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Author
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Topic: Rulings-How to Look them up (It's easy!)
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yoshi1001
Member # 825
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posted November 11, 2002 10:51 AM
Yesterday I looked through my posts for the last 30 days in this forum and noticied something rather disturbing-upwards of half of them contained a rules question that was answered simply by someone else referencing the appropriate parts of either:
a. The Compendium
http://pkcompendium.hypermart.net/compendium/rulings_compendium.shtml
b. The Master Rulings
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=pokemon/rules/rulings
c. The Complete Card Reference
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=pokemon/league/cardreference
This means that some (perhaps many) of these questions could have been answered in a lot less time. Now, I'm not trying to belittle any of you who don't know how to use these documents or anything. I know how you feel-these are huge documents and they often seem insurmountable. Just keep reading, though-I'll walk you through.
a. The Compendium
What's in it: Compilation of various WotC sources including chats, FAQs, and rules team meetings.
When to use it: First choice for resolving card-related questions (tournament questions are better left to the appropriate DCI documents, availible here).
How to use it: The document contains a breif section explaining its orgaization. Basically the various components (powers, attacks, unown powers, etc.) are divided up and then sorted alphabetically. Contrary to popular belief, most cards are not the seven million ruling Ditto monstrosities you've undoubtedly heard of. Most cards only have a few, and many have none, so it's easy to find the ruling you need.
Start by looking up the card you feel is most important in the ruling, then work your way down until you find an applicable ruling.
For example, say you tried to Metronome Kingdra Genetic memory using your Clefable (why you chose that instead of twister is beyond me, but hey, it's an example). You're not sure if you a. Legally can do that and b. whose attack's you copy. Well, you could look in the metronome section, but it's usually better to look up the attack being metronomed since the Metronome section is huge and if there's nothing in the attack you're copying you can always look there later. So, we look in genetic memory:
Q. What happens if Genetic Memory is metronomed by an evolved Pokémon? An unevolved Pokémon?
A. If it was evolved that Pokemon would be able to use Genetic Memory to use an earlier attack. If it's unevolved then you don't need to worry. (Nov 15, 2001 WotC Chat, Q94)
So, obviously we can do this, but the ruling is a little vague as to where we should get the attack. We'll have to look in Metronome:
Q. Please explain Metronoming attacks where the attack mentions the specific name of the opponent's Pokémon.
A. Anytime an attack is self referencing (meaning it mentions itself) and you copy that attack with Metronome or Ditto, you replace the self-referenced name with the name of the Clefable/Clefairy/Ditto, etc. (Dec 14, 2000 WotC Chat, Q66)
(This, by the way, is also known as the self-referencing rule)
We would replace Kingdra's name with Clefable, therefore we would be able to use one of Clefairy's attack (or Cleffa's if we had somehow evolved that way).
This is actually one of the more complicated scenarios you'll have to deal with. Most of the time you'll just be doing simple lookups.
b. The Master Rulings
What's in it: Pokemon rulings as compiled by the folks over at WotC.
When to use it: When you can't find something in the Compendium. The Master Rulings aren't as up-to-date as the Compendium (MTM is a busy guy), but there are a number of rulings there that the Compendium doesn't have.
How to use it: The Master Rulings are organized alphabetically by the name of the card involved (so to find info on Ditto's transform, you would look under Ditto). Other than that, it works pretty much like the Compendium.
c. The Complete Card Reference
What's in it: A reference to every card WotC has produced.
When to use it: When comparing the text of a card you don't have a ruling for to one you do. Also useful for translation purposes, as well as other things.
How to use it: Cards are divided up by set, then by Pokemon, trainers, and energy, and finally by name. Just open the file and look for the card you want.
Q: What if it's not in any of these?
A: Check the compendium logs (http://pkcompendium.hypermart.net/logs.shtml) sometimes they don't update the main document for a few weeks, so your answer may be there. Otherwise, feel free to post in the forums and someone will most likely try to help you out. Some answers are hard to find (or simply don't exist yet) so if you can't find an answer or don't understand a ruling, put it in here. Most of the questions in these documents got started that way.
Reminder: Before posting to the boards, please check the first page or so to see if you can find a post on the topic. Nothing irks people more than duplicate topics (well, not many things). It only takes a minute at most, and it could save you some embarrasment.
Q: I want to learn even more about finding rulings!
A: Great! For one, you can start by reading the chat logs every week. Even if most of the questions don't apply to you, you can gain a lot of insight into the rules that way. Also, don't forget about the compendium's search tool (located on the logs page) sometimes you can learn a lot more about a card by searching all the logs, not just the main document.
I hope a lot of you take the initiative and learn how to search for some of your own rulings. For those of you who judge or plan to be judges, it's a crucial skill. Even if you never judge, it's extremely useful.
Steven Reich
Master Pokemon Professor
[ December 21, 2002, 10:13 AM: Message edited by: yoshi1001 ]
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AIM: yoshi1001
From: Janesville, Wisconsin | Registered: Feb 2001
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IPGeek21
Member # 184
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posted November 11, 2002 11:08 AM
I have heard that some forums may have a STICKY option OR... We may have to UPDATE the info above this forum to HAVE the links you listed...
HAD this in mind BUT keep procrastinating... keep reminding me about this Yoshi...
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SHUT UP & DO something about it
From: The here, BUT WHERE shall we go? | Registered: Feb 2001
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GreatFox
Member # 77642
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posted November 11, 2002 11:44 AM
Well... its only common sense to look in these places first when you need help. In fact, a lot of the rulings them selves are just plain common sense and easy to come to when you carefully read and anylize every card invovled in you question. Most of the time I come up with the correct ruling my self. I only check the compendium. master rulings and card reference when I'm not 100% sure or to just double check my own conclusions (I've been right about 95% of the time).
Of course, common sense isn't so common now in days.
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From: Los Angeles, California | Registered: Apr 2002
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