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

The Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Team Up Part 14: Kanto Psychic-Types

Our retrospective spotlight on the artwork of the Pokémon TCG's Sun & Moon era continues with the Psychic-types of Team Up.

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 Psychic-types of Sun & Moon – Team Up.

Quite a few Kanto Pokémon get Psychic-type cards, as this typing is used in the TCG to also encompass Poison-types and, in later generations, Fairy-types. Kanto Psychic-types in Team Up include Gengar, Nidoran Female, Nidorina, Nidoqueen, Nidoran Male, Nidorino, Nidoking, Tentacool, Tentacruel, Grimer, Muk, Starmie, Mr. Mime, Jynx, and Marowak albeit the Alolan variant. Of these, I've chosen to spotlight four for their artwork. Nidroan Female is drawn by miki kudo with Nidoran Male by Naoyo Kimura, with both using a soft coloring style and strong but delicate touch to the lineart, making these cards vibe nicely together even though the styles are so different. Ken Sugimori stock art is used for Tentacool to set a strong Wizards of the Coast-era vibe while kodama shows the strength of the modern illustrative era with a Tentacruel hanging out near some coral reef at the bottom of the ocean.

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.

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