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Let us try to break up some of the monotony of reviewing
Pokémon after Pokémon (an expected dilemma since it is
the Pokémon Trading Card Game) and check out a Trainer:
Hand Scope (XY: Phantom Forces 96/119). Hand
Scope is specifically an Item with a very simple but
potentially strategic effect; your opponent reveals
their hand to you. It is a one time viewing (as opposed
to having to play that way for a set period of time) and
a decent pun (there are indeed viewing instruments
called “hand scopes”) but is it a good play?
At the moment, the answer is easily “no”. Even the
simple aspect of gathering information about your
opponent’s hand suffers because this is the
Pokémon TCG: hands are much more dynamic than in some
other games. Not only will your hand size go up and
down, the entire contents can be shuffled away and
replaced. As such the information you gain may be quite
fleeting. There is also the frequent threat of Item
lock as Seismitoad-EX fits in more than few decks
even when it isn’t the main focus. All Items are of
course affected by the threat of being blocked; this
common threat just means that Items that aren’t as easy
to use or potent suffer more because they had less going
for them in the first place.
So why look at this card at all? Besides simply wanting
something more interesting to review than say “filler”
Evolving Pokémon, this effect isn’t entirely without
merit, even with how the Pokémon TCG is typically
played. Even with all that is going against it, knowing
what your opponent has in hand can help you predict and
even manipulate their future plays. It can let you know
if using N is a wise choice; maybe they have an
awesome hand you need to sabotage or an awful hand you
should let them keep, even if your own isn’t the
greatest. If you’ve got N plus an alternate
Supporter option to play, especially if the alternate
has its own downside, this becomes even more relevant.
At the risk of sounding like I’m ignoring that this is
“Pokémon”, I’ve seen enough cards from other that would
combo with (or would be at least partially countered) by
Hand Scope.
I do not have any good examples for the Pokémon TCG, but
I can give you an idea by looking at a few real cards. Rocket’s
Sneak Attack (Gym Heroes 16/82, 72/82) is
quite old but was quite potent back in its day and if
nothing at all about it changed I suspect it would be
heavily played as a staple today, with great weeping and
gnashing of teeth by those on the receiving end. Its
effect forces the opponent to reveal his or her hand,
after which you to shuffle away the Trainer card of your
choice from said hand. Though its name and art suggest
otherwise, this is an Item card: the Item/Supporter
concept didn’t exist at the time and it simply a
“normal” Trainer card back then and all such cards are
now treated as Items. Delphox-EX isn’t something
I am inclined to run competitively, but being able to
use an Item to know ahead of time what kind of damage
you’re looking at is handy. So from cards like these,
we can extrapolate what would be useful… and its
relevant to the discussion because honestly, it isn’t
that fanciful. How about a Supporter that allowed you
to name a card and if it is in your opponent’s hand, all
copies of it there plus in the opponent’s deck end up
discarded (plus you get to see the opponent’s hand and
deck for verification)? An Ability on a Psychic-Type
Pokémon that allowed you to name a card in your
opponent’s hand and if it is there, your opponent shows
you there hand and then shuffles said card back into his
or her deck?
Ratings
Standard:
1.85/5 - A low score but also a generic one; there are
much better cards would actually be worse additions to
your deck. In a format where hands are more stable,
even without hypothetical combo cards it might prove
useful just to know what your opponent has and thus is
likely to do.
Expanded:
1.8/5 - There are more “generic use” Items here to
compete with, plus the few “kind of” combos like with
Delphox-EX are also further diluted.
Limited:
5/5 - Here your opponent’s hand is stable and you
are unlikely to have as many cards vying for space in
your deck. As such, you really should be running it and
while it might not “feel” like a card worth a five out
of five a lot of the time, but here it can do its job
well even lacking “killer combos”.
Summary:
Handscope has a simple effect but not one that is
easy to leverage for advantage. There are a few cards,
even one or two widely played cards, where knowing what
is in your opponent’s hand before you decide to play
them would be a serious advantage, but as you still
can’t do much about the situation besides “play the
card” or “don’t play the card” you had intended, it
becomes a combo without a significant return. Enjoy it
in Limited and don’t forget about it for Standard or
Expanded because it does have some potential.
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