Recovering and Recycling: TSD vs. NM. vs Pokémon Rescue

[honchvire]

As many of you should know, Pokémon is a game of 6 prizes. If you want to win, you can't allow your opponent to knock out more than 5 of your Pokémon. However, the "Rule of Four" allows for at most four copies of a Deck's main attacker.

Question: So how do we get our main attackers out those 5th and 6th times?
Answer: The trainer cards Time-Space Distortion, Night Maintenance and Pokémon Rescue. Premier Ball also does the trick, but since its usefulness is limited to Lv. X cards I am leaving it out of the discussion.


Each has its own benifits and drawbacks. In my opinion here are the pros and cons of each.

Time-Space Distortion: Flip 3 coins. For each heads, search your discard for a Pokémon, show it to your opponent and put it in your hand.

Pros
Has the potential to get 3 Pokémon directly back into your hand.

Cons
"Flip 3 coins." There is no guarantee with this card that you will get to return anything back into your hand.
Difficult to obtain. The "secret rare" from Mysterious Treasures, it isn't impossible to obtain but few people have lots of duplicates to spare.

Verdict: High Risk, High Reward.

Night Maintenance: Search your discard for up to 3 in any combination of Pokémon and basic Energy cards. Show them to your opponent and shuffle them back into your deck.

Pros
Relatively easy to find. Printed in Mysterious Treasures, Secret Wonders and POP8
Versatile. It can recover Pokémon and Energy. Since the cards return to the deck, it can also prevent from decking out.
Guaranteed 3 card recycle.


Cons
Cards return to deck, rather than hand. Requires a combo with a search card or lots of draw power to get what you want back into your hand.
Dead card in the beginning of matches. It is oftentimes hard to justify using one until you have at least 2 things to recycle in your discard, otherwise you are not using the card to its full potential.

Verdict: Low Risk, Low Reward.

Pokémon Rescue: Search your discard for a Pokémon, show it to your opponent and put it in your hand.

Pros
Since Platinum is the newest set that people will be buying, this card should be fairly abundant.
Guaranteed single card recovery to the hand.

Cons
Since it only recovers 1 card, you may have to devote more space in the deck for it if it is your only means of recycling and recovery.

Verdict: Low Risk. Medium Reward.

Since Platinum Prereleases are still going on, it may be awhile before we get a real sense of how Pokémon Rescue fits into the whole scheme of things. Will it replace NM and TSD in decks completely? Will it be used in conjunction with NM and TSD? If so, in what ratios? Which archetype decks benifit from each style of recovery? These questions hopefully will be answered in the coming months of playtesting as we all gear up for State Championships.

What do you think? What pros/cons have I overlooked?

[Jason]

I prefer NM over Recover for ONE simple reason:

It bring back energies, not just Pokemon.

[chetabear]

i perfer night maintenence because it gets back more than one poke andi have never flipped a single heads with TSD

[ApachePrime]

It'll definitely be worth it to play a combination of NM and Rescue because the NM gets NRG. You also forgot Premier Ball, as that gets Lv. X's out of the discard too! It will be interesting to see the combinations of the 4 cards in this format.

[Rogue Archetype]

You can't make a judgement of which is "better" on a global scale.

Some stage 1 decks benefit from TSD because it's a matter of benching basics, promoting them to active, flipping a coin, evolving, and attacking right back! Due to low energy cost of attacks, Night Maintenance may not be as necessary in this scenario.

Raichu / Bronzong needs 4 Night Maintenance even with a recycler like Electivire or Elec Mzone. Heavy Discard attacks (excluding Kingdra) can't see enough Night Maintenance to route that energy back in the deck!

Decks built around BASICs like AMU REALLY benefit from Pokemon Rescue. As with the TSD example, you'd be able to bench the next basic and level it up next turn.

________

The truth is, you simply can't go ONLY one or the other.
It's a matter of degree. That is, how many of each you may need ; depending on your deck's strategy.

In the end, you'll find yourself using a combination of the 4 (incl. Premier ball).

[amphy#1]

Galactic sp decks benefit from pokemon rescue.

[MrGinerik]

Like some of the originals posters comments, the card used, TSD, NP or Rescue will depend on the deck, some decks I prefer TSD while others gotta have NM, the new SP decks can benefit from just getting back that one so Rescue might be best only time will tell.

[The Knee]

While it is more of a tech, the new Dialga with the power "Return time" is also viable if your deck has no major bench space problems.

[Brady1]

Rescue is terrible. :/ If it were pokemon retriever-like, then we could have some sort of talk (as all 3 would be at least different enough to say one has a benefit over another). Rescue is a poor-man's TSD. :/

[afstandopleren]

^^Well, the Dialga you are talking about, still forces you to draw into them as they are put on top of your deck, prolly wasting a Cosmic Power or something that draws to get them back ASAP. And it doesn't do Energy.

[i like burdn of a day]

I prefer 1 Tsd and 1 Nm in my decks, if i only hav room for one of them, i always choose NM. Pokemon rescue isn't really all that great. Regi decks are the exception where Pokemon rescue shines.

[WinkWinkNudgeNudge]

When I saw rescue, Regi/Mesprit came to mind. If you are playing or teching critical "coming into play" powers I can see this as very handy. I feel that NM will remain the staple card.

[Scipio]

WWNN hit the nail right on the head about Rescue.
TSD is probably better for those T2 Swarmish decks (Think Scizor), while Night Maintainance is better for those Stage 2 decks that burn through more cards to get into play.

[Magic_Umbreon]

Depending on how the metagame shapes, potentially none. 'Cause if your opponent drops a Giratina (http://pokegym.net/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=42365), these are the last things you want in your hand (unless you got an Uxie/etc in the discard). 2 of these in your hand, and you're in a tight spot.

[The Knee]

^^Well, the Dialga you are talking about, still forces you to draw into them as they are put on top of your deck, prolly wasting a Cosmic Power or something that draws to get them back ASAP. And it doesn't do Energy.

Return time does indeed include energy. Any combination of pokemon and energy actually. It's more of a compromise between TSD and Night maintainence then anything. Still, top of the deck can be a pain if you don't have a source of immediate draw.

[ryanvergel]

If you rate Nm low/low and yet PR low/medium, you're saying PR is better. IDK is that is the case.

I'd say BOTH NM and PR are low/medium, while TSD is med/high. High risk? It's 87.5% to get a pokemon back. I don't know if I consider that "high risk". That's about 9/10 times.
What do you mean by night maintenance having a low risk? What are you risking? It certainly doesn't have a low reward- it gets back THREE pokemon. That's an ENTIRE line, that's a crucial tech plus their energy, it's the only one of the three to prevent decking. It has plenty of reward. Risk????

[Suicide]

NM is probably the best as it is the most versatile of cards. However I see times in which TSD and PR will be better plays. So it really depends upon the situation

[Cyrus]

Night Maintenance is the clear winner of all those; however, that's not to say that TSD and even Pokemon Rescue can't be good either.

1st place: Night Maintenance (versatile, and a much higher reward than you give credit for)

2nd place: TSD (slight risk of being awful [0 or even 1 heads], but high reward)

3rd place: Pokemon Rescue (in all honesty, it's a bad card _except_ in certain decks that just absolutely must get a Pokemon from the discard. Even then, it'd probably be played as a supplement to TSD)

[supertyranitar]

I'd say TSD is probably the best out of the three, since it can get you the most bang for your buck most of the time, what with being able to grab at least one poke, but having the chance at a complete line. Granted, a coin flip, but three chances should leave you with something.
Night Maintenance is just great all around, simply because of it being able to prevent decking, with there being no risk in playing it, and doing more than just getting pokemon. Since it shuffles in, while that's great, it's also somewhat hindering, which is why TSD is better.
Pokemon Rescue may have been more useful back when Holon's pokes were big, but I still believe it's good all around. TSD is the better of the two, but Rescue is at least abundant, and has no risk factor. If I could squeeze one in decks, I most likely would, but it'd most likely end up situational.

[The Ralts]

Rescue doesn't really do anything good at all....you nearly always get a pokemon with TSD anyway, but theres a good chance to get 1-2 extra pokemon.
Night maintenence is still probably the best, with TSD in a few decks like regigigas.

[afstandopleren]

Poke Rescue doesn't get enough credit since it's perfect for decks like Kingdra and Octilery PL since it get's Pokemon back without sending it to the deck, making it easier to draw into Energy.

[SPARTA]

its either NM or TSD, the only real reason to use Rescue is if your luck is terrible, or you can't afford TSD.

[Tagrineth]

I prefer NM in decks that need the energy recycling and TSD in decks that... don't.

So like, in my MagLeaf, I generally don't have an immediate need to recycle pokemon, but even if I do on occasion, TSD is still worse than NM because the deck goes through Energy so fast, sometimes I run out late game. NM saves the deck from those situations, and most often recycles two energy and one pokemon (usually a Magmortar or Leafeon since they're both thin lines, 4-3-1 and 3-2-2).

Conversely, in my Magnezone deck, energy recycling is largely irrelevant between Super Connectivity and Conductive Quarry. It runs TSD instead.

[Blaziken 1111]

Poke rescue is the poor mans TSD. If you don't have TSD and you really think thats the play in the deck over NM then play PR. NM is probaly the best because it's easy to get and also it is always 3 pokmeon plus you can also get energy which makes it the best.

[honchvire]

I'm glad to see some discussion and opinions being shared. I created this thread for this very purpose, since I didn't really see a good comparison thread yet about the various pokemon retrieval cards.
I'll admit, the whole "verdict" thing may be a tad pretentious, since the risk/reward varies from situation to situation. I probably should edit it, but I still stand by my choices for the general case. I consider getting pokemon DIRECTLY back into your hand high reward.

In all honesty, I am a HUGE fan of NM. For me, TSD has been stuck in my binder for almost as long as I've had them. NM's versatility and low deck commitment make it a staple in all my decks.

When I first saw PR, I initially dismissed it, thinking it would not come to replace my NMs. After some reflection, and talking with people, I have seen how this card can be good in many decks. I think NM and PR should be used together, but I'm not sure quite how yet.

Has anyone actually started SERIOUS playtesting with Platinum cards? I think that several decks are crowded as it is, especially trainer lines. There are so many exciting trainers right now, and I think that claydol will no longer be the only engine.

This is an exciting time.

[Regis_Neo]

Though it usually comes down to the individual deck being played, I would personally value TSD over NM or Pokemon Rescue; odds are you will flip at least 1 Heads, and of course they come directly to your hand. But they're too dang expensive for me to get a hold of... NM is the cheaper option, but you then have to search out those cards you put back into the deck. Pokemon Rescue...eh. Guaranteed 1 in your hand, but you cannot recover entire lines like NM or TSD can. In something like Regigigas or decks that play very few different lines, it could be useful though I guess.

[NoPoke]

NM serves a different purpose to either TSD or rescue in most decks. Sure there is overlap in function but NM restocks the deck as against getting a resource into hand to play immediately.

TSD averages 1.5 cards, Rescue guarantees a single card. So on average TSD is better but if you only need a single card to be returned to your hand why would you take a 1:8 chance of failure? But that is the difficulty with the comparison: there are times when I really do need more than one card to be recovered back to my hand.

[Ignatious]

I would say the flips for TSD is high risk, yet low reward. You have to retrieve those two other attacker lines, which involves at least four pokemon, thus a total of four heads is required. You can do the rest of the math yourself. Furthermore, I would also say that Night Maintenance is no risk, high reward; it is guaranteed to work, and it automatically get three of the four pokemon I mentioned above, running multiples allows for comfort in lines, along with extra energy, in case a given deck runs out.

I would only run TSD for the purpose of getting back a singular pokemon, in a deck that has 4 basic, 3 of the final evolution, and 1 of its LvX. For this purpose, Rescue is still a better option, as it is guaranteed to work, and it will never clutter your hand with useless pokemon.

[Bippa201]

Galactic sp decks benefit from pokemon rescue.

Not as much as Aaron's Appointment. It is a night maintenance for SP decks, except the cards go right to your hand. The only downside is that its a supporter.

[Pokeric]

Rescue will see play in decks that want Energies in the discard (Blastcatty, Kingdra, and Blissey for example) over TSD for people who can't afford it. That's about it =/

[Ariadosman]

TSD is certainly better than Pokemon Rescue, however Night Maintenance is possibly the best because all of your search-supporters aren't dead-draws late-game (because you've recycled the pokes back into your deck).

[Ace-]

NM is the best card, because its easy available and it refreshes your deck. It is sometimes better if the cards are shuffled in deck, because you can draw with claydol and uxie more.
TSD is good for people who doesnt need energy in deck and use a coin for flip(its so easy to flip heads with coin)

I couldn´t test rescue, but i think that this card will replace TSD if we have GE/MD-ON.

[yoyofsho16]

Night Maintenance is most helpful, especially late game when the energy fountain is low, and when the deck is small and you have Claydol or Uxie, it's like auto-all heads on TSD..