Pokémon TCG Is Breaking A 26-Year Tradition With New Twilight Masquerade Cards

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Special promo cards from the will be available outside of Japan for the first time ever, breaking a 26-year-long tradition. The new expansion box from the series is hitting shelves later this month and fans are already excited about the cards they will be seeing. News of which Pokémon will get Secret Illustration Rares in has already come out, and other potential cards have been leaked, leaving fans hoping the leaks are accurate.

According to, English promotional cards will be available in Southeast Asia with a special Gym stamp. These stamps had originally been seen only on the Japanese versions of the cards and were typically given out for the 's gym tournaments each month, but this year they are included on the English version of the cards. As exciting as this news is, there is a catch. It appears that in order to get these cards, players must attend a pre-release event in Southeast Asia and nowhere else.

The pre-release availability is unfortunate news for collectors who were interested in adding these special Gym cards to their English collection. There are many people who collect both English and Japanese versions of the cards, but most are only able to collect the English cards, especially considering Japanese cards are typically more expensive than their English counterparts. Players don't usually see special releases in every market, so this might not come as a surprise to many, but anyone hoping to see the Gym stamped cards release in the West shouldn't get their hopes up.

Despite how long the has been around, there is still an avid fan base that enjoys collecting and playing in tournaments, and a brand-new English card type is certainly an exciting development. This release might point towards these cards becoming available in North America and other English markets in the future, which may be why The Pokémon Company is printing them in this manner. This is also one of a few other releases of English cards with special stamps, so fans are hoping that