Nitro Fire energy & Charizard's Ability
Charizard has an Ability called "Roaring Resolve" which is "search your deck for up to 2 Fire Energy cards and attach them to this Charizard".
I am wondering why I cant attach Nitro Fire energy to the Charizard when I using its ability. Its Ability doesnt specifically say it needs "basic energy" to attach. So why it forces me only to attach basic fire energy?
Sorry, I cant share the image to you and I dont know why I cant?
Best Answer
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Nitro fire energy:
As long as this card is attached to a Pokémon, it provides fire Energy.
The card is only considered to be a fire energy when it's attached to a Pokemon. When it's in your deck or discard pile, it's not considered to be a specific type of energy, it's just an energy card
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Answers
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That's how it's supposed to work, those are basic game rules.
Cards that specifically say search/attach "Fire Energy" only refer to Basic Energy... since "Nitro Fire Energy" is a Special Energy, that ability can't search for it.
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To be fair, if they are coming from Magic: The Gathering, there's wording that says "Search your deck for a Mountain card and put it into play" and BECAUSE of that wording, you are able to search out a dual land that is Mountain/Plains, Mountain/Island, etc. and put it into play. Then you have cards that tell you to search out a BASIC Mountain/Land card and put it into play, in which case, no special lands can be chosen, just basics. Since the ability doesn't STATE "Basic Fire energy", it could throw new players off since Nitro Fire energy is technically a "Fire Energy", just not a BASIC Fire energy.
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I understand it may be confusing for newer players, but they are actually trying to improve this kind of ambiguity.
That older Charizard card predates the modern text updates that added "Basic" to energy names to eliminate ambiguity (a change implemented by the PCI to clarify card design rules).
Newer cards, like Charizard ex have already been improved by explicitly stating that they search for "Basic Fire Energy" to match the new basic energy text.
Despite lacking the specific word "Basic" on older cards, the official game rules mandate that search effects apply only to Basic Energy unless "Special Energy" (or similar specific text) is explicitly specified.
Another fundamental rule is that the text in the ability searches for the exact card name mentioned. Older cards printed before this change still have outdated text, which creates confusion for players who aren't aware of these basic rules.
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@DoubleCure Technically, there are scenarios where something that searches the deck or discard pile for a specific type of energy can get a special energy. The old darkness and metal energies from when they were a special energy say "this card provides [type] energy", unlike every other special energy card that say "this card provides [type] energy when attached to a Pokemon." The reason you can't search for most special energies by their type is because they don't have that type until they're in play, but the old darkness energy always has its type. Thus you can attach it from discard with Yveltal XY 78 if you're playing unlimited.
The main reason i'm pointing this out is because this is why you can't use noble victories eelektrik in standard despite it being functionally identical to black bolt eelektrik in every possible scenario using the current cards. If, for some reason, an electric energy that is considered an electric energy while in the deck or discard was released, that would cause those cards to have a functional difference.
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That’s an excellent point, and you are correct about that rule too.
My main goal was to give a more global and simplified explanation based on the cards currently available in TCG Live and why that older Charizard behaves the way it does under the current online game... so this rules I mentioned are completely valid.
However, your breakdown adds that specific rule that also applies here indeed... even though those old energies can only be found in those very old sets.
In the end both rules are true... the ones I mentioned are more general rules and the one you added is more specific.
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