Repel – Extradimensional Crisis
Date Reviewed: June 4, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
The third best card of Extradimensional Crisis (A3a) is Repel (A3a 064)! It’s a Trainer-Item that forces your opponent to switch out their Active Basic Pokémon with one from their Bench. Repel is currently only available at the ♦♦ rarity.
While there are no card effects that apply to all Trainer cards, there two that apply to all Item cards. Alolan Raticate (A3 107) has an attack for (D)(D) that does 50 damage and forces the opponent to discard a random Item card from their hand (if one is present). Meanwhile, Vikavolt (A3 065) has an attack that costs (L)(L) and does 70 damage, with an effect that prevents your opponent from playing Item cards from their hands during the next turn.
As it is number three on my list, clearly I think that forcing your opponent to replace their Active Basic with a Pokémon from their Bench is well worth it. If this effect sounds familiar, that’s because Repel is a nerfed Sabrina (A1 225, 272). She’s a Supporter with the exact same effect except it works regardless of the Stage of your opponent’s Active Pokémon. Your mileage may vary, but especially as Evolution-focused decks still have to open with Basics…
…I’d say that Repel fits the Item/Supporter dynamic of the Item being about half as potent/effective as the equivalent Supporter.1 However, Sabrina is still seeing play in competitive decks even now. Plus, Repel isn’t just competing against Sabrina, but to a Sabrina rival like Cyrus (A2 150, 190). Is it worth running Repel, just because it is an Item? Or should you stick with the likes of Sabrina and/or Cyrus?
Again, Repel wouldn’t be on this list if it wasn’t already seeing some competitive success. If your primary focus is taking out an injured Pokémon, hiding on your opponent’s Bench, stick with Cyrus. If it’s more about getting whatever your opponent currently has Active, out of your face, that’s when you run Repel and/or Sabrina. There will be times your opponent only has one, vulnerable Pokémon on their Bench, then Sabrina (or if the Active’s a Basic, Repel) can force it Active even if it isn’t injured…
…but a lot of this is probably about getting Basic meatshields out of your way. Cards like Druddigon (A1a 056), Oricorio (A3 066, 165), and Snorlax (A2a 063; P-A 049). Repel lets you do all these things without burning your Supporter for the turn. At least, if your opponent’s Active is a Basic. Which is why it’s already showing up in a variety of decks. Not as much as I expected, based on early results, but unless you need it to be a Supporter, or are comboing with Cyrus, Repel should be considered.
Rating: 3.5/5
I worry I may have overrated it, given that I saw it a lot less often in the results over on LimitlessTCG. Then again, we’re also riding a high of Stage 2 decks now that we have Rare Candy (A3 144). Things could flip back to a near Basic-only metagame. Or we could get more anti-Supporter effects, worthwhile Supporters to use, etc. Definitely remember Repel when building your deck.
1This relationship is best demonstrated by X Speed (P-A 002) and Leaf (A1a 068, 082).
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