At Worlds in August, the first Scarlet & Violet cards were made public along with the announcement that the original “Pokemon ex” system will be returning.
The first iteration of the Pokemon ex mechanism ran from EX Ruby & Sapphire in 2003 to EX Power Keepers in 2007. Pokemon ex had more HP and more potent attacks than non-ex Pokemon, thus when they were knocked out, they forfeited two Prize cards. From their typical pre-Evolutions, they evolved. For instance, a Stage 2 Blaziken ex evolved from Combusken, and a Stage 1 Raichu ex from Pikachu.
Due to the two Prize penalty, the following edition of “Pokemon-EX” had a totally new mechanic than the first. It began with Black & White’s Future Destinies in 2012 and ran until Evolutions in 2016. Mewtwo-EX was the first Pokemon-EX to be made public in August 2011.
Black and White sets initially exclusively included Pokemon-EX versions of legendary Pokémon like Mewtwo-EX and Darkrai-EX (which are always Basic Pokemon). The Basic Chandelure-EX was then made public in June 2013. That was a bit of a surprise to TCG aficionados at the time when we initially realised that the TCG will ignore pre-Evolutions. After then, any completely evolved Pokemon, regardless of whether it originated from a Pokemon in a video game, would be a Basic Pokemon-EX.
For instance, Blaziken-EX wasn’t an evolved form of Combusken; it was merely a Basic Pokémon.
It was announced at this year’s Worlds that the original Pokemon ex mechanism would be returning. This implies that Evolution will once again play a significant role in the TCG.
Are you excited for the upcoming release? Pre-order with us today! Pokemon TCG: Scarlet & Violet releasing 31/3/2023.