Respectfully, you're looking at it wrong.
At the risk of being mistaken for snark... right back at you.
No one is saying that a Flippy Catcher is a better card than a current Catcher. But it is better for the overall game we're playing, in terms of allowing more deck creativity, and games lasting longer.
...and then they fail to present a sound argument for that being true, hence the frustration.Pokémon Catcherisn't making things worse right now, it is making things better. It isn't complicated; fast attacking, hard hitting Pokémon in play before either player can Evolve (let alone the player that went second) makes it so that only the most overpowered Pokémon see play (Evolution or Basic). The majority of the card pool was filler that was clearly not intended to be competitive but to meet set quota requirements.
Is it possible that the "new" cards will make things work? Yes, but we had that same hope the last- what? half-dozen formats? - and it was dashed. With the existing card pool, this might swap some decks around in the standings, but very few that aren't already competitive will be elevated; they lose Pokémon Catcher for taking out things like Blastoise as well. Think it is bad when you've got a current deck that can actually score the 140 point hit for a OHKO? Now instead of a new deck having a chance of burning two Pokémon Catcher to try and take out a Blastoise (already expensive and prone to failing due to healing or a replacement), they'll need to do that and get two "heads".
Dragging up from the bench is a "game changing" effect as someone once explained it to me during the era of Pokeblower+. At that time, you only need to change the game once to start going in your favor. Luxchomp dominated because it could do it a couple of turns in a row. With Pokemon Catcher, it goes back and forth several times. And it is fair! Both players could put 4 of these cards in their deck. It's the rules of the game.
Whoa! You lost me. Several effects are "game changing" under the correct circumstances. The thing is, they can also be easily wasted. The effect of
Pokémon Catcher can be undone by retreating or using another card's effect to get the just promoted Active back to the Bench. In a format where you
cannot score an easy OHKO (I'll get to that), imagine what a Deluge deck would be like: "So... you're going to burn an Item to bring up my
Blastoise, which I'll easily get back to my Bench the next turn. You'll half KO it, but I'll have time to begin setting up my next one or heal it before you can do that again, even if it is the very next turn. All the while, my main attacker isn't being hurt
at all."
The reason that is rarely an issue now is because of the
overly powerful and overly fast attackers of this format, sometimes coupled with Weakness or something like
Hypnotoxic Laser/
Virbank City Gym. You can also argue those things are fine and it is the ridiculously low HP scores: without restoring to the effects of an attack or Ability video game Hit Points, Defense, and Special Defense must all be represented by TCG HP... but even before that most cards get stuck with HP scores they'd only have on the lower end.
Players wanted Catcher gone from the format after this year, via rotation. But it was reprinted in Plasma Blast, guaranteeing it legal for 2014-2015.
Some players wanted it gone, and so far none have given me a good enough reason now that it isn't painfully rare. These are the players that start with false assumptions like "Pokémon Catcher is preventing me from running my favorite Evolution!", which ignores that their favorite Evolution happens to have just received the "filler" treatment, clearly not designed to competitive and that removing Pokémon Catcher won't actually help a thing because said Pokémon will still be crushed by what remains, barring radical changes introduced by the X&Y cards (though the first turn rule change will have an impact as well).
Turning it into a flippy card accomplishes the same as making it "gone". Sure, some people will still play it in their decks, but that is a risk they are willing to take. 50% of the time the card will still fail, and the card slot will have been wasted. I predict people will immediately replace 4 Pokemon Catcher with 4 Escape Rope, and start constructing from there. The game rules just change, and most people will say it's for the better.
Besides the fact that player's not making claims they can't substantiate did
not want it gone, you are ignoring the history of the game. Flip based cards are
not universally ignored. Historically, they fall into two camps with just a few exceptions: effects
so potent that they are played anyway and those that are ignored.
Focus Band only worked on a successful coin flip, but it's effect still makes it perhaps the best Pokémon Tool ever printed.
Super Scoop Up is closer to the rare "middle" ground; many times it has been completely ignored, but a few times it has been an important card in decks.
Pokémon Reversal will likely skew one way or the other. I don't know if decks will just adapt to it failing half the time and keep running it at a full four count or if the power vacuum it creates will (as usually happens with
Pokémon Reversal) just elevate the decks that
don't need it to the top... but the
least likely is that it will significantly diversify the format while increasing the amount of tournament viable decks. I base this on my own analysis, which includes a good deal of past experience.
