Switch

What it does

Switch lets a player pull a damaged or disadvantaged Active Pokémon to the Bench and bring up a fresh one, without needing a Retreat Cost. The four wordings across its history reorder the same instruction rather than changing its function, from naming the Benched Pokémon first in Base Set and Base Set 2 to naming the Active Pokémon first from Expedition Base Set onward.

Printing history

Switch debuted in Base Set in 1999 with art by Keiji Kinebuchi and carried through the WOTC era. Hiromichi Sugiyama illustrated it through the EX era, Ryo Ueda through Diamond and Pearl, Hideaki Hakozaki in HeartGold and SoulSilver, and Ayaka Yoshida, 5ban Graphics and Studio Bora Inc. in later eras. It has picked up Secret Rare treatments in Primal Clash and Sun and Moon, and a Hyper rare in the 151 set, alongside its many Common and Uncommon reprints through Scarlet and Violet and the Mega Evolution era. It has also been bundled into HS trainer Kit products in the HeartGold and SoulSilver era, and the Kalos Starter Set and multiple XY trainer Kits during the XY era.

Trivia

Switch's number in the Pokémon Card Game 25th Anniversary Creatures Deck, 011/008, references Creatures' founding date of November 8, 1995.

Cards to know

• Switch (Base Set #95)

  Base Set printing is Switch's first appearance, illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi

• Switch (Primal Clash #163)

  Primal Clash printing gives Switch a Secret Rare treatment

• Switch (Sun & Moon #160)

  Sun and Moon printing is a Secret Rare version alongside that set's Uncommon

• Switch (151 #206)

  151 printing is a Hyper rare treatment

• Switch (30th Celebration #127)

  30th Celebration printing brings in illustrator Yuka Morii