Engine (TCG) - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokmon encyclopedia

An engine in the Pokémon Trading Card Game is a player-made term used to refer to a card or a series of cards that, when played, greatly increase a player's drawing or searching speed, thus helping them burn through their deck faster. The most well-known and effective engine is probably the Holon Engine, which consists entirely of Trainer and Supporter cards. However, while engines are often centered around Trainer cards, some engines are centered around Pokémon cards. However, if an engine is based around one or more Pokémon cards, the Pokémon will generally sit on a player's Bench and utilize its Poké-Power or Ability. Some cards could be considered engines by themselves, such as Delcatty. In essence, the power of an engine is its drawing or searching ability.

Single-card engines

Single-card engines are engines that are able to function virtually by themselves. However, they are often used in combination with other cards.

Sword and Shield engines

Bibarel Industrious Incisors engine

The Bibarel engine was centered on Bibarel's Industrious Incisors Ability. Once per turn, Industrious Incisors allowed a player to draw cards until they had five cards in their hand. Being a Stage 1 Pokémon, Bibarel was able to be set up fast, and had the advantage of not needing to discard a card from the player's hand, compared to cards like Cinccino's Make Do. The engine further got an upgrade with the release of the Crown Zenith expansion, which introduced Bidoof. Bidoof's ability, Carefree Countenance, allowed it to be protected from damage dealt while it was on the bench, preventing cards such as Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX and Radiant Greninja to Knock Out it for easy Prize Cards.

Comfey Flower Selecting engine

The Comfey engine was centered on Comfey's Flower Selecting Ability. Once per turn, Flower Selecting allowed a player to look at the top two cards of the deck, put one into their hand, and put the other into the Lost Zone. Comfey's advantage of being a Basic Pokémon, as well as its ability being able to be refreshed, allowed chains of Comfey to repeatedly use its Flower Selecting ability via cards like Scoop Up Net, Escape Rope, and Switch Cart. In addition, the card's secondary ability of sending a card to the Lost Zone helped cards like Cramorant, Sableye, Mirage Gate, and Giratina VSTAR to function in the decks Lost Box and Giratina VSTAR.

HeartGold and SoulSilver engines

Magnezone Prime Magnetic Draw engine

The Magnetic Draw engine was centered almost entirely on Magnezone Prime's Magnetic Draw Poké-Power. Once per turn, Magnetic Draw allowed a player to draw cards until they had six cards in hand. Magnezone Prime-centric decks were particularly prevalent during the HeartGold & SoulSilver-on format, when Magnetic Draw provided one of the only Pokémon-based draw engines. It was often used in combination with Judge in decks such as Megazone to potentially leave the opponent with a small, useless hand while giving the Magnezone Prime player an out with Magnetic Draw.

Ninetales Roast Reveal engine

The Roast Reveal engine was based around Ninetales' Roast Reveal Poké-Power. Since it required a player to discard a Energy from their hand, it was used primarily in Fire-type decks, most notably Charizard and TyRam. Roast Reveal complemented Typhlosion Prime well, as it could discard an Energy for later reattachment through Typhlosion Prime's Afterburner Poké-Power.

Diamond and Pearl engines

Claydol Cosmic Power engine

The Cosmic Power engine utilized Claydol's Cosmic Power Poké-Power to simply draw cards. Cosmic Power allows the player to put up to two cards from their hand on the bottom of their deck and draw cards until they have six in their hand. Cosmic Power is one of the simplest, yet most effective engines to date, yet it is not without its problems. Since Claydol sits on the Bench, it is vulnerable to being sniped by attacks such as Garchomp C LV.X's Dragon Rush, at which point the Claydol player may be left without a way to reliably draw cards.

Ruby and Sapphire engines

Delcatty Energy Draw engine

The Energy Draw engine was centered around Delcatty, from the EX Ruby & Sapphire and EX Power Keepers expansions, and its Poké-Power, Energy Draw. Energy Draw allows the player to discard an Energy card from their hand to draw up to three cards, once per turn. This was exceptionally useful in decks that actually benefited from discarding Energies, such as Infercatty.

Pidgeot Quick Search engine

The Quick Search engine utilized Pidgeot from the EX FireRed & LeafGreen expansion. Pidgeot had a Poké-Power called Quick Search which allowed the player to search for any one card from their deck and add it to their hand, once per turn. This was not stackable, meaning that if one had multiple Pidgeot in play, they could still only use the power once. However, Pidgeot was the backbone support Pokémon of many EX-era decks. It was often used in combination with a variety of searching and drawing Trainer and Supporter cards, most notably Rare Candy to make it easier to get out.

Multi-card engines

Castaway engine

The Castaway engine was centered around Castaway, a Supporter card from the EX Crystal Guardians expansion. Castaway was often used in non-δ decks during the EX Holon Phantoms-onward Rotation. Castaway was often used in combination with Scott, Cessation Crystal, Battle Frontier, and others to disrupt the opponent's strategy while making sure the Castaway player always had resources in their hand as well as Basic Energy cards.

Holon engine

Cyrus engine/SP engine

The SP engine, also known as the Cyrus engine, centered around the Cyrus's Conspiracy Supporter from the Platinum expansion, as well as a number of SP Trainers. Generally, Cyrus's Conspiracy was used in combination with SP Radar, Energy Gain, Power Spray, Poké Turn, and a number of single copies of other Supporter cards. Cyrus's Conspiracy was remarkably similar to Castaway. However, Cyrus's Conspiracy allowed the player to search for a Trainer card with Team Galactic's Invention in its name, rather than a Pokémon Tool card. The Cyrus Engine was the primary manner in which SP decks, such as LuxApe and LuxChomp, set up and caused disruption. It was often used in combination with Uxie for drawpower.

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