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{D} → Nyan Roll : 10
Flip a coin. If heads, prevent all effects of attacks, including damage, done to this Pokémon during your opponent’s next turn.
illus. Hajime Kusajima
External: Pokemon.com ↗, Bulba ↗ · Shop: TCGplayer ↗, cardmarket ↗, eBay ↗
Its paws conceal sharp claws. If attacked, it suddenly extends the claws and startles its enemy.
achildrenscardgame
I dub the phenomenon of a Pokemon getting less interesting cards once it receives an in-game evolution “Sneasel Syndrome.”
Aalacer
I’ve always seen Electabuzz as the main one who suffers that syndrome. It’s sad how their cards lose every drop of interest and value.
Otaku
Is not the true problem the powers-that-be fixating on the final Stage of Evolution? I mean, it is just easier to notice them putting all the “good stuff” into the final stage (instead of spreading it throughout the line) when you look at the difference between stuff like Electabuzz, Scyther, Sneasel, etc. that used to be fully Evolved, but now are Evolving Basics?
Well, in the TCG, as the powers-that-be ought to have “upgraded” all the Evolves-from-babies stuff into actual Stage 1 Pokémon so the Baby form could just be a regular Basic BEFORE giving us the Expanded Format… but I digress. ;)
inatspong
I don’t think there’s ever been a format where a Pikachu, for example, was not legal. Why would you play the stage 1 version if the Basic was right there, assuming you’re trying to play Raichu and the Pikachu itself wasn’t the focus of the deck.
Otaku
Curtis,
Think about what you said, and you can answer your own questions.
I wasn’t stating that before the Expanded Format, there were no Pikachu cards. My point is that, so far, the Expanded Format has NEVER rotated out any sets. The change I proposed would REQUIRE all Basics that are to be changed to Stage 1 cards to rotate out of any format currently being utilized… which isn’t possible now thanks to Expanded.
So the only place you’d have to choose between Basic Pikachu and Stage 1 Pikachu would be the Unlimited Format. Which is already a mess of decks that win or effectively win on the first turn of the game.
inatspong
So you’re proposing a full restart, then? Nothing is legal but that set for a while? That limits the card pool by quite a lot. I could see that being an effective tool, but I don’t think such a drastic change is necessary.
Otaku
No, Curtis, I am NOT proposing a full restart. I know my comments are a bit lengthy, but I just lamenting a missed opportunity. That is why I said things like “,,,which isn’t possible now thanks to Expanded.” If it still isn’t clear… I’d probably better just give up explaining it. XP
Otaku
No, Curtis, I am not proposing a full restart. Don’t know if I am being too wordy or what. I keep saying stuff like “…which isn’t possible now thanks to Expanded.” because this entire thought is something I wanted them to do BEFORE the Expanded Format came to be. Now that the Expanded Format is here, I don’t think they can take this approach with Pokémon that have “Baby” forms.
The idea of making Evolving Basics and Stage 1 cards better? THAT is still easily on the table. ;)
inatspong
I’m confused then. If it isn’t a full restart, then the other standard-legal sets that were already in the format at the time of release would be very likely to contain some of the Pokemon that would be the “basic” as opposed to the stage 1. I’m not even worried about Expanded.
Otaku
Curtis, unless I have some bad typos in my earlier comments, you’re confused because you keep missing or misreading things… or introducing new terms like “full restart”. Let me put it into a “What If?” scenario, where the powers-that-be actually did what I said. For this scenario, assume that everything released BEFORE the Black & White expansion or its related promos happened just like they really did.
While coming up with ideas for the cards that eventually release the Black & White expansion, someone at The Pokémon Company or one of their subsidiaries decides to deal with the “Baby” Pokémon problem by resetting the Evolution lines. All FUTURE Clefable, Electivire, Raichu, etc. cards will be Stage 2. They ALSO decide that all future Clefairy, Electabuzz, Pikachu, etc. cards will be Stage 1 Pokémon, able to Evolve from the correct Basic Pokémon (Cleffa, Elekid, Pichu, etc.) through the normal Evolution rules.
So how do they do this? Planning AHEAD, no new Clefable, Cleffairy, Electabuzz, Electivire, Pichu, Pikachu, etc. cards are released after Call of Legends in the first few BW-era sets. This means those sets would be different from what we ACTUALLY got, but remember, this is a “What If?” scenario. Eventually, just like it really happened, the game switches to BW-On for Standard Format play. At THIS POINT, we start getting the new Stage 1 Pikachu, Stage 2 Raichu, etc. cards in sets. Based on real world releases, that would mean such cards would not start showing up until BW: Dragons Exalted.
inatspong
Fair enough. I guess I just assumed the lack of foresight because they’ve never shown it before.
Otaku
Yup. Hence not doing something like the above BEFORE Expanded was introduced. Or never issuing an erratum for Neo Genesis Slowking. Or not making a Supporter called “Professor” that has you discard your hand and draw seven cards… instead of releasing Professor Juniper and then Professor Sycamore and thus requiring a special rule about not running them together. ;)
achildrenscardgame
Yeah, I agree with both of you: on Electabuzz especially, and that it seems to stem from a focus on the end-Stage card. The funny thing is, things like Jungle Scyther is, for an evolving Basic, still pretty good despite power creep. Free Retreat Cost/Resistance/with Choice Band T2 90 or 180 with Weakness. That’s very acceptable for a mon that’s not even the focus of the Evolutionary line, let alone the deck itself. So I don’t see the need to scale the power down to the extent they have.
At the very least, give it an interesting attack or Ability! Not another Agility clone!
Otaku
achildrenscardgame,
Remember that Jungle Scyther was released as a non-Evolving Basic. The first Scizor didn’t release until two to three years later, depending on where you lived. The gap was actually larger in Japan, as WotC skipped some sets to help us catch up.