Pokemon TCG: The Best Destined Rivals Cards

The Pokemon Trading Card Game expansion Destined Rivals launches later in May 2025. Here’s our overview of the set, so you know what to expect, and our picks for the best cards based on a varying criteria.

The coolest Pokemon Trading Card Game Destined Rivals cards

Is it weird to just say aesthetics? The Illustration Rare cards featuring trainers with their star partners are inherently compelling. Even other special partner cards look good. Heck, we’re big fans of the Elite Trainer Box with its flat black-and-red design and would have loved card treatments to match.

But even outside of looks, there are fundamentally cool cards in here. Lots are built around the Team Rocket faction, with underhanded tactics and their signature creatures. Thankfully, this time it isn’t relying upon indicating creatures are “mistreated” by giving them low HP and making them nearly useless? You still see some bad sportsmanship, though. Spidops likes to gang up on you. Houndoom burns and confuses simultaneously. Ampharos punishes opponents’ evolution with damage counters. Hypno mind-controls the opposing bench to swipe at its active pal. That’s not mentioning the dark faction’s, uh, Darkness Pokemon? Nidoking poisons for eight times the usual amount. Arbok has an ability to stop other abilities from entering play and swings its tail for a bunch of splash damage. There’s Muk, Crobat, Weezing, Sneasel… truly a lot to choose from here.

There’s also a dedicated Team Rocket Energy card, providing two Darkness or Psychic energy. With it, the super-strong Mewtwo ex can hit hard! The downside: you have to get at least three Rocket cards on the bench before it can hit at all. Even some out-of-type options use it well, like Moltres ex, which is happy to use it to fuel its normal attack, but can also Thanos-snap its foe to the discard pile with one.

There are 11 Team Rocket Trainer cards in the set, most with effects that you’re used to, but slightly better with the faction restriction. The Stadium lets you draw two cards a turn, offering the foe nothing unless it’s a mirror match. Its Great Ball always catches something, but evolution or basic is a coin flip. Its dedicated Transceiver lets you choose which one of these you want from your deck. Our favorite combo, though? That’s Team Rocket’s Wobbuffet and Orbeetle. Orbeetle lets you move around damage counters at will, while Wobbuffet’s attack transfers counters from one bench creature to the opponent.

The most interesting Pokemon TCG Destined Rivals cards

The set’s focus on trainer’s Pokemon means that each essentially gets its own theme deck, cards designed to work together for a particular strategy. The Team Rocket collection is larger, and we hope that it might get more support in the future. But the rest? This is probably what we’re getting.

Gold and Silver protagonist Ethan and recent companion Arven might be the headliners. Arven has a Mabosstiff, a Toedscruel and a Greedent, with no particular energy required and a dedicated sandwich item for efficient healing. It’s flexible, but may need an external centerpiece. Ethan’s party would only look nostalgic if you accidentally caught and used a ton of Fire types, with only a Pinsir and Sudowoodo with colorless attack options. He gets a dedicated Trainer to search for Pokemon and energy, and his Typhlosion’s attack needs you to have adventured as much as possible (into the discard pile) to really hit. His Ho-Oh is the star, speeding up your energy ramp and managing a decent attack in a pinch.

Gym leaders Misty and Marnie join as well. Misty stays within her Water type and is the only one to not get a dedicated Trainer card to assist, so there’s not a lot her Lapras and Gyarados can do to get your attention. The art’s fun, at least? Marnie similarly sticks to the darkness, running the Grimmsnarl, Scrafty, Liepard and Morpeko lines. They’re not fancy, but they’re built to quickly attack and get a lot of energy cards attached, so we could see someone making good use of them.

Hoenn champion Steven and Sinnoh champion Cynthia round out the selection. Cynthia’s all about getting her Garchomp out and dealing a ton of damage while refilling your hand in the process. Her other Pokemon are essentially unplayable and don’t have a lot of synergy, but that Garchomp might be good enough to play anyway. Steven’s works a bit better, with a dedicated defense boost from Carbink, stadium card Granite Cave and an energy acceleration sweeper in his Metagross ex.

The most meta-relevant Pokemon TCG Destined Rivals cards

Because of the trainer’s connection, a lot of cards in this set don’t work universally. But hey, some do? Team Rocket’s Petrel is a functional reprint of Skyla, a popular Supporter card that lets you search for any Trainer card you want. That’ll be welcome for a lot of decks, no matter the strategy. The new Shaymin shields much of your bench from your opponent’s attack damage, but that would need to be a counter to a particular strategy to become competitive. There’s a new Rapidash with card draw, but a Stage 1 is a hard sell as a utility. Finally, Yanmega ex loads itself up with energy to attack when it swaps in, but then has to ship that energy to a benched creature. It could deal the final blow, or it could set up another fighter really quickly.

The cutest Destined Rivals cards

It’s tougher to find these in this set! After all, so much of the cards are Pokemon at work, either as elite fighters for champions or prisoners of an evil gang. But they’re here if you look! Growlithe is sticking out its tongue in the woods. It’s hard to tell what Cetoddle and Breloom are up to, but they’re certainly having a good time. Even Misty’s Psyduck is having a rare no-migraine day and loving a lounge by the pool.

The Pokemon Trading Card Game Scarlet & Violet: Destined Rivals expansion launches May 30, 2025.

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