Technically, this is the post for Day 1 and 2, but I was so zorched from my ongoing physical therapy that I just couldn't get this up last night. Expect an additional post later today for Day 3 proper.
Anyways, a while back, a prolific creator named Fenn Shysa made a Level 8 Multi Power card as an unusable "promo." He never intended for it to be used as an actual card, but joke or not, the floodgates were open. The Atlanta Federation began producing usable, high value multi-power cards, though a portion of the competitive players found them to be a little oppressive.
The M6-8 power cards never existed in the original game, as their function, allowing a higher value card usable across split power grids, was already fulfilled by Any Power cards. The downside to APs is that they don't contribute to Spectrum KO, but that's the price you pay for having that sort of team-wide offensive and defensive capability. I'm not sure there's any downside whatsoever to running the M6-8s, as in most cases, you can't afford to let them hit given the danger they present re: Cumulative AND Spectrum KO. They also are part of a fleet of cards that exist in the custom realm that start to make decks feel real samey, auto-includes that turn the (already small) "meta" into a greyish mush.
That said, I like to look at alternatives to a card ban, and this felt like a creative solution: using the game's established Deck Building Total* mechanic. 1/
I only ever made three high level multi-cards: two featuring Pokemon art I found and appreciated, and a third featuring Dream of the Endless (before his contemptible creator's true character was revealed). I never really shared them because I felt as though they shouldn't exist, but needed them in the competitive scene. So my first two days are a bit of a cheat, as these are edits of preexisting cards that have languished in the depths of folder-dom.
That said, this feels like an elegant solution. Each card has been given a TDB value equaling the card's value minus 5, the logic being the card "costs" 1 pt against your deck for each rank above the games' original maximum rank Multi, the 5.
OP has no resource system like Magic, so there's really only a few things you can use as "payment" for a card: the Tournament Deck Building total, the Missions, and Character Placement slots (and, I suppose, card advantage in general). I've used Placement slots as a resource when developing my Scheme card types and I just recently saw Brazilian creator BIOS utilize Missions in an ingenious, and enviable, capacity. The LRG continuation of the game has used discarding cards to empower a special in a really great way, and I'm hoping this new trend I'm kicking off of locking powerful effects behind a Deck Building value helps balance some of the power creep that's, uh, crept into the Underground!
Til later! 2/2
#OverPowerCCG #OverPowerCustoms #deadccgs #deadtcgs #FunADay #FunADay2026
