Time to take a battle style! In the Pokemon TCG!
Pokemon in Japan has been hinting at a brand new battle mechanic for the Pokemon TCG. We now know what that mechanic is and it is all based on the Legendary Pokemon Urshifu. This new battle mechanic is called “Battle Styles and will be featured in the upcoming TCG set, Battle Styles.
What is Battle Styles?
Battle Styles will be a new label that will be found on certain Pokemon TCG cards. This label will be found in the upper right hand corner of the card. The label will indicate what kind of battle style the Pokemon will have. These Battle Styles will interact with certain effects and abilities to create an impact on the battle.
One of the Battle Style will be called Single Strike. This is based on Single Strike Urshifu who attack with a powerful single attack to do incredible damage. Some of the cards that will interact with Pokemon that have Single Strike Battle Style will be Emboar.This Emboar will have an ability called “Fighting Fury Stance”. This ability will give a boost in damage for all Single Strike Pokemon.
Another ability to look forward to will be Houndoom’s “Single Strike Roar”. This ability will allow you to search your deck for a Single Strike Energy and attack it to one of your Single Strike Pokemon.
The other Battle Style will be based on Rapid Strike Urshifu and will be called Rapid Strike. This form of Urshifu base it’s fighting style on attacking with multiple striking attacks. In the TCG, you can expect Rapid Strike style to interact with Octillery’s “Rapid Strike Search” ability. This ability will allow you to search your deck for a Rapid Strike card and add it to your hand.
Battle Styles will not just be limited to Pokemon. There will be Trainer and Energy cards that will have their own Battle Style as well.
Thoughts
The new Battle Styles mechanic reminds me of the old Plasma Mechanic from Black & White era of the TCG. Cards that were consider part of Team Plasma had a special “Team Plasma” label in the upper right hand corner. They would interact with certain cards in a different way and take advantage of Plasma Energy when attached to them.
This mechanic allowed the players to make Team Plasma decks that will take advantage of other Team Plasma cards. These range from Supporters, Items and Energy. It sounds like the TCG wants players to create certain Battle Style decks that will take advantage of either Single Strike or Rapid Strike cards.
When Will We See Battle Styles in TCG?
Battle Syles and the new Battles Styles mechanic are expected to release for international audiences on March 19th, 2021. This new mechanic is expected to be release in Japan as a dual set, Single Strike Master and Rapid Strike Master on January 22nd, 2021.
There will be 60 Battle Style cards, 12 Pokemon V cards, and six Pokemon VMAX cards.
Below is a trailer for the new set.
Source: Comicbook.com
