General question about playing cards that do nothing

[Venusaur]

Am I right in saying you can't play Trainer cards if they don't do anything in public knowledge areas like the discard pile and in play? Like Holon Farmer with nothing in the discard, Windstorm with no Trainers in play, Old Rod with nothing in the discard, Energy Charge with nothing in the discard, etc?

 

[Big Daddy Snorlax]

Correct, you cannot play a Trainer that you know will fail, at least that's the ruling right now. However, if the Trainer acts against something that is not public knowlwedge, like "search your deck", you can play it even if you know from a previous search that it will fail. The deck is not public knowledge.

BDS