Rule Box (TCG)

Empoleon V has a Rule Box and references Rule Boxes in its text.

A Rule Box (Japanese: ルール Rule) is a box featured on certain Pokémon cards that is labeled a "rule" and contains an addtional rule that applies to that Pokémon card. The term and its mechanical relevance were introduced in Battle Styles, but Rule Boxes first appear on Pokémon-EX in Next Destinies.

A Rule Box indicates a special property of the Pokémon. These are not effects. Rule Boxes can be loosely grouped into one of four categories:

• Most Rule Boxes increase the number of Prize cards the opponent takes when the Pokémon is Knocked Out, as a trade-off for the higher power level of the card. Most of these make the opponent take two Prize cards rather than just one as normal, as seen with the Pokémon-EX rule, Pokémon-GX rule, V rule, VSTAR rule, and the Pokémon ex rule. Some of these increase the number of Prize cards taken to three, as with the TAG TEAM rule, the VMAX rule, and the V-UNION rule.
• Other Rule Boxes instead restrict the number of the card that can be in the same deck. The (Prism Star) rule is one such case, only allowing a player to have one copy of a Prism Star card in their deck and additionally sending the card to the Lost Zone if it would go to the discard pile. The Radiant Pokémon rule is slightly different, only allowing a player to put one Radiant Pokémon in their deck in total. This makes every Radiant Pokémon mutually exclusive to each other.
• The Mega Evolution rule and the Primal Reversion rule cause the turn to end when a Mega Evolution Pokémon or a Primal Reversion Pokémon evolve from another Pokémon.
• The BREAK Evolution rule is what allows Pokémon BREAK to have the attacks, Abilities, Weakness, Resistance, and Retreat cost of their previous evolution.

Effects care about if certain Pokémon have Rule Boxes. Usually they exclude Pokémon with Rule Boxes from positive effects and include Pokémon with Rule Boxes in negative effects. Exclusion examples include Pot Helmet, which reduces the damage a Pokémon that it is attached to takes from attacks by 30 as long as the Pokémon does not have a Rule Box, and Gloria, which searches the deck for three Basic Pokémon without Rule Boxes and puts them onto the Bench. An example of inclusion is Path to the Peak removing the Abilities of Pokémon with Rule Boxes. This pattern does not always hold true. For example, Empoleon V also removes Abilities from Pokémon, but only from Basic Pokémon without a Rule Box. In some cases, use of the term Rule Box replaces templating that used to name specfic mechanics. For instance, the older card Brigette has a similar effect to Gloria except that excludes Pokémon-EX from its triple search option and instead has a second option that searches for a single Pokémon-EX.

Position

With the (Prism Star) rule, there's no space for Latias to have Pokédex information, so it doesn't.

On most cards that have a Rule Box, the Rule Box is positioned in one of two places: In the bottom right corner of the card where the Pokédex entry is normally located, or just below the art of the card where the Pokédex number, category, height, and weight are located. If a Rule Box takes up one of these spaces, the card will not have the Pokédex entry or Pokédex information that would go in that space. (Many cards exclude Pokédex information even if they do not have a Rule Box taking up that space, because the art is either popping out of the art box, extended over the area of the card, or because the card is a Full Art card. These practices take up the Pokédex information space.) This has gameplay ramifications because some cards refer to a card's given height. Such cards cannot be used with cards that do not have a listed height due to a Rule Box.

Exclusion

Nidoqueen has a Ancient Trait, but Ancient Traits are not labelled "rule" so it is not a Rule Box. It also doesn't have Pokédex information, but because of the artwork instead of due to a Rule Box.

Cleffa has what is officially known as the "Baby Pokémon rule", but it is not templated as a box labelled "rule", so it is not a Rule Box.

There are other cases where Pokémon cards have additional rules on them that are separated from the main card text in a graphical manner. These are not Rule Boxes. For example, Ancient Traits and the "How to play a Pokémon V-UNION" section on Pokémon V-UNION are not Rule Boxes. As a result, no cards released before Black & White have Rule Boxes.

Non-Pokémon cards

Potion and other Trainer cards are described as having a Trainer Rule specifying how their subtype functions in their lower right corner, but this isn't a Rule Box.

Lusamine has the (Prism Star) rule, but every card thus far only considers "Pokémon with a Rule Box".

While Prism Star Trainer cards and Energy cards have the Prism Star rule printed on them, only Pokémon cards have ever been described as having Rule Boxes. In fact, the rules provided for the Gym Leader Challenge format by the Alternative Play Handbook only mention Pokémon cards as not being allowed for use in the format due to having a Rule Box, with no equivalent sentence for Trainer cards and Energy cards.

Gym Leader Challenge legality

The rules for the Gym Leader Challenge format, an unofficial format created by community members, exclude cards with Rule Boxes from the format. In some ways, the definition of what is and is not a Rule Box is different regarding this format compared to the official rules.

• Prism Star Trainer and Energy cards are considered to have a Rule Box for the purposes of card legality, despite not normally being grouped as having a Rule Box.
• Pokémon with Ancient Traits were not allowed in the Gym Leader Challenge format until November 16, 2021.

Cards with Rule Boxes

M Lucario-EX is a Mega Evolution Pokémon, so it has a Rule Box for the Pokémon-EX rule and a Rule Box for the Mega Evolution rule.

Rule Boxes are found on the following cards. Accompanying each entry is the associated rule or rules.

• Pokémon-EX
  • Pokémon-EX rule: When a Pokémon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
    • Displaces the Pokédex entry
• Mega Evolution Pokémon
  • Pokémon-EX rule: When a Pokémon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
    • Displaces the Pokédex entry
  • Mega Evolution rule: When 1 of your Pokémon becomes a Mega Evolution Pokémon, your turn ends.
    • Displaces Pokédex information
• Primal Reversion Pokémon
  • Pokémon-EX rule: When a Pokémon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
    • Displaces the Pokédex entry
  • Primal Reversion rule: When 1 of your Pokémon becomes [Name of Pokémon], your turn ends.
    • Displaces Pokédex information
• Pokémon BREAK
  • BREAK Evolution rule: [Name of Pokémon] retains the attacks, Abilities, Weakness, Resistance, and Retreat Cost of its previous Evolution.
• Pokémon-GX
  • Pokémon-GX rule: When your Pokémon-GX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
    • Displaces the Pokédex entry
• TAG TEAM Pokémon-GX
  • TAG TEAM rule: When your TAG TEAM is knocked out, your opponent takes 3 Prize Cards.
    • Displaces the Pokédex entry
• Prism Star
  • (Prism Star) rule: You can’t have more than 1 card with the same name in your deck. If a card would go to the discard pile, put it in the Lost Zone instead.
    • Displaces Pokédex information
• Pokémon V
  • V rule: When your Pokémon V is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
    • Displaces the Pokédex entry
• Pokémon VMAX
  • VMAX rule: When your Pokémon VMAX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards.
    • Displaces the Pokédex entry
• Pokémon V-UNION
  • V-UNION rule: When your Pokémon V-UNION is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards.
    • Displaces the Pokédex entry
    • Since Pokémon V-UNION cannot have characteristics aside from name, card type, and type referenced while not in play, Pokémon V-UNION do not have a Rule Box while not in play.
• Pokémon VSTAR
  • VSTAR rule: When your Pokémon VSTAR is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
    • Displaces the Pokédex entry
• Radiant Pokémon
  • Radiant Pokémon rule: You can’t have more than 1 Radiant Pokémon in your deck.
    • Displaces Pokédex information
• Pokémon ex
  • Pokémon ex rule: When your Pokémon ex is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
    • Displaces the Pokédex entry

In other languages

Language Title Japanese ルール Rule Chinese Cantonese 規則 Kwaidzak Mandarin 规则 Guīzé French Encadré Règle German Regelfeld Indonesian Peraturan Italian Regola speciale Korean 룰 Rule Spanish Recuadro de regla

References

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