4/16/2021 Update - completed Command Tower depicting the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town. I also uploaded images of the energy cards that I'll be using for Forest , Island , and Swamp . There's a lot to say about the lands so prepare for the long rant that follows:

As you can probably tell from the Command Tower alter, I printed a screenshot from the TV show to use for the art. I decided to use printed images from the video games, show and movies and glue those to perfect-fit sleeves rather than alter the lands themselves. I'm doing this for a few reasons. One, some of these lands are expensive and I don't want to butcher their value with my horrible art "skills". Two, I'm not about to drop $1000+ on commissions for painted alters. Perhaps some day I'll try my hand at these and commission out the pricier lands, but for now I just wanted the lands to be on-theme without messing them up.

That said, I did paint the borders of the perfect-fit sleeve, which is WAY harder than painting on the card itself. For regular alters I was using scotch tape to protect the unpainted part of the card while painting the borders. This proved to be too adhesive when used on sleeves. Pulling off the tape pulled the paint along with it since the paint doesn't stick very well to the glossy plastic sleeve. I ended up using painter's tape which is less adhesive. Even with painter's tape it's a challenge. First, the tape should be cut to a quarter-inch width to reduce the surface area and thus allow for less pull when it comes time to remove the tape. When doing the last two borders, the tape must also be cut to slightly less than the precise length of the border, so that it does not overlap onto the previously-painted borders (very important - if the tape overlaps the paint, it will pull the paint off).

I painted two (opposite) borders at a time, letting them dry overnight. The next day I pull the tape off VERY SLOWLY, and there's a technique to it as well: you must pull the tape upward and angled away from the painted edge, while pressing on the paint where it meets the tape. This means you have to move your pressed thumb along the edge while peeling the tape in order to keep the paint from pulling up off the sleeve. Even with this method, countless touch-ups were necessary as some of the paint will inevitably peel off. No joke, it probably took as long to do the borders on this sleeve as it took to do a full alter on a card because of the number of times I had to redo the sleeve borders.

Nine-Tail White Fox could be Vulpix or Ninetails?

Umori, the Collector could also be a good Ditto?

How do you feel about taking the deck further into Pokémon territory? Lands can represent specific locations in Pokémon. Riptide Laboratory could be Professor Oak’s lab. Alchemist's Refuge would be Bill’s Laboratory (since turning into Pokémon sounds like alchemy). Prismatic Vista could be the Safari Zone. You get the idea.

Sunken Ruins could be Manaphy’s temple, too

Hi KITTYMANHunkGTI thanks for the suggestions! As much as I like Vulpix and Ninetales I'd still like to stick to the morph theme, which is why I don't have things like Sigiled Starfish as Starmie. Also I actually did consider Umori as Ditto! It would make sense since they're both oozes. However I thought it'd be nice to have Mew alongside Mewtwo in the command zone, and chose Vesuvan Shapeshifter to be Ditto instead. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, I appreciate it

Hi Lanzo493, I completely agree with your idea of lands representing locations in the Pokemon universe! In fact I've got 9 lands completed so far which are doing just that. It seems great minds think alike because I do plan to have Riptide Laboratory be Professor Oak's lab haha.

Alchemist's Refuge as Bill's lab is something I hadn't considered, and makes a lot of sense since Bill's lab is pretty secluded. I may have to change Alchemist's Refuge and go with your idea... Great suggestions all around, thanks!

4/22/2021 Update - finally finished the general, Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer (Mewtwo). Like Nantuko Vigilante , I tried to mimic the art of the original pokemon card as much as possible, except that I also wanted Mewtwo to extend beyond the art box a bit.

Next up is the partner, Umori, the Collector (Mew)

4/24/2021 Update - completed the partner, Umori, the Collector (Mew). Like Mewtwo, I tried to replicate the original Mew pokemon card, except I reversed the direction Mew was facing. I figured it would look better if Mew and Mewtwo were facing each other in the command zone.

I'm also making a couple swaps with the release of Strixhaven. Brine Elemental is coming out for Ezzaroot Channeler and Whisperwood Elemental is coming out for Yedora, Grave Gardener .

4/26/2021 Update - finished Chromeshell Crab (Kingler). This was originally going to be Krabby, but then I saw that the original Kingler pokemon card art fit over the art of Chromeshell Crab perfectly (check out the dude inside Kingler's claw!). So you were right ShaDoWz_6677, Kingler was the better choice haha.

I decided to do the shiny version of Kingler (pale green rather than orangeish red) using metallic acrylic. I figured the shiny version is fitting for a Chromeshell Crab

4/30/2021 Update - completed Cunning Nightbonder (Wobbuffet) and Spark Double (Plusle & Minun).

Wobbuffet was actually more challenging to do than it looks because the magic card was SO SLICK. Seems like Ikoria cards are a little smoother/glossier than other printings, or at least this card is. The paint kept slipping and it was hard to get smooth lines due to the slippery surface of the card.

Plusle & Minun were rehashed a lot as well. Originally I outlined Minun in blue and Plusle in red, but it just looked so weird in a bad way. Plusle wasn't differentiating from the background enough and they both looked sloppy so I just outlined them in the typical black.

Going forward I'm attempting to finish at least 3 alters a week. I hope to play the fully-altered deck once the pandemic is over, and if I don't keep pace it'll take me all year to finish this thing (#o) even though these alters are simple they actually take me a good amount of time to complete.

5/3/2021 Update - completed Mischievous Quanar (Mimikyu) and Master of the Veil (Substitute Doll). Mimikyu is my favorite so far. Even though it's nothing fancy in the world of alters, I'm proud of the concept and execution. It's based on the card art for Flying Pikachu.

So for the substitute doll I was googling reference images and found a great MS Paint rendition (which for the life of me I cant relocate - even reverse image search returns 0 results). Anyway I really liked the janky simplicity of it and decided to replicate it. I think the minimalist, imperfect design is reminiscent of the early days of pokemon card art. I'm pretty proud of the concept for this one too. Turning up a Master of the Veil to flip down another morph is as if that other morph set a Sub Doll.

This is freaking awesome.

Thanks epictrooper25!

5/9/2021 Update - received this awesome Naiad of Hidden Coves (Vaporeon) alter from trifecta_alters! I love the use of light, gradient shading, and depth of colors. It's definitely a standout among all my flat one-dimensional works haha.

You can check out trifecta's other alters on his instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trifecta_alters/

Hi king-saproling, man love this!

Very fun choice to represent Pokemon in MTG, with morph, and the alters are also so fun. Thanks for sharing it!

Thanks RA_HORAKHTE that means a lot! Glad you got a kick out of it

5/10/2021 Update - finished Dulcet Sirens (Poliwhirl) and Urborg Elf (Glaceon).

Also I had an idea for the nonbasic lands that may be a little less tacky than printouts glued to sleeves. I ordered a bunch of Stadium pokemon cards (like this one: Fairy Garden) and I'm going to see if I can foil peel them. I would cut out the text box to show the mtg land behind it, but the rest of the pokemon card would remain intact.

There are some potential issues with doing the lands this way. 1) The stadiums may not be as aesthetically/thematically fitting as the screenshots I used in the printouts. 2) They might not peel cleanly like foil mtg cards do. 3) it might bother opponents if they can't see the names of the lands. Despite these possible issues, I think using peeled&clipped pokemon cards for the lands will look better than printouts. Altered lands would be ideal but I'm not doing that at this time for reasons (see 4/16 update, comment #26)

5/14/2021 Update - Completed Vizier of the Menagerie (Arbok) and Twilight Mire .

I chose Arbok for Vizier simply because they're both cobras. It's a simple alter but the face area had a lot of detail in a small space so that was sorta tricky.

The foil-peel land turned out nice. I like it a lot better than the printouts with painted edges, and the foil peel was easier to do too. I'm going to redo the other land alters in foil-peel style as well. The peeled pokemon card is not glued to the MtG card, they're just in the sleeve together, so I can pull the peel out if an in-game situation requires that.

5/18/2021 Update - completed Silumgar Assassin (Scizor). I used metallic paints for this one as a nod to Scizor's steel type. Also I think the pose fit really well over the original mtg art. The eyes were tough and came out a little wonky. I may try to adjust them

5/24/2021 Update - finished Kadena's Silencer (Mega Sableye) and a couple lands ( Polluted Delta & Command Tower ).

I went with Mega Sableye rather than regular Sableye for a couple reasons. 1) the big gem covers more of the mtg art and 2) I wanted to have at least one mega in the deck. I think it makes for a fun talking point as the existence of mega forms (and similar Pokemon variants) is a contentious topic in the pokemon community. I think Sableye was the right choice for this since Mega Sableye looks pretty much identical to regular Sableye (except for the really big gem), so the pokemon is recognizable even if one isn't familiar with mega forms.

This is legitimately the coolest EDH deck I've ever seen. Bravo.

That's a huge compliment thanks jurassicbrandon!

5/25/2021 Update - completed Glen Elendra Pranksters (Klefki) and Drover of the Mighty (Onix).

Klefki was the best choice for the Pranksters because Klefki is fairy type, has the Prankster ability, has moves which protect allies similar to Pranksters' effect, and Pranksters' flavor text is about a "faerie ring". So yeah I will fight you if you try to tell me I picked the wrong poke for this one.

Drover of the Mighty's mtg art reminded me of Brock and Onix, so that's why I chose Onix for this one. I may foil-peel a Brock card and stick him on there. Thoughts?

5/28/2021 - Completed Drift of Phantasms (Duskull). I actually used glow-in-the-dark paint on the bone parts. I’ll try to get a pic of the glow