New Floor Rules Effective on Monday, May 1st
The Floor Rules – a set of rules intended to offer all Pokémon Trading Card Game event attendees a pleasant and consistent experience – will soon be updated, with changes effective on Monday, May 1st 2023.
Updated sections:
・Partial change to “Section 5: Card Legality”:
“Fake or proxy cards (photocopies, printouts or handmade cards used in place of an actual card) are not allowed in any tournament.
However, a judge may decide that a card that was accidentally damaged needs to be replaced with a proxy to allow the match to continue without giving either player an unfair advantage. In that case only, proxies made or approved by a judge may be allowed.”
・Change to “Section 11-3: Penalties – Prize Card Penalties”:
“After a player receives a Prize Card penalty from a judge or organizer, the offending player’s opponent must take fewer Prize cards in order to win that game than would normally be necessary. The exact number of cards is decided by the judge or organizer, after considering the context of the violation and its impact on the game state.”
This update to the Prize Card Penalty rules means that under these new Floor Rules, when a player receives a Prize Card penalty, their opponent does not take Prize cards.
Example 1: Your opponent receives a single-Prize Card Penalty when you have 2 Prize cards remaining.With the previous Floor Rules, you would then have taken 1 Prize card, leaving you at 1 Prize card remaining.
With the new Floor Rules, when your opponent receives that Prize Penalty, you don’t take a Prize card.
From that point in that game, if you Knock Out one of your opponent’s Pokémon and take a Prize card, you will have then taken 5 Prize cards, and will win the game immediately with 1 Prize card remaining.
With the previous Floor Rules, you would have taken Prize cards and ended up with less Prize cards remaining than your opponent, which would activate the condition for your opponent’s Pokémon with the “Defiance Band” Pokémon Tool attached to deal 30 more damage to your Active Pokémon.
With the new Floor Rules, the number of remaining Prize cards isn’t reduced after a Prize Card Penalty – only the number of Prize cards one must take in order to win is reduced. This rule change means that if your opponent receives a Prize Card Penalty when you both have the same number of Prize cards remaining, the effect of their “Defiance Band” Pokémon Tool would not suddenly activate.
