Pick Up Our New 20th Anniversary Pokemon Book for your Collection!

Pokemon Home

Pokedex

Price Guide Set List

Message Board

Pokemon GO Tips

Pokemon News

Featured Articles

Trading Card Game
- Price Guide
- Price Guide
- Card of the Day
- Professional Grading
- Killer Deck Reports
- Deck Garage
- William Hung
- Jason Klaczynski
- Jeremy's Deck Garage
- Johnny Blaze's Banter
- TCG Strategies
- Rulings Help
- Apprentice & Patch
- Apprentice League
- Spoilers & Translations
- Official Rules
- Featured Event Reports
- Top of the World
- An X-Act Science
- Error Cards
- Printable Checklist
- Places to Play

Nintendo Tips
- Red/Blue
- Yellow
- Gold & Silver
- Crystal
- Ruby & Sapphire
- Fire Red & Leaf Green
- Emerald
- SNAP
- Pinball
- TCG cart
- Stadium
- PuPuzzle League
- Pinball: Ruby/Sapphire
- Pokemon Coliseum
- Pokemon Box
- Pokemon Channel

GameBoy Help
- ClownMasters Fixes
- Groudon's Den
- Pokemon of the Week

E-Card Reader FAQ's
- Expedition
- Aquapolis
- Skyridge
- Construction Action Function
- EON Ticket Manual

Deck Garage
- Pokemaster's Pit Stop
- Kyle's Garage
- Ghostly Gengar

Cartoon/Anime
- Episode Listing
- Character Bios
- Movies & Videos
- What's a Pokemon?
- Video List
- DVD List

Featured Articles

Pojo's Toy Box

Books & Videos

Downloads

Advertise With Us
- Sponsors
- Links

Chat

About Us
Contact Us

Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

aroramage	Speaking of cards that made the list that I didn't even take a look at...Teammates.  When I first took a look at this card from Primal Clash, I didn't have much of a high opinion of it. It's a Supporter that needed you to lose a Pokemon in your previous turn to be usable, which I commented on being a "catch-up" card - a card that you'd play when you're at a disadvantage to get back some of that advantage for yourself. I also referred to it as a "reinforcements" card, as it could also help stabilize your position in the event that your heavy-hitter ended up getting KO'd. I also managed to throw in what I think is a witty ketchup pun in there, but that's beside the point.  Teammates says that if your Pokemon was KO'd last turn, add 2 cards from your deck to your hand...well, up to 2 cards, but since when has anybody not added the full 2 cards? All in all, grabbing any 2 cards from your deck can be extremely beneficial in either helping you to catch-up or to reinforce your position, and I'm almost positive that's what Teammates was used for in many decks that would have played it...  ...perhaps it's just me, but I didn't see too many lists running this card.  It might be because of the presence of things like Sycamore and Skyla that could draw out more cards more easily, or perhaps it was considered a tech card that wasn't good enough to replace any non-Lysandre tech card in a specific deck, but for whatever reason outside of this card's initial release, I personally haven't heard much from it. Maybe it ended up as a side boarded option? I dunno, and I can't say what it's impact on the format has been. Maybe its presence gave people the opportunity to consider the ability of getting a Pokemon KO'd and then adding the 2 cards that win them the game!  ...who knows? Like I said, I haven't seen much, so I'm still not that impressed by it.  Rating  Standard: N/A (here in Standard, it might have been used to grab some good cards for different decks)  Expanded: 3.5/5 (but here in Expanded, now with a larger pool of cards, I can actually imagine the benefits of the add-2 to be bigger and better)  Limited: 4/5 (even if you're still gonna lose 2+ cards to make it happen)  Arora Notealus: It's hard to say whether it's worth losing one Pokemon to add 2 cards to your hand. It's probably easier to look at it as, "If I lose this Pokemon, I know I can get 2 cards out of it!" But then I guess with some Supporters, you gotta wonder about where you draw that line.  Next Time: Something reeks, and I don't think it's the Supporters...
21times	Teammates (Primal Clash, 160/160) landed at number eight on our countdown of the top ten cards lost to rotation.  I had it at 3rd place on my list, and, if I got to redo my list today, I’d probably put it at number one.  I have used this card SO much over the year and a half I’ve been playing now.  I love the card’s design – I love cards that give a player who might be on the downside of a game a little bit of a boost to get themselves back into it.  I don’t like cards that penalize a player for winning (I’m looking at you, N (Fates Collide, 105/124)), but I really like cards that help you out when you’ve fallen behind. And this one is a doozy – being able to go get ANY two cards you want out of your deck.  Energy, Supporter, Stadium, Tool, doesn’t matter, you want it, go get it.  I frequently use it to get a Rare Candy (Sun & Moon, 129/149) and the Stage 2 Pokemon I need, that’s the perfect combo.  That’s one of my stealthy sneaky tactics lately.  I’ve been running a number of decks where I use Alolan Vulpix (Guardians Rising, 21/145) to go get me the Pokemon I need, and then when my opponent KO’s Vulpix because it’s only 60 HP and very frail, I then use Teammates to go get whatever I need to begin attacking.  It’s a great strategy, one that for the most part of the 2016-17 season hasn’t been taken advantage of by many decks.  It seems like people have just recently remembered that Teammates is a Standard legal card.  In the past three tournaments, there have been at least two decks running Teammates.  In the first tournament of the season – a year ago in Phoenix – the Greninja Break (Breakpoint, 41/122) deck that won the tournament ran a copy of Teammates.  In between, however, only a couple of decks ran Teammates.  For most decks in most tournaments throughout the season, nobody ran Teammates. The number Master’s Division top eight decks that have run at least one copy of Teammates: Indy 3 (1st) Madison 2 Birmingham 2 Seattle 0 Toronto 0 Roanoke 0 Brazil 0 Utah 0 Portland 1 Oceania 0 St. Louis 2 Anaheim 0 Athens 1 Dallas 0 San Jose 0 European IC 0 Ft Wayne 0 Philly 0 Orlando 0 Phoenix 1 (1st)  You’re going to get at least one Pokemon KO’d – be honest with yourself.  You rarely go through a game against a real deck where you don’t lose at least one Pokemon.  Don’t try to pretend it’s not going to happen.  Use this card to take advantage of that.  The way I look at it, if you win with 6 prizes left or if you win with 1 prize left, either way, you still win the game.  Teammates has helped me do that a LOT this season, it’s a little sad that we have only just recently rediscovered how good this card is. Rating Standard: 4 out of 5 Conclusion It’s also a little sad that we have absolutely no replacement for this card, but that’s part of the reason I ranked it so high on my list of cards lost to rotation.  I do think that four is a good rating for this card as it’s not as valuable in decks that feature two prize Pokemon.  Plus, two cards sometimes just isn’t enough… if it allowed three cards, then I’m sure this card would have seen a LOT more play!  Still, in decks that run mostly or all single prize Pokemon, Teammates greatly helped you continue your attacks and even gave you a boost when you fell behind in a match.  I’ll miss this card, and I hope we get a reprint or similar card in the near future.
Vince	Our 8th place pick is Teammates from XY Primal Clash.  It was ranked 6th place in the top 10 cards of XY Primal Clash.  This Supporter has a requirement before you play this card:  You have to have one of your Pokemon get KOed during your opponent’s turn.  So, this means your opponent would KO your Pokemon by damage or damage counter placements during their turn.  So, no, being KOed in between turns (i.e. poison and/or burn) does not count, and self KO (usually only possible on your turn) also does not count as that requirement.  Ok, so once you met that requirement, you get to search your deck for 2 cards and put them onto your hand.  This is a very powerful effect!  The application to using it are endless, and it’s too much for me to put them in one review.  Need two items?  Need energies?  Need Pokemon?  Teammates got you covered!   So, Teammates is used as a search card, but it could also act as a retriever.  How does that happen?  I would play Teammates to get two Puzzle of Times and use both of them so that you can get any two cards from the discard pile to your hand.  This tactic can be ruined if any card involving item lock is already in effect, and also since you played Teammates, you can’t play another Supporter (though you still can have that desired Supporter back and play it later).   Teammates is not a card that you would max out your copies with, usually one or two copies would suffice, three or more is overkill.  That pretty much covers it for Expanded.  In limited, this is a must run (unless you do a +39 deck) since your Pokemon would eventually get KOed for whatever reason and search the cards you need right away to turn the situation around.   Before I end this review, let me mention a similar card that did the same thing as Teammates but with a different requirement: Twins from Heart Gold & Soul Silver Triumphant expansion.  It was reviewed in November 1, 2010 as a regular review (they didn’t have a top 10 list of an expansion back then, and if it the list were to be hypothetically made, then I would have place it at number 1) and January 11, 2011, when it was at 4th place of the top 10 cards of 2010.  This card was amazing back in the day and is still awesome if it had been reprinted (although it’s legal in the Legacy Format in the PTCGO).  Twins lets you search your deck for 2 cards and put it onto your hand if you are behind on prizes.  This means that if you are about to win the game, then Twins becomes a dead card, but in any other situation where you expect your Pokemon to be KOed first before your opponent, then Twins will guide you to a resolution, possibly making it a comeback!  I believe they used to run no more than two copies for fear of being dead cards.   Ratings:   Standard: 4.1/5 (My score is based on general usage.)   Expanded: 4.1/5 (It’s like being versatile regardless of what deck you’re playing.)   Limited: 5/5 (Grab anything and win fast!)   Notes:  Unrestricted search is usually a powerful trait, and if you can address some shortcomings of a card that would otherwise be broken without one, then you have yourself a valuable tool.  I didn’t have Teammates in part of my top 10, maybe because I didn’t think it’d be extremely important enough to be on the final list.  Maybe my timing is pretty bad when playing a match; Either my Pokemon is KOed but on the following turn I didn’t draw into Teammates or I have Teammates on my hand but my Pokemon isn’t KOed yet.   Coming Up: It’s blooming, yet dangerous at the same time!
Otaku	Teammates (XY: Primal Clash 140/160; 160/160) is our eighth most missed card of the ones we’ll lose on September 1st, due to the shift to the 2017-2018 Standard Format.  Which you already know from reading the other reviews as this is a late CotD (though thankfully, just submitted the day of and after the other reviews were posted).  You’re not going to see much new here: I believe all the main talking points were covered by the others.  I’m so proud of them!  Teammates is a Trainer-Supporter that requires one of your Pokémon have been KO’d during your opponent’s previous turn in order to use it, but if those conditions are met it allows you to search your deck for any two cards you want, then add them to your hand.  Supporters are still a major part of any successful deck and have been since shortly after they were introduced.  VS Seeker makes it even easier to use the more specialized offerings; even being a Trainer has been great for the last few years, thanks to Trainers’ Mail.  Two cards aren’t much, but it is usually enough to set up key combos or for certain decks to maintain their field presence; this gave Teammates solid general usage, though the need for TecH Supporters usually meant they were edged out by something like Delinquent, Hex Maniac, or Pokémon Ranger.  Best in decks that had reusable sources of supplementary draw power and/or that focus on glass cannons, expecting the opponent to take a Prize turn after turn.  It is important to remember the card does specify your opponent’s turn; the good news is that it does not require it be through your opponent’s actions or something more specific like damage from an attack, but you cannot combo this with Pokémon that self-KO (unless it resolves during your opponent’s turn) or when a Pokémon is KO’d by a Special Condition (Confusion resolves during your turn, while Burn and Poison do the deed between turns).  We first looked at Teammates here, where it secured sixth place for our XY: Primal Clash top 10.  Re-reading our reviews (aroramage, Baby Mario, and myself) looks like we had one of those times where we each had a little different take, and I think the net result was more accurate for it.  I thought it was one of the best cards in the set, aroramage was skeptical of it, while Baby Mario thought it would make for some good TecH, especially with Battle Compressor to discard it early game so you could VS Seeker for it when actually needed.  I no longer think it was the best card of XY: Primal Clash and my list proved to be pretty bad: I even had a typo, listing Primal Kyogre-EX twice when one was supposed to be Primal Groudon-EX!  Baby Mario also mentioned that he thought Teammates was the nerfed version of Twins, but that is a bit of an oversimplification.  Twins is also a Trainer-Supporter that provides a double search, but it required you have more Prizes remaining in play than your opponent e.g. the game thought you were losing.  I’m no longer fond of come-from-behind effects, as I’d rather win and lose due to my own plays than the game wanting to punish someone for winning or reward them for losing.  Moreover, this is an easily fooled metric; multiple cards around that time had potent effects allowing them to KO either themselves or your other Pokémon for big rewards (healing more important targets, Energy acceleration, both at the same time, etc.) while control, mill, and Lost World decks often did not take Prizes.  Not relying on Prize counts isn’t all bad; all those times when you’re ahead or tied on Prizes, Teammates can still work so long as something of yours was KO’d on your opponent’s previous turn.  If Teammates got a surprise reprint, what would it be like in the future Standard Format?  Right now it is a solid TecH Supporter, something you run as a single and can spam (if needed) via VS Seeker and ignored when you have a better option (or just can’t use it at all).  It’s proven quite useful to certain decks, some of which have been quite successful, but Teammates faces a lot of competition… about half of which is also rotating from Standard play.  Losing VS Seeker hurts all Supporters, and that might sound like the end of Supporter TecH, but Tapu Lele-GX allows them to function from the opposite direction; instead of tossing them and using them later, you just search them out as needed.  With decks possibly shifting to four Tapu Lele-GX builds and already favoring at least two and Pokémon search still being plentiful in the typical deck, seems like a winner to me.  What really makes me miss it, is that we might be in for a format where searching (for example) a Rare Candy plus Stage 2 or two copies of Puzzle of Time become major plays once again.  Throw in more decks trying to take advantage of the Prize divide between single Prize Pokémon, the remaining Pokémon-EX, and Pokémon-GX, and Teammates had great prospects.  I believe it will remain one of the many potent Supporters you can run in the Expanded Format; as it is useful in general and performs better in certain decks, it remains a bit above average.  Limited Format play isn’t likely with older cards, and the only reason to not run any copies of Teammates pull is that you pulled and are running a big, Basic Pokémon-EX by its lonesome (so you lose once its KO’d). Ratings  Standard: 3.5/5 (Soon to be N/A)  Expanded: 3.25/5  Limited: 4.9/5  Conclusion  I said it before (even in this review), and I’ll say it again; Teammates is a solid, general usage Supporter normally crowded out by the need for more specific Tech (or even an extra Lysandre) that excels in certain other decks as something more.  Rotation axed it along with some of its rivals, but if it was to get a surprise reprint, we’d be able to enjoy it at least as much as we do now, and probably more because Vileplume (XY: Ancient Origins 3/98) rotating means all the Item-based options are less scary.  So if it were sticking around, I’d have scored it higher.  At least we can still enjoy it in the Expanded Format.  Breakdown  Teammates takes eighth place with 14 voting points, edging out yesterday’s Double Dragon Energy by one, tying tomorrow’s 7th place pick.  6th place beat out both 7th and 8th place by two voting points, for the record.  This time out, the tie between cards was decided by rolling off and Teammates got a “1” while the other card did not.  Teammates only made two lists, and one of them was my own as my fifth place finisher.  I’m glad it made the final list but would have preferred it a few slots higher.  Indeed, I’m thinking I lowballed it a little on my own list.