While Base-Fossil has been quite fun to play, I'm interested in expanding the range of formats for my play group to include cards from later sets. Cards like Dark Kadabra promise extra draw capability, Dark Golbat acts as a sneaky HP-finisher, and Nightly Garbage Run would make Pokémon recovery, especially evolution cards, actually feasible.
That said, I've read about the dangers of Base-Rocket. Two cards in particular are dangerous: Rocket's Sneak Attack, for its ability to strip a hand of all useful trainers, and Dark Vileplume ("DV"), for its ability to completely lock one player out of the game. I would rather avoid having a toxic gameplay environment or "play Muk or lose" as a rule in my home game.
Which is more toxic: the two cards on the left, or the guy whose power is literally "toxic gas?" The answer may surprise you.
One line of thinking suggests these two cards should just be banned entirely and the rest of the format enjoyed on its own. Another could be to use a hall of fame points system, which means you would be restricted in the number of these cards you could play, perhaps trading in your energy removals for the privilege. Both of these would have the de facto effect of severely reducing how often these cards are seen in play, leaving their unique elements absent from the format. But let's just consider DV for a moment. Could there be a way to "errata" this card into functionality?
I decided to look at all cards, ever, that blanket restrict trainers to see if there was a suitable template for how trainer lock can be fairly implemented. Here’s what I found.
- One-sided trainer lock initiated by attack
- First appeared on Fossil Psyduck, last appeared on Cosmic Eclipse Walrein.
- Usually deals minimal damage, and besides Fossil Psyduck & Vending Gastly, this effect is always locked behind a coin flip or non-consecutive use rule.
- Extreme example is Gengar & Mimikyu-GX, which once per game can initiate hand lock!!
- Most of the time trainers simply cannot be played, but Phantom Forces Venomoth discards trainers on failed opponent coin flip for each trainer (brutal!).
- One-sided trainer lock initiated by power
- Neo Genesis Slowking must be active (the English text is a mistranslation) and forces a coin flip from opponent, returning trainers to the topdeck on a failure (double brutal!!). Note that the mistranslated version earned Slowking a ban in Rocket-On.
- Power Keepers Walrein-ex initiates trainer lock only on the turn it evolves.
- One-sided "item" lock initiated by attack (Supporters may be played, possibly Stadiums/Tools depending on the era)
- First appeared on Deoxys Manectric-ex, last appeared on Prismatic Evolutions Budew.
- Often a guaranteed effect with significant associated damage.
- Paradox Rift Crobat can lock items or supporters, but not both, for a fun twist.
- Furious Fists Seismitoad-EX had this effect and was very strong in its format, especially coupled with strong draw cards and damage-dealing trainers.
- Budew is currently considered a format warping card in 2025 standard.
- One-sided "item" lock initated by power
- First appeared on Hidden Legends Vileplume-ex, last appeared on Journey Together Tyranitar.
- Requires either Power user to be in the active position or for the Power user's side to have fewer Pokémon in play than the opponent.
- XY Trevenant had this power and was very powerful, especially since strong draw could yield a great setup supporters could be used to establish a turn 1 lock.
- Two-sided trainer or "item" lock initiated by attack
- No examples yet exist in the TCG. Good opportunity?
- Two-sided trainer lock initiated by stadium
- Chaos Gym. Let the name send a chill down your spine! Non-stadium trainers have a coin flip chance of going to your opponent. Inexplicably, they never explored this idea again.
- Two-sided trainer lock initiated by power
- Just DV, baby!!
- Two-sided "item" lock initiated by power
- Arceus Spiritomb must be active for the effect to work.
- Undaunted Vileplume and Ancient Origins Vileplume produce unconditional power.
- Ancient Origins Vileplume was considered quite toxic as it was able to use strong draw cards and an evolution-acceleration stadium for a turn 1 lock. Undaunted Vileplume did not receive the same notoriety.
What makes these other effects less toxic than DV?
- Has to use an attack - trades opportunity cost of damage for setup and leaves locker vulnerable.
- Coin flip - Inconsistent lock allows some setup.
- Must be active - Locker is vulnerable, only specific attacks are now usable, switching restricted.
- Imperfect lock - Some utility cards, usually 1 supporter/turn, can be played.
So, if we look to errata DV, we should mix in one of these effects, considering Base-Rocket specifically. In later formats, cards like Brock's Mankey, Cleffa and Igglybuff seriously reduce the pain from DV by providing more ways to end or work around the lock. In Japanese Base-Rocket, DV may be made less oppressive by the use of Vending Clefairy, but I'll stick to the Western card pool for the moment.
- Lock by attack is already the domain of Fossil Psyduck, so its uniqueness should not be disturbed.
- I actually like Chaos Gym quite a bit, but the game doesn't need a second one. Coin flips also raise the question of what happens on a failed flip; discarding or clogging up the topdeck is arguably more toxic than just limiting play!
- DV's effect should probably be 2-sided to maintain its niche vs. Slowking. That also suggests it should be more restrictive.
- If DV has to be active, the use of Dodrio and other switching cards makes it a little too easy to make the lock one-sided, even if it is more vulnerable.
- By elimination, it seems like allowing supporter cards might be the best choice. But what are supporter cards in Base-Rocket?
What do supporter cards do? Well, looking at the first batch of e-Series supporters, we have...
- Draw power
- Deck refill
- Healing
- Pokémon search
- Energy search
- Trainer search
- Energy recovery
- Pokémon recovery
- Hand disruption
And from later batches of supporters, other functionalities like accelerating evolution, revealing prizes, scooping Pokémon, dealing extra damage, moving energy, attaching energy, discarding energy, switching, and even gusting. In short, in later eras of the game, players could still access almost all the functionality of Base-Rocket trainers -- but only one per turn. So what if DV's power allowed each player just 1 trainer per turn?
We tried it out in a few test matches of Dark Vileplume (decklist) vs RSA Wigglytuff (decklist). Without our extra rule, Wigglytuff needed to win the coin flip to have even odds (in our admittedly small sample size). DV could often set up a Psyduck turn 1 and DV turn 2, then win with Snorlax under covering fire from Dark Gloom. Worse was the feeling of inevitabiility -- getting hit with RSA means you may redraw that trainer, but DV hitting the bench feels like the end of the match.
With the extra rule, the matches felt more even, or at least more interactive. The Wigglytuff player used their trainer to try and drag out DV whenever possible or Removal DCE of off Snorlax. The DV player leaned on trainers for switching and finding fresh energy. Item Finder adds great dramatic tension, because with DV in play, there's a whole turn to respond. This rule also adds a very fresh, fair functionality to Goop Gas Attack - one turn of trainers for the lock-breaker, followed by one turn for the DV player (unless the DV player really wants to get crafty and tech it into their own list!). I think the impact of this change would long term cause DV decks to include a few more trainers and consider interactivity more. More tests need to be done, but for the moment I'm pretty happy with this house rule.
For the future, I'd like to think about a possible errata for Sneak Attack. The big complaint is not the had disruption itself, but rather that it shrinks hand sizes to unplayable levels. My immediate thought is to set up testing with the Neo card Team Rocket's Evil Deeds as a 1:1 replacement, but that's a story for another post. Happy shuffling!
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