The New Black & White Rules – What They Mean For You

Note From Jay: I actually wrote this before P!P made their announcement about a possible format change. However, I do believe a majority of this article is still relevant and I’ll actually leave it unedited with my opinions and predictions (both right and wrong) unchanged.

So unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 3 months or perhaps the fear of finals week is setting in and you have realized that a combination of Pokémon and finals usually doesn’t end with good results, you’re probably aware of the new rule changes that we receive in the upcoming Black and White Structure decks.

First I’ll go over what the new rules are and my opinion of them. Josh also did a really good video about his opinion of the rules and what the format could look like. If you haven’t seen it already I really suggest that you check it out (insert link).

Before I start just a small disclaimer, these are the rules that are in the new structure deck P!P has not officially stated that these will go into effect when the set becomes legal on it official release date.

However, the general consensus or perhaps fear among the online community is that most likely these rules will be in effect for not only Spring Battle Roads, but Nationals and Worlds as well.

What are the new rules?

1. Trainers, Supporters and Stadiums have been renamed to Trainer-Items, Trainer-Supporters, and Trainer-Stadiums

I really don’t think that this change is that big of a deal. It might cause a little bit of confusion at first, but in the long run it would clear up a lot of misunderstandings on how certain cards interacted with each other.

The most notable problem I see arising from this change is dealing with cards that have already been printed referencing trainers. Most notable Vileplume from Triumphant, although its body states it stops both players from playing trainers, it would only apply to Trainer-Goods and not Trainer-Supporters or Trainer-Stadiums.

I think this sort of problem will be rare in competitive play though and cause very little impact.

2. Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies are being replaced with Pokémon Abilities

pokebeach.comChanges like this are nothing new they seem to go back and forth on them every few years. They tend to cause a few weird card interactions when they first come into the format.

Nintendo has already stated that effects that affect Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies will not affect Pokémon Abilities and vice versa, which will have some impact on the current format with cards like Entei/Raikou Legend and Dialga G LV.X running around.

There really aren’t many ups or downs to this change and overall it’s a small change that won’t take much getting used to after this next rotation. The thing I am curious about is if Pokémon Abilities are optional or not.

Right now Poké-Bodies are mandatory, if I forget to heal with Nidoqueen I have to go back and do it, but will the same hold true with Pokémon Abilities?

I’m sure we will get a more clear answer to this question and hopefully it is before Battle Roads. Best advice I can give right now is just don’t forget and it won’t be an issue.

3. The player going first can play Supporters, Trainers, and Stadiums

This is the big one that many people are worried will destroy our format. What changes will this bring if these rules aren’t halted? First expect the price of Sableye to jump dramatically since I suspect expect over half the decks in the format will run 4.

Why is all of this bad? Since there are no longer any restrictions placed on the player going first expect the number of donks to increase dramatically.

What makes Sableye so dangerous? Well first Sableye lets you go first which eliminates your opponent’s chances of getting any sort of plays off like Call Energy, Azelf, Uxie, etc. to get more basics in play. Second Sableye plus Pokémon Collector (both cards many decks will run 4-of each) lets you grab Crobat G, Crobat G, Unown Dark.

This lets you KO any 70 HP Basic right off the bat. I won’t even go into all the situation that could happen involving other cards like Uxie, Expert Belt, Poké Turn, Seeker, etc.

pokebeach.comLet’s say you even get lucky and they can’t donk you it is still incredibly easy for them to get 3 Pokémon SP in play and Impersonate a Cyrus for a Spray another Cyrus and an energy, a very dominating opening and common start. I’ll also mention the first turn Giratina or Judge followed by an Impersonate to a Cyrus’s Initiative, once again a situation that will almost guarantee a loss.

Let’s start with some common “real world” examples. The Rob Downs Uxie Donk deck is known for easily sweeping 3 Pokémon and on some occasions 4 or more. What has always kept this deck in check is the fact that if it went first it could do nothing but pass and it was also highly weak to trainer lock.

Playing 4 Sableye it will go first a considerable portion of time and a player no longer has the recourse of hoping to go second or using Call Energy to try and establish their board position to try and survive the onslaught.

Oh and as for Trainer lock let say you’re playing against Vilegar. Before this would have been one of your worst match ups due to the fact that they had 8 Basic Pokémon that completely shut you out of the game, now they only have 4.

Since if they open with Gastly they no longer are guaranteed that turn to try and Pitch Dark you. Also playing Sableye and D Energy gives you a better chance of playing out of Spiritomb.

Next would be the inclusion of Sableye in SP decks or decks based around similar strategies. Sablock, Blaziken/Sablock or LoxChomp have already been dominating forces in today’s meta and all of them are easily tier 1 decks. With these new rule changes they only get better.

I was amazed by how many first turn kills Josh got in his 2 States and Regional’s with LoxChomp/Sablock. He didn’t get very many donks if I remember right but did get several first turn kills on the opponent’s active which puts him in a very dominating and controlling position.

Over my run this year if I remember right I donked 3-5 people and had these new rules been in effect it would most likely be closer to a double that and I only played Luxchomp. I don’t even know how much more I can stress how bad these new rules will be for the game.

4. Supporter cards no longer stay in play until the end of the turn and now discarded after they resolve.

pokebeach.comI just don’t understand why they would make this sort of change. It brings absolutely no benefit to the game what so ever and is going to be a potential nightmare for judges. I see enough game state errors in Masters I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of issues will arise in the Senior and Junior age divisions.

This is going to cause so many people to get game losses it won’t even be funny. As many actions that take place turning a turn now it’s not hard to forget if you have played a Supporter or not.

Let’s walk through a turn: You start your turn off by drawing your card, thinking for a second playing a Pokémon Collector, grab a couple of basics and a Uxie, discard your Pokémon Collector from play, play your hand down, use Uxie to Set Up, play some more cards, think for a second, play Copycat, shuffle your hand into…Game Loss, you played two Supporters and your hand is sitting in your deck.

Reread through that situation again, and just ask yourself how often you see that situation, how often are you in that situation? It’s a very common situation and not that unlikely, especially if players are used to see their Supporter Card sitting in play.

ERRATAS:

1. Potion now heals 30

Potion is semi playable now! It still won’t be mainstream or even a popular tech choice but I could see some decks run it.

2. Great Ball now reads Look at the top 7 cards of your deck. You may reveal a Pokémon you find there and put it into your hand. Shuffle the other cards back into your deck.

This is how Master Ball reads, I don’t see why they didn’t just reprint Master Ball. I don’t think this card is going to see enough competitive play where it is really going to be an issue, but once again just seems like an unnecessary rules change.

3. PlusPower now reads…During this turn, your Pokémon’s attacks do 10 more damage to the Active Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance).

This hurts Uxie Donk a bit right now but I’m guessing this errata has something to do with upcoming sets. Overall it balances the card in our current format and yet gives it a little added playability at the same time since players can safely play it down without actually knowing what Pokémon they are going to attack with yet.

This change will have a small impact in the meta (a large impact on Uxie Donk Decks though) but I really like this change.

4. Rare Candy now reads…Choose 1 of your Basic Pokémon in play. If you have a Stage 2 card in your hand that evolves from that Pokémon, put that card on the Basic Pokémon. (This counts as evolving that Pokémon.) You can’t use this card during your first turn or on a Basic Pokémon that was put into play this turn.

I love this change…for next format. Next year we will have a much slower format and it will give players more time to set up and try and get their decks going. No longer will you be staring down a turn 2 Kingdra. Another small change was the fact that you can no longer Rare Candy from a Basic Pokémon to a Stage 1.

It was rare to see this happen unless a player was trying to burn his hand down, but it was a nice option to have. As for the current format, Rare Candy gave slower Stage 2 decks some much needed speed against their SP foes. This rule change pretty much takes them from behind to out of the race all together.

While this change makes me very excited about next year’s format, it’s one more change that we just don’t need right now.

 

What do these errata’s and rule changes mean?

The number of Donks will increase dramatically, if you open one basic and are going second; there is probably a 70% chance that you’ve already lost, before even drawing a card. Okay so maybe I just made that 70% statistic up, but believe me it’s going to be high and you are going to have a lot of disappointed players lose very quick matches at Nationals and Worlds.

Expect to see an increase of the number of Donk based decks seeing playing. These new rules give already current decks like the Rob Downs Uxie Donk deck and Sableye based decks a huge boost.

I still feel like many top tier players will shy away from these decks because they are still very fragile and have some glaring weakness such as being highly susceptible to trainer lock, very easily donked themselves, and usually have very little to fall back on if they fail to donk the opponent.

However I think a lot of mediocre or bad players will flock to donk based decks since this is their best chance at beating more skilled players.

What can P!P do to avoid this nightmare?

pokebeach.comWell first they could simply hold off on giving us these new rules till after Worlds. I actually really like these rules in a HGSS on format which I believe is what Japan has right now. But they were never intended to interact with cards like Uxie and Sableye. While I can understand the desire to try and put us on the same page as Japan, it’s just not feasible to do so with our current format.

A simple errata of Crobat G to read “you can’t use more than one Flash Bite Poké Power each turn” would completely shut down all donk based decks. It wouldn’t completely solve the problem though because Sableye, Unown D, and Crobat G still gets rid of any 60 HP starter.

It would however prevent the triple and even at times quadruple kills that Uxie Donk is able to pull off. Limiting certain Poké Powers to once per turn is nothing new to the TCG, Delcatty, Pidgeot, Claydol and Gardevoir came with the “once per turn” restriction and it really surprises me that the card wasn’t originally printed that way.

However throughout the history of the game both the company and the players have always underestimated just how broke 10 damage can be. Back in the days of Base Set it actually took US players a while to realize just how broke PlusPower was.

I was so excited when I heard the grinders at this year World Championship will be using the best 2 out of 3 format. Almost every other major TCG currently uses this style and it just seems like a natural progression for Pokémon as well.

Most likely P!P is using the grinders as a way to test this format but I’m still holding out high hopes that they will announce that Worlds itself will be modified, swiss, and best 2-of 3. Even allowing 45-60 min rounds still puts huge emphases on Game 1 however; a quick loss due to a donk or the opponent opening with a God hand would allow the other player a chance to come back.

I really don’t see this as a solution to the problems that the Black and White rules pose, more as a change that should come accompany other rule changes that I feel the TCG desperately needs. A best 2 out of 3 format would help reduce the impact that donks have and also adding more layers of skill to the game at the same time.

Knowing if and when to scoop Game 1 will be very important, and bad hands or lone basic starts will no longer end your round immediately. Like I stated previously I just really see this as a natural progression of the game and I really hope it goes over well at the grinder this year in San Diego.

 

Okay so allowing a player an optional mulligan won’t really do much to counter the new Black and White rules and if anything actually increase donks. I also think this would be a horrid rule change to add in this current format.

However, I would love to see this going into effect next year in what I suspect to be a much slower format. A single optional mulligan would not give players recourse to a bad hand but also add more skill to the game as well. If a player opened with a horrible hand it would be a relatively easy decision to shuffle it back in and get a new one.

But what if a player opens with an okay hand? Do they keep it, or shuffle it back in and risk an even worse hand? Consideration could also be given to what a fair “penalty” would be for taking the optional mulligan. Let your opponent draw an extra card? What about 2 extra cards?

Having a Ban List: This is one that I’ve seen been thrown around the online communities a lot. However I just don’t think it is feasible for our game and I just never see P!P going this route. Banning the cards that need to be banned (Uxie, Sableye, Crobat G, etc.) would so dramatically change the format you might as well just do a full rotation. I also can just image the nightmares that judges would have at Battle Roads, Nationals, and Worlds trying to explain to players why they can’t use cards they had just been playing with at States and Regional’s. Deck checks would also be a Judges nightmare if a ban list was put into effect.

Simply rotate the format to a HGSS on: Personally I love the idea, force players to earn their invite in one format and then put both their playing ability and deck building ability to the test by making them play in a completely different format for Worlds. The down sides to this you would have a lot of upset people (rightly so) because they had invested money into sets or cards they had planned to be able to use till August. So this is another option that while nice isn’t very realistic chance of happening.

The best option that I have heard is simple addition to the black and white rules that state “The player going first may not use any Poké Powers.” In my opinion this would completely balance the difference between going first and going second. Going first you get a chance to “set up” my playing trainers and supporters, however, the player going second will get the first chance to “go off.”

pokebeach.comThis would also dramatically cut down on donks since the player going first would have to open with the cards to donk the other player and wouldn’t be able to use Uxie or Crobat G to either draw into the KO or drop their HP enough for the KO.

But the player going first also would just have to sit their staring at an amazing opening hand know that they are probably not going to get a second turn. They would get a chance to do some sort of “board establishment.” I’m not saying that its perfect but it’s the best solution I see. Right now there is absolutely no downside to going first.

You get the first draw, first attachment, first supporter and a high chance of donking a one basic start. With the implementation of this rule there would be pros and cons to both going first and going second. If anyone can see anything major I’ve missed with this suggestion please post or send me a message.

The Aftermath

Well hopefully you enjoyed the article, like I said before I wrote it before P!P press release, if you haven’t seen it yet you can check the official Pokémon Website or Adam posted an article about it as well. Just to sum it up quickly P!P is saying they are strongly considering a late season rotation that would take place on July 1st to make the format HGSS on.

Pros

The pros to this are that both the United States National Championship and the World Championship would both be played in this new format. Right now I think every competitive player is cheering at this news.

This also means that Nationals will have a ton of originality and hopefully a very diverse format, something this game hasn’t seen in years. This will also highly emphasize skill and deck building.

I expect to see many top players and familiar faces at the top tables this year at Nationals since net decking is no longer a viable option. The players doing well are the individuals or teams who have the knowledge and insight to break the format and the playing ability to back it up.

Which brings us to another pro, at least in my opinion. Netdecking will be almost nonexistent and many players who believe they have found a way to break the format will be keeping their mouths shut about it.

I highly doubt even at Nationals will we see all the tricks players have up their sleeves. This also adds a new dimension to the game, right now if I sit down across from a Luxchomp, Dialgachomp, Vilegar, etc. I will know almost what their entire deck looks like and what techs they probably play.

I suspect at this year’s Worlds though that even two players with the same deck could be numerous cards off from one another. I don’t think we will have seen this sort of diversity in ages. This is something I’m really excited about and looking forward to.

One of the many counter arguments to a mid-season rotation was that it would cut down on the amount of play time people had with their Majestic Dawn through Arceus cards. I can certainly understand this complaint especially if players had recently spent money on these cards.

I think waiting till July 1st to implement a format rotation helps with this though since it offers more casual player more time to use their cards and I don’t think many competitive players will mind and at the very least they will understand that it is for the good of the format.

Cons

pokebeach.com

There quite a few cons as well. First some International National Championships take place before July 1st with P!P current press release this leaves them in limbo in regard to a possible rotation.

However, hopefully when a final decision is made, steps will be taken to change this. I can’t think they would spare the United States Nationals this format only to force other countries to play with it.

 

Many players, myself included planned on trading or selling off a majority of our extra MD-AR cards at Nationals and Worlds to players trying to finish off their decks or perhaps bling them out. This will be nearly impossible to do now.

I expect prices to plummet and the eBay market flooded with MD-AR cards over the next few weeks. I’m still really happy about this announcement, (and this is coming from a guy with 6 Luxray X and 5 Uxie X) I just wish I had some more time to try and sell stuff.

In conclusion this is really great news and considering the fact that P!P is almost nonexistent with press releases like this I would consider it an almost certainty that we are getting this format rotation. Sure there are some cons to a rotation however; I feel the numerous number of pros outweigh them.

Hopefully more information will be coming soon but now is the hard part since all we can do is just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

Reader Interactions

14 replies

  1. George

    Great Article …. and still very relevant! There was no real way for P!P to add Black&White cards to the format and NOT make a rules change. Mid-season rotation is frustrating to those who invest much $$$ and time playtesting. However, the end result will be a new meta game with a wide diversity of decks as EVERYONE is reset to ground zero.

    Game speed slows down, but PLEASE KEEP THE 30 + 3 Tournament Format! More games will go to time and, thus, be determined by skill and ingenuity! The Game will be stronger on the other side of Worlds and, hopefully, draw in a larger “Juniors” crowd that is the foundation of future Pokemon TCG success.

    • Anonymous  → George

      Diversity of the format and cost is what seems to draw people, juniors included. New players have a hard time shelling out $60 for Luxray X and another $50 for Uxie X and understandable so. While the deck was not the only deck we saw winning it was the most dominate by a good margin. Its hard for newer players to repeatedly take losses to the same deck a deck they feel they don’t have the $$$ to build. Considering the prices of Primes vrs Lv X I’m hoping we will see not only a much more diverse format but a much cheaper one as well. Plus the ratio of Primes to X is so much higher, its alot easier for the younger audience to “want” to buy packs if they feel they have a much better chance of getting cards.

  2. Steven Nilsen

    That’s a really nice balanced point of view on the consequences of the changes. Since I’m not a tournament player, I can’t speak to the frustration of a mid-season rotation. I’m with you though, I can see the positive in it. Hopefully there won’t be any other rotations for a while, hopefully skipping 2012.

    Pokemon may have learned something from the previous sets in developing the current BW set, they just didn’t evaluate the impact of implementing the rule changes mid-season. Being new to all this, I’m going to try and stay optimistic and keep buying cards.

  3. Jason Chen

    I lost quite a bit of cash value on the rotation too but I probably wasn’t going to have time to sell them anyway. I called last rotation MD-on and I made a lot of money that way so I guess my hoarding habits balanced out. Anyway I agree with you on everything, it will definitely be an exciting Nationals and Worlds (unless, God forbid, they decide not to rotate), and I’m really looking forward to it this year.

    Also definitely with you on the rule changes. The Supporter Discard rule can’t be enforced, I know many people who don’t even discard their Trainers and it’s no problem. I know I’ll keep playing Supporters the old way, I have seen several people get instant Game Losses for exactly the situation you described, and I definitely will not lose a game because I’m a bit absent-minded or sleep deprived sometime. Recommend the same to all readers too.

    Really liked the article!

  4. Anonymous

    1st. vileplume is form undaunted not triumphant, 2nd. some abilities are passive like pokebodies(serperiors for example) or you have to activate them like pokepowers(reinculis), most cards that you have to state say stuff liek once during your turn, or during your turn(before you attack) and stuff. besides that a little late on the article but nice job.

    • Anonymous  → Anonymous

      There was always a clear distinction between Powers and Bodies that Powers you activate and Bodies happen. Now that they have combined the two some are reactive and others are trigger. While I assume the reactive ones are mandatory it would be nice to have that distinction clear. I did not personally buy a copy of the starter deck so I don’t have a hard copy of the new rules it might clarify that in there.

  5. Stephan Deshazo

    the new rules are fine if its HGSS on i am already coming up with things now it makes the game balance and not whoever starts first wins. PLEASE HGSS NATIONALS AND WORLDS

  6. mewuk85

    Can’t wait Till hgss on. People need to look at this decision by pokemon, as a whole for all players and not for there own selfish reasons. That’s why they are corporate titians have worked their way to the top based on there decision-making. Everyone will enjoy pokemon tcg, and the new rules. Why? You asked! cuz u enjoy pokemon, writing forums and bloggs and playing a game created for a family environment. .;)

  7. mewuk85

    Can’t wait Till hgss on. People need to look at this decision by pokemon, as a whole for all players and not for there own selfish reasons. That’s why they are corporate titians have worked their way to the top based on there decision-making. Everyone will enjoy pokemon tcg, and the new rules. Why? You asked! cuz u enjoy pokemon, writing forums and bloggs and playing a game created for a family environment. .;)

    • Anonymous  → mewuk85

      I think the problem is people have gotten so used to the fact that they can go online and find a decent Luxchomp, GDos, Etc. list net deck (changing one or two cards is still net decking people) it and than go to a tournament and play against others who have net decked lists as well. Not only do they have a solid list but they have a known meta to play them in. All other excuses aside the fact they no longer have this recouse and might actually have to think for themselves is down right scarey to alot of people who have never had to do it before. Its like a kid who’s copied someone elses homework every day and than when he gets to the first test realizes how much trouble he is in.

  8. Poet Larsen

    THe now poke-povers on the first turn seemed like a great idea. That way the first person doesn’t have a big advantage. I never thought of this so I’m glad you wrote about it.

  9. Jonah Davids

    My theory is just that you can’t attach an energy going first.

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