Tournament How to tell what seasons are covered in the current tournaments.
- Thread starter KaraKuehn
- Start date
Hi Kara!
The current Standard Format (which I would assume is what you were referring to as the current season) consists of any cards from the Sun and Moon Base Set to Team Up, with no cards being banned. The current Expanded Format is, has been, and likely will be, Black and White Base Set to the present time (aka Team Up), with these cards being banned.
This information doesn't change very often, and can usually be found here: https://assets.pokemon.com//assets/...les/play-pokemon-tcg-rules-and-formats-en.pdf
New sets (Unbroken Bonds, etc.) are legal for tournament use the third Friday of the release month, which, for Unbroken Bonds, should be on May 17th.
Hope this helps! If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Cordially,
-Alpha
The current Standard Format (which I would assume is what you were referring to as the current season) consists of any cards from the Sun and Moon Base Set to Team Up, with no cards being banned. The current Expanded Format is, has been, and likely will be, Black and White Base Set to the present time (aka Team Up), with these cards being banned.
This information doesn't change very often, and can usually be found here: https://assets.pokemon.com//assets/...les/play-pokemon-tcg-rules-and-formats-en.pdf
New sets (Unbroken Bonds, etc.) are legal for tournament use the third Friday of the release month, which, for Unbroken Bonds, should be on May 17th.
Hope this helps! If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Cordially,
-Alpha
Welcome to PokéBeach!
I recommend taking advantage of the Play! Pokémon Rules & Resources page for some help, at least if we are talking about official, sanctioned events. There are three typical "Formats" you'll find for tournaments:
Changes to the Banned List are announced a few weeks before the latest set becomes legal, though there have been last-minute decisions that were not announced so promptly.
The current Banned List for the Standard Format is nothing.
The current Banned List for the Expanded Format is:
Archeops (Black & White—Noble Victories, 67/101; Black & White—Dark Explorers, 110/108)
Delinquent (XY—BREAKpoint, 98/122, 98a/122, and 98b/122)
Forest of Giant Plants (XY—Ancient Origins, 74/98)
Ghetsis (Black & White—Plasma Freeze, 101/116 and 115/116)
Hex Maniac (XY—Ancient Origins, 75/98 and 75a/98)
Lusamine (Sun & Moon—Crimson Invasion, 96/111 and 110/111; Sun & Moon—Ultra Prism, 153/156)
Lysandre's Trump Card (XY—Phantom Forces, 99/119 and 118/119)
Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick (XY—Primal Clash, 133/160 and 158/160)
Puzzle of Time (XY—BREAKpoint, 109/122)
Unown (Sun & Moon—Lost Thunder, 90/214)
Wally (XY—Roaring Skies, 94/108 and 107/108; Generations, RC27/RC32)
I recommend taking advantage of the Play! Pokémon Rules & Resources page for some help, at least if we are talking about official, sanctioned events. There are three typical "Formats" you'll find for tournaments:
- Limited - Whatever is determined by the event organizers. This is where you do not bring your own deck, but build one from cards provided (like at a Pre-Release).
- Standard - The "default" tournament format. Currently, you're allowed to use anything from Sun & Moon or later for sets, and for promos, anything from the SM - Black Star Promo series.
- Expanded - This format allows cards from the Black & White expansion and after, and the BW - Black Star Promos and later except for cards on the Banned List. Barring the cards on the Ban List, this format allows anything legal in the Standard Format and then quite a bit more!
Changes to the Banned List are announced a few weeks before the latest set becomes legal, though there have been last-minute decisions that were not announced so promptly.
The current Banned List for the Standard Format is nothing.
The current Banned List for the Expanded Format is:
Archeops (Black & White—Noble Victories, 67/101; Black & White—Dark Explorers, 110/108)
Delinquent (XY—BREAKpoint, 98/122, 98a/122, and 98b/122)
Forest of Giant Plants (XY—Ancient Origins, 74/98)
Ghetsis (Black & White—Plasma Freeze, 101/116 and 115/116)
Hex Maniac (XY—Ancient Origins, 75/98 and 75a/98)
Lusamine (Sun & Moon—Crimson Invasion, 96/111 and 110/111; Sun & Moon—Ultra Prism, 153/156)
Lysandre's Trump Card (XY—Phantom Forces, 99/119 and 118/119)
Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick (XY—Primal Clash, 133/160 and 158/160)
Puzzle of Time (XY—BREAKpoint, 109/122)
Unown (Sun & Moon—Lost Thunder, 90/214)
Wally (XY—Roaring Skies, 94/108 and 107/108; Generations, RC27/RC32)
Thank you, guys! This was very helpful. I have to watch out for Lusamine, in mine and my Girlfriend's collection, as we're going to some sanctioned events on weekends. The League I went to gave me a list of their banned cards and it's only two. Of which I used to own 1 (Ancient Mew) as a kid but for the life of me don't know what happened to it. That was back when The Unkown were popular pokemon so they did all those archeologists looking things.
You guys have given me enough information to actually find out that my girlfriend does NOT need a new deck to play in ranked tournaments. THANK you. We are short on money. I thank you greatly.
With appreciation,
Kara
You guys have given me enough information to actually find out that my girlfriend does NOT need a new deck to play in ranked tournaments. THANK you. We are short on money. I thank you greatly.
With appreciation,
Kara
You are welcome!
Leagues usually only "ban" ________'s Pikachu and that promo referred to as Ancient Mew. The former was released as a playable promo outside of Japan even though its Japanese counterpart was clearly marked as not legal for sanctioned play (or so I've been told). The issue with it is that it does extra damage if it is your birthday. I don't recall if it is competitive anymore, but back in the day, if it was your birthday it was reasonably good. Ancient Mew technically isn't legal anyway, because of the language rules; no country has "Poké-glyphics" as its official language (the language the card is printed in). Neither card is Expanded or Standard legal because they're much too old and (again) Ancient Mew doesn't follow the normal release rules. Ancient Mew was legal for a few years, but it proved to be far more of a hassle than it was worth (it isn't that great of a card in the first place XD).
Something I didn't mention earlier are reprints and errata. I know the latter is for sure listed in a document on the page to which I linked in my previous post. If the former isn't, the general rule of thumb is that an older card is legal if a reprint of it is legal and the wording is functionally identical. "Functionally" means as it sounds; the wording doesn't have to be the exact same so long as nothing game relevant is different between the cards.
Happy gaming.
You are welcome!
Leagues usually only "ban" ________'s Pikachu and that promo referred to as Ancient Mew. The former was released as a playable promo outside of Japan even though its Japanese counterpart was clearly marked as not legal for sanctioned play (or so I've been told). The issue with it is that it does extra damage if it is your birthday. I don't recall if it is competitive anymore, but back in the day, if it was your birthday it was reasonably good. Ancient Mew technically isn't legal anyway, because of the language rules; no country has "Poké-glyphics" as its official language (the language the card is printed in). Neither card is Expanded or Standard legal because they're much too old and (again) Ancient Mew doesn't follow the normal release rules. Ancient Mew was legal for a few years, but it proved to be far more of a hassle than it was worth (it isn't that great of a card in the first place XD).
Something I didn't mention earlier are reprints and errata. I know the latter is for sure listed in a document on the page to which I linked in my previous post. If the former isn't, the general rule of thumb is that an older card is legal if a reprint of it is legal and the wording is functionally identical. "Functionally" means as it sounds; the wording doesn't have to be the exact same so long as nothing game relevant is different between the cards.
Happy gaming.
So for Reprints and errata they basically have to have the same moves? So say they made a new Dark Charizard, such as the one displayed on my avatar. The new reprint would have to have Nail Flick and I forget the other move, and cost the same amount of energy to be able to use both?
I heard of someone (ZapdosTCG) using Proxy prints. What are those? He said he was using pre-release decks before he bought them. Is that something different? How would you know what's in a pre-release deck before it comes out? I know Japan releases their boxes before USA, but wouldn't the cards be different art and language if they were Japanese proxy?
Everything game relevant has to be the same unless there is an erratum for older versions of that cards, making the older versions play the same as the current versions.
In the case of Dark Charizard, at least if I understand it all correctly, here is what all would have to read the same:
Dark Charizard — 80 HP — [R]
Stage 2 — Evolves from Dark Charmeleon
[C] Nail Flick: 10
[R][R] Continuous Fireball: 50×
Flip a number of coins equal to the number of [R] Energy cards attached to Dark Charizard. This attack does 50 damage times the number of heads. Discard a number of [R] Energy cards attached to Dark Charizard equal to the number of heads.
weakness: [W]×2
resistance: [F]-30
retreat: 3
Stage 2 — Evolves from Dark Charmeleon
[C] Nail Flick: 10
[R][R] Continuous Fireball: 50×
Flip a number of coins equal to the number of [R] Energy cards attached to Dark Charizard. This attack does 50 damage times the number of heads. Discard a number of [R] Energy cards attached to Dark Charizard equal to the number of heads.
weakness: [W]×2
resistance: [F]-30
retreat: 3
The only wiggle room is where text can mean the same thing but have a slightly different wording. Card name, HP, Stage, Energy Costs, etc. all have to be the same. A tournament legal Dark Charizard reprint is not happening because of the Resistance. Resistance changed from -30 to -20 over the years and taking even less damage from [F] Type attackers is indeed a significant change.
The good news is that I remembered a thread that explains this. PokéGym is a semi-official Pokémon website; while not directly owned by Nintendo/TPCi, it is owned and operated in part by individuals who make up the North American Rules Team. It actually has a section where you can ask questions to receive official rulings, plus a large list of already established rulings. It also has this thread, which lists what older cards are still legal and explain the process better than I do. ^^'
I don't know who ZapdosTCG is; are we talking a Youtuber or another board member? At least part of this sounds like a miscommunication, whether because you're didn't quite catch what he said or because he doesn't know what he's talking about. XD I'm not trying to be mean, as I've often been guilty of both over the years. ^^'
I'll take a stab at "proxy prints"; that just sounds like he printed off some proxies, instead of scrawling them out by hand. Forgive me if it was only the "print" part making it confusing, but just in case I'll explain what a proxy is. It is a stand-in for an actual card. They're completely illegal in tournament play except when a judge uses one to replace a card that was damaged to the point of being considered "marked" during an event (the proxy is no longer legal after the tournament is over). A proxy can be as simple as taking a basic Energy card and writing the name of the card for which it is a stand-in on the face of it. Proxies are used to practice, and not tournament legal beyond the exception listed.
A Pre-Release Deck is normally what you'd call the deck you built at a Pre-Release. Possibly, he's just making things confusing by using that term to refer to a deck built containing proxies of cards that haven't officially released yet. Some cards are revealed - even in English - before their official release. We usually know what is supposed to be in a set shortly before Pre-Release tournaments begin. Meaning a set list, not full scans of that set.
Everything game relevant has to be the same unless there is an erratum for older versions of that cards, making the older versions play the same as the current versions.
In the case of Dark Charizard, at least if I understand it all correctly, here is what all would have to read the same:
Dark Charizard — 80 HP — [R]
Stage 2 — Evolves from Dark Charmeleon
[C] Nail Flick: 10
[R][R] Continuous Fireball: 50×
Flip a number of coins equal to the number of [R] Energy cards attached to Dark Charizard. This attack does 50 damage times the number of heads. Discard a number of [R] Energy cards attached to Dark Charizard equal to the number of heads.
weakness: [W]×2
resistance: [F]-30
retreat: 3
The only wiggle room is where text can mean the same thing but have a slightly different wording. Card name, HP, Stage, Energy Costs, etc. all have to be the same. A tournament legal Dark Charizard reprint is not happening because of the Resistance. Resistance changed from -30 to -20 over the years and taking even less damage from [F] Type attackers is indeed a significant change.
The good news is that I remembered a thread that explains this. PokéGym is a semi-official Pokémon website; while not directly owned by Nintendo/TPCi, it is owned and operated in part by individuals who make up the North American Rules Team. It actually has a section where you can ask questions to receive official rulings, plus a large list of already established rulings. It also has this thread, which lists what older cards are still legal and explain the process better than I do. ^^'
I don't know who ZapdosTCG is; are we talking a Youtuber or another board member? At least part of this sounds like a miscommunication, whether because you're didn't quite catch what he said or because he doesn't know what he's talking about. XD I'm not trying to be mean, as I've often been guilty of both over the years. ^^'
I'll take a stab at "proxy prints"; that just sounds like he printed off some proxies, instead of scrawling them out by hand. Forgive me if it was only the "print" part making it confusing, but just in case I'll explain what a proxy is. It is a stand-in for an actual card. They're completely illegal in tournament play except when a judge uses one to replace a card that was damaged to the point of being considered "marked" during an event (the proxy is no longer legal after the tournament is over). A proxy can be as simple as taking a basic Energy card and writing the name of the card for which it is a stand-in on the face of it. Proxies are used to practice, and not tournament legal beyond the exception listed.
A Pre-Release Deck is normally what you'd call the deck you built at a Pre-Release. Possibly, he's just making things confusing by using that term to refer to a deck built containing proxies of cards that haven't officially released yet. Some cards are revealed - even in English - before their official release. We usually know what is supposed to be in a set shortly before Pre-Release tournaments begin. Meaning a set list, not full scans of that set.
Holy buckets you did a bomb job of answering my questions! Thanks, man!
That was really thorough. Thanks for putting in all that effort. Still not gonna touch proxies, as I'm not going to unbroken bonds pre-release. Call me crazy, but I'd rather drop $30 on an elite trainer box, than an entry to a crowded comic store. (Love the store, not the crowd)