2025 has been a great year for the Pokemon TCG, with more sets in the Scarlet & Violet series hitting shelves in stores around the world. The hugely popular game is fast approaching its 100th set and it still has a huge fan base, with players keen to obtain chase cards, be victorious in tournaments and generally just have fun collecting and playing against others.
While the game continues to be focused on real-life gameplay, i.e. using physical cards, its online version has proven to be quite popular. It’s like how many people bet on eSports online as an alternative to visiting local bookmakers to place bets in person. With that said, in this article we’ll run through the latest news and developments that you should know about if you’re a fan of the Pokemon TCG.
The Newest Set: Scarlet & Violet: Destined Rivals
Two sets have already been released this year: Scarlet & Violet: Prismatic Evolutions and Scarlet & Violet: Journey Together. The third set to come out in 2025 will be Scarlet & Violet: Destined Rivals, and it’s scheduled for a 30 May release.
As its name implies, it will be the latest in the current Scarlet & Violet series, based on the 2023 Switch games Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet. The upcoming Destined Rivals set will be the tenth in the Scarlet & Violet series and will have a number of Trainer’s Pokemon cards featuring popular trainers and their Pokemon. These include a mix of rivals, gym leaders and champions such as Misty, Cynthia, Arven, Steven and Marnie.
There are 182 main cards in the set; if you’re counting secret cards, the number rises to over 240. When it comes to card types, 83 of them are Trainer Pokemon cards and 83 involve Team Rocket in some way (some Team Rocket cards are Trainer Pokemon cards too). The booster pack artwork comes in four designs:
- Ethan and Ho-Oh
- Cynthia and Garchomp
- Giovanni and Mewtwo
- Various Team Rocket members and their Pokemon
A small selection of cards from Scarlet & Violet: Destined Rivals are available through the Steven and Marine Riva Battle Decks, which both have a release date of 16 May.
Future Sets
Following on from Scarlet & Violet: Destined Rivals will be two sets that are due to be released at the same time. These are Scarlet & Violet - Black Bolt and Scarlet & Violet - White Flare, both of which are coming out on 18 July, with all products associated with the set due to be on shelves by 22 August. All 156 Pokemon from the Unova region (originally visited in the fifth generation games Pokemon Black and Pokemon White) will be represented in cards across the two sets.
Each Unova Pokemon will appear as either an illustration rare or a special illustration rare card. There will be more than 170 cards in each of the two sets, including a range of chase cards such as the new Black White rare cards whose illustrations are monochromatic and are either black or white.
Another future set has been confirmed, though it doesn’t have a release date. Mega Evolution will see the return of the Mega Evolution mechanic, which was introduced in the X & Y series and was last seen in the Sun & Moon series.
This set is likely going to tie in with the upcoming game Pokemon Legends Z-A, which is scheduled for release later in 2025. It will be set in Lumiose City, the largest settlement in the Kalos region, where Mega Evolution was introduced. It’s been confirmed that the game will feature the return of Mega Evolution, with some new Pokemon due to receive Mega Evolution forms.
The Latest Rotation
For those interested in competitive play, the latest rotation went into effect on 11 April. If you’re going to play in a Standard format organised event, your deck can’t contain any cards with the regulation mark D, E or F. You also can’t use cards that don’t have a regulation mark. The cards that you can use in Standard format competitive play are those with the regulation mark G or H.
To put it simply, all cards from sets in the Sword & Shield series have been rotated out. When playing competitively in Standard format, the only cards you can use are from the current Scarlet & Violet series (with some exceptions).
As always, rotation is implemented to avoid power creep, keep the meta exciting and encourage players to purchase and use newer cards. It’s common in trading card games that have competitive, international tournaments because it prevents gameplay from becoming stale and encourages players to try new strategies and come up with new decks.