Red Card (006/P-A) – Promo Series A Vol. 1 Pokémon Card of the Day

The fourth best Promo Series A Vol. 1 card is Red Card (006/P-A)! Yes, another import from the full TCG, Red Card is a Trainer-Item that forces your opponent to shuffle their hand back into their deck, then draw four three cards.

Let that sink in.

Yesterday, we covered how Potion, had its healing effect slightly weakened for the Pokémon TCG Pocket, healing 20 instead of 30. A card that, in the full TCG has almost never proven competitive. Yet when Pocket ports Red Card, something banned in the full TCG, they strengthen its disruptive power by having it leave your opponent with one fewer cards.

Huh?

Well, Red Card is step closer to #1 on this list. Are the top three cards broken?

Nope.

In the full TCG, Red Card leaves your opponent with just four cards in hand, but starting hands are seven cards, less any Pokémon you put into play (minimum one), plus any cards drawn for mulligans. Decks are 60 cards (less an opening hand of seven cards and six cards set aside as Prizes). At the time when Red Card was not banned, Decks typically ran at least eight draw cards, including the like’s of N, Professor Juniper (or Professor Sycamore), and Shaymin-EX (XY Roaring Skies 77/108, 77a/108, and 106/108). Plus three or four copies of VS Seeker to recycle the Supporters.

Did I mention there was a combo that let you strip your opponent’s opening hand down to nothing if you went first, and Red Card was the first step?

Versus

In the Pokémon TCG Pocket, decks are just 20 cards, and your opening hand is five cards, less any Basic Pokémon put into play. Meaning at most, your opponent will have four cards in hand if you go first. For generic draw power, you really only have Professor’s Research (007/P-A) which does not have you discard your hand to draw seven cards, but just has you draw two cards. Like Bill.

With Red Card, there’s a real risk of:

• Your opponent ending up with more cards than they already had.

• Your opponent ending up with better quality cards than they already had.

• Your redrawing any worthwhile cards you shuffled away.

• Your opponent having fewer than a combined total of three cards left in their hand plus deck.

• Multiple of the above!

There is a combo that can make Red Card a little better. Hand Scope (003/P-A) is yet another card they brought over from the full TCG to Pocket. No changes were made to Hand Scope: it is an Item card that forces your opponent to reveal their hand to you. This can prevent you using Red Card when your opponent’s hand is rubbish, or confirm you should use if it will shuffle away a key card. Not bad, but not quite good enough to justify the deck space.

Rating: 3.5/5

Do I wish Red Card hadn’t been included in Pocket? Yeah, but mostly because I think it is tempting fate. And I find having to shuffle away my hand so frustrating it can put me on tilt. Especially Turn 1. If we don’t get any cards that break Red Card, or anything that rivals it in disruption, Red Card will continue to see some competitive success. Not enough to be even a “loose” staple, but the classic 61st 21st card scenario. Most decks will wish they had room for a Red Card or two, but only a few competitive decks will actually manage it.