Howdy guys, PikaPoster here and welcome back to another Pokémon set review. Today we will be looking at the Trainer cards from the Pokémon Sword half-set.
This half of the expansion contains some great item cards, and exactly two supporters. I have no idea why the count is so low, so let’s take a look shall we?
Evolution Incense
Evolution Incense [ITEM]
Search your deck for an Evolution Pokémon, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.
This is a solid item card, reminiscent of the card Evosoda from the XY base set. However, this could also be used in decks like Steelix, which rely on having Pokémon in the hand rather than in play. Overall I think this is a solid card, comparable to nest ball and heavy ball.
Hyper Potion
Hyper Potion [ITEM]
Discard 2 Energy from 1 of your Pokémon. If you do, heal 120 damage from that Pokémon.
Oh dear. This card is just Max Potion, but infinitely worse. In this format, there is rarely a time when you will need to heal 120 damage, especially at the cost of so much energy. I doubt this card will ever see play.
Fishing Rod
Fishing Rod [ITEM]
Shuffle up to 2 Pokémon and up to 2 Basic Energy cards from your discard pile into your deck.
This overall seems like a great card to play one of in most decks. It’s reliable, it gets the job done, it’s kind of the new version of Rescue Stretcher. I think most decks will play one of these, maybe 2 depending on the circumstances.
Rotom Bike
Rotom Bike [ITEM]
Draw cards until you have 6 cards in your hand. Your turn ends.
This card genuinely intrigues me. It is possibly the best draw support we have ever had in an item card, but it ends your turn. It has a similar feel to Tropical Beach from back in the day—oh wait, it’s still in expanded for some reason—and I feel like it could drastically improve the consistency of slower decks. However, with Cinccino and Oricorio-GX and such in the format, this might see less play than it deserves.
Giant Charm
Giant Charm [POKÉMON TOOL]
The Pokémon this card is attached to gets +30 HP.
If I’m not mistaken, this is just a reprint of Giant Cape from some time in the BW era. I don’t recall that card being amazing per se, but I suppose this could be useful in a stall deck or something. I don’t think it will see excessive play, but it could be useful.
Air Balloon
Air Balloon [POKÉMON TOOL]
The Retreat Cost of the Pokémon this card is attached to is [C][C] less.
This is pretty much a new Float Stone card, a more powerful Escape Board that doesn’t work on Jirachi. This can reduce quite a few Pokémon’s retreat cost to 0, so it’s nothing to sneeze at, but I don’t think it will have as big an impact as it would if Escape Board was Expanded.
Lum Berry
Lum Berry [POKÉMON TOOL]
At the end of any turn, if the Pokémon this card is attached to is affected by any Special Conditions, remove all of them and discard this card.
Worst card in the set. There’s no question about it. I don’t remember the last time I’ve been burned; since when are Special Conditions even worth thinking about? Definitely not today.
Professor’s Research
Professor’s Research [SUPPORTER]
Discard your hand. Then, draw 7 cards.
Thank Arceus, finally a Sycamore reprint. I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life, and here it is, more glorious than I could ever imagine. I have no words to describe how much I love this card. Hopefully there’s a full art so I can pick up a playset of them.
Bede
Bede [SUPPORTER]
Attach a Basic Energy card from your hand to 1 of your Benched Pokémon.
This could be decent, but I feel like there’s already so much in the format that it’s kind of underwhelming. It could see play, but not much.