Pokémon TCG expansion Alter Genesis officially revealed

The final addition to the Pokémon Trading Card Game’s Sun and Moon line of sets, the Alter Genesis expansion, has been officially revealed and is slated for release in Japan on Sept. 6. 

With around 95 new cards being added in this set, players will have a lot to work with when building new decks with this expansion, including the use of at least two new Tag Team Trio cards.

The main event of this reveal was the new Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX trio, featuring the time and space legendary Dragon-type Pokémon along with Arceus matching their typing by holding a Draco Plate. 

Its abilities seem almost too powerful to believe. Their attack, Ultimate Ray, deals 150 damage and lets the player search their deck for up to three basic Energy cards and attach them to their Pokémon in any order. Its GX move, Altered Creation GX, adds a damage modifier to every Pokémon you control for the rest of the game and potentially allows for a double prize card grab.

Similarly, the Togepi & Cleffa & Igglybuff-GX trio is both adorable and dangerous. Rolling Panic does 120 base damage and allows the player to continue flipping a coin until the result is tails, adding an additional 30 damage per heads result. 

There are obviously limits to how overpowered the GX attacks can be, especially since only one can be used per game. It does add another wrinkle into the already-complex meta of the Pokémon TCG, however.

This set will also feature the first Tag Team Supporter card, which will be based on the Red and Green characters from the original Pokémon games.

Similar to a Tag Team Pokémon’s GX attack, the Tag Team Supporter will have a regular effect and a stronger secondary effect if additional conditions are met at the time of activation. There will also probably be a hard limit for how many of these you can use per game, just like GX attacks. 

The Alter Genesis set will be released in the West under the name Cosmic Eclipse on Nov. 1. This will likely lead to the first Sword and Shield-based expansion being revealed in the coming months and becoming available in Japan sometime in December.