DDuring each Championship Series season, Pokémon Organized Play removes old competitive expansions to the Standard format in an effort to maintain a healthy competitive environment. This rotation challenges existing players to create new strategies and allows new players to get involved in Play! Pokémon events using the most recent versions.
As briefly mentioned in April 2021, cards bearing the regulation mark “D” will no longer be legal to play in the Standard 2023 format. Cards bearing the regulation marks “E” and “F” will be legal to use (along with all future regulatory marks that may be published). A card’s legality status is no longer based on the set it comes from. Even if a card is from a recently released expansion, players will need to refer to the regulation mark at the bottom of the card to see if that card is legal to play. New cards must always follow the appropriate waiting period to become tournament legal, which is usually two weeks after release.
To play in person! Pokémon events, the Standard format rotation will take effect on April 14, 2023. For digital play on Pokémon TCG Live, the Standard format rotation will take effect on March 30, 2023. This will give players an official platform to test out the new format standard before attending in-person events.
Older versions of cards that do not have a regulation mark can still be used if the card is currently legal to play. For example, the map rare candies from Sun Moon the extension can still be used because the card rare candies from the Pokémon TCG: Pokemon GO the expansion has an “F” regulatory mark. And even if the map Boss’s Orders (Giovanni) from Sword & Shield — Rebel Clash the extension has a “D” regulation mark (which rotates out of the standard format), it can still be used because the card Boss’s Orders (Cyrus) from Sword and Shield—Shining Stars the expansion has an “F” regulatory mark. Be sure to check out the Play! Pokémon Tournament Rules Handbook for details on which reprints can be used.
The extended format will remain unchanged, retaining the Black White Series and before. Players should double-check the format used before choosing a deck to bring to their events. Like the Standard format, new expansions become legal for tournament play two weeks after release.
Please note that several maps are currently banned from the Expanded format. You can find the list of banned cards here.
In the past, Pokémon Tool cards were considered a subcategory of Item cards. When the scarlet and violet becomes legal, all Pokémon Tool cards will receive errata. In the future, Pokémon Tool will have its own category of Trainer cards. This means that there will be four categories of Trainer cards: Item, Supporter, Stadium, and Pokémon Tool.
Card images are not final.
Starting with the scarlet and violet Series, all Pokémon Tool cards will be printed as their own category, not as Item cards. Pokémon Tool cards from all previous series will receive errata to align with this change. For instance, Vitality Band says Item on it, but it won’t be considered an Item card once this change takes effect – it’s just a Pokemon Tool.
The Pokémon Tool card errata affects certain card interactions. For example, if the effect of PokeStop is used, the player would no longer put discarded Pokémon Tool cards into their hand. On the other hand, if Vikavolt Vis used, the opponent may play Pokémon Tool cards on their next turn, as these are no longer considered Item cards. Be sure to pay close attention to these card effects in the future!
The Pokémon Tool Card errata will be applied to the Pokémon TCG: scarlet and violet Preview Tournaments.
Be sure to check back to Pokemon.com for the latest updates on the next scarlet and violet Series for the Pokémon TCG!