Colress Machine has a ruling that says you can't use it if you have four Plasma Energy in play or in the discard pile. This got me thinking: is there any other situation where the contents of a player's deck could be deduced? I came up with one, but it's only possible in Expanded or older, and will practically never happen in an actual tournament game.
Suppose my opponent starts with Talonflame STS during setup. Over the course of the game, his Prizes are turned face up (with the use of a card like Town Map or Here Comes Team Rocket!). Cards also find their way into his discard pile.
The situation on the board is now: my opponent has 1 card in hand, 1 card in deck, Talonflame Active, all 6 Prizes face up, and 51 cards in the discard. None of the 58 cards that I can see (Talonflame, 6 Prizes, 51 discarded) are Basic Pokémon.
He plays the lone card in his hand, which is Energy Search. I claim that he should not be able to do so. It is a rule that decks must contain at least 1 Basic Pokémon (as much as it is a rule that you can only play 4 copies of Plasma Energy), and since every card revealed from my opponent's deck so far has not been a Basic Pokémon, I can deduce that the last card in his deck must be a Basic Pokémon, thus Energy Search would have no effect. Since you can't play a card if it's known that it will have no effect, he should not be allowed to play Energy Search.
How would you rule in this scenario?
Suppose my opponent starts with Talonflame STS during setup. Over the course of the game, his Prizes are turned face up (with the use of a card like Town Map or Here Comes Team Rocket!). Cards also find their way into his discard pile.
The situation on the board is now: my opponent has 1 card in hand, 1 card in deck, Talonflame Active, all 6 Prizes face up, and 51 cards in the discard. None of the 58 cards that I can see (Talonflame, 6 Prizes, 51 discarded) are Basic Pokémon.
He plays the lone card in his hand, which is Energy Search. I claim that he should not be able to do so. It is a rule that decks must contain at least 1 Basic Pokémon (as much as it is a rule that you can only play 4 copies of Plasma Energy), and since every card revealed from my opponent's deck so far has not been a Basic Pokémon, I can deduce that the last card in his deck must be a Basic Pokémon, thus Energy Search would have no effect. Since you can't play a card if it's known that it will have no effect, he should not be allowed to play Energy Search.
How would you rule in this scenario?
