Ruling Metronome / Skill Hack ruling ... and Dialga devolution question

[Black Winged Gengar]

Okay I just checked a couple rulings on the compendium for Clefable DP's Metronome, and I'm a bit confused now. I was wondering what exactly happened when you copied something like Lugia EX or Lati@s*... here's what I got:

Q. If I use "Metronome" and copy Lugia-EX's "Elemental Blast" attack, do I have to discard a Fire, Water and/or Electric energy if I have any of them attached?

A. Yes, when using Metronome in this fashion you do as much of it as you can. So if Clefable-EX only has two Water energy attached, you have to discard one of the Water energy cards (but not both). And if you have a basic Water Energy and a Rainbow Energy attached, you would have to count the Rainbow as one of the other types and discard both cards. (May 4, 2006 PUI Rules Team)

Now, just before that, Shiftry EX's Skill Hack was ruled like this:

Q. If I use Shiftry-EX's "Skill Hack" attack and copy an attack like Salamence-EX's "Hydro Wave" or Steelix-EX's "Mudslide", do I have to have any Water energy or Fighting energy attached to Shiftry-EX or not?

A. Basically when it comes to statements like "discard X Energy", they are considered necessary to use that attack. So for Hydro Wave Shiftry-EX would need to have at least one Water energy to discard, and for Mudslide Shiftry-EX would need to have two Fighting energy to discard. If you can only choose an attack that has requirements and you don't have the correct energy cards attached, then the Skill Hack attack does nothing. (Mar 15, 2007 PUI Rules Team)

Now why is there such a huge difference in rulings for 2 attacks that basically do the same thing? If Shiftry were to copy elemental blast, according to that ruling, it would need a Fire, a Water, and a Lightning, while Clefable wouldn't.


My second questions is a little more simple. If a Dialga devolved a Kingdra EX d, when would the damage happen? Before or after the devolution? In other words, would the Extra Smoke reduce the damage or would it devolve it before it could kick in? It'd be nice to OHKO those 40 HP Horseas, lol.

 

[master1116]

for the Dialga question, you do the damage first then the devolving. i've actually tested a Dialga deck against Kingdra ex d

 

[Mewstor]

I think the Clefable ruling is outdated. All never rulings given by the rulings team state that Shiftry EX has to pay for the Elemental Blasts energy cost (because it's mandatory to even start using the attack). Even rulings teams Bulbasnore stated that there is a problem in the compendium with an earlier ruling on Metronome (and an even bigger problem with Delcattys Energy Draw). Read here http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?t=56868

I say the metronome rule is wrong and out dated and they are going to fix it as soon as possible or give an all new ruling covering both Metronome and Skill Hack. Skill Hack has the never ruling and I go by that.

 

[Black Winged Gengar]

Yeah the reason I checked the Compendium in the first place was because Bulbasnore said that the Metronome ruling was a big thing at Nats. And it's stated on the ruling on the list of Pokemon that use Metronome that Clefable DP is one of them... which is why I thought that both rulings were recent (And so recent that the difference in them confused me).

Anyways Shiftry EX's ruling is 2 Months ahead of Metronome's so yeah I guess I'd go with that