Last edited: Thursday, May 3rd, 2001 (Added May 3rd Rulings) xxxxxxxxx1xxxxxxxxx2xxxxxxxxx3xxxxxxxxx4xxxxxxxxx5xxxxxxxxx6xxxxxxxxx7xxxxxxxxx8 This edition of the Rulings Compendium includes: | | * May 3rd 2001 WotC Online Rules Chat -- (*) -- xxxxxxxxx1xxxxxxxxx2xxxxxxxxx3xxxxxxxxx4xxxxxxxxx5xxxxxxxxx6xxxxxxxxx7xxxxxxxxx8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ERRATA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- == LT. SURGE'S ELECTRODE (Gym: Challenge Expansion) * Important Errata for this card. Damage from Shock Blast will NOT trigger any Shock Blast Pokemon power (either its own or a defending Lt. Surge's Electrode or Ditto as Lt. Surge's Electrode). (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- POKEMON POWERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- == BOLT (Entei - Promo) Q. My friend says that you may choose to Entei's Bolt Pokemon Power, is this true (I don't think so)? A. No choice! (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q63) Q. If Entei has a Focus Band attached, and an attack knocks out Entei, but the Focus Band flip is heads, will this trigger the Bolt Pokemon Power? I mean, the "attack" would've KO'd it (no Bolt), but Focus Band (not the attack) is what affected the damage amount. A. The key word here is "would" be knocked out. It is not "Knocked Out." Sorry. It would trigger it! (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q45) Q. If Croconaw does Jaw Clamp against Entei (and Entei is not knocked out), can Entei's Bolt still activate? A. Yes, bolt will still work. [Ed.Note: This is presumably because the Jaw Clamp effect would not activate until the entire attack, including damage, is complete.] (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q19) == FORTITUDE (Giovanni's Machamp - Gym: Challenge Expansion) [CHRISBO NOTE: This one has been updated & confirmed] Q. If Focus Band is attached to Giovanni's Machamp, and it is Knocked Out, what effect comes first? Its Pokémon Power or the Focus Band? A. You would choose, as they have the same effect, you choose the order of resolution. (Dec 21, 2000 WotC Chat, Q88; May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements) == HEALING FIRE (Blaine's Ninetales - Gym: Challenge Expansion) [CHRISBO NOTE: This one has been updated & confirmed] Q. What happens when you attach a Rainbow Energy to Blaine's Ninetales when it has 10 HP left? Does it get knocked out or not? A. It would get Knocked out. Rainbow energy only counts as all types when it is already in play. You do the 10 damage from Rainbow when you attach it which takes place before it is in play and before the Healing Fire Power would trigger. (Apr 19, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements; May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements) == SHAPESHIFT (Brock's Ninetales - Gym: Challenge Expansion) Q. If Brock's Ninetales has a coloring counter on it (from Smeargle's Paint) and then uses its Shapeshift power to *attach* an evolution card, would the coloring counter be retained or would it then become the type of the new attached card? A. No. The paint counter would be retained. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q21) == SHOCK BLAST (Lt. Surge's Electrode - Gym: Challenge Expansion) * Important Errata for this card. Damage from Shock Blast will NOT trigger any Shock Blast Pokemon power (either its own or a defending Lt. Surge's Electrode or Ditto as Lt. Surge's Electrode). (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements) ***** PREVIOUS RULING: THIS ONE HAS SINCE BEEN CONFIRMED; See Above & Errata section ***** Q. If Lt. Surge's Electrode's "Shock Blast" power ends up causing 20 damage to itself, does the "Shock Blast" get invoked again as a result of that damage? Couldn't this potentially result in a near-endless cycle of coin flips? A. No, as even if it did repeat, it would only do it until the Electrode was Knocked out. You would have to let the damage resolve in order for it to be damaged to trigger the Power. On the turn it took damage that would Knock it out, would be the last time it triggered. BUT I will talk to R&D on this one. (Jan 11, 2001 WotC Chat, Q6) ***** PREVIOUS RULING: THIS ONE HAS SINCE BEEN OVERRULED; See Above ***** Q. If Lt. Surge's Electrode starts Shock Blasting and it triggers itself several times, do you figure the Damage for each cycle (Weakness, Resistance, etc.), or do you keep going until you flip heads and then figure the total Damage? A. First of all look at the order of resolving damage. Pokemon powers all resolve or are checked, THEN damage is applied. If that damage triggers another Pokemon power check, so be it. Just repeat the above process. So trigger, damage, trigger, damage, etc. It would continue until you flip heads, or until it knocks itself out then it gets one final flip when its power triggers one last time. You don't move up the replacement Pokemon until everything is finished. (Jan25, 2001 WotC Chat, Q8 & Q47 & Q150; Feb 1, 2001 WotC Chat, Q25 & Q59) ***** PREVIOUS RULING: THIS ONE HAS SINCE BEEN OVERRULED; See Above ***** Q. If your Lt. Surge's Electrode starts Shock Blast and it continues to trigger itself, as long as you flip tails, what happens if the Opponent's Active is Knocked out? Do they bring up a new one assuming the cycle continues? A. Basically it will continue until you flip heads, then you will deal with KO'ed Pokémon and the such. (Jan 25, 2001 WotC Chat, Q66) ***** PREVIOUS RULING: THIS ONE HAS SINCE BEEN OVERRULED; See Above ***** Q. If your Lt. Surge's Electrode is in a cycle of Shock Blasts, due to flipping several tails and continuing to trigger itself, can you use a discretionary Pokémon Power, like Alakazam's Damage Swap, between flips? A. No, you must finish up the effects of the power before anything else; you can not use another Pokémon power inbetween the uses of another Pokémon power. (Jan 25, 2001 WotC Chat, Q69 & Q87 & Q147) == TRANSFORM (Ditto - Fossil Expansion) Q. Ditto is active with a gold berry attached. The attacker to Ditto does damage & Ditto now has 50 or more damage to it. The attack also causes paralysis or confusion or sleep. Does the gold berry activate first saving Ditto or does the effect knock out Ditto? A. Yes [he would be KO'd], because he would turn back into ditto before the gold berry could save him. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q31) // Attack and Status Effects as Ditto Transforms * Ditto, when it Transforms, copies what is written on the Defending Pokemon (its written HP, Weakness, etc.). It does not copy changed values on the other card (if the Defending Pokemon is painted into another color, or has more HP from attached energy like Sabrina's Gastly). (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements) * Ditto's Transform Pokemon Power overrides any effects on Ditto that change any of the basic aspects of the Pokemon (HP, Weakness from Porygon's Conversion, etc). This also means that if Ditto was a copy of Venomoth and Shifted itself to a new color, when Ditto Transforms into another Pokemon, this will be overridden and Ditto will be the color of the new Pokemon it Transformed into. This is NOT the same case as with Smeargle's Paint counters as this is an outside continually applied effect (like Char or damage counters). So Ditto Transforms into the new Pokemon but still is affected by the Paint counter. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements) * Ditto copying a Shifted Venomoth becomes Venomoth of the same color that it [Venomoth] is Shifted to. Shift effectively rewrites the color on the card. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- POKEMON ATTACKS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- == CHAIN LIGHTNING (Electrode - Jungle Expansion) [CHRISBO NOTE: This one has been updated] Q. Does Jungle Electrode apply weakness and resistance for benched Pokemon (it doesn't say not to...)? A. If it doesn't say then you wouldn't apply Weakness and Resistance. This has been verified. It has been ruled that W/R does not apply to the bench unless specificly mandated by the card. Period. That is a meta-game rule. It was never intended that the W/R would apply to the bench unless specificly stated. Yes we do know that some Pokemon say not to apply W/R to the Bench. (Apr 26, 2001 WotC Chat, Q153; May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements & Q44) == INVIGORATE (Sabrina's Hypno - Gym: Challenge Expansion) Q. If Narrow Gym is in play, and I use Sabrina's Hypno's Invigorate attack, does your opponent have to return one of his/her pokemon to their hand or does the attack not work? A. No, the bench is considerd full, so you could not do the attack (the attack would fail). (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q79) == PROTECTIVE FLAME (Entei - Promo) * If Entei gets benched, then the Protective Flame effect ends. So now none of your benched Pokemon would be protected in this case. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements) ***** PREVIOUS RULING: THIS ONE HAS SINCE BEEN OVERRULED; See Above ***** Q. If Promo Entei attacked with Protective Flame and was then put on the bench during your opponent's turn (i.e. Gust of Wind), would Entei be protected and not receive the effects and damage of attacks done to your benched Pokemon? A. The Protective Flame references the benched Pokemon, so yes it would. The new Active is no longer benched and not protected, the Entei IS benched and is protected. (Apr 12, 2001 WotC Chat, Q57 & Q86 & Q91) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TRAINER CARDS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- == BLAINE (Gym: Challenge Expansion) [CHRISBO NOTE: This one has been updated] Q. Can you play the Trainer "Blaine", then Oak to get your energy, and then place the two Fire Energy on your Blaine's Pokémon? A. Yes, you can because Blaine says 'during this turn' on it. You do not have to attach the Energies right after playing the Trainer. You can oak or Elm or play other tainers.... You could even go get a glass of milk and come back and still be able to put two energies down. [Ed.Note: But some could consider that "stalling", heh-heh.] (Dec 7, 2000 WotC Chat, Q119; May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q23) Q. With the Blaine trainer, do both energies have to be attached simultaneously to the same Pokemon? A. You do not have to attach the Energies right after playing the Trainer, but you must attach both energies at the same time. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q23) ***** PREVIOUS RULING: THIS ONE HAS SINCE BEEN OVERRULED; See Above ***** Q. If you play a Blaine Trainer do you have to attach the two energies simultaneously or can you attach one Fire Energy and then attach another one later in your turn, say after you Oak and draw another Energy. A. You have to play them at that time or not at all. (Nov 2, 2000 WotC Chat, Q512) == DEFENDER (Base Set) * Defender only prevents 20 damage from any one attack. If an attack has 2 components to it that can do damage (like Dark Weezing's Mass Explosion) Defender will still only reduce the overall attack total damage by 20, NOT each component by 20. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements) == ENERGY RETRIEVAL (Base Set) / SUPER ENERGY RETRIEVAL (Neo: Genesis Expansion) Q. Can you play Super Energy Retrieval, even if there are no energy cards in your discard pile? A. Yes. [It] says take all of them if there are fewer then four, so with the Super Energy Retrieval you could bring back 0 (because that's fewer the four) (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Q17 & Q62) == FOCUS BAND (Neo: Genesis Expansion) [CHRISBO NOTE: This one has been updated & confirmed] Q. If Focus Band is attached to Giovanni's Machamp, and it is Knocked Out, what effect comes first? Its Pokémon Power or the Focus Band? A. You would choose, as they have the same effect, you choose the order of resolution. (Dec 21, 2000 WotC Chat, Q88; May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements) == KOGA (Gym: Challenge Expansion) Q. If I have a Koga trainer in play, and I use Koga's Weezing's "Toxic Cloud" attack, would I get to choose which poison condition to use (single or double), or does one condition take precedence over the other? (Step E or Step J of the rules?) A. Since both effects take place at the same time, the controlling player gets to decide what order to resolve them. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements) ***** PREVIOUS RULING: THIS ONE HAS SINCE BEEN OVERRULED; See Above ***** Q. If I have a Koga trainer in play, and I use Koga's Weezing's "Toxic Cloud" attack, would I get to choose which poison condition to use (single or double), or does one condition take precedence over the other? (Step E or Step J of the rules?) A. You do not get to choose, the Koga's Trainer effect goes off first [Ed. Note: "Step E"] and then as previously stated, all other effects from an attack are the very last thing that happens [Ed. Note: "Step J"] so the Double Poison effect replaces the single Poison effect. (Apr 12, 2001 WotC Chat, Q4) == MAX REVIVE (Gym: Challenge Expansion) Q. Can you play Max Revive even if there are no Pokemon in your discard pile? A. No, you cannot, you must be able to do what it says. You can't get the pokemon, so you can't play the trainer. You couldn't bring back 0 pokemon, that is not "1". (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q18 & Q62) == RECALL (Gym: Heroes Expansion) Q. If I have a Ditto active, and my opponent has a Feraligatr that has evolved from the 40 HP Totodile and then Breedered, can I use Recall on my Ditto to make it remeber Totodile's Rage techniques? A. No, Ditto is not an evolved form, so you couldn't recall anything... (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q105) == ROCKET'S MINEFIELD GYM (Gym: Challenge Expansion) [See Also: ERRATA] Q. If I have a Rocket's Minefield Gym in play and put a Mysterious Fossil into play, do I have to flip for Rocket's Minefield Gym? I would assume not since [Mysterious Fossil] isn't considered a Pokemon until it is in play, not as it comes into play. A. It counts as one as it is coming into play. So you would flip. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q205) Q. If Rockets Minefield Gym is in play do you have to flip for any Pokémon you put on your bench by playing Revive or Max Revive? A. It says when you put a pokemon on your bench from your hand, so no. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q227) == THE ROCKET'S TRAP (Gym: Heroes Expansion) Q. If you play "The Rocket's Trap" and flip heads, can you look at the 3 selected cards before your opponent shuffles them back into his deck? A. No you may not look at them. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat, Q16) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ENERGY CARDS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GENERAL GAMEPLAY ---------------------------------------------------------------------- == ATTACKING * It has been ruled that W/R does not apply to the bench unless specificly mandated by the card. Period. That is a meta-game rule. It was never intended that the W/R would apply to the bench unless specificly stated. Yes we do know that some Pokemon say not to apply W/R to the Bench. [But] if it doesn't say then you wouldn't apply Weakness and Resistance (the default for benched Pokemon is to NOT apply Weakness and Resistance). This has been verified. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements & Q44) == FLIPPING COINS, DICE, ETC. * I would like to inform you that the Lugia "Coin" from the Pokemon 2000 movie video is not going to be legal in any sanctioned event. It is not even really a coin folks. Just because something is round and flat does not make it a randomizer. (May 3, 2001 WotC Chat Announcements) xxxxxxxxx1xxxxxxxxx2xxxxxxxxx3xxxxxxxxx4xxxxxxxxx5xxxxxxxxx6xxxxxxxxx7xxxxxxxxx8