The release of Scarlet and Violet as a Pokemon TCG set, and the introduction of gen 9 cards to the game, is very close. With this, we're seeing a new/old mechanic: Pokemon-ex.  Not to be confused with the slightly more recent Pokemon-EX, which are always Basic, Pokemon-ex are beefed-up versions of Pokemon with high build-around power.  However, this comes at a cost. When a Pokemon-ex (or Pokemon-EX, for that matter) is knocked out, your opponent takes 2 Prize Cards, not just 1.  Despite this, I believe that Pokemon-ex is the perfect mechanic for Scarlet and Violet. Perfect Timing True to the games' endgame theme of time travel, we're seeing a new swath of Pokemon for a past mechanic.  On the surface, this seems like a pretty basic point.  But when you include the specific Pokemon getting a Pokemon-ex, the real genius of this is revealed.  Every single Pokemon is either available in both versions, a new Pokemon, or a past/future form.  This, again, helps bridge the gap be

Just a few months ago, I overheard a dormmate playing Pokemon Unite. He lamented the lack of skill his teammates displayed as if he just got paired up with the Three Stooges and Patrick Star. These teammates, to him, were unacceptably stupid.  I interjected to his unanswered curses with this: "you're acting like it's rude to be bad at a game." The only reply I got was "it is!" Surely, if his team could hear him, they'd get just as much of a rude vibe from these claims.  But therein lies the problem. Pokemon Unite, to Nintendo, was a moderate success. With one game, they've marketed to many demographics of both Pokemon fans and MOBA players.  But with that massive pool of opinions on how both types of game should be, you get a massively splintered community. You get people who think it's rude to be bad at a game. You get people who are rightfully a little miffed at those people. You get people who start drama on those people's behalf (or

The stage is set.  Leon has only one Pokemon left: the unbeatable Charizard of the unbeatable champion.  The crowd, despite the carnage against their champion, is still singing.  The Hall of Fame theme, a motif reserved for winners, becomes the theme of the cornered.  As Leon Dynamaxes his final fighter, you know he's doomed.  A single Max Rockfall from your Dreadnaw, and Charizard is down.  It feels anticlimactic.  You just downed the supposed strongest Pokemon in the whole of Galar with one fell swoop. But that single decision, the dynamaxed Dreadnaw, is part of why that Charizard is a great final boss. Very few encounters in Sword or Shield can be answered only by a Rock-type STAB move from a high-damage Pokemon. While the decision is fairly obvious, it's still a decision that had to be made.  It was premeditated, and you likely are training such a Pokemon with the Galarian master in mind. And if you don't run a Pokemon to counter that Charizard, the fight becomes m

The Kanto region's Pokemon and mechanics garner a lot of nostalgia, even for people who weren't alive when the original Pokemon games released. It's no surprise, then, that RBY Smogon battles are quite popular on Pokemon Showdown. The tiers found in this generation have been set in stone for a long time. Those tiers, however, are for a 6v6 Singles battle. What happens to the ranking a Pokemon accrues if it is the only Pokemon you can use? What happens if we pit every Gen 1 Pokemon against every other in a mano a mano fight to the fainting? Welcome to the Kanto 1v1 Round Robin. (This series assumes all Pokemon have their best 4 attacking moves, all multi-hits hit the maximum damage, and no moves crit. Chance effects that decide a battle round to the nearest whole number, meaning an over 50 percent chance indicates a success.) Alakazam Alakazam, for a long time, was considered the best OU Pokemon in Gen 1.  While it is still excellent, it's usage has declined due to th

The Kanto region's Pokemon and mechanics garner a lot of nostalgia, even for people who weren't alive when the original Pokemon games released.  It's no surprise, then, that RBY Smogon battles are quite popular on Pokemon Showdown.  The tiers found in this generation have been set in stone for a long time. Those tiers, however, are for a 6v6 Singles battle.  What happens to the ranking a Pokemon accrues if it is the only Pokemon you can use? What happens if we pit every Gen 1 Pokemon against every other in a mano a mano fight to the fainting? Welcome to the Kanto 1v1 Round Robin. (This series assumes all Pokemon have their best 4 attacking moves, all multi-hits hit the maximum damage, and no moves crit. Chance effects that decide a battle round to the nearest whole number, meaning an over 50 percent chance indicates a success.) Over the next few articles, we'll look at premier OU threats in a 1v1 context. Snorlax Snorlax is an excellently bulky Pokemon with a 160 base H

 The Kanto region's Pokemon and mechanics garner a lot of nostalgia, even for people who weren't alive when the original Pokemon games released.  It's no surprise, then, that RBY Smogon battles are quite popular on Pokemon Showdown.  The tiers found in this generation have been set in stone for a long time. Those tiers, however, are for a 6v6 Singles battle.  What happens to the ranking a Pokemon accrues if it is the only Pokemon you can use? What happens if we pit every Gen 1 Pokemon against every other in a mano a mano fight to the fainting? Welcome to the Kanto 1v1 Round Robin. (This series assumes all Pokemon have their best 4 attacking moves, all multi-hits hit the maximum damage, and no moves crit. Chance effects that decide a battle round to the nearest whole number, meaning an over 50 percent chance indicates a success.) Mewtwo Mewtwo, needless to say, is easily the best Pokemon in the game for 6v6. For this experiment, Mewtwo will have Psychic, Thunderbolt, Ice Bea

 The Pokemon franchise spans almost every medium that art can take - Writing, drawing, animation, music, video games, card games, and likely a few others I can't think of.  However, as a series, there's a gaping hole: Not a single official tabletop Pokemon RPG has been made.  A couple of fan teams have put their hat into the ring, however, most of these translations are either extremely rules-heavy, or simple ports of the iconic creatures into other games.  Almost all of them make keeping track of your team a nightmare. Enter the RPG format known as Powered by the Apocalypse (PbTA.)  The rules of almost all PbTA games are fairly light, leaving much of the rulings to the character sheets themselves.  And in addition to those character sheets, every character has a playbook.  (An example of a playbook from the Monster of the Week RPG.) Playbooks are very well-organized, having a set number of stats and "moves" a character can use.  Remind you of anything?  Already,