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PokePop’s House of Cards
Just do what the card says…Right?
March 7, 2005

This is the first installment of a new column for Pojo.Com. This is a Game Rules Q& A column. You ask the questions and I’ll get you official answers.

My credentials?

Myself and other members of the Pokémon USA Rule Team meet on a weekly basis to review new ruling questions that have come up and issue new rulings that are collected in the Pokémon TCG Rulings Compendium (http://compendium.pokegym.net).

I was a Judge at the 2004 Pokémon World Championship and will also judge at the 2005 National Championships.

I was an Admin for the official Pokémon TCG Message board during WotC’s reign and currently Moderate on Pojo’s board.

OK, enough of that. Click here to send your card or tournament questions to me. 

I’ll answer questions weekly and go into a little more detail than you might get in the official documents, if needed.

For this first installment, though, let’s review some recent errata. What “errata” you ask? Sometimes a card was printed that was too strong or, more commonly, with mistaken text. In those cases, Pokémon USA (PUI) issues a change in how the card is to be played and corrected text. When WotC ran the game, their philosophy was to rule that most errors should be “played as printed” unless that made the card unplayable. PUI, however, has decided to correct all card errors so that card play is consistent all around the world. Toward that end, there have been quite a few errata issued lately that impact a lot of tournament worthy cards. Let’s look at some of the most important ones.

Electrode ex (EX Fire Red Leaf Green 107)

The Attack Crush and Burn says it does 20 extra damage for each energy discarded. This was a mistranslation and the card has been corrected to read “…for each energy card discarded.” This means that discarding a Boost Energy will only add 20 damage instead of 60. With Boost coming back into Modified play, the combo could have been broken!

Mt. Moon (EX Fire Red Leaf Green 94)

The printed text says that the card only affects Pokémon with Hip Points of 60 or less. Again, a mistranslation. It has been corrected to read “70 or less”. Phew! This changes the card from being unplayable to being a good deck choice. Many support Pokémon are shut off by this card now.

Mantine (EX Team Rocket Returns 45)

Mantine had a Power that allowed you to remove 1 Damage Counter from any of your Pokémon (except that Mantine). With 4 on the bench, you could remove 4 Damage Counters per turn from your active, making it almost impossible to KO. This was a mistranslation. It has been errata’d to “…if Mantine is your Active Pokémon, you may remove 1 damage counter from 1 of your Pokémon (excluding Mantine).” This change takes the card out of serious consideration for tourney play. But take heart, Sandstorm Xatu can still be used like this, although it is a stage 1 card.

Feebas (EX Hidden Legends 61)

The Ascension attack as printed allows you to evolve to Milotic by searching your deck with no restrictions. The corrected version makes you flip a coin and get heads before being able to get the Milotic. Impact to the game? Not much, really. After all, the whole point to using Milotic is to play it from your hand so that you get to use it’s healing power. Mistranslation, you ask? How’d you guess.

Machamp (EX Hidden Legends 9)

Minor change here. The printed text says that the Brick Smash Attack is not affected by a lot of things including Weakness and Resistance. Oops. It should not have included Weakness. That can still double the attack damage. So, most Colorless Pokémon must still fear the ‘Champ.

Steven’s Advice (EX Hidden Legends 92)

Another case where poor phrasing led to a… mistranslation. The card is printed such that you can have up to 7 cards in your hand and be able to play it. The correction limits you to only 6 cards. Be careful with this one! Lots of people forget to count their cards before playing it.

Double Rainbow Energy and Strength Charm

I’ll finish up with this pair. Both of these are printed saying that the damage adjustment (minus for DRE, plus for SC) is applied after Weakness and Resistance. They have both been errata’s so that it is applied before W&R!

Just so you know, there are a couple of more erratas coming up on the horizon and I’ll let you know about them in this column as soon as they are official. In the meantime, send me your questions and have fun!

PokePop