Balloon Berry

What the card does

Balloon Berry changes how its holder pays to retreat. The original Neo Revelation wording discarded Balloon Berry in place of the Energy cards normally discarded on retreat, while the Deoxys wording rewrote this so the holder's Retreat Cost becomes 0 outright as long as the card is attached, discarding it only when the Pokémon actually retreats.

Printing history

Balloon Berry debuted in the WOTC era's Neo Revelation with art by Keiji Kinebuchi, then was reprinted in the EX era's Dragon and again in Deoxys, both again credited to Kinebuchi. The Dragon wording added a clause discarding the card if the holder is Knocked Out. The Deoxys printing tweaked the effect text to reflect an errata issued before that expansion's release. Our catalog lists 3 printings.

Trivia

Balloon Berry was also reprinted in the Japanese Flygon and Salamence Constructed Starter Decks, and Bulbapedia files it among Trainer cards that change a player's Retreat Cost.

Cards to know

• Balloon Berry (Neo Revelation #60)

  The Neo Revelation printing is Balloon Berry's first release

• Balloon Berry (Dragon #82)

  The Dragon printing is again credited to Kinebuchi and adds the Knocked Out discard clause

• Balloon Berry (Deoxys #84)

  The Deoxys printing reflects the errata with the Retreat Cost 0 wording