Blue – Mythical Island
Date Reviewed: April 11, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
I’m blue,
Da ba dee daba die…
Blue (A1a 067, 081) is a Trainer-Supporter that places an effect on your side of the field, for the duration of your opponent’s next turn. That effect is, all of your Pokémon take 10 less damage from attacks made by your opponent’s Pokémon. Blue is available at the ♦♦ and ★★ rarities.
There are no card effects, whether support or counters, that reference Trainer cards in Pocket. We do have usual three with effects that apply to Supporters: Gengar (A1 122), Gengar ex (A1 123, 261, 277), and Psyduck (A1 057). Gengar ex stops the opposing player from using Supporters while it is Active; the other two have single Energy attacks that do a little damage, but also prevent the opponent from using Supporters on the opponent’s next turn. They haven’t seen little to no competitive success.
You’re only allowed to use one Supporter during your turn (and none at any other time). In exchange for this, they’re about twice as strong as the closest equivalent. Exactly twice as potent, in the case of X Speed (P-A 002) and Leaf (A1a 062, 082). All cards are competing against each other for deck slots. Cards with the exact same name compete with each other the most. Supporters fall somewhere in between those extremes.
Blue offers widespread, but weak, protection. Everything on your side of the field receives 10 less damage from attacks by your opponent’s Pokémon. It doesn’t matter whether your Pokémon entered play before or after you used Blue; so long as your opponent’s next turn hasn’t passed, they’ll receive Blue’s protective effect. Damage from Abilities and/or Trainers isn’t reduced.
Taking 10 less damage is not a dramatic swing, but it can make a difference. If it helps, notice how Blue essentially negates an opponent’s Giovanni (A1 223, 270). Though, as Blue is actually played the turn before your opponent plays their Giovanni, it’s more than Giovanni is counteracting Blue’s protection on the Active.
Nothing boosts damage done to your Bench, though attacks that hit the Bench are, of course, far less common. Still, Blue makes it pointless for something like Spiritomb (A2 104, 172) to attack, unless it’s attacking into Weakness or – again – using a damage boosting effect against the opposing Active. Blocking weak spread can be a lifesaver; not just for preventing certain 2HKOs, but because spread normally sets up for Cyrus (A2 150, 190).
We don’t have any Items that reduce damage taken, the way Blue does, but some Items produce similar enough effects they’re worth the comparison. Potion (P-A 001) that heals 20. Giant Cape (A2 147) increase HP by 20. Isn’t that backwards? In some ways, yes, but it is important to note that Blue is preventative (unlike Potion), and it protects all your Pokémon (unlike Potion or Giant Cape).
Another useful card for comparison is Adaman (A2a 075, 090). It’s Blue, but reducing damage taken by 20, instead of just 10, but only for your (M) Type Pokémon. Seems like the Type restriction is worth doubling the effect in this case. As Blue was often useful in decks that already were good at healing and/or reducing damage taken, and some notable (M) Types do the latter, Adaman has replaced Blue in those decks.
Blue is not as good as Giovanni, and as Giovanni is not currently as useful as Red (A2b 071, 090). Does that make Blue bad? The answer is… kind of. Both the full TCG and Pocket are games where the best defense is (usually) a good offense. If you KO something, it usually cannot KO you back. It’s why healing effects usually heal more than similar damage buffs deliver. Potion – an Item – heals 20 while Giovanni – a Supporter – can only increase damage already being done by 10.
Blue still sees some fringe play. I don’t know if this is because it still has a niche, or if it is because some older decks where it used to have a niche just haven’t updated. I don’t know about you, but even ♦♦ rarities Trainers can be surprisingly difficult to pull in Pocket. At least, in a timely manner. It wouldn’t surprise me if Blue still showed up in some decks because a player didn’t have a second Pokémon Center Lady (A2b 070, 089) yet.
Pokémon Center Lady might be the final nail in Blue’s coffin. Yet again, she’s a healing card, not a damage prevention card. As a fellow Supporter, Pokémon Center Lady heals 30 damage from the selected Pokémon and heals any and all Special Conditions on it. Blue is still the best generic blanket damage reduction, but Blue’s best fit was in a deck like 18 Trainers.
You usually lack a Bench, have room for lost of Trainers, and need to extend your Active’s life as long as possible. Now Blue has to compete with Pokémon Center Lady, in addition to Giant Cape and Potion. Plus damage increasing cards like Red; again, you’re often better off hitting harder, faster, than you are soaking damage or healing.
Rating: 2/5
I like Blue. Some of it is for stupid reasons. I pulled the full art version shortly after Mythical Island dropped and Blue is Green in Japan. It ties into the convoluted history of the Gen 1 games Japan’s Gen 1 games were Red and Green (released first), then Blue, and eventually Yellow. Our Red and Blue are actually based on the Japanese Blue; you can tell by some of the sprites. What matters here is I’m a simple man; green is my favorite color. I also seem to like damage soaking effects, for some reason.
This article is actually a revised version. We were slated to cover Blue before beginning the Shining Revelry Countdown. Various websites had the full Shining Revelry set posted earlier than expected, so I got my top picks list for the set ready faster, so we began the countdown sooner and Blue’s review was delayed. I’m bringing this up because, in the original review, I’d scored Blue half a point higher and warned that it’d probably be replaced as soon as we got a good, generic healing Supporter… and that’s what happened (Pokémon Center Lady).
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