Team Yell Grunt – Sword & Shield Pokemon Review

Otaku

Team Yell Grunt is a Trainer-Support that bounces an Energy from one of your opponent’s Pokémon into their hand. By the time you do that, your opponent has already had a turn to make use of the attached Energy (maybe more), but to reuse it, they’ve got to re-attach it.  Though the wording says “Energy” and not “Energy card”, if you target something like Double Colorless Energy, both units of Energy (the entire card) is returned to your opponent’s hand.

Which may be a serious burden because your opponent just cant afford a meaningful (maybe any) attack next turn because of it, inconsequential because they have an Energy attachment to spare, or actually help them out because they have a better use for the Energy than the Pokémon to which it was formerly attached.  While we are in a metagame where supplemental draw/search gives us enough slack that Supporters can be used for other things, it is still a pretty valuable effect.  So… is Team Yell Grunt worth it?

Yeah, but you’ve got to focus on the specifics.  Team Yell Grunt can target any Energy (basic or Special) attached to any of your opponent’s Pokémon (Active or Benched), with no added costs or conditions.  There are five (five!) similar Supporters, all of which have seen varying degrees of success in competitive play, some still worth running in Expanded:

• Team Flare Grunt – Can discard either a basic or Special Energy card but only those attached to the opponent’s Active.
• Xerosic – Discard either a Special Energy or Tool from a Pokémon in play.
• Team Skull Grunt – Can discard up to two Energy cards (basic, Special, or one of each) but from your opponent’s hand.  Seeing your opponent’s hand is a nice bonus
• Plumeria – Discards an Energy card from one of your opponent’s Pokémon but requires you discard two cards from your hand first.
• Faba – Send a Special Energy or a Pokémon Tool attached to your opponent’s Pokémon to the Lost Zone.  This is the only Standard-legal option from this list.

Of course, you don’t have to burn your Supporter on Energy removing effects, either, and we even have two great Trainer-Items (only one in Standard) to do the deed:

• Crushing Hammer – Discards an Energy attached to one of your opponent’s Pokémon, but requires a coin flip to work.  Still Standard-legal.
• Enhanced Hammer – Discards a Special Energy attached to one of your opponent’s Pokémon.

Whew!  That is quite a few options indeed!  We aren’t even going to worry about Pokémon-based effects that can also remove Energy.  Team Yell Grunt is forcing its way into a crowded field in Expanded, but only has to work against Crushing Hammer and Faba in Standard… or work with them, as Control/Disruption decks often like having options.  Still, things aren’t all bad in Expanded; VS Seeker makes it a lot easier to work in TecH Supporter options.  In the Limited Format, absolutely run this card; you have the space and Supporter-uses to spare!

Ratings

• Standard: 2/5
• Expanded: 2/5
• Limited: 3/5

If the scores don’t seem to quite match what I said, let me clarify.  Most of the time, bouncing an Energy is good but not great.  I think the card is better in Standard than Expanded, but not enough to fuss with partial points out of five.  Even as a must-run in the Limited Format, you’ll need to be careful not to help (or not harm) your opponent with Team Yell Grunt’s effect.