Pokemon Trading Card Game's Chilling Reign Expansion Available Now

The newest expansion of the Pokemon Trading Card Game is available at most local retailers beginning today. The "Chilling Reign" expansion for the Pokemon Trading Card Game is available starting today, adding several powerful new Pokemon to the popular card game. The set was inspired by the Crown Tundra DLC of Pokemon Sword and Shield and introduces two different Calyrex forms, as well as the Galarian variants of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. Building off the previous "Battle Styles" expansion, "Chilling Reign" also contains 70 "Rapid Strike" and "Single Strike" cards, which can be used in combination with other cards of the same style for greater synergy in your deck.

One cool tradition that "Chilling Reign" continues is the use of Alternate Art cards as Secret Rare and Full Art cards. Not only are these new cards absolutely gorgeous to look at, they also are selling for big bucks on secondary markets. Currently, the most sought-after cards in the set include the Alternate Art Secret Rare Blaziken VMAX card, the Alternate Art Secret Rare Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX card, and the Alernate Full Art versions of Galarian Moltres V and Galarian Zapdos V. All four cards are currently selling for $100 or more on the secondary market.

Pokemon cards have been a hot commodity over the past 18 months, thanks to heightened interest by celebrities and general increased demand during the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has also complicated production lines, which has led to a variety of shortages. The Pokemon Company has promised to address these issues in future releases and anecdotal chatter has been mostly positive about players getting their initial "Chilling Reign" orders in from stores.

Upcoming releases for the Pokemon Trading Card Game includes the "Evolving Skies" expansion, which will reintroduce Dragon-type Pokemon cards later this year. Dragon-type cards still require multiple kinds of energy to use moves, but they lack resistances or weaknesses due to the removal of Fairy-type cards from the game. A 25th Anniversary set is also planned, as is a new style of V-UNION card which consists of one Pokemon made up of four different cards.