Slakoth · Sandstorm (SS) #80

2 comments

1. 

   Ambassador

   (5 months ago)

   This is one of several cards in this set which came out in the EN TCG (Sept 2003) prior to the JP TCG (Gift Box, Nov 2003) and seems off. Sure, it fits the flavor text, but it’s been saddled with an attack that’s essentially set up to do an average of 5 damage, despite having no payoff here in terms of getting more HP than the other Slakoth (i.e. RS Slakoth) already available in the format, and having the same retreat as that card.

   Alongside its evolution into the SS Vigoroth, one of the most phoned-in Pokémon cards you might ever see in your life, and the *lack* of a Slaking for these two to evolve into, they’d be contenders for cards I’d now suspect of having originally been Jamboree cards – i.e., cards designed by WOTC and then reappropriated for Sandstorm¹. Since these are Gen 3 Pokémon, maybe it feels less likely, but there really isn’t anything stopping the possibility that these were originally different Pokémon and that PCL/PUSA/NOA swapped them out to cover their tracks (just in case it came up during the ongoing legal action between themselves and WOTC) – and the use of stock art only reinforces my suspicion of this.

   Over the next little while, I’m going to try and go through this set and earmark most of the cards in this set I personally suspect of being in the same situation, but if anyone wants to jump the gun and point some out themselves first, that’d be neat. If anyone wants to disagree with this thesis and has some good reasons this theory doesn’t merit time of day, I’d actually be even more interesting in reading those!

   ¹ I always, always found this set weird, but the Matoba article I’ve mentioned several times before was the first crumb to point to possible, specific reasons this set is weird. https://www.matobadesign.com/jamboree and now with an associated video, too; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC1e0e-0a2U

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     TwylisAmbassador

     (5 months ago)

     I think it’s worth considering another possibility — Sandstorm was a collection of repurposed Jamboree cards alongside newly created but extremely last-minute phoned-in cards to pad out the set and make it relevant to Gen 3.

     I don’t think this Slakoth originated from Jamboree — I can’t see WotC deciding to make a card this weak unless they had intended it to evolve into something amazing, like Magikarp, but Magikarp has never had this particular drawback before. On the other hand, the previous Slakoth *did* have this same drawback on Slack Off, and the Slaking from the same set had this drawback on Critical Move.

     The impression I get from Jamboree was that it was intended to assert Wizards’ (perceived) superior card-making competence. Weird cards with unprecedented gimmicks or things that seem suspiciously overtuned are more likely suspects here — I don’t think forgettable nothing cards are particularly likely to have come from the Wizards side.

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