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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

~R Pac~	Today's card is Switch from Delta Species So, another reprint. Most unlimited players should remember this beauty. Don't want to lose those precious energies and would rather pay a trainer to get an active Poke to the bench - this is your card. Switch is a very basic trainer, yet still very useful. Problem nowadays is that lots of player focus on the hard hitting, low retreat cost Pokes, where this card would be nearly pointless. If your running Scyther or Sneasle or one of the others, just forget this card - its not worth the deck space. But, if you've got a Poke or two with two or more in their retreat cost, you should probably give this card a gander.There are other switch-like trainers that can also be considered like Balloon Berry and they both have pros and cons for use. For Balloon Berry, it takes up a tool spot and stays there until used. However, it can be placed long before it is used which can help against trainer denial decks which are very common. Switch can surprise your opponent and doesn't take up that tool spot. However, against trainer denial decks, its not going to be playable. So, as you can see, the use of one over the other depends on your deck and the decks of others in your environment. I personally like Switch to leave room for Focus Band or Gold Berry. There are also cards like Double Gust which can be used, but not as good as Switch/Balloon Berry in my opinion. Overall, Switch is a very solid card and not too difficult to use. Better in certain decks with higher retreat cost Pokes (Raindance, Slowking, Vile EX) and definitely has a spot in those certain decks. Unlimited Rating 4/5 ~R Pac~ Zennium66@aol.com
ninetales 1234	(If you think this review is too long, just skip straight to the bottom of this review) Switch. I remember this card from back when I started playin’ in 1999. It was really good then. It still is. This card has existed in 4 different Modified formats, and with the Delta Species reprint, it will likely be in the next Modified format too. There’s a good reason for this, I believe. Could you imagine the game without this card? I know I couldn’t. The card is so simple: just one sentence can do so many. -Switch removes all special conditions from your active Pokémon (because benched Pokémon can’t have special conditions). -Switch allows you to return a Pokémon that’s about to get knocked out- to prevent your opponent from drawing a prize. Especially helpful if that Pokémon is Pokémon-EX. -Switch allows you to avoid paying retreat cost. Especially helpful if your opponent likes to annoy you with a Dark Muk. -Contrary to what some people think, using Switch doesn’t count as a retreat, so you still have your retreat for the turn, even after you use switch. I believe that Switch is more powerful than it used to be because of this (since the new rules state you can only retreat once per turn). Also, since it doesn’t count as retreat, switch gets around “no retreat” attack effects, (like Pidgeot [RG]) trainer effects, (like Mirage Stadium) or Poké-powers/bodies (like Octillery [UF]). -You get to let a Pokémon with high HP and high retreat cost (Wailord EX, for example) take a beating as your active for a few turns while you power up a Pokémon on your bench with energy. Right before your Wailord EX is KOed, you send it to the bench (Oh no! You can’t retreat it- you don’t have any energy on it!) with Switch. And then you start kicking some butt with the fully-powered Pokémon that was on your bench. -Being able to change your active Pokémon in order to use attacks, Poké-powers/bodies, or take advantage of resistance is always good. -Other advantages: No supporter rule. No conditional requirements (as long as you have benched Pokémon, you’re OK). No “Excluding Pokémon-EX” clause. This card is not broken, (it has been in every Modified format since Neo-on, after all) but it is very powerful. What kind of deck does it fit into? What kind of deck do you want to build? Switch looks good in almost any deck. But other cards may look good as well (and compete with Switch for deck space). -Lt. Surge: Effectively identical to Switch except you’re switching from your hand. You could just play a basic from your hand and then use Switch. -Salamence EX/Dodrio [JU]: Pokémon Powers that reduce retreat cost. Not bad, especially in Limited, but not good either, IMO. Why play an evolution to use a power that’s not even as powerful as Switch (i.e. sometimes you have to pay retreat cost, and your benching still counts as a retreat)? -Double Full Heal: Removes special conditions, like Switch, but just not as good. I’m not saying it’s not a good card; just saying if you want to get rid of special conditions, there are better ways to do it. -Double Gust: Your opponent gets to choose what you switch with, which may not be good for you. But if all your Pokémon are zero-retreat Pokémon, this card could be better than Switch (You just bring back your original active by retreating). -Warp Point: Your opponent switches their active, then you do the same. It’s like a switch and a half-of-a-Gust of Wind- somewhat. But if your opponent plays zero-retreaters… bad card. This card has been in five Modified formats. It’s really good. -Warp Energy: OK, you attach energy to a Pokémon that won’t be attacking that turn, because it’s going to the bench. Not a bad card; you just have to find the right deck for it. -Mr. Briney’s Compassion/Scoop Up/ Super Scoop Up: Covered those two days ago; good cards that can serve the same purpose as Switch. I would say that in some situations some of these “substitutes” are just as good as Switch if not better; however, Switch is still supreme and will be for a long time. Unlimited: Very helpful card in any format; Just watch out for the various forms of trainer denial. 4.7/5 Modified: Even better here, as benches are more important in this format. Being a non-supporter makes it weak to Houndoom [UF] and Vileplume EX. Here there are a lot of evolved Pokémon with high retreat costs. 4.9/5 Limited: [BS]- Not as good here due to DCE and low retreat cost Pokémon. 3/5 [EX]- Special conditions could be a problem here. Draft this. 4.9/5 [RS]- Lack of free-retreaters here 4.9/5 [RG]- 4.8/5 [DS]- 4.8/5 Questions/comments/corrections? E-mail: ninetales1234@hotmail.com
Kevin89	Switch well, not much to say about this card as it's purpose is obvious. Switch is probably one of the simpliest cards in the game. Unlimited: what can I say? 3/5 Modified: pretty good with the big EX pokemon. 3/5 Limited: I'd rather go with energy cards instead of switch 1.5/5
Tenchi-bmx'n monkey	Switch Here is a blast from the past, the trainer card “Switch”. Now since I am “old school” player this card is right up my alley. This oldie but goodie states “Switch one of your active pokemon with one of your benched pokemon”. Basically this card can help you when you are in pinch and your pokemon is danger of being knocked out you can switch him with a benched pokemon with out paying the retreat cost. This card used to be staple in my deck “back in the day” but with today’s metagame environment with cards having a lower retreat cost, cards with energy recycling poke power’s (DS Salamance for instance), and the need for trainers to help increase your drawing power, Switch just really doesn’t have a place in todays game. For the beginning player, “Switch” is very helpful to them while they are learning the aspects of the game and building their collection of cards on a budget. That is why you can find in almost every pre-constructed theme deck put out in retail stores today. But for the seasoned tourney player it just really doesn’t have its place anymore. For my ratings: Unlimited: 1 Limited: 1 Modified: 1 The card brings back a lot of memories for games of the past but it just isn’t that useful in today’s game. Now I am out of here to get ready for the Lansing, Mi city tournament. Eric-Tenchi The Bmxn Monkey
Otaku	Yet again, another we have another heavily abridged review.  Well not so much, since today’s Card of the Day is Switch.   Switch is a very basic kind of Trainer, and one that has existed since the Base Set.  It lets you send one of your Active Pokémon to the Bench and bring up a new Pokémon to replace it.  Additionally, you shed all conditions that cannot exist upon Benched Pokémon.  That pretty much means any attack effects, including Special Conditions.   Switch is also a very valuable Trainer.  It’s perhaps one of the most over-looked “staples” in the game.   Staple?  Switch?  What do I mean?   First, I don’t think any specific card is an absolute staple.  Second, I actually am speaking more of what Switch does as being a Staple: while you’ll find decks lacking this function, in my experience it’s due to space restrictions, or some other card performing the function.  For example, if the deck has Warp Point or Warp Energy, or perhaps runs several copies of Mr. Briney’s Compassion.  Decks that have a lot of free-retreating Pokémon often risk going without it, especially if they include something to else already to heal Special Conditions.   However, Switch is often nice to have because of its simplicity and versatility.  I find it’s a good “starting point”: use it when you are just beginning your deck, then see what the deck really needs with play testing.  There are some decks though, where it is indeed the best option: those where you do “something” to the opponent’s Defending Pokémon, or otherwise have reason to want to keep their Pokémon Active while sending yours to the bench… and just the bench.  For example, the old Slaking from EX Ruby/Sapphire had a big hitting attack for (CCCC) and a great Poké-Body, but the attack is the only attack, requires the discard of a basic Energy, and also can’t be used the next turn.  So if you have a deck that set up two Slaking and could keep them powered, it was usually better to have a Switch to then bounce between them to keep using the attack.   So to summarize… this is a good, simple card.  You might not even realize how many of your decks use it or its ilk.   Ratings   Unlimited: 3.25/5   Modified: 3.5/5   Limited: 3.5/5