Pokémon LV.X (TCG)

Pokémon LV.X are a group of in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. They first appeared in the expansion and made their final in-set appearance in the expansion. They represent Pokémon that have been well trained, making them stronger.Platinum: Rising Rivals Rulebook, via Judge Ball Pokémon LV.X are more powerful than regular Pokémon, much in the same way are. Unlike Pokémon-ex, when a Pokémon LV.X is Knocked Out the opponent does not take any additional Prize cards.
The LV.X portion next to the card's name is treated the same as normal levels are in the TCG, in that the name of the card for the purposes of deck construction is not changed by it. However, one can call a Pokémon LV.X with LV.X as a suffix, as seen in supplementary game material like the rulebook. So a Pokémon LV.X depicting can be called .
Pokémon LV.X are Pokémon Level-Up cards, a distinct group from or s. They are played on top of an with a matching name to Level-Up, an action distinct from evolution. For example, can be played on top of a and Floatzel LV.X can be played on top of Floatzel . Most of rules around evolution apply to playing a Pokémon LV.X card: a Pokémon cannot be Leveled-Up in the same turn as it is played or evolved, a Pokémon that is Leveled-Up recovers from all s, all other s are removed, and damage counters stay on the Pokémon. The , , , , and of the older card are all overriden by the new card. (To reiterate, only the Active Pokémon, not the player's Benched Pokémon, can be Leveled-Up). Pokémon LV.X cannot be played on other Pokémon LV.X.Compendium ruling, Compendium LvX, Team Compendium, PUI Rules Team, Feb 12, 2009 Effects that Level Up Pokémon, such as that of , are able to ignore the restriction to the Active Pokémon that applies to playing a Pokémon LV.X from one's hand.Compendium ruling, Compendium LvX, Team Compendium, PUI Rules Team, Feb 12, 2009
A segment reading "Level Up" and "put onto [Name of card without LV.X]" is printed in the upper right corner, below the card's name, in place of the "evolves from" field on Evolution cards. It has a gold background. While "Level-Up" appears to be an Evolution Stage, it isn't. Pokémon Level-Up cards do not have a stage, and while in play inherit the Evolution Stage from the card they were put on top of.Platinum: Rising Rivals Rulebook, via Judge Ball If Levels Up from a normal Stage 1 , it will be a . Similarly, if Levels Up from a Basic , it will be a Basic Pokémon.
All Pokémon LV.X have a gold section on the bottom of the card. This section explains that a Pokémon LV.X has all of the s and attacks that its previous Level has.Compendium ruling, Compendium LvX, Team Compendium, PUI Rules Team, Sep 4, 2008 This actively contradicts the templating of the cards which says "can use" when that has a different meaning in the game. The phrase "previous Level" means "the Basic Pokémon or highest Stage Evolution card under the LV.X card, and can be referenced by other effects of the card. Two cards that use this functionality are and . Although Pokémon LV.X predate the mechanic, this clause also allows them to use the of their previous Level,PokéGym ruling, The PokéGym, Jan 26, 2012 which is relevant for the and s.
Since Pokémon LV.X are Pokémon Level-Up cards, effects that search for or otherwise affect "Basic Pokémon" or "Evolution cards" (such as and respectively) do not work on Pokémon LV.X. However, cards from the that say "Basic Pokémon or Evolution card" do work, as those cards were intended to affect all Pokémon and continue to work as intended.Compendium ruling, Compendium LvX, Team Compendium, PUI Rules Team, May 10, 2007
Because Pokémon LV.X cards share the same name as the Pokémon they Level-Up from, the rule that only four cards of the same name in a normal 60-card deck applies to the combination of Pokémon LV.X cards and normal cards. For instance, a player would be allowed to have two Honchkrow LV.42 and two Honchkrow LV.X in the same deck, but only four would be allowed in total. As well as that, because of the fact that these two cards share the same name, an effect which would remove the highest Stage Evolution card from a Pokémon would, in this example, force the removal of both Honchkrow cards, leaving only . Pokémon LV.X are only Evolved Pokémon if they Level Up from an Evolved Pokémon, and only those Pokémon can be devolved. If a Pokémon LV.X is put on top of an unevolved Pokémon, then it stays unevolved and therefore cannot devolve.
Pokémon LV.X can have the Pokémon Level-Up card removed from them, in a separate but largely similar process to devolution. The one effect that does so is the fittingly named Level Down on .
Pokémon LV.X use 3D renders of Pokémon, with the Pokémon appearing to "burst" out of the art section of the card. Some parts of their body wind up overlapping other portions of the card, though this never covers up the rules text. Like , Pokémon LV.X have holofoil borders.
==Pokémon that have appeared as Pokémon LV.X==
==See also==
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==References==
Category:Pokémon card classifications
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de:Pokémon LV.X
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it:Pokémon LIV.X (GCC)
ja:ポケモンLV.X
zh:宝可梦LV.X（TCG）