Tag Switch – Unified Minds Pokemon Review

Vince

I don’t know if Tag Switch would be considered to be a piece of Tag Team support or not. It could be or it might not be, depending on how you use this card. It lets you move up to 2 energy cards from one of your Tag Team Pokemon to…any of your Pokemon. Special Energy counts as well, so while Standard doesn’t have many good Special Energies laying around, Expanded has several better ones like DCE, Double Dragon Energy, or even Counter Energy if you’re looking for Special Energies providing multiple units of energy.

I suppose that Tag Switch can be useful for Tag Teams to move unnecessary energies to other Pokémon after they used their GX attack that usually needs extra energy in addition to the cost. However, if an alternate Pokémon has the ability to move energies around, then Tag Switch would be unneeded. Pokémon like Weavile-GX for Standard, or Klinklang BLW, Hydreigon DRX 97, Aromatisse XY, and Lunala-GX SUM are examples of moving energy around via abilities. Granted, you would need to have those Pokémon in play and hope that their abilities aren’t offline, and most of them are Stage 1s and Stage 2s. If you can’t get them out in play, or that bench space is full, then Tag Switch is an efficient way to move energies around, even if it is a one time deal. It also saves deck space that the entire evolutionary line wouldn’t.

Overall, I like what this card does, and even if there are other cards that compete against it, Tag Switch has its own set of advantages and drawbacks to consider. Personally, I would use Tag Switch, Stage 2s are at a huge disadvantage right now.

Ratings:

Standard: 3/5

Expanded: 2.5/5

Limited: 3/5 (only use it if you pulled a Tag Team and maybe one other Pokémon.)

Otaku

Tag Switch (SM – Unified Minds 209/236, 254/236) is a new(ish) Trainer-Item that lets you move two Energy from one of your TAG TEAM Pokémon to another.  This effect works with basic and/or Special Energy, and while you do need to move the Energy from a TAG TEAM Pokémon, the Pokémon on the receiving end can be anything capable of having those Energy attached.  Tag Switch is a piece of TAG TEAM support I sometimes forget exists, which is not a good thing as it is useful.  We know this because it is already being used in some well-performing decklists.  Why would it be useful, though?

TAG TEAM Pokémon often have massive HP scores and may have attacks that require a lot of Energy.  The former means, even if you only plan on using the less expensive attacks found on a particular TAG TEAM Pokémon, it still might hold on with little HP but some Energy still attached; the latter combined with the former means it may be a lot of Energy attached, even if you fail to afford one of the bigger attacks!  Put this together, and you can find some some small use for Tag Switch.  Combine this with another form of Energy acceleration and/or bounce effects, and you open up some great combos.

With Tag Switch already showing up in Standard, how about Expanded?  I lack tournament results, or even recent Expanded experience (still slowly working on that), but with all the potent Special Energy cards in this Format, even though there are additional Energy counters, I am thinking Tag Switch should prove itself, sooner if not later.  The main things standing against it are multiple, potent anti-Item effects and rivals for the space in your deck.  So long as you pull at least one TAG TEAM Pokémon and are not running it in a Mulligan build, its a good card to run as well.

Ratings

• Standard: 3/5
• Expanded: 3/5
• Limited: 3/5

Tag Switch would have been our 17th place pick for SM – Unified Minds if our countdown had started from a higher enough place.  It didn’t make my personal list, though, because it is fairly specialized.  When used where it belongs, though, it can make for some massive plays.