Pokémon TCG’s Battle Academy box gets a 2022 update with Pikachu, Eevee and Cinderace decks and Pokémon V cards
V interesting.
Pokémon TCG: Battle Academy, the beginner-friendly starter set for the trading card game, has been re-released in a new edition for 2022.
Battle Academy was first released a couple of years ago as an all-in-one boxed version of the Pokémon card game. The set effectively worked like a self-contained board game that taught players how to play the Pokémon TCG using prebuilt decks built around Pikachu, Charizard and Mewtwo.
The game’s 2022 update swaps Charizard and Mewtwo for two new decks based on Eevee and Cinderace, the football-playing Fire-type rabbit evolution first seen in Pokémon Sword and Shield. While the decks are mostly made up of previously released cards, the Eevee deck includes two copies of a new promo card: Galarian Obstagoon.
Pikachu also gets a revamp from the previous Battle Academy, with the new box introducing Pokémon V cards. Pokémon V made their debut in the TCG’s Sword & Shield expansion as more powerful versions of basic Pokémon, with more HP and stronger attacks, but with the risk-reward that they allow your opponent to claim two prize cards when defeated. Each deck features the respective V card for their star Pokémon.
Like the original Battle Academy, the new edition includes a game board - replacing the paper playmats included with other TCG sets - designed for two players to use as the layout for their battle. A rulebook teaches players the basic rules, with specific tutorial guides to each deck also included.
Each of the decks includes 60 cards, and is ready-to-play out of the box - so players don’t need to learn how to build a Pokémon deck beforehand. As well as the board and cards, the box includes tokens for tracking damage and a coin to flip to resolve status effects such as sleep.
The 2022 Pokémon Trading Card Game: Battle Academy set is out now. It’ll cost you £20 here in the UK, or $20 in the US.