Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

2013-2014 Modified Format?

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I'm putting my money on a DRX-on format. I can just feel it. That would still give us some great decks to play and hopefully more rogue/original decks might come along and surprise. I really have got to build a dragboder deck soon, I can definitely see it wreaking some havoc! Heh heh
 
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DRX on just doesn't make any sense... why cut in the middle of the ex format? The way Otaku divided it at least makes sense (and he forgot BCX btw). I think it makes more sense to cut up to Next Destinies this year, and then next year cut to Plasma Storm.

I mean, can you imagine if in the past they just cut in the middle of a pretty small block? Like instead of making it HGSS on they made it like Undaunted on.. lol.

EDIT: Nvm, BCX is there, just in a different area lol, sorry bout that!
 
I dont think there will be a rotation this year. We would have had one by now. They may rotate all of BW together and go to XY once thy release a few sets or may end the rotations. However, all possible rotations are NEX-On, keeping characters like N and such in the game because he is a BW character, BCR-On, keeping early Ace Specs, PS-On, keeping up with BW2 or they can make a really large and good XY set and rotate to that.

BW has been pretty strange so I dont know.
 
An XY-on rotation would def. not happen next year though. Let's assume they rotate up to Next Destinies. That means that next year they would rotate:

Next Destinies
Dark Explorers
Dragons Exalted
Boundaries Crossed
Plasma Storm
Plasma Freeze
Plasma Blast

Seems WAY too extreme and would only leave us with what, 3-4 playable sets?
 
Swordfish1989 said:
An XY-on rotation would def. not happen next year though. Let's assume they rotate up to Next Destinies. That means that next year they would rotate:

Next Destinies
Dark Explorers
Dragons Exalted
Boundaries Crossed
Plasma Storm
Plasma Freeze
Plasma Blast

Seems WAY too extreme and would only leave us with what, 3-4 playable sets?
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An X and y rotation (when it happens), would not take 2 years. I could see them doing something drastic, rather it's this year or next. But that's not relevant to this conversation.

I believe that rotating to Drx on would give new life to the game instead of nex/dex on which would just be more of the same.
 
Envoyofduels said:
I believe that rotating to Drx on would give new life to the game instead of nex/dex on which would just be more of the same.
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That makes one of us. XD

I have heard this before, but it mostly just nerfs a few of the older decks... or am I missing something?
 
Otaku said:
That makes one of us. XD

I have heard this before, but it mostly just nerfs a few of the older decks... or am I missing something?
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Here are my feeling on this.

To get an idea of how rotation can affect the current state of the game, let's look at what (somewhat) relevant cards we lose based on what I believe are the 3 most likely rotations:

In NXD-on, we lose:
Eelectrik NVI
Cobalion NVI
Energy Switch BLW
Energy Retrieval BLW
Super Scoop Up BLW
Gothitelle EPO
Crushing Hammer EPO
Victini NVI (Victory Star)
Kyurem NVI


In DEX-on, we lose (in addition to the ones listed above):
Mewtwo EX NXD
Shaymin EX NXD
Zekrom EX NXD
Level Ball NXD
Heavy Ball NXD
Double Colorless Energy NXD
Skyarrow Bridge NXD
Prism Energy NXD
Zoroark BLW
Emboar BLW

And in DRX-on, we lose (again, in addition to the above):
Empoleon DEX
Raikou EX DEX
Sableye DEX
Darkrai EX DEX
Tornadus EX DEX
Zoroark DEX
Dark Claw DEX
Dark Patch DEX
Enhanced Hammer DEX
N DEX (Maybe, depending on future reprint possibilities)
Pokemon Catcher EPO


Disturbingly, we lose very little even from the deepest possible rotation, but things do change a little bit with each possible rotation.

NXD-on would affect the current meta very, very minimally. Only 3 top tier decks at the moment would be affected by this. Eels decks go away entirely, Gothitelle/Mew EX/Accelgor goes away entirely, and Darkrai loses Energy Switch and Crushing Hammer (which is actually a pretty big deal). We lose 2 decks with this rotation and one would be slightly worse, but with the addition of a new set, we would actually likely have MORE viable decks, even with the 2 losses.

DEX-on changes things a bit more, In addition to my previous comments, we lose Mewtwo EX who has been dominant or at least very good the entire time it has existed. We also lose a few EX that have been relevant, but aren't really anymore. We would lose DCE and Prism, which are essential to many decks, and we also lose Level and Heavy Ball as well as Skyarrow Bridge, all of which have and still are used in many competitive decks. Many decks would change due to this rotation, but very few would actually disappear. Mewtwo-centric decks would go away, but most decks simply use Mewtwo EX as an alternative attacker, so they would find other attackers to use. The loss of level ball would slow decks down slightly, and the loss of DCE and Prism would require some decks (such as Plasma) to completely restructure their energy lines. Still, while the way decks are built would change a bit, the metagame would remain largely the same.

DRX-on changes things a lot more. We lose Darkrai EX, a card that have been either dominants or very, very good it's entire lifespan, as well as the entire Dark engine (Sableye, Dark Patch, Dark Claw). We lose Tornadus EX as well, another very good EX. We would lose Enhanced Hammer, making Special Energy far less risky. We would also probably lose N, which is a MAJOR part of the way the game is played. Every deck has to use at least 3 copies, probably 4, and every players MUST take the cards existance into account when building and playing decks. And then we also have Catcher, which is also a very big deal. Your bench now becomes safe, making bench sitters MUCH better. Super fast decks like Plasma are also hurt a lot by the lack of Catcher, since taking easy, cheap prizes is much more difficult. With this rotation, we'd lose Darkrai EX decks entirely, we'd lose all Dark-type support, we'd lose fast, aggressive decks that can't hit hard, and we'd lose a powerful comeback and disruption card.

If it isn't obvious already, it seems like only DEX or DRX-on would change the game significantly, and DRX-on would change it the most. I think, in particular, losing N and Catcher would fundamentally alter the way the game is played.
 
Raen (and those sharing his views), I have two questions:

1) Have you weighed the alternatives to those cards?

2) Have you considered the likelihood of reprints?

I also have to disagree with your end conclusion; some beatdown decks are going to suffer, because they can no longer disrupt the opponent's set-up easily via Pokémon Catcher. At the same time, those decks still have access to Escape Rope and still power up quickly while taking early Prizes (we lost some examples of this - we didn't lose it entirely). Notice how Hypnotoxic Laser isn't going anywhere.

I suppose we'll get a bit more balance, but it will mostly be a shift where we lose a few of the decks that were Basic Pokémon-centric and add a few more of the "pure power!*" decks that either back a Basic Pokémon attacker with a Stage 2 or use a combination of Evolutions. I don't enjoy losing to a mono-Basic Pokémon deck because their fast, inexpensive attackers can take out anything I bench thanks to Pokémon Catcher... but I don't want the other extreme where unless I get a lucky Escape Rope my opponent will set-up two Stage 2 Pokémon that form an obscene power combo!

This also is more important with the few cards we have that will be able to fake being Pokémon Catcher (or similar clutch cards lost): is it really better having just Genesect EX enjoying pseudo-Pokémon Catcher access via Red Signal and Plasma Energy? Especially given that no other deck will have Pokémon Catcher, can't Plasma Energy using decks TecH a Genesect EX as a Bench-sitter?

*say it with a fake echo on on the "-wer" effect. :lol:

Addendum: I also notice you disregarded my earlier comments about estimating BW Promo cut offs. For example, if we cut to DEX-On, I would assume the BW Promo that was included as the Prerelease promo would be an excellent estimate of where a rotation to that set would cut things off. I would (perhaps incorrectly) assume that Dark Explorers would result in the Dark Explorers Pre-Release BW Promo as the cut off point... and that would be Volcarona (BW Promo BW40). In turn this means that Mewtwo EX would be retained for DEX-On.
 
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It's going to be no rotation - too many signs such as some cards not seeing reprints yet (That have been in print for a good amount of years now), as well as the health of the game. I considered NDX, but rotating BW - NV just won't have an impact (Aside from losing Eels and the aforementioned cards), and the fact that Rayquaza, Darkrai and Mewtwo have been the mascots of the format, without new legendaries to take the mantle, it just points to no rotation.

The cards I mentioned, like Pokeball and Switch, weren't reprinted until BC, so and they won't rotate to BC. Too many sets.

EDIT: also the fact that the announcement is very late. For vendors at Nationals this is a big deal.

TLDR; 98% chance no rotation, 2% chance of NDX onward.
 
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Perhaps they are waiting for the US Nationals to come and go before making up their minds?
 
Otaku said:
Perhaps they are waiting for the US Nationals to come and go before making up their minds?
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I severely doubt they haven't decided yet. They may be waiting until Nats to make the announcement, but I bet they've had the rotation planned for a while now.
 
AyameHikaru said:
I severely doubt they haven't decided yet. They may be waiting until Nats to make the announcement, but I bet they've had the rotation planned for a while now.
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Plans change. I do not claim it likely, but for want of an actual announcement an idea I wouldn't have considered now becomes plausible. That being said, it would be quite shocking as the design work for the first few X&Y sets should be well under way if not complete and it is very hard to design such a thing without knowing the format it will be in.
 
Just a note, Pokemon usually doesn't really follow logic in these rotations (ie they went from DX-on to HP-on instead of keeping all of the Delta sets together) and they usually don't care about the metagame. The midseason rotation was the only time that they even mentioned the tournament metagame in regards to the rotation.

That being said, they usually have tried to do 4 sets so that we start the fall with 6 legal sets. This is what happened this past year and I see no reason for them to change from that logic.
 
It certainly is exciting to guess, though.

BTW, as someone who sorts through thousands of cards of bulk every week, I can't wait until the day I start getting Catchers as regular ol' bulk XD That's the only Uncommon card that I've never gotten in my bulk :p
 
Well, this is still disappointing. I can see them waiting till after nats to announce :(

Also the fact that we have not heard anything from over in Japan, I think give more credences to the fact that we may have the TCGs "Sync up" come X and Y.
 
falcom4ever -" The other thing possible thing is a set rotation in the middle of the season. If the new mechanics are too different from the bw sets, they might consider cutting all bw sets after the release of few pokemon xy sets."
-- i sure hope that's the case because in my opinion basic exs are the WORST thing pokemon has ever made due to the fact that the game is not about how well your deck can build up and function now its just a matter of EXAMPLE ( T1 mewtwo EX +dce ) its honestly not as fun as d&p or hg&ss was. thats also y i left pokemon for a while but now that we are nearing the x&y series i belive things will and should go back to the old ways of evolving and techs :fire: :grass: :water: :fighting: :lightning: :psychic: :colorless: :dark: :metal:
 
I like Pokemon-EX more than how SPs affected the game. Pokemon-EX are generally slower. That being said, given how many new cards appear to be in Battle Boost, I'm starting to reconsider whether or not they'll try and sync up the releases... It always seemed like the kind of thing that probably SHOULDN'T happen to me. (Japan has too many promos that would have to be forced into booster packs on short notice.) I wouldn't be surprised if our next set (after Plasma Blast) is a mix of Japan's XY1 and Battle Boost, however. (Though a promotional item with a few preview cards would work equally well, and would work better from a rotational standpoint.)
 
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