Jose Tellez 
The Pokemon TCG is set to get a major expansion with Scarlet and Violet: Journey Together, which brings back trainer-branded Pokemon cards for the first time in years.
OGs of the Pokemon TCG may remember the Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge expansions of old. Rather than once again re-running the original 151 Pokemon, the expansions focused on the trainers of the game. Instead of yet another Charizard or Snorlax, all the Pokemon were specifically attached to a gym leader or Team Rocket; along the lines of “Blaine’s Charizard” or “Rocket’s Snorlax.”
The set came at an awkward time in the franchise and The Pokemon Company seemingly saw fit to leave this concept in the past as a result. The most iconic characters of the games and anime have largely been relegated to supporter cards. That’s changing in the long-awaited Pokemon TCG’s Journey Together expansion; here are the cards it’s bringing and the best ones of the bunch.
Which trainers are featured in Pokemon TCG’s Scarlet and Violet: Journey Together?
The Scarlet and Violet: Journey Together expansion will bring cards based on N, Lillie, Hop, and Iono. As is tradition in the Pokemon TCG, this expansion pulls together bits and pieces of multiple Japanese releases.
Journey Together is largely built on the Battle Partners set, which featured the above characters. Similar to the Gym Challenge and Gym Heroes cards, the expansion includes evolutionary lines attached to specific characters.
Pokemon designated as belonging to a specific trainer can only evolve into or be evolved from that same trainer. For example, N’s Darumaka can evolve into N’s Darmanitan, but N’s Darumaka cannot evolve into a regular Darmanitan. Nor can a regular Darumaka evolve into N’s Darmanitan.
Among the highlighted cards in the set are Hop’s Zacian, Lillie’s Clefairy, Iono’s Bellibolt, and N’s Zacian.
Unlike the Gym Challenge and Gym Heroes expansions, there are plenty of other Pokemon who are not attached to specific trainers. New evolutionary lines for Meowscarada, Metagross, and Mamoswine are all part of Battle Partners and will likely be part of Journey Together.
Many other cards from outside Battle Partners will be included, however. Journey Together is set to include over 180 cards while Battle Partners had less than 130, even including its secret rares.
Best cards in Pokemon TCG Journey Together
Full art trainer cards featuring Lillie and Iono are likely to be the most sought-after cards in the Journey Together expansion. Meanwhile, decks built around Iono, N, and Hop may become popular after its release.
Rare and pricey cards featuring Lillie and Iono are historically expensive, relative to others. Because of that, cards like the full art version of Iono’s Bellibolt, and a possible full-art Lillie’s Clefairy, may end up being relatively pricey.
There don’t look to be any sort of Fezandipiti ex or Earthen Vessel-like staples set for the expansion yet. However, there are some new cards that will complement existing meta decks.
Spike Energy, a new special energy, deals 20 damage to anything that attacks the Pokemon its attached to. It’s easy to see how this would benefit something like the recently resurgent Lugia VMAX deck. New stadium card Levincia lets players take two electric energies out of their discard pile, which could help cards like Iron Hands ex and Raging Bolt ex return to vogue.
