As thePokémon Trading Card Gamesees therelease of itsStellar Crownexpansion setquickly approaching, details have now emerged regarding new Promo Cards arriving as part of the set’s prerelease. This will make them among the first cards associated withStellar Crownthat many people will obtain, even if their nature sets them apart from the official set. Nevertheless, while it is already known thatStellar Crownwill introduce many exciting new cards, these newly unveiled cards are sure to attract interest.
Provided alongside booster packs and energy cards, prerelease promo cards are an interesting bonus reward for attending a prerelease event, and these cards are immediately identifiable by their artwork. They feature the logo of their respective expansion set overlaid on the illustration, which is itself an alternate version to that card’s counterpart in the main set. However, because these promotional promo cards are included in Build and Battle boxes, it is perfectly possible to collect them without attending these events. This makes the following TCG cards rare but reasonably available for all.
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Ledian Switches Opposing Active Pokémon For A Potential Knock-Out
SVP Promo Card 133
As revealed byPokéBeach,the first of these new Promo cards features Ledian. As is common with Bug-types in the TCG, this Ledian is presented as a Grass-type with an interesting Ability to pair with its attack. Glittering Star Pattern allows the player to switch out their opponent’s Active Pokémon for one with 90 HP or under, making evolving Ledian a way to quickly remove an opponent’s weaker Pokémon from play. Notably, this ability works regardless of whether Ledian is the player’s own Active Pokémon, but its 70-damage Swift attack makes it a good choice in most scenarios anyway.
This Ledian promo card’s art shows the Pokémon with a notably serious expression, facing the viewer and apparently mid-punch. It is an interesting action scene for the card, and was created by illustrator Natsumi Yoshida. It also contrasts with the regular print card’s own illustration by Masako Tomii, which shows a flying Ledian in profile against a sparkling background. While the two utilize relatively similar styles, especially in comparison to some other TCG artists, Yoshida’s own art makes use of a slightly more simplistic design in order to make a bold impression on the viewer.
While some groups of promotional cards (such as occasionally released through McDonald’s collaborations) have other markings, the majority are easily distinguished by the black star icon they have in place of a regular rarity indicator.
Crabominable Becomes Easier To Use With The Support Of Trainer Cards
SVP Promo Card 134
The second prerelease card features Crabominable, and has an Ability that directly supports its attack. Haymaker deals a massive 250 damage at the expense of only being able to use it every other turn, and requires a Water energy and four Colorless. However,its Ability Food Prep reduces the Colorless cost by one for each Kofu Supporter card in the discard pile. This naturally leads to a strategy of using Kofu, which allows a player to draw four cards after putting two on the bottom of the deck in order to find both Crabrawler and Crabominable.
This card is illustrated by KEIICHIRO ITO, who has illustrated a total of 46Pokémoncards so far. In contrast to this, the Regular Print version is by nagimiso, who is credited with over 130 cards to date. Both versions show Crabominable in the midst of a snow scene, using some form of Ice-type move, with shards of frozen water flying from its enormous hands. As such, it is clear to see that these are the two artists' interpretations of the exact same scene, which makes for an interesting point of comparison between the results.
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Drifblim Powers Up With The Help Of Its Friends
SVP Promo Card 135
Drifblim is the only one of the four prerelease promo cards to not have an Ability, but this is not a detriment. In fact, this card’s attack is arguably impressive enough on its own, without the potential synergy that an Ability could add.Everyone Explode Now deals 50 damage for each of a player’s Drifblim and Drifbloom, for a minimum of 50 damage and a maximum of 300 with a full bench. However, its cheap (one Psychic Energy) cost and potential to scale is hampered by the fact that each of these Pokémon then takes 30 damage themselves.
Keisin is the illustrator of this card, an artist with only two other art credits for the TCG at present; first, forObsidian Flames’ Stoutland, and thenTemporal Forces’ Delcatty. The artwork shows Drifblim floating peacefully with a mountain range in the background. It is a very different setting to that of the Regular Print version by the artist sowsow, which depicts a city; perhaps somewhat ominously, given the card’s evidently explosive attack. Of course, both Drifblim and pre-evolution Drifloon already have someparticularly disturbing Pokédex entriesassociated with them, so this is arguably simply par for the course.
Bouffalant Protects Its Colorless Allies
SVP Promo Card 136
The final promotional card forStellar Crownis Bouffalant, which can provide a potent level of defense for Pokémon under a player’s control. If a player has two or more Bouffalant cards in play, thenthe Ability Curly Wall reduces all attack damage done to Colorless Pokémon (which naturally includes this card) by 60. This allows Bouffalant to last much longer as an Active Pokémon, something clearly valuable as using the attack Boundless Power prevents Bouffalant from attacking on the next turn.
Tonji Matsuno’s illustration for this promo card shows a Bouffalant snorting with its head lowered, evidently about to charge. This would pair well with the Regular Print card’s own illustration by GOSSAN, which shows an impact effect centered on Bouffalant’s head, although what can be seen of the backgrounds in both images makes it clear that these are different settings, and so the illustrations aren’t likely to be directly connected events. Nevertheless, Matsuno’s illustration evokes a powerful image of a Pokémon about to attack while emphasizing its size, which is a perfect thematic match for the card’s actual mechanics.
With a constant flow of new expansion sets and products coming out, it is unsurprising that there is also a contant supply ofnew promo cards for thePokémon TCG. These prerelease cards forStellar Crown,in particular, have clearly been well-chosen from the main set for prerelease: each has some powerful effects, and the new illustrations are all very appealing. The four promo cards are all interesting additions to thePokémon Trading Card Game, and will undoubtedly be appreciated as part of any collection.
