Today is Pokemon Day! During Pokemon Day the community comes together worldwide to celebrate all things Pokemon – this includes the Pokemon TCG!
Pokemon TCG Recap
One of the first TCG related announcements from Tsunekazu Ishihara, President and CEO of The Pokemon Company (sporting a CGI Pikachu friend beside him). The first announcement being a product reveal of “Pokemon TCG Classic“.
A new premium product named “Pokemon TCG Classic” was shown live on the official stream. This product is in a box set style and will release in late 2023 in English and October 2023 for Japan. The product will contain the following:
- Premium gameplay accessories
- Foldable game board
- Three on-theme deck boxes
- Three sets of on-theme card sleeves
- Metal orbs that take replace coins or dice for flips
- 3D damage counters that can be stacked
- Three 60-card decks led by Base Set Blastoise, Charizard and Venusaur
Each of the 60-card decks will contain both new and reprinted cards with unique holofoil technology to differentiate the Celebrations versions. It should be noted however that the new cards aside from the energy cards will be illegal for tournament play. It has been mentioned that the product is intended to be a timeless piece of the Pokemon TCG gameplay experience for friends and family.
Accessory Information
We received several pieces of information regarding the new product showcased today. Namely the accessories that come with the Classic product:
- The game board, sleeves and deck boxes were created with matching black-and-white color themes for consistency. The game board also has a high quality fabric surface to ease card movements
- This premium box set is intended for two player battles, with the appropriate amount of counters to support it
- Players can roll metal orbs down a curving chute – should the orb land in the white-sided hole, this is considered heads whereas if it lands in the black-sided hole, it’s considered tails. This removes the need for dice & coins at home and adds a unique spin on the mechanic
- The new 3D counters that come with this product are designed in a conical shape – this allows the counters to stack up and show a vertical indication of the damage numbers, which helps players calculate damage with ease. As a result of stacking up the counters are made from aluminum to prevent them from falling over
- 3D ring-shaped Burn and Poison markers are a nice new way to show off status effects
- The theme of decks are based around Water, Fire and Grass types.
There are several images that show off the new product below:
Pokemon TCG World Championship Dates Set!
Another awesome announcement given to us today from the direct, aimed more towards the competitive players of the game – both the Worlds 2023 location and dates were revealed!
Worlds 2023 will be taking place at the PACIFICO Yokohama Convention Centre in Yokohama, Japan! It has been known since the last World Championship finished up in the 2022 season that Yokohama would be the host, however only now do we know the location. Finally, the dates were included to, the biggest competitive contest of the year is slated to take place from August 11th to 13th! To enter this prestigious event, you must first qualify by participating in the competitive season, earning yourself enough championship points to attend!
Are you a new player to the Pokemon TCG scene? Whether you are looking to play casually or become the next Pokemon Master, check out how to play the Pokemon TCG here. The Pokemon TCG can be played at in-person events, at home with friends and family or even online on PTCGL!
