Poke Kid – Sword & Shield Pokemon Review

Vince

Standard: 1/5
Expanded: 1/5
Limited: 4/5

Poke Kid is a Supporter card which fetches you a Pokémon…and this card already faces a lot of competition from other cards that does a similar or identical job that sometimes doesn’t cost you your Supporter usage for the turn (like ACE SPEC Master Ball or Ultra Ball). The only positive thing I can think of this card is that it is far more accessible than Trevor, a Supporter that does the same exact thing, as the only method of getting him was from a Battle Arena Deck from 5+ years ago. Even if item lock is a concern, there are other supporters that fetches more cards than Poke Kid does.

Otaku

We’re kicking it with Poké Kid (Sword & Shield 173/202) today.  This Trainer-Supporter lets you search your deck for a Pokémon and add it to your hand.  The card also reminds you to show your opponent the card you snagged (proving it is a Pokémon) and to shuffle your deck afterward.  If this sounds familiar, it should as Poké Kid is just Trevor by another name.  Trevor saw little-to-no competitive success… is Poké Kid destined to the same fate?

Maybe.  Trevor has always had to compete with Ultra Ball, both in Standard and Expanded.  Even when Item-lock has been bad, Trevor wasn’t used to work around it.  I believe that is because searching out anyone Pokémon just isn’t worth the opportunity cost while we have so many other potent Supporter-based effects, and great Item-based Pokémon search.  We don’t have quite as good of Item-based Pokémon search in Standard, but we’re close with the combination of Quick Ball and Evolution Incense, and anti-Item effects aren’t as wrong here.

In the Limited Format, if you pull Poké Kid, you run it.  Not just for the search, but also to look through your deck.  For those reasons, it performs well in the Theme Format as well.  Cinderace Theme Deck, Intellion Theme Deck, and Rillaboom Theme Deck each have two copies of Poké Kid, and they serve the decks well.

Ratings

• Standard: 1/5
• Expanded: 1/5
• Limited: 4/5