Retreat!

Good news everyone! I'm officially done with creating all the Pokemon I wanted to make for the set. Now begins the much harder process of designing spells, lands, artifacts, and so on. But before I begin talking about that, I'd like to spend some time today discussing the new mechanic I made for the set. Allow me to introduce to you Fallback:

The way that Fallback works is very similar to Regeneration. Whenever you get into a situation where the creature might die, whether it be through combat or a removal spell, you may pay the Fallback cost to return the creature to your hand at the moment that it would die. This means that just like Regeneration, the creature still deals combat damage to the attacking or blocking creature before returning to your hand. Using the example of Weedle, you can see how well this ability works with something like Deathtouch. Weedle may seem a bit scrawny, but it can take out countless threats as long as you have the one Forest to return it to your hand.

As you might imagine, this gets even more powerful when combined with "enter the battlefield" effects. Let's take a look at Clefairy, who can provide us with a great example of this power.

Those who have been playing Standard lately know the potential of creatures that give life when entering the battlefield. While Clefairy isn't close to the terrifying Thragtusk, it does bear resemblance to Cathedral Sanctifier, which has been seeing some play in Reanimator decks lately. If gaining three life once is good enough to be played in a tournament-worthy constructed deck, imagine the potential of the effect being repeatable, especially on a creature that can block reasonably well.

From a creative standpoint, I made Fallback because I needed an ability that reflected Pokemon being able to go back into the Trainer's Pokeball when low on HP or bad for the particular match-up. Giving the ability to return on command didn't feel unique enough for a keyword, so I had to make it a bit more conditional. Also, but making the return only happen under certain circumstances, I made it a bit more difficult to exploit their other abilities. Obviously I haven't had the chance to playtest yet, but I imagine it's going to work out pretty well.

Weedle | Artwork by Madde "CrazyRatty"

 That's all for today. I hope a taste of the new mechanic will get you all excited to see the rest of the cards with this unique ability. Later this week I'll be discussing a couple ways I added Pokemon to the set without making them into unique creatures, so be on the lookout for that. Until next time.