V-Union Pokémon - Failed Cards & Mechanics

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  • Опубліковано 22 гру 2024
  • Every few sets, new card mechanics are introduced into the Pokemon TCG to add some new variety in the game. Usually, cards using new rules are the most desirable and powerful cards out of the sets they appear in. What they rarely do is tie the brand new mechanic to exclusively promo cards. The Pokemon V-Union were a series of Promo cards released in 2021. Five complete V-Unions were released across different box sets. Due to how the V-Union cards worked, these Promos saw niche to no play in the Standard format. Today, we’re going to look at each of the Pokemon V-Union, explain why they didn’t meet the power level needed to see play, and how players tried to build around them.
    Script by ThePigThatCriedRii
    Edited by Kevin
    #pokemon #pokemontcg

КОМЕНТАРІ • 90

  • @Clear1
    @Clear1 10 місяців тому +246

    To this day, i don't understand why the guys in the creative department thought that carrying 4 hard bricks in your deck is a good idea.

    • @matthewkuscienko4616
      @matthewkuscienko4616 10 місяців тому +26

      I guess they wanted to try something a bit more experimental to see if it would get played and how good it would be. There's also somewhat of a precedent for it in that they previously tried a similar mechanic in the past with Legend cards, but those were far easier to play due to only needing half the total pieces and they also didn't require you to get them in your discard pile first (if I recall correctly)

    • @bad_atgames
      @bad_atgames 10 місяців тому +5

      hey lugia used to be good you know /s

    • @buttermink2153
      @buttermink2153 10 місяців тому +1

      ​@@bad_atgamesIt's also back if the early Japanese results are to be believed.

    • @williamdrum9899
      @williamdrum9899 10 місяців тому +1

      Night March Lampents: "Allow us to introduce ourselves"

    • @Tvboy777
      @Tvboy777 9 місяців тому

      You mean like Battle VIP Pass? 😊

  • @Eddiegames9
    @Eddiegames9 10 місяців тому +92

    I really loved V-Union as a mechanic, and I thought it was super weird they only made 5 of them.
    I think the biggest thing holding them back more than anything is just that they arent really self-sufficient enough to justify being worth 3 Prize Cards. They'd probably be perfect if they either had a faster intrinsic way to set up energies, or were worth 1.

    • @aigis0423
      @aigis0423 10 місяців тому +10

      If they were worth 1 Gren Vu would go crazy. 100 damage spread on a one prizer goes hard. Admittedly they’d be balanced differently if that were the case, but I think 2 would at least make then slightly more worth considering

  • @breh4149
    @breh4149 10 місяців тому +110

    Fun fact: gardevoir mewtwo v Union got top 16 at Melbourne regionals which happened this weekend that just passed

    • @CGFillertext
      @CGFillertext 24 дні тому +2

      And now Mewtwo/Gardevoir is one of the top decks in Pokemon Pocket… crazy how life plays out

  • @paulct91
    @paulct91 10 місяців тому +214

    The main issue is they all are treated as boss monsters yet, no more types beyond what was released for the "rest" if the elements.

    • @paulct91
      @paulct91 10 місяців тому +12

      Another issue that stems from not all element types is that if Fire V-UNION was added there might too much synergy there, so many fire discard and energy stacking cards existed before V-UNIONs even existed back in Mega Charizard EX & Charizard GX days...

  • @EinDose
    @EinDose 10 місяців тому +30

    It's so weird that the card game that most tried to make Exodia happen wasn't even Yu-Gi-Oh.

    • @benjulc9271
      @benjulc9271 8 місяців тому +1

      Funnily enough YugiOh has something similar for Rush, but it's just 3 pieces and they haven't done Exodia like that yet.

    • @BaxsStudios
      @BaxsStudios Місяць тому

      Exodia just toped an event and looks to be a nice rouge options but it's used as a stun floodgate deck. So there is that, still it aint close to meta

  • @Entropic_Alloy
    @Entropic_Alloy 10 місяців тому +116

    I don't think it was much of a "fail" as it was underutilized. Probably intentionally so.

    • @AlexMartinez-gv7hy
      @AlexMartinez-gv7hy 10 місяців тому

      Most likely

    • @woody72691
      @woody72691 10 місяців тому +1

      12, it wasn't used that it failed.

    • @gokunenn4243
      @gokunenn4243 25 днів тому +1

      "It wasn't a fail" *procees to explain why it failed*
      Yeah, wait until you realize mechanics killed by the own designers are also considered failures. The reasoning is irrelevant

  • @kennydarmawan13
    @kennydarmawan13 10 місяців тому +20

    V-Union teaches us one thing.
    Fusion mechanics are a lot easier and fun to use if said fusions are contained within separate dedicated decks. One way to fix it is to just make a card that adds all four of them right away.
    Also, hope to see a video about Kadabra soon.

  • @gabrielcastillo9745
    @gabrielcastillo9745 10 місяців тому +52

    Ironically, V-Unions would have been much easier to set-up if they were played form the hand instead of the discard pile. You could use Adventurer's Discovery to put 3 of them straight in the hand and then something like an ultra-ball to get the fourth. Or maybe if Union Gain was not an attack but an ability once they are put into play.

    • @athath2010
      @athath2010 10 місяців тому +5

      Alternatively, they could have just let you mix and match from both your hand and your discard pile, which would basically function like the current system except minus the garnet problem.

  • @legoferrari14
    @legoferrari14 10 місяців тому +2

    I wish this card mechanic was better handled. Standard Pokemon V's, not to mention later-era second-gen EX's and especially TT-EX's, were just way too easy to play as a Basic Beatstick.
    In my personal opinion, a Non-Evolution Boss Monster in the Pokemon TCG needs to either be inherently more conditional to be summoned to the field than your run-of-the-mill Basic Mon, or needs to be as heavily investment-reliant as the most powerful 2-stagers. Overwhelming Basic Pokemon causes the TCG metagame to stagnate, as Mewtwo EX and ADP-TTEX clearly demonstrated; the latter probably would have irreparably tarnished the competitive credibility of the Pokemon TCG had the pandemic not ceased in-person events until ADP's set was rotated out of Standard.

  • @cryogenical_
    @cryogenical_ 10 місяців тому +2

    Battle Compressor is a nice throwback for me. I started to get into the competitive side of the game around the release of XY Phantom Forces, when the format reached peak discard and reshuffle insanity. With Lysandre decking out was practically an impossibility (he was rightfully banned very early on) and battle compressor just gave insane consistency to any deck and even allowed a budget deck (night march) to see pretty major viability for the first time in a long while after seeing incredibly expensive and powerful cards like Mew EX dominate the format.

    • @goncaloferreira6429
      @goncaloferreira6429 10 місяців тому

      i also started around that time. battle compressor is a revolutionary card and to me is the card that defines the expanded format.

    • @williamdrum9899
      @williamdrum9899 10 місяців тому

      I also started at this time and suffered through Seismitoad Hell

  • @CinnamonOnce
    @CinnamonOnce 10 місяців тому +4

    Hey, I really like these kinds of videos! Wish you did more of them :).

    • @iTunsiscool26
      @iTunsiscool26 10 місяців тому

      I'm glad you enjoyed it

    • @Solaceon
      @Solaceon 10 місяців тому

      ​@@iTunsiscool26 are you pretending to be this guy??

    • @iTunsiscool26
      @iTunsiscool26 10 місяців тому

      @@Solaceon What?

  • @fathersky5
    @fathersky5 9 місяців тому +5

    How do you even fit this on a play mat?

  • @officialmasqq_594
    @officialmasqq_594 Місяць тому

    I've been subscribed to your Yu-Gi-Oh channel for ages and i never knew that this channel existed my mind is blown lmao

  • @seanmcbride1182
    @seanmcbride1182 10 місяців тому +1

    Hey dex, love your videos. You possess a soft and gentile voice that help me fall asleep after a long day.

  • @WyrmLimion
    @WyrmLimion 10 місяців тому +2

    I enjoyed playing Pikachu V-Union. I will miss them after they rotate :(

  • @jtap8169
    @jtap8169 10 місяців тому +16

    Ehh mewtwo v-union won a regional, I wouldn’t consider that a failure.

    • @carefulman3673
      @carefulman3673 9 місяців тому +4

      1 deck list getting top 16 doesn't make it good lol.

  • @corrackisdead
    @corrackisdead Місяць тому +1

    Honestly V-unions would go so hard with perfect blender

  • @Tirgo69
    @Tirgo69 10 місяців тому

    I kind of dropped out of the game when V-Unions were released, not because of them, but I never bothered to learn anything about them. So this video is useful for me

  • @shadowwalker9683
    @shadowwalker9683 10 місяців тому +1

    this was something I really hoped would work

  • @2mccue4u27
    @2mccue4u27 10 місяців тому

    Say whatever you want, my 6 year old LOVES his Morpeko v-union. I love combiners, it's cool how they revived the Legends concept.

  • @paulct91
    @paulct91 10 місяців тому +3

    9:44 - Wrong, no requirement for "only" item cards. For example, the "Professor [Insert Name Here]" cards "can" put them in the discard pile during their hand discard while drawing 7 cards afterwards, just not selectively.

    • @sideways5153
      @sideways5153 6 днів тому

      Paul you’re like 30 are you seriously not understanding that in unlimited format you can’t spend six or eight turns trying to draw and discard four specific cards as your only strategy? Supporters are way too slow at only one per turn

  • @SneaVal
    @SneaVal 10 місяців тому +1

    You should do a series on successful card mechanics

  • @marcoasturias8520
    @marcoasturias8520 8 місяців тому

    They really were like: Ya know why Legends failed? They needed too few cards!

  • @paulct91
    @paulct91 10 місяців тому +4

    The Steel V-UNION was really hard to setup, I had most in TCG Online... I still have no idea what the easy strat was for playing it and Energizing it. Pikachu and "other" electric mouse V-UNION in "Unlimited" were super easy with some help from a certain electric Hawiian deity(?), Prism Star, and that old mass discard card Battle Compressor. Mewtwo is even easier since in "Unlimited" you can cheat with Mew EX's (copy) attack ability... basically two V-Unions for the price of 1.

  • @TheMaskedHero
    @TheMaskedHero 10 місяців тому

    Professor Burnet was key to my No Energy Castform deck. I miss that deck.

  • @markfuston2714
    @markfuston2714 Місяць тому

    I love the premise..but I think them being bricks just handicapped them too much. If they would've had some sort of secondary ability, like maybe play as an item to draw 1 card or something, I could've seen them being really fun and used a bunch..but instead they took too much of an investment to just give you a big liability on your field.

  • @Aros-pr2xr
    @Aros-pr2xr Місяць тому

    Tbf the a world tournament in the plague years saw inclusion of Mewtwo V-union in the world championship over in Paris; and he DID make top 8

  • @n0way07
    @n0way07 10 місяців тому

    I have some v union decks but I would always treat the v union cards as a "potential" 2nd pokemon to use, if I couldn't get it on field fast enough I'd just stick to using whatever V pokemon I had as backup

  • @crazybird8830
    @crazybird8830 9 місяців тому +4

    V-Unions are the definition of a very cool idea, but the way the game is played makes them more or less unviable.
    The only reason Mewtwo V-Union was good was because it was a psychic type and there were psychic cards that can greatly help Mewtwo V-Union.

  • @spiritblox1
    @spiritblox1 21 годину тому

    I cannot visualise using these in any match outside the tcg mobile games
    How does that even look? It’d take up so much space

  • @lakepaco
    @lakepaco 10 місяців тому +1

    God, I'm gonna my Greninja V-Union when rotation hits 😭 was working on it since D Block was legal xD (rip Shady Dealings)

  • @theinsanegamer1024
    @theinsanegamer1024 10 місяців тому

    I don't know much about the Pokémon TCG, but I do know that needing to have 4 very specific cards in one specific spot in any TCG tends to make it a bit rough. Exodia in Yugioh needs 5 cards in hand, not very usable. I am aware that Pokémon has a lot more draw power than Yugioh, so if they could be sent from the hand it might be some help, or if they had a rule that said you could send one V-union card from your hand to where it needed to go per turn, it might be better.
    But it's otherwise looks like a somewhat slow, high risk strategy that doesn't necessarily guarantee a win if it's out. And by basically needing to focus your entire deck around it, it makes it even less viable. In every TCG I've seen, focusing on one specific card is rarely a good strategy unless the card really is just that good, because if it's properly outed somehow you're screwed.

  • @docxy7331
    @docxy7331 Місяць тому +1

    Wait exodia isnt viable?

  • @CoolGuy-yk9kd
    @CoolGuy-yk9kd 10 місяців тому

    very cool and very informative

  • @rodrigobarrera2281
    @rodrigobarrera2281 10 місяців тому

    The energy charge starts when the four pieces are togheter?

  • @Wobbuffet0
    @Wobbuffet0 10 місяців тому

    I was just thinking about your channel making a video about this yesterday.

  • @AaronL0905
    @AaronL0905 Місяць тому

    VBricking is still an interesting thing
    How did anyone at the design department thought 4 bricks that have to be in one specific place to be used could be used in any genuine way
    I get that maybe having like, a hard to summon thing with big payoff is tempting but it has never really worked in any tcg
    Those always get overpowered by moderately good effect that are easiert to pull out

  • @DrachenIvy
    @DrachenIvy Місяць тому

    after the two part legend cards flopped i have no idea why they made FOUR part cards

  • @sideways5153
    @sideways5153 6 днів тому

    Morpeko is kinda hilarious. Why would you need ten cards in hand in a deck that was able to play a V-Union card?

  • @Riptor25
    @Riptor25 Місяць тому

    Multi part cards like this would have fared better if they had inherent discard abilities, or functioned out of an Extra Deck like Yu-Gi-Oh so having one piece in your prize cards didn't brick the entire mechanic.

  • @misteral9045
    @misteral9045 6 днів тому +1

    The Pokemon TCG is just a mess. The way they muck around with mechanics in the video games every generation is tame compared to this.

  • @dnatal09
    @dnatal09 10 місяців тому +1

    Of all the cards, Pikachu and Mewtwo are the most useful V-union in the format. Heck, the latter won in the regionals by Piper since its hiatus.
    Its not "failure" as the word here, the proper term is impractical.

  • @F1ghtGam3r
    @F1ghtGam3r 10 місяців тому

    Top 10 competitive promo cards

  • @Tvboy777
    @Tvboy777 9 місяців тому

    Mentioning great ball and not ultra ball? Why?

  • @danielborg6411
    @danielborg6411 8 місяців тому

    I have never heard of V unions lol

  • @dylanahern7039
    @dylanahern7039 9 місяців тому

    Really? It is difficult to get them in the search the pieces and put them in the Discard Pile? Your arguements for why the mechanic is bad is quite solid except for the fact that drawing and discarding cards is insanely easy to do in the Pokémon TCG.

  • @alex666493
    @alex666493 10 місяців тому

    zacian Vunion works really well with metagross gx

  • @BanditZRaver
    @BanditZRaver 10 місяців тому

    I never saw V Unions in play, only as Binder Covers and Binder Page Separators
    Basically, glorified Paper Weight used as Decors

  • @indumatipngtuber2790
    @indumatipngtuber2790 21 день тому

    What kind of crack where they smoking making a card made up of 4 different cards into a competitive trading card game??? I think that's quite a bad hit that caused a massive crashout, not gonna lie.

  • @rrruryu
    @rrruryu 9 місяців тому +1

    im a returning player (from way before sword and shield) and im just learning about all these new cards and their rules. im building a mad party deck right now because i just really like to embrace the necromancer feeling. but man?? should i even elaborate?? i have to collect several weak little guys from everywhere and into the discard and yall complain for four cards that together are ridiculously overpowered?? i wouldnt underestimate that little (ironically) menaces potential with a dedicated deck

    • @rrruryu
      @rrruryu 9 місяців тому

      also thanks for the vid im enjoying a lot and taking notes for my custom deck ehhe

  • @boxkid759
    @boxkid759 10 місяців тому +1

    They are lightning energy not electric 😭😭

  • @sloppyjoe9156
    @sloppyjoe9156 10 місяців тому

    I love my greninja vunion deck idc

  • @ravaniphoenix5431
    @ravaniphoenix5431 10 місяців тому

    Literally Maximum Summon from Yugioh Rush Duel but bad.

  • @stinkygamr
    @stinkygamr 10 місяців тому

    Only like 1 was "good" and the rest are just eh

  • @Ergeniz
    @Ergeniz 10 місяців тому +1

    Wasted opportunity on the artwork for V Pikachu. They could have put in the OG art aka 'fat Pikachu'. Instead its just various renditions of the slim/modern which is pretty boring.

    • @spinceiling7442
      @spinceiling7442 26 днів тому

      They already had pikachu vmax cards that had fat Pikachu on them though. Calling slim Pikachu modern is kinda funny too since it's looked like that since like Gen 3

  • @Chemrmnce1234
    @Chemrmnce1234 10 місяців тому +1

    Failed? I would hardly call mewthree a failed card

    • @matthewkuscienko4616
      @matthewkuscienko4616 10 місяців тому +2

      Maybe so, but it's also the only relevant V Union in the standard format currently, and the mechanic to get them into play is clunky to put it mildly. Given that most have been relatively niche at best, I don't think it's entirely unfair to label the mechanic as a failed one; more than anything else, Mewtwo V Union is an exception to the rule

  • @tordek911
    @tordek911 10 місяців тому

    Idk man i had a 90% winrate with a lugia and v-union mewtwo and v-union pikachu

  • @MusicSkeletonKeys
    @MusicSkeletonKeys 10 місяців тому

    Your definition of “failed” is? Click-bait?

  • @silverthepowerabuser6206
    @silverthepowerabuser6206 10 місяців тому +1

    More than half of the video was focused on Expanded, you should avoid that.
    Nobody cares about Expanded, and the ones that do have no idea how broken it is. Or simply have weird tastes. Expanded is a hollow thing from the past that used to be decent with a couple gens stacked, but 5 gens of mechanics put together? Yikes.
    Absolutely nobody wants that. Expanded = Joke, non-existant.