Escape Rope

What it does

Escape Rope forces a mutual switch of Active Pokémon, with the opponent choosing and switching first, followed by the player. All four wordings describe this same mutual switch, updating only pronouns from 'he or she' to 'their' and adjusting punctuation over time, without altering which player moves first or the underlying mechanic.

Printing history

Escape Rope first appeared in Plasma Storm in 2013 with art by Ryo Ueda. Toyste Beach illustrated the Primal Clash printing and both the Regular and Secret Rare Burning Shadows printings, and sadaji illustrated the Battle Styles printing, the card's final catalogued appearance. In Japan the card was also distributed as one of the BW-P Promotional cards in a ten-card random pack released during a September 2012 Gym Challenge event. In Japan the Battle Styles printing was further reprinted in the Skyscraping Perfection expansion, the VMAX Climax subset, and the Start Deck 100, and was also distributed as a winner's prize at regional Champion's League events during the 2021-2022 season.

Trivia

This card's effect matches that of Warp Point, a card released several times between the Gym Challenge and Majestic Dawn expansions. The Escape Rope is an item in the games that allows the player character to easily escape from places such as caves.

Cards to know

• Escape Rope (Plasma Storm #120)

  Plasma Storm printing is Escape Rope's first appearance, illustrated by Ryo Ueda

• Escape Rope (Burning Shadows #114)

  Burning Shadows printing updates pronouns to gender-neutral phrasing

• Escape Rope (Burning Shadows #163)

  Burning Shadows printing also includes a Secret Rare treatment

• Escape Rope (Battle Styles #125)

  Battle Styles printing brings in illustrator sadaji