Limits - What You Can and Can’t Put into Your Deck

Before we begin looking at what you can—and what you should—put into your deck, it’s important to understand what can’t be put into a deck.

In the Pokémon Trading Card Game, a deck is made up of exactly sixty cards, including at least one Basic Pokémon. These sixty cards have to include all Pokémon, all Trainer cards, and all Energies you need to execute your strategy. In the Pokémon Trading Card Game, there are no side boards or side decks—every card in your strategy counts toward the sixty cards in your deck, so you’ll need to pick your sixty cards wisely.

In addition to a deck needing to be exactly sixty cards and contain at least one Basic Pokémon, there are a few other rules about the cards in your deck.

The Rule of Four

With just three 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 “Judge”, a Supporter card, and up to four copies of “Switch”, an Item card. This is why a set of four of the same card is commonly referred to as a Playset of that card—it’s the maximum number of copies of that card that can be included in a deck.

The Rule of Four also applies to cards featuring Pokémon, though the rules about a Pokémon’s name are a little bit more complicated. The excerpt about Pokémon names below comes from the Official Pokémon Rulebook.

This rule means that a deck can have four copies of Zacian, four copies of Zacian V, and four copies of Zacian V-UNION in the same deck! That’s twelve different cards with Zacian in the name!

First Exception to the Rule of Four - Basic Energy

In the Standard Format, the first exception to the “Rule of Four” is Basic Energy.

Basic Energy cards are cards that have “Energy” printed on the top-left part of the card, but have no text explaining any additional effect like a Special Energy Card would provide. Unlike Basic Energy Cards, Special Energy cards are limited by the Rule of Four.

A deck can include up to fifty-nine of any Basic Energy card (provided the sixtieth card in the deck is a Basic Pokémon). In the Standard Format, there are eight Basic Energy cards:

A Note on Basic Fairy Energy

Although Fairy Energy is also a Basic Energy card, Fairy Energy is not legal in the Standard format.

Second Exception to the Rule of Four - Radiant Pokémon

Whereas you can have up to 59 copies of any basic Energy in your deck, Radiant Pokémon are a bit more restrictive. Not only can you have just a single copy of your Radiant Pokémon, you can only include one Radiant Pokémon of any kind. This means that if you include Radiant Greninja ASR 46, you can’t also include Radiant Gardevoir LOR 69 in your deck.

Third Exception to the Rule of Four - ACE SPECs

Like Radiant Pokémon, ACE SPECs are extremely powerful cards that are limited to just a single copy of any one ACE SPEC in your deck. This means that if you include Prime Catcher, you can’t also include Unfair Stamp in your deck.

What’s Not Allowed

Proxies and other Fake Cards

Counterfeit and other fake cards, like Orica or custom-made cards, are not legal for play and should not be included in any deck. If you suspect a card or cards you own may be counterfeit, there are a few resources available to you to make it easier to verify that your card is a counterfeit, including the section on Identifying Fake Pokémon Cards in this deck building guide and the videos below.

Proxies—placeholder printouts of real cards—are not legal for play in any sanctioned tournament. Your local Pokémon League may permit the use of proxies during open play for testing purposes, but in all other instances, proxies should be treated exactly the same as other fake cards.

Altered Cards, Damaged Cards, and World Championship Cards

Cards in Foreign Languages

The languages of cards legal for play in your deck will vary based on where you are playing the Pokémon Trading Card Game. In the United States, for example, only cards printed in English are legal for play at most Premier Events—or tournaments that award Championship Points, including League Challenges, League Cups, and Regional Championships.

For International Championships and for the World Championships, players are permitted to use English cards in addition to cards in any other languages that are legal in their home country. For all other events, players must build their decks to contain only cards legal in the rating zone of the event they are attending.

Below is a pair of tables excerpted from the document Play! Pokémon Tournament Rules Handbook that list which languages are legal in which region—and any additional languages that are legal for play in specific countries.

Every card that is used in your deck must be legal in the format you’re building your deck for. Cards from the sets below are most likely to be legal in the Standard format, though there are a few exceptions in a few of the sets. To ensure you’re using a card that’s legal in the Standard format, look for cards with the “F” regulation mark or later printed on the bottom-left part of the card.

Errata

Sometimes, older cards with the same name as a card printed in a Standard-legal set are issued an errata that changes their official text. Great Ball RG 92 below has a completely different effect printed on the card than Great Ball CRZ 132—the version of Great Ball that is in our Crown Zenith set, which is a current Standard-legal set. However, Great Ball RG 92 has an official errata that changes its text to match that of the Great Ball from Crown Zenith, making the Great Ball from EX FireRed & LeafGreen also legal for play in the Standard format. These changes to card text are expected to be known by all participants in a tournament, so it’s a good idea to brush up on card errata before participating in a large tournament. You can review a list of official errata on Pokemon.com. The Pokémon Company International also puts up a post detailing official rule changes, new card bans, and any new errata on the Thursday before pre-release events begin for a new set.

A Note on Reprints without Errata

Sometimes, a card with the same name as an older card is printed, but the text is different enough that the effect of the card is slightly or completely changed, yet there is no official errata changing the text of the older card. In instances like, these old prints of the card, like Recycle Energy N1 105 below, are not made legal for play again in the Standard format. Sometimes, the differences in wording may be difficult to pick up on as a new player.

With Recycle Energy, the effect has changed because the older version of the card is, at some point, in your discard pile. However, the newer version of the card has wording that prevents it from being put in the discard pile at all. This changes how Recycle Energy interacts with other cards—like Mr. Mime TEU 66 and its ability, Scoop-Up Block. With the older wording, Recycle Energy would return to its player’s hand after the Pokémon it was attached to was knocked out. With the new text, the Recycle Energy gets stuck in the discard pile. (Note that the cards in this example, Recycle Energy and Mr. Mime TEU 66, have both rotated out the Standard format, but their interaction still exists in the Expanded format.)

If you’re unsure about whether a card you’re interested in using from an older set is legal to use, PokéGym has a helpful list that details which cards from previous sets are currently legal to use in the Standard format.

Banned Cards

Recent Releases—When Do New Cards Become Legal?

In the Pokémon Trading Card Game, new sets become legal for tournament play on the second Friday following the set’s release. This is the second Friday after official commercial release, not the second Friday after early preview events, called prereleases, take place. Although brand new cards like these won’t be tournament-legal right away, local Pokémon Leagues often allow the play of cards from these sets immediately after prerelease, especially during open play.

New promo cards, such as those found in special collections, also become legal two weeks after their release. If you aren’t confident about whether or not a promo card in your deck is tournament legal, you can visit the page Pokémon TCG Promo Card Legality Status on Pokémon’s official website to see when new cards become legal and which promo cards are already legal.

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