Pokémon TCG Questions Thread [general questions]

[Dimentio]

ok thanks

~fuzzy out~

[TRJessie579]

I was wondering about the VS card set. Were they a special set only for Japan? Why is it that we have still not recieved cards from this set?

WotC, who was making the cards when the VS set was released in Japan, announced they had no plans to ever release the set here. They never explained why, but it's probably because while the cards were nice and had great artwork, they were just AWFUL for gameplay.

[Justin Credible]

I am a bit of a veteran player and I have over 200 shinies!

However I havent even looked at any of the new editions, in fact the last booster pack I had was about 2001 ish. I can't really remember.

I do remember the symbol on the booster pack was a weird temple thingy though.

I was wondering if you could value an ursaring shiny card from this edition as of I want to sell my cards.

I do have some rare cards including an old shiny doubl colourless card so yeah I would sell!

So please tell me the value of the shiny ursaring and I will hail the ground you walk on.

Thanx

[TRJessie579]

That would be the Neo: Discovery set. Unfortunately these older cards aren't worth that much any more, especially if they aren't completely mint, as you can't use them in regular tournaments any more.

The cheapest one I found on ebay for Buy It Now was $1.69 for Unlimited. If it's 1st edition you may be able to get a bit more for it.

[Ho-oh Master]

do you have any of the OLD cards?

[wichu]

What are the approximate chances of getting 2 holos in one pack?

[cameronius]

Another Question. I have this Kabutops I got in a trade. Here it is:

Kabutops 90HP Colorless

Poke-Body: Crystal Type: When u attach a Water, Electric, or Fight to it, this card is that type until the end of the turn.

Draining Cut: 20
Remove a damage counter from Kabutops

Triple Cutter: 30x
Flip 3 Coins. This does 30 for each heads.

What pack does it come out of or how do you get it?

[TRJessie579]

What are the approximate chances of getting 2 holos in one pack?

This depends entirely on what set you're talking about.

In most, you can't. Holos are 1/3 packs.

In the e sets and onward, there are Reverse/Alternate Holos, one in each pack, plus the same chances of getting normal holos. So the chances of getting two holos (one RH and one regular) are still 1/3.

cameronius - This is Crystal Kabutops from the Skyridge set.

[Da Master of Unowns]

Well, the other day I got an Ex: Unseen Forces pack. There are supposed to be Unown in it, right? Well, when I opened the pack, there were no Unowns! What's going on?

[TRJessie579]

They're not in every pack.

In approximately 1/5 packs (there are 6-8 to a 36-pack box) you will get an Unown instead of a Reverse Holo.

[Da Master of Unowns]

Oh, ok. Thanks!

[Stardust25]

Hi, I am more of a Card collector than anything, and I just have a quick question. On the main site, it shows that the last two sets, Unseen Forces and Delta Species, have shiny Pokémon in them, with a star next to their name. (I think that Unseen Forces had Shiny Entei, Raikou, and Suicune, and Delta Species had Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza in shinies, but I could be wrong, I would have to double check the main site to make sure that these are the correct Pokémon.) Anyways, I got a box of Unseen Forces cards for my birthday last week, and I didn't get any of the shiny Pokémon. (although I got 3 ex cards, Scizor, Politoed, and Celebi, I especially love the Celebi card, Celebi is so cute!! I also got the box-topper Rocket's Persian ex of course.) Does anybody know approx. how hard is to find these shiny Pokémon cards? They must be pretty rare, I was just curious as to whether or not anybody knew what the odds of finding one are. I hope they aren't as rare as they are in the Nintendo games!!

Thanks in advance!! ^_^

[Alakazam]

They are in 1 out of every 3 packs, Stardust.

[NateDawg161992]

They are in 1 out of every 3 packs, Stardust.

Not packs boxes so there is 1 Star in every 3 boxesand the Celebii is the secret rare of the set, I don't know how many boxes you need to get it but I believe it's 1:5 boxes.

[Alakazam]

Not packs boxes so there is 1 Star in every 3 boxesand the Celebii is the secret rare of the set, I don't know how many boxes you need to get it but I believe it's 1:5 boxes.

That is what I meant.

[Stardust25]

Ok, thanks for the help everybody. So actually, this means that the Celebi ex card that I found is rarer than the shiny star Pokémon cards, am I correct? And here, I was just happy to find it because I love Celebi so much!!

EDIT: Whoa, I guess it is pretty rare, there aren't any on eBay, so I ran a Google search, and most places are selling the card for $45-60.

[tama_chan]

Hello!

I never got into the Pokemon Trading Card Game except for the Gameboy Color version of it, but I want to really learn it now. I’ve been playing Magic: The Gathering for years, and I want to also add Pokemon TCG to my schedule. I’ve been a fan of Pokemon since Red and Blue and the franchise has a soft spot in my heart. ^_^ I’m hoping you guys might be able to help me with some questions I have regarding the card game…
1. Is there a limit to the hand size?
2. Are there any banned/restricted cards?
3. What’s considered broken in the game for a card or combination?
4. What kind of blocks are there? Do people normally mix wizards of the Coast cards with Nintendo exclusive cards?
5. Does someone have a good card list on the web? One that says which cards came from a base set, and which ones were from an expansion?
6.Do we have all the Japanese import cards over here? Or are there quite a few we don’t have in English? If not, are we missing out on something good?
7. I’m used to playing the Gameboy Color version of the game. That came out years ago, when there was only the base set and two expansions (jungle and fossil). The game seemed a little cheap because I could use four Bills and four Professor Oaks in my deck, making it so I had a chance of going through 90% of my deck with in a couple turns. Can this still happen?
8. When you start a game with your main Pokemon face down, do your bench Pokemon work the same way? If they don’t, I would think they would start face down as well since that adds the element of surprise in the beginning.

Thanks so much for helping me out! It took me forever to find a good Pokemon TCG website. I can’t seem to find anything that’s on equal to a site like www.essentialmagic.com for Magic fans.

[TRJessie579]

1. Nope, you can have as many cards as you want in your hand.
2. It depends on what format you're playing in. The current format for all premiere events (like City Championships all the way up to the World Championships) is Modified, which is cards from the Hidden Legends set and up. You can't use any older cards. Unlimited format, which some Leagues and unofficial tournaments use, means you can play all the cards from every set. The only cards that are banned are Ancient Mew and the Birthday Pikachu promos.
3. The only examples I can think of right now are FR/LG Pidgeot--its Poke-Power lets you search for any card you'd like in your deck, once per turn, and put it in your hand--and the Rare Candy Trainer, which is similar to Pokemon Breeder from Base Set. It lets you evolve your Pokemon to the 1st stage on turn one, or directly from the Basic to Stage 2, as Breeder does. Some other people can give you more examples.
4. Don't know what a "block" is in TCG terms, but if I understand your question correctly I answered most of it in #2.
5. http://www.pokebeach.com has card lists of every set, and scans of most of the newer sets.
6. Most of the Japanese sets have been translated into English--the exception is the VS sets, which were horrible and I don't believe they sold well in Japan, which is why they never came here. The English sets are now released not too long after they get the set in Japan. There are plenty of promos Japan has that we don't, but that's pretty much it.
8. You can still have up to four cards of the same name in your deck (excluding Basic Energies, of course), but Bill and Oak aren't in Modified, so they can't be played at tourneys. There are plenty of draw cards, but they all have their advantages and disadvantages, and most aren't as broken as Bill and Oak were.
8. Yes, your Active as well as your Benched Pokemon start the game face down.

Unfortunately, the Serebii forum is mostly about the video games. If you want a huge forum for the Pokemon TCG, go to www.pokegym.net. They can answer any and all questions you have, that I can't. XD

[tama_chan]

Thank you so much for those answers! They helped me a lot! I have a few more if you dont mind...

1. Haunter (Legend Maker) - Haunter has the attack 'haunt'; it says this: "Put 2 damage counters on the defending Pokemon". Does this mean it goes directly to the opponents Pokemon that he is primary using? I think this is how it works, but the way the card words it, it almost sounds like you can put two damage counters on any of his Pokemon...

2. Holon's Voltorb - He has an energy ability that says "You may attach this as an Energy card from yoru hand to 1 of your Pokemon. While attatched, this card is a special energy card and provides one react energy". My question is, if you have a search energy card can you use it to find Holon's voltorb and put it into your hand? I'm not sure if he only counts as a react energy when he is put into play as one...

[TRJessie579]

1. The "defending Pokemon" means the active one, so the damage counters go to the Pokemon your opponent has out front, not one on their Bench, correct.

2. You are also correct, Holon's Voltorb ONLY counts as an Energy card when it's attatched to a Pokemon. In your deck, it's a Basic Pokemon, so you can't use a card that gets Energy out of your deck to get Holon's Voltorb.

Glad to help.

[Jimmy P.]

I have a question.
You know how some Energy cards say "this card does not count as a basic Energy card when not in play"? Do the cards that don't say that (React Energy, Boost Energy, Warp Energy, etc.) count as basic Energy cards when not in play (meaning you can use basic methods such as Energy Search/Lady Outing to get them)?
EDIT: Also, which cards are the Holon Energy cards?

[Emeralda]

I'm pretty sure they count as basic energy cards, but not as basic energy types or something like that.

[Cipher 2008]

Jimmy P.: No. You cannot use cards such as Energy Search to collect a React Energy, Metal Energy etc. No matter what the card's description is, unless it's a Fire/Fighting/Water/Fire/Grass/Lightning Energy card, it's always a Special Energy card.

EDIT: At the moment, the only Holon Energy cards in existence (and in English) are:

Pokémon
Holon's Voltorb (DS)
Holon's Electrode (DS)
Holon's Magnemite (DS)
Holon's Magneton (DS)
Holon's Castform (HP)

Special Energy
Holon Energy FF (DS)
Holon Energy GL (DS)
Holon Energy WP (DS)

Hope that helps, Jimmy P.

[Leviathan]

Do you know of any site that shows or tells what comes in each structure deck?

[Jimmy P.]

Do you know of any site that shows or tells what comes in each structure deck?

We should put this in a sticky... www.pokebeach.com

Thank you everyone, you've really helped me out.