The next Pokémon TCG expansion set has been announced by The Pokémon Company International today. Called Sword & Shield—Evolving Skies, this set brings back the Dragon type to the card game and features a bunch of “Eeveelutions” in the set. It releases worldwide on August 27, 2021 and is confirmed to have over 200 cards.
Eevee, along with all eight of its Evolutions, will all be featured in the set with each Evolution getting Pokémon V and Pokémon VMAX cards. Some of the Evolutions will also have Battle Styles—for instance, Flareon VMAX and Umbreon VMAX are both Single Strike, while Vaporeon VMAX and Sylveon VMAX are both Rapid Strike.
Not only that, but as mentioned earlier, the Dragon type is returning to the Pokémon TCG. While it has appeared off and on throughout the entirety of the Pokémon TCG’s lifespan, it’s been awhile since Dragon Pokémon have been represented by a type of their own, and this will mark the first time in the Pokémon TCG: Sword & Shield series of expansions that Dragon Pokémon are Dragon-type.
While these Dragon-type Pokémon may be of that new type, their Energy costs require multiple different types of Energy, similar to how Dragon-type Pokémon were in previous expansions. In other words, don’t expect to see basic Dragon Energy, but rather have Dragon-type Pokémon be an enhanced form of “Colorless” and require multiple types of Energy for their strong moves.
According to the announcement, the set features the following:
- 15 Pokémon VMAX
- 18 Pokémon V and 33 full-art Pokémon V
- 24 Trainer cards and 5 full-art Supporter cards
- A new Special Energy card
As far as product goes, there will be two versions of the Elite Trainer Boxes—one featuring Umbreon, Flareon, Jolteon, and Leafeon, while the other features Sylveon, Vaporeon, Glaceon, and Espeon—along with “special collections” and the prerelease-style Build & Battle Boxes, the latter of which will be available at participating local retailers on August 14, 2021 instead, giving players a chance to check out some of the new cards early.
The Build & Battle Boxes contain a 23-card “Evolution pack” that has helpful cards from current and earlier sets, along with four booster packs of Sword & Shield—Evolving Skies and one of four special alternate-art promo cards. These can be used to build a 40-card deck for a prerelease style format battle.
Here’s a look at some of the extra products from the set that were mentioned:
Elite Trainer Boxes
There are two versions of the Elite Trainer Boxes, but on top of that, there are also alternate versions—the Pokémon Center versions—of each of those that are sold on the Pokémon Center website. The Pokémon Center versions are similar to the standard versions, except come with six metal damage-counter dice and two additional booster packs (10 total instead of 8), although they cost about US$10 more.
Build & Battle Box
And here is a look at the Build & Battle Box that is available starting August 14, 2021.
