bullados
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Back in the Base Set days, Gust of Wind represented one-sixth of a full game. It virtually always guaranteed a prize whenever it was played.
Pokemon Catcher is the same way. It's actually worse. It now represents one-third of a full game. It virtually always guarantees two prizes whenever it is played.
My problem isn't with the end-result. I do think that the Bench needs some kind of limiter. We need to be able to attack the bench. But Catcher is costless AND searchable. Ever since Gust of Wind was rotated, we have never had that combination in a card. Double Gust gave the opponent the same effect. Warp Point, Circulator, and Escape Rope give the opponent choice. Pow! Hand Extension had a Prize Restriction. Luxray took up a bench spot, and could only be used twice without additional deck resources. Blower could only be used twice, and required two cards to work. Probably the worst offender, other than Catcher, was Reversal, which relied on luck rather than skill. Almost every other Pokemon-based form of bench manipulation involved either an attack, had the Pokemon with the Ability to be Active, required a coin flip, was on an Evolution, or some combination of the above 4. There were even a pair of Lumineons that had some fun restrictions and I think would be pretty cool to use today.
Pokemon Catcher needs to have a cost. And there are a TON of different ideas as to what that cost could be without being completely luck based.
1) Prize Restriction, like Pow!
2) Prize Denial. i.e. if you play Catcher, you take no Prizes this turn.
3) Target limitation. i.e. 100HP or less cannot be targeted.
4) Discard. Either from hand, or from play.
5) Self-KO. i.e. if you play Catcher, you must KO one of your own Pokemon.
6) Like the SF Lumineon, look at your opponent's hand, choose a Basic that's there, and place it Active.
There are probably plenty of Trainer-Catcher restrictions that I'm just not thinking about
By the way, I do agree that the Pokemon right now are supremely overpowered. Both damage-to-energy ratios, and damage-to-HP ratios. However, even if those were balanced, Pokemon Catcher was still a problem. It simply offers too much control at too little of a cost. It was a problem even back in Base Set, when I cannot remember one single attack that could one-hit any single Pokemon within the first 3 turns of a game without the benefit of Weakness. It's a bigger problem now that OHKOs are everywhere and happen so quickly.
Pokemon Catcher is not THE problem with the format. But it is ONE OF the problems with the format.
Pokemon Catcher is the same way. It's actually worse. It now represents one-third of a full game. It virtually always guarantees two prizes whenever it is played.
My problem isn't with the end-result. I do think that the Bench needs some kind of limiter. We need to be able to attack the bench. But Catcher is costless AND searchable. Ever since Gust of Wind was rotated, we have never had that combination in a card. Double Gust gave the opponent the same effect. Warp Point, Circulator, and Escape Rope give the opponent choice. Pow! Hand Extension had a Prize Restriction. Luxray took up a bench spot, and could only be used twice without additional deck resources. Blower could only be used twice, and required two cards to work. Probably the worst offender, other than Catcher, was Reversal, which relied on luck rather than skill. Almost every other Pokemon-based form of bench manipulation involved either an attack, had the Pokemon with the Ability to be Active, required a coin flip, was on an Evolution, or some combination of the above 4. There were even a pair of Lumineons that had some fun restrictions and I think would be pretty cool to use today.
Pokemon Catcher needs to have a cost. And there are a TON of different ideas as to what that cost could be without being completely luck based.
1) Prize Restriction, like Pow!
2) Prize Denial. i.e. if you play Catcher, you take no Prizes this turn.
3) Target limitation. i.e. 100HP or less cannot be targeted.
4) Discard. Either from hand, or from play.
5) Self-KO. i.e. if you play Catcher, you must KO one of your own Pokemon.
6) Like the SF Lumineon, look at your opponent's hand, choose a Basic that's there, and place it Active.
There are probably plenty of Trainer-Catcher restrictions that I'm just not thinking about
By the way, I do agree that the Pokemon right now are supremely overpowered. Both damage-to-energy ratios, and damage-to-HP ratios. However, even if those were balanced, Pokemon Catcher was still a problem. It simply offers too much control at too little of a cost. It was a problem even back in Base Set, when I cannot remember one single attack that could one-hit any single Pokemon within the first 3 turns of a game without the benefit of Weakness. It's a bigger problem now that OHKOs are everywhere and happen so quickly.
Pokemon Catcher is not THE problem with the format. But it is ONE OF the problems with the format.