Hand Scope (003/P-A) – Promo Series A
Date Reviewed: January 5, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
The number one card from Promo Series A is… not our subject today!
…
WAIT! PLEASE COMEBACK!
I just thought I would copy from others experiment by covering an Honorable Mention, before moving onto the actual #1 card. Not that being an HM is all that impressive when I made a Top 5 list out of just eight cards…
WAIT! I’LL MAKE UP FOR IT BY…
Umm…
I’ll post two reviews today, instead of one! We’ll cover our Honorable Mention tomorrow. Instead, welcome Promo Series A Participation Ribbon recipient Hand Scope (003/P-A)! This Trainer-Item lets you look at your opponent’s hand. If this card looks familiar, it probably should. We already looked at three other Trainer-Items adapted from the full Pokémon TCG to the Pokémon TCG Pocket. Perhaps the most surprising time this time is that it is an exact port.
Yeah, I’ll even link to our Hand Scope (XY Phantom Forces 96/119) from a decade ago! For those who don’t want to take the time to read that review… thanks! I just re-read it myself and it is rough. I can’t pass it off as mere inexperience – I’d have been reviewing cards for over 11 years by the time I wrote it. Besides cringing as I use the word “threat” three times in the same paragraph (twice in the same sentence!), forgot to explain how “Hand Scope” could be a pun*, and leave out the word “TCG” or “games” when I mention where I’ve seen cards like Hand Scope enable good combos…
Hand Scope wasn’t great in the full Pokémon TCG. It didn’t help that it released at a time when:
- There were many Trainer-Items vying for deck space, including Battle Compressor, Red Card, and VS Seeker.
- Item-lock was frequent due to Seismitoad-EX.
I suppose it might have been nice for a Seismitoad-EX deck to know exactly how to maintain control, but not with all the other cards that deck required to more or less reliably lock down an opponent. Plus, and even 2015 Otaku got this, even if all Trainer-Items were suffering because of Seismitoad-EX’s attack induced Item-lock, you had even more incentive to run only the absolute best Items. Creating even more incentive to skip lesser Item cards.
What about in Pocket? Hands are no where near as dynamic as in the full TCG. Hand Scope is one of only 12 Item cards currently available. It has a simple combo with one of the better Items in the game (Red Card). Unfortunately for Hand Scope, with the 20 card deck size, there’s still not enough room to bother with Hand Scope in most decks, even those running Red Card.
But there is one! Two if we treat two of the known 18 Card variants as separate decks. The deck is seen as low tier, but that’s better than being so bad it gets ignored. I doubt it is vital to 18 Card, but when there are just 12 unique Item cards in the game, there’s room in insanely high Item count decks for Hand Scope.
Rating: 2/5
At least it scored better than 10 years ago. It would have scored at least a tiny bit higher had this review happened near the launch of the game. One part overestimating it, but mostly because Hand Scope can be a learning tool. Until you can actually predict the metagame, and anticipate likely plays by your opponent, Hand Scope will let you see their actual hand, so you can try and understand their plays. There’s even a tiny bit of hope for Hand Scope: we just need an effect where knowing your opponent’s hand is clutch, instead of just… handy.
*Maybe it would not actually count as a pun, especially since a “hand scope” is a real thing, but I’m talking about how the card lets you “scope out” (look at) your opponent’s hand. Might require being familiar with generational/regional slang. Considering the length of the old review, probably shouldn’t have even mentioned it.
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