Summer's new TCG expansion & Pokémon GO season

Plus, HOME sweet Pokémon HOME at last

Author

Cooltrainer Ace
June 01, 2023 • Estimated Read Time: 6 minutes

Ah, there’s no place like home for the summer. Home is where the heart is (and now, your Scarlet & Violet Pokémon). The point is, Pokémon HOME update 3.0.0 is here, now let’s talk about something else. Like that time I single-handedly crushed some n00b from Pallet Town by spamming Earthquake with my Sandslash.

Anyway, here’s this week’s Pokénews:

  • The latest TCG expansion introduces Tera-type Pokémon

  • Pokémon GO’s newest season

  • (I realize I’m already breaking my rule but) everything you need to know about the Pokémon HOME 3.0.0 update

Obsidian Flames TCG coming in August 🔥 

It’s a bird! It’s a flame! It’s… a Dark tera-type Charizard!

The Scarlet & Violet Obsidian Flames expansion introduces “type-shifted Tera Pokémon ex” to the game. AKA the Terastalization mechanic, except it will work a little bit different than in Scarlet & Violet:

According to the official announcement: certain Tera Pokémon ex cards will feature a different Energy type. For example, Trainers will see Charizard ex as a Darkness type versus its usual Fire type, as well as Tyranitar ex as a Lightning type versus its usual Fighting type or Darkness type. When attacking, type-shifted Tera Pokémon ex will use the same Energy as their usual type; however, they will have a different Weakness that corresponds with their shifted type.

And for the collectors among us, here’s a teaser of the big hits in the set:

  • 15 Pokémon ex and six Tera Pokémon ex

    • so far we know of: Dark Tera Charizard, Lightning Tera Tyranitar, Dragon Tera Dragonite (not so original), Colorless Tera Greedent, Revavroom ex, Melmetal ex, Toedscruel ex, Eiscue ex, and Vespiquen ex

  • 12 illustration rare Pokémon

  • Six special illustration rare Pokémon and Supporter cards

  • 12 ultra rare full-art etched Pokémon ex and Supporter cards

  • Three hyper rare gold etched cards

  • The Elite Trainer Box will also feature a full art Charmander (shown above)

Fun Fact: According to Pokébeach, Dark Tera Charizard and Lightning Tera Tyranitar are a reference to Delta Specie cards of the same typing in 2006 (shown above).

“In the TCG’s lore, scientists from the Holon region were working at a secret researching tower trying to find Mew. One day, an experiment went wrong, and an energy wave escaped from the tower and surrounded the forest. Then Delta Species Pokémon appeared with types they weren’t naturally born with.” - Pokébeach

Hidden Gems comes to GO today

Running now through September 1, Hidden Gems will introduce Sandygast and Palossand in the Water Festival: Beach Week! event running June 6 at 10 a.m. through June 12 at 8 p.m. (local times).

Here’s a few other dirty deets for this season:

  • Carbink is also making its GO debut.

  • Shadow Articuno debuting in Five-Star Shadow Raids

  • June 2023 Community Day is Axew (June 10 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. local time)

  • Sableye, Beldum, Audino, Furfrou, Goomy, and Noibat will appear in Research Breakthrough encounters. Goomy is shiny locked 😭 

Stay tuned for more info on raids and upcoming community days

HOME sweet HOME at last

It’s here. It’s really here. The Pokémon HOME update dropped earlier this week (for realsies this time) and you can now enjoy swapping Pokémon between Scarlet/Violet.

Here’s a few notes courtesy of Serebii.net:

  • A list of all Transfer Only Pokémon for Scarlet & Violet.

  • If a Pokémon obtained from Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl gets Hyper Trained in Scarlet & Violet while under Level 100, it cannot re-enter Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl until it is Level 100 again.

  • All form changing items for Transfer Pokémon can be found in Auctions (located in Porta Marinda) when you have the Pokémon in your game. As a reminder, these auctions change daily.

  • The size scaling carries over from Pokémon Legends Arceus, but gets randomised on transfer from prior games. Size does not carry over from Pokémon GO.

  • The game no longer tracks abilities between the games. If you move a Pokémon to a different game and give it an Ability Capsule or Ability Patch, then that data only remains for that game so if you move a Charmander with Blaze from Sword & Shield to Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl and use an Ability Patch to give it Solar Power, when you move it back to Sword & Shield or on to Scarlet & Violet, it will have the Ability Blaze but if you then move it back to Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, it will have Solar Power in that game.

  • You should also check out their guide on changing moves, a new feature added in this update.

Random encounters around the internet

Obscure Pokémon Fact of the Day (from u/Mx_Toniy_4869)

Until next time,
Cooltrainer “the real Hidden Gem is the memories we make along the way” Ace