E3 2019: Pokémon Unified Minds & Sword and Shield

Your quest to catch ’em all just expanded.

It’s a big week for Pokémon, with some pretty big news coming in ahead of Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) for both video and card games. The Pokémon Company International unveiled a new expansion for the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG), Sun & Moon—Unified Minds, set to hit stores on Aug. 2. While that’s great news for card players, the highlight of the year for fans of the long-running video game series takes place on Nov. 15, when Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield arrive exclusively on Nintendo Switch.

On the TCG front, the new expansion will unleash eight new Tag Team Pokémon-GX cards, including Mewtwo & Mew-GX, Slowpoke & Psyduck-GX, Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX, and Garchomp & Giratina-GX, among others. The expansion also includes nine additional Pokémon-GX, more than 25 Trainer cards, and two new Special Energy cards. Select retailers will have pre-release tournaments for Pokémon Trainers who can’t wait to throw down some of the new cards. Participating shops will be listed on the official TCG site.

Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield

This week, a new Pokémon Direct presentation hit the scene, dropping the full details on all the new game features and the Pokémon native to the Galar region. Of particular interest was the Dynamax phenomenon. In specific locations throughout Galar, Pokémon can assume a gigantic form during battle. Of course, there are some rules to this, but the general gist is that Dynamax Pokémon have moves that will turn into special Max Moves that are even more powerful. You can’t train these in your sleep!

Of course, no new game would be complete without new Pokémon, and there are a bunch — including new Legendary Pokémon Zacian and Zamazenta. First partner Pokémon include Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble, and species of the Galar region include Gossifleur, Eldegoss, Wooloo, Corviknight, and Drednaw. Any Pokémon encountered in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield will have its information registered in the Pokédex.

Game on, Pokémon!

Photos: The Pokémon Company International

About the author

James Zahn

James Zahn, AKA The Rock Father, is Editor-in-Chief of The Toy Book and Co-President of The International Toy Magazines Association (ITMA). He is also a Senior Editor at The Toy Insider and The Pop Insider, and Editor of The Toy Report, The Toy Book‘s weekly industry newsletter. As a pop culture and toy industry expert, Zahn has appeared as a panelist and guest at events including Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC), New York Comic Con, Wizard World Chicago, and the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy. Zahn has more than 30 years of experience in the entertainment, retail, and publishing industries, and is frequently called upon to offer expert commentary for publications such as Forbes, Marketwatch, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, Reuters, the Washington Post, and more. James has appeared on History Channel’s Modern Marvels, was interviewed by Larry King and Anderson Cooper, and has been seen on Yahoo! Finance, CNN, CNBC, FOX Business, NBC, ABC, CBS, WGN, The CW, and more. Zahn joined the Adventure Media & Events family in 2016, initially serving as a member of the Parent Advisory Board after penning articles for the Netflix Stream Team, Fandango Family, PBS KIDS, Sprout Parents (now Universal Kids), PopSugar, and Chicago Parent. He eventually joined the company full time as a Senior Editor and moved up the ranks to Deputy Editor and Editor-in-Chief.

Pokémon: New Games, New Cards, New Creatures to Catch

Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield

About the author

James Zahn