Pokémon TCG: Top 10 Worst Items!

10 - Nemona's Backpack (Scarlet/Violet: Paldean Fates)

This card was released in Scarlet/Violet's second special set, Paldean Fates, and is quite simple: it recycles two Nemona sv4pt5 82 from your discard pile.

However, Nemona sv4pt5 82 is a supporter card that draws only 3 cards from the top of your deck, so Nemona's Backpack sv4pt5 83 is almost insulting to the player, even more in a special set with shiny Pokémon!

As this meta had way stronger cards, this one is just sad.

9 - Ruin Wall (Wizards of the Coast Era: Neo Revelation)

Ruin Wall simply states, "search your deck for a card with Unown in its name and put it onto your Bench".

However, most Unown were never popular in the Pokémon TCG competitive scene, and only a few exceptions were useful as tech cards in a certain deck. To make matters worse, this card was released in the Wizards of the Coast era, when Unown were even worse than in other generations.

8 - Alph Lithograph #TWO (Heart Gold/Soul Silver: Unleashed)

In the HG/SS generation, cards with hieroglyph-inspired artworks were simply incredible.

However, this card, the second card in this batch, is the most useless of all. It states the following:

"Shuffle your deck".

There are so many ways to shuffle your deck with other cards in the game that are more common, like any Supporter. For instance, Pokémon Collector HS 97 e Sage's Training UD 77 also shuffle your deck and were released in the same block as Alph Lithograph UL TWO.

So, this is just another card in your collection, as other cards have this same effect and do something else on top of it.

7 - Turbo Patch & Energy Sticker (Sword/Shield: Darkness Ablaze | Scarlet/Violet: 151)

These cards have the same effect, and thus both rely on a coin toss to get you one energy in your discard pile and let you attach it to one of your Pokémon.

In Turbo Patch DAA 172's case, you can't use it on a Pokémon GX, but you can use it on any basic Pokémon.

And you can only use Energy Sticker sv3pt5 159 on your benched Pokémon.

However, neither of these cards are worth it because they both rely on a coin toss.

6 - Pokémon Catcher (Black/White: Emerging Powers)

When this card was released, in the Black/White era, it was strong as it was a sort of Boss's Orders RCL 154 item, which was really efficient and was often a concern for your opponents.

However, when the Pokémon Company saw how powerful it was, they "nerfed" it with an errata. You now need to toss a coin and hit "heads" to make it work, and thus it lost any power it had. It isn't worth it to rely on luck to use this sort of item.

Here's the original card:

5 - Boxed Order (Scarlet/Violet: Temporal Forces)

Boxed Order simply lets you get two items in your deck and add them to your hand. However, after you use this effect, you'll lose your turn. That's all.

4 - Rotom Bike (Sword/Shield: Champion's Path)

This card had everything to be an incredible card draw tool like Bicycle PLS 117, which draws you extra cards until you have 4.

However, Rotom Bike CPA 63 ends your turn when you use its effect, which draws cards for you until you have 6 in hand. Which is terrible.

3 - Old PC (Sword/Shield: Darkness Ablaze)

The intention behind this card is arguably noble. It is supposed to get any card in your discard pile and add it to your hand.

The problem is, to do that, you need to toss a coin and hit "heads", and, as if that wasn't enough, you need to toss a second coin and hit "heads" as well. Otherwise, you can't use this card.

2 - Old Rod (Wizards of the Coast Era: Neo Revelation)

In our second place, we have this card, which is a coin toss rollercoaster, and you'll need to hit both "heads" and "tails".

> When you get "heads", you get to recycle one Pokémon in your discard pile and add it to your hand (either a baby Pokémon, a basic Pokémon, or an evolution Pokémon).

> When you get "tails", you get to recycle any Trainer from your discard pile into your hand.

But there's one issue: you have to toss two coins to activate these effects and hit the same result on both - this means you're extremely dependent on luck.

1 - Dangerous Laser (Scarlet/Violet: Shrouded Fable)

And, on our first place, once again, we have a bad ACE SPEC card.

This item simply makes the enemy opponent "Burned and Confused", but it isn't worth it to use this card in your deck just for this effect: as it is an ACE SPEC card, you can only have one of them in your deck. Considering other ACE SPEC cards are much better, it is just inefficient to choose this card for your deck when there are much better ones.

I can see this card was supposed to be like Hypnotoxic Laser PLS 123, but, even if it was a common item, it would still be inefficient. Furthermore, there are many other ways to give special statuses to your opponents efficiently, like Butterfree FST 3, for instance, which gives three special statuses to enemy Pokémon with its ability: Poisoned, Confused, and Burned.

Poké Ball (Any Set)

Yes, it might seem unfair to condemn this card. In a certain way, in the early days of the Wizards of the Coast era, it was all we had to look for basic and evolution Pokémon alongside Master Ball G2 116 (before it became an ACE SPEC).

However, nowadays, if we look at all the cards that have been released since then, it is undeniable we have better ways to search Pokémon: Quick Ball FST 237, Ultra Ball SUM 135, Level Ball NXD 89, Great Ball XY 118, Timer Ball SUM 134, Repeat Ball PRC 136, Heavy Ball NXD 88, Battle VIP Pass FST 225, Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144, and many others are just a lot better.

So, this card, as much as it is iconic for the franchise (and will never go away), is unnecessary to most decks, be it in Standard or other formats.

So, which item is the worst in your opinion? Do you know any others that could be on this list? Tell us in our comment section below!

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!