Ruling Primal Groudon "Barrier" and Escape Rope.

DevinTheWelf

A Mach Punch User
Member
The two cards in question:
http://pokebeach.com/media/Primal-Groudon-EX-Primal-Clash-86.jpg <-- Primal Groudon EX
http://pokebeach.com/media/Escape-Rope-Primal-Clash-127.jpg <-- Escape Rope


Alright, my question is how Escape Rope affects Primal Groudon's "Barrier" trait. I've played this deck on PTCGO and the way to works is if Primal Groudon EX is on the bench, he won't be able to get switched up by the Escape Rope (so say he's the only one on the bench, my active stays where it is), but I've heard this is the wrong ruling. What some people say is that Primal Groudon EX would be switched up, because Escape Rope targets the active or something. So if Primal Groudon EX was in the active, and my foe plays Escape Rope, he'd pretty much just be playing Switch.

Can one of you guys clear this up for me? I know PTCGO has had a lot of bugs, but to me it seems weird they'd screw up a mechanic that's used quiet a bit.
 
Escape rope targets the active Pokémon. If escape rope is played and Primal EX is active; it won't affect him and no switching would happen on that side. If Primal Groudon EX is the only Pokémon on the bench and a "normal" Pokémon was in the active spot; escape rope would be valid and the active Pokémon would be switched to the bench and Primal Groudon EX would be he new active Pokémon.
 
Indeed. Based on this ruling, I played an Escape Rope when a Groudon was the only benched, to no effect. I guess that the game feels that, since you're choosing a Pokémon to switch into, it's a way of targetting.

Lesson: never base your rulings questions solely from what you see on simulators. :v
 
This is wrong, escape rope does not target on the active pokemon but on the player who has to replace his active pokemon!
 
Escape rope does target the active. Also, just as an FYI it's typically not the best to resurrect a two year old thread. If you have a question about this start a new one.

FTWPokeDad is/was on the ruling staff so he would know.

If you want to know where he got his information here is the direct quote from the compendium:

Q. If I use Escape Rope but my opponent's Active Pokemon has the "Omega Barrier" Ancient Trait does he or she have to switch it? Or if they have a Pokemon with "Omega Barrier" on the bench can he or she choose that and not switch it to Active?
A. If your opponent has an Active Pokemon with "Omega Barrier", then Escape Rope's effect will be blocked. If a Pokemon with "Omega Barrier" is on the bench, choosing that Pokemon will not stop the effect as the Active was the target of Escape Rope. (Primal Clash FAQ; Feb 5, 2015 TPCi Rules Team)

Link to the compendium with all the rulings like this: http://compendium.pokegym.net/compendium-bw.html
 
Escape rope does target the active. Also, just as an FYI it's typically not the best to resurrect a two year old thread. If you have a question about this start a new one.

FTWPokeDad is/was on the ruling staff so he would know.

If you want to know where he got his information here is the direct quote from the compendium:



Link to the compendium with all the rulings like this: http://compendium.pokegym.net/compendium-bw.html
PLz read card!
text is "Each PLAYER switch his or her Ative Pokemon..."
escape rope target the players!
 
PLz read card!
text is "Each PLAYER switch his or her Ative Pokemon..."
escape rope target the players!
Escape Rope targets both Active Pokemon. The player is the one who actually switches them, but the card essentially pushes the Actives to the Bench.

Similarly, something like Enhanced Hammer also targets the Energy through the Pokemon, which is why Omega Barrier also blocks cards like that.
 
Enhanced Hammer discards special energy links to an opponent's pokemon, Escape Rope commands both players to trade their active pokemon! For escape rope n to work against Omega Barrier would have to have same text from Lysandre "Swich 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokemon with hisher active Pokemon" Giving a direct target to the pokemon and instead targeting the opponent's pokemon
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Terribly wrong. With that way of thinking, every card targets you or your opponent. "(You) Discard", "(You) Place x counters", "(You) do 50 damage you YOUR OPPONENT'S Pokémon". No. That's how the cards works. The card involved in Enhanced Hammer is the Pokémon and the Energy that's being discarded from it. The cards involved in Escape Rope are both Active Pokémon. The card involved in Lysandre is one of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. Period.
 
Please read the compendium. It's a great resource when you have questions on rulings like this, and is the official source that judges at events can use if a question like this was to come up at a tournament. This type of question was answered in the compendium a few years ago, I quoted the exact wording. Not really sure how you can think otherwise when it came directly from the officials.

Also, if you want to boil down the text of Escape Rope and Lysandre, they read like this "Switch [both] Active Pokémon" vs "Switch 1...Benched Pokémon." They sound almost identical. Yes, the wording has two different subjects, one is "Each Player" and the other is an understood "You" to coincide with the magnitude of the effect, but the part of the sentence with the effect wording is almost the same.
 
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