Pokemon Catcher

[DarkRaichu80]

When i was at the Plasma Blast Pre-Releases and pulled 3 Pokemon Catchers along when other people were doing so, it seemed that people got a little over excited on when these cards were pulled and saw online that they got for a couple bucks. While after reading the card and seeing the significance of them, I dont believe I still quite get the excitement of it. Anyone care to help on that end?

 

[Starlight Sprite]

The short answer is that it's a very useful card, albeit one that should have never been printed. The longer answer is that it's primarily used to pull a weak Pokemon into the active spot for an easy knockout, such as an unevolved basic or a damaged Pokemon that retreated during your opponent's last turn. It can also be a stall tacting, forcing out a Pokemon with a high retreat cost and no energy attached. It's easy to see why nearly all competitive decks run four copies of this card. Honestly I find it a little too cheap in the current metagame, but it's practically needed to win.

Catcher's effect is exactly the same as the Base Set card Gust of Wind, which isn't nearly as infamous despite being a common not an uncommon. GoW existed in a format where attacks usually did lower damage than they do today (three energy for 40 damage used to be good), making early game OHKOs less common. Pokemon EX also hadn't been introduced yet, so the only way to take multiple prizes in a turn was to inflict bench damage.

 

[DarkRaichu80]

I figured it was a decent card and could see the advantages, just surprised at the Pre-Release people seemed to be getting as excited about the Pokemon Catcher as they were about getting an EX

 

[Sleeping Snorlax]

What Starlight Sprite says is right about the card does but I don't think that was the reason everyone was so excited. As Starlight pointed out the use of the card, it is very useful and ultimately needed in almost every competitive deck out there. The excitement comes from the fact that in the competitive format of pokemon tcg, with the new set rotation for the 2013-2014 season being Next Destinies on-wards meant that the only pokemon catcher cards that could be used were from the Dark Explorers set (the other being from Emerging Powers and not allowed for competitive play anymore). Unfortunately that card is a secret rare in that set and as such it is very hard for most people to come across. In plasma blast the card was reprinted as an uncommon making it a lot more easier to get.


I hope you understand (im not the best with grammar and sentence structure lol) and I hope this helped

 

[Savant]

I've had Pokemon Catcher pull me out of a rough spot in PTCGO more than once by pulling low HP Pokemon out of the bench.

Example, let's say your opponent has a Tynamo or Tympole on the bench HP 30 each and some kind of Legendary active. You have an active Lapras with enough energy to do a 60 damage Surf with a Pokemon Catcher in your hand and one more Prize. Play your PC, bring out either Tympole or Tynamo and Surf away. There's your game.

 

[donavannj]

Whoa whoa whoa hold up here people. The prints of ALL Pokemon Catcher cards are 100% legal to use in the upcoming format because the text on the cards hasn't changed at all.

Pokemon Catcher is considerably more useful and annoying to face than it looks. Being able to bring up ANY of your opponent's Pokemon on their bench is quite useful and counteracts their ONE retreat they get every turn. You can use Pokemon Catcher to bring up a massive Pokemon with a big retreat cost that won't be able to attack for 3 turns and has a high retreat cost and be able to completely destroy it before your opponent can use it to attack. Alternatively, you can use it to bring up a Pokemon your opponent has just retreated to finish it off and get yourself a prize.

It's quite the gamebreaker card, and it runs $20 per card in many places. That's why there's excitement over it.

 

[Sleeping Snorlax]

Whoa whoa whoa hold up here people. The prints of ALL Pokemon Catcher cards are 100% legal to use in the upcoming format because the text on the cards hasn't changed at all.

Oh dang. I didn't realize that, but should have figured as much. Thanks for pointing that out :)

 

[Starlight Sprite]

Catchers can also be found in the "Solar Strike" PB theme deck along with Deluge Blastoise, another very useful card. Sure it's just one copy of each and neither is holographic, but if you're not looking for the rarest prints this is a better alternative than buying a bunch of boosters and hoping to get lucky. Theme decks tend to be in the $10-$15 range around here, which I suppose means Catcher's price as a single will deflate a little, at least for the non-secret rare prints.