#scizor ex

[pokemon-cards-hourly]

[firecodex]

Official artwork for New Heroes Are Born

Art by YOSHIDA Kiyotaka (Twitter/X: penguindynamite)

[ Related artworks: Official artwork for Infamous Pokéstar Villains | Combined version ]

[jadeazora]

Elio off crying in the corner because he still doesn't have a costumed alt while Selene finally gets hers. She's partnered with Scizor and Barry is partnered with Heracross. (Special Costume, can both Mega.)

Our Masters Day EX is Agatha!

Idk guys, call me crazy but for a "friendly merchant", his theme seems a bit sinister 😂

[oceandirtcountry]

Cookiescross Pokémon AU stuff

Salem, leader of the evil team, is horribly mutating Pokémon into abominations known as Grimm. These Pokémon are untamable, feral, and only listen to her and a select few.

Ruby Rose: A young girl setting out on her Pokémon journey. She obtains a Scizor from Ben as her first Pokémon as Ozpin’s starter that was meant for her ran away. She eventually finds it and adds it to her team.

Ruby just wants to become the best trainer around, the champion rank of the champion ranks. But with new trouble popping up throughout the Remnant region, it’s gonna be pretty hard to do something like that.

Ben is assigned to tag along her entire journey, much to his dismay.

The team I have planned for her is:

Scizor (Basically her crescent rose)

Inteleon (High caliber sniper mon)

Roserade (It used to be Summer’s Pokémon.)

Salamence (Caught from a Bagon, signifies Ruby’s wish to “fly” and become a great Pokémon trainer. Shelgon evolved into a Salamence when the two’s ideals lined up into one, during a fight against Cinder, as Ruby wished to be stronger and Shelgon wished to fly to save her.)

Alcremie (obligatory little guy)

She eventually picks up a legendary to add to her team to stop Salem, being Zygarde, both determined to bring balance back to Remnant.

Ben Tennyson: An ex-champion ranked trainer, Ben is an oddball with an unknown history. Somehow, he threw away his prodigious champion rank, earned when he was Ten, to disappear for five years, whereabouts unknown.

He’s matured since then, but Ruby finds it odd that she’s never seen him fight—until one fateful encounter with Tyrian leaves her team on the brink of toxic damage, and Ben brings out a powerhouse even Ozpin didn’t know he had.

Ben’s team:

Deoxys (basically the Omnitrix. A Pokémon that’s been with him since he was ten, and helped him defeat eight gyms and become a champion ranker. But it mysteriously disappeared when he was twelve, leading to Ozpin and everyone else assuming Ben no longer had this Pokémon on him.)

Xurkitree (Feedback, basically. A Pokémon he lost in a showdown against a corrupted Rotom, which practically absorbed the Xurkitree’s ball into its body. Sensing Ben’s presence later on, Xurkitree broke out of its chains to assist Ben once more.)

Buzzswole (Four Arms. One of Ben’s ace Pokémon, and sees the most use in battles due to its astounding strength.)

Nihilego (Ghostfreak. A wild encounter with this Pokémon left Ben traumatised as a kid, but after encountering it again, hurt, in Ultra Space, Ben tended to its wounds and added it to his team.)

Kartana (Wildvine. Ben’s wild card, Kartana uses the surprise factor of even being on the field to absolutely go to town on opponent teams, cutting them up before they even have the chance to react.)

Rayquaza (Sensing great power from a trainer, Rayquaza faced Ben in a battle atop Sky Tower. It took all his Pokémon, but Deoxys trumped the big lizard, and Rayquaza agreed to join Ben’s team.)

Rex Salazar: Rex did not want to become a Pokémon trainer. But after a Grimm attack on his home town, or a scientific facility made to study those Grimm, Rex joins Ben and Ruby on their adventure to make things right.

Rex suffers from memory loss, so he hopes that his journey with Ben and Ruby will help jog some of those.

Rex’s team:

Ambipom (Bobo. This Ambipom can actually talk—and was basically Rex’s only companion in the facility. A result of some of the facility’s experimentation left this Pokémon with boosted intelligence—and a love for being sarcastic, apparently.)

Tinkaton (Big, massive, hammer. This Tinkaton has been observed to change its hammer based on the situation, having gone from hammer to sword to fists before. Rex is still unsure why it does this, and it feels a little extra to keep switching, no?)

Sceptile (One of Agent Six’s team members, who he sent to watch Rex to ensure his safety. It’s a stark contrast to the rest of Rex’s team, as it fights with a certain rhythm and discipline.)

Randy Cunningham: A chosen trainer, having the ability to empathise with his Pokémon and truly understand their emotions. Randy was selected from years upon years of trained Pokémon to be the final trainer to carry on the legendary “Ninja” title.

Randy doesn’t really understand as to why it was him to be chosen, and he joins the main three after accidentally flubbing a battle and realising he might need more help.

Randy’s team:

Ogerpon (The ninja mask, Ogerpon is adaptable and the most friendly of Randy’s passed-down Pokémon. Often switching masks to turn the tide of battle. When Randy eventually unlocks “Ninja Zen”, an ancient art that basically allows him to be on the same wavelength as his Pokémon, Ogerpon dons the Ninja Mask and becomes a Fighting/Grass type.)

Greninja (A Pokémon that has been with the First ninja. It’s honestly surprised as to why Randy was chosen as its trainer, since he’s a little bit…different from the rest of the Ninjas. It’s stunningly powerful, but only if Cunningham understands what to tell it. When in Ninja Zen, it adopts a form similar to ash greninja.)

Accelgor (A speed demon that Randy is still unsure how to control. It’s erratic and barely listens to him.)

Dragapult (Its a very kind Pokémon, the one which guided Randy on how to train its teammates in the first place. It’s got a motherly nature to it, probably because the two Dreepy on its head are its kids.)

Blake Belladona: A Faunus girl, shunned for their ancient connection to Pokémon and their pokemon-like body parts, even though most of them cannot use Pokémon moves. Blake is part Meowscarada, and excels at sleight of hand tricks.

After saving Ben and company from the White Fang, she’s originally surprised by the group’s lack of hostility toward her and her Faunus traits.

When they eventually go to see Weiss, the two break out in an argument, which eventually leads to Weiss discovering what exactly is happening in the mines.

Blake’s team:

Meowscarada (A pokemon she has a sort of link with. The two battle as if in sync, with Blake not needing to call out moves for the Pokémon to know exactly what she wants.)

Zoroak (A Pokémon gifted to her when she was a child. It can create illusions to hide Blake when she needs it, together with her Faunus traits, and hence comes in extremely useful.)

Crawdaunt (Schnasty lobster. After Blake nearly drowned, this Pokémon came to her aid, and has been at her side as a guardian angel of sorts ever since. It’s the one Pokémon that helped her buy time while she escaped from Adam. She eventually met up with it again, after her re-confrontation with the Tauros Faunus.)

Weiss Schnee: A snobbish, prideful heiress of Remnant’s most powerful company—Dust mining, which work like a mix of Z-crystals and type gems from the Gen 5 games (I’m still working on it)—and has a powerful team to boot.

After a near-death experience when Ruby and co. brought her into the mines, she realised exactly what her dad was doing to the poor Pokémon and Faunus workers, and well, she wasn’t happy.

Her dad took away her Pokémon, but one insisted on staying with her—the family’s most powerful mon,

Kingambit (The Arma Gigas. It’s the Schnee family’s famous Pokémon, prided for its strength and honour. While it used to be Winter’s Pokémon, it chose to tag along with Weiss on her journey.)

Weiss also later obtained her team back, with help from Randy, which consists of

Froslass (Saved her from falling during a ski trip in the mountains. Has stuck with her ever since.)

Delphox (Her starter from Professor Ozpin. She didn’t like it at first, but it grew on her.)

Appletun (Some weird lady gave her an apple, but it turns out that apple had an Applin inside! After eating the sickly sweet apple, it evolved into an Appletun that Weiss finds quite adorable.)

Yang Xiao-Long: A member of Raven Branwen’s tribe, Yang was raised to pride strong Pokémon over anything else. She didn’t even realise Ruby was her half-sister until much, much later, when she joined Ruby’s team for good.

Yang doesn’t like how controlling her mom is, and sometimes wished she’d been with her dad instead, even with her mom talking so much smack about Tai.

She eventually leaves the tribe when the whole group shows up to confront Raven about a kidnapped group of powerful Pokémon from their natural habitats, which is about when Ruby meets Bagon for the first time,

Yang’s team:

Infernape (Yang’s original Pokémon. It’s fast, it hits hard, but the two never formed a bond as Raven deemed it “useless”.)

Tyranitar (One of the two Pokémon that the tribe kidnapped. It chose to join Yang as a Larvitar as it found her to be a strong, destructive force, like its mother would have been.)

Garchomp (The other Pokémon the tribe kidnapped. It’s oddly meek for its species, and joined Yang as she seemed to be the friendliest person in the tribe.)

…Pawmot? (A Pokémon Yang picked up into the journey with Ruby and gang, which she found adorable. It’s more of a sign that she’s shedding the beliefs raven drilled into her head.)

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3207: Blastoise (Expedition #4)

The starter Pokemon each got 2 cards in Expedition, but the Holo one was the one to look at in almost every case. This Blastoise could hit reasonably hard, though it needed a lot of Energy to outdo its competition. It could also flip to sacrifice an Energy to also discard an Energy on the Defending Pokemon, something that could make setting up way harder if someone had fallen behind. It was that flip that gave Blastoise a way to stand out from its competition, as solid Stage 2 Water-types were rather common otherwise.

100 HP was the typical Stage 2 number of the day, and most decks were aiming to KO these in 2 hits. Blastoise was no exception. Lightning wasn't the most common type in Neo-On where you'd usually see this, though you would have to look out for Electabuzz every once in a while. Lightning became more common in E-On, especially with Team Aqua's Manectric, but Blastoise was much less common there. The Retreat Cost was 2, so switching cards weren't the worst idea.

Jet Stream was a Poke-Power that you could try once per turn. Blastoise had to be your Active Pokemon, and it only worked if you flipped heads. If you did, you discarded an Energy card attached to Blastoise and also an Energy card attached to the Defending Pokemon. You got to choose whether to flip, so you weren't forced into an awkward spot, and getting rid of an Energy (especially a Special Energy) was often worth the trade. You did tend to sacrifice 10 damage when doing so, however, and the coin flip meant this was by no means reliable. You could treat it somewhat like an extra chance at Energy Removal 2, which was still a nice bonus when it hit.

Energy Cannon started at 40 damage for a Water and 2 Colorless Energy, which was lower than Pokemon like Dark Feraligatr, Walrein, or pretty much anything in a Swampert deck. You could add up to 20 more damage to this, 10 for each extra Water Energy attached not used for the attack cost. This let you KO anything but a few Grass-types and some Pokemon ex in 2 hits... for 5 Energy. Still, this was going to make progress, and was an attack on a Pokemon that could slow the opponent down so in that context it was pretty decent.

Blastoise probably wasn't quite as good as Dark Feraligatr or Kingdra in Neo-On or something like Swampert or Walrein in E-On. All of those had more reliable effects to work with. It was still very capable of holding its own, and did like the Neo-On format in particular due to the amount of Fire-types and the chances to take out Special Energy that Scizor decks loved so much. It had some traits that were really liked in that format, even if not all of them were totally reliable, and Blastoise was still a lower end competitive option despite the heavy competition in its own type.

[sinnohstruggles]

Alright, let's do this again

I'm Ex-Champion Juniper Frost, a Sinnohan with a Master's degree in pokébiology and a minor in Regional Mythos. I'm returning to the Eterna City University of Pokémon Studies to get my doctorate in Pokébiology.

And yes, I am a Froslass hybrid. I don't have heterochromia, the purple eye is glass because my mom tried to kill me. She only succeeded in fucking up my hearing, my eyeball to the point of removal and giving me a myriad of burn scars.

And yes, my mother is/was Commander Venus of Team Galactic.

Found out I'm Giratina's Chosen the hard way (it's a long story).

I switch between my home in Sunyshore City, Sinnoh, the apartment I've given my friend in Nimbasa City, Unova and my summer house that I rent out in Lumiose City, Kalos. My current residence is in Eterna City, Sinnoh.

Lex's the Gyarados and despite how she may look, menacing face and scars aside, she's much quieter than you'd think.

Lumipallo's the Abomasnow and he's by far the better in my team when it comes to his actions.

Trixie's the Gengar, she has a fair few issues of her own considering she was once a human but she's taking time to get over them.

Lance's the incredibly eloquent Gallade, a strong fighter with and equally strong vocabulary.

Fright's the Umbreon, who struggles to communicate as well as the others but I still love him all the same.

Sparks' the sweet-as-pie Scizor, he's all about caring for others despite his species' typical demeanour.

Now, this is my current team

My two shinies, Lillian and Toffee, were acquired in a quite odd way. Lillian attempted to jump me just outside of the cottage I rented out and Toffee was an apology gift from a boy who used a pokéball on me.

Not pictured is my support Aurorus, Nordlys, and her support Skiploom, Brick. I have Nordlys due to a lot of issues caused by trauma, she has Brick because she's mute and greatly struggles with communication.

Here's the playlist we have for him

OOC under here!!

Juniper is 24 and while the mun is also an adult, I'd rather keep nsfw stuff away due to the fact that Juniper interacts with children, teenagers and young adults.

Mail/unmail is on.

Dreams/malice (Musharna) is off.

Juniper's universe is post Platinum.

Other universes are welcome to interact.

Occasionally, this blog features potentially triggering content (drugging, abuse, etc). Warnings before these arcs are posted and the arcs will have specific tags to block.

Arcs tagged as above: Wardbound, Into The Laboratory, The Blizzard Rages On, Distborn Chosen, Inside The Mind Of The Broken Man

Paused Arc: Into The Laboratory

Ongoing Arc (dealing with somewhat difficult topics): The Disappearance of Juniper Frost

[creativewhizkid]

twisty pokérot hours here are some of my fav pokémon from each region BECAUSE no one asked :3 /pos

whoopsie a WHOLE BUNCH of rambling under cut !!

kanto:

wartortle!!! my boy!!! his design slaps SO HARD and is honestly one of the best middle stage starters. everyday i weep for the scrapped og blastoise design that looked a lot more like him :(

johto:

i honestly cannot pick between typhlosion, scizor and ampharos… typhlosion is one of my favorite starters ever, i don’t really care about how he and the other gen 2 starters are under designed. i love my angry honey badger echidna freak <3

scizor is just like. peak character design to me. shes like scyther walked into hot topic and came out a girlboss. i love the underrated bug type and bugs in general and scizor really held the candle for the best bug type for a long time (for me atleast)

ampharos omgggg ampharos… honestly the entire mareep line is so cute to me!! i love how it goes from an unsheared sheep, to half sheared, and then to fully sheared. also ampharos has the “bean bag body type” pokemon design trope that i love, all pokemon with this body type (ex: goodra, dragonite, flygon ) are all so huggable and cute to me!! i NEED an ampharos irl NOW!!! 🤬🤬🤬 /pos

hoenn:

maybe a basic answer but THE ENTIRE MUDKIP LINE!!! YES I DO LIKE MUDKIPS /ref

yes this includes marshtomp ily marshtomp and most of all SWAMPERT!!

mudkip is one of the cutest starters EVER and choosing one in a gen 3 game is THE CORRECT CHOICE. i chose mudkip and i named her skipp and we quite literally single-handedly obliterated every single trainer battle, gym leader and the elite four + steven stone together. swampert has one of the best typings in the games ( water + ground ) so she only had ONE weakness and was IMMUNE to electricity 😭 poor wattson

she REALLY cemented my love for the entire mudkip line oaosufjfoighhh i love my mudfish salamander axolotl so much!

i will admit it took me like. a few days of playing ruby and looking at fanart to get used to marshtomp’s design but i can say with certainty that i love marshtomp as much as mudkip and swampert <3

sinnoh:

GLISCOR 👹👹👹

i love bats so much and gliscor is not an exception. one of the best new evolutions design wise, and i just love the cheeky personality it radiates. i caught one in platinum and named it uzi after uzi from murder drones <3

it was the evolution gligar NEEDED and thank lord it got it because gliscor is amazing and i want one irl. also kinda unrelated but i was baffled when i learned that this mf is 6’07’’?? hello???

honourable mentions also go to gastrodon <3 (specifically east sea form)

unova:

man i feel so bad for the gen 5 games plus it’s pokémon cuz the anime gave it such a bad rep 😭 yeah i agree the anime was kinda eh BUT THE GAMES AND GEN 5 POKÉMON ARE GREAT OK?? i have a lot of favs but im gonna have to go with reuniclus !!

when it comes to my taste in pokémon i don’t really care about their stats or competitive stuff, i mainly judge them based off of their design. so you can imagine when i saw reuniclus plus it’s pre-evolutions i instantly fell in love. he’s??? so silly??? HELLO??? who knew a pokémon based off of my average biology class lecture would make me go HDJDHEJWHWHEHEHEHEEHIEAWWWWW 🥹🥹 so much

kalos:

gif quality is awful but GOODRA AND ITS PRE-EVOLUTIONS ARE ACTUALLY MY FAVOURITE POKEMON OF ALL TIME !! <3

i was watching the xy anime... i was watching the ash vs clemont battle... i saw ash's goodra do it's silly little splashes while using its rain dance in the gif above... i don't think i've ever " AWWWWW'D " louder in my life???

i cannot put into words HOW MUCH I LOVE GOODRA!! it's FAT it's a DRAGON it's a SLUG it loves HUGS it's TALL it's FRIENDLY and it's ALSO CUTE?? AND A PSEUDO-LEGENDARY??? PEAK POKÉMON!! i just look at goodra fanart daily just to make my heart melt CUZ I LOVE THIS FAT SLIME DRAGON SO MUCHAWGFWJFWAHB

BEST dragon type CUTEST dragon type BEST pseudo-legend BEST POKÉMON EVER I'M RIGHT YOURE WRONG !!! /HJ /LH

alola:

i have two favs... the rowlet line (mainly decidueye) and lurantis!! i'll talk about decidueye first

pokémon sun was actually the first pokémon game i've ever played!! i really wish i played the earlier games sooner but i was more of a pokémon anime kid growing up... sigh... atleast now i've been playing more games <3

anyways decidueye!! rowlet was actually my first ever starter! i loved the beach ball owl so much! i don't remember much about my first couple of playthroughs of sun (i dont think i ever got to evolve my starter beyond a dartrix) but ever since i got into pokémon again and absorbed so much info into my brain i've concluded that decidueye is actually amazing

i LOVE archers. i LOVE owls. i LOVE characters with hoods/cloaks/capes. i HAD to love decidueye. plus it's typing ( grass / ghost ) is actually so cool?? it's just such a well designed and well thought-out pokémon

lurantis omg lurantis... they could never make me hate you lurantis...

it's. literally. SO CUTE!! if a pokémon is cute enough to me i am GOING to like it automatically. additionally i love how it's based off of the real life orchid mantis!! irl orchid mantis' are basically pink mantis' that look like flowers, particularly orchids to hide themselves in plain view to ambush their prey. cool, right?

well, with lurantis, it's a pure grass type, not a bug type. the reason that is is because lurantis is actually a flower, particularly an orchid, that looks like a mantis, to fit in with other bug types since grass types are weak to bugs. i really love that!! i also just love lurantis' design in general🥺

galar:

even though gen 8 is my least favourite generation (i don't hate it, it's just that i love the others more) i do have a fav! while i do like pokémon such as dragapult, corviknight, frosmoth, grapploct, etc, centiskorch is 100% my favourite!! i love bugs in general and a fire centipede is honestly just super cool. it's design is awesome as heck and it's gigantamax form is one of my favourites, even though it just gets super long :3 also the name centiskorch is so cool

hisui:

surprise surprise my fav hisui mon is hisuian typhlosion!! legends arceus really took one of my fav pokémon and made him stoned and girlypop huh /pop

again. with. the. amazing! fire/ghost! typing! it works SO well with typhlosion somehow. hisuian typhlosion's design didn't change much from johtonian typhlosion's but it still slaps SO HARD. the darker purple works so well with the fire collar pattern it has arounds its neck and i love how they gave him eyeshadow!! just an amazing mon all around <3

paldea:

it's a tie between ceruledge and tatsugiri!! i'll talk about ceruledge first <3

look at my baby coughing like a smoker <3

i've said this a lot already in regards to the others on this list but one of the biggest reasons i fell in love with ceruledge when i saw it for the first time is because of its design!! ghost/fire is such a cool typing (that skeledirge also has <3) and despite ceruledge and it's counterpart armarouge being more on the humanoid side, unlike other pokémon who are also in the same boat they don't look uncanny to me at all!! ceruledge is just so cool with its colour palette and the BLUE/PURPLE FLAME SWORDS?!!!??? HELLO!?? that it's difficult NOT to like it!! ily ceruledge

the contrast between tatsugiri and ceruledge is kinda funny

anyways i bloody adore this ONE FOOT TALL sushi fish so much. i love how in its stretchy form its glaring at me like it knows what i have done /hj

i dont know?? why i?? love him so much??? he's literally just a grumpy sushi fish who changes colours... he's my favourite boyfailure!! he's so cute and tiny!!!

anyways this has been twisty pokérot hours goodnight tristate area <3

[ourpokemonteamtournament]

Ex Scizor

Normal Shiny

Ex Mega Shiny Scizor

Normal Shiny

If you vote please reblog to help us get as wide a net as possible. Propaganda is highly encouraged. Round 37 Masterlist

[tcgym]

Went to a locals right after everyone else went to regionals. I actually did insanely good despite losing 1-2. But all my matches had my opponent desperately try to scrap together an answer to my weird card choices.

I played Gholdengo ex with Aegislash as my answer to the unhealthy use of ex and V cards. AEGISLASH WAS THE CARD TO CAUSE PROBLEMS. My opponents used too many ex and V Pokemon and I was only countered by experimental strategies that use regular Pokemon. Last game I was starting to brick and lost because the guy was using Gholdengo ex and Palkia V and was forced to attack using Radiant Greninja. He literally couldn't make a good attack with anything else due to Mysterious Shield.

My strategy does have a hole though. Underused cards/attacks that get around Agislash's ability or status conditions are a big one. Single prize strategies may also prove troublesome. But Gholdengo is supposed to handle most of those.

My use of new cards and more obscure cards took people by the spine. We were rotating early so I utilized some of the new cards with way more enthusiasm than others. Cyphermaniac works wonderfully for Gholdengo as you rig your deck and draw the cards you want. Smart service Indeedee is one rarely ever used, even had a judge call on it because it's first move is worded a little weirdly and has rarely been explained. I know it's a little slow and takes up the active spot, but you got to admit that grabbing any card and being able to use the move on the first turn is great.

The biggest problem is mirror matches as Scizor is commonly used in Gholdengo decks. Scizor does insane damage if I get set up.

To be clear: Full Metal Lab is a good card to run for this deck, but Gholdengo ex is too commonly used to safely play. Rigid Band is not bad; you'll probably be playing this with Arvens.

This may be close to meta, but I like to mix some odd strategy to make my opponents panic.

[werewolfcandy]

Kamen Rider Pokemon AU thoughts under the read more bc i love both of these things and i need to combine them in my head

W cast:

Shotaro: A Honchkrow, given to him when it was just a baby Murkrow by the Boss. Shoutaro’s Honchkrow enjoys puffing up its own feathers, but it seems a little melancholy sometimes, too. Seems like it misses the Boss’ old Honchkrow.

Philip: Philip’s Espeon is often curled in his lap while he’s researching, and it keeps protective watch over his body when Philip becomes Double with Shoutaro.

Akiko: Akiko’s Purugly is quite pampered, and she spends a lot of time brushing its soft fur to perfection. Her Purugly is a bit boastful because of this. When it sees Akiko get her slipper from her back, it will dash behind the legs of her target so they can’t run away from Akiko.

Terui: Terui’s Scizor seems just as cool and collected as he is, but its actually quite shy. It’s an extremely capable fighter, chasing down enemy dopant’s pokemon as relentlessly as its owner. 

OOO Cast:

Eiji: Eiji’s Goodra is incredibly friendly, and enjoys hugs! Eiji never seems to mind when it leaves slime all over his clothes (though certain prickly birds complain every time Goodra tries to hug them too). When Eiji struggles to control the purple medals, his Goodra becomes extremely distraught and fearful, to the point of rampaging alongside him.

Ankh: A Ho-oh! Obviously it had to be a firebird pokemon, and Ho-oh is described as having rainbow feathers, just like Ankh! It was weakened alongside Ankh, so to protect itself, it disguises itself as a Talonflame. (legendary pokemon can disguise themselves as normal pokemon because i say so)

Hina: Her Leavanny is always extremely helpful when she’s designing clothes. Its strong silk and sharp cutters make for an especially strong thread and clean fabric cut. It’s surprisingly strong for such a delicate looking pokemon, and won’t hesitate to fight back if it thinks Hina is being threatened.

Gotou: In his research and study of the medals, Kougami and his scientists managed to create a synthetic pokemon capable of changing its typing with a special device. only one of these creatures managed to survive past incubation, and was given to Gotou when he was promoted to lead a squadron. Gotou isn’t quite sure what to make of Type: Null, but sometimes it looks back at him with intelligent eyes from behind its mask, and Gotou wonders how much is being held back by its control mask.

Date: Despite its rough looks, Date’s Aggron is surprisingly friendly. Years of work in combat zones have left its metal hide a bit scuffed and worn, but Date tries to polish it up a bit when he can. It eats a lot too, and Date often has to pry cell medals out of its mouth after a battle before it eats too many. 

Satonaka: Satonaka will battle, too, if she’s paid enough to do it. Her Tsareena is just as aloof as she is, and an extremely capable fighter. Even Date’s Aggron will flinch away from it. But their battling prowess doesn’t come cheap, and Satonaka insists on extra pay if any of Tsareena’s leaves get scuffed in a fight.

Ex-Aid Cast:

Emu: A Lucario. I couldn’t decide between this or Blaziken (it reminds me of Mighty, a little bit!) But Lucario’s empathetic abilities are a good match for Emu i think. For some reason, it acts really strange around Parad... maybe it senses something about him that Emu doesnt?

Parad: A Porygon, of course! It wouldn’t have any trouble following it’s friend into digital spaces. Kuroto designs the special discs Porygon needs to evolve for Parad. 

Hiiro: A Gallade! There is nothing they cannot cut. Hiiro has a mega stone, but his own personal struggles prevent him and Gallade from mega evolution for much of the show.

Kiriya: Its GOTTA be a Cyclizar! C’mon, of course the bike man would have a bike pokemon. Kiriya’s Cyclizar is just as fun and upbeat as he is!

Taiga: Decidueye. It supports Snipe in combat with it’s sharpshooting quills. While it seems quite cool and aloof, it can often be seen fussing over Taiga when he’s in his office.

Nico: Nico’s Scrafty has as big of a temper as she does, and Emu is often an unfortunate target for it’s violent headbutts or kicks. It’s fiercely protective of Nico, and has a competitive streak from their esports days. Scrafty hates losing more than anything, so it often tries to start fights with Emu’s Lucario.

Poppy: A cute Sylveon! It’s good at helping patients calm down a little bit, and loves to dance with Poppy! Whon Poppy’s feeling a little down, her Sylveon will link it’s ribbons in her hands and try to cheer her up by instigating a dance.

Kuroto: A shiny Gengar. It’s leering smile and horrid laughter echo Kuroto’s. It becomes even more cruel and unnerving once they achieve mega evolution, relentlessly chasing Kiriya’s Cyclizar through the streets when it goes to find help.

Graphite: Graphite and his Charizard both enjoy testing themselves in combat. Graphite’s signature move burns just as hot as his Charizard’s flames! While capable of mega evolution, they prefer not to use it, only mega evolving when their opponent has proven themselves worthy.

Build Cast:

Sento: Isurugi says he found Metagross’ pokeball on Sento when he found him in the rain. It doesn’t seem to remember anything, either, so it navigates its new life with Sento one step at a time. An encounter with a Buneary earned Sento another companion, too! It’s often perched on Sento’s shoulder, and when they both get excited, both of Buneary’s ears stand on end.

Banjou: A Kommo-o! (its fighting and dragon type. it has to be a Kommo-o). They were legends in the ring, but after Banjou’s fall from grace, his Kommo-o refused to listen to him. It’s taken a while, but now that Banjou has found his reason to fight again, he and Kommo-o can finally fight together once more. When Banjou gets fired up, Kommo-o clangs its scales in reply.

Misora: A Spinda (because i think it kind of looks like that weird rabbit plush thing Misora has). Misora usually holds it in her arms, since it can be a little slow when it totters after her with its strange movements. After her collapse as a child, she found that a Shaymin followed her everywhere, too. It’s cute and unassuming, but sometimes the flowers on its back shake, like it’s reacting to some strange power...

Sawa: Sawa’s Chatot received training alongside her during their youth as Namba Children. It’s capable of advanced levels of speech pattern recognition, so Sawa will often leave it in unassuming places so her Chatot can eavesdrop and then repeat back to her everything it heard. 

Kazumin: Mudbray and Tauros are common pokemon for farmers, and Kazumin’s Mudsdale has been his reliable partner since childhood. Years of farm work have build it’s already strong stamina into something almost untouchable. It stands stong, shrugging off powerful attacks like they’re nothing, and one stomp from Mudsdale’s hooves is enough to down almost any opponent. 

Gentoku: Krookodile looks a bit intimidating, until you realize it can be just as silly as Gentoku can be. It shared his horrendous amazing fashion sense. Gentoku has sunglasses that match the dark markings around Krookodile’s eyes.

Evolt: Isurugi’s Dachsbun used to be at his side every second of the day, but for some reason it began to shy away from him. Now it snarls at him from time to time, and spends every moment with Misora instead. 

After everything is revealed, a strange and unsettling pokemon started to accompany Evolt. Deoxys looms behind him, standing almost perfectly still, and it’s ever-shifting forms make it a tough opponent in combat.

[chibisnowfox]

(Over) Analyzing Pokemon Hints (24)

Quiet-ish this week? In Pokemon Masters EX the Neo Plasma events are returning until the 17th. If this means anything, it could be hints towards Unova remakes, though we're probably not getting new games this year unless it's a late surprise announcement. Also in EX the New Heroes Born event will start on the 12th. This event introduces Barry & Heracross, and Selene & Scizor. If this means anything, possibly hints towards Johto remakes? On the Pokemon UK Twitter account, there was a short video of the Pokemon National Park from Johto, which again could be hinting towards remakes. And there was a post showing pixel Eevee and Eeveelution pixel pin bags and backpacks. Maybe further hints to a new Eeveelution at some point? So if anything was hinted at this week, it would be remakes for Unova and Johto, which I still don't think will happen this year. I think the next Switch is supposed to come out at some point next year, so it would make sense for the games to release for it. And with the new Eeveelution... I know I've been saying this often, and that the Eeveelutions are really popular. It's still interesting when there are frequent promotions of them in a short amount of time. That should be it for this week.

[pokemon-cards-hourly]

[firecodex]

Combined artworks for New Heroes are Born and Infamous Pokéstar Villains

Art by YOSHIDA Kiyotaka (Twitter/X: penguindynamite)

[ Related artworks: Official artwork for New Heroes are Born | Official artwork for Infamous Pokéstar Villains ]

[jadeazora]

Some clean arts of the Kanto starters from the Special Venusaur/Charizard/Blastoise EX decks.

We also have Scyther and Scizor from Shiny Treasure.

In non-TCG news, we have the Steel Gear event and super-hard Ultimate Anabel and Entei battle announced for Nov14:

[crystalelemental]

Unit Teambuilding - Winter Viola

Viola has never exactly been a favorite of mine, but damn if this alt doesn't look nice.

General Overview Bug type is a mess in Masters right now.  Like it's real bad.  Viola is exactly #15 for a High Score event, almost no one is that good offensively, minimal shenanigans going on within the type.  Viola...aims to fix basically none of this.

Viola is a Bug, yes, but she's a Field pair with Tech role.  She is a sync nuker aiming at one target, and her nuke isn't especially impressive.  Oh sure, plenty of Bug Zone to go around, and has spread paralysis/confusion and a -1 debuff to all seven stats as a baseline.  It's certainly not bad.  But Struggle Bug is terrible DPS that exists mostly to debuff for her nuke, and otherwise...doesn't align to much.  She's reliant on allies who deal damage.  Which, as specified, is a rough goddamn time in Bug Land.

I think Viola's one of those pairs that has the potential to be optimal later on. Like, if someone drops with GMax Butterfree, I can pretty much promise Viola's going to be an ideal partner for what she can set up. And the Zone alone is sufficient to get major bugs like the potential Mega Scizor/Heracross going. But I think my problem is that Viola, in her heart, is a generalist, with tools for a very specific mode of play she doesn't facilitate well. If Bug Zone were another generalized utility tool, I think she'd be better off in a broad sense. But as she is, she's an amalgamation of pretty good utility tools that are only valuable in combination for one (1) partner.

EX, Role, and Move Level? Viola gets her general utilities all at 1/5, so if you just want some debuff and paralysis, she's got you covered.  3/5 is for her own sync, and some additional utility options.  EX is nice for her field effect, though I personally don't find as much value in Tech as a role.  It's not a terrible pick, I just don't know that it's what she really wanted, considering Support and Sprint would have been far more valuable effects. I could see justification for the stat spread, but her limited effectiveness in Gauntlet isn't making her all that useful as a tank, so I don't really know what her game plan is here. Her sync isn't even particularly impressive with the Tech role. Like, it's not bad for Bug, it's top 3. But in the grand scheme, it's nothing impressive.

Team 1: W!Viola, Alder, Lodge Dawn This is her one (1) Bug pal.  Alder loves everything Viola can do.  The Sp Atk debuffs are ideal for both his sync and his DPS, while Viola's high power single-target nuke with Zone privileges complements Hyper Beam perfectly. Lodge Dawn has Team Sharp Entry to give them one less turn of setup, and grants gauge for Alder and bulk to maximize survival from Viola's debuffs.

Team 2: W!Viola, Lodge Dawn, Lusamine/Burgh "Hey wait a second, isn't this the same as the last one?" Kinda but listen. Viola actually does something distinct for these two. Specifically, she can buff. Her TM is single-target, she can buff allies instead, getting pairs like Lusamine and Burgh to max offenses with a lot less fuss. If either of them are EX, this is a very clean solution to on-type, providing a fairly easy rotation of TM -> Zone -> Buddy move -> TM just before sync for side denial. One use of X Sp Atk All from Dawn, and they're capped off.

Team 3: W!Viola, Aaron, Guzma/Bugsy While not her central wheelhouse, Viola can, to some degree, power up physical bug, thanks to Bug Zone and the general debuffing possibilities. Guzma has EX and a decent sync, while Bugsy is just dying for EX but does appreciate all the potential disruption Viola throws at the sides. Aaron is optimal in both cases, focusing on the Bug theme skills and giving the needed stats for either.

Team 4: W!Viola, SS Kris/SS Brendan, Clair/SS Cynthia Viola, despite being so heavily coded for Bug, does not have to be used just for Bug. Her status and debuffs offer some fun alternatives as well.  Clair Draco Meteor strats are on the table, without the need for accuracy boosts.  With SS Kris, Viola and Kris are providing max support to Clair's offensive presence.  Granted, no Zone, but such is life.  Alternatively, SS Cynthia has need of paralysis for her own multipliers, and can use SS Brendan to maximize offenses and kick in Dragon theme skills.  Recall, though, that Viola can buff anyone with her TM, so you could throw that into a team with Drake as the support, but...gauges.

Team 5: W!Viola, Will, MC Mesprit/Liza So okay, we did the paralysis one, let's talk confuse. Viola has AoE Confuse and Stop Hitting Yourself. Stop Hitting Yourself stacks, and as expressed, sides do not have Confuse resistance. Meaning they slap themselves stupid. While Lodge Acerola/Sidney is perfect triple Confuse stacking, I opted against because honestly those two could do better. Will, however, gains tangible benefit from Viola's TM, which can go through the same rotation outlined in Team 2, to set up a denial on left with Will's sync. MC Mesprit is optimal for shields and that last bit of Sp Atk with speed bonus, while Liza is your cheaper option that's good for specially offensive stages. Also if she ever gets an EX she'll be pretty useful.

Team 6: W!Viola, Diantha, SS Mina/Roxanne I find this a little hard to justify with Penny, but we can talk.  SS Mina's got issues aplenty, but one thing that does work out in our favor is Viola helping set up Diantha, while being decently fast unlike Bede.  The Devastation nuke actually exists with Viola's support.

Team 7: W!Viola, Kukui, Paulo/Ingo/BP Olivia This isn't a great idea, but listen. Cakewalk strats are on the table with Viola's Shocking Slowdown. Kukui is getting a very nice grid expansion this month, that removes the need for offensive support. As a result, you can throw in a Sandstorm pair like Paulo (with Support role to tank) or Ingo (removes a good chunk of Kukui's need for self-setup but oh well). If you can afford to drop the Sand Blaster tile, BP Olivia isn't bad as a defensive support to make use of Viola's offensive debuffs. The nice thing here is Viola's disruption can really salvage the Paulo situation, even with Support role, because of the boosted rate of inaction from both paralysis and confusion.

Final Thoughts Viola has good traits, and a lot she can align to. But there are two things to note. First, Viola is not optimal for anyone but Alder. She's broadly useful and can do some general stuff, but she fails to be an optimal pick for most. Most of the time a Zone partner is better off for damage, with pairs like Diantha really wanting things like SS Wally's speed. And when you look generally, at something that paralyzes and debuffs...man, C!Elesa is right there, and has more persistent spectrum debuffs. I listed a lot of teams here not because I think Viola is necessarily the best pick for any of them, but because she kinda helps everyone, similar to C!Elesa. But it's also...kinda hard to say that she's a must-pull. Poor general Gauntlet performance due to one-use paralysis move (she can re-apply, but only on sync), limited Confuse application which tends to be painfully short-lived, and a generalist niche done potentially better by a two-year-old unit and a specific niche that is optimal for only one (1) pair...yeah, it's hard to sell Viola. Which is why I'm making the attempt. It's Vivillon, man, I love this thing.

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #2903: Scizor-GX (Celestial Storm)

Scizor-GX was heavily based on Scizor ex from Unseen Forces, with a similar Ability. That Scizor ex was quite good thanks to being able to tank hits nicely with Special Metal Energy reducing damage and having plenty of room for disruption by playing few Pokemon, and hit much harder when low on HP. Hitting harder when low on HP was here too, but some of the damage reduction was gone. There was still disruption to work with and the potential to get that big attack off against certain opponents, so while the format wasn't quite as friendly this time around, there were still some similar elements in the game 11 years later.

210 HP, while a typical number for a Stage 1 Pokemon-GX, was actually rather nice since some of the more common attacks, especially in the BKT-On and even in the SUM-On format, broke 110 but fell short of 210 even with some help. That could get Scizor-GX into range for its Ability, though it wasn't entirely safe with Rayquaza-GX and boosted Lightning attacks out there. The Fire Weakness could matter once Blacephalon decks started getting more play, making a KO much easier. The Psychic Resistance usually didn't change much, and here it had the potential to both save Scizor-GX from a KO but also prevent Danger Perception from triggering in a few spots, so it was a very mixed bag. The Retreat Cost was just 1, which was very reasonable if you did want to switch out.

Danger Perception was the kind of Ability that changed how both players dealt with a game. Whenever Scizor-GX had 100 or less HP remaining, its attacks did 80 more damage to the Defending Pokemon, and this was before Weakness and Resistance. Any attack dealing 110 or more damage that didn't get a KO could set this off, so this could force some less than ideal plays sometimes. The other side to this was that any deck that could get a hit of just under that mark and then follow it up with a bigger move could limit Scizor-GX's damage output to some rather weak levels, and sometimes the damage reduction from the first attack actually helped with that.

Steel Wing was a bit weak, at 80 damage for a Metal and a Colorless Energy. You really needed that boost from Danger Perception to get a lot of damage from this. This also lowered damage done to Scizor-GX on the opponent's next turn by 30. Against something like Pikachu & Zekrom-GX or a Fighting-type boosted by multiple effects this could be amazing, preventing a KO and letting that big attack go off. Against Zoroark-GX or something in that range it often just kept Scizor-GX just above 100 HP and potentially gave an opening for a slightly stronger second move to bypass the Ability altogether. Scizor-GX was strange like that in that positive effects weren't always positive.

Cross Cut GX started at 100 damage for 3 Colorless Energy, which by itself was nowhere near enough to be useful. 100 was added if used against an Evolution Pokemon, and that plus a Choice Band could KO a lot of Pokemon-GX even without Danger Perception. This was far better before the Tag Team era when a lot of Stage 1 Pokemon were running around, as after that the game focused very heavily on Basic Pokemon and that made this attack much worse.

Scizor-GX could be really scary if you didn't have an attack that could avoid Danger Perception. Any deck that could vary its damage output just enough to get around that, including most decks with a variety of options like Malamar or Mewtwo & Mew-GX, barely cared about it. This, along with Metal not getting a good second attacker until the point where you'd just funnel through that instead, meant that Scizor-GX saw little play due to some severe inconsistency. When it worked it paid off really nicely. It was nowhere near as good as the old Scizor ex however.