Fans React to Forretress Reveal in Pokémon TCG

In TCG ·

Forretress card art from Skyridge, illustrated by Midori Harada

Image courtesy of TCGdex.net

Fans React to a Forretress Reveal in Pokémon TCG

When a long-beloved fossil-punk metallic Pokémon like Forretress sneaks into the spotlight, the community tends to react with a mix of nostalgia, strategy chatter, and collector excitement. This Forretress hails from the Skyridge era—an early 2000s chapter celebrated by players for its bold artwork and distinctive mechanical flavor. Illustrated by Midori Harada and presented as a Rare Stage 1 metal-type evolution that sprouts from Pineco, it’s a card that invites both thoughtful deck design and wistful conversations about the era that produced it. ⚡🔥

Fans quickly homed in on the way its two attacks shape risk and reward on the battlefield. Spinning Blow demands two Colorless energy and generates damage by coin flips, rewarding players who ride the thrill of the odds. Scatterbomb, a heavier Metal-Colorless-Colorless commit, doubles down on coin-flip volatility and bench management. The high-risk, high-reward dynamic resonates with players who enjoy leaning into probability and bench-state control—the kind of decision-making that makes vintage-era cards feel especially kinetic on a tabletop or virtual simulator. 🎴

What makes this Forretress tick on the table

  • Rarity and evolution: Rare, Stage 1, Metal type. It evolves from Pineco, giving players a predictable path to a sturdy later-game presence while keeping the early-game tempo in check.
  • HP and typing: 70 HP with a Metal typing—a nod to the era’s metal-themed archetypes that favored resilience and bench-oriented tactics.
  • Attacks in focus:
    • Spinning Blow (Colorless, Colorless): 20 damage times the number of heads from two coin flips. If both flips show heads, Forretress switches with a benched Pokémon. The crowd loves the pivot potential here—the clock is always ticking, and a clean switch can flip momentum in a blink.
    • Scatterbomb (Metal, Colorless, Colorless): 40 base damage. Flip two coins; for each heads, deal 10 damage to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. For each tails, deal 10 damage to each of your own Benched Pokémon. No Weakness/Resistance apply to Benched Pokémon. The approach rewards careful bench planning and opponent-scorched bench states.
  • Weakness and resistance: Fire ×2 weakness, Grass −30 resistance. In the right meta, that Fire weakness nudges players toward careful matchups and tech choices that can deflect a game-ending blow.
  • Artwork and lore: The card bears the distinctive linework of Midori Harada, whose metallic motifs and mechanical flourishes capture the feel of a Pokémon that literally embodies armor and torque. This art isn’t just pretty—it's a storytelling piece that invites players to imagine a world of rivets, gears, and a Pokémon whose shell is a portable fortress. 🎨

Collector insights: value, rarity, and market chatter

Vintage Skyridge cards carry a cachet that transcends modern playability, and Forretress sits squarely in that conversation. The set itself is known for its ambitious art direction and its emphasis on tech-themed visuals, which makes a Rare like Forretress particularly appealing to both collectors and long-time fans.

From a market perspective, the card’s trajectory has enthusiasts weighing condition, holo status, and the broader Skyridge appetite. CardMarket data shows an average around €48.89 for many copies, with a low watermark near €13 and a positive trend around 45% over recent periods. While holo copies and price dispersion can introduce variance, the general sentiment among collectors is that vintage metal-typed rares like this carry a stable, if niche, premium due to set history and art direction. It’s the kind of card that invites a careful watch on condition, centering around untouched art borders and pristine holo patterns for the gleaming, screen-sparkle appeal that modern collectors crave. 🔎💎

For players who scout the vintage scene, the dual-coin dynamic of Spinning Blow and Scatterbomb adds a layer of risk management that isn’t as common in today’s streamlined toolkits. The potential to catastrophically shift the bench state, or to pivot off a both-heads flip into a sudden bench switch, is a narrative that fans love to recount in forum threads and social media threads alike. The art, the rarity, and the tactical flavor all conspire to keep Forretress a talking point whenever Skyridge is revisited at a tournament or in a curated booster display. ⚡

Art, design, and the era’s vibe

Midori Harada’s illustration approach for Forretress captures a moment where engineering and Pokémon aesthetics collide. The metallic sheen, visible seams, and the sense of a mechanical shell that could weather a battlefield storm—all of these elements feed nostalgia for players who grew up in the era of the original Skyridge print run. The card’s rarity is a badge of honor among collectors who celebrate not only the win conditions but the artistry that defined the period. When fans discuss this card, they often foreground the illustration as a reason to display and preserve it in binders and showcases, underscoring how design can elevate play value into an enduring artifact. 🎴🎨

Practical deck-building ideas for modern players and vintage enthusiasts

  • Bench-handling fundamentals: With Scatterbomb, you’re incentivized to consider how many Benched Pokémon your opponent has, and how your own bench is populated. A thoughtful bench layout can magnify or mitigate the scatter damage, turning random coin outcomes into a controlled risk-reward curve.
  • Evolution timing: Because Forretress evolves from Pineco, players who re-create or simulate classic lines can leverage Pineco as a starter anchor before pivoting to the armored defender. The Stage 1 evolution slot is a classic tempo move in vintage-style decks.
  • Energy setup: Spinning Blow’s Colorless–Colorless cost means you can pair it with diverse energy bases, while Scatterbomb’s Metal requirement invites synergy with other Metal-type Pokémon and supporters that fetch or accelerate metal energy.
  • Meta considerations (vintage-focused): In today’s relaxed vintage scenes or simulated formats, Forretress can be a fun, rule-compliant pocket pick for players who love the interplay of coin-flips, bench strategy, and a tactile card flip moment that sparks memories of gym challenges and card-trade evenings.
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