Burningg Scent vs Unowm G

[Everwind]

Let me give you a hypothetical. Player A's Active has UnownG attached and some bench Pokes like Claydol with no UnownGs attached.

Player B has Victreebel as his active. Player wants to use Burning Scent to make Claydol from the bench active but does Unown G tool prevent this? The way the card is worded the card says you may switch the 1 of the defending pokemon with an opponents benchd Pokemon. Since this is a person effect I think the switcvh would be allowed vs something like whirlwind which clearly states the switch is a side-effect of the power on the active (which would be prevented by unownG).

Please provide rationale for your decision. Thanks!

 

[PokePop]

Well. I guess I'd better sharpen my Number 2 pencil.

Unown G prevents an Attack from having any effect upon the Pokemon that it is attached to.
It doesn't matter if that Pokemon is the main target of the attack, or if the effect is just incidental. It is prevented.

So, what do we have here?
An attack that places Special Conditions and that can move a Pokemon from the bench to the Active postion.

Well, you're certainly free to target a Benched Pokemon. However, where are you going to move him?
To the place where the current Active is. That has Unown G attached.
And, since only one Pokemon can be in that position, it would have to move to the bench.
That would be an effect upon it. The effect of being moved.
It is well established in the Pokemon TCG game that incidental effects like this are blocked by protection like Guard.


Here are a couple of rulings showing this blocking. One is for Unown G, the other involves Safeguard as the protective effect.


Q. If my Active Pokemon is attacked with "Sonic Blade", can I choose a Pokemon on my bench with Unown-G's "GUARD" Poke-POWER attached to it and prevent the switching portion of "Sonic Blade"?
A. Yes, you may do this. (Sep 11, 2008 PUI Rules Team)

Q. Wobbuffet vs. Ninetales-EX... I try to use "Intense Glare" (switch 1 your opponent's Benched Pokémon with 1 of the Defending Pokémon...) on Wobbuffet. Does Wobbuffet's Safeguard Poké-BODY prevent the switch?
A. Yes it would prevent the switch. In addition, you could not do Intense Glare to bring up a Wobbuffet from the bench either, as that would be an "effect being done to Wobbuffet by a Pokémon-EX." (Feb 24, 2005 PUI Rules Team)