Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: battle styles, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, TCG

Pokémon TCG Announces "Battle Styles" Expansion For March 2021

It's a wild time to collect Pokémon TCG cards. Fresh off of the announcement of Shining Fates, the new special set debuting in February 2021 and already selling out in the pre-order phase worldwide, the Pokémon TCG has announced a brand new expansion. Sword & Shield: Battle Style will be the fifth official Sword & Shield series, following the base set, Rebel Clash, Darkness Ablaze, and the current Vivid Voltage. This new will set off a new wave of hype with both collectors and competitive TCG players, as Battle Style is set to introduce an entirely new battle mechanic into the game.

The Pokémon Company International describes the new battle mechanic in their announcement:

Inspired by the Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield video games, Battle Styles consist of Single Strike Style, which delivers powerful, hard-hitting attacks that can Knock Out an opponent in a single blow, and Rapid Strike Style, which uses sneaky, technical attacks that allow a player to attack their opponent when least expected.​ Any Pokémon in the Pokémon TCG can have a Battle Style, with Single Strike cards decorated with a hint of red and Rapid Strike cards with a hint of blue. In addition, Single Strike and Rapid Strike cards are available as Trainer and Energy cards, which tend to assist Pokémon of that particular Battle Style and allow players to build a Single Strike or Rapid Strike deck.

Some of these new Battle Style cards consist of:

• Single Strike Urshifu V
• Rapid Strike Urshifu V
• Single Strike Tyranitar V,
• Rapid Strike Empoleon V
• Single Strike Urshifu VMAX
• Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX

Some of these cards, including quite the ornery Emboar card, are available to preview below. Stay tuned to Bleeding Cool this week for a piece taking a closer look at these and more Pokémon TCG Battle Styles cards.

That Tyranitar V is probably going to draw some major interest… especially if it has a Rainbow Rare form, but that has yet to be announced.

The Sword & Shield: Battle Styles expansion will release worldwide on March 19th, 2021 and will be available in booster packs (or entire booster boxes if you're a wild type like me), two different Elite Trainer Boxes, and special collections.

So far, we know that this new Pokémon TCG expansion will include:

• 60 Battle Style cards
• 12 Pokémon V and 16 full-art Pokémon V
• Six Pokémon VMAX
• 19 Trainer cards and six full-art Supporter cards
• Two Special Energy cards

Now, the attentive reader will see that the "full number" of this set is 163. The Emboar is 025/163, the Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX is 088/163, and so on. However, I would say it's safe to expect a great deal of Secret Rare cards that go beyond this numbering. For example, Vivid Voltage has 189 non-Secret cards, but the full set, including the Secret Rares, clocks in at a whopping 203. As details come in, Bleeding Cool will report!

Until then, though, let the hype build for this new Pokémon TCG expansion with this epic trailer.

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