Pokémon — Weaken, Then Throw

Commanded by the partners Ash Ketchum, Pallet Town Trainer and Pikachu, Ash's Partner, this Temur (green/blue/red) 100-Card Commander Deck follows a ten-year-old who leaves Pallet Town and learns before noon that you never throw the Ball at a healthy creature. You weaken it first, you throw second, and what you can hold depends on how many Balls you carry. Everything this deck takes from the table, it takes that way — and the strong creatures it keeps for itself never come out of your hand on their own. They evolve.

• Catch: printed on twelve cards and read by fourteen more. Exile a creature an opponent controls if it was dealt damage this turn and its toughness is no higher than the number of Ball artifacts you control; you may cast it from exile for as long as you still control a Ball. Every damage source is a setup: Pikachu's Thunderbolt for {1}{R}, Charmeleon, Jolteon, Zapdos, Power Plant Storm, Lt. Surge at every combat, Officer Jenny, Onix and Earthquake. Ash creates a Poké Ball token at each combat, so the ceiling rises on its own, and the Master Ball counts as ten. The lock is real: lose every Ball and the whole collection stays in exile.
• Evolve: seven printed lines — Bulbasaur to Venusaur, Squirtle to Blastoise, Charmander to Charizard, Abra to Alakazam, Caterpie to Butterfree, Magikarp to Gyarados, and Eevee choosing between Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon. Stage 2 and 3 cards can never be cast: a one-mana first stage evolves at sorcery speed, the named card comes from your hand or your library, takes every counter and Aura, and arrives untapped with no summoning sickness. Brock's +1/+1 counters ride along from stage to stage.
• The partner who stays out: Pikachu can't evolve and can't be caught — it's printed on the card. It has haste and pings any target, the damage every Catch needs first.

Why Temur

The three starters and nothing else. Green is Bulbasaur, Viridian Forest, Brock and the tall grass. Blue is Squirtle, Misty, Professor Oak's lab and The Pokédex. Red is Charmander, Pikachu's Thunderbolt, Lt. Surge and every attack that softens a target up before the throw. Two combos close the game: Ditto copies Kadabra and the copies untap Ditto forever, and The Pokédex imprinted with Full Restore makes unbounded mana to pour into Thunderbolt. Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Ultra Ball and Net Ball ramp; Oak's Parcel and Professor Oak tutor; Hyper Beam, Roar, Pokémon Battle and Protect interact; Earthquake sweeps but spares Charizard, Butterfree, the three legendary birds and Mew. The 35 lands are Kanto, from Pallet Town and Route 1 to Mt. Moon, the Seafoam Islands and Indigo Plateau.

A complete 100-card Commander deck plus 3 tokens, tuned for Bracket 4, available as a digital print-yourself edition or a printed physical deck, and offered in 10 languages.