Professor’s Research (007/P-A) – Promo Series A
Date Reviewed: January 7, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
We at last come to the best card from the Promo A Series cards, Professor’s Research (007/P-A)! Professor’s Research is a Trainer-Supporter that lets you draw two cards. This is the best of the 12 Supporters that currently exist in the Pokémon TCG Pocket, and the only form of Trainer-based draw power. It likely comes as no surprise that Professor’s Research is a true staple: even if I’ve missed some competitive lists that run zero or just one, enough of the decks I’ve run and seen include the full two to qualify.
In Pocket, decks consist of 20 cards, versus the 60 of the full TCG. You also have a five card opening hand, two less than the full TCG’s seven, but that’s 25% of a Pocket deck versus 11.67% of a deck from the full TCG. So if someone thought Professor’s Research was not vital based on theory, I could see why. Actually running it will demonstrate its value, though. Sure, it means not running some other card or using a different Supporter this turn, but digging to get what you need up to two turns sooner is worth it. Nor does Decking Out result in your opponent winning the way it does in the full TCG.
There’s… not much else to discuss about what Professor’s Research does in Pocket, but if you’ll indulge me, let’s discuss the inspiration for this card. You see, Professor’s Research is also a Trainer-Supporter in the full TCG, but there, it has you discard your hand to draw seven cards. That’s a massive difference, but it is also pretty clear why that’s too much for Pocket. Seven cards is the starting hand size of the full TCG, but also less than 12% of your total deck size. Even having the Pocket version “only” draw five cards, while still discard your hand first, would have been nuts.
There’s a bit more to the story, though. The “discard your hand and draw seven cards” effect goes back to Professor Oak in the Base Set. It shaped how the early game played, and worked like an Item, not a Supporter. Because the Supporter mechanic wouldn’t be invented for another 10 or so sets. Fast forward to 2010 and we’d get Professor Juniper, who was a Supporter with the effect of Professor Oak. Then a few years later, we’d get Professor Sycamore who did the same thing, but necessitated a special rule be added to the game, so you couldn’t run these two in the same deck.
The next time, though, the devs would get it right. They still released a draw Supporter with the “Discard your hand and draw 7 cards.” effect, but they called it “Professor’s Research”. This still required amending that rule one more time, but after they could just reprint Professor’s Research over and over again with art of the various Professor characters. Instead of adding more to the above “Discard your hand and draw 7 cards.” rule or trying to come up with a worthwhile, alternative effect for that generation’s professor.
All three of these Supporters helped define the metagame of the full TCG, and not until sometime in 2022 (or after), did the “Discard your hand and draw 7 cards.” Supporter not act as a three-or-four copy staple. I took a quick look and saw most decks lacking it, with only one or two still using it. That was actually quite a shock, altering the status quo of about 12 years!
Rating: 4.5/5
That’s right, still not a five-out-of-five card, and I almost gave it a four-out-of-five like Poké Ball. It is a true staple right now, but unlike Poké Ball, I’m struggling to think of what an alternative to Professor’s Research would be like. Even looking at existing, obsolete draw Supporters from the full TCG for inspiration, it is tricky. Even drawing three cards (no cost or bonus effect) would be too much for Pocket. There are many older Supporters that are “Draw 3 cards.” with an additional cost or detrimental effect, but in Pocket, even though may still be too good.
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