Happy Pokémon Day! February 27th has arrived and with it some juicy announcements over at the Trading Card Game (TCG) side of things.
Official Confirmation.
A couple of days ago, a video over at TikTok was uploaded that showed a new expansion pack, Triumphant Light, coming to Pokémon TCG Pocket. There was much general confusion generated afterward as the video was taken down and no official announcement was made by The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) regarding the situation.
Due to the wild nature of the internet and the rise of AI and deep fake technology, there was a mix of skepticism and hope that the inadvertently aired video was real and not some hoax.
Fast-forward to today and the Pokémon Presents video has officially confirmed the release of Triumphant Light for Pokémon TCG Pocket. Slated for release on the very next day, February 28th, players of Pokémon TCG Pocket won’t have to wait long to get their hands on the Arceus ex coming in this pack.
They’re Back.
For players over at the physical card game, TPCi has also left something for us as well. First introduced back in 2014 with the XY series, Mega Evolutions are coming back.
As part of the Pokémon TCG segment, we’re given brief glimpses of a Mega Lucario ex and a Mega Gardevoir ex. Thanks to community members over at Pokébeach, we’re able to find stills of the cards to further dissect them and speculate on what it’ll mean for the community when they eventually hit store shelves.
Looking back at previous mega evolution cards from past releases there is already a noticeable difference in the cards. Knocking out a mega evolution Pokémon automatically gives the opposing player three -yes, you read that right- prize cards. In their original foray, mega evolution Pokémon would only give the opponent two prize cards.
This is already a step up in terms of risk-reward. At first blush, the mega evolution Pokémon look plenty strong. Mega Lucario ex is already punching an opposing Pokémon’s lights out for 130 to 270 damage with just 1-2 fighting energy respectively. Most basic and stage 1 Pokémon are well within this lethality range unless they have the appropriate resistances.
Mega Gardevoir ex takes a little more set-up. But for a measly cost of just 1 psychic energy, a player is literally yoinking out energy cards for each of their benched Pokémon. Deck thinning and energy ramp at the same time? Efficiency has found another synonym and it’s Mega Gardevoir ex.
When the set-up is complete, Gardevoir can easily hit at 50 times all the psychic energy attached to all your Pokémon -including Gardevoir itself-. Even the current Gardevoir ex has to have 3 energy to make its attack (at 190 damage) and Mega Gardevoir can easily match that with 4 psychic energy attached to whomever their controlling player has -and it’s still for a single energy cost-.
Not only are these bonkers abilities cheap to use, but they’re also on top of very robust bodies. Mega Lucario ex and Mega Gardevoir ex have a health pool of 340 and 360 respectively. For a little bit of context, the current Gardevoir ex currently being used in tournaments -as well as seeing success- has a body of 310 while currently legal Lucarios don’t have a health pool higher than 260.
So far, the mega-evolution comeback is looking pretty monstrous, even more so than their predecessors. That said, we will have to patiently wait for more details as the only information we’ve been given for their return was sometime this 2025.