Our staples lists are always getting modified as new cards come out, and as we realize that some older cards are better than we initially thought.
Here’s a collection of Trainer Cards we should have included in the previous blog posts, but for one reason or another, we missed.
Also, welcome Jose, who was not available for the previous articles, but will be joining us for the rest of the series. He may even go back to add his thoughts to the first 3 articles.
Anyway, here’s the list:
Cape of Toughness
Blaine5/10
I added this to my staples list, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually kept it in a deck after the initial trimming. Fighting Fury Belt is pretty much always better.
Jose5/10
I wouldn’t pick this over Fighting Fury Belt, I think giving up the +10 damage for +10 HP isn’t worth it. If I needed a 3rd stat-boosting Tool (the first being Muscle Band) I might consider this but it’s never made it on one of my lists.
Tony6/10
I’m not convinced on this one. I’d rather run fighting fury belt for 10 less HP buff, but +10 damage. That being said, this is a decent alternate for FFB. Especially useful if your Partner is a non-GX basic.
Escape Rope
Blaine8/10
Escape Rope goes in most of my decks and is only cut if I’m building around free retreat Pokémon (such as babies). Probably the best switch card in the game, but Warp Point might be a little better since it is not an Item.
Jose6/10
Not a good “gust”-er, and it might be because of the decks I play usually giving me other means of free retreat that I never need “switch” cards either. Useful if you don’t have free-retreat effects I guess.
Tony7/10
A solid switch card, with very little downside. Sometimes it disrupts your opponent’s plans, sometimes it disrupts your own plans.
I love Escape Rope, and so I love Warp Point. It’s not an Item so it can’t be locked out by a bunch of effects. If you don’t have extra Warp Point lying around and you only need one of Escape Rope or Warp Point, you can just use an Escape Rope, but I try to have one of each in most decks.
Jose5/10
Mostly the same as Escape Rope. The fact that it’s not an Item means it can be searched by less cards, and item-lock isn’t common in this format so it’s more of a minus than a plus.
Tony7/10
A solid switch card, with very little downside. Sometimes it disrupts your opponent’s plans, sometimes it disrupts your own plans.
Must have in every deck—at least one of Field Blower or Windstorm. Usually I run both!
Jose9/10
Getting rid of annoying stadiums or a Fighting Fury Belt or Focus Band is always great. I never run more than 1 tool scrapper but I think every deck should have at least 1.
Tony9/10
With cards like Focus Band in the format, tool removal is pretty essential.
Must have in every deck—at least one of Field Blower or Windstorm. Usually I run both! I’d probably prefer Windstorm, since it is not an item, but it is a more expensive card so you might not have many available.
Jose8/10
See Field Blower as well as Warp Point for why the score is lower than Field Blower. Note that I wouldn’t play both this and Field Blower since I don’t feel I need both.
Tony9/10
With cards like Focus Band in the format, tool removal is pretty essential.
Doesn’t fit in every deck, so definitely not a staple. If it fits your deck, it’s probably a 9 or 10.
Jose9/10
One of the top 2 stat boosting tools in the format I believe. The only reason I wouldn’t play this is if my deck heavily focused on evolutions.
Tony7/10
4/5ths of a Cape of Toughness + 1/2 of a Muscle Band.
Float Stone
Blaine9/10
Before Arven, I would probably rate this card a 7, but now that Arven gets an Item and a Tool, you should have a free retreat tool in every deck that plays it (which is almost every deck). I might start replacing an Escape Rope with Float Stone if I can’t fit everything.
Jose8/10
Best free retreat tool in the game. I always include this, even over switch cards since this can potentially be reused, or “stored” in the cases where you want to discard your hand.
Tony6/10
Having a free retreat Pokémon on the bench who can pivot after your active is KO’d is a really good idea. This lets any Pokémon become that pivot.
Before Arven, I would probably rate this card a 7, but now that Arven gets an Item and a Tool, you should have a free retreat tool in every deck that plays it (which is almost every deck). I might start replacing an Escape Rope with Float Stone if I can’t fit everything. Usually I say that non-Item are better than Item cards, but I’d probably choose Float Stone over Fluffy Berry since it fulfills Item or Tool on Arven.
Jose7/10
See Float Stone and Warp Point.
Tony6/10
Having a free retreat Pokémon on the bench who can pivot after your active is KO’d is a really good idea. This lets any Pokémon become that pivot.
This card should be in every deck, but it costs a lot so you might not have one.
Jose9/10
A bit hard to give an accurate score since it’s a coin flip effect, but the effect is so good I think it’s worth going in most lists. Denying prizes and getting to re-use an attacker you’ve invested Energy into is amazing, when it works.
Tony10/10
Coin flip cards are usually not very good, but the up side of this card’s effect is almost always worth the only downside of not being able to attach a different tool.
Level Ball
Blaine7/10
Amazing search effect if your Pokémon fit the condition, but a lot of decks can’t get many Pokémon with it.
Jose8/10
A must if you have a lot of Pokemon that evolve. If you’re playing mostly big 2-prizers, you likely still play SOME low-HP support Pokemon, so it still usually always ends up in my lists.
Tony7/10
Not for every deck, but most decks will have a use for this.
Professor’s Letter
Blaine9/10
This is a “draw 2” card like Bill, without the randomness. No randomness means you can’t draw to outs, but it still gives you 2 cards to discard to one of many cards in every deck. It’ll also get you that clutch energy you need so you are playing an energy every turn.
Jose6/10
Heavily deck-dependent. Really good if you have “attach as many energy” effects or if you run low energy counts, probably not worth it outside of that.
Tony6/10
I don’t typically value basic energy search very high for most decks, but if you’re playing multiple energy types or energy acceleration, this is a must.
Puzzle of Time
Blaine10/10
This card is stupid broken and I wish you couldn’t run 2 in the format. Recurring any 2 cards you’ve already played, or needed to discard, is too powerful in format. There are also too many ways to search out the other half from your deck.
Jose9/10
The only reason I’m not giving this a 10 is since most games you’ll end up using the “reorder top 3 effect”, but pulling off a “get any 2 cards back” is potentially game-winning.
Tony10/10
An absolute must. Recursion is good. Notably, one of the few cards that can be played in a quantity greater than 1.
So that’s it for Trainer cards for now. What do you think? Is there something we missed? Comment below or reach out on any of our social media accounts.
We’ll be starting our reviews of Supporter cards in the next article, but I’m sure we’ll have to come back to cover more Trainer cards once we’ve had a chance to really dig into the new cards coming in the Scarlet & Violet block.
Format Staples - Part 5: Supporter Cards - DP & HGSS eras 
Format Staples - Part 3: Trainer Cards - Ruby & Sapphire through Call of Legends