Competitive Play: What is this “Modified Format?”

Today I was speaking with some Pokémon enthusiasts interested in visiting the League. In the course of this discussion I stumbled into explaining a common nuance of the Pokémon TCG not usually familiar to casual players. I have this conversation regularly enough that I thought making a blog post about it would be more concise than simply repeating the conversation ad infinitum.

So, in essence rather than running a ban list (where individual cards are banned from tournament play due to unforeseen game imbalances the mechanics of the card cause) Pokémon TCG operates a regular rotation where older sets of cards are no longer able to be played in sanctioned tournaments over time. Obviously the motivations behind this are varied and complex, but it's primarily a game design and financial decision. Given the serious issues my brother had that caused him to stop playing the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG due to it's massive ban list, I suspect a regular rotation is a better option.

So, what cards are valid for tournament play?

First of all, basic energy is always playable. You can incorporate basic energy cards from fifteen years ago into your deck, and it's not a problem. Special Energy and Trainer cards that have been reprinted in a set that is in rotation are also legal to play, even if the individual cards are from sets that have rotated out. You might need a rules reference if the card text has changed significantly, but you can use the card.

Whatever sets are currently tournament legal are part of the Modified Format. For play at our League we allow cards from any set going back to the Base set that began the Pokémon TCG, and this is called Unlimited Format. However all sanctioned tournaments and official Organized Play events that we host will operate in Modified Format or, in the case of Prerelease Events, Limited Format (which allows only cards from the Prerelease set.)

There is an excellent, comprehensive list of exactly what cards are in the Modified Format at PokéGym.

So, the current format incorporates cards from Heart Gold Soul Silver (HGSS) and onward. This is regularly abbreviated to “HGSS-On”. That means cards from HGSS, Undaunted, Unleashed, Triumphant, Call of Legends, Black and White, Emerging Powers, Noble Victories, and Next Destinies. It's likely that the next rotation will be announced this year at Worlds, which will mean some of the older sets won't be valid for tournament play, as they will no longer be in the Modified Format. I'll be sure to post when we get that information, but thankfully most of our players began collecting quite recently, and as such they will still retain the competitive use of most of their cards.

So, hopefully that was a succinct look at the Modified Format – questions are be welcomed!