Attack (TCG)
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Attacks are the TCG's equivalent to moves. Attacking the opponent is, like in the video games, usually the key strategy to the Trading Card Game. Nearly every card has at least one attack, though not all attacks do damage.
Requirements
The large majority of attacks require a certain number of energy cards to be attached to the Pokémon. The energy cost for each attack is printed to the left of the attack name. The Colorless energy symbol means that any energy card can be used to pay the cost. Some attacks may require additional costs, such as discarding a card. For example, a fire symbol to the left of an attack means that the attack requires one fire energy. For higher power attacks, more energy cards are usually required. If an attack called Leaf Storm on a Torterra Lv. X Card does 120 damage, it will have a higher energy amount required to be attached to the Torterra Card. It might need, maybe, 3 Grass Energy Cards and 2 Colorless Energy cards. It also may require to discard 2 or 3 energy cards from the Torterra or even a cost of recoil damage to Torterra's HP. This is reflected in a Rattata Level 15 card that has an attack called Tackle that does 20 damage. This attack may only require 1 colorless energy and depending on the card, may not require a special type of energy card at all.
Name and description
To the right of the energy cost is the name of the attack. Most of the time, a description will follow below, detailing the effects of the move. If there is no description, the attack will just deal direct damage without any side effects.
Damage
To the right of the name and the description, there is a number, usually divisible by ten. This is the damage that the attack does.
Various symbols next to the number indicate whether the damage will vary.
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| + | Indicates an increase in damage, under certain conditions |
| - | Indicates a decrease in damage, under certain conditions |
| × | Indicates the value will be multiplied, based on conditions |
| ? | The amount of damage depends entirely on conditions (e.g. opponent's HP) |
Sometimes, there may be no number at all. This indicates that the attack deals no damage to the opposing Pokémon. Again, one should refer to the description of the attack.
