ME: Chaos Rising – FAQ

The sets are coming in close together! A Prerelease two months before, another two months in the future.
Chaos truly is rising!
We have a good number of rulings to help you at your Prereleases! Please help spread the word for these and for the Compendium!
Enjoy!

POKEMON ABILITIES

== FLARING MAGIC (Delphox – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. Can I use Delphox’s “Flaring Magic” Ability to discard a {R} energy when I have 8 or more cards in my hand?

A. No. With this ability, you’re discarding a {R} energy to pay the cost of using the ability, then draw until you have 7 cards in your hand.  But since you already have 7 cards you can’t draw any more cards, so you can’t even choose to use the ability and you don’t get to put the {R} in the discard pile.

== GLOOMY GARBAGE (Garbodor – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. If I have two Garbodor with the “Gloomy Garbage” Ability in play, would my opponent’s Active Pokemon’s attacks be reduced by 40 damage?
A. Yes, the effect will stack.

Q. If I use Keldeo’s “Shoot Through” attack with a Tool attached while my opponent has Garbodor with the “Gloomy Garbage” Ability in play, do I still do 20 damage to a Benched Pokemon?
A. No. Gloomy Garbage will also reduce 20 from damage done to Benched Pokemon as well.

Q. If my Active Pokemon has the “Shred” attack and my opponent has Garbodor with the “Gloomy Garbage” Ability in play, will I do full damage?
A. No! In this case, the effect of Gloomy Garbage is on the Pokemon doing the attack, so it is not something that Shred would get to ignore, since it’s not an effect on the Defending Pokémon!

== NEEDLY ARMOR (Chesnaught – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. My active Chesnaught with “Needly Armor” Ability is damaged by my opponent’s Active Pokemon. How many damage counters do I place on the attacking Pokemon if I have two {G} and 1 Legacy Energy attached?
A. Needly Armor counts the total amount of Chesnaught’s {G} energy, so in this scenario you would place 9 damage counters ([2 {G} + 1 Legacy] times 3 counters each = 9 counters placed). If that {G} energy count is increased by an Ability such as Meganium’s Wild Growth, or provided by a Special Energy, that all is included when calculating damage.

== SLIMY SLIDING (Goodra – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. If my opponent has Goodra with “Slimy Sliding” Ability in play and I try to Retreat my Active Pokemon and flip tails, can I try to Retreat again during my turn?
A. No. This uses up your Retreat for the turn even though your Pokemon did not go to the Bench nor pay its Retreat Cost.

== SPITEFUL EVOLUTION (Phantump – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. Can I use Phantump’s “Spiteful Evolution” Ability on my first turn of the game?
A. No, but after your first turn of the game it can be used on the first turn that Phantump comes into play.

== WATCHFUL EYE (Patrat – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. If my Ninetales uses its “Nine-Trailed Transfer” attack while Patrat with the “Watchful Eye” Ability is in play, do I get to remove the damage counters from one of my Benched Pokemon and just discard them?
A. No! You can’t move damage counters at all while Watchful Eye is active! They stay where they are. This is different than Battle Cage which only protects the target.

POKEMON ATTACKS

== FLAMES OF REVIVAL (Ho-Oh – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. If I want to use Ho-Oh’s “Flames of Revival attack and don’t want to put any Basic Pokemon from my discard pile onto my bench (or if my bench is full), may I still use the attack?
A. Yes. You are not required to put a Basic Pokemon on your bench to use the attack.

== METALLIC HAMMER (Metagross – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. If I use Slowking’s “Seek Inspiration” attack and discard a Metagross with the “Metallic Hammer” attack, can Slowking do the extra +150 damage if it has no {M} Energy to discard?
A. Yes it can, but if Slowking does have any Metal Energy or Rainbow-like Energy attached it would have to discard as much as it can (up to 3) if you choose to do the extra damage.  Otherwise if you choose to not do the extra damage Slowking would get to keep its attached {M} Energy.

== NINE-TAILED TRANSFER (Ninetales – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. If my Ninetales uses its “Nine-Tailed Transfer” attack while Patrat with the “Watchful Eye” Ability is in play, do I get to remove the damage counters from one of my Benched Pokemon and just discard them?
A. No! You can’t move damage counters at all while Watchful Eye is active! They stay where they are. This is different than Battle Cage which only protects the target.

== PLEASING PRESENT (Delibird – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. When I use Delibird’s “Pleasing Present” attack, my opponent must go first to make a choice of which Basic Energy cards to attach or to attach none at all, right?
A. Yes. Make sure your opponent has executed this choice, then execute your choice. However, if there is some effect that is triggered by the energy attachment, like placing damage counters, note that these Basic Energy cards are all placed at the same time from the game’s perspective. You don’t resolve the effects of your opponent placing energy cards before you place yours.

Q. If I use Delibird’s “Pleasing Present” attack, what happens if my opponent chooses to attach energy to their Skeledirge with “Unaware” ability?
A. Because Skeledirge’s Unaware “prevents all effects of attacks used by your opponent’s Pokemon done to this Pokemon” the energy cards are discarded, after they execute their choice.

== RUMBLING BEES (Beedrill ex – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. Does Beedrill ex’s “Rumbling Bees” attack include any Beedrill V I have in play?
A. No, Rumbling Bees only counts Beedrill and Beedrill ex, so it wouldn’t count things like Beedrill V.

== SHOOT THROUGH (Keldeo – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. If I use Keldeo’s “Shoot Through” attack with a Tool attached while my opponent has Garbodor with the “Gloomy Garbage” Ability in play, do I still do 20 damage to a Benched Pokemon?
A. No. Gloomy Garbage will also reduce 20 from damage done to Benched Pokemon as well.

== SMASH TURN (Skuntank – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. My opponent uses Skuntank’s “Smash Turn” attack against my Darkness-weak Active Pokemon and switches out to the Bench. If I have Adversity Policy attached, do I still get to draw 3 cards?
A. Yes, even if the Attacking Pokemon switches to the Bench or leaves play, you would still draw 3 cards for Adversity Policy.

== SNAP INSPECTION (Watchog – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. If I use Watchog’s “Snap Inspection attack” and flip 3 heads, can I just put only one or two cards (or no cards) from their hand back into their deck?
A. You have to do as much as you can. If they have three cards, you have to put all three back into their deck.

== TARGET TOGETHER (Tauros – ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. If I use Tauros’ “Target Together” and I have a damaged Paldean Tauros on my Bench, do I get to flip a coin for that as well?
A. Yes. It has “Tauros” in its name, so it counts.

TRAINER CARDS

== ADVERSITY POLICY (ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. My opponent uses Skuntank’s “Smash Turn” attack against my Darkness-weak Active Pokemon and switches out to the Bench. If I have Adversity Policy attached, do I still get to draw 3 cards?
A. Yes, even if the Attacking Pokemon switches to the Bench or leaves play, you would still draw 3 cards for Adversity Policy.

Q. If my Grass-weak Pokemon has Adversity Policy attached and is attacked twice by a Dipplin with the “Festival Lead” Ability and Festival Grounds is in play, would I draw 3 cards or 6 cards in total?
A. Festival Lead allows Dipplin to attack twice, so you would draw 3 cards for each attack or 6 in total.

Q. If I only have 2 cards left in my deck and my Pokemon’s Adversity Policy Tool is activated from an attack, do I still draw since I can’t draw 3 cards?
A. Yes, you do as much as you can. And unless you immediately get cards back into your deck somehow, you will lose at the start of your turn because you can’t draw a card to start your turn.

== EMMA (ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. If I play Emma and find a Fossil Item card in my opponent’s hand, do I get to draw a card for that?
A. No, Fossil cards are not considered a Pokemon while in the hand.

== PRISM TOWER (ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. Can I use Prism Tower if I don’t have any cards in my deck?
A. No, you cannot simply discard 2 cards for no effect.

Q. Can I use Prism Tower if I only have one card in my hand?
A. No, you cannot.  You must be able to discard 2 cards in order to use Prism Tower’s effect.

== ROXIE’S PERFORMANCE (ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. If I play Roxie’s Performance on my turn and then my opponent plays a new Darkness Pokemon to their bench and uses Pecharunt ex’s “Subjugating Chains” Ability to move it into the Active Spot (and Poisons it), can that Pokemon retreat since it wasn’t in play when Roxie’s Performance was played?
A. No, it cannot retreat. Roxie’s Performance says “new” Pokemon are also affected.

== SPECIAL RED CARD (ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. Can I play Special Red Card if my opponent has no cards in their hand?
A. If your opponent has no cards in their hand, you can’t play Special Red Card.

== TRANSFORMATION TOME (ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. What happens if I play just one Transformation Tome?
A. You can’t. It has to be two of them at the same time, or you cannot play it at all.

Q. If I have a heavily damaged Basic Pokemon ex in play, can I use two Transformation Tomes to switch it with a regular one-prize Basic Pokemon from my discard pile?
A. Yes, and if the new Basic Pokemon has less HP than the amount of damage counters it is immediately KO’d and will give only one prize to your opponent.

ENERGY CARDS

== NITRO {R} ENERGY (ME:Chaos Rising)

Q. If Mega Emboar ex uses its “Crimson Blast” attack and does enough damage to KO itself, would its attached Nitro {R} Energy go back into the hand?
A. No, Nitro {R} Energy only goes back into the hand when it is discarded as part of an attack, not when it gets discarded due to being KO’d.