Base Set Evolution - Fresh Beginnings

Base Set Evolution: Fresh Beginnings is an 82 card set meant to serve as the starting point for both players and Pokémon. Like Base Set Evolution as a whole, Fresh Beginnings is designed to be a standalone product playable on its own. Players trying the format out will have access to the starters, various early game Pokémon like Beedrill, and the iconic members of Haymaker decks. With recognizable Pokémon and simpler Trainer effects, this set can be used to teach players the Pokémon TCG.

Bulbasaur. Charmander. Squirtle. Pikachu. Eevee. Most of these Pokémon are recognizable, even if someone's never consumed a piece of Pokémon media in their life. There's no world where they don't headline the first subset, so let's dive in!

Charmander has a 30-for-1 attack, making it among the hardest hitters for basics that can evolve into a Stage 2. The biggest change comes with Charizard, which has its original ability baked in--it can now attack using only Colorless Energy. This frees up space for Bathed in Flames, which applies a constant Burn to the opponent's Active Pokémon. This means you can take a KO and chip the next Pokémon, bring up a Charizard after your own Pokémon is KOd for counter damage, or even combine Charizard with attackers like Squirtle, retreating to the Bench and then applying Burn damage in between turns. Charizard applies consistent offensive pressure without ever even needing to attack. However, Charizard's this comes at the downside of being a Stage 2 with only 90HP; you'll need Defender and healing items to put Charizard to full use.

Squirtle and Wartortle use their shells to safely hide on the bench while setting up Blastoise. If they get stuck in the Active Spot, Rapid Spin returns them to safety for just 1 energy. These cards don't have the field presence of the Bulbasaur or Charmander lines, but the reward is Blastoise ex, an "uncapped" version of the original Base Set Blastoise: it now has 140hp, Rain Dance attaches to any type of Pokémon, and Hydro Pump has no damage limit. This card can have a huge impact once it hits the table, but finding Blastoise and enough Energy to power up your board is a test of resources and deckbuilding.

Eevee evolves into multiple types of Pokémon, so it makes sense to lean in on this for the design. Chain Reaction comes from its Black Star Promo print, while version split copies the effect of Palette of Friends. All 3 evolutions can attack using just Colorless energy, making it a great starting point for a weakness box deck.

Pikachu floods the bench, while Raichu wants as few Benched Pokémon as possible. This anti-synergy is intentional, reflecting the anime's focus on Raichu's brute strength vs Pikachu's resourcefulness. Pikachu maintains the original Thunder Jolt attack and loses the downside. Call for Family is designed to set up Eevee's Version Split, but can also be used in other strategies. For example, Charizard requires 4 energy to attack, but Blastoise can make that easier with Rain Dance.

Venonat's Compoundeyes works as a standalone ability for decks looking for the perfect time to drop Imposter Professor Oak. Triple Spore heals and poisons, working perfectly with Bulbasaur and Ivysaur.

Venomoth's ability may seem weak to modern era players, but the lower overall HP makes attacking into Venomoth a risky proposition. With a Defender and an empowered Double Leech, opponents will struggle to keep any damage counters on this bug.

Weezing can explode, dealing a total of 90 damage for just 2 Energy. Alternatively, keeping it on the bench will boost the power of your Poison effects, providing additional heals with Bulbasaur.

Seadra's Galloping Sea allows on-the-board Energy manipulation. It's meant to serve as a backup to Blastoise, able to come in once your other attackers have been weakened. If you can avoid OHKOs, you can chain Seadra with Scoop Ups to keep a stream of healthy attackers incoming.

Did you know that Red's starter Pokémon wasn't Pikachu, but Poliwag? Poliwhirl's Dynasty Buster can get revenge on the rat, inflicting 60 damage for just one DCE. Poliwrath keeps this anti-Lightning theming going with its Ability, which allows it to hit most Lightning Pokémon for weakness! Poliwrath's Water Gun scales faster than Blastoise and Seadra's attacks as a reward for settting up multiple Stage 2 lines. Whirlpool is an attack from its original printing in Base Set, now costing 2 energy and dealing an extra 10 damage. Poliwag combines the two attacks from its Neo Discovery print, as it felt more appropriate than simply having another Water Gun user.

The Arcanine line functions as a standalone attacker, but is meant to serve as a partner to Charizard. Growlithe's Stoke can be used during the early turns to get Energy flowing on the Charmander line, and with even 1 Arcanine in play, Charizard's passive damage increases to 60 per turn, a great return on investment of 0 energy. When Charizard isn't available, Flamethrower is a servicable 50-for-2 attack. If you're willing to pay 3 Energy, though, it also inflicts burn, bringing the damage total up to 90 (or more!) after Burn Up.

The Persian line serves as a more aggressive counterpart to Pidgeot; Meowth and Persian outclass Pidgey and Pidgeotto, but Pidgeot gets to draw 2 for no downside.

Rattata theoretically had a niche as a 20-for-1 attacker that resisted Psychic, but few serious decks would pick it over big normals like Lickitung or Kangaskhan. A new identity inspired by Magic's Relentless Rats opens new deckbuilding possibilities. 50-for-1 is incredible, but are you willing to fill your deck and bench with a 30HP Pokémon to take advantage of it?

Raticate serves as the boss of dedicated Rattata decks, while also maintaining its original niche in Super Fang. Compared to Base Set, the effect is buffed to match later printings. Reducing the opponent to 10HP allows it to combine with Poison Spray for a Knock Out on any Pokémon in the game.

Inspired by its printing in Battle Styles, Fearow hits for above-curve damage at the cost of no other traits on the card. It should be valuable in draft and cube formats.

Sandslash is another simple card, just like Fearow. However, Sandslash can hit for Weakness, justifying a cost of 2 Colorless instead of 1.

Ditto is a card that can slot into any deck as a simple Draw 1. However, this alone makes it worse than cards like PC Retrieval, so to justify the deck slot, it makes most sense when the deck has Evolved Pokémon that can make use of DCE, allowing a turn 1 Evoform to help set up. For example, Eevee boxes can use Ditto to surpass the typical 4-copy limit, allowing a 5th or even 6th Flareon, Jolteon, or Vaporeon to hit the field.

When someone thinks of Base-Fossil, they think of Haymaker. There's no better way to round out the Pokémon of Fresh Beginnings than by showcasing my takes on these iconic cards.

The first thing you'll notice compared to the Base counterparts is that these cards have all gotten stronger. It might seem strange to buff what are already considered best-in-class cards, but if a card like Scyther is going to compete against new threats like Venomoth and Arcanine, non-evolving Basics need to feel big and have immediate board presence.
Electabuzz and Hitmonchan get the ex treatment. Electabuzz is the big winner, as the system-wide HP and Retreat changes buff its stats up. At the same time, it loses the self-harm in Thunderpunch and can amp its damage up even further with Static Charge, discouraging opponents from attacking recklessly into it. Hitmonchan takes punch hard to the next level, with Jab now dealing 30 damage and Special Punch (now Punch Up) gaining an effect that directly lets it tango with evolved Pokémon. These changes may seem overwhelming, and that's the exact gameplay feeling I wanted these cards to give. Haymaker should open the game strong and takes an early lead; however, with only 80HP on a 2-Prize Pokémon, evolution decks that survive this early onslaught will be able to stabilize and even out the prize trade.
The rest of the squad sees buffs too. Scyther and Jynx can now swing turn 1 with a DCE (hello, weakness box!), while Magmar combines some of the best traits from its 2 prints. Hitmonlee also makes a name for itself outside the shadow of its brother, with High Jump Kick offering a 50 damage bench snipe. Going first and with a DCE, this attack can take out a surprise knockout against the majority of evolving basics. In return, Hitmonlee takes some damage itself, making it easy for a return KO.

Computer Search and Scoop Up are some of the most defining cards of the Base-Fossil era, and they make an appearance unchanged. In fact, Scoop Up has been buffed, and can now return Evolution Pokémon to the hand as well.

Energy Search is buffed to 2 Energy, making it more appealing regardless of whether your deck runs multiple different basic energy. Similarly, Energy Retrieval has the discard cost removed and even works as a way to put cards back in your deck, preventing losses from deckout. In contrast, Energy Removal is now nerfed, gaining the same downside as Super Energy Removal. This change is intended to let Energy Removal still be a powerful card in the right deck (e.g. Rain Dance, Control), without it being an automatic 4-of in any list.

Defender and Full Heal are now both Tool cards, allowing them to provide their effects over multiple turns. Full Heal's buff now means it can proactively stop Poison and Burn, rather than needing to be used after-the-fact, when your Pokémon has already taken the damage. It's also the only way in Fresh Beginnings to turn off Charizard's ability.

These cards all see minor buffs. Pokédex now provides search to justify using the deck slot, while Devolution Spray allows the Pokémon to evolve again, allowing players to use a Pokémon's Ability twice on one turn. Rare Candy now provides a passive effect, designed to let you use Rare Candy before Professor Oak.

Potion and Super Potion both receive buffs that reflect their modern printings. Item Finder gets a slight buff by putting cards on the bottom of the deck instead of discarding them, allowing those resources to be used later.

The original Base-Fossil format saw only Poké Ball, featuring the original coin flip effect. This line has been reworked to be based on HP values. Ultra Ball could not have the original "discard 2" cost for a simple reason: Computer Search exists. However, it needs to have a higher cost than Great Ball, so how do we accomplish this? By putting a card back on top of your deck, you're still losing one from your hand, but you also lose your next turn's draw, causing a virtual loss of a 2nd card. This effect can be counteracted by shuffling your deck with a search card afterwards. However, in some cases, putting a card back on top of the deck can be a benefit, such as to avoid having it discarded by Persian's Bad Deal Pounce or having it sent to the bottom of the deck by Imposter Professor Oak.

Poison Spray is a rework of PlusPower, intended to prevent Donk decks from deep drawing for four copies on the first turn. Inflicting Poison also allows it to synergize with Venusaur, Weezing, and Raticate. PC Retrieval is a spiritual successor to Bill; you still see 2 cards, and can choose to toss one you don't need to the bottom of the deck. Maintenance is a counterpart to Item Finder, allowing the player to retrieve any resource, but only if they sequence correctly.

Professor Oak remains unchanged, barring becoming a Supporter. His imposter version becomes a modified version of Team Rocket's Admin (draw effects in this set tend to avoid shuffling the deck when possible). Similarly, Lass is our Shauna/Cynthia equivalent.

Bill is our standard draw 3, but comes with a conditional to make it possibly worth running in some world. The Ultimate Rival is a buffed version of cards like Steven's Advice or Erika's Hospitality. And Juggler is a rework of Roller Skater, offering more draw with 2 Energy. With the buffed Energy Search and Energy Retrieval, I think it should see some play in decks like Rain Dance.

We have energy for every type, though some are more represented than others (poor Jynx is the only Psychic type in Fresh Beginnings). Double Colorless Energy is "buffed", in the sense that I've taken care to give more attackers access to attacks with 2 Colorless in their requirements. We also have Double Rainbow Energy, a boon for Evolution Decks. Butterfree needs DRE to land the turn 1 Silver Wind, for example, and the system-wide attack cost reduction means most Evolution Pokémon can be powered up by just 1 DRE. Note that the effect is mechanically different from the gen 3 print, as it will also reduce damage done by the attack to Benched Pokémon or itself (e.g. Weezing's Expoison).