This is in the Compendium:
Q. If I use Smeargle's "Portrait" Poke-POWER and find "Engineer's Adjustments" in my opponent's hand, do I have to use it if I have an Energy card in my hand?
A. Yes, if you have an energy card and you choose Engineer's Adjustments, you have to discard the energy and draw 4 cards. (Dec 9, 2010 PUI Rules Team; Mar 17, 2011 PUI Rules Team)
Here is the problem:
The hand is private information. How can you prove you do not have an energy other than showing your hand to your opponent? The Roast Reveal / Power Spray was easy, just show the energy that you were about to use so that you were not accused of drawing out the opponent's Power Spray. You only had to show one card. This is different because you have to prove a negative (that you do NOT have the card) and so you do not have to choose the Engineer's Adjustment.
I asked this question and I let run for a bit with no real resolution at:
http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?p=2209724#post2209724
Of all the replies I like PokePop's best. Not often I see him sign "Wimpy McWimpmeister". :lol:
I am starting to understand the unequaled wisdom of PokePop in reply to my question.
While the initial reaction was "call a judge to verify if they have the energy or not", my personal thought is that Pokemon is primarily a game played between family and friends that happens to have a competitive element. It has to be able to be played at a kitchen table. As such, a judge should not be part of the playing of the game unless a question regarding game-play occurs in a competition. Further, judges can be busy, not nearby and/or called repeatedly slowing game play to a crawl in a game that depends on the clock. Therefore, only two options seem to exist: (1) take the opponent's word and let them fail it if they want it to fail -or- (2) show your hand to prove you can not choose the Engineer's Adjustment, give up your energy and draw cards you may not want to draw.
After the discussion, it appears that (1) might not work. We allow searches to fail in the deck because the contents of the deck are unknown to the game, but I am not certain we can use that same mechanic to allow searches in the hand to fail because that content is known, but private. This can become quite important - for instance: if I know that my opponent has the ability to Portrait I can see trying to keep an Engineer's Adjustment in my hand (especially if I run a deck out list like Durant where making sure they loose energy and draw extra cards could be important) and gives them good reason to pretend they have no energy.
On the other hand: There is inherent risk in playing any Power/Body/Ability/Attack - including the risk that you might Portrait a Juniper when you want to keep your whole hand. (2) Works because just as we have to take risks and possibly prove things on one card, we can take risks and possibly prove them on another - like the Roast Reveal / Power Spray. For all of these reasons, I personally think that (2) works the best at both the kitchen table and Top Cuts. Of course what I think or want is not really important.
Without a ruling, the only way to judge this appears to be to tell the players "work it out the best you can and call the judge if you can't" - then verify the presence or absence of the basic energy - but this can allow cheating at worst and at best a built-in stall tactic in which case I would be in the position of determining if they crossed the line on too many calls for a judge.
I am really wanting a more elegant solution than this.
Thank you for your help here.
Q. If I use Smeargle's "Portrait" Poke-POWER and find "Engineer's Adjustments" in my opponent's hand, do I have to use it if I have an Energy card in my hand?
A. Yes, if you have an energy card and you choose Engineer's Adjustments, you have to discard the energy and draw 4 cards. (Dec 9, 2010 PUI Rules Team; Mar 17, 2011 PUI Rules Team)
Here is the problem:
The hand is private information. How can you prove you do not have an energy other than showing your hand to your opponent? The Roast Reveal / Power Spray was easy, just show the energy that you were about to use so that you were not accused of drawing out the opponent's Power Spray. You only had to show one card. This is different because you have to prove a negative (that you do NOT have the card) and so you do not have to choose the Engineer's Adjustment.
I asked this question and I let run for a bit with no real resolution at:
http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?p=2209724#post2209724
Of all the replies I like PokePop's best. Not often I see him sign "Wimpy McWimpmeister". :lol:
I am starting to understand the unequaled wisdom of PokePop in reply to my question.
While the initial reaction was "call a judge to verify if they have the energy or not", my personal thought is that Pokemon is primarily a game played between family and friends that happens to have a competitive element. It has to be able to be played at a kitchen table. As such, a judge should not be part of the playing of the game unless a question regarding game-play occurs in a competition. Further, judges can be busy, not nearby and/or called repeatedly slowing game play to a crawl in a game that depends on the clock. Therefore, only two options seem to exist: (1) take the opponent's word and let them fail it if they want it to fail -or- (2) show your hand to prove you can not choose the Engineer's Adjustment, give up your energy and draw cards you may not want to draw.
After the discussion, it appears that (1) might not work. We allow searches to fail in the deck because the contents of the deck are unknown to the game, but I am not certain we can use that same mechanic to allow searches in the hand to fail because that content is known, but private. This can become quite important - for instance: if I know that my opponent has the ability to Portrait I can see trying to keep an Engineer's Adjustment in my hand (especially if I run a deck out list like Durant where making sure they loose energy and draw extra cards could be important) and gives them good reason to pretend they have no energy.
On the other hand: There is inherent risk in playing any Power/Body/Ability/Attack - including the risk that you might Portrait a Juniper when you want to keep your whole hand. (2) Works because just as we have to take risks and possibly prove things on one card, we can take risks and possibly prove them on another - like the Roast Reveal / Power Spray. For all of these reasons, I personally think that (2) works the best at both the kitchen table and Top Cuts. Of course what I think or want is not really important.
Without a ruling, the only way to judge this appears to be to tell the players "work it out the best you can and call the judge if you can't" - then verify the presence or absence of the basic energy - but this can allow cheating at worst and at best a built-in stall tactic in which case I would be in the position of determining if they crossed the line on too many calls for a judge.
I am really wanting a more elegant solution than this.
Thank you for your help here.
