Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Fusion Strike, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, Sword & Shield

The Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Sword & Shield – Fusion Strike Part 18

The Pokémon TCG has outdone itself with its latest release, Sword & Shield – Fusion Strike. Fusion Strike, which was released in November 2021, is the largest expansion that the Pokémon TCG has ever released with a whopping 264 cards before Secret Rares. The set is partly based on the Japanese expansion Fusion Arts but also adapts several key Japanese promo cards as well as cards from sets like Eevee Heroes that were left out of that set's English equivalent, Sword & Shield – Evolving Skies. Sword & Shield – Fusion Strike is notable for its focus on the Mythical Pokémon Mew and Gengar VMAX, as well as its introduction of a new Battle Style to the competitive TCG with Fusion Pokémon now joining Rapid Strike and Single Strike. Now, let's take a journey through the best cards in this staggeringly large set of Pokémon cards.

• Celebi V Alternate Art: Here we go! This card was one of the biggest mysteries of the year. Japan released this Celebi Alt Art as a promo for the release of Jet Black Poltergeist and Silver Lance, which had a Celebi V, Full Art, VMAX, and Rainbow Rare. The English equivalent of those sets, though, didn't include this card. Finally, it shows up here. We'll see other cards that would've made sense in other sets show up here in Fusion Strike in an effort to beef the hits of this set up. This, to me, is one of the top pulls of this expansion. With beautiful, painterly art, it goes up there as one of the most visually interesting Alternate Arts of the year. It's a simple, gorgeous depiction of this fan-favorite Mythical Pokémon.
• Tsareena V Full Art: This is every bit a standard Full Art, but wow do those colors pop. The decision to stop with the flat backgrounds that plagued the Sun & Moon era Full Arts has majorly improved modern sets.
• Chandelure V Alternate Art: This blazing hot Chandelure card rights an old wrong, giving this Pokémon its first Full Art… ever. Overdue, but certainly welcome!

Next time, the spotlight on Pokémon TCG: Sword & Shield – Fusion Strike continues with more cards from the set. You can follow this spotlight series by clicking our Fusion Strike tag.

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