A Pokemon crossover set will never happen, but what if it did??
Custom Cards forum
Posted on Jan. 2, 2023, 10:59 a.m. by TypicalTimmy
How would Pokemon fare with MTG?
How would evolution stages work? What about trainers and arenas? Would those be seen as enchantments and artifacts, alike? Or would an Arena be a Land?
What about weakness and resistances?
Would retreat costs still exist?
What about typecasting? There's several more types than MTG's five colors offer. Would some be merged together, or would we rely on guild colors? But guilds offer more combinations that Pokemon has types, in the TCG.
ANSWERS, PEOPLE! I NEED ANSWERS!
- I chose the CCF and not General or Blind Eternities because I figured we could design Pokemon cards in here for those interested :3
I think the rulesets are too different to to make any sort of direct conversion possible. It's been decades since I played the Pokemon TCG, and I'm sure it's gotten more complicated, but I think a "hybrid" ruleset would be much more streamlined and simplified than what M:tG offers, making it easier to convert Magic to Pokemon than the other way around.
A lot of Dragon-type cards use multiple types of energy for their attacks, so that's some sort of precedent for multicolored?
Fire and Electric are . Fighting and Grass are with some . Water is . Darkness is . Metal and colorless are ? Psychic is somewhere between and ?
What's the win condition, prizes or life total? I think milling works in both, and I don't know if Pokemon has alt win conditions.
January 2, 2023 2:15 p.m.
Here is my interpretation:
Blue: Water, Ice, Dragon, Psychic
White: Flying, Ground, Fighting, Steel, Fairy
Black: Psychic, Dark, Poison, Bug, Dragon, Ghost
Red: Fire, Lightning, Fighting, Dragon
Green: Grass, Ground, Rock, Poison, Bug
Colorless: Normal, Flying, Steel, Fairy
Color combinations depend on the particular Pokemon. Some types could potentially be represented by more than one color, allowing room for variations in individual Pokemon (or maybe Shiny versions, etc). Super special cards like Mew or Arceus may be represented by all 5 colors.
Subtype could be Pokemon type, for example “Creature - Fire Pokemon,” this way particular effects could target specific Pokemon types or all Pokemon in general.
To make Pokemon cross-compatible with other MtG cards, every other MtG combat mechanic remains the same (like a Battle Royale). Retreating could be a specified mechanic on particular Pokemon which returns them to hand or takes them out of combat for a cost, and a separate mechanic can represent heavy/slow Pokemon who can’t retreat easily.
Rather than the complexity of Mutate, I think a simpler mechanic is necessary. “Evolves from X” makes more sense, so if you have a Charizard in hand, it has the ability “Evolves from Charmeleon (Cost X).” Each Pokemon would have a name and title like “Charmeleon, Fire Lizard - Charmeleon” (similar to how the crossover MtG cards do it - like Godzilla cards). Then if a Pokémon has been in play at least 1 turn, that Pokemon can be evolved as a sorcery. Only the top evolution applies, making it easier for the table to know what’s going on (as opposed to Mutate).
Prize could also be a mechanic, so if the Pokemon is defeated, the player who defeated it gets the prize.
The different Pokemon abilities and attacks could be named, like the cards in the Dungeons and Dragons set. For example, Blastoise could have “Cost X - Hydro Pump - Blastoise deals 3 damage to target Creature, or 6 damage if the target is a Fire Pokemon. Then tap that creature.”
I’ve thought about doing something like this before, but I’ve never had the time to actually make a set! Maybe you guys can streamline the concept better, but I think that the mechanics should remain as similar to existing mechanics as possible.
January 3, 2023 5:30 p.m.
Here are some more ideas:
Charmander, Ash’s Chosen - Charmander (RR)
Creature - Fire Pokemon
Retreat (2) (You may pay 2. If you do, return this card to your hand. Retreat only as a sorcery.)
Ember. When this enters the battlefield, it deals 1 damage to any target. If the target is a Grass, Ice, or Steel Pokemon, this deals 1 additional damage and the target gets a Burn token.
2/1
Charmeleon, Fiery Lizard - Charmeleon (2RR)
Creature - Fire Pokemon
Haste, Menace, Evolves from Charmander (1RR) (If you control a Charmander which has been on the battlefield for at least 1 turn, you may cast this for its Evolution cost, then place this on that Charmander for the rest of the game.)
Flamethrower. When this attacks a player, this deals 1 damage to each creature that player controls. If that player controls any Grass, Ice, or Steel Pokemon, this deals 1 additional damage to those Pokemon and those Pokemon get a Burn Token.
4/2
Charizard, Death from Above - Charizard (4RRRR)
Creature - Fire and Flying Pokemon
Flying, Haste, Evolves from Charmeleon (1RRRR)
Fire Spin. When this deals combat damage to a player, it deals that much damage to each creature that player controls, then each creature damaged in this way gets a Burn token.
Fire Blast. (RRRR, tap): This deals 5 damage to any target. If the target is a Grass, Ice, or Steel Pokemon, exile it.
5/5
Here are my concepts for status effect tokens:
Burn Token: At the beginning of your upkeep, if a creature you control has 1 or more Burn Tokens, flip a coin for each Burn Token on it. If you get 2 or more tails, sacrifice that creature.
Poison Token: At the beginning of each Player’s upkeep, a creature with a Poison Token takes 1 damage for each Poison Token on it.
Sleep Token: At the beginning of your upkeep, if a creature you control has any Sleep Tokens, flip a coin for each Sleep Token on it. If heads, remove the Sleep Token. If tails, tap the creature with the Sleep Token and it cannot untap until the beginning of your next upkeep.
Confuse Token: If a creature you control has one or more Confuse Tokens and attacks, flip a coin for each Confuse Token on it. If you get any tails, that creature attacks you instead, then remove all Confuse Tokens from that creature.
Paralysis doesn’t require a token. If a creature becomes Paralyzed, it cannot attack, block, or activate or trigger abilities until the beginning of its controller’s next upkeep phase.
Ideas for other card types:
Arenas or Gyms should definitely be lands. Enchantments could be major story events which persist beyond a single turn. Random events throughout the game can be represented by instants or sorceries. Legendary Trainers should be Walkers.
Icbrgr says... #2
If i were to from the hip to a 1-1 translation from pokemon to MTG
Trainers would be planswalkers
arenas would be enchantments
Evolution would be the mutate mechanic
resistance would probably be a spin off of ward... so probably the oppostite for weakness?.... " spells cost more or less to target this creature" or something like that?
because damage weres off i dont see the point of retreat cost?
Just gimmie a charizard that is essentially a Glorybringer with ward for spells and id be happy.
January 2, 2023 12:39 p.m. Edited.