The Prize Trade: How Pokémon TCG Games Are Really Won

New players count damage. Strong players count Prize cards. The game ends when someone takes their sixth Prize card, and the number of Knock Outs it takes to get there depends on which Pokémon you knock out. That simple fact is called the Prize trade, and it shapes almost every decision past the first few turns.

How many Prize cards a Knock Out gives

The current rules:

• Most Pokémon: 1 Prize card.
• Pokémon ex: 2 Prize cards.
• Mega Evolution Pokémon ex: 3 Prize cards.

So six Prize cards can take six Knock Outs, or three, or two. A player facing a deck of Pokémon ex needs only three Knock Outs to win. A player facing two Mega Evolution Pokémon ex might need just two.

Count the Knock Outs, not the Prizes

The useful number is not “how many Prize cards are left.” It is “how many Knock Outs do I still need?” Work it out from what your opponent has in play and can bring out.

An example. You have 4 Prize cards left. Your opponent’s board is a Pokémon ex and three single-Prize Pokémon. Knocking out the ex and one other Pokémon gets you there: two Knock Outs. If you only take single-Prize Knock Outs, you need four.

Now do the same count for your opponent, looking at your own board. If you need two and they need three, you are ahead, even if you have more Prize cards left.

A good trade and a bad trade

A trade is good when the Pokémon you lose gives up fewer Prize cards than the one you knock out, or when it takes them more turns to answer.

• Good: your single-Prize attacker knocks out their Pokémon ex. You gained 2 Prize cards; when they knock out your attacker, they gain 1.
• Bad: your Mega Evolution Pokémon ex is knocked out by a single-Prize attacker. They gain 3; your answer, if it is another single-Prize Pokémon, gains 1.

This is why decks of Pokémon ex need to hit hard: they have to win their trades by taking a Knock Out every turn, because each of their own Knock Outs costs them so much.

Two-hit Knock Outs and the damage you leave behind

Not every attack knocks out. When a Pokémon has 220 HP and your attack does 130, you need two hits. That changes the trade: your opponent gets a turn to retreat the damaged Pokémon, heal it, or knock out your attacker first.

Two habits help:

• Look for the one-hit Knock Out first. It denies your opponent any answer.
• Spread your effort with a plan. Damage left on a Benched Pokémon can set up a later Knock Out, but only if your deck can actually finish it.

What to leave in the Active Spot

Your Active Pokémon is the one that gets hit. When you cannot win this exchange, you can still choose what it costs you.

• Leave a single-Prize Pokémon Active when your opponent is about to take a big Knock Out, and keep your Pokémon ex safe on the Bench until it can attack.
• Do not power up the Pokémon that will be knocked out next turn, unless the Energy makes it attack before that.
• Watch Bench-pulling cards. Some cards let your opponent bring one of your Benched Pokémon into the Active Spot. A powered-up ex on your Bench is never fully safe.

Giving up a Prize on purpose

Sometimes the best play is to let a small Pokémon be knocked out. If your opponent’s attack is huge and your Active Pokémon is a 1-Prize Pokémon that has done its job, there is no need to spend Energy retreating it. Let it go, take your next turn with a fresh attacker, and keep your ex for the turn it wins a trade.

The end of the race

The last two Prize cards change everything. With 2 Prize cards left, a single Knock Out of any Pokémon ex wins. With 3 left, one Mega Evolution Pokémon ex does it. Late in a game, look at your opponent’s Bench and ask: is there a Pokémon worth exactly what I need?