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Pokemon TCG Journey Together Expansion Brings Partners to Battle
Trainer’s Pokemon have long been a feature of the Pokemon Trading Card Game, tracing back to the first generation’s Gym Heroes expansion. Still, it’s been a while since we’ve seen them in quite this number! Journey Together is built around four trainers from recent generations: N, Iono, Lillie and Hop. Iono, the Paldea gym leader, has previously been the reason for a jump in demand for Pokemon TCG releases, so her inclusion here makes sense. Her iconic partner, Bellibolt, gets a starring role as her ex with a big 230-damage attack. That said, it’s maybe better as a supporting creature. Its ability lets you play as many energy to Iono’s Pokemon as you want, which is amazing, and its attack can only be used every second turn. But maybe it’s a finisher. Weirdly, we think Iono’s Voltorb might be better unevolved? The Electrode has some normal moves and an explosion that takes it out and is a coin flip whether it takes the opponent with it. Voltorb, conversely, has an attack that increases in damage by 20 for every electric energy on your Iono’s Pokemon. Also, the art is just way cooler. It’s joined by a Kilowattrel that can discard an energy to draw up to six cards every turn, and a Stadium card, Levincia, that lets you retrieve those energy to your hand. Photo by Siliconera Hop, the companion character from Sword & Shield, may seem like a sort of boring choice given his cadre of creatures. But in practice, that’s sort of fun? The whole group is helped by support effects and Trainer cards to make some otherwise-middling attacks a bit better. Hop’s Snorlax is key to the whole group, with an Extra Helpings ability that increases attack damage by 30. The Postwick stadium does the same thing, and though you can’t use multiple Extra Helpings effects at the same time, it can stack with Postwick. And his own Tool card, Hop’s Choice Band, once again increases damage by 30 while also decreasing energy cost by one. Hop’s Zacian ex is his sweeper, with a one-energy attack that can do 30 to the active opponent and a bench target at the same time and a four-energy attack that again only works every two turns. His Corviknight can also deal damage to the active and bench simultaneously. And his Dubwool can move something to the active spot when it’s played. Lillie’s Journey Together Pokemon largely seem built to bring back the idea of Fairy Pokemon to the TCG without, you know, actually bringing them back. Lillie’s Clefairy gives all Dragons a Psychic weakness, restoring the role of Fairy type as the foil to that dominant opposition. Well, it was dominant in the video games? With its double energy type requirements, dragons haven’t exactly been in charge of the card game recently, especially without Double Dragon Energy. She also gets the benefit of Lillie’s Pearl, a Tool card that makes her Pokemon pay out one fewer Prize card. Lillie’s Ribombee lets you lure out basics from the opponent’s hand, which combos well with Clefairy’s attack: Full Moon Rondo, which does 20 extra damage for each creature on both benches. But truly, that attack is basically the only usable one in the bunch! So it’d be hard to build a deck around just it. Photo by Siliconera The star of the Journey Together collection clearly is N, though. The Black & White character ties Hop for the most representation in the set with 13 distinct cards, and they’re all across the energy and power spectrum. His iconic partner, Zoroark, is here, though it really could use some help. Its Ability lets you discard a card to draw two every turn, and its two-energy Night Joker attack lets you use a benched N’s Pokemon’s attack. That attack could be Virtuous Flame, a 170-damage move from Reshiram that otherwise requires four energy of two additional types. Or Powerful Rage, its other move, that attacks for double its current damage. It could also be an attack from N’s Darmanitan, which can use Back Draft and deal 30 damage for each energy in the opponent’s discard pile. That could be effective later in the game? And since that attack in particular is colorless, it solves a bit of N’s energy problem: you need to build around Zoroark and feed it darkness energy, but that likely means not running the types for Reshiram to attack on its own, so there are going to need to be times when someone else can attack in a pinch. In terms of Trainers, N has two helpful ones. N’s Castle is a Stadium that negates his retreat costs, and Item card N’s PP Up lets you play an extra energy from the discard pile. He also has a smattering of other Pokemon that don’t synergize particularly well, like Joltik and Purrloin and Klinklang. While more Trainer’s Pokemon are on the horizon in upcoming sets, these are likely the only ones for these specific trainers anytime soon, so it’s highly doable to judge whether they’ll be strong enough to play as a group. In our estimation, that’s… basically everyone but Lillie. Sorry, Lillie? There’s not a lot of room for deck-bui
Trainer’s Pokemon have long been a feature of the Pokemon Trading Card Game, tracing back to the first generation’s Gym Heroes expansion. Still, it’s been a while since we’ve seen them in quite this number! Journey Together is built around four trainers from recent generations: N, Iono, Lillie and Hop.
Iono, the Paldea gym leader, has previously been the reason for a jump in demand for Pokemon TCG releases, so her inclusion here makes sense. Her iconic partner, Bellibolt, gets a starring role as her ex with a big 230-damage attack. That said, it’s maybe better as a supporting creature. Its ability lets you play as many energy to Iono’s Pokemon as you want, which is amazing, and its attack can only be used every second turn. But maybe it’s a finisher.
Weirdly, we think Iono’s Voltorb might be better unevolved? The Electrode has some normal moves and an explosion that takes it out and is a coin flip whether it takes the opponent with it. Voltorb, conversely, has an attack that increases in damage by 20 for every electric energy on your Iono’s Pokemon. Also, the art is just way cooler. It’s joined by a Kilowattrel that can discard an energy to draw up to six cards every turn, and a Stadium card, Levincia, that lets you retrieve those energy to your hand.
Hop, the companion character from Sword & Shield, may seem like a sort of boring choice given his cadre of creatures. But in practice, that’s sort of fun? The whole group is helped by support effects and Trainer cards to make some otherwise-middling attacks a bit better. Hop’s Snorlax is key to the whole group, with an Extra Helpings ability that increases attack damage by 30. The Postwick stadium does the same thing, and though you can’t use multiple Extra Helpings effects at the same time, it can stack with Postwick. And his own Tool card, Hop’s Choice Band, once again increases damage by 30 while also decreasing energy cost by one.
Hop’s Zacian ex is his sweeper, with a one-energy attack that can do 30 to the active opponent and a bench target at the same time and a four-energy attack that again only works every two turns. His Corviknight can also deal damage to the active and bench simultaneously. And his Dubwool can move something to the active spot when it’s played.
Lillie’s Journey Together Pokemon largely seem built to bring back the idea of Fairy Pokemon to the TCG without, you know, actually bringing them back. Lillie’s Clefairy gives all Dragons a Psychic weakness, restoring the role of Fairy type as the foil to that dominant opposition. Well, it was dominant in the video games? With its double energy type requirements, dragons haven’t exactly been in charge of the card game recently, especially without Double Dragon Energy. She also gets the benefit of Lillie’s Pearl, a Tool card that makes her Pokemon pay out one fewer Prize card.
Lillie’s Ribombee lets you lure out basics from the opponent’s hand, which combos well with Clefairy’s attack: Full Moon Rondo, which does 20 extra damage for each creature on both benches. But truly, that attack is basically the only usable one in the bunch! So it’d be hard to build a deck around just it.
The star of the Journey Together collection clearly is N, though. The Black & White character ties Hop for the most representation in the set with 13 distinct cards, and they’re all across the energy and power spectrum. His iconic partner, Zoroark, is here, though it really could use some help. Its Ability lets you discard a card to draw two every turn, and its two-energy Night Joker attack lets you use a benched N’s Pokemon’s attack. That attack could be Virtuous Flame, a 170-damage move from Reshiram that otherwise requires four energy of two additional types. Or Powerful Rage, its other move, that attacks for double its current damage.
It could also be an attack from N’s Darmanitan, which can use Back Draft and deal 30 damage for each energy in the opponent’s discard pile. That could be effective later in the game? And since that attack in particular is colorless, it solves a bit of N’s energy problem: you need to build around Zoroark and feed it darkness energy, but that likely means not running the types for Reshiram to attack on its own, so there are going to need to be times when someone else can attack in a pinch.
In terms of Trainers, N has two helpful ones. N’s Castle is a Stadium that negates his retreat costs, and Item card N’s PP Up lets you play an extra energy from the discard pile. He also has a smattering of other Pokemon that don’t synergize particularly well, like Joltik and Purrloin and Klinklang.
While more Trainer’s Pokemon are on the horizon in upcoming sets, these are likely the only ones for these specific trainers anytime soon, so it’s highly doable to judge whether they’ll be strong enough to play as a group. In our estimation, that’s… basically everyone but Lillie. Sorry, Lillie? There’s not a lot of room for deck-building creativity, as the other three sort of have one viable configuration and strategy, but still.
The latest Pokemon Trading Card Game expansion, Scarlet & Violet: Journey Together, launches March 28, 2025. Stay tuned to Siliconera for a breakdown of the set’s best cards, or check out our Pokemon TCG archive for more about the game.
The post Pokemon TCG Journey Together Expansion Brings Partners to Battle appeared first on Siliconera.
