The Pokémon Company International has officially revealed our third Sword & Shield TCG set, Darkness Ablaze. This set will be partially based off the Japanese Main set S3 Infinity Zone.
This set will likely consist of:
- S2a Explosive Walker
- S3 Infinity Zone
- sC Sword & Shield Starter Set VMAX Charizard / VMAX Grimmsnarl
Darkness Ablaze will release on Friday, August 14, 2020.
They have confirmed Centiskorch VMAX, Charizard VMAX, Grimmsnarl VMAX and the Legendary Pokémon Eternatus VMAX.
Along with the set information, product images of Darkness Ablaze also have been revealed. Revealing the Pack arts, Theme decks and Elite Trainer Box.
Update:
The official Pokemon website also confirmed Mew V and Galarian Slowbro V for Darkness Ablaze. This was not included in the original press release. These cards are not yet revealed in Japan, we assume these cards will be part of the yet unrevealed set S3a Legend's Heartbeats, the set after S3 Infinity Zone. Time will tell.
Official product description:
Sword & Shield—Darkness Ablaze introduces highly collectible cards including Charizard VMAX, as the fan favorite Charizard makes its Gigantamax form debut in the Pokémon TCG—just like in the Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield video games. In addition, Trainers will be able to pull more Pokémon from the Galar region as Pokémon VMAX, such as Centiskorch VMAX and Grimmsnarl VMAX in their Gigantamax forms, and the Legendary Pokémon Eternatus VMAX in its unique Eternamax form.
The full expansion includes the following:
- 7 Pokémon VMAX
- 14 powerful Pokémon V—plus nine full-art Pokémon V
- 17 Trainer cards and four full-art Supporter cards
- 3 new Special Energy cards
- Over 185 cards
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It sounds to me like there's been a bit of butchering going on with the Japanese sets to make ours:
1) Press above says 14 Pokémon V, but S2a/S3/SC have 16 between them. Pokemon.com also confirms Mew V and Galarian Slowbro V, which'd make 18, meaning potentially 4 cut Pokémon V from S2a/S3.
2) Pokemon.com also says there are 7 Pokémon VMAX, but again, S2a/S3/SC have 9 between them, so 2 must have potentially been cut.
3) Sirfetch'd and Darmanitan cards in the theme decks are nowhere to be seen in Japan, so presumably they're new, like our SWSH2 Zacian and Zamazenta. Long shot, could be alt-art reprints of the SWSH2 versions.
4) Press above says 9 of the 14 Pokémon V have full-arts. Charizard and Grimmsnarl don't, but that still leaves 3 Pokémon V without full arts. Either some have been taken out for promo products (ew) or Mew and/or Slowbro are promo cards.
I wonder if some S3a Legend's Heartbeats cards are gonna make their way into Darkness Ablaze. Wouldn't be surprised if Mew V comes from there.
Anyhow, that's my 2 cents.
Pokemon.com page - https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/sword-shield-darkness-ablaze/explore-and-watch/