#there's also hp weakness resistance and retreat cost!

[dravidious]

Woah, you're awesome!

Update: I've played a fair bit of the pokemon card game video game for game boy color game, and I've found that Hitmonchan is the best pokemon.

It's attacks are stronger and cheaper than most evolved pokemon, and it's a fucking basic. 90% of pokemon are just straight downgrades of Hitmonchan. This game sucks.

In unrelated news, I've taken a sudden interest in designing and rebalancing pokemon cards.

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3172: Jirachi (Team Up)

The idea of a Jirachi that helped you set up wasn't a new concept. It had been done before, with a lot of success, all the way back in the Deoxys set of the mid-2000's. It came back here with a weaker version of that effect, as this time it could only fetch Trainer cards. That, plus the standard falling Asleep after use, meant that maybe it wouldn't be as useful this time. Okay, who are we kidding here? It was a Jirachi that got you a Trainer card the vast majority of the time in a format with ways around its main problem. It was going to be good somewhere.

Jirachi wasn't really about the stats, but having only 70 HP meant that sometimes it was going to give up an early Prize. The Fire Weakness could occasionally matter against Volcanion and gave Blacephalon decks a chance to get rid of 1 fewer Energy, while the Psychic Resistance rarely changed much due to that low HP. The Retreat Cost was 1, but was only notable because Escape Board made that free.

Stellar Wish was enough to make Jirachi into a star. Once during your turn, if Jirachi was your Active Pokemon, you could look at the top 5 cards of your deck. You could pick a Trainer card there, reveal it, and put it into your hand. The other cards were shuffled back into your deck, and then Jirachi was Asleep. Jirachi being Asleep was annoying because you couldn't just Retreat it... Well, sort of.

See, Escape Board existed for a lot of Jirachi's time in the game, and attaching that got rid of that Retreat Cost and also let it pivot out when Asleep. There were also other switching cards, such as Switch itself, and the later addition of Scoop Up Net brought more options. It got to the point that Jirachi was even used in the TEU-On format after Escape Board rotated out simply because adding switching cards helped other things too. Scoop Up Net even let you re-use the Jirachi on your turn sometimes, and Escape Rope was eventually added for another switching option. You'd get multiple chances to hit a big Trainer in many cases.

Slap did 30 damage for a Metal and a Colorless Energy and wasn't worth considering.

Jirachi was seen in all sorts of decks. Getting a shot at finding a good Trainer was useful in many places, and any deck that already wanted a good amount of switching cards would naturally work well here. Since so many decks were based on really bulky Pokemon that you might want to try to save with switching cards, Jirachi saw a ton of use, and it somehow just got better when Scoop Up Net let you just take the Jirachi out of play. This was one of the most important cards in this era of the game, and while it didn't make every list (if you weren't already using a lot of the right cards for other purposes, the value here dropped quite a bit), it was something you'd find yourself using pretty often.

[cerastes]

Did you have an Arknights advice tag on using Laurentina? My doll keeper experience is exclusively with kazemaru who plays differently

No, but I can talk about that.

Laurentina (AKA Specter the Unchained), like Kazemaru, can forward lane very well, and her main options, S2 and S3, give her flexibility in how exactly you want her to do her job, whether you need immortality stalling or huge damage+staying power.

Her main skill is her S3, with her S2 being more of a niche tool; until she gets Module Level 3, her S2's uptime is simply too bad for her to be able to use it as often as (Guard) Specter can use her S2. This is due to her skill not charging while Laurentina is in Doll Form, so that's 20 seconds on top of the 35 seconds she needs to normally charge it, 55 seconds. That's simply too much. With her Module 1 Level 3, however, she gets 15 SP back whenever she switches from Doll Form to Keeper Form, making he charge time a much, much better 40 seconds.

The main difference she has from Kazemaru is that, in addition to be able to do very good forward laning, Laurentina can assassinate much better thanks to her prodigious bulk likely letting her last the 10 seconds she need to get her S2 online on deployment, as well as hold high priority lanes are a damage dealing cornerstone, and for this, we use S3.

With S3, her damage is explosive. Laurentina has some of the highest sustained damage in the game, and just like other huge damage skills, it has a drawback. However, here's where Laurentina is different: Most drawbacks for these high output skills tend to relate to a malus in durability (SilverAsh S3), are on-deployment skills that necessitate a retreat and redeploy of units that aren't fast redeployment (Skadi S2, Radiant Knight S2, Surtr S3) or are logistically unviable for repeated use due to their huge charging time (Eyjafjalla S3). Laurentina doesn't have to deal with any of these. The drawback of her S3 is instead the fact that you need to micromanage it in order to truly get all of the juice out of it:

There's two very important parts to this description that are not immediately apparent. The first is +200% Max HP. This triples Laurentina's already sizeable HP pool (especially for her cost and class!) into the 9000+ HP realm. For 25 seconds, and with a charge of 40 seconds, this is immensely good upkeep. Now here's where we get technical: Tripled HP means that you are practically only receiving a third of the damage, because Laurentina keeps her HP percentage between skill being on or off, not the numerical value. So basically, as long as her S3 is on, Laurentina practically has 66% damage resistance, no matter what kind of damage, Physical, Arts, or True. This means she can brawl with absolutely anything, regardless of attack type.

The second important part is "deal 70% ATK as extra Physical damage when attacking enemies with HP percentage equal to or higher than self". Because the game doesn't tell you what values are additive and what values are multiplicative, or if boosts consider base stats or current stats, the average Arknights players tends to play it safe and consider whichever is weaker in the calculation, since even then that option tends to be strong (as opposed to insanely powerful), so for a lot of people, it may look like "wait, that's weak, I mean, she's already getting a massive +260% ATK boost, what's that extra 70% gonna do for me?" Well, the thing is, that extra 70% ATK is based on Laurentina's current attack value, after boosts, not her base value. If Laurentina attacks something with more HP% than herself, she's dealing almost double damage of her already more than tripled damage. This is a massive amount of damage! This is the sort of damage that drops most bosses health bars pretty damn fast, while also having the bulk to actually hold said bosses in place without dying instantly.

Now, the drawback: The drawback isn't that negligible 3% HP loss on attacking something with less HP%, that is trivial. As mentioned before, the drawback is that to get the most juice out of your S3, you need to activate it when Laurentina is low enough on HP that she can trigger her bonus modified 70% extra damage, but not so low that she dies (too quickly, or at all, depending on the enemy boss). This is the hardest part, because if you just pop S3 while Laurentina is topped off, you are leaving immense amounts of damage on the table, and would be better off using someone else that's easier to use, really, but pop S3 when she's too low, and she's not going to last long enough to truly put out those Lebron numbers. You have to activate S3 when Laurentina is at that perfect HP threshold where she'll get a lot of her special HP% procs, and will also last as much of the skill as possible. If you manage it, though, you basically have a nigh unkillable brawler that will knock an entire life bar out of a boss almost entirely by herself. This, of course, takes a rough approximation of how much damage any given enemy will be doing to her, but if you can juggle this info, she's immensely powerful.

Her best synergy is, of course, her beloved Captain, Gladiia. Laurentina increases Max HP of Abyssal Hunters by 20%, while Gladiia gives 2.5% of Max HP as regen per second to Hunters, meaning they are built to be used together. Since Gladiia's regen buff is percentage based, it makes Laurentina even more durable during S3, as she'll be regenerating 2.5% HP per sec of her modified, 9000+ HP. Eventually, Gladiia will get her Module, which gives Hunters in the team an unconditional 30% Phys and Arts damage resistance against everything, as well as amping that 2.5% to 3.5%. At that point, Laurentina S3 really will become Raid Boss Mode.

I personally let strong enemies take Laurentina to around 50% HP before popping S3 if I don't really know the exact % in which I should be activating, I think it's a good threshold that combines survivability and at least a sufficient amount of HP Damage procs.

[shuttershocky]

Arknights Classes and Branches - Vanguards, Guards, and Snipers

Since Arknights Global recently implemented subclasses (known in game as Branches) as an official game mechanic, I thought it might be helpful to make a quick lookup guide for new players to understand what classes and branches are. if you’re a new player and reading this, don’t try to memorize everything! It’s easy enough to remember all the classes, but there are a ton of branches per class and reading the entire thing may just be intimidating. Instead, if you’re curious about what your operator is supposed to do, look up their class and branch for an easy description of their usual jobs! 

(Just keep in mind that even within operators of the same branch, there may be stark differences in their niches due to their skills and talents)

This will be split into two (maybe three) posts. First off are the vanguards, Guards, and Snipers.

Vanguards

Vanguards are cheap units that generate deployment points (DP), which the player uses as their main resource in battle. They are often used as early fighters and supports for stronger operators, though some use powerful battle skills.

Pioneer - An all-rounder branch with standard DP generation and competent in battling early enemy units.

Charger - Vanguards with high ATK and can only block one enemy at a time. They generate 1 DP when killing an enemy and give a full DP refund on retreating (initial DP cost only), making them excellent vs levels with fast openings and as additional attack units.

Standard Bearer - Weak fighters with powerful support skills and insane DP generation that cannot attack or block while casting skills. They work miracles in all but the most aggressive stages. 

Tactician - Vanguards that take the high ground, using ranged attacks and powerful summons to fight. They also deal bonus damage to enemies being blocked by their summons. Their reinforcements are great for dealing with powerful enemies without risking operators, as well as other niche tactics.

Guards

An incredibly diverse class and the backbone of most strategies, Guards are melee DPS units that most players will come to rely on for carrying their teams.

Dreadnought - A branch focusing on high HP and ATK, they’re onlyblock-1 so they’re often used as a beat stick to aid other operators or as assassins.

Centurion - Centurions can attack as many units as they can block, and they get block-3 upon being fully promoted (they don’t have to be blocking the enemies unlike what the description in-game says). Fantastic ‘core’ units to hold your ground with due to their good stats and AOE!

Fighter - These incredibly cheap guards focus on weak, rapidfire attacks to quickly beat down weak enemies, but may have trouble vs well-armored foes. Great when DP is tight.

Arts Fighter - Arts Fighters deal Arts damage on their attacks instead of physical, bypassing armor entirely (though being countered by high resistance). They can be rather expensive and only block-1, but are very powerful and have great stats. 

Swordmaster - Swordmasters have lower ATK, but deal damage twice per hit. Rather than buff themselves, their skills are flashy attacks focused on bursting down enemies. Great for nuking. 

Lord - Lords can throw ranged attacks from the ground, which also let them hit flying enemies. Extremely versatile units and can fit in almost any lineup.

Musha - Ride or die guards that cannot be healed, but have really high stats, heal upon attacking an enemy, and gain attack speed on losing HP. Intimidating to use, but very good at dueling powerful foes and working by themselves far away from the team. 

Instructor - Whip-using guards with extended range, letting them position behind allies. Instructors often buff their allies with their skills and talents, acting as support guards.

Liberator - Liberators have very poor ATK stats and cannot block enemies and do not attack unless their skill is activated, but when active they can go up to block-3 and increase their power to ridiculous levels, annihilating enemies in just a few hits. Obviously can’t work alone, but incredible in the right lineups and stages.

Reaper - Reapers cannot be healed, but deal wide AOE attacks and heal themselves for every enemy hit. Your best choice for handling huge waves of weak enemies. 

Sniper

A class that deals ranged physical damage from high ground tiles. Snipers excel at taking enemies out before you have to fight them directly, as well as eliminating flying enemies that can only be hit by ranged attacks.

Marksman - Snipers with weaker attacks and fast attack speed that prioritize aerial enemies. The backbone of anti-air defense.

Artilleryman - Snipers with an extended range and slow but high damage AOE attacks. Great for crowd clearing and taking potshots at enemies positioned very far away. 

Deadeye - These guys have incredibly high ATK stats, a very wide range, and focus on enemies with the lowest DEF. Though easily distracted by trash enemies, Deadeyes can deal powerful blows to even sturdy bosses, sometimes even from across the map. 

Spreadshooter - Shotgun wielders with short range, Spreadshooters also deal bonus damage to enemies directly in front of their blast attacks. They are excellent for defending choke points and taking on crowds of all kinds. 

Heavyshooter - Snipers with a smaller range but unbelievable single target physical damage under the right conditions. Heavyshooters are perfect for bosskilling, and even as anti-armor units when Casters are unavailable. 

Flinger - The only sniper branch unable to hit flying enemies, Flingers combine the wide range of Deadeyes with the AOE of Artillerymen, and add an extra shockwave to their attacks to boot. Though countered by armored enemies with high DEF, Flingers are capable of astounding damage when the conditions are right. When there are many dangerous enemies with high HP and mediocre DEF (or just a metric ton of trash), Flingers can save the day.

Besieger - Long ranged anti-armor snipers that cannot hit enemies too close to them, Besiegers prioritize the heaviest enemy in their range, often making them attack the biggest threat in a crowd. Excellent anti-elite enemy snipers.

[ptcg92]

Flying Pikachu VMAX Deck

Flying Pikachu VMAX has quite low HP of 310 but it has good Fighting Resistance [-30 damage] and good Lighting Weakness. You might be wondering about its weird Resistance and Weakness although it is Lightning Pokemon. Lightning Pokemon usually have Fighting Wekaness which can also be represented as Ground Type in PTCG. This is probably because this Flying Pikachu VMAX might be Flying Type which has both Fighting Resitance and Lighting Weakness. But, somehow the designer chose to use Lighting Type for this particular Pokemon.

Although it has very big size, it has Retreat Cost. Having no Retreat Cost for VMAX Pokemon is great as you can freely switch it with Becned VMAX Pokemon in case its HP become very low to avoid giving your opponent 3 Prize Cards.

Its only attack, Max Balloon has 160 damage and has an effect of preventing it from receiving any damage from your opponent's Basic Pokemon attacks during your opponent's next turn. To use this attack, you need 1 Lighting Energy and 2 Colorless Energy to it. Since this effect comes from attack instead of Ability, your opponent's can't cancel this effect using Path to the Peak. Basically, this is the nightmare for all Basic Pokemon and there is no Trainers right now that can cancel the effect of attack in the current Standard Format.

On the other hand, Flying Pikachu V is not that useful. Since both of its attack are mainly to stall your opponent before your evolve it into Flying Pickachu VMAX. This first attack, Thundershock can paralyze your opponent's Pokemon if you get head from flipping a coin. The second attack, Fly can nullify both damage and effect of attack from your opponent's Pokemon if you get head from flipping a coin. But, this second attack also does nothing including no damage at all if you get tail.

Read more at https://ptcg92.blogspot.com/2021/09/flying-pikachu-v-flying-pikachu-vmax.html

[noblecrumpet-dorkvision]

Diety HP Variant: Divine Essence

Along with the deity statistics guidelines, I’ve developed a variant for HP called Divine Essence, or as I like to call it: “big” hit points.

Divine Essence

Challenge ratings don't really work as a determining factor for making a deity's statistics unless your deities are weak enough for a mere mortal to defeat. Even archdevils and demon princes are in the upper limits of what a challenge rating can accomplish.

Combat with a deity should be possible, but feel fundamentally different. Deities, being immortal divine beings, should be difficult to even land one solid blow upon. This variant introduces Divine Essence, which serves this purpose by being a small number of "hit points" except that each one requires a mighty blow to remove. Yes, the deity may have 10 Divine Essence "hit points", but each one can only be removed by throwing a small mountain at them

What is Divine Essence?

Each deity has a number of points of divinity that grant them their divine power called Divine Essence (DE). Most deities should have between 2 and 6 DE, while a demigod normally only has 1. As long as a deity or demigod has points of DE remaining, it is an immortal deity and cannot die or be killed. Divine Essence also grants a deity divine authority over its portfolio. Without it, the deity cannot perform godly miracles outside of their own spells and abilities, nor can they bestow prepared spells unto their worshipers.

You can have a deity's maximum Divine Essence serve as a general basis for how powerful a given deity is compared to other divine beings. A deity that gains or loses authority could gain or lose points of DE to match.

Think of Divine Essence as what separates deities from mortals. Without it, a deity is more like a defeatable monster, albeit something along the lines of an archdevil or demon prince.

Loss of Divine Essence

When a deity loses all of its points of Divine Essence, it becomes mortal and can be slain normally from hit point loss. A deity with 0 DE regains 1 point of DE one minute after it dropped to 0 DE. Each point of DE after 1 returns at a rate of 1 DE per week. This rate may be faster or slower depending on how powerful a deity is.

The window of time in which a deity can be slain is very narrow, but removing all their Divine Essence is still crippling to them and they will likely need time in hiding to recover.

Divine Essence can be taken away in a variety of ways, many of which could be determined by the GM. Here are some sample ways to remove Divine Essence.

Combat Damage. Overall, this is a game of combat so there should be a way for combat to harm a deity. Consider that a deity will likely be immune to damage that doesn't originate from magic or artifact-tier items. On average, a deity should lose a point of Divine Essence if it takes at least 100 damage within a single round of combat, after resistances are factored in. This is a difficult feat for a group of four or five 20th-level heroes and is pretty much impossible without magic items.

Combat should not be the only solution to defeating a deity, however. To add drama to deific combat, you will want to have some of their Divine Essence be immune to damage. This way, only a special weakness or the meddling of other deities can actualize the defeat of a full-fledged deity.

Vulnerability. Some deities may be weak or even vulnerable to something. Let exposure to the weakness take away one point of Divine Essence.

A deity's vulnerability is likely a well-kept secret even among other deities. Powerful beings are no longer all-powerful if knowledge gets out that it has a weakness.

Deific Meddling. Another deity might be able to take away points of a deity's Divine Essence, but not at great sacrifice or risk. Each point of Divine Essence that a deity removes from another costs one (or more) of its own.

A deity that wishes to aid a group of heroes in deicide might aid them by risking some of its own Divine Essence to the endeavor. If the helpful deity risks too much, however, it could become vulnerable to other ambitious beings during its moment of weakness. Most deities with any sense of survival will not risk more than a few points of their Divine Essence.

Roleplaying Divine Essence

Divine Essence feels much more interesting if it has some sort of cue that can let players know when an essence is removed. For instance, you could have orbiting shields or objects that shatter each time an essence is destroyed, or if the deity has multiple eyes and one eye gets blinded with each essence removed.

When a deity loses their Divine Essence, they become mortal, and thus much more vulnerable. If precautions aren't taken, a deity will likely attempt to retreat to slowly recover its divinity before attempting battle again.

If a deity without its divinity must continue to fight, it will not hold back. It will make sure to take out the biggest threats to its safety immediately while either flying into a rage or a panic.

[wearesorcerer]

Dragon Disciple Tips

This is going to be a longer (and less specific) post than what @i-am-the-incendiary-anarchist requested, as there’s a lot you can do with this prestige class (it’s really good as is and you can get rid of all of its drawbacks).

If people still want (see the Spells section), I could answer IA’s question more directly, but it would end up being at least as long as this post on its own.

Why Dragon Disciple?

I have to say, I was surprised when I saw how much better the Dragon Disciple prestige class was in 3.P compared to the 3.5 one (which gave you seven bonus spell slots “as if from having a high ability score” that “can be added to to any level of spells the disciple already has the ability to cast,” but no other casting advancement). The one main drawback between the two (no more Dragon Apotheosis) is either peanuts (probably) or a major nerf (unlikely), depending on your interpretation of that ability’s wording.¹

What You Get:

d12 Hit Die

3/4 BAB

Good Fort and Will saves

New class skills: Diplomacy (!!!), Escape Artist, and all Knowledges (!!!).

+4 Str, +2 Con, +2 Int, +3 Nat Armor

Continued advancement of your Bloodline (full)

Improvements to your Breath Weapon and Fly speed, plus gaining each a level earlier than otherwise.

An additional natural attack (Bite)

Form of the Dragon I 1/day, upgrading to form of the dragon II 2/day

What You Lose:

Three casting levels

The favored class bonus you’d get from Sorcerer.

If you take Favored Prestige Class once and Prestigious Spellcaster (Paths of the Righteous), you ignore those drawbacks (except any specific favored class bonus your race might provide). Yes: at the cost of four feats, not only does the class have (basically) no drawbacks, but it is in every way better than staying in your main class.

Had Paizo (or anyone else) made similar prestige classes for the other bloodlines, I would tell people never to stay in Sorcerer for 20 levels unless there’s some super special awesome specific reason. These boil down to an archetype that’s important (I doubt there is one) or a build that requires too many of your feats for the expenditure.

That last is a fair concern: without taking Prestigious Spellcaster once, you lose 9th-level spells. Spell levels offer exponential growth in power, whereas this class mainly provides padding for the drawbacks of playing a Sorcerer if you intend on getting into melee or using a lot of spells that require non-touch attack rolls. Further, you have to spend all four feats to make up for losing half of your 9th-level spell slots (the second feat only gives you a single extra slot).

If you’re not going straight Sorcerer beforehand...

Unless you’re making a gish and don’t have a better idea of how you want to advance your character, the above also doesn’t apply to multiclass Sorcerers. Bards, Bloodragers, Skalds, and Summoners (normal or Unchained) can also enter the class, as can members of classes with archetypes that provide spontaneous arcane casting (I know there are some for Spiritualist, Vigilante, and Witch). Of these, I think Bloodragers get the most benefit, but otherwise it’s kinda like multiclassing into Bloodrager, but without bloodrage (pro and con).

What Spells Should I Take?

This was Incendiary Anarchist’s question. There are really four answers to this question:

Recommended general use spells. As a Sorcerer, you’re essentially a wad of wands (rather than a stash of scrolls, which is the Wizard or Witch). Thus, you’re going to want to have spells which will come in handy in a lot of situations (fireball, dimension door/teleport, various illusions, telekinesis, divinations, dispel magic, etc.), plus ones which fit your theme. The other points are about theme, so don’t forget to get general use spells.

Spells that complement your energy type. The general consensus on casters is that if you specialize in a given energy type, you are going to run into problems once the DM decides they’ve had enough of your shenanigans and/or wants to run an Outsider. (It used to be that the consensus was on Fire being a weak energy type due to how common resistances and immunities to it are, but I wrote an analysis on my main blog a while back about that. I should probably update that.)

Get attack spells which rely on other energy types, but focus primarily on yours. After all, your Bloodline Arcana boosts the power of the elemental energies you inherited from Dragons (after all, mechanically-speaking Dragons are basically reptilian elementals [but much more badass]).

(Tenser’s) Transformation and other spells for melee. The Draconic bloodline and the Dragon Disciple are focused on giving you perks which will only work in melee. There’s very little need for a Strength buff to a caster (unless you’re going Arcane Archer, which is about adding the bow’s range [somehow unaffected by pull] to your spells) and so it is above all other stats my recommended dump stat for any spellcaster regardless of class unless they intend on being a gish (Eldritch Knight type). @we-are-eldritch-knight no doubt has a loooooong list of good spells to take if you are planning on going that route, which is what you’re doing by taking this class.

Off-hand, bear’s endurance/bull’s strength/cat’s grace, enlarge person, magic fang (if you can find a way of getting it), expeditious retreat, haste, and anything that boosts your AC are all good starters. Temporary HP is also handy.

Since you’re going to be in melee anyway, ranged touch spells aren’t as important for you. Melee touch spells suddenly become quite handy (see Other Suggestions, though.)

Spells your dragon ancestor gets as spell-like abilities or which replicate their other magical abilities. Incendiary Anarchist was looking for a list like this (and I could do a Part 2 if people want), but this entry is already quite long (it would at least double in length) and there are (to my knowledge) 30 types of True Dragons in the Bestiaries alone (5 for each kind x 6 kinds [Chromatic, Esoteric, Metallic, Outer, Primal, and 5 of the 9 Planar]) plus the four remaining PF Planar Dragons (Apocalypse [NE] and Bliss [NG] are in Pathfinder Adventure Path #137: Return of the Runelords, part 5 - “The City Outside Time;” Tumult [CN] are in #138 [”Rise of New Thassilon”], but aren’t listed on d20pfsrd.com at all [they are on Archives of Nethys, though]; Edict [LN] are in #131 [War for the Crown, part 5 “The Reaper’s Right Hand”]; no idea where the CN one is), the Gem dragons (3.x, MMII and Psionics Handbook [Web Enhancement] with updates for 3.5), the Lung Dragons (Oriental Adventures), and then the ones that don’t scale with age (e.g, Vishaps; IIRC, the 3.5 planar dragons don’t).

That’s not getting into drakes or dragonets. You have a lot of options when it comes to dragons. Most of the true dragons and the drakes are tied to a particular element, so that at least narrows your focus a bit, but some (e.g., faerie dragons) mix being a dragon with being something else. Dragons, Outsiders, and Humans tend to breed with just about anything, so of course there’s variety. (Don’t forget Couatls or Hydras, neither of which are Dragons by type but should be.)

Other Suggestions

Before I get sidetracked on ways to make a gish, d20pfsrd.com has a list of 3rd Party feats by Louis Porter Jr. made specifically for the Dragon Disciple (printed in Undefeatable: The Collected Feats Sourcebook, which probably means it came out first in one of the other books in that series). These cover some of the True Dragons’ magical abilities, which should free up many of your spell slots. Do note that they don’t count as part of your Bloodline’s bonus feats but do require a minimum Dragon Disciple level, so if you intend on taking them, you should take Favored Prestige Class and Prestigious Spellcaster early on (you can take Favored Prestige Class before getting into one; Prestigious Spellcaster seems to work that way - or is at least implied to [CHECK WITH YOUR DM ABOUT THAT]).

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve come across two Metamagic feats which replicate the Duskblade’s Arcane Channeling and the Magus’s Spellstrike abilities. The first is Smiting Spell, which takes extra actions to accomplish than you might want (it doesn’t spell out what those actions are, it’s just worded very similarly to spell storing, meaning you have to cast the spell in question into your weapon before hitting someone with it). The other I have sadly lost track of; I’ll update this later once I find it. Bear in mind that if you go this route, you’ll need a feat, trait, or alternate class feature/archetype to speed up your metamagic, otherwise you won’t be effective.

If you are going to alter your energy types, take either Energy Affinity or Energy Substitution (both 3.5) instead of Elemental Spell (PF): all of them let you swap out a spell’s damage type for the single energy type you selected, but the 3.5 ones are +0 spell level adjustment metamagics while Elemental Spell is +1. Elemental Spell doesn’t specify that it can only apply to spells with an energy descriptor, but that’s not much of a benefit. It’s +1 because it also lets you split your damage evenly between two types, but there’s no reason to do that except for thematics. (You’d use that for Trolls and that’s about it.) Energy Admixture (also 3.5) works similarly, but instead of halving your damage instead doubles it (one set per energy type); it’s +4 spell level. Again, there’s little reason to take either of those.

There is a Sudden Energy Affinity (requires Energy Affinity), but you could do better by finding a feat to ignore the increased casting time on Metamagic.

None of these really solve the problem D&D has of pigeonholed elementalists (pyromancers, etc.) having trouble against enemies you’d expect to encounter. For that, there are feats that allow you to penetrate energy resistance and immunity. That said, I’m not sure every DM will allow them. (I personally don’t think Fire Elementals, being made out of fire, should ever take fire damage.)

Bear in mind that Metallic dragons have two breath weapons naturally, but Metallic Half-Dragons, Draconic bloodline Sorcerers, and Dragon Disciples only get one. Most of these secondary breath weapons are all cones of crowd control gas (Brass: sleep; Bronze: repulsion; Copper: slow [as the spell]; Silver: paralysis) except for the Gold, which has a cone of gas that deals Strength damage (Fort vs. -1 per age category). The Dragonfire Adept (Dragon Magic, 3.5) gets some of these as options, but it’s a base class and the only way I know to combine invocation-users with spellcasters is through the Eldritch Theurge (which is specifically for Warlocks, as it requires eldritch blast). Your options are mainly that or spells.

Most of the advice I’d give on this boils down to making a gish or making a focused elementalist, which each deserve their own entries. Bear in mind that a Monk’s Flurry of Blows does not stack with natural attacks (there’s a feat out there for that, but it’s third party), so that’s not a great path to take in this case. If you want more prestige to such a build, you’re going to want five levels in another prestige class and then a way of advancing your Bloodline.

¹ Dragon Apotheosis is ambiguous; it reads: “At 10th level, a Dragon Disciple takes on the Half-Dragon template. His breath weapon reaches full strength (as noted above), and he gains +4 to Strength and +2 to Charisma. His natural armor bonus increases to +4, and he acquires low-light vision, 60-foot Darkvision, immunity to sleep and paralysis effects, and immunity to the energy type used by his breath weapon.” These happen to enumerate the benefits of the Half-Dragon template that the class doesn’t already provide (except for type change and doubling the flight speed the class does give). However, it doesn’t say that this is an enumeration of those benefits or in addition to them.

The reasonable interpretation is that it’s just enumeration.

Still, it could mean that you effectively get the template twice. For the most part, that’s redundant (most of the abilities wouldn’t stack), but it would nonetheless net you +16 Str, +4 Con, +4 Int, +4 Cha, and a +8 increase to Natural Armor (meaning you could have some from another source and this stack with it), which would make up for playing mono-Sorcerer before entering a gish class.

For my look at nerfing/changes, I’ll go with the reasonable interpretation:

Sorcerer Bloodlines in Pathfinder tend not to change your type, so the ability to ignore dominate person is a nerf. The Draconic bloodline doesn’t give you Darkvision or low-light vision, though those are fairly easy to get otherwise. The main losses (which I think, if they aren’t oversights, are ways of balancing the increased spellcasting) are +4 Str, +2 Cha, and +1 Nat Armor. The only one of these I’d be terribly upset about is the Charisma bump, given your casting: you can get the others through spells when you need them without much trouble.

[teratoscope]

The unforseen result of hybridization between natural and modified life down on earth

Meta-catYou light your headlamp and dozensof eyes shine back at you in the dark.It turns out a whole colony of catsfluffing up into threat posture makes a noise, even before the unearthlywarning growl rises in one voice from the clowder. That’s not the sound thatworries you, though.The sound that worries you are allthe other preparatory sounds. A hiss becomes a burblebecomes the sound of something corrosive dribbling on the concrete floor. Asmall plume of fire spits into the air. Somewhere in back you hear theunmistakable sound of a chaingun spinning up, and the clank of iron-shod paws.

HD 1 MV 240’ AC 13 AT claw x2 (d4), bite (d6) Special savage, feline anatomy, melting pot

Savage—like any feline, when it’s good andpissed and gets a firm position, a meta-cat can and will rake the shit out ofyou. If all of a meta-cat’s attacks hit a single target, reroll its damage diceand add the result to the original total.

Feline anatomy—meta-cats treat damage from fallsas though they were 20’ shorter, have natural darkvision, and can fit through any space large enough for theirhead.

Melting pot—no two meta-cats are alike, due totheir explosive reproductive tendencies paired with the intense Darwinian pressures of the Contact War and theirexposure to a cornucopia of human and alien mutagens, nanotech contaminants,and retroviral plagues. Below is a list of possible meta-cat variations;particularly badass meta-cats may have multiple deviations.

1d20 ways this cat is fucked up

1.    Enormous,sedentary, weirdly gelatinous. 1/3 MV, +3 HD, paws deal d8 bludgeoning damage.Reduce damage from kinetic, sonic, and cold attacks by 1. Always acts last.

2.    Evendead-on, looks like you’re seeing it from the corner of your eye. Weighs thesame as an adult tiger, casts no shadow. Claws deal d4+1 damage, bite upgradedto d10, ranged attacks against it are at disadvantage, and always has a 1 in 6chance of showing up on your side of any door you shut on it.

3.    Looksnormal, has a transmitter array nano-grafted to its central nervous system.Anything it sees, the Repton network sees. Has Repton security permissions; ifit scent-marks you so will you, at least until you bathe again.

4.    Partialuplift descended from leftover Project Myrmidon proof-of-concept. Transgenicmodifications allow it to roughly approximate human speech and tool use. SpeaksEarthlang patois, can jury-rig and salvage competently.

5.    Clawsand bite are envenomed—on any hit that beats AC by 4 or more, deals 1 point ofConstitution damage.

6.    Battlearmor grafted over synthetic musculature. Vocoder installed in chest shoutsgrainily synthesized agitprop and/or pleas for painkillers and immune boostersin Herlog-ban and algorithmically translated Earthlang. AC 17, upgrade allattack damage one die size, can forgo melee attacks for a 60’ cone,d8-imploding kinetic flechette volley that takes a full round to reload.

7.    Everyonesees a different color morph. Once you look at it you physically cannot look away until it breaks line ofsight.

8.    Canuse its whole action to spit fire in a 240’ line for 3d4 damage (Dex check forhalf). Each time it uses this there’s a 1 in 20 chance the volatile secretionsmeet too soon and the cat explodes in a 30’ radius for 1d10 fire damageinstead.

9.    Hairless,web-footed, and coated in a thick layer of mucus. 120’ swim speed, can operate underwater without needing to surface for afull exploration turn..

10.  Glows in the dark, shedding weakpurplish light in a 30’ radius. Anyone who keeps one within arm’s length for 8hours a day erases 1 Rad, has advantage on all Con checks to resist radiationdamage, and takes 1 less Rad from all sources.

11.  Cutting edge genemodded luxurybreed gone feral. Exotic colors, hypoallergenic, extreme ectomorphic body plan,bizarre ears. +1 HD. Deeply embedded conditioning sends them into seizures ifthey feel aggression towards a human. Food animals for some indigenes, lifelonghunting partners for others.

12.  Honeypot. Looks adorable. Fur andfluids carry a nanoagent that putrefies flesh on contact, dealing 1d8 exoticdamage/round until the effected areas are sterilized or amputated. As itsabilities render it impossible to practically feed itself, its gut andintestines have been replaced with a bacterial stack that synthesizes nutrientsthrough respiratory processes; these are valuable to biotech specialists andcalorie-desperate populations, as the organ can be salvaged and sustainedrelatively easily. Look at the bones!

13.  Shaggy, huskily-built breed.Carries 2d3 thumbnail-sized mutualist insects descended from flea stock thatdefend their carrier on command by launching themselves like bullets. 300’range, 1d8 kinetic damage, and they find purchase in a flesh wound on a hitthat beats AC by 4 or better, dealing 1d6 bite damage each round until they areremoved with a successful Wis check or their host calls them back. Will pastethemselves against armor plating, however. Some particularly strange indigeneskeep one or two trained specimens and their entourage.

14.  Overclocked. Hairless, steaming,perpetually underfed. Ages visibly if you watch closely. +1 to all damage rolls;can double MV and act at the top of initiative at the cost of 1 hp. Dead stupidand monstrously territorial from the psychological wear and tear of constantestrus.

15.  Gecko-like foot pads. Gains a 180’ climb speed.

16.  Magnetite facial organ. Perfecthoming abilities. Anticipates inclement weather with nigh-perfect accuracy.

17.  You can see the cat; you know it’s there and what it’s doing. However, youcannot describe the cat. Talkingabout the cat with adjectives (in or out of character) deals 1d3 Wisdom damage.

18.  An ordinary-looking black cat withmismatched eyes. Once you have seen it you are also aware of a white tiger. The white tiger is not there, but you are aware of itnonetheless. If you harm the cat, signs of the tiger follow you everywhere. Youfeel its hot, wet breath on your neck at dinner, or the weight of a paw on yourchest when you try to sleep. It hides in crowd scenes in your comics, makingeye contact; you see its stripes take shape momentarily in the static on atelevision screen. You can tell that it hungers. It needs fresh, raw meat. Youhave to leave a freshly-killed body out in the open once a month, or you willtake 1d12 psychic damage each day that will not heal or end until you satisfy thetiger.

19.  A cat-shaped distortion in the air,like it’s made of heat haze or warped glass. Takes a Wisdom check to spot. Utterlyoblivious to the world around it. Matter parts around its body, and so when itmoves through things it leaves a cat-shaped exit wound. Energy weapon effectswash over it. Does not appear to need food or water, or else gets by onsustenance that exists out of phase with the world we know and is even lessvisible.

20.  Roiling, malignant cat-mass. Lumpthe whole cat colony into a single creature with all of the individual members’attacks, abilities, and hit dice.

 With asmall handful of exceptions, Forward Escape was not conceived of as a retreatwhere you brought your pets along. When the Freestars went up, they left behinda vast population of dogs, pigeons, rats, horses, cattle, assorted birds andreptiles, and wild but human-adjacent species to fill the vacuum.

Of course,ecological catastrophe and alien invasion meant that this didn’t work out sohot for a lot of them. Domestic cats had always existed in a strange sort oflimbo in the ecosystems carved out by humanity—welcome nowhere in the naturalorder of things, always in demand and yet also always in surplus. The specieswas a bottle full of chaos, barely sealed, often leaking, and just waiting tobe upended on the planet’s nice rug.

Now there’shardly any such thing as an “ordinary” cat left in the world anymore. TheEnluss treat them like raw materials or the canvases on which they build theirthesis statements. The Herlog-ban turn them into war-toys to be disposed ofwhen they lose their novelty. Depending on which brain’s calling the shots at themoment the Reptons turn them into food or spies. Occulters adore them but have a funny way of showing it.

In spiteof this, they hang on. Arguably they thrive.

In part,this is because meta-cats, in spite of their wildly divergent phenotypes,abilities, and origins, practice a certain degree of solidarity. No matter howfar you bend them out of shape, they’re still cats and they still do theircommunal cat-pile thing.

So you mayrun into a meta-cat colony of Occulter existential weapons, metabolicallyovercharged tweaker-cats, and trapsmithing, foul-mouthed macroencephaliticuplifts with awful little hands, who all answer to a power-armored cybercatwith an oxycontin addiction. And in its own anarchic, hissing, spitting way, thatcommunity mostly holds together.

God onlyknows what they’ll be like in another couple of generations.

[aidyjamespokemon]

I’m on spooky. I’m so pretty: Card of the Day #5

Now would be a good time to tell you about something cool I have planned. Why now? You’ll see soon enough! From next week, I’ll be making a weekly video post in which I talk about a very special card indeed - a higher accolade than Card of the Day, if you will. Rather predictably, this will be called Card of the Week! Which card will be our first Card of the Week? I’ll drop a little hint today... Maybe I’m biased towards ghost-type Pokémon. I’ve always loved them throughout the Pokémon franchise and I really like the way their sense of mischief often translates so well into the TCG. Today’s card of the day is one I like for exactly that. It’s not just more of my bias towards my beloved spoopy guys - I promise! Say hello to Banette!

Stats

Banette is small by any measure in the TCG. 90 HP isn’t surviving much, to say the least, and it falls behind many basics in this regard. In a sense, Banette could be described as a glass cannon. It’s not going to stick around for long, but it’s going to make quite the impact while it’s around.

Although, being a stage 1, it does have access to Bodybuilding Dumbbells, an item that gives it an extra 40 HP. 130 is a much more workable number in most cases, as many attacks hit for 120 damage. Unfortunately for Banette, the most common of these attacks is Zoroark-GX’s Riotous Beating, which hits for weakness. If you’re not facing down a Zoroark deck (lucky you!), you may want to slap some Dumbbells on this little guy to give it an extra turn to cause trouble.

Dark is an unfortunate weakness to have in this Zoroark-heavy metagame, but this is balanced out by a resistance to the ubiquitous fighting type. Taking 10 damage from a Jet Punch is rather nifty, by any measure! I guess this is one of those “high risk, high reward” situations and it seems on-flavor for Banette to be prone to risky behaviour!

A single energy retreat cost is very nice indeed, especially in the post-rotation metagame, where Escape Board is the closest thing we have to Float Stone. Not only is Escape Board compatibility incredibly useful (retreating through sleep and paralysis is very strong), but the image of a Banette rolling around on a skateboard is delightful.

Ability

Ability: Red Eyes When you play this card from your hand to evolve a Pokemon during your turn, you may play a Basic Pokemon from your opponent’s discard pile to their Bench.

It’s easy to underestimate this effect on paper, but trust me - it’s likely to be the bane of your opponent! See what I did there? I’m proud of that one! Think of it like a Sudowoodo GRI that you can turn into prizes. For example, you an KO that Tapu Lele-GX all over again and your opponent won’t see any benefit from it!

In its most basic utility, it stops your opponent from placing something more useful on their bench, which is how I imagine many people will read this ability. However, I see it from a more aggressive point of view: a means of knocking the same Pokémon out over and over again. I imagine that Banette will see the most use in Zoroark Banette builds. The ability to OHKO the same Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX or Necrozma-GX over and over again (with Zoroark-GX or Banette-GX, respectively) has the capacity to win games very quickly indeed.

Attack

[P][C] Enemy Show: Count the number of your opponent’s Pokemon in play. Put that many damage counters on your opponent’s Pokemon in any way you like. 

Softening up your opponent’s battlefield is almost as underestimated as the effect of Red Eyes. In a deck like Zoroark Banette that’s hitting for 150 or 160 with Choice Band - just a hair short of a OHKO on most basic GX Pokémon - this sort of attack is incredibly strong. While 20 damage here and 30 damage there may seem inconsequential in the short-term, it can quickly close the gap between a Riotous Beating and a OHKO on a Tapu Lele-GX. Being able to allocate up to 60 damage wherever you please every turn can become ludicrously strong very quickly.

It’s quite flavorful, in a way. It’s very ghostly and mischievous to lay little traps for your opponent that can snare them when they least suspect it!

Synergy

The most obvious home for Banette is as a 1-of in a Zoroark/Banette build. It’s perfect for setting up surprise knockouts, whether it’s by resurrecting a basic GX Pokémon for an easy 2 prizes or by softening targets up for a Riotous Beating or Shadow Chant. Indeed, these knockouts can be even easier to attain with Banette-GX shadily moving damage counters around, too! As a single prize attacker, it makes ideal front-line infantry for this sort of deck; just watch out for opposing Kartana-GX in the late game! There’s also a spread deck that’s coming together slowly, but surely. I imagine that Banette will be quite at home with Flying Flip Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, and Latios. Of course, I’m eagerly awaiting Mimikyu-GX in November’s Lost Tunder set - as is Banette! The question then will be which Tapu Lele to run!

Counters

They’ll be all over the table! Oh - you didn’t mean DAMAGE counters... Acerola and Max Potion are Banette’s mortal enemies. Imagine meticulously laying the groundwork for a KO by Riotous Beating, only for your target to be back to full health in an instant. It’s not pleasant!  Sky Pillar also thwarts Banette’s attempts to soften up benched Pokémon, besides asking its bigger brother to use Shady Move to transfer damage counters to them one at a time - tedious, to say the least. Be sure to pack a Field Blower or two to deal with this scourge! Funnily enough, there’s a little sibling rivalry in the Banette family. Whilst they’re usually the epitome of synergistic brotherly/sisterly love, things turn sour when Banette and Banette-GX are on opposite ends of the battlefield. Imagine being poor little Banette, meticulously setting its opponent up for a swift knockout, only for its bigger brother to come and move one of those counters to someone else, ruining Banette’s perfect damage math! Fellow siblings - we’ve all felt like that sometimes, right?

In Conclusion

Baby Banette may stand in the shadow of its flashy GX relative, but it can certainly steal the spotlight with its own talents - or even complement those of its sibling in a rather heartwarming display of battlefield family bonding. Sometimes, it can take a while for players to read a card in the context of a game, rather than assessing it in a vacuum. That said, it still amazes me that I’m not seeing more hype surrounding this card. Trust me - give it a try. I’m certain that you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the tricks that this little ghost has up its sleeves. I love flavorful cards and Banette takes the cake in every possible way, from its mischievous play style to that delightfully cheeky artwork. Yes, Banette, you’re very pretty. Now, let’s clean that up before Mommy catches you going through her makeup bag! Do you do voodoo? Perhaps you should!

[pkmntcg4gbc]

Magician (マジシャン)

One of the Ghost Masters in the Sealed Fort on GR Island, which is unlocked by defeating King Biruritchi twice. Proclaiming victory over any of the Ghost Masters bestows a Present Pack, which can contain any card found in a booster pack.

Immortal Pokémon Deck Psychic Energy x16 Double Colorless Energy x2 Scyther lv. 25 x2 Tentacool x2 Abra lv. 14 x4 Kadabra lv. 39 x3 Alakazam lv. 42 x3 Mr. Mime lv. 20 x1 Mr. Mime lv. 28 x3 Chansey lv. 55 x2 Professor Oak x2 Computer Search x2 Switch x2 Pokémon Trader x2 Pokémon Center x2 Pokémon Breeder x2 Bill x4 Bill’s Teleporter x2 Nightly Garbage Run x4

Strategy For his next trick, Magician will try to make his damage counters disappear! That’s right, he runs a variant of Damage Swap to continually undo all your attack’s efforts.

Obviously expect to see Alakazam, Chansey, and Mr. Mime lv. 28: between Damage Swap, 120 HP, and Invisible Wall, this match can drag on for a long time. Scyther, Tentacool, and Abra don’t make things easier with their tendency to slip out of the Active Position due to their Retreat Cost, Pokémon Power, and Vanish attack respectively. Kadabra’s Blink has a Smokescreen effect, and Mr. Mime lv. 20 removes the effect of Weakness and Resistance.

Status effects are a very good choice here, as they prevent Magician’s Pokémon Powers from working. Cards like Lapras lv. 31, Haunter lv. 17, and Magmar lv. 31 are good choices, because their attacks will slip through Invisible Wall as well. You can also try Bench-damaging effects to hit any of Magician’s Pokémon that are heavily damaged, as well as the usual Trainer removal techniques I’ve mentioned before.

[pershingoholic]

[WT] Russian Bias? And the problem with most War Thunder Players (extra screenshots included)

(My UMP-45 Abrams skin)

War Thunder has been known for having its Russian bias moments, and how people believe that Russia has the most powerful tanks in the whole entire game. I completely understand, I mean, I go against Russia in most of my matches, so it's no surprise to me that people would say so. But does that mean that it's true? I say not. At least most of the time. As a proud US player, I'd like to say that the Russians are somewhat NOT overpowered. I might have my questionable moments facing a T-72, but they have many weakpoints that most people don't bother figuring out. That's one of the most vital things you need to know when playing War Thunder. It doesn't have an HP system like World of Tanks. It has a hullbreak, crew knockout system that requires you to have to shoot weak points to knock out tanks, like in reality. As everyone who plays it knows that they can get one-shot kills if they know where to kill. What do people at this point consider a tank to be biased? Usually they will have to be indestructible or they will have to be the one tank that they always get killed by. So, in techicality, I have gotten questionable richochets while shooting against German tanks either. But nobody talks about it. So it's not just the Russians that have their little moments of bias, but it's the Germans. Also, not to mention, people have been calling the Abrams OP when it first came out, because of how survivable it was. So now three nations are technically "biased" by that term. Heck, the German Leopard 2A5 was a tough nut to crack, it even had a 90% winrate in tank RB for a bit. That means it performs really well. But Gaijin recently changed the economy, and now the max repair cost for the 2A5 is 15,000 silver lions. The Abrams was reduced to 8,000 silver lions, making it less expensive to operate. As an American player, I am grateful for that change. The Abrams used to be something I'd risk taking out, because the repair cost was always too high for me to maintain. Now it's a bit more tolerable, and I don't lose lions as often. But that doesn't change the gameplay experience. Russian tanks always seem to have an advantage, and I understand. Once they are paired with Germany, it is more than likely that their team wins. And it's true. I've played multiple battles in one day, and all of the battles against Germany and Russia together were defeats. America has started to suffer since 1.87, and at least the M1A1 has the highest penetrating shell in the game. How about the game before? The Russians have always seemed to be the one country with impenetrable armor. And yeah, it does make sense, but sometimes you have to realize that it's how the game works. These armor values may seem hard to come by, but the most experienced War Thunder player will know how to kill these things. Basic doctrine goes as this: you try hitting the gun FIRST. Disabling the gun first will prevent the enemy from shooting back. If you disable their engine or their tracks, they will most likely be able to shoot at you again, so it's best you avoid doing that. If the target retreats, try not focusing on them again. It's best you go for the objective of the game, which is capping points. Kills are the only way to RESIST the enemy from capping the specified points. Going for kills immediately are not the way to play, and it's a way of greed and selfishness. Teammates do not find you a good player if you only look for kills. It's also better off capping points than going for kills, rather than seeking enemies all the time and getting killed faster. You will lose money faster. These simple tricks are the one way of preventing a huge loss of money, and the best strategy for playing a game like War Thunder. It's not like your average FPS game. You will lose money if you get killed. Repair costs are something you should never ignore. Hence why applying capping strategies with your team is the way to go. War Thunder is a team game. Use that to your advantage. Work together to reach the objective.

[heatherketten]

I’m currently working on a Udacity Front-End Web Developer course, thanks to a Grow with Google Challenge Scholarship. It’s a course that goes over HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery, and a few other things.

For me, it’s a bit of a review – I used to maintain a personal website for fun when I was a teenager, back before Myspace and Facebook were a thing. 😉

One assignment to practice HTML and CSS is to modify a basic animal trading card:

After practicing with the example, I decided to take it a step further and try to make Pokemon cards using only HTML, CSS, and a few images.

The Code

The finished HTML for the structure of the cards and CSS for the style of the cards are both available on my GitHub.

Let’s see how it went.

CSS Breakdown

First, I broke down the overall page setup as well as a typical Pokemon card into components and thought about how the structure (HTML) and style (CSS) would work.

Overall div that represents the card – Defined with a class to have a gradient background, gold border, fixed height and width

Top table – 2 rows. Top row column span 3, bottom row 3 columns. 100% width.

Basic Pokemon – TD class sets bold text, font size 11.

Name of Pokemon – TD class sets bold text, font size 18.

HP – TD class sets bold red text, font size 20, text aligned to the right.

IMG – The type of the card contains a small image. A TD class aligns this to the center and fixes the width of this cell at 5%.

Image of Pokemon – 300px wide by 200px tall

Pokemon Vitals – P class sets 2px of padding from above image (so that drop shadow does not interfere). The background is a linear gradient from goldenrod to yellow to goldenrod. Font size is 11px, italic, bold, and aligned to center.

Attacks – Each attack has its own table. They are separated by simple horizontal rules.

IMG – The energy cost is an image. A TD class sets the width to 18%, and the image aligns to the center.

Attack 1 – A span class sets the font to bold size 16.

Description – A span class sets the font size to 11.

DMG – The damage uses a TD class. The text is bold and aligned to the right.

Weakness, Resistance, Retreat Cost – This is all contained in one table with 3 columns and 2 rows. The table has a class to set the text to size 11 and centered, and the table width to 100%.

Header row has a TR class to set the headers to bold text. This could also have been achieved by making the table’s class have bold text since the next row only has images.

Cost icons are images.

Description – A P class sets the text to centered bold italic at size 11. The entire paragraph is bordered by 3 px solid gold, with a rounded radius of 6px.

Illustrator, Copyright, Series – This is a P class that sets the font size to 11 and the text aligned to center. The HTML sets the Illustrator and Series to bold text.

Then I put the code together, testing and modifying it until the cards looked like the originals!

Results

Once the HTML and CSS were written, it was just a matter of filling in the card information and images.

Here are the cards in the browser:

And here are photos of the real cards (left) versus the CSS cards (right).

I intentionally changed a few things around (names of attacks, HP, etc.) to show that I really wrote the HTML and CSS for them and didn’t just use an image editing program to modify the card photos. 🙂

Takeaways

Once I had the HTML and the CSS written, it was very easy to make subsequent cards. I created a dual class for the background div that set the background gradient color as well as the gold border of the card. For different types of Pokemon, I created a different class for each gradient combination, and the HTML references the CSS class for the proper gradient, which saves a lot of coding time.

The card “guts” can just be copy and pasted into infinity. They reference the same CSS classes for every card (except for the background, as I just mentioned). If you’ve already made a bunch of cards and decide you want to change something about the style – no worries, just modify the CSS, and every card gets the new style with one edit.

The only things you need to update to make a new card are the images and text.

This project was extremely helpful in understanding the power of HTML and CSS working together. 🙂

CSS – Fake Pokemon Cards I'm currently working on a Udacity Front-End Web Developer course, thanks to a Grow with Google Challenge Scholarship…

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3125: Dark Ursaring (Neo Destiny)

Dark Ursaring was the sort of Pokemon that was built to have a two-attack combo. The plan was to force Pokemon into play then use an attack to deal damage, if lucky, to more of the opponent's Pokemon than your own. You could probably see where this concept could go wrong, based on the need to just randomly fire away and hope for the best. There was nothing stopping the first part of the combo from being used to support other Pokemon, however, and if you were going to find a role for Dark Ursaring it was going to have to be like that.

Dark Ursaring's stats weren't too good outside of one thing. 60 HP was obviously on the lower side for Stage 1 standards, and if you combined it with a Fighting Weakness you had a Pokemon that fell to a heads flip from Tyrogue. The Psychic Resistance, however, was quite nice, being able to block damage from Dark Gengar. The Retreat Cost here was 2, which was significantly worse than the Dark Haunter it tended to compete with for a role.

Provoke required a Colorless Energy to use. It had you look at your opponent's hand and then let you put any Baby or Basic Pokemon you found there onto their Bench as long as there was room to do so. Then, your opponent could look at your hand and do the same. The thought was likely that it would set up for extra Battle Frenzy flips, but Battle Frenzy was pretty bad. There was definitely an argument for pairing this with Dark Crobat to force Baby Pokemon into play to pick off, and that could have some success if the opponent was hiding Pokemon in their hand. This wasn't rare, but also wasn't 100% reliable to be able to target.

Battle Frenzy needed 2 Colorless Energy. A coin was flipped for every Pokemon in play, both your own and the opponent's. Each heads flip was 20 damage to that Pokemon. This meant that this attack could spread damage nicely, or do little, or hit your own side worse, or anything in between. You were relying entirely on coins and how many Pokemon were on each side of play. Keeping your Bench relatively clear was important here, but even then it was so luck based that you really couldn't aim to take advantage of it.

Dark Ursaring's main attack, Battle Frenzy, was too unreliable to even suggest in a casual game because you'd just be watching more coin flips in a format with way too many of those already. Provoke could at least force Pokemon into play, which had some other uses. The game did tend to require everyone to put a Cleffa in play at some point to help set up, however, so Dark Haunter was typically the better option to just cycle that Cleffa in and out of the discard pile to get Prizes with Dark Crobat that way. Dark Ursaring was a different take on the Dark Crobat deck, which wasn't quite as good but could also get multiple targets into play at once. You couldn't really bring back the same target twice in this way, and unless you were an Ursaring fan you'd probably just go with the other version of the deck.

[tratct]

TFPD CSS Return To “Haymaker”

TFPD CSS Return To “Haymaker”

List Of Contents (The “Crafty” PT)

1. PT Experience Gained And Lickitung In The “Crafty” PT

(Lickitung And “Haymaker’s” Modification)

2. “Haymaker”, “Whirlpool”, And “Psychic Type” (HWAPT) Correlation

3. Evolving And Highest Evolution (EAHE) Correlation

4. The Battle Between “Haymaker”

5. The Reasonable Number Of “Damage Swap” In the “Crafty” PT

6. Return To “Haymaker’s” Biography

7. Return To “Haymaker’s” PT Experience Biography

8. Creating Combination Play With Scoop Up Play Demonstration

9. The “Crafty” PT Reflection

10. The “Crafty” PT Reflection Deeper

11. Response To The “Crafty” PT Reflection

Important Reschedule Date

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PT Experience Gained And Lickitung In The “Crafty” PT

I had gain PT experience from using those other TFPD.”  For examples:

1. I had find ways to connect my PT plays.

2. Knowing a range of different PT plays such as depended on the situation there are plays that work well vice-versa.

3. Knowing how to engage/get into a match with “Whirlpool”.

4. Before I was able to construct decks with a balance of Energy cards, but with the manipulation of Energy cards from “Energy Transfer”, now my understanding of Energy cards had got to a “new level”.

5. Those who had followed my PTTS, know that my “Haymaker” started my first place streak.  With the PT exp. I gained, there are new style and combination plays I wanted to added to it. In addition, I added plays that I thought from my previous PT matches that I could “make-up” such as instead of retreat, I use Scoop Up.

So far in the PT, a few had copied my “Haymaker”.  As for “Whirlpool” and “Energy Transfer”, there are more copies than “Haymaker”.  But, “Energy Transfer” did not meet the standard.  As in the “Crafty PT, there are going to have Pokemon Players show up with “Damage Swap” (trying to mimic my first place from last PT).

Lickitung was noticed in “Crafty” PT right away such as right before the PT started and in the first few matches, those Pokemon Players who been following and watching my matches was surprise to see Lickitung, because other than first time seeing Lickitung in my deck, Lickitung was an uncommon Pokemon Card, and the other Pokemon Cards in my deck are all rare.  Those Pokemon Players with surprise reactions know that I am protecting my first place streak, so those Pokemon Players are interested in seeing how effective the Lickitung’s plays would be.

Lickitung could have overlooked such as rarely being use it in the PT, deck with Lickitung did not get far in the PT, high/expensive retreat cost, and attacks focus mainly on attack effects.  The Following Reasons I Added Lickitung:

1. Lickitung’s Tung Wrap attack 1 Energy (any type or colorless) (Energy Type Table) could attack right away and have attack effect that could cause Paralyze Common Status Effect (CSE).

2. Lickitung’s Supersonic attack 2 Energies (1 Double Energy card could meet the requirement) (Energy Type Table) could attack right away (required Double Energy card) does not do damage, but have attack effect that require to flip a coin to cause Confuse CSE.  Having a Pokemon that could cause Confused CSE would open up many plays. Also, to able to cause Confused CSE will come handy/effective in certain situation.  

3. Lickitung is a Basic Pokemon with 90HP which is about doubled of most Basic Pokemons.  The high amount of HP will benefit the Scoop Up Play.

4. Scoop Up is part of my “Haymaker” style of plays, so Lickitung high/expensive retreat cost is not important or basically could be ignored.

5. Lickitung’s card status have Psychic resistance.  In the “Crafty” PT, Psychic Type Decks and decks with Psychic Type Pokemons is expected.  Also, I wrote, “With enough Psychic resistance Pokemons, my “Haymaker” Version 2 going to protect my first place streak.”

“Crafty” PT: Pokemon Tournament abbreviate as PT.  This particular PT or this “PT occasion” is called the “Crafty” PT. Read the list of contents to know about the “Crafty” PT.

More Pokemon Players had joined the “Crafty” PT.  Because of the increased number of Pokemon Players in the “Crafty” PT, and also it is a “PT occasion”, so it had drawn Pokemon Players of all ages.  I had said this before in the PTTS, when the PT just started, there were just barely enough Pokemon Players to host the PT.  As the PT continue, after each PT, there had been new Pokemon Players joining the PT.  But, in the “Crafty” PT, there were more new Pokemon Players than usual, also like I had said in the PT CAP, when the PT got to the “Crafty” PT, there were Pokemon Players at all ages such as even the PT coordinator wanting to join, but had to watch the PT and Pokemon Store.

How the “Crafty” PT started.  There were many Pokemon Players who had watched my matches from last PT and know that new and innovative plays such as my “Damage Swap” I was using in the PT was very rewarding and even got first place (protected my first place streak). Also, my “Damage Swap” was the first time a Psychic Type Deck got this far in the PT.

In addition, at this point, I usually engaged in group talks, since many Pokemon Players wanting a chance to meet me such as knowing about my first place streak and my Pokemon Master title (there are Pokemon Players calling by the title, Pokemon Master). There are times while in the group talks, multiple Pokemon Players are speaking at a time.  So, from last PT, I heard that there were Pokemon Players wanting to try out new style(s) and combination(s) play(s) that the PT had not seen before. At the same time there are talks of wanting to try out Psychic Type.  In conclusion, in default Psychic Type’s Decks, Psychic Type’s Plays, Psychic Type’s Pokemons, and Psychic Type’s Attacks are more difficult to craft (construct).  Combined the Psychic Type’s default crafts with trying out new style(s) and combination(s) play(s), so that is how the “Crafty” PT started.

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“Haymaker”, “Whirlpool”, And “Psychic Type” (HWAPT) Correlation

Could have been the second match in the Final Round of last PT such as my “Damage Swap” VS “Whirlpool”, because there were no argument that “Damage Swap” had won against “Whirlpool”.  In addition, “Whirlpool” been widely used for the last few PT.  So, a possibility that in this PT, there is not going to have that many “Whirlpool” like before.

As for my “Haymaker”, there were Pokemon Players who asked about it in the last few PT.  A possibility while the same Pokemon Players or new Pokemon Players could have thought I might not return back to my “Haymaker”.  If that is the case, then a possibility that my “Haymaker” cannot protect my first place streak.  Like I said before, even though few, but there are Pokemon Players using “Haymaker”. In a few sessions of PTTS, I had talked about this situation/case such as why so few?  The “Haymaker” got me the first place streak.  Either way, in the “Crafty” PT, there are more Pokemon Players going to use “Haymaker” than the previous PTs.  This correlation is called “Haymaker”, “Whirlpool”, And “Psychic Type” (HWAPT) Correlation.  A few correlations required to see this:

1. First, “Whirlpool” had overcame “Haymaker”, because while I was still have my first place streak with “Haymaker”, I switched to “Whirlpool”.

2. Second, Psychic Type had not got this far in the PT.

3. Third, the second match in the Final Round, Psychic Type (“Damage Swap”) overcame “Whirlpool”.  In other words, “Whirlpool” overcame “Haymaker”, Psychic Type overcame “Whirlpool”, and at the same time Psychic Type overcame “Whirlpool”, it also got first place in the PT.

From the HWAPT correlation, there are a few things expected to happen:

1. Psychic Type going to be in this PT at least more than usual such as Psychic Type Decks or decks with Psychic Type Pokemon(s).

2. There are Pokemon Players going to try to mimic my first place Psychic Type Deck, “Damage Swap”

3. More “Haymaker” than before, and a high chance “Haymaker” will add Psychic Type Pokemons

4. With the increased number of “Haymaker”, Pokemon Players going to see battles between my “Haymaker” (Pokemon Master’s “Haymaker”) and those Pokemon Players who are using “Haymaker”

In addition, those Pokemon Players using “Haymaker” in this PT see this correlation, so the solution to this is to add Psychic Type Pokemon(s) to the “Haymaker”.  So that explain why there are more “Haymaker” in this PT.

As for the “Haymaker” VS “Haymaker” battles, if I, Pokemon Master for reasons decided to return to Pokemon Master’s “Haymaker”, my Pokemon Master’s “Haymaker” main Pokemon, Hitmonchan is widely known in the PT.  Hitmonchan’s card status have Weakness to Psychic Type.  So, those Pokemon Players using “Haymaker” with added Psychic Type Pokemons not going to “neglect” this.  Either way, since the time I had my first place streak I already saw something like/similar to this coming.

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Evolving And Highest Evolution (EAHE) Correlation

Again, like I wrote, “those Pokemon Players using “Haymaker” been waiting for the “Crafty” PT.”  In addition to the correlation of “Haymaker”, “Whirlpool”, And Psychic Type (HWAPT), I pointed out, there is another important/critical correlation.  To see this Correlation:

1. First, my previous back-to-back TFPD was “Whirlpool”, “Energy Transfer”, and “Damage Swap”, and those TFPD got first place (protected my first place streak).

2. Second, all of those TFPD depended on their highest Evolution Stage, Stage 2 Evolution (the highest possible Evolution was known), to make them successful TFPD.  In other words, there had been focus on Evolving And Highest Evolution (EAHE) from those previous PTs, because of those TFPD.

3. Third, those EAHE TFPD had protected my first place streak, so I would want to continue this streak/wave by either stay with one of those EAHE TFPD or constructed another one.

With the EAHE Correlation and “Damage Swap” as the current champion deck, the following things was expected:

1. There are going to be a reasonable number of “Damage Swap”

2. There are going to be a reasonable number of EAHE Decks

3. Decks construct to overcome the EAHE Decks

Pokemon Players who know about EAHE Correlation and familiar with Psychic Type Pokemons, would consider about Mewtwo and Mr. Mime, because those cards are effective against EAHE Decks.  Maxed out of Mewtwo and Mr. Mime would make sense since the current champion deck is a Psychic Type Deck, “Damage Swap”.

Another reason is Mewtwo and Mr. Mime had been an uncertain decision for Pokemon Players, because of the “Default of Psychic Type Pokemon” and “Default of Psychic Type Play”.  At the same time, Mewtwo and Mr. Mime are more expensive than the other Holographic cards.  So, at the “Crafty” PT knowing that Psychic Type Deck had got first place, those Pokemon Players who are not as uncertain from before are more certain about those cards.

In conclusion, this is the moment Pokemon Players in the “Crafty” PT been waiting to use Mewtwo and Mr. Mime.  In addition, because of the PT playability of those cards would be worth paying the more expensive cost.  Either of the following things Pokemon Players would use those cards: Pokemon Players who know about EAHE Correlation, been wanting to try out Psychic Type or been wanting to try out Mewtwo and Mr. Mime, and able to acquire those cards.

From the HWAPT Correlation and combined with EAHE Correlation, adding Psychic Type Pokemons to “Haymaker” would make sense.  Another possibility, without knowing about any of those correlations, Pokemon Players could have added Psychic Type Pokemon to “Haymaker”, because the current champion deck is a Psychic Type Deck, “Damage Swap”.  In conclusion, either way, there is a high chance that Pokemon Players going to add Psychic Type Pokemons to their “Haymaker”.

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The Battle Between “Haymaker”

The Moment Pokemon Players Are Waiting For: Decks construction with Mewtwo And Mr. Mime And Waiting Pokemon Players And Pokemon Players That Spend A Fortune Using “Haymaker”

The “Whirlpool” being noticed (become known) in the PT was when while I had my “Haymaker’s” first place streak going on, then I switched to “Whirlpool”.  “Whirlpool” at that time was argued as my “Champion” TFPD, so “Whirlpool” overcame “Haymaker”.

The “Haymaker” increased in number, the reasons are the combination WHAPT Correlation and EAHE Correlation, WHAPT Correlation, EAHE Correlation, Mewtwo And Mr. Mime, and etc.

From those Correlations, I correlated that this would be the PT for Pokemon Players who been wanting to use “Haymaker” able to use it.  Because of the wait…  in other words, there will be Waiting Pokemon Players.  In addition Mewtwo And Mr. Mime are consider as “Haymaker” Psychic Type Pokemons.  Those cards are more expensive and more difficult to play.  So, the expense…  Pokemon Players that spend a fortune.

As Pokemon Master, I engaged in talks mainly about Pokemon TCG.  A lot of time I would encourage Pokemon’s Energy and Spirit.  When I walked into the “Crafty” PT, there were still about 1 hour from the beginning of the PT.  Hearing comments like, “I spend paycheck(s) to construct the “Haymaker”.” or “the cards in the “Haymaker” deck are expensive.”  I would draw/conclude that there are Pokemon Player(s) who spend a fortune using “Haymaker”.  So, as I look around, toward where the comments coming from, I saw those Pokemon Players.  Also, sitting close by, there were the Waiting Pokemon Players using “Haymaker”.

Because of this combination… such as increased number of “Haymaker”, talks of trying new and innovative style and combination plays, and Mewtwo and Mr. Mime, so that is one of the reason I called this PT, “Crafty”.  So, instead of having talks with those Pokemon Players, I look at my Return to “Haymaker”, “A lot of time I would encourage Pokemon’s Energy and Spirit.”

One of those Pokemon Player making that comment loud enough to hear across the room about spending a fortune to construct his “Haymaker” was expecting something from the “Crafty” PT.  Again, “A lot of time I would encourage Pokemon’s Energy and Spirit.” But, after engage in the match, “Even though those Pokemon Players with maxed out of Mewtwo and Mr. Mime in their “Haymaker” from arguments would consider difficult to find those cards and expensive to construct it.  But, if matchup with my “Haymaker”, it will not stand a chance.”  That is an example of “Pokemon Master’s “Hayamker” VS Pokemon Player’s “Haymaker”.

In addition, my Energy Manipulation had got to a “new level”, so I am aware of how many Energy Cards opponent had remain in their deck. Example: Retreating Cost, Super Potion and Super Energy Removal required Energy.

Could have been those Waiting Pokemon Players using “Haymaker”, that got those Pokemon Players that spend a fortune attention, that is why they putting their paycheck(s) into constructing the expensive “Haymaker”, because they wanted stay in the competition.  As for the Waiting Pokemon Players, they did not come to the “Crafty” PT by coincidence, they have a high chance of knowing something about those Correlations.

I would have been in a very tough situation using my EAHA TFPD against those Waiting Pokemon Players using “Haymaker”.  Again, “A lot of time I would encourage Pokemon’s Energy and Spirit.” They been waiting for this moment. Because I had a combination of PT experience I had gained, My “Haymaker” Signature Plays, especially the Scoop Up Play, and my new add “Haymaker” Pokemon, Lickitung.  The “Haymaker” with added Psychic Type Pokemons would not do as well as the ones without the Psychic Type Pokemon.  Even though, I won those matches, but I saw plays that are similar to my plays and the deck construction are getting close to be similar to mine. After those matches, I decided to have a reflection on the “Crafty” PT.

Mewtwo And Mr. Mime: Because of the high demand for Psychic Type and the “Zap!” been sold out, Mewtwo at that time went up in trade value, play value, and price.  Also, during that time while at some PT places, would even consider difficult to trade or purchase.

As for the Jungle Set Mr. Mime, because the Jungle Set was still considered as New Release at that time, so beyond the high demand for Psychic Type, Mr. Mime was also New Release.  In conclusion, Mr. Mime is about as difficult to acquire as Mewtwo.

So, Pokemon Players showing up with “Haymaker” and maxed out of both Mewtwo and Mr. Mime in the “Haymaker”.  Would argue how difficult it was to acquire those Pokemons and how expensive it was.  That is one of the way, how those arguments of those Pokemon Players using “Haymaker” begin.

Note: The Default of Psychic Type Pokemons are more difficult to plays such as require multiple steps, attack effects, and etc.  Example: While using Mewtwo and Mr. Mime both are Psychic Type, required “a bit of tactical” plays than other Elemental Type plays such as Psychic Type attacks.

Mewtwo’s and Mr. Mime’s attacks: Mewtwo’s Barrier attack 2 Psychic Energies (Energy Type Table) prevent/block Damage received from attack(s). Prevent/block attack effect(s). Mewtwo’s Psychic attack 1 Psychic Energy And 1 Energy (Energy Type Table) does minimal damage, but if the defending Pokemon had Energy card the Psychic attack does more damage, the more Energy Card(s) the Defending Pokemon had, the more damage it does.

As for Mr. Mime, Mr. Mime’s Pokemon Power, “Invisible Wall” will automatically prevented/blocked damage that does more than 20 Damage to Mr. Mime. Because, this “Crafty” PT, there is going to be many Evolving And Highest Evolution (EAHE), “Invisible Wall” will be very “effective” such as each time a Pokemon evolved, their attack(s) are usually does more damage.  Example(s) of “Invisible Wall”: it could prevent/block some basic Pokemons’ attack(s). Once a basic Pokemon evolved once, the Pokemon became a Stage 1, and it could prevent/block most Stage 1 Pokemons’ attacks.  Once Pokemons reached Stage 2, it could prevent/block ~100% those Stage 2 Pokemons’ attacks.

As for Mr. Mime’s Meditate attack 1 Psychic Energy And 1 Energy (same Energy requirement as Mewtwo’s Psychic) (Energy Type Table), it is similar to Mewtwo’s Psychic, but instead of the Damage done count toward Defending Pokemon’s Energy Card(s), it is count toward Defending Pokemon’s Damage received such as the more Damage the Defending Pokemon received, the more Damage Meditate will do.

Furthermore, those Pokemon Players using “Haymaker” had make it passed semi-final, there is a high chance, those Pokemon Players might be completing with me for the first place.  After the matches I found out that even though those Pokemon Players with maxed out of Mewtwo and Mr. Mime in their “Haymaker” from arguments would consider difficult to find those cards and expensive to construct it.  But, if matchup with my “Haymaker”, it will not stand a chance.  Another reason why it does not stand a chance against my “Haymaker”, because Pokemon Players sometime categorized Psychic Type as more tactical/strategical plays than the other Elemental Type plays.  In other words, Psychic Type’s plays in the PT are consider more difficult to use than the other Elemental Type’s plays.

An argument might be the “Haymaker” (Version 1) I used to start my first place streak does not have Lickitung in it.  Example: In a scenario, if I did not modified it from the PT experience I gain and also did not have Lickitung in it, then those Pokemon Players might have a chance in those matches.

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The Reasonable Number Of “Damage Swap” In the “Crafty” PT

As for those Pokemon Players using “Damage Swap” (trying to mimic my first place from last PT), even though the last PT, it got first place, but it was considered as “newer” deck, because like I wrote in the “Damage Swap” Biograhpy, “a whole new strategy”.  So, during the “Crafty” PT, there were a few rounds, in matches with Pokemon Players using “Damage Swap”, but those Pokemon Players did not stand a chance.  As for the Pokemon Players that reached Alakazam, because there are many Pokemon Players are watching with excitement, so the match might seem as the Pokemon Players using “Damage Swap” might have a chance of winning the match.  Just part of the excitement.  Read below.

“Damage Swap” Reached/Evolved Alakazam: because my “Damage Swap” got first place last PT and my plays when Alakazam in play, some of the Pokemon Players does not stand a chance against those plays (“Damage Swap” Biography). While in the “Crafty” PT many Pokemon Players still had memories of my “Damage Swap” getting first place, and the rewards of making those successful “Damage Swap’s” Plays such as each time, when my Alakazam came to play it is like a win already.  So, the Pokemon Players watching practically agree that is a victory, so the plays that Pokemon Players played might seem futile.

I did constructed my “Haymaker” knowing ahead of time that there will be “Damage Swap” in the next PT, so my “Haymaker” have plays to go against “Damage Swap” when Alakazam is in play.  Example:

1. Lickitung’s and Kangaskhan’s card status have resistance to Psychic Type

2. Lickitung’s Play such as Lickitung’s Supersonic attack

3. Kangaskhan’s Plays: Even with Alakazam in play, building up Kangaskhan would be an effective play.  Because, Kangaskhan had Psychic resistance.  Kangaskhan’s Fetch attack 1 Energy (any type or colorless) (Energy Type Table) draw a card.  So, the combination of the Psychic Type resistance and Fetch, while resisting from the Psychic Type Pokemons, use Fetch to build up Kangaskhan.  This should be a smooth transition.  Kangaskhan’s Comet Punches attack 4 Energies (Energy Type Table) does enough damages for a late game.

4. Hitmonchan (Fighting Type Pokemon): Hitmonchan’s attacks work well against “Damage Swap” such as “Damage Swap” required Chansey and Pokemon Center combination (“Damage Swap” Biography) to make the “Damage Swap’s” Plays effective. Chansey’s card status have Weakness to Fighting Type.  So, Hitmonchan’s attack will do Double Damage to Chansey such as Hitmonchan’s Special Punch attack 2 Fighting Energies And 1 Energy (Energy Type Table) does 80 instead of 40 Damage.  In other words, Alakazam’s Damage Swap is half it’s potential.

5. Countering The Ways Abra Evolve Into Kadabra (Return To “Haymaker’s” Biography): Hitmonchan, Electabuzz, and Lickitung all could attack right away such as only required 1 Energy.  As for the how to play “Damage Swap”, I explained in the Biography of it such as ways to evolve Abra to Kadara.  Many of the ways that was explained in the Biography is countered by Return To “Haymaker”. These plays from my “Haymaker” was known throughout the PT, it was not new.  Other than I modified it.  In other words, my “Haymaker” Version 2 focused into a highly concentrated level on countering the ways Abra evolve into Kadabra.

Because “Damage Swap” got first place in last PT, there are a reasonable number of it in this PT.  While in this PT, I had matchup with a few of the “Damage Swap”.  With the “highly concentrated level of countering” the ways Abra evolve into Kadabra, in those matchups, rarely see Kadabra.

Again, because I have the title, “Pokemon Master” and along with it, I am protecting my first place streak, so there are Pokemon Players following and watching my matches.  Especially, the matches, Pokemon Players using “Damage Swap” mainly because those Pokemon Players trying to mimic my first place from last PT.  Like I wrote above, those countering connected successfully, but there were a few time Kadabra and Alakazam was evolved.  In those few time when reached Alakazam, those Pokemon Players with “Damage Swap” practically celebrated victory such as cheering out loud words like “FINALLY”, “YES, ALAKAZAM”, and etc…

When these words are heard in the PT, swarm of Pokemon Players would stop what they were doing even while they in their matches and would rushed over to watch those Pokemon Players who had reached Alakazam against my “Haymaker”, because I am protecting my first place streak.

In this case, not only those Pokemon Players using “Damage Swap” celebrated victory, but a lot of those Pokemon Players who rushed over to watch would agree that it is practically a victory to reach Alakazam.  Like I wrote above, “Lickitung’s Supersonic attack will open up a lot of plays.  Also, it will come handy/effective in certain situation.”  So, it is not over yet, but Lickitung’s plays required a few plays that “must” connect.  First, create plays so the “Damage Swap” would discard their Evolution cards (Kadara and Alakazam), and at the same time continue the countering of Abra evolve into Kadabra, until knowing that the “Damage Swap’s” hand and play don’t have Abra.

Second, this step with PT experience, it is not as difficult as it may sound, created plays so that the “Damage Swap” would build up Alakazam. If this step is successful, the situation had turn around.  Once Alakazam is build up, the “Damage Swap” will put out Alakazam.  Then, I will put out Lickitung, if from my hand that would even be better.  From bench is okay.  “Haymaker” Version 2 is constructed with 3 Scoop Up and 3 Item Finder, there is a higher chance for Lickitung to confuse Alakazam.  Once Alakazam is confused, there is no longer Damage Swap.  Also, Lickitung will resist the Damage done by Alakazam, so Alakazam does no Damage to Lickitung.

If the second step consider too difficult, there are 4 Computer Search and 3 Item Finder such as draw, search, or find one of the three Gust of Wind in the Deck or Discard Pile.  Then use it to switch Alakazam as the defending Pokemon.

Note: As for the advanced argument of the Fetch case, again, since the Pokemon Player with “Damage Swap” and most of the Pokemon Players watching practically agree that it is close to victory, because of the memories they had from my “Damage Swap”, so the plays I played might seem not as effective.  To know how to use Fetch in this situation, require further understanding of both decks, “Haymaker” Version 2 and “Damage Swap”. Example: I did not Fetch to purposely disappoint the audience or the player, it is part of the play, because of my PT experience I know that “Damage Swap” is known to win when opponent’s deck run out.  In other words, Fetch is part of my Plays.  To have further understanding read the First match in Final from last PT, basically I won one of the two matches to get first place, because my opponent’s deck ran out (“Damage Swap” Biography).  In other words, Fetch have a possibility of run out the deck faster, if not using it in a play.

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Return To “Haymaker’s” Biograhpy 

Return To "Haymaker" Pokemon (14x Total) Hitmonchan 4x Electabuzz 4x Lickitung 3x Kangaskhan 3x

Trainer (30x Total) Bill 4x Professor Oak 4x Computer Search 4x Item Finder 3x PlusPower 4x Gust of Wind 3x Scoop Up 3x Energy Removal 3x Super Energy Removal 2x

Energy (16x Total) Fighting Energies 6x Lightnig Energi6x Double Colorless Energy 4x

“Haymaker” Version 2: Because of the added Lickitung and deck modification. The word, “Version 2” is added. Also known as Return To “Haymaker”.

Scoop Up Play: My Scoop Up Play is consider as my “Haymaker’s” Signature Play

1. Be familiar with the “Haymaker”

2. Play Scoop Up Play successfully: prevent Pokemon from Knock Out. Pokemon don’t need to pay for the retreat cost and all Damage recovered/removed (both are implied).  Connect Scoop Up Play successfully with style of play, opponent won’t know that Scoop Up is replaced with retreat.  (Seemingly)

3. Return to “Haymaker” is construct with focus on the Scoop Up Play, so each time use it successfully, it is like a “critical” counter such as all the Pokemons have expensive retreat cost.  At time even more benefit than a “critical” counter.

4. Once familiar with Scoop Up Play, create combination play(s) with it. A few success of these plays, those Pokemon Players who are watching will be in “Awe”.

Creating Combination Play With Scoop Up Play Benefits: Able to do #1 and #2 successfully will consider “critical” counter.

1. Prevented Pokemon from Knock Out.  Pokemon don’t need to pay for the retreat cost and all Damage recovered/removed (both are implied).

2. Combination with Super Energy Removal, negate the paying cost of the Super Energy Removal

3. Combination with Attacking Pokemon for a surprise attack such as able to switch attacker

4. Combination with Computer Search or Item Finder such as use the card retrieved from Scoop Up to pay for the Computer Search or Item Finder requirement

Countering The Ways Abra Evolve Into Kadabra:

Goal: Abra have 30 HP, so the focus is for the attacks to reach 30 Damage. Combination with Gust of Wind, if Abra is in the Bench.  Example:

1. Attack right away.  1 Energy Requirement.

Hitmonchan’s Jab attack 1 Fighting Energy (Energy Type Table) does 20 Damage + PlusPower = 30 Damage

Electabuzz’s Thundershock attack 1 Lightning Energy And 1 Energy (Energy Type Table) does 10 Damage + 2 PlusPower = 30 Damage

Lickitung’s Tung Wrap attack 1 Energy (Energy Type Table) does 10 Damage + 2 PlusPower = 30 Damage

2. Take 2 Turns.  2 Energies Requirement.

Electabuzz’s Thunderpunch attack 1 Lightning Energy And 1 Energy (Energy Type Table) does 30-40 Damage

Note: In the Starting Transition, do not use Kangaskhan as Active Pokemon unless there is an extra Scoop Up in your hand

How To Reach The Goal: Return To “Haymaker” focus this countering into a highly concentrated level.  Computer Search, Item Finder, Professor Oak, and Bill are construct to be use to reach the Goal.  Note: If come to a decision on using Bill, I suggest first consider about using Computer Search, Item Finder, Professor Oak first.  Example: There are scenario(s), I might have to use about ¼ (quarter) of the cards in the deck.

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Return To “Haymaker’s” PT Experience Biography

“The uncommon Lickitung could had overlooked such as rarely being use it in the PT, deck with Lickitung did not get far in the PT, high/expensive retreat cost, and attacks focus mainly on attack effects.”

Again, in the first few matches, Pokemon Players noticed Lickitung. During the PT, with a lot of Psychic Type Pokemons being played, so those plays with Lickitung I used in the PT also being noticed right away.  “Lickitung?” The surprised reactions from Pokemon Players after the matches.  Also, because many Pokemon Players are familiar with my Pokemon Master’s “Haymaker”, and this is the first time they see Lickitung.  Especailly when I use Lickitung’s Play combined with Scoop Up Play.  The Lickitung and Scoop Up Plays work well. When against Pokemon Players with Psychic Type Pokemons, those Pokemon Players does not stand a chance.  I did not get complain other than surprise reactions. Or response like, “Lickitung?”

In addition, those “Haymaker’s” plays from “Haymaker” Version 1 are connected even better when I played them using “Haymaker” Version 2.  While a lot of those “Haymaker’s” plays had became well known in the PT, but in the “Crafty” PT the Scoop Up Plays (Combination Play With Scoop Up Play) had got “Awe” reactions from Pokemon Players even those who are watching or spectating.

Then, the matchup of Pokemon Players using “Haymaker”.  There are arguments that those Pokemon Players using “Haymaker” been waiting for the “Crafty” PT.  In addition, at the same time, there are also arguments of Pokemon Players spending huge portion of their paychecks to construct the “Haymaker”, so that they could use it in the “Crafty” PT.

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Creating Combination Play With Scoop Up Play Demonstration

In your hand (7 Cards total): 1 Kangaskhan Card, 1 Lightning Energy Card, 1 Fighting Energy Card, 1 Super Energy Removal Card, 1 Computer Search Card, 1 PlusPower Card, and 1 Scoop Up Card.

In play: Your turn. (Hand is down to 6 cards after turn end) 1 Kangashkan Card, 1 Fighting Energy Card, 1 Computer Search Card, 1 PlusPower Card, and 1 Scoop Up Card.

You wanted your opponent to put out the Flying Type Pokemon, so you could Double Damage with Electabuzz.  So, you decided to keep Hitmonchan as Active Pokemon.  Then, in your bench, and you attached a Lighting Energy Card to Electabuzz. To end your turn, there is a Fighting Energy Card attached Hitmonchan, so you attack with Hitmonchan. Hitmonchan’s Jab attack 1 Fighting Energy (Energy Type Table) does 40 Damage instead of 20 Damage to the Defending Pokemon, Chansey (Opponent’s Active Pokemon).

Opponent Turn.

Opponent just build up a Flying Type Pokemon, Fearow with 2 Fire Energies And 1 Double Energy, and Fearow’s card status have resistance to Fighting Type. So, opponent decided to retreat Chansey, and put out the Flying Type Pokemon, Fearow because Hitmonchan is a Fighting Type.

In opponent’s bench: he or she decided to build up a Charmeleon that already had 1 Fire Energy, by attaching 1 Double Energy to Charmeleon.  Charmeleon had enough Energies for Slash 3 Energies, and only needed to attach a Fire Energy to use the Charmeleon’s Flamethrower attack 2 Fire Energies And 1 Energy (Energy Type Table).  Opponent ended the turn, by using Fearow’s Drill Peck attack 2 Fire Energies And 2 Energies (Energy Type Table) does 40 Damage to Hitmonchan.

Your Turn. You drew a Fighting Energy Card. (Hand have 7 cards) 1 Kangashkan Card, 2 Fighting Energy Cards, 1 Super Energy Removal Card, 1 Computer Search Card, 1 PlusPower Card, and 1 Scoop Up Card.

1. Use Super Energy Removal to remove 1 Fire Energy and 1 Double Energy from Charmeleon.  Pay the cost, by removing an Energy Card attached to Hitmonchan (Active Pokemon).

2. Scoop Up Hitmonchan, and put out Electabuzz as Attacker (Active Pokemon).

3. Attach Fighting Energy and PlusPower to Electabuzz.

4. Play Computer Search to search for a Professor Oak.  Discard: 1 Kangashkan Card, and 1 Hitmonchan Card. Now there are 7 cards in your hand.

5. Electabuzz’s Thunderpunch attack 1 Lightning Energy And 1 Energy will does 30-40 Damage, the Double Damage is 60-80 (Energy Type Table).  Without flipping the coin, the attack does 60 Damage + PlusPower = 70 Damage.  70 Damage is enough to Knock Out Fearow.  Opponent cannot counter attack, because Charmeleon don’t have enough Energy Card.

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The “Crafty” PT Reflection

One of the noticeable things is the rising number of “Haymaker” and Psychic Type Pokemons.

Common and noticeable surprising reactions: “Lickitung?” “Pokemon Master had Lickitung in “Haymaker”?”

Waiting Pokemon Players, quoted from the Biography, “Pokemon Players waiting for this “Crafty” PT.”  Pokemon Players that spend a fortune such as “Pokemon Players argued that they had to spend a fortune to construct “Haymaker”.  A reasonable number of “Damage Swap” show up, mainly trying to mimic my first place from last PT, but did not have the same result as last PT such as getting first place.  Also, not just “Damage Swap” in the “Crafty” PT, but in general there were a lot more Psychic Type Pokemons than before.

An argue would be because of the Evolving And Highest Evolution (EAHE) TFPD Correlation and the “Haymaker”, “Whirlpool”, And Psychic Type (HWAPT) Correlation, I, Pokemon Master and along with it my first place streak arguable would all ended in this “Crafty” PT.  Even though, my “Haymaker” had modified from Version 1 to Version 2, with PT experience, I am certain that it will protect my first place streak.

As for the increased number of “Haymaker”.  Among those Pokemon Players using “Haymaker”, there were Pokemon Players trying to go beyond I, Pokemon Master’s “Haymaker” such as like I wrote in the Battle Between “Haymaker”, the adding of Mewtwo and Mr. Mime.

As for Lickitung, like I wrote in the Lickitung in the “Crafty” PT, right at the start of the PT with a few matches, Lickitung is noticed.  In addition, right away there is a demand for Lickitung.  Because of the demand, Pokemon Players would offer rare Pokemons in a trade transaction for Lickitung.  Because of the sudden demand for Lickitung and Lickitung is in the Jungle Set which is considered as new release, so during the “Crafty” PT, there might be a shortage.  Beyond the trade, there were also talks of Lickitung.

The number of Pokemon Players had increase more than the other PT.  There were no age group in the “Crafty” PT such as Pokemon Players are in all ages.  Because of the number of Pokemon Players increased at the PT, there were a bigger PT prize.  I credited my PT prize on mostly Jungle Set booster packs.  So, I am walking to my house with a few handful of booster packs.

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The “Crafty” PT Reflection Deeper

Afterward, I thought about the argument from above, “would all ended in this “Crafty” PT.”  So, a possible outcome if it all ended.  “Go back to where you came from.”

In addition, to what I have covered from both of the PT CAP so far about the situations in the PT, even though my family mainly my parents don’t know anything about Pokemon or Pokemon TCG, but I could tell conflict had started with my parents because of my title, Pokemon Master and along with the title, my first place streak.  “Go back to where you came from.”

A possible question, “It is not too late?”  I had gone very deep into the PT, and I had a first place streak.  The Pokemon Players at the PT, especially the Garnet’s Pokemon Players, they all know that I did my responsibility and duty as Pokemon Master.  Just having the thought of ended all, I felt a cold chill rush into my body.  “How could I even have that thought, there is so much…” I then thought of the things that was going on in the PT.

Then another thought, again, even though my parents don’t know anything about Pokemon or Pokemon TCG, but once they found out that those conflicts are from the Pokemon/Pokemon TCG, my parents will definitely not going to go lightly on this matter.  Furthermore, my parents will get the whole family to involve in this matter.  To set an example like in our past, stoning the witches to dead or burning witches to dead.  Then I ended my thought, even though there is more to the thought.  “Go back to where you came from.”  Sooner or later… with my parents, if it all ended. Somehow, I could tell that if it all ended, my parents would know.

In both PT CAP, I had also stated situations at my house.

In conclusion, I had gone very deep into the PT, and I had a first place streak.  The thoughts I had is part of maintaining my title, Pokemon Master and protecting my first place streak.

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Response To The “Crafty” PT Reflection

“A possible question, “It is not too late?”  I had gone very deep into the PT, and I had a first place streak.”

My response, I been serving term after term, when I got to Middle School, my Middle School serving term, I have a serving term partner.  During our attendance monitor term, we timed our routine from collecting the attendance roll sheets, and send-out/run important messages.  So, my partner and I would usually have time left over from those routines.  (We minimized the routine time, so there are enough time to hang out.)  Then, we would hang out such as asking each other questions. What is your favorite food?  What you like to do on your free time?  What is your favorite school subject?  Who is your first crush?  What is your favorite school’s activity?  The questions would continue on…  We would have staring contest.  See who could stare at each other longer.  Once in a while, we would even bring snacks to our hang out.  We did have thoughts about going to the playground, but it was further away.  Also, there were P.E. classes at the playground.

There is a stage at my middle school, we would walk on the stage, and around the stage…  The stage was much different when it is occupied.  The stage was one of the places, we would eat our snacks at.

Again, “A possible question, “It is not too late?”  I had gone very deep into the PT, and I had a first place streak.”

“Does he talk?”  The voice came from the third person asked my partner.  My partner and I been routine together for a while.  The argument, my partner and I had hang out with each other for a while.

As my response continue, could there be consideration?  The reason, one of the places is the stage, because my partner know I would do very well in a debate competition.

As my response continue, as I walking from the PT place to my house, and I am very close to getting to my house.  “… I could tell conflict had started with my parents” and “A possible question, “It is not too late?”  I had gone very deep into the PT, and I had a first place streak.”

My TFPD construction, did not get a lot of bothering from my parents, because of my straight As.  My straight As could…  To maintain my straight As, there are scheduling of available school programs and activity such as afterschool programs, honor programs, computer lab/lab/tutor center programs, and etc.  In addition, scheduling to have meeting with my school counsellor.

As for my PT schedule...  maintain my title, Pokemon Master and along with it, I am protecting my first place streak. So, my schedule is my straight As and the PT.

My responsibility and duty, “The Pokemon Players at the PT, especially the Garnet’s Pokemon Players, they all know that I did my responsibility and duty as Pokemon Master.  Just having the thought of ended all, I felt a cold chill rush into my body.”

REPEL…  I am being repelled to go into my own house.  Mainly, I did not wanted to get punishment from my parents for things… Things that will be more painful afterward.  Example: Disaster.  Then, aftermath.  The aftermath is what I am thinking about.

The aftermath while I am doing my responsibility and duty in the PT from what I wrote above.  That might be causing the repel…

So, I would search my backpack for my achievements and awards I had received. Example: Perfect score/100% on test. Class project/assignment got praises from my instructor.  Then, holding them in my hand, getting ready to show my parents as I was about to get into the house.

After “… I could tell conflict had started with my parents”, each time, coming from the PT place to my house, that would be example of my routine.

About the PTTS: In those few seasons of PTTS, a lot had been said about the Pokemon TCG, PT and etc…  There are many arguments in the PT.  There are time, Pokemon Players would argue throughout the PT, and would not even make it to semi-final rounds.  Even though, in the PTTS, both PT CAP, PTTS articles, I talked about the different environments at that time, but because of the many arguments such as the “volume of quantity”, if a faction of that “volume of quantity” is to applied in the different environments, there would be too much arguments.  Example: during the holiday, while the malls or town centers are filled with people.  If those people are like those Pokemon Players who would argue throughout the PT, and would not even make it to semi-final, then there would be too much arguments at those malls or town centers.

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Important Reschedule Date

Current Schedule

TFPD CSS Schedule

1. April 13, 2017, Thursday TFPD CSS “Haymaker” How My First Place Streak Started

2. April 21, 2017, Friday (Posting Date Exception) TFPD CSS “Whirlpool” And “Energy Transfer” (Double TFPD Post Exception)

3. April 27, 2017, Thursday TFPD CSS “Damage Swap”

4. May 4, 2017, Thursday TFPD CSS Return To “Haymaker”

Reschedule Period: Schedule Start Again In June 01

5. June 01, 2017, Thursday TFPD CSS “Haymaker” Jungle Set

6. June 08, 2017, Thursday TFPD CSS “Rain Dance” Gyarados And Charizard PT

Exceptions: The Double TFPD and Posting Date Exception, both Exceptions are in the same Post.

Reschedule: After The May 04 Post, there will be reschedule.  The schedule will start again on June 01, Thursday.

 Before The Reschedule Period

1. April 13, 2017, Thursday TFPD CSS “Haymaker” How My First Place Streak Started

2. April 21, 2017, Friday (Posting Date Exception) TFPD CSS “Whirlpool” And “Energy Transfer” (Double TFPD Post Exception)

3. April 27, 2017, Thursday TFPD CSS “Damage Swap”

4. May 4, 2017, Thursday TFPD CSS Return To “Haymaker”

5. May 11, 2017, Thursday TFPD CSS “Haymaker” Jungle Set

6. May 18, 2017, Thursday TFPD CSS “Rain Dance” Gyarados And Charizard PT

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3091: Dark Gengar (Neo Destiny)

Dark Gengar hit far less hard than you'd normally want out of a Stage 2. Despite that, it was one of the scariest Pokemon to face as it could just pick what it wanted to hit and even had a stronger version of Sleep to work with. While the low damage output did cause problems, it was just enough to make using Cleffa or any other Baby Pokemon a giant risk, which changed the way people had to play against it. That alone was enough to make something a dangerous threat.

70 HP was very low for a Stage 2. Rocket's Hideout could help with that, notably getting the number out of Magcargo range as long as the Stadium was in play, but the bulk still wasn't winning any awards. At least Dark Gengar didn't have a Weakness to worry about. The Fighting Resistance could be nice when something like Giovanni's Machamp or Donphan showed up. It also blocked damage from Tyrogue, but you probably wouldn't want to use Tyrogue in a match-up against this for other reasons anyway. The Retreat Cost was 2, which was doable sometimes but having Warp Point or the like was nice if you could fit it.

Deep Sleep was the one Pokemon Power that made Sleep worth it. If any Dark Gengar was in play on either side of the field, 2 coins had to be flipped for a Sleeping Pokemon between turns. It only woke up if both were heads, which was just 25%. It was also only 44% to wake up within 2 turns of flips, which meant Dark Gengar made Misdreavus somewhat usable. This was good since Dark Gengar itself struggled to damage certain Pokemon even with the free turns it got from Sleep.

Pull In was one of the wilder attacks of the era. It only did 30 damage for 3 Psychic Energy, which wouldn't have been enough without all the extra effects. The first one was that you could switch in one of the opponent's Benched Pokemon with their Active Pokemon and damage that instead if you wanted. The Baby flip only counted if the original Pokemon was up front, so if someone had a Baby Pokemon on the Bench it could just be taken down without that check. You didn't have to force the switch if there wasn't a great target or wanted to fish for Sleep on whatever was up there, because either way the Pokemon you hit was now Asleep. This had the potential to take Prizes off Cleffa and Pichu and the like, and the hope with other things was to wear them down and hope coin flips went well. Odds were solid due to Deep Sleep.

The issue with Pull In was that is was rather weak, giving the opponent a lot of turns to try to break through. Originally people paired this with Slowking to mess with Trainers that could help with switching out of Dark Gengar, but Slowking now gets the errata so Noctowl is the modern take on the idea. Darkness-types, as well as anything with Metal Energy attached, didn't really care much, and having just one or two of those in play with nothing else could be nearly impossible to break through without going for the lucky Misdreavus play. That meant that despite being devastating to some things, Pull In wasn't going to do a lot against others, making back-up a necessity.

Dark Gengar had its problems, but the positives were so good that it was generally viewed as one of the better cards to build around. Without something like Steelix, Mewtwo, or Umbreon you really were going to need some luck to get through all the coin flips while being worn down, and even Cleffa became a liability. There was always some hope when facing Dark Gengar with a strong attacker, however, as the bulk wasn't great and one free turn could wipe a Stage 2 out. These things simply kept Dark Gengar in check, and this was something you probably did not want to face due to all the luck needed to actually beat it.

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3132: Light Piloswine (Neo Destiny)

Light Piloswine was a reasonably bulky Water-type that could also work as an anti-Stadium Pokemon. It also had a Lightning Resistance, which would have been really notable on a Pokemon of the type if it wasn't specifically in an era where Lightning was somewhat weak and the best Water-types already were weak to Grass just like it was. That, along with not having the best power behind its attack, meant that this was a card that had both good and bad.

90 HP was quite good for a Stage 1, and it would usually take an attack from whatever it was facing. The Grass Weakness did mean that Crobat and Meganium could be issues, with Meganium decks especially being likely to get through that HP quickly. The Lightning Resistance would have been better if that type was more useful, but it at least gave help against Elekid and even Rocket's Zapdos. The Retreat Cost here was 3, meaning you'd probably want something like Warp Point.

Fluffy Wool was a Pokemon Power that worked whenever Light Piloswine was Active and was damaged by and attack from the opponent's Pokemon. A coin was flipped, and if heads, the attacking Pokemon was then Asleep. There would, of course, be a flip between each turn from then on, so this was just a 1 in 8 chance to shut something down at a notable point. It was, at least, better than nothing at all.

Knock Over did 30 damage for 3 Colorless Energy, which wasn't the best. It did do damage while also letting you discard a Stadium from play if you wanted to. If you wanted to get rid of a Chaos Gym or something, this was an option to do so while also getting some damage off.

Light Piloswine was a bit too weak to be a great choice, since even with its Colorless Energy requirement it wasn't even going to be great as an anti-Fire Pokemon. Somehow, a deck running this made top 8 as a Super Trainer Showdown. It was more of a Crobat/Murkrow deck than anything, with Light Piloswine playing a support role in reality. It probably wasn't worth a ton in hindsight, and if it was just a tiny bit stronger it would have had more of a serious role.