Paradox Pokémon bring past and future Paldea to the Pokémon TCG as TMs and Ace Spec items return
Ancient Roar & Future Flash will release later this year, reviving mechanics not seen in a decade.
The closing ceremony of last weekend's Pokémon World Championships brought with it a peek into the future of the Pokémon TCG, as Pokémon from the heart of the past and future Paldea make their debut later this year, while Ace Spec cards return to the game for the first time in a decade.
These new Paradox Pokémon from the past and future of Paldea - the setting of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - will be introduced to the Pokémon TCG as part of the Ancient Roar & Future Flash set releasing in Japan on October 27th, bringing the Ancient and Future mechanic labels with them.
Assisting the Pokémon will be unique abilities, trainers and attacks, although specifics on those are yet to be revealed. However, even down to the design of these cards as shown from samples featured in the teaser trailer for the set do these cards embrace this idea of time and paradox core to the Pokémon’s identity, making them at the very least a welcome place for any collection.
So far, it’s known that Scream Tail, Brute Bonnet, Iron Bundle, Iron Moth, Roaring Moon and Iron Valiant will be included in this first wave of Paradox Pokémon, with Roaring Moon and Iron Valiant debuting as ex cards.
On top of that, the trailer revealed that 2024 will see the return of Ace Spec cards to the game for the first time in a decade. Only 13 of these items currently exist, having been introduced in the Boundaries Crossed set in 2013, with their unique gimmick being that only one such item can be included in each deck. Unfortunately, the announcement only revealed their existence and not even a sample of one of these new item cards, so we’ll have to wait a little bit longer for information.
This wasn’t the only old mechanic returning to the TCG, with TMs being reintroduced to the game in Raging Surf for the first time in 15 years, following an on-stream announcement earlier in the weekend.