Pokemon TCG Adds Iconic Trainers as Tag Team Supporters

Two pairs of Pokemon trainers are coming to the Pokemon Trading Card Game in a new type of card. Earlier today, the Pokemon Company unveiled several new cards that will be part of the Pokemon Trading Card Game‘s “Alter Genesis” expansion. In addition to both GX cards and TAG TEAM-GX cards, “Alter Genesis” will also have a new kind of Supporter card – Tag Team Supporters. The first two Tag Team Supporter cards feature Red and Blue (the protagonist and rival from the original Pokemon Red and Blue games) and Cynthia and Caitlin (the Champion of the Sinnoh Region and a member of Sinnoh’s Elite Four from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.)

As expected, both Tag Team Supporter cards have some great abilities. The Red and Blue Supporter card allows players to search their deck for an Evolution Pokemon-GX card and use it to instantly evolve one of their Pokemon in play. Then, that player can discard two Energy Cards to search their deck for two Energy Cards that can be placed onto the Pokemon they just evolved. Meanwhile, the Cynthia and Caitlin cards allows players to pull a Supporter card from the discard pile and put into their hands. In exchange for discarding a card, players can also draw three cards from their deck.

Although not quite as sexy as a TAG TEAM-GX card, these new Supporter Cards sound like they’ll make a big impact in any Pokemon deck. Not only can they help a Pokemon quickly evolve, players can also use the cards in tandem to make even more of an impact. For instance, a player can use the Red and Blue card to evolve one Pokemon, and then use the Cynthia and Caitlin card the following turn to get Red and Blue back into their hand so they can use it to evolve another Pokemon the following turn.

The “Alter Genesis” expansion comes out in Japan on September 5th. An international release is expected in November.