Help Tornadus attack from bench

[Mega-Gazz]

My kids have started playing this game, and I have to referee . We have a rules question:

Tornadus’ attack behaves differently if it is on the bench, but the rules clearly state that only your active Pokémon can attack.

Does Tornadus let you attack from your bench then? It doesn’t say that it does, only that if you did it behaves differently. How does this work?

 

[Blakers]

The Tornadus card that you’re talking about does not let you attack from the bench. It behaves differently only if you have a different Pokémon called Thundurus on the bench, which is a different Pokémon than Tornadus and would be a Lightning type. Having Thundurus on your bench will cause Tornadus’s Thunderous Tornado attack to do 20 damage to every Pokémon on the opponent’s bench. This is not attacking from the bench, as the effect comes from Tornadus attacking as your Active Pokémon.

Also, the effect won’t work if you have just Thundurus EX or Thundurus GX on your bench. It has to be a regular 120 or 130 HP Thundurus card.

I hope this helps!

 

[Mega-Gazz]

The Tornadus card that you’re talking about does not let you attack from the bench. It behaves differently only if you have a different Pokémon called Thundurus on the bench, which is a different Pokémon than Tornadus and would be a Lightning type. Having Thundurus on your bench will cause Tornadus’s Thunderous Tornado attack to do 20 damage to every Pokémon on the opponent’s bench. This is not attacking from the bench, as the effect comes from Tornadus attacking as your Active Pokémon.

Also, the effect won’t work if you have just Thundurus EX or Thundurus GX on your bench. It has to be a regular 120 or 130 HP Thundurus card.

I hope this helps!

Thanks, it does!

 

[Otaku]

It has to be a regular 120 or 130 HP Thundurus card.

Pardon me if this seems like a nitpick. I only want to help @Mega-Gazz avoid future confusion.

The HP doesn't matter, just the card's exact name. So the original Thundurus, with 110 HP, will still work. If Sword & Shield gives us a Thundurus with more than 130 HP but still named just "Thundurus"; it will also trigger the bonus Bench damage from Tornadus' attack.

Mega-Gazz, let me know if I made things better, worse, or if it just didn't matter. XP That way I can better help with future such questions. Not everyone needs things spelled out like I do. ^^'