Resources - JustInBasil's Pokémon TCG Resources

Black Bolt & White Flare Eternal Format Ban List Update

JustInBasil.com — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 11:30:00 +0000

The following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are now banned in the Eternal format, effectively immediately.

Eevee SSP 143, Boosted Evolution Eevee, seems innocent enough on the surface. However, in conjunction with a handful of Eeveelutions from the Platinum—Rising Rivals expansion and cards like Po Town, it’s possible to activate a handful of comeback cards, like Iono, Counter Gain and Counter Energy, on turn one.

Not only does this make it fairly easy to use exceptionally powerful attacks like Moonlight Shuriken or Angelite on the Eevee player’s first turn, it also enables early game hand control strategies similar to that of the infamous Amulet Lock, which doesn’t make for engaging gameplay.

Because other, less problematic, yet still powerful Eevee exist in the the cardpool, the loss of this particular Eevee is not much of a loss to the format as a whole.

Giovanni G2 18 is also innocent at first glace. However, when combined with any of a handful of cards like Thorton, it creates situations where it is possible to loop evolution and devolution to abuse effects like that of Giant Fan on Shiftry NXD 72.

To avoid situations like the example that ultimately devolve into watching your opponent play a game of solitaire, Giovanni is now banned in the Eternal format.

Iron Valiant ex PAR 89 has been a primary instigator in a handful of donk strategies in the Eternal format. Because it so easily combines with the very high quantity of cards with switching effects and attacks that allow Pokémon to attack on the first turn going first, Iron Valiant has been on the format’s red list since it was first printed in Paradox Rift.

Now, to ensure the format doesn’t devolve into a turn one donkfest, Iron Valiant ex now moves from the Eternal format’s red list to its official ban list.

Meloetta ex BLK 44 is perhaps the most obvious addition to this list. Its Live Debut Ability is strong, but reasonable in the Standard format.

However, when coupled with the large variety of Technical Machine cards—both of the Tool and non-Tool variety—Meloetta ex has access to a wide (and widening) pool of available options available to it before the opponent even gets a chance to have a turn. This makes this a far more formidable threat than even Latios-EX and Pheromosa-GX before it, earning it a quick spot on the format’s ban list.

Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX BST 88 has proved itself especially potent in the Eternal format meta, being a Pokémon that, in terms of consistency and deck building space, is functionally a Stage 1, with a number of partners and tools like Garbotoxin Garbodor, Cessation Crystal, and Lost City, to make any Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX deck that could eventually get setup impossible to counter for any deck not solely focused on big basics. Similar to its former partner-in-crime Dragapult ex, this card—and, by extension—deck has forced the meta to warp around it.

Multiple attempts at reining in this deck’s power level—including the banning of Green’s Exploration—have proved to be insufficient and unsuccessful. This card was originally scheduled to be banned alongside Dragapult ex in the Surging Sparks ban list update, but after a brief stay of execution, now joins its dragon friend on the list. Especially now that similar but fairer decks exist in the format in the forms of Greninja ex and Salamence ex, it’s time for this card to say sayonara.

Additionally, the following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are unbanned from the Eternal format, also effective immediately.

Meganium LOT 8

Meganium LOT 8 now, and finally, finds itself removed from the ban list. Meganium’s problematic partners have proved themselves to have been sufficiently weakened by the banning of Green’s Exploration, making it a prime time for Meganium to return to the Eternal format.

This unbanning, though not at linked to the upcoming release of Pokémon Legends: ZA (in which Chikorita happens to be an option as a First Partner Pokémon), is a happy cooincidence that just happens to give us more Meganium in our lives.

Destined Rivals Eternal Format Ban List Update

JustInBasil.com — Thu, 15 May 2025 11:30:00 +0000

No changes have been made to the ban list for the Eternal format for the set release of Destined Rivals. As always, cards will continue to be observed to identify problematic interactions that may cause a degradation in the gameplay experience for the Eternal format.

Journey Together Eternal Format Ban List Update

JustInBasil.com — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 12:30:00 +0000

No changes have been made to the ban list for the Eternal format for the set release of Journey Together. As always, cards will continue to be observed to identify problematic interactions that may cause a degradation in the gameplay experience for the Eternal format.

Prismatic Evolutions Eternal Format Ban List Update

JustInBasil.com — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 13:30:00 +0000

The following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are now banned in the Eternal format, effectively immediately.

Area Zero Underdepths. Simply by targeting your own solitary Tera Pokémon in play, this card can be used in conjunction with a few other cards to create infinite and pseudo-infinite loops in the game, like using, discarding, and then reusing Giratina LOT 97’s in a loop to eliminate your opponent’s bench with very little counterplay.

Because a similar and less-exploitable card exists in the form of Sky Field, this card is not much of a loss to the format anyway.

Celebi P2 17. This card was exploitable in the same way as the card Puzzle of Time, a card already banned in both the Eternal and Expanded formats. It made it possible for decks that ran the card to be able to use and reuse extremely powerful cards with no real expense or tradeoff. For example, a player using this card in a Tsareena V deck could use and then easily reuse Prime Catcher six or more times over the course of a single game.

Thus, for the same reasons as Puzzle of Time, Celebi P2 17 has now joined the Eternal format ban list.

Dragonair SUM 95. Because Dragonair made it possible to attach any sort of Energy to your Pokémon on your following turn, Dragonair SUM 95 was part of an OTK deck that abused a variety of Holon’s Pokémon like Holon’s Magneton and Holon’s Electrode to constantly reattach a Basic Energy and then bounce it with one of the Holon’s Pokémon to have a very large quantity of “rainbow” Energy to execute any high demand combo, like that of Togepi & Cleffa & Igglybuff-GX’s Supreme Puff-GX, before the opponent has a chance to engage in any meaningful degree of counterplay.

Further, because of its combination with the Energy-bouncing effect of Holon’s Pokémon, this Pokémon is also exploitable in the same way as the banned combination of Shuckle HGSS15 and Espeon AQ 11. The player plays a drawing Energy card like Speed Lightning Energy, Draw Energy, or Enriching Energy, draws cards from their deck, bounces that Energy back to their hand with the effect of the Holon’s Pokémon’s attachment, and then once again reattaches the Energy with the card-drawing effect start the same cycle anew, drawing again and again until the Dragonair player has as much of their deck as they need to complete their combo.

A Change to Time Rules for the Eternal Format
If, after time has been called in a round, a judge notes that a player’s turn is taking an excessive amount of time (five or more minutes) to complete a turn, the judge may initiate the Countdown Rule, which is this:

The judge begins a timer immediately for the current player and then for each player’s turn as soon as that player draws a card. Players will have five minutes to complete their turns before their turn ends and the turn automatically passes to their opponent.

This new rule is being made available to judges of the Eternal format to break cycles of excessively lengthy strings of actions that could prevent an Eternal format tournament from advancing to the next round in a timely manner.

Surging Sparks Eternal Format Ban List Update

JustInBasil.com — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 12:30:00 +0000

The following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are now banned in the Eternal format, effectively immediately.

Dragapult ex TWM 130
This card has caused the entire format to warp around it. While it was initially believed that this card was just “especially strong” and that it had adequate counters in the format, the truth has proved to be the opposite: Dragapult ex’s true only counter in the Eternal format is itself. Other bans were considered in this card’s place—including Double Dragon Energy. However, Stellar Crown introduced Sparkling Crystal and Crispin, both cards that also facilitate the nightmares this card is adept at creating.

To finally let the format breathe, this card is now banned in the Eternal format.

Green's Exploration UNB 175
Green’s Exploration is an extremely fun card and was fairly balanced during its heyday in the Standard format. In the Expanded format, decks often find that it’s just too slow to be useful in a super turbo meta. However, flexibility offered by Pokémon Powers, including Poké-Bodies and Poké-Powers, meant that even decks that wanted to lean into the “turbo” side of the format could take advantage of Green’s Exploration.

After the banning of PokéDrawer + back in November 2022, it appeared that it would be safe for Green’s Exploration to return to the format—and, such initially appeared to be the case. However, as the format has developed, it’s become clear that the strength of Pokémon Powers (Powers, Bodies) entirely takes away what is intended to be Green’s downside. The result is that Green's is too exploitable if you just use older cards with the same effect as an Ability, and stall, mill, and control decks in particular benefit excessively from such a card.

As such, Green’s Exploration is now returning to the ban list for the Eternal Format: a place is it now unlikely to ever leave again.

Magneton SSP 59
This card joins a host of other cards like it that give up Prize cards in exchange for some specific advantage. Like Mismagius from Unbroken Bonds before it—and a whole host of various Electrode—Magneton joins the ban list to prevent it being exploited: the combination of extremely potent Energy acceleration and forcing your opponent to take a Prize card is simply too easily exploitable in a format with this degree of consistency.

Naganadel-GX FLI 56
This card can be used in a handful of combinations that create unpreventable checkmate situations. To break this unstoppable combination, Naganadel-GX FLI 56 itself had to be added to the ban list: Stinger-GX was the culprit here.

Smeargle N2 11
Like Clefairy and Clefable before it, this card’s mistranslation without an errata has landed it on the ban list. Unfortunately, the wording “except for its Energy costs and anything else required to use that attack” does not properly convey the intended use of the Sketch attack and does so in ways that can break the game.

Tatsugiri ex SSP 142
A turn 1 Cinnabar Lure seems like an improbable situation until you combine the Eternal format’s consistency with Double Dragon Energy and acceleration cards like Max Elixir or Crispin. This, combined with the large variety of deck manipulation cards available in the format meant that Tatsugiri ex could bring out oppressive Pokémon on the first turn of the game if its player goes second.

While effects like these are incredibly cool, they unfortunately tend to be a bit much for the format.

Walrein CEC 52
The wording of this card's Cold Snap attack is intended to create a game state check that prevents the Trainer lock effect from being spammed turn after turn. However, card-copying effects like that on Alakazam Star and Slowking SCR mean that it is not Cold Snap that these Pokémon used, but Skill Copy and Seek Inspiration, respectively. This results in both of these copying Pokémon being able to copy that effect turn after turn, spamming Trainer lock in a way that was not intended to be possible.

Because of the potency of full Trainer lock and the inability of the game’s logic to check for (the effect of) Cold Snap having been used after being copied, this card had to be hit to avoid games devolving into who can get Walrein’s Cold Snap attack copied first.

Additionally, the following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are unbanned from the Eternal format, also effective immediately.

Stellar Crown Eternal Format Ban List Update

JustInBasil.com — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 12:30:00 +0000

The following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are now banned in the Eternal format, effectively immediately. Unreleased cards are represented by their justinbasil.com proxy image.

Additionally, the following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are unbanned from the Eternal format, also effective immediately.

Goop Gas Attack BS 78

Shrouded Fable Alternate Formats Ban List Update: All Other Formats

JustInBasil.com — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 13:15:00 +0000

In addition to the ban list updates affecting the 345 format, the Eternal format, and the Aceless format, various other alternate formats have been impacted by ban list changes.

In the Dream, Pauper, Quick Draw, Type Focus, and Alola Formats

The following card is no longer banned in the listed formats:

Dusk Stone UNB 167

In the Dream, Quick Draw, and Type Focus Formats

The following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are now banned in their respective formats, effectively immediately. Unreleased cards are represented by their justinbasil.com proxy image.

In the Alola Format

The following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are now banned in the Alola format, effectively immediately.

In the Pauper Format

The following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are now banned in the Pauper format, effectively immediately. Unreleased cards are represented by their justinbasil.com proxy image.

Dusclops SFA 19

Shrouded Fable Aceless Format Ban List Update

JustInBasil.com — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 13:00:00 +0000

The following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are now banned in the Aceless format, effectively immediately. Unreleased cards are represented by their justinbasil.com proxy image.

Shrouded Fable 345 Format Ban List & Format Update

JustInBasil.com — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 12:45:00 +0000

The following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are now banned in the 345 format, effectively immediately. Unreleased cards are represented by their justinbasil.com proxy image.

Additionally, the following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are unbanned from the 345 format, also effective immediately. These cards were previously placed on the ban list due to the hidden ‘multiplier’ rule. That rule has now been discarded and is no longer factored into decisions regarding the banning of cards in the format.

Shrouded Fable Eternal Format Ban List Update

JustInBasil.com — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 12:30:00 +0000

The following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are now banned in the Eternal format, effectively immediately. Unreleased cards are represented by their justinbasil.com proxy image.

Additionally, the following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are unbanned from the Eternal format, also effective immediately.

Alternate Formats Hall of Fame Updated 12 July 2024's Eternal Format Tournament

JustInBasil.com — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 01:12:51 +0000

The Alternate Format Hall of Fame page has been updated with the results of the 12 July 2024 Eternal format tournament.

The tournament's results were as follows:

Kaleidophoenix - Luxray ex
PianoLegPete - Palafin ex
BirdNerdTCG - Dragapult ex
ameliababa - Mismagius / Buzzmosa

Click here to visit the updated Alternate Format Hall of Fame page and join us next month on August 2nd for the next alternate format tournament!

Alternate Formats Hall of Fame Updated Following 14 June 2024's 345 Format Tournament

JustInBasil.com — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 18:05:49 +0000

The Alternate Format Hall of Fame page has been updated with the results of the 14 June 2024 345 format tournament.

The tournament's results were as follows:

jollyboli - United Wings
PianoLegPete - Unown Hand
ThatUnlimitedProfessor - Cloyster
Ketsuban - Castform

Click here to visit the updated Alternate Format Hall of Fame page and join us next month on July 5th for the next alternate format tournament!

Temporal Forces Alternate Format Ban List Update: Aceless Format

JustInBasil.com — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 12:30:00 +0000

Effective 5 April 2024, the following cards, and any alternate printings they may have, are banned in their respective formats.

In the Aceless Format

Brambleghast below is represented by its English-language proxy below as the card does not officially release until March 22nd.

Also of note: Temporal Forces reintroduces ACE SPEC cards into the Standard format. However, ACE SPEC cards are not legal in the Aceless format. It is, after all, Aceless!

345 Goes Wide: New 345 Format's Initial Ban List

JustInBasil.com — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 12:30:00 +0000

As noted previously, beginning with the official rotation of the Standard format on April 5th, 2024, the 345 format will “go wide” and expand its card pool to include cards from sets prior to Sword & Shield—Battle Styles. On that date, the 345 Format will expand to include all rule-conforming cards that released from Sun & Moon base set and later, including Black Star promo cards from the Sun & Moon era and later.

An updated ban list is now available below. This expanded ban list reigns in cards from the Sun & Moon and Sword & Shield eras in the new 345 format. All prints of cards listed below will be banned in the format as of its update.

The ban list prior to the format going wide can be found below, for history’s sake:

Temporal Forces Eternal Format Ban List Update

JustInBasil.com — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 12:30:00 +0000

Effective immediately, the following cards (and any alternate prints they may have) are banned in the Eternal format:

Proxy images are used below for cards that have not yet officially released.

Additionally, the following card is no longer banned in the Eternal format:

Celebi {*} LOT 19

Alternate Formats Hall of Fame Updated Following 2 February 2024's Eternal Format Tournament

JustInBasil.com — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 16:47:08 +0000

The Alternate Format Hall of Fame page has been updated with the results of the 2 February 2024 Eternal format tournament.

The tournament's results were as follows:

Guil - Florges Hand Control
iFly - Blastoise Water Box
PianoLegPete - Porygon Box
Kaleidophoenix - Miraidon ex

Click here to visit the updated Alternate Format Hall of Fame page and join us next month on March 1st for the next alternate format tournament, this time featuring the Post-Rotation Standard format!

Paldean Fates Eternal Format Ban List Update

Jason Kingsford — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 13:30:00 +0000

Effective immediately, the following cards (and any alternate prints they may have) are banned in the Eternal format:

Slowking HS 12 (including Slowking CL 32)
Orbeetle SSH 19

Alternate Formats Hall of Fame Updated Following 5 January's 345 Format Tournament

JustInBasil.com — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 01:49:52 +0000

Illus. Yuya Oka

The Alternate Format Hall of Fame page has been updated with the results of the 5 January 2024 Eternal format tournament.

The tournament's results were as follows:

PianoLegPete - Klawf
Triniray974 - United Wings
JustInBasil - Falinks
Ryan10 - Whiscash Mill

Click here to visit the updated Alternate Format Hall of Fame page and join us next month on November 3rd for the next alternate format tournament, this time featuring the Quick Draw format!

345 Goes Wide: 345 Format to Expand to Sun & Moon Onward, be a Non-Rotating Format

Jason Kingsford — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 12:30:00 +0000

Illus. Hasuno

Beginning with the official rotation of the Standard format on April 5th, 2024, the 345 format will “go wide” and expand its card pool to include cards from sets prior to Sword & Shield—Battle Styles. On that date, the 345 Format will expand to include all rule-conforming cards that released from Sun & Moon base set and later, including Black Star promo cards from the Sun & Moon era and later.

An updated ban list will be published at that time, reigning in cards from that era in the new 345 format. With this change, the 345 format will no longer rotate three months prior to the Standard format’s rotation as it has done in the past. Instead, the 345 format will become a non-rotating format that maintains the same deck building rules it had when the format did rotate, namely:

Any Pokémon included in a 345 format deck must not give up more than 1 Prize card when Knocked Out and the HP printed on the card may not exceed:
- 130 HP, if it is a Basic Pokémon
- 140 HP, if it is a Stage 1 Pokémon
- 150 HP, if it is a Stage 2 Pokémon

Eternal Format Ban List Update: 27 November 2023

JustInBasil.com — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 20:30:00 +0000

In today’s Eternal Monday, I look at the changes to the Eternal format’s ban list. All of the changes are effective immediately and all prints of the relevant cards are affected.

The following cards are no longer banned in the Eternal Format:

The following cards are now banned in the Eternal format: