Lt. Surge- Genetic Apex
Date Reviewed: April 20, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Lt. Surge (A1 226, 273) is a Trainer Supporter that lets you move all (L) Energy attached to your Benched Pokémon to your Pokémon named “Electabuzz”, “Electrode”, or “Raichu” that is in your Active Spot. Lt. Surge is available as ♦♦ and ★★ rare.
Trainer cards are an important part of decks, but as of yet, we don’t have any card effects that apply to all of them. We do have three cards with effects that apply to Supporter cards: Gengar (A1 122), Gengar ex (A1 123, 261, 277), and Psyduck (A1 057). Gengar and Psyduck have attacks that do a little damage, while preventing your opponent from using a Supporter during their next turn, all for a single Energy. While it is your Active, Gengar ex has an Ability stops your opponent from using Supporters.
You may only use one Supporter during your turn, before you attack1. Until your next turn, any other Supporters in your hand are dead cards. In the full TCG, it is often vital to structure your decks so you rarely are without a Supporter to use in a given turn, but it’s also important not to clutter your deck with too many Supporters. Pocket doesn’t seem to work this way. Depending on the deck, it may be quite common to have multiple Supporters just waiting for you to need them in your hand.
Lt. Surge provides a form of Energy acceleration, by moving all your (L) Energy attached to all your Benched Pokémon, to your Active if it is an Electabuzz, Electrode, or Raichu. Energy acceleration by moving around already attached Energy cards is one of the weaker forms, all other factors being equal. Instead of actually increasing the amount of Energy you have in play, the goal is to move what you have to someplace more beneficial.
Being restricted to only targets with one of three specific names is a big restriction, though not the worst. It will not work on their lower Stages, or evolved forms. If you want to prep an Electivire (evolves from Electabuzz), promote an Electabuzz, use Lt. Surge, then evolve into Electivire. Neither Voltorb nor Pikachu can benefit from Lt. Surge. We don’t have an “Electabuzz ex”, “Electrode ex”, or “Raichu ex”, but Lt. Surge would not work for them: that “ex” in their name matters!
Even with all these factors to consider, Lt. Surge still has a powerful effect. Look at Dawn (A2 154, 194). While she’s hardly a deck staple, she still sees competitive success. She only can move one Energy from one of your Benched Pokémon to your Active, but her effect doesn’t care about Pokémon or Energy Type, nor about Pokémon names. With the right setup, Lt. Surge can let you go from zero to scoring a OHKO, just by repurposing (through repositioning) Energy you already have in play.
Let’s look at the Pokémon we have to work with. We have three options each for Electabuzz, Electrode, and Raichu cards: Electabuzz (A1 101), Electabuzz (A1a 027), Electabuzz (A2 056), Electrode (A1 100, 235), Electrode (A2 055), Electrode (A2b 024), Raichu (A1 095), Raichu (A1a 026), and Raichu (A2a 026; P-A 044). All of them are (L) Pokémon with (F) Weakness.
Each of version of the three Electabuzz are Basic (L) one attack. Electabuzz (A1 101) and Electabuzz (A1a 027) both have 70 HP, a Retreat Cost of (C), and need (L)(L) to use their attack. Electabuzz (A2 056) has 80 HP, needs (C)(C) to retreat, and just (L) to attack. Electabuzz (A1 101) can use “Thunder Punch” to do 40 damage to the opponent’s Active, and to flip a coin.
If “tails”, Electabuzz also hits itself for 20, while if it is “heads”, the attack does an extra 40 damage (a total of 80) to the opponent’s Active. Electabuzz (A1a 027) can use “Thunder Spear” to hit the opposing Pokémon of your choice for 40 damage. Electabuzz (A2 056) can use “Charge” to attach a (L) Energy from your Energy Zone to itself (this doesn’t affect any current or upcoming Energy in your Energy Zone).
All the Electrode are Stage 1 Pokémon with one attack. Electrode (A1 100, 235) has 80 HP, a free Retreat Cost, and for (L)(L) can use “Electro Ball) to do 70 damage to the opposing Active. Electrode (A2 055) has 80 HP, a Retreat Cost of (C), and for (L) it can use “”Rolling Attack” to do 50 damage. Electrode (A2b 024) has 90 HP, (C) Retreat Cost, and for (L)(L) can use “Tumbling Attack” to do 50 damage to the opponent’s Active, and to flip a coin. If “tails”, the attack does the base 50, but if “heads” it does 50+30 (80 total).
All the Raichu are also Stage 1 Pokémon. Raichu (A1 095) 100 HP, a Retreat Cost of (C), and one attack. For (L)(L)(L) it can use “Thunderbolt”. This attack forces Raichu to discard all Energy attached to itself, but it also does 140 damage to the opposing Active. Raichu (A1a 026) has 120 HP, a Retreat Cost of (C)(C), and the attack “Gigashock”. For (L)(L)(L), Gigashock hits the opponent’s Active for 60 and all opposing Benched Pokémon for 20 (if there are any).
Raichu (A2a 026; P-A 044) is the oddball. It has 90 HP, a Retreat Cost of (C), the Ability “Resilience Link”, and the attack “Spark”. Resilience Link requires you have at least one of an Arceus or Arceus ex in play; with that condition satisfied, this Raichu takes 30 less damage from attacks. For (L)(L), Spark lets this Raichu do 40 damage, plus 20 to one of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon, assuming they have at least one. If they have more than one Benched Pokémon, you get to select which one takes the 20 damage.
Whew! That’s a lot of options. Unfortunately, none of them are seeing any kind of current, competitive success. There are some less-than-successful examples you can find in the current results over on LimitlessTCG. If we get historical, things are a bit different. In the days of just Genetic Apex and the earlier Promo Series A releases, Single Point Lightning were a thing. At the time I am writing this, though, that link isn’t much good; Pokémon Zone is missing any example lists.
The old Single Point Lightning decks would run Magneton (A1 098) as a Bench-sitter. It’s “Volt Charge” Ability lets it attach a (L) Energy to itself, from your Energy Zone. It’s what makes modern day Magnezone (A2 053) decks work. In Single Point Lightning, it’d sit there loading itself with Energy while a low cost (L) attacker was up front, doing it’s thing. When the time was right, you’d retreat into a Raichu (A1 095), use Lt. Surge to load it with Energy, and finish off (sometimes even OHKO) an opponent’s Active with Thunderbolt.
Why not do that now? There are a few reasons. I mentioned Magnezone, and it’s a really great Stage 2 thanks to Magneton. While some decks will still use Dawn to move an Energy off of Magneton and onto something else, moving all Energy is a little too counterproductive. Raichu (A1 095) no longer scores a highly likely OHKO, either. Sure, there are ways to increase that damage, but the most obvious two – Giovanni (223, 270) and Red (A2b 071, 090) – are also Supporters, and thus can’t be used the same turn you use Lt. Surge.
It’s not all bad news. The basic concept still works. We even got a handy new opener for (L) decks, Pachirisu (A2b 025, 103; P-A 058). For (L), this Pachirisu’s attack can do a quick 10 damage, while attaching a (L) Energy from the Energy Zone to one of your Benched (L) Pokémon. We have many worthwhile (L) attackers as well… but they’re not compatible with Lt. Surge.
The other thing to remember are Retreat Costs. Leaf (A1a 068, 082) and X Speed (P-A 002) can help with this, though obviously you can’t use Leaf the same turn you’re using Lt. Surge. Fortunately, unlike with Red or Giovanni, you probably won’t have to. Any time you can Retreat without discarding all attached (L) Energy, it can sit on your Bench, waiting for you to use it on something else.
It’s a long shot, but maybe there’s something that can be done using Electivire (A2 057; P-A 036). While it cannot benefit from Lt. Surge directly, as stated earlier, you can use Lt. Surge with an Active Electabuzz and then Evolve. Volkner (A2 153, 193) is a Supporter that can attach two (L) Energy from your discard pile to one of your Pokémon named “Electivire” or “Luxray”. Lt. Surge does nothing for Luxray, but if you wanted to focus on Electivire, this would provide a total of four Supporters to accelerate Energy.
Electivire is a Stage 1 (L) Pokémon with 120 HP, (F) Weakness, a Retreat Cost of (C)(C)(C), and the attack “Exciting Voltage”. For (L)(L), Exciting Voltage does 40 damage, but if you have an extra (L)(L) attacked – so four or more (L) Energy – to Electivire, Exciting Voltage hits for 120 damage. Not enough to OHKO most Basic Pokémon ex, but it’s on a single point Stage 1 with 120 HP. Steady 2HKOs might be enough. Note this deck is nowhere to be found on LimitlessTCG results, so probably not.
Rating: 2/5
Like with yesterday’s Brock (A1 224, 271), I’m worried I may have buried the point I was trying to make. While Lt. Surge would be a bit better if it worked with the entire evolution lines for Electabuzz, Electrode, and Raichu, it’d be pretty broken if it worked with all (L) Pokémon. It’s restrictions keep it from enabling donks. The real issue is that the powers-that-be seem to preemptively nerf all their Electabuzz, Electrodes, and Raichu.
What I’m saying is, all we might need is a new, better Electabuzz, Electrode, or Raichu. One that would be worth sucking Energy from Magneton. However, it could also just be Dawn fills this niche, leaving no room for Lt. Surge.
1Or do anything else that ends your turn once it resolves.
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