First details revealed for Sun & Moon - Spectacular Transcendence, the first Simplified Chinese expansion for the Pokémon Trading Card Game

Following on from the announcement last week that the Pokémon Trading Card Game will be officially printed in Simplified Chinese for release in Mainland China, full details on the initial launch have now been revealed, including information about the first sets to be released. The 太陽＆月亮一橫空出世 (Sun & Moon一Spectacular Transcendence) expansion will be released as three different subsets, 赫 (Radiant), 苍 (Verdant), and 泽 (Abundant), for release on October 28th, alongside a GX Starter Set. A launch event will also be held in China on this same day to celebrate the release of the Simplified Chinese cards.

​

Each of the three subsets will focus on specific types of Pokémon. 赫 (Radiant) features Charizard-GX as its focal Pokémon, and includes Fire, Psychic, and Metal types. Rayquaza-GX meanwhile serves as the focal Pokémon for 苍 (Verdant), which is structured around Grass, Lightning, and Darkness types. Finally, Sylveon-GX is the focal Pokémon for 泽 (Abundant), which features Pokémon from the Water, Fighting and Fairy types. The expansions will be available in two types of booster packs: a 5-card pack (priced at 10 yuan) and a 25-card pack (priced at 50 yuan). Each 5-card booster pack is guaranteed a Holofoil or Reverse Holofoil card, while the 25-card booster packs have a higher chance of containing a Pokémon-GX. The type of Holofoil and Reverse Holofoil used in the Simplified Chinese prints are different than those used in other languages.

The Spectacular Transcendence GX Starter Set will contain a 60-card deck (with a guaranteed Pokémon-GX), a rulesheet, damage counters, status counters, a GX marker, and a booster pack. It is priced at 40 yuan.

Chinese players will soon have a chance to win events to qualify for the 2023 Pokémon World Championships in Japan. Given that the cards being printed in the Spectacular Transcendence set are based on older expansions with cards that would not be tournament legal for international events in 2023, these players would presumably be required to source decks from more recent expansions released in Japan or internationally.