Escaping the One Trade Limit – My Quest to Catch ‘Em All Twice

As a lifelong Pokémon collector on a quest to obtain every species, I constantly seek out rare and valuable Pokémon specimens for my collection. So when a trading opportunity with a shiny Mythical Mew came up, I jumped at the chance despite already owning one. But the trade failed! I‘d forgotten – Pokémon games narrowly limit us to trading critters just once.

As an avid collector willing to spend any amount of Poké Dollars, I had to know…was there any way around this rule? Were my collecting aspirations doomed? Or could the trade system be hacked?

Why "One and Done" Trading Stings

Trading is integral to catching em‘ all for us completionist Trainers. It helps obtain version-exclusive Pokémon and trigger handy trade evolutions. But according to the games‘ code, says expert dataminer Kaphotics, all Pokémon have a special trade marker value that forever blocks additional trades after the first swap.

The developers instituted this harsh "one and done" rule to prevent endlessly re-trading one Pokémon back and forth to re-roll its stats. Each trade randomizes values for HP, CP, IVs, EVs, and even nature. So without trade limits, players could farm perfect battle specimens with ease!

For us collectors though, getting back a traded-away rare find becomes impossible. And competitively bred Pokémon become ruined by new random stats. Heartbreaking! As a shiny Corviknight breeder, I‘d be crushed if a year‘s work were invalidated by one errant trade.

So I had reasons to covet multiple instances of unique Pokémon. Surely there must betrading exploits that afford a second swap…

Smashing Limits Within the Console Ecosystem

According to discussions on r/PokemonSwordAndShield, resetting a Pokémon‘s trade marker requires sending it outside the game software. Clever collectors realized importing Pokémon into Pokémon Home before trading back to the game erased the marker! The key was the transporter app itself:

I tested the method myself by trading a shiny Grooky from Sword into Home, then back again. It lost progress like friend level, but the trade marker had reset! I could now shop my starter around in more Sword and Shield trades.

The same might work across console generations too. Redditors shared success trading Pokémon from newer Switch games into older Nintendo 3DS games, then finally back to Switch. The mighty inter-generational transfer empowered another fresh trade!

But this approach isn‘t free. Resetting console save data erases other progress. And not every monster may transfer across platforms. So for us dedicated collectors, the risks and effort should be carefully weighed against our dreams of a second-trade captured White Whale!

Trading Values and Lucky Trades

As an expert trader armed with favorites lists and shinyLiving Dex checklists, I strategize my trades around rarity metrics and likelihoods of randomizing ideal stats.

• For example, version exclusive ‘mons tend to retain high trade market value as players can only obtain them from alternate game editions:

• And as any dedicated Pokémon Go player knows, certain species spawn rarely in the wild or in events. Using Home transporters, these can migrate into the console games as unusually scarce trade fodder.

• Finally, random trade odds of ideal stats for battle depend on friend levels between trade partners.

But the ultimate prize comes from lucky trades between best friends – a random chance at discounted power up costs! Now that‘s a coveted collector‘s dream…

Chasing the Lucky Trade Unicorn 🦄

As longtime trading partners, my real-world friend and I hoped to score lucky trades on our shining Mythicals. Luckies require half the normal stardust to strengthen, show in pokedexes as trophies caught, and sport cool ribbon icons!

With over 40,000 trades between us, we‘d won luckies before at the base minimum 5% rate. But for extra rare species, lucky chance starts at just 1% before boosts! After much grinding to best friend rank, we crossed fingers and paid the hefty Mew-for-Mew trade premium. Results popped up showing…I‘d snagged a lucky!!!! Now it sparkles as my flagship profile creature to impress friends 😄.

As veteran players know, lucky probability gets a huge 20x trade boost on July and August community days. So I‘m stockpiling 20 Kiloude city shinies and regional Unowns heading into summer – trading them all will likely score several luckies! They‘ll make fine additions to my cabinet of collector‘s curiosities.

After learning to work around the rigid trading system, we collectors can amass amazing Pokémon arsenacles. But even so, hard limits remain in place. Trading choices still come with consequence. We can‘t have all the shining things – rather picking favorites based on rarity metrics, randomness odds, restricted transfer options between games, and grind times required. It‘s a stratagem that incentivizes considered decisions, making the items we get to keep all the more precious!

So while I can‘t yet trade an extra Mew or custom OT hat Pikachu again, the days ahead offer hope. With patience, passion, network trades, transporters, resets, and a little luck, my Geralt the shiny Charizard and I will catch our magnificent white whales – if not in this game, then the next adventure!