At the beginning of this year, The Pokemon Company International began to reveal its plans for the Pokemon Trading Card Game as the franchise turns 30. It revealed three sets of campaigns featuring the starters from Kanto: Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle, Sinnoh: Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup, and Powlet, Litten and Powlet, and Powlet, and Powlet, and Powlet: R.
Now, as predicted by our own Josh Coulson, the second wave of cards has been revealed in China, and they feature the forerunners of Johto, Unova, and Galar.
The first round of these promotions is a hot commodity. First Partner Illustration Collections are some of the Pokémon TCG's hardest products to come by, and in an age where buying anything is a nightmare, that's saying something. Sets for the Kanto starters, which are naturally the most expensive, sell for around $100 to give you an idea of how hard they are to come by.
Now, thanks to Pokemon China, we've got our first look at the second batch of cards, and they're just as good as the first.
The first set includes Pokemon Gold and Silver's Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Totodile, complete with a range of famous monuments and items from the game. There's the Rainbow Feather and Silver Feather, the Squirt Bottle, which is used to awaken Sudowoodo, and a range of berries that debuted in the game.
Second, there's Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott from Black and White's Unova region. While not as pretty as the Johto cards (in my humble opinion), this trio is once again marked by an array of the game's landmarks and gym marks.
Finally, Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble are there to represent Sword and Shield's Galar Region, once again on maps adorned with landmarks made famous by the Nintendo Switch Pokemon games.
It's another great set of promotions, and one that will likely be hard to come by. It's worth noting, at this time, The Pokémon Company has not confirmed when or how these will make it to the English language version of the TCG, if at all, but you have to assume it will be part of another set of collection boxes.
Based on the previous theory, wave three of these cards will feature starters hailing from Hoenn, Kalos, and Paldea. That means Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, Chespin, Fennekin, Froakie, Sprigatito, Fuecoco and Quaxly are next. There's also room, since it's Pokemon's 30th anniversary, to include the three new starters from Winds and Waves, Browt, Pombon and Gequa, giving them their first TCG cards.
That would be a great piece of cross marketing and would round the number of First Partner campaigns to 30…
- Original release date
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October 20, 1996
- Number of players
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2
- Age recommendation
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6+
- Length per game
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Variable
- Franchise name
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Pokémon
