Celestial Storm Brings Back Friends From the Past
The newest Pokemon TCG release, with Prereleases being held this last weekend and next, is Celestial Storm. And it is blast from the past, featuring new takes on cards from sets dating back to the e-series. A lot of the Pokemon cards feature the same art as older cards, but each one has been updated, either with more HP, stronger versions of their attacks, or sometimes just with changed Weaknesses.
There was ONE Pokemon card, however, that many players were anticipating would be identical in Game terms to the original print, and that is Dunsparce. Unfortunately, in the new print, there is a clause in the Strike and Run attack which requires the player to have put a Pokemon from the search onto the Bench in order to then Switch Dunsparce. Since that clause is not in the original print from Sandstorm, the old copy of the card will not be legal to play in Standard or Expanded. It is not an exact reprint.
So, while none of the Pokemon from the set are exact Game Play reprints of many of the older cards, many of the Trainers found in the set are exact reprints, or identical in Game Play terms, and therefore will be playable.
BUT NOT ALL OF THEM!
We consulted with Pokemon Organized Play and R&D to get a definitive list of which original prints of the Trainers from the set are playable and which ones are not. Most of the reprinted Trainers had identical game effects, however a couple of them had differences that were significant enough to keep them from being used in current formats.
To make this an easy reference for players and judges, we will list all of the Trainers below that have older prints and what their status is. We will also soon incorporate this information into our “Legal Card List” resources, found in links over on the right hand side of this page.
Reprinted Trainers from Celestial Storm
Trainer | Legal Prints | Notes |
---|---|---|
Acro Bike |
Primal Clash 122/160 | |
Apricorn Maker |
No old prints are legal | The original version from Skyridge allows a search for all Trainers, not just Items |
Bill’s Maintenance |
Expedition 137/165 FireRed LeafGreen 87/112 Crystal Guardians 71/100 OP Series 5 6/17 |
Some text changes, however they do not affect the game play of the cards. |
Copycat |
Expedition 138/165 Team Rocket Returns 83/109 Dragon Frontiers 73/101 HeartGold SoulSilver 90/123 Call of Legends 77/95 |
Some text changes, however they do not affect the game play of the cards. |
Energy Recycle System |
Dragon 84/97 Unseen Forces 81/115 Power Keepers 73/108 |
Text changes, however they do not affect the game play of the cards. |
Energy Switch |
All of many, many versions | Commonly Reprinted |
Fisherman |
Skyridge 125/144 HeartGold SoulSilver 92/123 Breakthrough 136/162 |
Text changes, however they do not affect the game play of the cards. |
Friend Ball |
No old prints are legal | The original version from Skyridge has a template that does not include all types of Pokemon, such as Restored Pokemon. |
Life Herb |
Platinum 108/127 Unleashed 79/95 |
The Prints from Hidden Legends and FRLG exclude a type of Pokemon from the effect and are therefore NOT legal |
Lure Ball |
Skyridge 128/144 | |
PokéNav | No old prints are legal | The original version from Crystal Guardians has a template that does not include all types of Pokemon, such as Restored Pokemon. |
Rare Candy |
All of many, many versions | Commonly Reprinted and Errata allows old versions with different Game text |
Super Scoop Up |
All of many, many versions | Commonly Reprinted |
Switch |
All of many, many versions | Commonly Reprinted |
TV Reporter |
Dragon 88/97 Dragon Frontiers 82/101 OP Series 2 11/17 |
Text changes, however they do not affect the game play of the cards. |
Underground Expedition |
Skyridge 140/144 Rising Rivals 97/111 |
Text changes, however they do not affect the game play of the cards. |
Rainbow Energy |
All prints from Aquapolis and newer | Early versions (Team Rocket and WotC Promo) did 10 damage, rather than place 1 damage counter when attached, so those are not legal. |