Pokemon Trading Card Game Bringing Back Dragon-type Pokemon Cards

The Pokemon Trading Card Game is bringing back Dragon Pokemon cards for the first time in nearly two years. The Pokemon Company announced that its upcoming Japanese expansion sets "Sky Stream" and "Towering Perfection" will feature the first Dragon-type Pokemon cards to appear in the game since the launch of the Sword and Shield series back in late 2019. Creatures Inc., the maker of the Pokemon Trading Card Game, never addressed the disappearance of Dragon-type Pokemon cards despite confirming that it was doing away with Fairy-type cards with the release of the new "Sword and Shield" sets. Based on the timing of the Japanese release, it's likely that the Dragon-type cards will appear in the Evolving Skies expansion set for release outside of Japan in August.

The Dragon-type cards are getting a bit of a retool as well. Dragon-type Pokemon will have no weaknesses or resistances. Additionally, each Dragon-type Pokemon card will have a "claw scratch" mark on the upper right corner of the card. Like before, Dragon-type Pokemon will require multiple types of energy to use its moves - for instance, the previewed Dragonite V card requires Water-type energy and Electric-type energy, while Appletun uses Grass-type energy and Fire-type energy.

The Pokemon Trading Card Game has had a huge years and has attracted plenty of attention, both good and bad. While Pokemon card sales have surged around the world during the pandemic, scalpers have drawn negative attention to the game. Thanks to several isolated incidents, both Target and Walmart temporarily stopped selling Pokemon cards last month, although Target has brought cards back to the store this week with limits on how many customers can buy. Because of the increased demand and supply chain issues related to COVID-19, new Pokemon cards are increasingly hard to come by, despite promises by The Pokemon Company that they would increase production of both new cards and reprints of older cards.

The next Pokemon Trading Card Game expansion for the United States and other non-Japanese players will be the "Chilling Reign" expansion, which is due to be released later this month.