Skitty
New Member
yes u can
tournament rule:15.5. Unreleased Cards
From time to time, players will acquire cards from a new set prior to its regular release date,
usually via a Prerelease. These cards may not be used in sanctioned tournaments until the
regular release date of the set, as outlined in Section 16, with one exception. Cards that are
already tournament legal which have been reprinted in an unreleased set may be used as long
they are easily identifiable as a reprinted card. This is typically only an issue when a reprinted
card receives new art, though other factors may create a similar issue. These cards should
always be played with the most recent wording of the tournament-legal version of the card.
Though you are supposed to be able to use them under the tournament rules, there's always a chance that the HJ could "try" and overturn that. I remember when I was playing at Regionals (in SoCal) a while back and I was using Gardy/Gallade. The day of that Regionals was also the same day that the POP 7 packs were released at Leagues. I got a Gallade from it in a trade and asked the judges as I was signing up if I could use it instead of the regular Secret Wonders one. (Pictures here and here for referance)
The question eventually got brought up to the HJ, who decided that no POP7 cards (even reprints of currently legal cards like the Gallade) could be used at that event. The reason given was that "You couldn't have gotten that card from an official source because no leagues that day are run early enough to have gotten it before the tournament". And since that was the HJ's ruling on it there was nothing I could do but use the regular Secret Wonders one.
So just remember, sadly the HJ can make the last call on this. And the most you could do (if you really cared) would be to complain to TPCi about it afterwords. Which wouldn't help you at that specific tournament though.