“Hey! Learn our syntax here.”
- zoom
- jpg (104 KB)
- cred: P.P.
549
- ↓ 23.40
- ꩜ 23.33
- ↑ 24.99
Poké-POWER ⇢ Shuffle
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may search your deck for another Unown and switch it with Unown. (Any cards attached to Unown, damage counters, Special Conditions, and effects on it are now on the new Pokémon.) If you do, put Unown on top of your deck. Shuffle your deck afterward. You can’t use more than 1 Shuffle Poké-Power each turn.
{C} → Hidden Power
Choose a card from your hand and put it face down. Your opponent guesses if the card is a Pokémon, Trainer, or Energy card. Reveal the card. If your opponent guessed wrong, draw 2 cards. Put the card back into your hand.
illus. Kyoko Koizumi
External: Pokemon.com ↗, Bulba ↗ · Shop: TCGplayer ↗, cardmarket ↗, eBay ↗
Ambassador ?
The effect of Unown ?’s Hidden Power is similar to the effect of Blaine’s Quiz #2. There is a difference, in that Blaine’s Quiz #2 allowed your opponent to draw 2 cards if they got the answer right, but otherwise this appears deliberate. It seems like PCL actually did! check the names of various attacks of the English edition of the game when they were designing these Unown, and when they got to Unown ?, there weren’t any attacks with ? at the start.
It feels strange to suggest Gym era cards being used as inspiration here – because that’s so long ago! – but it fits the bill because the effect is so similar. They probably went with it because of the obvious similarity, and, if nothing else, because at least there were question mark symbols in the artwork*.
* This logic would’ve opened up at least a few other options for them, such as Psyduck (WBSP#20), but would’ve been hard to notice.