Hey, delta species kabutops was pretty good. I had a deck back in the day centered around it and actually beat one of the best competitive decks of the time. I was able to go from fossil, breeder/candy to kabutops and charge it up in a single turn. Dont remember what else was in the deck (edit: i think dragonite), but that part was memorable
U are absolutely right. Really wanted this newest cradily to be a troll but playable deck. However giving out 2 prizes for free right off the bat with omastar v is not it.
If I were to take a crack at the concept, I'd have the fossils act similarly to the "baby pokemon" mechanic they sometimes use (though that's itself an inconsistent mechanic). Make the stage 1's of the fossils basic, and have the actual fossils act as alternate "basic" mons that still evolve into their relevant mons. If you do go from fossil -> mon, the fossil provides a buff, perhaps by turning into an attached tool card. (have them provide abilities like what has been on the separate fossil cards, stuff like that)
@@randyjr.arsenio5624 cool but also extremely busted. there is a reason they have tied that ability into mostly Stage 2 fossils mons. If that was the case, the meta would forgo ALL evolution decks in favor of Basic ex mons AGAIN.
4:40 this reminds me of how the first sets in mtg thought multicolor cards should be weaker to offset all the advantages of being multicolored... of which there were none.
This makes me think of toon monsters in Yu-Gi-Oh. They completely rely on toon world, which literally has no effect, and despite having decent effects themselves, they are just too slow and clunky to be useful
Yeah, particularly the later fossils that seem to have deliberately OP effects but are so difficult to send out, just as Toons were forced to use Toon world to get off thier game winning effect of attacking directly without penality, but they had summoning sickness too (except a few of them) Even with modern toon support though, it kind of lets them keep up with the state of the game (at least in Duel Links where the meta is a bit weaker than the TCG) but they still have the same issue as Malefics, the right backrow disruption shuts them down completely.
It's funny that out of all mainline mechanics, this is the one they're very particular about emulating. Evolution stones were never a mandatory mechanic to evolve Eevee and other stone evolutions, nor any odd way of emulating Trade evolutions. But fossils were apparently unique enough to warrant all of this.
I just want to point out that Cradily-EX is apparently weak to fire and water, both of which it is actually neutral to in the games. It's like whenever a Gyarados shows up with a grass weakness instead of a lightning weakness.
Half the video basically boils down to "It didn't work because item card disruption was printed at the same time & meant you couldn't play the fossil cards in the first place."
Yeah, there timing really sucks. To have strong, basic Pokemon with item locks printed alongside some of their strongest waves of support is incredibly unfortunate. I legitimately think that Arceus block of fossils could've been consistent enough to work, but Spiritomb is just an insane card
What’s so annoying about fossils is it’s so easy to think of support cards or changes that could make fossils playable. And they do keep making fossil changes and support: but never sensible ones that would actually make them playable
I’ve been watching TheDuelLogs fairly regularly for the last few months, even though I have always been more of a pokemon fan. HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS SERIES EXISTS?
The whiplash I got from clicking on this video and hearing your voice when I only know you from watching your WoW channel off and on for 6 years or so was immense, oh my lord lol. Glad to know you have other channels too!!
I'm waiting until TCG Pocket becomes widely available because we'll get an equivalent of "...but in Duel Links" for Pokemon TCG. Fossils are a decent deck filler in "oops all supports" decks because your starting hand is weighed to have at least 1 basic pokemon, and you only run 2 basics being Articuno EX. The best supports you want are mainly Misty, Oak, and pokeballs to draw the other Articuno EX you don't open so you fill up the rest with other items and trainers that you don't mind seeing. Because fossils are items they won't be counted as your guaranteed basic in your opening hand.
@@jamesaditya5254 Yu Gi Oh Master Duel isn't, for example. You get materials to make whatever cards you need and the game lets you assemble whatever Deck you want to play with in a matter of days since you start playing. That's why it became such a popular Yu Gi Oh format so quickly, even for dedicated competitive players.
@@skotiaH2O a game can be f2p friendly while also being p2w. Your f2p ass isn't gonna have as much freedom as spenders to conform to the meta especially whenever they add new sets into the game. They're always gonna have more gas to fuel more decks and make better adjustments than you. And that's perfectly fine because it's a card game and luck is an inherent component to the game, you can't pay money to mulligan a shitty hand.
@@skotiaH2OI've been playing pocket for a few days completely f2p, and have a few complete top meta decks (Mewtwo, Starmie, Charizard and Venossour all fully complete), I'd say it's not pay to win at all at the moment, although that could change fast with new expansions.
Mysterious-, Buried-, Unidentified-, Rare fossil, "Restored" Pokemon, sometimes unique fossils, sometimes not It's just so tedious how it gets switched over and over. No wonder the biggest play Fossils see, is when the gimmick is circumvented. I wouldn't want to bother either.
It is crazy the effects that are often printed on fossil Pokemon. From the trainer and supporter locking effects found on Team Up Omastar and Kabutops, to the many different cards that stop evolution. I knew about Aerodactyl and Archeops, but Skyridge Omastar and Kabutops are even wilder. Sure they have to be in the active spot and their attacks aren't amazing, but they not only stop evolution, they stop either player from placing ANY Pokemon in play as long as they're active. I do definitely appreciate how thorough this video was. Had no idea just how cool Arceus Kabutops and Aerodactyl were and combined with Fossil Excacator, gen 4 is probably the best era for giving fossils a unique playstyle that's also pretty flexible for which fossils it supported. Fossil Pokemon are probably the best example of an archetype screwed over by rotation. Instead of each support card building onto previous support, each wave attempts to reiterate previous support. This not only hurts the consistency of the support, but it also means that a lot of these cards just don't work on every fossil Pokemon. Its sad how few fossil support cards use the term, 'evolving from item cards', as that's how you'd tie them together mechanically.
Interesting how you mention that; "Fossil Pokemon finally got a way to search their basics in Sun and Moon". When there was a card like that all the way back in the original Generation I sets. Fossil Excavation, which let you add one Mysterious Fossil from your deck or discard pile. The only problem? That card is Japanese exclusive. Wizards of the Coast brilliant idea of localizing the "Vending Series"; three entire mini-sets totaling to over a hundred cards, many direct support or counters to existing cards and strategies; was to drip feed them to us, over many, many years as Black Star league promos. I believe we got like six, before their license ran out, well into Generation 2.
As bad as the Fossil Pokémon was during Base Set, I actually find quite some use for them; as bench fillers for Do The Wave Wigglytuff decks. Since the fossil trainers don’t count as a Pokémon while in the deck or hand, they don’t clutter the “1 Basic Pokémon in opening hand” rule. That means you can still run a low number of actual Basic Pokémon and still have the ability to fill up the bench quickly when you’re finally attacking with DTW.
I first got more "serious" with the tcg around the DPPt era, and I absolutely loved using the fossil deck (still have it, too!). That said, it was really fun to use...with friends. We weren't tuned in enough to know what the actual meta was, so the one time we ever went to a tournament, I got completely walled out by Spiritomb (even in the one match I played with a stranger before the bracket started lol).
Oh that might actually be the worst tournament experience imaginable. Turn 0: opponent flips Spiritomb You: "Oh... I guess my deck doesn't do anything anymore."
That's probably not going to happen, unfortunately, if only because they would most likely want to keep how they design fossil Pokemon cards consistent. That said, it would definitely make them more playable if that was the case, but I can't see it being changed at this point
11:07 I mainly played legacy with a plasma Lugia deck and a plasma Tornadus deck. Silver Mirror shut me down hard and I had very few ways to deal with it. I would've killed for this card in my deck.
The vending series at least added the Fossil Excavation and a decent Omanyte card. Fossil Exc. allowd you to just grab mysterious fossil either from the deck or discard pile. And the Omanyte allowed you to flip a coin, if heads, your fossil Pokémon did +10 damage this turn. This effect stacked, leading to some fun 2 Omanyte 2 Dactyl builds.
Actually it's the Omanyte with Fossil Guidance that's OP, which let's you put 1 Mysterious Fossil from your discard pile into your hand depending on a coin flip. This means you can create infinite walls which pair well with neo Donphan's Rapid Spin or even vending Venomoth's Stir Up Twister which switch out both your pokemon and your opponent's. In Japanese Halls of Fame, such as Suginami, which have card restrictions to enable a balanced meta, you have to burn 6 out of 8 of your points to be able to have even just one in your deck.
@hughwest6808 Oh yeah I am well aware the other Omanyte is much better ^^ I just like damage modifiers. Regardless both Omanyte vending cards are interesting at least. I love the vending series. Do you happen to have a place where I could see the Japanese meta with the vending cards?
Maybe giving fossil cards a rule box stating "this card is both an item and a basic Pokemon" or something could've made them a bit more consistent? I don't know.
If I were to say, I think its much better as a mechanic where stage 1 fossil mon can only be played by discarding the corresponding fossil from hand, so it keeps the evolving part like you still need lileep to evolve into cradily but solves the awkward part of fossil where they are not pokemon when they are fossil so they cant be played during setup and also solve the bench lock problem. My suggestion is based on the fact that when I play cradily, its so frustrating when fossil cannot be played during setups giving free cards to opponents and while being stage 2, I have so little ways to search fossils that makes it unrealistic to play without omastar V Now the downside to this is you are more awkward on deck space but the less evolution stage can leads to more room to play around with effects from the card design and you dont suddenly become the cheapest stage 2 coz you still need 2 specific card to play and starting with a fossil mon means you have 1 less card to start with and fossil will be a brick without the relevent pokemon given some of the fossil is already quite good, I think this is subtle changes I think could work and will not make some of the mon too strong, idk just a thought
Weird that your channel just now started to show up after I started Pokémon tcg pocket. The fossils in that game are more balanced so I was confused by why I saw a fossil card with 10 hp😂
I played competitively between gens 3-6 and I can say that Black and White was definitely when I saw the most fossils being played, I personally played Aerodactyl with Garchomp decks
The sun and moon aerodactyl did see plenty of play. The second attack was very good and worth playing for. DCE was so prevalent in that era that running Aerodactyl with some hammers would effectively lock people out of the game. It was never top tier however because some decks could rush it down but it was competitively viable.
My only interaction in any match with Fossils was a really funny thing that happened to me in TCG Pocket about a week ago: I had Old Amber on my Bench with iirc a Ralts in the active spot. I got stupidly lucky with getting enough energy and my Aerodactyl out just in time for the opponent's lone Charizard ex to KO my Ralts. Aerodactyl's move in TCGP is a coin flip to discard the opponent's active. I won the flip and therefore the game without any knockouts. I literally won with a scoring of 0-1
The Fossil Card itself is a staple, mostly because it serves as an active pokemon that does not produce a prize card when KOd. It's is essential in some of the best strategies of its time.. especially defensive stall based decks and midrange types.
To be fair in TCG online Fossils got relatively good abilities and moves especially with this limited meta. But we are back to dummy fossils with no additional abilities. Mixed with the fact that you have to pull multiple cards of these, to even start playing with them - fossils likely won't have any meta relevance for long time, if any. I have seen people use Aerodactyl as a solid support though - as it is I believe the only (or one of the few) Pokemon that get Gust of Wind effect built into it's attack. Omastar disables defending Pokémon to be able to attack and Kabutops has the strongest absorbing move in the game right now. But the most use I have gotten (as I only have Trainer Cards, Aero and Omanyte) - was to use Fossil cards as the damage placeholders and sacrifice pieces. Namely with regular Zapdos doing damage to your bench - you can use them to catch it and then you can just Retreat them and put a new one in their place. And as they are not Basic Pokémon - you won't be starting the game with them in Active Position. Other use is obviously to sacrifice something less relevant, especially in such EX heavy meta and Sabrina being so potent - that's an extra turn of free energy you can get. Either as you can Retreat them at no cost after getting less than 40 damage or as sacrifice to let yourself build up your other Pokémon. In general they are good deck placeholders when you don't want more Basic Pokémon, evolutions can be worthless and you don't have enough relevant trainer cards (an issue that stems from no Energy cards being present in the game). I do feel like the fossils themselves should have had some characteristic ability each. And stage 1 are way too weak for their own good. As they are slightly weaker versions of the 40 damage mons like Rapidash, Mienshao or Clefable - as obviously their "base" form doesn't have any attacks.
I know you did a "Bottom 10" video for these, but considering only around half a dozen of them were playable, you should do a Failed Mechanic video for Prism Star cards. (I also think you could do a Failed Mechanic video for Radiant Pokemon, as even fewer of these saw play after the Scarlet & Violet block started.)
I feel like Restored pokemon could have potential as a niche gameplay style where you would utilize something like the old Kabutops + Omastar combo of needing to discard fossils , and then putting them back into the bottom of your deck to refuel/maybe some more trainer card or move effects. Would also make it an Anti mill deck, and maybe explored to be a mill strategy if nothing else considering kabutos/fossil cards history of tanking hits.
There are so many ancient fossilised creatures on Earth that making more fossil pokemon seems like a slam dunk for a game like Pokémon. I mean with the amount of creatures to choose from they could have who regions of fossil Pokemon I mean lots of these creatures already look like Pokémon
In the main series games, most of the fossil Pokémon also don't stack up competitively. Because most of them are Rock type, they come with plenty of weaknesses to common types. The most successful of them all, too much so even, is Dracovish. This because its types are Water/Dragon, worlds better than all the fossils that came before it, and it has stellar abilities and moves to back up this great typing.
Hey...hey Pokemon...here's a crazy idea....just make them normal damn Pokemon. It won't even make them broken or anything, it'll just make them playable.
A friend once asked me why there are no item evos in the TCG And honestly, Fossil Pokemon are also a solid basis to explain it If you need an extra card to get a pokemon then that pokemon will never be usable
i kinda just want them to print a card that's "search for deck for up to 2 cards with 'Fossil' in their name and put them onto your bench" (or however you would word it to let people search for any fossil card, i.e. dome, helix, old amber etc), getting to go second and use Arven to search these out would provide a much needed consistency that at the moment just is not there.
This was always the most frustrating thing for me being a pokemon tcg fan, fossil pokemon are REALLY AWESOME but for some reason every time they came to print the designers insisted on needing to give them a weird gimmick that largely made them unplayable 😢
besides the baby rule they had (or reprinting some of the skridge cards), i could see just slapping a "search for a pokemon that evolves from this pokemon and replace this with it" effect. essentially giving you a way to search for those incredibly specific cards. maybe even a line about this counting as a basic pokemon in the deck and on the field, except no prizes, so you can at least search it
I owned pokemon cards over 20 years ago but never once played the game, of course I'm interested in a 30 minute video about a game mechanic that failed.
Weirdly, this feels like Rituals from Yugioh. The way to make them playable is probably similar... make the fossils search for the pokemon. Maybe benched fossils could have an ability that puts a card that evolves from a fossil into your hand, and/or you could discard the evolutions to do the same for the fossils?
There's one trainer in the Pokemon Gameboy game that would use them to make a wigglypuff do the wave very effective quickly. Still more annoying than a serious strategy though
I know this isn't related to the topic of this video but the fossils specifically are a big part of the Pokémon TCG Pocket meta because they can be used as a pivot since they can be discarded at any time for a free safe switch in. I know this doesn't make the Kabuto, Omanyte or Aerodactyl lines good, but I just found it ironic 😂
Really have to wonder why they saddled so many coin flips on Fossil support cards early on when Fossil Pokemon were inherently more difficult to get into the game than most other Pokemon, AND they kept having other mons in the respective formats with abilities that legit locked Fossils out of even being played.
I feel it's pretty obvious Fossil isn't a failed mechanic, as much as it is an intentional packfiller one. The first Fossil expansion can be excused due to them just getting off the ground, and all the designers inherently being rookies. But after we get to the Restored mechanic, it's pretty clear. Which sucks, because they could have had simple utility Pokemon and Fossil stall as generic support to allow slower decks to keep up with the explosive EX/SP/Tag Team etc decks that became rampant. But as we can see, they always wanted those obvious Overpowered decks to be the best, not an actually balanced metagame. And so we are stuck with 4 item cards that serve no point but to separate the fossils into different decks, by force.
Do you think having all the fossil pokemon evolving from one single fossil could fix the issue? I wanted to like the Carracosta but 30 extra damage does not look like much for a stage 1.
How to balance the metagame: Make the Fossils as broken as everything else by bringing back Mysterious Fossil and actually good Poké-Bodies, have fun never drawing Prizes while my walking floodgates strangle your draw your entire Deck and instakill go brrr Deck to a screeching halt. 😈
The TCG Pocket game has even worse fossils. While they have 40 hp, they only work for specific fossil pokemon, and even then everything has so much higher power now. A 1 energy 40 damage stage 1 mon is pretty common.
12:00 Wait, but you can't do that, since the Technical Machine card says it can't be used on Pokemon-ex. If you used it on a different Pokemon, it would have to be in the active spot, and attacking ends your turn, meaning your opponent can just re-evolve before you have time to swap in Cradily. Is there an additional part to the strategy I'm missing here?
Not necessarily a "Fix", but I like the idea of having a variety of different Fossils that aren't locked to a single 'Mon. Just the idea of having different different fossils for different situations, but being able to use them both on whatever single fossil you bring into the game (because let's be real; there are rarely two good fossils to use at the same time).
Billion dollah idea, no, TRILLION DOLLAH IDEA Make a fossil reviving item that searches from deck and/or discard and benches one stage 1 mon that evolves from a fossil Also, make fossil mons compatible with PAST support, because come on!
The one time a fossil mon was good enough, it could be summoned directly to the bench lmfao
Yeah, and surprisingly, they were both Archeops
Hey, delta species kabutops was pretty good. I had a deck back in the day centered around it and actually beat one of the best competitive decks of the time. I was able to go from fossil, breeder/candy to kabutops and charge it up in a single turn. Dont remember what else was in the deck (edit: i think dragonite), but that part was memorable
@@jeffsweeney6171surprisingly? are you implying that archeops is bad?
The main problem it has is the fossil Pokémon haven't been good enough to justify all the trouble you have to go through to get them out.
We should have more fossil love and more consistency and better fossils
U are absolutely right. Really wanted this newest cradily to be a troll but playable deck. However giving out 2 prizes for free right off the bat with omastar v is not it.
Archeops is pretty good.
@@bib2045You can penny or turo. 🤷🏾♂️
@SanganY but you're never playing the fossil. Lugia didnt exist, archeops wouldn't have been played
If I were to take a crack at the concept, I'd have the fossils act similarly to the "baby pokemon" mechanic they sometimes use (though that's itself an inconsistent mechanic).
Make the stage 1's of the fossils basic, and have the actual fossils act as alternate "basic" mons that still evolve into their relevant mons. If you do go from fossil -> mon, the fossil provides a buff, perhaps by turning into an attached tool card. (have them provide abilities like what has been on the separate fossil cards, stuff like that)
That's actually a good idea.
as someone who doesn't even play this game, I approve of this idea 😗👌
It would be cool if Fossil pokemon that actually evolved from fossils exuded a Primal Aura that stopped other pokemon from evolving
@@randyjr.arsenio5624 cool but also extremely busted. there is a reason they have tied that ability into mostly Stage 2 fossils mons. If that was the case, the meta would forgo ALL evolution decks in favor of Basic ex mons AGAIN.
What if the fossil itself functioned as a double rainbow energy working for any element type?
4:40 this reminds me of how the first sets in mtg thought multicolor cards should be weaker to offset all the advantages of being multicolored... of which there were none.
This makes me think of toon monsters in Yu-Gi-Oh. They completely rely on toon world, which literally has no effect, and despite having decent effects themselves, they are just too slow and clunky to be useful
Yeah, particularly the later fossils that seem to have deliberately OP effects but are so difficult to send out, just as Toons were forced to use Toon world to get off thier game winning effect of attacking directly without penality, but they had summoning sickness too (except a few of them) Even with modern toon support though, it kind of lets them keep up with the state of the game (at least in Duel Links where the meta is a bit weaker than the TCG) but they still have the same issue as Malefics, the right backrow disruption shuts them down completely.
Just nerfing Anime Toon World would be more interesting.
Toon decks can still work you just have to innovate and keep multiples of the spells
It's funny that out of all mainline mechanics, this is the one they're very particular about emulating. Evolution stones were never a mandatory mechanic to evolve Eevee and other stone evolutions, nor any odd way of emulating Trade evolutions. But fossils were apparently unique enough to warrant all of this.
It might just be tradition at this point instead of logic
I just want to point out that Cradily-EX is apparently weak to fire and water, both of which it is actually neutral to in the games. It's like whenever a Gyarados shows up with a grass weakness instead of a lightning weakness.
id assume things like that are done for balancing
Aerodactyl resists fighting in the tcg too
it even gets storm drain😢
Half the video basically boils down to "It didn't work because item card disruption was printed at the same time & meant you couldn't play the fossil cards in the first place."
Yeah, there timing really sucks. To have strong, basic Pokemon with item locks printed alongside some of their strongest waves of support is incredibly unfortunate. I legitimately think that Arceus block of fossils could've been consistent enough to work, but Spiritomb is just an insane card
The irony of fossil pokemon being shut down by Genesect is honestly hilarious
What’s so annoying about fossils is it’s so easy to think of support cards or changes that could make fossils playable. And they do keep making fossil changes and support: but never sensible ones that would actually make them playable
I’ve been watching TheDuelLogs fairly regularly for the last few months, even though I have always been more of a pokemon fan. HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS SERIES EXISTS?
The whiplash I got from clicking on this video and hearing your voice when I only know you from watching your WoW channel off and on for 6 years or so was immense, oh my lord lol.
Glad to know you have other channels too!!
I'm waiting until TCG Pocket becomes widely available because we'll get an equivalent of "...but in Duel Links" for Pokemon TCG. Fossils are a decent deck filler in "oops all supports" decks because your starting hand is weighed to have at least 1 basic pokemon, and you only run 2 basics being Articuno EX. The best supports you want are mainly Misty, Oak, and pokeballs to draw the other Articuno EX you don't open so you fill up the rest with other items and trainers that you don't mind seeing. Because fossils are items they won't be counted as your guaranteed basic in your opening hand.
Pocket is looking pretty p2w and collection oriented for now, i'd be surprised if it became a respectable competitive format
@@skotiaH2O which card game is not p2w and collection oriented?
@@jamesaditya5254 Yu Gi Oh Master Duel isn't, for example. You get materials to make whatever cards you need and the game lets you assemble whatever Deck you want to play with in a matter of days since you start playing. That's why it became such a popular Yu Gi Oh format so quickly, even for dedicated competitive players.
@@skotiaH2O a game can be f2p friendly while also being p2w. Your f2p ass isn't gonna have as much freedom as spenders to conform to the meta especially whenever they add new sets into the game. They're always gonna have more gas to fuel more decks and make better adjustments than you.
And that's perfectly fine because it's a card game and luck is an inherent component to the game, you can't pay money to mulligan a shitty hand.
@@skotiaH2OI've been playing pocket for a few days completely f2p, and have a few complete top meta decks (Mewtwo, Starmie, Charizard and Venossour all fully complete), I'd say it's not pay to win at all at the moment, although that could change fast with new expansions.
Mysterious-, Buried-, Unidentified-, Rare fossil, "Restored" Pokemon, sometimes unique fossils, sometimes not
It's just so tedious how it gets switched over and over. No wonder the biggest play Fossils see, is when the gimmick is circumvented.
I wouldn't want to bother either.
Clearly the fossil revival machine is just a better version of a revive
This was really well made, I have no clue how to play but still watched the whole thing 😁
It is crazy the effects that are often printed on fossil Pokemon. From the trainer and supporter locking effects found on Team Up Omastar and Kabutops, to the many different cards that stop evolution. I knew about Aerodactyl and Archeops, but Skyridge Omastar and Kabutops are even wilder. Sure they have to be in the active spot and their attacks aren't amazing, but they not only stop evolution, they stop either player from placing ANY Pokemon in play as long as they're active. I do definitely appreciate how thorough this video was. Had no idea just how cool Arceus Kabutops and Aerodactyl were and combined with Fossil Excacator, gen 4 is probably the best era for giving fossils a unique playstyle that's also pretty flexible for which fossils it supported.
Fossil Pokemon are probably the best example of an archetype screwed over by rotation. Instead of each support card building onto previous support, each wave attempts to reiterate previous support. This not only hurts the consistency of the support, but it also means that a lot of these cards just don't work on every fossil Pokemon. Its sad how few fossil support cards use the term, 'evolving from item cards', as that's how you'd tie them together mechanically.
I am absolutely flabbergasted that you couldn’t play restored Pokémon from hand on release. Really bad oversight
Interesting how you mention that; "Fossil Pokemon finally got a way to search their basics in Sun and Moon". When there was a card like that all the way back in the original Generation I sets. Fossil Excavation, which let you add one Mysterious Fossil from your deck or discard pile. The only problem? That card is Japanese exclusive.
Wizards of the Coast brilliant idea of localizing the "Vending Series"; three entire mini-sets totaling to over a hundred cards, many direct support or counters to existing cards and strategies; was to drip feed them to us, over many, many years as Black Star league promos. I believe we got like six, before their license ran out, well into Generation 2.
Always get jumpscared when I click on a vid from a channel I've never watched and hear hiru's voice
I just started playing Pokemon Pocket. I can't believe this is the third channel I'm about to subscribe to of yours.
WHY AM I JUST NOW FINDING THIS CHANNEL AFTER WATCHING D&DLOGS FOR YEARS
As bad as the Fossil Pokémon was during Base Set, I actually find quite some use for them; as bench fillers for Do The Wave Wigglytuff decks. Since the fossil trainers don’t count as a Pokémon while in the deck or hand, they don’t clutter the “1 Basic Pokémon in opening hand” rule.
That means you can still run a low number of actual Basic Pokémon and still have the ability to fill up the bench quickly when you’re finally attacking with DTW.
Funnily, fossils make great tech for deck consistency and countering Sabrina in the TCG Pocket format so far
I first got more "serious" with the tcg around the DPPt era, and I absolutely loved using the fossil deck (still have it, too!). That said, it was really fun to use...with friends. We weren't tuned in enough to know what the actual meta was, so the one time we ever went to a tournament, I got completely walled out by Spiritomb (even in the one match I played with a stranger before the bracket started lol).
Oh that might actually be the worst tournament experience imaginable.
Turn 0: opponent flips Spiritomb
You: "Oh... I guess my deck doesn't do anything anymore."
Now that fossils can be caught wild in many games, pokemon just needs to print fossils as basics.
That's probably not going to happen, unfortunately, if only because they would most likely want to keep how they design fossil Pokemon cards consistent. That said, it would definitely make them more playable if that was the case, but I can't see it being changed at this point
@@matthewkuscienko4616
Did you watch the video? There is nothing consistent about how fossil Pokémon work.
It should have been that way from the beginning.
@Tvboy777 ....................Except for the fact that they always tend to evolve from some sort of fossil item card, which was my whole point
You can also find pseudo legendarys fully evolved in the wild
11:07 I mainly played legacy with a plasma Lugia deck and a plasma Tornadus deck. Silver Mirror shut me down hard and I had very few ways to deal with it. I would've killed for this card in my deck.
That is odd; to avoid issues like this most games like MTG have it where the thing in question is treated as two things such as Artifact Lands.
I remember seeing Aerodactyl and Omastar in tcg pocket and thinking they were really strong, until I realized how fossil pokemon worked.
I do have to say I love the current Root fossil, Lileep, and Cradilly we have right now in Scarlet and Violet I use two of which in my deck!
your vids are super cool! id love to see you talk about the fairy type
I think if the Fossil Cards provided a “Bonus” *Attack* or *Ability* like the “BREAK” cards or “legends” cards…
The vending series at least added the Fossil Excavation and a decent Omanyte card. Fossil Exc. allowd you to just grab mysterious fossil either from the deck or discard pile. And the Omanyte allowed you to flip a coin, if heads, your fossil Pokémon did +10 damage this turn. This effect stacked, leading to some fun 2 Omanyte 2 Dactyl builds.
Actually it's the Omanyte with Fossil Guidance that's OP, which let's you put 1 Mysterious Fossil from your discard pile into your hand depending on a coin flip. This means you can create infinite walls which pair well with neo Donphan's Rapid Spin or even vending Venomoth's Stir Up Twister which switch out both your pokemon and your opponent's. In Japanese Halls of Fame, such as Suginami, which have card restrictions to enable a balanced meta, you have to burn 6 out of 8 of your points to be able to have even just one in your deck.
@hughwest6808 Oh yeah I am well aware the other Omanyte is much better ^^ I just like damage modifiers.
Regardless both Omanyte vending cards are interesting at least. I love the vending series. Do you happen to have a place where I could see the Japanese meta with the vending cards?
Thanx for the Amazing content. Love you ❣️
Maybe giving fossil cards a rule box stating "this card is both an item and a basic Pokemon" or something could've made them a bit more consistent? I don't know.
Got back into Pokemon after 2 decades of YuGiOh, go for some TCG lore videos and look who it is... Subbed immediately
Hey DexLogs, are you planning on making any content for the new Pokemon TCG Pocket game? A top 10 card list would be cool to see!
This really takes me back. I wish I hadn't rolled so badly in Pocket.
Kinda similar, but I love the Pokedoll cards
Woohoo dexlog is back
If I were to say, I think its much better as a mechanic where stage 1 fossil mon can only be played by discarding the corresponding fossil from hand, so it keeps the evolving part like you still need lileep to evolve into cradily but solves the awkward part of fossil where they are not pokemon when they are fossil so they cant be played during setup and also solve the bench lock problem.
My suggestion is based on the fact that when I play cradily, its so frustrating when fossil cannot be played during setups giving free cards to opponents and while being stage 2, I have so little ways to search fossils that makes it unrealistic to play without omastar V
Now the downside to this is you are more awkward on deck space but the less evolution stage can leads to more room to play around with effects from the card design and you dont suddenly become the cheapest stage 2 coz you still need 2 specific card to play and starting with a fossil mon means you have 1 less card to start with and fossil will be a brick without the relevent pokemon
given some of the fossil is already quite good, I think this is subtle changes I think could work and will not make some of the mon too strong, idk just a thought
HOLY SHIT, YOU DO POKÉMON, TOO?
Sick. Subscribed.
The lugia archeops deck was the best fossil deck in my opinion
Weird that your channel just now started to show up after I started Pokémon tcg pocket. The fossils in that game are more balanced so I was confused by why I saw a fossil card with 10 hp😂
I played competitively between gens 3-6 and I can say that Black and White was definitely when I saw the most fossils being played, I personally played Aerodactyl with Garchomp decks
The sun and moon aerodactyl did see plenty of play. The second attack was very good and worth playing for. DCE was so prevalent in that era that running Aerodactyl with some hammers would effectively lock people out of the game. It was never top tier however because some decks could rush it down but it was competitively viable.
My only interaction in any match with Fossils was a really funny thing that happened to me in TCG Pocket about a week ago:
I had Old Amber on my Bench with iirc a Ralts in the active spot. I got stupidly lucky with getting enough energy and my Aerodactyl out just in time for the opponent's lone Charizard ex to KO my Ralts. Aerodactyl's move in TCGP is a coin flip to discard the opponent's active.
I won the flip and therefore the game without any knockouts. I literally won with a scoring of 0-1
The Fossil Card itself is a staple, mostly because it serves as an active pokemon that does not produce a prize card when KOd. It's is essential in some of the best strategies of its time.. especially defensive stall based decks and midrange types.
To be fair in TCG online Fossils got relatively good abilities and moves especially with this limited meta. But we are back to dummy fossils with no additional abilities. Mixed with the fact that you have to pull multiple cards of these, to even start playing with them - fossils likely won't have any meta relevance for long time, if any.
I have seen people use Aerodactyl as a solid support though - as it is I believe the only (or one of the few) Pokemon that get Gust of Wind effect built into it's attack.
Omastar disables defending Pokémon to be able to attack and Kabutops has the strongest absorbing move in the game right now.
But the most use I have gotten (as I only have Trainer Cards, Aero and Omanyte) - was to use Fossil cards as the damage placeholders and sacrifice pieces. Namely with regular Zapdos doing damage to your bench - you can use them to catch it and then you can just Retreat them and put a new one in their place. And as they are not Basic Pokémon - you won't be starting the game with them in Active Position. Other use is obviously to sacrifice something less relevant, especially in such EX heavy meta and Sabrina being so potent - that's an extra turn of free energy you can get. Either as you can Retreat them at no cost after getting less than 40 damage or as sacrifice to let yourself build up your other Pokémon.
In general they are good deck placeholders when you don't want more Basic Pokémon, evolutions can be worthless and you don't have enough relevant trainer cards (an issue that stems from no Energy cards being present in the game).
I do feel like the fossils themselves should have had some characteristic ability each. And stage 1 are way too weak for their own good. As they are slightly weaker versions of the 40 damage mons like Rapidash, Mienshao or Clefable - as obviously their "base" form doesn't have any attacks.
Can someone recommend more yt channels with this type of pokemon tcg content
I know you did a "Bottom 10" video for these, but considering only around half a dozen of them were playable, you should do a Failed Mechanic video for Prism Star cards. (I also think you could do a Failed Mechanic video for Radiant Pokemon, as even fewer of these saw play after the Scarlet & Violet block started.)
Mysterious Fossil is honestly just the best card in the Fossil archetype.
Free stall fodder for the Mr Mime Lickitung deck, hell yeah.
I feel like Restored pokemon could have potential as a niche gameplay style where you would utilize something like the old Kabutops + Omastar combo of needing to discard fossils , and then putting them back into the bottom of your deck to refuel/maybe some more trainer card or move effects. Would also make it an Anti mill deck, and maybe explored to be a mill strategy if nothing else considering kabutos/fossil cards history of tanking hits.
by the by, maybe Amazing cards next (Amazing Raikou, Amazing Celebi, ...)?
There are so many ancient fossilised creatures on Earth that making more fossil pokemon seems like a slam dunk for a game like Pokémon. I mean with the amount of creatures to choose from they could have who regions of fossil Pokemon I mean lots of these creatures already look like Pokémon
I love your videos as they help me when building my own tcg
me, barely know anything about pokemon tcg, watching, mostly just listening actually, to this half asleep
18:33 Maxx "C" jumpscare
18:03 Cross-TCG archetypying with Garnet. Fitting since they're all Rock-types.
In the main series games, most of the fossil Pokémon also don't stack up competitively. Because most of them are Rock type, they come with plenty of weaknesses to common types. The most successful of them all, too much so even, is Dracovish. This because its types are Water/Dragon, worlds better than all the fossils that came before it, and it has stellar abilities and moves to back up this great typing.
Hey...hey Pokemon...here's a crazy idea....just make them normal damn Pokemon. It won't even make them broken or anything, it'll just make them playable.
5:46 Kabuto and Omanyte look like they're made of clay.
because it probably is. there are dozens of cards that are not just illustrations, there are clay, crocheted, plasticine dolls etc etc
They are
Yup! That’s the artist Yuka Morii. I love her little figures, you should really check out her other cards. They’re super fun!
A friend once asked me why there are no item evos in the TCG
And honestly, Fossil Pokemon are also a solid basis to explain it
If you need an extra card to get a pokemon then that pokemon will never be usable
How many channels do you have!!
i kinda just want them to print a card that's "search for deck for up to 2 cards with 'Fossil' in their name and put them onto your bench" (or however you would word it to let people search for any fossil card, i.e. dome, helix, old amber etc), getting to go second and use Arven to search these out would provide a much needed consistency that at the moment just is not there.
The old Pokemon art and card designs were awesome
The Blues exploration card is great
In theory I can see them have both specific fossils and other fossils that can be treated as any other fossil.
One day…I hope there will be a more viable and competitive Tyrantrum Card.
Pocket forcing basics on hand leading to fossil tech means we're so back
HirumaredX thinks he can hide.
This was always the most frustrating thing for me being a pokemon tcg fan, fossil pokemon are REALLY AWESOME but for some reason every time they came to print the designers insisted on needing to give them a weird gimmick that largely made them unplayable 😢
Well, in Pokemon TCGP, fossil pokemon is doing good. Kabutops is currently OP.
Will you get into free to play: Pokemon tcg Pocket? Coming out late October 30 or 31 beasd on your timezones ect.
besides the baby rule they had (or reprinting some of the skridge cards), i could see just slapping a "search for a pokemon that evolves from this pokemon and replace this with it" effect. essentially giving you a way to search for those incredibly specific cards. maybe even a line about this counting as a basic pokemon in the deck and on the field, except no prizes, so you can at least search it
New to PTCG but I liked the idea of item fossil Pokemon that didn't give prizes better, it was more unique.
I know its a Pokemon video, but i want to play Wow again?!? Strange feeling haha
I owned pokemon cards over 20 years ago but never once played the game, of course I'm interested in a 30 minute video about a game mechanic that failed.
lol, i remember having both omastar cards and thinking, the brown one is better but I like the blue color more.
Weirdly, this feels like Rituals from Yugioh. The way to make them playable is probably similar... make the fossils search for the pokemon. Maybe benched fossils could have an ability that puts a card that evolves from a fossil into your hand, and/or you could discard the evolutions to do the same for the fossils?
There's one trainer in the Pokemon Gameboy game that would use them to make a wigglypuff do the wave very effective quickly. Still more annoying than a serious strategy though
You completely missed the Vending Series fossil cards/ fossil excavation
I know this isn't related to the topic of this video but the fossils specifically are a big part of the Pokémon TCG Pocket meta because they can be used as a pivot since they can be discarded at any time for a free safe switch in. I know this doesn't make the Kabuto, Omanyte or Aerodactyl lines good, but I just found it ironic 😂
Really have to wonder why they saddled so many coin flips on Fossil support cards early on when Fossil Pokemon were inherently more difficult to get into the game than most other Pokemon, AND they kept having other mons in the respective formats with abilities that legit locked Fossils out of even being played.
I feel it's pretty obvious Fossil isn't a failed mechanic, as much as it is an intentional packfiller one. The first Fossil expansion can be excused due to them just getting off the ground, and all the designers inherently being rookies. But after we get to the Restored mechanic, it's pretty clear.
Which sucks, because they could have had simple utility Pokemon and Fossil stall as generic support to allow slower decks to keep up with the explosive EX/SP/Tag Team etc decks that became rampant. But as we can see, they always wanted those obvious Overpowered decks to be the best, not an actually balanced metagame. And so we are stuck with 4 item cards that serve no point but to separate the fossils into different decks, by force.
Do you think having all the fossil pokemon evolving from one single fossil could fix the issue? I wanted to like the Carracosta but 30 extra damage does not look like much for a stage 1.
How to balance the metagame: Make the Fossils as broken as everything else by bringing back Mysterious Fossil and actually good Poké-Bodies, have fun never drawing Prizes while my walking floodgates strangle your draw your entire Deck and instakill go brrr Deck to a screeching halt. 😈
@@FaustoMartense They all evolved from a single fossil in Gen 1 TCG. Still didnt make them any good.
What I have learned is that I may be better at designing a TCG than I thought
The TCG Pocket game has even worse fossils. While they have 40 hp, they only work for specific fossil pokemon, and even then everything has so much higher power now. A 1 energy 40 damage stage 1 mon is pretty common.
12:00 Wait, but you can't do that, since the Technical Machine card says it can't be used on Pokemon-ex. If you used it on a different Pokemon, it would have to be in the active spot, and attacking ends your turn, meaning your opponent can just re-evolve before you have time to swap in Cradily. Is there an additional part to the strategy I'm missing here?
hirumaredx?
Oh what the fuck I didn't expect to hear TheDuelLogs when I clicked on this video hahha
I play Pokemon TCG Pocket, Fossil Pokemon still had major problem so it is really Failed Mechanic.
The ritual monsters of Pokemon
Bro the new Pokemon TCG Pocket app makes it so killing a fossil still gives you a win point 💀
You saying vespiqueen was strong makes me want to finally try the game 😂
HIRUMAREDX???
Not necessarily a "Fix", but I like the idea of having a variety of different Fossils that aren't locked to a single 'Mon. Just the idea of having different different fossils for different situations, but being able to use them both on whatever single fossil you bring into the game (because let's be real; there are rarely two good fossils to use at the same time).
Omastar lock was honestly pretty good tbh
Billion dollah idea, no, TRILLION DOLLAH IDEA
Make a fossil reviving item that searches from deck and/or discard and benches one stage 1 mon that evolves from a fossil
Also, make fossil mons compatible with PAST support, because come on!
wait duel logs is that you? when did he start a Pokemon TCG channel?
Did Gen 9 had any new Fossil-revived mon or would that be redudndant with the Paradox mon
and now they're being used in Pocket, but no where near as intended
Logical: If these pokemon were any good, they wouldn't have gone extinct