The latest expansion for the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Sword & Shield— Lost Origin, was released on Sept. 9, 2022, giving fans plenty of incredible new cards such as Giratina, Hisuian Zoroark, and Pikachu. The Sword & Shield expansions will conclude with the final set, Silver Tempest, releasing on Nov. 11.
While Lost Origin has been officially released with most of its cards able to be obtained by players, there are still a few more cards that will be released before the end of October. Several tins focusing on Pokémon like Giratina and Rotom, and VSTAR premium boxes for several Pokémon including Hisuian Zoroark, Dialga and Palkia.
Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR
The designs of the Hisuian Pokémon have been extremely popular with many fans. This remains true with Hisuian Zoroark, who possibly has the best design in the region. This card evolves from Hisuian Zoroark V and is great with players who play the tactic of swapping their Pokémon with their benched Pokémon.
Zoroark’s attack, which only costs two energies, deals 50 damage with an additional 50 for every damage counter on one of the player’s Pokémon. It also has an ability as its VSTAR Power called Phantom Star that allows players to discard their hand and draw seven new ones.
Kyurem VMAX
This splendid card is a dynamax evolution of Kyruem V. Its ability works in tandem with its attack that allows the player to discard the top card of their deck and attach it to Kyruem if it is a water energy.
Kyurem’s attack, Max Frost, deals 120 base damage plus any water energy cards that the player chooses to discard from Kyurem. So if the player had five water energies on Kyurem and remove two, Kyruem would deal a grand total of 360, making this Pokémon an incredibly dangerous foe.
Eternatus VMAX (Trainer Gallery)
Fans have loved the Trainer Gallery Pokémon cards and this set, just like the ones in the past, does not disappoint. This card of one of the strongest legendary Pokémon from Galar, Eternatus features Chairman Rose from the Sword and Shield games in an epic artwork standing before Eternatus VMAX.
This Pokémon possesses a unique ability that makes the game change. If all the player’s Pokémon in play are dark-type, the player can place up to 8 Pokémon (they must only be dark-type) on their bench. On top of this ability, Eternatus’s attack allows it to deal 30 damage for each dark-type Pokémon the player has on the field. This means that Eternatus can deal a total of 270 damage.
Mew VMAX (Secret)
Mew is one of the best psychic Pokémon of all time and this VMAX version of Mew is a Secret gold version of the card originally from Fusion Strike. This gold and black card are one of many that players love to collect and play with. It is the evolution of a Mew V and possesses two different attacks.
Its first attack, Cross Fusion, requires two normal energies and allows Mew to use one of the player’s benched Pokémon’s attacks (as long as it is a Fusion Strike card). Its second attack, Max Miracle, requires two psychic energies and deals 130 damage. Its attack also has an effect that makes Max Miracle’s attack unaffected by the opponent’s Pokémon.
Charizard (Trainer Gallery)
Charizard is one of the most popular Pokémon still to do this day, so it deserves amazing artwork like this card. This Charizard has already been an incredibly helpful version of the Pokémon throughout the game for many players. It now features a new artwork with Leon and his Charizard. It’s sought after by most fans and is one of the best cards in the set.
This card also has an ability that lets players look at the top three cards of their deck and put one of them into their hand while the other two are discarded. Where this card can really come in handy is its attack which deals 100 damage normally but deals an additional 50 damage for every Leon card discarded. This means that Charizard can deal up to 300 damage with this effect.
Pikachu V (Trainer Gallery)
The Pikachu cards featuring Red (the main protagonist of Pokémon Red and Blue, Yellow, and FireRed and LeafGreen) have already become one of the most desired cards in Lost Origin.
While the card is no doubt sought after due to fans’ love for Red and his Pikachu, it’s also a powerful card with a Thunderbolt that deals 200 damage, though all energy has to be discarded after using the attack. Thankfully, Pikachu’s first attack remedies this a bit by allowing the player to search their deck for two electric energies and attach it to the Pokémon.
Giratina VSTAR (Secret)
Giratina, one of the strongest ghost-type Pokémon, is the face of Lost Origin and one of its best cards in the set is no doubt its Secret VSTAR. This card has beautiful art outlined with gold. Its attack deals 280 damage with one grass energy, one psychic energy, and one colorless energy.
Its attack also has an effect alongside it that forces players to place 2 energies from the Pokémon into the Lost Zone. This can be helpful for Giratina’s VSTAR Power, Star Requiem. It requires one grass energy and one psychic energy, and as long as there are at least 10 cards in the Lost Zone, the opposing active Pokémon is immediately knocked out.
Pikachu VMAX (Trainer Gallery)
While Pikachu V is a fantastic card, Pikachu VMAX is an even better and rarer card that players want to get their hands on. This is one of the most expensive cards being sold online currently and once again features Red on the card with his Pikachu.
Normally this Pikachu can deal 120 damage with three electric energies attached to it, however, this attack can be made even stronger by removing all energy from the card to deal an additional 150.
Aerodactyl V (Alternate Art)
Sometimes the rarer cards tend to be one of the most surprising. That’s the case with Aerodactyl V’s alternate artwork card which features Aerodactyl flying over dinosaur-themed Pokémon giving a nice atmosphere that feels true to the Pokémon.
This card is selling for over $100 on many websites (per TCGPlayer). This card is desired far more for collecting purposes rather than its strength in battle. Though its first attack deals 40 damage and its second, 120.
Giratina V (Alternate Art)
There’s little question that Giratina V’s alternate art card is the most desirable card in the Lost Origin expansion. This card was heavily anticipated by many fans before the set was even released and is already selling as the most expensive card from Lost Origin.
It features beautifully dark artwork of Giratina traveling through the Lost Zone and possesses two different attacks. Its first attack deals no damage but has an effect that lets players look at the top four cards of their deck. They may keep two of them and put the other two into the Lost Zone. Giratina’s second attack deals 160 damage and requires one grass energy, one psychic energy, and one colorless energy.
