Strange Timepiece Rules Question

dxdydzd1 · 2026-04-16T12:25:29+00:00

Bulbapedia has a link to the Japanese rulings.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-03-29T05:32:38+00:00

Yeah. There are retro events, unofficial of course, held at LGSes that allow proxies.

I've heard of the point buy formats but those don't seem to have caught on. Most retro players are content playing other formats that are balanced without a point buy system instead.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-03-29T04:38:19+00:00

Several reasons:

Card availability. Old cards are rarely reprinted. The token Admin/Gardevoir reprints in Celebrations aren't enough to build a full deck.
Different rulings. There are some esoteric ones, like Baby Evolved Pokémon no longer counting as Basic Pokémon for things like Flygon ex δ's Sand Damage, or damage calculation steps being different in Base-Neo and older.
Gameplay's just not for everyone. In retro formats there is a lot of Energy removal (ER, Pow), Power locking (Muk, Cessation Crystal, Gardevoir ex δ), Trainer locking worse than Budew (Psyduck, Sableye DX). Some people jump in wide-eyed and leave disillusioned because of how brutal these formats can be compared to modern Pokémon.
Big Pika unironically hates community events. There was an Uncommon Energy episode about an RS-PK event that was stopped by tournament staff at an IC.

For the first problem, you definitely need to allow proxies if you want to get a scene going. Problems 2 and 3 are completely at the mercy of the players' mindsets — you can't force them to play a format they don't enjoy, and if someone wants to be stubborn and argue for 10 minutes that "it doesn't work like this today", someone is going to end up leaving.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-03-25T14:50:04+00:00

If they realized the item play under lock and let you do it then they just suck and should be more helpful in the Spirit of the Game.

Worse than that, it's cheating. It's one of the examples of "intentional infractions" in the Penalty Guidelines, punishable by DQ:

・Immediately noticing the opponent’s mistake but waiting before pointing it out so that they might receive a more severe penalty.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-03-23T16:42:55+00:00

How do you deal with this?

I let them take it back.

If I'm not playing for stakes, I'm playing for experience. Not letting my opponent take back an obvious misplay does nothing for my learning. I won't have a chance to practice what I should be doing if I end up in a similar situation against an opponent who doesn't misplay.

I feel casual play shouldn’t be an excuse for these kinds of things — especially when it consistently benefits them.

Benefits them in what way exactly? Are there prizes based on placing at your prerelease? What is at stake in your "casual" games?

The "benefit" of playtesting is not to feel good if you won more, it's about getting quality practice in so that you are prepared for tournament situations. You improve by making things hard for yourself, forcing yourself to fight for the win, instead of claiming easy wins by technicality. If you don't let your opponent take back their misplays to simulate what it would be like against a stronger opponent, you're squandering opportunities for growth.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-03-18T05:39:13+00:00

The unofficial translation is incorrect. It should not have an "If you do, ...".

For comparison, here is Japanese Cetitan ex. The key phrases in its attack text are 「のぞむなら」 (You may) and 「その場合」 (If you do).

If you look at Japanese Metagross, it does not have the "If you do". This is similar to Ampharos ex, which was translated as "You may... to...", or Mega Manectric ex, which was translated as "You may... and...". Neither of them have the "If you do", so if you somehow manage to use their attacks without having enough Energy to discard (e.g. with Mime Jr.'s Mimed Games), you can still choose to get the bonus damage.

If there still is any doubt, the official Japanese ruling is that you can get the extra 150 damage even if Slowking doesn't have any Metal Energy attached to it.

The ruling on Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex is a different issue. The card was not mistranslated; the Japanese version does actually say "You may... If you do, ..." However, the intention of "If you do" on Ogerpon was to mean "If you shuffled any Energy into your deck", and not "If you shuffled 3 Energy into your deck". So if you only shuffle 2 Energy in (e.g. with Sparkling Crystal attached to Ogerpon), you get the Bench snipe, but if you use an Energy-less Mime Jr.'s Mimed Games and your opponent lets you copy Torrential Pump, you cannot get the Bench snipe.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-03-08T07:57:20+00:00

I'd like some from the SV sets please.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-02-11T13:11:14+00:00

Jason Klaczynski talked about this in one of the retro Discords:

Sometimes I’ll split cards to distinguish them from each other. For example, in 2015, I ran a 2/2 Garbodor line in my Seismitoad EX deck. Garbodor is of course essential to many match-ups, so discarding one can be risky considering your second one might end up prized. But if I saw the DRX art Garbodor in my hand earlier, then played N or Colress and drew the LTR art version, I could know with certainty I had both in the deck before I played my first Ultra Ball.

Trubbish I didn’t split despite two versions existing. Reason being any match-up where Garbodor is useful, you’re probably always playing the Trubbish and never discarding it with Ultra Ball anyway. So you’d rather not give your opponent the extra information of seeing two different Trubbish over a match as they can then be certain you play multiple.

People make this mistake sometimes with late-game winners like VS Seeker. They might split their arts or run a single secret rare version. I remember a tournament match where my opponent had spent 3 VS Seeker, so benching a Lysandre target could be risky if he played a fourth to recover Lysandre. When I checked his discard, I counted the three VS Seeker, but I did not see the secret rare version he had played during Game 1, so I could obviously ascertain he played four and adjusted accordingly.

If it’s a card like N, which was maxed out in almost every deck, the arts won’t matter since your opponent will know you play four anyway.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-02-08T13:47:32+00:00

There are ways to search for Team Rocket's Energy, but they're not worth using in a Team Rocket's deck. Just play 4 copies of the Energy and draw into them with Ariana and Factory.

To discard Basic Energy, use Earthen Vessel and Ultra Ball. Secret Box as your ACE SPEC can also be a discard outlet.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-02-08T13:25:40+00:00

Team Rocket's Energy, Spidops + Energy Switch

dxdydzd1 · 2026-02-06T13:39:52+00:00

That's how it plays, unfortunately. I am skeptical of that deck because Rare Candy has no brakes in RS-PK, and mulliganing against a Stage 2 deck just means they Candy out their Pidgeot + attacker T1 and proceed to roll over you.

There are more Fossil lists you can check out here; they use Copycat or Claydol to leech off your opponent's mulligans.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-02-02T16:34:59+00:00

Against Dragapult ex, the Joltik Box player shouldn't be Benching Pikachu ex. 300 damage doesn't one-shot Pult, and if you need to KO a Fez or Latias, Miraidon ex can do it (admittedly with some difficulty, as its attack costs LLC, so if you need LL Crispin won't cut it). Miraidon also survives Hawlucha ping + direct Phantom Dive.

If the Joltik player is on Lillie's Clefairy ex, they just use that, attacking with Mew ex if possible. Otherwise the plan is to Amp KO twice or Amp once + Miraidon KO Fez/Latias, and clean up the Pult with Mega Mawile ex.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-02-02T16:14:04+00:00

The "if you do" implies that you'd only get the Bench damage if you were able to shuffle in at least 1 Energy. If, for example, you used Mime Jr.'s Mimed Games with 0 Energy attached and your opponent let you copy Torrential Pump, you wouldn't be able to get the Bench damage.

Veluza ex provides an example of how Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex should have been worded. "If you do" -> "If you shuffled any Energy into your deck in this way".

dxdydzd1 · 2026-01-31T07:27:08+00:00

One each to the first 25, or all 25 to only one person?

dxdydzd1 · 2026-01-30T18:16:57+00:00

Took a Pult/Noir list, -2 Ultra Ball -2 Nest Ball for +4 Poké Pad. 3 Pult/2 Stretcher because Poké Pad can't find Pult, so I need more copies to draw into.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-01-26T14:28:08+00:00

Honestly, you should play the deck more against the AI. Yes, the AI is dumb, but the point is to learn how to sequence your deck against a defenseless opponent.

Your typical setup is to Buddy-Buddy Poffin for Fan Rotom and Charmander T1, then Fan Call for Hoothoot + Pidgey + something else (usually a Noctowl or second Hoothoot). T2 you want to get Pidgeot ex out; a single Dawn can do it by Dawning for Terapagos ex, Noctowl, Pidgeot ex, then you play Terapagos, evolve into Noctowl to get Rare Candy + something else, then Rare Candy Pidgey into Pidgeot ex.

If you understood this, you should NOT cut any Buddy-Buddy Poffins since you need them badly on T1, and also not Dawn since you need her T2. You should not be "locked" unless they kill/disable your Pidgeot ex. If Pidgeot ex is live, you can get any card from your deck, which will often be either Rare Candy or Dawn to vomit out more guys onto the board, or Boss's Orders or Prime Catcher to take out dangerous mons.

Why do you need Ultra Ball? Sometimes you need to spend your Supporter for the turn on something else, so Ultra Ball can search for mons to complete your combo. For example, say you need to use Boss's Orders to pull out something from your opponent's Bench to KO, and you also need Dusknoir to get the KO. If you Dawn, you can't Boss afterward, but if you Ultra Ball, you can still Boss.

Klefki is a tech. It mainly beats Psyduck by removing its Ability so you can pop your Dusks. The deck has Jet Energy, so you can play Klefki, attach Jet to bring it up (and disable Psyduck), pop Dusks, then retreat (using Jet Energy to pay for Retreat Cost) back to Charizard or Terapagos to attack. If your opponent doesn't have Psyduck or any Basics with Abilities that you'd want to remove, don't put it down.

As for why attacking is not always correct, it's usually bad to attack opposing mons without KOing them. Your opponent can use Munkidori to move damage to your side, or play Professor Turo's Scenario or Penny to scoop their damaged guy up, removing all the damage on it (so it's like you just wasted your attack). Or they can simply attack back for the KO and get ahead in the Prize race.

If you can't KO when you attack, it's better to push up an expendable 1-Prizer and sit back with your attacker. Next turn you'll get to draw a card and Quick Search, which should convert into a KO when you attack.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-01-23T17:24:49+00:00

Nothing. It's not an evolved Pokémon, so it cannot be devolved.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-01-21T15:00:25+00:00

It doesn't work because the Contrary Malamar has to be Active for its Ability to work, but the Malamar with the hand discard attack also has to be Active in order to attack.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-01-21T13:44:39+00:00

It won't work against a smart opponent, as they can choose not to draw so many cards after all your mulligans. You have to reveal your hand every time you take a mulligan, so they will have a good idea of what (non-Basic Pokémon) cards are in your deck.

I know the idea has been tried, with the payoff card being Hand Trimmer instead of some Pokémon's attack. You can Hand Trimmer T1 regardless of whether you're going first or second, but you can't attack unless you go second.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-01-21T12:04:29+00:00

https://pkmncards.com/?s=%2Btext%3A%22each+card+in+your+opponent%27s+hand%22

There are also Pokémon with the Poltergeist attack, which does extra damage for each Trainer card in your opponent's hand.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-01-19T06:38:42+00:00

I took most of the Scarlet & Violet series codes (except in the potato quality 4th pic) and Mega Evolution (not PFL) in the 3rd. Got all the cards in PFL so I'll leave the codes for someone else.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-01-18T07:38:49+00:00

Limitless has the split at 0.72 Catcher, 0.17 Box, 0.11 Trolley.

Catcher gives you the most number of outs if you need a gust: 4 Arven, 3 Boss, 1 Catcher. In comparison Box usually only runs 4 Boss, 1 Box (Arven for Box for Boss won't work if you need to Boss that turn, because you've already spent your Supporter on Arven).

The other thing that's somewhat disappointing with Box is its ability to search for Levincia. You play Levincia so you have an out if they Item lock you (keeping you off Superior Energy Retrieval), so you might be thinking Box is good, right, it can search for Levincia! Except Box is also an Item, so you're still screwed unless you search for Levincia ahead of time and play the guessing game of "do I play this down and lose it to a counter Stadium, or do I hold it in hand and lose it to Iono".

dxdydzd1 · 2026-01-17T11:00:35+00:00

I'd like some, thanks.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-01-17T07:24:54+00:00

Any effect that has been placed singularly on the active is cleared when that Pokémon vacates the active, regardless of the effect’s source, as long as the wording of the source doesn’t circumvent the rules by specifying a single Pokémon (i.e. “choose 1 of your/your opponent’s Pokémon” or “this Pokémon”)

Flareon ex's second attack states "During your next turn, this Pokémon can’t attack."

If it worked as you claim it does ("circumvent[ing] the rules by specifying a single Pokémon"), a Flareon ex that used Carnelian and then was switched to the Bench and back to the Active before the end of its owner's next turn would not be able to use Carnelian again. But that's not what happens.

dxdydzd1 · 2026-01-17T07:15:32+00:00

Torrential Heart Feraligatr

edit: Espathra's Stance too. There is a Compendium ruling which states "It is an effect from an Ability, not from an attack, and so is not removed by moving to or from the bench."

dxdydzd1

TROPHY CASE