Contest The Fakers' Marathon 5 - 1,116 points!

[Charmaster:)]

Honestly respect. When I do find moments I can get away from Discord, I rediscover how dang distracting it is and realize how little I get done when I'm on it. It's legitimately addicting.

Thanks for understanding, CardPone.

Also, I'm not going to have time to complete the cards I was going to make tomorrow, so I'm dropping these text fakes and abandoning ship. It would be tempting to hold onto them for a CaC, but I'd much rather make something to fit the theme (assuming I have time to participate).
These three cards are designed for Omnium. (Balanced for DPPt/HGSS/BW, worded for SM.)

Spoiler: Hisuian Typhlosion (matches Astral Radiance wallpaper)

Hisuian Typhlosion: 130 HP: (P)

(_) Tender Nurturing
Put a Basic Pokémon from your discard pile onto your bench. Then, you may move as many cards attached to this Pokémon as you like to the Basic Pokémon you put on your bench in this way. Prevent all effects of your opponent’s attacks, including damage, done to that Pokémon.

(P)(C)(C) Dawning Glimmer: 70
If this Pokémon has any (R) Energy attached to it, this attack’s damage isn’t affected by any effects on your opponent’s Active Pokémon and the Defending Pokémon has no Abilities until the end of your next turn.

A meek and compassionate Pokémon, Typhlosion will nurture wounded and orphaned Pokémon and sooth their troubled souls with the gentle, rhythmic pulsing of its orbs.

Weakness: (W)(D) +30
Resistance: (G)(F) -20
Retreat: (C)

Not really much to say about this card. It was largely just thematic effects. Tender Nurturing was based on Hisuian Typhlosion's Pokedex entry, and Dawning Glimmer was based on the artwork I chose. The former is something of an improved Baton Pass effect, the latter is something of a weaker Psychic Lock.

Spoiler: Dialga Origin Form (matches Astral Radiance wallpaper

Dialga (Origin Form): 100 HP: (M)
Ability: Symmetry of Meter
Once during your turn, you may look at 3 cards from the top of your deck for each Energy attached to this Pokémon and put them back on top of your deck in any order. Then, shuffle your hand and put it on the bottom of your deck. Then, draw a card for each Energy attached to this Pokémon. If you have no cards in your deck or can’t put any cards on the bottom of your deck in this way, this Ability does nothing.

(M)(M)(M) Dazzling Gemsmith 40+
Attach up to 3 Special Energy cards from your hand to your Pokémon in any way you like. This attack does 20 more damage for each Special Energy card you attached to your Pokémon in this way.

(I probably won’t have space for Pokédex information. Rather than trying to cram in the flavor text, I'll probably just follow in the footsteps of the Diamond and Pearl era.)

Weakness: (R) x2
Resistance: (P) -20
Retreat: (C)(C)

Not gonna lie, Symmetry of Meter started out as just a Fortune Sight type effect with a little tongue-in-cheek reference to the double meaning of "meter." But as I began to unwind the idea, I began to grow increasingly interested in how the effect would play out in any meta. Dazzling Gemsmith works on a similar principle to that of PMJ's Blastoise... it's a powerful acceleration effect, and a powerful attack, but not a sustainable path for chaining either. In this case, however, it can also increase Symmetry of Meter's potency. Which brings us back around to the true star of the card. Whereas Dazzling Gemsmith could allow you to prepare another Symmetry of Meter, so can Symmetry of Meter allow you to prepare another Dazzling Gemsmith. Three Energy, after all, will allow you to grab... three Energy. Assuming you stuff your deck with Special Energy. You could also grab cards that would allow you to search for more Energy. Alternatively, in a control deck with Triple Acceleration Energy, this card could be a powerful way of fetching combo pieces. Or you could pair it with my Coalossal card from my previous CaC and a (yet uncreated) Fire- or Water-type Donphan successor to create a... game... warping... not sure where this idea is going, but this card feels like it has even more play than Coalossal, which I was really excited about. It almost feels worth creating a miniset just for the purpose of testing these two cards in Lackey.
... almost. But I'm enjoying spending time with my family this week. Also, even if the Lackey format has been picking up momentum again, Plasma Revival has been waiting in line for far too long.

Spoiler: Whimsicott (matches Brilliant Stars wallpaper)

Whimsicott: Stage 1: 80 HP: (Y)*

(Y) Frenzied Fluff
Each player chooses one card in their hand and shuffles the other cards into their deck. Then, each player draws five cards.

(C)(C) Courteous Crunch
Discard the top 4 cards of your opponent’s deck. Then, your opponent may put up to 2 cards from their discard pile into their hand.

Though tricksy and mischievous, Whimsicott still knows what lines not to cross in its pranking… or does it.

*Wording has not been checked.

Weakness: (M) +20
Resistance: (D) -20
Retreat: (C)

I always thought mill would be a fun archetype to play. After all, you're winning the game using another win condition. What I only recently realized is that a proper mill deck like Durant will be discarding many of your opponent's key pieces in the process of chipping away at their deck, and, in that sense, mill is just as toxic as control. Whimsicott's Courteous Crunch is powerful, but it also allows your opponent to retrieve two discarded cards. So, you may be milling 4 cards, but your opponent can grab a Flygon ex and Rare Candy, for instance, and hit you with a powerful Gaia Lance. Or they may shuffle the extra cards back into their deck to slow you down. As for Frenzied Fluff, it gives you a decent draw engine, for one thing, and it can allow you to deck your opponent out more easily, for another. (Although, now that I think about it, you'd probably rather go for the 4 card mill if you had a Double Colorless Energy or boosted Upper Energy.)

Happy new year, everyone!

 

[bbb888]

I would like to enter for Text-based. I posted my entry in a separate thread titled "bbb888's First Custom set" under Creative Works section.
There's a reason why I did this - there are too many cards to post here and I thought it would be better to show them separately. I see people make custom sets and post them in their own threads, so I thought I would do the same. I hope this is ok, I try to explain this in my thread as well. Click here for the link.

Honestly, I had little sleep and no social life in making all these cards in the short given time! I'm so mentally exhausted now. Going to sleep....

 

[doofisconfused]

my final entry for faker's marathon!

Spoiler: SPOILERS - First 2 Team Star Fights!

Spoiler: Schedar's Revavroom

Schedar's Revavroom – Fire – HP150
Starmobile – Evolves from Revavroom

Multi-Cyl Pokémon HT: 5’11” WT: 111.1 lbs.

Ability: Rage Boosters
This Pokémon's attacks do 10 more damage for each damage counter on all of your Team Star or Starmobile Pokémon.

[R][R] Starfire Slam 20+
You may discard any amount of basic Energy from this Pokémon. This attack does 60 more damage for each card you discarded in this way.

Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C] [C]
Starmobile Rule: Replace one of Schedar's Revavroom's attacks or Abilities with one of the attacks or Abilities of its previous evolution. When your Pokémon Starmobile is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.

Spoiler: Segin's Revavroom

Segin's Revavroom – Dark – HP150
Starmobile – Evolves from Revavroom

Multi-Cyl Pokémon HT: 5’11” WT: 111.1 lbs.

Ability: Deafening Speakers
As long as this Pokémon is in the Active Spot, your opponent’s Active Pokémon has no Abilities.

[D][D] Shadow Smoke 120
Discard a random card from your opponent's hand.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance:
Retreat: [C] [C]
Starmobile Rule: Replace one of Segin's Revavroom's attacks or Abilities with one of the attacks or Abilities of its previous evolution. When your Pokémon Starmobile is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.

Spoiler: Starmobile Explained

I haven't gotten too far in SV, but I really enjoyed the Team Star boss fights (even if I did some of them in the wrong order)! The Starmobiles especially are really cool, and I wanted to make a new mechanic for the final day of Faker's Marathon. They aren't so much common 2-prizer rulebox mon as they are a fusion between 2-prizer and LV.X/BREAK Pokemon.When you evolve your Revavroom into a Starmobile, you choose either the attack or ability on the Starmobile and replace the other with an attack or ability on your Revavroom. It's supposed to feel like an extra feature is gained because you're turning your Revavroom into a Starmobile! This mechanic is meant to work with a Psychic/Metal deck (where you'd take the Ability on the card) OR the type on the Starmobile (where you'd take the attack on the card.) Since you only get one thing from the Starmobile, I felt like it was okay to go a little overboard on balance for the attack and ability. I think it'd be really fun to use!

 

[Kaleidophoenix]

I've been posting these on the discord this whole week so I'll compile my 8 entries here.

Spoiler: Dreamworld Boost

Spoiler: Whiscash

Spoiler: Azumarill

Spoiler: Toxapex

Spoiler: Galarian Darmanitan

Spoiler: Arctozolt

Spoiler: Abomasnow

Spoiler: Bidoof

Spoiler: Bibarel

 

[PMJ]

bonus points if you say it in the voice​

Our faking scene has been in a bit of a lull lately in terms of actual card creation. I wasn't expecting us to even get close to last year's record, but you guys stepped up and contributed, and thanks to your efforts, we hit a milestone that we will have a difficult time even approaching in the future.

Over seven days, we as a community submitted 169 valid entries for an unheard-of total of 1,116 points!

Here's some data. Shout outs to @CardPone for his keeping such meticulous records, without which none of this data would be so readily available.

- We had 25 image entries and a staggering 144 text entries. Well done, text fakers!
- Eleven people submitted at least one entry, tying the amount from last year and falling just one short of the record set in 2020.
- Three people joined the marathon for the first time this year. Welcome!
- @Jabberwock continues his streak of being the only person to have participated in every marathon since its inception, although @Nyan's four out of five is still impressive. @Falling Skies and I both racked up marathon number three this year.
- This is the only year in which text entries surpassed image entries.
- Every text fake that was eligible for the new Aesthetics points received them. Thanks to that extra work, we added 208 points to the final score!
- @bbb888 might need a chiropractor from carrying the text fakers on his back, as he was was responsible for a massive 686 points all on his own. Check out his thread!
- @Kaleidophoenix put in a ton of work this week, submitting eight image fakes that met all scoring criteria for a respectable 120 points. While this doesn't beat the image score record of 237 set by me in 2020, it is still an incredible feat given that I didn't use my own art or my own blanks. I suggest checking them out - you can find them right above this post.
- Y'all love your gimmicks - only 19 cards (11%) did not have some sort of gimmick on the card.
- Of those cards that had gimmicks, only 3 (2%) were not custom made by the entrant.


It's about time that text fakers got the spotlight - usually they're an afterthought compared to the sheer number of images we get. I'd like to think that this is largely due to the introduction of the Aesthetics category. It's a simple addition but it's like night and day. Look no further than bbb888's entire set's worth of entries, each and every one of them made with this new category in mind. Text faking will always be easier than image faking, but with this score addition, it might be time to reevaluate how images are scored.

While we don't want to dissuade text fakers from participating, it's true that faking a text version of a Pokemon VMAX is laughably simple compared to everything that goes into making an image version. I think that there is a discussion to be had about how we score images and what we value as a community. For example, a simple change could be to increase the base value of an image from 3 points to 5; this alone would put them on par with an elaborate text fake, leaving room for pushing image scores further. Perhaps we could score image gimmicks differently instead of just awarding a blanket +2. A Light Pokemon scores the same bonus as a Pokemon V but requires significantly less work.

The Aesthetics category was a long time coming and added a much-needed infusion of points into the category, which had been untouched until now. Now that that's handled, it's time for us to revamp the image category as well.

Thanks for everyone who participated. Here's to another successful marathon!