#holon's castform

[pokemon-cards-hourly]

#pokemon #pokemon cards #tcg #mitsuhiro arita #holon's castform #holon phantoms #ex

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3000: Flygon δ (Holon Phantoms)

It took me quite some time to figure out the best card for 3,000 since Holon's Castform had already been done for a milestone and I didn't want to use the exact same Pokemon. It took some writing of something else with a friend (hi Ruby!) to get me to a conclusion here. Flygon δ was the center of a deck that just piled in all sorts of Delta Species Pokemon, and with the concept being so interesting and the variety all over, Flygon δ was one of those cards that people were just going to find a way to use well eventually. And, seeing that this was legal in the wide-open format of 2007, it had some success.

110 HP was actually quite good for a single Prize Stage 2 back then, and while you weren't likely to be stacking Metal Energy onto it to boost that bulk too much in its style of deck, it would be very likely to take a hit, and occasionally more depending on the match-up and point in the game it was. Games did move more slowly on average back then than they do today. The Colorless Weakness was notable, with it being most important against Flygon ex (the normal one, not the Delta Species... welcome to that format I talked about) and Delcatty and its ex, and Crystal Shard being available could turn any deck into a threat against this if it was teched in. There was also a really cool double resistance to Lightning and Fighting here. This was great in a world with plenty of Fighting-types around to try to take advantage of that very common Weakness in the format, and also provided some cushion against Dragonite δ, Rayquaza ex δ, and Electivire. The Retreat Cost here was 2, and could be kind of awkward as fitting switching cards into a deck built around this wasn't the easiest thing in the world.

Delta Supply was the type of Poke-Power that decks were built around. Once during your turn, you could attach a basic Energy or a δ Rainbow Energy from your hand to 1 of your Pokemon with δ on the card. It was blocked if Flygon δ had a Special Condition on it, which could be notable every once in a while if Active and up against something like Flareon ex but usually it was fine. This was just an extra Energy attachment and made it easy to get more on the board or to set up for a single turn Holon's Castform attachment. This Poke-Power opened up almost any δ Pokemon to being used with it. Some of the most common included Flygon ex δ, Exeggutor δ, Rayquaza ex δ, Mew δ, and Nidoqueen δ, but you could play around with all kinds of things here.

Swift was a decent attack doing 60 damage and ignoring Weakness, Resistance, Poke-Powers, Poke-Bodies, and other effects on the Defending Pokemon. A Grass, a Metal, and a Colorless Energy would have been a far more awkward attack cost if it wasn't on a Pokemon with Delta Supply, but it was pretty solid due to that. The main issue with the attack is that you'd often want to attack with your other Pokemon instead, which usually had a higher ceiling. Flygon δ could go on the offense if needed, especially if you could build more of them on the Bench.

Flygon δ was the center of one of the more interesting decks the game has seen, providing extra Energy attachments, including Special Energy, to any δ Pokemon around. With the off-type Pokemon idea being so interesting (something we're finally seeing again in a different way currently), the number of options from 4 sets of these sorts of Pokemon, a Pokemon that helped set up and work as Energy in Holon's Castform, and an entire Trainer engine to work with, it was no wonder that Flygon was successful. The deck could be hard to play, so it took some time to get used to what to do, but once you got there it was a fun one indeed.

#pokemon #pokemon tcg #card of the day #flygon #flygon δ #holon phantoms

[delta-holonfoil]

Greetings!

I’m Professor Blair S. Tenaza (she/her), and I’m now the head researcher at the Holon Research Tower, located in Holon City in, you guessed it, the Holon region! Our topics of interest at the HRT are as follows:

Find and study the mythical Pokémon Mew

Research the effects of electromagnetism both on the region and on its Pokémon, including and especially Delta Pokémon

Develop and refine artificial equivalents to existing Pokémon (this task primarily falls to our lead roboticist and his team)

Now, I’ll share a brief primer on Delta Species and Holon, as I know that is certainly the least known aspect of our research here. Originally, Holon was a region devoid of people. It wasn’t especially habitable for humans, and so Pokémon were its sole inhabitants. Then my predecessor came along and established Holon City and the HRT, specifically in pursuit of Mew. His machinery used in the search emitted electromagnetic waves on a scale previously unheard of, even beyond the special magnetic fields found in places like Mount Coronet and Chargestone Cave.

Prolonged exposure to these extreme waves altered the Holon ecosystem permanently, resulting in many Pokémon permanently obtaining different typings and mannerisms. Some of these Pokémon, remarkably, are recognizable as extant regional forms! For example, Kantonian, Alolan, and Galarian Meowth are all native to Holon now, where before only the Kantonian variety existed, and Cyndaquil evolved here become the once thought lost Hisuian form of Typhlosion. Many other Pokémon took on entirely new forms, such as the Gardevoir family becoming Psychic/Steel-types, and exposing a male Kirlia to a dawn stone produced an entirely new Psychic/Dark-type Pokémon known as Callord. For these altered Pokémon, the designations Delta Species (for all) and Holonnite (for the unique ones) were introduced.

These accidental changes to the environment were seen as both fascinating and concerning, and studies on their full impact were launched. It was quickly deduced that not only would removing the electromagnetic waves not revert these Pokémon to their previous forms, but that doing so would be detrimental to their health. Furthermore, it was discovered at this time that the islands off the coast of Holon’s mainland, distant from Holon City’s emissions, also held Delta Species. Prism Island was laden with crystals that seemed to be producing Delta Species, which briefly drew comparison to the Terastal phenomenon before further research confirmed no true link. Meanwhile, the further-out Scale Archipelago was found to be a nesting ground for Dragon-like Pokémon, and home to new forms that were determined to be natural Holonnite variations.

And that more or less covers the basics! I can get into Holonnite geography another day for those curious, but I think this post is plenty long already. Just know that those early days of research were nearly 20 years ago, now, and much of the staff here at the HRT has changed since then. We feel very strongly about not altering Holon’s ecosystem any further, and work hard to ensure the continued health of all people and Pokémon in Holon.

Finally, allow me to introduce the Pokémon I keep as research aides!

Claire the Castform. She helps me with studying the weather here in Holon, which has also been impacted.

Sprout the Holonnite Meganium (Grass/Ground). He’s great at judging the health of plant life, another important aspect of our impact.

Trace the Holonnite Smeargle (Normal/Ghost). He sketches anything I need documented, which is great because it can be hard to take pictures here in Holon. There’s solutions, but I just find him much more reliable.

Beacon the Artificial Starmie (Water/Steel). One of our robotics team’s creations. It’s extremely reliable for taking electromagnetic readings, and a trustworthy ride if I need to do work out on Holon Lake or along the coast, above water or below!

Shade the Alolan Persian. She’s my tracker. If I’m looking for a specific Pokémon, she’s almost always able to hunt it down. I chose her over the other Meowth variations present here because her Dark typing further helps in keeping a low profile to observe wildlife.

Magnus the Scorlev (Electric/Flying, evolution of Holonnite Gligar). He’s my aerial transport, and incredibly in-tune with Holon’s electromagnetic field. There’s quite a few options here for those needs, but what sets him apart is that Holonnite Gligar are a natural Delta Species from the Scale Archipelago!

Plus Zed, my PoryPhone. We use PoryPhones here in Holon because Porygon are native and already proven unaffected by the extreme electromagnetism. We actually impose some fairly strict regulations here in order to protect visitors’ Pokémon, and that includes barring entry for many species which might be impacted by Holon’s unique conditions.

OOC

Oops! I made another one! This time it’s inspired by the Holon region, an official setting from the TCG in back 2005! With my own personal twists, of course. I made a big list of Pokémon known to officially be in Holon (regular or Delta), and then did some minor retcons if a Delta Species resembled an existing regional variant. For any missing evolutions (released in Gen 4 or later) I’ve invented entirely new evolutions to replace them, and for any existing Delta Species that didn’t match a regional variant, I’ve devised a new Holonnite variant matching the card game’s typing. Unlike in the TCG, it’s not just a glow of energy, but a whole new form

And yes, Blair is aware what else HRT stands for. It’s something of an internal joke at the Tower because a sizable portion of the team, herself included, is trans :)

My main blog is @tlblitz, and I also run @tlblitzle, @zenith-exploration-guild, and @squallsong-survival

#pkmn irl #intro post #fakemon

[pokemon-cards-hourly]

#pokemon #pokemon cards #tcg #mitsuhiro arita #holon's castform #holon phantoms #ex

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #2500: Holon’s Castform (Holon Phantoms)

The TCG from 2006-2008, when Holon’s Castform was available, was a very interesting place. 2006 and 2007 had a wide variety of decks that could compete, from those based on hitting as hard as possible to full stall and lock decks. Spread damage was a completely viable strategy as well, and you could see all of those strategies get success in tournaments. There was a bit less variety in 2008, but still some interesting cards to work with.

One of the gimmicks the game had at this time was the existence of Delta Species Pokemon. These Pokemon counted in decks just like normal Pokemon, but would have δ after their name. These Pokemon were generally of a different type to their normal counterparts, some simply adding a Metal type to their existing type (as dual-typed Pokemon were somewhat common back then), and others changing their types altogether. Such Pokemon had a wide variety of supporting cards to choose from, and entire decks could be built around the Delta Species. Sometimes, decks would still use some of the Holon Trainers along with Holon Transceiver to find them, using bits of what was called the Holon Engine in their decks without a lot of Delta Species Pokemon to set up. And then there were the cards that provided Energy. 5 Pokemon from that era did this, with Holon’s Magnemite and Voltorb providing a Colorless Energy when attached and Holon’s Magneton and Electrode acting as a Double Rainbow Energy but requiring a return of an Energy card already attached to a Pokemon. All of this explaining is to set up what Holon’s Castform did, which was to go further than the other Pokemon.

Holon’s Castform could also be used as an Energy. Yes, using a Basic Pokemon for this over the Stage 1 Pokemon that also provided 2 Rainbow Energy was a risk in theory, and yet Holon’s Castform did more than just that. Using attacks to set up the board instead of dealing early damage was certainly viable, and often the best option, as many powerful decks needed a lot of pieces in place. Holon’s Castform drew cards based on how many δ Pokemon you had in play, so if you had a deck revolving around the concept (or even used Basic Pokemon with it to get to things that weren’t, such as using Dratini δ with Dark Dragonite), Holon’s Castform could help set up early while other copies in the deck could supply Energy. With these options in play, Holon’s Castform is very much deserving of the 2500th card here, even if it was covered in the past.

50 HP wasn’t that impressive, though as a Basic Pokemon used for the early parts of the game it wasn’t that awful. You did have to look out once the Diamond & Pearl sets were released, as decks using Pokemon such as Lucario and Machamp, and therefore the Machop and Riolu that could potentially KO quickly through a Fighting Weakness, saw a decent amount of play. With that being said, falling behind 6-5 wasn’t always the worst thing at this point, as being behind let players access Scramble Energy and, in 2006′s HL-On format, cards like Pow! Hand Extension. Holon’s Castform could retreat for a single Energy if that was needed, and if an opponent was hesitant to get a KO and you were set up enough it was nice to be able to do this rather easily.

One thing to note about Holon’s Castform being able to supply multiple Energy was that a card like this could be used just to provide said Energy. While Holon’s Castform faced stiff competition from Holon’s Electrode and Holon’s Magneton in this role, Holon’s Castform may have been the best overall in any deck that wanted to use Holon Mentor. That provided a way to get other Basic Pokemon as well as Holon’s Castform. The risk of starting with a Holon’s Castform with little to no δ Pokemon did mean that decks not using Holon Mentor probably wanted to go to the listed Stage 1 Pokemon. The most notable decks to use that sort of Energy without δ Pokemon were those using Blastoise ex to accelerate Energy in the HL-On format, with the most famous being the LBS deck using Lugia ex and Steelix ex as the famous attackers. Of course, all of this competition meant nothing in the HP-On format in 2008, as Holon’s Castform was the only one of these cards still legal in that year.

Holon’s Castform would typically see multiple copies in any deck revolving around δ Pokemon due to Delta Draw. The attack needed just 1 Colorless Energy and let you a card for each δ Pokemon you had in play. While it was by no means a targeted search for a card, it could get enough extra drawing to help find something to get longer set-ups to the right spot. With cards like Metagross δ, Dragonite δ, Flygon δ and Flygon ex δ, and Rayquaza ex δ being a few of the many good options to build around, Holon’s Castform was going to be seen in a lot of decks and could provide Energy later in the game if needed.

Holon’s Castform was one of the most important Pokemon in its time. Despite a wide card pool and a ton of viable decks, Holon’s Castform found its way into a large portion of those options. It was essential in the decks revolving around δ Pokemon, useful in those just using δ Pokemon for pre-evolutions, and sometimes even showed up just to provide Energy, allowing Pokemon with 2 or fewer specific-typed Energy in their attack costs to be used with any type of Energy acceleration. It clearly earned that 25th Anniversary collector’s reprint, sitting among some of the most iconic cards in the game’s history.

#pokemon #pokemon tcg #card of the day #holon's castform #castform #holon phantoms

[pokemon-cards-hourly]

#pokemon #pokemon cards #tcg #mitsuhiro arita #holon's castform #holon phantoms #ex

[pokemon-cards-hourly]

#pokemon #pokemon cards #tcg #mitsuhiro arita #holon's castform #holon phantoms #ex

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #2216: Ho-Oh-EX (BREAKpoint)

Ho-Oh-EX was as awkward to use as you’d probably expect. While rather strong, it needed 3 different types of Energy to attack, and while its Ability helped it be a tank against less potent attackers, this required a Basic Energy of a 4th type. This was going to take a lot of work to make work, and it wasn’t like this was 2006 where you had Holon’s Castform. You did, at least, still have Rainbow Energy, so it wasn’t quite impossible to use.

180 HP was expected on a Pokemon-EX and was enough to take a hit or two. That Water Weakness was a bit annoying, with Greninja’s Moonlight Slash being the main problem. You’d also have to watch out for Volcanion-EX as well. The Fighting Weakness could help a little in the BKT-On format that featured Lycanroc-GX, Zygarde-GX, and Buzzwole and its GX. If you needed to retreat, you needed 2 Energy, and you’d probably want another way to avoid paying that as Ho-Oh-EX would not want to give up the Energy it used to deal with very specific Energy needs.

Purifying Fire was nice in theory. Once during your turn, if Ho-Oh-EX had any basic Fire Energy attached to it, you could heal 50 damage from it. This could let Ho-Oh-EX work as a tank, especially with something like Fighting Fury Belt attached to raise its HP. The problem here was that basic Fire Energy did nothing to help power up the attack, which already required an annoying set of Energy. Having both this in play and Elemental Feather as a usable attack at the same time was nearly impossible.

Elemental Feather had one of the most annoying Energy costs you’d ever see. 1 Grass, 1 Water, and 1 Lightning Energy was extremely painful to reach. You were going to need Rainbow Energy to have a chance, and being limited to 4 in a deck meant that you’d also need good Basic Energy luck. The attack was good if you got there, though. 130 damage was rather strong, and it also dealt 30 damage to 1 of the opponent’s Benched Pokemon. A properly set-up Ho-Oh-EX was quite potent.

While Ho-Oh-EX, at its peak, was hard to deal with at times, it would almost never get everything it wanted into play. 3 different types of Energy being needed for its attack was awful, and Purifying Fire needing a different basic Energy meant that you’d never have the tank you’d want out of it. This card was a total gimmick that wasn’t going to reach its goal in most games. It was fun to look at, and it’s a shame it wasn’t in a format that the concept had a chance in, but you’d want to leave this card in the binder.

#pokemon #pokemon tcg #card of the day #ho-oh #ho-oh-ex #breakpoint

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #1363: Lugia LEGEND (HeartGold & SoulSilver)

Lugia cards have been pretty extreme over the years, especially those that had attacks with the theme Lugia LEGEND’s attack did. The Neo Genesis version was truly awful, having almost none of the set-up help a card that needed 3 different types of Energy required. On the other hand. Lugia ex showed up, got Holon’s Castform and Blastoise ex, and became a devastating threat that could KO anything it wanted once it got going. Lugia LEGEND, at first glance, seemed to be somewhere in between, getting some of the help but not as much as the great Lugia ex.

The first thing to note about Lugia LEGEND was its strange type. It was a Water-type despite being a Psychic/Flying Pokemon in the games. Sure, it lived underwater, but it was still rather odd. 130 HP was an amazing number on a Basic Pokemon, though it was a Basic Pokemon that needed two cards to come into play so it was mitigated a little by that. It also had some issues with Luxray GL LV.X and Zekrom due to that x2 Lightning Weakness, though a -20 Fighting Resistance was indeed helpful against threats like Donphan, Gallade, and Terrakion. Just don’t try to outlast a Machamp deck since you were still a Basic Pokemon and would just fall anyway. Lugia LEGEND’s Retreat Cost was a single Energy, which was reasonably low. Lugia discarded enough Energy on its own, though, so keep that in mind.

Lugia LEGEND’s Poke-Power, Ocean Grow, was an attempt to help get its attack set up. Once during your turn, when you put Lugia LEGEND into play, you could look at the top 5 cards of your deck. You attached all Energy cards you found there to Lugia LEGEND and discarded the others. Well, it was some help, anyway, though it was very unreliable and the odds of getting multiple types of Energy you needed wasn’t that high. Hopefully you wouldn’t discard anything important in the process... Better than not having any help at all, though.

Elemental Blast was back from Lugia ex with the same effect. 200 damage took down anything, but the price was a Fire, a Lightning, and a Water Energy and you had to discard 1 of each in the process. This was extremely hard to set up since you needed a 3-type deck and couldn’t just get around it with things like Holon’s Castform. The one saving grace here was that you did have Rainbow Energy and things like Feraligatr Prime and Typhlosion Prime to help some. Nowhere near as good as Lugia ex, but better than the Neo Genesis version.

Lugia LEGEND just couldn’t live up to Lugia ex’s legacy. Even some acceleration and Rainbow Energy couldn’t make this even remotely consistent. It was best to stick with more reliable cards, even in casual settings in this case, since there were plenty of gimmicky things that didn’t require like 4 perfect cards at the same time. This was a nice collector’s item (that art is amazing) but that was about it.

#pokemon #pokemon tcg #card of the day #lugia #lugia legend #hgss

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Water-types in the DP Era

Weavile (Secret Wonders): Weird Water-type as it acted far more like a Darkness-type. Added a Darkness-type to your Active Pokemon when you wanted it to, letting other Pokemon use Special Darkness Energy. Most known for keeping Gardevoir/Gallade afloat during the first year of DP-On before the deck got a bunch of help in the second year. Palkia LV.X (Great Encounters): Occasionally seen for its Double Gust effect to force switches. Not the most impressive thing in the world but a tech for certain decks that wanted that and didn’t have a bunch of Pokemon that could get stuck easily.

Empoleon (Majestic Dawn): Was awesome back in MD-On. Mentioned here to note that it fell off pretty dramatically after it lost stuff like Scramble Energy and Holon’s Castform and gained a bunch of Water-types as competition.

Kingdra (Legends Awakened): Bulky, low-Energy attacker that aimed to overwhelm the opponent. Awesome early in DP-On, fell off later, then made a huge comeback when paired with Kingdra Prime.

Regice (Legends Awakened): Regi Move acted as a Gust of Wind against Pokemon-SP for the cost of 2 cards. Helped get Magikarp in the discard pile for Gyarados, among other uses.

Gyarados (Stormfront): The strategy: Get Magikarp in the discard pile and start crushing things for no Energy as fast as possible. Extremely straightforward but very effective.

Palkia G LV.X (Platinum): Can get rid of Benched Pokemon, which was nice when having full Benches was commonplace.

Feraligatr Prime (HeartGold & SoulSilver): Not seen too often since a lot of good Water-types didn’t need much Energy, but Rain Dance could really get more expensive Water-types going quite quickly. Not something to underestimate.

Kingdra Prime (Unleashed): Very fast attacker. 60 for 1 Energy was impressive, and Spray Splash was like a Crobat G each turn. A very dangerous Pokemon.

#pokemon #pokemon tcg

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #854: Mew δ (POP 5)

Mew δ was a card from POP 5, and most of the POP exclusive cards weren’t all that impressive. The ones that got play were typically reprints. Mew δ was an exception since it could act as an extra attacker in mirror matches, giving it actual hope to be played. It wasn’t going to be useful in a lot of games but at least it could perform against top decks.

Mew δ had just 60 HP. This wasn’t that great, and even something like Flygon δ would be able to take it down quite easily. A Psychic Weakness was awful with the popularity of Pokemon such as Banette ex and Gardevoir, though having such low HP meant that Mew δ was probably going to fall to them anyway. The retreat cost of 1 at least made it easy for a Mew δ that survived a turn to get back to the Bench. It didn’t happen that way too often, sadly.

Copy was the draw to using Mew δ. It let you choose 1 of the Defending Pokemon’s attacks and copy it. Mew δ did need the Energy necessary to use the attack to perform it, so it was only useful against other decks using the same type. To be fair, Holon’s Castform helped against others, but Mew δ was much more reliable in mirror matches. This sounded like too much, but certain varied decks, such as certain Flygon δ decks, ran a variety of attackers and running Mew δ to use against other decks with big attackers was a legitimate option. It could get the 2 for 1 trade against Pokemon-ex in good scenarios, and that was its best job.

Extra Draw cost a Fire Energy. If your opponent had any Pokemon-ex in play, you searched your deck for up to 2 basic Energy cards and attached them to Mew δ. This sounded nice, but Mew δ wasn’t going to survive long enough to use those Energy. It wasn’t a good option.

Mew δ was limited to decks with a good variety of Pokemon since it needed different Energy for each game, but it made a difference when it got the right match-up. Being able to come up with a big KO on a dangerous attacker was huge. It was one of those Pokemon that really only got one copy in a deck, though, because it was useless in many games. Luckily, it was easily searchable using Holon Mentor and was a viable option for specific decks.

#pokemon #pokemon tcg #card of the day #mew #mew δ