Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

A New Card to Counter Tropical Beach

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Articuno7

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When I looked at the new X and Y base set scans there was one card that caught my eye.

Red Card - Trainer
Item

Your opponent shuffles his or her hand into his or her deck and then draws 4 cards.

You can use any number of Item cards during your turn.

Find picture here http://pokebeach.com/

This card was made to counter tropical beach. Example, your opponent beaches turn one and gets a fresh hand of seven. Then you can play this card and get down their hand to four. This card can also be a great late game card. Example your opponent played one of their last supporters and then next turn you play red card and they will have to work off of a small hand for the rest of the game. This card can also be great at stalling for time too.

It seems like Pokemon has heard our cries for a good card to combat tropical beach and they have given that card to us.
 
I was just talking to people about this card. It looks real good. How many times have you been in a situation where your opponent is so close to decking out and using this card would win you the game? Honestly, it's a pretty neat card and I'll definitely be proxying one into my deck tonight to toy with it.
 
This isn't the first time I've heard this card cited as a counter to Tropical Beach... and I've only known about its existence for 20 minutes or so. -_-

Red Card is a counter to large hand sizes and long term strategy; the only reason this might counter Tropical Beach is because Tropical Beach promotes a larger hand and Red Card might be potent enough to justify running heavily in most decks.

If it fails to justify itself as a near, maxed out staple then it really is not a good counter to Tropical Beach; it serves a very specific purpose. Oh, and like I said, it seems designed to dumb the long term game down even more: it has already been annoying having N ruin plans, but now an Item to do so as well? This promotes playing your hand down to as small a size as possible; guess its back to Haymaker decks.
 
Judge has returned and it's not a Supporter! There was a card back in the Ruby/Sapphire days which did the same thing but I can't return what that was.
 
For the record, first we had the Supporter "Desert Shaman", which dates back to the e-card days under WotC: it shuffled both players hands into the deck and each drew four. Then in HS: Unleashed we got Judge, that did the same thing but with then modern wording and formatting. This one only hits one player, thankfully; at least as an Item the full effect of the preceding Supporters would be insane!
 
A late game N usually nets you a couple of cards. This would net you more. Early game, it would likely get you a supporter that would help you out. I think it will see little play.
 
Otaku said:
For the record, first we had the Supporter "Desert Shaman", which dates back to the e-card days under WotC: it shuffled both players hands into the deck and each drew four. Then in HS: Unleashed we got Judge, that did the same thing but with then modern wording and formatting. This one only hits one player, thankfully; at least as an Item the full effect of the preceding Supporters would be insane!
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Thank you for the reminder of Desert Shaman! I couldn't remember the card's name. :D
 
I dont like Red Card. I dislike effects that force players to shuffle an opponents hand into the deck before they had turn. There needs to be a clause on the card that prevents it from being played on turn one.
 
vaporeon said:
I dont like Red Card. I dislike effects that force players to shuffle an opponents hand into the deck before they had turn. There needs to be a clause on the card that prevents it from being played on turn one.
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I disagree.

You already can't attack on turn one, now you want to limit trainers you can play? Next thing you know you can't play Supporters on turn one. Soon if you get turn one, you're doomed.
 
JasonRox said:
I disagree.

You already can't attack on turn one, now you want to limit trainers you can play? Next thing you know you can't play Supporters on turn one. Soon if you get turn one, you're doomed.
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You use to not be able to play supporters on turn one and that was the healthiest formats ever. A item card that can shuffle an opponents hand into the deck on turn 1 before they ever had a turn is bad and can cripple them before they had a chance to draw a card. That card is bad for the game and needs a clause that prevents it from being played on turn one.

Lets support the fixing of issues before they become problems now.
 
vaporeon said:
A item card that can shuffle an opponents hand into the deck on turn 1 before they ever had a turn is bad and can cripple them before they had a chance to draw a card. That card is bad for the game and needs a clause that prevents it from being played on turn one.

Lets support the fixing of issues before they become problems now.
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First of all, Pokémon in Japan is NEVER going to errata a card just as it's literally being released. So no, it's silly to try to put support behind that.

And with all due respect, it's remarkably premature to think starting a turn with 4 cards in hand + 1 draw is a bad thing. In my opening 7, if I happen to have 1 active and 2 benched pokemon, I'm elated! If my opponent wants to refresh my hand to a different 4, so be it.

So really, the scenario you're describing is have 1 active in your opening 7, and having the remaining 6 shuffled away into 4. This is hardly game-breaking.

(Today in my Round 4 at a City, my VirGen deck started with Jirachi EX, and my remaining hand was 3 Grass, 1 Plasma, 1 Colress Machine, and 1 Juniper. THIS is a terrible start. I would have been glad to have that shuffled away to a fresh 4.)
 
losjackal said:
First of all, Pokémon in Japan is NEVER going to errata a card just as it's literally being released. So no, it's silly to try to put support behind that.

And with all due respect, it's remarkably premature to think starting a turn with 4 cards in hand + 1 draw is a bad thing. In my opening 7, if I happen to have 1 active and 2 benched pokemon, I'm elated! If my opponent wants to refresh my hand to a different 4, so be it.

So really, the scenario you're describing is have 1 active in your opening 7, and having the remaining 6 shuffled away into 4. This is hardly game-breaking.

(Today in my Round 4 at a City, my VirGen deck started with Jirachi EX, and my remaining hand was 3 Grass, 1 Plasma, 1 Colress Machine, and 1 Juniper. THIS is a terrible start. I would have been glad to have that shuffled away to a fresh 4.)
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I've play many card games where a effect like this to make an opponent go -x cards before their turn could cripple them. While I've had games in Pokemon where my hand had been like you described and wished it would be N'ed away to hope it gets better does not always make it better. I've also had very good hands before I was judged into a bad hand of 4 which crippled me as I was not able to draw out of it. An effect like that on a item card is too good. Perhaps if it were 5 or even 6 where the goal would be to just change an opponents hand or even shuffle and draw the same amount, it would be different but a hard 4 is brutal.

I am only arguing this as a opening card, not over the course of the game.
 
Good morning.

I can appreciate your personal experience, because I don't have similar…I just play Pokémon. I believe you in that it could be crippling. But we have to look at the objective odds.

First of all, for the opponent to play this card, they sacrificed at least one slot for it. Let's say they are teching in a 1-of of this card to start with. They have to have it in their hand at the right time to play it. If you've brought your hand size down to 1, 2, or 3 cards, it's a dead card. They won't play it unless they know you have something in your hand that they want to get rid of.

People played Judge, that was a Supporter that could cripple your opponent, but it was also a Draw 4 for you. Red Card has no value for you. Unless reducing them to 4 is part of the deck strategy, I don't see much of a reason for anyone to include more than 1 in their deck.

So let's say the worst case scenario is as an opening card, when the opponent has 6 cards. You play Red Card. How does the opponent get out of it? By drawing a Supporter in those 4 or in the card for their turn. The odds of that are fair enough. Maybe they even play Bicycle and draw that and play it after playing down a few cards. Or they just draw a Random Receiver. It just seems the opportunities to play out of a 4 card shuffle are too great early game when no resources have been spent.

Anecdotally, people can get crippled by this card by drawing a worse hand. Just as many will draw a similar hand. Just as many will draw a better hand.

If this card is going to have a game-changing effect, I think it will be on a certain deck like Darkrai, where they could have their Junk Hunt results sent away, or they don't have enough cards in hand to fuel their Ultra Balls. The card will have a use. I just don't see it as being widely used because of the difficulty playing it at the right time and zero draw benefit for the player.

 
I also don't see this card being played very widely... it's a disruption card that actually has a fair chance of helping your opponent out, with no benefit to you. Just imagine all of the times where you're drawing this card, but would rather draw into something that can actually help you get an energy, a trainer, or a pokemon you desperately need. Imagine drawing into this card late game, where you just needed that last energy to win. At least with a judge I can get a chance to do that; even Ghetsis grants me that chance. This card, not so much.
 
Totally going to build a deck around this and Hooligans Jim & Cas. :p (Sableye being able to recycle Red Card and Pal Pad <to recycle Hooligans> is nice.)
 
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