Counter Gain

What it does

Counter Gain rewards being behind in the Prize card race, discounting the Colorless portion of the attached Pokémon's attack cost by 1 whenever its owner has more Prize cards left than the opponent. The two wordings describe the same discount, with Surging Sparks switching to the bracketed Energy symbol notation and lightly rephrasing the text.

Printing history

Counter Gain first appeared in Lost Thunder in 2018 with art by Toyste Beach, who has illustrated every printing of the card. It returned as a Secret Rare in that same set, then reappeared in the Scarlet and Violet era's Surging Sparks with an Uncommon and Hyper rare pairing, and again in the Mega Evolution era's Ascended Heroes with Common and Ultra Rare versions, keeping the same Pokémon Tool subtype throughout its history.

Printings in detail

Our catalog lists 6 printings of Counter Gain across 3 sets, spanning the Sun and Moon, Scarlet and Violet, and Mega Evolution eras, each set pairing a lower-rarity print with a rarer treatment: Secret Rare in Lost Thunder, Hyper rare in Surging Sparks and Ultra Rare in Ascended Heroes. Its regular printing dropped from Uncommon in Lost Thunder and Surging Sparks to Common in Ascended Heroes, and the Surging Sparks text changed 'the attacks of the Pokémon' to 'attacks used by the Pokémon'.

Cards to know

• Counter Gain (Lost Thunder #170)

  Lost Thunder printing is Counter Gain's first appearance, illustrated by Toyste Beach

• Counter Gain (Lost Thunder #230)

  Lost Thunder printing also includes a Secret Rare treatment

• Counter Gain (Surging Sparks #249)

  Surging Sparks printing includes a Hyper rare treatment

• Counter Gain (Ascended Heroes #259)

  Ascended Heroes printing includes an Ultra Rare treatment