The Pokemon TCG will no longer include new Fairy-type Pokemon starting with the release of the upcoming Sword and Shield series, according to a list of rule changes posted on Pokemon.com.
All previously released Fairy Pokemon cards will still be legal in their respective formats, but there will be no new Fairy-type Pokemon cards introduced going forward. Fairy Energy may also continue to be used, although the site says that may change in the future.
Fairy-type Pokemon from the video games will still be included in the TCG, but they will now mostly fall under the Psychic-type in the TCG. As part of this type rearrangement, Pokemon that are Poison-type in the video games will now be represented as Darkness Pokemon in the TCG — presumably to make room for the incoming Fairy-types, and at the same time bolster the slim roster of Dark-type Pokemon.
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The full explanation from the site reads, “The Fairy type, which was introduced in the XY Series, will no longer be supported in the Sword & Shield Series. Pokémon that are Fairy types in the Pokémon video game series will now generally be represented as Psychic-type Pokémon in the Pokémon TCG. To maintain a balance among types, Pokémon that are Poison types in the video games will now be represented as Darkness types instead of Psychic types. For the time being, basic Fairy Energy can still be used in the Standard format, but that may change in the future.”
The Pokemon TCG has consolidated Pokemon types since day one. For example, in the TCG the Fighting-typing included not only your standard Fighting Pokemon but also Rock and Ground. Given there were originally 15 types of Pokemon back in the Red and Blue days and that has grown to 18 over the years, it makes sense to simplify things for the TCG.
The TCG started with seven different types — Colorless, Grass, Fire, Water, Lightning, Psychic, Fighting — before adding Darkness and Metal for Gen II, Dragon in Gen V, and finally Fairy in Gen VI. There was a grand total of 11 different types before this rule change, so now the TCG is at an even 10.
Fairy-type Pokemon quickly made a big impact on the TCG after their introduction. They resisted the popular Darkness typing and hit Dragons for weakness. The typing was defined by having low HP but making up for it with various ways to heal and manipulate energy. Most notably, Argentina’s Diego Cassiraga won the Pokemon TCG World Championships in 2017 with a deck based around the Fairy-type Gardevoir-GX. The slideshow gallery below includes a few more notable Fairy Pokemon from over the years.
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While there was no explanation for why Fairy-types were given the axe, it was presumably done as part of the larger rebalancing of the game going into the Sword and Shield era. In addition to this type rearrangement, significant changes were made to weakness and resistance. Instead of resisting 20 damage, now Pokemon will resist 30. Some types of Pokemon now have different weaknesses and resistances than before. For example, Water-types will now generally be weak to Lightning instead of Grass, and Metal-types will generally resist Grass instead of Psychic.
Other rule changes include not being able to play a Supporter card on your first turn, several instances of card errata to improve or clarify pre-existing cards, a new design for the powerful draw-seven Pokemon Professor cards, a new Pokemon Checkup phase between turns, the new term Recover which signifies the removal of special conditions, and an explanation of the new Regulation Marks to make format rotations easier to understand.
In other Pokemon news, Sword and Shield will receive a DLC expansion and the new areas will add more than 200 Pokemon from past games who controversially weren’t included in the original Sword and Shield release.
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Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.
Source: IGN.com Pokemon Removes Fairy-Type From the TCG