Pokémon Communication – Mythical Islands
Date Reviewed: February 2, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
It’s time for the Top 5 Trainers of Space-Time Smackdown! The fifth countdown in a row: can you tell I am making up for lost time? While smaller than Genetic Apex’s 226 (unique) cards, Space-Time Smackdown still has 155 (unique) cards. As such, I’m doing two Top Pick countdowns; a Top 5 for Trainers, and a Top 10 for Pokémon. Once again, we’ve got some Trainers that majorly affect how decks in general will function.
The fifth best Trainer of Space-Time Smackdown is Pokémon Communication (A2 146)! It’s a Trainer-Item that swaps a Pokémon from your hand, with a random one from your deck. If you have no Pokémon in your hand or your deck is empty, you can’t play Pokémon Communication. If you have multiple Pokémon in hand when you play Pokémon Communication, you can choose which one is shuffled back into your deck. Pokémon Communication is only available at the ♦♦ rarity.
There aren’t many ways to get a Pokémon from your deck, into your hand, in the Pokémon TCG Pocket. 13 cards let you draw1 outside of your draw phase, or add2 a Pokémon from your deck to your hand. Only Professor’s Research and Poké Ball work in any almost any deck, turning them into staples. Somehow, even with only 20 card decks, this doesn’t feel like enough.
Some of this is because Poké Ball can only snag a random Basic Pokémon from your deck. Besides getting the wrong Basic, you’re left trying to draw into any Evolutions you need. If you’re running a Stage 2, or multiple Evolution lines, getting the right Evolution at the right time can be tricky. We need more options, whether it’s a third staple setup card, or an alternative to the two we already have.
Enter Pokémon Communication. This gives you a chance to get the Pokémon you need, from your deck, into your hand. The chance. While it will always3 let you trade one Pokémon from your hand for another from your deck, exactly which is random. Yes, Poké Ball is a huge success, even though it randomly adds a Basic from your deck to your hand. Notice it has no cost, and Basic Pokémon are literally foundational; even Evolutions need their corresponding Basics to hit the field first.
Since you need trading fodder, Pokémon Communication is better in decks that already run many Pokémon, but are worried about getting a specific Pokémon. However, those same decks aren’t going to be happy that they could randomly get the wrong Pokémon for the current situation. If you have a second copy of the card you chose for the swap, you can wind up with a different instance of the same Pokémon!
I can see two kinds of decks that could make good use of Pokémon Communication. The first are decks where the Basic Pokémon are at least somewhat specialized, so you’ll happy shuffle one back into your deck to try and get the right one for the current situation. The second are Evolution decks, in particular where you are running multiple Evolutions. Not necessarily multiple Evolution lines; a single Stage 2 line still involves a Basic, a Stage 1, and a Stage 2.
The full Pokémon TCG also has Pokémon Communication, but with one major difference: You get to pick which Pokémon you snag from your deck. It first showed up 2010, and was Standard4 legal as recently as 2021. It wasn’t dropped for being too powerful, as Ultra Ball5 is currently legal. This is clearly a better card than what we got, but it might be too good for Pocket.
Rating: 3/5
Pokémon Communication almost didn’t make this Top 5. Once I saw its altered effect, I thought it sounded bad. If I need any Pokémon from my deck, I probably don’t have one I can pare in my hand. Poké Ball can also grab something you don’t need from your deck… but it has no cost to use. When I realized others were finding success with it, though, I realized I had to include it. I wonder how long it’ll take to see if I am still underestimating it.
1Chatot (A1a 062), Garchomp (A2 123, 175) Meowth (A1 196, 246; Promo A 012), Professor’s Research (Promo A 007), and Sigilyph (A1a 033).
2Caterpie (A1 005), Combee (A2 017, 057), Koffing (A1a 049), Mythical Slab (A1a 065), Poké Ball (Promo A 005), Nidoran♀ (A1 166), Pokémon Communication (A2 146), and Team Galactic Grunt (A1 151, 191).
3I was unable to confirm what happens if you use Pokémon Communication with no Pokémon left in your deck.
4Default format for competitive play. Usually consists of the most recent one to three years worth of cards.
5Ultra Ball is a Trainer-Item that requires you discard two cards from your hand in order to use it, then lets you anyone one Pokémon of your choice from your deck to your hand.
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