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{C}{C} → Whirlwind : 20
If your opponent has any Benched Pokémon, he or she chooses 1 of them and switches it with the Defending Pokémon. (Do the damage before switching the Pokémon.)
{C}{C}{C} → Mirror Move
If Pidgeotto was attacked last turn, do the final result of that attack on Pidgeotto to the Defending Pokémon.
illus. Ken Sugimori · LV.36
Formats: Other: 1999–2001
External: Bulba ↗ · #ad / Affiliate Links: TCGplayer ↗, cardmarket ↗, Amazon ↗, eBay ↗
Very protective of its sprawling territory, this Pokémon will fiercely peck at any intruder.
feyblade
Mirror Move has to have the most ambiguous wording for any attack ever, in the history of the TCG. “The final result?” I’m assuming that they’re referring purely to damage, with weaknesses and resistances applied…but…this could mean any number of things! It could include special conditions, discarded energies,etc.
Mantidactyle
This includes everything, there isn’t any ambiguous wording.
If the opponent’s Pokémon poisoned you, it would poison the defending Pokémon.
If the opponent’s Pokémon discarded an energy from Pidgeotto, it would discard an energy from the defending Pokémon.
Et cetera.
feyblade
Well, plenty of confusing things can arise(such as playing this attack in response to metronome)… and I’ve seen a few forum discussions that couldn’t reach a conclusion about the nature of the move…
Mantidactyle
Which issues did you encounter with Metronome / Mirror Move ?
feyblade
I guess “Final results” dictates that you would mirror the move chosen through metronome, though I can imagine an argument breaking out that the choice of the copied attack is part of the resolution of the move
Mantidactyle
Mirror Move doesn’t need to know what was the opponent’s attack and how it works.
It just need to know what happened to Pigeotto last turn.
“I took 40 damage and poison” for example.
It’s the same thing if the user of Metronome chooses to use Mirror Move : Mirror Move will only check what happened to Clafable during the last turn.
Dr. λ the Creator of Variables, Binder of Variables, Applicator of Terms, Checker of Types, and β-Reducer of β-Redexes
The wording seems very clear to me.
Curtis
Hold on…. Say he was attacked by a Lighting Pokemon with Colorless weakness (I can’t think of any, but just roll with me for the sake of argument.) We’ll say the attack does 20 damage, so 40 with weakness. Would it hit back as 40, or does weakness apply and hit for 80?
Mantidactyle
80
flagrama
Are you sure on this? Looking at it, the opponent’s active Pokemon should take 40 damage as that is the final result that occurred to Pidgeotto due to weakness. The wording implies you would not factor in weakness or resistance on the opponent’s active Pokemon at all.
There probably isn’t an official ruling anywhere as colorless weakness or resistance are incredibly rare, but this seems more inline with the other rulings for this move.
Otaku
I am not 100% certain, but yes I believe Mirror Move would apply Weakness. Why? As stated, Mirror Move looks at what happened to the Pokémon using Mirror Move on your opponent’s last turn to determine what Mirror Move does. Mirror Move does seem to do damage so long as the Pokémon in question received damage. It is worded so that it can copy things other than damage though. Since this time, it has been made crystal clear that if an attack does damage, even if that damage is completely dictated by attack text and not from a number beside the attack, the damage is not considered to be an “attack effect”. Under normal procedure then, when Pidgeotto is takes damage from the attack of an opponent’s Active Pokémon, then uses Mirror Move the next turn, the effect of Mirror Move copies that damage, but it still counts as an attack doing damage and thus Weakness and Resistance are applied.
Also note that this card is from a time when attacks were heavily redundant when it came to warning people not to apply Weakness or Resistance as well. It is possible that Pidgeotto is an exception, but other Base Set cards like Machamp and Magneton make it clear when damage they do (the former via Pokémon Power, the latter Bench damage from an attack) do not apply Weakness and Resistance.
flagrama
I suppose that makes sense. Thanks.
Mantidactyle
This is the correct explanation.
Otaku
Hopefully I didn’t ruin it just now; I noticed some bad typos so I cleaned things up a bit. >.>
HEZ
I can think of one:
https://pkmncards.com/card/rayquaza-delta-species-ds-13/
BOOM! (always go to Delta species for weird type/weakness combos :P)
Mantidactyle
== MIRROR MOVE (Pidgeotto – Jungle
Expansion, Spearow – Base Set)
Q. If your opponent uses Kangaskhan’s
Fetch attack, would you be able to use Pidgeotto’s Mirror Move to mimic it on your
next turn? I imagine you would not be able to since the attack doesn’t really “effect”
Pidgeotto, though I could be wrong.
A. Nothing happened to Pidgeotto so nothing would happen if Pidgeotto tried to use
Mirror Move. (Mar 16 WotC Chat)
Q. For Spearow’s Mirror Move, does this
mean only what is done to Spearow is done back or does this include percentage chances?
For instance, if there’s a chance to paralyze Spearow but it does not happen, does
Spearow have that chance to paralyze too?
A. No, only the final results are Mirrored. (Sep 21, 2000 WotC Chat, Q30)
Q. If an opponent’s attack damages my
benched Pidgeotto, can Pidgeotto then do “Mirror Move” during my next turn
and attack for the amount of damage it received while on the bench?
A. Yes. (May 23, 2002 WotC Chat, Q273)
Q. Can Spearow’s Mirror Move poison the opponent if (let’s say) the final result
of the last attack was 30 damage and poison?
A. Yup! It would do 30 damage and Poison. (May 4, 2000 WotC Chat, Q28)
Q. Just to make sure I understand correctly: Say Misdreavus successfully uses Perish
Song against a Spearow with Focus Band. If Spearow survives the Focus Band flip and
wakes up, it can do Mirror Move to K.O. Misdreavus. Is this correct?
A. Yes that is correct. (Feb 28, 2002 WotC Chat, Q495)
Q. If your Pokémon gets heads on Focus Band, how would you calculate Damage
done by a subsequent Mirror Move Attack? Total Damage by Opponent’s Attack or amount
of Damage counters placed?
A. When using Mirror Move the “Final Result of an attack” is what is done
to a Pokemon BEFORE it is Knocked Out. If the Defending Pokemon has a Weakness or
Resistance this is calculated BEFORE naming the final result of the attack. Focus
Band takes place OUTSIDE of the normal timing sequence of attack resolution and has
no effect on this definition of the Final result. It is a replacement effect that
takes place before a Pokemon is Knocked out. If Pidgeotto has a Focus Band attached
to it, the Final Result of an attack against it does NOT count anything that Focus
Band may or may not do. Meaning if an attack against Pidgeotto does 100 damage and
a Focus Band triggers successfully reducing Pidgeotto’s remaining HP to 10, the Final
result of the attack against this Pokemon is 100 damage, NOT reducing the Defending
Pokemon to 10 hp. So if Pidgeotto take 50 damage from a Lightning Pokemon, this is
doubled due to its Weakness and the Final Result is 100 damage, regardless of whether
Focus Band saves Pidgeotto from being Knocked out or not. The Focus Band alters the
final outcome of what happens to Pidgeotto it does NOT alter the Final result of
the attack. If the attack also has a special condition, you would do that back as
well (like poison). (Feb 7, 2002 WotC Chat, Q300 & Q302; Feb 14, 2002 WotC Chat,
Q12 & Q18 & Q39)
Ambassador
The original text of Mirror Move is [Text V1]. According to ポケモンWiki, it got errata’d around the time the JP Fossil set was released (1997) to the updated language of [Text V2], but this change to the attack text isn’t captured in the Pokémon Card Official Book 2000, so it’s tricky to verify that statement. It is interesting to observe that the text of [Text V2] seems closer to the EN text of the card than [Text V1] is, which aligns with some similar observations I’ve made on other cards in the past, that a lot of Base-Fossil cards actually aren’t direct translations, but seem to be translations that are a mix of the original, 1998-on text, and any erratas the JP game had quietly(?) issued.
I think the attack is pretty straight-forward, even if the text gives off a misleading impression – it’s essentially a conditional version of Metronome, if you like, wherein you’re (1) limited to Metronoming the attack your opponent just used, and (2) only if Pidgeotto was the target of the attack. There are certain interesting interactions like “what happens with Focus Bands” and whatnot that are understandably confusing (for my money that WOTC Q&A above sounds fine), but there’s no need to get entirely flustered by the ambiguity of the attack text.
[V1] 前の相手の番に、 このカードがワザによって受けたダメージ と 効 果 を 、 相 手 に 与 え る 。
[V2] 前の相手の番に、このカードが受けたダメージと効果を相手に与える。
AlcreMina
“Rating: 2
A Mirror Move with Pidgeotto? Cool. How about resistance to Earth Pokemon? swell. And everything else? Weak.” – Pojo’s Unofficial Big Book of Pokemon, ~2000
Pidgeotto the master one
Pidgeotto is one the most common evolutions in the game, why it was a rare when it debuted at the TCG, why?? I wanted this card as a kid but never got it :( also Koga’s Pidgeotto I a rare too (but this one I got haha)
Charmaster
Well, I guess Japan wanted to pad out Base Set with non-holo rares so you’d have to open more packs to find shiny cardboard. Then they changed their minds and decided on no non-holo rares for Jungle onward, but Wizards liked the idea so much that they added non-holo rare variants of the rare holos to the sets. Then they started making random cards rare non-holo from Gym Heroes onwards, while Japan continued to have only rare holos until their new card back reboot, Base Expansion Pack (Our Expedition) when they reintroduced rare non-holos. During the Black and White era, Japan switched to rares all being holo, but only appearing in half of all packs (Except in High Class sets like Shiny Star V), while we have always had guaranteed rares but had non-holo rares all the way up until Scarlet and Violet (Japan’s packs have been half the size of ours since the Black and White era, so them getting a holo every two packs is about equivalent to us getting a guaranteed holo, if not cheaper, due to how Japanese boxes tend to feature about as many hits as English boxes for under half the prices and under a third of the MSRP).
Charmaster
Or I guess, to put it more succinctly, both the Japanese developers and the international subcontractor wanted to convince people to open more packs of Base Set by including cards that were less desirable in the rare slot, and as a Pokémon that wasn’t super popular or even fully evolved, Pidgeotto was a good candidate.
(And yes, I had to look up half the stuff in the previous comment.)
anon-san
Bulk rares like this is a concept magic took to 11 after mirage was released in 1996 and it’s for exactly what you think it is. Filler rares take up a slot, which may or may not be desirable, but cause the player/collector to want to open another pack to push their luck.
Pidgeotto the master one
When I played Magic I almost always got these ones inside boosters… 6-mana bizarre sorceries our enchantments, valuing cents…
Pidgeotto the master one
I bought a few packs of a recent expansion (Scarlet and Violet) and in 3 packs of 6 cards I got only one rare :/ at least the WoTC decision of non Holo variants make retro formats more affordable nowadays. It is still strange this one is a rare while more powerful and in-game hard to find creatures as Arcanine or Dewgong were uncommon (maybe in the first expansion they thought Mirror Move was “powerful” and so rare? But in jungle we got a common Spearow with it..)
Pidgeotto the master one
This may be one of the early cases where evolved pokemon received more for the same energy price: he has the same attack or base set Pidgey, but it does 2 instead of 10 damage (for the same energy cost and effect). Another early instance may be Jungle’s Clefable – a metronome for one instead of Cleafairy’s 3 energies