Pokemon TCG Brings Back Mechanic After 15 Year Hiatus

A classic Pokemon tool is returning to the Pokemon Trading Card Game. The Pokemon Company has been showing off new cards from the "Raging Surf" set due out in Japan in September during the stream for the Pokemon World Championships this weekend. While the big draws were the Water-type Tera Garchomp ex and the Grass-type Tera Froslass ex cards, The Pokemon Company also revealed that Technical Machine cards were also making an appearance in the new set. Two Technical Machine cards were revealed – an Energy Turbo card and a Sneak Attack card. 

Technical Machines (or TMs as they're more often called) provide the ability for Pokemon to learn certain moves outside of their normal moveset. In the Pokemon Trading Card Game, the cards allow players to temporarily give their Pokemon access to an extra move that can only be used one time and then discarded at the end of the turn. Energy Turbo allows a player to pull two Basic Energy from their deck and place them on their Benched Pokemon while Sneak Attack is an attack that deals 100 damage to any Pokemon with a damage counter on it. 

Technical Machines were represented in the Pokemon Trading Card were first introduced in 2001/2002 with the release of the Expedition Base Set. Technical Machine Cards occasionally appeared over the course of several sets but disappeared from the Pokemon Trading Card Game after the release of the Rising Rivals set. 

The new Technical Machine cards will likely be represented in the November card set due for release internationally. Leaks indicate this new set is called Paradox Rift and will feature the Paradox Pokemon Walking Wake and Iron Leaves. Meanwhile, the Obsidian Flames set has officially launched internationally and features the first Tera Pokemon ex cards that have a different type than their non Tera counterparts.