Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Helioptile, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, Team Up

The Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Team Up Part 11: Emolga & Helioptile

Our retrospective spotlight on Pokémon TCG's Sun & Moon-era set Team Up features Electric-types Emolga, Helioptile, & Heliolisk.

Four years ago, Pokémon TCG released the ninth main series set of the Sun & Moon era. The expansion, Sun & Moon – Team Up, came out on September 9th, 2022. Sun & Moon – Team Up added quite a lot to the hobby, including a special card type that would later become the most sought-after style of chase card in the Sword & Shield era. I'm talking, of course, about Alternate Arts. Sun & Moon – Team Up also introduced TAG TEAM Pokémon-GX, which featured two Pokémon on a single card. These species shared at least one of their typings. TAG TEAM Pokémon-GX were available as standard TEAM TEAM GX cards, Full Arts, Alternate Arts, and Rainbow Rares. Sun & Moon – Team Up was also the last set to include Prism Stars. This English-language expansion was based on the Japanese set Tag Bolt and took inspiration from the Kanto-themed games Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! Let's look back on this influential set and appreciate the artwork that would lay the groundwork for the current Alternate Art-themed era of Sword & Shield and beyond. Today, we continue with the Electric-types of Sun & Moon – Team Up.

Emolga gets a beautifully drawn card from Megumi Mizutani, who draws an orb of lightning around this Electric Mouse that glows in the blue night, looking quite a lot light the moon. Emolga is often depicted as cute and sweet but the bolts of power shooting out of its cheeks show immense strength as well. Helioptile gets a nostalgic card with a bowtie(?)-themed piece of artwork by Ken Sugimori. Like most Sugimori cards, this is Helioptile's official design art repurposed for a solid card. I'm a big fan of this underrated species, so I am all on board. Finally, today's spotlight concludes with Helioptile's evolution Heliolist who face absorbs solar energy in this illustration by Sumiyoshi Kizuki.

Stay tuned for the journey through this teamwork-themed set as we continue to spotlight the cards and artwork of Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon – Team Up. Next time, the spotlight continues with the main section of this set.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!