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Partner Battles Rules (Full Rules Text)

You can comment on, and suggest edits to the rules on the Pokémon TCG Partner Battles Rules Google Doc.

Have questions? Get them answered by the Rules Team on the Pokémon TCG Partner Battles Discord.

Version 3.00 (Updated 17 Oct 2022)
  1. Deck Rules
    1. Partner
      1. Players must choose a single Pokémon Card that includes the Pokémon’s Type, HP, Abilities and/or Attacks, Weakness, Resistance, and Retreat cost as the Partner for their deck.
        • Legend cards, Break cards, etc. are not allowed as Partners, but they may be included in your deck.
      2. A Partner is sometimes called a “Commander” for historical reasons.
    2. Type Identity
      1. A card’s Type Identity is established before the game begins, and cannot be changed by game effects.
      2. The Type Identity of a Pokémon Card is that Pokémon’s Type plus the Type of any basic energy symbols in the card’s attack costs.
      3. A non-Pokémon Card (e.g. Trainer Card, Stadium Card, Energy Card, etcetera) has no Type Identity.
        • This applies to all non-Pokémon Cards, even ones that contain an attack cost; The energy cost(s) of any attack(s) they may contain are ignored when determining the card’s Type Identity.
      4. Colorless is not a Type, it is a lack of Type, and is not part of a Pokémon’s Type Identity.
      5. Dragon is not a distinct Type (there is no dragon type basic energy), and is ignored (i.e. – treated as colorless) when determining a Pokémon’s Type Identity.
    3. Deck Construction
      1. Cards in a deck may not have any Types in their Type Identity that are not shared with the deck’s Partner (i.e. – The Type Identity of each card in the deck must be a subset of the Partner’s Type Identity).
        • Colorless Pokémon Cards with only Colorless attack costs, and non-Pokémon Cards have no Type Identity, and as such may be played in any deck.
        • Non-Pokémon Cards may be included in your deck that you may not be able to play. (e.g.- You may include Dive Ball in a deck that has a Partner that does not include Water in its Type Identity, but you would not be able to play the dive ball under normal circumstances because it is known that it will have no effect).
        • You may include Dragon type Pokémon in your deck, even if your Partner is not a Dragon type, as long as all of the basic energy types in the Dragon type Pokémon’s attack costs are included in your Partner’s type identity.
      2. A Partner Battle deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including the Partner (you will have 99 cards in your deck + 1 Partner Pokémon Card).
      3. Each card in the deck must differ from each other card in the deck in at least one of the following: Name, Pokémon Type, HP, Retreat Cost, Weakness, Resistance, Ancient Trait, Ability, Pokémon Power, Poké-Power, Poké-Body, or Attack (where attack cost and base attack damage are considered a part of the attack), with the following exceptions:
        1. You may include any number of basic energy cards with the same name.
        2. You may include cards that have rules text that overrides this restriction or state that you may (or must) play multiple copies at the same time up to the number of cards indicated in the card’s rules text.*see list*
          • i.e. – You may include any number of Arceus LV.X, up to 2 Legend cards with the same name, and/or up to 2 copies of Puzzle of Time.
          • This does not override Type Identity restrictions.
          • Each copy of a card that overrides this restriction must have the text that allows it to override this restriction printed on the card.
      4. You may have any number of Pokémon Cards with the same name in your deck. (This rule overrides the Pokémon TCG rule that states that you may only have 4 cards with the same name in your deck).
  1. Card Rules
    1. Legal Cards
      1. All Pokémon Trading Card Game cards that have been printed as standard-sized cards in English are legal in Partner Battles.
    2. Non-English Cards
      1. If you have a non-English card in your deck, you must have a printed copy of the card’s English version available while playing.
      2. When a non-English card first enters a zone that is viewable by your opponent, you must make a copy of the English card available for your opponent to view for the rest of the game (even if the non-English card goes to a zone that your opponent cannot view).
    3. Card Legality Dates
      1. Cards are legal to play as soon as they are officially made available (including cards made available at official pre-release events prior to the cards’ official release date).
    4. Nonstandard Card Backs
      1. Cards with nonstandard card backs (e.g. – cards from World Championship decks) are allowed as long as card sleeves whose opacity sufficiently obscures the difference between the standard and nonstandard card backs are used.
    5. Banned, Restricted, and Watchlisted Cards List
      1. Banned Cards
        1. Banned cards are not allowed in any part of a Partner Battle deck.
        2. Banned Cards List:
          • No cards are currently banned.
      2. Restricted Cards
        1. Restricted Cards may be used in Partner Battle decks, but certain restrictions are placed on those cards. Each entry in the list will state the restriction(s) placed on that card.
        2. Restricted Cards List:
          • No cards are currently restricted.
      3. Watchlisted Cards
        1. Watchlisted Cards may continue to be used in casual Partner Battles games, but you must inform your opponent of any Watchlisted cards in your deck before setup and if your opponent requests, you must replace any or all of those cards with your choice of basic energy. Watchlisted Cards are not allowed in any part of a Partner Battle deck for tournaments.
        2. Watchlisted Cards List:
  2. Play Rules
    1. Prize Cards
      1. Partner Battles are played for 10 Prizes.
      2. Players are allowed to review their face-down prize cards at any time. If a player chooses to review their face-down prize cards, that player must shuffle all of their face-down prize cards afterward.
    2. Partners and the Partner Zone
      1. The Partner Zone is a distinct game zone created for the Partner Battles format, and is not part of any other defined game zone. (e.g.- it’s not part of your hand or deck.)
      2. A deck’s Partner begins the game in their owner’s Partner Zone.
      3. Once during your turn (except during either player’s first turn), you may put your Partner from the Partner Zone onto your bench.
        1. This action bypasses standard evolution rules.
        2. You cannot play your Partner from the Partner Zone to evolve a Pokémon in play; Your Partner can only be put directly onto your bench from the Partner Zone.
        3. A non-Basic Pokémon put onto the bench this way is not considered a Basic Pokémon, nor is it an Evolved Pokémon.
      4. Evolution cards and other cards that may normally be placed on top of a Pokémon in play cannot be placed on top of a Partner (e.g. – Lv. X Pokémon, Break Pokémon, etc.). No game effects can override this rule.
      5. If any game rule or card effect would move your Partner into a deck, hand, discard pile, prizes, or lost zone from anywhere, you must move it to or leave it in your Partner Zone instead.
      6. Being a Partner is a property of the card and tied directly to the physical card. “Partner-ness” cannot be copied or overwritten. The card retains its Partner-ness at all times.
      7. If one or more of your opponent’s Pokémon is knocked out by damage from, or as a result of an effect of, one of your Partner’s attacks or effects (e.g. Ability or Poké-Power) during your turn, you take 1 more prize card.
        • Between-turn effects (e.g. burn or poison) do not count.
      8. Whenever an opponent’s Partner is sent to the opponent’s Partner Zone from play, you take a prize card.
    3. “Once during your turn” effects
      1. Effects that say “Once during your turn” can only be used once per turn regardless of whether the Pokémon Card changes zones.
  3. Errata Rules
    1. Cards are played using the text printed on the English language version of the card (ignoring all issued errata), except cards with text misprints that create confusion as to how the card functions, which are played as though their errata text were printed on the card.
      1. If you have a card that uses errata text in your deck, you must have a printed copy of the errata text available while playing, and you must inform your opponent of the errata text the first time the card would be viewable by your opponent.
      2. The only errata applied is the errata text released closest to the card’s release date. Any future errata that is not a clarification or significantly changes the way the card functions is ignored.
      3. List of cards with text misprints which use errata text
        1. Rocket’s Minefield Gym (G2 119) is missing the number 2 right before ‘damage counters’.
    2. Rules of the Pokémon Trading Card Game that disallow certain cards with different names in your deck are not applied in Partner Battles.
      • You may include 1 copy each of Professor Juniper, Professor Sycamore, Professor’s Research, Lysandre, and Boss’s Orders in the same deck.
    3. To use a Hidden Attack or Poké-Power printed as a dot code on a Pokémon Card, you must tell your opponent that the card has a hidden attack or Poké-Power and provide the opportunity for your opponent to read the text of the attack or Poké-Power when you play the card. When you use the hidden attack, you must scan the dot code on the card using a functioning e-reader device.
    4. When you play a card that requires knowledge of a Pokémon Card’s biological data (e.g. Blaine’s Quiz #1), the Pokémon Card you choose must have the biological data printed on the card. If the biological data is printed in a dot code strip (as is the case with many cards in the e-reader series), you must have a functioning e-reader device available to scan the card in order to choose that Pokémon Card.
    5. Pokémon Powers, Poké-Powers, Poké-Bodies, and Abilities are all considered distinct traits that ignore rulings in the compendium that may consider some of them to be subsets of the other.

Notes

  • A (possibly non-comprehensive) list of cards of which more than 1 copy can be played:
    • May play 2 at the same time:
      • Poké Blower +
      • Poké Drawer +
      • Poké Healer +
      • Puzzle of Time
      • Custom Catcher
      • Mixed Herbs
    • Must play 2 at the same time:
      • Cross Switcher
      • Crossceiver
    • May Play 4 ath the same time:
      • Missing Clover
      • Quad Stone