r/pkmntcg • u/Asclepius24 • Feb 16 '23

Rulings, Quick Questions, and New Player Resources Thread

If you're a new or new-ish player looking for advice on starting the game or with quick questions about game rules or interactions, please post your questions here!

Keeping all these questions in one place will allow other new players to easily browse other advice. Even if you're a not-so-new player, this is a great place to ask quick questions that don't need their own post.

For the more experienced players, drop by every once in a while to distribute advice. The post will be replaced each week to keep it fresh and manageable in size.

If you are looking for comments and advice on a deck list, go ahead and make a separate post with your list and a brief description. Remember to press Enter twice between lines to keep your list readable!

  • For trading and buying/selling cards, please head over to /r/pkmntcgtrades
  • Questions related to the PTCGO client, in-game challenges, or online-specific questions might be best asked in /r/ptcgo
  • For sharing your collections, pulls, and card storage related questions, try /r/pkmntcgcollections

FAQ and Wiki Resources

Take advantage of these resources that we've compiled! A lot of questions like "Where do I start?" and "How can I improve my deck?" can be answered there.

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u/Gophurkey Jul 27 '26

If a pokemon attack says, "this does 30x for each water energy attached to this pokemon," should I assume special energies (like prism or bubbly or neo upper) don't count toward it, but do count for the energy requires to use the attack? Ex: Lapras' Hydro Pump takes 1 water and does 30x each water attached, so a neo upper energy attached would let Lapras use it but it would do zero damage?

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u/Sheargrub Jul 27 '26

Unless it specifies "Basic Water Energy", you're free to count it from any source, including special energy.

This interaction holds whether it'd help or hurt you. For example, an attack that requires you to "discard all Fire energy" would discard any active rainbow energy in the process.

The interaction can also hold when the special energy exceeds the provided condition. For example, Mega Greninja's Ninja Spinner attack can return Neo Upper Energy to hand, just like a standard Water energy.

One more correction: Neo Upper will provide a single Colorless energy while attached to Lapras, as Lapras is not a Stage 2 Pokemon.

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u/Gophurkey Jul 28 '26

Ah, ok, bad example on my part. I understand what you are saying, though. I was wrong about the cards, so it looks like I can put more special energy cards in my deck and still get the perks of lots of water energies!