One Hit KO

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  Last year I had an idea around awards-show time to give awards to the best card art in the format.  This year I decided to keep the tradition up, and name it after one of the best people I know, me.  Pikke (Pick-e) was my nickname in school, so I decided to call the awards the Pikkes.  No  matter what attractive chap the awards are named after, the Pikkes are all about greatness in card art.  And what a better time to have an award show, with the Oscars coming up around the corner.

A lot of Pokemon writers don’t mention card art, and only talk about playability.  But, card art is something that connects to the card collector and the serious player.  We all can appreciate a good piece of card art.  Not all of us can appreciate Mewtwo EX, but we all can appreciate how beautiful a Full Art card is.  I think its nice to take a step back from competitive play now and then and just appreciate something as simple as card art.   So let’s take a look at how we are going to give out …

I am pretty sure that Ava’s favorite thing about Regionals is the art station. Thanks to PokeMama Camile, Ava has a place to hang out between rounds. It’s great that I know where she is, and it’s enjoyable for the kids that like coloring/drawing.

Ava At PokeMama's Art Station

There isn’t a whole lot to say here. It was requested that I post some more artwork, so here it is. If anyone else has art like this to show, let me know.
Continue reading "Ava’s Art From Regionals"

A big hello to all members of Omar-Nation, this is Pikkdogs here today with a different kind of article.  Today we won’t be talking about SP decks, Lost World, or Gengar.  Today we will be talking about an overlooked part of the card game, card art.                                                      

There have been a surge in the amount of Pokemon TCG information in the past year or so.  If you want to read or listen to information about the game, just turn on your PC and you will hear all about the latest tips and tricks to win card games.  But, one aspect of the game that has been overlooked by these new websites is collecting.  There are a lot of people who only participate in this game to collect em all, so its nice to connect with these people at times.   While Pokemon players mostly care about the playability of cards, Pokemon collectors look at card art.  So thats why I thought it would be nice to have an article on Pokemon Card Art.

Everyone looks at the art on the cards when we open them, but most of us don’t give the pictures a second look.  Art in the Base Set days was fairly simple.  There would be a simple depiction of a Pokemon just standing around against a mono-chromatic  background.  Today card art is more complicated with a lot of different backgrounds and situations.  The art today is varied and sophisticated, enough so that I think that it should be looked at more closely.

So that’s why we are here today.  I am not an art person, I can’t judge or appraise art, so I will not be ranking any art today.  Instead, I will give several cards awards in different categories, Oscar style. The only rules of this contest is that to be considered for an award, a card must have be in the current modified format.   So without any further wait lets get to the Art Awards.

Continue reading "The Best of Pokemon Card Art"