Pokémon Tower · Wizards Black Star Promos #42

6 comments

1. 

   Jonathan C

   (11 years ago)

   How great would a reprint of this card be to troll Eeltrik users?

   Reply
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     Adam Capriola Jonathan C

     (11 years ago)

     It wouldn’t do anything to stop Eelektrik. It would stop Junk Arm though.

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     coolestman22Jonathan C

     (11 years ago)

     Not at all. First off, the energy goes straight from the Discard to the Pokemon, so the Stadium wouldn’t work. Second of all, it probably wouldn’t work on Abilities.

     Reply
2. 

   Mantidactyle

   (11 years ago)

   Stopping Junk Arm would still be good I guess :P

   Reply
3. 

   Ambassador

   (1 month ago)

   I have a question here – how was this card *actually* meant to interact with Recycle Energy?

   A few cards of interest and their respective release dates;

   Japanese release dates;
   Item Finder – First Expansion Pack – October 20 1996
   Pokémon Tower – Expansion Sheet 3 – November 24 1998
   Recycle Energy – Neo 1 – February 4 2000
   Ecologym – Neo 1 – February 4 2000

   English release dates;
   Item Finder – Base Set – January 9 1999
   Recycle Energy – Neo Genesis – December 16 2000
   Ecologym – Neo Genesis – December 16 2000
   Pokémon Tower – WBSP Promo #43 – January 1 2002

   Item Finder is just one example of a number of cards that existed prior to this card coming out (Energy Retrieval, Pokémon Flute, Revive, Recycle, Dark Slowbro, Nightly Garbage Run) that would’ve been countered by it, but the language of the card is interesting because the prohibition of “the effect of an Energy card” wouldn’t become relevant until the existence of Recycle Energy. I find it strange that a card like this would equal opportunity target Recycle Energy when it (alongside Ecologym) were almost certainly designed to overcorrect for Energy Removal and Super Energy Removal’s domination of the early formats, so why not carve out a little niche here where Recycle Energy can circumvent it? Since this card came out *before* the existence of Recycle Energy, you could’ve plausibly omitted it from the language of the card.

   Well, they might’ve done. Here is the original text of the card;

   お互いのポケモンやプレイヤーの使う「ワザ・特殊能力・トレーナーカード」の効果のうち、「トラッシュからカードを取り出して手札に加える」効果は、すべて消える。(それ以外の効果は、そのまま)

   Loosely translated; “If the effect of an attack, Pokémon Power, or Trainer card would put a card in a discard pile into its owner’s hand, ignore that part of its effect. (Other effects remain unchanged.)”

   That is, there is no mention of Energy Cards in the original card, and the fact that the English print does can be assumed to be a WOTCism that’s at least partly the result of the change in release order – unlike in Japan, the English print of Pokémon Tower came out *after* Recycle Energy came out, so the card’s language was expanded. Maybe not the worst thing, since it fits the theme of the card (“the dead stay dead”), but WOTC’s meddling is never appreciated, least of all by me.

   …is where I’d end the discussion, but I was reading a Japanese blog entry recently that describes an interesting N3 Kingdra + Dark Porygon2 deck¹𝄒², and in explaining why it runs a single copy of Pokémon Tower, says that it’s worthwhile because it can shut down Item Finder *and* Recycle Energy. It’s the latter point that bothers me – I can’t find any mention of a Japanese errata for Pokémon Tower to expand its functionality to target Recycle Energy. So here is my question: why are the Japanese treating this card as if it can shut the card down?

   Much to my chagrin, a possible answer is that the Japanese have come across the English text of this card and seem to think of it as being the “correct” version; https://twitter.com/suica_pokeca/status/792208545492054016 || https://archive.is/wip/AVft5

   Does anyone have any additional insight into this? I can see this going two ways;
   1. Flavor-wise, expanding Tower’s functionality to shut down Recycle Energy makes thematic sense, and it doesn’t seem unreasonable to assume WOTC’s amended text is simply updating the card to fit the Neo format and convention, now that an Energy card exists that reasonably would be expected to fall under Tower’s purview.
   2. That’s all good and fine, but the card simply took advantage of the timing of its release to innocently leave a gap for Recycle Energy to be able to come out later, circumvent its functionality, and this is a case of WOTC meddling where it should not have done.

   I am of the opinion the Japanese need to be told they’ve made a grave mistake – pun intended.

   ¹ https://note.com/sudowoodo_poke/n/nc00355f49c6a n.b. this deck was designed for a “New Hall of Fame format”, emphasis on the “New”, a new format made up by folks still playing older cards in the 2020s. I don’t know too much about it.
   ² Incidentally, N3 Kingdra + Recycle Energy is an interesting combo, offering guaranteed Genetic Memory for the rest of the game, (potentially) jeopardized only by Pokémon Tower.

   Reply
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     AmbassadorAmbassador

     (1 month ago)

     OK, the answer might actually be an Option #3;

     “しかし、ちょっと記述が怪しいなと思って実際にサポートセンターに電話して詳しく効果を聞いてみたところ、「ワザ・特殊能力・トレーナーカード」の効果の他に、「エネルギーカード」の効果も消すことが出来るとの事が判明。
     これらの事は現在のポケモンカードwikiにも書かれていませんが、覚えておいて損はしないと思います。”
     – http://rainbowgym.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-5.html

     Loosely; “When I called the Support Center, [they said Tower does target Recycle Energy]. These things are not written in the current Pokémon wiki, but they are worth remembering.”

     I’d love to know exactly what sort of Support Center is being talked about here, but it looks like this is the backbone of a decision the Japanese have been playing with for at least a decade.

     Reply