personally I hate these rival cards because they're just lazy. hop, tierno, nemona, etc could've been given decent effects, but were just relegated to draw 3 once a turn in a game with plenty of tutors and fixers. at least marnie and N did something different,
it's just skyla at a time where there's not as much of a need unless you play some gimmick deck like seek inspiration slowking.
I remember seeing them when I was a kid and I really don't like them and avoided all of the Delta Species packs if possible for some time.
they were their own thing apart from the anime and games, kind of like the early e-reader sets in terms of setting and art. I could see the connection between them and terastalization, but that was just a transformation gimmick for gen 9 following mega evolutions and gigantamax. I genuinely wish that they'd go back in that direction with creativity instead of adhering to just the videogames, especially when they waste good characters on era gimmicks.
I really dislike the what seems to be a half-in half-out approach with trying to keep parity with the games. They've already cut like a third of the types (for good reason) so just embrace being a card game that's loosely inspired by the main games and anime and focus on making the card game at hand fun.
I dunno what I will grab, apparently they have been printing this set since January so it's not exactly going to be hard despite the hype, I dont really have any interest in the pikachu cards or old reprints.
half-in-half-out aptly describes it, where there’s already an identity that’s separate from the games and anime. The art for the TCG already has a lot of potential for establishing a setting outside of the games, it’d be no issue to try to swing more towards that.
Sweet, I can’t wait to not see any of that on shelves.
