How to Win the Pokémon TCG

What are the three ways to win in the Pokémon TCG?

A player can also concede at any time. Most games end on Prize cards, because a deck is built to Knock Out Pokémon and each Knock Out moves you toward six. The other two come up when one player's setup goes badly or a deck is built to make them happen.

How Prize cards work

After both players set up their Active and Benched Pokémon, each puts the top six cards of their deck aside face down without looking. Those are your Prize cards. When you Knock Out one of your opponent's Pokémon, you take Prize cards into your hand, and the first player to take their last one wins.

Prize cards do two jobs. They are the score, counting down from six, and they are cards: each one goes into your hand and can be played. They also hide six cards from your deck for most of the game, so the second copy of a card you need is sometimes the one sitting in your Prize cards. How to keep track of Prize cards →

How many Prize cards is a Knock Out worth?

It depends on the Knocked Out Pokémon's rule box. A Pokémon with no rule box is worth one. A rule box raises it, and the number is printed in the box.

Ralts

Mega Evolution #58

No rule box: 1 Prize card.

Dragapult ex

Twilight Masquerade #130

Pokémon ex: 2 Prize cards.

Mega Gardevoir ex

Mega Evolution #60

Mega Evolution ex: 3 Prize cards.

Older cards still legal in Expanded carry their own numbers: most Pokémon V give up two and Pokémon VMAX three. Some card effects change the count too, so when it matters, read the rule box and any effect in play. What makes a Pokémon ex →

Winning when your opponent has no Pokémon left

You win if your opponent has no Pokémon in play. In practice that means their Active Pokémon is Knocked Out and they have nothing on their Bench to replace it. It happens most often early, when one player starts with a single Basic Pokémon and cannot bench a second before it is Knocked Out.

The defense is simple: keep at least one Pokémon on your Bench. Decks run Items such as Buddy-Buddy Poffin, which puts up to two Basic Pokémon with 70 HP or less from your deck onto your Bench, partly so a slow opening hand can still fill the Bench on turn one.

Winning by deck out

You lose if your deck is empty when you have to draw at the start of your turn. Only that draw counts: if a card tells you to draw more cards than you have, you draw what is left and keep playing. A 60-card deck rarely runs out by accident, but draw-heavy turns add up, so count your deck in a long game. A few decks are built to win this way, by making the opponent discard or draw their deck away.

What happens if both players win at once?

Both players can meet a win condition at the same moment. The usual case is a Knock Out that takes your last Prize card and also leaves your opponent with no Pokémon, while a Knock Out on your side does the same to you. The rulebook settles it in two steps.

1. If you meet two win conditions and your opponent meets only one, you win.
2. Otherwise, play Sudden Death: a new game, set up as usual with a new coin flip, but with one Prize card each instead of six. Its winner wins the game. If Sudden Death also ends in a tie, play another.

Those are the rulebook's rules for a casual game. At a tournament, Play! Pokémon's tournament rules decide time limits, ties at time and match length, and many events play best-of-three matches.

Planning your six Prize cards

Players call the path to six Prize cards a "Prize map": which of the opponent's Pokémon you will Knock Out, and in what order, to reach exactly six. Three Pokémon ex Knock Outs is six. So is one Mega Evolution ex plus one ex plus one Pokémon with no rule box. Counting this way tells you which target matters this turn, and why a single Knock Out on a Pokémon with no rule box can still be the right attack.

Your opponent is counting your side the same way. A Bench full of Pokémon ex gives them more two-Prize targets, and a card that pulls a Benched Pokémon into the Active Spot, such as the Supporter Boss's Orders, lets them pick which one. That is why decks mix single-Prize Pokémon in with their ex, and why the player behind on Prize cards is not always the one losing.

Boss's Orders

Mega Evolution #114

Brings a Benched Pokémon into the Active Spot to be attacked.

Frequently Asked Questions