Attack cost

[ybales]

My husband and I are trying to learn how to play the Pokemon TCG in order to teach our 6 year old granddaughter. We understand the basics, and have played several successful games. However, we have two questions:

1) I cannot find a listing anywhere of what the energy type symbols mean. I get some of the basic one - water, fire, etc. But I can't put a name to the two greyish ones. One has an inverted triangle in the center, the other has a small circle at the top.

This leads to my next question:

2) I have a card, Cleffa Level 5, that has an attack cost symbol we cannot decipher. It has a plain grey ball as the attack cost. It is not the same symbol as the two grey ones I noted above. What does this plain grey ball symbol mean?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[airconditioning]

1) The first one sounds like Metal Energy, but I don't know what the other one could be, so I'll just link to all types of energy.

Grass
Fire
Water
Lightning
Psychic
Fighting
Darkness
Metal

These cards are from an older set, but the symbols are the same. Credits to Pokebeach for the scans.

2) That's a new mechanic for Diamond and Pearl cards. That symbol means that the attack has no cost, and requires no energy to use.

 

[ybales]

(If my response is duplicated - I apologize)

Thank you for the response - it helps! But it also poses another question....you say the "symbol means that the attack has no cost, and requires no energy to use". Is t there a difference between the two? For example, if I have a Pokemon whose attack cost is listed as one water symbol and one colorless symbol, I think that means I need two energy cards to attack (at least one water energy card). Then when I attack, do I have to give up an energy card to "pay" for the attack?

 

[airconditioning]

(If my response is duplicated - I apologize)

Thank you for the response - it helps! But it also poses another question....you say the "symbol means that the attack has no cost, and requires no energy to use". Is t there a difference between the two? For example, if I have a Pokemon whose attack cost is listed as one water symbol and one colorless symbol, I think that means I need two energy cards to attack (at least one water energy card). Then when I attack, do I have to give up an energy card to "pay" for the attack?

When you attack, the energy stays on the card. The only exception is for attacks that specifically tell you to discard energy, such as Electivire's Discharge attack or Infernape's Flare Blitz attack.

As an aside, a Colorless attack cost can mean any kind of energy. For example, if the cost required 1 Water and 1 Colorless, you would need one Water Energy, and another energy of any type (Grass, Fire, or even Water, it doesn't matter).

 

[ybales]

Thank you. The more we play, the more questions we get. I am sure I will be starting another thread with another set of questions! Thanks again!