Attack (TCG)

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Attacks are skills that a Pokémon card can use in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Nearly every Pokémon card has at least one attack. During a player's turn, he or she may use an attack printed on his or her Active Pokémon. When a player uses an attack, that player's turn ends.

Requirements

The large majority of attacks require a certain number of energy cards to be attached to the Pokémon. The energy cost for each attack is printed to the left of the attack name, in energy symbols, for example, Fire. The Colorless energy symbol means that any energy card can be used to pay the cost. Some attacks may require additional costs, such as discarding a card.

Name and description

To the right of the energy cost is the name of the attack. Most of the time, a description will follow below, detailing the effects of the move-for example, Sand-Attack makes the defending Pokémon have to flip a coin. If there is no description, the attack will just deal direct damage without any side effects.

Damage

To the right of the name and the description, there is a number, usually divisible by ten (Such as 20, 50, or, in some extreme cases, 100). This is the damage that the attack does.

Various symbols next to the number indicate whether the damage will vary.

Symbol Meaning
+ Indicates an increase in damage, under certain conditions
- Indicates a decrease in damage, under certain conditions
× Indicates the value will be multiplied, under certain conditions
? The amount of damage depends entirely on conditions (e.g. opponent's HP)

Sometimes, there may be no number at all. This indicates that the attack deals no damage to the opposing Pokémon, therefore it likely being a Poké Power or Poké Body. Again, one should refer to the description of the attack.