Energy card (TCG)
Energy cards (Japanese: エネルギー) are the cards that power Pokémon attacks in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Under normal circumstances, a Pokémon cannot attack without the required Energy attached to it. Once per turn, a player can attach one Energy card from their hand to one of their Pokémon.
There are multiple effects that can change these parameters. Some Pokémon have text that allows them to ignore the Energy in the costs of their attacks, or ignore specific Energy types in those costs. Cards can allow for attaching Energy from the Discard Pile or deck to Pokémon, or even allow for attaching one or more energy from the hand to Pokémon. (A card's effect attaching Energy from the hand is separate from the once per turn attachment.)
There are two different classes of Energy cards: basic and Special.
Basic Energy cards
Basic Energy cards (Japanese: 基本エネルギー) are defined as the nine Energy cards that share their printed type with a Pokémon. They are the only cards that players are permitted to have more than four copies of in their decks (aside from Arceus, which has its own Special Rule). Under normal circumstances, basic Energy cards provide one of their printed type of Energy. Any type of Energy can be used for Colorless Energy; there are no basic Energy cards that provide only one Colorless Energy.
Card name | Provides |
---|---|
Basic Grass Energy | or |
Basic Fire Energy | or |
Basic Water Energy | or |
Basic Lightning Energy | or |
Basic Psychic Energy | or |
Basic Fighting Energy | or |
Basic Darkness Energy | or |
Basic Metal Energy | or |
Basic Fairy Energy | or |
From the Base Set through to the EX Power Keepers expansion, the TCG featured six basic Energy: Grass, Fire, Water, Lightning, Psychic, and Fighting. Darkness and Metal Energy were initially only Special Energy cards until the release of the Diamond & Pearl expansion, some six and a half years after the debut of their types in the Neo Genesis expansion. Fairy Energy cards began to be featured starting with the XY expansion following its debut in Generation VI, but were no longer included from the Sword & Shield expansion following the cessation of Fairy-type Pokémon in the TCG.
Special Energy cards
Special Energy cards (Japanese: 特殊エネルギー) are cards that provide more than one Energy of a specific type and/or have an additional effect besides providing Energy. Some may heal the Pokémon they are attached to, add damage to their attacks, or may even switch the Active Pokémon with the Benched Pokémon the Energy is attached to. Special Energy cards can only have a non-Colorless type while attached to a Pokémon. This means that effects referring to Energy types of Energy cards that are not in play can never apply to Special Energy. Unlike basic Energy cards, no more than four can be included in a deck.
A recurring effect for Special Energy is providing more than one Energy type. All such cards can only provide one Energy at a given time. For example, a Unit Energy GFW provides either a Grass Energy, a Fire Energy, or a Water Energy, not a Grass Energy, a Fire Energy, and a Water Energy simultaneously.
Some Special Energy cards only have their additional effect when they are attached to a Pokémon that meets a certain criteria. (The criteria is usually its Type, but other properties have been used.) A subset of these Special Energy cards can only be attached to Pokémon that meet the criteria, and are immediately discarded if they are somehow attached to a Pokémon that does not meet the criteria. (Usually, this occurs because a Pokémon that did meet the criteria evolves into a Pokémon which does not meet the criteria.)
List
Trivia
- The designs for the first six Energy symbols were made by Mitsuhiro Arita.[1]
References
This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. |