The 5 Best Support Cards for Pokémon TCG

Support cards in the Pokémon collectible card game are essential for card draws. Here are five of the best supporter cards TCG has to offer.

If Pokémon Trading Card Game players really want to be the best, they should know which support cards (like these five) are the strongest in the game. Unlike normal TCG cards, supporter cards feature human characters from the Pokémon games and anime. Instead of fighting to aid in combat, these characters serve as pure "engines"--allowing players to draw, reshuffle, and recycle their cards. Therefore, all supporter cards can be useful in battle - but some cards are far more powerful than others.

The most powerful supporter cards in Pokémon TCG tend to be multifaceted in use. Rather than just letting players draw or recycle their cards, they can speed up energy buildup and even punish enemies who attack the player. But perhaps the most important trait a good backer should have is giving players freedom when drawing cards and allowing them to select multiple cards at once - and the top five backers do this.

5 Welder Decks Scorched Competitive Pokémon TCG Tournaments

Welder allows players to attach two Fire Energy cards to one of their Pokémon, then discard and draw three additional cards. When Welder was released in 2019's Unbroken Bonds series, it quickly became one of the most important series Pokémon TCG's Age of Sun and Moon cards. Rarely does a supporter who specializes in energy acceleration as Welder have such an effective drawing ability. Cards reward players for using their primary functions, making it a very powerful tool even without the background of a deck.

However, with the right deck, Welder can dominate the game. As TheDexLogs discuss in their video, the Welder deck featured in the grand finals of three international Pokémon TCG tournaments in 2019. This is partly because players can use four Welder cards in a deck. Combined with powerful fire-type Pokémon, four welders can quickly unleash powerful fire attacks and allow players to use other useful cards in the deck. Welder's success rate alone would probably make it the best Pokémon TCG card ever made, were it not for the reliance on a powerful Fire-type Pokémon to function.

4 Pokémon Collector Has A Ridiculous Drawing Ability

Released in 2010 in the HeartGold and SoulSilver set, Pokémon Collector became an instant classic for its set abilities. When using this assist, the player can choose any three basic cards from their deck to place in their hand. Even great backers rarely let players choose which cards they want Drawing cards from their decks, they usually have specific restrictions on the types of cards that can be drawn. Since the Pokémon Collector allows any player to draw any three Basic Pokémon, it is very powerful, especially since it can be used to play the mighty V Pokémon.

Of course, the Pokémon Collector was introduced over a decade ago, so its role in battle may not be familiar to younger players. However, those curious need only look at Arceus VSTAR's dominance in Pokémon TCG to get a feel for its power. The card's ability "Starbirth" - which allows players to draw any two cards from their deck - makes Arceus VSTAR the most prominent Pokémon of 2022. Considering that the Pokémon Collector doesn't need a buildup like the Arceus VSTAR to work and draw three cards it would be more powerful if it worked today instead of two.

3 Professor's Research Is A Must-Have In Any Pokémon TCG Deck

Professor's Research is as old as Pokémon TCG. As Ptcgradio discusses in their video, this card is called "Professor Oak" and is believed to be a trainer card in the base set. That all changed in 2010 and 2011, when Professor Juniper teamed up with Black and white suit. Since then, the Pokémon TCG's Professor Research card has become a staple of the series. Due to their power, they've also become a staple in almost every deck over the past 13 years.

Professor's Research allows players to discard their hand and draw seven new cards. Due to the sheer number of cards drawn by Professor's Research, players not only use it frequently, but often carry more than one of them per deck - few other supporters have been able to effectively get players to use their cards. So the prof's research is a must and one of the best backers ever.

2 Marnie Punishes Opponents While Rewarding Players

Marnie quickly became one of the best Pokémon Sword and Shield cards when it was first released. Usually, when supporter cards have an ability that punishes an opponent, they don't also have another ability that rewards the player. This is not the case with Marnie: when she comes out, both players shuffle the cards and put them on the bottom of the deck, then the opponent draws four cards and the player draws five.

There is so much about Marnie that makes her a staunch supporter. She disrupts her opponent's strategy; she gives A player's one-card advantage; she lets opponents place their hands on the bottom of the deck, where they may never play again. There are many powerful cards in Pokémon TCG that have similar effects, such as Judge or even N. But with Marnie, the versatility, destructive, and engine-like qualities of her cards make her even more of a threat. She's most effective when used at the start of a fight, but in reality she's always strong.

1 Lysandre's Trump Card Was So Good It Was Banned

Some support cards are banned in Pokémon TCG due to overwhelming odds. Most of these cards have been rejoined in game overtime due to balance checks, but Lysandre's ace is so powerful that it was never banned.

As the name suggests, Lysandre's trump card basically trumps any strategy the opponent may use. This banned Pokémon TCG card forces players on both sides to shuffle their discard piles back into their decks (to keep them for themselves), meaning it basically resets the game every time it's played. There is a limit to how many times a player can do this, as they can only carry four of this card in any given deck. However, when used with VS Seeker, Lysandre's trump card can be put back into play, allowing whoever wields it to have an infinite number of cards to draw.

Lysandre's Trump Card was released with Phantom Forces in 2014; as of June 2015, it was banned from all Pokémon TCG tournaments. Other supporters might punish opponents, make players draw more cards, or even boost specific Pokémon types. But by having players constantly draw discarded cards, Lysandre's Ace can do almost all of this, making it the strongest supporter in Pokémon TCG history.

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