Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are among the most highly anticipated games of the year, and for good reason, as they are the first new mainline Pokemon titles to come out in three years. If Pokemon Legends: Arceus' sales are an indicator of how popular the franchise is, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet could even end up topping the sales of popular games such as Elden Ring. The hype surrounding the upcoming release of Gen 9 is mainly built on the foundations of the three trailers for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet that have been released thus far, with the third one revealing more about the region and the games' features than the other ones.
With Gen 9 games, new Pokemon merchandise is already being released online for pre-orders, including the plushies for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's starters. As part of the franchise's natural progression, fans will likely be able to soon get their hands on a new Pokemon Trading Card Game set that's all about Gen 9, and The Pokemon Company could make it a very special one thanks to a specific feature - Terastallization. This feature allows Pokemon to change their types to a Tera Type, and the Pokemon Trading Card Game can use this in creative ways to make rather unique cards for at least the next three years without changing much about how the game is played.
How the Pokemon Trading Card Game Can Use Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Terastallization
In the Pokemon Trading Card Game, cards like V Pokemon and VMax have been a staple for quite some time, and they were made to work with the Dynamax and Gigantamax mechanics of Pokemon Sword and Shield. V Pokemon or equivalent cards could stay in the game and basically function as they do now, but then they could evolve into Tera V Pokemon that are actually the same critter but with a completely different type that changes both the type of damage inflicted to other Pokemon and the weaknesses the Pokemon has.
While this is probably going to be a seamless experience in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet battles and doesn't require much when it comes to using moves, in the Pokemon Trading Card Game it's a bit more complicated than that. This is due to moves costing Energy cards that usually belong to a given type from the ones available in the game, or they have special effects that activate when meeting certain requirements. Making a given Pokemon evolve into a different version of it that requires a completely different Energy type could make the game frustrating, but there's a possible fix in the form of theoretical cards that could be called Tera Energy.
Tera Energy cards could be attached to V Pokemon exclusively, and act as any energy type when they become Tera V Pokemon, which would make sense thematically and also grant players a bit of leeway when building their decks. Having too many Energy card types in a deck can be extremely punishing for the viability of a given list in the Pokemon Trading Card Game, and solving the issue with Energy cards dedicated to Tera Pokemon may be the best way to handle the type change mechanic.
This could open endless possibilities for the Pokemon Trading Card Game because it could provide a layer of unpredictability with the way the game is played both offensively and defensively, much like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Terastallization. Another option to handle Tera Pokemon could be using a similar ploy to the hidden Ditto card in the Pokemon GO set, which could come as any holographic card, with the Pokemon it transformed into being a peelable sticker. Tera Pokemon cards could be peelable stickers as well, changing into any other type. Overall, this idea would be quite fun to see and provide a bit of variety to the game.
PokemonScarlet and Violet release on November 18, 2022, for the Nintendo Switch.
