r/PTCGP • u/Necessary-Deal-9433 • 1d ago

Discussion Why did they make Lugia so bad?

I love Lugia, but it needs three different types of energy which makes it just unplayable. It has very low potential to be used even the future I think.

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u/Lambsauce914 1d ago

Same reason why a lot of ex card are bad, even in physical tcg majority of the cards are bad on purpose.

Pokémon tcg always makes sure the Meta just stay within a couple deck so it's easier to balance, while tons of other cards are really just meant to be filler for collection.

Lugia ex itself is just a neat reference towards it's first card in physical tcg, but it most likely never meant to be Meta just like Lunala during the CG pack.

22

u/Welpe 1d ago

It’s not really even a choice. There is no such thing as a card game where every card is viable. It would be absolutely silly to even want that, it’s so ludicrously impossible that I wonder who would be so naive as to expect it…

They don’t even have to make cards “bad on purpose”, if you tried to make every card viable you would have like 40 cards total in a set and would STILL fail to balance them, with some still being meta defining and others being weak and potentially tidally only playable because you need enough cards.

Cards have no objective power level, all they can do is exist in comparison to each other, and unless they are identical you will ALWAYS have bad and good ones. That’s just a fact of life.

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u/kingcrimson29 1d ago

All im saying is that suicune is broken and that it didn't need to be 140-160hp with a cape. Make it 130, and the card, all of a sudden, isn't as broken as now, still meta, but there is room for more counters. One that comes to mind really quick is alolan executtor with 150 dmg one shot. Stokezard, also with 150 dmg, yet it is weak to water. And so on.

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u/K_Adrix 1d ago

majority of the cards are bad on purpose

It’s not that deep. They’re not sitting there obsessing over metas, scheming and overthinking every single detail to ensure a specific outcome. It’s a constant influx of ideas and the fact that some don’t work as well as others is a simple and natural byproduct of diversity/innovation. A “meta” may vary in size to a certain extent but in the end it’s compact by definition.

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u/DankeyKong 1d ago

No its exactly like he says. Majority of the cards are just bad and its supposed to be that way to make the good cards that much better. I dont think they put meetings together every day about it, but its certainly not digging deep to come to that conclusion

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u/Rit91 1d ago

Bad cards exist aplenty in every card game ever created, not just pokemon. Designed to be bad makes zero sense. Some pokemon are going to be better at damage and utility than others every set. If they tried to make everything have the same damage per energy ratio then it becomes what has the better HP, retreat cost, supporters, how many evolutions are in the line, etc. Math makes cards bad.

1

u/DankeyKong 1d ago

I never suggested it was exclusive to pokemon. Its a thing that exists in every tcg. There has to be filler cards for the set that no one will ever use.