Pokémon TCG - Scoop Up Net Banned in Expanded!

Bringing news about the Expanded format, there will be one more card that will join the ban list: Scoop Up Net RCL 207. I will explain about this and its importance in this format, as well as why it is so strong.

The announcement was made by the Japanese media and from 10/27/2023 the ban will be adopted in the country; and in the West, the announcement was made on 01/11/2024, and will be applied and put into effect on February 9, 2024.

So, let's break down a little about its history and legacy and what we can see from it in the future.

The card made its debut in the Sword & Shield block, in the second base collection, Rebel Clash, where it was very useful at that time precisely with the combination of its use with the evolutionary line of Sobble, one of the Galarian initials.

Predominantly with these two cards, with their Shady Dealings ability, they could search for any Trainer card in the deck - that is, when any Sobble evolved into the Drizzile SSH 56, you were just looking for a Trainer card, and from it when you evolved into Inteleon SSH 58, you could look for two Trainer cards.

You could do this ”looping” resetting the effect of the ability when the Pokémon went to your hand, with the Scoop Up Net RCL 165.

Explanation of the “looping” using the ability with Drizzile and Inteleon

This strategy combination has been used for years, since 2020, when the card came out Scoop Up Net RCL 165, until mid-April 2023, where there was a rotation from Sword/Shield: Base Set to Sword/Shield: Vivid Voltage, due to the global pandemic, which affected physical Pokémon tournaments - leaving collections to last more time in online modes, used on Limitless TCG platforms as official tournaments through the Pokémon TCG Online application until they return with physical tournaments, which was around 2022.

Example decks in Standard format at the time: Sun/Moon Jirachi: Team Up

We cannot also forget that at the time of validity of Sun/Moon cards in the Standard format, there was the Jirachi TEU 99 which was an essential Pokémon for searching for cards at the top of the deck, filtering 5 cards from the top of the deck searching for a Trainer card that it could find, but after that, it remained dormant.

The way to “circumvent” the special condition was with Escape Board UPR 122, which had been rotated before, and that's where the Scoop Up Net RCL 165 as a solution.

Example decks in Standard format: Galarian Zigzagoon + Eternatus-VMax

Another important deck at the beginning of Sword/Shield was the use of Eternatus VMAX DAA 117 with the pure Dark Box, which dealt only 270 damage, putting 8 dark-type Pokémon on the bench, always missing 10 damage to knock out the main decks with Pokémon Tag Team at the time, such as Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX CEC 221 - and that's where the Galarian Zigzagoon SSH 117, which if it was previously in the game and needed to be used again to benefit from its damage counter ability, you just had to return it with the Scoop Up Net RCL 165.

The influence of Scoop Up on Expanded

The controversial Pokémon decision: Shaymin-EX

Right after the launch of the card, there was the players' first epiphany with a very peculiar card: Shaymin-EX ROS 77.

Remembering that Scoop Up Net RCL 165 DOES NOT collect Pokémon GX and V, I emphasize again that the Pokémon EX in the expanded version deviated from this rule, and with that, they could take advantage of this and create some skill “loop” of a specific support Pokémon, which in the case of Shaymin-EX ROS 77.

But besides this problem, we had the use of this ability with the famous One Hit Kill for First Turn deck with Latios-EX ROS 58 It is Pheromosa-GX PR-SM SM66, which in its first versions, used the Shaymin-EX + Scoop Up Net combo with card draw.

After this, the Pokémon Company decided instead of banning the Scoop Up Net RCL 165, ban the Shaymin-EX ROS 77, which made players of this type of deck modify the strategy of drawing quick cards in the same turn, using cards like Acro Bike CES 123, Trekking Shoes ASR 156, Roller Skates XY 125.

Deck search options: Supporter search combo

Remembering again: the Scoop Up Net RCL 165 Pokémon GX and V could not return. And with that, we had in the rotation, one of the best recursive Pokémon at the same time with an attacker function, which was the Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60.

But there was the “father” of this type of strategy: Jirachi-EX PLB 60; players adopted the use of his ability to search for any Supporter from the deck going from their hand to the bench and repeat the process using the Scoop Up Net RCL 165.

Examples of Combos in Expanded

Roserade

Damage spread: Galarian Zigzagoon & Hawlucha

Power Transfer Loop

Opponent Damage and Effect Immunity Loop

Pokémon like Charizard ex sv3 125, which in addition to quickly accelerating his energization power to be able to hit faster is a great example, since if he was close to being knocked out, he would come back with the Scoop Up Net RCL 165, being able to avoid the use of cards such as Acerola BUS 112 or AZ PHF 91.

And thinking further, look at the example of Garchomp ex Terastal, which will come in the expansion Scarlet & Violet: Paradox Rift, which with its first attack, in addition to causing 160 damage, can recharge up to three physical energy from the discard pile to your Benched Pokémon in any way you want. And since he has zero recoil, imagine the situation: if he was about to be knocked out, we could recoil it with Scoop Up Net RCL 165 and prepare it again on another turn, if we have a Gabite ready in play!

I'll stay here, see you next time!