than half arts and they're not true full arts...
Wow, my last login was 4 years ago, lol.
I just had to post that I NEED those sleeves, why does Japan make them so ridiculous to get?
If anyone here will have access to them hit me up, lol.
Either way, I'm looking forward to these Ancient Traits, as everyone is saying, hopefully they give some really good ones to a lot of Stage 2s and increase the viability of a lot more decks.
I just had to post that I NEED those sleeves, why does Japan make them so ridiculous to get?
If anyone here will have access to them hit me up, lol.
Either way, I'm looking forward to these Ancient Traits, as everyone is saying, hopefully they give some really good ones to a lot of Stage 2s and increase the viability of a lot more decks.
I would like to reaffirm that Ancient Pokémon is indeed the way to go. Half-art is already an occasionally used term for non-Full-Art EX's (though Regular-Art is more common). In any case, it sounds more unique, and rolls of the tongue better.
Besides that, I would like to bring everyone's attention to the fact that Ancient Swampert's "Diving Search" ability is essentially identical to EX Deoxys Magcargo's "Smooth Over" Poké-Power. Whether it was meant as a throwback or not, it's still a great ability, and may be enough throw Swampert into the realm of viability (with a way to deal with Virizion/Genesect, of course). Hitting for 180 with just two-turns of set-up (Muscle Band + 4 [W]) is going to be more than enough to take on most decks.
I would personally hope that Ancient Traits are used somewhat sparsely, so that Ancient Pokémon remain unique and special. That, and I hope they don't print a card that can take away, or prevent the effects of Ancient Traits, because not being vulnerable to Garbodor is one of their most distinguishing factors at the moment.
Besides that, I would like to bring everyone's attention to the fact that Ancient Swampert's "Diving Search" ability is essentially identical to EX Deoxys Magcargo's "Smooth Over" Poké-Power. Whether it was meant as a throwback or not, it's still a great ability, and may be enough throw Swampert into the realm of viability (with a way to deal with Virizion/Genesect, of course). Hitting for 180 with just two-turns of set-up (Muscle Band + 4 [W]) is going to be more than enough to take on most decks.
I would personally hope that Ancient Traits are used somewhat sparsely, so that Ancient Pokémon remain unique and special. That, and I hope they don't print a card that can take away, or prevent the effects of Ancient Traits, because not being vulnerable to Garbodor is one of their most distinguishing factors at the moment.