Can I play a Pokémon from my hand to active?

From your starting hand, you'll put a basic Pokemon into your active Pokemon spot and up to five onto your bench. Note, all of these Pokemon are placed face down. If you don't have any basic Pokemon in your starting hand, shuffle your hand back into your deck and draw a new starting hand.

Can you retreat a Pokémon with energy from your hand?

When you switch your Active Pokémon with one of your Benched Pokémon. To retreat, you must discard Energy from the retreating Pokémon equal to the Retreat Cost of the Pokémon. This cost appears in the lower right-hand corner of the card. You can only retreat once per turn.

Can my benched Pokémon use their ability?

You can use Abilities from both your Active and Benched Pokémon.

What happens if I have no benched Pokémon?

Pokemon on the bench are optional. If the opponents active Pokemon is knocked out, and they have no pokemon on the bench to replace it, the attacking player wins. Pyroar has an ability, Intimidating Mane, which reads "Prevent all damage done to this Pokémon by attacks from your opponent's Basic Pokémon."

Can you evolve a Pokémon you just put on your bench?

You cannot evolve a Pokémon if its card was just added to the bench, and you can only evolve once per turn. Additionally, you cannot evolve on your first turn.

How to play Pokemon TCG

Is there a hand limit in Pokémon?

There is no hand limit.

What is the Mulligan rule in Pokémon?

The current mulligan rule works like this: If a player has no Basic Pokémon in their opening hand, they reveal their hand to their opponent, shuffle it back into their deck, and draw a new hand (and repeat this process until they do draw a Basic Pokémon).

Can you damage benched Pokémon?

If an attack explicitly states that benched Pokémon take damage, then yes. When this occurs though, keep in mind that you do not apply weakness or resistance to benched Pokémon.

What is the max benched Pokémon?

Each player can have 8 Pokémon on his or her Bench. (When this card leaves play, each player discards Benched Pokémon until he or she has 5 Pokémon on the Bench.

What is the rarest Pokémon card?

The Blastoise Commissioned Presentation Galaxy Star Hologram card is the rarest Pokémon card in existence. Only two of these cards were ever made, created by Wizards of the Coast in order to obtain the contract to produce Pokémon cards for The Pokémon Company.

Can you move energy from bench Pokémon?

Energy Switch offers a quick and simple way to move energy from one Pokémon to another. This can mean powering-up a Pokémon's attacks more quickly or even taking advantage of benched-based energy acceleration, like Metal Saucer, with more ease.

What is a Pokémon retreat cost?

A retreat cost (Japanese: にげる retreat) is the number of Energy attached to a Pokémon that must be discarded in order to retreat to the Bench and bring up a Pokémon from the Bench. Retreat costs printed on a card range from 0 energy (often called a "free retreat") all the way up to 5 energy.

How do you prevent damage to benched Pokémon?

Big Parasol is a tool card that, when attached to your Active Pokémon, shields your Benched Pokémon from the effects of your opponent's Pokémon's attacks. This means that damage counter spread effects, like that of Dragapult VMAX's Max Phantom attack, can be protected against using Big Parasol.

Do you get a prize card for killing a benched Pokémon?

It doesn't matter who Knocked Out the Pokemon or how it was done -- if a Pokemon is Knocked Out, the opposing player always gets a prize card.

Are benched Pokémon defending Pokémon?

DEFENDING POKÉMON: The Pokémon that receives an attack. So now, the "Defending Pokémon" is any Pokémon hit by an attack (including Pokemon on the Bench).

What is the 4 card rule in Pokémon?

The Rule of Four. With just two exceptions in the Standard Format, you can only have up to four copies of a card with the same name in your deck. This means that a deck can only contain up to four copies of a card called “Bruno”, a Supporter card, and up to four copies of “Switch”, an Item card.

How many Pokémon are you allowed?

Before you begin, it's important to note that each deck must contain exactly 60 cards—with at least one Basic Pokémon—and cannot contain more than four copies of any card (except basic Energy).

How many Pokémon should I carry?

A party or team (Japanese: 手持ちポケモン Pokémon on hand) is a group of up to six Pokémon that a Trainer carries with them. After this team of six is filled, newly-acquired Pokémon are sent to a PC or equivalent to be stored.

Why can't you carry more than 6 Pokémon?

Thus, the Pokemon League officially decided that each trainer could only bring into battle a party of 6 Pokemon, as it makes the party “well-balanced” for both the trainer and Pokemon.

Are old Pokémon cards still playable?

However, players with old, powerful Pokémon TCG cards should not fret, as Unlimited Format and casual play allow their use. Unlimited Format is usually found outside Championship matches and is often reserved for special occasions (like promotional or charity events).

Can I knock my own Pokémon out of a Gym?

Gyms have been a staple feature of the Niantic mobile title since its release in 2016, whether that's going to them for a Raid, to spin a PokeStop, or battle rival teams. The feature has always had one flaw, though – you can't take a Pokemon out of a Gym once you've placed it until it's knocked out by another player.

Can you evolve a Pokémon without leveling it up?

Starting in Generation VIII, if a Rare Candy is used on a level 100 Pokémon that evolves by leveling up and currently meets its evolution requirements, it will evolve (without gaining a level).

Can you evolve an active Pokémon?

This can be your active Pokémon or a Pokémon on your bench. Evolve a Pokémon by playing a Stage 1 or Stage 2 evolution on top of a basic or Stage 1 Pokémon, respectively. A Pokémon can't evolve the same turn it's played, and can only evolve once per turn. (Unless an item card like Rare Candy specifies otherwise.)