Mysterious New English Promos Listed from Unidentified Product, Including Darkrai ex

By: Water Pokémon Master · Posted Posted onMar 22, 2024 at 12:03 PM · 10 Comments

Pokemon.com has updated their promo legality page with 11 new English promos that will become legal on April 26th. This includes a new Darkrai ex, Pikachu ex, and Armarouge ex.

If the promos come from a product, it would hit store shelves on April 12th, as promos become legal two weeks after a product releases.

However, there are currently no products releasing on April 12th. There also aren’t any known products releasing this quarter that could even contain these cards.

Card Card Number Legality Date
Armarouge ex SVP 105 4/26/2024
Pikachu ex SVP 106 4/26/2024
Mareep SVP 107 4/26/2024
Flaaffy SVP 108 4/26/2024
Ampharos SVP 109 4/26/2024
Darkrai ex SVP 110 4/26/2024
Pawniard SVP 111 4/26/2024
Bisharp SVP 112 4/26/2024
Kingambit SVP 113 4/26/2024
Picnicker SVP 114 4/26/2024
Miraidon SVP 148 4/26/2024

All of the cards seem to come from Japan’s Battle Academy. This confirms that at least some of them will be turned into promos, which we expected.

The cards could release in a product that hasn’t been listed by distributors; this is only ever the case with store-exclusive products. They could also release as part of an event.

It’s possible the promos could be used for new versions of the Play Lab Demo Decks that TPCi gives out at events to teach new players how to play the game. The current versions feature Greninja V, Umbreon V, and Lucario V, which are obviously outdated.

EUIC takes place from April 4th through 7th. Technically promos become legal the first or third Friday after release. The third Friday after EUIC is April 26th, so the legality date lines up with the event. Thus, could EUIC see the release of three new demo decks featuring Pikachu ex, Darkrai ex, and Armarouge ex?

For some reason, Miraidon is numbered further apart from the other promos (it’s SV148). This implies it’s not connected to the others. It could be a different Miraidon than the one from Battle Academy. However, there currently aren’t any others that have released in Japan.

We will be getting a new version of Battle Academy in June featuring three 60-card decks.

I will update this story or post a follow-up once we learn more. Stay tuned!

View thread (10 replies)
The only thing making me a bit skeptical about this being Play Labs is the Armarouge ex, being both an evolution pokemon and being able to one shot the Pikachu ex. Feels like it would be somewhat overpowered in that matchup, while the current ones have a bit more of a neutral relationship that show off different mechanics instead (Greninja V can win with coin toss luck, Lucario showcases bench damage, and Umbreon showcases other attack effects; but all 3 importantly cannot one-shot each other. Otherwise, the games are way too fast, particularly as they're usually to 2 or 3 prizes.
 
Frost said:
Honestly the non-ex cards would be better off taking up space in sets imo; they'd all be common and uncommon bulk.
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In 2022 I would have agreed. But I feel like one of the strengths of the SV era is the high amount of genuinely decent "bulk", mostly due to international packs staying more faithful to the original japanese rarities for each card. Adding in battle academy cards would undo that.
 
I wish I took a photo, but at my Pokémon Day event there were little three sided standee things outlining products with the 1/2/3 level system, and the level 1 had a battle academy with Pikachu, Armarouge, and Darkrai. Very likely they are all cards that will remain in that set in this case
 
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