Engine (TCG)

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 , 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 or . Some cards could be considered engines by themselves, such as . 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 . 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 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 . 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 . 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 and . 
===HeartGold and SoulSilver engines===
====Magnezone Prime Magnetic Draw engine====
The Magnetic Draw engine was centered almost entirely on Magnezone Prime's Magnetic Draw . 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 -on format, when Magnetic Draw provided one of the only Pokémon-based draw engines. It was often used in combination with in decks such as to potentially leave the opponent with a small, useless hand while giving the Magnezone Prime player an out with Magnetic Draw.
==== Roast Reveal engine====
The Roast Reveal engine was based around ' Roast Reveal Poké-Power. Since it required a player to discard a Energy from their hand, it was used primarily in decks, most notably and . 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===
==== Cosmic Power engine====
The Cosmic Power engine utilized '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 's Dragon Rush, at which point the Claydol player may be left without a way to reliably draw cards.
===Ruby and Sapphire engines===
==== Energy Draw engine====
The Energy Draw engine was centered around , from the and expansions, and its Poké-Power, Energy Draw. Energy Draw allows the player to discard an 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 .
==== Quick Search engine====
The Quick Search engine utilized from the 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 and cards, most notably to make it easier to get out.
==Multi-card engines==
==== engine====
The Castaway engine was centered around , a from the expansion. Castaway was often used in non-δ decks during the -onward . Castaway was often used in combination with , , , 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 Supporter from the 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 and , set up and caused disruption. It was often used in combination with for drawpower.
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