Ability (TCG)

An Ability (Japanese: ability) is a non-attack effect that cards in the Pokémon Trading Card Game can have,Pokémon Trading Card Game Rules, , "An Ability is an effect on a Pokémon that is not an attack." named after the analogous element in the core series games. Abilities are first introduced in the series, replacing s and their successors s and as a kind of effect on Pokémon cards. Unlike Pokémon Powers, Abilities are not disabled if their user has a . No Pokémon card has more than one Ability, although a Pokemon consisting of multiple cards such as a or can have multiple Abilities while in play.
Many Abilities are effects that are activated by the owner of the card during their turn. For example: has an Ability that allows the player to switch Keldeo-EX with the Active Pokémon, once per turn. Old cards feature a reminder that this kind of Ability can only be performed before attacking, but this is only because attacking ends the player's turn. Other Abilities activate in response to something happening to the Pokémon with the Ability. For instance. has an Ability that causes the opponent to discard two cards if it is Knocked Out by an opponent's attack. Still others are activated when a card enters play. The most famous example of this is . When it enters play from a player's hand, that player may draw cards until they have six cards in their hand. 
There are Abilities that instead provide a passive effect to a Pokémon, such as being unable to be . Other Abilities can passively affect multiple Pokémon, such as reducing the of the opponent's Pokémon VMAX or reducing the Retreat Cost of its owner's Active Pokémon. 
Abilities often have some restriction attached to their use. Many Abilities are only usable once during a player's turn, although this applies to each instance of the Ability. If there are multiple Pokémon in play with the same Ability, each of their Abilities can be used one time. Other Abilities can only be used if a Pokémon is in the Active Spot, or on the Bench. Such a restriction can also apply to certain passive Abilities. Some passive Abilities do not stack, meaning that if there are multiple instances of that Ability in play, only one instance of that Ability is applied. Some Abilities cause the turn to end when activated, which prevents the player from initiating an that turn and implicitly prevents more than one Ability with this restriction from being used per turn. A rare few Abilities, such as the one of , cannot be activated if another Ability of the same name has been activated that turn.
A common effect is for Pokémon to lose access to their Abilities, which is commonly templated as some variation of "have no Abilities". An example of this would be 's Ability. Pokémon under this kind of effect are treated as not having Abilities at all, even if there are Abilities printed on the card. (The Abilities that no longer exist do not have any effect.) Once the effect ends, the Abilities of the affected Pokémon are restored to them. Notably, cards that care about if a Pokémon has an Ability will not apply to Pokémon printed with Abilities but are under this effect.
Some cards have attacks that cause a Pokémon to gain an Ability. Some s are printed with an Ability that the Pokémon the Tool is attached to can use.
Some Abilities, instead of being active when a Pokémon is in play, are active or can be activated if a Pokémon is in another zone, such as the hand or discard pile. A select few Abilities can be activated when a Pokémon drawn from the deck or taken from the Prize cards.
With the release of , the Ability symbol has been updated with a new one with red background and white text.
==List of Abilities==
===Black & White Series===
List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities
English Name 	Japanese Name 	Type 	Pokémon 	English Set 	EN No. 	Japanese Set 	JP No.
===XY Series===
List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities
English Name 	Japanese Name 	Type 	Pokémon 	English Set 	EN No. 	Japanese Set 	JP No.
===Sun & Moon Series===
List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities
English Name 	Japanese Name 	Type 	Pokémon 	English Set 	EN No. 	Japanese Set 	JP No.
===Sword & Shield Series===
List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities
English Name 	Japanese Name 	Type 	Pokémon 	English Set 	EN No. 	Japanese Set 	JP No.
===Scarlet & Violet Series===
List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities	List of Abilities
English Name 	Japanese Name 	Type 	Pokémon 	English Set 	EN No. 	Japanese Set 	JP No.
==Relevant categories==
* 
==See also==
* Pokémon Power (TCG)
* Ability
==References==
Category:Pokémon Trading Card Game mechanics
fr:Talent (JCC)
zh:特性（TCG）