On Sunday, at the Pokémon World Championships closing ceremony in Anaheim, USA, a bunch of upcoming Pokémon cards were revealed. As well as our first proper look at the new cards for Mega Charizard and Mega Dragonite, we got to see new 'Mega Attack' rare cards.
This brand new rarity type, exclusive to Mega evolution Pokémon, features manga style artwork and bright, bold text displaying the name of the Pokémon's attack. This is a reference to the M Pokémon EX cards from around 2015, which also had their attack names featured in the card art. Just like the older cards, the English versions have the additional text in Japanese, and vice versa.
The online reception suggests fans are deeply divided on the Mega Attack rare cards. Some love the unique look and the throwback, while others online have called the art style 'tacky' or said they wished the cards didn't use text in this way. If this sentiment is widespread, it might mean these cards end up being less valuable than the special illustration rare variants of the Pokémon.
It's not entirely clear which of the newest Pokémon sets these cards will appear in. Obviously, it would make sense for Charizard to show up in Phantasmal Flames, but as Mega Brave and Mega Symphosia are already out in Japan, and these sets didn't feature any Mega Attack rares, it seems unlikely they'll appear in the equivalent English Mega Evolution set.
This is actually the second new Pokémon card rarity revealed in the last month. We saw the super scarce gold Mega Ultra Rares at the very end of July, and now the MA rares have come to join them. Is the Pokémon TCG just going to keep inventing new types of rare Pokémon cards?
Alongside the variants, regular cards for Mega Charizard X ex and Mega Dragonite ex - believed to be headline cards for upcoming Pokémon sets - were shown in the ceremony for the first time. The Charizard card will be a beast in any decks with lots of fire energy, while Dragonite offers a useful support ability that will allow you to effortlessly switch your Pokémon around.
Let us know what you think of the new MAR Pokémon cards on the Wargamer Discord server. Is it a yay or a nay from you? You can also check out our guides to the most powerful Pokémon cards ever and all Legendary Pokémon in existence.