Crushing Hammer

What it does

Crushing Hammer is a coin-flip disruption card: on heads, discard an Energy card attached to one of the opponent's Pokémon. The four wordings only shift phrasing, from 'discard an Energy attached to' toward 'discard an Energy from,' and switch between curly and straight apostrophes.

Printing history

Crushing Hammer first appeared in Emerging Powers in 2011 with art by 5ban Graphics, who also illustrated the Kalos Starter Set and Generations printings. Yoshinobu Saito illustrated the Sun and Moon era prints including a Secret Rare in Ultra Prism, sadaji the Sword and Shield era, and Ayaka Yoshida the Scarlet and Violet and Mega Evolution era printings, including an Ultra Rare in Pitch Black. It has also reprinted in Legendary Treasures during the Black and White era and Generations during the XY era, alongside its mainline Emerging Powers, Sun and Moon, Ultra Prism, Sword and Shield, and Crown Zenith appearances.

Origin

This card's effect matches that of Energy Removal 2, a Trainer card with the same coin-flip Energy discard function. Crushing Hammer has appeared in the Kalos Starter Set alongside mainline sets, and its illustrators have shifted by era from 5ban Graphics in the Black and White and XY eras to Yoshinobu Saito, sadaji, and Ayaka Yoshida in Sun and Moon through the Mega Evolution era.

Cards to know

• Crushing Hammer (Emerging Powers #92)

  Emerging Powers printing is Crushing Hammer's first appearance, illustrated by 5ban Graphics

• Crushing Hammer (Ultra Prism #166)

  Ultra Prism printing includes a Secret Rare treatment

• Crushing Hammer (Pitch Black #105)

  Pitch Black printing includes an Ultra Rare treatment in the Mega Evolution era