Pokémon Search
Pokémon Search cards—especially those often referred to as Ball Cards or Ball Search because they are often based on some variety of Poké Ball from the video games—are a crucial element in any deck and a core part of a deck’s Setup Engine—the collection of cards included in a deck to bring out the Pokémon and other resources crucial to its strategy.
List of Important Pokémon Search Cards
Items
Level Ball BST 129
Boost Shake EVS 142
Battle VIP Pass FST 225
Feather Ball ASR 141
Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146
Capturing Aroma SIT 153
Nest Ball SVI 181
Poké Ball SVI 185
Ultra Ball SVI 196
Great Ball PAL 183
Supporters
Brawly CRE 131
Adventurer's Discovery FST 224
Chili & Cilan & Cress FST 227
Gloria BRS 141
Irida ASR 147
Arezu LOR 153
Furisode Girl SIT 156
Jacq SVI 175
Stadium Cards
Mesagoza SVI 178
Artazon PAL 171
The single most important Item card in nearly every deck is Nest Ball, but there are a number of especially useful Pokémon search cards, all with different advantages and disadvantages. Most decks will run 8 to 10 in some combination of the Item-Based Search cards listed below. Read through each item card below to become more familiar with them all. Each card has its own strengths and weaknesses—try to tailor the Pokémon search cards you choose for your deck to be the best possible options for your deck. Ensure that the cards you select will help you to easily find your most crucial Pokémon.
Items
Level Ball offers a more flexible search option for decks that primarily or prominently feature Pokémon with relatively low HP. These decks tend to be those centered around those with only single prize attackers—or decks that feature a crucial support Pokémon with comparatively little HP.
Additionally, decks that use draw or setup engines centered around Pokémon with low HP can also make good use of Level Ball.
Decks that include Level Ball tend to include 3-4 copies.
Boost Shake functions as an additional Pokémon search card that forces Pokémon to evolve when they would not otherwise be able to, because of game rules.
Because Boost Shake ends your turn, many decks won’t try to make use of Boost Shake and will instead opt for other search cards, like Evolution Incense. Decks that do use Boost Shake use it primarily to take advantage of disruptive effects on an evolution Pokémon.
Battle VIP Pass is a dead card during most of the game but can be an exceptional Pokémon search card if it can be consistently found and played on a player’s first turn—finding two Basic Pokémon with an Item card can be a huge boon to setting a deck up for its future turns.
Decks that run Battle VIP Pass tend to run 4 copies of the card or 1-2 copies of the card in conjunction with cards that helps to ensure that it can be found on a player’s first turn, like Irida or Arven.
Feather Ball is an Item-based search card that offers an additional out to find Pokémon with no retreat cost (a retreat cost of 0). However, as most decks will have very few valid targets for Feather Ball, the majority of decks would be better served by more general search options like Ultra Ball.
Decks tend not to run Feather Ball.
Hisuian Heavy Ball can be a handy means of fishing out basic Pokémon from your deck that are run at low counts—just one or two copies. This means Hisuian Heavy Ball can find tech Pokémon, a deck’s lone Radiant Pokémon, and a deck’s critical Basic Pokémon in situations where prizing especially atrocious.
Decks that run Hisuian Heavy Ball tend to run 1-2 copies of the card.
Capturing Aroma is a card that searches for a specific type of Pokémon on a coin flip: either an Evolution Pokémon (heads) or a Basic Pokémon (tails).
Decks that run Capturing Aroma are especially desperate for ways to find access to specific Evolution Pokémon. As such, decks that already find themselves maxing out copies of Ultra Ball may find themselves turning to Capturing Aroma for additional outs to those cards.
Nest Ball is a critical card in many decks as it searches for the Basic Pokémon your deck needs to execute its strategy. Although you can’t access any of the game’s powerful on-play effects when you search out a Pokémon via Nest Ball, you still get the benefit of having a Pokémon out and ready to evolve or use any Abilities that don’t require they be used upon being played from your hand.
The majority of decks will run 3-4 copies of Nest Ball.
Poké Ball allows players to seek out any Pokémon, provided they flip heads when flipping a coin. Inclusion of Poké Ball is less popular than less coin-flip-dependent options because of its inconsistency. Its flexibility as a general Pokémon search card can make it valuable in decks bold enough to include it.
Decks do not often include any copies of Poké Ball.
Ultra Ball is the single most powerful Item-based search card in the game. In addition to its discard cost often being a benefit to many decks that rely on or otherwise like getting cards into their discard pile, Ultra Ball also serves as the game’s most universal search card—and one that doesn’t require the use of your Supporter for the turn to find its target. Ultra Ball can find any Pokémon, making it a potent inclusion in nearly any deck.
Most decks will run 3-4 copies of Ultra Ball.
Great Ball is not quite a search card like the other cards listed here—but it’s a great Ball card that helps you dig for Pokémon. Great Ball can be especially helpful if you’re not too concerned what that Pokémon is, or if your deck runs enough Pokémon that you’re highly likely to run into something worth grabbing.
Great Ball can help you dig through your deck for an extra Basic Pokémon or two during setup.
Many decks will not run Great Ball, but those that do include it as a beneficial supplement for other Ball cards already in the deck. Decks like these tend to run 2-3 copies.
A little overwhelmed with the choices? That’s okay. Below is a generic set of Pokémon search cards that will help most decks find their Pokémon with relative ease. Once you’ve gotten familiar with your deck, you can come back to your Pokémon Search cards and tweak them—changing the counts or exchanging one card with a different card from this page.
| General Search Set |
| 4 Nest Ball SVI 181 4 Ultra Ball SVI 196 |
Supporters
In addition to the Item-based Pokémon search cards listed above, some decks will also take advantage of Supporter-based Pokémon search cards. However, because the player who goes first can no longer play a Supporter card on their first turn, these options are much less popular than they once were, but can still be a helpful addition in certain decks.
Brawly is a Pokémon search option for decks that focus on Rapid Strike Pokémon and may be useful as an early setup supporter in such decks.
However, as is the generally the case with Pokémon Search Supporter cards, because the player going first cannot play a Supporter card, it’s likely that Item-based search options will be preferable to Brawly and cards like it.
Adventurer’s Discovery is a Pokémon search option for decks that focus on Pokémon V and may be useful as an early setup supporter in such decks.
However, as is the generally the case with Pokémon Search Supporter cards, because the player going first cannot play a Supporter card, it’s likely that Item-based search options will be preferable to Adventurer’s Discovery and cards like it. The advantage Adventurer’s Discovery has over cards like Brawly is that it can find utility Pokémon V—like Crobat V or Kricketune V—and even evolution Pokémon V, like Pokémon VMAX and Pokémon VSTAR.
Chili & Cilan & Cress is a Pokémon search option for decks that focus on Fusion Strike Pokémon and may be useful as an early setup supporter in such decks.
However, as is the generally the case with Pokémon Search Supporter cards, because the player going first cannot play a Supporter card, it’s likely that Item-based search options will be preferable to Chili & Cilan & Cress and cards like it. The advantage Chili & Cilan & Cress has over a card like Brawly is that it can find any Fusion Strike Pokémon—including evolution Fusion Strike Pokémon like Mew VMAX.
Gloria is a Pokémon search option for decks that don’t require—or at least don’t rely on—Pokémon V or any other Pokémon with a Rule Box, like Radiant Pokémon.
However, as is the generally the case with Pokémon Search Supporter cards, because the player going first cannot play a Supporter card, it’s likely that Item-based search options will be preferable to Gloria and other cards like it.
Irida is a potent Supporter-based search option for decks that include a Water-type Pokémon, like Radiant Greninja. Decks that run more Water-type Pokémon naturally benefit the most from the card’s Pokémon search effect, but Irida’s secondary effect—searching for an Item card—can also prove especially helpful, grabbing important pieces from your deck when they are most needed. This can mean finding an important tool card or grabbing a Rare Candy when the time is right. Although not every deck can make good use of Irida, it’s not a card that should be ignored.
Decks that run Irida tend to run 3-4 copies.
Arezu offers an out to find up to 3 non-Rule Box Evolution Pokémon and put them into your hand. Because these Pokémon go directly to your hand instead of directly on a Pokémon in play from your deck, this means that their Abilities can then be used upon evolving one of your Pokémon in play.
However, as is the generally the case with Pokémon Search Supporter cards, because the player going first cannot play a Supporter card, it’s likely that Item-based search options will be preferable to this card and other cards like it.
Furisode Girl is a means of forcing a Basic Pokémon from deck directly into the Active Spot. This can aid in getting a bad starting Pokémon out of the Active Spot, help to get a good one there in its place, or in putting a Pokémon with any sort of walling or other protection effects into the Active Spot.
Decks will not often run Furisode Girl. Decks that do will not often run more than 1 copy.
Jacq, similar to Arezu, offers an out to find up to 2 Evolution Pokémon and put them into your hand. Because these Pokémon go directly to your hand instead of directly on a Pokémon in play from your deck, this means that their Abilities can then be used upon evolving one of your Pokémon in play. Although you can only search for 2 Evolution Pokémon with Jacq, unlike Arezu, the Evolution Pokémon you search for can have a Rule Box, meaning you can search for Pokémon ex.
However, as is the generally the case with Pokémon Search Supporter cards, because the player going first cannot play a Supporter card, it’s likely that Item-based search options will be preferable to this card and other cards like it.
In most cases, a deck won’t run any Supporter-based Search cards, so if you’re not sure what cards to include here, it’s probably safe to just skip these cards altogether. However, it’s good to be familiar with these Supporter-based Search cards as you may find that a deck you build in the future could make good use of one.
Stadium Cards
Occasionally, a deck can benefit from additional Pokémon Search via a Stadium card. In many cases, a deck will opt not to play these and will instead play other Stadium cards with different beneficial effects. However, it’s good to be aware of these cards so that, when building decks where they could be especially useful, they have the chance to be considered.
Mesagoza is effectively Poké Ball on a coin flip. Unlike Poké Ball, however, Mesagoza still offers a deck utility even if the flip result is tails—Mesagoza still serves a way to remove your opponent’s Stadium card from play, including especially hostile Stadium cards like Path to the Peak.
Not every deck will find Mesagoza handy, but decks that include the card will tend to run 2 copies of the card.
Artazon is a Nest Ball as a Stadium card that can’t search for Pokémon with a Rule Box, like Pokémon ex or Pokémon V. Artazon also serves a way to remove your opponent’s Stadium card from play, including especially hostile Stadium cards like Path to the Peak.
Although not every deck will run Artazon, it can be an especially useful card for setup-heavy decks. Decks that run Artazon typically run 1-2 copies of the card.