#based on a tcg card find it!

[theconfuzzeleddoge]

shiny Ho-oh!

[earth-wyrms]

yay! yay! my library had viewing glasses! :3333

[verxsyon]

·:*¨༺ ❝ 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀 𝐁𝐄𝐓? ❞

wriothesley always wins his bets against you. for this round, the stakes are getting much higher. how long will it take for the captain of the gardes to admit their feelings to the duke? will this be the moment you’ll finally come out victorious, even though you have to pretend that your feelings toward him are in denial?

✧ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. wriothesley x gn!reader

✧ 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭. drabble ; 0.6k

✧ 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞. coworkers to lovers au ; fluff

✧ 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚. no way, it's almost been a year since i wrote a drabble and for genshin too. wrote this during class today, so it looks pretty rushed lol. this man’s the death of me. he can choke slam me like he did with douchier dougier in his story quest. and no, i’m not sorry for saying that.

A defeated sigh escapes your lips as your cards rain down from your fingers onto Wriothesley’s desk. “Unbelievable. A first-time TCG player beat me in all three rounds. So, what do you want your prize to be? A tea company from the surface?”

“Haha. Your suggestions are becoming more adventurous, captain.” Wriothesley kicks back on his chair with a great idea in mind from the smug smile on his face. “Meet me there at night. You’ll help me sneak in, and I’ll rob its entire collection.”

You narrow his eyes at his sarcasm, and he surrenders. “Alright. I'll settle with a tea cup set. The cups in my current one are broken and the teapot has some cracks, so it’ll be nice to have a new one.”

“Okay, I’ll place an order from the surface and ship it here.” You get up from your seat. “I must head back. The guards could be slacking off as we speak. Excuse me, your grace.” 

“Ah, actually.” You hear the chair scrape the floor and turn to face him, who’s now leaning against the front of his desk. “Before you go, there’s something I need you to investigate.”

“Of course. what is it?” He stops you from coming back to your seat by his hand on your shoulder, making you flinch. His expression’s gone rather ominous, and it stays that way when he leans closer to your ear.

“How long will it take for the captain of the gardes to admit their feelings for the duke?”

You cough violently and push yourself out of his hold. Despite his claims of not being omnipotent, his eyes and ears are everywhere within and beyond the fortress. But why are you still surprised that he’ll find out your feelings toward him eventually?

“Don’t tell me you believe those rumors, your grace?” You boldly deny, but deep inside you already know he totally won’t buy your facade based on your immediate reaction. “I’m assuming that’s what you want me to investigate, so again, please excuse me—”

“You didn’t answer my question, captain.” His fingers glide to your shoulder, akin to caressing it, and the temperature in your cheeks suddenly skyrockets. “So, how long will it take for the captain of the gardes to—?”

“I heard you the first time, your grace,” you say dismissively, screaming at him in your head to let you go back to your station and never talk about this matter ever again. “With all due respect, what’s the meaning of this?”

“Come on. Don’t tell me you already forgot,” he laughs as he goes back to his seat, hands folded on top of his desk. “Wanna bet?”

“This again?” you huff, more worn out from his ludicrous habits since you were stationed at the fortress as its security team. However, this could be an opportunity for you to finally win against him. If he decides to play the game this way, then might as well follow along to ensure your own victory. “Fine, I’ll say never.”

“Oh? No faith in the duke’s capabilities to charm them?” He seems confident with the answer he has come up with. “I’ll say within the next hour or two.”

“Ha! Overestimating the captain’s willpower to not fall for his charms, I see,” you counter, showing off your determination to win. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Alright then, it’s settled.” He shakes hands with you to solidify the agreement. “Oh, and captain? No need for your suggestions for this one. I know what I want as my prize.”

“Oh? And what would that be, your grace?”

Wriothesley just chuckles and tells you the most unpredictable thing that you never imagine being your fate as a loser. “How about a date with the captain themselves?”

[dhrubajjj]

octaninelle pirate au/seven seas au!

so the idea for these guys is that their ship is one of those on water restaurants, like the baratie from one piece if u know what im talking about. Also the lil shell bit in the ship that i sketched up is where azul's office, i might tweak the ship design but it works for now.

azul - he was the easiest to design since it was heavily based off of his masquerade outfit and i gave him ursula's earrings. in his merform he's probably something like the kraken and he talks about the ship like how people talk about their cars, the ones that like talk about it like it's their child.

also i haven't been able to get that drabble abt idia and azul meeting in a pub and playing cards together. they probably meet in the mostro lounge instead of a random pub and play some magical card fusion of hearthstone + that tcg game from genshin.

jade - he's got a lil mushroom pin and also he's wearing pants that look like a skirt. i gave him a jellyfish haircut and pulled it into the ponytail because a lil voice whispered in my ear and it only felt right. every couple of weeks jade will grow mushrooms in some part of the boat and then azul or floyd will find it and get rid of them, then there's mushroom dishes on the menu for like months.

floyd - personally to me he looks a lil outta place since he's dressed less formally than jade or azul but that's fine. he does have a suit like how jade and azul has one but it's a battle to get him to actually wear it (+ when he does wear it, tends to put him in a nasty mood for a bit). i kept his clothes loose cuz of that and gave him a bunch of shiny jewelry also he has those fidget rings that have the spinny middle part.

i can see him working in the bar rather than taking orders or serving food and floyd probably brags about all his scars to his clients whenever he gets the chance (the scar on his face was from riddle, they had a lovers spat </3)

[wishluc]

✧ CW: yandere character, stalking

You'd never have guessed that General Mahamatra Cyno was such an avid fan of Genius Invokation TCG.

It came as a huge shock when you, waiting for an opponent to duel with, heard the all-too-familiar voice addressing you.

"May I join you for a game?"

That day, Puspa Café was bustling with patrons, as per usual. Still, you had managed to find yourself a seat on a secluded table by the corner, where you could comfortably wait for someone to join you. Despite being somewhat new to the game, you had quickly grown to love Genius Invokation TCG, and were now a regular customer here.

You watch, with wide eyes, as Cyno stands by your table with an expectant look. Immediately shaken out of your trance, you nod and, with bated breath, stare at him again as he takes a seat across you.

"Excuse me," Cyno says, before surveying your cards, picking up one to look at the back. It doesn't seem to bother him that you've not given him a single response yet.

"General M—"

"Cyno the Adventurer," he smoothly interjects, closely inspecting your card back, "I hope that you won't let my position waver your interest in my duel, but if it helps, you can just think of me as someone else. So while I'm here, please refer to me as such. You had this commissioned in Liyue, yes?"

"Yes..." you're not sure how he knew, but maybe Cyno was familiar with the artist's works, "But, adventurer...?"

He nods, "and you are...a poet traveling to find inspiration."

"A poet," you echo weakly, confusion heavy in your voice, "yes..."

"Before we begin, I'd like to give you some tips. You'd be better off using an artifact card than this weapon card. Also, the synergy between these cards won't be as good as these, and..."

Was this just a characteristic of a professional player? You're not sure how he managed to identify your go-to cards and analyze your usual strategy so quickly, but it didn't appear too strange that someone like Cyno was so quick to identify the flaws in your gameplay.

The duel itself was undeniably exciting. Cyno had cards you hadn't seen yet, cards, he told you, that were exclusive to Mondstadt. Even his card back was done by a famous illustrator based in Mondstadt. You were almost envious of his cards. However, when Cyno unsurprisingly won, he only frowned. Your mind raced for explanations. Was he disappointed in your play? Did he think you were holding back in fear of upsetting him? It would be awful if he had a bad impression of you just from a card game, and though he didn't strike you as someone to hold such views, you couldn't help but be cautious.

"Another game?"

After a considerable amount of time had passed, and three more games had ended with varying results, Cyno was finally ready to retire.

He clears his throat, "next week," he declares, "I'll be here again. Will you be available for another game?"

You mentally ran through your schedule. Next week...you didn't have anything planned as of yet. Regardless, how were you going to turn down a personal invitation from the General Mahamatra himself?

"No," you tell him, "then, I'll see you...?"

Cyno hums, looking deep in thought.

"Next week, I'll be the ex-leader of an Eremite camp. A fugitive seeking to reform his old ways. And you can be..." he trails off, instead giving you a gentle command, "surprise me."

You don't know what to think of him, really. He was a lot more eccentric than you had heard, but for the most part, he was...harmless. Ultimately, like the other players in the café, Cyno was just here to have fun. While you mull over the possibilities on your way home, you fail to realize a card from your deck had gone missing. It was one of the weapon cards that Cyno himself had advised you against using, and at the time, you hadn't noticed anything, so overwhelmed as you were by his presence, but he had pocketed it for himself. It would soon find itself a new home inside Cyno's own case, not that you would ever know.

It was only a small token taken to commemorate your first official meeting. Next time, Cyno was hoping to get his hands on a much better prize.

all works © wishluc. do not copy, steal or repost my works on other platforms. (including translations)

[mahouowo]

Trading Card Game Divination

One of my main ways of divination, next to the Clow cards, is Magic the Gathering. After years of trying methods like tarot, lenormand & other cartomancies I saw someone on twitch giving readings with pokemon cards. I was interested and I've been doing it ever since!

Building your deck

First you have to decide what system you will be using. Magic the Gathering? Pokémon? Lorcana? Altered? (etc) When just starting out I suggest using cards you already have. It may not be the best of the best, but you can get an idea of what you want and if you like it. My own decks have between 50 and 75 cards.

What's also a neat thing is that you can tailor TCG divination decks to your liking! You could make a theme or have 'em be nicer or meaner (I like a blunt deck, personally). You can also keep upgrading them as new sets come out. For example, my Magic the Gathering deck is a mix of Theros, Strixhaven & Wilds of Eldraine.

The Basis

Regardless of what route you take, your deck should have a base of one card of each mana type, if your tcg of choice has those. It will be the element in it's purest form like the aces in tarot. You can always take type meanings with you as cards will have one or more anyways.

A few examples:

Magic the Gathering

Plains (Positive, beginnings, good luck, life, etc)

Swamp (Negative, endings, rebirth, death, etc)

Mountain (Fire, passion, struggles, aggressive, speed, etc)

Island (Water, emotions, isolation, magic, etc)

Forest (Earth, roots, strength, growth, etc)

Pokémon

Normal (Basic, nothing, potential, mundane, etc)

Water (Emotions, fluidity, adaptable, etc)

Fire (Passion, drive, aggression, excitable, assertive, etc)

Grass (Earth, roots, growth, slow, passive, etc)

Electric (Energy, sudden, fast, shocking, irritable, etc)

Fighting (Endurance, fighting, tradition, studying, etc)

Psychic (Intuition, magic, manifestation, etc)

Dark (Unknown, unseen, struggles, shadow, negativity, etc)

Steel (Perseverance, support, willpower, etc)

Fairy (Wishes, hope, positivity, etc)

Dragon (Strength, magnanimous, divine, magnificence, etc)

Lorcana

Amber (Resilience, persistence, patience, dedication, etc)

Amethyst (Sorcery, mysticism, power, limited options, etc)

Emerald (Flexibility, adaptability, change, analytic, witty, etc)

Ruby (Courage, challenges, speed, confrontations, etc)

Sapphire (Knowledge, creativity, inventive, strategy, etc)

Steel (Strength, imposition, perseverance, mundane, etc)

There is a lot from the card itself you can take with you in your reading. Let's look at Spectacle Mage to see what.

You can use:

The cost, their attack & defense or all together (numerology)

The name of the card

The subtext of the card

The abilities of the card

The (creature)type of the card

The element(s)

The image

The setting

Pokémon cards will have attacks and stages you can take with you in your readings, next to how they act (try sites like bulbapedia). With Lorcana you can look at the stories of the disney characters, as well as the lyrics of their songs and whether they can turn into ink or not.

Now to add other cards! You want a mix & match of different themes. If you build a deck of around 50 cards I advice you have little theme overlap between the cards unless you like the nuance. My Pokémon deck has Deino & Diglett which both can mean overwhelm with the versions I have. But whereas Deino is pure overwhelm because it can't find its way nor its family, Diglett's overwhelm is because it dug out next to the sea. You dug too deep, poked your nose where you shouldn't have, said yes one too many times, etc.

Once you have a good amount of cards you can give 'em cute sleeves, practice with your deck and build up from there!

[obey-moi]

I wanna imagine that the cards are a real thing in-universe. Like, the brothers, royals, Solomon and Thirteen all get put into a trading card game just because they’re all very popular individuals with their own fanbases Everyone’s card art is a little different from their actuall looks bc the actual people aren’t involved in the art production, so everone gets washboard abs and clear skin. It’d also be considered defamation of any of them are portrayed with a single blemish lol.

Of course Asmo collects ONLY his own cards and MC’s cards, even if some of them look off. “This one’s hair is too brunette but I love the SHINE they put in my lipgloss!” Or something silly like that. They go into a photo album binder where he gets other pieces of fanart.

Leviathan collects SO many card and knows the rules and decimates everyone at the games, but he absolutely refuses to collect his own cards. “Can you imagine if I played my own card as if I were actually cool? Like I had those powers, or l-looked as dashing a-as they portray me?? None of my cards would actually be good?? I’m JuSt An OtAkU??” Never plays the holographics of MC. Those get framed but never displayed. (MC finds them and they do the same to him since they both avoid their own cards. In fact they do a daily dropoff where if there’s an envelope under their door they can usually expect it to be the others’ cards.) He’s also a master of making different decks, like he has a deck for every sin, every person, etc. The Royals+Angels deck and the Envy deck are his favourite ones.

Mammon thrives on the Devildom TCG market. Rare cards go for a ton of Grimm! And also you wanna know why he keeps trying to sell pics of Lucifer, right? He knows one of the official card artists. “This was the outfit this card was based on, yeah? Here’s the followup of him rolling his sleeves and loosening his tie! And I bet you’re gonna love THIS one! Nobody can ever seem to get his angry smile just right until they see it in person, but this picture comes pretty close. Doesn’t it give you shivers? I can start at 1500 grimm. Also, could you tell whoever is making THESE cards to stop whitewashing the GREAT Mammon? Plzkthx :)”

Satan’s not much for card games unless a friend challenges him to a different, more classic game, like rummy or liar. But he does keep the trading cards he likes the most. Art is art, what can he say? They’re also perfect bookmarks. His fave is probably one of MC that captures them perfectly in his vision.

Lucifer thinks the whole TCG is just silly and doesn’t really participate in any of it........... But Priddy Boy’s gotta be ✨Perfect In Everything✨. The man has canonically been stated to be good a video games for the simple need to be good at everything, you think he wouldn’t study strategy and play like it’s chess or smth? That and in his Dad Wallet where he keeps pictures of his brothers (and MC), he keeps his favourite cards of them behind each respectful photo.

Beel doesn’t really collect or know how to play, but Beel has autographed many a card after fangol games, so he can at least understand it’s a collectible item. He tried learning from Leviathan how to play this one time, and it made sense to him for the most part. Card has Life Points, Attack Points, and Special Skills. Beat up opponents' cards and win. Not too different from most other card games. But there are complicated rules to it that he forgets or mixes up. He’d much rather use the cards like dolls and make them “talk” to each other.

Belphie also doesn’t play or collect, but he does enjoy getting his hands on the holographic cards. One day Levi was sent to look for Belphie to tell him it was dinner time. He found the youngest in the attic cutting up the cards into shapes and gluing them back-to-back, hanging them up like a mobile. Levi fainted backward down the stairs and refused to look at Belphie for two months straight.

Solomon really likes these cards! Like Satan he uses them as bookmarks, but specific Sin Colours and People get paired with certain books. Green Satan cards are used on cursed tomes or books about curses, blue Satan cards are used in art history books. Pink Asmo cards are left in Seduction Spell books, while yellow Asmo cards are for books about venoms from creatures. Etc. Makes categorization much easier!

Barbatos doesn’t collect, but he does know how to play. He referees for the Young Lord sometimes whenever Diavolo gets a chance to have fun.

Y’all know ya homeboy DIAVOLO is one of the biggest collectors! He and Levi are both DAUNTING on the “battlefield”, though Dia doesn’t take things so seriously like Levi does sometimes. He’s even commissioned actual paintings of himself and everyone so that those portraits can be made into cards. They’re the rarest ones, there only being one of each person out in the world. As much as Dia would have loved to keep those cards, he likes to watch the chaos of others scrambling desperately try to obtain an Ultra Rare Royal Painted Holographic. Besides, he still has the original paintings! (Also he likes to collect the DevilWendy’s kids meal toy versions of those “cards”, which are actually those plastic “gold” plated cards inside of “”””pokéballs””””. Adorable!)

Some Thirteen cards have special abilities based on real traps of hers. Some of Thirteen’s traps are based on some of the cards. She likes to tape some cards up like stickers to some of said traps as decorations. Or as part of the trap. She once tried to entice Solomon with a card, but Levi fell for it instead and nearly got impaled in a tiger trap she called “Super Duper Rare Double Dare #106”.

Mephistopheles says he doesn’t care about such childish playthings. But once the Diavolo released those Ultra Rare Royal Painted Holographic, and ‘Phisto got highest bidder on the Diavolo card, SUDDENLY he’s become Maximillion Pegasus and his signature deck is the Diavolo deck.

Luke isn’t really one to play, but he does like the art of some of them! He’ll put some in a scrapbook! It’s also another bookmark technique, where certain people’s cards get bookmarked on their favourite recipes. He got the idea from Solomon’s method of bookmarking.

Simeon also doesn’t play but mainly collects. Got a little hooked on it before Raphael moved in and the room was being used for Levi’s spare collection stuff. He was even given many of the Common ones for free (what Simeon did with common cards, Levi didn’t nearly care as much, and trusted him more with cards than he could trust Belphie with holo’s...). He’s collected all the Seven Lords themed ones. It’s a nice, low-key hobby, like stamp collecting. He donates the ones he doesn’t need to MC or Levi.

Raphael neither plays, collects, or knows anything about them really. But he does still have an annoying familiarity with them, thanks to Michael wanting him to buy several packs, nay, BOXES of packs. Michael needs to be the number one Lucifer Card collector. Bro misses his bro... ;(

[genshin-impact-updates]

Version 4.4 Event Notices Compilation (2)

"May Fortune Find You" Daily Login Event

During the event, log in on 7 days in total to receive Intertwined Fate ×10 and other rewards!

〓Event Duration〓

2024/02/03 04:00:00 – 2024/02/18 03:59:59

〓Eligibility〓

Adventure Rank 5 or above

〓Event Details〓

"Genius Invokation TCG" Heated Battle Mode: Tactical Formation

〓Special Rules〓

● In this edition of Heated Battle Mode, Travelers must use Character Cards selected on the spot and randomly generated Action Cards to do battle.

〓Event Duration〓

2024/02/17 10:00:00 – 2024/03/04 03:59:59

〓Event Rewards〓

〓Eligibility〓

Adventure Rank 32 or above

Complete Archon Quest Prologue: Act III "Song of the Dragon and Freedom"

And complete the World Quest "Battlefield of Dice, Cats, and Cards"

〓Event Details〓

● After the event starts, Travelers can go to the Invitation Board of The Cat's Tail to participate in Genius Invokation TCG duels under the special rules of "Heated Battle Mode."

● Travelers can invite teammates or participate in duels via match-making after reaching Player Level 4.

"Genius Invokation TCG" The Forge Realm's Temper: Clever Stratagems

〓Event Duration〓

Available throughout the entirety of Version 4.4

〓Event Rewards〓

〓Eligibility〓

Adventure Rank 32 or above

Complete Archon Quest Prologue: Act III "Song of the Dragon and Freedom"

And complete the World Quest "Battlefield of Dice, Cats, and Cards"

〓Event Details〓

● After the event starts, Travelers can go to Prince at The Cat's Tail to select stages to challenge.

● This event includes 4 stages and each stage has its distinctive challenge rules.

● In each stage, Travelers can configure different parameters, including stage difficulty, the health of opponents, and the number of rounds to complete the challenge within.

● After completing the challenge, points will be obtained based on the parameters selected. Achieving the required scores will allow Travelers to claim the corresponding rewards.

"Triumphant Frenzy" Event: Adapt Swiftly to Dispatch Foes

〓Event Duration〓

2024/02/15 10:00:00 – 2024/02/26 03:59:59

〓Event Rewards〓

〓Eligibility〓

Adventure Rank 20 or above

〓Event Details〓

● For 5 days after the start of the event, a new challenge will become available each day.

● Each challenge will have four rounds of battle. Before the first round of every challenge, you can select four characters to form a team, and before each following challenge round, you can select two characters to join the team.

● Every character starts with 2 Resolve. Each time a character takes part in a combat round, they will lose 1 Resolve. Characters who run out of Resolve cannot continue to be deployed.

● Each challenge will have a unique type of "Roiling Resolve": Special effects will be obtained based on the total Resolve of the team members. Pay attention to these effects and use them effectively to obtain their benefits in battle.

● The trial characters available in this gameplay mode will inherit the same Constellation levels of the characters owned by the Traveler.

[synthaphone]

god okay so. i was looking at this leaked style guide page while i was sculpting that chia, and most of these pages have a mixture of site assets and TCG illustrations, the latter of which are usually a lot more polished and professional looking. so for this one i was like 'okay, four of the chia's default poses, and a nicely rendered piece of TCG art, par for the course for species style sheets from this document'

Anyway an hour ago I finally realized Wait. The Chia didn't GET any basic TCG cards. The only Chias in the TCG are Florg, Hubrid Nox, and some fruit Chias in the background of the Mirage card, and the word 'Chia' is notably absent from any of the cards- most likely they were advised not to use them by name to avoid further legal trouble with ChiaPet.

so now i'm trying to find the original full color version of that center image on Dr Sloth Image Emporium, because my theory is that they drew that for a planned basic Chia TCG card that ultimately went unused. It's high quality, has multiple levels of cell shading, and elements with colored lineart- but its not unprecedented for images like this to be drawn for the website, just less common, especially in 2005. If i found it in the context of an image that's around the same dimensions that a TCG illustration would be though, that would be pretty compelling evidence...

i've confirmed its not a shopkeeper, onsite collectable card, desktop background, or Neopian Times thumbnail illustration.

a version of it DOES show up in a premium collectable card, but it feels like a traced and edited version, and also looks more like a later era asset. it also shows up in a caption contest image, but those are often assembled from existing stock art and the crappy leaf skirt its wearing is not drawn as well or in the same style as the base art- the hair having internal outlines is an interesting difference though

anyway i need to sleep and there's like one billion more caption contest images with chias in them to look through, so tomorrow i will continue my journey...

[wander-wren]

hermitcraft folks, i think i’m losing it. i SWEAR at some point is s9 grian was promoting an art print or similar, separate from the TCG cards? it was of his base and him flying in front of it, and i think he also talked about the scarland art book at the same time? google isn’t helping. it might have been regular fanart, but i can’t find anything that looks like it at all. did i just dream this up?

[bulbagarden]

guess what??? bulbapedia had its 50,000th wiki article created a bit ago, and to celebrate we made a news article celebrating bulbapedia! i'm actually in it, soo... take a look if you'd like!! (this was written by our twitter admin and my overlord wyndoncalling)

Celebrating 50k Bulbapedia articles with our favourite wiki pages!

As one of the world's largest media franchises, Pokémon is monolithic to say the least. Documenting every facet of this gargantuan IP is a task perhaps only the most dedicated and/or foolhardy would embark on, yet that's exactly what our Bulbapedia team and thousands of selfless contributors have done over eighteen long years! With Pokémon now encompassing nine generations of main series games along with dozens of spin-offs, mobile games, movies, anime and manga series, merchandise and much more, the wiki itself has grown in tandem - we recently hit a whopping 50,000 articles!

To celebrate, we've compiled a list from across the Bulbagarden team of our favourite wiki articles. For our non-wiki team members, these might simply be pages that they enjoy reading and help inform their work in other aspects of the site. For wiki Staff, these could instead be pages that they've sunk many productive hours into. Read on for an eclectic collection of articles detailing some of the most obscure corners of the Pokémon franchise!

Credits to Staff artist Sirius for the awesome header image!

WyndonCalling (Social Media) - Tall grass

On the one hand, I think it's faintly hilarious that anyone would go into such detail for a mundane and omnipresent mechanic of the main series games; the tall grass that awaits the player on every starting route just feels so self-explanatory in function. On the other hand, I think it speaks volumes about the commitment and mentality of the Bulbapedia team and contributors that no scrap of information is left undocumented - on the tall grass page you'll find the basic details about how it works, but also variations such as tall grass and seaweed, animations of the Cut mechanic, in-battle effects, and more. Who knew that simple grass could be so fascinating in a world with flame-throwing dragons and electric mice?

Runner-up - List of Pokémon by base stats

As the Admin of the Bulbagarden Twitter account, I'm always on the hunt for interesting trivia to share; having the base stats of all Pokémon in one, sortable place makes it so much easier to make fun comparisons between species (did you know that Krabby has more Attack than Eternatus?).

Maverick Nate - Bulbapedia - Coin (TCG) (and its three subpages: Gens 1-4, Gens 5-6, and Gens 7-8)

This page is what I consider my best accomplishment during my 10 years as Bulbapedia's TCG Leader. There is an incredible amount of research, time, (and personal financial investment) baked into the article, and it always gives me a swell of pride when I update it with fresh images of newly acquired coins. There are over 700 different coins documented here, and I still fondly remember the long-night research sessions I would have with my best friend when we would do things like watch countless YouTube openings to figure out release information, check out endless eBay and Yahoo Auctions listings for never-before-seen coins, hold up physical coins to a spotlight trying to determine the Holofoil pattern. Our other friends would poke fun at us for researching in the field, (which was just our excuse to go shopping for newly released TCG products with new coins or hitting up garage sales and card shops on the off chance they had old ones). All of those years of effort produced what is now considered the definitive list of all coins in existence for coin enthusiasts. Whenever I see people online referencing it and using it for their own collections, I just have to smile, knowing that my favorite article is helping people all around the globe.

Wowy (Bulbapedia) - Red (Masters)

This page is just an example for all the character pages for Pokémon Masters. As one of the main editors covering Pokémon Masters when the game was first released, I feel very content to see many other editors who have taken the mantle to make Bulbapedia's coverage of the game quite comprehensive! I also enjoy the gallery section at the bottom because there are some sweet artwork pieces that come out of the game / the PMEX Twitter.

Runner Up - Face board

An article that was initially written for fun ended up being moved from the userpage to the main Bulbapedia page. Like the tall grass page, it's a niche page that showcases how much we like to document every minor and obscure detail in the franchise (albeit there is still so much to cover)!

Lisia (Social Media) (omg HIIII that's me!!!!) (姉ちゃん見て見て、あたしテレビだ。。) - Pokémon world in relation to the real world

This is a very extensive page, and it's very useful for a lot of different things! I use it for worldbuilding for fanfiction and roleplay stuff usually, but it's fun to look at just in general as well! I remember looking at the page first like... years ago, and it blew my mind to see that the Pokémon world was actually based off of real locations! It's something that I'd call a huge resource for anyone who creates Pokémon fanworks, especially written ones!

Runner Up - Lisia (i had to LOL)

Maybe it's a little... self-serving? But I really like this article of my personal namesake; she's my favorite character after all! She's a relatively minor character within the whole of Pokémon so there's not a whole lot of information about her, so I like reading all the stuff there is about her! It makes me happy that people have put work into articles about everyone, because well... in a way I wouldn't be me without it. I should probably contribute to it sometime!

Orchid (Forums) - Pokémon food

I picked this article because it is astoundingly comprehensive on its topic, and offers a lot of really interesting insight into the Pokémon universe as a whole. From Poffins, to prey, to parasites, to Slowpoke Tails... it's all here! It's amazing how having all this information in one place puts into perspective just how much there is to cover on what, at a glance, might seem like such a simple subject. I find myself coming back here every now and then just out of curiosity (or perhaps to settle a debate about what an Aerodactyl really eats).

Runner-up - Twerp

This page is silly and I love it. I've even shown this one to friends and family who are fellow Pokémon fans, and they've gotten just as much of a kick out of it as I have! But as amusing of a read as it may be, what I love most about this page is the fact that even a short and lighthearted bit of terminology like this is documented thoroughly here, just like anything else would be. All across Bulbapedia, you can find so much care and detail put into the littlest of things, and that does bring a smile to my face

DapperCody (Multimedia) - Ash Ketchum

Like many people, I grew up watching the Pokémon anime as a youngster. I enjoy Ash's article because it is comprehensive account of the quarter century that he has graced our screens - looking it over is very nostalgic. The history section with photos is fantastic, and I love being able to see all the Pokémon he has ever owned or used and their current status. It also has an extensive trivia section like all my favorite articles do. I've fallen down the anime rabbit hole on Bulbapedia numerous times, and Ash's page is a great place to start.

Runner Up - Ash's Noctowl

See all of the above, but from a different perspective. Pages for individual Pokémon from the anime are fantastic to get a glimpse into all the highlights from their time in the spotlight, and what better example of this than my personal favorite, Noctowl? The move history is really neat, especially the fact that it designates the moves recently used (and the illegal ones when applicable). Did you know Noctowl was the first Shiny Pokémon in the anime?

bthrussellUK (Bulbapedia) - Pokémon Battle Chess

I really love this article because I think it’s an example of what Bulbapedia is great at; taking obscure Pokémon topics (especially outside of Japan) and saving them from being lost to the sands of time. The original Pokémon Battle Chess website has been taken offline, so without articles like this one, the game would be forgotten. Instead, because it’s here, I decided to find and buy a copy of both Pokémon Battle Chess BW Version and Pokémon Battle Chess and use them to help expand the gameplay section of the article. They're actually pretty fun games! Now I just need a copy of Pokémon Battle Chess W…

Runner Up - Pokémon games

It looks like it's just a really long list... and it is! But for me it's a really great reminder of how massive Pokémon is, how many games have been released in the last 26 years, and how many different platforms Pokémon games have released on. Ever heard of the Advanced Pico Beena or the iQue Player?

Whether they're popular or niche, wide-ranging or obscure, we hope you've enjoyed our short tour of our favourite Bulbapedia articles! Do you have your own? Are you tickled by the trivia on a given page? You can let us know on our forums or Discord server - or even start editing yourself!

The wiki can never have too many contributors, and if your love of Pokémon is as deep as ours we'd be delighted to have you with us for the next 50,000 articles!

(lisia note: thank you for reading!!!!!!!!!! hopefully you enjoyed it!)

[actiniumwrites]

𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘

synopsis: in which a victory against cyno at genius invocation tcg leads to unexpected confessions

characters: cyno x gn!reader

wc: 880

warnings: fluff, angst, kinda hurt/comfort? established relationships, jealousy, loneliness

notes: sorry it’s been so long since i’ve written something :( this also isn’t based on the new event since i haven’t had the chance to play it yet! it kinda just popped into my mind randomly

“Ha, I win!” You exclaim loudly, immediately bursting up from your spot at the table and pointing downward at your victory.

“What?” Cyno gasps before spouting words of denial, “No, that’s impossible!”

Ruby eyes hurriedly glance over the cards on the table, desperately searching for some sort of error. Cyno was the king of Genius Invocation TCG. He fought people over it, entered dangerous competitions just to win cards, and for you to so easily defeat him? He couldn’t bear to admit his pitiful defeat.

Cyno never knew just how good you were at TCG. Your deck was damn near flawless, cards powerful beyond belief — not to mention how many limited editions you had. All these years of knowing each other, and not once did he know of your affliction for the card game.

“Admit it, Cyno, you lost!” You rub in your victory once again, reveling in the shear defeat painted across his face. It’s priceless, an expression you’re pretty sure you’ve never seen on his face. If you’re being honest, you didn’t know he could make such an expression.

“No, I won’t accept it,” he says slowly, staring down at his own cards, analyzing where he went wrong, “Let’s go again. If you really are that good, then beat me again.”

Your smile grows big and is rather mischievous, “Oh? Ready to lose again?”

And so you play. Again and again and again. Over and over. It takes hours before either of you declare it time to leave the tavern. Countless people go in and out, some wander over and stare at the intense match, while others pass by without a glance. It isn’t until Lambad comes over and tells the two of you the tavern is closing that you finally pick up your cards and place them back in your deck.

You glance up curiously at your boyfriend when you’re done. His looks distraught and a pinch of disappointment rests on his face. You watch as he picks up his cards one by one and carefully places them in his deck as to not damage them. It contrasts how you care for your cards: eager to place them away in bundles, almost like you didn’t practically sell your soul for them.

When he’s done, the two of you walk out of the tavern silently. You don’t like the tension in the air or the lingering sense of defeat, even though you won.

A grumble from either of your stomachs cuts through the deafening silence. You go to meet Cyno’s eyes, but he isn’t looking. You speak anyway, “I guess we played so long we forgot to eat, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to stop and get something? I’ll pay,” you offer in the hopes he’ll give you a real response.

“I’ll just eat at home.”

“Oh, okay,” you say meekly and avert your eyes. You play with the bracelet on your hands for a few seconds, fiddling with each gem on it.

“I never hid that I was good at TCG, you know?” You blurt out suddenly. It captures Cyno’s attention in an instant and his eyes finally snap to yours.

“What?” He says as if he doesn’t believe you.

“Really, I swear! I just—we’ve been dating for years. And, well, I knew how much you liked the game, but I was never any good at it. You always go out with the others and play with them and it always made me feel a little jealous because I didn’t understand how to play it.”

Cyno looks shocked, but he motions you to continue on, eager to hear your explanation, “One day, a few years ago, I decided to find someone to teach me and I got a good deck and started collecting cards in the hopes that I could play on your level one day. I didn’t mean to make you feel so defeated though, honestly! I just wanted to have fun with you too.”

Cyno sighs. He hates the way he made you feel guilty just because he was upset he lost at a stupid card game. That, and he never knew how you felt all these years. While he was off playing for hours on end with the people you both called friends, you were at home feeling left out. How did he never realize?

“You could’ve asked me, you know?” Cyno says quietly, “I could’ve been your teacher.”

“Yeah, but I sort of wanted to surprise you,” you smile bashfully.

“Trust me, you certainly surprised me,” he scoffs, “All that talk about wanting to be on my level and you go and exceed me.”

You laugh loudly at that, and a smile pulls at Cyno’s lips as he lets out a breath of air, “You’ll have to teach me some of your tricks. I still cannot believe you beat me every single time.”

“Maybe, but only if you give me that card with the limited edition Inazuma backing!”

“What? No. Do you know how long it took me to get that one?”

You dramatically sigh and look away, “Oh well, I guess you’ll just have to continue losing then.”

“Okay!” Cyno interrupts, “but only if you agree to share it with me.”

You smile and nod at him, “I can work with that.”

[sanderssidesthehouse]

Trick or Treat! Could you hit a bro up with one of the other categories of pokemon hcs you have?

I was confused for a second bc I mixed up 'hit up' with 'knock up' in my head but I was fully ready to figure out how that would work. Anyway...

SASI Pokemon TCG Headcanons!

Logan knows all the meta but he has a playstyle preference so he will play the very best deck possible in the style he wants. He likes to lock down the board and methodically take out the opposing pokemon one by one. He also has multiple decks to play against different opponents.

Roman based his one deck around whatever his current favorite pokemon is even if the cards are really bad. He’s going to brute force it. He either wins with his favorite or not at all. His favorite person to play against is Logan, but he usually only wins if Logan’s deck bricks.

Patton just collects the cards with the pokemon he thinks are cute. He got a starter deck so he could play with the others but he basically never wins. Not because he’s incapable of putting together a good deck and winning, or even winning with the one he has, he just knows the other feel good when they win. Except sometimes he’ll kick Janus’s ass for fun and Janus knows but he can’t say anything because everyone will just assume he’s lying. It’s killing him inside. One of these days he’ll prove it.

Virgil's decks consist mostly of spooky/edgy pokemon but if you call him out on it he’ll never play with you again. He played with Roman all of once before this became apparent. He almost always refuses to play with Logan because he knows he’ll lose, but when he does Logan actually provides really helpful tips for his deck and lets him try against different decks to find the strengths and weaknesses. He usually plays with Patton and while the others are waging wars over their matches they’re just hanging out and cracking jokes.

Janus’s preferred play style is fucking with the opponent’s board state and/or their ability to do anything. When he plays against Logan it’s a race to see who can set up their board the quickest which will determine who wins. His deck would actually be least effective against Roman’s, but Roman is so obsessed with getting his fav out he’s not playing it to its full capability.

Remus's deck is so chaotic but has the draw power to work. He has four kinds of energy in there. Why? Keep them guessing. He alters his deck between every game session for maximum confusion. He is the one person Logan can’t really prepare against except for trying to limit his draw power. Sometimes Remus wins because of this. He usually tries to get Roman to play with him, though, and uses weakness and resistance in his favor for that. He also plays with Janus who has trouble predicting what’s in his deck but does so with marginally better success than Logan. Sometimes he’ll try out wackier deck ideas in a game with Patton. Virgil lets him play if he agrees to only speak when strictly necessary (Sometimes he gets away with it if it’s objectively funny).

[bunburyist-darcy]

Cards that Draw Cards

Ponderings on card draw in card games...

Drawing cards is one of the most fun things about playing tcgs. The anticipation of topdecking the exact card you need, or perhaps seeing your favourite card - most players can empathize with the excitement of believing in the "heart of the cards" for their next draw to determine the game.

Having recently looked into how the Pokemon tcg works, I was shocked to find that unlike the other tcgs of the big three, Yugioh and MTG, Pokemon tcg has tremendous amounts of card draw as a normal part of the game. This got me thinking as to how these different game systems allow and limit card draw.

A simple place to start I think would be with Yugioh, since it's lack of a conventional resource system means card draw can be evaluated more in a vacuum. Take "Pot of Greed" for example, which simply reads "Draw 2 cards." In the context of Yugioh, there is no cost to play this card, no limit on how many you can play per turn, no restrictions as to what deck it can go into, and few ways to prevent a player from resolving this card (e.g. negates or counterspells). Thus pretty much any deck can and will play as many copies as allowed since each "Pot of Greed" effectively reduces your deck size by two, increasing consistency at little to no cost. Makes sense to see that it was limited to 1 copy per deck very early in the life of the game and banned completely within a few years, where it has stayed to this day.

If "Pot of Greed" only drew 1 card, it would probably still be played just for the consistency boost. However by drawing 2 it provides free card advantage as well. A number of variations on "Pot of Greed" have been released over the years, all with various restrictions and costs, however the original card remains a benchmark for card draw effects in Yugioh.

Now going to MtG, which has a resource system to put a price on any effect, however trivial or powerful. One of the famed "Power Nine" is "Ancestral Recall", which says "Target player draws three cards." and costs 1 blue mana. In the context of MtG, 1 mana is the smallest unit of cost in the game, and there is no limit to how many you can play per turn. Again any deck can play this, though you do need to find a source of blue mana, which does come with some deckbuilding considerations. Although this card's effect can be prevented with a counterspell, all counterspell variants require the opponent to pay at least as much mana in cost (or otherwise comparable cost), making it an even trade at worst. Once again, a card that allows for significant card advantage at little cost proves to be powerful and ubiquitous to the point of being banned in all but the most powerful formats.

MtG has since released countless card draw spells, with the modern design converging upon an average of 1.5 mana per card. (e.g. "Divination" 3 mana draw 2). This would be considered "fair" and likely not efficient enough for most competitive play. The presence of the mana resource system allows for much easier balancing of card power levels.

Now looking towards Pokemon tcg. When I first started looking at pokemon cards, I saw "Bill" from base set, which read "Draw 2 cards." and figured it must be broken, like my experience from ygo and mtg would have suggested. Oh how wrong I was... That same set had the first version of "Professor's Research", reading "Discard your hand, then draw 7 cards.", which is significantly more value as one can easily imagine playing the useful cards out of your hand and then tossing the rest for a handful of new cards. In the context of Pokemon tcg, there is no cost to play the card, again no deckbuilding limitation, and no reactive way to prevent its effect. Yet the card and near identical variants are printed often and is perfectly legal in most pokemon formats with 4 copies allowed per deck.

How then does pokemon prevent you from drawing your whole deck on turn one and breaking the game? Well, I then learned that "Professor's Research" and similar card draw effects largely reside on "Supporter" cards, which are limited to 1 per turn. Other types of cards which are not limited, such as Items, rarely draw cards. Pokemon that draw cards exist, and can increase the number of cards you see per turn even more. However, Pokemon tcg limits how much you can do with the cards you do draw, as there is a limit to 1 energy per turn, 6 pokemon on the field, evolution mechanics, etc. The relative absence of alternative win-cons or instant-win combos in Pokémon also makes drawing specific combinations of cards less of a end-goal. (To my knowledge things like Exodia or Tron don’t exist in Pokémon.) Finally, the card draw supporters also compete for that 1 per turn slot with other useful supporter effects such as "Boss's Orders" and thus the game does not proceed at a breakneck pace due to card drawing alone.

On the whole, it is interesting to see how all of the big three produced some of their most powerful card draw spells in the early years of the respective games. Yet although for Yugioh and MtG, that meant setting a bar limiting future design of card draw effects, Pokemon maintained that same high amount of card draw throughout its years of design without, as far as I know, creating significant impact upon its game flow.

Thus concludes my ramblings on card drawing in the big three tcgs. Hopefully you find the similarities and differences in card drawing mechanics as intriguing as I do, and thanks for reading.

[theminecraftbee]

imagine you find a little card shop by the side of the road. you come inside, and the only things it sells are kitschy miniatures and a trading card game based off of yourself and your friend group, complete with references and inside jokes that no one outside your friend group should know. i just think that Beef's TCG shop would make a great SCP

OOOOOH you're right he WOULD

[pwhl-mybeloved]

Do sports cards usually have "Rare"* cards and foil versions? Or is that just a thing with TCG cards?

*as in packs literally have a lower of chance of having them, not as in just the general sense

Yes, kinda! It’s different with each sport/brand. (Generally) Upper Deck has the rights to hockey, while Topps does baseball, Panini does basketball, and each of these do that sort of thing differently.

For Upper Deck, they have multiple releases per year (like Allure, Ice, Series 1/2, Artifacts, etc) and each of those releases will have base cards and inserts. The inserts are the cards that are somewhat equivalent to the rares in TCG. Inserts can be different colour parallels, cards with autographs, jerseys or other relics, or they are part of a serialized release (so only a certain number are printed. Sometimes it’s out of 999 like the Future Watch Autos, sometimes it can be out of 50, or 5).

Some years have different inserts than others. Their rarity is usually posted on the website before the release. Some releases have per-pack rarities, others only post the rarity per case (a case usually has 10-12 packs). So if you're buying cards by the pack, you know you'll get ~some sort~ of insert, but there's no way of knowing if it will be something interesting.

One reason why I don't recommend people buy card packs off ebay is that some (not all!) sellers will literally use a micro-scale to weigh their packs in the hopes they are selling off lower value cards. Relic cards and lenticular cards will be slightly heavier. this can happen with TCG sellers too because the foil cards weigh a couple milligrams more as well.

ok i def kinda rambled bc i got excited about your question, i hope i answered it!

PS: there’s definitely different language to do with sports cards than TCG, they wouldn’t be likely to describe something as Ultra Rare or Secret Rare the way that Pokémon does.

PPS: one of the things that makes collecting some of the early 90s Upper Deck hockey sets such a pain if you’re a completionist is they went thru some sort of ~phase~ with their holofoils and there are a lot of random ass parallels that are hard to find because they were short runs or only sold in certain regions 💀