Pokemon TCG Rotation Is Coming This April

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 10, 2025 2 Views 5 Min Read
Pokemon TCG Rotation Is Coming This April

Summary

  • Pokemon TCG will rotate its standard format on April 11, removing all remaining cards from the Sword & Shield era.
  • Regulation marks on cards determine their eligibility; F or earlier marks cannot be played in Standard.
  • V-card mechanics will be phased out, causing a significant format shift with the upcoming rotation.

The Pokemon TCG has announced the date it’ll next be rotating its Standard format, and it’ll usher in huge changes for the game.

From April, all cards from the Sword & Shield era will finally leave the format, taking away some of the game’s biggest mechanics that have defined its last few years, like V, VSTAR, and VMAX.

In TCGs, ‘rotation’ refers to when an expansion enters and leaves a format to ensure its card pool remains small enough to be more easily balanced. Pokemon handles this through the use of regulation marks, which print small letters in the corner of the card to determine when they rotate out.

Porygon Regulation Mark

Announced alongside the Journey Together expansion, Pokemon confirmed that the next rotation will happen on April 11, and will see all cards with regulation marks F or earlier leave Standard. This means cards up to and including the final Sword & Shield expansion, Crown Zenith, can no longer be played in Standard, and the oldest playable is the Scarlet & Violet base set.

Of course, you can still play with these cards in the Expanded format, which goes right the way back to Black & White.

Cards with the F regulation mark were found in:

  • Brilliant Stars
  • Astral Radiance
  • Lost Origin
  • Silver Tempest
  • Crown Zenith

Any cards that have been reprinted in a legal expansion can still be played, regardless of the regulation mark printed on it. However, this means we’ll be saying goodbye to the V-card mechanic that defined the Sword & Shield era, as well as a good chunk of the early Scarlet & Violet era too.

Naturally, the rise of ex Pokemon in the current Scarlet & Violet expansions has largely replaced V cards as more support for them has rotated out in the last couple of years. There are still a few big decks that make use of V though, like the top-ranking Regidrago VSTAR, or Palkia VSTAR. Stripping them out through rotation is going to cause a massive shift in the format for sure.

The End Of The Yellow Border

Interestingly, this also means the classic yellow border will also be leaving the Standard format, having been replaced with an updated grey border at the start of the Scarlet & Violet era. Lots of yellow-border cards still saw play in the format, such as Switch Cart and Pokestop in Raging Bolt ex decks, and Radiant Greninja and Radiant Charizard in multiple top meta builds.

This rotation also comes very shortly after the launch of Journey Together, on March 28. Though prerelease means players will have cards in their hands longer, and theorycrafters are likely already building decks with the Japanese cards, it will be interesting to see how early tournaments react to such a monumental change in the game.

Note that this rotation will also apply to Pokemon TCG Live, but not Pokemon TCG Pocket, which uses its own cards and expansions.

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