The Monster cards from the Danger! archetype from the 2018 Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG expansion Cybernetic Horizon:
Danger! Bigfoot!
Danger! Chupacabra!
Danger! Dogman!
Danger!? Jackalope?
Danger! Mothman!
Danger! Nessie!
Danger! Ogopogo!
Danger! Thunderbird!
Danger!? Tsuchinoko?
The cards’ art depicts the cryptids interacting with researchers... for better or worse. I’d love to see more cryptids added to this archetype, though I seriously doubt we will.
I think I know my local wildlife better than I actually do. I have never seen an owl up close and underestimate how big they are. I am impervious to being wrong. That was an alien not an owl.
I’m in an unfamiliar place and don’t know its local wildlife. That was an alien not an animal.
Big hairy dude!!! Big hairy guy!!! I’m gonna make your mating calls and focus on how massive your penis is!!! I’m a heterosexual man!!!
Dinosaur that forgot to extinct
Some guy in a costume
Lie
Animal with a disease :( Very sad.
That thing is creepy and wet!
Monsterfucker’s dream
My guy that’s a bear
Pareidolia
A shadow
A tree, bush, or other plant
Oh shit wait that one... oh fuck that’s a bit hard to debunk oh jeez... oh no... might be real? Ah fuck we need more evidence
Apparently, a cryptid themed cookbook already exists!
It’s called “Cooking with Cryptids” by Dave Spinks.
Monstrously delicious culinary treats meet you within the pages of this book. This unique cookbook features fun filled cryptids themed recipes including Jersey Deviled Eggs, Nosferatu Nachos and much more.
This book includes recipes from internationally known paranormal investigator and amateur chef Dave Spinks along with contributions by world renowned monster hunter and musician Lyle Blackburn (including his famous Monster Sauce), classically trained chef and cryptid researcher Joe Perdue, with a sprinkling of synergy from psychic medium Serenity Jenny.
Stir in art by world class artists and monster enthusiasts Ron Lanham and Jamie Snell whose work has been used by some of the top comic and movie companies.
All come together to create this monstrously macabre cookbook.
Recently, for fun, I made a divination deck using Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) cards. This has - no joke - been one of the most fun and accurate divination decks I’ve ever used. Here’s my methodology on how to make one for yourself.
This can also work with other TCGs, like Yugioh and Magic the Gathering.
Feel free to reblog with any additions, notes, advice, etc.
Putting it under the cut because it’s long. I wanted to be thorough.
If you have any questions, my ask box is open.
What You’ll Need
Pokemon Cards
Card Sleeves
Deck Box
Intuition
Imagination
How to Obtain Cards
If you’re like me, you probably have a substantial amount of cards lying around. If you aren’t like me... well, you gotta obtain some.
“How, though?”
I highly recommend buying those cheap resale already-opened cards that you see in a lot of places.
(via DarkGhoul on Youtube; best pic I could find of these kinds of packs)
They’re usually seen as scams by collectors, but these things are perfect for amassing a lot of random bulk cards for a divination deck.
You can also probably find mass bulk online or in certain game shops.
You don’t need a lot of hyper-super-ultra-mega-rare-shiny-holo-whatever for your deck. You just need cards. And this is a good way to get them.
If you want more bang for your buck, buy official blisters or box sets. They’re more expensive, but the money does go to the Pokemon company instead of some sketchy third-party. And you might even pull some rare cards, too.
If there are specific single cards that you’re interested in, there are many shops online that sell cards! You’re likely to find those singles at one of them, especially if they’re common or uncommon.
Alternatively, you can buy some booster packs and open them to see what you get.
↪ Tip: Make sure the backs of your cards are the same!
Some Pokemon cards have different style backs! Japanese cards have different back art than US cards, and some older cards will have slight differences!
While deck sleeves can cover the back, some of them are slightly transparent. This could skew the accuracy of the reading, whether you intend for it to or not.
Card Sleeves & Deck Boxes
You can usually find deck boxes and card sleeves in the trading card section of shops. If not, try a specific gaming / hobby shop, or just get them online.
I can not stress how much easier deck sleeves make shuffling your deck. They’ll also protect the cards from the usual wear and tear of shuffling and drawing.
Deck boxes provide a handy, safe, affordable way to store and travel with your deck.
↪ Tip: You can buy specialty boxes that include booster packs and deck sleeves!
They’re typically more expensive, but you do get a variety of stuff in them.
What Cards to Include
This will be entirely up to you and what you want.
Here’s some things to consider:
The Pokemon, character, or item depicted and it’s canonical relevance
The card’s art
The card’s move(s) or ability(s)
The Pokedex entry of the Pokemon
“Huh?”
Lemme break it down.
The Pokemon / character / item depicted and it’s canonical relevance:
What Pokemon is it? What trainer? What item? What does it do in-game?
Ex: What symbology would apply to Musharna? To Professor Oak? To a Potion?
The card’s art:
What’s happening in the art? Who or what else is in it? What feelings does it invoke?
Ex: A card might depict a battle between two or more Pokemon. What could that symbolize?
Ex 2: Mareep (Lost Thunder 75) shows it sleeping peacefully. What could this be symbolic of?
The card’s move(s) &/or ability(s)
What does the card do? What are the attacks? The abilities?
Ex: Drakloak (Rebel Clash 90) has the moves “Summon” and “Bite”.
“Summon” allows you to find a Dreepy in your deck. What could this symbolize?
“Bite” does damage to your opponent. What could that symbolize?
The Pokedex entry of the Pokemon:
Most, if not all, Pokemon cards have a Pokedex entry somewhere on them. This point is similar to the first, although it takes into consideration the text itself.
“Tempered by pressure underground over tens of thousands of years, its body cannot be scratched.”
What could this symbolize?
Examples / Suggested Cards to Consider
A card to represent balance, like Plusle/Minun, Rayquaza, Medicham, or Roselia
A card to represent growth or potential, like Seedot, Sunkern, or Bulbasaur
A card to represent misfortune, like Spiritomb, Muk, or Trubbish
A card to represent strength, like Machop or it’s evolutions, Sawk, or Throh
If you’re stumped, I suggest looking up tarot and oracle cards. Look at their meanings. What sticks out to you?
“How many cards should I include?”
As many, or as few, as you like. You don’t need every card ever made.
Go through your cards. Look at them. What activates your intuition? What sparks your imagination? Put those cards in a pile.
When you’ve gone through all of your cards, go through that pile again. What does each card mean? Write down your observations.
My current deck (as of August 21st 2022) has 16 cards. A deck box can hold up to 60.
You can always change things around. Nothing is set in stone. Work with your deck, see what works and what doesn’t. Change it around as needed.
Reading the Cards
Reading a spread can vary in practice and meaning from person to person. Different people read cards different ways.
I look at the context of the spread as a whole. How do the meanings of these cards interact? What similarities are there? What differences?
For example: I have Spiritomb in my deck, which denotes ill fate. I also have Misdreavus which denotes anxieties that are largely unfounded, and Mawile which denotes duality or things not being what they seem. Drawing these 3 cards together might suggest that whatever “bad thing” is coming isn’t actually as bad as it seems. (I drew this exact spread recently, which is why I’m using it as an example lmao)
I personally don’t read reverses as anything important, but maybe you do. Maybe a reversed card means the opposite of it’s ascribed meaning.
Recommendations & Other Advice:
- Energies kinda fall flat for me. I can’t really relate them to anything in a reading. If you can, that’s great! By all means, include them! But I personally find them to be kinda useless.
- I mentioned earlier that you don’t need rare cards for the deck, but you can use them! Don’t let how rare or common a card is stop you from including it.
- I can’t stop you from mixing in other TCGs of the same size. Theoretically, with opaque enough card sleeves, you could make a deck of Pokemon, Magic, and other similarly sized TCG cards. Hell, you could also include regular playing cards. Chaotic.
Why Bigfoot Hunters Use Mating Calls When Squatching:
I joke about this a lot, but there is a valid reason beyond wanting to get railed by a foot-long dong.
Hunting is a big part of my culture, specifically deer hunting. It’s how we control the population, maintain the environment, as well as obtain ethically sourced and free-ranged meat.
One of the ways to lure in a deer while hunting is to use a variety of calls. The type of calls used will be determined upon the type of deer hunted, the sex ratio, the age-class structure, weather, and the location in general. Types of calls include (but aren’t really limited to)
Rattle Bags: These are bags that you rub your hands against, which shifts it’s contents. The contents make a noise like clashing antlers, which will draw in bucks (male deer) looking to spar, as well as does (female deer) that might want to see what’s up.
Grunt Calls: A call that makes a low grunting noise. There are different kinds:
Social grunt
Trailing grunt that bucks typically make when chasing does in estrus,
Grunt that bucks make when they’ve found a doe to breed with
Bleat Calls: A call that makes a loud, bleating noise. There are different kinds:
Doe bleats that indicate that a doe is ready to breed
Fawn (baby deer) bleats makes the noise of a distressed fawn
When hunting predators, like coyotes, sometimes hunters will use calls of injured or dying animals, like rabbits, to lure them in.
I’ve often seen squatchers use the “mating call” of the bigfoot to try to lure one in. But I have some issues with this:
Which sex is making the call?
Do males and females have different mating calls?
Do only one of the sexes have a mating call?
It’s obvious that squatchers only know the one call, so it makes sense they’d only use it. However, I ask you:
Why don’t squatchers use prey calls?
Have any squatchers tried using prey calls?
What would be considered prey to bigfoot?
Why shouldn’t we assume that bigfoot isn’t omnivorous?
Do baby bigfoot make distress calls?
If so, what do they sound like?
So why do squatchers tend to use the “come fuck!” calls?
Well, it’s simple: squatchers learn from other squatchers. Mating calls are used in other types of hunting, so it makes sense that they’d be used when trying to lure out bigfoot.
New squatchers are also likely afraid to break the mold. Using prey calls could lure in things other than bigfoot. And we don’t have any distress calls to implement; can’t use what you don’t have.
I am, by no means, an expert on bigfoot hunting. But the reason that they use mating calls isn’t just because they’re horny for ape-beast schlong.
Flatwoods Monster - Not huge on aliens and yeah I know it was just an owl but like damn who’s a pretty alien lady?
Gef the Mongoose - Def a hoax but goddamn it I just love him
Squonk - Mood
Treesqueak - Learned about this one recently and as a lover of possums I just adore it
Wolpertinger & Jackalope - I have a soft spot for lagomorphs ok
Mountain Creature Caught Running Behind Google Car - Another new one, just fucking obsessed. It’s so obviously just a blurry person but it has my whole heart
Any water dwelling things, esp if they're in lakes (Kelpies, nixies, merfolk, Nessie & other serpents, the OK octopus, selkies, etc.)
Mothman - A classic. Again, just an owl, but what a story!
I’m excluding yokai, gnomes / the fae / mythical creatures, and things from closed cultures (wendigos & skinnies) bc I see them as something other than cryptids. In their own categories, if you will.
Fun ways to read your Pokemon TCG Divination deck:
Assuming you have cards that represent finances, love, etc., you can shuffle your deck, then flip it over and search through it to find those cards. The one atop and below it will tell you about the situation!