Komala Harris 
“Battle Partners” All 100 Main Set Cards Revealed!
- Thread starter Water Pokémon Master
- Start date
I'm definitely on the fence for the 4 themes when it comes to competitive play. Either they have all their setup and limited firepower (N, Iono) or no setup and a ton of potential firepower (Lillie, Hop).
Lillie and Hop feel like they have more a chance given they just need energy acceleration to pair with. I have no confidence in Iono attempting to load up the board with energy for Voltorb as a means of hitting high numbers, but that at least seems more feasible than what N is stuck on. N's gonna be polarizing because its only 2 good sources of damage rely on a second stage 1 just sitting on the bench... or taking non-KO damage. Purrloin and Joltik are way too situational to be core attacking options; Klingklang and Sigilyph suck flat out.
My biggest complaint mainly comes from N and Hop both having cards that are clearly gonna end up filler, but that's more a general complaint about pokemon as a whole. It sucks that instead of getting more usable cards for the themes with fewer cards, we got filler in Hop, and filler in N.
Lillie and Hop feel like they have more a chance given they just need energy acceleration to pair with. I have no confidence in Iono attempting to load up the board with energy for Voltorb as a means of hitting high numbers, but that at least seems more feasible than what N is stuck on. N's gonna be polarizing because its only 2 good sources of damage rely on a second stage 1 just sitting on the bench... or taking non-KO damage. Purrloin and Joltik are way too situational to be core attacking options; Klingklang and Sigilyph suck flat out.
My biggest complaint mainly comes from N and Hop both having cards that are clearly gonna end up filler, but that's more a general complaint about pokemon as a whole. It sucks that instead of getting more usable cards for the themes with fewer cards, we got filler in Hop, and filler in N.
And Sabrina never had a Gengar and Blaine never had a freaking Moltres lol. But that shouldn't have stopped these sets from having a lot of fun with the Trainers and their rosters like they have in the past. I'm not sure why these guys couldn't give us Iono's Tera Electric Mismagius ex or just Hop's Rillaboom/Cinderace/Inteleon. The set choices make no sense to me. Sorry but no one cared for this Volcanion ex that isn't even as cool as the Steam Siege one.
Did Ancient and Future Pokémon last a year? Or was it 3 main sets, spread across 2 blocks, and that's it?
Actually all main sets after Paradox Rift have new Paradox Pokémon, all the way to Surging Sparks. Even Paldean Fates has those new Iron Treads ex and Great Tusk ex. But I get what you mean. We also likely won't see new Paradox cards this year.
It could also be a callback to Accelgor/Gothitelle or Accelgor/Trevenant, the Deck and Cover archetypes that could also Item Lock your opponent.
Me: "Is Accelgor/Tyranitar a thing now?"
Pokémon: "Yes!"
Players: "No!"
Which is weird if they are getting completely ridding off, they are like Ultra Beasts and Ultra beast still received cards in the third year of SnM, worse part would be is that numbers of Paradox Pokemons are likely more than the numbers of how many Ultra Beast are
So it seems they are indeed sticking to canon teams from the core series for Trainer's Pokemon. A shame as this would've been a good opportunity for a Lillie's Cosmog line but she is technically never Nebby's owner, I guess...
Can't help but wonder if Trainer's Pokemon are even going to be a mechanic for the whole year or were just quickly cooked up for a few sets due to PLZA delays.
Can't help but wonder if Trainer's Pokemon are even going to be a mechanic for the whole year or were just quickly cooked up for a few sets due to PLZA delays.
The worst part about this is knowing that because they did a bad job with this on purpose that now if reception is as bad as it probably ought to be, they're going to be spooked out of actually trying to do this right anytime in the foreseeable future. Really the fumble of the decade for poketcg. 25 years of history to draw upon for characters to include in the premiere return of trainer's pokemon, and we only get Hop, Lillie, N, and Iono, and all of them range from half-baked to completely terrible even if all you're doing is playing for fun.
But hey, you can't expect them to use the other two thirds of the pokemon slots in the set on doing more trainer archetypes or additional cards for the paltry few they are doing! They needed that room for all the nothing of value they decided to put in it instead.
But hey, you can't expect them to use the other two thirds of the pokemon slots in the set on doing more trainer archetypes or additional cards for the paltry few they are doing! They needed that room for all the nothing of value they decided to put in it instead.
That is stupid and you know that
So it seems they are indeed sticking to canon teams from the core series for Trainer's Pokemon. A shame as this would've been a good opportunity for a Lillie's Cosmog line but she is technically never Nebby's owner, I guess...
Can't help but wonder if Trainer's Pokemon are even going to be a mechanic for the whole year or were just quickly cooked up for a few sets due to PLZA delays.
That is dumb and annoying. The best thing about the gym leader sets and the verses sets were giving trainers Pokemon they didn't have before
Yeah, it is ultimately a confusing set. They have a tonne of trainers they could pick but they opted to throw in some random EX cards here and there. While I don't play the card game, there seems to be some consensus that the cards are not the best mechanically.
From a collector's POV, I really just see throwing a trainer's name as a gimmick. We have actually had what are trainer's Pokemon in terms of card design plenty of times since the introduction of gallery and illustration cards. The pin point of my disappointment is that they have gated which Pokemon can appear as trainer's Pokemon by establishing this in game team roster.
This is quite troubling as there are many versions of game rosters we could get. Take for example Red and Misty, as these are two that I am looking forward to.
Misty has had the following iconic combinations:
Staryu/Starmie - RBY, FRLG
Golduck/Quaqsire/Lapras/Starmie - GSC, HGSS
Quaqsire/Lapras/Lanturn/Floatzel/Milotic/Starmie - HGSS (Rematch)
Psyduck/Starmie - LGPE
Golduck/Dewgong/Starmie/Vaporeon/Gyarados LGPE (Rematch)
Eliminating the duplicates and adding the pre-evolutions means that you have a potential roster of Staryu, Starmie, Psyduck, Golduck, Mudkip, Quaqsire, Lapras, Chinchou, Lanturn, Buizel, Floatzel, Feebas, Milotic, Seel, Dewgong, Eevee, Vaporeon, Magikarp and Gyarados.
Seems like an interesting roster, but I am sure just like Lilly and her Vulpix or Cosmoem, some will complain at her lack of Togepi seeing as it is very much associated with her due to the Anime.
Next, look at Red:
Pikachu, Espeon, Snorlax, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise - GSC
Pikachu, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Lapras, Snorlax - HGSS
Pikachu, Machamp, Arcanine, Lapras, Snorlax, Venusaur - LGPE
Eliminating the duplicates and adding the pre-evolutions means that you have a potential roster of Pichu, Pikachu, Eevee, Espeon, Munchlax, Snorlax, Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur, Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise, Lapras, Machop, Machoke, Machamp, Growlithe and Arcanine.
A less interesting roster but still some potential. I would argue Red is a lot more straight forward compared to Misty.
The point I am making with all of this is. As a collector, I see trainer specific Pokemon as a vehicle for any Pokemon under the belt of that particular trainer. I think my biggest issue is that it has locked them into game specific teams.
I love that they finally gave me an Articuno illustration rare, but we could have had Misty's Articuno from Adventures if not for that game restriction and it would have been thematically relevant.
TLDR, I hope they break from the cycle of in game teams and really go ham. I don't want just regular Pokemon showing up in a series where trainers are the focus. Give me every damn inclusion of a trainer ever and throw in some illustration rares for random ones! You could even do polls for popularity of Pokemon xD.
From a collector's POV, I really just see throwing a trainer's name as a gimmick. We have actually had what are trainer's Pokemon in terms of card design plenty of times since the introduction of gallery and illustration cards. The pin point of my disappointment is that they have gated which Pokemon can appear as trainer's Pokemon by establishing this in game team roster.
This is quite troubling as there are many versions of game rosters we could get. Take for example Red and Misty, as these are two that I am looking forward to.
Misty has had the following iconic combinations:
Staryu/Starmie - RBY, FRLG
Golduck/Quaqsire/Lapras/Starmie - GSC, HGSS
Quaqsire/Lapras/Lanturn/Floatzel/Milotic/Starmie - HGSS (Rematch)
Psyduck/Starmie - LGPE
Golduck/Dewgong/Starmie/Vaporeon/Gyarados LGPE (Rematch)
Eliminating the duplicates and adding the pre-evolutions means that you have a potential roster of Staryu, Starmie, Psyduck, Golduck, Mudkip, Quaqsire, Lapras, Chinchou, Lanturn, Buizel, Floatzel, Feebas, Milotic, Seel, Dewgong, Eevee, Vaporeon, Magikarp and Gyarados.
Seems like an interesting roster, but I am sure just like Lilly and her Vulpix or Cosmoem, some will complain at her lack of Togepi seeing as it is very much associated with her due to the Anime.
Next, look at Red:
Pikachu, Espeon, Snorlax, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise - GSC
Pikachu, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Lapras, Snorlax - HGSS
Pikachu, Machamp, Arcanine, Lapras, Snorlax, Venusaur - LGPE
Eliminating the duplicates and adding the pre-evolutions means that you have a potential roster of Pichu, Pikachu, Eevee, Espeon, Munchlax, Snorlax, Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur, Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise, Lapras, Machop, Machoke, Machamp, Growlithe and Arcanine.
A less interesting roster but still some potential. I would argue Red is a lot more straight forward compared to Misty.
The point I am making with all of this is. As a collector, I see trainer specific Pokemon as a vehicle for any Pokemon under the belt of that particular trainer. I think my biggest issue is that it has locked them into game specific teams.
I love that they finally gave me an Articuno illustration rare, but we could have had Misty's Articuno from Adventures if not for that game restriction and it would have been thematically relevant.
TLDR, I hope they break from the cycle of in game teams and really go ham. I don't want just regular Pokemon showing up in a series where trainers are the focus. Give me every damn inclusion of a trainer ever and throw in some illustration rares for random ones! You could even do polls for popularity of Pokemon xD.
For the US this will be combined with another set to make up the entire journey together set right? Even if we don't get much more I guess it'll still be interesting to play current format without F block lol
No. It will be combined with the rest of the Generations decks' cards, which were not included in Prismatic Evolutions, and that's it. SV9a will be in our SV10.
The official statement on the battle partners set is that there will be more than 40 trainers pokemon in the set. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there are 40 trainers pokemon here? There are 4 trainers ex which means we don't have space for steven's and marnie's mons
By my count there is 31, which means the other 9 are most likely going to count for illustration and special illustration rares.